Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. this story is based on the Doctor Who characters and universe.
Science Assassin: Chapter seven
"Two failed murders, one successful murder," the Doctor mumbled, biting into a cookie.
Donna had been pleased to see that morning tea was served as 'old fashioned' food for a change. Her stomach had rumbled at the sight of fresh biscuits, tea and cold milk, as well as dainty little cream cakes. She was getting tired of chips, and ate enthusiastically.
"And you know what Donna? I think this assassin has a sense of humour."
"You do?" Donna took a fourth cream cake. "I don't see anything funny about pushing someone of a balcony 300 feet high."
"315.9 feet high," corrected the Doctor. "You weren't listening to Wanda's speech. Anyway, I didn't mean that. Think about it. The assassin tried to kill Klyne with rat poison, and he had invented a super strong rat poison before. Now, Sam Apricot is killed when he hits the ground, and all his bones are completely broken. Yesterday, you told me that Sam Apricot was famous for inventing a cure for broken bones."
"Oh!" Donna dropped her cake. "That's disgusting. We never suspected the assassin might work like that. Killing people and teasing them about their inventions at the same time." Suddenly, her appetite seemed to have disappeared.
"I know. Is that just a coincidence? If not, that's very useful to us, because we can guess what their next move will be. Think about how all the others might be killed."
Donna thought about it, and shuddered. "But how come you were attacked with a flying knife? You didn't invent knives."
The Doctor shrugged. "I'm an unknown, so the assassin simply turned to a good old-fashioned method. Whoever it was is good at knife throwing though. The precision with which they tossed that knife! I was lucky my shoe lace was undone. Thank you shoe lace!" He bent down and patted his shoe. Donna sighed.
"Come on Doctor, be serious. What is the assassin going to try next? They could get at anyone. Mr Hue, Sir Robert, anyone. And we have to stop them."
"I know. That is why I brought this!" the Doctor held up a small, metal box with blinking lights. "I picked this up from the TARDIS that first night and have been keeping it in my room, but now I'll have to use it."
"What is it?" asked Donna, turning the device over in her hands. The Doctor began a string of scientific words and explanation. Donna scowled. "Can I have that in English please?"
"Sorry. Basically it tells me if there are any life forms other than humans within 10 feet. This green light shows that there are humans, and exactly how many. If a non-human comes, this little red light will beep."
"Why is it beeping now?"
"Oops! That's me. As a time lord I'm not human. I'll fix that." Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he adjusted some settings and then worked with the machine. Eventually, the red light switched off. "Now it will pick up any life forms other than humans and time lords."
"What if the assassin's a time lord?"
"Donna." The Doctor frowned. "You know that I'm the last remaining time lord."
Now it was Donna's turn to apologise as she saw the hurt look on the Doctor's face. Then the doors to the dining room swung open and Wanda walked in. "The board room is ready. Please follow me."
Soon, the whole committee was assembled in a small, square room, covered in thick metal which was a few feet thick. Wanda explained that it was completely sound-proof, and that there was no way anyone could see or hear what was being discussed inside. She told the committee that they had 2 hours before lunch, and then left, shutting the heavy door behind her. The Doctor locked and barred it from the inside.
Donna looked around. There was nothing in the room except a table and 9 chairs. Everyone, including the Doctor, sat down, and she was left standing.
"Where do I sit?" she whispered to the Doctor.
"Nowhere. As my assistant, you have to stand and take notes for me. And be grateful. I had the hardest time getting them to agree to let you in here during the meeting."
He handed Donna his notebook and pencil. Scowling, she stood attentively behind his chair. Sir Robert was at the head of the table. He was obviously in charge, being the person who first discovered the motroids.
"Good morning everyone. Thank you for attending this meeting. I just remind you again that everything discussed in this room is top secret and must not be revealed to anyone. To the young lady taking notes, I just remind you that all pieces of information are to be handed to me afterwards and stored in the sealed safe in my room." Donna nodded.
"Now," continued Sir Robert. "I am sure you all know why we are here. We have to discuss the designing and construction of the proposed space planet of the motroids. You all know the story of the motroids, and how they are using far too much on earth, and are dragging humans down into lower ranks. This cannot be allowed to happen. There are rumours that motroids want to send all humans away, keeping earth for themselves. That would be terrible. The agreement was that they could stay here as guests, and we could study Mars and its dusts. Those studies have concluded, because Mr Hew has found a new element, X-rock, which has all the benefits of Martian dust and more! But as you know, the motroids are no longer able to survive Martian conditions, and they continue to slowly take over more and more of our earth. They have already conquered Antarctica, and are preventing all research missions there. They have used up 78 percent of our coal, not only for this year but for the next 10 years as well. America is struggling. Even worse, motroids have taken over the army base in Australia, and are controlling the whole of Tasmania and Victoria, shutting out humans. This is getting too much. All they want is space and power, and we humans must not give up easily to them."
Mr Mckenzie spoke up. "Where do you propose to put this planet?"
Sir Robert had brought in a briefcase, and he pulled out a large plan of the solar system. The Doctor put on his glasses and leaned forward. "Donna, please sketch a brief copy of this map." Sir Robert nodded approvingly. Donna sighed, and stared at the mess of lines, circles and numbers scattered on the page. It looked like gibberish to her. Taking a fresh page, she tried to copy a few of the darker, bolder lines and planets. She was angry at the Doctor. Did he really expect her to copy all of that?
Suddenly, a soft beeping echoed around the room. The Doctor quickly drew out his little machine.
"Is that a bomb? Asked Arthur Dales, the young scientist.
"No," said the Doctor. "It traces life forms other than humans."
The scientists all tried to look at the instrument at once. Donna could see the little red light beeping quickly. The Doctor turned to her. "Donna, it says here that there is one other life form other than us within 10 feet."
He turned it over and flipped open a section of the machine to reveal a small screen and a few buttons. His fingers flew over the buttons, pressing them in different combinations as he read bits of information on the screen.
"What is he doing?" asked Fred Colle.
"No idea," replied Gus Roland.
"Donna!" cried the Doctor in amazement. "There's a motroid nearby!"
Donna shrugged. "So? They could just be walking past outside."
"No, no, no, no! According to this, there's a motroid inside the walls!"
More to come...
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