Formula
"And that's how I came to have the thing you call a puzzle box," Missy said, pausing to refill her glass. "And ended up disguising it to hide it from the Gestapo."
"She's good, isn't she," Joyce said to Romana, nodding at the others watching Missy avidly, mesmerized.
"Yes," Romana said. "The only one who seems completely immune to her is the Doctor."
"She was actually nice, this time," Joyce said. "She didn't say anything really scary."
"She occasionally listens," Romana said. "But don't expect her to make a habit of it."
"How do you undisguised it?" Alvin said, frowning at the puzzle box in Romana's hands. "What does it really look like?"
"It requires a certain touch," Missy said. She held out a hand in Romana's direction.
"No," Romana said. She took out her sonic, and scanned the puzzle. "A bio lock? Really?"
"I didn't think anyone else needed to see it. And no one else can unlock it," Missy said, still holding out her hand.
"Any lock can be broken," Romana said. "I'm sure Mr. Link has told you all about that," she said to Alvin. "You just need to know how."
"Or you need to be me," Missy said.
"While you and the Doctor were stealing TARDIS's and running around giving Rassilon heart burn at the Academy, some of us were learning useful skills," Romana said. She twisted the sonic and adjusted it until it emitted a high pitched stuttering sound.
"Ouch!" Joyce said, rubbing her ears. "You could have warned me."
"Really?" Romana said, pausing. "That's just the carrier frequency. You shouldn't be able to hear it."
"It is at the high end of the spectrum, Mistress," K-9 said. "But is perfectly audible."
"You'd be wrong," Joyce said, still rubbing her ears. "If K-9 can hear it, so can I."
"What are you hearing?" Alvin said. "I can't hear anything."
"Do you know how sonar works? Or how bats use high frequencies, sort of like radar, to see in the dark?" Joyce said.
"No," Alvin said, his eyes briefly glazing over as his Magnificent Brain churned through ideas where sound could be used."
"There are sounds that humans can't hear," Joyce said. "I can hear some of those, and Romana's sonic is generating one and it's giving me a headache."
"You need a younger model," Missy said snidely, to Romana. "Those bargain bin minions wear out quickly."
"Just a little more adjustment," Romana said, sighing. The sound stopped and there was a click. "And there." Putting the sonic back in her pocket, she gripped the puzzle with both hands and twisted. There was a low beep, and a quick burst of music.
"What was that?" Joyce said, tilting her head.
"Birds?" Daphne said. She concentrated. "Angry birds."
"Rassilon's March," Romana said, giving Missy an unimpressed look. "Really?"
"All part of the disguise," Missy said, smirking. "Anyone hearing that will think Rassilon is coming for it, drop it, and run away."
Romana frowned, and twisted the puzzle in a different direction. There was another burst of sound, and a flash of light. The puzzle seemed to expand until it was the size of a basketball, sitting in Romana's lap.
"Must have been a flaw in the security," Missy said. "Probably shouldn't have gotten that last layer from the White Guardian."
"You used security the White Guardian gave you?" Romana said, raising an eyebrow. "K-9 could write a better security protocol."
"Gave me? That's a bit strong," Missy said. "He wasn't using it so I liberated it. And it has been useful in the past."
"Probably because you were doing something the White Guardian wanted you to do. This feels like part of the Key to Time," Romana said, after removing the top of the larger puzzle. She lifted a red crystal the size of her hand out of the puzzle. "Is this it?"
"Yes," Missy said, placing a hand on it. There was a pop and it disappeared.
"Where did it go?" a fascinated Alvin asked.
"That's a good question," Romana said, glaring at Missy.
"It's somewhere safe," Missy said, grinning.
"And this?" Romana poked the expanded puzzle.
"They can have it," Missy said dismissively. "I don't need it."
Romana nodded, put the top back on, and adjusted her sonic. After another quick burst of sound, it shrunk back to its original size. "Here," she said, handing it back to Daphne.
"Does it still work?" Alvin asked.
"Work?" Romana said, puzzled. "It's empty now."
"It worked like a cypher machine," Alvin said, leaning over to look at it in Daphne's hands. "You could use it to create secret codes."
"Oh! Like a Magic 8 Ball?" Joyce asked.
"No…" Alvin said. He took the puzzle from Daphne. Holding it up, he twisted it until a letter appeared on one face. He pressed that and gave it another twist. Another letter appeared.
"That's an interesting use," Romana said, "but I suspect that it is broken and shouldn't be doing that."
"There are supposed to be two of them," Mr. Link said, "but no one has every found the second one."
"It doesn't exist," Missy said. "I made that up, of course."
"Is it safe for the children to play with?" Mr. Link said, frowning.
"I've disabled its security functions," Romana said. "So it's perfectly safe."
"Unless you try to open it with a disintegration ray," Missy said. "It'll reflect the ray back at you."
"I don't think that is going to be a problem," Joyce said. "The only disintegration rays around here are on TV."
"Or on a Dalek," Missy said.
"All of which are a long way away," Romana said quickly. "Real disintegration rays won't be invented for another thousand years."
"A thousand years?" Alvin said. "How do you know that?"
Romana shrugged and pointed at her TARDIS. "Time and space machine. We've seen the future."
"Can we see inside?" Daphne said, wandering over to the TARDIS. "Do you have dungeons?"
"I don't know," Joyce said. "We can ask Idris."
"Idris?" Daphne said.
"The pilot," Joyce said. "Come on!" after shaking her head at Mr. Link and Missy, who were having a fierce discussion in low voices.
"Don't get lost," Romana told them, before joining in the argument.
"What are they arguing about?" Shoie asked, joining them in front of the TARDIS.
"Old people things," Daphne said, nodding wisely.
"Yup, old people things," Joyce said. "Let's go inside. You wouldn't believe the Game Room, and the Clothes Closet."
The three children followed Joyce into the TARDIS.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Alvin shouted, loud enough for the adults to hear him, before they continued their discussion.
"That was awesome," Daphne said, looking back as she stepped out of the TARDIS. "Can we do that again?"
"Not today," Joyce said. "We have to get going. Missy looks like she's going to blow a gasket." She nodded at a glaring Missy standing next to Mr. Link's bed. K-9 and Romana were standing in front of a large chalk board.
"This must be serious," Alvin said. "Mr. Link has gotten out his thinking board."
"I can't read it," Joyce said, going to stand next to Romana. "What is it?"
"It's the mathematical formula describing the crystal that was in the puzzle box," Romana said.
"That's math?" Daphne said. "I'm learning my times tables, but they don't look anything like that."
"Doesn't look like any math I know, either," Joyce said. "What's the argument about?"
"Apparently, there is a second crystal, though it isn't disguised like this one," Romana said. "But Missy doesn't remember where she put it. Fortunately, this formula looks like it might tell us where it is."
"She should be happy then, right?" Joyce said.
"No," Romana said.
"Of course not," Joyce said. "It is Missy."
"She can't tell us why she needs it," Romana said. "She just has a feeling that it's important."
"So, we're off to get the next crystal? Based on a feeling?" Joyce said. "But we don't know where it might be except for that?" She waved at the chalkboard
"Correct," Romana said, sighing.
"Can we go with you?" Daphne said. "You have plenty of room."
"How'd the tour go," Romana said, looking at the three happy faces, and avoiding the question.
"A pool at home like that one would be amazing," Daphne said. "Swimming every day, and twice on Sundays."
"You didn't like the library?" Romana said. "That's Joyce's favorite."
"I thought the Clothes Closet was your favorite?" Daphne said, blinking at her. "We agreed on its awesomeness."
"It is awesome," Joyce said. "I can wear different clothes from there every day, if I want."
"I like this hat, and scarf," Daphne said, twirling around to display them. "It makes me look like I'm going on an adventure."
There was a sudden lull over in the corner where Missy and Mr. Link had been arguing.
"Done?" Romana said. "Have you decided where to go next?"
"Not yet," Missy said. "But we can leave here. Link and his minions have things to do."
Alvin, Shoie, and Daphne rushed over to Mr. Link's bed and started telling him all of the things they'd seen inside the TARDIS. Catching a small wave from Joyce, he hushed them for a moment. "They're leaving, did you say goodbye?"
"Yes," they all said. They turned and watch the door close on K-9. There was a grinding sound, a pop, and then the TARDIS faded from view.
"Always an interesting time around you, Alvin," Mr. Link said, once that piece of floor was empty again.
"There were some rare pinball machines in the Game Room," Alvin said. "And something called a video game that ran on a huge TV. Like a cartoon but you could tell the characters to do things. I couldn't figure out how it works, but I'm sure Mr. Pinkney would know."
"Do you think they'll be back?" Daphne asked. "We didn't get to see the evil witch doing evil witch things."
"It's possible," Mr. Link said, smiling. "Did you three want to stay for dinner?"
"Yes, please," Daphne said. "Mrs. Murphy makes the best mac and cheese in the state."
"I need to get back to my invention room," Alvin said. "I'm so full of ideas I'm going to pop."
"Alvin!" Daphne whinged. "Mac and cheese!"
"You can stay and eat," Alvin said. "Shoie and I have things to do."
"I will!" Daphne said, waving him away. "Go unstuff your head before it explodes."
Grabbing two more cookies each, and the puzzle box, Alvin and Shoie rushed out of Mr. Links house.
"You don't want to go home and eat?" Mr. Links said.
"Alvin is going to be in his head inventing things for days," Daphne said. "He won't notice."
"Well, we would," Mr. Link said, nodding at Mrs. Murphy, who was picking up the room.
"Princess Joyce said traveling with Romana and the evil witch can be scary and exhausting, but she'd rather do that than almost anything else," Daphne said. "But I think even Princesses have to go home sometime."
"Yes," Mr. Link said, nodding solemnly, and cleared a spot on his bed for her to sit. "Even Princesses."
"It doesn't feel the same," Daphne said, shaking the puzzle box, and giving it a twist. "But it still works."
"That means they'll be back," he said, "though I'm not sure how many years that will take."
"I liked them," Daphne said. "I think traveling with them would be exciting."
"If you're old enough when they come back, you can ask if you could go with them," Mr. Link said.
"Mom and Dad wouldn't like it," Daphne said, "even if they travel in a Police Box that is bigger on the inside, with plenty of room."