• The Fight on Nixara
    Tara Marron was being chased. By a lion. Looked like the Nemean lion from Greek mythology.
    Not quite different from everyday with the Doctor. “DOCTOOOR!” Tara screamed. “IT’S RIGHT BEHIND ME!! OPEN THE DOOR!”
    This time, she was bait.
    “Alright! I’m opening it!”
    Tara dived in and closed the door. She panted for breath as it began to batter the TARDIS. “Well, you were marvelous bait, excellent running.” replied the Doctor from the controls.
    “Easy for you to say,” muttered Tara. “You weren’t the one running.”
    “Now, shall we deal with this thing?” the Doctor asked as he advanced toward the doors, Tara was barely keeping shut.
    “Yes, Doctor, of course,” replied Tara. She just wanted it to be dealt with, and for her and the Doctor to be off this planet.
    “ROOOAAAR!” the Nemean lion looking thing let out a huge bellow. If Tara wasn’t a bit frightened before, she was now terrified.
    “This time, you distract it,” said Tara as she stood up.
    “Good enough for me,” he said, and got prepared to open the TARDIS’ doors. “On three. . . One. . . . Two. . . . THREE!” He opened the door and held out a large chunk of meat.
    Several things happened at once. The lion rushed in, for the meat, Tara swung a large chunk of metal resembling a baseball bat at it, and the Doctor, well, he ducked. The lion looking thing, fell, and lay unconscious. “Now, to get this thing out of the TARDIS,” said the Doctor, and drug the lion out. He left the meat out there with the lion type thing. “Now where to?”
    “Somewhere without large, lion things,” replied Tara.
    “I couldn’t have agreed more,” said the Doctor. He spun on his Converse covered feet and entering with a flourish, walked right back into the TARDIS. Tara placed the metal bat thing back on the ground, and looked over her brown haired, brown eyed, Doctor. She loved him. Or was still IN love with him.
    “Shakespeare? Poe? Or maybe a different planet?” he started., leaning over the control panel. She didn’t know his feelings toward her.
    “Hmm, different planet. We can see Shakespeare after that,” replied Tara after a short pause. “You know what’s nice?”
    “What’s nice?”
    “Traveling with you. Sure, I got chased today, but maybe we can relax tomorrow. Maybe just sit around and joke a bit,” said Tara, dreamily.
    “Yeah, we deserve an off day,” said the Doctor absentmindedly. The wheezing of the TARDIS started, but to her, it was a song, the theme song of the days she spent with the Doctor. Tara closed her eyes and thought, Most beautiful sound in the universe, right there.

    She looked down at her own sneakers, and her jeans, and her green t-shirt. Jeans aren’t really suited to running. . . . Maybe I should bring some more shorts next time we visit my house.
    “Anything on your mind?” asked the Doctor looking at her still sitting on the stair well.
    She brushed a strand of her brown-gold hair that had fallen out of her usually immaculate ponytail out of her face, and glanced up at him, “Not really, why?”
    “I thought you looked rather deep in thought,” said the Doctor. Tara stood up and joined him.
    “Well, tell me where we’re heading,”
    “Right now, I can tell you that there’s no large lion things on this planet.”
    “That’s a relief.”
    “But otherwise, I’m afraid I can’t tell you much, never been there. Though I’ve heard it’s very relaxing.”
    “Huh, so it’s a place even you don’t know about?”
    “Well, not for long anyways.”
    “So, absolutely anything could happen there?”
    “And that makes it all the more exciting, don’t you think so, Tara?”
    “Yes Doctor, that does make it quite exciting.”
    The Doctor and Tara exchanged smiles and then the TARDIS gave a particularly big shake, and Tara fell towards the Doctor, and he caught her. “Hey, watch yourself,” he said as he released her.
    “Thanks for catching me,” she replied turning away, her heart thrumming in her chest. “How long until we get there?”
    “Not long,” was his reply.
    That was a bit close, Tara thought as she plopped down in one of the . Well, at least we should be there soon. She glanced over at the Doctor. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. A silence descended over the TARDIS.
    “Alright,” said the Doctor, “we should be landing there soon.”
    “What’s the planet called, anyways?” asked Tara, standing up.
    “Nixara,” replied the Doctor. “In my opinion, it’s rather peaceful.”
    “I wonder why.”
    “I dunno why, but it is.”
    “Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Tara said, as the Doctor gave the signal that it’s okay to leave the TARDIS.

    She walked out the doors, and gasped. It wasn’t much different from Earth. She could’ve very easily just walked into a hotel lobby back on Earth, the place was clean. The white tiles on the floor shined, and a fountain trickled water. It was a very nice fountain, made simply of stone and a single fountain rising out, where the water bubbled over and into the bowl. There were a row of chairs along another wall, that was colored a light blue color. The walls were a slightly darker shade of blue. It seemed to be a light aqua color. They had landed in a circular room, with four long rectangular hallways leading off it. Each hallway ended in a pair of glass doors, not unlike the ones one would find in a store on Earth. Tara looked closer at the tiles. They, although they appeared white at first glance, were actually alternating, extremely light blue tiles, and white ones. The area was large and spacious. Above them, a large domed glass ceiling let in tons of light.
    “Beautiful, isn’t it?” asked the Doctor.
    “Yes,” replied Tara, awestruck. “But it’s empty.”
    “Not for long.” Soon after the Doctor spoke these words, a line of medium height humanoid figures filed in, a line of two, humanoids who seemed to be clones, except for clothing, hair style, gender, hair and eye color, from each hallway. They broke off into groups of two and entered doors on either side of the hallway. This was carried out in complete silence. Except for the sound of shoes on the floor. Soon, the last couple people filed in.
    “Marvelously synchronized.”
    “Or mind control,” replied the Doctor and headed toward the fountain and Tara followed. “We’ve got to find someone who knows what’s going on.”
    Tara nodded her head. She knew better than to ask questions. So off they went, their footsteps echoing down the hallway. She couldn’t resist one question. “Why are these people blue?”
    “Look at the fountain,” replied the Doctor.
    “It looks just like normal water.”
    “It’s not,” the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, pointed it at the water, and turned it on. “Huh.” He leaned over and tasted it. “Ugh! That’s gross!”
    “What is it?”
    “I’ve figured out why they’re so calm, and slightly blue.”
    “It’s in the water?”
    “Yep. No idea how it ended up in there, but it’s there.”
    “What IS it?”
    “A sort of compound that controls minds and that turns them blue. They’ve been exposed to it their entire lives. No wonder it’s so peaceful here. That makes me wonder if it was always there, or not. Maybe it was added. Well, there’s no way of telling now is there?”
    “Yes, there is,” said a female voice loudly from behind them.
    Next sensation either the Doctor or Tara knew, was that they had been hit hard in the back of the head. As Tara fell to the ground, she saw the Doctor also fall. “Doctor. . . .” was all she managed to get out before she blacked out.

    The next time she opened her eyes, she was strapped to a chair, along with the Doctor across from her. “There she is,” said the Doctor gleefully as Tara came around.
    “Ow, I’ve got a splitting headache. . . . Where are we?” asked Tara, wishing she could rub her head.
    “Well, we were kidnapped, and we both took nasty blows to the head. Turns out, it was added to the water after all. We’ve either been taken by the government or a resistance group,” said the Doctor.
    “I knew the first part, but what?” Tara was having trouble concentrating. “My head hurts so much.”
    “My head hurts too,” stated the Doctor simply.
    “Am I as trussed up as you are?”
    “Yep.”
    “Doctor, how are we gonna get out of this?”
    “At the moment, I don’t know.”
    Tara closed her eyes, and winced. “I hate it when you don’t know.”
    At that moment, a door opened and two figures, wearing identical leather jackets, black jeans and helmets that covered their faces, followed by a third also wearing a leather jacket, black jeans and no helmet with shiny blonde hair entered the room. “I hope you are feeling well,” issued the same female voice, from the third figure. “My men can be so rough sometimes.”
    “Has it always been so peaceful here?” asked the Doctor.
    “No,” scowled the female.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Mary, yours?”
    “Doctor.”
    “Doctor who?”
    “Just the Doctor.
    “Who’s she?” Mary asked, motioning to Tara
    “I’m Tara. Tara Marron,” replied Tara.
    Mary motioned to one of the guards, who immediately smacked Tara, bringing a fresh wave of pain over her. Tara cried out in pain. “Hey! What‘d you do that for?!” yelled the Doctor.
    “Was I talking to you, Tara Marron?”
    “N-no,” replied Tara, her voice filled with pain.
    “Good, speak only when spoken to,” replied Mary. “Not a word from you either, boy.” She glared at the Doctor’s shocked face.
    “I’m the leader of the resistance force here,” started Mary, and the Doctor and Tara exchanged looks. “What?” Mary snapped sharply.
    “Oh, nothing, please continue your story,” replied the Doctor.
    “They added the compound to the water around ten years ago. A majority of people just fell under its influence, and thus, became brainless sheep. I didn’t want to become a brainless sheep, nor did my men here. Now did you, Bob and Jack?”
    They shook their heads.
    “Anyways, a small group of us gathered. From all around Nixara. We had noticed something else going on with the people. It seemed to be a side effect of whatever the hell they put in out water. They lost all emotion. Water everywhere was effected except for pre-bottled water. People were not affected were people like me, who Nor were people who chose not to drink the city water, and instead drank bottled water. Some people didn’t even join us, so they’re drinking the doctored water as though it’s been there all their lives.”
    “Odd, isn’t it? It’s as if the government was suddenly being run inefficiently. We’ve always had a rather efficient government, so this caught my group’s attention. That’s when we figured it out. The compound wasn’t added by the government. It was something else. It didn’t want to be found out, so from time to time, it’d send blue fighters, to fight us, and supposedly take us out. We need to go public with this information.”
    “No wonder the water tasted bad,” said the Doctor.
    “Eh?” said Mary, confused.
    “Your water, it tastes horrible. I had also thought a compound had been added to it. But your story makes sense. Now, please untie me, and my companion, so we can help you,” said the Doctor motioning with his head to the ties around his arms, legs, and chest.
    “Bob, Jack, do as he says,” ordered Mary. Bob and Jack untied the Doctor, and turned to untie Tara, and after they were done untying her.
    “Sorry for this Mary,” said the Doctor as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the two guards.
    The sonic screwdriver made its noise, as the guards fell to their knees and then slumped over.
    “What’d you that for?!” yelled Mary. “Those were my best men!”
    “And a part of this,” said the Doctor unperturbed, he looked at Tara slightly worried. “How’s your head, Tara?”
    “I’m good enough,” replied Tara, finally able to rub her head.
    “So that’s how they always knew where we were,” said Mary, struck with the knowledge, her two best men were traitors.
    The Doctor pulled off the helmets. The view of the faces was still obscured from Tara. “The only alien species that hasn’t mastered disguising their faces. The humanoid shape helped them well. Well, this alien race is called Anar. See, Mary? They aren’t actually human.”
    Tara moved closer, “They’re ugly.”
    The helmets had revealed withered skin and deep black eye sockets. The color of their skin reminded her of carrots. The mouths were . . . . Hard to tell from the rest of the wrinkles on the face. Same with the noses. They almost looked cartoonishly old, with no distinguishing features other than the eyes. The eyes were still flicking around. “They’re only knocked out until morning. Your government’s been taken over by Anars,” stated the Doctor.
    “What can we do?” asked Mary, still a little shocked. “I can gather the rest of the resistance force, and -”
    “And what? Get your Nixaran butts beat down?” exploded Tara. “Do you even have sonic devices? And what about the rest of your force?! Are they Anars too?! HOW DO YOU KNOW THERE WERE ONLY TWO?!” Tara stormed angrily out.
    “Give us a moment,” said the Doctor, and followed Tara out the door.
    Tara was stomping down the hallway, a stark contrast to the place they landed in. It was brown and dreary. It also was only sort of clean. The walls reminded her of concrete ones back on Earth. Her steps echoed loudly down the hallway. The floor was also concrete. It seemed they were underground because only a row of rectangular windows dotted the part of the wall near the ceiling. The light filtered in, so she knew it was day. Probably late afternoon, she thought.
    “Tara!” yelled the Doctor.
    Tara didn’t reply, she only quickened her steps and stopped stomping.
    “Tara! I need to talk to you!” he said louder, and it echoed down the hallway.
    She stopped, and spun around to face him, “What?!”
    He advanced toward her, and stopped a foot away, reached out, and put his hand on her shoulder, “What’s wrong?”
    “This planet. An artificial peace. Anars. Conspiracies, to name a few,” replied Tara, looking down. “It’s just not right.”
    “I agree with you,” the Doctor replied. “Nixarans should be free to decide if they want peace or not. Not with an alien’s blood, coursing through their systems.”
    “Alien’s blood, is that what it is?”
    “I’m pretty sure, are you alright now?” asked the Doctor.
    “Well, I’m sure I will be.” The Doctor embraced her and then holding her hand, led her back to the room, and released her hand.
    “Do you know how I can get into the government, or somewhere with authority?” asked the Doctor.
    “That’s my specialty,” grinned Mary.

    Hours later, under the cover of night, they were breaking and entering the main government building. Tara had glanced up at the sky, and received a shock, as she always did when seeing other planets’ skies at night. She knew somewhere out there, was her home planet, even though she couldn’t see the Milky Way Galaxy, she knew it was alright.
    They had gotten in easy enough. The building looked quite similar to the one they had landed in that morning. There was the fountain, under the domed glass ceiling, showing the night sky. And there was the TARDIS!
    “So we landed in a government building?” asked Tara.
    “Apparently,” replied the Doctor.
    “That thing’s yours?” said Mary. “It’s rather small.”
    “It’s bigger on the inside,” chorused the Doctor and Tara together, and then they grinned at each other.
    “Alright,” said Mary, not quite understanding.
    “We’ll have to show you sometime,” said the Doctor.
    “Anyone else think it was a bit easy getting gin here?” asked Tara.
    “Yeah, it was a bit easy, no alarms,” replied Mary. “Usually this place is so rigged with alarms, it’s hard to get in.”
    “Doctor, we were expecting you,” announced a voice from behind. For the second time that day, the Doctor, Tara, and the first time for Mary, they were hit in the head, and blacked out.

    “Ugh. . . . Again,” moaned Tara. They were yet again, tied to chairs, but still the first time for Mary. The room was dark, and there was no light.
    “If my head wasn‘t aching before, it‘s pounding now,” replied the Doctor.
    “Ouch, this hurts when you’re on the receiving end,” said Mary.
    “Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. We knew you’d come sooner or later,” said the same voice that they had heard before. “We saw your TARDIS, and prepared a welcome party. Welcome to Nixara. Or the future Anara, mark II.”
    The voice was a low hissing one, that seemed to penetrate everywhere that it could. It felt like it was ice cold fingers wrapping themselves around their brains. Tara shivered, the cold was almost a physical sensation.
    “I see you’ve discovered my little plot on this planet. I didn’t force them to continue drinking. They did it themselves. And soon, I’ll activate the blood running through their systems and create a planet of Anars.”
    “You failed,” spit out Mary, to the left of Tara. “You have Nixarans abound who haven’t drank the bloody water!”
    The voice laughed, it grated on Tara’s nerves like someone was using a cheese grater on her. She winced. It was not a joyful sound. “It’s true, but we have plans in place to take care of those who haven’t drank the water.”
    “Oh, and what would that be?” asked the Doctor, his voice coming from the right. “Force them to drink the tainted water?”
    It continued to laugh. “Every empire needs a resistance story. We’re going to fight them.”
    “So you purposely didn’t taint all the water? Just so you could have a glory story,” Tara could hear the disgust in the Doctor’s voice.
    “Yes, Doctor. You only found out about the two Anars, earlier because we wanted you to,” A harsh light turned on, one over each of them. They were situated about three feet apart, with Tara in the middle, Mary to the left, and the Doctor to the right.
    Tara saw the frustration on the Doctor’s face. “You’re not going to get away with this!” yelled Tara.
    “Who says?”
    “I do.”
    “A mere human, a Time Lord, and a Nixaran, what are you going to do?”
    “Bring you down.”
    “How? You are tied to chairs, and have no way of getting free.”
    “We’ll get out, and kick all your Anar butts, and then, clean the water,” the Doctor, at this point, was staring open mouthed at Tara.
    “We should settle this, more peacefully,” urged the Doctor.
    Tara stared out into the darkness, and said to the Doctor. “Back me up on this, please. I think I know what I’m doing.”
    “Alright.”
    “Show yourself, you weakling! Stop hiding in the dark, show us your face. The face that wants to take down an entire race and planet!” Tara taunted.
    “Oh, I get it now,” said Mary.
    “Shh,” shushed the Doctor.
    “WEAKLING?! HOW DARE YOU INSULT US!! YOU PUNY HUMANS ARE SO ARROGANT!” At this, all the lights went on blazing bright, revealing an Anar, wearing a dark cloak, leaving only the face open. “YOU CLAIM FOR US TO BE WEAKLINGS! LOOK AT YOU TRAPPED LIKE ONE OF YOUR EARTH RABBITS!”
    The Anar glared at them. It was uglier than the two guards. This one looked ancient, to the point where Tara was wondering if it would crumble into dust, if it yelled any longer. “I got your attention, didn’t I? Now we can talk like civilized beings,” said Tara calmly.
    “What?”
    “That was to lure you out. You Anars have quite an explosive temper, fortunately for me. Ha, that was fun,” Tara smiled politely at the alien. She was running off of pure adrenaline. “Now, what would it take to get you away from this planet?”
    “These Nixarans deserve to live their lives out from under the influence of Anar blood,” stated the Doctor. “This is unjust.”
    “It is, I lost my fiancée to your guys’ mind control,” stated Mary. “We were going to get married and live our lives. But no, the mind control effect your blood had on him totally erased all his feelings towards me.”
    “You’re going to get married?” asked Tara.
    “Yes, if the tainted water ever gets out of his system.”
    A dark slot opened in the wall and a line of Anars filed in and around them. Specifically, six, one on either side of Tara, the Doctor, and Mary. The room was of course, white, which only made the light seem harsher, and brighter. It also sharply contrasted the still open rectangular slot. The six Anars beside the Time Lord, human, and Nixaran, looked about as ugly as the guards.
    “I’ve got a question,” asked the Doctor.
    “What is it?” asked the lead Anar, clearly irritated.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Ticksar.”
    “Pleasure to meet you. I don’t believe we’ve met,” said the Doctor cheerfully.
    “No, we haven’t. You’ve met my father.”
    “And who’s that?”
    “Cleavsar.”
    “Cleavsar. . . Cleavesar. . . Nope, I don’t believe I’ve met him,” replied the Doctor, still cheerfully.
    “But, he would’ve been proud. I’ve caught the famous Doctor, who dethroned him,” Ticksar looked ready to break down into that pile of dust.
    “Oh, that Cleavsar!”
    “Daddy’s boy,” grinned Tara.
    “I am not!” Ticksar shouted.
    “Then why’d you take over this planet? To avenge your father?” the Doctor asked. Unbeknownst to the guards, he had his sonic screwdriver in his hand. Then, addressing Mary, and Tara. “His father and I had a duel, you know. After a nice cup of tea. Well, I won, and Cleavsar committed suicide. I was willing to let him live, but oh you know how prideful ole Cleavsar was. Didn’t want to live with a loss on his otherwise perfect dueling record.”
    “He committed suicide?” Obviously, this was news to Ticksar. “They say you killed him. . . .”
    “Well, I didn’t,” said the Doctor firmly.
    “Then, this was all for nothing. . . .”
    “Yep.”
    “But I’ve still caught the Doctor,” Ticksar smirked.
    “Yes, you’ve caught me,” replied the Doctor, putting his hands in the air.
    “I am now the smartest man in the universe!” Ticksar turned his back to the Doctor, and shouted. “You hear that! I’m the smartest - wait, you’re supposed to be tied up. . . .”
    “RUN!” yelled the Doctor.
    “Couldn’t agree more,” said Tara, as the Doctor grabbed her hand, and Tara grabbed Mary’s hand. They sprinted out of the room. Off they went, past the surprised Anars, who were supposed to be guarding them, and Ticksar who was still staring in shock after declaring he was the smartest man in the universe. He had, of course, forgotten to check the Doctor for any type of device. Particularly, his sonic screwdriver.
    “What are you waiting for?! Get them!” Ticksar screamed furiously.
    “Yes sir!” and the six Anars marched out the door.

    “Where are we going?!” yelled Mary.
    “To the TARDIS!” was the Doctor’s reply. Tara smiled. She couldn’t wait to see the awestruck look on Mary’s face when she realized that it was in fact, bigger on the inside. They ran down a narrow hallway, that was a sort of frothy spring green., with blue carpeting. There were dark wooden doors every so often, which Tara guessed to be around six feet apart. It was halfway light in the hallway. Just enough light to distinguish colors, and shapes, but not much more than that.
    “Wow, they must really like blue,” commented Tara. She made a mistake.
    She glanced behind them. “Doctor.”
    “Not now.”
    “Doctor. . .”
    “What?”
    “Uh, they’re after us,” at this, the Doctor released her hand, and Tara did the same to Mary.
    “We’ll run faster if we let go!” said the Doctor, gaining the lead, Tara right on his heels, and Mary a close third.
    “Do you guys usually run so much?!” huffed Mary.
    “Yes!” the Doctor and Tara replied in unison.

    They made it to the end of the hallway, and found themselves at an intersection. “We can’t go back,” panted Tara.
    “Right!” yelled Mary, and took off in that direction.
    “Left!” yelled the Doctor, and took off in that direction at the same time.
    “Forward!” yelled Tara, and took off in that direction, at exactly the same time. They must’ve gone no more than twenty feet before realizing, that the other two weren’t with them. They, not knowing where the six Anars were, kept going, hoping to meet up with the other two soon enough. Or find the TARDIS. They all knew where the other two were hopefully heading.
    Tara sprinted down her hallway, only to find it ended in a balcony. Overlooking the glass dome. So close, yet so far, she thought. Then realized what she was standing on. It wasn’t a balcony but a cleverly constructed elevator. She immediately pounded the buttons on the railing, as she began to see two Anars advancing toward her. And not a moment too soon!
    Mary jogged down the hallway and stopped. She pressed a button on the wall and said, “The Doctor and the girl, her name’s Tara, went down the left hallway and went forward respectively.”
    “Well done,” replied Ticksar from the white room.
    “It was no trouble inserting myself in their trust. The Doctor’s so gullible. The one you should watch out for is his companion.”
    “Thanks for the information,” Ticksar laughed. The chilling grating laugh.
    The Doctor ran down the left hallway, fully aware of the four Anars stomping down it behind him. “Stop! You don’t want to do this!” He shouted over his shoulder.
    They continued to advance. He cursed, and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, then remembered. It’s no good! These doors are wood! He continued to run. Then he remembered the effect it had on them, that afternoon. He ran a couple more paces, then spun around to face them and gave them all a fair blast of sonic waves from his sonic screwdriver. The guards clamped their hands over their ears, and fell to their knees, and then slumped over, knocked unconscious. “Seems Anars are susceptible to sonic waves,” he commented to himself. “Now, to the TARDIS.” He found another elevator-like contraption, and went to what he hoped to be the correct place.
    Tara was first there. As she ran to the TARDIS, the Doctor fell in step behind her. “Anars are susceptible to sonic waves!”
    “Where’s Mary?”
    “Not with me, I thought she was with you,” said the Doctor.
    “I think we unintentionally split up, don’t you?” asked Tara.
    “Yes. Brilliant, those elevator things.”
    “I think two Anars should be arriving soon,” as she said this, she had opened the TARDIS door, and had slowed down to a walk into the TARDIS.
    “Why?” asked the Doctor as he raced up the steps.
    “Two were right behind me. I didn’t have the benefit of a sonic device to help me take them out,” replied Tara.
    The Doctor nodded, and started the TARDIS. The wheezing of the TARDIS began. There was something strange about Mary, that Tara couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She mentioned this to the Doctor, he agreed with her. Tara soon realized what it was. Mary had understood the Anars, without the help of a translator. It was no problem for the Doctor or Tara, because the TARDIS universally translated all alien language straight into their heads, and all alien writing too. To them, it seemed as if the Nixarans and Anars both spoke English, but that was actually not the case. The TARDIS left the building.

    Back in the building, Mary was being questioned by Ticksar.
    “Why didn’t you tell us the Doctor had a sonic device?” he hissed, his voice more than cold. More than just icy. It felt even closer to a physical touch of something cold, like one someone sticks snow down your shirt, when it’s snowing outside, and you’re nice and warm, snug in your layers.
    “I had no way, and that really wasn’t in the front of my mind, when I was speaking to you after they were running away -”
    “And they escaped in the TARDIS nonetheless!”
    “Hey, who forget the Doctor was supposed to be tied up?”
    “You have a point,” replied Ticksar. They were no longer in the white room, instead they were in a rather plush office type room. A large desk occupied the center, and a large window served as a backdrop. The light was on about the same level it was in the hallway. Ticksar sat in a chair behind the desk, and Mary sat in one in front. “Are you sure your cover wasn’t blown? I mean, you speak practically perfect Aranian.”
    “Did you hear the way they spoke? No, I don’t think it was.”
    “Wait until he finds out it’s just a giant hoax,” Ticksar’s voice warmed up just a little.

    “This is unjust,” said the Doctor disgusted.
    Tara sighed. This had been the third time the Doctor had said it aloud. “Mary didn’t have a translator did she?”
    “No.”
    “How did she understand the Anars then?”
    “You’re brilliant!”
    “Huh? Doctor, I’m not quite sure I follow,” said Tara.
    “She knows both languages!”
    “Maybe it’s just one language. After all, males and females of a species often look different. Ticksar did seem to want to catch you.”
    “Then there’s no conflict. This is why it’s so peaceful! It was a trap set up for me! That’s it, we’re running.”
    “Again, Doctor?”
    “Yes, but not physically this time.”
    “That’s good, where are we going next?”