The Forgotten

Chapter 4

-/-

Beep...Beep...

Finally Osgood could almost sigh in relief when the scanner Missy had given her finally picked up a signal. Muffling the noise in her cloak she followed in the direction it indicated, inwardly groaning when of course it led to a door which was being manned by another armed guard. Whatever it was these Pirates were guarding they certainly didn't want anyone to steal it and Osgood could only wonder just how Missy was planning on getting her hands on it.

Somehow she couldn't see The Mistress swanning in and bidding like everyone else. For a moment Osgood tried to picture it, Missy with her feet propped up tapping into her phone and rolling her eyes at everyone else playing by these silly rules. Only getting to her feet in time for the end of the auction and making some sarcastic comments before vaporising anyone who protested, and probably those who didn't just for the fun of it.

Girding her courage Osgood stepped up to the door like she had every right to step through it and by some stroke of luck the guard merely glanced her up and down once, his face pausing on the ornate clasp that held the rather shoddy garment together and for a moment Osgood thought she saw him pale. That was another question for The Mistress to add to the thousand Osgood already had, yet she wasn't about to discount something going in her favour for a change.

Inside the smaller room the cliental looked a little too wealthy for such a rundown station. They were gathering in groups in front of a small stage, talking and sipping at a range of exotic looking drinks that were being circulated by some rather scantily clad slaves. It quickly became clear to Osgood just what they were all here for and she did her best to surreptitiously push her way to the front.

Three large contraptions dominated the room and as she drew closer something about the design seemed familiar even before her scanner started going crazy. So this was the tech Missy was looking for, only Osgood was surprised they didn't look like weapons, in fact they looked a little like stasis pods...

One was open, clearly empty and Osgood got as good a look as she could at the inside. The other two were closed and it was impossible to tell if they were occupied or not.

A hush fell over the gathering crowd as an ornately dressed man who had to be the auctioneer stepped up on to the small stage. "Thank you all for coming, I promise your travels have not been in vain. We are offering a chance to not only acquire rare technology from a race now dismissed as myth by most of the known galaxy the Time Lords of Gallifrey but as an additional bonus for those collectors among us..." He paused dramatically and curtly gestured for his assistant to proceed.

The assistant stepped up onto the small stage, activating the control panel that was set off to one side, then stepping back in front with a small hand held device he scanned it across the first closed pod and on the large screen behind them the outline of a body appeared. It small for the size of the pod, a child or a very small alien...

Osgood was just running through the possible races when two beating hearts appeared on the screen and Osgood's throat went dry.

A time lord, a living breathing time lord about to be sold off like a curiosity, possibly even two...

Suddenly Missy's reason for being here became clear and yet just as one question is answered a thousand more appeared in its place.

-/-

"How cross would you be if for some reason...you had to cancel your wedding?"

Blinking as she was lost in the vision of a dress reflected back at her it took Clara Oswald a few more seconds than usual to actual listen to what The Doctor had said, she had heard in the first time but his words hadn't really registered...She was having the final fitting for her wedding dress after all, she was allowed to be a little distracted.