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Itself

Chapter Six: The Palace

Trey's legs ached as they approached. He had been trudging back and forth over this uneven ground for the better part of a day, first following Mas and Ona, then escorting Amy, and now pursuing the Doctor to 'the Palace', now towering up above them.

Despite having never been to the Noc territory before, the Time Lord had seemed remarkably certain of where he was going. He hadn't even used the sonic screwdriver, just what he called 'a psychic echo'. He continued going on about psychic this and that, before he flashed a blank piece of paper in his face and raced off again, like a child about to receive a fantastic present.

Then the Doctor had shouted incoherently and jumped up and down on the spot, pointing to some point on the horizon. Following his finger, Trey had spotted a pointy… thing in the distance, all jagged edges and spires. Which was where they were now.

It looked like a fallen star.

"This is the Palace?" the Doctor asked, though he only really seemed to be talking to himself.

"What is it?" Trey asked breathlessly. It was enormous, like a skyscraper that had toppled on its' side, except just as tall going up.

"Not sure," the Doctor said, pressing two fingers to his temple distractedly, "Space station, space cruiser? Space something, anyway."

"Like your ship?"

He frowned and shook his head. "No, probably not."

Trey tilted his head to better see the Doctor's face. "Are you all right?"

"Hm? Oh, fine, just a headache. A headache," he muttered distractedly, "coming from here. Ah, this way!"

Trey's eyes stayed on the Palace for a few moments before he managed to drag them over to the Doctor. Who wasn't there. He did a quick double glance to where the Doctor had been before a stab of panic hit him.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah?"

Trey frowned, following the voice off to the right. "Where are you?"

"At the entrance."

He moved around a wedge of metal that seemed to have exploded out from the wall and found the Doctor staring up at the Palace.

"What makes you think this is the entrance?"

Staring at him, the Doctor pointed straight ahead. Moving further around, Trey saw that the Doctor was in front of a gaping hole in the wall.

"I think the expedition cut it."

This earned another double glance from Trey, who was trying his best not to stare into the dark abyss in front of him.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, for a start, this thing, whatever it is, crashed. But this is a distinct cut. And when you compare the damage from the crash to the hole…" He strode past and dropped to his belly, licking a burnt bit of metal near the ground, then licked the hole in the wall.

"…yes! Very distinct, very new, and very much a laser." The Doctor turned to face him, smiling widely. "Off we go, into the unknown. Are you enjoying yourself yet?"

Without waiting for a reply, the Doctor clambered inside, only having to take one step up. He walked forward and stopped before whirling on the spot, finger held up in the air unsurely. Finally, he came to a halt facing left, jabbing the digit forward like a teacher pleased with a pupil's answer.

Trey was about to follow. He was ready, he really was. But then, suddenly, in the space between one instant and the next, he was terrified. A fear he had never felt before, clinging to his heart, to his bones, freezing him in place.

"Trey?" the Doctor's voice echoed, booming out from the chamber within. "You coming?"

"Uh…" His voice shook, and he swallowed. "I… uh…"

"Trey?" the Doctor said again, his head popping back into the entrance. Spotting Trey's demeanour, the Doctor rushed over, bending forward to look him in the eye.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I'm…" he frowned, confused and angry with himself. "…I'm scared."

"Oh," the Doctor laughed, "is that all? We're all scared, Trey. Scared is good, scared keeps you alive. Mostly."

"Not scared like this," Trey insisted, shaking his head.

The Doctor's amused smile tweaked slightly, and he started to search Trey's eyes in earnest. "What makes you say that? What's different?"

"I don't know. This happened before, when Amy stepped over the border."

"Did it really?"

Trey nodded.

"And just now when I stepped in here?"

"Yes."

His eyes flickered over Trey's shoulder, staring at something that seemed to excite him quite a bit. "Just now, just now when I stepped… now, let's see, everybody on the planet gets a severe case of heebie-jeebies when someone goes somewhere or does something that threatens this… thing, this… whatever it is that's giving me this BLOODY HEADACHE-" he cried, throwing a scowl back into the Palace before resuming - "but when it's someone not from this planet, outside the sphere of influence, we get the Daleks and the Ood and chanting children telling us to stop. Makes sense."

"How does that make sense?"

"Because, Trey, what is the mind's way of telling us to stop? What does the mind do when we're about to do something dangerous? It makes us afraid. Instinctively, instantly. Fear, like the kind that's stopping you right now."

"And something is making me feel this?"

Initially hesitant to answer, the Doctor quietly said, "Yes."

"…why?"

"Because it's threatened by you, your people. And by Amy. And definitely by me," he said, standing to his full height and looking into the Palace. "That psychic paper I was telling you about picked up the pain and fear coming from this thing. The TARDIS translated it, but I didn't recognise the original language. Even then, the words were unintelligible, like someone trying to spell a scream. I could sense the fear and the pain and came to help…"

He sighed. "…but it didn't want anyone to come here. It wasn't asking for help, it was just… afraid. Afraid and in pain."

"So…" Trey swallowed. "What are you going to do?"

"…I have to find it and stop it. This thing is manipulating your people telepathically, pushing you to war. Fear can push people to anything, Trey. Some of the worst crimes in the history of the universe were committed because of fear. Fear of loneliness, fear of death, fear of ducks, fear of baked beans… I hate baked beans."

Trey frowned, distracted from the Palace. "What's a duck?"

The Doctor's entire face dropped. "You are having a giraffe."

"So… giraffes are like ducks?"

"No, they're not, they… no chocolate cake, no ducks, but you know giraffes. How is that possible?" he muttered to himself, searching Trey's eyes again before leaping to his feet. "Right, come on Trey, can't stand around here giving into fright. The only thing to fear, and so on."

"What?"

"Look, just, come on," he said impatiently, summoning him on as he walked into the Palace.

"I can't."

"Yes you can. Just think of something else, something stronger than the fear."

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know!" he shouted, shaking his hands in the air, frustrated. "Discovering the unknown, spirit of adventure! Aren't you curious to see what's causing all of this?"

"Well… no."

The Doctor tilted his head to the side like a curious dog. "Really? Then why did you come with me?"

"I mean… yes, I want to find out what's causing this. But I'm not interested in discovering the unknown. That's Mas' thing."

A slightly amused smile danced across the Doctor's features, and Trey found himself getting annoyed.

"So why do you want to find it?" the Doctor asked slyly, moving in close to his face.

"To… to stop it."

"And why do you want to stop it?"

"Because I need to protect-!" The words came bursting out of him, fuelled by anger, and he closed his mouth quickly.

"Protect… what, Trey?"

He sighed, avoiding the Doctor's gaze. "Ona."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Ona!" he shouted, grabbing the Doctor by the lapel of his jacket. "I need to protect Ona! Is that what you wanted?"

"It's not about what I want," he replied, smiling. "It's about what you need to conquer your fear. Tell me Trey, how are you feeling?"

His breathing heavy, Trey stared at the Doctor, releasing his jacket. "Angry."

"But not afraid."

"No."

"Good!" He shouted, bouncing back upright. "And now you've got another motivation to follow me in; whacking this smug smirk off my face."

With that, the Doctor sauntered off into the Palace again, heading off to the right. He vanished for a few moments before reappearing and walking to the left. Smiling and shaking his head, Trey clambered inside, trying to keep his reason for being there at the forefront of his mind.

Light reflected off the corridor walls surprisingly well, and Trey managed to follow the Doctor around a few bends before the natural light faded away, replaced by the bright green hue of the sonic screwdriver. Unsure hands extended out, Trey did his best not to walk into the walls as he followed the Doctor to the end of the corridor and into a large chamber.

The light from the screwdriver struggled to fill the room until Trey saw it point off to the left. A thin tube of light that extended out of the floor to about knee height activated, spreading white light around the room.

"They look like they were planted here… must have been left here by the expedition. Batteries were a little flat after all this time, just needed a little recharging," the Doctor said, pointing the screwdriver to different corners of the room and activating a light in each one.

Trey spotted something that took up the entire far wall, directly behind the Doctor. A square glass tank, an eerie blue mist filling it. Three large black objects were inside. They resembled beaked animals, but the mist obscured much of them.

"Doctor…"

"Doesn't seem to be much else here, why did they bother to light up this place?"

"I think it might have been because of that," he said, pointing a shaking finger across the room.

Surprised, the Doctor looked first at him, then whirled on the spot to face whatever it was.

"Ah. You must be what's giving me the headache. Hello. I'm the Doctor."

Flying a Dalek was not as fun as Amy had first anticipated. She couldn't believe she was wishing for seatbelts (how boring), but the lack of anything to hang onto except a plunger didn't make her feel very secure. Mas had shown his usual level of manly courage and taken to latching onto her arm for safety. Every time she occasionally let the Dalek dip to the side, Mas yelped like a little girl and squeezed even tighter, threatening to pull both of them to the ground that was moving very fast beneath them. She was just glad that she had decided to keep the Dalek close to the ground as they travelled.

Which was why she breathed a fairly obvious sigh of relief as they entered the city. The streets were empty, and the Dalek's floating… engine… thing hummed all around them as they whizzed along. She pulled the orb back and slowed them down.

"Mas?"

He glanced at her but kept his eyes on the ground, as though that would stop him falling. "Yes?"

"Where are the Council Chambers?"

"We took you there already, remember?"

"Yeah, but it was a complicated route and you were talking and distracting me at the time and then I wasn't even allowed inside, so would it kill you to just direct me?"

Suitably chastened, Mas kept his eyes on the ground and grumbled, "Left."

They swerved dangerously through several corners and streets before three soldiers burst out of what Amy recognised as the Council Chambers, rifles aimed. Panicking, Amy and Mas leapt from the Dalek, hitting the ground running and stumbling along because of it. Amy managed to skid to a halt, grabbing Mas by the shoulders to stop him from planting his face on the road. The Dalek came to a gradual halt further down the street.

"Woah, woah, woah," Amy said, panicking with her hands up. "No guns, don't shoot please!"

"Mas?"

It was Ona, rushing out of the building. She waved down the soldiers, and they reluctantly lowered their weapons. She rushed to embrace her brother, who just looked embarrassed by the contact.

Frowning, Ona pulled herself out of the hug and peeked over their shoulders.

"Where's the Doctor? Is he with you?"

"Yes, hello," Amy said tiredly, giving an irritated wave. "I'm here, I can help…"

Ona seemed a little taken aback by that, and tried to back-pedal. "Oh no, I'm not saying that you couldn't, I just… can you even go inside the Council Chambers?"

Waggling her eyebrows, Amy smiled. "Oh yeah. I've got Time Lord DNA in me now." Her smile vanished awkwardly. "And I didn't mean thatlike it sounded." She avoided eye contact as she walked to the Council Chambers.

She stopped at the doorway and scrunched her eyes shut, expecting loud alarms and bullets in the back from the soldiers behind her as she stepped through the scanners.

But nothing. Smiling back at the others, she strode far more confidently through the echoing lobby towards the grand entrance to what she assumed was the Chambers. Two security guards waited there for her, and didn't seem in the mood to get out of the way.

Amy looked over her shoulder. "Could someone…?"

Ona was already on the way, and Amy couldn't help but be impressed. Spend a quarter of a day with the Doctor, and a quiet little mouse becomes a bit of a lion.

"I'm Kin Ona, and I need to speak to Kin Shriner, my father."

The guards looked at each other, before the bigger of the two answered, "He's busy."

"Tell him it's urgent."

"He's. Busy."

Her shoulders slumping, Ona looked back to Mas for support, awkwardly jerking her head to get his attention. Mas, meanwhile, did his best to avoid looking at her, focusing on some dirt on the front of his jacket.

Amy kicked him in the rear, sending him tumbling forward and eventually alongside Ona. After shooting an admittedly deserved glare back at Amy, Mas turned back to the guards, hands behind his back officiously. Ona backed up to stand beside Amy.

"I'm Kin Mas. Get my father out here now."

Visibly frustrated, the guards seemed to take a simultaneous deep breath before the smaller man disappeared through the doors.

Amy tilted her head towards Ona while keeping her eyes on the door. "Men get more done than women around here, I take it?"

"That," she sighed, "and Mas is the favourite."

"Ah."

There was only a few moments wait before their father emerged, looking harassed and not exactly pleased to see his kids at the moment.

"What is it?" he almost spat, his eyes darting between his children before catching sight of Amy. "Who are you?"

"Amy Pond, a pleasure to meet you," she said as officiously as possible, putting her hand out.

Their father made no move to take the hand, and Amy slowly withdrew it.

"I'm with the Doctor."

"Human?" he asked, eyes suspicious.

She scrunched up her face and waved a dismissive hand. "What? No. Pffft, what? That's crazy. And disgusting. Humans are disgusting. Right? I heard that or… read that somewhere. No, sir, I…" she raised her hand in the air, twisting her hand around like she was holding an imaginary Yorick skull, "…am a Time Lord."

The theatrics didn't impress him as much as Amy had intended. "You're a Time Lord."

It wasn't a question.

"Yes. A Time Lord from the planet…" her eyes bulged as she realised the Doctor had never told her the name of his home planet. "Time-o… Lord…ia."

Looking increasingly tired, Shriner sighed. "What do you want?"

Trying not to look too relieved, Amy nodded. "Yeah, good point, let's get to it. You need to stop those missiles."

"The Nocs are attacking us, we have to strike back before we're all wiped out."

"But they're not attacking anymore, are they?"

"That was just the first wave."

"Yeah, but the Nocs aren't exactly splitting the atom. I mean, you went there years ago, right? You've met them, you know they couldn't make Daleks and Odd… Ood… whatever."

Shriner didn't say anything; he just stared at Amy. Bits and pieces connected together in Amy's head, and for a moment she thought she knew what it felt like to be the Doctor when he solved the puzzle.

"…unless you found something when you were there. Something you didn't tell anyone about, eh?"

"I think you should-"

"The Palace, maybe?"

Everything went quiet. Shriner's expression darkened considerably, and Amy did her best to maintain her confident face. The guards behind Shriner exchanged confused looks, and Shriner started to panic, if only a little.

"You need to leave," he said quickly, grabbing her arm and rushing her towards the door.

"You saw it, didn't you?" she continued, quieter this time. "The Palace. What is it? The Doctor's heading there with Trey right now."

Shriner stopped. "They're what?"

"They're going to the Palace. They're in Noc territory right now. Seriously, that's why you can't fire the missiles yet."

He looked torn between the door and the Council Chambers, and finally made his choice by shoving her towards the door and storming off to the chambers.

"Get out, or I will have the guards escort you," he announced, his voice echoing around the lobby.

"No!" she protested, stomping after him. "You've got to stop those missiles or you're going to kill the Doctor and Trey!"

"It's them or the entire city. What would you choose?"

"But no-one's attacking now, what's the harm in waiting?"

"Guards," Shriner muttered, slipping through them and into the Council Chambers.

"Just wait! You can't do this!"

Big and Bigger latched their arms underneath hers and lifted her from the ground, walking effortlessly to the exit. She kicked and thrashed as much as she could manage. Mas and Ona just looked on awkwardly, eventually following with their heads bowed sheepishly.

"Get off, get off!"

They reached the doors, and alarms promptly exploded into life. Everyone froze, including the guards, who immediately released her as though burned. The soldiers, who had been waiting outside rather patiently, instantly raised up their weapons, pointing them at her.

Hands in the air, Amy looked to Ona and Mas for support.

"What's going on?"

"You've, uh…" Mas swallowed. "You've just registered as human. They'll probably take you into custody now."

Speechless for a moment, Amy stamped a furious foot on the ground. "Bloody Doctor and his useless DNA!"

Kin Shriner burst into missile launch control, thundering down the steps beside the long desks. Ten people on each row, all of them staring at him as he made his way to the General at the bottom of the room, overlooking their control screens.

"We need to launch now," he ordered with as much authority as possible.

The General gave him a cursory glance. "Ah, Kin Shriner. Wasn't expecting to see you-"

"General. We need to launch those missiles, now."

"We're still waiting on confirmation from the Council," he said casually, still not giving him the time of day.

Frustrated, Shriner grabbed him by the arm and twisted him around to look at him. "You need to launch, now," he hissed. "If you wait for the Council it'll be too late."

"Why?" he asked quietly, shrugging off the hand. "What do you know?"

"You remember that visitor who arrived today? The Doctor?"

"The alien, yes, I heard about that."

"Well, he's in Noc territory right now, consorting with the enemy. He had free reign of the city, who knows what he's telling them right now?"

The General glanced about the room before taking Shriner aside. "And you're sure about this?"

"An associate of his just tried to convince me to halt the missile strike. Why else would the Doctor send someone? If it was truly important, why not come himself? And now it turns out she's a human. We're taking her for interrogation now, but who knows what damage the Doctor has already done."

The General nodded, his eyes becoming a little more frantic. "You're right. We need to attack now before they destroy us all."

He whirled around on the spot and started barking orders. Taken aback by the sudden call to action, the technicians and soldiers nearly fell over themselves as they mobilised.

Kin Shriner smiled, blowing out a relieved, shaky breath. No-one would see the Palace, or whatever it was that drove his closest friend to suicide and drove another man mad. He wasn't waiting around to find out what secrets and dangers the Doctor could find and use against them. He wouldn't. His family was depending on him.

(A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone, don't stop now!)