Doctor Who: The Precipice of Peace

An empty field next to a quiet road about a quarter mile outside the city. It almost seemed like a portrait. A lonely piece of nature, untouched by even the nearest civilization. It was damp and rainy, but that was always to be expected here. It even added it's own sort of melancholy beauty to the scene. If only there were a painter around. If there had been, though, his painting surely would've been interrupted. Heralded by a loud sound, an odd combination of a whooshing and a grinding, along with a strong gust of air. First would come a light, seemingly from nowhere, waxing and waning. The light would closely be followed by a strange blue box materializing from nothingness.

When all had settled down, the blue box was still there. For a few minutes, it did nothing. Then, suddenly, one side opened and an umbrella popped out and opened up, followed closely by the man holding it. He straightened his coat and fixed his bowtie and began the walk into town. "Mentra." He said out loud to himself as the rain pummelled his umbrella. "A quaint, unassuming little planet that will soon become one part of an interplanetary empire to rival that of the Humans. I can't believe it took me so long to come and see it happen..."

He continued talking to himself for the duration of his walk into town. When he got there, he began to look around. Usually, he'd just land where he needed to be, but on a planet where technology was limited he thought it would be a better idea to start off far away from people who might see the landing. After a few minutes of searching, he decided he would need to ask for help. Randomly picking a person out of the closest thing you might find to a crowd, he approached a young woman with two bands of snakeskin around her arm. "Excuse me. Hi. Hello!" He said, smiling. "Would you be so kind as to tell me where the treaty signing ceremony is going to take place? I really would hate to miss it."

It had been a great day for Viper. She had woken up in peace, shape-shifted on a pair of the latest clothing- a pair of black jeans and a flimsy blue t-shirt- in peace, had a generic breakfast of Mentro's, a popular lime-flavored cereal, in peace, went and played with some of the kids in the forest before the foretasted rain hit (admittedly, that wasn't in peace), and then went out for a walk. That was in peace too.

The 18 year old could get a bit crazy at times, but somedays she just enjoyed the sound- and feeling- of the rain on her back. Today was one of those rare days.
Some on Earth might call her crazy for walking out in the rain, especially with a clingy shirt and no raincoat. Others might call her insane for loving the sound of rain. Neither fact was relevant to Viper, since she was a Kreen, a species with no knowledge of Earth.
Viper gave a hum of satisfaction as she reached the edge of her town, relishing in the pure glee that spread over her as she reached the forest. She stopped by it everyday, standing there for a moment or two before either she entered it or until she left for her job at the local Shape Store. Shape Stores were a common sight in Mentra. They were buildings that contained box upon box of pictures that displayed every species known to Kreen-kind. Viper's job was to light the candles as night fell and dust the shelves.
Still, she prefered the forest over her easy job.

A group of girls walked by, their red, fox-like fur-skin bands glittered in the rain, as if some magic was being cast upon them. Viper never understood the reasoning of most girls her age; spending the time to research and make their clothing morph into the 'latest' fashions. Viper's idea of fashion was a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, so it might have not been her place to criticize the other females who were passing.

Viper sighed in relief as they walked away, happy to be alone again. She was ready to enjoy the forest. Then, out of the blue, as if the universe wanted to interrupt her (again), a strange man holding an overhead contraption walked up to her and asked her if she would be "kind as to tell me where the treaty signing ceremony is going to take place? I really would hate to miss it.".

The treaty he was referring to was the big headline in Mentra. Finally, the Bireh had agreed on a semblance of peace with the Kreen. Trade was to flourish and peace was to come to both races. That is, until the Bireh found some loophole and attempted to conquer the Kreen.

Hard life. Hard, loophole filled, hard life.

Instead of thinking of a snarky response of sorts, or attempting to respond at all, Viper just stood there, giving the man a blank look for a moment or too.

"Uhhh... Over there, in the middle of the town," she automatically replied as she motioned towards the town she had recently departed from. The man, whose equipment and mannerisms were obviously not from Mentra (who used the phrase "kind to tell me"? And why would he carry something to keep him from getting wet?), had just came up to her and asked her something that all Kreen knew. By that definition, the man wasn't a Kreen, but looked like a Kreen- something that obviously wasn't true.

So he must be a Kreen pretending to be someone from a book, Viper reasoned.

She briefly smiled at the man before turning back towards the woods.

"Oh, thank you so much." He said, looking off towards the city. He knew he had gotten lost wandering around, but he wasn't sure how he ended up on the outskirts of town. "You know," He said loudly, as the girl was already walking away "I seem to be having a difficult time of finding my way around. You live here, so you likely know where things can be found around the city. If you'd like to act as my tour guide, I can get you in to see the signing ceremony." This girl may seem a bit disinterested, but only the highest of high society are allowed in to see things like this. Surely, no one would turn down a chance to get inside and witness history in the making.

"Come on, whaddya say?" He said coaxingly. "How often does the chance come along to hob-nob with the big-wigs? Imagine, years from now, when your grandkids ask if you remember where you were when you heard that there was to be peace between Mentra and Yiune and you tell them that you were right there at the signing ceremony. They'll be so amazed when you tell them the story of meeting a dashingly handsome stranger just outside town and because of a simple favor to him you ended up witnessing the single most important event in the history of the two planets to occur in your lifetime."

He smiled, watching her and waiting for her answer. Surely, no one could pass that up. Not after the amazing and amusing way he had spun it. He certainly couldn't have said no to an idea like that. It would've been far too inviting, even if he had better things to do or wasn't particularly interested. He straightened his bowtie. There was an answer coming soon, he could feel it.

Viper slowly turned back around and blinked. He wanted her to sacrifice her time? For a stranger? That was just... Weird, in the biggest sense of the word. Sure she could be friendly. Sure she could be helpful. But he was just a random person. She briefly wondered if one of her friends were pulling a prank on her, then shoved the thought away. No one, no one, would ever pretend to be a weirdo like this one, or have the imagination to create a character like this man.

"You know? Why the hell not," Viper said, throwing all caution- and suspicion- to the wind. "It isn't like I had anything better to do." Except enjoy the day. A very important thing. Oh well; at least she'd get a kick out of this; the man was offering her a free pass to THE most important peaceable event in centuries.

She met his eyes and stared at him, giving him a light nod. "What are you waiting for then? You did ask me to be your guide."

The Doctor grinned. No one could resist the call of a historic event like this. There were very few constants throughout time and space, across every race on every planet. That, however, was one of them. Present someone with a chance to witness an amazing event and they will never turn it down. Even if they only want to see events relevant to their people, planet or even to only themselves, one way or another they will always say yes. "I did, didn't I?" The Doctor said in response to her question. "I suppose that means I'm waiting on you then, eh?" He laughed and turned back toward the city.

"You did say it was in the center of town, didn't you?" He said as he began to walk. "I hope you know the way there, I'm sure it has to be starting soon. Oh, but..." He placed his free hand on his stomach. "It seems to have been rather a long while since I've had a bite to eat. Maybe we could stop somewhere. You've still got the bartering system in place, haven't you? I'm afraid I haven't got any money and I don't recall ever hearing about any sort of money repositories around this time. I should have something worth bartering for a meal, though." He paused for a moment, realizing something. "I'm The Doctor, by the way. Nice to meet you." He said, extending his hand towards his new tour guide for a handshake.

"Viper. Nice to meet you... Doctor? That's a funny name," Viper shook The Doctor's hand, smiling, "but I guess it's still a name."

Her name might have been somewhat strange as well, but The Doctor seemed to have no meaning behind it. Viper was the snakeskin in her arms; The Doctor just seemed... Strange.

Eh. If he latched onto her long enough, she'd probably find out the origins behind it.

Viper threw her head to the side as she let go of The Doctor's hand, motioning to the path she had walked on. "You wanted food, right? Well, there's a great food place a couple of blocks over. You don't look old; you should be able to walk the distance."

"Don't look old." The Doctor repeated, laughing. "You might be surprised. I can definitely walk, though. Walking and running is almost all I do these days." The Doctor began down the path that Viper had indicated. It was a rather quick walk to the food place Viper had mentioned, and it was very easy to find. The smell of cooking food was always detectable. There were all kinds of different smells to the different kinds of food across the universe, but you'd always recognize that a smell, whatever kind it was, was cooking food.

It was one of those little places that didn't have tables or booths, just a bar and some stools with the kitchen and everything behind the it. The Doctor smiled upon seeing it. "Oh, I love places like this." He said, sitting down on an empty stool. "They always have the best food. Other places get too big and start caring about nothing but money. Places like these, though, never get like that. They care about making quality food at reasonable prices..."

"What can I getcha?" A voice said, interrupting The Doctor. It was the server who, judging by the lack of anyone else in sight, was the only one on duty.

The Doctor looked up at the overhead menu. Thinking for just a moment, he said "I'll have the grilled Skrailim tentacles."

The server looked a little surprised. "You sure? Alright then. You get a side with that."

"Oh, umm...I dunno. Something fried." The Doctor replied, smiling.

"...Yeah, alright." The server said. He then turned towards Viper. "How about you?"

"Just some greens." Viper said with a smile. "I'm not very hungry at the moment."

The small food booth, Elephant's, was one of Viper's favorite places to eat. She knew all of the waiters pretty well, and was good friends with some on them. Tasmin, the fur-banded sever attending to them, was a newer addition to Elephant's. Because of this, he got stuck with the weird shifts and the non-holidays like today. Viper liked Tasman's work ethic though, and his determination to one day run his own food booth somewhere in the main square.

"Coming right up!" Tasmin pipped and headed back into the kitchens. "But the Skrailiam tentacles... Those things are hard to make..." Viper faintly heard as he disappeared into the slightly noisy kitchen.

"Sooo," Viper turned towards The Doctor. "Got any family? Kids? Pets?"

The Doctor rested his elbows on the bar and locked his fingers together in front of his mouth. After a moment he managed to say, "No. Just me." Before things got too awkward, he quickly added, "I did have. I was a father, once. My granddaughter even travelled with me, for a time." He paused, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "But that was lifetimes ago." He said, at last. "And she's gone now, just like the rest of them." He stared at something on the other side of the counter, but he was obviously lost in his memories instead of being transfixed on some random cooking implement.

The Doctor snapped back to reality when Tasmin brought Viper her food. "Yours'll be a few more minutes. They hafta cook longer than the veg does." He said, looking at The Doctor as he put Viper's plate in front of her. He took a rag and began wiping down the counter. Except for Viper and The Doctor, the place was otherwise deserted. Likely, most people were having parties to watch or listen to broadcasts of the treaty signing. "So..." Tasmin said awkwardly "Are you two, uh...are you two on a date?"

Grandaughter? But The Doctor resembled a twenty year old! How would that- how did that- work? It was obvious that the subject was shakey with The Doctor, but Viper would like to know one day.

Hold on. Back up. One day? This was a simple tour guide arrangement with the man! It wasn't like she was going to invite him over to a sleepover and then become Best Friends Forever with him!

Tasmin brought up her food and Viper gave him a small smile as she dug in, both into her thoughts and her food. Said thoughts halted as Tasmin spoke. She froze for a moment like a deer targeted by a car for a moment, her fork stopping in midair, a small amount of lettuce falling back into her bowl in a comical fashion.

"On a date." She said, shocked that someone could unwittingly inflitrate her thoughts like that. "You've got to be kidding me, Tas'! I just met him today!"

The Doctor laughed. "On a date" He repeated, smiling. He looked like he was about to say something else when- Beepbeepbeep! Beepbeepbeep! Beepbeepbeep! "Oop! Speaking of dates!" The Doctor said, looking at his watch. "If we don't get going soon, they're gonna lock up the doors before we get in for the signing." He hopped off his stool and started rifling through his coat pockets, both inside and out. As he did so, he looked over to Tasmin. "Can I get those Skrailim tentacles to go?" He quickly turned to look at Viper. "Oh, I do hope they allow food in the ceremony room."

He dug around in his pockets a bit more before exclaiming "Aha!" and pulling out a small, gold-colored sphere of metal. "Here we go! A buzoolium trinket!" He handed it over to Tasmin. "I assume this is the right time period for the barter system. That should be enough for at least our food. That little trinket can predict the weather. Of course, there's lots and lots of rain on this planet, but once in a while there's a nice sunny day and that thing can tell you when they're coming. If it gets hot, it means the sun will be out the next day. Cold means rain. Not as important."

The Doctor smiled again as Tasmin took the trinket and then went off to get his food. "Come on!" He said cheerfully. "Eat up, we've gotta get going! We'll be off as soon as he comes back with my food. Y'know, I really did think we'd have plenty of time to eat before we'd have to be there. Ah well. I always get the timing wrong, why should this time be any different?" Tasmin came back out carrying a to-go box with The Doctor's food in it. The Doctor whirled around on his heels and took it, smiling. "Many thanks!" He said to Tasmin, before looking again to Viper. "Time to go! Better hurry if we're gonna get there in time!"

Viper shoveled the last of her food into her mouth. "Thanks," she briefly said to Tasmin before getting up from the small bar stool. "Okay, let's go then. This way."

Viper took off in the direction of a building that towered above all the others, her feet crunching the wet gravel beneath her as she morphed into a raincoat. "It isn't very far from here. Try to keep up, won't you?"

"Oh, don't worry about me!" The Doctor said excitedly. "Running is something I get a lot of practice at, there's no pace you could achieve that I couldn't keep up with." Remembering a few very fast species he had met in his travels, The Doctor added "Within reason, anyway." Keeping up with Viper, The Doctor followed her along the path to the huge building. When they got onto a street with a clear view of it, The Doctor pointed ahead and said "That's probably where we're going, eh? It certainly looks like a very important building. Certainly the kind of place I'd hold a signing ceremony." As they got closer, a small crowd became visible in front of the building.

At first, The Doctor thought they were just people who wanted to be there, inside or out, for the signing. Then he saw the signs and heard the shouts. "Protesters?!" The Doctor exclaimed, getting close enough to hear them shouting. "Why would anyone possibly be protesting this?! What is it about people, all across the universe, who just don't want to get along?!" As they got closer, they could make out two distinct groups: One of the native Kreen, insisting that the treaty would somehow mean the Bireh would have some control over them, and a group of Bireh protesting the thought of their race being associated with the 'inferior' Kreen.

The Doctor placed one hand over his eyes. "I can't believe this. No matter where you go, there's always some stupid group with some unfounded fears or close-minded concerns that make them want to cut themselves off from everyone else in the universe. Come on, let's just...ignore them. We'll get inside and think nothing more of it." The Doctor carefully made his way between the crowd and approached the guards who were keeping the two groups out of the building. When they moved to bar his access, he raised one hand and put the other inside his pocket, pulling out a wallet. He flipped it open and showed it to the guards, saying "It's alright. I'm the ambassador from the Hirl'yeh Lunar Colony. I'm meant to be inside. This is my guide, she's coming with me." The Doctor motioned to Viper. The guards looked the paper over and allowed them inside.

Swaggering inside like he really was meant to be there, The Doctor found his way to the assembly room. It wasn't hard, as it had been clearly marked all the way from the entry room, through corridors, up stairs and all. He found a seat near the back so his presence wouldn't be questioned and an attendant brought he and Viper both some water to drink. The Doctor thanked him and took a sip. "Ugh!" The Doctor said quietly. "That might just be the nastiest water I've ever drank. Which is odd, as the water on this planet is supposed to be some of the cleanest in the universe." The Doctor picked up his glass and swirled it around, looking at the liquid intently, trying to place the taste. "Do you taste it?"

Viper was throughly dazed by the massive crowds and The Doctor's sudden, if not faked, revelation that he was an amassador of sorts. A cup had been forcefully shoved into her hands as she continued along, following The Doctor.

The round building that they were in was pure chaos; protestors being held back from the entrance by burly Kreen, while important figures from all sorts of plants chatting amongst themselves. Off the top of her head, Viper could identify the ever-regal ruler of the planet Grenzerin, a tall fish lady wearing blue fur robes. Near the center of the building was the pri'luno (closely translating as president) of Celox, chatting away with Ginger Tom, a well known Kreen athlete.

Viper blinked as The Doctor asked her a question, snapping her out of her observations. "The water? I haven't taken a sip yet. Is there something wrong with it?" After a moment of deliberation, she raised the glass cup to her lips. "Might as well see what you're talking about."

Just as Viper's focus turned from the aliens to the water, The Doctor's did the opposite. "Well, look at that" He said, pointing to the ruler of Grenzerin. "The universe is full of so many amazing coincidences. The people of Grenzerin, for example, are nearly identical in physiology to the Terileptils from the planet Teriletus. Yet they come from opposite sides of the universe and will never, in the lifetime of their entire species, meet. Not to mention the differences in their culture. The Terileptils manage a balance between a very advanced civilization and a barbaric one. Their arts are some of the most revered in their entire galaxy, yet they hold warfare in exactly as high a regard as they do beauty. One day, the people of Grenzerin will forsake both artistic things and things of war and devote their entire existence to scientific discovery."

The Doctor absentmindedly took another drink from his glass and immediately spit it back into his cup. "Ugh!" He said, relatively loudly. "Why does this water taste so terrible?! It tastes exactly like...like...Oh no." He immediately reached into his coat and pulled out a metal stick. He pointed it at the glass, held down a button and the water began to bubble as if it were boiling. He immediately turned to Viper and said "Don't drink it!" Before she had a chance to ask why, The Doctor dashed off, dodging through the crowd, until he found one of the waiters. "Excuse me. Hi. Hello! Can you tell me where this water came from?" He asked, rather urgently.

The waiter, a little put off by The Doctor's demeanor, said "Uhh...it came from where all the water comes from, the planetary reservoir."

The Doctor's face went long as he repeated what the waiter had said. "Planetary reservoir" meant that all the water anyone would get from anywhere came from the same source. All the water anyone was drinking anywhere on the planet came from the same place that this water did. The Doctor made his way back through the crowd and found Viper. He pulled her away, towards a wall and away from the crowd. "I recognized the taste in the water." He said, quietly but urgently. "It's the smell of PentoCyleinicMethyldrane. It's a substance that alters the emotions of the people exposed to it in different forms. In liquid form, it makes people more prone to violent anger. Someone has poisoned the planetary reservoir with it. Everyone here has consumed it and it's likely lots of people in their homes have consumed it. If that wasn't already bad enough, did you notice? All the people protesting outside had water bottles."

Viper lowed her glass and stared after The Doctor, half amazed at his ability to weave through the crowds, half confused by his eratic behavior. It made no sense to her in her mind, how he could just waltz in and start claiming random things left and right.

"That sounds ridiculous." She muttered when he returned, looking down at the water in her cup. "Posioned water? Causing people to revolt? There's no mention of anything of the sort in history, and no one has a reason to do this to us. And your metal stick thingy can detect posions and identify them? This makes no sense. You make no sense."

Viper pulled on her hair, slowly morphing it longer as she went to aliveate the normal pain that would usually come from her skull when she preformed the action. She has met this man earlier in the day, and the only thing he had really done to get his trust was order food or her and take her to this mess. He was good looking as well, so that couldn't hurt him in the trustablity department, but his insanity seemed to make up for it.

"You know what? I think I should call the guards here... No one would do this." Her netural expression turned into a frown, and she directed it towards the Doctor. "You're damn insane."

"Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor replied quickly. "First off, no, there wouldn't be any mention of it in history because PentoCyleinicMethyldrane is not native to this planet. Someone must have found it somewhere very far away and brought it here quietly. Secondly..." The Doctor pulled the metal stick from his pocket again. "This is a Sonic Screwdriver. It can scan anything and probably tell me what it is. It can do all sorts of things, in fact. But I didn't scan the water, I just vibrated the molecules to make it heat up to confirm my theory. PentoCyleinicMethyldrane has a critical temperature of 205 centigrade. Heating it up caused it to change into it's natural gaseous form, then I used my olfactory sensor to confirm it's natural scent." Tucking the Sonic Screwdriver away in his pocket, The Doctor held up what was left of his glass of water and pointed at it. "Whether you want to believe it or not, someone has poisoned this planet's water supply in the hopes of stopping the signing of this peace treaty. You probably think no one would do this and you would be totally wrong. Peace isn't profitable. Not for the people who want it, anyway. Someone, for some reason or another - Probably money - wants to keep these two planets from ever forming an alliance. But that has to happen because when it does it creates one of the biggest and most plentiful empires this universe has ever seen up to this point. So if you don't want to believe me, that's fine. If you don't want to be known as the girl who foiled a plot to keep this empire from rising, then go ahead. Call the guards. I'll be gone before they get here, I have to get to the reservoir and see if I can figure out who might have introduced the PentoCyleinicMethyldrane into the water supply and maybe work out a way to reverse the effects before irreparable harm is done to history." With that, The Doctor began to make his way to the door.

"Wait up!" Viper yelled, quickly walking so she could catch up to the Doctor. "Let's say for a moment that the water is really poisioned, and the your little screwdriver thingy can really identify it, and that there's someone out to ruin this all," Viper motioned to the building's walls as she walked, "and that there's a posionus chemical no one's heard of before, and that you're telling the truth." He was obviously passionate enough about it. "I'm going to pretend that I believe this all for a moment, and see if you're telling the truth. That should work." She dodged an incoming person, quickly apologizing to then before returning to the character know as The Doctor. "What would I have to do to help you, then? Like help you sort this all out?"

"Well" The Doctor began as they walked "There are a few things we need to do. We need to figure out who would've done it. It'll probably be someone who'll be better off if this treaty isn't signed. We also need to mix up something to counteract the effects of the PentoCyleinicMethyldrane or, better yet, something to remove it from all the water without any adverse effects. Given the complexity of that and the fact that it's a chemical foreign to this planet, that'll probably be best left to me." They had managed to walk outside by now. The crowds of protesters had gotten bigger and there were more guards trying to keep them apart. They looked ready to get violent. "We should probably do something about them, too. If they get past those guards and start fighting each other, one casualty could stop the signing in it's tracks. We could get their water away from them, but that wouldn't counter what they've already drank. Above all, we have to make sure nothing goes wrong at the ceremony." The Doctor turned to look at Viper. "Well, any ideas?"

"Well, unless you have any form-tranquilizers, then this might from ugly." Viper sighed, gathering up a fistful of hair with one petite hand. "Some of the protesters are probably trained in their battle forms, and I don't even want to think of what chaos the chemical could cause on them." Viper pulled her preoccupied hand down to motion something out, and found that her hair had formed a nice knot around her hand. She almost swore at the inconvenience as her roots complained. "Well, aren't nervous habits just great?"

"Ugh. Shapeshifters." The Doctor complained. "I never liked shapeshifters. They never play fair in a chase!" He hadn't noticed Viper pulling on her hair to morph it's shape. "Hold on, form-tranquilizers. What's that? What are they made of, how do they work?" The Doctor began thinking. "Maybe if it's something I can replicate or rig to spread, we can get something done. That would take care of the infighting, but that still leaves whoever - or whatever - started this whole mess in the first place. I'll need to find something I can use to track them. PentoCyleinicMethyldrane is native to over a thousand planets in the universe, but that doesn't mean it was someone native to those planets. There are countless people and organizations that would want to stop this treaty just because it would hurt their business. The trading alone would..." The Doctor smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Of course! It makes perfect sense!" He whirled around to face Viper again. "I have a very good idea of who's behind all this. Once we get things sorted out here, we'll go looking for them. Come on!" The Doctor dashed off towards the edge of town in the direction they had come in from.

"What do you have against- oh you idiot. Wait up!" Viper threw her hands in the air and, with a constant volley of apologies, took after The Doctor. She was figuring out very quickly that the man was past spontaneous; more of a crazy than everything else. He murmered, he thought to him self, he ran off in random directions, didn't allow her to answer his questions...
At least he was exciting. You had to give him props for that.
"To the forest then," Viper mumbled as she neared The Doctor. "Or maybe the food stand?"

The Doctor broke out into a quick run in an attempt to save some time. He dashed down street after street, some not the same as the ones they had come up when they came in to town. He seemed to know exactly where he needed to go. He quickly found his way out of town and towards the forest. As the edge of the forest neared, a small blue box came into view. The Doctor ran straight up to it and opened the door with a small key from his pocket. Dashing inside, he yelled back to Viper, "Come on, we haven't got any time to lose!" The Doctor left the door slightly ajar so Viper could follow him inside.

Inside the box:

Viper panted as she stopped in front of the blue box. The world span in front of her eyes, making her sick to the stomach. So they were going to the forest, Viper intelligently concluded. To a small blue box in the forest.
Small wasn't the way to describe the box, Viper supposed as she blinked once, twice, trying to rid herself of her headache. It appeared large enough to fit a person or two when they stood up, and it was taller than The Doctor. The box's size did nothing to explain how the doctor was completely invisible to Viper when he rushed inside, or why there was a rich golden light pouring out from the blue doors of the box.
Maybe that strange chemical did something more than influence emotions. She did manage to have a small sip before the Doctor had alerted her of its contents, and he had made it clear that the chemical was potent.
But hallucinations didn't make people dissapear, did they?
Viper blinked yet again. The Doctor had said that there was no time to lose, but it all seemed out of context. Stringing thoughts together and not explaining the process of stringing said thoughts together was not a recipe for good communication.
The Doctor hadn't steered Viper wrong in the few hours that they had been traveling together though, so why start doubting him now?
With a tug at the roots of her hair, a morph of her loose hair into a tight bun, and a transformation from her flats into ever-practical combat boots, Viper headed into blue box.
To her suprise, she found that she had not entered the cramped interior that a booth-like box should have, but a large, circular room. There were holes all over the walls, giving Viper glimpses into mysterious rooms and corridors; none of which she could figure out the usage of. A large pilliar shot up the middle of the room, complicated systems of buttons and panels resting near its base. Viper knew that with every general observation she made, she was missing five others. Grand did no justice to describe the room.
Viper closed the door behind her in shock.
"What is this place?" she whispered.

"It's called the TARDIS." The Doctor said, as he worked on various things around the control panel. One moment he'd be working at one panel, then he'd move to the opposite side and disappear behind the pillar. As he worked, he spoke aloud to either inform Viper of what he was doing or to remind himself. It wasn't immediately clear which. It may have even been both.

"First thing we have to do is scan the planet. I need to pinpoint the location of the planetary reservoir so that we can get there." He flicked a few switches and spun an odd looking lever clockwise three and a half times. He then set to work typing on a keyboard, occasionally glancing up at the monitor hanging in front of his head from above. "Should be simple enough. Scanning for water should reveal all masses, then we just cross-reference it with a map of the planet and...Voila!"

Without looking away, The Doctor swung his arm out and pointed at a very large circle on the wall. In time with the "Voila", it powered on and revealed itself to be a screen. Displayed was an entire planetary map with all water masses highlighted. Most of the larger ones were natural, but in the center of the planet was a rather large circular one. "That's gotta be it. Nothing else could be." The Doctor said, still working. "And just to be sure..." As The Doctor's sentence trailed off, he typed some more on the keyboard and revealed a metal structure surrounding the circular water mass. "That's the containment and purification center. If I refined the scan a bit more we'd be able to see all the pipes leading to and from there."

Again moving quickly around the control console, The Doctor began working on a dozen things all at once. "A short jump, no temporal displacement...It'll be a bit tricky, but if I fuse the temporal coordinates in beforehand she should go drifting off in time." A few more random actions with the strange odds and ends coming from the various panels and one of them started to smoke slightly. "It's okay!" The Doctor said, his voice a little panicked. "That was meant to happen! No other way to fuse the coordinates than to actually melt them in place!" The Doctor waved the smoke away and blew on the console where it had come from in an attempt to cool it. After a few seconds, he spun around and looked at Viper. "Are you ready?" He asked, smiling. "Cause I think you're gonna like this part. I always do."

He pushed two identical levers forward and the lights on their track lit up as they moved. The column in the center rumbled to life and the room was soon filled with a strange loud noise. An odd combination of wheezing, groaning and whooshing. It only took maybe thirty seconds before the noise started to die down and eventually fade away. Once it had all finished, The Doctor calmly walked around to where it had been smoking before and stroked it gently. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, but it was the only way to be sure" he said very, very quietly. Then he came around to Viper and smiled again. "Care to take a look outside?"