Chapter Ten- Friends Among Foes
The doors swung open to reveal a new planet. The sky was a clear, pale green and a single sun burned large in the distance. Before them lay a vast, sprawling city. Large buildings towered overhead, decorated by enormous holographic screens. The screens displayed nothing more than an error message. The world seemed pristine and untouched, but it was far too silent for there to be any life left. Leah didn't get any sort of analysis on this situation since her travel companions were otherwise occupied.
Another planet in ruins, another place for the Doctor and the Master to bicker.
"You broke my gun!" the Master exclaimed for the third time.
"You brought a gun onto my TARDIS," the Doctor countered for what seemed like the millionth time. "You brought a gun onto my TARDIS. Right, because I'm going to trust that. You, with a gun, on my TARDIS. What could possibly go wrong?"
Leah was about ready to punch the both of them. "I'm gonna go look around a bit!" she called out. They ignored her.
"I wasn't going to shoot you," the Master was rambling. "Not yet, anyway. Not until we stop Rassilon."
"OK, so that really convinced me to let you keep the firearm."
"Oh don't mind me!" Leah said. "I'll just go wander off over this way and get lost, never to return home again." Still nothing.
"Well if you don't trust me with guns, why don't you be the one who carries it then," snapped the Master.
The Doctor's face darkened. "You know that's not my style."
"Alright, I'm just gonna fly off to another planet and destroy that one before this Rassi-whosit does it. Sound good?" Again, no response.
"Oh, you could have fooled me," the Master retorted. "What about the one back at the mansion?"
"Never gonna live that down..." the Doctor muttered before raising his voice again. "For the last bloody time, I wasn't going to shoot you!"
Leah rolled her eyes. She wandered a little bit, so that she was just out of earshot. She could see where they were, but their bickering became muted. They needed some space to sort out whatever needed sorting out and then they could focus on what they were supposed to be doing. Leah found a nice little bench to plop herself down on, and she sat there for a little while, hugging her knees. She would give the men some space for a few minutes, but she wouldn't stay here too long. Being alone on a strange planet didn't sit too well with her.
The whole place was eerie. There was no movement, no sounds and no signs of life, and yet everything still stood tall and intact, as though it was on display. It seemed to be preserved by something. It gave Leah the creeps. OK, she hadn't been away long, but it was plenty enough time for the other two to work things out. Time to head back. She would rather deal with them than sit here alone for any extended period of time.
As she unfolded her legs out from under her, ready to get up, something caught her eye. Not too far from where she was seated was a building. This in itself was none too fascinating since there were a number of buildings all around, but this building in particular had one thing that none of the others did and that was an open door. Every single other door and window was sealed right shut, but this one door was open.
It was an invitation.
Leah crept up to the door and poked her head in. The room was large, dark and empty, which didn't particularly surprise her. The building reminded her of an office building, with this front room being the foyer and reception area. It was sparsely decorated by a pair of couches facing each other to her left, and a desk to her right. On the far wall was an elevator that had once led to the higher levels but was now out of order. Leah had no idea what this building had once been for, but the computer sitting on the desk was just begging her to access it and find out.
She was good with computers. Sure she was on another planet and the aliens likely used a different operating system, but she could almost guarantee that she would figure it out. It was a gift, and if there was one thing in the whole universe Leah was good at, it was computers. Well, that and firearms. The keyboard was in English, which she hadn't expected but still barely noticed. Settling into the office chair behind the desk, she began to tap away and get to work.
There wasn't much security on the computer, which made sense since it was nothing more than the machine at a receptionist's desk. After a few clicks, Leah learned that this building was some sort of research facility. There was something on the files about some sort of virus and then... nothing. It was odd. Still, there was not enough information at this console to make any sort of conclusions about what had happened. She decided to head back out and let the experts handle it. They could do some investigating as a team as soon as they stopped bickering.
As Leah was about to stand, ready to leave, something cold and hard pressed itself into her back. "No sudden movements," demanded a voice from behind her. Ah, so there was life after all. Too bad they weren't feeling particularly welcoming.
"OK," said the Doctor. "Enough of this. Look, you wanted my help, we're going to do things my way."
The Master scowled. "Can we do things my way when your way fails?" This wasn't going the way he had hoped. He supposed the way he hoped was unrealistic, considering he expected the Doctor to do all the legwork and still listen when he made commands, though he should have known that the Doctor had too much bloody pride to do it that way.
The Doctor considered this for a moment. "If my way doesn't work, and we're still alive, I suppose you can do things how you like. You're going to have to step things up a bit though, if you're expecting your plan to go any better than mine."
"Oh? And what makes you think that I'm not doing better than you as it is?" snapped the Master.
"Well you're not keeping a very good eye on your companion, are you?" the Doctor said. "You didn't even tell her not to run off. That's rule one! For shame. And you probably didn't even notice her leave."
"What? No, well I– Look, it doesn't matter," the Master stammered. "We've got more important things to worry about."
"Of course it matters! She's more important than you think. Besides you were the one who brought her along. But you are right, we do have more important things to worry about." The Doctor turned on his heel and began to investigate. He examined the dirt, eyed the buildings and sniffed the air.
"So wait," said the Master. "If she's so important, we're just going to... leave her?"
The Doctor shrugged and continued snooping around. "Well, she's probably a bit more resourceful than you give her credit for, so I imagine she can fend for herself." He picked up a small vial lying in the middle of the street and muttered absently to himself. "What have we here? This doesn't seem good..." A bit louder he said. "Besides, if anything happens to her, we'll know."
"Why do you say that?" asked the Master, who had taken a seat in a bench not far from where they had been standing. He didn't particularly care about the girl, and he had grown bored by the Doctor's antics.
"Well she's not gone far," replied the Doctor. "We should be able to hear her scream from here."
"Hey, be cool," Leah said evenly. "I don't mean any harm-"
"Silence!" the voice demanded, digging the gun barrel into her shoulder blade. "Not a word, not yet. Just stand up, nice and easy, and turn around."
She did as she was told and found herself face to face with a real, honest to God alien. He was bipedal and roughly the size and shape of a man, with a few quirks. For one, he was green. His eyes were large, black orbs embedded in a bulbous head. Scales lined his skin and each hand had four fingers – which did not impede his weapon handling in any way. He wore a black, armoured jumpsuit with several other weapons and gadgets holstered. The chair was still between them and the desk right behind her. That combined with the pistol being aimed at her heart was enough to discourage Leah from running.
She was gawking wide-eyed at him. The Doctor and the Master could claim they were aliens all they liked, but at least they blended in. This... This was something new.
He pulled out something else with his other hand and aimed this at her as well. "Performing initial scan," he muttered as a green light flashed between her eyes and moved up and down her body. "Neural activity moderate, single vascular system, normally functioning respiratory system... Human. Unarmed." He lowered his gun. "Harmless."
Leah let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in.
"Sorry about that," the alien said. "I'm a little bit on edge right now. Whole planet's gone silent, you never know when you'll find looters or scavengers intent on bleeding this place dry. Or someone come to finish what they've started..."
"What happened here?" Leah asked.
"A disease – a virus of some kind – wiped out all life on this planet," the alien explained. "All of the natives at least."
"Not you?"
"No. You see, I'm an offworld ambassador. My job is to blend in with the natives and gather intel on them and, if the situation allows, make contact," he continued. "The Slorox – bless them – have yet to discover interstellar travel, so contact was not an option. My mission was just about to end when this disease starts to break out. I was lucky because it only affected the natives and not myself. Next thing we know this guy, nasty looking fellow, descends from the heavens and tells us he can help. He'll cure the virus and save everyone, but only if they choose to serve him. Now, situation's looking desperate so most are looking to join him, but it only takes a couple of them to mouth off and pretty soon everyone's dying."
"That's horrible..." Leah gasped.
"Isn't it just," he said wryly. "Only problem is, I'm stuck on this forsaken little rock. The guy finds me, knows instantly I'm not one of them and offers me up a position as his right hand man. Why would he want someone like me? I'm just an Ambassador. I say no and he doesn't take that too kindly. Says he'll leave me here to rot, destroys my transport and communications and buggers off. So now I'm stuck here, scavenging among the ruins of the planet. Impossible to tell if the Embassy would send someone after me. I imagine the planet's under quarantine, and they would assume me to be a casualty. Still, it is nice to see someone else. You are a friendly face, right?" He stroked the weapon.
"Yes!" Leah said quickly. "Of course. Like you said, harmless. But should I be worried? About getting sick, I mean."
"No, like I said it only affects the natives. But hold on... Human." The alien's expression twisted into what almost looked like puzzlement. He seemed to be thinking. "It's what, early twenty-first century Earth time?" Now Leah could swear she saw suspicion flash across his features. "See, my brother's stationed on Earth. Lovely planet, he says, and the humans are nice. Trouble is, though, that the humans – bless them – have yet to discover interstellar travel and make meaningful contact." He aimed the gun at her again. "So now how do you suppose an early twenty-first century human made it to Ardat Seven? Halfway across the galaxy makes for a very long commute."
"Hey!" Leah cried, raising her hands. "I thought you said I was harmless."
"Oh yes, you're harmless, but the people you came here with might not be," the alien replied. "And harmless humans do make such excellent hostages. Come along then, show me who brought you here." He nudged her onwards, barrel of the weapon buried in her back once again.
Leah didn't believe he would shoot her, but she led him to the Doctor and the Master anyway. "You said your brother was stationed on Earth?" she asked, making conversation as they went.
"That's right."
"That's funny though, because I think the humans would recognize someone who looked like, well, you," she said.
"Oh this? Oh no," the alien chuckled. "This is just what the Slorox look like. All ambassadors are masters of disguise. I told you, we need to blend in. This isn't what I really look like."
"How do you really look like?"
"Just never you mind," he snapped.
They walked on until they reached the spot where the Doctor and the Master stood. By the looks of things they had stopped arguing, but it didn't seem like they noticed Leah had left.
"Now both of you stand nice and still and don't say a word, or the girl gets it," the alien demanded. He took out the weird light device and shone it on the two of them. "Time Lord... Impossible. Not to be trusted."
"You don't destroy his gun," the Master muttered under his breath.
"That's because his weapon is deadlocked," retorted the Doctor.
"I said silence, both of you!"
"Oh, now, it'll take a bit more than that to shut me up. If you would please just put that weapon away, we can talk this out," said the Doctor.
"You're in no position to be making bargains," said the alien.
"No," the Doctor agreed, "but you're not really in any sort of position to be taking anyone hostage, Ambassador. You are from the Embassy, aren't you? You've got the deadlocked weapon, the official tone of voice and the seal across your jumpsuit. It all just screams Shadow Proclamation Embassy, unless of course you're just a looter, in which case I'll have to stop you anyway. But since you've not been infected, I'm assuming you've had your immunizations, so Ambassador seems more likely."
The alien drew the gun away from Leah's back and holstered the weapon. "Ambassador Kriel Rieg'Hadar of the Embassy, at your service. And I'll have you know, I am still a fully, officially licensed officer of the Shadow Proclamation. He was a Time Lord and the two of you are Time Lords which makes your presence here suspicious. Which means I need to take the two of you in for questioning."
"Can you take me home while you're at it?" Leah asked, but she was ignored.
"You're not going to do that," said the Doctor. "If you had a working vessel you would have left here ages ago."
"I could be here on a salvage mission," Kriel replied.
"No, because they don't send Ambassadors on salvage missions. Besides, this whole place is under quarantine, there's no way the Shadow Proclamation would have sent anyone else here. You're stuck here and you've got no way to take us into custody. But I'll tell you what, we can take my ship," the Doctor offered. "We'll head to the Shadow Proclamation and use their resources to track him down. Because that Time Lord that came here? We're looking for him too. He's got a lot to answer to, this planet's only added to that list."
"And I'm supposed to trust you, just like that?" Kriel asked warily.
"Yep," said the Doctor. "And you know why? Because I'm the Doctor. The Shadow Proclamation will want retribution for what's happened here and the only way they'll get it is by helping me. Besides I'm your only way off this rock. Now what are we waiting for Kriel Rieg'Hadar? Allons-y!"