Ruth looked from the Doctor to Donna and back again.
"So what's happening?" she asked.
The Doctor was busy fiddling with controls, and answered her without looking up.
"We're in my TARDIS," he explained, "which is like a spaceship…"
"Well, I think she guessed that!" Donna interrupted him. "Just tell her what's happening!"
"As I was saying, we're in my TARDIS, and when I picked you up, I set her into orbit. It would seem that we were not alone up here. We've been intercepted." He pulled up a small monitor, and turned it so Ruth could see. Donna leaned in over her shoulder.
"We're on another ship, aren't we?" she demanded. "Marvellous! You've 'rescued' this little girl, only to get us all captured! Well done! I only wanted chips." She grumbled the last bit under her breath, but Ruth heard and backed off nervously. She had a feeling that this lady was as fiery as her hair, and that the lack of chips was somehow her fault; Ruth was generally a very good child, and didn't like the idea she might be in trouble for something. She felt the Doctor's hand on her shoulder and looked round.
"Don't worry," he whispered, "her bark's worse than her bite."
"I heard that!" Donna countered, and the Doctor hurriedly turned back to the monitor. It showed what was outside. They were in a huge, almost empty room- the dirty, grey wall was several feet away and there were pillars holding up a high ceiling. Dotted around were a few crates and what looked like engine parts.
"We appear to be in some sort of cargo hold," he explained to Ruth.
"Now, the question is, do we wait for our hosts to come and greet us, or shall we go for a little explore?"
Ruth looked horrified at the idea of going outside, but Donna was already holding the door open.
"Come on, then," she said. "Let's get this over with."
The Doctor and Donna stepped outside, but Ruth did not follow. She just hugged herself tightly and looked very small. The Doctor turned back to her and held out his hand.
"Come on," he said, "the safest place for you is wherever I am."
"I wouldn't…" Donna began, but a stern glance from her friend silenced her. "Yeah," she said instead. "Come with us. You'll be fine."
Ruth stepped outside and looked back. Her jaw dropped, astounded. She ran back into the TARDIS, then stepped out again, staring in amazement at the blue box.
"But…" she began.
"Yes?" the Doctor asked her, his eyes twinkling in amusement.
"Well, it's… it's…"
"Here we go," muttered Donna.
"Yes?" prompted the Doctor again.
"It's… smaller on the outside!" Ruth gasped. The Doctor threw his head back and roared his delight.
"Smaller on the outside!" he cried. "Yes, it is! Good for you! You'd be amazed at how few people have said that to me! Smaller on the outside! There you go Donna, that's today's generation for you- thinking outside the box!" and he laughed some more at his joke. Donna just shook her head and took Ruth's hand and the three of them walked towards the nearest door.
Anesh looked up from the monitor where he had been watching the three companions as they left their strange blue box. The woman leaned in for a look and frowned.
"Who are these people?" she asked of him. He shrugged.
"I don't know." His voice was hoarse and sibilant. "Thiss man appeared, ssnatched the child, dissappeared. The woman I have not sseen. They inssult me, walking through my sship ass though they own it!"
"And they will be punished," the woman assured him. "Make sure they all find their way to me in the laboratory."
"Ass you wissh," the Raptarnok responded, but she had already marched off the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and his companions had reached another doorway at the end of another long, white corridor. Ruth had become completely disorientated by the long succession of corridors and doors, each of which the Doctor had managed to open in short order. With a flourish, he whipped out his sonic screwdriver and got to work on this latest lock. Within seconds, the chrome door swished back to allow them through.
"That was easy," observed Donna.
"Mmm. Too easy." The Doctor frowned, but he walked through the door. Donna and Ruth followed, although Ruth did so very hesitantly.
This doorway simply revealed another white corridor with five more chrome doorways at regular intervals. It reminded Ruth of a bank of lifts she had seen in an American skyscraper on the telly. The Doctor was already trying the lock of the nearest door, which remained resolutely shut. Shrugging, he tried the second and third doors to no avail. The fourth, however, was open within seconds, while the final door again refused to open.
"That's weird," the Doctor mused.
"Why aren't there aliens or soldiers or something coming to get us?" Donna demanded. "Wherever we've been, we've always had some sort of reception committee, and not usually friendly, I have to say; so where are they?"
"Quite. And I'm not the one opening these doors," the Doctor admitted. "It's like we're being shown the way."
"I want to go back," Ruth said suddenly. "I don't like it. I want to go home." She turned to go but the door leading back closed in front of her, blocking her way. Now the only way they could go was onwards, through the fourth of the elevator doors, for that was indeed what they were.
The moment all three were inside, the door slid shut and they began to move. Ruth could tell by the sudden downwards lurch of her tummy that the lift was going up and clung anxiously to Donna's hand, wide-eyed and trembling slightly. The lift stopped moving as abruptly as it began, and the door opened without delay, and they stepped into not another corridor, but a large room. The lift doors swished shut behind them.
This room kept to the white and chrome colour scheme. In the centre, and going down the length, was a long work bench, on which was strewn various tools and instruments that Ruth imagined could be found in some sort of futuristic science laboratory. They were all made of chrome, and shone in pristine condition, as though they were meant to look showy rather than to be used. The worktop, like everything else on the ship so far, was white, with chrome sides, and there were chrome stools spaced along one side. What drew Ruth's eye, though, was the row of cages along the wall to her left, and more specifically, their inhabitants.
"Oh, my," whispered the Doctor, transfixed.
The cages each bore a person, some young, some older, and they all stared back at the newcomers with a look of desperation in their eyes. Ruth stepped further into the lab and walked along the row of cages, gazing at each in turn. There were five cages in total, but the last one was empty. The other four occupants watched Ruth sadly as she passed them. The first cage held a surly looking teenaged boy, while the next two each held a young woman. Some of them were thin and dirty and Ruth had the feeling they had been there a long time. In the fourth cage, a thin young man in a dirty Post Office uniform reached out to clutch at her sleeve.
"Ruthie?" he asked, querulously. "That's never little Ruthie?"
This was just too much, and Ruth screamed. The man drew back, wincing, and the Doctor hurried forward to put a protective arm around his young charge.
"Who are you?" he demanded of the man, but there was no reply.
"Do you know him?" the Doctor asked Ruth. She just shook her head, staring wide-eyed at the man who knew her name.
"His name," said a voice, "is Mark Anderson, and Ruth most certainly does know him." The Doctor and Ruth wheeled around to see that a woman had entered through another doorway and was pointing a gun in Donna's direction. With the gun, she gestured that Donna should join her friends. For once, Donna was silent, but she went to stand in front of Ruth, as if to protect her.
The woman looked about forty. She was short and stocky with thick glasses and lank greying hair. She wore a crisp white lab coat but still managed to look unkempt, somehow. Her eyes glinted malevolently, magnified by the lenses, and she regarded Ruth, who was peering out from between the Doctor and Donna, with pure hatred.
"Tell them who Mark Anderson is," the woman instructed her. Ruth made to squeeze through the gap, but the Doctor held her back with his arm. Like Donna, his first concern seemed to be to provide a physical barrier between Ruth and the gun.
"Um, why don't you put the gun down first?" he suggested. "You're making me nervous, and there's no way I'm allowing my young friend to talk to you while it's aimed at us. It's downright rude, if you ask me."
"I wasn't asking you," snapped the woman. "You're rude, interfering in my business, snooping round where you're not wanted."
"Ah, well, that's what I do, you see. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Doctor, and this is Donna. Our young friend here you seem to have met, so you have the advantage of us. And you are…?"
The woman lowered the gun, but she did not put it away or shake the Doctor's outstretched hand.
"My name is Fiona Higgins," she replied, still glaring past the Doctor at Ruth, who was open mouthed. "That's Fat Fiona, Freaky Fiona, and Frog-face Fiona to the likes of young Ruth, here."
"No," whispered Ruth, "Fiona's in the year above me at school. She's only twelve. You're not her- how can you be?"
"Oh, dear," said the Doctor. "You've come back in time, haven't you? What do you want, Fiona?"
Fiona raised the gun once more.
"I want all three of you in that cage," she said, gesturing. "I'm afraid it'll be a bit cramped, but I was only expecting the one guest."
Behind her, the gecko lizard creature that had chased Ruth earlier entered the lab. He whispered something in Fiona's ear, and she whispered back. Then the creature moved forward to push the three captives into the cage. Before he did so, he frisked each of them in turn. With Fiona's gun still trained on them, they did not dare resist. The Doctor tried not to show his dismay as it found and removed his sonic screwdriver. From Donna it took a mobile phone, then it turned to Ruth. She didn't wait to be frisked and instead turned out her pockets, offering the beast a pebble, some leaves and a sticky Kitkat wrapper which enfolded an old and well-chewed wad of gum. The creature wrinkled its nose in a very human gesture of disgust and took the items carefully in its claws, trying not to touch the wrapper too much.
"How ssweet," it hissed at Ruth, breathing a foul stench over her as it did so. She backed off quickly, seeking the relative safety of the cage. The Doctor and Donna were not so easily intimidated, and had to be pushed roughly before they would comply. The sound of Fiona clicking the safety catch off the gun sped them up somewhat. As soon as they were securely locked in, Fiona clicked the safety back on and pocketed the gun once more.
"I have some urgent business to attend to," she said. "I'll deal with you later. Come, Anesh," she addressed the creature, and within a moment they were gone, leaving the prisoners alone once more.