The Doctor tapped the device against the console. “…Doctor?” asked Tysar.
“…If Davros learns secrets that are meant to stay in that universe…” muttered the Doctor.
“Doctor, who IS Davros?” asked Tysar. The Doctor arched an eyebrow.
“…I’m actually surprised to hear you say that,” she remarked. “You, of all people, heard of his creations, the Daleks.”
“…The Daleks are his creation?” asked Tysar.
“You think the Neutronic War on Skaro was between you and the Daleks?” quizzed the Doctor. “No. You Thals were just as brutal as your enemies, remember?”
“Yes, that’s why we adopted a pacifistic nature,” replied Tysar.
“Well, your enemies at the time were the Kaleds. Davros was the Chief Scientist for the Kaled Elite during that war. He saw that Kaleds can’t survive the radioactive world Skaro had become, not in their current humanoid form, so he took Kaled embryos and subjected them to experiments that mutated them and deemed them the ultimate evolution for the Kaled race. He then designed a travel machine based on his life support system and put the mutations into them, removing all pity and compassion. That’s when the Daleks came about.”
“But that war was centuries ago,” remarked Tysar. “How could this Davros cause trouble for people like the Toymaker?”
“That’s partially my fault. The Time Lords sent me back in time to try and avert the Daleks’ creation or alter them so they would be less aggressive. Davros captured me and my friends and tortured them so I would reveal how the Daleks were defeated. He must have altered his life support system somehow so he would still go on. I mean, he DID somehow survive being shot by the first Daleks. He was in stasis and, after another mess on Skaro during the Dalek-Movellan War, was revived and went on to bedevil the universe, even fighting in the Time War. I thought I saw his command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child, but a Dalek from the Cult of Skaro, Caan, saved him and brought him out of the war, despite the time lock around it. He then stole something from me that allows me to change my face when I’m about to die and now he’s back in his fully Kaled form instead of the halfway point between Kaled and Dalek.”
“So what does he want from that other universe?” pondered Tysar.
“…That’s what we need to find out and prevent,” replied the Doctor. She then pressed the yellow button. The TARDIS shuddered, not used to travelling between universes, but nothing broke.
Serpentia, a desert kingdom ruled by Ssylphiel Emerald Goldcoil. Like all the women in her family, she wore a blue rose in her hair. Her green skin shone in the sun as did the emerald scales of the snake tail replacing her legs. She was waiting at the southern gates of her citadel for her guests. The gates opened and in came a wagon with a giant tank of water that held Madame Calliope and Lukas. The wagon stopped by a waterway and opened the tank so Calliope and Lukas could better move around. The waterways used the entire citadel, even entering the main palace and going through multiple rooms. “Ssylphiel, my dear!” greeted Calliope once she and Lukas surfaced from the waterway.
“Welcome, Madame Calliope,” returned Ssylphiel. “I trust your journey was uneventful?”
“Oh, very much so, Ssylphiel,” replied Calliope. “How fares your family?”
“We’re prospering as are the people we rule. Yours?”
“Oh, we’re prospering too! As are my darlings like Lukas!” Calliope pulled Lukas closer to her.
“It’s true,” confirmed Lukas.
“I can see that,” remarked Ssylphiel.
“Well, what say we enjoy ourselves, hm?” suggested Calliope.
“Agreed,” replied Ssylphiel. The group then headed down the waterway and to the palace’s water gate.
As Ssylphiel and Calliope made their way to the castle, Bea and Coilzette were going through the castle with a redheaded Dwarf woman in a harem outfit and a rose in her hair. Her skirt and rose were green. “So, Nora,” remarked Coilzette, “I heard you dialed back your alcohol intake.”
“Aye,” replied the Dwarf, Nora. “I get a little too generous at the charity functions your daughter sets up and, well, my niece is calling me the Best Aunt Ever at the cost of 800,000 gold.”
“Good heavens!” yelped Bea. “What did you buy for-?!” She stopped herself when her ears twitched at a noise.
“…I hear it too,” replied Coilzette.
“What is that? Whooshing?” asked Nora.
“I think it went…vworp?” guessed Bea. “Anyways, it came from down there.” She pointed down the hall.
“Let’s go see,” declared Coilzette. She and Bea slithered at top speed with Nora running alongside them. They rounded a corner…and saw a blue box.
“…That does NOT match with Mama’s aesthetic,” remarked Bea. “And I didn’t get that as a gift for her or Calliope.”
“Look at the signs,” said Nora. “‘Police Public Call Box’, our police use green, though.” Bea read another sign.
“‘St. John’s Ambulance’, who’s St. John?”
“Hey, here’s the last sign,” said Coilzette. “‘Police Telephone. Free for use of Public. Advice & Assistance obtainable immediately. Officers and cars respond to all calls. Pull to open.’”
“Well, I think the instructions are pretty clear,” declared Bea. She put her hand on the door’s handle and pulled…only it didn’t open. “…Locked?” guessed Bea.
“Possibly,” replied Coilzette. Then…the doors swung inside.
“Hey, I thought the sign said ‘Pull to open’!” protested Nora.
“It did!” insisted Coilzette.
“Well, that looks like a person in our position would have to PUSH to open!”
“Maybe it’s a bit of added security?” guessed Bea.
“No, it’s just how my vehicle is built,” came a new voice from inside the box. The Doctor and Tysar then stepped out! “Though it DOES bamboozle anyone trying to get into my TARDIS.”
“INTRUDERS!” yelped Bea.
“It’s rude to point, you know!” protested the Doctor. “How about-?” She didn’t get very far as Bea wrapped her tail around Tysar and Coilzette wrapped hers around the Doctor. “OOF! Steady!”
“GUARDS!” called Nora. “WE HAVE A PAIR OF INTRUDERS!” Soldiers dressed in what looked like Ancient Egyptian and Roman armor adorned with imagery of serpents then arrived.
“What in-?!” spluttered the Guard Commander. “Who are these sand fleas?!”
“Sand fleas? That’s a new one,” remarked the Doctor.
“They managed to just appear here in that blue box!” replied Bea.
“How?!” asked a Guard.
“That’s what we’ll determine with my daughter and our guest’s help!” replied Coilzette. “Take the box to the throne room! Bea and I will bring the intruders!”
“Oh, lovely! Perhaps we can have some tea?” suggested the Doctor.
“Silence!” barked Bea as she and Coilzette slithered towards the throne room with their captives in their coils.
In the throne room, Ssylphiel, Lukas, Calliope, and a brunette human with a harem outfit like Nora’s, only her hair rose and skirt were red, were shooting the breeze. “I’m surprised Bea didn’t know that,” remarked Ssylphiel.
“I’m sure Nora’s confirming what your mother and I said is true,” mused Lukas. He then saw the harem girl rubbing her jaw. “Hey, Shannon, are you okay?”
“My tooth’s killing me,” mumbled the harem girl, Shannon.
“Well, you HAVE been hitting the sweets pretty hard,” remarked Ssylphiel.
“If you want, I can remove it for you,” offered Calliope.
“…No thank you,” replied Shannon frostily.
“As you wish. It would have been free of-.” Calliope was interrupted as Coilzette and her party entered the room. The guards set the TARDIS aside as Coilzette and Bea released the Doctor and Tysar from their coils. Ssylphiel rose from the throne.
“Mother, Bea, what is all this?!” she demanded. “Who are those two and where did that box come from?”
“The box is how these intruders got past security, Mama,” replied Bea. “We brought them here to get answers.”
“May I say, I’m terribly sorry for this shake-up,” said the Doctor. “For a minute there, it looked like we were going to be speared by your guards.”
“Whether or not I allow them to spear you is up to you, Madam!” warned Ssylphiel.
“I can assure you, we intended to land OUTSIDE your home and come in peacefully so we could talk properly,” soothed the Doctor. “One of my enemies has allied with a local tyrant here and-.”
“Serpentia has no shortage of tyrants that would destroy us,” said Ssylphiel. “Which one are you referring to?”
“I’m afraid we don’t know. We’re travelers from…well, from another universe.”
“…I’ve heard that our world isn’t the only one,” remarked Calliope. “And that the Gods had no hand in the other worlds’ creations.”
“I personally find that hard to believe,” scoffed Ssylphiel. “When Sanliel comes back, I shall-.” Shannon then groaned. “…Guards, throw our prisoners in the dungeon and find a dentist for Shannon.”
“Wait a minute!” called the Doctor. “What if I help her?”
“…Are you a traveling dentist?” asked Ssylphiel.
“Well, I have a doctorate in practically everything, my Lady,” replied the Doctor.
“Ssylphiel, I’m a businesswoman,” interjected Calliope, “and this woman is just screaming ‘charlatan’ to me!”
“That’s one of the more colorful names my enemies give me, outside of Doctor.”
“I’ll try anything,” said Shannon. “My tooth is killing me!”
“…Come forward and cure her if you can,” Ssylphiel directed the Doctor. “But I warn you, if you prove to be a charlatan as Madame Calliope suggests you are, well, even living gods like myself and my family fear the curse of ten thousand deaths!”
“…Charming,” mumbled the Doctor.