Chapter Three

'Spatial Genetic Multiplicity,' said the Doctor, studying both girls carefully. 'Of a sort.' He approached his daughter's twin, a pleasant smile gracing his features, and crouched before her. 'Hello,' he greeted. 'What's your name?'

The little girl was quiet for a few moments, as if trying to decide whether or not answering him was a good idea, then she whispered, 'Princess Rilara,' she softly as she could.

'And what are you doing here by yourself, Princess Rilara?'

'Hiding from my mama and papa. We're playing a game.'

The Doctor nodded. 'And where are your parents now?'

Princess Rilara grinned. 'Getting everything ready for my birthday party,' she replied happily. 'It's my birthday today, so Papa arranged to have my party here on the Orient Express.' She peered over the Doctor's shoulder, and looked at Robyn, who was staring back at her, trying, and failing, to understand what was going on. 'How come that girl looks like me?'

'Ah, now that is a bit difficult to explain in terms you'd understand, so let's just say... it's a kind of magic that only happens to special people.'

Princess Rilara frowned, and cocked her head. 'Like in the stories my Papa tells me about Aggedor?'

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, slightly surprised by what he was hearing. 'Aggedor? Aggedor of Peladon?'

The little girl nodded. 'Yes. My papa is King Pelleran, and my mama is Queen Hallessa of Peladon.'

'Who's your grandmother? Queen Thalira? No, wait, that's King Pelleas'... greatgrandmother, I think. Then that would make your grandmother Queen...'

'Erimem.'

The Doctor snapped his fingers. 'Of course! Erimem! Well, Peri was right, she was going to have some good looking kids! And grandchildren! Wait a minute, hold on, I'm rambling, aren't I?' He turned to face his daughter. 'You're meant to tell me when I'm rambling, Robyn.'

She giggled. 'Sorry, must've forgot. Meeting your double can do that to you, you know.'

At first, the Doctor didn't reply, instead leading the little Princess over to his companions. He brought the two children face to face, so they could see how alike they truly were, then took his daughter by the hand, drawing her close to his side. 'This is my daughter, Robyn,' he began, nodding at both girls, 'and my travelling companions, Mr. and Mrs. Rory Pond,' he said, introducing them all to the little girl.

'Williams, actually,' said Rory, hastily correcting him, half forgetting that despite her young age, he was in the presence of a real live Princess. 'It's Mr. and Mrs. Rory Willams.'

Rilara smiled. 'Nice to meet you,' she said, 'and I think my mama and papa will think so too.'

'And I would very much like to meet them,' the Doctor replied. 'Although, they might realise who I am when you introduce us, Princess. I'm a friend of the Peladon Royal family,' he added, addressing Rory discretely. 'And saved their world more than a couple of times.' He frowned, getting a faraway look in his eyes. 'Peri was with me the last time I was there, and Erimem too. She married the King...' He looked down at Rilara again, and smiled. 'And now here you are, her granddaughter!'

'So they know who you are?' asked Amy.

'Not on sight, but my old friend Alpha Centauri usually vouches for me.' The Doctor looked around expectantly. 'Where is Alpha? Shouldn't he be here?'

Rilara shook her head. 'Uncle Alpha is back home with my big brother, looking after Peladon while we're here.'

'Good. That's very good. Means Peladon is in good hands... All six of them. But not so good for us, if we get into trouble. Then again, we're not going to get into trouble, so we'll be fine.'

Rilara giggled. 'My mama and papa are going to like you,' she said. 'You're funny.'

'Funny, am I?' the Doctor replied, glancing at Amy with a wry smile. 'Funny's good. Anyway, I think it's time you took us to meet your parents, your highness, because I think they will want our help.'

'Why?' the Princess asked, an look of confusion crossing her little face.

For a moment, the child's expression reminded the Doctor of a similar look, one tbat Robyn had given him earlier that day, when they were talking about her mother. His smile widened, and then he said, 'Because I believe there's something I can help them with, if they let me.'

'Oh. All right, then.' The little girl turned on her heel, motioning for the quartet to follow her, and then skipped ahead along the corridor.

'Okay, why - no, how does this Princess look exactly like Robyn?' Amy hissed in the Doctor's ear as they walked along, still amazed by the resemblance between the two children. 'Are you sure she's not your kid too?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Absolutely sure, Amy,' he assured her, adjusting his tweed jacket and discretely removing the sonic screwdriver from his pocket. He pointed it at Rilara, and did a brief scan of the child, then showed the readout to his companions. 'Spatial Genetic Multiplicity, of a sort. There are a few similarities, but Rilara here registers as a one hundred percent Pel child, whereas...' he scanned Robyn, then showed them the readout for the second time, 'Robyn registers as half human, and half Time Lord. As she should. Of course, the human part of her shows up as the dominant stream in her DNA, but that'll change as she gets older, and the Time Lord part of her takes over.'

Amy opened her mouth to reply, clearly not impressed with his answer, but stopped when they were led into another carriage. This one was much grander, richly furnished with the most accurate recreations of the decor from the original Orient Express they had ever seen.

'Mama!' Rilara cried happily, running to a woman, whom the Doctor noticed was quite heavily pregnant, seated by the window.

The woman smiled. 'Hello, my sweet one,' she replied. 'What are you so happy about?'

'I've found a friend to play with.'

The woman looked at her daughter, then at the Doctor, Amy, Robyn, and Rory, in alarm. 'What?'

The Doctor raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. 'Let me explain.'

'Yes,' said a new voice, as a tall man entered the carriage. 'I think you should.'

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'I am a very old friend of your family, your majesty,' the Doctor began, attempting to bring some semblance of calm to the tense atmosphere that had fallen over the room. 'As I told your daughter, your mother, Erimem, was a former travelling companion of mine, and we saved Peladon together before she decided to stay behind.' He frowned, letting his words sink in, then pressed on, 'But I've also saved your home planet on two other separate occasions. You've more than likely been told stories about me, and those stories would've been passed down through your family long before your mother heard them.'

'You're the Doctor?' asked Halessa, as it dawned on her what he was telling them. 'From Mother Erimem's stories?'

Pelleran snorted. 'But those were just stories, Halessa, and besides, wasn't the Doctor Mother talked about a different man?'

The Doctor remained quiet for a moment, thinking about how to approach the question. It had been a long time since he looked like the person from Erimem's story, so the only way he could convince Pelleran was if he told him something Erimem, and only Erimem, could've known. 'Erimem nearly killed herself with poison from her signet ring,' he said quietly. 'I had to save her with my blood.'

Halessa gasped, and Pelleran's eyes widened. That part of the story had always been glossed over whenever it was told to the children when they were still too young to understand such things, but it had always been told in full once the children were of age; so for someone else, an outsider, to know the same thing... well, it was unheard of. So there was no doubt in Pelleran and Halessa's minds -none whatsoever - that this man, this Doctor, was telling them the truth. He was the same man, just with a different face. But how was that possible, they wondered. Mother Erimem had told them there had been special properties to the Doctor's blood, properties that had been used to save her life... maybe that was how he was able to change his appearance so easily.

The Doctor grinned. 'You believe me now, don't you?'

Pelleran nodded. 'There's no point trying to deny it,' he replied. 'When my own existance is thanks to your rescue of my mother.' He moved over to Halessa, and sat down beside her. 'And I also know, from what my mother told me, that you only arrive in the gravest circumstances.'

Amy and Rory exchanged a look. One of them was going to have to mention the telephone call, if the Doctor didn't mention it first, but it was going to be difficult to explain what a telephone was to the King and Queen.

Fortunately, the Doctor got in first. 'We were summoned,' he informed Pelleran, 'by you. But something tells me that we're early, either on purpose, or our ship jumped a time track by accident. Which means, your majesty, when we've done what we came to do here, you need to call my TARDIS. She'll do the rest.'

Halessa raised her eyebrows. 'The rest of what?' she asked, eyeing the young man suspiciously.

'We'll get to that later,' he replied. He clapped his hands together, and took a seat opposite the royal couple. 'Now,' he glanced at Robyn and Rilara, who were now chattering animatedly between themselves, 'I believe someone has been threatening your daughter's life,' he said, lowering his voice.

'Yes,' Halessa admitted quietly. 'For a while now. It's part of the reason why Pelleran and I decided to hold Rilara's birthday dinner here on the train, because we thought any threats would be carried out back on Peladon.' She pulled a letter from her pocket, and handed it to the Doctor. 'But then I found this.'

The Doctor read the letter, imprinting each word into his mind. From what he could tell, whoever wrote it meant a great deal of harm towards the little Princess. But what did the Princess have to do with the Seventh Obelisk, and the Egyptian Goddess that was supposed to be running around? Something didn't make sense. Not yet, at any rate. He'd have to keep a close eye on the Princess, in case anything happened to her, and he'd have to keep a close eye on Robyn as well, to make sure she remained safe while she and the Princess were together. But first, he decided, he needed to take a look around the train, to see if he could find anything else suspicious going on. Rory and Amy could look after Robyn for the time being. He stood, and stuffed the letter into his jacket pocket, then returned to his companions. 'I want you two to stay here with, the King and Queen, and the girls. I'm going to take a look around the train, see if I can find any evidence of this Egyptian goddess.'

Amy scowled. 'What, you're just going to off on your own? No way, Doctor, I'm coming with you.'

Before he could protest, Rory intervened. 'You shouldn't go alone, Doctor, not when we don't know what's going to happen yet. I'll stay here and look after Robyn.'

Amy smiled appreciativelly, then kissed her husband on the cheek. 'We'll be back as soon as we can. Love you.'

'Love you too.' He turned to the Doctor. 'You keep her safe.'

'I'll do my best.'

'Thanks, Doctor.'

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'You travelled with the Queen of Peladon once?' asked Amy, as they entered the next carriage. 'How'd you manage that one, Doctor?'

'She wasn't the Queen of Peladon when I travelled with her, Amy. And besides, that isn't important right now. Finding this Egyptian goddess, on the other hand, is.'

Amy sighed. 'Whatever you say. Where should we start then?'

The Doctor didn't reply for a few moments, taking the opportunity to scan the room with the sonic screwdriver. 'We'll talk to the other passengers first,' he said at last. 'And after we've done that, we'll see if we can find our way into the cargohold.'

Amy frowned. 'Why the cargohold? What could be important to this Egyptian goddess in there?'

'The Seventh Obelisk for a start,' the Doctor replied. 'Someone could be transporting it, and obviously, that's where it would be. And obviously, we need to find out who's transporting it.'

'Okay, so let's find out,' Amy said impatiently. 'We should start looking through the cabins, yeah?'

'Yeah, that's exactly what we should do.'

'So, let's go!'

The Doctor sighed. 'Yes, all right. Come along, Pond.'

The Doctor lead Amy through the train once more, poking their heads into the cabins along the way, frightening the occupants occasionally, even though they tried their best not to. But no one they spoke to knew anything about the Egyptian goddess, or the Seventh Obelisk, who might have it, or even why it would be on the train.

Until they met Dr. Winthrop, and Dr. Thompson.

'The Seventh Obelisk? Yes, we know about the Seventh Obelisk,' Dr. Winthrop replied jovially.

'You do?' the Doctor inquired. 'How?'

Dr. Winthrop beamed proudly. 'I own it, in a manner of speaking.'

'You own it?' Amy echoed.

'Yes, I own it,' Dr. Winthrop repeated. 'Only until we get to Earth, and it can be transported to the National Museum of History in London. It's to be put on display there.'

The Doctor frowned. 'Ah. Right. Archeologists?'

Dr. Thompson nodded. 'Yes, that's right. Why?'

The Doctor muttered something under his breath (something which Amy could've sworn sounded like 'Archeologists. Always fiddling with things they don't have any business fiddling with), and then smiled. 'Oh, no reason. Hmm, better introduce myself. I'm the Doctor, and this is my friend, Amelia Pond.'

'Dr. Percival Winthrop, and this is my associate, Dr. Neville Thompson.'

'Pleasure to meet you both,' the Doctor replied, shaking both their hands, and performing a quick scan with the sonic. Of course, he attempted to hide this carefully, but he could tell Amy noticed what he was doing, especially from the way she smirked at him when he did it.

'You were asking about the Seventh Obelisk?' Dr. Winthrop continued, curious about their inquiries.

'Yes! Yes, we are,' the Doctor confirmed. 'We...we're...Egyptologists! Freelancers really. We're interested in the history of the Obelisk. There's rumours, or legends, about the Obelisk being the final resting place of one of the old Egyptian goddesses.'

A flash of worry crossed Dr. Thompson's face. Did these people know about his beloved? Did they mean her harm? 'That's nothing but fairytale, myth, legend. No truth to it at all, he said quickly. 'None what so ever.'

And of course, the Doctor noticed the man's worry. 'I'd really like to see for myself, before I go dismissing things too quickly.'

'Is there any possibility we could see the Obelisk, Dr. Winthrop,' asked Amy, smiling sweetly as she turned on her feminine charm. 'We'd really like to, if we could.'

Dr. Winthrop smiled back at her. 'Well, I think that could be arranged, Miss Pond.'

The thought of correcting him crossed Amy's mind, but she decided for the time being, that Dr. Winthrop and Dr. Thompson should continue to believe that she's single.

Or assume the Doctor's her husband.

How she'd explain that one to Rory, she'd have /no/ idea.

Instead, she smiled brighter. 'Thank you, Dr. Winthrop, I appreciate that very much.'

A thought crossed the Doctor's mind, and he leaned over, his mouth close to Amy's ear. 'Keep Drs. Winthrop and Thompson busy, Pond,' he murmured. 'I'm going to have a snoop through the cargohold, now that I'm sure the Seventh Obelisk is on this train.'

Amy tilted her head in a slight nod, and the Doctor straightened once more.

'We were just about to head to the dining car for dinner,' Dr. Winthrop announced. 'Would you and Miss Pond care to join us?'

'No,' the Doctor said hastily. 'Well, that's to say, no for me. I need to find my daughter, actually.'

'I wouldn't mind joining you though,' Amy added.

Dr. Thompson frowned. 'Weren't you looking for the Seventh Obelisk, Doctor?'

'Yes! Yes, we are, but we were also looking for my daughter, Robyn. Amy could do with a break, so I don't mind her joining you while I continue the search.'

Dr. Winthrop sighed and shook his head. 'I don't know what's made you so suspicious lately, Neville,' he muttered. 'Let the man be, and lets go to dinner, shall we?' He offered Amy his arm. 'Miss Pond?'

Amy linked arms with Dr. Winthrop, a gentle smile on her face. 'Coming, Dr. Winthrop.'

The two archeologists, along with Amy, left the cabin, and the Doctor remained free to continue the search for the Seventh Obelisk, alone.

'Now,' he muttered to himself. 'To find the cargohold.'

He headed down the corridor, not realising that Dr. Thompson had turned back, following close behind him.

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