"Here we are!" Nancy said cheerfully. The cafeteria was a long room with a buffet table running down its center and clusters of little round tables scattered around to either side. It must have been about lunch time, because the cafeteria was bustling with people, all talking and laughing and piling plates with food. "Well, I'd better be going now."
"What?" Donna said, turning to Nancy in alarm. "Aren't you going to introduce me to everyone?"
"Sorry," Nancy said bashfully. "I don't usually interact with the residents much, so I don't actually know any of the others."
"So what do you do here then?"
"I'm a technician. I take care of the colony's central computer. And I really should be getting back to work, sorry."
"No, don't worry about it," Donna said, forcing a smile. "Thank you for taking the time to show me around."
"Don't mention it," Nancy said. She ducked her head and turned away, heading back out into the hall.
Donna surveyed the room for a moment, trying to decide her course of action. Finally her stomach decided for her. She hadn't had anything to eat yet today, and nothing but hospital food yesterday. She made her way over to the line for the buffet table and took her place behind an older woman with grey hair.
"Hello there," the woman said, noticing her. She extended a hand with a friendly smile. "I'm Cheryl. I don't believe we've met."
"Donna," Donna said shaking Cheryl's hand. "I'm new."
"Oh, I didn't know we'd had another ship come in. Roger," Cheryl said, tapping the man in front of her on the arm. He turned to see what was up. "This is Donna. She's new here."
"Well hello there, Donna," Roger said, shaking her hand. "Lanassa Colony's a great place to live. You'll like it here."
"Thanks," Donna said. They shuffled forward a bit as the line moved. "But I'm actually not staying long. I guess you could say I'm a guest."
"What do you mean?" Cheryl asked, putting a plate and some silverware on a tray. Donna followed suit.
"I was just visiting the colony, but now I'm sort of stuck here until my friend comes back for me. They gave me a suite here in the meantime."
"Really?" Roger said, looking up from the food he was spooning onto his plate. It looked almost like mashed potatoes. "I wouldn't have thought they'd do that for someone, what with the waiting list to get in here and all. You must be one lucky girl."
Donna looked over the food on the buffet, trying to decide whether or not it was safe for human consumption. Some of the dishes looked almost like earth food. But then, some of the other dishes were glowing.
"Well, my friend was the one who helped stop those saboteurs a couple weeks back, so I guess they owed him a favor."
What the heck, Donna thought, putting a small spoonful of the glowing vegetables on her plate next to the thing that looked like mashed potatoes and some kind of meat.
"Saboteurs?" Cheryl gasped. "Oh, Roger, how awful. Did you know anything about that?" Roger shook his head.
"What, they didn't say anything about it?" Donna asked.
"No," Cheryl said. "We haven't heard a thing. I imagine they didn't want to worry us. Really, the staff here are all such dears. They take such good care of us. We never have to worry about a thing."
They'd reached the end of the buffet line. Donna picked up a glass of some sort of blue juice and set it on her tray.
"You'll join us for lunch, won't you Donna? I wouldn't want you to be lonely."
Donna smiled.
"I'd love to."
"Come on, Roger, let's go sit with Megan and Andy, we haven't talked with them in a bit."
Donna and Roger followed Cheryl to a table over by the wall where a younger couple was already seated. The pair looked up and smiled as they saw Cheryl approaching.
"Megan, Andy, I'd like you to meet Donna. She's new here. Donna, this is Megan and Andy."
There was a chorus of hello's as they all got seated.
"So, how long have you all been living here?" Donna asked.
"Well, let's see," Cheryl said, thinking. "It must have been… oh, what ten years ago now I moved up here?" Cheryl said, looking to Roger for confirmation. Roger shrugged.
"I can never keep track of what you tell me, Cheryl."
"Well, I think it was ten. So then it would have been eight years ago that Roger got here, and then Megan and Andy just moved in a couple months ago."
"You mean you and Roger didn't come here at the same time?" Donna asked, surprised.
"No!" Cheryl said. "Of course not. Why would we?"
"Sorry," Donna said, blushing a bit. "I guess I kind of assumed you were married."
The table erupted with good-natured laughter and Donna grinned sheepishly.
"Don't worry," Megan said. "It's an easy mistake to make."
"We're not married either," Andy clarified, pointing to himself and Megan.
"Don't any of you have family on the colony, then?" Donna asked.
"Nope," Cheryl said. "Not us. I guess that's why we stick together."
Friendly smiles were exchanged all around the table.
"But then you must have family back on the planet?" Donna said. Cheryl and Roger were old enough to be widowed, maybe, but Megan and Andy couldn't be older than thirty. They'd still have someone. The friendly smiles vanished the moment Donna asked her question. Megan looked down at her plate and poked some vegetable Donna didn't recognize with her fork. Andy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Of course, Donna thought. The plague.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have asked."
"Oh, it's alright dear," Cheryl reassured her. "We've all been there."
Donna picked up a forkful of meat and took a bite. It tasted a bit like beef, but with a spicy aftertaste. It was actually quite good.
"So what about you then, Donna?" Cheryl asked after a short stretch of silence. "Who's this mysterious friend of yours you're waiting for?"
"Well, we're not married," Donna said, earning a few chuckles. "He's called the Doctor. He's a Time Lord."
"No," Roger said. "Seriously?" Donna nodded. "I thought they were extinct?"
"No," Donna replied. "There's at least one of them left." Or there was last I checked… oh, I hope nothing's happened to him!
"You know, she's right Roger, there were those rumors. You remember those rumors about the last of the Time Lords, traveling the galaxy in a blue box and saving worlds? I'm sure I heard that somewhere."
"It was the Titanic," Andy chimed in.
"What?" Donna said.
"The Titanic. It was a luxury cruise liner made to look like an old Earth sea ship. Well, anyway, it had this horrible accident on a cruise near Earth about ten years back. Nearly crashed into the planet! Only one member of the crew and one of the passengers survived, but they reported working with a man who claimed to be a Time Lord. He saved the ship and the planet, but vanished before the rescue team got there."
"No," Donna said. "You are kidding me."
"Well, it was only a rumor; he might not have been there at all."
"I thought that one was fake!" Donna shouted. "An alien ship shaped like the Titanic? Really? And he didn't say a thing! Just let me go on thinking it was a hoax."
"So you've heard of it then?" Andy asked.
"Yeah," Donna said, calming down. "Yeah, I'm from Earth. The Doctor brought me here from there."
"You're from Earth?" Cheryl said, thrilled. "That's wonderful! I've never met an alien before. Isn't that wonderful, Roger?"
For the rest of the lunch Donna was interrogated – politely – about Earth, human culture, and traveling with the Doctor. There were a lot of questions she couldn't really answer – these Stovians apparently had a very poor sense of Earth's governments and culture, and they kept asking her the wildest questions about Earth holidays – but she told them what she could and they all seemed rather pleased with the whole thing.
After lunch Cheryl and Roger volunteered to show Donna around the rest of the colony. The residential sector turned out to have several floors, each consisting of a ring of rooms around the central area, which contained all of the recreational facilities. The swimming pool was particularly nice. It was a large space, the upper floors were simply balconies around it, and it was really more of a cross between a swimming pool and an exotic garden. At the top the ceiling was a thick, glass pane open to the stars.
It was a lovely tour, but Donna had trouble focusing on what Cheryl and Roger were telling her. Every time she saw a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye, Donna would turn her head, expecting the Tardis to be materializing, only to find a trash can instead. She kept scanning the crowds for a glimpse of a man in a long brown coat, but he was never there. Eventually Donna reluctantly parted from Cheryl and Roger and made her way down the elevator back to her own floor. Finding her room again, she slid the keycard into the lock and let herself in. The lights switched on as she entered and she sighed wearily. It had been a long day.
There was a beeping sound coming from her computer. She walked over to it and saw that the screen was telling her there were two messages waiting for her. Excitement surged through her and she grabbed the remote, trying to figure out how to work the thing. After a few moments of uncertain button pushing, she managed to get the first one to display. It was from Nancy.
Hi Donna! Hope you had a good first day at Lanassa! Remember to let me know if you need anything! :)
Donna smiled in spite of her disappointment and hit the reply button.
Thanks, Nancy. The people here are all very friendly. I have everything I need.
Except a certain Time Lord, she mentally added. Donna pressed send and then opened the next message. She frowned. The message was from "No Sender" and the body of the message was just a lot of gobbledygook computer code. Donna deleted the message and then opened up a new message to Nancy.
Actually, Nancy, there might be something you can do. I think my computer has a virus or something. I got a message from no one that was all just nonsense. You work on the computer here, right? Think you could take a look?
She hit send and then shut the computer back down. Only then did she remember the glitch on the hospital marquis the night before. Maybe it wasn't just her computer. Should she tell Nancy? Donna decided against it. If there was a problem Nancy would find it, and right now Donna was tired and needed to go to bed. Heading back into the bedroom, Donna managed to locate a set of pajamas and a tooth brush. Emerging from the bathroom a few minutes later with bare feet and clean teeth, Donna hit the light switch and headed for the bed.
Donna frowned. The suite was still light. Looking out the bedroom door, Donna could see that the computer screen was lit up. Irritated, she walked back into the other room, intending to shut it off, but she paused before hitting the button on the remote. There was a file open, and Cheryl's picture was smiling at her from the screen.
Cheryl Montgomery, the screen said. Age: 74. Gender: Female. Date of Birth: 27 December 1942. Acquired: 17 August, 2016. Hometown: Faris, Terens Province. Marital Status: Married.
It went on. There were files for Roger, Andy, and Megan, as well, and a number of files for people Donna hadn't met. Roger was also listed as married, as was Andy, although Megan was single. There were even some facts about these spouses as well, and sometimes children. All five of them had that same line, "Acquired", with a date sometime around August 17th. Donna wasn't really sure what "Acquired" meant, but it almost sounded foreboding.
August 17th, Donna thought. That would have been about three weeks ago. The same time she and the Doctor were supposed to have arrived. Suddenly, the screen flashed. The files about Cheryl and the others disappeared behind a new window, some sort of technical report about oxygen consumption. That rapidly vanished behind a floor plan, and then a black terminal window opened up with a long line of commands scrolling rapidly by. Donna glanced down at the remote, wondering what she'd done. After a moment the screen stilled again.
Donna found herself looking at a long list of names and room numbers. She looked down the list and again found Cheryl and the others and also herself. It was a directory of the colony, she guessed. It took Donna a moment to notice what was odd about it. A number of the suites had no names next to them – maybe one in ten.
"I wouldn't have thought they'd do that for someone," she heard Roger saying. "What with the waiting list to get in here and all."
Yet one in ten rooms was empty. And another thing - every occupied room had a single name next to it. One occupant to a suite. There were no families, no couples, none anywhere on the station. There were also dates next to the rooms. Today's date was written next to Donna's name. August 17th was written next to Cheryl's. None of the names had a date from before three weeks ago.
Donna pressed a button on the remote, trying to determine where these files were coming from and if there were anymore, but as soon as she did everything disappeared and she was back on her desktop. Donna watched the screen for a moment, but when nothing else happened she finally turned it off and went back to the bedroom. She crawled underneath the covers and lay on her back, feeling very unsettled. Something was going on at this colony, something strange. She wished the Doctor was here. He'd get to the bottom of this mess, for sure. But he wasn't.
That didn't change the fact that someone needed to do something. Donna took a deep breath, feeling the slight ache in her shoulder that was all that remained of her injury, and let it out again. She didn't know if she could do half as a good a job investigating this mess as the Doctor would, but she was the only one here to do it. So she would just have to do it herself.