Viera :1: Counting Down the Hours

by Caligo Origuu

A stranger misplaced by time steps onto a shuttle bound for Sapphire Falls on just the right day, at just the right time. How much can one person change? Midnight through Waters of Mars & Torchwood: Children of Earth.

1. 1 - Midnight

[New Author's Note: It has been a really long time since I've worked on this story. A really, really long time. On any fanfic, for that matter, but I found myself rereading this after the Doctor Who comic books re-sparked my love of the series. Though I'm not always pleased with my writing, I still very much enjoy the premise. I'm not going to rewrite the whole thing, but I will edit and streamline parts of it before I attempt to move on. For now, Midnight, Nenavist, and The Marketplace have changed some, but not in ways that will change the plotline. Minor edits to most of the other parts. There has also been a rather BIG CHANGE to Part 13 (Amelia Pond).

A HUGE thanks to Elaine06 and all my reviewers for inspiring me to continue working on this despite all the time that has passed and my frequent distraction.

A few WARNINGS: Spoilers, obviously. Also, this story is focused around an OC. It's a fix-it fic, so most of it consists of adjusting episodes to suit my whims. Chapters will vary wildly in length.

UPDATED NOVEMBER 2018]

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Part One – Midnight

Soundtrack:

"Lost In Time" - Coast of Dreams by Curtis Macdonald

"Echoes" - The Beauty of Science by Kerry Muzzey

"From Diamonds to Murder" – Assassination by Kerry Muzzey

"Viera's Theme" – I Have a Story by Epic Score

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Sapphire waterfalls. A diamond planet. You're on another world. In another galaxy. Isn't this exciting?

Viera paused in the doorway of the shuttle, fighting off a sense of homesickness that had become almost all-encompassing in recent days. For all that she was on another planet, the shuttle reminded her a great deal of the airplanes back home- the nice, big, international airplane she'd flown on most recently, with a wide aisle down the middle and plenty of space between the seats, not the sort where everyone was crammed in like sardines in a can.

It is exciting, she told herself forcefully as she found a seat near the back and settled in next to the window. I'm excited. Who wouldn't be excited? A sapphire waterfall. I bet it's beautiful.

She clung to the spark of anticipation she felt with all her might in an effort to stave off the melancholy that had been haunting her. Even the nervousness that came with the anticipation was preferable. She'd never before been on another planet. She'd only been out of her own country once, and that… well, that hadn't turned out so great, but still, the prospect of sapphire waterfalls was at least enough to stir some interest.

The door opened behind her. The very faint scent of lavender and sage gave the presence away as her caseworker even before Viera glanced over her shoulder. Prim and pressed, without a single blond hair out of place, the woman that the time agency had assigned to Viera looked quite intimidating. It was only as they got to know each other a little that Viera had begun to realize just how much she really cared beneath it all. She was the one who had set up the trip in the first place.

"I got a call," Ms. Tarrio, her caseworker, said bluntly. "Another case came up: a pair of younglings found without their parents. We're pretty sure we know what happened, but I've no time for sightseeing."

Viera sat up a little straighter, wondering if she ought to feel guilty about being worried she was about to lose the one thing she'd been looking forward to when there were a couple of lost kids out there. Ms. Tarrio seemed more exasperated than concerned, however- though she hid it well- so the situation must not have been too dire.

"Can I still go?" she asked. Despite being in her early twenties, Viera had no real idea of how to survive in the current time period alone- hence the caseworker- but surely taking a trip to see a waterfall couldn't be too much different than it would have been back on Earth in her own time.

The older woman studied Viera a moment with sharp blue eyes before nodding once. "If you wish. Either stay put or go to the rooms when you get back. I'm not sure how long I'll be and I don't want to have to search the whole planet for you."

"Deal," Viera said with a slight smile, relaxing back against her seat. Ms. Tarrio nodded then left without another word, passing the arriving hostess with a murmured greeting on her way out.

"Oh, you're early," the hostess said, ever so briefly surprised to find a guest already seated. She recovered quickly, though, and soon had her little rolling cart parked next to Viera's seat. "Headphones for Channels 1 to 36; modem link for video games; complimentary earplugs; complimentary slippers…" the hostess repeated. She had a very professional, well-practiced smile to go with her professional dress, but who wouldn't with a job like that. Viera just nodded, and accepted whatever was handed to her with a smile and 'thanks'.

She sorted through the things she'd been given and tucked most of them away in her pack as others began to arrive and the hostess moved on. She listened to their voices but aside from sneaking a few glances as they past, she kept her hazel eyes on her own things. It seemed like the polite thing to do, somehow, and she was already feeling shy and out of place.

There was a friendly man whose smiles she could almost see just by the tone of his voice, then a quiet woman who boarded by herself. A family trio arrived, complete with sullen teenager. Some sort of expert came next, or at least someone who fancied himself an expert. He had a young woman with him- perhaps his assistant or student by the way they were talked to each other. The noise level in the container rose little by little as the passengers got settled in.

"Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon," the hostess began as she finished putting her cart away and walked towards the front, "welcome on board the Crusader 50, if you would fasten your seat belts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors!"

Viera turned to watch the door seal shut, then the windows. The sudden burst of claustrophobia she felt startled her. It wasn't that small of a space, and it hadn't bothered her when the windows had been open. She wasn't even sure why there was a sense of foreboding – and a sense of being trapped- creeping up her back.

Well that's just silly, she tried to convince herself, cinching her seat belt a little tighter. This isn't any worse than being on a plane. Except for not being able to see.

"Shields down! I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder, Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear, and should we need to use it... you first," the hostess continued.

All right. It isn't worse than a plane except for not being able to see and not having any air outside. It was the former rather than the latter that was the real issue, though. Viera had an active imagination. There could be anything outside their shuttle; anything could happen and they'd never see it coming. She was sure there were instruments to watch for rock slides and they were on a track that would keep them from running off a cliff or into one, but Viera's imagination had no trouble supplying other possible, if terribly unlikely, dangers. And she couldn't see out to prove to herself that they weren't true.

It felt like those trust exercises where you were supposed to close your eyes and let someone lead you through a maze, trusting them to be your sight. Viera wasn't good at those. It didn't matter who led her, her imagination was always trying to tell her that there could a hole in front of her feet or a tree branch just waiting to smack her in the face the moment she took a step.

The driver was talking; Viera tried to pay attention. She knew there was no real reason to feel worried. She just needed to not think about the things that could go wrong and focus on the fact that she was having her very first off-world vacation.

"Driver Joe at the wheel! There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map. The journey covers 500 kliks to the Multifaceted Coast, duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for traveling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll!"

"For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth Classics," the hostess said, using a remote to start up the various programs as she spoke. "Also, the latest artistic installation from Ludovico Klein. Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat - the Animation Archives. Four hours of fun time. Enjoy."

If Viera thought the shuttle had been a bit noisy before, it was nothing compared to what it was like with three different programs all running at once. It wasn't so much the volume as the chaos of it all. Four hours of this? She grimaced and ripped open the wrapper of her earplugs.

Before she could put them in, it all abruptly shut off. Silence reigned. Her ears stopped ringing, and Viera breathed a cautious sigh of relief as she tucked her earplugs away.

"Well, that's a mercy!" one of the men commented- a balding older man with a suit, tie and glasses, the one Viera thought was a teacher. His companion or student was younger. She looked pretty and pleasant, a little bit bookish.

"I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon. We seem to had a failure of the Entertainment System," the hostess said, looking slightly flustered.

"But what do we do?!" the mother of the teenager asked. She was well dressed but in a familiar, middle-class sort of way. Her husband was as well. Their son, sitting apart from them was dressed in all in black, but they looked like an incredibly normal family on a perfectly normal vacation. A fresh wave of homesickness nearly took Viera's breath away. She tore her gaze away to the other passengers.

"We've got four hours of this! Four hours of just... sitting here?" said the husband.

"Tell you what," said the man with a smile in his voice. And oh, what a grin he had. It was the sort of smile that made her grin back without thinking, the sort of smile that all but shouted that here was a man who knew how to enjoy life. "We'll have to talk to each other instead!"

As it turned out, that was exactly what they did. Well, some of them. Viera soon learned that the older man was indeed a teacher, Professor Hobbes to be exact. His companion was Dee Dee, who seemed unfairly overshadowed by him but just as sweet as could be. The teenager was Jethro. His parents were Val and Biff- which was a name that Viera couldn't help but associate with the antagonist from Back to the Future. She tried not to let that color her opinion of him; he seemed a decent enough person.

The hostess and the woman at the front mostly avoided the conversation; Viera didn't catch their names. The friendly man called himself the Doctor. Just the Doctor. It was odd, but then, so was he. Odd in a good way though. He was tall and lean with wild brown hair and an almost manic smile. He was also pretty much impossible not to like.

The Doctor was one of those people who made friends as easily as breathing. He soon had Biff and Val telling all sorts of stories. Viera was sitting a couple rows behind the married couple. She moved to the aisle seat and leaned against the arm rest, peering around the side of the seats as she listened. She grinned and laughed with the others. The release felt good. Normal. Like she really was on vacation rather than completely, irrevocably lost.

Viera was quite happy to leave the storytelling to Biff and Val and Professor Hobbes. She'd prefer to listen and stay in the background with a room full of strangers. She did, however, muster the courage to ask if they minded her taking a few pictures. Viera's camera was new, a gift from Ms. Tarrio, something to 'help her acclimate'. She was still learning how to use it and the other passengers made good practice.

As the trip went on they took turns entertaining each other or entertaining themselves. Viera kept to herself somewhat, observing more than interacting. It wasn't that she didn't like people, it was just that it took Viera a while to feel at ease around new people. Ever since she'd gotten lost, she was even more aware of that nagging sense of not-belonging at the back of her mind.

Eventually the Doctor decided to bring the conversation to her.

Viera was fiddling with her camera when the Doctor flopped into the seat next to her.

"Hello, there," he greeted, grinning warmly as though he truly was absolutely thrilled to meet her. It was impossible not to relax a little in response.

"Hello," Viera echoed gamely, offering a shier smile of her own.

"It's Viera right?"

"That's me." She set her camera down in her lap and gave him her full attention. "I don't think I ever caught your name."

"I'm the Doctor," he declared happily.

Viera had to grin outright at that. He didn't seem the sort to take offense easily so she let her tone slide into quiet teasing. "That's not a name, that's an occupation."

"It is at that," he said, something wry flickering across his expression though it didn't dim his smile for long. "Are you a photographer?"

"It's just a hobby. Something to keep my mind off things," Viera said. "It was a gift from Ms. Tarrio, my caseworker."

The Doctor lifted his eyebrows. "Caseworker?"

"I'm... not from here. I'm not from this time. I got lost. Displaced," she explained with barely any hesitation. She didn't know exactly what it was about him that made him feel so trustworthy. He was a complete stranger, but somehow he still felt safe. There was no suspicion or disbelief in his eyes, only interest and a hint of concern in his very focused attention; it made it easier to keep explaining even when the homesickness made her throat tight with sorrow. "I was in Wales. Cardiff. Vacation with my friends to celebrate Eva's graduation. Apparently there's some sort of fracture there in time and space. Somehow I stumbled into it, slipped through it. One minute I was in Cardiff and it was 1998, the next I was on a completely different planet called Kupil Spolu and it's the 52nd century."

"That's got to be jarring," he said sympathetically. "One thing I don't understand though. There's still a Time Agency on Kupil Spolu. Didn't anyone try to take you back?"

"That was the plan at first, but then they realized who I was, who I'd left behind…"

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, his face alight with curiosity. The warm concern hadn't vanished entirely, but it was overshadowed. Here was a man who loved puzzles and mysteries.

"I'm Viera Mier," she answered. "Which doesn't mean anything unless you know that the driving force behind the organization that preluded the Time Agency were the Mier siblings. My older brother, my baby sister." Viera watched the realization dawning across the Doctor's face as she spoke. He certainly put it all together a lot faster than she had.

"They'll never find my body. They'll spend the rest of their lives searching for answers, and it changes them. Changes the world apparently, or at least the future of the Time Agency. They've always been clever. Endlessly stubborn. With all of that aimed at solving certain mysteries…" She trailed off with a shrug, trying to imagine the world changing in the wake of her family's grief. "I can't ever go back. It'd change too much. I'm stuck here, and they're never even going to know I survived."

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor murmured, his sympathy firmly back in place, no less sincere for all that he obviously found the mess she was in interesting.

Viera nodded, attempting a smile though it felt rather strained. "I was lucky, really. As far as landing spots go, where- when I ended up was probably the best I could hope for. There were people there who understood what happened to me, who found me and explained- people like Ms. Tarrio who are doing their best to help me acclimate to my new time period and settle in to some sort of life. I'm… I'm out of my depth, and I miss everything, but I am grateful. She's even the one who brought me here and got us tickets for the shuttle, trying to show me that this time period has good things to offer too."

"And yet it's hard to be excited."

"No, I am," she protested, but even she could hear the lie in her voice. "I mean… I want to be. I should be. This is amazing, right? And I know this trip was meant to cheer me up. It's just… I feel so out of place, I guess. Lost. Everything's different. The Earth is gone. My family- I can't even think about my family right now. People are different. Even the belief systems seem to have changed. I feel like people think I'm primitive for believing …" She glanced at him, hesitated, then something stubborn settled into her expression. "For believing in a Creator, in a Savior. When I asked about churches and Christianity I was told that most people 'know better than to buy into that superstitious stuff'. Like the things I based my life around aren't even worth considering anymore. Like everything I am is… outdated."

Emotions flickered across the Doctor's expression faster than she could read them before settling into something quietly cautious.

"Do you need other people to believe in order to believe yourself?"

"No," she said immediately, defensively, but the word wavered. Then she considered a moment and gave him a faint, rueful smile. "No," she said, softer and with more certainty. "That's the answer I'm supposed to give, isn't it? I think it's true, though. It makes me question things, but I know that's not bad- though it's not the most fun thing in the universe to go through either. Doubt… doubt feels like a disease, like rot nibbling around the fractures of my heart, breaking apart everything I thought I knew. But... faith ought to be questioned and tested. I know that. It ought to grow and learn, not just be close-minded and stuck and stagnant, even if that feels safer. I still believe. I still choose to believe. I still think it makes sense, and I still feel God there. I just… there have always been people around me who believed too. It was a connection between us, a strong one. A sense of belonging. Without that, I feel so... alone. Adrift in a way that losing familiar places can't even compare to."

Viera stopped, blinking back tears as the Doctor put a hand on hers. The contact, the warmth eased something inside her that no words could touch. The urge to cry faded and slowly sheepishness crept over the layers of sorrow and weariness in her eyes. "Which might explain why I feel the need to pour my heart out to a stranger. I'm sorry. You don't want to listen to all this."

"Sure I do," he protested, sounding for all the world like he meant it with all of his heart. He was so earnest she couldn't help but believe him. "No one better to pour your heart out to from time to time than a friendly stranger. Mind you, I hardly think we count as strangers anymore."

"No, I suppose not," she said quietly.

"And listen, it's only natural for you to feel a little lost right now. But you aren't alone. Plenty of people still believe in God. Humans, aliens; lots of cultures believe in a Creator," he said.

"Do you?" Viera had to ask though she suspected she already knew the answer.

The Doctor hesitated but replied honestly. "No. But that doesn't mean you should give up. There is always hope," he said. His shoulders lifted in a slight shrug accompanied by the upturn of his lips. "And I do, on occasion, find that the universe surprises me."

Perhaps that was all the answer she needed- that and the kindness of a listening ear- because Viera felt something settle inside. When she smiled again, it was far more sincere. "I appreciate you listening to me ramble."

"Oh, anytime," he said with a dismissive sort of modesty. She didn't think he really understood just how much that brief little conversation- and the fact that it left her feeling not just less out of place but almost at peace- meant to her, but that was all right.

They moved on to lighter subjects and eventually the Doctor moved on to chatting with the quiet blond woman at the front of the bus. Lunch was served- a prepackaged meal that strongly reminiscent of microwave dinners. Soon after that, Professor Hobbes set up a slideshow with the help of Dee Dee and the Doctor, eager to share- or show off- his knowledge. Viera moved up closer to the front of the bus to listen.

"So, this is Midnight, d'you see? Bombarded by the sun!"

"Odd spot for a spa, isn't it?" Viera murmured to the Doctor. He shot her a small grin but remained politely focused on the Professor's lecture.

"Because you see... the history is fascinating, because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system, there couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no-one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."

"But how do you know?" Jethro spoke up. "I mean if no-one can go outside…" Viera shivered.

"Oh, his imagination. Here we go." his mother complained.

"He's got a point, though," said the Doctor.

"Exactly! We look upon this world through glass. Safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it."

Unease crept down Viera's spine as she glanced at the closed windows and the sealed doors- the same sort of feeling she got if she let herself think about ghost stories too long. There could be anything out there, anything, and they'd never even know.

She was right in the middle of attempting to push aside that foreboding thought when the whole shuttle trembled with the sound of something mechanical dying. The lights flickered as Viera sucked in a startled breath and tried to tell her heart to calm down. It was just the timing of it all- and the unexpectedness. They were fine.

Her racing heart was not convinced.

"We've stopped," Val murmured. "Have we stopped?"

"Are we there?" her husband asked.

The teacher's assistant shook her head. "We can't be; it's too soon."

Viera wasn't the only one who's adrenaline was surging. The majority of the shuttle passengers were working themselves into a fine state of agitation. The only exceptions seemed to be Jethro, who was enjoying the chaos, and the Doctor who looked alert and interested but not the least bit worried.

"If you could just return to your seats," the hostess requested over the noise. "It's just a small delay."

Looking at her, Viera didn't think she had any more idea of what was going on than the rest of them, but she sat quietly all the same. There was no point in panicking, no matter what her instincts were clamoring at the back of her mind. At worst they might be delayed a little by some glitch in the mechanics. Surely it was nothing to worry about. Surely.

She kept telling herself that as the hostess went to talk to the driver on the intercom.

"We've broken down," Jethro laughed, amused by it all, "in the middle of nowhere."

"Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, we're just experiencing a short delay. The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds," the hostess said. She made an effort to sound perfectly calm and confident. It was the signs of strain at the corners of her eyes that made it unconvincing, Viera thought. "It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats…"

The Doctor gave the hostess a searching look then made his way into the cockpit despite her protests, flashing a badge at her as he passed with a mumbled excuse about being some sort of expert. The door shut behind him and though Viera knew she had no right at all to go into the cockpit, she immediately felt a pang of regret that she hadn't been quick enough on her feet to follow him. At least it would have been quieter in there. And perhaps without the noisy worries and speculations of the others to feed on, Viera's own anxieties would not have grown so strong.

The handful of minutes that passed felt like they took an age, then the Doctor returned, instantly accosted by the quiet woman.

"What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it, what's wrong?" the formally quiet woman demanded.

The Doctor gave a careless shrug, doing a much better job at seeming unconcerned than the hostess had. "Oh, just stabilizing, happens all the time."

"I don't need this. I'm on a schedule," the woman complained as the hostess approached. "This is completely unnecessary!"

"Back to your seats, thank you," was all the reply she got. Then the hostess went to talk to the driver herself.

"Alright then?" the Doctor asked, sitting back down next to Viera. Strangely enough with his calm presence beside her the honest answer was suddenly 'yes'. Or at least 'mostly'.

"I'm fine," Viera said. "It's a little nerve-wracking, that's all. It's not like being in a bus that breaks down along the side of the road where you could walk if you absolutely had to." We'd die outside. We're trapped in here. Trapped and stuck and it's bad enough that the hostess is lying about what's wrong, she thought, her fears struggling to surface again. She did her best to shove them deep down inside and ignore them.

"Excuse me, Doctor," Dee Dee leaned around her seat to ask, "but they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?"

"Now, don't bother the man," the professor admonished. For once Dee Dee wasn't having any of that.

"My father was a mechanic. Micropetrol doesn't stabilize, what does 'stabilize' mean?"

The Doctor tried to smooth over her suspicions. "Well, a bit of flim-flam. Don't worry, they're sorting it out."

"Flim-flam?" Viera echoed, her heart sinking.

"So then it's not the engines," the professor said, growing worry threaded through the words.

"It's just a little pause; that's all," the Doctor assured.

But the professor couldn't let it go. "How much air have we got?" Hobbes demanded much too loudly in the quiet cabin. With the quiet thus shattered, everyone started talking at once. Dee Dee tried to calm the professor as Val began fretting.

"What did he say?" Val asked even louder. "Are we running out of air?" The Doctor tried in vain to reassure her before the panic spread through the whole cabin.

"I was just speculating," the professor said too late.

The hostess returned from speaking with the driver and was bombarded with questions before she even had a chance to catch up.

"Is that right, miss?" Biff demanded. "Are we running out of air?"

"Is that what the Captain said?" continued Val.

"If you could all just remain calm," the hostess said, trying- and failing- to take control of the situation. Everyone was already talking over each other.

Viera sank lower in her seat, trying her hardest to listen to the Doctor's reasonable voice rather than the others or worse, the fear clawing at the back of her own mind. Her claustrophobia was back; the enclosed bus was stifling and far too small for the amount of chaos it suddenly contained. It felt like they were running out of air. Her anxiety rose in tandem with the noise levels around her. Why couldn't everyone just shut up? They were using up whatever air they had left with all their shouting and noise and she just wanted them to shut up- SHUT UP-

"QUIET!" the Doctor yelled, sharp and commanding. His shout made Viera jump, but she felt nothing but relief that the shuttle was finally, finally silent. "Now, if you'd care to listen to my good friend Dee Dee…"

Dee Dee looked a bit rattled to suddenly be the center of attention, but she rose to

the occasion. "It's just that… Well, the air's on a circular filter so we could stay breathing for ten years."

"There you go!" the Doctor exclaimed. "And I've spoken to the Captain. I can guarantee you, everything's fine."

He sounded absolutely confident. He sounded calm and clever and reassuring. Viera let out the breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. The tension that held her in its grip finally began to relax.

Which was, of course, the moment things began to really fall apart.

Clang.

Clang.

Something hit the metal of the hull twice. The quiet inside the bus suddenly took on a different tone as everyone turned to stare at the wall.

"What was that?" asked Val eventually.

"It must be the metal," the professor reasoned. "We're cooling down, it's just settling."

"Rocks," Dee Dee offered. "Could be rocks falling."

Biff dismissed the anomaly completely. "What I want to know is, how long do we have to sit here?" Then it came again, from a different part of the shuttle.

Clang. Clang.

"What is that?" the blond woman asked. Viera still didn't know her name. She'd hardly spoken to anyone.

"Is someone out there?" added Val.

"Now don't be ridiculous," the professor objected.

"Like I said, it could be rocks."

The hostess shot down that idea. "We're out in the open. Nothing could fall against the sides." Then the knocks came again. Cold fear crept into Viera's chest, making her heart pound and her breaths come just a little faster.

"Anyone else feel like we've stepped into the middle of a horror story?" she couldn't help but mutter aloud despite knowing that adding to the panic would only make things worse. Viera barely managed to keep the next sentence inside her head. One of those stories where the rescue team finds the empty shuttle out in the middle of nowhere with no one around and no sign of what happened. One where no one ever even knows what became of us.

"We're fine," the Doctor said, smiling comfortingly in Viera's direction. He certainly looked more interested than worried, though Viera wasn't entirely certain she'd be able to tell if he was faking it. Things were silent again and Viera thought maybe the sound would just stop. Maybe if they just ignored it they could pretend it had never happened and go on with their lives. Maybe…

The blond woman broke the silence. She was beginning to sound frantic as she looked around at the other passengers. "Is there something out there? Well? Anyone?" The sound- the knocking- came again, like it was answering. "What the hell is that noise?"

"I'm sorry, but the light out there is Xtonic, that means it would destroy any living thing, in a split-second. It is impossible for someone to be outside," Professor Hobbes said.

"'There are more things between heaven and earth than are dreamt of by your philosophy,'" Viera quoted quietly, eyeing the area where the last knocks had come from. It came again, two knocks. Always two. She jumped at the sound and moved into the aisle, wanting to be as far from the walls as possible. The Doctor, on the other hand, walked right up to it, pulling out a stethoscope.

"Sir, you really should get back to your seat," the hostess protested. "Sit down," she told Viera and the other passengers. They ignored her too. Sitting down felt too vulnerable just then.

The Doctor pressed the stethoscope against the wall of the shuttle. "Hello?" he asked quietly. Two knocks answered. Then again in a different spot.

Clang. Clang.

"It's moving," Jethro pointed out. The door rattled and Viera echoed the blond's frightened intake of breath.

"It's trying the door!" Val said.

Professor Hobbes was stubborn, insistent. "There's no it. There's nothing out there! Can't be." Which was all well and good in theory, but it seemed ridiculous under the circumstances. As scared as she was, aggravation latched on to Viera more easily than usual. They were empty words- empty, worthless words- and she was beginning to wish he'd keep them to himself.

"Life happens everywhere," Viera argued, her gaze still fixed on the door as it rattled again. She made an effort to keep the annoyance from her voice by reminding herself that the Professor's incessant claims were likely his own attempt to deal with fear. It helped a little, though her words were still tight and clipped. "In different atmospheres, underwater, even in the depths of the ocean where most living things would be crushed. You can't possibly know for certain there's nothing on this planet. You said yourself no one has ever been outside here. How could anyone really know anything about this world?"

The knocking moved around the shuttle as she spoke, eventually finding the side door.

"That's the entrance," Val worried. "Can it get in?"

"No, that door's on two hundred weight of hydraulics," Dee Dee reasoned. Biff approached the door.

"Biff, don't," his wife pleaded.

"Mr. Cane, better not," the Doctor agreed. Personally Viera thought the wisest thing to do was huddle in the middle of the shuttle and hope whatever it was moved on quickly. But apparently that was just her. Viera's 'survival instincts' had always tended more towards 'freeze' than fight or flight. Deer in the headlights, that was her.

Biff laid his palms against the door, needing to feel from himself that they were solid and strong. "Nah, it's cast iron, that door," he assured. To prove his point he knocked on the metal three times.

Whatever was outside knocked back, three times instead of two. Everyone jumped back.

"Three times! Did you hear that? It did it three times!" Val exclaimed, panicking.

"It answered!" Jethro added.

"It did it three times!" Val repeated.

The Doctor tried to calm everyone down, but it didn't do much good. Viera could feel the fear churning at the back of her mind, eating away at her reason and calm, picking apart her sanity. It felt like she was in the middle of a nightmare, trapped and terrified for reasons she wouldn't even be able to properly explain when it was all over. If they survived that long.

I'd like to wake up now, please, she thought, wrapping her arms around herself. She tried to calm her breathing, and she tried to find reassurance in the Doctor's attempts to reason with them, but it was so hard to focus on anything but the fear- so hard to hear anything but the shouting and the pounding of her own heart. I don't want to be here. Please. Please, just make it go away.

"Alright, alright, alright. Everyone calm down," the Doctor say.

"No, but it answered," the blond woman exclaimed, quickly becoming frantic. "It answered. Don't tell me that thing's not alive, it answered him!" She gasped as the three knocks came again.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

"I really must insist you get back to your seats!" the hostess demanded.

"No! Don't just stand there telling us the rules! You're the hostess, you're supposed to do something!"

As the volume around them grew, the Doctor gave up on quieting them with words and made his way over to the door. Viera watched with wide eyes as he knocked four times. That got the others' attention. Sudden silence swept through the shuttle.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Whatever was out there had enough intelligence to count- or at least to copy correctly. That wasn't exactly reassuring. Obviously Viera wasn't the only one who thought so because the blond started to lose it completely.

"What is it, what the hell's making that noise? She said she'd get me. Stop it, make it stop, somebody make it stop! Don't just stand there looking at me, it's not my fault, he started it with his stories…" the older woman ranted, completely frantic. Dee Dee tried to calm her down. Val, who seemed only a few steps away from a breakdown herself, tried to scold her into silence. The Doctor tried to quiet everyone to no avail. The blond couldn't seem to stop. "Why couldn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me! Just tell me what the hell it is!"

There was a loud bang on the roof. Then another. The sound followed the woman as she backed towards the cockpit. It was like watching a train wreck; Viera couldn't bring herself to do anything, say anything, even reach out a hand in comfort. She'd never quite forgive herself for that.

"It's coming for me, oh it's coming for me," the blond kept repeating, still backing away, wide-eyed stare locked on the ceiling. "It's coming for me. It's coming for me." The pounding continued and her fear just kept growing. She started screaming and the Doctor leaped towards her.

"Get out of there!" he exclaimed, reaching for her.

Then the world shook. The shuttle rocked violently and sparks sprayed from the ceiling. The lights went out, struggled on, and died again. Back and forth they were thrown, banging into each other and the seats. People screamed and yelled, but Viera couldn't do anything but pray her camera didn't hit her- or anyone else.

At last the shuttle stopped throwing them around. Viera slowly uncurled and lowered her arms from where she'd raised them to protect her head as the rest of the passengers stirred with low groans.

"Ow," she chimed in quietly. She rubbed cautiously at her stomach where she'd been thrown into one of the armrests; that was definitely going to bruise. Her limbs all seemed to be working fine despite their own bruises. Nothing seemed permanently damaged, and she was relieved to not see any signs of blood when she glanced around at the other passengers picking themselves up off the floor. The lights flickered a little and one of the video screens blinked on, showing one of those retro music videos then a young blond woman mouthing a very distinct word without sound before the screen died, leaving them with nothing but the emergency lighting.

Was she… was she saying 'Doctor'? Viera thought, staring blankly at the screen in momentary confusion. No one else seemed to have noticed, and it was hardly a priority. She pushed the incident to the back of her mind, blaming it all on the dazed feeling beginning to settle in the wake of… whatever that had been. It had felt like a collision, but they hadn't been moving. Maybe they had driven over the beginnings of a sinkhole or something, and it collapsed beneath them. Maybe…

"How are we? Everyone all right?" the Doctor asked.

"Fine," Viera said when his gaze sought her out. She counted the others in the dim light, glad to come up with the right number of people- all conscious. The blond woman, however, wasn't moving or making any noise. Could she have gotten so scared that she went catatonic? Viera wondered, biting her lip.

The others were busy checking each other for injuries, so she moved closer to the other woman who'd been traveling alone, stepping carefully over the things scattered across the shuttle floor: peanuts, her broken camera, bits of luggage, complementary slippers. Behind her the others found flashlights and started taking stock of their situation, but they shifted focus when Jethro spoke up.

"Never mind me. What about her?"

Viera was already crouching down next to the other woman. She winced a little then tilting her head away from the light as the others turned their flashlights her way.

"Ma'am?" she asked, hesitantly laying a hand on her shoulder. The blond woman didn't react. "It's all right. It's over. Are you okay?" Still nothing. Viera looked up as the Doctor stepped closer and gave a helpless shrug. Then she shifted around so he could crouch next to her, putting his hand on the blond's back without any hesitation at all.

"It's all right," the Doctor said, quiet and soothing. "We're fine. We're still alive. Look, the wall's still intact. D'you see?"

Viera glanced up to see the bent metal of the wall lit up by the others' torchlight. The sight was anything but comforting, despite the Doctor's intentions. Cold fear washed through her skin again. Something had tried to get in. Something strong. There was no more knocking, no more noise at all from outside. Had it really just given up? Was it waiting for something? She couldn't voice her concerns with the other woman still petrified beside her, but her thoughts raced along with her heart.

"We're safe," the Doctor comforted, still focused on the older woman as the others tried to contact the cockpit. Viera moved slowly, watching the woman for a flinch or any sign that she was even aware of them as she reached up with her free hand to gently grasp one of hers. She pulled at it lightly, trying to get her to stop clutching at her head. There was no resistance; the woman let Viera take her hand and hold it, though she didn't look up at all.

There was the soft woosh of a moving door and no other warning before a bright flare of light filled the shuttle as the door that should have led to the cockpit opened to empty air. People screamed and Viera and the Doctor flinched away from the light as a feeling like sunburn spread in its wake. The blond didn't move.

The hostess closed the door. The screaming stopped, but panicked shouting took its place. Viera did her best to swallow her own fears and reached for the blond woman's hand blindly, watching the rest of the cabin with worried hazel eyes.

"What happened? What was that?"

"Is it the driver? Have we lost the driver?" Biff asked after his wife.

The hostess was in shock. "The cabin's gone."

"Don't be ridiculous. It can't be gone, how can it be gone?

"Well, but you saw it!"

"There was nothing there, like it was ripped away."

As the others argued, the Doctor gently nudged Viera out of the way so that he could get to a panel on the wall. He tested its edges with his fingertips then ran some sort of humming, glow-tipped tool around the panel. Biff was the first one who noticed.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, pointing his flashlight at the Doctor.

"That's better, bit of light," the Doctor said distractedly. "Thank you. Molto bene!"

"Do you know what you're doing?" Val asked.

"The cabin's gone, you'd better leave that wall alone," Biff admonished, even as the professor protested that the cabin couldn't be gone.

"No, it's safe, any rupture would automatically seal itself," the Doctor explained as he removed the panel. "But something sliced it off." He sounded a bit stunned himself. "You're right. The cabin's gone."

"Something sliced it off?" Viera asked. She glanced at the blond woman. Still no reaction. Viera rubbed her thumbs gently over the back of the woman's cold hands feeling rather chilled herself.

"But if it gets separated…" the hostess spoke.

"It loses integrity. I'm sorry, they've been reduced to dust," the Doctor informed. The hostess gasped and Viera bit her lip. She'd never even met them. "The driver and the mechanic. But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives! We're gonna get out of here, I promise," he insisted. He sounded so certain, but there was no way he could know that. It helped Viera to hear it all the same. She almost believed him, in fact- such was the strength of his earnestness. "We're still alive, and they're going to find us."

"Doctor," Jethro spoke up, something unsettled in his tone. "Look at her." He was pointed his flashlight at the blond, who still wasn't moving.

"I think she's in shock. She's cold," Viera spoke up quietly. "Catatonic or something. I don't think she's even aware of us."

"Right, yes, sorry," the Doctor diverted his attention. "Have we got a medical kit?" He stood, studying the blond still crouched on the ground. "What's her name?"

"Silvestry," the hostess replied. "Mrs. Sky Silvestry."

"Sky? Can you hear me?" Viera watched as the Doctor crouched down again. Something about the way he looked at Sky… It was more than just concern. Suspicion maybe. Viera felt like something cold had crawled down her throat as the fear returned. She looked down at her hands clutching Sky's, but couldn't quite bring herself to let go. What if she was just imagining things? What if Sky was really just that scared? What if she needed a hand to hold?

"Are you alright? Can you move, Sky? Just look at me," the Doctor continued, gaze only briefly flickering to Viera's hands. "Maybe you should let her go a moment. Give her a bit of room," he suggested quietly, his tone never shifting. He didn't sound worried, but he was, Viera could see it in the creases around his eyes. She squeezed Sky's hands gently then set them on her knees, moving away slowly. Viera stood and stopped a few feet away, wrapping her arms around herself.

Jethro caught the suspicion too, or just had an active imagination of his own. "That noise, from outside. It stopped."

"Well thank God for that," his mother said.

"But what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?" Jethro pressed.

"Inside? Where?" Val asked. The others examined the walls with their torchlight.

Viera's breaths came faster, and she couldn't quite take her eyes off Sky even as she listened to the others. Fear was cold and frantic scratching at her insides, an infection so easily picked up from others. Something felt terribly wrong, but Viera was easily frightened in the first place; she didn't dare trust her shaky intuition when it told her things were so much worse than she knew. She didn't want to listen to those instincts. She didn't want them to be right.

Jethro was staring at Sky. "It was headed for her."

"Sky," the Doctor coaxed in gentle tones, his words and manner perhaps just a bit too careful. "It's alright, Sky. I just want you to turn around, face me."

She did. Ever so slowly, Sky turned and stared at the Doctor with wild eyes. She didn't look scared. Her expression was just… blank. Then her eyes darted around at the others and Viera jerked back further, feeling sick. There was no recognition in Sky's wide blue eyes. No anything. No hunger or anger or fear or hope. Nothing. She wasn't acting like Sky; she wasn't acting human. She didn't flinch from the light shining into her eyes; she didn't even blink.

Predator, Viera thought. Those eyes… wild and predatory- like something other than Sky is looking back at us. She stood very, very still and very quiet, some instinctual part of her absolutely terrified to draw that gaze to herself.

The Doctor leaned a bit closer and Sky's attention swung abruptly back to him. He tilted his head and she mimicked him, one way then the other. "Sky?" the Doctor tried in a quiet murmur.

"Sky?" the blond mimicked. Goosebumps prickled over Viera's skin. She talked like a parrot, an echo. Sky mimicked the intonation perfectly in her own voice but with no emotion of her own.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Are you alright?" Sky echoed.

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you hurt?"

"You don't have to talk."

"You don't have to talk," Sky mimicked. Truthfully she didn't seem capable of stopping herself. Actually, she didn't seem aware that the words meant anything at all, like they were just sounds to copy.

"I'm trying to help," the Doctor offered.

"I'm trying to help."

"My name's the Doctor."

"My name's the Doctor."

"Okay, can you stop?" Even the Doctor seemed unnerved.

"Okay, can you stop?"

"I'd like you to stop."

"I'd like you to stop."

Professor Hobbes finally stepped into the conversation. "Why's she doing that?"

Then Sky mimicked him as well. "Why's she doing that?"

"She's gone mad," Biff spoke up.

"She's gone mad."

Oh God, Viera thought, a silent plea. The fear that tightened its grip around her was so strong she couldn't even find further words for a prayer. She watched, mute and helpless, as the situation continued to deteriorate. Soon enough they were all talking and Sky mimicked every single one of them perfectly. Her gaze shifted to each of them as they spoke but nothing else in her expression changed.

"Sh, sh, sh, all of you," the Doctor finally shushed them.

"Sh, sh, sh, all of you," Sky repeated.

"My name's Jethro," the teen said, provoking an echo with great amusement.

"My name's Jethro."

"Jethro, leave it. Just shut up!" the Doctor ordered, finally showing annoyance. He crept closer to Sky, staring into her eyes.

"Jethro, leave it. Just shut up!"

"Why are you repeating?" he asked carefully. Viera could practically see him thinking through different scenarios and possibilities. There was more than just curiosity in that thoughtful look on his face, though. Perhaps they were right to be scared. Whatever had happened to Sky, whatever Sky was, something had done a lot of damage to the shuttle.

"Why are you repeating?"

"What is that, learning? Copying?"

"What is that, learning? Copying?"

Realization stole across the Doctor's face. "Absorbing?" What did that even mean?

Absorbing what? Their words? Their knowledge?

"Absorbing?"

"The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341- Wow!" the Doctor exclaimed. Sky echoed the numbers exactly and stopped when he stopped.

How is that possible? Viera wondered. There's no way to keep track of that once he's started talking; you couldn't hardly even hear the numbers when she was talking on top of him. How could she mimic that perfectly? How could she know what he was going to say without hearing it first?

The others were more vocal with their disbelief. Professor Hobbes and Dee Dee called it impossible. Val just wanted her to stop.

"She's driving me mad," Val complained.

"She's driving me mad."

"Just make her stop!"

"Just make her stop!"

They were all talking at once, but Sky didn't miss a beat. She mimicked every word, even as they talked over each other. Viera backed away, sitting in the nearest seat, trying to fight off the panic that rose with the volume of voices. Why couldn't they all just shut up?

"Stop her staring at me, shut her up," Val pleaded.

"Stop her staring at me, shut her up..."

"I'm telling you, whatever your name is..."

"I'm telling you, whatever your name is..."

"Now, just stop it, all of you," the Doctor tried to calm them down, but no one was listening.

"Now, just stop it all of you,"

"Her eyes, what's wrong with her eyes?"

"Her eyes, what's wrong with her eyes?"

"You're scaring my wife."

"You're scaring my wife."

"Mrs Silvestry..."

"Mrs Silvestry..."

They kept talking, louder and louder to be heard, with Sky matching every intonation perfectly. The Doctor looked around, trying to find a way to stop it all when his words obviously weren't working. He met Viera's eyes and took a moment to give her a reassuring smile, though it was rather grim.. Viera couldn't manage to smile back, but she had a sudden longing for an air horn. That would be enough to shut them up. Probably.

"Don't just stand there! Do something! Make her stop!"

"Don't just stand there! Do something! Make her stop!" As Sky, or whatever had Sky's body finished echoing Val's last sentence, there was a buzz of electricity and the lights came back on. For a brief, blessed moment there was silence.

The hostess breathed a sigh of relief. "That's the backup system." For a moment Viera thought Sky had stopped talking altogether, but as Viera watched, she mouthed the words. As she copied the others, Viera realized she was just talking quieter and the seconds between the original speakers and the mimicry were getting shorter.

Then Professor Hobbes started talking and it wasn't mimicry anymore. Sky was talking with him, saying the words at the exact same time. How is that possible?

"That poor woman is evidently in a state of self-induced hysteria, we should leave her alone," the professor said. As she continued speaking, Sky's voice got louder, more sure of itself.

Viera wasn't the only one still paying attention to Sky.

"Doctor…" Jethro said, staring at the blond.

"I know," the Doctor replied grimly, only briefly glancing away.

"Doctor, now step back," Professor Hobbes continued talking. "I think you should leave her…" About then he noticed Sky's voice alongside his. "Alone. What's she doing? How can she do that?"

"She's talking with you," Val said, confused. "And with me! Oh my God! Biff, what's she doing?"

"She's repeating," Jethro and Sky mused. "At exactly the same time." She spoke with him as well.

"That's impossible," Dee Dee said along with Sky.

Not entirely impossible, evidently, Viera thought, the fear making her words snappish and angry, even if she kept them to herself. The anger was easier to bear than the panic, and she was tempted to cling to it in desperation.

"There's not even a delay," the professor marveled, Sky's voice alongside.

"Oh man, that is weird," said Jethro and Sky.

"I think you should all be very, very quiet," the Doctor said with Sky. "Have you got that?" He was watching her with undisguised wariness now. There was obviously none of the frightened woman left there in need of gentle voices- or if there was, she was buried too deeply to easily reach.

Possession? Viera wondered, her thoughts flickering back to every horror story, every scary movie that had ever haunted her nightmares. Not one of them compared to actually living such a story. She wanted it to stop. More than anything, she wanted to wake up and be safe at home and have it all have been nothing but a bad dream.

Of course, she wasn't the only one panicking, though she seemed to be the only one doing it quietly. Almost no one was listening to the Doctor. Perhaps the echoing of Sky's voice leeched his words of authority, or perhaps the fear just overwhelmed everything else. Viera was still listening, but then her instincts were firmly rooted in the inclination to hide and wait it out. If he had been asking her to do something against her nature, she might have been more reluctant. Maybe. There was something about the Doctor… She couldn't put words to it, but she had a hard time imagining ignoring him altogether even then.

"How's she doing it?" Val had to ask, looking more frantic when Sky said the words at the same time.

"Mrs. Cane, please, be quiet," the Doctor and Sky demanded.

"But how can she do that?" Sky and Val asked. "She's got my voice! She's got my words!"

"Sweetheart, be quiet just… hush now. Hush." Biff tried to comfort his wife but got sidetracked when Sky spoke with him as well. "She's doing it to me!"

"Just stop it," the Doctor snapped. "All of you. Stop it. Please." He moved closer and crouched down to look into Sky's eyes. Viera had the sudden, violent urge to snatch him back away from the danger.

"Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs. Silvestry?" The Doctor stopped a moment. It was odd watching them talk. Sky copied his intonation but not his expressions, and the Doctor had a very expressive face. It shifted as he spoke, eyebrows raising, eyes searching. Sky remained blank, her only movement that of her mouth. "You know exactly what I'm going to say, how are you doing that?" he asked. For once, the other passengers remained silent, just watching. "Roast beef!" the Doctor spat out, testing Sky. "Bananas! The Medusa Cascade. Bang! Rose Tyler Martha Jones Donna Noble TARDIS! Shamble bobble dibble dooble. Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes I am, thank you. A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O…" He spoke faster, randomly. Sky said every word- never faltered, never hesitated. The Doctor stood.

"First she repeats. Then she catches up. What's the next stage?" he wondered aloud.

"Next stage of what?" Dee Dee and Sky asked.

"But that's not her, is it?" Jethro said with Sky. "That's not Mrs. Silvestry anymore."

"I don't think so, no," the Doctor said. At that confirmation Val started crying. The echo of it sent shivers down Viera's spine.

"Please don't do that," Viera begged, feeling queasy with fear as Sky spoke with her then continued echoing the crying.

"It's all right. Stay calm," the Doctor ordered. Sky even took breaths at the same moments as he did. "I think the more we talk, the more she learns. Now I'm all for education, but in this case… maybe not. Let's just… move back." He stood and started herding everyone to the back of the shuttle. Viera stayed where she was, too scared to move, to take her eyes off the blond. Sky wasn't making any attempt to follow him. She'd still yet to move anything except her head and mouth since Viera had taken her hands from her head.

"Come on, Viera," the Doctor urged gently. With a deep breath, she finally tore her gaze from Sky's cold blue eyes to his kind brown ones. "That's it. Come on. Come with me."

Her instincts protested, but Viera made herself move before they could get a tighter grip on her. She slipped past the Doctor to join the others in the back of the shuttle, For one brief moment his hand rested on her back as he ushered her by. She missed the slight warmth when it was gone.

"Everyone, get back, all of you. As far as you can," the Doctor said. The group moved into the galley. It was too crowded; Viera pressed herself into the corner on the other side of the glass wall. It was closer to Sky, and part of felt it was foolish even if that glass wall wasn't likely to offer much protection, but she would have felt suffocated stuffed into the galley with all the rest of them. The air around them practically churned with noise and panic, and she just couldn't do it.

"Doctor, make her stop," Val pleaded.

"Val, come on, come to the back, stop looking at her," the Doctor said. "Come on, Jethro, you too. Everyone, come on... 50 minutes. That's all we need. 50 minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong, look at her, all she's got is our voices."

"I can't look at her," Val whimpered. That was ironic; Viera's gaze kept returning to Sky without her bidding. "It's those eyes."

"'We must not look at goblin men," Dee Dee said with the awful echo of Sky's voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Biff asked.

"It's a poem," the Doctor said. "Christina Rosetti."

"'We must not look at goblin men,'" Dee Dee recited compulsively. "'We must not buy their fruits. Who knows upon what soil they fed. Their hungry, thirsty roots?'"

"Actually," the Doctor said, eyeing Viera who had gone pale. "I don't think that's helping."

Jethro and the professor began arguing about whether Sky was something unearthly or simply a very sick woman. Professor Hobbes was still adamant that nothing could possibly live on Midnight. Viera just wanted to know why it was so utterly impossible for them both to shut up.

"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe," the Doctor interrupted. "But perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, mmm? Now trust me, I've got previous…" he glanced back at Sky and switched his train of thought. "I think there might well be some... consciousness inside Mrs Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her."

"Well, you can help her, I'm not going near," Biff dismissed.

"No, I've got to stay back. If she's copying us, maybe the final stage is becoming us. I don't want her becoming me, or things could get a lot worse."

It sounded arrogant- it was arrogant. Viera was inclined to believe him, all the same. That air of experience around him… well, there was a reason they had all been more or less following his lead. If they lost him to that- whatever it was- the whole lot of them were likely to fall to panic and desperation. He was the only one who had stayed calm, the only one to offer reason amidst the worst of the chaos.

"Oh, like you're so special," Val scoffed.

"As it happens, yes I am," the Doctor said plainly. "So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to the hospital."

There was moment of silence, a moment where everyone weighed his words and Viera wondered if it could really be that simple. Then everything got much, much worse.

"We should throw her out." The hostess' quiet hiss yanked Viera's attention from Sky to her, wide-eyed.

"I beg your pardon," Professor Hobbes exclaimed, just as shocked.

"Can we do that?" Val asked. Fear had a stronger grip on her; it made her words sharp and her eyes wild.

"Don't be ridiculous," the Doctor scoffed, clearly appalled by the suggestion.

Viera knew it was wrong, that they couldn't, that it was murder, but there was a still a part of her… She was so scared. They were trapped with that thing and she so desperately wanted free, wanted out that she understood how a fox might chew off its own foot to get out of a trap. The fear clawed at her mind and closed up her throat. She just wanted it to stop, and for a moment- for just a moment- it was so terribly tempting to agree with the hostess.

But the moment passed as the image of them actually doing such a thing flickered across her mind's eye. Murder. We're talking about murder like it's the easy way out- like it's a viable choice. Murder. What happened to all my belief in mercy? Of faith and hope? How could I even consider… She felt sick with herself, with all of them.

"That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver and the mechanic, and I don't think she's finished yet," the hostess spat.

"She can't even move!" the Doctor protested. Viera glanced at Sky, but she didn't look outraged or scared. She didn't look as though she felt anything at all. She kept saying the words with them perfectly, but Viera wondered if she understood any of them.

"Look at her, look at her eyes! She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next."

"She's still doing it," Biff said. He walked closer to Sky, shoving past the Doctor who was watching them all with horror in his eyes. "Just stop it! Stop talking! Stop it!" Biff yelled.

Viera flinched and Val protested. "Biff, don't, sweetheart," she pleaded with her husband.

"But she won't stop!" Biff returned to the group. "We can't throw her out though. We can't even open the doors," he said, as though that was the only reason they couldn't kill Sky.

"No one is getting thrown out," the Doctor said coldly. He squared off with Biff, and for a moment the whole room stopped. In the end it was Biff who finally backed off. Viera slowly let out the breath she'd been holding, but then Dee Dee fractured the peace.

"Yes, we can," Dee Dee said, turning to the hostess. "Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out, you had a couple of seconds, 'cause it takes the pressure-wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."

"Thanks, Dee Dee, just what we needed," the Doctor said sarcastically. Val, Dee Dee and the hostess ignored him completely and continued to iron out the logistics of murdering Sky and whatever was inside of her.

They really mean to do it, Viera thought numbly as she listened. They really mean to kill her. I don't- What do I do? I don't want to do this. I don't want to be here.

"Now listen, all of you," the Doctor demanded their attention. "For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, then what's it found? This little bunch of humans, what d'you amount to? A murder? Cos this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?" For a minute, everyone was quiet, studying each other. The words were right, inspiring even, but it was so very hard to absorb anything but Sky's echoing voice and the constant churning of fear inside.

"I'd do it," the hostess broke the silence. Biff and Val joined in.

"I think we should," even Dee Dee was in agreement. The Doctor tried to argue with her, but the mousy young woman was adamant. "I want to go home. I'm sorry. I want to be safe," Dee Dee said.

"You'll be safe," the Doctor said desperately. "Any minute now. The rescue truck is on its way."

"But what happens then, Doctor? If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilization, what if it spreads?" the hostess asked.

"No," the Doctor said. "When we get back to the base, I'll be there to contain it."

"You haven't done much so far!" Val said.

Her husband chimed in instantly. "You're just standing in the back with the rest of us!"

"She's dangerous," the hostess said. "It's my job to see this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her."

It surprised Viera that Professor Hobbes was the voice of reason. "Now hang on, I think perhaps we're all going a little bit too far."

"At last!" the Doctor exclaimed in relief. He reached out to pat the professor on the shoulder. "Thank you."

"Two people are dead!" the hostess argued.

"Don't make it a third! Viera? Jethro? What d'you say?" the Doctor looked at them each in turn.

"We can't," Viera said. Relief washed through her at the chance to speak, to protest, even as her stomach twisted at suddenly being the center of attention. "Sky might still be in there. And even that… whatever it is inside her, it hasn't hurt anyone in here. I'm sorry about the pilot and the mechanic. I am." she said, looking at the hostess. "But maybe it didn't understand that they couldn't survive in the light like it did. Maybe it was just desperate to get in. She hasn't even moved."

"I'm not killing anyone," Jethro said when their attention turned to him.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

"What does she know? And he's just a boy!" Val protested.

"What, so I don't get a vote?" Jethro asked.

"There isn't a vote. It's not happening! Ever!" the Doctor snapped. His voice sounded dangerous even with Sky's echo behind it. It was enough to focus everyone's attention on him at least. "If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first."

For a moment, Viera thought it had worked. Then the hostess spoke again.

"Okay."

"Fine by me," Biff agreed.

This is very, very, very bad. What if they actually try to chuck him out? The fear was getting stronger. It was so hard to think with all that adrenaline clamoring for reaction. All it would take was a couple minutes of survival instinct and terror overriding moral inhibitions and the whole passenger list was capable of murder. God, stop this. Help us. This can't be happening. Please.

"Oh, now you're just being stupid," the Doctor said in a scolding tone that just made most of them bristle. "Just think about it! Could you really actually take hold of someone and throw them out of that door?"

"Calling me a coward?" Biff challenged, getting in his face.

"How is that cowardice?" Viera demanded, not that anyone was listening.

"Who put you in charge, anyway?" Val asked, backing up her husband.

Even the professor chimed in. "I'm sorry, but… you're a doctor of what, exactly?"

"He wasn't even booked in," the hostess said. "Rest of you, tickets in advance. He just turned up out of the blue."

Viera could do little but watch as the group's suspicions grew more and more vicious. She wanted to defend him, but she didn't know how. She didn't know him. They'd had one conversation in which she'd done almost all of the talking.

"Where from?" Val asked.

"I'm just… traveling," said the Doctor. He looked startled, almost overwhelmed by the speed with which they had turned on him. He faltered and stumbled half a step back under the barrage of accusations. "I'm a traveler, that's all."

"Like an immigrant?" Val asked.

"Who were you talking to?" the hostess asked, distrust dripping from her words. "Before you got on board, you were talking to someone. Who was that?"

"Just Donna. Just my friend."

"And what were you saying to her?" Biff asked.

"He hasn't even told us his name," Val said.

Even Jethro was watching the Doctor warily by then. "Thing is, Doctor, you've been loving this."

"Oh Jethro," the Doctor said. He looked crushed. "Not you too."

"No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it," Jethro said.

"It has to be said, you do seem to have a certain…glee," the professor chimed in.

Even Viera had to agree that was true. But that didn't mean that the Doctor hadn't been sympathetic or concerned for the rest of them. It didn't make him an enemy. Their fear hadn't been what made him excited and curious. For all the mysteries he carried, Viera was certain that he'd been honestly trying to help.

…Hadn't he?

"All right, I'm interested, yes," the Doctor said. "I can't help it, 'cause whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating!"

Viera listened with half an ear to the growing suspicions of the others, glancing from them to the Doctor and back to Sky. They were all so focused on the Doctor, that no one had been paying any attention to woman still crouched on the floor at the front of the shuttle- still repeating, still staring at them with those terrible empty eyes. Fear and doubt nibbled away at Viera's almost irrational attachment to the Doctor. What if the others were right to be suspicious? She didn't know him, not really. What if she was only so sure of him because she wanted him to be good? Ms. Tarrio aside, he was really the only person she'd had a true conversation with since she'd lost her time. He'd been friendly and kind. Viera knew she had a tendency to lean too heavily on first impressions, but she'd liked him immediately.

Even that was a bit odd, though. Usually she was wary of people who were too charming, too friendly. She'd taken the Doctor's kindness at face value, but what if she'd been wrong? What if he had been playing some sort of game, trying to avoid suspicion? What if he did have something to do with the attack and the creature in Sky?

If all their lives were on the line, would she rather risk trusting the Doctor and being wrong or not trusting him and being wrong?

"BECAUSE I'M CLEVER!"the Doctor yelled, overwhelmed by the accusations and questioning. It snapped Viera out of her thoughts. They all stared at him, silent for a moment. Viera wondered exactly what she'd missed.

"I see. Well. That makes things clear," the professor said, obviously offended.

Biff was more aggressive. "And what are we, then? Idiots?"

Maybe, Viera thought. Or at least irrational. It wasn't a thought she dared to voice with all the tension in the air and her fellow passengers ready to lash out at any provocation. Provocation they now had.

"That's not what I meant," the Doctor said, trying to backtrack – suddenly very aware of the danger.

"If you're clever then what are we?" Dee Dee asked.

"You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in," Val said.

"Even if he goes, he's practically volunteered," added the hostess.

No. Oh no. This can't be happening, Viera thought. She needed to say something, do something, but panic stole her breath and stilled her tongue. Stop. Stop it. We can't do this.

"Oh come on, just listen to yourselves, please!" the Doctor entreated.

Biff jumped on the idea. "What d'you mean? We throw him out as well?"

The Doctor looked as though someone had struck him. There was a pause. "If we have to," the hostess said.

"Just like that?" Viera demanded. The words sounded far too loud in her ears, but for a moment she had their attention. She lifted her chin and fought the urge to back down. "You're talking about murder. Not self-defense. Murder. Two murders. I want- I want this to be over too, but you can't seriously mean to kill them." The appeal wasn't enough; she could read it on their faces. Biff looked defiant and the hostess and the others wouldn't look at her at all. They aren't going to listen to me either.

"Look, just..." the Doctor struggled to find the right words. She could see his frustration give way to fear. He wasn't a leader in their eyes any longer. He wasn't their protector or guide or even one of them; he was their enemy. Maybe even their victim. And he was very badly outnumbered. "Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just…" He backed up another half a step, hands raised in a gesture of surrender. His breaths came a little too fast, and though they were the ones backed into the galley, he was the one who was beginning to look cornered. "I know, you're scared, and so am I, look at me, I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and think."

"Perhaps you could tell us your name," Professor Hobbes said, offering him a way out. A chance. Or perhaps just enough rope to hang himself with.

"What does it matter?" the Doctor asked.

Wrong answer, Viera thought, cringing internally.

"Then tell us," the hostess demanded.

The Doctor took a breath. It lasted a moment too long, as though he was bracing himself before he answered, and even Viera guessed that it was going to be a lie before he said it. "John Smith."

"Your real name," the professor said.

"He's lying, look at his face," Biff added.

"His eyes are the same as hers!" Val said.

"That's not true," Viera said. That didn't even make sense; there was nothing emotionless or predatory about his eyes. "Just stop and think a minute-"

Everyone was talking all at once again. If anyone heard her objections over all the accusations, they paid her no mind. Their voices drowned her out. She didn't know what to do.

"Now listen to me. Listen to me right now!" the Doctor shouted as his fear gave way to desperation. The echo of her voice tied to his undermined every word, stealing any power or influence they might have had. "Because you need me, all of you, if we're gonna get out of this, then you need me."

"So you keep saying!" Professor Hobbes replied scornfully. "You've been repeating yourself more than her."

"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor, he's the expert!" Val said.

He's also the one who said life on Midnight was impossible, Viera thought.

In the midst of all the arguments, Jethro tried to get the group's attention to little avail. Finally he raised his voice over all the others.

"Look at her!" he snapped, staring at Sky. They all turned at that, and Viera wondered how they'd let themselves get so distracted that they had all but forgotten the woman they had seen as such a threat.

"She's stopped," Dee Dee said wonderingly. She had, at that. Sky was silent though she hadn't quit watching them. She still hadn't moved from her place at the front of the shuttle.

"When did she-?" the Doctor stopped as Sky spoke with him. "No, she hasn't, she's still doing it."

"She looks the same to me-"Val started. Sky was silent again. "No, she's stopped! Look, I'm talking and she's not!"

It couldn't be that easy though, could it? Viera thought. I want it to be over, but look at her eyes.

Biff and the hostess spoke as well, with no reaction from the blond, but when the Doctor spoke…

"Sky? What are you doing?" he asked carefully. Sky said the words in time with him. When the other passengers exclaimed Sky didn't mimic any of them. "Why me? Why are you doing this?"

"She won't leave him alone!" Dee Dee said.

"You see?!" Val demanded. "I said so, she's with him."

"They're together!" Biff said.

"That doesn't make any sense," Viera snapped, earning herself glares from the couple. "Maybe she has only singled him out because you lot are so eager to turn on him."

Professor Hobbes was still offended by his earlier outburst, still frightened. "How do you explain it, Doctor. If you're so clever?"

"I don't know!" the Doctor said. "Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it!" he demanded with what sounded to Viera like carefully controlled fear. He kept stepping closer to Sky.

"Doctor…" Viera cautioned as he crouched down next to Sky. This is a bad idea. This is a very bad idea. I really think we should all just shut up, stay quiet, and stay away. The Doctor gave her a brief glance, but ignored the warning. Viera bit her lip, staying back by the glass of the galley.

"Mrs Silvestry, I'm trying to understand. You've captured my speech, what for? What d'you need?" the Doctor asked. "You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room. Why? 'Cause I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes… They're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So. What d'you think?" the Doctor asked, Sky speaking with him all the way.

Then just milliseconds before the Doctor spoke the words himself, Sky spoke. "Do we have a deal?"

"Do we have a deal?"

It felt like someone had poured ice water into Viera's veins as dread washed through her. The Doctor was suddenly the one echoing Sky. Realization spread across the group, disbelief and astonishment.

"Oh, look at that," Sky spoke, the Doctor's echo further behind her. "I'm ahead of you." She sounded… almost smug, while the Doctor's usually enthusiastic voice flattened into something almost monotone despite his copying her intonation. Viera finally left her post at the back of the shuttle to slip past the others and approach the two crouched on the floor. It was stupid, probably. It felt stupid, but she couldn't just leave him there even if getting closer to Sky- or whatever it was- made her skin crawl.

"Doctor?" Viera asked cautiously. He didn't so much as glance at her. His gaze seemed locked on Sky, but rather than the blank face she'd had when mimicking, Viera could see horror in his. Fear formed a lump in her throat. "Doctor, I think you should come away from there." She reminded herself that nothing had infected her when she'd touched Sky, and she wrapped a hand around the Doctor's nearest arm. "Can you come away from there?" she asked, tugging. He didn't budge. He started shaking though. It was slight, nothing Viera would have noticed if she hadn't been touching him. Maybe he was fighting it, whatever was holding him captive. Or maybe he was just that scared.

"I think it's moved," Sky said, the same words drawn from the Doctor's tongue in a belated echo. "I think it's letting me go."

The other passengers marveled and speculated. Viera couldn't take her eyes off the look on the Doctor's face. She couldn't move him on her own, so she crouched next to him and took one of his hands. His skin was cold beneath hers.

"Mrs. Silvestry? Is that you?" Professor Hobbes asked. Viera watched the blond warily as her expression changed for the first time since the attack.

"Yes, yes, it's me," Sky said. She didn't sound scared or desperate the way Viera thought she should, all things considered. "I'm coming back, listen. It's me!" Sky could move, hands and head and expression. Whatever held her still was loosening, but now the Doctor couldn't move.

"Like it's passed into the Doctor," Jethro finished Viera's thoughts. "It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him."

That didn't mean the blond was really Sky. There was still something… predatory there, Viera was sure of it. There was still something off about that woman.

"No, that's not what happened," Dee Dee protested, studying Sky.

"But look at her!" Val exclaimed.

"Look at me. I can move. I can feel again. I'm coming back to life," Sky said. The Doctor's echo seemed even further behind her than before. His words were stiff, reluctant. Viera tightened her grip on his hand. "And look at him. He can't move."

"She's still not acting like herself," Viera spoke up, voice shaking. She turned to Sky. "How do we know that you're actually Sky?"

"She's probably still in shock!" Val defended Sky, as though ten minutes ago she hadn't been contemplating chucking her out of the shuttle and into the sun. "Poor thing's been through something awful."

"Help me," Sky said, only briefly narrowing her eyes at Viera as the Doctor echoed every word. She turned her gaze to the others. "Professor, get me away from him. Please."

"Please." The echoing plea dragged from the Doctor's lips sounded sincere, more scared than Sky's words had been. Viera squeezed his hands to show that she was listening, but she didn't know how to undo what had been done to him.

Professor Hobbes came forward, skirting nervously around the Doctor. "This isn't right," Viera protested, firmly in the way. He'd have to crawl over her. "Can't anyone see she's still acting strange? Maybe it's got both of them."

"Out of the way, girl," the professor demanded, pushing at Viera's back with the side of one leg. She didn't move until he shoved her over. Viera caught herself with herself on her right hand, ending up in front of the Doctor more than beside him. "She needs our help," Professor Hobbes insisted defensively.

"Fifteen minutes ago you were all talking about the best way to kill her," Viera reminded him sharply. She moved further out of the way as Sky took the professor's hand and followed him. Viera was not comfortable with touching her. "She's not even upset about that. Shouldn't she be angry? Wouldn't you be angry? Look at her eyes," she pleaded. "I don't think that's Sky."

She was ignored as the professor took Sky back to the others. It was the Doctor they were all afraid of presently.

"Oh, thank you," Sky said. The words were reluctant, forced as they left the Doctor's lips.

"Are you fighting it?" Viera murmured, only listening to the others with half an ear. "Are you still in there? Aware of this?" She looked into the Doctor's eyes, searching. He looked scared to her, but he was still frozen except for his gaze. With Sky out of his sight line, his eyes fixed on Viera.

"It was so cold. I couldn't breathe," the Doctor repeated Sky's words. Even if that wasn't Sky, Viera couldn't help wondering whether it was speaking truth about how it felt to be in that creature's grip- whether that was what the Doctor was feeling right then.

"If you can hear me in there, we're going to figure this out. We'll find a way to get you free," Viera promised quietly, taking up his other hand. She knew she might be lying, of course. She had no idea if any of them were going to get back alive, let alone whether they could reverse whatever had been done to the Doctor. But she wanted to believe they could and, more than that, she wanted the Doctor to believe they could. He'd comforted her hours ago; it was only fair she try to return the favor.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said, still echoing Sky. "I must've scared you so much." It was what the others wanted to hear, but it still didn't seem right to Viera. Sky, the Sky they'd met earlier… shouldn't she be panicked? Frantic? Even furious that they'd threatened to kill her?

At least she wasn't the only one with doubts. "I wouldn't touch her," Dee Dee

cautioned as Val hugged Sky.

"But it's gone, she's clean, it passed into him," Biff said. Viera was fairly sure he just didn't like the Doctor.

"That's not what happened," Dee Dee said.

"Thank you for your opinion, Dee, but clearly, Mrs Silvestry has been released," the professor said, once again sure that he knew and understood everything in his tiny little world.

"No," Dee Dee tried again.

"You can't know that. Maybe it's just changed tactics," Viera said.

"Just leave her alone! She's safe, isn't she?" Val demanded, so desperate for things to be all right again that nothing mattered more. "Jethro? It's let her go, hasn't it?"

"I… I don't know," Jethro said. He looked from his parents to Dee Dee to Viera and the Doctor's tense back. "I thought so but... Professor?" he asked, redirecting the responsibility before he could be pressed into a clearer answer.

"I'd say, from observation- the Doctor can't move, and when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so..."

"Well, there we are then! Now the only problem we've got is this Doctor," Biff said. Somehow Viera didn't think he meant to solve that problem by helping.

"It's inside his head," Sky said, the Doctor echoing.

Oh hell, here we go, Viera thought as the others' attention returned to them.

"It killed the driver," Sky continued, still far too calm for the words she was saying. "And the mechanic. And now it wants us."

"I said so!" Val exclaimed.

"He's waited so long. In the dark. And the cold. And the diamonds," Sky kept talking, forcing the Doctor to say the words spelling out his own doom as well. For once, Viera was pretty sure Sky was telling the truth about whatever had infected her. "Until you came. Bodies so hot. With blood. And pain."

Val was growing frantic again. "Stop! Oh my God, make him stop. Someone make him stop!"

"But she's saying it!" Dee Dee protested, only to be told to shut up. "But it's not him, it's her. He's just repeating!"

Everyone was talking at once again. The conversation descended into accusations and arguments, and it was terrifying. She could see where it was leading. Viera couldn't imagine how much worse it had to be for the Doctor, unable to defend himself, helpless at the mercy of the people so eager to be rid of the threat. Dee Dee was defending the Doctor, and the hostess, but the others were louder. Viera couldn't think of anything to say that might stop them. They were beyond reasoning, too busy shouting to listen. There was just too much fear, too much noise.

Then they turned on Dee Dee, unable to handle the voice of reason when all they wanted to do was react. "I think you should be quiet, Dee," the professor said.

"Well, I'm only saying..."

"And that's an order! You're making a fool of yourself! Pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics, when I can tell you, you are nothing more than average, at best! Now shut up!" Viera flinched, watching with wide eyes. A smug little smile crossed Sky's face and any doubts she might have had about the blond really being Sky were washed away.

"That's how he does it," Sky said, the Doctor speaking after her. Truth again, or mostly, which was the most dangerous sort of lie. "He makes you fight. Creeps into your head. And whispers. Listen. Just listen. That's him. Inside."

They panicked. Raged. "Throw him out!" Biff ordered.

"Get him out of my head!"

"Yeah, we should throw him out!"

"Stop it!" Viera finally yelled, desperate. She only had their attention for a moment; she did the best she could with that. "It's not the Doctor, it's Sky! It's still in Sky!"

"Sky's the victim here!" Val said.

"Look at her! She's enjoying this! The fighting, the fear, driving you to murder. Is this really who you are? Is this who you want to be?" Viera demanded.

They were only quiet briefly before Biff shook his head. "We have to get rid of him. Then this will all be over."

"Well don't just talk about it!" Val scolded. "Just… You're useless! Do something!"

"I will! You watch me! I'm gonna throw him out!"

"You can't," Viera said. "Don't you dare! Just stop a minute and think! Look at her!"

"Yes!" Sky exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at Viera. "Throw him out! Get rid of him!"

The Doctor was forced to speak the words himself, the words dragged from his mouth though she could see him struggle against them. He couldn't move, couldn't talk, couldn't even stop speaking his own death sentence. He was helpless, terrified, and it made Viera sick with fear not knowing if she could keep her promise.

"Now!" Sky ordered.

Biff took the Doctor under the arms and began to drag him towards the door.

"Stop!" Viera pleaded, pulling at his hands. He was stronger than her, but he also had the Doctor's dead weight to contend with.

"Don't!" Dee Dee protested.

"It'll be you next!" Val snapped. Viera heard the hostess object as well and the married couple shouted her down. Biff demanded help from the professor, who hesitated.

"What sort of a man are you? Come on!" Biff ordered. Viera dug her fingernails into his hands as deeply as she could. It pulled a yelp from him, and he dropped the Doctor momentarily. "Somebody get her away from me!"

Val grabbed at Viera while Biff picked up the Doctor again. Viera squirmed desperately, dropping her weight to the floor and pulling at the Val's hands. It only took her a moment to get away, then she was clawing at Biff once more.

"This is murder, do you understand that?! You'll be a murderer!" Viera yelled. All that fear, it ate away the layers of reason and caution and higher thought until there was only the desperation and the fight. She couldn't get Biff's hands loose so she went for his hair, doing her best to pull it out in handfuls.

"Enough!" Biff shouted, dropping the Doctor. He swung hard and backhanded Viera, throwing her aside. She found herself sprawled in the aisle with an aching cheek and a dazed mind. Viera thought she heard people protesting, but she couldn't make sense of it amidst all the other yelling. Doctor, she finally shook her thoughts loose and scrambled to her feet. The professor was helping Biff pick up the Doctor as Sky forced him to keep speaking those awful words.

"Cast him out! Into the sun! And the night! Do it!" Sky exclaimed, cheered on by Val. She was clearly enjoying it, but Viera didn't bother pointing that out to the others. She had to stop Biff and words didn't work on him.

So Viera climbed onto one of the seats and used the extra height to jump onto Biff's back. She curled her arms around his neck and squeezed as tightly as she could. He choked, more in surprise than anything, and reached back to pull her off. He was the one who got a hold of her hair that time, and he yanked on it hard. The others' were yelling but Viera was too preoccupied to make out the words. Biff pulled hard on her hair again. Half wild with desperation she bit his ear and tasted blood. That made him yell. People were trying to pull her off them, but all that mattered was that as long as he was fighting her, the Doctor was lying on the floor instead of being pulled out the door. The professor didn't have the guts to drag him out by himself. She was fairly certain. Viera glanced up, wincing, to make sure.

Jethro was helping to professor.

"Do it now!" Sky urged them on, building on the fear and rage infecting their minds. "Faster! That's the way! You can do it!"

"Stop it!" Viera shouted, shrieking and struggling like something feral as Biff and Val finally pulled her off. She managed to hit and kick them a few times, but she couldn't get free. "Leave him alone! He's not the monster here, you are! Murderers!"

"Molto bene!" Sky praised.

"Get him out!" shouted Val.

"Allons-y!" said Sky, blithely using the Doctor's words. "The starlight waits! The emptiness! The Midnight sky!"

"That's his voice," the hostess murmured, realization stealing across her face. Finally, finally she noticed the smug, happy grin on Sky's face. "She's taken his voice!" But no one was listening. They were all too far gone, half-mad with fear.

In a desperate move, the hostess grabbed Sky and pushed the button next to the door. Blinding light filled the shuttle, stopping the fight as everyone screamed and covered their eyes. The hostess stood in the doorway, still holding onto Sky.

"One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six," she counted down to the pressure wall collapsing. Then the hostess and Sky were sucked outside and the door slid shut behind them.

All at once it was over; the noise and the unreasoning fear and the chaos was just gone, drawn out of the door like poison from a the stunned silence that followed, Viera and the Doctor were released, the latter of which gasped for air as he fell to the ground. He reached out blindly and Viera crawled over to him, taking his outstretched hand as he spoke under his own power.

"It's gone, it's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone," he repeated, rolling onto his back as he desperately tried to reassure himself. "It's gone. It's gone. It's gone, it's gone, it's gone." His grip on Viera's hand was almost painful, but she didn't care. She held tight, covering their joined hands with her free one as his breathing slowly steadied. Viera didn't look around the room; she didn't want to see their faces. She could feel the terror and desperation fading in the back of her own mind and prayed it was fading in theirs as well. She wanted them to understand and regret what they'd nearly done, but she didn't want to watch it happen.

Minutes ticked by without a word from anyone else. Eventually the Doctor sat up. He moved slowly, stiffly, like he had no strength left. Like it hurt. He used one of the armrests to help pull himself up, leaning on Viera until he could sit up and rest against the side of the seat. Silently she stuck to his side, only releasing his hand when he let go to wrap his arm around her shoulders. She didn't mind that either. She didn't care that he was nearly a stranger. Viera put her arms around him as he pulled her close, needing the comfort and warmth as much as he did, or nearly. He was still catching his breath.

"I said it was her," Val spoke up. Viera glanced up just long enough to see her turn away, looking lost, confused, and horrified. It made the whole mess more real somehow, and Viera huddled closer to the Doctor, closing her eyes against harsh reality of what had almost been.

They spent the next half hour in silence. Viera stayed at the Doctor's side, arm curled loosely around his waist, listening to the beat of his heart in her ear as it slowly calmed. If she sometimes thought she heard an echo of his heartbeat, she dismissed it as an illusion caused by the lingering effects of her own panic. He was lost in his own thoughts, gaze distant. Every once in a while his arm tightened and his heart sped up, and Viera wondered if he was reliving the past hour. She was trying her best not to think about anything but the fact that it was over, that the threat was gone.

Except it wasn't entirely because the people who had threatened murder were still there with them.

"Repeat, Crusader 50, rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes, door-seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding, repeat, prepare for boarding," the shuttle's intercom broke the silence.

"The hostess," the Doctor finally spoke. "What was her name?"

There was a long gap of silence as the passengers glanced at each other, unable to answer. "I don't know," the professor admitted finally.

She'd saved the Doctor's life, all their lives probably, and none of them had ever thought to ask her name.

They were saved from further contemplation as the rescue team arrived. Suddenly the air was filled with noise again, the rescue team asking questions no one really wanted to answer.

"What happened to you?" one of the rescuers asked.

"There were eight passengers on the boarding list," another said. "And what happened to the crew members?"

"The cockpit got torn off," Biff said when no one else would speak.

"That's impossible," the first man objected. Viera stifled a slightly hysterical laugh. It wasn't looking good for their story if people thought that was the impossible part.

"Can we please just get out of here?" Val begged tearfully.

"I- Yes, of course," a third rescuer said apologetically, motioning people to the door. "We will have to take statements on the way back though."

Even in the rescue vehicle the other passengers avoided the Doctor and Viera as best they could. That was fine with Viera; she would really rather never see any of them again. She sat close enough to the Doctor that their shoulders were touching. A few minutes went by before she felt his hand curl around hers. Viera glanced up and offered a weak smile. He didn't return it, but the grim expression on his face lightened a little, and that was enough.

One of the rescuers took the time to check people for injuries while another coaxed the story out Professor Hobbes, aided occasionally by Biff and Val when the rescuer expressed disbelief. They didn't falter until they got to the end. They hesitated then skipped over the part where they'd tried to kill the Doctor to explain that it had been the hostess who saved them. Neither the Doctor nor Viera spoke up to fill in the missing part of the story.

"Are you injured?" the rescuer with dark hair asked, crouching in front of Viera. She shook her head.

"Just a bit bruised," she said quietly, reluctant to hear her own voice after everything. "I got thrown into one of the armrests when the shuttle was attacked." She touched fingers to the sore spot beneath her ribs.

"Mind if I take a look? If anything's injured internally you'll need the medic unit ASAP." Viera shrugged her acceptance, lifting the hem of her shirt away from her stomach.

"It's sore, but it doesn't feel tight or anything," she said as he pressed around the injury with careful fingers. She tried to ignore the Doctor's gaze following his every move.

"Did you bite your tongue then?" the rescuer asked. She must have looked confused because he clarified. "You've got a bit of blood there," he explained, motioning to the side of his mouth.

Viera felt heat seep into her cheeks; she didn't really want to explain that. "It's not mine," was all she said, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. She noticed then that she had blood under her fingernails as well. Viera curled her hand into a loose fist, hiding her fingernails against the seat. She didn't want more questions, though the rescuer had probably already seen. He was kind enough not to mention it if he had. He gave her a searching look then moved on.

"You alright, sir?" he asked the Doctor.

"Fine, thanks," the Doctor answered immediately. The rescuer nodded and moved on to Biff, who was still sporting scratched hands and a torn ear. Viera scrubbed at her mouth again.

"It's gone," the Doctor said. Viera glanced over to find him studying her. "Are those bite marks on Mr. Cane's ear?" he asked. He'd been a bit too… preoccupied to notice the details in the chaos of the shuttle at that point.

Viera blushed harder. She couldn't tell whether the Doctor was amused or appalled by the idea. "Yeah," she admitted. It was definitely amusement that flickered through his eyes then, though it never quite evolved into a smile.

"And this?" the Doctor asked, holding up their joined hands to show the blood beneath her nails. She was going to have to scrub those hands when they got back to the spa.

"Mr. Cane as well," Viera replied.

"And this?" he asked more quietly, something a little bit dangerous creeping into his voice. He cupped her face long enough to run his thumb beneath the bruise on her cheek. The light touch made her shiver though his hands were warm.

"That too." Even after everything they'd done to him, everything they'd tried to do, that bruise still seemed to spark more anger in him than anything that had been done to him. It was subdued, carefully controlled, but Viera could see it in his eyes, the set of his mouth.

"I'm fine," Viera assured. I'm not the one they were dragging out into the sun. The Doctor studied her a moment before dropping his hand and settling back against the seat.

"Donna," Viera blurted out a moment later. He'd spend enough time lost in his thoughts. So had she. It was time for a distraction. "You have a friend named Donna" she clarified, trying to recover her conversational skills. She very carefully avoided reminding him where she'd heard the name since he'd mentioned it while the others were hurling accusations his way. "Is she at the Leisure Palace waiting for you?"

"Yeah," he replied simply, looking thoughtful. Viera wondered if he was imagining the way things might have gone if she'd come on the shuttle the way Viera was.

"What's she like?" Viera asked. The Doctor gave her a look like he knew what she was doing, but he replied gamely anyways.

"Donna's… spirited," he said, a fond little smile briefly lightening his expression.

Viera spent the rest of the trip back plying him for stories about Donna. It seemed like a safe topic and the Doctor had an endless supply of tales- even if she sometimes got the feeling that they were highly edited. They kept to themselves in the back corner of the rescue shuttle and nobody bothered them. The only interruption came when the Leisure Palace radioed the shuttle to say there was a very aggressive redhead demanding to talk to some doctor. The driver called him up and handed over the radio. Viera trailed behind, completely unwilling to be left in the passenger portion alone with the others.

"Donna!" the Doctor greeted. It sounded cheerful enough, though his accompanying smile was brief.

"I've been worried sick!" a woman's voice bellowed through the comms. The Doctor winced and turned down the volume. "I told you to be careful! But no, what kind of trouble could you possibly get into on an eight hour bus trip?!"

"Donna," the Doctor protested halfheartedly to the scolding. He glanced at Viera who smiled crookedly, honestly amused by the chagrin on his face. It felt good to smile and really mean it.

"Are you alright?" Donna shifted tactics abruptly, though her tone was no less demanding. "All your limbs attached and everything?"

The Doctor's expression softened. "I'm fine. Not a scratch on me."

Donna sounded exactly the way he'd described her: spirited and loud with a big heart.

"I'm gonna give the driver back his comms now," the Doctor said. "I'll see you at the station?"

"I'll be there," Donna said. "Try not to get into any more trouble on the way, alright? Don't make me come get you." Meaning, of course, that she would if he needed her to.

"Do my best. Over and out." He handed back the radio and turned back towards the passenger section.

Viera took his hand again as they walked past the others, not looking at them. "She sounds brilliant," she said.

"I think you mean loud," the Doctor corrected. Viera gave a small grin and he mirrored it. "Oh, all right. She is brilliant, but don't you tell her I said that."

Donna was indeed waiting for the Doctor when they got back, though they had to wade through a small crowd of people, curious tourists and security personnel to get to her. Viera never quite made it there. She was accosted by Ms. Tarrio on the way.

"Oh, Viera, I'm so sorry," the usually composed professional was gone, leaving behind only the softhearted social worker. Viera had never seen her so worked up; she had always been cool and calm. Ms. Tarrio pulled her into a tight hug as soon as she was in reach. The Doctor paused, but Viera waved him on, spying a tall red head in a white robe a short distance away. She hoped he'd say goodbye before they left. Viera watched the Doctor get pulled into a hug of his own before turning her attention to Ms. Tarrio.

"I'm alright. It's okay, really."

"I should have gone with you. I never should have let you go alone," Ms. Tarrio insisted. She pulled back, scowling. Viera was a bit taken aback until she remembered the bruise on her face. "Who did that to you?" Ms. Tarrio demanded.

Viera was very tempted to sick her angry guardian on Mr. Cane. Her reluctance to revisit the reasons for their fight changed her mind. "It doesn't matter. He got the worst of it." Ms. Tarrio looked stubborn. "Honestly, I am an adult. I can, occasionally, handle myself," Viera reminded her with a faint smile.

Ms. Tarrio sighed. "You're still my responsibility."

"Believe me, I'm glad for that," Viera said. "But right now all I really want is to get off this planet." Viera frowned slightly as she remember why Ms. Tarrio had missed the shuttle. "You have another case here though."

"It's finished," Ms. Tarrio said. "If you want to shower and change clothes back at the room, I'll have our things packed. We'll be out of here in no time."

Viera gave a sigh of relief. "Good." She glanced to the side, but the Doctor and Donna had wandered off. "There's just one thing I need to do."

Ms. Tarrio hugged Viera one last time before letting go to straighten her dress suit. "I'll see you back at the room then? Don't take too long or I'm liable to send someone looking for you."

"See you," Viera agreed. Ms. Tarrio headed for their rooms, stopping a porter on the way, presumably to ask for someone to pack their bags and get them passage on the next ship out. Viera trotted off to where she'd last seen the Doctor.

It took her a little while to find him, even asking everyone she passed whether they'd seen him. Eventually she caught him sitting with Donna at a small table. Viera stopped a few feet away, catching her breath from trotting down the halls. Now that she'd found him she didn't know what to say.

The Doctor rescued her. "Viera! I'd like you to meet Donna. Donna, this is Viera," he said, standing to motion from one woman to the other.

"Nice to meet you," Viera said, offering her hand a bit awkwardly.

"Pleasure's mine," Donna replied, grinning.

"I can't stay long," Viera said, turning back to the Doctor. "We're getting off this planet as quick as we can. I just… I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye." Really, she wasn't sure she wanted to say goodbye at all. They'd only known each other for a handful of hours, but the time had been intense and he was still her first friend there, her state-appointed guardian aside. But she wasn't sure how to ask him to stay in touch. Do people still use phones? Emails? There has to be some way they all keep in touch. Video conferencing? Holograms?

"Ah, yes, that's probably best," the Doctor agreed, looking a little bit disconcerted himself.

"Can I see you again?" Viera blurted out, flushing red as the words escaped her. "I mean, I don't really know how you keep in touch here but…" She bit her lip and glanced up, feeling a little apologetic about her intense urge to cling. "I'd hate to never talk to you again. But then, I couldn't blame you if you wanted to put all this behind you," Viera said, looking down at her nervously twisting hands. She made herself shove them in her pockets.

"Where are you headed?" the Doctor asked casually.

"Prístav," Viera said, carefully sounding out the foreign name.

"Lovely place!" he exclaimed, smiling slightly. "Tell you what. It should take you about a week's worth of travel. We'll meet you there. I'll show the two of you the Silver Fields of Valor," he said, including Donna.

"Really?" She grinned, relief and excitement erasing any former embarrassment.

"Sure! I could use a vacation from this vacation," the Doctor said wryly.

"Oh good," Viera sighed, too happy to care any longer that he might think her too attached. A clock down the hall chimed out the hour and she glanced back down the hall. "I'd best get back before Ms. Tarrio calls in the Coast Guard." She turned back to the pair of travelers. "It was nice to meet you Donna." Then before she could talk herself out of it, Viera flung her arms around the Doctor in a brief hug. "I'll see you on Prístav." She gave a little wave and saw them do the same before turning to walk back down the hall.

"Guess we know where we're going next," Viera heard the Doctor say as she turned around the corner, still smiling.

She had no way of knowing then that none of them would ever make it to Prístav.