Chapter Three

"Aaah, Popo Twelve, isn't it beautiful?" the Doctor asked Amy and Rory as they walked through a large bazaar.

The three of them had come to the planet located in the Crab Nebula for a bit of shopping and some rest. The bazaar was huge, so huge they couldn't see the end of it from where they were standing. The wooden and metal booths were packed inside a vast field of orange grass. The wind was blowing gently, stirring the multicolored blankets and tapestries that covered the sides and tops of the booths. Inside the booths, aliens of every description were yelling to other aliens, hawking their wares as they tried to persuade people to come to their booth.

"Aliens from all over the universe come here to trade and barter," the Doctor said, gesturing to the booths in front of them. "It's sort of like one big alien flea market. Anything you can dream of and some things you probably never thought of are for sale here."

"That's all I needed to know! See you later," Amy said to the Doctor and Rory.

Carrying a credit stick that the Doctor provided her, she wandered over to the nearest booth and perused some silver and gold jewelry while a goat faced humanoid spoke to her. Rory looked at the Doctor, shrugged and he parted ways with his friend. As Rory walked past the booths, he could see a city in the distance just beyond the field. Most of the city was made of steel frames with glass windows that caught the light of the sun high above them. Rory stopped to admire the view. Sometimes he hated traveling with the Doctor, especially when they were being menaced by monsters and evildoers but then there were moments like this that took his breath away and made the bad things seem small in comparison. He was staring at the city when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw a female cat humanoid. The cat faced woman had pumpkin colored fur and deep green eyes. She had long black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing what looked like a white sari. On her wrists were several gold bracelets that jangled against one another as she moved her arms around.

"Haven't seen you here before," she said as she looked him over.

"No, this is my first time here," Rory said. "I came here with some friends to do some shopping."

"What's your name?" she asked him.

"Rory. Yours?"

"Lurlana," she said, coming closer to him.

Rory froze when he stared into her green eyes. He could see the interest on her face and heard a soft purr coming from her throat. He gave her a smile.

"Look, um, I'm married," he said, showing her his wedding ring.

"So am I," Lurlana said softly as she stroked Rory's cheek. "But that doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun with a handsome man like you. You're a human, aren't you? Never had a human before."

"Yeah, well, I don't feel like cheating on my wife, sorry," Rory said, trying to back away from her.

"It's not cheating, just a bit of good natured fun, little hairless ape," Lurlana said as her purr grew louder. "What your mate doesn't know won't hurt her."

"Look, back off, alright? My friend is not someone you wanna muck with," Rory said, trying to back away.

Lurlana followed him, a predatory look on her face. Rory tried to whirl around and run but Lurlana grabbed his arm, jerked him around and seized his face, giving him a deep kiss. Rory grunted when she pinned his arms to his side as she wrapped her arms around his body and he prayed Amy wasn't watching. He breathed a sigh of relief when he felt a hand on his shoulder. But when he looked over his shoulder, he stiffened when he saw a panther head, jet black fur and yellow eyes that glared menacingly at him while he growled deep in his throat. Rory, guessing who it might be, cleared his throat.

"Look, I wasn't doing anything with your wife," he said to the man as he noticed the long, sharp claws on the large hand that was still resting on Rory's shoulder. "She chatted me up and the next thing I knew, she grabbed me and kissed me. I have no interest in her, honestly."

"I don't like people kissing my Lurlana!" the panther man growled at him.

"She kissed me!" Rory squeaked. "I'm happily married, I don't even want her! Please, this doesn't have to get violent."

Rory gasped when the man jerked him away from Lurlana and hoisted him up over his massive, muscular shoulder like a sack of potatoes. While Lurlana begged her husband to spare him, Rory looked up and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Doctor calmly walked towards him.

"Excuse me!" the Doctor called out as Amy tore her attention away from the jewelry and hurried after him. "I don't know what's going on here, but that's my friend and I want you to put him down this instant!"

"Please, I like him," Lurlana begged her husband. "Can't I have him as a pet?"

"No! I told you before to stop cheating on me!" the panther man growled.

"Doctor, help!" Rory said to the Doctor who was now walking around the panther to the front.

"Look, mate," the Doctor said, getting in between him and Lurlana while Amy ran up to his side. "There's been a mistake, alright? Put him down and let's discuss this amicably."

He grunted when the panther backhanded him across the face, sending him to the ground.

"Oi, there's no need for…"

Amy was stopped mid-sentence when the panther man shoved her roughly to the ground.

"I'll teach you to cheat on me!" the panther man yelled at Lurlana before he took off running towards the city.

"Bugger! Come on, Pond!" the Doctor said as he and Amy got to their feet and took off after him.

They tried to keep up with the panther man but his muscular body allowed him to pull ahead. Still, Amy and the Doctor kept on running while Rory tried to wiggle out of the man's grasp and escape. While they ran, the Doctor pulled out his screwdriver and aimed it at the panther man. When he turned it on, the sonic vibrations hurt the panther's sensitive ears and he roared in pain while he tried to cover them with his hands. Once he let go, Rory slid down off his body and began to run towards the city.

"Get back here!" the panther man roared at Rory as he kept his hands over his ears and gave chase.

Rory weaved in and out of the booths as panicked people scattered. The panther man pushed people out of the way, roaring with fury at Rory while the Doctor and Amy tried to keep up. Rory gasped and panted and put on a fresh burst of speed when he finally saw the edge of the field. A moment later, he left the field and ran down an alleyway while the panther man tried to overtake him. Amy and the Doctor lagged behind so by the time they reached the alley, nearly out of breath, they couldn't see either of them.

"Where'd they go?" Amy panted as she and the Doctor tried to keep their exhausted bodies going.

"Dunno, but I'm willing to bet we can follow the cat man's angry roars," the Doctor gasped as he held his aching side.

They reached the end of the alley and looked around. There were several aliens walking on the pavement in front of them but no sign of Rory or the cat man. Then about a block up the street, they saw the panther carrying Rory's limp body over his shoulder as he ran into a large glass building.

"Come on! No time to lose!" the Doctor said to Amy as they took off after him.

By the time they reached the building, the panther was already inside. Through the glass they saw them laying Rory inside a large, metal, oval tub that had a metal pipe above it that reached up into the ceiling. When they went inside, they noticed they were in some sort of work room and the smell of burning sulfur assaulted their nostrils. They noticed that they were doing some kind of smelting and to Amy's horror, the panther flung her husband's body in the tub.

"No!" Amy screamed as she and the Doctor put on a fresh burst of speed.

But before they could stop them, the panther man pulled a lever and liquid metal poured into the tub. The Doctor grabbed a nearby metal pipe and when the man turned, he smashed it upside his head, knocking him out. The Doctor flipped the lever but by then Rory's body was beneath the molten metal. Fighting the bile that was coming to his throat, the Doctor tried to calm Amy down as he turned a metal wheel and drained the molten metal out. When the liquid metal was gone, they peered in, figuring they would see Rory's charred remains but to their surprise, they saw a flesh colored puddle of goo across the bottom of the tub.

"What is that? Where's Rory?" Amy said as she looked inside.

"Dunno, but this stuff looks like…plastic," the Doctor said.

He and Amy exchanged a glance.

"Plastic?" Amy said. "I thought when the universe was restored; I changed Rory back to a…human."

"So did I," the Doctor said as he did a scan with his sonic screwdriver and read the findings. "But this is definitely plastic. Rory's been an Auton all along and we never suspected it."

"Well, isn't there a way to…restore him?" Amy said frantically.

"I don't know how. I'm afraid Rory has melted and…"

As he was speaking, the Doctor looked over Amy and froze. Amy noticed the stunned expression and turned. Her mouth dropped open when they saw Rory walking towards him. Amy let out a cry of relief and ran to him.

"Rory? How? We thought you were an auton and melted in this tub thing," Amy said, hugging him tightly.

"No, I made a switch. That wasn't me," Rory said.

"It wasn't? Sure looked like ya," Amy said as the Doctor came up beside them.

"That's because…"

Rory trailed off and stared at the floor.

"Because what?" the Doctor prompted.

Rory muttered something under his breath that they couldn't understand while he stared at the floor. Amy narrowed her eyes.

"What? I didn't get that," Amy said.

Rory sighed and looked at her.

"I used a blow up doll in place of me," Rory said.

"What? That wasn't a blow up doll, it looked exactly like ya," Amy said.

Rory beckoned to them and the Doctor and Amy followed him out the door. Rory pointed to a building across the street that was cattycorner from them. Amy's eyes widened when she saw a small glass and steel building. She could see a small black metal door in the front and above the door was an enormous sign that was at least 10 feet across. Inside the sign were blinking red neon letters. The sign read.

BUBBA'S BLOW UP DOLL-O-RAMA.

CUSTOM BLOW UP DOLLS.

WE CAN MAKE A BLOW UP DOLL IN YOUR LIKENESS IN MERE MINUTES.

ANATOMICALLY CORRECT WITH REALISTIC DETAIL AND PLASTIFLESH.

Rory shrugged when Amy and the Doctor finished reading the sign and looked at him.

"I saw that and figured I'd create a duplicate of myself that he could take his revenge on. I was safe and sound in the alley beside the building."

"They made a blow up doll that looked just like you," Amy said in disbelief.

"Yeah. Shoved me inside this big metal box and I was scanned and then there was this hissing sound and when I came out, they had a blow up doll that looked like me including a set of my clothes. I set him up across the street and made it look like I passed out from exhaustion and hid. That bloke took the bait."

"Wait, they gave you this blow up doll for free?" Amy said.

"Um…no," Rory said, staring at the ground and shuffling his feet. "I didn't have the proper amount of credits so I had to barter for the doll."

"Barter, what?" Amy said, folding her arms over her chest.

"Um…sexual favor?" Rory said sheepishly.

"What?" Amy said while the Doctor tried not to laugh. "You offered to have sex with someone in exchange for a blow up doll?"

"I had to. I needed something to give to that git, right? Well, there was the solution and I had to…lie in order to get it."

"So you didn't have sex," Amy said relieved.

"Um…no, I promised I'd come back after I finished with the doll," Rory said.

"Well, I suggest we leave before…"

The Doctor was cut off in midsentence when the door to the shop opened and a slender humanoid llama came outside. She had grey shaggy fur and was wearing a long purple dress.

"Rory, have you finished? I'm waiting!" the llama called to him.

"Her?" Amy said, pointing to the llama.

"Yes. In order to save my life, I bartered sex with a llama in exchange for a personalized Rory blow up doll."

"Now, I've heard everything," Amy said.

Their eyes widened when the llama stared to come across the street.

"I think we better leave the planet before Amy and I have to stand around and watch you shag a llama for a couple of hours," the Doctor said.

"I second that," Amy said.

"Yeah, I third it," Rory said.

The three of them looked at each other and ran away as fast as they could while the llama woman screamed and yelled curses at them.