Chapter Four
The Doctor glanced down at the patch on his arm and shook his head angrily.
"I swear to Rassilon, if this patch has anything in it that'll make us sick, I will go back, grab hold of Apothecary Ba'zon and stick my sonic screwdriver somewhere unpleasant," he muttered.
They turned the corner and noticed several stalls were set up outside. People were milling about looking at the booths and haggling with the salesperson. Rose looked at the Doctor.
"Can we stop and see what they have?" she asked him.
"Ah, no, Rose. I'm hungry," Mickey said. "We can look later."
"I wanna look too," Martha said.
The Doctor noticed a small outdoor café right beside the booths.
"How about we do this? Mickey and I get us all something to eat while you two have a quick look at the booths?" the Doctor said. "Is that alright?"
Rose and Martha looked at each other and nodded.
"Okay, you have your credit discs if you want something, but go easy on the souvenirs. Okay?"
"Okay, Doctor," Rose and Martha said in unison.
The Doctor nodded and looked back at Mickey.
"Come on, Mickey; let's go find something to eat."
Mickey nodded and followed the Doctor while he headed off towards the café. Rose and Martha looked at each other, smiled and headed towards the stalls. They reached the first one and stared, enraptured, at the jewelry spread out before them.
"Good morning, ladies," the salesperson said. "Is there something you fancy?"
Martha's eyes grew wide when she noticed a small gold ring. She picked it up and admired the small pink gem embedded in the front of it.
"Arkios," the salesperson said, pointing to the gem. "From the planet Momosilla. A very rare gem. It would look exquisite on your finger, Miss."
Martha grinned at Rose. She slipped it on her finger and admired it while it sparkled.
"Very beautiful," the salesperson said, smiling. "I'll give it to you for 90 credits."
Martha looked up at him.
"Oh! I…uh…I don't think I should," she said. "It's beautiful though, thanks."
"Wait!" the salesperson said when she started to slip it off her finger. "Since it looks beautiful on your finger and it's a perfect fit, I'm willing to drop the price to 75 credits. How's that?"
"Well, I don't know," Martha muttered.
She stared at the ring.
"It is beautiful though."
Rose stared at the ring. Then, she suddenly became aware of the conversation going on at the next booth. A customer was holding a vase in his hands and pointing to it.
"I'll give you 110 credits for it," the man was saying to the salesman.
"I'll take 120," the salesperson replied.
"I'll give you 115." the man said.
The salesperson thought for a moment and then nodded his head.
"Done," he said.
She watched the man hand his credit disc to the salesperson and looked back at Martha.
"70 credits, Miss, but that's as low as I can go," the salesperson was saying to her.
"How about 50?" Rose asked him.
Martha looked at her.
"Haggle, Martha, that's what they want you to do," Rose said to her.
Martha's eyes widened in understanding.
"Yes, I'll buy it for 50," she said to the salesperson.
The salesperson shook his head.
"50 is too low. I'll sell it for 65."
"60."
"63"
"61"
The salesperson thought for a moment and then nodded his head.
"Done. 61 credits it is," he said.
Martha handed the man her credit disc. She glanced at Rose while he ran the disc through a scanner.
"You think the Doctor will get mad if I buy this?" she asked Rose.
"I don't think so. He's the one who gave us the credit discs. He never said we couldn't buy anything with them."
"Yeah, but I'm sure he meant for us to use it in case of emergencies."
Rose shrugged.
"If it was meant for emergencies, he would have said so, Martha. Don't worry about it."
Martha nodded. She smiled at the salesperson when he handed the credit disc back to her.
"Pleasure doing business with you, Miss," the salesperson said, bowing.
"And you," Martha replied, bowing back.
She stared at the ring while she and Rose walked away from the booth.
"For all I know, he could have just ripped me off," she said.
Rose shrugged.
"I'd rather have the ring than the credits any day," she said.
Martha nodded.
"Yeah, me too."
She glanced over at another booth and smiled at Rose.
"Come on, we still need to get you something and then get something for our men," she said.
Rose nodded. They got their credit discs ready and walked up to the salesperson.
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Ba'zon sighed and looked over at the door to his office when he heard the holographic projector beeping loudly indicating he had an incoming call.
"Now what?" he muttered to himself.
He opened the door and quickly closed it behind him. He walked over to the projector and hit the blinking button.
"This is Ba'zon," he said when the holographic image came into focus.
He sighed inwardly when he saw it was Minister Za'tok. He bowed wondering why he was calling him.
"Ba'zon, have you performed any more vaccinations today?" Za'tok asked.
"I have done several, Minister," Ba'zon said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"And how many of those have been enhanced patches?"
"Two, Minister."
"Excellent. Give me the chip number for one of the patches, Ba'zon. I wish to perform a little test."
"Ba'zon frowned."
"Test? What kind of test?"
"That is none of your concern!" Za'tok shot back. "You are to administer the patches to all citizens. You do not need to know anything further. Now give me one of the chip numbers."
Ba'zon sighed softly while he walked over to a table and picked up a list containing serial numbers and names. He walked back over to the projector.
"You want the number for one of the two I just did today?" he asked him.
"Yes."
Ba'zon glanced at the list for a moment and then cleared his throat.
"Okay…Serial number 35Z689Y."
Za'tok smiled.
"Thank you, Apothecary. Carry on with the vaccinations," he said.
Ba'zon watched while the hologram disappeared.
"Carry on with the vaccinations," he said in a snotty voice. "I'd like to put a patch right over that big gob of his."
He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand. He frowned when he read the list of serial numbers. He had been giving some of his patients these enhanced patches that contained some kind of nanobot hidden in with the standard vaccine. But as for what purpose the nanobot served, he had no idea. He hoped it wasn't something sinister, but from what he knew of Minister Za'tok, he wouldn't put it past him. But even if there was something in some of the patches, there was nothing he could do about it. Minister Za'tok was a highly regarded government official and he was a lowly apothecary. No one would believe him and even if they did, Za'tok had ways to silence him and his family. The only thing he could do was obey orders and hope for the best.
As he opened the door and stepped into his exam room, he couldn't help but wonder what Za'tok was planning to do with the serial number he had given him.
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"Thank you," Rose said as she and Martha stepped away from another booth.
She looked down at the strip of shimmering purple silk in her hand.
"What is it?" Martha asked.
"I don't know. But it's beautiful. Maybe I can make something out of it," Rose replied.
They both fingered the delicate silk.
"Okay, let's find something for the boys and---"
She was cut short when she heard several people screaming. She and Rose looked up and saw that someone was hitting people, picking them up and throwing them over the booths. He turned his enraged face towards Martha and Rose. They both gasped when they recognized him.
"Oh my God," Rose said. "It's To'lan."