Chapter Five
"Agreed," the Doctor said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to see more of the base before getting my equipment."
Commander Koldoff hesitated before giving a nod of approval to the soldiers and gesturing for the Doctor and his friends to follow. The Doctor walked alongside Koldoff, with Roland and Nyssa following behind him, the soldiers marching on either side of them. When they reached the center of what appeared to be a courtyard, Koldoff stopped and pointed at the tower by the gate they entered through.
"Six round-the-clock guards are posted in the tower that you passed as you came in," she began. "Each one has a two-hour shift before being interchanged with new guards. Their shifts change at different times so no movement outside the base goes undetected."
She turned around to face an L-shaped building that took up a large portion of the base. She pointed at the corner section of the building and continued her explanations. "That is the north bunker, where most of the soldiers sleep. To my left you will see another, smaller building. The middle sector is the west bunker, where the others sleep. Soldiers are awake for twelve of the twenty hours on Fortis, and their mealtimes are distributed evenly throughout the day according to their personal schedule. Should you happen to stay here overnight, you will each be given your own schedule and be expected to keep up with it."
Roland cringed at this and looked at the Doctor to see his reaction, but the Doctor's face was blank, listening intently to what Commander Koldoff had to say. Roland hoped they didn't have to stay more than a few hours. He never was good at keeping to schedules, and Koldoff was starting to get on his nerves.
"If it makes you feel any better, the Doctor usually fixes things quite quickly," Nyssa whispered, having noticed Roland's unhappy expression.
"Yeah, it does a little," Roland replied with a faint smile. "Thanks."
Koldoff pointed to her left at the end section of the L-shaped building. "That is the storage shed. Any supplies that you might need that you do not already have should be in there. The weapons are kept seperately in the armory, which is in the section beside the west bunker." She turned back to face the Doctor and pointed at a small, shack-like building in the middle of the courtyard. "This building is the mess. Food is served to each soldier according to their schedule. For now, you will follow my schedule."
"What's a mess?" Roland asked.
"A mess is like a kitchen, pantry and dining area all rolled into one," the Doctor explained. "Most military bases have them, although some have different names for them."
"Indeed," Koldoff nodded. "Now that you are familiar with our grounds, I will have soldiers escort you to get your equipment."
"Thank you, but first I have something I would like to say. I can't help but notice the layout of this base is poorly constructed. From what I can see your bunkers aren't large enough to hold all of your soldiers, and there's no second exit."
"We do not have the time or resources to expand our-"
"I suppose not, but your mess is... well, a mess. It should be where the armory is so soldiers would have to walk farther, giving them more exercise between meals; and if the armory were where the mess is, it would be easier to reach from all sides of the base. As it is now, hardly any of these soldiers are currently carrying weapons and almost all of them have been sneaking scraps between mealtimes."
Commander Koldoff gasped at the Doctor's audacity and looked around at the soldiers. Sure enough, one of the nearby soldiers perked up and hid something behind his back, his cheeks obviously stuffed with some sort of food.
"Doctor, I don't appreciate your rudeness, but I must say your observations are very true," Koldoff said as she approached the soldier. She snatched the object from behind his back and held it up to reveal a can of fruit. "Fruit is very hard to come by, soldier. You'll do extra time in the watchtower for this. From now on, I'll be posting guards by the mess to make sure nobody sneaks in between meals." She turned back to the Doctor and fiddled with the can as she spoke. "Now, Doctor, go and fetch your equipment. When you return you will join me in my office to discuss battle plans."
"Battle plans?" Nyssa repeated as she followed Roland and the Doctor to the Tardis. She spoke in a low voice so the soldiers escorting them wouldn't hear. "This doesn't seem like the sort of thing we'd normally do."
"You're right, Nyssa, it's not," the Doctor agreed. "But there's not much we can do about it. With or without us, Commander Koldoff would continue to fight the Enkavans, and at least this way we can be sure both sides will do minimal damage."
Roland listened curiously before interjecting. "What sort of thing do you normally do?" he asked.
"Well, to begin with, we don't kill unless we have to," Nyssa replied. "But it's not uncommon for us to save people from evil aliens and other horrific entities."
The Doctor pulled the Tardis keys from his pocket as they approached the door. He pushed the door open and spoke as he stepped inside. "I'm still not sure of the Enkavans intentions at this point, but if they do turn out to be 'evil', as you so bluntly put it, I have a plan. It requires turpentine- and lots of it."
"Turpentine?" Roland and Nyssa repeated in unison.
"Oh, of course," Nyssa said after some thought. "It will react with the acid in their bodies and cause them to combust."
"Exactly. Now all we have to do is find some." The Doctor swung open the door on the other side of the console room and hesitated before stepping through. He turned to the somewhat confused soldiers that were now gaping at the large, white interior of the ship and said, "Would you mind terribly waiting in here? I wouldn't want you to get lost in the hallways. It's happened before and I assure you it is an inconvenience nobody should have to bear."
The soldiers exchanged a concerned glance before answering the Doctor. "Nah, it's okay. You go on ahead, but don't be more than a few minutes, okay?" the tallest one said. The other one just stood there with a slightly open mouth as his face grew paler.
"Jolly good," the Doctor said with a smile as he passed through the door, Nyssa and Roland following close behind. The Doctor peered into nearly every door they passed until he found the one he was looking for. "Aha! There should be some turpentine in one of these barrels, but we'll have to be careful. It can be very dangerous if touched or inhaled, and I'm sure there are other hazardous materials in here as well."
"Are you sure it was a good idea to leave those soldiers behind?" Roland questioned. "They may have been able to help us carry it."
"Nonsense, if they had come back here they would have determined the Tardis to be a potential threat and confiscated it. They can help us carry the barrel once we're out of here."
Roland assisted the Doctor as he gingerly laid the barrel on its side and rolled it slowly down the corridor. Nyssa watched them to make sure they didn't go too fast or make any jerky movements. When they reached the console room, they stood the barrel back on its end and went back for another. They repeated this until six barrels were sitting by the console, heavily contrasting the bright room around them.
The Doctor realized they would need more men to carry the barrels and sent one of the soldiers back to the base. He turned to Roland and said, "I've been meaning to ask: Why do you and your friend want to time travel? You don't really seem like the adventurous type."
"I'm not, really," Roland sighed. "But she is. She wants to travel the universe more than anything. I haven't ever seen anyone with such a passion for it. It's sort of invigorating, watching her get excited about it. Makes me want to travel too."
"So you miss her then?" Nyssa asked.
"Oh, yes. She could have charmed Commander Koldoff into letting us run the base all by ourselves by now."
"In that case I wish she was here, too."