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fardell24Chapter 2 – Part II Arrival at Ilkona
9 February 2710
Ilkona City, Ilkona, Terran Empire of Planets
Deep in the seedy underbelly of Ilkona City two people met.
“You have the information?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” the other said.
They exchanged information on their personal electronics
“Is this all of it?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” the other said, as she vanished into the night. The other also went back the way he had come.
Outside Ilkona City
The TARDIS materialised beside a road on a forested hillside not far from Ilkona City.
“So, where are we?” Felicia asked, looking at the Scanner screen as the Doctor activated it.
“The Terran colony of Ilkona, in the year 2710. It is a rather peaceful year,” the Doctor said.
“If we are here, I doubt that will remain true for much longer,” Tamsin said, cheekily.
“Very true, Tamsin,” the Doctor said.
“Is there any more information we should know?” Felicia asked, wondering how dangerous it could be.
“Not really, but you should be careful, and be ready to run if I tell you too,” the Doctor said.
“He always says that,” Kiara said.
“My Doctor sometimes says it too,” Felicia said, wistfully.
“Let’s go,” the Doctor said, opening the main TARDIS door. “Wait a minute,” he said.
He pressed a button on the console and waved the sonic screwdriver. “There. Your phones will be able to access the local internet now, Tamsin and Felicia,” the Doctor said.
“Thanks, Doctor,” Tamsin said. She quickly opened the browser on her phone, connecting to what appeared to be the local version of Google...
“But that’s not very fair. What about Kiara and Nathan?” Felicia asked, as they left the TARDIS.
“I share! Besides, Kiara has a Tyrian artifact that performs a similar function,” Tamsin said.
“TARDIS location recorded,” Kiara said, as the Doctor locked the TARDIS door behind them.
“I suppose,” Felicia said. ‘I don’t think it is fair that Tamsin gets to access the internet and Nathan doesn’t,’ she thought.
“With the TARDIS location recorded, we can teleport back here if we want,” Kiara said.
“Interesting, so the device has a teleporter built into it?” Felicia asked.
“Yes, although that is more the Doctor upgrading it than its native function. On Tyria it interfaced with the teleportation systems in the settlements. Choose the settlement and away you go. The teleporters were distributed through the settlements and hardly needed maintenance,” Kiara said.
“OK, that sounds interesting, but it is still not fair for Nathan,” Felicia said, looking Kiara in the eyes.
“His choice,” Kiara said, not flinching. ‘Rather headstrong isn’t she?’ she thought, not for the first time.
“I don’t mind,” Nathan said.
“Are you sure?” Felicia asked.
“Yes,” Nathan said.
‘He doesn’t seem that convinced,’ Felicia thought.
“There, he says that he doesn’t mind!” Tamsin said.
Kiara nodded in support of Tamsin.
“Sorry,” Felicia said to Kiara.
“You thought something was unequal and wondered why. Don’t worry about it,” Kiara said, hoping to put her at ease.
Felicia brightened.
Ten minutes later they entered Ilkona City. They approached the city and crossed the crest of a ridge, leaving behind the forest in which the TARDIS had materialised. The vista that they saw was magnificent.
“Amazing,” Tamsin said.
“It looks fantastic,” Kiara said.
“An Architectural masterpiece,” Felicia said. ‘There really is no other way to describe it, and I have seen dozens of cities on a score of planets...’ she thought.
“Absolutely,” the Doctor said.
The skyscrapers and other buildings had obviously been carefully designed to complement the natural environment of the city surrounds, lending to an effect that was quite breathtaking. The majority of the skyscrapers had a green sheen that blended with the wooded hills beyond and trees in the various parks and along most of the streets grew above most of the other buildings.
“Beautiful,” Nathan said.
“Definitely.” Tamsin said.
“An understatement,” Felicia said.
Another twenty minutes later the Doctor and his companions were in a park watching birds.
“Is anything going to happen?” Tamsin said, clearly bored.
“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked.
“We have been here for over half an hour and nothing of interest has happened. Usually, by now there is something that has interested you, and we are in the thick of it,” Tamsin said.
“She does have a point,” Kiara said.
“Yes she’s right. Access some news site and see if there is anything that is out of the ordinary,” the Doctor said.
“Right,” Tamsin said. She quickly used the local version of Google to find some reputable news sites.
Kiara and Felicia quickly did the same.
Five minutes later. Tamsin had found something.
Mysterious Explosion at Laboratory
A Mysterious explosion has rocked a laboratory in the Van Stattan District at 1 AM. The laboratory, owned by the Moss Corporation, was almost completely destroyed by the blast. Given the time of day it was nearly deserted, yet a few people were caught in the blast.
Little information is forthcoming at this time.
...Police are still investigating, nearby security AIs were affected by EMP around the time of the incident and didn’t record any suspicious activity before or after the occurrence.
She handed the Doctor her smartphone.
“You are right, this is definitely something that needs some looking into,” the Doctor said after he had read the article.
“I have found the address of the devastated laboratory,” Kiara said, less than a minute later.
“Good,” the Doctor said, as he handed the smartphone back to Tamsin and glanced at Kiara’s device.
“Good, we will be there in an hour or so,” the Doctor said.
“Or we could take the subway. We would be there in much less time,” Felicia said.
The Doctor sighted a subway entrance less than 30 metres away. “That’s convenient, let’s go,” he said.
“Yes, it is,” Felicia said.
They entered the subway to find the station deserted. “No one else is here,” Kiara said.
“Of course, it appears to be entirely automated,” Nathan said. ‘We are far enough in the future for that,’ he thought.
“The train will be here in less than five minutes,” Felicia said, looking at the timetable, posted next to the entrance.
“That’s convenient,” the Doctor said.
They remained silent until the train arrived. They quickly got into the maglev train, which left the platform a minute after they got on. As the train started moving, the holographic system activated, showing the train’s progress through the subway. They would arrive at their destination in less than fifteen minutes.
Whilst they were waiting, the Doctor and Felicia used the holosystem to access the broadcast news channels.
After over five minutes of channel surfing, they found more news about the laboratory explosion.
“...about ten survivors have been found, and taken to the nearest hospital...”
“After whatever situation that is happening is resolved I will attempt to find your Doctor,” the Doctor said.
“Is that a good idea?” Tamsin asked.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. The TARDIS had been going off course, consistently for a while prior to my encounter with that anomaly. I also don’t know where the TARDIS was headed after we left where we were,” Felicia said. ‘It would be like trying to find a needle in an infinite haystack,’ she thought.
“Ok,” the Doctor said thoughtfully.
“It is likely that my Doctor would begin her own search and thus meet us at some future point,” Felicia said.
“That is a good point,” the Doctor said (filing the alternate gender reference away for a future time).
“I agree,” Nathan said.
They quickly arrived at the station closest to the laboratory and disembarked.
As they exited the subway they saw the police cordon around the site of the explosion in the distance.
‘That’s a lot of damage,’ Felicia thought.
The Doctor took his psychic paper out of his pocket as they approached, ready to get past the officers.
“Investigator Smith and assistants, Asheru, Daniels, Davis and Lovell, we have been called to help in the investigation of this incident,” the Doctor said, holding the psychic paper up for the officer to see.
“Go ahead,” the officer said.
“Good!” Tamsin said.
“We’ll find something,” Kiara said.
“You can count on it,” Tamsin said.
‘There could be anything,’ Felicia thought. She also noticed the policemen giving the party funny looks...
...
The Doctor and his companions walked past the cordon and came close to the laboratory building. They could see that the explosion had ripped through the structure, demolishing most of it. Only a third of the original building was still standing.
The Doctor scanned the ruins with the sonic screwdriver. “Interesting, but strange,” he said.
“What is strange?” Tamsin asked.
“Strange, I am picking up traces of trinitrotoluene and nitro-glycerine,” the Doctor said.
“How is that strange?” Tamsin asked.
“Why would someone wanting to destroy this lab use such primitive explosives?” the Doctor asked.
“To hide other more advanced explosives?” Nathan asked.
“To cover up an accident?” Felicia asked.
“I have no idea,” Kiara asked.
“Both of those are good ideas. But what was the function of the laboratory?” the Doctor asked.
“According to the official web site; the laboratory was used for genetic engineering,” Tamsin said.
“I wonder if that was all it was used for, and what type of genetic engineering was being pursued,” the Doctor said. The sonic screwdriver beeped again.
“Now it is showing microscopic traces of more advanced explosives, and also acrylamide gels.”
Nathan and Tamsin knew what the latter was for. “The latter is what you would expect really,” Tamsin said.
“Acrylamide gels?” Felicia asked. It wasn’t something she was familiar with.
“They are used to separate different length biological polymers. In this case, DNA fragments,” Nathan said.
“Does the website say anything about the genetic engineering that was being conducted?” the Doctor asked.
Tamsin consulted her phone again. “Increasing the strength of the immune system and digestive efficiency, but then that could have been a cover for something else.”
“Quite true,” the Doctor said.
“We may have to question the survivors,” Felicia said.
“True,” the Doctor said.
“Absolutely,” Tamsin said.
The Doctor continued to gather information from the ruins. ‘Very interesting...’
“What is?” Tamsin asked.
“Traces of different chemical explosives,” the Doctor said.
“Those are?” Felicia asked.
“Acetone Peroxide and what is known as C4,” the Doctor said.
“Still rather primitive,” Tamsin said.
Felicia looked at Tamsin; “I wouldn’t call C4 primitive.”
“Primitive by comparison,” Tamsin said.
“Maybe,” Felicia said.
---
Two hours later, the Doctor and his companions arrived at the city’s main hospital, intending to interview the survivors of the explosion.
The hospital was a large building that occupied an entire block, and towered at least twenty stories above street level. “Interesting design, Doctor,” Kiara said.
“Art Deco, originating from the interwar period in the Twentieth Century,” the Doctor said.
“Cool,” Kiara said.
“Very pretty,” Tamsin said.
The Doctor and his companions entered the main lobby and looked around. The main lobby had influences from Greco-Roman architecture, with load-bearing Corinthian columns spaced evenly around the walls. The Doctor walked up to the Colosseum-inspired main desk. He produced the psychic paper.
“Investigator Smith and assistants, Asheru, Daniels, Davis and Lovell, we have been investigating the laboratory explosion that occurred 2 and a half hours ago. We are here to interview the survivors,” he said.
“The survivors are recovering in Ward 16, on floor 8,” the receptionist said said in a bored and no nonsense tone.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said. He placed the psychic paper back in his pocket and lead the companions to the elevator at the back of the lobby.
The elevator also had Greco-Roman influences, which extended to the pop-up holographic interface. The floors were labelled in Roman numerals. Felicia poked the Floor VIII button. The elevator started moving.
“Interesting that they would decorate the interior separately to the exterior,” Felicia noted.
The Doctor filed away that information for future reference. ‘Very curious,’ he thought.
“It is,” Tamsin said.
Kiara looked thoughtful.
...
The 8th floor of the hospital was like any other hospital in the Terran Empire, antiseptic and Spartan, although there were hints of the Greco-Roman design here and there.
They walked up to the nurses’ station that was opposite the elevator entrance. There was one nurse on duty.
The Doctor produced the psychic paper. “I am Doctor Smith, here with my assistants to interview the survivors of the laboratory explosion,” he said.
“One moment please,” the nurse said. She pressed a button on the console beneath the window.
She then talked to the doctors on duty to check if any of the survivors were in any state to be interviewed.
She soon returned. “They are ready to see you,” she said.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said.
“Good,” Nathan said quietly.
‘Cool,’ Tamsin thought.
Soon the Doctor was interviewing the survivors, with Felicia and Tamsin taking notes.
They had interviewed a few, when something happened...
“...So, there was a faint ticking noise,” the Doctor prompted.
“Yes, there was, then the explosion occurred...” one of the survivors said, with a raspy voice. But then he slumped down into the bed, and the monitoring equipment started making a single tone!
He had died. The Doctor quickly found out why. He waved the sonic screwdriver around the deceased patient. He found a potent poison in the intravenous feeding mechanisms.
“Poisoned! But by who?” he asked.
“Someone just injected something into the drip Doctor!!” Felicia said, her voice certain.
“Who?” the Doctor asked.
“I’ll know the person when I see them,” Felicia said, again with absolute certainty. “The person was dressed as a doctor,” she added.
“That’s very weird. Why would someone poison someone in a hospital?” Tamsin asked. ‘Were they afraid that the explosion didn’t do the job?’
“Good question,” the Doctor said. Felicia spotted the person responsible for the poisoning on the opposite side of the ward.
“There!” she said.
The person dropped the equipment that they had been carrying and ran. Felicia ran off after them, almost knocking over the nurses who were coming to attend to the deceased patient.
“Follow her, Kiara!” the Doctor said.
“Yes, Doctor,” Kiara said, before running off herself, following Felicia out of the ward.
“What happens now?” Tamsin asked.
“First, we try to answer your question, Tamsin,” the Doctor said. “It may be that someone is trying to cover something up...”
Felicia dashed out of the ward, following the culprit. The culprit reached one of the elevators ahead of Felicia.
Felicia narrowly missed the elevator and used an adjacent elevator. She selected the ground floor, hoping that was the culprit’s destination. ‘It has to be. He wouldn’t risk getting caught on stairs,’ she thought.
On the ground floor, Felicia dashed out of the elevator and saw the culprit exit the hospital onto the street ahead of her. She quickly followed, leaving the hospital to the west, towards the subway station that she, the Doctor and his usual companions had arrived in.
9 February 2710
Ilkona City, Ilkona, Terran Empire of Planets
Deep in the seedy underbelly of Ilkona City two people met.
“You have the information?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” the other said.
They exchanged information on their personal electronics
“Is this all of it?” one of them asked.
“Yes,” the other said, as she vanished into the night. The other also went back the way he had come.
Outside Ilkona City
The TARDIS materialised beside a road on a forested hillside not far from Ilkona City.
“So, where are we?” Felicia asked, looking at the Scanner screen as the Doctor activated it.
“The Terran colony of Ilkona, in the year 2710. It is a rather peaceful year,” the Doctor said.
“If we are here, I doubt that will remain true for much longer,” Tamsin said, cheekily.
“Very true, Tamsin,” the Doctor said.
“Is there any more information we should know?” Felicia asked, wondering how dangerous it could be.
“Not really, but you should be careful, and be ready to run if I tell you too,” the Doctor said.
“He always says that,” Kiara said.
“My Doctor sometimes says it too,” Felicia said, wistfully.
“Let’s go,” the Doctor said, opening the main TARDIS door. “Wait a minute,” he said.
He pressed a button on the console and waved the sonic screwdriver. “There. Your phones will be able to access the local internet now, Tamsin and Felicia,” the Doctor said.
“Thanks, Doctor,” Tamsin said. She quickly opened the browser on her phone, connecting to what appeared to be the local version of Google...
“But that’s not very fair. What about Kiara and Nathan?” Felicia asked, as they left the TARDIS.
“I share! Besides, Kiara has a Tyrian artifact that performs a similar function,” Tamsin said.
“TARDIS location recorded,” Kiara said, as the Doctor locked the TARDIS door behind them.
“I suppose,” Felicia said. ‘I don’t think it is fair that Tamsin gets to access the internet and Nathan doesn’t,’ she thought.
“With the TARDIS location recorded, we can teleport back here if we want,” Kiara said.
“Interesting, so the device has a teleporter built into it?” Felicia asked.
“Yes, although that is more the Doctor upgrading it than its native function. On Tyria it interfaced with the teleportation systems in the settlements. Choose the settlement and away you go. The teleporters were distributed through the settlements and hardly needed maintenance,” Kiara said.
“OK, that sounds interesting, but it is still not fair for Nathan,” Felicia said, looking Kiara in the eyes.
“His choice,” Kiara said, not flinching. ‘Rather headstrong isn’t she?’ she thought, not for the first time.
“I don’t mind,” Nathan said.
“Are you sure?” Felicia asked.
“Yes,” Nathan said.
‘He doesn’t seem that convinced,’ Felicia thought.
“There, he says that he doesn’t mind!” Tamsin said.
Kiara nodded in support of Tamsin.
“Sorry,” Felicia said to Kiara.
“You thought something was unequal and wondered why. Don’t worry about it,” Kiara said, hoping to put her at ease.
Felicia brightened.
Ten minutes later they entered Ilkona City. They approached the city and crossed the crest of a ridge, leaving behind the forest in which the TARDIS had materialised. The vista that they saw was magnificent.
“Amazing,” Tamsin said.
“It looks fantastic,” Kiara said.
“An Architectural masterpiece,” Felicia said. ‘There really is no other way to describe it, and I have seen dozens of cities on a score of planets...’ she thought.
“Absolutely,” the Doctor said.
The skyscrapers and other buildings had obviously been carefully designed to complement the natural environment of the city surrounds, lending to an effect that was quite breathtaking. The majority of the skyscrapers had a green sheen that blended with the wooded hills beyond and trees in the various parks and along most of the streets grew above most of the other buildings.
“Beautiful,” Nathan said.
“Definitely.” Tamsin said.
“An understatement,” Felicia said.
Another twenty minutes later the Doctor and his companions were in a park watching birds.
“Is anything going to happen?” Tamsin said, clearly bored.
“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked.
“We have been here for over half an hour and nothing of interest has happened. Usually, by now there is something that has interested you, and we are in the thick of it,” Tamsin said.
“She does have a point,” Kiara said.
“Yes she’s right. Access some news site and see if there is anything that is out of the ordinary,” the Doctor said.
“Right,” Tamsin said. She quickly used the local version of Google to find some reputable news sites.
Kiara and Felicia quickly did the same.
Five minutes later. Tamsin had found something.
Mysterious Explosion at Laboratory
A Mysterious explosion has rocked a laboratory in the Van Stattan District at 1 AM. The laboratory, owned by the Moss Corporation, was almost completely destroyed by the blast. Given the time of day it was nearly deserted, yet a few people were caught in the blast.
Little information is forthcoming at this time.
...Police are still investigating, nearby security AIs were affected by EMP around the time of the incident and didn’t record any suspicious activity before or after the occurrence.
She handed the Doctor her smartphone.
“You are right, this is definitely something that needs some looking into,” the Doctor said after he had read the article.
“I have found the address of the devastated laboratory,” Kiara said, less than a minute later.
“Good,” the Doctor said, as he handed the smartphone back to Tamsin and glanced at Kiara’s device.
“Good, we will be there in an hour or so,” the Doctor said.
“Or we could take the subway. We would be there in much less time,” Felicia said.
The Doctor sighted a subway entrance less than 30 metres away. “That’s convenient, let’s go,” he said.
“Yes, it is,” Felicia said.
They entered the subway to find the station deserted. “No one else is here,” Kiara said.
“Of course, it appears to be entirely automated,” Nathan said. ‘We are far enough in the future for that,’ he thought.
“The train will be here in less than five minutes,” Felicia said, looking at the timetable, posted next to the entrance.
“That’s convenient,” the Doctor said.
They remained silent until the train arrived. They quickly got into the maglev train, which left the platform a minute after they got on. As the train started moving, the holographic system activated, showing the train’s progress through the subway. They would arrive at their destination in less than fifteen minutes.
Whilst they were waiting, the Doctor and Felicia used the holosystem to access the broadcast news channels.
After over five minutes of channel surfing, they found more news about the laboratory explosion.
“...about ten survivors have been found, and taken to the nearest hospital...”
“After whatever situation that is happening is resolved I will attempt to find your Doctor,” the Doctor said.
“Is that a good idea?” Tamsin asked.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea. The TARDIS had been going off course, consistently for a while prior to my encounter with that anomaly. I also don’t know where the TARDIS was headed after we left where we were,” Felicia said. ‘It would be like trying to find a needle in an infinite haystack,’ she thought.
“Ok,” the Doctor said thoughtfully.
“It is likely that my Doctor would begin her own search and thus meet us at some future point,” Felicia said.
“That is a good point,” the Doctor said (filing the alternate gender reference away for a future time).
“I agree,” Nathan said.
They quickly arrived at the station closest to the laboratory and disembarked.
As they exited the subway they saw the police cordon around the site of the explosion in the distance.
‘That’s a lot of damage,’ Felicia thought.
The Doctor took his psychic paper out of his pocket as they approached, ready to get past the officers.
“Investigator Smith and assistants, Asheru, Daniels, Davis and Lovell, we have been called to help in the investigation of this incident,” the Doctor said, holding the psychic paper up for the officer to see.
“Go ahead,” the officer said.
“Good!” Tamsin said.
“We’ll find something,” Kiara said.
“You can count on it,” Tamsin said.
‘There could be anything,’ Felicia thought. She also noticed the policemen giving the party funny looks...
...
The Doctor and his companions walked past the cordon and came close to the laboratory building. They could see that the explosion had ripped through the structure, demolishing most of it. Only a third of the original building was still standing.
The Doctor scanned the ruins with the sonic screwdriver. “Interesting, but strange,” he said.
“What is strange?” Tamsin asked.
“Strange, I am picking up traces of trinitrotoluene and nitro-glycerine,” the Doctor said.
“How is that strange?” Tamsin asked.
“Why would someone wanting to destroy this lab use such primitive explosives?” the Doctor asked.
“To hide other more advanced explosives?” Nathan asked.
“To cover up an accident?” Felicia asked.
“I have no idea,” Kiara asked.
“Both of those are good ideas. But what was the function of the laboratory?” the Doctor asked.
“According to the official web site; the laboratory was used for genetic engineering,” Tamsin said.
“I wonder if that was all it was used for, and what type of genetic engineering was being pursued,” the Doctor said. The sonic screwdriver beeped again.
“Now it is showing microscopic traces of more advanced explosives, and also acrylamide gels.”
Nathan and Tamsin knew what the latter was for. “The latter is what you would expect really,” Tamsin said.
“Acrylamide gels?” Felicia asked. It wasn’t something she was familiar with.
“They are used to separate different length biological polymers. In this case, DNA fragments,” Nathan said.
“Does the website say anything about the genetic engineering that was being conducted?” the Doctor asked.
Tamsin consulted her phone again. “Increasing the strength of the immune system and digestive efficiency, but then that could have been a cover for something else.”
“Quite true,” the Doctor said.
“We may have to question the survivors,” Felicia said.
“True,” the Doctor said.
“Absolutely,” Tamsin said.
The Doctor continued to gather information from the ruins. ‘Very interesting...’
“What is?” Tamsin asked.
“Traces of different chemical explosives,” the Doctor said.
“Those are?” Felicia asked.
“Acetone Peroxide and what is known as C4,” the Doctor said.
“Still rather primitive,” Tamsin said.
Felicia looked at Tamsin; “I wouldn’t call C4 primitive.”
“Primitive by comparison,” Tamsin said.
“Maybe,” Felicia said.
---
Two hours later, the Doctor and his companions arrived at the city’s main hospital, intending to interview the survivors of the explosion.
The hospital was a large building that occupied an entire block, and towered at least twenty stories above street level. “Interesting design, Doctor,” Kiara said.
“Art Deco, originating from the interwar period in the Twentieth Century,” the Doctor said.
“Cool,” Kiara said.
“Very pretty,” Tamsin said.
The Doctor and his companions entered the main lobby and looked around. The main lobby had influences from Greco-Roman architecture, with load-bearing Corinthian columns spaced evenly around the walls. The Doctor walked up to the Colosseum-inspired main desk. He produced the psychic paper.
“Investigator Smith and assistants, Asheru, Daniels, Davis and Lovell, we have been investigating the laboratory explosion that occurred 2 and a half hours ago. We are here to interview the survivors,” he said.
“The survivors are recovering in Ward 16, on floor 8,” the receptionist said said in a bored and no nonsense tone.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said. He placed the psychic paper back in his pocket and lead the companions to the elevator at the back of the lobby.
The elevator also had Greco-Roman influences, which extended to the pop-up holographic interface. The floors were labelled in Roman numerals. Felicia poked the Floor VIII button. The elevator started moving.
“Interesting that they would decorate the interior separately to the exterior,” Felicia noted.
The Doctor filed away that information for future reference. ‘Very curious,’ he thought.
“It is,” Tamsin said.
Kiara looked thoughtful.
...
The 8th floor of the hospital was like any other hospital in the Terran Empire, antiseptic and Spartan, although there were hints of the Greco-Roman design here and there.
They walked up to the nurses’ station that was opposite the elevator entrance. There was one nurse on duty.
The Doctor produced the psychic paper. “I am Doctor Smith, here with my assistants to interview the survivors of the laboratory explosion,” he said.
“One moment please,” the nurse said. She pressed a button on the console beneath the window.
She then talked to the doctors on duty to check if any of the survivors were in any state to be interviewed.
She soon returned. “They are ready to see you,” she said.
“Thank you,” the Doctor said.
“Good,” Nathan said quietly.
‘Cool,’ Tamsin thought.
Soon the Doctor was interviewing the survivors, with Felicia and Tamsin taking notes.
They had interviewed a few, when something happened...
“...So, there was a faint ticking noise,” the Doctor prompted.
“Yes, there was, then the explosion occurred...” one of the survivors said, with a raspy voice. But then he slumped down into the bed, and the monitoring equipment started making a single tone!
He had died. The Doctor quickly found out why. He waved the sonic screwdriver around the deceased patient. He found a potent poison in the intravenous feeding mechanisms.
“Poisoned! But by who?” he asked.
“Someone just injected something into the drip Doctor!!” Felicia said, her voice certain.
“Who?” the Doctor asked.
“I’ll know the person when I see them,” Felicia said, again with absolute certainty. “The person was dressed as a doctor,” she added.
“That’s very weird. Why would someone poison someone in a hospital?” Tamsin asked. ‘Were they afraid that the explosion didn’t do the job?’
“Good question,” the Doctor said. Felicia spotted the person responsible for the poisoning on the opposite side of the ward.
“There!” she said.
The person dropped the equipment that they had been carrying and ran. Felicia ran off after them, almost knocking over the nurses who were coming to attend to the deceased patient.
“Follow her, Kiara!” the Doctor said.
“Yes, Doctor,” Kiara said, before running off herself, following Felicia out of the ward.
“What happens now?” Tamsin asked.
“First, we try to answer your question, Tamsin,” the Doctor said. “It may be that someone is trying to cover something up...”
Felicia dashed out of the ward, following the culprit. The culprit reached one of the elevators ahead of Felicia.
Felicia narrowly missed the elevator and used an adjacent elevator. She selected the ground floor, hoping that was the culprit’s destination. ‘It has to be. He wouldn’t risk getting caught on stairs,’ she thought.
On the ground floor, Felicia dashed out of the elevator and saw the culprit exit the hospital onto the street ahead of her. She quickly followed, leaving the hospital to the west, towards the subway station that she, the Doctor and his usual companions had arrived in.
