Double Vision
There was a gentle whirring of engines as footsteps echoed hollowly on the metal floor as a tall man with messy brown hair, dark brown eyes and wearing a blue suit teamed with sneakers checked levers and buttons on a control panel surrounding a huge class tube. Something beeped on one of the screens, and he walked over, peering at it curiously.
"Hello then, what's this?" he asked no one in particular.
For now he was by himself, his usual companion, a young woman named Martha, was at home visiting her family after a particularly harrowing alien encounter. It involved clones and secret military operations, and strangely enough, a rabbit. But that was a story for another time. It was quite warm in that control room, which was why his long brown trench coat was hung up over a column. There was no natural light, just a kind of bright blue glow and a few lights on the walls, showing a coppery bronze design with spheres stuck in to it.
"Hang on a minute…" the man, popularly known as The Doctor, frowned.
He grabbed hold of a metal bar as the room he was in juddered and shook, causing him to stumble. Suddenly realising he should probably be alarmed; he frantically started trying to track the course of his ship, the Tardis. The thing that's control room he was in. He pulled something that looked like a choke out, and twisted a dial.
"Not so fast whoever you are." he muttered
Then, much to his annoyance, the whole thing powered down and went offline, staying perfectly stationary. In vain he pressed this button and that, trying to change measurements or find an emergency power display. He gritted his teeth in frustration, before the Tardis suddenly lurched to the side again, worryingly quickly, like it was being drawn by something. He grabbed a small object from his pocket, a screwdriver no less. He held it up to the control panel as he struggled to keep his footing with the sharp movements almost knocking him down. A blue light glowed, directed at the control panel. However, it didn't seem to be able to keep up with the speed of everything else.
"Knock it off out there!" the Doctor yelled to the sky.
As is on cue, the ship landed with a thump, knocking him off his feet, as it powered up again. Dizzily he stood up, grabbed his coat, and struggled to make his way to the doors. As they opened, he lost his balance and pitched forwards. He waited for the impact of the ground to knock the wind out of him. Only, he stopped mid fall, as someone at his side grabbed his elbow, surprisingly strong.
"Amber! I told you not to do that!" a worried young female voice called.
The Doctor, still being held up by this phantom girl, looked up and saw the profile of his catcher, probably around her late teens, with chestnut brown hair, although the front bits were dyed bright pink. As he managed to focus more, he noted that she was wearing a pale blue t-shirt, and dark blue jeans with black sneakers. On the arm that was holding him up, the right; there was a silver bangle with mother of pearl dolphins as the clasp.
"Are you ok?"
She turned to him with concern, smiling slightly, and the Doctor was startled by her brilliant fresh-grass green eyes. Realising that she was still holding up, when he was a head or so taller than her, he straightened himself up and looked at her. He saw behind her the person she had addressed earlier, and was completely confused. She was a mirror image of his leaning post, only her hair had blue streaks, she was a light purple t-shirt and black jeans.
"Um, yea, thanks. Just a little surprised." he replied.
"See Ruby, he's perfectly fine! I told you I knew what to do." Amber said, smiling smugly.
"So fine he fell over." Ruby muttered so her twin wouldn't hear, although the Doctor did.
"Can you tell me what just happened?"
"Oh, I whipped up a machine to contact any alien life forms out there, and you turned up with your…" she stared at the Tardis, which was in fact a blue police box, she looked faintly disappointed. "…Box…"
"This isn't just any old box." said the Doctor indignantly, forgetting he didn't actually know who they were. "But…hang on, how did a kid manage to make something that overrode my commands? Why were you looking for alien life forms anyway? In fact, let's start at the beginning. Who the heck are you?"
"Amber Arduino." Introduced the blue-haired one, offering her hand. "This is my sister Ruby."
Ruby just gave a shy smile as Amber gave the Doctor a firm handshake, much to his surprise slash amusement. He was faintly impressed. Not many people would be able to know enough about his sort of technology to call the Tardis to them, which he presumed had happened. Amber looked rather proud of herself as well, Ruby just sort of stayed in the background.
"So…who are you?" queried Amber.
"I'm the Doctor." He wasn't going to bother with a cover name. They clearly knew he wasn't from, wherever they were from.
"Doctor who?" Amber raised an eyebrow.
"Just the Doctor." He smiled.
"Remember Amber, the guy who stopped those robot things, a couple years ago? He's also the guy on that website you found the other day." added Ruby.
"You've heard of me?" the Doctor tried to hide his pride.
Ruby nodded, "Of course we have. Our cousin was in the queue just before those metal things all blew up, so you saved her. We lost a lot of people in our neighbourhood though." She replied sadly.
"Where am I then, and when?"
The Doctor didn't want to think about that day, he'd lost the woman he loved. She was still alive, yes, but he could never see her again, so he was trying to move the conversation on quickly. Amber was completely oblivious to the fact, just walking around the Tardis, inspecting it. Ruby however picked it up, and played along, much to his relief.
"Plymouth, August 2009." she told him, holding up a newspaper to back up her point.
"And…why am I here?"
"We hoped you could help us." Amber noted her sister's glare, and rolled her eyes, "OK, I thought you could."
"With what?" the Doctor peered at them.
The two girls exchanged a look, a wary one that said they were serious now, and nervous. They looked around, and then nodded, motioning for the Doctor to follow them. It was like they thought they were being watched there. The pair kept looking over their shoulders, Ruby more often than Amber, and the Doctor just kept up with them, wondering where they were going. He had only just met them, but something told him they were trustworthy. He was led to a ring of trees, and much to his surprise, they walked straight through them. Even more amazing was that when they had, they were in front of a small lake, completely closed off by trees and bushes, except the one path they had taken.
"I'm not going any further." announced the Doctor.
"OK." sighed Amber, "I think it should be ok here."
Ruby stayed back, sitting on a grassy mound by the lake, hugging her knees and staring out across the water as Amber turned to the Doctor, leaning against a tree. The twins looked, quite frankly, terrified. The air was completely silent, but smelled of something sweet, like jasmine and grass cuttings, and there was a warm breeze coming in. It was so still it was unnerving.
"So what's going on then?" asked the man, half out of pure curiosity, half out of impatience.
"Weird things have been happening." begun Amber dubiously, "Unnatural things."
"Such as?" pushed the Doctor.
"When we walked here, did you notice anything peculiar?"
The Doctor stood, recalling the walk, and looking thoughtful. He realised that although it was a beautiful summer day, not a single person had been outside anywhere, except the odd kid, or some young teenagers that seemed to have been daring their friends to step out of their front doors. He turned to them, instantly on guard, if no-one else was venturing outside, why were they, and how had they made that machine?
"Exactly." continued Amber. "You want to know what's going on. You might have guessed. For the passed few months, since last September, first one person, then another, then small groups of people have gone on 'holiday'." She didn't seem to believe that in the slightest. "It almost seemed normal, like it had been planned. But then the tally showed there was something really not right about it."
"They were disappearing?" the Doctor grimaced.
"That's the thing." Amber glanced around warily, "Exactly three months after the first disappearance, the same people kept coming back. Exactly the same numbers, exactly the same order, exactly the same breaks between the days, exactly the same time."
"Well, that's good isn't it?"
"No, no it isn't. Because once they came back, nobody has ever seen them again. They never leave their houses. People are still disappearing, although the town is big, our community, the roads where it was happening, were soon emptied. So Ruby noticed a pattern."
Ruby glanced up on hearing her name, but it didn't really register what they were talking about. It clearly made her edgy, and instead she just stared intently at her reflection in the water. It was like she was wishing that she could disappear, just to get away from things. There was more going on in her head than met the eye.
"First it was every adult you can think of. Then, after most of them had been covered, everyone else disappeared on their eighteenth birthday, and came back three months later. At school, it was only years 7-12, and the odd year 13, who weren't 18 yet. Even the substitutes vanished after a couple of weeks."
"I see." The Doctor pondered. He hadn't come across something like this before.
"Strange, right?"
"So, no-one ever leaves their houses? Unless they're under 18. Hang on…if you don't mind me asking, how old are you two?"
"17." called Ruby, startling the other two at suddenly speaking, "18 in 3 days." she added glumly.
"See why we were looking for help?" desperate Amber finished.
"Well, if they won't come out, we'll have to go to them. If it's a small community, they'll know you right?"
"Which means they're less likely to let us in," Ruby's voice had just an edge of bitterness to it, although she tried to cover it.
"Why's that?" questioned the Doctor.
"Everyone knows us as the 'Weird Sisters'" she explained, "Because we've always been interested in things outside of here, earth."
"What's wrong with that? I find it quite amiable."
"They get scared of us, ever since all those alien attacks in the passed few years. A lot of the kids thought it was our fault."
Then she stopped, unwilling to say another word. Obviously not much of a talker, and she didn't much appreciate the image that they had gained. Or rather, more specifically, Amber had gained them. She was the dominant twin, the brains behind the operations and experiments, she always roped Ruby in to her ventures, and Ruby just went along with it, because she didn't have the heart or daring to leave Amber to her own devices. Someone had to keep an eye on her.
"I don't know what you want me to do." The Doctor replied, "Surely if everyone's affected, you can investigate at home?"
"Our house seems to be the only one that it's missed." Amber shrugged.
"Which really doesn't help our reputation." sighed Ruby.
A little while later, when Amber announced they were 'safe' from whatever they were hiding from in the first place, the Doctor was led back to their house, with Ruby traipsing some way behind, distracted by something. There was no sound at all. Not even their footsteps had a tone, as they were all wearing sneakers. It sent shivers down the spine, it was warm, but it was like everything had been frozen mid-movement. There was still that smell, it didn't seem to leave them alone.
Amber stopped as they got to a street of mainly old Victorian and Georgian houses. Their's was apparently an old Victorian one. There were steps leading up to the front door, and either side bay windows. The second floor, where there seemed to be a landing, was hidden behind a stained glass window.
"Home sweet home." Amber opened the door, and motioned for the Doctor to go in.
They were greeted by the scent of something cooking, and it smelled good. The Doctor instantly felt at home in this house. It was well kept and cosy, with plenty of space for alone time. It was obviously much loved, and there was a definite air of solidarity in it.
"Mum?" called Amber.
"That you Am? Ruby?" came a friendly female voice from the kitchen, "You've been gone a while."
"We brought someone back to introduce you to."
Amber waltzed off in to the kitchen. Ruby suddenly caught sight of the grandfather clock against the wall. Her eyes widened, and she ran upstairs. Slightly lost, as he was now abandoned, Doctor followed Amber's cue and went in to the kitchen. A woman was standing over a burnt orange aga, stirring sauces. She turned around and smiled at the Doctor, and he could almost be looking at a third version of the twins. Only she had brown eyes, not green.
"Hello there." she greeted, offering her hand. "Where's Ruby?"
"Hi." the Doctor shook it.
"Mum, this is the Doctor. He dropped by earlier, and I thought he could help." introduced Amber.
The woman gave a puzzled frown. She knew her daughters were a little on the adventurous side, and had some strange hobbies, but she was genuinely confused. As far as she knew, none of the family were ill. With five kids a dog and two cats, that was quite an achievement. The two boys, older than the twins, were outside, with the baby of the family, a ten year old girl.
"Help with what?" Mrs Arduino queried.
"Our unusual circumstances." expanded Amber.
Mrs Arduino's eyes widened in surprise and fear. She was about to protest, how could her daughters dare bring a complete stranger in to the house, to deal with whatever it was, considering how dire the situation had gotten? They all tried hard to hide their wariness with a sunny disposition and carry on as normal, but it was the most difficult thing they had ever done. However, she was interrupted by the arrival of Ruby. The girl looked like she'd been caught doing something wrong, as she had been planning on slipping in quietly, and then leaving. She was clutching a blue cloth bag tightly, and didn't seem to dare let go of the lid. The Doctor was sure he had seen something moving.
"Hello Ruby dear." Mrs Arduino's face lit up at the appearance.
"Hey, mum." muttered the girl awkwardly in reply.
As the three females delved in to a sort of conversation, it was rather two sided, as Ruby seemed reluctant to join in, the Doctor fiddled with something behind his back. Her behaviour was so strange, and had been since he met her, that he was quite frankly, suspicious of her. She seemed to know more about what was going on than Amber, bitter about their circumstances, yet she let Amber take the spotlight without protesting once. He pressed down on his sonic screwdriver, taking a scan of her, and her bag.
"Did you want something Ruby dear? You seemed to be looking for something when you came in? I'm afraid dinner's not ready yet."
"Um, no, that's fine." struggled Ruby.
"She's right you know. You've been sneaking around all day lately. Did you lose something? You could just say, I know how proud you are, and you wouldn't like to admit you had misplaced something, Miss Hyper-Organised, but seriously, it's annoying."
Amber's tone startled Ruby, knocking her off her stride. Her voice had seemed so different, accusing and cutting. Even Mrs Arduino was amazed. Ruby was normally cheerful and unassuming, proud was never something she would describe her older twin girl as. The pair were always together, never fell out or had a bad word to say about each other. Admittedly, Ruby was normally very happy and outgoing, and had been different lately, as if something was preoccupying her, but she thought it was probably just a phase.
"Amber…" Mrs Arduino said hesitatingly, "That's quite enough."
"But mum!" protested Amber, "It's true! Ever since we finished school!" she announced, "She's barely said a word, she's been really grumpy, she doesn't listen to me, and it's really getting on my nerves!"
"Amber!" cried her mother
Mrs Arduino looked embarrassed on her children's behalf. Ruby was just stunned. The woman looked at the Doctor apologetically, with a desperate look which she hoped he knew meant they weren't usually like that. Amber seemed completely oblivious to what she was saying, she was just furious. Ruby clutched her bag, staring at the ground.
"What is wrong with you?!" clearly Amber wasn't done, "Longstanding PMS or something?"
"Are you quite finished?" asked Ruby, resigned. Her sister had never spoken to her like that before. "Maybe I'm just sick of you being a hot-headed know it all always blundering in to things and dragging me down with you." she replied, perfectly calm. "If you'll excuse me."
Ruby turned on her heel and left. The second she did, Amber seemed to wake up, and instantly looked mortified at what she had just said to her sister, and best friend. She stared at Mrs Arduino in disbelief. Then she flew out of the door, and her footsteps disappeared upstairs.
"Oh dear, I'm so sorry sir." apologised Mrs Arduino, "They're probably just uneasy. We all are. You came to help as well, I'm so embarrassed."
"Not at all Mrs Arduino."
"Please, call me Juliana."
"Should you go after Amber? I can see if Ruby's ok if you like." He offered.
"Oh! Would you? That's so kind…thank you."
In truth, the Doctor had a few questions for Ruby. He went out of the door, gave Juliana a reassuring nod as she went up the stairs, and slipped out of the front door after his target. As the door closed, something whizzed passed, just missing where his head had been. He caught the girl sitting on a ridge a little up the pathway. She sitting at an angle, so he couldn't see what she was doing, although she was definitely doing something.
"Hello Ruby…what've you got there?"
She looked up, startled, and spun around, just as there was a scream from inside the house, an explosion that shook the whole ground, and the two bay windows exploded outwards. Instinctively, the Doctor lunged forward, protecting her, and she covered what was at her side. Her bag. The pair looked around, Ruby more than amazed he was trying to save her, and saw something she really didn't want to. It was the same weird crackling green energy that had surrounded every other house and building in this part of the town. It was back. Just before the occupants disappeared it put in an appearance. They'd declined to mention it to the Doctor, in case he changed his mind about sticking around.
"What's going on?!" she cried. "My family is in there!"
"Be thankful you're not." The Doctor was now strictly business.
"But…! Mum! Amber!"
"They'll be ok, for now we just have to get out of here."
She suddenly found herself pulled to her feet, as the Doctor grabbed her hand and started running. She desperately snatched at her bag, grabbing one of the straps, and was soon flying down the road, clutching a complete stranger's hand for dear life.
"Where are we going?!" she cried.
The whole ground was shaking, as though some circuit had been completed, every house was now crackling with the strange force they were fleeing from. Every now and then, a dart would shoot out, aiming for Ruby, but it never seemed to get her, just rebounded, the Doctor noticed this, but didn't draw attention to it.
"Where's safe?!" he called over the rumbling of the whole town juddering.
"I'm guessing nowhere!"
Before long, they both jumped in time over a bench; although the pink-haired girl was amazed she made it. Must be the adrenalin. The Doctor came to where they had met before, and barrelled in to his Tardis, still clutching Ruby's hand. The Tardis wasn't affected by the surroundings, and the pair flopped on to the ground, exhausted.
"That's it! That's what appeared when it all started!" she was so frightened she was shaking.
"Calm down. You're no use if you're a basket case. Are you ok? Physically, I mean."
She nodded apprehensively, "I think so."
"Good." The Doctor smiled
It was then that she noticed his shoulder was bleeding, and a fragment of glass was lodged in it. She covered her mouth, and her eyes watered. That was because he'd taken care of her. He saw her looking, but tried to shrug it off like it was nothing.
"Just a scratch." He smiled.
"That's not a scratch. Let me look."
She helped him take off his jacket, although he seemed reluctant. He bit his lip to stop from saying anything. His acquaintance took his arm, stretching it out, and inspected the shard of glass as her bangle slid up her wrist.
"I need to get that out, before it shatters…but it'll hurt."
She looked at him apprehensively, but he just nodded, she was right. She used her spare hand to whip a bandana out of the front pocket of her bag, a light blue one with white and dark blue edging. She opened it out, and then folded it differently, holding it over the glass. Her eyes met his, and she squeezed his hand, as she extracted it, he squeezed it back, clearly it was painful.
"It's ok, it didn't splinter. Nasty cut though. Is there a bin?"
He found it rather strange, but was touched all the same that she was putting her family to the back of her mind temporarily to help him. He nodded, and pointed with his good arm to a small metal bucket. She smiled, it was the first time he'd ever seen her smile, and it suited her. She placed his hand over his wound, and pressed down. He kept a hold of it as she binned the glass.
"You've stained that bandana." he pointed out.
"I can get another one." She shrugged.
His temporary nurse walked back over, and pressed the clean side of her bandana over his shoulder, tying it tightly around and knotting it at the front, so it didn't poke him in the side. He smirked slightly. Martha would be impressed. Or jealous. Maybe both. Then he looked startled, as did Ruby, because the very second her hand finished the knot, a soft purple light, in the shape of her fingertips, glowed on his shoulder. The blood from the bandana disappeared, and the Doctor noticed it didn't hurt at all any more. He lifted the accessory, to reveal a completely fixed and stain-free shirt. His gash was healed.
"Ruby…" he said, still staring at that spot, "What exactly are you hiding?"
Without her having to say a word, the question was answered. Her bag started shuffling. Out popped something small, purple, and fluffy, cat-shaped ears with black tips first. It seemed to make a yawning noise, as it's large almond-shaped eyes opened, revealing a bright blue colour. It looked almost like some kind of stuffed animal as it blinked. It had a tiny black nose, and a small cat-like mouth, with miniscule fangs protruding it, like on a puppy or kitten.
"Wow." The Doctor looked amazed.
The thing, just slightly larger than a tennis ball, looked around, as it's eyes fixed on Ruby, it's face lit up. Slightly clumsily, propelled by small feathery wings on it's back, it flew upwards. It zoomed over to Ruby, head butting her, as landings seemed to be a bit of a problem, and made a sort of mewing sound, it's tiny fox-like tail flicking happily.
"Is that what I think it is?" the Doctor stared wide-eyed and delighted at the little creature in front of him.
"This is Kitsune…" introduced Ruby, rather awkwardly, the whole situation seemed surreal, "Or, Kit for short."
On hearing it's name, the creature made another happy mew slash squeaking sound. The Doctor tentatively reached out, mentally asking Ruby if he could hold it. The bemused Kit found herself passed from one set of hands to another. The Doctor brought his face up to his hands, looking at her face to face. It tilted inquisitively, regarding him.
"Beautiful." He smiled, "However did you meet her?"
"Um, sort of by accident." Ruby blushed, "A few months ago, I was walking home from school. I saw her curled up at the corner of a fence. I thought it was a tennis ball that one of the guy's from school had lost? …She was yellow when I got her…so I picked her up. She suddenly kind of woke up and looked at me. Man was I surprised."
"I can imagine." replied the Doctor, in a voice pressing her to explain a little further.
"Then suddenly she unfurled or something. I saw the tail and the wings, although she was really small. So I was standing in the middle of town, staring dumbly at a tennis ball. I apologised, and put her back. Didn't want to be rude or anything."
"Of course not."
"But when I started walking again, she followed me. So I took her home, looked after her. The rest is pretty much history."
There was silence for a minute. It was almost as if they had forgotten about what was going on outside. Neither of them had of course, but they were both mentally going over ways to save everyone, and stop whatever it was. The Doctor knew precisely what was going on, but for now was trying to keep Ruby more at ease, so she could help more. Plus, he quite liked her. Out of her sister's shadow she seemed much nicer and more relaxed.
"You're very lucky." He pointed out.
"Um…am I?"
"Yep. Kit is a Vegrandis."
"Vegrandis?"
"The Vegrandis are a race of aliens, there were once billions of them, as many as there are stars in the sky."
"What happened?"
"Less pleasant species moved in, and they dropped to just about 3 billion…" he stopped, hesitant.
"Then? I told you mine…"
"Then there was a big war. They got caught up in it. Wrong place, wrong time scenario. There are a handful of them left. No more than about twelve I would think."
"That's so sad." Ruby looked at Kitsune, who seemed to be listening intently.
"But they learned their lesson. After that, the few that were left turned away from everyone and everything. They don't trust anyone or anything."
"How did I end up with Kit then?" queried Ruby.
"Anyone or anything, except a species as rare as them." He grinned at her bashfulness as she stared at the floor.
"Do I want to know?" she murmured.
"The Vegrandis only appear to people who are utterly selfless and caring. Pure at heart, if you will. Much like themselves"
"I think she missed her target then." responded Ruby mutely.
"If she had, you wouldn't have been able to do what you did. Kit here is a baby you see."
At that point, the afore mentioned fluttered out of the Doctor's hands, and landed on Ruby's shoulder, nuzzling in to her. Her mistress smiled, scratching her behind the ears gently. The Doctor watched them curiously, seeing how they interacted. Ruby looked up at him, waiting for him to finish what he said.
"The Vegrandis are a race where family is very important. Each member of the family absorbs traits from others, passing on skills and personalities, even appearances, so that they can always be with each other, even if not physically."
"Come again?"
"Basically, you and Kit have in a way exchanged DNA, absorbed traits from each other. Her personality, and letting me touch her, come from you being used to people. The healing came about because it is an ability that her family would have had. Different combinations of things cause different traits, every Vegrandis is unique, from eye colour to abilities. Do you like purple by any chance?" Ruby nodded, and the Doctor motioned to Kit's fur colour. "The sleeping and becoming attached to people are more human abilities that Kit has gained from you. Usually they never sleep, and only interact with each other."
"Wait…so you're saying…" Ruby looked horrified, "I'm like, part alien?"
The Doctor laughed, "You could say that." Then he turned serious, "Why do you think that you're the only person that hasn't been affected by that radiation?"
"What are you on about?"
That was when the blow came. Apparently, as the Doctor had suspected for a while, a race of aliens called the Sika were behind the attacks. They fed on the energy created by emotions, and there was no better species for emotions than the humans. He hadn't been sure, up until Amber had exploded at Ruby. The infection started with raising a person's emotions to their highest point, and exploiting it. Ruby froze. So, she'd just left her family to have their emotions fried and taken away from them? The Doctor noticed her expression, as she clung on to Kit. Her friend took him to be the one that had upset her mistress, and with an indignant mew, she head butted him, then gave a sort of harrumph and returned to Ruby's arms. He had to stop himself from smiling; she had definitely picked up a few things from her carer.
"How do we stop them?" the girl said suddenly.
"Well, it might be a bit tricky..."
"I don't care. Tell me what to do and I'll do it."
"You've changed your tune."
"It's my fault they were all left vulnerable. I took Kit away."
"Are you sure about this? You don't know what you're getting yourself in to."
"Don't know, don't care. Give me a job, any job."
"Where did this whole thing start?"
"Mega Bite, the internet café."
"Then that's where we'll go."
Ruby was about to head out of the door, when the Doctor caught her wrist, stopping her. He gave a knowing wink, and she stared dumbly at him. The girl was rooted to the spot, as the Doctor put the co-ordinates in to the system. How he knew them, she didn't like to guess. Especially as she suddenly had a roll of cable all but thrown at her, and something that looked rather like a TV remote. Kit ducked and hid on her other shoulder so she didn't get hit. Ruby struggled to stay on her feet as the bumpy machine shuttered to life and started making strange noises, to which she raised her eyebrow. Her acquaintance just gave her a bright grin, and they landed with a thud that sent her sprawling on to her back side, although she was still making sure to hold the cable and remote.
"Wow. That's gonna bruise." she winced as the Doctor helped her up.
"All right?" he asked cheekily.
"Just peachy." she replied, disgruntled.
She hefted her bag on to her back, and the Doctor put the cable and control in it, so it was less conspicuous, and Kit retreated in to the middle of the coil as he opened the door to let his temporary companion out before him, he was a gentleman some of the time. They stepped outside, and Ruby's head spun. They were in a completely different place, in fact facing the fire exit of a sandy-coloured brick building, with warm air blowing from a pipe in to their face, in an alley. She pulled a face as she had to side-step out of the door to avoid hitting the wall, the parking job was not great, and she had to avoid something that she didn't recognise, nor did she want to, on the floor.
"Do you need a license to drive that thing?" she stated bluntly.
The Doctor scratched his head in embarrassment, and gave a nervous laugh, but he promptly shut and locked the doors, no turning back now, his friend realised this and her face blanched. He gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, whilst simultaneously propelling her towards the fire exit. Helpfully, it didn't open from the outside, and she sighed in aggravation. However, the Doctor stepped in front of her, whipping his screwdriver out of his jacket pocket. He aimed it at the catch, and the pair had to jump backwards as it flew open, towards them. He closed the door behind him, and walked on a few steps, only to crash in to the back of Ruby, who had suddenly frozen.
"Your brake lights aren't working!" he complained.
"Did you get the right address?" she had dismissed his comment.
"I never make mistakes. Except that one time…where I stranded a friend of mine in Scotland…"
"You sure?"
"Positive. Wh…." Then he stopped mid-question as he saw what she saw. "Oh."
It was not your average café. They had waltzed in to a metal-floored, cavernous, thing. It was huge, everything was metal, whirring and beeping. A single giant fan spun around in the ceiling, and under the flooring was another. There were metal stairs leading to all different levels, so spaced out you could barely see one side from the other. In the centre was a turbine like thing that reminded them of an aeroplane engine. Around that was a control panel not dissimilar to the Doctor's. Lined up along the wall to the left of them were glass panels.
"They've redecorated." pointed out Ruby.
"Oh, I see, so you're allowed to make jokes…" rebuffed the man.
"That's me!" cried the girl.
"Come again?"
Without him noticing, she had seemingly power walked to the front of the panels. She was all but pressing her nose against one of them, bottom left, and her eyes widened as she watched her own past up until now flickering in front of her, hologram style. The Doctor peered over her shoulder, half because he wanted to learn more about her, and half because he wanted to work out what it was.
"I think we found the bank." he branded.
"Really? Then what am I worth, a penny?"
"The bank where the Sika store their harvest. There only seem to be six left. Your family most likely. It hasn't been extracted yet."
"My family are not fuel!" an indignant girl argued.
"Even so. You do realise we most likely set off an alarm by coming here."
"Damn."
"Pretty much. So we better work fast."
He made a beeline for the turbine in the centre, and Ruby was hot on his heels, already half handing him the cable as Kit fluttered upwards and perched on her head, like a rather novelty hat. The pair watched in amazement and interest as the leader of their mission worked with quick fingers, and an equally quick screwdriver, realigning cables, turning off some things, turning on others. He motioned for her to pass him something else, and hold up a section of the wire. They worked in absolute silence, their concentration focused on getting things in a particular way. Kit twittered, flapping off Ruby's head in alarm. She turned to her, confused, then looked down. The ground beneath their feet was vibrating. Then came the distant echo of rapid thuds, like someone running, a lot of someones.
"Ah. Here comes the cavalry."
"Ugh." groaned Ruby,
"Got a pen?"
"What?"
"Pen, you know, thing you write with?"
She pulled a face, before rummaging around in the side pocket of her bag. She whipped out a biro, a nice bright pink with coloured stripes on the barrel. Typical teenage girl. She shrugged at the Doctor's sceptical look. He wanted a pen, there was a pen. He clicked it on, pressing it in to a small reset button. As the runners came nearer, the Doctor put the front panel back on the turbine, and was just turning away from it, when a sudden silence, followed by a series of clicking, alerted them to the fact that the cavalry had arrived. And they had laser guns aimed at their foreheads.
"Intruders located. Subjects seem to be two apparently human specimens."
Both of their eyes scanned upwards, resting on the face of a creature that looked like a man, wearing an army uniform, only he was hairy, with trotters, and the head of a boar. Nasty looking tusks included. He had over one squinted dull brown eye something that looked like a monocle, only was flashing.
"I resent that remark. I am not a human." The impudent Doctor protested.
"Hey, what's wrong with humans?" retaliated Ruby.
"Nothing…nothing at all." he covered, "Although technically you aren't either."
"Thanks for the reminder."
"Silence!" demanded the tusk-head. "Place your weapon on the floor in front of you. Do not look down and keep one hand above your head."
"Weapon?" he stared at the pen, "This?"
He shrugged, and put it slowly down by his feet. The pair of them were forced, by a signal of one of the laser lights, to step away from the console. They ended up back to back standing on the ground above the floor fan. The crowd of soldiers, all looking the same as the one that had spoken, only with smaller tusks, parted to let another down the staircase. He was taller than all of them, with black fur, instead of brown, and his tusks were ornately carved, filled in with gold. He had a cloak over his black camouflage-patterned uniform.
"Interference with ship systems." He said gruffly, "Bind them."
"You're kidding." whispered Ruby.
"Hey, be thankful they haven't shot us." came the lowered reply.
"Yet."
"You will not confer unless spoken to."
Ruby tensed up as she found her wrists being tied to the Doctor's by metal rope. She kept mentally willing him to move, do something, grab his sonic screwdriver, just anything that might get them out of this. But he was biding his time. They hadn't shot them, or said much, because they were interested in how he had overridden their controls, he knew this, although Ruby didn't. The Sika, despite their appearance, were a technologically advanced race. A long time a go they had co-operated with the Time Lords, shared their experiments and findings. It was how the ship was crammed in to one tiny building.
"State your name and business." demanded the leader as he stood midway down the stairs, looking at them.
"This is Ruby, and I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you."
"Speak for yourself." uttered Ruby quietly.
"The Doctor indeed. I am Zak Am, Captain of this ship. I've heard about your ventures in the past. My grandfather quite admired you."
"Well, that's nice, thanks."
"Tell me Doctor. Why are you attempting to sabotage us? We have done nothing to you."
"I'm afraid I can't just let you drain this town of all their emotions. It's rude."
"How are we to supply our planet without putting this minor species to good use? You know better than any, our reserves are long gone. It should be considered an honour. They are small, insignificant. They have the chance to do something greater."
"Yea, but did they have the choice?" growled Ruby,
A warning nudge from the Doctor caused her to bite her tongue. Much as she hated to admit it, he seemed to know what was going on. She wasn't stupid, she had definitely sensed some kind of mutual respect between her strange counterpart and these creatures. It might be what got them out of this mess. The leader regarded her closely, not showing annoyance so much as intrigue.
"What are you?" he queried.
"Beg pardon?" Ruby blinked.
"Your species does not register on our computers."
"Please tell me you're joking."
"This one? She's a new, brand spanking, shiny and clean, not even out of the box, one of a kind species. Only one in the whole universe."
"Is that so? Her race?" pressed Zak Am.
"Vegrandan." The Doctor gave one of his dazzling grins.
"What does she do?"
"I'm standing right here, just so you know."
"Well, Captain Am. She can show you. If you just let her go." The Captain seemed reluctant, "You have my word, Time Lord to Sika that she won't run away."
Zak Am paused for a moment, his nostrils flaring as he thought. Eventually he nodded, and motioned for the two guards that had initially tied them up to let her go. A more than panicky Ruby stared daggers at the Doctor. What the hell was she meant to do? She did not have any powers, as he had suggested, and she was not the best of actresses. He simply shrugged his shoulders. Immediately, she realised what her cue was. Looking around for something, and not finding it, she closed her eyes, and biting her lip, scored her arm with a nail. Not too hard, just hard enough for small beads of blood to spring up. The shivering of Kit in her bag, the little creature had sensed it would be a bad idea to put in an appearance, reminded her she could do it. Staring at the scratch, she took a breath, and brushed her fingers across it. The trace of her finger tips glowed purple, before her arm sealed itself up.
"Impressive. You might be useful to us."
Zak Am clicked his fingers, as the Doctor gave Ruby a thumbs up behind his back. Then, unsure of what was going on, the two guards seized her wrists, pulling her roughly away from the Doctor. She squirmed around, reaching out to him, but the guards were too strong, and surprisingly fast. She was dragged back, under one of the balconies, stopped from moving anywhere by crossed guns.
"What are you doing with her?" only now had an edge of anger crept in to his voice.
"Oh, Doctor." Zak Am gave a sort of menacing chuckle, "Do you think we wouldn't do our research before selecting our target?"
"Does that have anything to do with it?" protested the captive.
"We knew there might be a chance that you would find it fit to interfere with our operation, regarding your history of saving this pathetic little planet so often."
"So?"
"Search him!"
"Wait, no! Stop it! Leave him alone!" yelled Ruby, lunging forward, only to be cut off again by guns crossing under her throat.
The Doctor was untied and roughly frisked by the guards, who relieved him of everything from his coat, to his sonic screwdriver. As his coat was wrenched away, the controller clattered out of his pocket and on to the floor. He'd been played. Zak Am had managed to use past alliances to get him to lower his defence. The Captain scooped up the control, and laughed in amusement.
"What do we have here?" he held it up for his men to see, "The signal that will disrupt our computers, I presume?"
He flipped it over, undoing the back. He regarded the workmanship for a few moments, before eventually nodding, and flipping it closed. They all gave their approvals, the closest thing to a nod and a wink the Doctor would ever get from any of them, and didn't he know it.
"Excellent craftsmanship, I wouldn't expect less from a Time Lord. Especially you Doctor." he turned to a startled Ruby, waving it in her face.
"Do you know what this is, Vegrandan?"
"To me it's just a bunch of buttons." replied Ruby honestly.
"Oh, so you didn't tell her." Zak Am gave a nasty smile.
"Tell me what?" insisted Ruby, more anxious when the Doctor refused to meet her eye.
"This little piece of equipment might well override our computers…" he paused for effect, "But it will take all we've gathered with it."
"Huh?" she still didn't get it.
"Meaning the energy of every single person targeted, will disperse with it. Never to come back again."
"It would kill them?!" shrieked Ruby, looking to the Doctor for confirmation, but still he stared at the floor.
"As well as. They would be vegetables. You helped him do this."
The girl was so upset, that it was painful for the Doctor to look at her. She was utterly distraught. Her whole family were part of that percentage, and he hadn't said a thing. Her expression gave the guards the confidence to drop their weapons, releasing her. She wasn't going anywhere. Zak Am looked at her, almost sympathetically, and clicked his tongue as he shook his head at the Doctor. He dropped the control, standing on it and kicking it aside.
"You can stay with us here, Vegrandan. I don't suppose you'll want to be with that monster any more."
Ruby started at this accusation. The Doctor, a monster? But he had saved her, got hurt for it. She remembered how delighted he'd looked when he saw Kit, his face lighting up like a little boy. He reminded her of her older brothers, and she didn't see any traits in him that might earn that title. There was a resounding silence for a while, as the Doctor finally looked up and met her eye. The guards began to dispatch.
"Dispose of him." Zak Am waved a hand casually in someone's direction.
That was what woke her up. Now there was only Zak Am, the two guards that had disarmed the Doctor, and the other two who had stopped her from reaching him. She froze, wondering what exactly Zak Am meant by that. She soon found out. The ground shifted beneath the Doctor's feet, evidently it meant him falling several hundred feet, and if that didn't get him, the fan would. Automatically, he tried to move out of the way, but there was no ground for him to move to. In a flash, like her body was not her own, Ruby leapt forward, catching the Doctor's wrist in her hands as he fell. Zak Am looked astounded.
"What's this?! You're still helping him, after what you just learned?"
"I can't believe you. There has to be a catch, I'm sorry." She seemed genuinely apologetic.
Her grip was slipping. It was a tall order for a teenage girl to hold up a fully grown man who was over six foot, dangling above certain death, but she didn't let go. It was then Zak Am noticed something else. The control was gone from where he'd kicked it. He turned in horror as the Doctor, between his own efforts and hers, was heaved to safety. Kneeling on the floor by him, Ruby looked sorrowfully at Zak Am, she knew he had really been interested in her, and pushed the button. Although they hung on to each other, the two travelling companions were so close to the control panel that the explosion blew them away. The panels smashed, the Sika howled in agony, retreating, as the ship began tearing itself apart. About the time that the turbine came crashing down, both Ruby and the Doctor blacked out.
"She's coming to! Are you alright? Can you hear me?"
The voice was foreign. From her bleary unconsciousness, the pink-haired girl was slowly coming around. She finally opened her eyes, and painfully sat up. The voice had come from a male paramedic, kneeling over her with a concerned face, and an oxygen mask. Taking in her surroundings, she realised that she was lying on the floor of the alley way, the burnt out shell of Mega Bite smouldering beside her. From what she gathered, largely from partial conversations and fragmented witness reports to the police, a technical fault in one of the computers had caused an explosion and fire. Fully awake, she looked around for the Tardis, and it was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?!" she cried urgently, "Is he ok?"
"Is who ok honey?" a female paramedic had joined her partner.
"There was a man with me, brown hair, suit, sneakers?"
"Oh, the tall guy?" the first paramedic remembered. Ruby nodded. "He's fine. He woke up before you, amazingly not a scratch on him. He left, but told us to call him when you came to."
"You're a very lucky young lady." added the woman, "No injuries at all, and after being thrown all that way. Amazing."
"Sorry?" she was definitely confused.
"The guy with you. He told us you saved him when you first saw things going wrong, so took most of the blast off him." The man finished.
"He did?"
She couldn't remember much at all. Just sitting by the hole in the floor with the Doctor, then waking up in the alley that had gathered quite a nice little crowd by now. The woman paramedic handed Ruby a glass of water, as the male one borrowed a phone off one of the police officers, presumably to phone the Doctor. She was helped up by the woman and taken to sit on the step at the back of the ambulance. Her bag was given back to her by a middle-aged woman, and she suddenly panicked. Kit. Where was Kit? Was she ok? Did she get hurt? The girl stood bolt upright as she saw a familiar face coming through the crowds. Much to the astonishment of all of them, considering she'd just been blown through the wall of a building, she flew down the road, and flung her arms around an unsuspecting Doctor, tears pricking her eyes. After clinging to him for a moment, she let him go, wiping her cheeks with her arm.
"Love, you shouldn't move so much so fast. You had a nasty knock." protested the paramedic woman.
"It's ok, I'm fine, honest!" assured Ruby, "Thank you for helping me, but you don't have to worry."
"This one's pretty tough ma'm, I promise. I'll escort her home, ok, so you needn't fret."
After some persuasion, the woman consented, and Ruby walked along the road with him, although her mind was in turmoil, thinking about her family, and Kit, if they were still alive. The Doctor noticed this, and smiled at her. He put a hand in his pocket, and brought out a little purple tennis ball. It squeaked with delight on seeing it's mistress, and flew straight in to her arms.
"Kit!" she hugged her little friend tightly, then stared accusingly at the Doctor, "Where were you?" demanded Ruby, "Are Amber and mum, and the others, are they ok?"
He nodded, "They're just fine, thanks to you."
"But I thought…" she trailed off.
"I know. Which was something I was wondering about? You knew what the consequences might be, but you still triggered the magnet anyway, why?"
His companion hesitated for a moment, not really sure how to approach the question. "My initial thought was, what if they went to other parts of the world? That's over six billion people, right?" the Doctor nodded, "I know, I must sound heartless and cruel. But…but, I figured, six lives for six billion." her voice faltered, and she stopped for a moment, "Then I realised, based purely on first impressions I admit, you wouldn't sacrifice even one life if you could avoid it, it's in your face. So you would take precautions, regarding what Zak Am said."
"You have a lot of faith in me." The Doctor sounded thoughtful.
"And somehow, I never even considered that it might be misguided."
They arrived at the Arduino's house much faster than expected, and she had to conceal Kit abruptly. The Tardis was parked on the front lawn, much to Ruby's amusement. The second she stepped in the gates, she was greeted by a flying Amber-shaped object. She was almost knocked off her feet by the hug, and Juliana was waiting at the front door for her, wringing her hands in anticipation.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry!" bawled Amber.
"Whoa, easy girl. It's ok, really." comforted her twin.
"No it's not! I was so horrible to you! You didn't deserve it!"
"I'm sorry too Am." her voice was soft, and calming.
"Well, now you're home safe. I should probably be going." The Doctor was reluctant to interrupt the reunion.
His new friend turned around to stare at him in disbelief. Leave? He couldn't leave, not after everything that had just happened. Wasn't he going to stay and celebrate with them? Their safety was all down to him. He didn't quite know how to react to their pleading stares, and then he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, I almost forgot." he pulled something out of his pocket. "Here." Ruby stepped forward, and laughed as he passed her the pen back. "Thanks for the loan…" he paused, like he was about to carry on, but didn't. "Well, I really had better go. Places to be, people to see…" he had explained to Amber and Juliana all about what had gone on. They knew about him and his time travelling machine.
"Do you really mean to say you're just leaving us?"
The Doctor looked mutedly hopeful, "You could always come too…you did save the world after all. I think you've earned a holiday."
Ruby
looked awed, "You're not serious."
"Well…yea, but…don't
feel pressured or anything."
he looked faintly embarrassed.
"Really?"
"Really really." he nodded.
She couldn't quite believe her luck. Although she was almost reluctant to leave her family. They'd just been drained by aliens, how did she know they were all perfectly fine now? What would her father say, when he came home from work, to find himself minus a daughter. Her mother, her sisters, her brothers. Did she really want to leave them?
"Ruby Galatea Arduino." Amber's stern voice cut across the silence, "If you don't go with him, I'll never speak to you again. You have to go, for the sake of both of us, after all the work we put in."
Her sister looked delighted, and hugged her, then looked hesitantly over her shoulder, "Mum?"
"Oh, heavens child. You've always wanted to travel. Just get on with it."
Juliana came forward, and gave Ruby a hug and a kiss on the cheek. With that, after just staring at them for a few minutes, she turned around. The Doctor was waiting by the Tardis, with the door open. With a fleeting final glance and wave, Ruby disappeared in to the blue wooden box, shortly followed by the man himself, and Kit popped out of her bag home. Then she suddenly realised something.
"It's bigger on the inside." she blinked.
"You didn't notice?"
"I was preoccupied, funnily enough." she retorted with a pointed look. "Wait…do you have plumbing in here?"
With that, followed by the echoing laugh of the Doctor, and Ruby's utter bemusement, the engines of the Tardis fired up, whisking the two off to their next adventure.