Chapter Sixteen

I Didn't Do It

I walked through the crowds of the massive plaza, feeling quite thankful that the crowds weren't too dense. I had plenty of room to move around. I honestly didn't know what Michelle Connor looked like, which made it difficult. I didn't know what she looked like beyond her being human. I let out a sigh before approaching a random alien. This one looked like a bipedal housecat, which I found to be quite odd, but that was just me.

"Excuse me," I said, trying to get the bipedal feline's attention, "but have you seen a human girl running around in early twenty-first century clothing?"

"Do you have any details other than that?" he asked.

"Well, she'd be speaking twenty-first century English. No clue how different that'd be to what we're speaking now," I stated, "I failed my History of English class in school."

"It's almost a completely different language," he stated kindly, "if that's all she speaks, she is probably quite scared."

"Yes. And she's very lost," I replied with a frown, "and that's why I'm looking for her."

"I wish you luck," he stated with a smile.

"Thanks," I said before walking out of the plaza, following the foot paths with a frown.

I heard my cell phone ring and I answered it without thinking, "Yeah'llo."

"Any luck?" I heard the Doctor ask.

"Big ol' nada," I muttered with a sigh, "checked in with Clara yet?"

"She hasn't had much luck either," he stated.

"Are you absolutely sure that the TARDIS was right in that she's here?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," he said with a heavy sigh, "we just need to keep looking before something bad happens."

"What happened to 'don't worry'?"

"Something bad always happens," he stated, "I'm just hoping that our luck holds out long enough to find her and leave."

"But then it means leaving people who may need your help," I stated.

"Please don't," he stated, "I'll check in again in about…twenty minutes from now."

"Gotcha," I stated, hanging up and sliding the phone back into my pocket as I looked around, finding that I was in an open-air market.

I looked around with a big grin on my face as I perused the market, only looking since the Doctor hadn't given me his credit chip. I'd never been in an open-air marketplace before. I'd gone to malls and grocery stores and farmer's markets, but they all had been in buildings. This was open to the sky apart from the umbrellas and tapestries which were hung over the stalls to keep the sun off of the wares and the merchants. The new experiences made me both happy and excited, reminding me why I always wanted to travel.

"What's that?" I asked the merchant, pointing at a swath of fabric which was a hue closer to green than blue.

"Lavarian silk, miss," the merchant replied with a grin, "it's well known for being able to keep those who wear it at their most comfortable temperature."

"Wow," I said in amazement, "how exactly does that work? I can see how it could keep people cool by being light, breathable, and able to shield the wearer from the sun, but I can't imagine how it could keep anyone warm."

The merchant, a man who looked to be in his thirties smiled to me kindly, clearly impressed with my question. He gave off this feeling of being completely harmless as he lifted the swath of fabric which was folded into a six-inch square. I could see the sheen of the fabric as it moved.

"It's the fibers, miss," he said with a grin, "the fibers of the Lavarian Silk Spider has the natural ability to remember the wearer's skin temperature to the point of keeping it stable regardless of the outside temperature."

"That sounds incredible," I said in awe before remembering my mission, "by the way, sir, have you seen a girl around my age wearing early twenty-first century clothing and speaking twenty-first century English go past here? She's lost and I'm trying to find her. She's a classmate of mine and I don't really know her. My teacher sent me to look for her before our ship leaves."

"I'm sorry, miss," the merchant said, "but I wish you luck."

"Thanks," I said, turning to walk away.

"Miss," the merchant said, calling out to me, "take this in good luck."

"Really?" I asked, seeing that he held the swath of silk out to me with a grin.

"It would be my honor if this gave you good luck and helped you in your search. I pray that you leave before things get worse here," the merchant said.

"What do you mean?" I asked, accepting the cloth.

"There are protests daily. It's feared that there would be an uprising any day now. Many of us merchants are leaving at day's end," he said, looking worried.

"What year is it, by any chance?" I asked, frightened that the Doctor may have been both right and wrong.

"Thirty-four fifty-six," he said before asking, "wouldn't you know that?"

"It's hard keeping track of time when you're hopping from planet to planet," I stated, "especially with the distances and the amount of time it takes."

"But we base our calendar on Earth's orbit," he said.

"I failed basic timekeeping in school," I muttered sourly.

"You'll get the hang of it," he said, sympathetically.

"Thanks," I said with a grateful smile as I continued to walk through the market, placing the fabric in my messenger bag.

I sat on a bench which circled a fountain at the end of the market. It looked identical to the first water fountain I saw when I arrived here, but instead of it being one rose, it was a bouquet of roses and it was much larger. I took out my cell phone and selected the number stored as "Doctor". I pressed the call button and held it up to my ear as I kept my breathing even. One ring. I knew just what I was going to tell him. Second. He better pick up or else my yelling at him would last far longer. By not picking up, he wasn't doing himself any favors.

"Hello, Olmstead! I was just about to check in with you!" he said happily, sounding like a hyperactive and giddy child.

"Loco go tsao de baka! Wuh de ma! Do you know how much drek we're in, you bagbiting buffoon!" I shouted right into the receiving end of the cell phone.

"OW!" I heard him shout, "that hurt. Were all those curses really necessary?"

"Yes! Yes they were, you liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze!"

"Are you done cursing?" he asked with a sigh, sounding annoyed.

"I think I got it all out of my system," I stated, feeling calmer, "I just hope you know what year this is."

"I just heard," I heard him say, "which means we need to look harder so we could get out of history's way before everything boils over."

"I just hope you know that if I bite the big one, I'm going to haunt you!"

"If only I could be so lucky," I heard him mutter before saying, "Let's just keep going and hope for the best."

"I don't think we should split up like this," I stated, "I've seen TPKs happen just like this in Shadowrun."

"We're running out of time. Just take care of yourself and keep in touch. If anything happens and you need help, just call if you can," he stated, "I may have to interfere if things get bad."

"Don't worry, chummer, I'm a big girl. I can handle myself," I stated, "check in with me in about a half an hour?"

"Sounds good," he stated quietly before hanging up.

"Now to get back to looking around," I muttered to myself as I continued my search through the marketplace when shouting and screaming was heard, coming from the plaza.

Should I run towards a situation which could be a life and death situation or run away from it? I knew that I wanted to make sure that Michelle Connor wasn't involved, but also, I didn't want to lose my life quite yet. I made a run for it, running the opposite direction from the plaza, seeing a froglike alien appear in front of me with a gun-like weapon pointed directly at me.

"Stop right there, human scum!" it shouted, firing as to miss me by a very small margin.

I stopped in my tracks, holding my hands up in surrender. 'If I get out of this, I am so going to make the Doctor give me a calm vacation,' I thought to myself as I stared at the alien in fear. I hoped that I was going to make it out of this situation.

"Stopping!" I exclaimed, "don't shoot me! You've got no reason to shoot me. I'm not even a local!"

"You will be silent and hand over your communication device!" the alien demanded.

I clamped my mouth shut and handed him my cell phone. If I hadn't been so scared for my life, I'd have demanded to have it back after he got done with it. He looked at it confusedly before looking back at me.

"You will contact a friend of yours and then hand it over to me."

I merely hit the redial button and handed the phone over. He could talk to the Doctor. It might be worth a few laughs as I knew that Mr. Alien-Time-Traveler could mentally run circles around this schmuck. Even if I'd get killed because of it, at least I caused this jerkwad some annoyance. I watched as the froglike alien hold the phone near his head.

"Silence, human scum! I have your woman here and if you ever have any wish to see her unharmed, you will do as I say!" the alien demanded.

A long silence was heard and I figured that the Doctor had a good amount to say to my captor. He seemed to be as long-winded as his previous form as I watched my captor almost glower from the Doctor's rant.

"I don't care how similar or different you are to humans! You are exothermic! I don't care! Just tell the Oversight Council that we are now taking back our world! If they fail to give into our demands, we will start killing humans! Understood, Time Lord?" the alien exclaimed, finally snapping.

Another long silence as I guessed that the Doctor was speaking. I frowned to myself, realizing that I probably missed out on a fairly epic speech. I wondered what was going to happen. I had no control over the situation. At least until I could weasel my way out.

"I will allow you to speak with her," the alien said before handing me the phone.

"Are you okay, Olmstead?" he asked, obviously concerned.

"For the time being. Is Clara okay?" I asked.

"I'm catching up to her and then we're going to end this before anyone dies," he stated before asking, "do you trust me?"

"I trust you as far as getting me out of this," I stated.

"Just play along with them and buy us some time," he stated.

"Don't worry about me," I said, "I'll be fine."

"Call me later when you can," he said before hanging up.

~Author's Note~

I made it clear that Lisa is an absolute geek who's seen far too much sci-fi. I figured because of that mixed with adopting words from other languages to use as swear words, when she gets really infuriated, she has some very colorful (and multi-lingual) insults to throw. I'll list every word and phrase which I don't expect you guys to know at the end of the chapter (she uses gamer and techie slang too). She's especially miffed at the Doctor, as you could tell because of her cursing.

Loco = Spanish for "crazy"

Go tsao de = Mandarin (yay for Firefly!) for "dog humping"

Baka = Japanese for "idiot" or "fool

Wuh de ma = Mandarin for "mother of God"

Drek = Shadowrun slang for excrement

Bagbiting = Having the quality of a bagbiter, someone or something that has failed or causes trouble (intentionally or not).

Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze = Mandarin for "Stupid son of a drooling (curse redacted) and a monkey."

Chummer = Shadowrun slang for "buddy" which is also synonymous with "shark bait".