I do not own Doctor Who. The only thing I own in this story are the words coming from Jenny's mouth. Enjoy. Oh and remember... there is a reason to be afraid of the dark.
"Books!" said The Doctor flipping a switch on the console board and grabbed his long coat. "People never really stop loving books." He pulled open the doors of the Tardis and stepped out taking a deep breath.
"Where are we?" asked Jenny stepping out of the Tardis behind Donna.
"No, no, Jenny. The correct question is when are we?" said Donna with a smile.
"Quite right. It's the 51st Century. By now, you've got holvids, direct-to-brain downloads, fiction mist…"
"Fiction mist?" asked Jenny skipping up to her father's side as they walked.
"Oh yeah, a mist that let's you live almost any like you want. The popular of fiction mists let you live any book; like you're watching a play but also are a part of it. Anyway, even with all of that fun stuff." he said turning back to Donna and Jenny with a smile. "You need the smell; the smell of books, ladies… deep breath." With that he flung open a pair of door and they entered a gigantic corridor that was lined with marble columns, even the walls were made of marble. It was beautiful. "The Library." stated The Doctor was they walked down the marbled hall. "So big, it doesn't need a name, just a great big 'THE.'"
"It's like a city." said Donna in wonder.
"It's a world, literally, a world."
"A beautiful world." said Jenny giving a laugh and running down the stairs toward the end of the corridor.
"A world? How can it be a world?" asked Donna.
"The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever, and up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, 'Bridget Jones'… 'Monty Python's Big Red Book.' Brand new editions specially printed. Oi, don't lean out that far." said The Doctor pulling Jenny, who was halfway over the marble railing that over looked part of the planet, back on her feet.
"Oh come on spoil sport. What good life if you can't live a little?" she asked smirking up at him.
"I never said you shouldn't live a little, just not over the edge of a balcony that has over a 500 foot drop. Also, it'd be a shame to get any sort of blood on these books."
"So, my life ranks lower than books." teased Jenny.
"In this case, yeah."
"Speaking of books." said Donna interrupting the father-daughter playful banter. "Do you know what types of book these are?" she asked looking at The Doctor.
"Well, we're near the equator, so…" he licked his index finger and held it up in the air, as if to judge which way a wind was blowing. "This must be… Biographies!" he shouted making Donna and Jenny jump. "I love biographies."
"Yeah, very you… always a death at the end." quipped Donna.
"You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size."
"Yes, we do get quite bigger as our bodies bloat with gases that are trying to get out." said Jenny off handedly as she lean back over the railing.
"Not what I meant. Oi!" he said pulling Jenny back on her feet and pulling a book from Donna's hands. "Spoilers." he said setting the book back on the railing.
"What?" asked Donna.
"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead. It'd spoil all the surprises, like peeking at the end."
"Can I read them?" asked Jenny picking up a book.
"What did I just say?" said The Doctor. "These books are from our future. Don't want to spoil the ending."
"No, you said, 'these books are from your future', meaning Donna's."
"I meant our. We're time travelers, we could be in any number of these books without even knowing it. So, no peeking; no spoilers."
"Isn't traveling with you one big spoiler?" asked Donna with a smirk.
"I… try to keep you away from major plot developments, which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, cause you know what?" said The Doctor his face becoming slightly worried. "This is the biggest library in the universe. So, where is everyone?" They looked around and for the first time noticed something… it was completely silent. To Jenny, it seemed as though you could hear your own heart (or in her case hearts) beating. "It's silent." she said.
"The library?" said Donna as The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to turn on a computer. "The planet." he said. "The whole planet."
"Well, maybe it's a Sunday." Donna said.
"No, I never land on Sundays."
"What's wrong with Sundays?" asked Jenny as she stood next to her father.
"Sundays are boring." simply said The Doctor.
"Well, maybe everyone's… really, really, quiet." whispered Donna.
"Yeah, maybe." absentmindedly said The Doctor as he stared at the computer screen. "But they'd still show up on the system."
"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?"
"Oh, you know, just passing."
"No, seriously. It was all, 'let's hit the beach' then suddenly we're in a library. Why?"
"Now, that's interesting." wondered The Doctor ignoring Donna's question.
"What?" asked Jenny.
"Scanning for life-forms. If I do a scan looking for you basic humanoids, you know, your book reader, few limbs and a face..." The computer beeped and showed the number 3. "Apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada, nobody home, but if I widen the parameters to any kind of life…" he pressed a few buttons on the key pad and the computer began to calculate once again. This time coming up with 1,000,000,000,000 and began to flash the word error. "A million million. Gives up after that." The Doctor said in awe. "A million million." he repeated as they look out over the biography section.
"But there's nothing here. There's no one." said Jenny.
"And not a sound." quietly said The Doctor. "A million million life-forms… and silence in The Library."
"But there's no one here." said Donna reiterating Jenny's statement. "There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive." The travelers look at each other and then down at a pile of books. Donna and The Doctor both reached for the top book as Jenny held her breath watching. Just as they were about to open the book a female voice called out behind them, "Welcome." Donna and The Doctor gave a start and quickly pulled their hands away from the book while jenny gave a small, muffled yell. They backed from the books glancing nervously at each other before Donna spoke in a small, quiet voice, "That came from in here." she said pointing behind them to the room where the Tardis was parked.
"Yeah." quietly said The Doctor as the three of them walked back up the stairs.
"Well, at least we can rule out talking books for the most part." said Jenny as Donna and The Doctor nodded quietly. They reentered the room they had started in and for the first time Jenny noticed that the sunlight was streaming through the windows high above their heads, giving the room an ancient feeling. Suddenly a whirring noise filled the silent room and they saw what looked to be like modern art turn its top piece toward them. There was nothing to unusual about the statue except for the fact that it had a face protruding from the middle of the top piece, or the 'head' if you will. "I am courtesy node 710/aqua. Please enjoy The Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo." said the female automated face.
"That face, it looks real." said Donna as the three of them came to stand in front of it.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." said The Doctor.
"But a statue with a real face, though?" she questioned. "It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"
"No, but, really, it's fine." stammered The Doctor, but neither Donna or Jenny fully believed him.
"Additional…" continued the courtesy node. "There follows a brief message from the head librarian for you urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux automate decency filter. Message follows. 'Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe. The Library has sealed itself. We can't… oh, they're here. Arg, slarg, snick.' Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm units for the comfort of other readers."
"So that's why we're here." softly said The Doctor. Donna looked at him in confusion as Jenny looked around the room suddenly feeling as though they were being watched. "Any other messages, same date stamp?" The Doctor asked the courtesy node.
"One additional message." said the node. "This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of 5011…"
"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine. Just play it." impatiently said The Doctor.
"Message follows. 'Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember… if you want to live, count the shadows.' Message ends." The Doctor stared thoughtfully at the node as it shut off. He looked around the room; eyes taking in every little aspect of it. "Donna." he said absentmindedly.
"Yeah?"
"Stay out of the shadows."
"Why? What's in the shadows?" she asked The Doctor as he turned to leave the room, but she didn't get an answer. The Doctor called out to Jenny who was halfway across the room and gave her the same warning. With that they exited into another room that was stacked to the ceiling with books. Jenny looked around the enormous room and could help but think how beautiful this place not just outside but inside as well. Her hands itched to hold a book, any book, but she followed her dad's warning; she definitely didn't want to spoil the ends of any adventures she might go on. It would ruin the fun of the adventure. "So," said Donna as they walked through corridor and corridor of books. "We weren't just in the neighborhood."
"Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit." said The Doctor. "I got a message on the psychic paper." He held up the pad for them to read. "What do you think… cry for help?"
"The Library. Come as soon as you can. X" read Jenny. "X?"
"A cry for help… with a kiss?" said Donna taking the pad away from The Doctor and gave him a mocking smirk.
"Oh, we've all done that." he said taking back the pad.
"Done what and why is there an 'x' at the end?" asked Jenny looking back and forth between Donna and The Doctor.
"It's a quick, simple way of sending someone a kiss through a letter?" explained The Doctor.
"So… in other words, someone just kissed you."
"Well, yeah, I guess."
"Who's it from?" asked Donna.
"No idea." said The Doctor. Suddenly from behind, Jenny heard a zapping noise. She turned and noticed that all the lights behind them were going out one by one. "Dad." she said softly but he didn't hear her as he was talking with about who this mysterious letter person could be. Jenny's eyes grew wider as the lights began to shut off quicker. "Dad." she said again this time a bit louder as fear began to wash over her; fear of the dark.
"But why are we here?" Donna asked The Doctor. "Why did you…"
"Dad!" yelled Jenny fear now evident in her voice as she backed up till she was almost standing between the other two. The Doctor and Donna finally saw the lights going out and the darkness creeping closer. "What's happening?" asked Donna fear seeping into her voice.
"Run!" yelled The Doctor.
Hope you enjoyed part one. Please hit that review button and let me know what you thought. Oh and I gonna keep posting new chapters every Saturday.