The guard said nothing and fired point-blank at Haana’s head and Penny screamed in shock so he raised his gun at her and prepared to fire when three of his colleagues burst in and disarmed him.

“Frak it Bainbridge.”  Hogan shouted.  “She was unarmed.  The Colonel’s gonna bust us all down for this.”  Hoggan looked at the terrified form of Penny.  “Tallman, shut her up ASAP.”

“On it now.”  Tallman shook the flame haired youth gently.  “What’s your name?”

“P…Penny.”

“Ok Penny.  The others are seeing to your friend.”  Tallman hefted the dead body to one side.  “You didn’t do this did you Penny?”

“No, he just fell on me.”

Trooper Tallman looked at the dead body before recognising him.  “Jones?  Reg?”  Carefully she took her helmet off and put it down next to her knee.  “There’s no sign of visible trauma.”

Penny looked over at the soldiers surrounding Haana and saw them attempting CPR.  Fat, warm tears rolled down her cheeks and she scrambled over to her.  “Haana?  Please don’t be dead.  You can’t die.”  She touched Haana’s face and drew her hand back sharply; the skin was bitter cold.

“What the frak is this?”  Hoggan asked.  “There’s ice forming on her frakking face.”

“Dunno.”  A third trooper, Simmons, shrugged his shoulders.  “Better get them both to the morgue, the white coats will want to find out how they died.”

“We know how she died.”  Hoggan looked at Bainbridge.  “Tell them that Reg Jones has the priority, he was one of us.”

Penny found herself assaulted by question after question for hours.  All she wanted to do was sit by herself, in some darkened room, and mourn for the friend she had only knew for a little over a fortnight.  On and on they went until finally she had had enough.  “Shut up.”  She said finally.  “Just leave me alone.  I want to see Haana’s body.”

They escorted her all the way to the morgue, Tallman stayed with her as she walked over to the drawer, which contained Haana’s body.  Tallman opened it and Penny gasped; Haana’s body was missing.

“Oh jeez.”  Tallman sighed.  “I hope they haven’t started the autopsy yet.  You don’t want to see that kid.”

“Can I help you Miss?”  Perez asked the naked woman he found walking down the corridor.  “Are you looking for something?”

“Clothes.”

“Well that’s obvious.  Why don’t you come back to my room and maybe we can see if we can find you something to wear?”  Perez tried to smile sincerely.

“You’re wrong.  You’re not my size.”

Perez laughed.  “Well I’m a guy, you’re a girl.  Why don’t we get it on?”

“Need my clothes.  You are wrong.”

“Hey Perez.”  Liz Quinn caught up with her colleague and she saw the naked girl.  “Who’s this?”

“Dunno Quinn.  Found her wandering down the corridor.  Get this, she’s looking for her clothes.”

“You’re right.”

Quinn was shocked when the girl started to unbutton her trousers.  “I don’t think she’s your type Perez.”  Quinn stated.  “She’s not my type either.  I’d better give her some of my civvies.  You go and tell the Colonel ok?”  Quinn stopped the girl trying to remove more of her clothes.  “Stop that and come with me.”

“Yes please.”

Back in her shared quarters Quinn handed the girl some gym shorts and a vest.  Then she handed her some jogging bottoms and a large jumper.  Luckily she was the same shoe size and she donated a pair of training shoes to complete the ensemble.  “Come on, time for you to meet the Colonel.”  Quinn hand to lead her by the hand out of the room, as she was reluctant to leave.

Penny was in the Colonel’s office shouting at him for being so useless when Tallman knocked and entered.  She had Haana with her!  Quickly she jumped up and gave Haana a great big hug.

“This is nice.  I like you.”  Haana said.

“What’s wrong?”  Penny asked.

“I think there’s some sort of brain damage sir.”  Tallman reported.  “Perez found her wandering down a corridor naked.  “I leant her some of my civvies.”

Colonel Masters sat back in his chair and stroked his black goatee beard thoughtfully.  “You’re dismissed Trooper.”  He returned the human woman’s salute and waited for her to leave.  “There’s only one species who could do what you did young woman after being shot in the face with a stun bolt.  Why did the High Council send you here?  To spy on me?  To bring me back perhaps?”

“You’re funny.”  Haana giggled.  “I like you.”

“It’s just a pity your brain has been so badly affected, otherwise I might have been able to make you see reason and join my latest venture.”

Penny looked at the Colonel.  “Who are you?  You’re not a soldier at all are you?”

“I am known as the Master, Universally.”  The Master smiled at Penny.  “You’re human aren’t you Miss Bayley?  I never understood what that meddling fool the Doctor saw in your species.  I see the potential to make the Universe a better and safer place.”

“You’re a Time Lord?  Like Haana?”

“That’s an unusual name for one of my people.”  The Master sat back down in his brown leather chair.  “What is her real name?”

“President Romana once called her Hannah Sinclair, said she was really from Earth.”  Penny informed the Master.

The Master gasped.  “So that wasn’t just a legend.  I’m truly sorry for this.  We must do our utmost to restore her mind.  The fate of the Universe is at stake.”  The Master stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully.  “Where is your TT Capsule?  I would alert the High Council.”

Penny was confused.  “Our what?  We use a bronze bracelet to travel around.”

The Master laughed.  “A Time Ring?  And they call me a madman.  A Time Ring should only be used in emergency situations or for specialised reasons when the use of a TT Capsule would harm the fabric of time and space.”  He paused to drink some water.  “I’m sorry my dear Penny, it’s been a while since I last met the Doctor so this is the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.”

“Can we eat?  I’m hungry.”  Haana asked the nice man and woman.  “I’ve been a good girl today and I promise to brush my teeth.”

Penny noticed that the Master winced visibly.  “Should we go along for now, until we can get her somewhere where they can fix her mind?”

“I don’t see why not.”  The Master stood up.  “We can use the officer’s mess, after all I am a Colonel here.”

Penny watched as Haana got the spaghetti all over the place.  Please someone help her she prayed to herself.

“Had an accident.”  Haana tugged at Penny’s sleeve.  “Help me.”

“You had better see to her.”  The Master spoke to Penny.  “I think she feels safer around another female.”

Once Penny led Haana out of the mess hall and into the ladies she found Haana to be quite different.

“Phew, I didn’t know who much longer I could keep that up.  You were great out there, sorry I couldn’t let you know but the Master is anything but the gentleman he appears to be.  Where’s my stuff at?  We need the Time Ring to get the hell out of here.”

“When did you stop pretending?”  Penny asked.

“I had to since I came too on the slab in the morgue.  Talk about brass muffins.  At first I thought I’d regenerated but luckily I was able to relax and repair the damaged nerves and cells.  I had hoped to get one of the soldiers uniforms but they found me and I decided on the Florence Gump impression.”

The coast was clear as they searched the various rooms for the Time Ring, then a sudden thought struck Haana.  “What killed that poor man?  I have a bad feeling that something is here and the Master doesn’t know about it.”

“What sort of creature?”  Penny whispered.

“I don’t know.  Why are we whispering?”  Haana smiled at Penny.

“Because the creature could hear us talking and we don’t want that do we?”  It seemed logical enough in Penny’s reckoning.

Haana opened a steel drawer and found her clothes.  “Keep a look out while I get dressed would you?”

Penny looked at the door and then back at Haana only to see her dressed in her original clothes already.  “How do you do that?”  Penny whispered.

“Trade secret I’m afraid.”  Haana took hold of the Time Ring.  “We should leave now.”

“What about the Master and this creature?”  Penny asked Haana.

“Take hold of the Time Ring.”  Haana waited until her red haired friend took a hold of the bronze bracelet.  “The Master is way out of our league.  We’re just tourists remember?  We’ll drop the Doctor a message and let her decide what actions, if any, to take.”

Penny felt the familiar rotation as the Time Ring began to spin them out of reality on their way to somewhere new.  Their arrival back at Gallifrey didn’t surprise her too much but the sight of it run by thin orange skinned people dressed in gaudy clothes was a shock.  There were signs all over the place.  NICE, HAPPY, JOY, LOVE.  She looked at the equally shocked Haana.  “Your planet’s been invaded by alien Hippy’s I think.”