Child of the void

Part IV (IV)

The Doctor certainly hadn't promised too much. If at all then maybe too little. The market brimmed with life and colour and movement and smells. Someone had opened a library of fantasy and sci-fi literature and had let all the creatures and technologies and all the magic out into the world.

Donna laughed at that description and grabbed my hand so I wouldn't get lost in the crowd.

The Doctor followed, sulking a little. Just moments ago he had proudly shown the outside of the TARDIS to me, the small blue telephone box that could impossibly fit everything that was inside. It was a surprise at first, but when I stroked a finger over the old wood I just knew I had seen it before.

"Sooooo...?" He had enquired, hands in his pockets and leaned down slightly.

"It's cool, yeah. Something to do with dimensions, right?"

And promptly the pouting had started. Donna nudged me when I looked back for the probably tenth time. "He'll get over it. Boys and their cars." Playfully she rolled her eyes.

It was good to have her. Donna was a great way to check if I had done something stupid or if everyone else was just the way they... well, were. Besides, the Doctor didn't seem to be really sulking, his dark look promptly vanishing when we strolled past an ice cream booth.

I kept looking, however. Not for him, but for the other one. The scene from the wardrobe wouldn't leave my mind and I wondered what exactly I had done to upset the Master that much. What history did we share?

"Oi! Eyes to the front, Lucy!" Donna scolded, then grinned. "You wanted some aliens and here they are. But your head's somewhere else entirely."

"How comes this place has the right composition of oxygen for not only us to breathe but everyone else too? And..." I did a little test jump and noted surprised that I landed back not quite as fast as I was used to. "Okay, mavity's a bit off, but still..."

"It's because you're not breathing oxygen," the Doctor chimed in. "It's an artificial nano component they developed some centuries back. It adapts itself to the structure of whatever the respective species need to breathe. Low telepathic field helps of course. A standard on every section 3c planet."

"Like the TARDIS?"

"Mhm."

The Doctor proceeded to tell us more technical details, but my mind wandered off again, this time to actually admire the place we were in. A bear in a suit presented handbags to a group of humanoid women in colourful dresses. Next to him sat a booth with an alien that looked like a mixture of octopus and pig, floating around on a hover disc and telling their customers about the latest video games for a system I couldn't pronounce. There were people as small as garden gnomes and others twice as tall as us and thin as twigs. A swarm of otters flew past us right as Donna found a collection of gemstone necklaces and later we got snacks from what might only be described as human sized fluff balls. The eyes were barely visible and I had no idea how it managed to do anything at all, seeing no visible hands.

It turned out the Doctor had money for this place. He wouldn't tell us from where exactly, but it was enough to have some fun with it. A plush toy of a thing that cannot be named, some figurines of spacecrafts and a pretty dress for Donna later, we strolled along the food section to pick something out for dinner. The Doctor had stories about stories to tell, covering seemingly everything and he was a good guide for what foods to eat with a human metabolism and which ones to avoid in case we valued being alive and well.

"Shouldn't we take some back?" I asked through a mouthful of some grilled meat with a spicy sauce that almost made my eyes water. "For the Master. I bet he'll sulk if we don't."