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Chapter 3
"Sanakara Down!" shrieked Aunt Mel, lapsing briefly into Wymvon. "Everybody down!" They obeyed without question. I followed suit. Aunt Mel (It was hard to think of her as that now! So much had changed in the last two hours.) stood above us all. I heard a chink-chink sound as she pulled out a pistol and cocked it. It was a six-shooter, such as a cowboy might have in one of those movies I used to sneak into. She planted her feet apart, pointing the gun at the door, and let me tell you I promised myself never to get on her bad side.
"Daughter," she called, never taking her eyes off the door.
"Yes."
"Get everybody out."
"I can't talk to them!"
"Yes you can! The TARDIS translation circuit is hardwired into your brain. You just need to retrieve it."
I stood up on the platform River had previously been speaking from and addressed the huddled forms before me. "Ah... Tira Nira Boogedy Shooda?"
"Daughter..."
Okay, fudging it wasn't going to work this time. I sat on the steps and closed my eyes.
Circles swirled before my pupils like clock parts, tick-tick-ticking. they pulled out lines, arranged, and rearranged. Suddenly, I was there. I saw myself in a gown of film, light as a soap bubble. I glowed. I stepped through my mind. Then, I was there again. I stepped in from the other side of my brain. I was tough. I was mean. Years had made me like this. I was scarred on my wrist where the alien had grabbed me until I had twisted away. I stood with arms crossed, hood pulled all the way up, regarding myself coldly. I smirked at my own fairylike attire.
"I'll make this simple," I stated. "Why are you in my brain?"
"Because you aren't going to help them, are you?" I said. "You're going to sit here and be cool."
"You bet I am. And what are you going to do about it?" I snapped.
"I will offer you a choice," I murmured.
I cocked an eyebrow. "What kind of choice?"
"The choice to save them. Let me drive, just for a little while. I have the key to the vault you need to recover those words." I pulled out the key by a small gold chain around my neck.
I didn't hesitate. I grabbed at the key and pulled me up by it. "Give that key to me!"
"You're not going to help!" I squeaked. "Let go, you're choking me!"
I pulled the chain tighter. "Give me the key, damn you!"
"Agkc! No."
"FIGHT BACK, YOU IDIOTIC ANGEL!"
"I -cough- can't win."
"Give. Me. The f*% ing key!"
I didn't say anything. My glowing skin was starting to go blue. "You're as bad as the aliens you face," I finally managed. "They, too, have strangled their mercy."
I let go.
I fell back, to the floor of my mind.
I kept falling...
And fell into my body. Mercy had won. Ego had lost.
"Sindare!" I said. "I lastra es enste. Sanakara mushall stront en el Fortan arinix. Now. Go. Hurry. Jente Tanjo. HURRY!"
"Very good, Doctor."
"Daughter...?"
There was an indescribable sound.
The door burst open, and Wymvoi poured out the back, so River and I were alone with the intruder. I leapt aside as River fired shot after shot into the approaching fiend. The rock-monster at the door spit a wad of flame at her.
"MUM!" I screamed, and tackled her. We rolled aside. The floor burst into flames where she had been.
"WHERE IS THE GIRL?" roared the monster. I guess he hadn't heard my panicked scream. "GIVE US THE GIRL AND WE WILL GO!"
"What girl?" said River, pushing me behind a chair. "There are hundreds here."
"THE HALF-BREED! SHE IS NEEDED! WE WILL USE HER! SHE IS UNIQUE IN ALL THE UNIVERSE!"
"Never in a million years are you ever taking her," muttered River. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door, firing a farewell shot as she went.
Once we were far enough from the building that its flames no longer toasted us, swe stopped, and River got down on her knees. "Daughter," she said, "Run. Run as fast and as far as you can, and don't look back. Promise me you won't look back!"
"What about you?"
"I'll be fine. I'll join you in the TARDIS. Now, go!"
"Mum?"
"What?"
"I love you."
She closed her eyes. "I haven't heard that in years." Then she ran back towards the flames.
I'd like to say I didn't let her go. I'd like to say that I ran after her, that I stopped her and talked to her and made her come with me. But you never know what you did wrong until it's done. So I let her go.
Alien-fighting was not something I was good at. Running, however, was. I had been doing it all my life. I did it again now. I pounded the ground with my feet, to the same beat as my hearts, until they were both coming down simultaneously. Slam. Slam. Slam. Get away. Slam. Run away. Slam. Good girl. Good daughter. Slam. Good Doctor. Slam, Slam, Slam.
I saw a tiny figure ahead of me. It was Jundar! She had stopped running, and was lying on the ground, spent, too tired to run any more now. Everyone was far up the hill, so small they seemed nothing more than titmice. Without thinking, I picked her up, carrying her in my arms like a bride. Slam, Slam, Slam, Double Slam.
The TARDIS was at the top of the hill. I climbed up and leaned my back against it. Where was River? And how in the name of Seyoranicarumzi was I going to open this blasted box, anyway? She had the key.
"Wouldn't it be great," I said to the Wymvon girl in my lap, "wouldn't it be great if I could open the TARDIS with a snap of my fingers? Then I could just go like that" I snapped my fingers "and we could get in."
There was a squeak behind me, the door moved, and I found myself flat on my back, staring at the TARDIS' ceiling. How did I get in?
I really didn't care at the moment.
I picked up Jundar and carried her inside, laying her gently on one of the seats. I heaved on the doors. They wouldn't close. Great.
On a suspicion, I clicked my fingers. The doors swung shut. I grinned, then tried opening and shutting the doors a few more times, until the TARDIS slammed the doors and shook. "Sorry, girl," I whispered.
I got another suspicion. I swear, the TARDIS must run on hunches. "Old girl," I said, "You know where River is, and I know you know, so let's go get her! Let's go save River." I leaned my hands on the control panel. "How about it..." I paused, "...sexy?"
The TARDIS starting lever threw itself down. "ALL RIGHT!" I grinned, as it began to wheeze. I scrambled down the stairs. Time to explore. "Hey, you do know where she is, don't you?" A rumble from the very base of the TARDIS answered my question. "All right, I trust you. Mind if I check it out?" No answer. "Okay." I scampered down the stairs leading to the room below the control panel. There were a series of compartments around the center pole, and I popped them open one by one.
I rummaged through the compartments. What was I looking for? I didn't know. I dipped a hand in and came up with a sphere full of Carrionites. They sullenly glared at me. No more screaming, I guess. They probably all had hoarse throats by now.
I dipped in again and came up with an Agatha Christie book, then a cooked turkey, then a rubber chicken and a pair of 3-D glasses, then an oddly long coat that didn't fit. Next came strange-looking egg with wormlike protrusions, a sonic screwdriver patch repair kit, and a cloudy ball. Which blinked. And cursed at me in Italian when I poked it. A Cyberman head, a blue pair of socks, a red pair of socks, a green pair of socks, a high-heeled shoe, a jacket with patches on the elbows which did fit me, a half-disassembled Device, a couple Wymvoi feathers, a replica of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and a thin, flat box. I tucked the screwdriver into the patched jacket's pocket, put the jacket on, and turned my attention to the box. It had a tiny clasp in front. I slowly unfastened it and lifted the lid.
Well, of course it was a bowtie. Bowties are cool. I placed it around my neck and tried my best to tie it. Oh dad, why couldn't you just wear a clip-on? You're making life difficult for your daughter!
I dashed up the stairs to the control panel, still fiddling with the bow. I checked on Jundar, who had fallen asleep. The TARDIS engines murmured softly, like they didn't want to wake her. For a moment, I enjoyed the sound. Then I remembered River. "Okay, old girl," I muttered, twiddling switches. "Let's go find Mummy!"
The phone rang.
I scrambled too answer it. It's River. "Hey, where are you?"
Her voice was panicked. "Let me in! Please!"
I snapped, and the doors flew open. River stumbled into the room. I snapped again, and the doors swung shut as I saw a ball of flame rolling away from the Wymvon building. I threw the starting lever, then leaned on the control panel and looked at River.
Her hair was even more frazzled than usual, if that's at all possible, and singed at the edges. Her jean jacket had two holes burned straight through it. Both shoes were gone, and a strong smell of burnt plastic followed her in. She stumbled towards the control panel, staring at the floor. "Doctor..."
"Daughter," I corrected.
"I couldn't stop them. They were too big. I had six bullets and three blasts. I discharged them all."
"Where did the monsters come from?"
"I don't know."
I was stunned. "But you promised to protect the Wymvoi, no matter what! They'll die. You can't just leave them alone!" Yes you can, my ego said. Shut up, I told it.
"But I didn't leave them alone," River smiled.
Now I was equal parts relieved and confused. "You didn't? But you just left them."
"Not alone."
"Who's with them, then?"
She was beaming now, wide and real. She raised her eyes from the floor, straight to my face, and changed my perspective with two words: "Your father."
