The House of Silence
Chapter 1: Loomborn
The Doctor and River Song laughed together as they walked down an empty city street of Beijing. The street was littered in colorful ribbons, confetti and other party debris. The cold late winter wind blew between the building and through alleyways moving plastic party cups and other rubbish underneath cars and chained bicycles.
"…and you stepped on her tail?" River Song asked laughing, wiping away party glitter from her bright red cocktail dress and fixing the curls of messy blonde hair.
"Yes. And she didn't have the heart to tell me." The Doctor answered laughing with River remembering that humorous memory. As they both approached the TARDIS, the Doctor swung his new blue blazer over his shoulder and untied his bow-tie to make himself more comfortable.
River leaned against the TARDIS and admired the fireworks and spotlights in the distance from once they came. The never-ending celebration lit up the night sky with a golden red hue.
"She was sweet." The Doctor added leaning close next to her.
"Not as sweet as this I hope." River said giving the Doctor a deep unexpected kiss.
"Happy anniversary." The Doctor kissed her back running his fingers through her hair, moving her closer as she brushed his body with hers.
"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Song." A voice said making the two lovers unlock their moment to look and see who was greeting them. "Or by the looks of it, it might be morning." A 52st century female church member stepped out of the shadows of the ally kicking away a discarded plastic party cup. Four more members arrived surrounding the Doctor and River with weapons drawn. "Must have been some party."
The Doctor relaxed his body language hoping to deescalate the situation. "Yes, it was. The biggest New Year celebration in China's history. In Earth's history in fact."
"Pity you lot missed it." River said following the Doctor's lead.
"Yeah, pity." The church member agreed as she cocked her hand gun and pointed it at the couple.
"Wait! What is this? What do you want?" the Doctor asked with growing concern, moving River behind him.
"You both have been summoned by the Kovarian Chapter. So naturally this is a kidnapping." She informed. She pulled the trigger of her gun shooting the Doctor in the left shoulder. He reached up to his injury to find that the bullet was a small dart. He heard another gun shot from behind him, but before he could react, darkness overcame him. And the two Time Lords fell to the cold pavement losing consciousness.
The Doctor slowly regained consciousness finding himself suspended in an upright restraint, making him unable to move. He looked around the blast proof chamber finding River next to him also in restraints and slowly gaining consciousness. He was relieved to see her unharmed, but quickly fell in shock as he looked up at a golden Gallifreyian structure. "What?" he said in disbelief as he tried to free himself.
"Doctor, what is that?" River asked with panic in her voice also looking at the structure reading the Gallifreyian writing on its side.
The Doctor didn't answer her and he didn't want to. So, he continued to struggle becoming desperate.
"Doctor! Tell me what is it!" She demanded seeing the panic in his face.
"It's a Gallifreyian breeding machine also known as a Loom." A familiar voice answered. The Doctor and River froze and stared in shock as Madame Kovarian stepped towards them.
"Kovarian. You're looking younger." The Doctor said noticing that there were no Silents amongst her.
Kovarian smiled. "Time lines, Doctor. They're hard to keep track." She turned away and went to a control box that was connected to the Loom's side panel, she then gently turned a dial making the box hum. "But that doesn't matter in this case."
"So, what? Are you going to scan us? Well it won't work. And how did you even get a Loom anyway?" The Doctor asked.
"Spoils of war, Doctor. And why do you think it won't work? I have everything that it needs." Kovarian questioned, curious about what he had to say.
"You don't know what you are talking about. A Loom is a breeding-engine invented by my people. It requires not only a physical scan of two primary forms but it needs base matter and biodata from more than two family members. Not to mention it needs a lot of power. More power than this place can produce. You can't just bake yourself a Time Lord whenever you…AHHH!" The Doctor and River cried out as the Loom's scanner activated. Only lasting a few seconds, it scanned them from toe to head then allowing them to rest for a moment before scanning them once more with its powerful ray. Once it was done a small green light blinked on the control box singling that it was ready.
"Physical scan." Kovarian said walking up to the Doctor. She pulled out a combat knife and cut his wrist deep. He screamed out pleading her to stop as she did the same to River. Their fresh blood pooled on to the floor and Kovarian scooped up a small amount of it into a vial.
"Biodata from family members." She said reaching into her pocket revealing two human hairs. One short and light brown, and the other long and bright ginger red. "Two generations should do." She mocked the Doctor checking another requirement off his list.
She then walked back to the control box and placed the vial of blood and hairs into a centrifuge that automatically started to spin, feeding the contents to the Loom. She gave the Doctor an emotionless stare and snapped her fingers. Two strong church members carried in a 100-gallon drum of viscous white liquid and connected it to a transfer pipe that was also feeding to the Loom.
"I'm sure you have heard of the programmable matter used to clone industrial workers. The government's worst-kept secret? The flesh?" Kovarian asked ironically to the Doctor as he shook his head disbelief. "Base matter." She mocked him. "Now, what was the last thing on your silly little list?" she looked up at the Loom, tapping her finger on her chin as she mockingly thought of the answer. "oh yes. I remember…POWER!" She shouted at him. She then pressed a button hard on her wrist watch making the TARDIS appear next to the Loom.
The Doctor stared in dread. "No, please." He pleaded as her men obtained the TARDIS key from his jacket.
"Kovarian please stop! If you activate the Loom it could over heat and blow up this entire galaxy. The TARDIS could rip a hole in space and time. Please don't do this!" River screamed with tears rolling down her face, giving her last effort to stop this madness.
However, her warnings fell on deaf ears and Kovarian pulled down a lever on the control box, activating the Loom.
The structure started to shake and glow iridescent like a living pearl. Dr. Hieck stared at the sight in amazement. "It's working." He said. However, it didn't take long before his wonder faded. The shaking suddenly became more violent and its pastel colors turned harshly bright. The Loom could no longer withstand the pressure and it cracked like an egg.
The crack grew downward to the base of itself and expanded. Golden lightning ruptured out of the crack followed by celestial particles softly shooting outward like stunning threads. As the threads rained down around the room time seemed to slow and almost stop completely.
The Doctor looked over at River seeing the sadness and sorrow in her. It broke his hearts and he let out his last scream.
As soon as time came to a stop it started rapidly reversing. Pulling light and matter inward back into the Loom. The implosion collapsed and a solid colossal ripple of golden regeneration particles exploded outward shattering all the equipment and hurling living bodies to the ground, ending the cataclysmic event.
The Doctor regained focus lifting himself to his knees. The deafening ringing and blurry vision quickly faded, noticing that his restraints were jolted loose in the blast. He managed to wiggle himself free and immediately ran to River's side to help her up.
"River, are you OK?" he asked relieved to see her alive.
"Oh Doctor. What have they done?" She cried looking at the destroyed Loom.
A hand pulled its way out of the vertical opening of the mangled structure. Suddenly, out fell a teen age looking Time Lord boy. The vulnerable child hit the floor hard making him gasped his first breath of frigid air. Jolting his nervous system and making him cry out in shock.
"No," the Doctor whispered. He and River were instantly grabbed by woken church members, stopping them from escaping.
"Please, Kovarian don't take him." River pleaded barely able to find her voice.
The Doctor also pleaded in sorrow. "Please, he's only a new born. He may look older but he'll have the mind like a child." They begged as Kovarian dragged the limp new Time Lord to them.
"Doctor, River, say hello to your son." The boy weakly looked up at his mother and father for the first time. Brown hair like his fathers couldn't hide his intense TARDIS blue eyes as they swelled with tears seeing the sadness in their faces. "Now, say good-bye!" she shouted angrily and yanked the boy away violently.
River became emotional. "No please let him go! Please!" She screamed as the Doctor tried to fight the members off him completely ignoring the sting of a syringe entering the back of his neck. But blackness come fast upon them once again and they woke up back on the streets of Beijing where they were taken. Back on Earth in front of the TARDIS.
The new Time Lord sat nervously and anxiously on the edge of his new bed in his new room. However, he wasn't sure if this place was new. It smelled musty and abandoned. Dr. Hieck called it the orphanage. His new home. On the way, he learned how to talk and walk, to read and write. He observed and listened to the other church members and picked up meanings of words and body language very quickly. He also learned that clothing was very important. Although he wasn't used to them. He straightened his black t-shirt trying to make it more comfortable. And his grey sweat pants were a little too warm for his liking.
He gave up on the effort and looked around for something to do. However, there was nothing. The room was plain and the shelves were empty. No décor, no book, or toys. The only windows in the room were three large skylights allowing the Time Lord to see the stars and the wonders within them. The boy moved to a small study deck and opened the side drawers hoping to find hidden treasure but they too were empty. He sighed in disappointment and sadly sat back on the bed and waited.
Madame Kovarian walked down the hallway of the orphanage and stopped at the ladder to the attic where the new Time Lord was waiting. Dr. Hieck followed closely behind her giving her information about the boy and his abilities.
"The Doctor was right the boy has only a child-like mind. He's highly sensitive…" he informed her but quickly noticed that she was growing irritated. "However, his ability to learn and retain information is remarkable. Nothing like I've ever seen. Just in this short amount of time he learned every subject to an advanced college level. And his physical strength is healthy and fully developed. I have no doubt that he can immediately start combat training for the cause." He nervously added hoping that that information would be enough to please her.
And it worked, she smiled with confidence. "Good, let's get started then." She announced and headed up the ladder.
Kovarian and Dr. Hieck entered the attic making the new Time Lord more anxious and nervous not knowing how to greet a people. Kovarian approached him sternly.
"Your new name is The Son and you are part of the Kovarian Chapter now. Do you understand?" she asked in a harsh serious tone. The boy nodded his head trembling in fear. She softened her face and continued. "Dr. Hieck as informed me that you are a fast learner. That's good because this is…" she held up a small brown book shifting the Son's focus. "your first mission." She handed the book to the boy who quickly became excited about is new gift, titled "Knife Throwing 101"
"A book! I love books. Dr. Hieck let me read so many earlier. There was one on Biology of every know alien in the universe, one on Galactic Geology, and Solar Mathematics." The Son said with excitement eager to talk about his favorite subjects. "oh, and there was one on advanced robotics that was…"
"That's enough!" Kovarian shouted in anger scaring the child speechless. "I don't care about what you have learned as long as you learned and act upon it. Now read the damn book." She ordered.
The Son swallowed hard and did what he was told. He flipped through the pages of the book quickly reading faster than any human. Three seconds went by and he was done. He closed the book and handed back to Kovarian.
Kovarian's anger rose not believing that the boy read and understood the book's information. Dr. Hieck stepped forward to shed some light on the situation and stopping her from beating the child with the book. "Let's demonstrate what you have learned, Son." He smiled at the boy lowering his anxiousness. He then tacked a small paper target onto the wall of the room. Kovarian followed his lead and handed the Son her 7 inch, still bloodied, combat knife. The Son positioned himself 20 feet from the target and with ease threw the knife, sticking it on the bull's eye.
Kovarian let out a smirk. "Impressive." She said, "Bring them in." she ordered into her two-way communicator.
Suddenly church members started hauling up stacks and stacks of books and work material. Filling all the shelves and closets, covering the study deck making the room seem smaller and tight.
"Your next mission is to read these books and tomorrow you first day of basic training will begin." She told the Son. "also, you may keep the knife and if you don't complete this or any other mission you will face the consequences."
"What kind of consequences?" the Son asked not understanding if the word meant reward or punishment.
Kovarian unexpectedly back handed the child hard across his face making the meaning of the word very clear. "That kind."
The Son was left alone in his new home sobbing from the stinging mark on his left cheek. Lifting himself up off the floor he wanted to please Madame Kovarian and complete his mission. He sniffed and wiped the tears away and grabbed the first of hundreds of books. He flipped through the pages fast and efficiently but a feeling of loneliness over powered him. He looked up at the skylight windows that made a picture perfect vision of the night sky. The stars shined so bright and clear that the Son could focus intensely on them, hearing their hum, seeing their beauty, and feeling their movement. Providing the young Time Lord much needed comfort.
