Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 30 - Smith and Jones, Part 2

The Doctor turned and charged out of the room, running towards the entrance to the hospital. He stopped on a mezzanine above the first floor and crouched behind a large potted plant, the other two copying his movements as they peered down at the floor below. 

People began running and screaming as the Judoon marched into the hospital, although one brave man stepped forward and tried to greet them diplomatically, only to get shoved into a wall. They assimilated the English language from his speech, scanning him and marking him as human with a cross on the back of his hand, before continuing further into the hospital.

"Oh, look down there, you've got a little shop. I like the little shops," the Doctor exclaimed, peering over the railing at a little area set into the wall below, filled with cards and gifts. 

"What is your obsession with little shops?" Lyssa whispered, pulling him back into hiding. "They just offer overpriced stuff that you can get cheaper literally anywhere else."

He grimaced. "Once you've spent long enough in a hospital, anything they offer as a distraction is welcome."

Lyssa blinked, taken aback. He liked them because he associated them with a reprieve from some kind of emotional or mental pain? She... had honestly not expected that. Though, to be fair, she'd never really expected him to be the type of person to spend a great deal of time in a hospital for whatever reason, unless it was on an adventure, like on New Earth. 

"Yeah, never mind that," Martha hissed. "What are the Judoon?"

"Galactic police. Well, police for hire. More like interplanetary thugs," the Doctor said seriously, watching them catalog another poor man who seemed scared out of his mind.

"And they brought us to the moon," Martha pointed out.

"Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated us. That rain? Lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop," the Doctor explained.

"Which should be illegal," Lyssa grumbled before sneezing into her shirt. "They basically kidnapped us - which means they acted on Earth territory."

"You can file a complaint, but it'll get mired in red tape," he told her. "Bureaucracy is the same across the universe."

"What's that about 'galactic law'? Where'd you get that from?" Martha frowned. "If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?" 

"If we are, it's only because they kidnapped us and brought us here," Lyssa pointed out, crossing her arms and releasing them with a frown when the action made her chest ache as if she'd strained something, her heartbeat seeming to echo strangely before fading away. "They wouldn't have much ground to stand on in court, although I doubt this lot sees much of the inside of a courtroom. They don't seem to be the type that follows the official rules all that much."

"They're not," the Doctor told her grimly. "And we're not trespassing. But I like that. Good thinking. No, it's more simple. They're making a catalog, which means they're after something non-human, which is very bad news for me. And possibly Lyssa." He glanced down at her from the corner of his eye. "Depends on how advanced their technology is."

"Why would it be bad?" Martha asked curiously. He just looked at her, making her hesitate before shaking her head. "Oh, you're kidding me." He raised an eyebrow. "Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."

He grinned, taking her hand and setting it on his wrist, letting her feel his pulse and watching her expression fill with shock. "I have two hearts, Miss Jones. Will that convince you?" he told her, grabbing Lyssa's hand as he stood and pulling her to her feet with him. "Need to find an administration office. How do you feel about running?"