It hardly mattered. The most important thing was to leave now, and call in a strike team. This was far more than she could handle by herself. Central would have to organise a full‐scale assault to put a stop to this.
There was a sharp, metallic click dose by, and then cold metal touched her temple. Both her hearts thudded, and she realised she’d been paying too much attention to the scene below and not to that around her.
‘Slowly,’ a grim voice said. ‘Rise to your feet, and keep your hands where I can see them.’
Susan had no option but to obey. She’d been caught so easily she felt ashamed. As soon as she was upright, a light flashed on, almost blinding her. A hand pulled her revolver out of its holster. Squinting, she tried to make out her captors.
‘Peace Officer, eh?’ the voice said again. ‘I knew we must have tripped some sort of alarm when we broke in, whatever Estro said.’
‘What do we do with her, sir?’ a second voice asked. Susan could just make out three shapes behind the light.
‘Do?’ The first man grunted. ‘The Peace Officers are going to wonder why they haven’t heard from her. We’d better let them know. She’s going to have to die.’
Susan shuddered at the grim certainty in his voice, and steeled herself as the men closed in.
Donna accepted the cup of Darjeeling with an increasing feeling of unreality. The Doctor had produced a framework to hang her armour on from somewhere in his TARDIS, and she had to admit that she felt more comfortable wearing casual clothing again. At least comfortable in her body. Her mind, however, was in a profound state of shock.
Somehow, the box was larger inside than it had any possible right to be. Instead of a cramped space, there was a huge room, dominated by a many‐sided control console that lacked only a large, hookah‐smoking caterpillar to qualify it for a place in Lewis Carroll land. Close by this were the chairs they were now relaxing in, and the table holding the steaming pot of tea and the freshly buttered crumpets. Donna stared around, unable to work out how this was done.
‘I didn’t know that they were this technologically advanced on the colony worlds,’ she finally managed to say.
‘They’re not,’ the Doctor said. ‘Transdimensional engineering is practised by very few species, and the human race isn’t one of them.’
Trying to take in this new fact made Donna leap to a logical conclusion. ‘You’re claiming that you’re not human?’ she asked, dazed.
‘We have our differences,’ he murmured. ‘Crumpet?’ He held out the plate, and Donna took one. Biting into it at least gave her time to think.
‘And this granddaughter of yours, Susan,’ she said slowly.
‘She’s about the same as me,’ he admitted. He frowned. ‘I can’t understand why she’d look about fifty yet. She’s only a child really. Our people do live a terribly long time.’
‘Like elephants,’ Donna said solemnly.
The Doctor laughed in delight. ‘You’re taking all of this very well,’ he said. ‘Many people wouldn’t.’
‘I’m trying to stave off insanity till tomorrow,’ Donna told him. ‘I’ve had a busy day, and I don’t have the time for it now.’
‘An admirable decision.’ The Doctor took a sip of his own tea. ‘Now, perhaps you can help me a little. Ive been away from Earth for thirty of your years, so I really don’t know a whole lot of what’s been happening. Would you be so kind as to fill in the blanks for me? You mentioned that Susan s a Peace Officer, for example. What would that be?’
‘Well, after the Daleks were defeated,’ Donna began, ‘everywhere was…’ She suddenly stared at him. ‘There was a man involved in that!’ she exclaimed. ‘He was called the Doctor! And he had some sort of disappearing box…’ She looked around the TARDIS. ‘Is this it?’
‘This is it and I am he,’ the Doctor replied.
‘But you can’t be,’ Donna said firmly. ‘He was an old man, with long white hair. You’re… well, you’re not.’
‘Yes, well, I seemed older then, I know… Eventually that body wore out, and I needed a new one.’
Donna shuddered. ‘What do you do – take over other people’s bodies when your own one packs in?’
‘No!’ he exclaimed, indignantly. ‘Our bodies restructure themselves and we become literally a new person. This is still the same body that I had when I was older, but it’s been… restructured a lot since then.’
‘Isn’t that sort of thing against Newton’s Third Law?’ she asked weakly.
‘Yes,’ he agreed cheerfully, ‘but I have to admit that I do violate a few laws now and then. Only when absolutely necessary, of course. Now, about Susan…?’
‘Oh, yes.’ Donna tried to gather her thoughts, but it was difficult. Sitting so close to this alien in a bizarre spaceship was seriously damaging her ability to think. Especially since he seemed to be so friendly. ‘Well, when the Daleks were destroyed, the human race tried to pick itself up and go on with life as usual. The problem was that the Daleks and their plagues and slavery had killed about nine‐tenths of Earth’s population, and most of the industrial infrastructure. Rebuilding wasn’t technically possible. As a result, we’ve been forced to compromise a lot.’
‘Knights in armour carrying carbines,’ the Doctor mused. ‘I begin to see. But didn’t the colony worlds offer to help?’
‘Certainly,’ Donna agreed. ‘But they were refused. Doctor, this is our home. We don’t need anybody’s help to rebuild it. We can do it ourselves.’
‘Really?’ The Doctor sighed. ‘It sounds like the human race began rebuilding with arrogance, stubbornness and stupidity. Well, you’ve survived a long time with those traits.’
‘We don’t need help from others!’ Donna insisted sharply.
‘Donna, you’re a knight,’ the Doctor said gently. ‘It’s your job to help others. Why is it so hard for you to consider accepting help as well?’
‘I only help when I’m needed,’ Donna replied stubbornly. ‘I don’t insist on helping if I’m not wanted.’
‘I see.’ The Doctor sipped more tea. ‘Well, I operate something along those lines myself, so I can’t fault you for that. But if you discover you need my help, you need only ask. I promise not to rub your nose in the fact that I’m an alien. So, you tried and failed to rebuild…’ he prompted her.
‘We haven’t failed,’ she answered. ‘It’s simply taking time. Anyway, when the Daleks were destroyed, there were an awful lot of sites where they had been that were left behind. Some of them were booby‐trapped; others were simply dangerous by their nature. The provisional government of the day ordered that all Dalek Artefacts were to be off limits to everyone. They were sealed, and the Peace Officers were formed. Their job is to make certain that nobody interferes with any of the sites, and to prevent people from being harmed by them.’
‘A sensible precaution,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘A bit like bomb sites in London after the Second World War. Rope them off, and keep everyone away until they can be exploded.’
‘You’ve read about them, too?’ Donna asked. ‘Yes, that’s exactly it And Susan’s one of those Peace Officers. They have unlimited power to go where they wish, even across Domains.’
‘Domains?’
‘The area controlled by a Lord and his men,’ Donna replied. Britain’s split into Domains. The early attempt to form a one‐country government didn’t last very long. Instead, the whole place fragmented. Initially there were about a hundred Domains, but over the past twenty‐five years, most have consolidated into the ten surviving ones.’
‘Consolidated how?’ the Doctor asked darkly. ‘By persuasion or by force of arms?’
Donna shrugged. ‘A bit of both,’ she admitted. ‘Now the situation’s getting rather critical. The Domains that are left are all rather large, and the only way for them to grow is by absorbing a neighbouring Domain.’