Dr is a MadMan
Along the side of the highway
I became a madman.
The skin on her arm was beginning
To vaguely resemble tissue paper
Slightly crinkled but still a little soft.
As we passed the faerie mount
The rolling rise and fall amid the cattle spread
Where I wondered what fists beneath the earth
Pressed up in violent bursts between
The vast little licks of flat and green grass
All graying at the tips right down beneath the sun.
Along the side of the highway
He became a madman
Having lost all he had
Wandering right on down and by
The abrupt ripple glimmer silver
Among the faerie mount and slipped right in
Thumb jerked out at passer bys fallen under shade
But no one ever stopped.
Where he'd gone he'd long past left his machine
Broken slumped all over in a ditch
Looking out to the conical rise
Sharp like a finger cupped inside a hand
Inside another and sloping down around
Into the trees he wandered
Disheveled wonder all in converse shoes
Brown trench dusted in the earth
Black hair all awry --
Along the side of the highway
He became a madman.
Cut right through the mountain side --
And a sign hidden among the trees
Proclaimed "We are here!
'The loneliest of all creatures
in the universe' but we've plenty of highs
I'm sure I can guarantee
That even in the desert
Some weeds grow so well"
And he hung his head
Like a diamond through the glass
For where else had he left to go?
Can't you tell what song I listened to?
The hole in the ground
A swirl full of dust and cracks thirsty
Crying out for water and white moon beams
This city is full of mongrels and half-wits
Along the side of the highway
They became madmen.
How'd he even wonder to find
This girl
The one with a brain still screwed in
Twitching tail and eyes that were --
What?
Golden green rimmed and flecked
All blue and gray
She didn't believe in reservation
But in this post-apocalyptic world
It's hard to not believe in preservation
Of the self in this world of
Mongrels are better that pure-breeds.
On this side of the highway
We became madmen
And tried to dress shy to hold out the pain
So he slunk down amid the mattresses
And couches so worn
Even the rats wouldn't bother a chew
To kick up his converse heels close hi brown
Big brown eyes all rimmed in long
Long lashes and blink the dust away
As she sat down beside him
To explain
"Here I have only
The clothes on my back and the shiv in my belt."
Out across the distance she pointed to
The strong rise up out of the graying blue
Creased all the way down
Ever green
Where the waters lap lazily at red gray yellow stone
And who knows what might live way down
In the depths of the ripple and the mud puddles
Where once the trees rose out ad island
Now stands high above the dying waters
Just to look.
On the side of the highway
She almost became a madman
And just this once
Saved him instead of her.
Chapter 1
A rage of clicks and squeals filled the artificial air as the engine resting below the feet of the beings sitting behind the wheel gave out. The strange atmosphere was just too much for the fragile parts of the engine bore to all of existence by a stray piece of quickly moving space junk.
It was that terrible piece of space junk discarded by the humans that had thrown them into a death roll towards earth's atmosphere. Tearing through it had shed the ship of any protective alloy coating that had been thickly layered over the whole ship.
Now they were speeding quickly towards the hard ground, spinning wildly out of control.
At least one was already dead, thrown too hard against a wall before she could get to her seat. Her fragile skull had practically liquidated upon the force of the impact. Her frentuak leaned over in his seat, grasping desperately at her limp, soft fingers, tears much like a human's streaming down his small cheeks and falling from his pointed chin.
The driver was screeching her curses, in a language made up entirely of small squeals, clicks, and clucks. She couldn't pull the ship out of its spinning nose dive, and the phantom flames roaring up from the nose of the ship struck even further fear into her. She understood, even in her brisk panic, that the engine was not on fire, that the flames were caused by the friction of the atmosphere, especially upon their initial breakthrough, but she couldn't rid herself of the fear that the engine would blow.
And then, impact.
The ship collided with the dry dirt, skidding a few hundred yard, hitting a rock which launched into the air, rolling it almost fifty feet above the earth's surface before it finally returned to the solidity of the planet's body with a crushing slam, finally halting.
Lifting her head from her controls, her big, oval eyes looking out through the transparent memory metal that served as a strong and protective window into the harsh reality of the world outside.
It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The vegetation here was little and low to the ground, wiry and pale yellow, sometimes gray, patchy and sometimes completely gone, revealing the pale dirty beneath it.
Turning to look back at her crew, her eyes fell upon those dead. There was only one left alive. Just the one, shivering, clinging to the dead hand of his frentuak, not wanting to lift his eyes for fear that it wasn't yet over.
Calling to him, she fought her way out of her harness, telling him that they needed to get out and they needed to get out now. Shaking his head, he slumped closer to his dead mate, seemingly unwilling to accept that she was dead.
Now! She shouted in her native tongue, a guttural cluck followed by a high pitched squeak as she got to her feet and walked across the slanted ground, pulling him from his harness. She commanded him to let go of her hand, that he could mourn but not until they were safely out of their dead ship.
It was battle, getting him out, getting him to put on a portable filtration system to keep their lungs working, even in this strange atmosphere.
By the time they got out, there were already strange being present - the ones the stories called "humans."
They tall stature, followed with their broad shoulders and their stern, stiff way of moving was frightening. The glint of sunlight off all of the metal pieces all over the jackets of the humans were even more intimidating, but they seemed important.
Maybe they could help.
The wreckage had been gathered and transported to a holding area deep in the mountains about three miles off from the crash site. The three dead bodies were stored in little, oblong freezers for transportation and the two living were hustled into the back of a truck alongside the crates for the dead. They were taken to the same holding place, and while the dead bodies were taken down one long hall the living were taken down another, separated and put into cold, white cells to wait to be officially detained, photographed, and studied.
They had already been photographed alongside the wreckage and the remains of their dead crew. But that was quick, pre-procedure, if you will. The following, true procedure would be much longer, much more difficult and much more frightening.
Perhaps a month later, the distress call from the now dead ship bounced off the right satellite. It reached the appropriate ears, it got to the right beings. Information was dug up, research was done. It was discovered that upon crash-landing on planet earth, one hundred and thirty four out of one hundred and thirty four civilian space travelers never returned, and fifty eight non-civilians were never even heard from again.
Vivian 'Viv' Quasidjinn of Opebocar Delta was sent in. She, after all, was mostly human, as far as genetics go. She was also crazier than the other bounty hunters available, and therefore the best choice.
The head of the military base had rounded the corner, sipping his coffee. Upon the sudden appearance of an unauthorized individual on the top-secret government base, he spilled his coffee all over his nice pressed uniform.
Viv smiled with her mildly lopsided, full lips, her slightly slanty blue eyes shimmering as she lifted a hand in which she held a thick yet lightweight gun which still managed to be heavy duty. "Hello Logan Hedger, you are under arrest for - oh, you know what? Fuck it. You wont have any idea what I'm saying anyway." Rolling her eyes, she sighed, blowing a stray strand of dark blonde hair out of her vision. "You're under arrest for what is this solar system's interplanetary version of crimes against humanity, OK?"
"Who the fuck are you and how did you get into this base?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said with a smile. "How impolite - my name is Vivian 'Viv' Quasidjinn of Opebocar Delta. I am here to take you back to my current boss and received the rather large bounty now placed on your head. If you try to resist I will kill you, but if you come nicely, you'll get a cookie."
Chapter 2
It had surprised the Doctor how easily a jingsawl gear had been to find on the dying earth, and how easily TK had been able to show him to one. It had also been a surprise to find the earth in its current condition.
"So," TK murmured, hopping a step or two in front of the Doctor, her long, silvery brown hair swinging around her waist as she spun to face him with a smile as she swung her cat talk playfully back and forth around her legs. "You never said - do you have room on board for one lonely mongrel?"
Lifting his eyes to hers, for a moment observing her eyes and wondering if the array of color in them was a result of a deeply mixed genetic background or if they would have occurred had she been a pure-bread human, as well. "I have room for one if you would like to tag along."
"I would like nothing better," she said, smiling broadly, her eyes crinkling as she spun around to continue toward the big, blue box sitting crooked in the ditch, buried at least three feet into the drying mud.
"You should know, it can sometimes be dangerous," he said.
"Psh," she laughed, waving a hand at him. "Dangerous is better than slowly dying from a badly poisoned atmosphere."
"If you look at it that way, then," the Doctor murmured, catching up with TK as she reached the TARDIS, slipping his hand into his now thoroughly dust-ridden jacket for the key. Opening the door, he pushed it open and, about to step in, jumped back. "What - who are you? How did you get into my ship?"
Inside, leaning against one of the TARDIS's internal arches, a girl smiled, arms crossed over her black, rubber top, her arms covered with black tattoos, designs from cultures across the universe. Her dark blonde hair, pulled back into a pony tail, bounced slightly as she leaned forward, uncrossing her arms and slipping from the arch onto the crooked floor. "My name is Viv, I'm a bounty hunter and I am here for you." She lifted a finger to TK.
Turning to TK, the Doctor frowned, his brown eyes still a little widened from the shock of finding a stranger in his machine. "What did you do?" Shaking his head, he turned back to Viv, squinting slightly at her. "How did you get into my ship?"
"I have my ways," she said with a shrug, her blue eyes flicking to the Doctor for a moment, before turning back to TK. "You have a nice bounty on your head, I'm supposed to come get you."
"What did you do?" The Doctor squeaked, turning and looking at TK again as she stepped back slightly.
"Who the hell has a bounty on me?"
"Delta Scorpii with the Plutocratic Territories, of the planet Cefoga," she said with a little shrug. "And, good Sir, your friend stole a rather large wad of Tora Nexus from the remains of what was the American government."
"It was kind of like a cure-all for humans," TK said.
"Yeah, I know what Tora Nexus is," the Doctor said. "An alien planet the American government took from a crash alien space ship in 1945, they grew it in secret but someone in the station snuck it out after discovering it's healing properties - it could cure the common cold and even reduce cancerous tumors, reducing them to non-malignant lumps - as it got to all the nations of the world the economy became dependent on it, when it began to die the world economy basically imploded-" Turning to TK, lifting his eyebrows, the Doctor asked: "You stole some of it? How?"
She gave a little shrug. "I have my ways."
"What's your name again?" He asked, turning back to Viv.
"Vivian Quasidjinn of Opebocar Delta," Viv said proudly. "Everyone calls me Viv."
"Opebocar Delta is a dead planet," the Doctor said, confusion still scrawled across his features. "It died ages ago."
"What year is it now?" Viv asked, squinting slightly as she scrunched up her nose. "I've got a bad memory."
"It's 3456," KT said.
"Right," Viv said with an exaggerated nod. "Then it did die ages ago! Huh..."
"How did you get here?" The Doctor asked.
"A good friend of mine," Viv said, smiling, holding her hands behind her back,, swaying slightly back and forth, looking like a schoolgirl with a crush. "I believe you know 'im - name's Captain Jack Harkness."
Brow relaxing, the Doctor rolled his eyes. "Of course," he muttered. "What did he give you?"
Lifting her left wrist, she flashed what looked like a thick black cuff with the face of a watch stuck to the inside of the wrist. "Let's me jump time."
"Yeah, I know," the Doctor said. "I should take that from you right now."
"That wouldn't be very nice, now wou-"
A crack of metal against metal shattered through the air, sending golden sparks spattering down over the Doctor and TK as they jumped, instinctively ducking slightly as they turned, searching for what had caused the sudden burst.
"O...K," Viv said, "kinda forgot to mention that I'm being trailed. You should probably get in here now."
"Trailed by who?" TK snapped, jumping into the TARDIS, her eyes widening as she realize the large interior of the machine in contrast to the small appearance of the outside. "What the-"
Pulling the doors shut, the Doctor locked them, turning to Viv. "You didn't break them, did you?"
"No," she said, shaking her head.
"Good." He ran past TK to the pillar of controls in the center of the room, holding a hand out to TK. "Give me the gear!"
She tossed it to him, and as he snatched it out of the air, ripping into a panel to replace the broken gear, she turned to Viv. "How much is the bounty?"
Another crack sounded outside, this time against the door.
"Fifty thousand killions," Viv said.
"Psh," TK snorted, scrunching up her nose. "I'm worth more than fifty thousand killions."
"Yeah," Viv said, lifting an eyebrow. "Now I'm thinking maybe a couple hundred filtrens."
"Come on, come one," the Doctor murmured, having shoved the gear into place, twisting dials and flicking switches on the control panel. "Come on!"
Turning, TK ran up beside the Doctor, lifting a hard fist, bringing it down on top of the control panel. The TARDIS whirred to life as the group outside attacked the door, firing shot after shot into the handles and into the crack between the door. The TARDIS, however, held strong, and soon left the angry men behind.
Jumping back, the Doctor punched the air triumphantly. "YES!" He shouted, turning to TK.
"The...It lives!" She said, lifting her hands triumphantly into the air.
Attacking her with a tight hug, the Doctor lifted her into a spin, practically tripping and falling over his own two feet as he returned her to the ground. "The TARDIS always pulls through," he laughed, stepping to the control panel, patting it tenderly where TK had struck it. "Hm..."
Clearing her throat, the momentarily forgotten Viv placed her hands sternly on her hips, lifting an eyebrow. "Sorry to break up the party, but I've got to take you back for my bounty," she said to TK.
Turning, TK frowned, shaking her head slowly. "I don't think so."
"Oh, come on," TK said, lifting her wrist, turning the dial on the cuff. "It's not so bad - they'll probably only keep you for a year or so."
"For some stolen Tora Nexus pores?" the Doctor hissed.
"More like a wad of roots and two wads of leaves," TK said quietly. "But the point is moot. I'm not going."
Frowning, Viv tapped the dial on her cuff. "Goddamn it."
Lifting his eyebrows, the Doctor rocked up on his toes, peering at the cuff. "Not working?"
"Not even...it won't turn any further." Sticking out a pouting lower lip, she pressed the little knob beside the dial. "It's not working anymore."
"I could take you back to Torchwood and drop you off at the doors, if you would like," the Doctor murmured in suggestion.
Shaking her head, frowning, Viv tried again to turn the dial further. "I kind of...Jack didn't really give this to me, persay..."
"You stole a faulty time transporty thing?" TK asked. "Really? You stole a faulty one?"
"It looked brand new," she said.
"Are you sure Jack didn't put it on his bed stand fully aware you were going to steal from him?"
"It wasn't on his bed stand," she murmured, flicking the dial. "It was his underwear drawer."
"He wears underwear?" Closing his eyes, shaking his head, the Doctor continued to say: "Never mind, I don't want to know."
Sighing, lowering her wrist, Viv looked from TK to the Doctor. "I'll be useful if you ever lock yourself out."
"Are you asking to come with us?" The Doctor asked.
"You came to arrest me," TK said. "Now you want to bunk with us?"
"I don't really have anywhere else to go," she murmured. "I don't have anything against you, I just need money. I haven't gotten anything since I arrested that army guy who kidnapped and unlawfully held the beings from the 1945 crash."
"That was you?" The Doctor asked.
"Yeah," Viv said, brightening up at the recognition. "That was me."
"How odd..."
"You're not going to let her stay, are you?" TK asked, frowning up at the Doctor.
"I didn't say anything," he said, turning to look at TK and then back to Viv. "I don't know."
"I can be helpful, I promise," she said. "And I'm not mean or anything," Viv said, turning her eyes now to TK. "I promise. I just - I don't have anywhere to go in this century. No one in this century likes me much."
Sighing, TK lifted an eyebrow, turning to look up at the Doctor. "I guess it's your ship."
