STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
Chapter Five The Doctor swiped his ident card and entered the torture chamber while Donna and me followed behind him. Donna's mouth dropped open when she saw what was inside. "Honestly, I had no idea this was here," she said while I carefully shut the door behind us. "God, they tortured you?" she said to the Doctor. "A bit. But I've had worse," the Doctor said, using Jack's keys to unlock the cell door. "You two keep watch while I talk to Jack." We stood there in front of the open door while the Doctor knelt down to Jack. He was still unconscious. The Doctor put his fingers on Jack's temples and closed his eyes. While he was doing that, I looked at Donna. So far she seemed to be alright. She looked at me when I stared at her a bit too long. "You okay? You're not dying?" I asked. "I don't think so," she said, shaking her head. "Just feels weird though." "How'd ya mean?" "I know I did things with him and traveled with him," Donna said, pointing to the Doctor. "But I can't remember what I did. I know who he is and I know I traveled with him but that's all." "That's because I didn't want to give you too much information," the Doctor said while he kept his eyes closed. "I'm risking your life just by allowing you to remember me at all. And tell me if you do feel funny." "I will," Donna said in an annoyed tone of voice. "I don't wanna burn up if that's what you're worried about." Her face fell. "Suppose that means I'll have to give up these memories after we're done here," she said softly. "I'll have to go back to forgetting him and living a life I don't want rather than travel the stars. You told me I was gonna die and now I know what it means." "I…did?" I said. "Yeah, remember? We were in the alternate universe and…" "She's not from our universe, Donna," the Doctor said, opening his eyes and looking at her. "From what I can deduce, this universe is running ahead of hers. Apparently, I'm still in my previous body." "As far as I know, you are," I said. "I haven't seen you since CanaryWharf. For all I know you regenerated." "Well, if the timelines are similar, I am in my previous body in your universe," the Doctor said before turning his attention back to Jack. I was glad to hear that since I wasn't sure if the Doctor would regenerate into the man before me if he did change. Plus, I loved his tenth body, although this body was beginning to grow on me. We fell silent and watched while he dealt with Jack. "Jack, can you hear me?" the Doctor said with eyes shut. Donna and I came into the cell and stood by the side wall, watching while Jack stirred and regained consciousness, although his eyes were still closed. "Doctor? Is that you?" Jack said softly. "It's me, old friend," the Doctor said, his eyes also shut. "Where am I?" Jack said. "In prison. You've been brainwashed and I don't have time to fix that for the moment. But I released enough of your subconscious mind so I can communicate with you. The people that came here with me, Amy Pond, Rory Williams and River Song. Where are they being held?" "Cell block B," Jack murmured, his eyes still shut. "Where is that?" the Doctor said. "Near the back of the prison," Jack said. "Can you bring up a memory of it so I can download it into my mind?" the Doctor said. He fell silent and I assumed Jack was bringing up the memory since the Doctor didn't ask him to do that again. After five minutes, the Doctor spoke and thanked Jack for the information. He then told him he was going to put him back to sleep. "You are going to help me, aren't you?" Jack said in a worried tone of voice. "Of course I will. But what they've done takes time and I don't have it. I'm supposed to be executed in less than an hour but I will come back and save you, I promise." "Good. Because I don't want to hurt you anymore," Jack murmured. "I know you don't. Now sleep, Jack." The Doctor fell silent again and Jack's body stopped moving and his breathing deepened. Two minutes later, the Doctor opened his eyes and looked at us. "He's sleeping," the Doctor said. "I put him in a very deep sleep so he won't wake up and hunt us. Hopefully, no one will bother him." "He can't wake up?" Donna said. "Not now. I'll have to wake him up which means I'll have to survive all this or he sleeps forever," the Doctor said. "So he's in a coma then," Donna said. "Yes. But that ensures he won't be up chasing us. Jack isn't stupid. He knows how to hunt people and we don't need him breathing down our necks. But enough talk, I know where Cell Block B is. So let's go and get the others and get out of here before I end up boiled like an egg." "So you're taking me with you then?" Donna said. "Unless you wanna stay here and temp for fascist aliens," the Doctor teased. "No! I wanna go with you!" Donna said emphatically while the Doctor chuckled. We walked out of the cell and he shut the door behind us. We put our sunglasses and helmets back on before going out. Donna walked with us, pretending to escort us somewhere while the Doctor led us to Cell Block B. On the way though, I could see some commotion and I realized that the women I knocked out were now back inside the prison telling everyone about me. The Doctor paused for a moment near one of the women, standing in the background and listening while she told a black man what happened to her. He led us on after getting the gist of what she was saying. "So…now we know where you found your outfit," the Doctor said while we walked down a corridor. "Yeah, I was hoping I would be in and out before she came back," I said, glancing nervously over my shoulder. We turned and corner and ran into another guard. The guard looked us over and looked at our ident cards. I realized that he might have known what happened and he was making sure we weren't imposters. He read the Doctor's ident card. "Harkness?" he said to the Doctor. "Yes?" I was amazed by how accurate the Doctor's imitation of Jack's voice was. "We have to check to verify identities. Apparently two of the female guards were rendered unconscious near the prison and a uniform was stolen." By now I was trying to move behind the Doctor and unclip the ident card from my shirt. The guard noticed me and started to move past the Doctor when Donna stepped around me, blocking his way. "We're in a hurry, mate, so move it!" she said to him. "Where are you going in such a hurry, temp?" the guard said in a condescending tone of voice. "We're going to get the other prisoners so they can be executed along with the Time Lord," Donna said, matching his condescension. "We were ordered to escort them to the torture chamber. These people have been identified so move!" I held my breath while the guard and Donna locked eyes in a standoff. I could see the Doctor balling up his fist, ready to punch the guard if he tried to force his way past Donna. "Did you hear me? I said…move it!" Donna growled at the guard. "We're in a hurry and you're taking up valuable time!" The guard stared at her for a moment more and then looked at me and the Doctor and snorted. "Little Miss Temp, thinks she's somebody special just because she works here," he muttered as he moved past us and went around the corner. I breathed a sigh of relief while Donna turned and flashed him the vees with a smug look on her face. "Well done, Donna," the Doctor said. "Bravo!" "Thank you," Donna said, nodding. "Just gotta know how to deal with people like Mister Jobsworth. Now…shall we?" The Doctor patted her shoulder and nodded to me before we hurried on to Cell Block B.
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