not Earth either, huh? [OTA]

[peri_patetic]

"Memory Zero. Negative. You have remembered more again."

She was trying not to. Really, really not to this time, but it all sounded so interesting! The Viyrans. Genius genetic manipulators who bio-engineered viruses as weapons and they think that she might have been accidentally infected

Comments

[mellanby]

Dayna would have been amused to hear of any man being likened to Lassie or a near equivalent, but at the moment she was still a little unsettled. She was fairly sure she'd seen a ghost wondering about. The product of horrible stories she didn't take part in.

And then, of course, women appearing out of thin air was never settling.

"They won't talk to you," she blurted, blatantly and even before a hello. "Well, they might. But never more than they need to. You need a Doctor?" She was aware of the celery sporting eccentric, of course, but there were lots of people that could be called 'Doctor'.

[peri_patetic]

Peri sighed, cheeks puffed-out in her frustration as she turned to face the woman. "But I thought this planet was all about the parties and the get-togethers and the gatherings. Maybe someone should put him on the first shuttle going space-side."

Of course it was just like the Doctor to misrepresent a place in order to put its best face forward. Figures.

Thinking quickly, and reminded that the Viyrans told her not to say anything to anyone about the virus, Peri shook her head. "N-no. Actually, I'm sorta looking...well, weirdest thing. But I'm looking for a big wooden box. It's blue, says 'Police' at the top of the doors? Have you seen something like that?"

The longest of long shots, but she'd traveled with the Doctor long enough to not take any coincidences for granted.

[mellanby]

"The big wooden box that's even bigger on the inside? With the aristocrat pilot that's too smart for his own good and a snappy sort of dresser? If that's the one you're talking about, I can help you out. As for finding parties and get-togethers here, they're few and far between. This is a station, and none of us can find our way off of it."

She nodded for Peri to follow her, almost resigned to the fact for the moment. There were plenty of scientists, she could help out where she was needed. But her scientific expertise was in combustibles and making a better boom. Not in escaping multidimensional snares.

"I'm Dayna Mellanby by the way."

[peri_patetic]

"You have met the Doctor!" What luck! What brilliant luck! "Wait, y'mean I'm not on Grallista anymore?" Which didn't really matter, she supposed. As long as the TARDIS was around, the Doctor couldn't be very far behind. He'll know what to do.

She trailed after Dayna, her interest occupied by the look of the walls surrounding her. Okay, it looked like a space station. Maybe she somehow got off the planet. "I-I'm Peri. Peri Brown. Um...is he close by? The Doctor, I mean. I was supposed to meet him back at his ship but I got sorta distracted."

[mellanby]

"I know where the blue box is at. I suppose I could ask one of the terminals, but the computer occasionally talks back to you if you get frustrated with it... Not that it's at all different from Orac that way." That mouthy little 'box of fairy lights' as Avon liked to call it. At least he was useful... most of the time anyway.

She took her to one of the terminals first, that would work best. Dayna still couldn't shake her own suspicions after years of witnessing Federation manipulation. She assumed that other people couldn't shake theirs and this was the best way to verify what she was saying.

"If you show up, the station has a room prepared for you. I don't know how it knows, but even where I'm from some Federation computers had the ability to scan the information in your head and take a look at your memories. Put some in. Cover some up. This is less insidious, but still eerie in a way I don't prefer."

[peri_patetic]

"One thing I know about the Doctor is he's never too far from the TARDIS. And I got a key so I can wait inside if I have to." And probably get lost, too. But maybe it didn't really matter. She looked over the terminal, wondering how it worked. No buttons. Maybe if she pressed--

Woah.

Okay, pressing the screen got somewhere.

"...my name. It's here." Though it read 'Perpugilliam Brown' rather than 'Peri Brown'. "The Doctor explained that the TARDIS is sorta like that, gets in your head and helps translate whatever language people speak. It's..." She wasn't sure what it was, other than weird and more than a little creepy.

She turned her focus back to the screen. "And there's the Doctor's name. Wait, he's got a job? Virtual arena, what's that?"

[mellanby]

"I've not been, but it's supposedly an artificial environment. A virtual reality inducer of sorts. Though I think it forms the environment around you instead of inside of your head. A lot safer than any virtual reality I've encountered." She leaned her hip against the railing, and then winced slightly. She would have to take a couple of mild pain relievers, she could feel pressure behind her eyes from a burgeoning headache

[peri_patetic]

"Doesn't sound like a place the Doctor'd wanna be in charge of," Peri mused. The Doctor was all about making sure everything they experienced was completely and utterly real. "But that's what it says here. Oh, and he's also part of Operations? Wait, what?" Fifth? Seventh? What did that mean? She'd have to ask him about it when she found him.

If she found him.

When she found him.

"Yeah, that's the Doctor, alright. He'll always help out if he can," she said, sparing a fond thought for him and his worry. "How long's it been since you've last seen the Doctor? Please, you have to tell me." She took hold of Dayna's elbow for a brief moment, squeezing it.

[mellanby]

"I've not seen him in a couple of months, actually. But I've seen his box almost every time I go by the docking bay." She thumbed toward there. "And if I had a ship like that, I would check on it regularly."

She returned the gesture, taking hold of Peri's arm and leading her toward the docking bay (she was surprisingly strong for being little larger than Peri). At least it was only a short distance away.

[peri_patetic]

"Well, the Doctor sorta...comes and goes as he likes. It's in his nature." And her face roundly lit up when they passed through the entrance of the docking bay. Not at the sight of the surrounding space skiffs and shuttles and runabouts, but at the sight of that wonderfully old, wooden blue box!

Peri grinned, rummaging through her pockets for the key. At least she'll be 'home', or...at least she could see her room again.

"Thanks Dayna! D'you wanna come inside for a while? I could make you a cup of tea or something?"

[mellanby]

"Do you have any adrenaline and soma? I wouldn't encroach on your hospitality but I have the beginnings of a terrible headache creeping up on me." Though she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to hold it down.

And she wasn't entirely sure how she got down here, either. But being who she was, she wouldn't want to display any other weakness.

[peri_patetic]

Peri was about to stick her key into that so familiar lock, but hesitated at Dayna's question.

"I...I think there's probably aspirin somewhere in the TARDIS." And the weirdest part was that the TARDIS usually provided whatever you wanted. "Um, or should I take you to a hospital? Or a clinic? Or wherever sick people go on a space station?"

[mellanby]

"There's a sick bay. I'll be alright. I've been through worse." Oh, had she been through worse. Especially during those last months aboard the Scorpio and at Xenon base.

"Did I tell you my name, by the way? I can't really remember..."

[peri_patetic]

"Um, your name's Dayna. I'm Peri." Uh-oh. It was starting. Or was it? She had no idea whether she'd just infected her or not. The Viyrans were pretty vague about how the thing spread, since they wanted her to forget the whole thing anyway.

That was supposed to help cure her but--

"D'you have a...a room somewhere? Maybe I should get you there..."

[mellanby]

"I do on the quarters level. Don't be so concerned," she said with a pleasant smile. "I've faced worse. Just put in a good word with that Doctor of yours." Scholarly handsome sort were always a weakness of hers. Even just to be protective toward.

She gave Peri a bit of a little wave, starting toward the doors of the docking bay. Argh, this ache. She was going to have to take a warm bath later.

[peri_patetic]

Despite her circumstances, she had to chuckle a little at Dayna's request. "He's not that kinda guy. I mean, I'm not sure if he's totally blind to it or what. He might look like a grown-up, and I guess he is, but he's still got the emotional maturity of an eight year old kid. Thanks for showing me back to the TARDIS. Hope you feel better."

She returned Dayna's wave, managed to open the door to the time-ship, and slipped inside. Maybe the Doctor'll have some ideas about what was happening to her?