Part Four
Knew I should’ve
had that thing cloaked when we got here!
It wasn’t the time for Lindsay to kick herself. Dr.
Madison had discovered her Type-Z TARDIS, and the men he dispatched to its
location were in the process of hauling it back to Urodela’s fortress. Not that
they would have luck opening it, without the required DNA signature of its Time
Lord operator – not even Lindsay herself could open it at the moment, with her DNA currently altered to match
Urodela’s.
However, the Doctor’s DNA re-sequencer was only meant to
last long enough to get them past the bio scanners. Lindsay’s alien DNA surely
had to be back by now, which meant she could access her TARDIS once it was at
the fortress.
A brilliant idea formed in her head.
“Dr. Madison!” she roared, once again utilizing her
Urodela disguise to convey authority and fury. “It was reckless of you to not
check with me on sending my men to
retrieve that foreign construct!”
Madison quivered at her tone. “B-But, Your G-Grace…With
all due respect, i-it was you that
granted me complete control over my research with resources that include your
soldiers.”
“Nevertheless, it is imperative that I am informed of
such matters,” Lindsay continued in her bogus scolding. “See that the foreign
construct is brought straight to my bedchamber, as soon as it arrives.”
“Yes, Your Excellence,” Madison confirmed.
Lindsay left with Toby and Jamie thereafter. As soon as
they were out of earshot from Madison and any other personnel, Toby asked
Lindsay, “Why did you tell him to bring the TARDIS to Urodela’s room?”
“To give us a backdoor escape,”
Lindsay said. “You two find Zoe, while I – or should I say Urodela – give the command for all the children to be brought to
her bedchamber in groups of ten. From there, I’ll herd each group into the
TARDIS.”
--------------
Through a secure line from Urodela’s bedchamber, Lindsay contacted the Doctor and Commander Drake and alerted them of the new developments in the mission. She held off on certain details, specifically the delivery of her TARDIS to the fortress, in order to keep her Time Lord identity secret from the Doctor.
As she expected, Drake protested, “No improvising! Stick
to the plan!”
“It’s still the same plan,” Lindsay told him. “I’m just seizing
an opportunity.”
“At what?” Drake condescendingly inquired. “Getting
yourself, your friends, and all those children killed?!”
“No one is dying today, Commander,” the Doctor asserted.
“For the sake of all that is holy, I hope you’re right,”
Drake remarked.
Elsewhere in the underground base, Greg had lost his pet
frog – “Jason Funderburker” was the name he settled on for it. Jason
Funderburker hopped all the way out of the bunker, urging Greg to pursue. He
chased him through the bamboo forest until he managed to snag him.
“We can’t let you go runnin’ off like that, Jason
Funderburker.”
Greg turned to head back to the bunker.
Then he turned again.
And again.
And again.
“I really shoulda left a candy trail, ‘cause I don’t know
which direction we came in, Jason Funderburker. So I guess we’ll just move in one direction and hope we get lucky.”
Greg did just that, holding Jason Funderburker at his
side. However, after a few steps, he was suddenly knocked back by a boy – much
bigger than him and dressed in rags – running like crazy through the forest.
“Well, that was
rude,” Greg muttered, dusting off as he stood back up.
Another boy in rags soon crossed his path. This one
bothered to notice Greg as he hid in the bamboo thicket. “What are you doing?”
he asked Greg, speaking with a thick Japanese accent. “You must hide! She will
see you!”
“Who will?” Greg questioned. “Are you playing
hide-and-seek? I love that game!”
“This is no
game,” the boy panicked. “She will kill us!”
The snapping of a twig scared the boy out of the bamboo
thicket, scurrying further into the forest. Gunfire rang close by, scaring
Greg. When he looked to see who the shooter was, he saw a familiar Asian woman
in hunting attire, brandishing an assault rifle with the barrel freshly
smoking.
“Lindsay,” Greg shouted, attracting the woman’s
attention. “You’re back from your mission pretending to be that euro lady. How
did it go?”
The woman curiously glanced at him. “What did you say, boy?”
Greg frowned at her response. “Why
are you talkin’ with a funny voice, Lindsay?”
----------------
Zoe could not shake the sickening display of Urodela hunting children out in the forest as if they were wild animals. The image would be engraved in her memory for as long as she had been kept a prisoner in the dungeon of Urodela’s fortress.
“Zoe? Zoe, are ya down ‘ere?”
She shot up from the bed inside her holding cell, just as
she heard the welcoming voice of Jamie McCrimmon. “Jamie, is that you?” She got
her confirmation when Jamie rushed up to the bars, disguised as one of
Urodela’s soldiers. “Oh, Jamie. Am I ever glad to see you! How were you able to
get in?”
“You know the Doctor, he always finds a way,” Jamie said
as he unlocked Zoe’s cell with a set of keys. “But, this time, we had help.”
Zoe stepped out to hug Jamie, only to notice a young
Filipino girl who had accompanied him. “Who is this?”
“This is Toby,” Jamie introduced. “She’s one of the
people helping us.”
“One of…?” Zoe
repeated his words. “Who else?”
“We’ll explain on the way to Urodela’s bedchamber,” Toby
urgently said.
Quickly and quietly, the three of them left the dungeon
and snuck through the fortress halls. They were fortunate not to have bumped
into any personnel or guards, keeping to the shadows and obscured behind walls
and corners. It seemed like they were home free, making their way across a
bridge over the entrance hall, until Toby stopped in her tracks and looked
down.
“Oh, no,” she gasped.
“Toby, what’s wrong?” Jamie asked. “Why’d ya stop?”
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