A/N: Happy Hallowe'en! *spooky finger waggling*

Chapter 6 - Floor 999

The Doctor was trying not to be too annoying as he followed the droid through New Shada, his little Follow-Me obediently whizzing along behind him beeping politely. He'd tried to dismiss all the urges to talk, but Rose ranting inside his head about his possible escape routes was making that somewhat difficult.

He managed to keep quiet as he and his droid escorts passed through seven security gates, with more droids on each door frisking him for any concealed weapons. Once they were satisfied he was taken into a high-tech lift with a glass side, several guns pointing at his head and chest as they ascended. He looked through the glass to the outside - below was the ravaged planet, with the ship he had arrived on firing up the retros to take off and leave. The tunnel he'd walked through was being sealed and the droids were retreating back to New Shada's entrance. Beyond that was the planet and all the animals it contained - miles and miles of pure desert, and wildlife varying from blood-sucking insects to giant flesh-eating worms that he'd only read about in books he reserved for reading on dark nights. He noticed as the droids retreated into New Shada that the various force fields keeping out the wildlife were being deactivated - allowing all of the nightmare creatures to move within ten metres of New Shada's gate; ready to pounce on anyone that dared to stroll outside. Escaping was going to be an interesting affair for sure, he mentally noted.

Finally they reached their destination - floor 999. The droids forced him to step out into a new room - an office, the Doctor realised. There were plenty of screens fixed to the wall; a sitting area; a public toilet; and even a receptionist sitting tapping away at a terminal. There were even some pictures on the wall of various fruits and flowers giving the whole room a somewhat happier atmosphere than he'd quickly become accustomed to down in the prison.

The droids forced him to sit in the waiting area, keeping their guns aimed at his hearts and brain. He sat patiently, taking note of the monitors on the wall. There were several monitors of CCTV, showing the communal areas of New Shada, including the entrance. There was also a blank screen, and one screen even had the Universal News Network, currently showing a picture of his face and some stock footage of New Shada. His arrest hadn't gone unnoticed, then.

Suddenly a voice seemed to sound from a PR system over the Doctor's head.

'Please send through the prisoner.'

The receptionist nodded and looked towards the droids. 'Escort the prisoner inside,' she ordered them. The Doctor was prompted to get up, and once again was marched by gunpoint this time through a secure door and into another office.

This office was luxuriously decorated, with expensive paintings and wall hangings that the Doctor could have sworn were straight out of the Universal Antiquity Museum. There were more terminals, and even a conference table in the centre of the room lined with chairs. Behind that was a desk - very expensive-looking - with another terminal and also stacked with many papers. Behind it was sat a female judoon, gazing at the Doctor. She gestured for the droids to sit the Doctor down in the seat, and ordered them to unbind his hands. The Doctor watched them, a little surprised. He was now free to move inside the office of - who he assumed to be - the governor of New Shada. He was still still a Class Four prisoner. She was either very stupid, or...

'I am General Koboho,' she told him. 'Would you like to tell me what you are really doing here, Doctor?'

The Doctor paused, a little stunned. There was absolutely no way she could know about the plan. Could she? Quickly, every single possible avenue of how that information could have got to her blasted through his head. An informant judoon at the Proclamation?

Does she know? She can't know!

A pause that was beginning to become slightly too long was passing. So he decided to stay quiet, just folding his arms and smiling at her.

'Do not try to fool me, Time Lord,' Koboho told him sharply. 'I read up on every single prisoner that is admitted, from school results to shopping habits. You, Doctor, are what we call a counterfeit prisoner. You have no business being here. Your crime is faked and you are not a criminal. So I will ask you again. What is your business being in New Shada?'

The Doctor stayed absolutely silent, his brain working overtime as Rose continued to scream inside his head.

'The people of Jarfa Minor, whom you are charged with killing, were killed by a volcano. Can you cause volcanoes?' Koboho asked without a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

The Doctor raised a slight eyebrow, but still said nothing.

'Perhaps I should ask your friend…' She paused, making a point of flicking through her papers. '... Jack Harkness.'

Doctor, how can she know this?

Alarm bells were ringing inside the Doctor's head along with Rose's panicked words, but he forced himself to maintain his demeanour. He didn't reply, just looking at Koboho, trying to read her. If he told her what the plan was, would she try to help or put a stop to it?

He quickly decided he couldn't risk his cover being blown. He had to get to Sirrus. It was Rose's only chance. So he gazed at Koboho momentarily before he laughed, but in no way was it humourous. Once more, he didn't reply.

'You visited a restaurant several months ago on Earth,' she told him smoothly after the silence. 'You ordered a cup of tea and a chicken and ham panini, whatever that is. You sat on table six with your wife and three children. You were very jovial.' She paused, leaning forward slightly. 'I know everything about you. So start talking.'

'I don't want to talk about this anymore,' the Doctor said suddenly as he decided to change tact, narrowing his eyes at her. 'I want to talk about this place. New Shada. Who built it?'

'I'm afraid this meeting is about you, Doctor.'

'Oh, no. I want answers. Shada is the property of the Time Lords and…' He made a point of looking around the room. 'Looks like I'm the only Time Lord here. So let's stop wasting time. Who funded the building of New Shada? Clearly you're not in charge, judoon don't run things, they operate things.'

'This meeting is over,' Koboho announced. 'You will be escorted back to the prison. I would advise you to think carefully about your position.'

The Doctor grinned, realising quickly what this was all about. 'That's it! I know now. You run New Shada on behalf of your mysterious employer, and now you've got me here, a Time Lord, it's giving you a bad name. You want me moved. I'm so high risk that if I'm attacked, the entire universe will know and you can say goodbye to that lovely quilted chair you've got,' he said, nodding at the chair she was sitting on. 'This isn't about what I've done, this is all about saving your job.'

'Droids, escort the Time Lord back to his cell,' she said smoothly, ignoring him.

'Imagine it, one of the few Time Lords left in the universe, attacked in New Shada. That's a headline waiting to happen,' he continued as the droids advanced. 'You'll never get another job again.'

His wrists were clamped back in fusling chains as he was forced to stand up, his Follow-Me frantically whizzing around his feet. He ignored all of this, still looking at Koboho.

'You're so desperate to get me out you'll make anything up, won't you? What's going to please your employer, eh?'

She quickly held up a hand, stopping the droids and glaring at the Doctor ferociously. 'I don't know what game you're playing but I will find out, Time Lord, you can be sure of that!'

The Doctor laughed. 'Go ahead, General. I can't wait to see what you come up with.'

Two droids dragged him out of the office. He made sure Koboho got a straight view of his widest grin as he was escorted out of the room.

Captain Jack Harkness was in his cell with his two fellow prisoners, both of whom were in abject silence.

He laid on his bed for a full ten minutes before he decided to break the rules, jumping down from his bed and looking straight at his two bunkmates. 'What time's lunch?' he tried.

The Silurian looked up at him, wide-eyed and panicked. 'We can't talk!' he hissed.

'Yeah? That's kinda dull, isn't it?' Jack pointed out.

'We'll get into trouble!'

'Oh, shut up,' the Draconian suddenly inputted from the side, looking sidewards at the Silurian. 'It's a kashing stupid rule they can't enforce. Stop wetting yourself, they don't know.' He looked at Jack, panning the ex-Time Agent up and down. 'What you in for?'

'Killed the Queen of Aminopea,' Jack replied with a casual shrug.

'Oh, nice hit,' the Draconian complemented. 'I was doing a hit on some man, went wrong and I ended up killing everyone in the building. Next time gonna make sure my transmat's working,' the he joked.

Jack laughed. 'Shame,' he said. 'What are you in for?' he directed next to the Silurian.

'... Mass murder,' the Silurian muttered, continuously glancing around as if expecting a droid to walk in on them at any moment.

The Draconian scoffed. 'You? Mass murder?'

'Yeah,' the Silurian replied, clearly trying to sound strong but failing dismally as it was barely audible.

'In your dreams,' the Draconian replied, getting up to stand in front of Jack. 'Spleehaen Va'A'gnorn,' he introduced himself, bowing. 'Call me Spleen.'

'Captain Jack Harkness, call me Jack,' the immortal replied, bowing in return. They both looked at the Silurian, who was cowering slightly.

'T-Todran,' he stammered out. 'Call me… Todran, I guess.'

The Draconian immediately lost interest in the Silurian. 'How did you kill the Queen?' he asked Jack.

'Poison,' Jack replied immediately. 'Broke into the banquet, poisoned the wine, couldn't get out in time.'

'Teleport?'

'Yep.'

'Gotta sort out those things, it's giving us criminals a bad name when we keep getting caught,' Spleen mused, laughing.

Jack laughed again, deciding quickly to make a small probe for information. 'I got mine on Sirrus. Never failed me before.'

'Yeah, mine too,' Spleen agreed. Jack immediately straightened slightly, ready to attack the topic before they were suddenly interrupted by a tannoy.

'Exercise hour has now commenced. Proceed to the exercise areas immediately. This is not optional.'

Jack looked at his two cellmates, giving a small shrug. 'Lead the way,' he invited, gesturing to the door.

Jack had purposely lost his cellmates in the crowd, and had instead spent most of his exercise hour making mental notes as to the location of the security cameras. He'd noted a few blind spots around the corners of the yard, before he finally saw the Doctor standing perfectly in the place of a blind spot, searching the crowd.

He glanced around for any onlookers, but there were none. He approached the Time Lord cautiously, who caught his gaze and nodded, almost imperceptibly. As he reached the Doctor, the Follow-Me bot almost seemed to jump to attention, apparently threateningly. Jack ignored it.

'Hey,' Jack greeted. 'Okay?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Been in worse.'

'I think I found our guy,' Jack said. 'I just need to work on him a little.'

'Who is it?'

'A Draconian, calls himself Spleen.'

The Doctor pulled a face at the name. 'Think he can get us to Sirrus?'

'Maybe. I need some time.'

'Quick as you can,' the Doctor told him. 'Our Governor's already pulled me into her office, she's desperate to get rid of me.'

'Really?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Having a Time Lord in New Shada is risky.'

'I'll bet. Have you had any trouble?'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Not yet. Early days.'

'How's Rose doing?'

'I'm fine,' the Doctor voiced Rose's thoughts after a brief pause. 'Please hurry up, Jack.'

'Working on it,' Jack assured her.

The Doctor suddenly looked to a point over Jack's shoulder. 'Incoming.'

Jack nodded, and promptly grabbed the Doctor's neck. The Time Lord struggled just enough to make it difficult for Jack before the immortal bodily turned him to catch a glance of who was approaching. It was a group of Jolians, all following the strong scent of the Time Lord.

Jack immediately threw the Doctor to the ground, directly in the view of a nearby security camera. The Time Lord yelped as he hit the surface, holding his neck. Almost immediately the Follow-Me began to beep in a frenzy, just as the Jolians reached them.

'Time Lord!' the Jolian at the front hissed.

'Thinks he's all it!' Jack spat. 'Thinks he's superior to us!'

'Does he now?' the Jolian cried, and made to attack the Time Lord.

Jack deliberately kept in the camera blind spot as he moved around to join the rapidly forming crowd. The lead Jolian barely had a chance to pull back his fist before the droids were on them, restraining the Jolians and forming a protective circle around the Doctor. Medical droids quickly arrived as Jack could still hear the Follow-Me beeping frantically, before the Doctor was helped up by the droids and escorted away. Jack briefly caught his eye - the Doctor just nodded at him, approving. He was fine.

Satisfied, Jack pulled away from the crowd and tried to glimpse his grotesquely-named draconian bunkmate. He had work to do.