Rose poked her head out of the doorway and looked down the hall to see the guards standing in the same place they had been before. "How are we gonna do this?"

"The usual way." The Doctor came up behind her and looked over her shoulder. "Approach them and ask politely." He stared for another minute and then pulled her out into the hallway. "Allons-y!"

Rose had a feeling the guards were eyeing them as they approached, though she couldn't tell for sure because of the visors over their faces.

"Hello there!" The Doctor said cheerily as they reached the door to the Queen's chambers. "You see, we're friends with the Queen and she's sent us to take a look in her room and make sure everything's ship-shape."

The Vespiforms didn't move. "We are to let no one in but the cleaning crew," the left guard said in a monotone voice, his four hands clenching into fists

"Oh, but we were sent from the Queen. Doesn't she give the orders around here?"

"We have not received orders," the other said.

The Doctor buzzed his lips. "Clever. The guards have to get direct orders." He addressed the Vespiforms once more. "We're investigating. Trying to figure out who kidnapped the Queen and why."

"May I see your credentials?" The left guard held out his hand.

The Doctor reached into all of his pockets, but came up empty. "A bit of psychic paper would come in handy right about now," he mumbled. "Ah, well," he continued, louder. "Must have left them on the ship. But I'm the Doctor and this is Rose-"

"The Doctor?" The Vespiforms spoke at the same time and relaxed.

The Doctor grinned. "Yep, that's me!"

The left guard pressed a button on his white suit and a low humming ensued. He turned his head and spoke to the other guard. "Half-alien nature is confirmed. This is the Doctor."

"We are to give the Doctor full access," the other guard quoted. Rose guessed it must have been an order, but who would have told them that?

"You may enter." They stepped to the side and nodded their heads to the Doctor.

"That's more like it!" He strode between them, standing tall like he was the most important thing in the universe. Rose followed him into the Queen's chambers, almost bumping into him as he paused just in front of the door that slid shut behind them.

It took a few seconds for Rose's eyes to adjust. It was completely dark, and she guessed that they hadn't walked far enough inside to trigger the automatic lights. She sniffed, the stuffy air already beginning to irritate her nose.

"Doctor?" she asked when he didn't move after a minute.

He spun quickly and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Why did they let me in?" His eyes were wild and alight with intensity.

She was caught off guard by his sudden change in emotion. "Dunno, just following orders?"

"Exactly." He shook her gently. "Who would have given the order to let me in anywhere? The Commander definitely didn't trust me, and I never knew the real Queen. Jackie doesn't have the technology to give orders yet, and I hope for the Vespiforms' sake she never will…" His eyes grew wide. "Unless I've been here before."

His intense gaze made it extremely hard to concentrate. "In the future, yeah?"

He turned away from her and walked further into the room. The lights came on, illuminating a bedroom as big as a ballroom. The bed itself was bigger than a King's size and had red curtains draped on either side of it. A huge scarlet rug dominated the metal floor, cut so that it fit around the furniture in the room.

"If I was already here, what would I be here for? To stop the kidnapping? To help it?"

The Doctor's ramblings broke Rose out of her thoughts. She focused on him pacing back and forth. "Why would you help kidnap the Queen?"

He threw his hands out in a helpless gesture. "No idea!"

"But if you've already been here, wouldn't the Commander or the Sergeant have recognized you?"

"Not if I was careful." He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up and jut out wildly. "If I had already come here and not been recognized, in the future I could have used a disguise or stayed unnoticed. I could've done anything." He halted his steps and looked at her. "Does it seem strange to you that two humans were just here?"

She remembered how he reacted at the statement, but he didn't give her a chance to respond.

"Two humans show up just before the kidnapping, and I get the impression that humans usually don't come here." He raised his eyebrows at her.

Rose finally got what he was implying. "You think it was us?"

He held here gaze for a few seconds longer and then sighed, beginning to pace again. "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" He grabbed at his hair. "Not enough facts!"

She hadn't seen him this flustered in a while, maybe even not since before he left. He was beginning to act more and more like the Doctor she knew.

"Aren't we here to get facts?" Rose asked, taking a step forward to block him in his path.

He came to a stop right in front of her and nodded slowly. "Right you are, Rose Tyler." But by the look in his eyes, Rose could see that it was still troubling him and he was still trying to work it out in the back of his mind.