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“Come on, girl. We’ll be safe in my TARDIS.” The Rani had to drag the human most of the way back to the safety
of the ship. “Once we dematerialise you’ll be safe. If you scream again I’ll remove your vocal cords.”
Setting the controls the two steel circles of the time rotor began to revolve in an endless circular motion. “That’s
better. Oh get a grip will you please. I know that fool’s gone and gotten herself killed, and to tell you the truth
I won’t miss her one bit, but can’t you at least show some restraint?”
Hannah tried to stifle her sobbing
but the tide of feelings inside of her was too much to fight against.
“What a pathetic specimen you are.” The
Rani cajoled. “I have no idea what Theta ever saw in you.” The Rani removed a silver capsule from her metal bracelet.
“However I won’t see a lowly human suffer unnecessarily, this will make you sleep for a while.”
Hannah
caught the faint fragrance of jasmine before her mind fogged up and she passed out. She woke up to find herself spread-eagled
on some sort of cold metal table. She tried to sit up but found she had been restrained. “This is kinky.” She
muttered to herself before looking around to see what was going on.
“Ah you’re awake then.” The Rani
said, examining the girl’s eyes. “I thought you were going to sleep through the painful parts of the operation.”
She watched her captive struggle for a few seconds. “Oh don’t get up on my account. Those restraints are pure
Dalekanium. Sooner or later you’re going to give me what I want.”
Hannah could barely believe her ears. “You
won’t get it, you’re not my type.”
The Rani ignored the girl’s feeble attempt at humour. “I
know the Doctor gave you something and I want it.”
“Sorry Rani but the Doctor didn’t get lucky either.
I’m not getting into bed with anyone as butch as you.” Hannah hoped that the Rani would storm off or something.
“Will
you cease your pathetic attempts at diversion, I’m not talking about your sordid love life. The Doctor has placed something
inside your brain and I intend to get it out of you.”
Hannah was curious and wanted to know more so she decided to
push the Rani further. “I’m a one girl lesbian, I like my women to be polite and caring. You’re just a wart
hog with below average breasts.” She watched as the Rani’s face turned scarlet.
“You’ll regret
this insolence girl, I’ll break you to my will and you will give me what I want then.”
“Claire was more
into S&M than me, she loved to experiment in bed.” Hannah smiled as the Rani finally stormed out. “Nice buns
there.” She called after her. Now all she had to do was find a way to free herself before the Rani carried out her threats.
She looked around and managed to find something sharp within her restricted range. Somehow she managed to cutaway at the softer
binding material that held the manacles to the table and her hand came free. Quickly she freed the other arm and then her
legs. She stashed the blade in her jacket pocket before exiting the room quietly, in search of the console room.
The
Console room turned out to be empty and quickly Hannah changed the destination co-ordinates to take her to a nearby space
station. She stopped suddenly, how did she know there was a nearby space station? And how had she reset the controls? There
was a bleep and the central column stopped turning. A quick check of the readout showed that it was safe outside. Quickly
she reset the destination on a random heading, wiped the flight recorder and opened the doors. She dashed outside and hid
before the Rani’s TARDIS, which looked like a dirty metal door, dematerialised.
The space station turned
out to be pretty grotty and after an hour of wandering around it’s garbage strewn corridors she came to the least seedy
looking bar in the place. She had money, not that she expected four dollars to be worth anything and a Galaxy Express credit
card courtesy of the Doctor. She tried the Dollars first which of course drew only blank looks but her plastic was accepted
and she helped herself to a whole pint of cider and 10 Flanian Pobble Beads on cash back. Usually it only took a half and
she was plastered, but she needed to look tough if she was to get into a card game and earn some local currency.
Sitting
down at a poker game she found herself grudgingly accepted, there were two Silurians and a Quaagar Warrior. Hannah couldn’t
help but compare the Quaagar Warrior to a roast chicken with green skin and six eyeballs. She was counting the cards, which
was perfectly ok, because she needed the money, besides it wasn’t really cheating was it? She let them win just enough
games to avoid curiosity, however her pile of winnings increased slowly. The Quaagar Warrior was the first to run dry when
his prile of nines was beaten by her straight. The taller Silurian was next to go after his bluff was called and finally it
was Hannah against the shorter Silurian. She shuffled the cards at a blinding speed, hoping that it would unnerve her opponent.
She dealt the cards out and discovered she had three queens and a pair of two’s, full house. She raised the stakes slowly
at first; no point discouraging him from thinking her hand was not as strong as it really was. Then he bet his entire fortune.
Hannah matched his bid with a few Pobble Beads in reserve and called. The Silurian put his cards down, three tens and a pair
of sevens. Hannah laughed and put down her cards, scooping up her winnings and stuffing them into her pockets excitedly. She
stood her three opponents a round of drinks before trying to pull the waitress.
She opened her eyes gradually and
yawned before turning over to see the sleeping face of the waitress, Julni, from last night. She kissed the girl on the nose
before getting out of bed and looking for the shower.
The water was cool and refreshing and Hannah felt like the troubles
of the last day was washed down the drain along with the dirt and grime.
Pulling her clothes back on Hannah checked through
her possessions and found a computer terminal. She looked up a list of every ship to see which ones were taking passengers.
Millennium Falcon, Heart of Gold, Excalibur, Voyager, Jupiter 2, Tiger Moth and The Betty. Unfortunately none of them seemed
to be passenger ships; she would have to stowaway on one of them then. But which one? Then she saw the perfect one, it had
the same name as her birth sign. Surely this was more than luck?
The ship was quiet when she slipped on board,
the crew must be still on the space station Hannah guessed as she hid herself inside one of the few rooms that she could find.
She hated having to leave Julni like this but she had to try to get back to Earth, it was very important. Curling up to sleep
on the cold metal floor she fell into a strangely blank dream.
Hannah woke up; she heard voices outside. Frantically
she looked around for cover but there wasn’t any.
“I told you I heard something.” Del Tarrant threw the
door open and pointed at the stowaway.
“You were right.” Soolin replied simply. “Avon will want to question her.”
“Probably.”
Tarrant stated. “I have a few questions of my own first. What’s a pretty young thing like you doing on my ship?”
Oh
great, Hannah thought. Big macho bloke at twelve o clock. She’s not bad though; I can’t tell if she’s checking
me out though. She has nice eyes. “I need passage to Earth.” Hannah said weakly. “There weren’t any
passenger ships docked so I stowed away in here.”
“Why us? Why this ship?” Tarrant demanded.
“My
birth sign is Scorpio.” Hannah informed the two strangers. I wonder what her sign is, she pondered.
“We
found her inside the storage room.” Tarrant finished explaining to Avon and the others.
Hannah
liked the other woman, her dark skin looked like candy and she wanted to be held in her strong arms if only for a few seconds.
Avon
thought for a second, walking around like Captain Ahab in studded leather. “I see. Normally I’d shoot Federation
spies but to be honest we can’t afford the ammunition. Do you have any last requests before I throw you out of the airlock?”
“Can
she kiss me?” Hannah gestured to Soolin. “It doesn’t have to be on the lips.”
“That’s
not something a Federation spy would say but this is not a commercial liner, we’ll drop you off at the nearest planet.
That’s the only offer there is.” Avon half smiled at the stowaway.
The planet
was jungle as far as she could see. They had taken most of her money as a ‘fee’ for bringing her here alive. That
cute woman, Soolin, hadn’t even kissed her and in a foul mood Hannah trudged slowly around the trees, hoping for civilisation.
As
the day wore on she had abandoned the heavy leather jacket, pushing her few merger possessions into her pants pockets. She
needed a drink so bad. None of that awful cider, just some cold lemonade or diet cola please?
The trees were never ending;
they went on forever and ever and ever. She felt her bladder screeching in protest and she tried to ignore its insistent pressure.
The ground was sure to be crawling with insects and they were sure to bite her ass or something. Finally she couldn’t
hold out any longer.
Feeling refreshed Hannah continued on her merry wandering, totally lost and starving. She smelled
something...smoke. Her mind raced back to last year when she had been in a similar forest and it had gone up in smoke all
around her. That was when she still had Claire and the Doctor in her life. Now they were both dead and it was all her fault.
Maybe it wasn’t but tears trickled down her cheeks anyway. It wasn’t quite smoke though, there was the smell of
roasting meat and vegetables. A camp fire perhaps? With renewed strength she headed in the direction she thought it was coming
from.
Poulssa O’ The Dibblahgrig stirred the stew up, making sure the chunks of succulent looking flesh released
their full flavour into the meal. He mopped his brow with a towel before setting about preparing the garnish. There was a
knock at the door and he found a Tellurian at the door. “Yes? Can I help you at all?”
“Hi there.”
Hannah smiled and waved. “I’m lost and hungry, I don’t suppose you have a meal, I mean telephone, or something
so I can call for help?”
“You are alone?” Poulssa enquired? The beast was skinny and she didn’t
have much flesh on her bones, it might be as well to fatten her up first.
“I was a stowaway. I needed transport but
there wasn’t a commercial liner going my way. They took most of my cash but I have some left so I can pay for the call.”
Hannah explained her woes to the odd looking man.
“I see, well you had better come in. It’s very rare to have
a Tellurian visit our humble world. I’m Poulssa by the way. The communication equipment is through here.” He showed
the female to the larder and locked it behind her. “Feel free to eat something.” Poulssa called through the door.
“A skinny thing like you needs fattening up.”
“Great.” Hannah complained to herself. “Stuck
inside a cupboard full of food with a guy who wants to turn me into lunch. I hope that’s what he meant, he’s not
getting that!” Hannah realised she should eat something to stop the stomach cramps and forced herself to eat a few legs
of something that tasted of chicken. The bars of chocolate didn’t need so much persuasion to be eaten but she forced
herself to try not to enjoy them too much.
There wasn’t anything to sit down on, so Hannah turned a sack
of flour into a makeshift beanbag. It must have been hours before the door finally opened and the man grabbed her wrists,
dragging her out back into the kitchen.
“I think we’ll boil you down to make a soup.” The Androgum chef
said before grabbing Hannah’s arm. “Better sample the ingredients first of all though.” He clamped his teeth
down on her arm and bit.
Hannah screwed her eyes up and screamed. There was a strange metallic thud and the grip on her
arm was released. She opened one eye slowly and looked down to see the man lying on the floor unconscious. She looked up and
gasped. Standing in front of her was the Doctor! Wielding a ladle. She threw her arms around her friend’s shoulders
and hugged her. “Doctor, I thought you were dead! What happened? How did you survive?”
The Doctor smiled at
her wounded and slightly grimy companion. “I’ll explain later,” was her cryptic reply.
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