STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
Chapter One I was in for a shock once I reached Trafalgar Square. The familiar statue of Nelson was gone and in it's place was a huge concrete platform with concrete steps leading up to it on all sides. Around it on all sides were concrete bleachers that rose up ten rows high. They were long and I could tell that each one could hold a fair amount of people. I wondered if Nelson's Column had ever been here or if this was always an execution ground to begin with. I could see four jumbo tellys on every side just beyond the outskirts of the square. I figured this was for the overflow that couldn't get prime seating to the event. At the moment the square was empty. I stood beside the platform and looked around but I notice people were keeping their distance from it and making a real effort not to look at it. I thought perhaps when I saw this place that it was set up for entertainment purposes like when the crowds used to watch executions on Tower Hill but now I wonder if people are forced to come and watch the executions as a way to keep them in line. The platform was bare, no huge cauldron or anything like that but perhaps they bring all that stuff in just before the execution. I knew one thing, time was short and I needed to find a way to get to the Doctor before his sentence was carried out. I left the square and discreetly followed my SATNAV, keeping clear of the men of the black who were patrolling everywhere, nearly every corner had at least one bloke walking around and looking menacing and the people who walked past them kept their heads low and didn't look or talk to them. I kept my SATNAV in my pocket whenever I went past one and pulled it out again when there were no men in black around. But given the fact that they were everywhere I kept doing that over and over and I finally gave up, figuring I could tell them it was a mobile if they stopped and asked me. After fifteen minutes, I was nearing the Doctor and I checked the SATNAV and looked up. Ahead of me was an enormous black concrete building with iron bars on every window. The building was about the size of a football pitch and it dominated the area. There were men and black all around it but these blokes were standing in place and keeping watch on the people who walked by, which to be honest weren't many. I stepped carefully towards the building, keeping an eye on the men. I was looking for any women in black because I had a plan forming in my mind. I finally did see a couple near the front entrance on the side of the building. They were flanking a huge steel door that looked impenetrable. I had an extremely crude sonic screwdriver in my pocket. Nothing as fancy as the Doctor's sonic but it could unlock doors which was all I needed at the moment. Problem was, I had to lure one of those women away from the door, knock her out and take her clothes and any ID she had on her. I decided to go over the street and go towards the entrance. I also had a small taser with me and I decided that if I could get the women away from the door, I could stun them and carry on. I walked down the pavement to the entrance and stood across from the women, waving my arms to get their attention. The woman to the left, to my relief, had blonde hair that was about the same length and color as mine and she looked about my size. "Can you help me?" I said to them. "My friend is being mugged and I need your help!" "Find someone else, ma'am, we're busy," Blondie said with all the compassion of a snail. "But it's urgent," I said. "She's in the alley just around the corner and you're the closest people. Besides, I feel more comfortable asking a woman to do it. Please help?" The other woman was black. Her hair was cut military style. She was wearing sunglasses but I could tell she was angry at being disturbed. "Go away, ma'am," she said tersely. "But it's urgent," I said. "Ma'am, we won't tell you again to leave the area," Blondie said. I was frustrated. What could I do? Then I spied a rock near me. I smirked, picked it up and flung it at Blondie's head. "Hey!" Blondie said, sidestepping the rock and she and the black woman chased me the moment I started to run. "Fuck you, pigs!" I yelled out as I headed towards a nearby alley. I careened into it and to my relief, found it empty. I pulled the taser out of my pocket and pressed myself up against a brick wall to my left. When Blondie came around the corner I leapt at her and put the taser against her neck, knocking her out within seconds once I turned it on. When she fell to the ground, I looked over to see the black woman had just come into the alley. She stopped, stunned, and stared at her fallen comrade. I took advantage of that and pounced on her, using the taser on her chest. The black woman shook for a second from the electricity coursing through her body and then fell to the ground unconscious. I dragged them both to a skip halfway down the alley and hid them behind it. Then I quickly stripped Blondie and myself, exchanged our clothes and hid my clothes carefully inside the skip, near the top on some flattened cardboard boxes. I checked the pockets of my new uniform and found an ident card. I clipped it to my shirt, put the helmet and sunglasses on and after checking to make sure the two women were still unconscious, I casually walked back to the entrance of the prison. To my relief, the ident card worked in a scanner just beside the door. I slid it through a black card reader and the light on the reader went from red to green. I tried the door and was amazed at how easily it opened. I snuck inside and quietly shut it behind me. I was standing in a long passageway that had no decoration of any kind. There was lino on the floor that was slightly dirty and scuffed. The walls were painted a dull white and were also a bit dirty in places. There was a chemical smell to the place that made me wrinkle my nose. At the end of the passageway I could see a long wooden desk. A woman sat at it, doing paperwork. She wasn't dressed in black though. She had on a white blouse but that's all I could see from my vantage point. She had long red hair and looked about late thirties. I walked down the passageway towards her. She glanced up and I flashed her my ident card. She nodded and went back to her paperwork. I noticed that she had a name badge on the blouse and her name was D. NOBLE. There were more passageways off to her left and right and there were metal doors on both sides of the hallway. Each one had a little sliding door near the bottom and a little window near the top. D. Noble looked at me when I stood there while trying to decide where to go. "Something wrong?" she said. "Yes," I said, trying to imitate Blondie's voice. "I need to see the Time Lord, where is he?" "Torture chamber, love," D. Noble said emotionlessly. "Right. Where is that again?" I said, feeling stupid. The SATNAV wasn't accurate enough to give me the exact location of the Doctor inside the building and I could tell from the annoyed look on D. Noble's face that the location of the torture chamber was something I should know. "Look, I know I'm a temp and I'm filling in for the real receptionist but even I know you know where the torture chamber is," D. Noble said condescendingly. "I'm not that thick, sunshine." "Just humor me," I said to her, trying to keep my temper in check. D. Noble let out a sigh and pointed off to her left. "Down the corridor, last door on the right," she said sarcastically. "Have I passed your little test then?" "You did with flying colors…um…sorry, what's your name again?" D. Noble gave me a withering look. "Donna," she said. "But of course I wouldn't expect someone as extremely important as you to remember that." "Wait, Donna Noble?" I said in shock. "Yeah, that's what this says," Donna said, tapping the name badge while giving me an you're an idiot look. I know about Donna. We'd been studying her and her connection to the Doctor for some time now. But it seems like in this reality she didn't know him. At least I hope she didn't know him and she wasn't betraying him and going back to working as a temp while he boiled to death. I thanked her and Donna let out a sigh and mumbled about the stupidity of the guards around here while I hurried past her and made me way down the corridor towards the torture chamber.
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