Chapter 5

The taxi dropped the two ladies off in front of a building with a green moon on the side, a hospital.

"How about I waive the fare for you beautiful ladies?" said the driver.

"Thanks. I appreciate it," the Doctor said with a smile as the taxi drove off. Jennifer snorted in laughter.

"What?"

"He was flirting with you the whole time!" Jennifer said.

"I think I'd know if he was flirting with me," the Doctor said, which caused Jennifer to burst out laughing.

"What's so funny, eh?"

"You're so stupid sometimes; he was totally flirting with you!"

"Anyways, I've been getting a message from someone telling me to come here, to ward 53," the Doctor said as they entered the building. "Of course, last time I was in a New Earth hospital, they were breeding humans for experimentation."

"Oh my god…"

"Of course, that was a thousand years ago. I stopped the practice, but the cures were simply reverse-engineered so they wouldn't die out. I couldn't stop that."

"As long as the humans they experimented on weren't dying for nothing, I suppose, right?"

"I suppose. It's still horrific. Ward 53 thanks," the Doctor said as she and Jennifer entered the lift.

"Watch out for the disinfectant, by the way," she added.

"Commence Stage One disinfection," said a voice in the elevator before water treated with a disinfecting agent poured down on the two. The Doctor seemed unfazed but Jennifer screamed from the cold temperature of the water hitting her.

"Told you," mocked the Doctor.

"Commence Stage Two disinfection," said the voice as the water stopped and a gust of warm air acting as a blow dryer shot at them and the two started making sure the air dried their clothes, the Doctor even lifting her blue frock coat to dry out the inside. The lift opened as soon as they were dry, and they walked to ward 53.

"Do you even know why we're here?" Jennifer asked.

"No, but I've got a bad feeling," the Doctor answered before they entered the ward. They were immediately greeted by one of the nurses, a humanoid cat.

"Hello, my name is Dr. Casp, May I help you?"

"Ah, yes, we're looking for someone in this ward but we're not sure who," the Doctor said. She pulled out her psychic paper, and it had written on it the word 'end.'

"But I think they're at the end of the ward," she added.

"Right this way," said Dr. Casp, leading the two ladies to the end of the ward.

"Doctor, you've got a new face," said a figure in a bed on the right at the end. The Doctor recognized those eyes immediately.

"So do you, Rani."

"Female this time, eh, Doctor? Just like the Corsair when she died," said the Rani, who was ginger and wearing a hospital gown.

"Aw, how come you get to be ginger and I'm just…" the Doctor tugs at a strand of her hair. "…brown?"

"How come you get a new regeneration cycle and I don't? Last I saw you you were on your seventh life, a short, daft man with an umbrella shaped like a question mark, and now you're on your fifteenth. How fair is that?"

"Talk to me on your thirteenth life, Rani. What'd you call me here for?"

"To warn you, I suppose. The Daleks are coming. They're going to invade New Earth. I saw it with my own eyes, tried to stop it myself, seeing as they tried to shoot me out of the sky, but one of them shot me so I ran to my TARDIS and regenerated. I'm only here to recover," the Rani said before breathing out a bit of glittering gold energy.

"Well, do you know when?" Jennifer asked.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Jennifer Dunst of UNIT in the year 2014."

"Oh, a military woman, eh? You sure know how to pick 'em, Doctor."

"Oh, shut up and answer her question."

"Tomorrow around midday. Heard it from the Daleks myself," said the Rani. "By the way, have you heard anything of the Master recently?"

"Yeah, I have."

"Where is he, do you know?"

"Dead. He died after I defeated him, stopped him from bringing Gallifrey back next to Earth. That was four lives ago," the Doctor said.

"Ah. I see. Where's Gallifrey now?"

"Trapped in another universe. Anyways, changing the subject, we need to mount a defense against the Daleks. About how long do you reckon until you're okay to help?"

"A few more hours, I suppose?" the Rani said. "But who says I'm helping you?"

"I do. Or I'll drop you off where you were meant to serve out your exile in the first place, Rani."

"Fine. I'll help as soon as I'm okay, in about… Nurse, how long did you say?"

"Four hours," said the nurse that was watching over the ward. "That should be about how long until your regeneration is complete."

"See you in four hours, Doctor."

"Okay, tomorrow. That's when the Daleks are arriving. At least, according to the Rani. Mind you, she's not very trustworthy," said the Doctor as she and Jennifer left the ward and into the lift.

"So what are we going to do, Doctor?"

"Well, we can mount a defense force, but the locals would never believe us, they believe the Daleks died out billions of years ago," the Doctor said.

"Convince them? Use the Romi-"

"Rani."

"Sorry, the Rani to convince them. She saw them."

"She is one Time Lord. It takes more than that to help save a whole planet from a fleet of Dalek ships."

"I need Captain Jack, he knows guns better than me, but I can't drag him into this, he doesn't deserve it."

"I know guns. I work for UNIT, remember? Even those who work on cover-ups have to wield a gun every now and then."

"Are you able to get guns?"

"I don't know maybe we can build a gun of some sort, or brew some Nitro-9? I had a friend, well; an adult friend, back in the 90's who taught me how to brew it. Her name was Ace," Jennifer said.

"Ace? Ace McShane from Perivale?" The Doctor said.

"Yeah… Why?"

"She travelled with me in my seventh life! She would brew Nitro-9 no matter how many times I told her not to."

"Has she ever killed Daleks with it?"

"Yep. Blew a bunch of them up with one can. She then proceeded to beat one up with a souped-up baseball bat," the Doctor said.

"Anyways, do you have the stuff?"

"Yep."

"Let's get started, then," Jennifer said with a smile. The Doctor and Jennifer caught a taxi back to where the TARDIS was parked.