River ofthe Universe- Chapter 5

The policemen sat in their patrol car, both thinking that they never got a chance of the big stuff.

They never would, stuck out here looking for bird egg thieves.

They jumped when someone rapped on the window.

A skinny youngish man was grinning at them from the other side.

The driver wound down his window.

“Can I help you sir?” he asked.

“You certainly can,” he said brightly. “You can arrest me if you like, UKs’ most wanted, that’s me,” he pointed to himself.

The driver sighed, not another nutter. “Really sir, and what might you be wanted for?”

“Oh, let’s see, kidnapping, breaking and entering, infiltrating a top security lab,”he started counting off on his fingers. “Go on, check you computer, skinny bloke in a pin-striped suit, not armed but definitely dangerous.”

The second officer frowned and checked the screen. “Blimey, he’s right, not a nutter, he’s wanted by MI5.”

“Don’t you move sonny Jim,” the driver instructed as his partner jumped out and ran round to where the man was standing.

“Wouldn’t dream of it officer, I’ve done wrong, I want to confess,” he grinned as the officer handcuffed him.

********************

The two agents studied the man from behind the one way mirror.

Disconcertingly he had looked straight at them and waved cheerfully, a broad grin plastered across his face.

“He doesn’t look like a terrorist, more like an escaped mental patient,” the younger of the two frowned.

“Looks can be deceiving, you know that. Anyway, we’re under instructions to bring him back to headquarters, something about him being on the red list.”

“The red list isn’t that...” he trailed off.

“Yes, it is, this as you put it mental patient must be very important. Anyway let’s get this over with.”

***********************

The desk sergeant wasn't entirely happy about MI5 trampling over his station, confiscating any paperwork that had been generated by the arrest.

He gave the two agents a sideways look as they escorted the prisoner from the station;not that he minded, he had been more trouble than he was worth, having suddenly and without warning suffered some sort of fit.

He was just calling the police doctor when they had turned up and cancelled his call.

********************

The Doctor sat quietly in the back of the car; he rubbed his wrists, thankful that they had removed his cuffs. He smiled to himself, at least this part of his plan had worked.

However, matters were not made easier by the fact that he had suffered another attack.

“So nice of you to trust me enough to leave my handcuffs off, I might decide to jump from the car.”

The older of the two turned and replied. “I don’t think even you’re reckless enough to jump out of a car doing sixty.”

“So it’s not true what they say about MI5 then, that you couldn’t find a haystack in a barn,” the Doctor teased.

“No doubt they say a lot, but we’re not from MI5.You fit the description of the mystery man we've been looking for."

“Really, me?” the Doctor gave the agent a wide eyed innocent look, which didn’t seem to fool the agent at all.

“Yes, you, now, no more questions, you’ll soon have enough too answer, let’s have some quiet shall we?”

*************************

The Doctor was not having a pleasant time, he had been poked and prodded and examined to within an inch of him losing his temper.

He had tried to protest when they took blood samples and had been most unhappy when he was sedated.

He came around to the sound of beeping, he could feel the probes wired into his temple and hearts.

With a flash of temper he ripped the probes and wires away, causing alarms to beep in protest.

Second later, he found himself restrained by two burly white coated medics.

“I want to talk to whoever is in charge, I’m not a lab rat or a pin cushion!” he yelled, but was silenced by a large hand over his mouth.

“Enough!” a voice cut through the commotion,” take your hand from his mouth immediately, don’t even think about putting those restraints on him!”

The medic responded swiftly and moved away from the Doctor to reveal several white coated figures.

The one that had barked the orders seemed to be the senior member of the little group. He walked over to the Doctor and switched of the monitor before speaking.

“I do apologise, some of my staff aren’t as civilised as you or me. It is the Doctor isn’t it?” the man held out his hand.

The Doctor ignored the pre-offered hand, and gave him a look that would have cowed a Dalek but didn’t seem to bother the man it was directed at.

“Understandable, I would feel like that too, but we had to make sure that you were who we thought you were,” the man gestured to and someone placed the Doctors’ clothes in a neatly folded pile on the bed.

“Please, let’s not start of on the wrong foot, we’ll give you some time alone and then we will talk.”

The man snapped his fingers and everybody filed out, leaving a very bemused and bewildered Doctor alone.

A few minutes later he was dressed and pacing up and down the white walled room, he could still not shake the feeling that he was a lab rat in a very clean cage.

It was obvious that they knew who he was, no point in denying it then.

However, this didn’t get him any nearer to finding Martha and putting a stop to the end of the universe.

He looked up at the single camera mounted on the ceiling and allowed a half smile to play across his face.

“Let’s talk, shall we…”

Susan opened her eyes slowly, the light hurt her eyes, and she was lying on what appeared to be a very comfortable bed.

She slowly sat up and found herself in a very luxurious bedroom, for a second or two she was a little confused, this was a funny kind of abduction.

She jumped when she heard a shuffling noise, it came from behind the only door. Cautiously she walked over to the door and turned the handle.

Both women jumped as they came face to face, and both sighed with relief when they recognised each other.

“Martha, thank god, are you alright!” Susan hugged her with relief and tried to keep the tears from her eyes.

“Same here!” Martha returned the hug.

"Nice rooms," Susan said.

“I know, it maybe five star, but it’s still a cage, just a gilded one.”

“Yeah, a cage with no door or windows, I wonder if the Doctors’ here too, it was probably him they were after.”

“ And we’re here as insurance, to make sure he does whatever they want,” Susan nodded, though she had no idea what they would want with him, apart from the fact that he was an alien, which in itself was enough reason to want him.

Martha was about to speak again when there was an audible click and a door appeared to the left of her.

A butler stood at the doorway and cleared his throat before addressing them.

“Ladies, the master of the house requires your presence at the breakfast table, please follow me.”With that he turned and walked along the landing, Martha and Susan following him warily.

The long sweeping staircase led to a large reception room, decorated in the same understated wealth as their rooms.

The butler stopped in front of a set of large oak panelled doors and pushed them inwards.

“Miss Martha Jones and Professor Susan Chapman as you requested sir.”

A figure stood up from the table, an imposing figure in a well cut suit. “Good morning ladies, come sit and have some breakfast, I won’t have it said that I am not a gracious kidnapper,” he gestured to the two places that were set either side if the table.

Both Martha and Susan recognised the invitation as one not to be refused and nervously sat down.

The butler poured them a cup of steaming tea and placed a cooked breakfast in front of them.

The man laughed when he saw them eye it with suspicion. “Really ladies, do you think I would go to all the trouble of having you brought here if I intended to poison you. Please eat, you’re no good to me as bait for your friend if you fade away from hunger.”

Martha studied their captor from over the rim of her cup, just because he looked human didn’t me he was. He was acting the perfect host, but she could see that his smile didn’t reach his eyes, they were as cold as the ice in her orange juice.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you Professor, your reports have been most interesting.”

Susan blinked in surprise. “You’re our mystery benefactor?”

The man nodded his head in recognition . “ Yes I am, and you were worth every penny.”

With that he turned to Martha.“Now you Miss Jones need to tell me all about your erstwhile companion.”

Martha snorted. “Like hell I will.”

“Spirited, I like that, however I don’t have the time for mind games, you’ll provide information willingly or not, but you will provide information.”

The man snapped his fingers and a burly figure entered the room. “Take Miss Jones to see our good doctor.”

The man grabbed Martha none to gently, she struggled but could not break his grip and was dragged from the room followed by the protests of Susan.

“Now, professor, let us discuss how you can aid me in my own research, and you will co-operate or Miss Jones may not survive the doctors’ treatment.”

**********************

The Doctor was ushered into a sparsely decorated office consisting of a desk, two chairs and a filing cabinet.

The same man who had stopped his treatment sat behind the desk, he looked up when they entered the room.

He was unceremoniously pushed into the other chair flanked by the two burly orderlies who had tried to restrain him.

“Ah, welcome Doctor, now perhaps we can talk like civilised people,” he gestured to the two medics who quietly left.

“Civilised,” the Doctors’ voice was like glass. “I’ve been more civilly treated by people who want to see me dead.”

“I have already apologised for your treatment, if it were my decision you would have been treated with a lot more respect. After all, it’s not very often you get to meet a living legend.Torchwoods’ files are a little vague, so my superiors requested a full examination for their own records.”

The Doctor frowned. “So you’ve nothing to do with Torchwood or UNIT. Then again, I was ignorant about Torchwood.”

“Yes, we are well aware of your involvement with some of our more secretive agencies, which is one of the reasons we had you brought to us.”

“Let me tell you now, I’m not a lab rat, and there isn’t a place built that I can’t escape from, eventually,” the Doctor casually waved an arm, hoping the man picked up on the threat in his voice.

“Really Doctor, you’re not a prisoner, far from it, in fact we are in need of your expertise,” the man spoke through a small laugh.

The Doctor sat up straighter, his curiosity overcoming his suspicions. This was more like it, now he could turn it to his advantage. “My help, and what would be so bad as to need my help?” he leaned forward to emphasise the question.

************************

“We’ve been monitoring these power fluctuations for the last three months,” the man who had been his only contact placed a finger on the monitor. “But more worrying is the wild surges in the last 24 hours. However, my scientists haven’t been able to pinpoint what kind of power is being used, perhaps you can tell us.”

The Doctor studied the readings on the screen. With a heavy heart he recognised the wave patterns. “Do you want the technical or the simple explanation?”

The man smiled slightly and motioned to another figure. “Doctor, this is Professor Brightwell, she’s our senior researcher, perhaps you can explain to her.”

The Doctor returned the nod the woman had given him and launched into the explanation.

“Simply put, look at it like a river, a nice peaceful river. You think to yourself you could almost swim in that, but then you see the notice that warns you about undercurrents, then you think twice. So you change your mind and get a boat and you find you can use those currents to get about without much rowing because their so strong. That’s fine and all but then someone puts an oar in and you find you can’t control the boat, that’s what this power is.”

The woman frowned and then her eyes widened. “Of course, an oar changes the pattern, which changes the speed of the current.”

“Clever,” the Doctor half-smiled. “ Now, if you know who I am, then you know what I am, my people only put an oar in when they wanted to change direction. The difference is we knew how far to put the oar in, whoever’s doing this either doesn’t know how far to go, or doesn’t care. What they’re doing is starting to cause whirlpools, in fact they’re having effects now, not just globally, universal.”