IT WAS 20,000 YEARS AGO TODAY

Chapter Thirty Eight

Mex smiled to himself as he walked the metal corridor of his spaceship. After the Doctor and his pets were subdued and captured, they realized that there were others and they quickly took the remaining humans along with the Doctor and his friends on board their ship. The ship which had been stored in a hangar underneath the ground behind the pyramid wasn't very large but it was big enough to hold thirty Diablons and any cargo they might carry. And right now the cargo was the Doctor, his friends and the fifteen humans that were left. All of them had been herded into the cryogenic room and put into suspended animation tubes for the trip back to their home world. Now as they flew back home, Mex was speaking into a communicator inserted inside his ear and talking with his supreme commander, Orlox, and telling him what happened and what they were bringing back to Diablos.

"And you say you captured a Time Lord?" Orlox was saying to him while he went into the cryogenic room.

"Actually, I captured two," he said as he walked over to the glass tube that held the Doctor.

Beside his tube was the tube that held Jeremy. All the tubes had liquid nitrogen pumped into them, a low level mixture that froze the occupant without killing him or making him brittle to the touch. Mex put his hand on the tube as he gazed at his prize. The liquid nitrogen had crystallized his skin, making it shimmer in the room's light. Ice crystals were scattered through his hair and hung down off the tips while the Doctor stayed in a deep sleep. Mex looked at the other Time Lord and ran his finger down the tube.

"The other one is imperfect though," Mex was saying to Orlox while he gazed at Jeremy, "he has a Time Lord mind but his body is more like the humans. He only possesses one heart."

"Then he has been contaminated," Orlox said. "He is useless. Destroy him."

"I beg to differ, Commander. I think his mind can still be harnessed. He still possesses Time Lord knowledge even if his body is weak and frail like the humans."

"Very well, we'll bring them to Serlula and see what she can do with them. If he can't be of any use to us, perhaps he'll be able to work as a servant after the proper brainwashing, of course."

"Of course, Commander."

"And the others, they are only humans?"

"Yes, Commander, do you want me to dispose of them?"

"No, let's find out if they can be of use to us. I'm sure Serlula will want to experiment on a couple of them and find out what that Pepa did to them. After all, he managed to engineer a new species, might as well learn all we can about them."

"Yes, Commander. Do you need me to do anything else?"

"Yes, unfreeze the full blooded Time Lord and interrogate him. I want to know if he and this Halfling are acting alone or will there be more of his kind coming to assist him. If there is going to be a full scale war with the Time Lords, I want to know about it in advance."

"Yes, Commander, I will unfreeze him at once."

"Be careful though. His kind cannot be trusted. Do not be deceived by him."

"I will be careful, Commander. I know what his kind have done to our people. He will be guarded at all times."

"Good. See that he is. We've already lost four of our men to him and I want him to tell you what he did with them. If he killed them, kill four of the humans in retaliation."

"Yes, Commander," Mex said, pushing a button on the side of the tube to unthaw the Doctor.

He finished his conversation with his superior and chuckled when steam heat rose from the bottom of the tube to unthaw the Doctor.

"At long last, a living Time Lord is my captive. And after you've outlived your usefulness to the Diablon, you will spend the rest of your lives serving me and my kind as a slave."

Meanwhile, John Smith and Pepa had successfully crossed over to the other universe and they were currently flying the ship several feet off the ground while they looked for the TARDIS. Since they had gone, the blizzard that had started when they set off from the cave had now ended and several more feet of snow blanketed the surface. While they flew the ship, the others stood behind them looking out at the snowy environment. John Smith steered the ship while Pepa rested and stared wearily out the window. He raised it slightly when he saw a huge snowdrift. Once he got past it though, he suddenly saw a bunch of startled Neanderthals running away, whooping in terror.

"There's Tia and Michelle's people," Paul said, pointing at them. "Apparently they were out hunting again."

"And thanks to us and our big yellow ship, now they'll all have multiple heart attacks and die of fright and that'll be the end of the cavemen. Jolly good for us! We'll be responsible for their extinction," John said.

"Daddy!" Tia said, pointing to the neanderthals when Paul picked her up.

"Yeah, you see your old family, love?" he asked her.

"I better lift the ship up before I really do give them heart attacks," John Smith said.

He raised the ship up and flew over their heads.

"Bye, startled cavemen," Ringo said when they continued on.

The Doctor slowly opened his eyes and grunted as he raised himself up on his elbows. He was lying on his stomach on the cold metal floor and he turned his groggy head left and right trying to get over his disorientation enough to find out where he was. He saw Mex lounging on a leather couch in front of him and while he stared at him he suddenly became aware of something around his throat. His hand fluttered across it and he felt a leather collar.

"It's a shock collar," Mex said, watching him intently. "Merely a precaution, in case you become unruly during our chat."

"Where are my friends?" the Doctor said, slowly raising himself to his knees.

"They're in suspended animation which is where you were until about twenty minutes ago," Mex replied calmly.

"What are you going to do to them?"

"Well, that depends on how well you cooperate. We could let them be servants or we could incinerate them."

"I see," the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes, "the lesser of two evils, is it?"

"Perhaps, if you see it like that. I prefer to think of it as life and death. Now…those are just the humans...the half-breed is something else entirely."

"What will become of him?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't know," Mex said with a shrug. "We have a scientist who will take a look at all of them and determine if they're useful or not. Both you and him are far more useful to us than the apes, of course, but the humans could serve as slaves or as lab experiments."

"I won't let you do that," the Doctor growled.

Mex chuckled.

"I don't believe you have a choice in the matter, Time Lord. You and them are at our mercy now and all of you will obey or there will be dire consequences. Now…first things first, what should I call you? You do have a name, don't you?"

The Doctor paused a moment, buying time while he checked his communicator and listened for any sign of his friends. He didn't hear anything and cursed mentally, wondering if the freezing process had destroyed his communicator.

"Well? I'm waiting, Time Lord," Mex said when he didn't speak. "Tell me your name or do you wish to be addressed as Time Lord?"

"I am the Doctor," he said.

"I see. And the half-breed?"

"He's Jeremy."

"Thank you. I'm glad you are civil enough to answer my questions. Now…the next question is are you and Jeremy acting alone or are there other Time Lords coming to fight us?"

"No, Jeremy and I are alone," the Doctor lied. "We're travelers."

"If that's so then why didn't you just keep on traveling and leave us alone?" Mex asked.

"Because we also right wrongs wherever we find them."

An amused grin spread over Mex's face.

"What wrong? These humans are nothing more than animals to be domesticated and used. We saw Earth and realized that it was rich in resources so we decided to come down and take what we could find. As I understand it, you and your kind are the higher species and I wasn't aware you cared for such lowly creatures."

"I'm not like most Time Lords," the Doctor said. "Unlike most of them, I don't sit around and do nothing. I protect the lower creatures from exploitation from the likes of you."

"And there are no domesticated animals on Gallifrey that you exploit for your own benefit?"

The Doctor said nothing and Mex chuckled.

"Your silence speaks volumes, my friend. You have been caught in a bit of hypocrisy. You, like us, decide which creatures are sentient beings and which are domesticated livestock."

"Fine, yes, I do that and I decided the humans are sentient beings. Having said that, I made it my duty to protect the planet and you and your mates are invading my turf and harming people I swore to protect."

"Ooo, how noble of you. I see I finally found a Time Lord with a conscience and actual hearts who cares for someone other than himself. But I'm afraid your charity for these beasts is not enough. We found the planet first and claimed it for the Diablon empire. Perhaps if you and yours weren't busy slaughtering us we wouldn't have gone searching for a hiding place and stumbled upon your…turf as you put it."

"I'm warning you, I'm not one to be trifled with."

Mex smirked. He reached behind him, reached for a black box and pushed a button on it. The Doctor gasped when the shock collar delivered a jolt of electricity that went through him. He fought the intense pain while Mex chuckled.

"I'm not one to be trifled with either," Mex said, turning off the electricity. "I told you I hold you and your companion's lives in my hands and I will not tolerate a flippant tongue. You will obey me, Time Lord."

Mex got to his feet.

"Prostrate yourself at my feet and beg for my mercy," he said, pointing to the floor in front of him.

The Doctor gave him a defiant look which was rewarded with another jolt of electricity.

"Obey me, slave, or the humans you hold dear will be slaughtered, cooked and you will eat them while we watch," he snarled at him as the Doctor grunted and fought to keep from passing out.

Mex turned off the electricity and the Doctor gasped. He grunted with pain when Mex seized his fringe and jerked on it.

"Obey, slave, show your master the proper obeisance or the humans die," he said with a sneer.

He let go of the Doctor's hair and laughed when the Doctor prostrated himself at the Diablon's feet.

"Now…beg for mercy, Time Lord, for you and your precious half-breed and humans!"

Mex laughed while the Doctor forced himself to plead for his and his friend's lives, resisting the urge to leap to his feet and throttle his captor since he had no idea where his companions were at or what was happening to them. Mex smiled when he finished and stroked the Doctor's hair as he lay with his face to the floor.

"Very good, slave. I believe that's all I need from you for now. Now, on your feet, you're going back to sleep until we reach Diablos," he said while the Doctor seethed silently.

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