The petite red-head shivered as the man with the brown wavy hair and the velvet long-coat pushed his way to the front of the small crowd of on-lookers to pay for his purchase.

Glitz peered into the small velvet pouch the man handed up to him and nodded happily. "Here are your papers of ownership; just sign here--"

The stranger hastily penned an illegible scrawl across the paper and led his new slave away.

--

"How do you know my name?" Mel asked warily. "I've never seen you before."

"Never mind; long story. Don't worry; you'll be all right now," the stranger reassured her. The next moment, he blinked in surprise at the small blaster she produced, seemingly from nowhere.

"Too right I will -- this is my stop."

"Mel!" he said, his face taking on an incredulous expression. "Why are you doing this?"

"Erm... Because you're a gullible idiot?" She backed off, covering him until she was far enough away to turn and disappear into the bustling marketplace.

--

Angela, Jadi and Wil finally caught up with the Doctor and found him laughing quietly to himself.

"Why'd you run off like that?" Angela demanded. "And what's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing much," he told them. "Just an... old friend I hadn't expected to see in this universe. Who took a different path."

And they couldn't get anything more about it out of him.

Fin.