Chapter 14
Nurse Xenafa came back into the ward area to find a woman in a doctor's coat waiting for her by the nurse's station.
"May I help you?" asked Xenafa, smiling.
The woman looked up but didn't smile back. By the look on her face she looked angry but about what she couldn't tell?
"Yes, I think you can. My name is Doctor Richardson. I brought in a woman in sometime earlier who was suffering with concussion. I'm supposed to get a blood sample for analysis but she seems to have gone. Do you know where she is?"
"She must be somewhere on the ward. Maybe she went to the toilet or something," replied Xenafa.
"Right… did you see her go?" asked the woman, unconvinced
"No, I was with another patient. Although, I gave her some pain killers as she complained about having a headache earlier," replied Xenafa
"And she said nothing else to you? Did anyone else see her, while she was here?" asked Dr Richardson, eyeing Xenafa to see if she was actually telling the truth and not lying to her.
"No, I don't think so," replied Xenafa, "No one else has been in the ward as far as I know."
"And, you're quite sure about that?" asked Richardson, sceptically
"Yes,"
"And you're sure that no one came to visit her while she was here?"
"Yes, I didn't see anyone and I wasn't contacted about any visit," replied Xenafa.
"Your sure about that as well?" asked Dr Richardson, but before Xenafa could reply she continued, "Right, just make sure that when she comes back from wherever she has gone to, you take some blood and send it to me immediately,"
"Of course, Doctor," replied Xenafa.
Dr Richardson turned and left the ward, leaving a frustrated and confused Xenafa in her wake. What was all that about? Why were they so interested in this woman? And anyway doctors never came here after bringing their patient in and visitors weren't allowed in before any prior knowledge and she was left no messages via her nurse's station regarding anything. Something was up and by the looks of it, it involved Donna Noble.
Dr Richardson quickly walked up the hallway from the ward towards the lift. The woman, whom she had brought in, had now gone missing. She felt the nurse she had just spoken with was not telling the whole truth and she had to tell her superior that there was a possible security problem. Something had to be done. She didn't know what but she would let it decide.
She moved towards the lift and pressed the call button. After a few minutes the doors opened and she walked in, turned around and pressed the button for the lower basement. The doors closed and the lift started its decent.
Finally, the lift stopped and the doors whooshed open to reveal a darkened corridor which led to the various empty offices which had been abandoned several years ago by the Medical Corps. She stepped out into the corridor, immediately turned left and walked down the corridor, the heels of her shoes clicking loudly as she went. As she rounded a corner, a pair of white doors appeared to her left. She walked through them and immediately saw the large Dalek was nowhere to be seen.
As she walked further into the room, she heard the familiar humming of the Dalek moving towards her.
"Dr Richardson, do you have the blood sample ready for analysis?" asked the Dalek as it stopped in front of her and swivelled to face her. That always made her feel uneasy.
"Answer" it commanded, when it got no immediate reply, "OBEY!".
"No, my lord. We have a problem regarding the prisoner," she replied
"What kind of problem?" asked the Dalek.
Even through the metallic voice she could hear the tone of frustration.
"The prisoner has escaped and we cannot find her anywhere. I even asked the nurse that was supposed to be looking after her and she claims she didn't see her go either," replied Penny, anxiously.
"Look at the security camera's to see if they show anything about how she escaped," ordered the Dalek, "and tell me immediately of anything you have found."
"Yes, my lord," replied Penny, as she turned and went to the nearest control panel.
As her fingers moved over the panel, images from all the security cameras came onto the screen. With another flick of a few fingers, the screen was filled with a picture of the ward she had only just left. She commanded the computer to play back the recording starting with the time when she had taken the woman into the ward.
As she watched, she saw herself leave, the red haired woman seemed to be shouting at her then looked around the ward in frustration. After what seemed like a few hours of sleep (but only a few seconds, as Penny fast-forwarded it), the woman rose from the chair, looked about and then headed for the nurse's station and tried to activate it. Penny couldn't see what the woman was looking for as the screen was obscured by the angle of the camera.
The woman then seemed to jump from her seat and rush over to the window, trying to see something outside. What could she be looking for? Maybe she did have some help after all or at least someone here on the planet that she knew would be trying to find her. So, she was lying then?
Determined to find out who it was, Penny watched the continuation of the tape. The nurse came into view again and the red haired woman sat down on her bed while she was checked over. But the strange thing was that as the nurse continued talking to the woman, she sat on her bed and looked like she was getting upset, with the red haired woman giving her comfort. What the hell was going on? It looked to her that there is more to this than the nurse was letting on. She decided that she should be questioned but she had to find out how the woman got away.
The video proceeded on and suddenly a young skinny man in a brown pinstripe suit, with a long tan coloured overcoat and short dark brown hair appeared walking into the ward. He and the unknown woman seem to know each other as they hugged each other. She began to get worried still as the man produced a familiar object from his pocket, while talking. Instantly, she knew that it was one of the transporter devices that she had helped to create when, with the help of her master, she had taken over the hospital. If he had found the device then he might know why they were there and the Daleks plan may be in jeopardy.
The rest of the film showed the woman escaping into the corridor never to be seen again. She quickly rewound the film, and froze the frame picturing the male stranger.
She turned to the waiting Dalek, who had now moved to the other side of the room and was still watching her.
"My lord, we have a problem. An unknown man visited the prisoner before she left. We have a picture of him from the security video."
"Let me see," demanded the Dalek, as he proceeded towards her. She quickly moved out of the way. It stopped in front of the screen and looked closely at the picture. It manipulated the controls and enlarged the picture. It instantly knew who it was. The Doctor had not changed since they had last met back on Earth. It couldn't believe he was here but inside he was happy. This time he would destroy the Doctor and make him pay for what he had done to him.
Also, the Master had not come back from wherever he had gone either. Even though the Master had been an ally, he was still a time lord and so could not be fully trusted.
He turned to Dr Richardson.
"It is time to progress with our plans. Are the new Daleks ready for deployment?" asked the Dalek
"I believe so, my lord," replied Dr Richardson.
"Deploy them, immediately and bring in the rest of the population for immediate processing," it ordered,
"Yes my lord but what of Mr Saxon and the man in the picture?" she asked, looking straight at the Dalek
"Mr Saxon will be dealt with and if he," the Dalek indicated to the screen, "or the woman come back then bring them to me immediately," ordered the Dalek.
"Yes, my lord, but there is just one other thing...,"
"Speak," shouted the Dalek, menacingly, cutting off Dr Richardson
"Yes, sorry... the nurse in the ward that was looking after the prisoner, I think she knows more than she's letting on. What should I do with her?" she enquired.
"Detain her," replied the Dalek, simply, "and interrogate her by whatever means is necessary and inform me of your progress," it ordered
"Yes, my lord," she replied, and quickly left the room to complete her task.