Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. This story is based on the Doctor Who characters and universe.
Science Assassin: Chapter three
Wanda directed the floating ambulance out of the hotel gates, which automatically shut behind it. The ambulance flew off with its loud, wailing, old fashioned siren. Security guards were patrolling the area and guarding all entrances and exits. The place was under maximum security.
Wanda pulled out her compact and studied her face. Her lipstick was slightly smudged, but apart from that she decided that she looked relatively composed. That was good. Control was always important, but all her plans had been ruined. One of her guests had actually been poisoned. Now that was unusual. Wanda was not usually a curious person. Usually she only liked being given exact facts, but now she could feel the curiosity inside her. Those two strangers. Donna and the one who called himself the Doctor. What were they up to? Had they had anything to do with the poisoning? Wanda slowly walked back to the hotel, trying to gather her thoughts. She was determined to find out more about this Doctor and this Donna.
Back in the dining room, the nine remaining scientists were discussing the poisoning case excitedly. Donna had managed to get the Doctor's attention. He was frowning.
"There's something fishy going on," he said, studying the scientists.
"Who do you think did it?" asked Donna.
"No idea." The Doctor put on his reading glasses and sidled over to the poisoned scientist's place at the table. He sat down. "But I know one thing. We are the top suspects."
"What?!" Donna stifled a gasp. "But we only just arrived."
"Exactly." The Doctor picked up the man's half empty wine glass and sniffed it tentatively. "These men have been working for the committee for two weeks already, and nothing has gone wrong. Then along we come and BOOM! Someone gets poisoned. Also, we are meant to be working for Mr Lewis Klyne, and Mr Lewis Klyne gets poisoned the night we arrive."
"That was Lewis Klyne?" asked Donna in amazement. She sat down, stunned. Although she had been travelling with the Doctor for a long time, she sometimes got tired of the non-stop adventures that seemed to follow him everywhere. She had been hoping for a nice, quiet holiday, with flying cars and a nice hotel, but had ended up as a top suspect in an attempted murder.
The Doctor pulled out a thin, metal instrument, his sonic screwdriver. Pushing down a button, he shone a blue electric light on the wine. "Nothing in here," he concluded.
"Are you sure?" asked Donna suspiciously.
To prove his point, the Doctor lifted the glass and took a sip. "Nothing wrong with it. The poison must have been in his main meal. Apparently he hadn't eaten anything since an early lunch, which was a buffet with the other scientists. They're fine, so there wasn't anything in that."
"How are we going to get to his meal to test it?" queried Donna. "The waiters took all the plates away."
"We'll have to find the kitchen." The Doctor stood up and went out of the dining room, Donna following. After looking around, the Doctor discovered two large, double doors leading to the hotel kitchen, which was deserted. It was small and bare, with nothing but a big cupboard and a few extremely large ovens.
Donna went and opened the cupboard. It was full of tiny aluminium packets, each one no bigger than her thumb nail. They were labelled: Blueberry and caramel dessert, beef stew, oat and rice, etc. Donna shuddered at the thought of eating such soft pulp for every meal every day. She quickly closed the cupboard door. The Doctor was gone, but Donna noticed a small door leading outside. She went through it, glad that it had stopped raining, and found the Doctor rummaging through a large waste bin.
"What are you doing?" she asked in disgust.
"Looking for tonight's leftovers," came the reply.
"You look like a stray cat looking for his dinner," teased Donna. "There's NO WAY I'm sticking my hand in that bin."
The Doctor pulled out a plastic garbage bag. Ripping it open, he showed Donna crumpled aluminium bags and brown mess. "I think this was what we had tonight. Come and help me take each individual one out."
Wrinkling up her nose, Donna stuck her hands in the bag and helped to untangle the foil, laying each packet on the ground in a straight line. The Doctor opened one particularly full one. "Someone here didn't like their dinner," he said, pointing to the large quantity of food left. Donna smiled sheepishly. "That's mine. I found it a touch... modern."
The Doctor nodded understandingly. "Brilliant idea but not much choice in textures. Right, now we have 12 packets. Where's the last one?"
"The last one?" echoed Donna, puzzled. "But there were ten scientists and two of us so there should only be twelve."
"No," corrected the Doctor. "There should be thirteen. Remember, Wanda was eating in the same room, at her own table. She would have had a packet too, making thirteen serves altogether. Someone has taken one of the packets away."
"To remove evidence of poisoning?"
"Yes." The Doctor began throwing the packets back into the bag.
"What are you doing?" cried Donna. "Don't you have to analyse them?"
"There's no use now." The Doctor replaced the bag in the large metal bin and closed its lid. "All traces of poison are gone now, in that one packet of food, eaten by Mr Lewis Klyne."
Suddenly there were footsteps behind them. Donna swung round, and there was Wanda, with a funny, pasty look on her face. She was pointing a small gun at them. "Hands up," she commanded, in a strong, commanding voice.
The Doctor slowly lifted his hands, and Donna followed suit. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Have you gone mad?"
Wanda shook her head. "I think you have some explaining to do to the police. I, myself, will be able to sign a witness document stating that I saw you rummaging through the bins. Would you kindly tell me what you were looking for?"
"The poisoned food," answered the Doctor.
Wanda laughed. "The guilty one confesses. I knew what you were doing all along. You wanted to find the food and hide it so that no evidence of poison would be found."
"I didn't mean..." The Doctor started lowering his hands but lifted them up again as the gun was pointed straight at his chest.
"No playing around." Wanda pointed towards the hotel. "This way please."
With no choice, Donna and the Doctor were forced to walk, hands up, to the entrance of the hotel.
More to come...
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