Chapter Nine
The Doctor looked up when the cell door opened and a guard came into the room.
"Come with me. You're going to the interrogation room. You will walk in front of me and keep your mouth shut," he said to him.
"First, I want to know where my students are," the Doctor replied. "What have you done with them?"
The guard whipped out a long black stick and pressed a button. Electricity shot out and hit the Doctor's body. He screamed while it coursed through his body. The guard kept it on him for thirty seconds and then stopped.
"I repeat! You will be silent! You will not argue. You will not question! You will walk down the hall to the interrogation room without another word or you will get another blast from my shock stick. Is that clear?"
The Doctor gritted his teeth.
"Crystal," he snarled at him.
The guard smirked.
"Get up then."
The Doctor glared at him as he slowly stood up. The guard stepped aside.
"After you," he said cheerfully.
The Doctor resisted the urge to wrestle the shock stick out of his hand and use it on him. He calmly walked by the guard ignoring his snickers. Until he found out what they had done with his companions, he knew he had no choice but to comply. He walked down the hall looking left and right trying to see if any of his friends were in the cells. He couldn't see them and it filled him with worry and frustration knowing that their captors might be torturing them trying to get them to talk. The thought of that made him flash back to when he and Martha were being held by the Valeyard. He had sworn after they had escaped he would do everything in his power to prevent something like that from ever happening again and he knew if he didn't get answers soon as to the fate of his friends, he would start ripping the place apart looking for them.
The guard pulled on his arm, stopping him. He stood quietly while he knocked on the iron door in front of him and it was pulled open. The guard shoved the shock stick in the Doctor's back and he sighed angrily while he stepped inside. It was a bleak, dark room with a small chair in the middle of it. Seeing it brought back more images of the Valeyard torturing him and he had to take a deep breath to steady himself. He felt the shock stick being poked in his back and he knew they wanted him to sit in the chair.
"If you don't mind, I would like to stand," he said as politely as he could.
He grunted when the guard smacked the stick onto his back.
"Sit down!" he barked at him.
The Doctor couldn't help himself. He spun around and glowered at the guard.
"I will do as you say, but if you continue to be rough, then I will get rough in return!" he snarled.
His head snapped back when the guard hit him in the mouth with the shock stick.
"I said sit down and shut your damn mouth!" he screamed at him.
The Doctor sat down in the chair and felt his mouth. He took his hand away and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see any blood. He glared at the guard who was chuckling at him.
"Told ya to sit down," he said. "See, ya almost got your pretty face busted open. Not to mention you coulda lost some teeth. It pays to listen to your betters."
"Be glad I am obeying at the moment or I would show you who the better one really is," the Doctor muttered under his breath.
He looked over at the door when a man entered. He could tell that from the reverent bow the guard was giving him that the man was important. He guessed he was the one who ran the prison.
Good, this guy can give me some answers, he thought.
The man closed the door and walked over to the Doctor. He regarded him silently for a moment.
"What is your name?" he said.
"John Smith, what's yours?"
"I will ask the questions here and you will answer them and that's all you will do," the man said.
The Doctor bit back a sarcastic comment. Unlike his last incarnation, he did know when to hold his tongue especially if his friend's lives were at stake. He sighed, hoping this whole question and answer session wouldn't last too long.
He stared up at the man waiting for him to continue. He rolled his eyes when the man didn't say anything else.
"I'm waiting for the next question," he finally said. "You can ask it at any time."
"I'm just trying to decide if you are telling the truth or not," the man said. "You see, I don't believe that is your name and I don't believe you're a real Doctor nor do I believe you came here on a simple fact finding mission."
"Yeah, and what exactly do you believe then?"
The man leaned forward.
"I believe you are a spy sent to infiltrate and bring down the Terserian government."
"Nope, sorry, that's wrong," the Doctor replied.
"Is it? Because I'm pretty sure you and your friends are exactly that."
"No, we're not."
"Then who are you?"
"I'm Doctor John Smith."
"The truth!"
"I am telling you the truth. I'm Doctor John Smith, communicable disease specialist from Pollos Eleven."
"Aha! There is nothing on Pollos Eleven. It is a desert planet!"
"Not anymore," the Doctor said without missing a beat.
The man frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"They've terraformed it. It's habitable now and there are several homes, businesses and a university."
"You lie!"
"How long has it been since you've been to Pollos Eleven?"
"I've never been there."
"Then how do you know what it's like there?"
The Doctor folded his arms over his chest and gave him a smug smile. He waited for a response from the man.
"Well, answer me, how do you know what it's like on Pollos Eleven when you've never been there?" he said.
"I do not have to answer that. I am the one asking the questions here!" the man spat out.
"Well, that's peculiar, because up until now you've been letting me get away with asking questions. But the moment I asked one you couldn't answer, you tell me to shut up. Is it because you don't want to admit that you could be wrong or is this some kind of Terserian good cop, bad cop routine?"
"I still think you are lying to me!" the man spat out.
"Yeah, I get that, but see, my point is I just blew a huge hole in one of your accusations and now you're trying to change the subject because you don't want to admit that you might be wrong about something. See, it's kinda like what's going on with the government and the Nok flu. Every time someone tries to uncover the truth about what's really going on, people like you come along and try to mislead the public and change the subject so they'll stop asking the right questions."
"We are not misleading the public!"
"Oh really? Then why the huge discrepancy in casualty figures? Why have two people gone on rampages after receiving the vaccine patch? Why isn't the government upfront about what is in these vaccine patches in the first place? What is Terseria trying to hide from its people?"
"We are hiding nothing!"
"Gee, you seem pretty defensive all of a sudden," the Doctor said smugly. "Am I hitting a nerve?"
"You know nothing of what goes on here. You are an outsider!"
"I know what I've seen and heard. I've seen a man who was perfectly normal when I first met him. Then the next time I saw him, he was rampaging through a market trying to kill everyone in his path and then he convulsed and died in the street, an hour after getting this vaccine patch I might add. Then, I just talked to a woman who miraculously survived the flu, but she also went on a blind rampage and killed a man, also after receiving the patch. Apparently, the patch affects some people and causes them to lose control and kill others, but the government either doesn't know about that or doesn't care. It seems to be concerned with just sticking patches on people's arms regardless of whether they need them or not."
"Everyone needs the patches. The flu must be eradicated before it becomes an epidemic!" the man said.
"Then why are people allowed to be out on the street where they could infect one another? If you are that terrified of the flu spreading, why isn't there a general quarantine where people are confined to their homes for a set period of time until the flu is eradicated? But no, there's nothing like that. Life goes on as usual in Terseria, except for this little patch everyone is now forced to wear which I'm convinced isn't doing anyone any good. I think the only ones profiting from the patch are the government and the vaccine makers. Am I right?"
The man glared at him.
"Am I right?" the Doctor repeated.
"This interrogation is ended. The prisoner is being uncooperative!" the man said to the guard.
"Why? Because I'm asking uncomfortable questions that you don't want to answer? Because I'm on to the truth you and others like you are trying so diligently to cover up? Is that why I'm being so uncooperative in your eyes?" the Doctor said to him. "If you have nothing to hide, why not answer me? What is really going on here? What is the Terserian government doing to its people?"
"Get him out of here!" the man said angrily.
"You can't hide the truth forever. Sooner or later, someone will find out what you're doing and I'm pretty sure there will be hell to pay when that happens."
The man spun around and glared at the guard.
"Did you hear me? Get the rambling idiot out of here this instant and take him back to his cell!" he snarled.
The guard opened the door and walked behind the chair. The Doctor felt the guard shove the shock stick in between his shoulder blades. He let out a contemptuous snort as he stood up. He gave the man one last look before he walked out of the room.
The man stood and watched him go back to his cell. He shook his head.
"This man knows too much. He needs to be silenced permanently and I think I know exactly how to do it. First I need to go back to my office and contact Ba'zon. I need some information from him."