Chapter 2 - Clean Up
Rose swore and sent the TARDIS into a sudden dive, narrowly missing one of the Mashas.
"Sorry!" she called over the comm. She shook the insect off of the ship, but the crunching sounds had told her that they'd taken some damage regardless.
"No problem," the girl shot back. "I've always wanted to be run over by a TARDIS."
Rose laughed at that and kept the craft in motion. Any time she paused, the insects took the opportunity to latch on, so her only option was to shimmy and shake her way through the battlefield.
"They're thinning!" another girl called and Rose squinted at the screen.
"Hey! You're right!" she cheered. "Not bad, you lot!"
"You all right?" Tomoko's voice asked her and Rose nodded, before she realized they were on voice only.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Just not used to flying this model, that's all."
"Nanites are picking up momentum, I think we're over the hump, this is really picking up speed out here!"
"I wish Susan could see this, we are recording right? She'll want to complain later about how she could have done it better, if she'd thought of something else sooner," Rose joked.
"Are you kidding? I always record everything, I have a microlens embedded in my left pupil, didn't you know?" There was no way to tell from Tomoko's tone whether or not she was joking.
"Really? That's wizzard!" Rose exclaimed.
"Wait… I just hit a clear patch… I think… I think it might be over… or pretty close… everyone, fan out, look for survivors, gun down anything you find!"
For the first time in ages, there was silence around the TARDIS, with no munching noises. The screen was clear of silver.
"Did we win?" Rose asked, panting a bit and not yet ready to let the TARDIS slow.
"Depends on whether one insect out of several doxillion got away."
"At this point, just not having them eating a planet is a win for me," Rose sighed.
"Definitely not eating the planet. They never got to the inhabited world, it was next in line, but looks like it lucked out… everyone, check in! Anyone see anything?" There was a protracted silence, followed by, "I have no bogies anywhere on screen. Neither does anyone else."
"Okay, let me run a sensor sweep, just to be sure," the Doctor said over the comm and Rose had to think a moment before the sequence for that came back to her.
"My sensors are clear," she finally reported.
"Mine too," the Doctor sighed out. "I'm calling Dar, telling him we're on our way back."
"That's a good idea, they must have been frantic when we dropped off of the screens," Rose sighed.
"Naw, Dar is used to babysitting Koschei, this is old hat to him. My sensors still reading clear," he told her with a satisfied tone.
"Double checking you both, but… I don't see anything either," Adie said.
"Okay guys," Tomoko snapped, "Do one more sweep, then pack it in if no one finds anything."
Thirty minutes later, Mashas began landing on Rose's TARDIS. They were exhausted, suits scorched and, in many cases, covered with silver goop, but they tossed them in the incinerator and smiled at Rose.
"Well flown," offered Zoi. Several of her sisters slapped Rose on the back, or took a moment to punch her on the bicep in a congratulatory sort of way.
Rose just grinned at them.
"You lot are brilliant!" she told them. "I think we all deserve a vacation."
"We'll settle for forty winks," Zoi said. "I was going to turn in, I think everyone is bushed… are you all right? You need us to be anywhere, do anything, get you things? Just say the word."
"Naw, go take a nap, I'll fly us home."
"Thanks Rose." This sentiment was echoed from every side and then the entire group trooped off, pleased at their success, but with exhaustion showing in every line of their bodies, as they all went to crash.
Aislynn woke up with the absolute, bone-deep knowledge that if she didn't get help soon, she was going to die. The urge to slip into a healing coma had been flickering around the edges of her consciousness for some time; this morning she realized how rapidly the desire was gaining strength; it was a fight just to get out of bed.
She looked in the mirror, really looked, and the reflection that looked back at her wasn't promising. Her teeth and the whites of her eyes were tinged with gray, and as a result looked dingy. In the shower, she realized that the solid silver of her fingernails was progressing, so that the very tips of her fingers were beginning to turn gray as well. Real despair didn't hit her, though, until after the shower, when she tried to comb through her hair and realized it was beginning to fall out.
If she had been by herself, she probably would have given up at that moment, returned to her bed, given in to the desire to slip into a healing coma; and simply never awakened.
However, there was Owen to be considered. What would he do without her? He was a brilliant and self-sufficient human and formidable in many ways: was he to live on the Elysium alone until he found his own cure? And, for that matter, what would happen to the Elysium? Would she remain here forever, a closet in the basement of the Torchwood building, until the building fell down from age, leaving the closet alone standing?
She knew what she would look like in the end, silver from head to toe, trailing only an occasional wisp of hair, with a Dalek eye shoving itself out of her forehead, and she shuddered at the thought; but until that happened, she was duty-bound to give Owen whatever assistance she could.
Aislynn tapped out the Agent's number and waited.
"Greeting my Lady, suns shine upon you," Dar answered with a wry smile.
"Moons rise upon you, Captain Darginian," Aislynn replied politely.
"I was just about to call you, my Lady, Dr. Susanatrevelar is on her way back. We had a little emergency here as well, but that's cleared up, so she's free to give a consultation tonight or tomorrow."
"Certainly, I need to run a last series of tests, so I can have fresh data for her. Would tonight at sixish be too soon?" She tried to dismiss the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She would set the conference call up in the airlock. If this doctor, Susan, Turned her during the call, Owen could flee back into the Elysium, and the overrides in the airlock would prevent her from causing any mischief, regardless of what commands were given. It was all that could be done.
"I'm sure that will be fine by her," the Captain replied with a nod and Aislynn hit the button with suddenly trembling hands.
She got up and got dressed, selecting flowing robes of quiet browns and blacks, with matching gloves to hide her deteriorating hands, and went to see about arranging matters for the call.
Susan awoke, dragged herself from the bed and checked Guinn, changing out his fluids and fretting as she tried to decide what would be best.
Should she try an Artron shunt, or would it be too much after coming in contact with the Arkytior's energy? She didn't know and that lack of knowledge could kill him. She squeezed her eyes shut and decided against it.
She really hoped she was right.
She finished working on him, using the tissue regenerator to speed healing to his burned skin and then crawled back into bed to collapse again.
"As soon as we land on Gallifrey, we can start disassembling the Lens controls," the Doctor told her over the comm and Rose nodded as she worked.
"That'll be a relief. I hate having that stuff lying about. I mean, what if someone horrible ever got ahold of it," she replied and he sighed out.
"Yeah, I worry about that too. We'll have to hope the Mashas will have it covered and we can help if needed."
"Where do you need me, Doctor?" Tomoko called over the comm.
"Making sure that everyone gets tea, food, and rest, in that order," he told her with a smile. "If you please. I'll be harassing Adie about that myself."
"Doctor!" cried an unfamiliar voice in the background.
"Now," her told her, glaring. "Before you fall down and I have to carry you. I'm too bloody tired to haul you about."
"I'm going, I'm going," Adie grumbled, headed for the hallway, missed, and rebounded momentarily off the corner. "Wall," she mumbled to no one in particular, and headed off in a not-quite-steady way.
"What is with your family?" Rose grumbled, looking lovely even when dishevelled and exhausted.
"Honour, Duty, Sacrifice," he recited to her, wishing they were both on the same TARDIS just then. "Damned stupid motto, if you ask me. It ought to have been "Pay Attention and Don't Die!" or "Take Care of Yourselves, Like Intelligent People"."
"I expect Adie will crash as soon as the tea touches her lips," Tomoko said, stripping off her helmet and peering into the monitor at him. Her hair was sticking up in every direction, but he thought it was cute.
"How long until we reach Gallifrey, and what do you need me to do once we are there?"
"About ten minutes," Rose informed her. "We weren't that far away, after all." The Doctor nodded, not liking to think too hard about that. They had come out of the Loops close enough that Gallifrey would have been one of the worlds eaten by the Manifold and probably within a very few months.
"You lot will want to wander about, get some food and such. No doubt Diana would be thrilled to show you all about," the Doctor told them.
"Mmm, yes, let me get cleaned up and I'll get everything organized," Tomoko agreed, as her eyes brightened in thought.
"Excellent!" he agreed and then the screen went dark.
"I wish we could still chat while in the Vortex,"he sighed, missing Rose rather acutely, and the TARDIS de-materialized with a loud wheezing.
They materialized about ten minutes later and Rose opened the doors for them.
"You lot go with Diana, I'm taking the TARDIS up to the house. I want to see my children something fierce," Rose told them with a smile.
There was laughing and chattering as Diana called out to them
"This way!" She waved and nearly everyone followed.
Only Tomoko paused. This close up, she looked tired.
"You ought to try to get the Doctor to get a bit of rest too," she told Rose. "Both of you. You must be exhausted."
"We'll rest, once we're home with our family," she assured her. "But you need to take a nap as well."
"After the tour, I think. I have to try and keep everyone from destroying the planet," Tomoko joked, and headed out after the others.
"Please do, we just got it repaired," the Doctor told her as he walked in, Adie at his heels yawning hugely.
"I've parked Susan's TARDIS at the clinic, Martha, Harry, and Flores are already in there taking care of everyone," he told Tomoko.
"How are they? Susan, Koschei, Guinn? For that matter how are you?" Her eyes looked piercingly at Adie, but Adie shook this off.
"I've just regenerated. I am fine."
"Obviously," the Doctor snarked as she yawned again.
"Perhaps you ought to consider a nap of longer than ten minutes," Tomoko suggested.
"We'll see. There's a lot of work to do."
Tomoko raised her eyebrows at Adie, and Adie raised her eyebrows back at Tomoko.
"You'll be going straight to bed, young lady," the Doctor informed Adie with a glower. "Just as soon as Tomoko gets off this damn TARDIS and lets us get you home."
"Going! Going!" Tomoko beat a hasty retreat without further argument.
"Right," the Doctor muttered and Rose chuckled as she helped him de-materialize the TARDIS.
Susan woke to see Martha leaning over her and smiled.
"Hey," she murmured and dragged herself upright.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Martha scolded. "You look all done in and what did you do to your hair?"
"I caught fire and it burned," Susan explained. "As for resting, I can't, I haven't taught you how to treat burn damage on a Time Lord yet," she replied with a shrug. "Let's rectify that."
"Right," Martha stared at he, obviously wanting to ask a lot of questions, but she just shook her head and put an arm under Susan's, supporting her wobbly steps over to where Guinn was lying.
"This is Guinn, Koschei's other self," she told Martha, whose eyebrows rose into her hairline.
"Ah," she murmured and then fell silent as Susan walked her through the process for treating burns.
"That's it?" Martha asked at the end of the lesson.
"Unless he gets an infection, which can be serious, yes, that's it. He shouldn't though, the TARDIS is sterile and we're not really susceptible to them, usually." Susan gave his bandages one last check and then Martha nodded decisively.
"Fine, to sleep with you and I'll take over."
"Very well," Susan said with a jaw breaking yawn. "Wake me if you have any questions."
"Right," Martha said with a dubious air. "When pigs fly."
They landed on Gallifrey and Diana-37 had changed into some more appropriate clothes; jeans, a T-shirt, and trainers, and beamed at Jake.
"Tour guide time," she said, and kissed him goodbye.
Jake waved and headed off towards Torchwood to tell Pete that they were back, while she guided the pack of chattering clones through the plaza, all of them staring around at themselves in mixed wonder and dismay.
"Is it safe here?" Moira asked her and Diana blinked.
"Why wouldn't it be?" she asked.
"Time Lords!" Moira snapped back and Diana had to stop and try to remember what it had been like for her, not that long ago, the fear and hatred she had felt towards those that had created her and then abandoned her.
"Masha!" Darginian called out and she turned to smile at him.
"Hey, Dar, how are things?" she asked and he bowed politely to her and the others.
"Quite well. I see that you were able to rescue your clone sisters," he replied and she nodded. Moira and several of the others were looking at him warily, but he seemed not to notice.
"We were." She turned and waved at the Mashas. "We're all Mashas, so we took names, I'm Diana now."
"Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt, Earth's Roman era mythology," he replied and nodded. "It suits you." He grinned at her and then waved at the others, before moving off. Diana saw Tomoko catch up with them and headed towards the Cafe.
"He was... nice," Moira muttered, obviously surprised.
"Yeah, all the ones that made us, tortured us, they were renegades, criminals even. Susan said what they did was totally against the law. All the Time Lords here were really mad about it." Diana replied and Moira stared at her for moment before falling silent and frowning as she tried to absorb this new concept.
"Masha!" yelled Lucy as they approached the cafe. "You're back!" She waved happily and then her hand slowed and her jaw dropped as seventy-five other Mashas came into view.
"Lucy!" Diana waved back. "You guys up for a lunch rush? I'm buying!... I hope," she muttered to herself.
"Yeah... Let me unpack more tables!" she said and then grinned suddenly. "I didn't know you came from such a big family!" she laughed and began hitting buttons on the wall, causing tables to spring up like mushrooms from the ground.
"I didn't either! Everyone, this is Lucy," she introduced as the group tramped into the restaurant. The chorus of greetings nearly overwhelmed the usual sounds of Gallifrey.
"Masha!" Wilf's voice called out and he was hurrying towards her, arms up, and looking delighted.
"Wilf!" Diana-37 ran to him and threw her arms around him. "Oh, I am so glad to see you! I missed you!"
"I missed you too! Place was gloomy without you!" he assured her and hugged her back. "Hullo!" He looked around at the assembled clones with an expression of wonder. "Well, will you look at that!" he chortled.
"Everybody, this is Wilf," Diana-37 said, in a tone she might have used to introduce the President. Everyone got up and crowded, wanting to shake his hand and greet him.
"But what am I to call you all? You must all have names, beyond 'everybody'," he queried.
He got scores of names and he listened carefully to each one, shaking hands, and smiling and complimenting them on clothes, or their names, or some little thing, making each one feel as though he'd paid them just that bit more attention than anyone else ever had. He looked around at them, beaming and genial and sat down with Diana on one side, Tomoko on the other, and began fielding questions from the girls, laughing joyfully.
Diana had told them stories about Wilf and so he was asked first about bits of his own life: about botany class and four-winged Gallifreyan bees; about his house with Donna. Eventually the talk moved back to Gallifrey, and what it was like here; but everyone was also keenly interested in Karn, which they were mulling over as a possible new home.
"Oh! I've been there," he told them. "The Doctor took me by, it's lovely. The Cave is magnificent, oh, just beautiful. The corals they hum, like music playing in your head, most delightful thing. Standing there in the darkness, with the corals glowing around you, it's like being in a field of stars, just amazing. You lot would love it there!" he assured them.
The food came and most talk ceased; the girls had been on board the TARDIS and so had had at least some food, but they were all very glad to see their meals.
Fresh food was so much better than anything the food units could produce that they were all rather surprised, most of them never having eaten something that didn't come from a tin or that they hadn't killed themselves and roasted. The meal was a huge hit, and everyone chattered and laughed, talking to Wilf and each other, looking for all the world like teenagers taking in the afternoon sights.
It was Tomoko that prodded Diana into moving on from the restaurant, pointing out that they would need to return to the TARDIS in the evening and had a lot of ground to cover. Diana reluctantly began gathering everyone up.
"Well, where do you all want to go see first?" Wilf asked and in the ensuing cacophony he managed to marshal them into groups. One group, composed mostly of the artistically inclined Mashas was to go with Diana to the art and bead stores, while Wilf and Tomoko would take the more martially oriented Mashas off to the Arcade. Lucy was wrangled into taking a group to the library, which she did willingly, closing up shop with a laugh.
"I'm out of food now, anyway, might as well," she explained with a shrug. "Come on, this way!" she called and herded the bookworms off.