Jack stared at the woman dressed in ethereal clothing who had joined the small girl wearing similar clothes on the other side of the room. She was most definitely beautiful, an elegant face, a curvaceous body and curly hair that put anyone to shame or make envious. She was watching the Doctor intently but her gaze seemed sad,
"Just like the Doc's" Jack thought. The woman looked around suddenly and the lamps around the room began to glow like the first one, causing other people to appear, four adults and two other children who ran over to the woman.
"Hey Doc' who's the beautiful broad?" Jack nodded toward the curly haired woman. The Doctor whipped around but it was the woman who snapped back a response.
"Excuse me, just who are you calling a broad? I do hope it's not me for your sake!" The woman marched over to Jack, the other people looking nervously at him.
"Well I was only appreciating what was before me! A lovely sight if you don't mind me saying, in fact, would you like to go to a very nice bar I know of in the crab nebula?" Jack started to think he was winning her over but was stopped by the woman's eyes narrowing sharply.
"You didn't buy that one bit did ya'?" He said.
The woman shook her head, causing curls to dance around her face. Her eyes were still throwing daggers his way. She averted her hawk-like stare away from Jack and walked gracefully over to Danny who was stood up rather too straight behind Clara.
"I know everyone else here,"
She walked closer, her eyes scrutinizing his form from head to toe and back up,
"A soldier by the stance." She hummed.
"Ex-soldier, I retired." He answered stiffly, Clara and the Doctor noted the frosty conversation between the two.
"No, you quit." She slowed her pace and stopped momentarily. Danny's eyes widened,
"How do you know?" he responded harshly, the Doctor tried to step forward in front of River but she answered before he could respond,
"I'm extremely perceptive, and I've seen that look in your eyes before in someone else I know." She stared him down till Danny averted his gaze. The woman realized he was nervous of her and her face brightened immediately.
"Oh, I do apologise, where are my manners? Professor River Song, and you are?" The woman tilted her head slightly, intrigue on her face.
"Err, Danny, Danny Pink, Mr Danny Pink. I teach maths and run some extracurricular classes for the teenagers at Cole hill high school." He extended a hand but River took a step back.
"I'm sorry, I can't shake hands. It's nothing to do with you, it's...well hard to explain." She smiled weakly.
"What incident?" The Doctor spoke up suddenly and River lifted her head and turned slowly.
"I'll show you." The confidence that shone through before now barely registered on her features as she and the others dressed in angelic clothing walked down one of the rows of book shelves beckoning the group to follow them.
On the way the other ethereal adults named themselves as Anita, Miss Evangelista, Proper Dave and Other Dave, and the children as Joshua, Ella and the original girl named herself Charlotte Abigail Lux, hence why the Doctor called her CAL, as River explained how CAL and the others got in the Library in the first place. River paused a bit when she revealed her own demise. Clara went to offer support but the Doctor suddenly sprinted ahead and whispered something to River that seemed to give her the strength to finish the tale of how she ended up in the Library.
They all reached a locked door at the end of the book shelves and River turned to them. "Behind this door is what caused the moon to be shifted in its orbit and the Vashta Nerada to be destroyed. The energy it emitted was that of the vortex." River explained, her gaze stern.
"Autron energy, here?" Jack replied. Jack stepped toward the door and tried to push River aside to touch it but his hand went right through her. The group gasped except the library team and the Doctor, the Doctor just looked sad.
River looked uncomfortable.
"Well now you know why I can't shake hands, the same goes for opening doors. We are being projected by the lamps as we found the interface nodes a little...un-nerving. I'm afraid since none of us have a corporeal form, you'll have to do all the heavy lifting around here." She nodded to the travelers, and the Doctor insisted he'd open the door for them all to carry onward.
"He's acting really strange," Danny whispered to Clara and Jack who were at the back of the group.
"He's polite and helpful, he's not shouting any more and I swear he said thank you a minute ago. What's wrong with him?" The other two shrugged in response though in truth Clara had a pretty good idea. She wasn't really certain, but what she had managed to scrap out of the timelord's mouth about Professor Song, was enough to fill any gaps she had.
The Doctor made quick work of the locked door and ushered everyone through quickly except River who he stood back a little for and gave a small but noticeable smile when she nodded her thanks to him.
The Doctor followed on behind and pushed his way to the front of the group who had stopped in the small room. What he saw made his hearts clench, he sort out River's hand but found only air so looked her way. The terror in her eyes matched his feelings perfectly. He swallowed hard and stepped toward the familiar shaped crack that followed him round the universe on his many travels.
"The crack produced an energy wave that disabled the gravitational disk in the moon and…" River was cut off by the Doctor who finished her sentence "killed the Vashta Nerada." River nodded, fear behind her usually bright and brave eyes.
"No wonder she's scared," the Doctor thought.
"For I am just as terrified."