Title: Key 2 Time 2: Part 6: Arguments Waste Precious Time
Author: lallafangirls
Rating: T
Characters: Romana III, Amy, K9.
Spoilers: There would be if we had a TARDIS.
Summary: Romana may not have a sense of humour, but it gets the job done.
Disclaimer: If we owned Doctor Who, then this would be more than a cracky fanfic.
Notes: If you wish to read this and have it make the tiniest amount of sense, we recommend reading:
Part 1: On the Other Side
Part 2: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Part 3: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall
Part 4: The Ignorance of Youth
Part 5: Calm in the Face of Danger
Key 2 Time 2: Part 6: Arguments Waste Precious Time
Romana was as white as a sheet. Amy was shaking. The Black Guardian had knocked them completely off guard. The seriousness of the situation was dawning on Amy, and Romana was realising just how much the Black Guardian wanted revenge on her.
"You don't feel faint do you? There are some more antibiotics left if you need it. I'll go and get it, just in case," Amy enquired. She was worried about her friend.
"No, just... tired. Let's get on, shall we? I'll be fine. Are you alright?" Romana said weakly.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me. How are we going to find the next segment if the Black Guardian is watching us?" The thought of the Black Guardian watching their every move made Amy feel incredibly nervous.
"We'll be fine so long as we keep moving, and don't stay in one place for too long." Strength started to return to Romana.
"But should we start searching for the next segment now or try and throw the Black Guardian off our trail first? I don't like the idea of him following us."
"I think, the sooner we collect the segments the better," Romana said, standing up, grabbing onto the console for support. "Then, hopefully we'll be able to sort out this debacle. Including the Doctor and your sister, obviously."
Amy nodded and took the TARDIS controls. Suddenly, there was a violent shudder and the lights went out. "Oh not again. Romana?"
"I'm onto it," Romana said, furiously pressing buttons but nothing happened. Romana sighed. "Black Guardian, is that you again?"
"Eventually you will learn, Romanadvoratrelundar," boomed the Black Guardian, and the lights turned back on.
"We've landed. But I have no reading on the segment. We shouldn't go outside." Amy couldn't understand how they had landed.
"I don't think it's safe to try flying again just yet." Romana hit the console in frustration. "Damn this! The Black Guardian knows exactly where we are, and we're no closer to finding another segment."
"Well, we could explore, see where we are or we can stay here. Either way, we're stuck."
"You said you'd felt like we shouldn't go out there, but if you've changed your mind, I wouldn't mind exploring."
"I don't like the idea of a forced landing. There must be a reason why the Black Guardian landed us here. Is there a monitor in this TARDIS, like the Doctors? So we can see outside?"
"Here." The monitor showed a vast and uninhabitable landscape. Romana was not impressed. "Not the most welcoming of places - but underneath the damp, boggy, darkness, a place like this can be quite nice."
"I am certain the segment is not on this planet. I think we should concentrate on trying to find that and leave this planet." Amy didn't want to spend another moment on that planet. She was desperate to find the remaining segments before the Black Guardian did.
Romana took the logical approach. "So the problem is trying to get around the Black Guardian's jamming mechanism. K9! I want you to do a quick scan to see if there is anything physical stopping us from flying."
K9 started scanning the console. "Negative Mistress, all is fine," he chirped.
"Well, that answers that question," Romana smiled, "I'll try and get us away from here, before we look for the next segment. Obviously the Black Guardian is preventing us from flying from here due to one of us being in control. I sincerely hope it's not both."
"Do you mean he is controlling us or the TARDIS?"
"Us, possibly."
Amy shuddered. She disliked the thought of the Black Guardian controlling her even more than watching her every move. Desperate for a change of subject, she said, "what about this button, Romana?" Amy indicated at a red button near the top of the console, "I remember the Doctor telling me it was the quick reverse button, that it takes the TARDIS back to its last temporal location. If it still works, it can get us out of this jam."
"Yes, but it won't work. It'll take us straight back to where he found us in the first place," Romana replied, curtly.
Amy was getting tired of Romana talking to her like that. 'It was only a suggestion', she thought, 'a smart suggestion too.' Out loud, she said, "well do you have any other suggestions? If it takes us back, they at least it should un-jam the controls then we can get away." Amy pushed the button. The lights went out again and, somewhere in the distance, she could hear the cackling laugh of the Black Guardian.
Romana, trying not to show how angry was, asked, "K9 is it safe to turn the lights back on?"
"Affirmative, Mistress." And promptly, the lights came back on.
"I have a feeling... K9, go away and run diagnostics on yourself. Amy, are you alright? Ready to have another go at flying this thing?"
Amy smiled to herself; she had gotten them out of trouble. Romana had been wrong. "Yes." She replied, "lets do this." She pressed some buttons and the TARDIS took flight.
"The segment?" Romana prompted.
"Let me see." Amy closed her eyes and concentrated on the signal of the next segment. "Eight. That's all I'm getting. Well it's a start, I guess."
"That only indicates the constellation we need, if we go there then maybe the co-ordinates will become clearer." Romana set the pressed a couple of buttons to set the TARDIS on course. "Eight, eight... that's the constellation with Atrios and Zeos in..." she muttered to herself.
Amy's ears pricked up, "Atrios and Zeos? You mentioned them before. War-torn planets. That was where the final segment was. Take us to the constellation; see if the segment is still there."
"As you wish," Romana said under her breath. "There, we are approximately within the centre of the constellation. Any closer and we'd be sucked into a black hole. Any luck?"
Amy held onto the controls, trying to get a read on the remaining co-ordinates. "Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight."
"Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight-Eight? What a lot of eights! Funnily enough, the location doesn't surprise me."
"What's the location? Planet Eight by any chance?!"
"Atrios, actually. If Astra is still a segment, I'm blaming the Doctor. He should have been more specific."
Amy rolled her eyes. Romana really didn't have a sense of humour. "Could she still be the segment? I mean, none of the other segments have been hidden in the same place, so there is a chance that she might not be."
"There's no reason why she couldn't be, to be honest." Romana replied, "Well, let's see if anything's changed since I was last here."
Glancing at the scanner, Amy said, "well the TARDIS is saying that radiation levels on the surface are too high to sustain any life. How terrible that must be. Living underground, never seeing the sun, never feeling the wind on your skin, never getting soaked to the skin because you got caught in a rain storm." Freezing at night because you've been abandoned on a deserted planet, she added silently.
"I think you'll find the Atrians are quite used to it by now. In fact, it's quite a relief for them to be living at all." Romana opened the TARDIS door and stepped out into an underground passage. "This far down the radiation is fine for me, but you should take these just in case." She threw Amy some radiation-sickness tablets.
Amy swallowed a tablet and shuddered, "Yuck. I can't get a good read on the signal; it's very weak down here." She paused, "I think we should go this way." She headed down the corridor, away from the TARDIS.
Romana followed Amy, "this place is looking quite a bit better than last time. At least there isn't a nuclear war going on."
"There doesn't seem to be anything going on. Where is everyone?" Amy looked around, hoping to see someone, or at least a sign of life.
"That's... strange. I know the population of this planet isn't exactly huge, but there should be more people than this!" They turned a corner, "look, there's a guard over there, maybe he can help." Romana pointed out.
Amy walked up to the guard. "Excuse me. Hey! Can you tell us where everyone is? Hello???" She turned to Romana, "he's not acknowledging us. I don't think he can even see us."
Romana waved her hand in front of the guard, "mind control? Possession? or something simpler?" She paused, "Sir, I am Romanadvoratrelundar, President of Gallifrey. I am here..."
"Romana, Gallifrey... Time Lord. It is forbidden for you to be here," the guard replied, speaking monotonously, as if under control. He pointed a gun in their direction.
Romana rolled her eyes, "I know this is turning into a bit of a pattern, but I recommend we run."
Amy turned and ran, "why don't you stop introducing yourself as the President of Gallifrey. It seems to get us into a lot of trouble."
"Because it can open doors, sometimes!"
"Well it hasn't done so far," Amy muttered under her breath.
"In here!" Romana dragged Amy through a door; the room was packed, unexpectedly. "Hello, I'm... Romana, and this is my friend, Amy. We're... visitors." The crowd got to their feet.
"Yes. We're visitors," Amy added quickly. "Come to find something that has been lost."
Someone approached them nervously, cutting through the hordes of people staring at them. Romana relaxed instantly when she realised it was Merak, whom she had met more than a lifetime ago.
"Our princess? You've come to find our Princess? Astra?"
"Er. Yes, yes we have," Romana replied. At least they now knew why the Atrians had been hostile. "Now, Merak, can you tell me what happened?"
Merak frowned. "I didn't tell you my name was Merak."
"Your reputation precedes you Merak.," Amy improvised. "What happened to Princess Astra?"
Merak said everything a little too quickly, but he was eager to tell someone. Anyone who could help get the Princess, and his wife back, was more than welcome. "Well, you see... this man; he claimed he was the Doctor. He's a hero of this world. He came here with this girl, barged right into her quarters... then they were all... gone!"
"Right, anything else?" Romana queried. It appeared she had been right in thinking Astra was still a segment.
"No... well, yes, come to think of it, you look like his companion *indicates to Amy* And you, you share the name of the lady he travelled with last time..."
"Er..."
Amy announced to the hushed crowed, " That was my twin sister, Zara. She has been possessed by the Black Guardian. The Doctor too. The Black Guardian tried to get me too, but I was too strong," To Merak specifically, she asked, "How long ago was that?"
"That was just hours ago. *getting hysterical* but how can we trust you? You might be just as bad as they are!"
Romana placed a hand gently on Merak's shoulder. Amy smirked at her sudden affection for the Atrian. She had heard that all Time Lords were aloof and thought they were above such things. She was beginning to think that Romana was no different. It was moments like this that restored her faith in her.
" Last time, we managed to get Astra back to you. I promise that Amy and I can do the same. But only if you let us carry on with our... wo-investigations."
"You will have to trust us. Your princess is with my sister," Amy concluded. "You want no harm to come to your princess and I want no harm to come to my sister. You want your princess back and I want my sister back. Can't you see we want the same things? Romana and I can help get your princess back," she breathed a deep breath, thoroughly relieved that public speaking wasn't her job. She turned to Romana, and whispered under her breath, "Astra must be the segment, that's why the Doctor took her. We need to leave now. The signal is getting weaker and weaker."
Merak sighed heavily. "Alright, we will let you go freely. You will have no trouble getting away from here." He pulled out a device and pressed a button on it. The door swept open behind Romana and Amy. "It is now safe for you to leave."
They wandered towards the door, uttering thanks.
"There's something amiss on here now. I want to look at one of those guards before we leave," Romana whispered into Amy's ear.
"Okay, but quickly. I can barely sense Astra's signal," Amy whispered in return.
Romana strode determinedly towards the guard they had passed on the way there. Amy rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe that whilst the Universe was at stake, she was more interested in a couple of guards acting strangely. They'd probably just been on some course to improve protection of their princess, after all, this wasn't the first time she'd been kidnapped.
*strides determinedly over to a guard and clicks in front of his face, he doesn't react.*
"Hello, my name is Romana and this is Amy..." Romana started.
"Romana, Amy. You are free to leave to rescue Princess Astra," he was as monotonous as he had been before.
"Hm. Could you tell us-"
"Romana, Amy. You are free to leave to rescue Princess Astra."
Romana wasn't one to give up that easily. "What is your name?"
"Romana, Am-"
"Oh, never mind," she huffed. The solution wasn't that obvious and it was troubling her. "It's definitely some kind of mind control."
"We might as well go. There's nothing we can do for him. These people have let us go, surprisingly quickly and without question. Let's go before they change their mind."
"Oh, fine."
Romana was annoyed that she couldn't see the solution; after all, it was very unlike her. But still, Amy was right, again. There were bigger things at stake and they needed to stay focussed on the bigger picture. She unlocked the TARDIS and let them in. Something wasn't right here, either. She had a sinking feeling that what was coming next was going to be quite dangerous.
End
Watch out for Part 7.