Something Borrowed Read online

  I could tell that the Doctor still had some puzzle on his mind, though he was keeping it to himself for now. ‘Well. Between the upcoming wedding and unwelcome flying visitors, you’ve certainly been kept busy. I’d love to hear more about it. And I’d also love to hear more about your future daughter-in-law. In fact, I don’t suppose I could meet her?’

  Evris looked surprised. ‘Not before tonight’s festivities, I’m afraid. She’s deeply involved with preparations. Besides, she’s off in the women’s section of the house, inaccessible to the likes of us. But I find myself with a bit of time right now, if you’d like to have an early dinner?’

  ‘That sounds wonderful,’ I said.

  ‘No, no, not in your state, Peri.’ The Doctor’s look of chastisement was wholly unexpected.

  ‘My state?’ I asked.

  He gestured to my skirt. ‘Look what you’ve done in your carelessness. You can’t go to a civilised event like that. Evris, I don’t suppose your people could make her look respectable?’

  ‘Carelessness! Respectable!’ It was the best response I could splutter out.

  ‘Easily,’ said Evris. He moved over to a table at the side of the room and pushed a few buttons on a console.

  Within seconds, a young woman scurried in, wearing one of the yellow servants’ uniforms. A matching veil covered much of her head, but I could see that her pale blonde hair, streaked with blue, was pulled back into a neat bun. She bowed low to Evris and kept her eyes averted.

  ‘Yes, my lord?’

  ‘Please take Miss Brown and help her with whatever she needs to prepare for the wedding. The Doctor and I will be in the green dining room.’

  ‘How many dining rooms are there exactly?’ I asked.

  The Doctor waved me off. ‘Sounds like you’re in good hands. Go enjoy yourself, and who knows? Perhaps you’ll get a glimpse of the lucky bride.’

  His face still wore that sunny, flippant expression that could win others over, but I saw a knowing glint in his eyes. I understood what he wanted me to do perfectly, even if I didn’t know his motivations.

  ‘Perhaps,’ I agreed.

  He and Evris strolled off without another word, and I turned towards the patiently waiting serving-girl. ‘Shall we go, miss?’ she asked.

  3

  The serving-girl began leading me through the house, where I instantly became lost. The many corridors were like a labyrinth, connecting with each other in a way I couldn’t follow. Everything was as vast as the entrance hall had been, with high ceilings and windows, decorated with art in that bright colour scheme Koturians apparently loved. It was still amazing to me that only one family lived here and that there were four more floors like this.

  ‘Are you married?’ I asked, still fascinated by the process. ‘Have you gone through the, uh, Phasing? Oh, and I didn’t catch your name.’

  ‘Wira, miss. And, no, I haven’t had that honour.’ She sighed. ‘And sometimes I don’t know if I ever will.’

  ‘But you must have time, right?’ Wira seemed young to me, but I didn’t know how long the Koturian window lasted. ‘Or are you like Jonos?’

  ‘No, I have time.’ She brightened, but there was a wistful look to her at the same time. ‘I’m so glad he’s going to be able to do it. I wonder what he’ll look like afterwards.’

  ‘Is the new appearance random?’ I asked, thinking of Time Lord regenerations. ‘Or is there a pattern?’

  ‘You have some control over it,’ she explained. ‘Your will and the strength of your love. And the Imori stone.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘They’re sacred stones found on our world. The bride and groom rest their hands on one during the ceremony, and its divine power amplifies their love in order to complete the transformation.’

  I pondered this, wondering how much ‘divine power’ truly played a role. If I knew the Doctor, he’d probably have a more scientific explanation.

  Wira’s expression grew dreamy as she gestured me to a stairwell. ‘I have a hard time imagining Jonos changing, though. He’s already so handsome. How could he get any better?’

  I couldn’t help a smile. ‘Sounds like you wouldn’t mind being his bride.’

  Even under the veil, I could see her flush. ‘Oh no. I couldn’t. Not someone like me. He wouldn’t give me a second thought.’

  ‘Someone kind and pretty? Seems like you could get a third and fourth thought.’ Her blush deepened.

  We finally reached a set of double doors that opened up to an enormous suite with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. A giant marble tub sat off to one side.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Wira. She touched a small panel on the tub’s edge, and jets in the bottom of the basin began spraying water into it. ‘He’d never be interested in me. He’s so clever and wonderful. It’s why it took him so long to find someone suitable. Lania – she’s a real lady. She may be from another planet, but she’s obviously high-bred and sophisticated.’

  ‘Lania’s his fiancée?’

  ‘Yes.’ Wira touched another part of the panel, and cleverly placed lights in all colours turned on in the tub, lighting it up in a rainbow display. Nothing plain for these Koturians. ‘She’s a brilliant woman. So clever. So cultured. It’s no wonder Jonos fell for someone like her.’ Wira’s unspoken thought, I realised, was that he couldn’t fall for someone like her.

  She seemed so forlorn about her unrequited love that I didn’t ask anything more about the wedding. I felt a little silly going through so much primping for an event where I didn’t even know the couple, but Wira clearly did this on a regular basis and was brisk and efficient about her work. It seemed to distract her from her earlier woes, and she began to grow enthusiastic as she described other facets of Koturian life to me. I soon became absorbed as well, still amazed at a civilisation that had modelled itself on one of the most notorious cities on Earth.

  It only took her about an hour to make me into an acceptable wedding guest, and I stared at myself in the mirror with amazement, hardly able to believe what she’d achieved in so little time. My hair was done up in elaborate braids, and the make-up, though extreme by Earth standards, was in line with what I’d seen among the Koturian women on the streets. It was as much art as ornamentation, with fanciful flowers and swirls along my cheeks and at the corners of my eyes, all in greens that matched the long dress I wore. It seemed a shame when she offered me a veil like she wore.

  ‘Do I have to?’ I asked.

  Wira shrugged. ‘It goes with the dress, but it’s not required. There’ll be plenty of off-worlders without them.’

  Her words reminded me of the main reason for this spa day, and I wondered how exactly I was supposed to act on the Doctor’s unspoken suggestion to find the bride. ‘What about Lania? Does she follow your customs?’

  ‘Oh yes. She’s taken to them quite readily … though she still follows many of her own ways. She has her own servants and keeps her wing very private.’

  I mulled over Wira’s words as she led me back through the maze of corridors. When we reached the ground floor, I noticed a stairwell leading down. I came to a halt. ‘There are levels underground too?’

  ‘Two of them,’ Wira confirmed. ‘Those are the levels Lania lives in.’

  ‘Oh?’ I took a few steps towards the doorway. ‘Could I take a look around?’

  ‘Oh no! I told you, privacy is very important to her. None of us dares to –’ The girl gasped as a group of people suddenly came round a corner, making their way to the lower stairwell. ‘It’s her! Come on.’ Wira grabbed my arm and jerked me over to the side of the hall. She bowed her head, lowering her eyes to the ground in deference.

  I had no such obligation and, besides, my curiosity got the better of me. I was dying to see this woman who’d so captivated a Koturian nobleman that he’d been willing to use up his one shot at transformation on her. At first, I couldn’t make out anything because of her entourage. Four flanked her on each side, and it was difficult to tell if the
y were male or female. They were, however, most definitely not Koturians. They had distinctly reptilian features, with jutting jaws, flat noses and goldish-black scales along their skin. I admit, it wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind when Evris had said his son’s fiancée was humanoid. I supposed love really was blind.

  Then a glimpse of her hand told me she wasn’t reptilian like her attendants. It could’ve been a mirror of mine, and I wished I could get a better look at her face. She wore that fashionable Koturian veil, however, only giving me a quick glimpse of bluish eyes that swept past us in an imperious, dismissive way. Her dress was similar to mine, long and voluminous, though embellished with blue and silver. She’d nearly passed us when she came to an abrupt stop and did a double take. Her eyes widened.

  ‘You!’ she spat.

  4

  At first, I was too stunned to react. There was something familiar about this woman, but I couldn’t place it.

  ‘If you’re here … so is he.’ The green eyes glared at me through a gap in the veil that was almost completely hiding her face. ‘Take her! Hurry.’ Her eyes then fell on Wira, who was cringing and trying to make herself as small as possible. ‘And the other one too, I suppose.’

  I finally had the sense to shout for help, but by that point there was a scaly hand clamped over my mouth and a strong arm dragging me down the stairs. I thrashed against my captor, kicking backwards as hard as I could. It gave me only a heartbeat of freedom, before another of Lania’s minions came and assisted him. I still wasn’t really sure of their gender, but my brain had begun categorising them all as male.

  They dragged Wira and me down two floors, through another twisting maze and eventually to a room blocked by heavy double doors. We were pushed inside and Lania strode in after us, giving a cursory look around. She pointed towards a smooth metal disc on the floor. ‘There.’

  The lizard-men threw us on to the disc without ceremony. Almost instantly a shimmering cone of golden light appeared around us. Gingerly, I reached out to touch it, finding a seemingly solid surface – one that suddenly tightened by a few inches. I shrank back towards Wira, who was trembling and clinging to me in return.

  I would’ve expected Lania’s rooms to display that same luxury and comfort I’d seen upstairs. What I saw instead was a makeshift lab, filled with tables and computers. Lania had hunched herself over one of the latter and glanced up briefly at us before returning to whatever it was that held her interest.

  ‘It’s a sizian force field,’ she said without emotion. ‘Each time you touch it, it’ll close in further until it finally suffocates you.’ She paused for effect. ‘So I wouldn’t touch it if I were you.’

  I still couldn’t truly study her, especially leaning over. That sense of familiarity continued to nag at me, and her voice only furthered it. Who was she? Somehow I knew her, and she obviously knew me – and the Doctor.

  ‘Ah. Here’s the house’s entry log. He arrived two hours ago. No telling what damage he may have done in that time.’ She abruptly straightened up and fixed her eyes on me. ‘Where is he now?’

  ‘Who?’ I asked.

  ‘You know who!’ She turned to one of her minions. ‘There’s no time to take these two to my TARDIS. The field will contain them, but you’ll have to stay here while the others are out searching for him. It’s absolutely imperative we find him before the wedding. He could ruin everything. As it is, I can’t imagine how he found out about this. But then nothing about him surprises me any more.’

  ‘He’s just a guest,’ I blurted out.

  That cold gaze swept over me again. ‘Has he regenerated? Or is he still in that same outlandish form?’

  TARDIS. Regeneration. And, just like that, all my memories unlocked.

  ‘The Rani,’ I gasped out.

  As those hard eyes narrowed at her name, it seemed impossible I hadn’t recognised her right away. From her frown, she apparently thought she should have been obvious to me as well. Understanding hit her.

  ‘Ah, yes. This.’ She unwrapped the veil from round her head and shook out her light brown hair. Her face was exactly the same as before, lovely in a hard, cold way. ‘Stupid custom. I’ll be glad to be rid of it.’ The tight smile she gave me didn’t reach her eyes. ‘Too bad for you that you didn’t follow it. I might not have recognised you if you’d had one on.’ She counted off four of her minions and gestured to the door. ‘Go and find him. He’s probably with Evris, so be discreet in getting him away. We can’t make a scene until this charade is over.’

  ‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded. ‘Are you … are you in love with Jonos?’ It seemed impossible, especially considering her history of ruthlessness and cold-hearted scientific schemes, but why else would she be engaged to a Koturian?

  ‘Love? That contrived, chemically driven state of idiocy?’ The Rani rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly, you’re as stupid and silly as the last time we met. I’ve never understood why the Doctor travels with your kind. It’d drive me mad … but then it’s not like he’s the model of sanity anyway.’

  ‘He’ll stop you,’ I said, out of both defiance and obligation. ‘Whatever you’re doing, he won’t let you get away with it.’

  ‘By the time he realises what’s happened, he’ll be too late.’ She beckoned to two more of the lizard-men. ‘Let’s go. Those fools will be expecting me for the women’s preparation ritual or whatever nonsense they have in mind.’

  She entered something else into her computer and then re-wrapped the veil round her head. Her two chosen attendants immediately closed ranks. ‘I’ll be back as soon as I can,’ she snapped to those who remained. There were only two now, but I noticed they’d acquired some sort of guns since entering the room.

  The Rani swept out of the double doors, which slammed together with a thud, leaving us alone with the guards.

  5

  I immediately began trying to think of a way to escape. I looked up and around, certain there must be a way to break the force field. It had emerged from the floor, and I wondered if that held the solution. Unfortunately, when I tried to touch it, I accidentally bumped into the wall of light – making it close in more tightly. Wira whimpered.

  ‘I don’t understand what we’ve done to displease her,’ she said in a small voice. ‘Why would Lania do something like this?’

  ‘Because she’s been deceiving you,’ I explained. ‘Her name isn’t Lania. She’s the Rani. A Time Lord like the Doctor. Er, well, Time Lady.’

  She was certainly no one I’d ever expected to see again. Our last encounter had been on Earth, during a trip to the Industrial Revolution, when she’d been trying to extract a sleep-inducing chemical from innocent humans caught up in the chaos of the time. I remembered that part pretty well because she’d tried to do it to me too.

  ‘She’s a scientist.’ That was an understatement, but I didn’t quite know how to articulate to Wira the full extent of the Rani’s obsession. To the Rani, science trumped all other things in life. Sometimes she had specific, selfish goals. Other times, she’d get caught up in the experiments themselves: science for the sake of science. Her experiments were what had got her exiled from Gallifrey, and that single-minded focus on her research had replaced any morality she might have had – and certainly any regard for life forms she considered beneath her.

  ‘We have to warn the Doctor,’ I told Wira. The girl was so frightened, I wasn’t even sure if she heard me. ‘He’s the only one who can –’

  A clatter of metal was the sole warning I had before a hole in the ceiling suddenly opened, and the Doctor came tumbling down to the floor, landing in an ungraceful heap of rainbow plaid. Nonetheless, he rose to his feet with all the dignity of an Olympic gymnast who’d just landed a perfect somersault.

  ‘Please go on,’ he told me cheerfully. ‘The only one who can … what? Awe the masses with his wit and charm? Stump the most revered intellects of your time – or any time?’

  ‘The only one about to get shot!’ I yelled. ‘Look out!’

/>   The two reptilian men that the Rani had left on guard were charging forward, brandishing their guns. The Doctor ducked as one of them fired, emitting a blue burst of light that instead hit the force field surrounding Wira and me. The ray bounced off our prison wall, back at the lizard-man who’d fired it. He keeled over backwards, hitting the floor with a thud. Wira jumped in alarm, hitting the wall of light and triggering another restriction in our space. I gripped her hard and pulled her closer to me, scarcely daring to breathe at how near the walls were now.

  The remaining creature advanced menacingly on the Doctor, who was searching around frantically for help. Then he spied a metal ceiling panel that had fallen down with him. He picked it up and swung it with astonishing force, missing, but effectively dodging an attack. His second attempt struck the reptilian man in the head, and he crumpled to the ground. The Doctor clung to his makeshift weapon and paused, waiting for movement from his fallen foes. When nothing happened, he knelt down and studied the one he’d hit.

  ‘He’ll be out for a while.’ The Doctor looked over at the one who’d been hit by the ricocheting gun blast. His face fell and, to my surprise, he touched the creature’s cheek. ‘The gun was on its highest level. Shame. I always feel so guilty killing the Rani’s engineered lackeys. They’re already in a sorry state. They never have a fighting chance to begin with.’

  ‘They seemed to have a fighting chance when they abducted us,’ I countered. ‘And when that one nearly shot you. You got lucky.’

  The Doctor picked up the guns and carefully placed them on a counter. He wiped his hands together, as though they were dirty. For a fleeting moment, I saw true regret in his eyes, and then he was back to his usual self. ‘Skill, my dear. Not luck.’

  ‘Well, why don’t you use some of your skill to get us out of –’ I bit my words off as I replayed his comments about engineered lackeys in my mind. ‘You know the Rani’s here.’

  ‘Yes, I’m afraid so. I’d suspected when I sent you to investigate – which I see you did with your usual thoroughness. Listening to Evris’s stories simply confirmed it, and I got away as quickly as I could to find a quiet way to come in and take a look. Air tunnels aren’t my favourite way to travel, but they work.’ He strolled around the room, clucking his tongue at what he saw. ‘My, my, she has been busy.’