A/N: I swear I planned o post this on Sunday! Honest! It's just that my life are a bit complicated right now, so... anyways, new chapter to you all!
"You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them?" the Doctor and Eva heard River say as they walked towards where she was waiting with Lux and Anita. "It's like they're not quite... finished, they're not done yet."
The Doctor cast a quick glance at Eva, but said nothing.
"Well... yes, the Doctor's here. He and Evie came when I called, just like they always do. But not my Doctor and my Evie. Now, my Doctor... I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. And Evie... she really is my best friend, you know. Just like she said. Best friends with my folks, too. Been to their wedding and all – pretty sure she kissed each of them at least once. And when she's angry... oh, you better stay back. The Doctor and Evie, in the TARDIS. Next stop - everywhere."
"Spoilers!" Eva called as they walked into the room. "I've been to the wedding?"
"Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers," the Doctor said. "It doesn't work like that."
"Of course it does," Eva said. "I know of at least two people who can do it."
"Counting yourself?" River questioned with a smirk.
"Really?" Eva asked, excited. "Okay, three!"
The Doctor ignored them, heading for Anita. "How are you doing?" he asked.
"Where's Other Dave?" River asked.
"Not coming," Eva said sadly. "Sorry."
"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita asked.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."
"It's making a difference all right," Anita retorted. "No-one's ever going to see my face again."
"Can I get you anything?" the Doctor asked.
"An old age would be nice," Anita told him. "Anything you can do?"
"I'm all over it," the Doctor said, about to turn back.
"Doctor," Anita said, stopping him in his tracks."When we first met you... you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say? Give a dead girl a break," she added, seeing the Doctor's hesitation. "Your secrets are safe with me."
"Safe," the Doctor repeated.
"What?" Anita asked.
"Safe," Eva repeated, beaming at the Doctor. "Figured it out, didn't you? You don't say saved," she explained aloud. "Nobody says saved, you say safe."
"The data fragment!" the Doctor called out. "What did it say?"
"4,022 people saved," Eva quoted. "No survivors."
"Evie?" River asked, confused.
"Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe," the Doctor said.
"But you see," Eva said. "It didn't mean safe, it meant – it literally meant – saved." She walked to the nearest computer and uploaded the diagram. "See, there it is, right there," she marked at the screen, allowing the rest to see. "A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once."
"Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack," the Doctor carried on the line of thought. "Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out."
"It tried to teleport 4,022 people?" River questioned.
"It succeeded," the Doctor replied. "Pulled them all out, but then what happened?"
"Nowhere to send them," Eva said. "Nowhere safe in the Library. Vashta Nerada growing all over the place. 4022 people beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"
"It saved them," River said, smiling, as the Doctor ran towards the table, drawing a circle to mark the planet.
"The Library," he said. "A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive!"
Suddenly, alarms started beeping around them
"What is it?" Lux asked. "What's wrong?"
"Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes," a mechanic voice said.
"What's maximum erasure?" River asked, looking at the screen.
"Twenty minutes, this planet will crack like an egg," the Doctor said.
"No!" Lux said. "No, it's all right, the Doctor Moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL."
As if on cue, the screen shut down.
"And that was CAL turning Doctor Moon off," Eva said.
"No!" the Doctor said, hitting the screen ."No, no, no, no, no, no!"
"All Library systems are permanently offline, sorry for any inconvenience."
"We need to stop this," Lux said, and Eva nodded.
"We've got to save CAL," she said.
"But what is it?" the Doctor asked, looking between Eva and Lux. "What is CAL?"
"We need to get to the main computer," Lux said. "I'll show you."
"It's at the core of the planet," the Doctor said.
"Well, then," River said. "Let's go!" She pointed her screwdriver at the circle in the middle of the room, causing it to open up. "Gravity platform!" she said with a smile.
"I bet I like you," the Doctor said, coming closer.
"Oh, you do!" River and Eva said together, smiling at one another as they walked inside.
"You know what's going on in the computer's core, don't you?" Lux asked.
"I do," Eva said.
"What's happening?"
"Well, CAL is currently going through a panic attack," Eva explained. "And Donna just found out her kids aren't real."
"Kids?" the Doctor asked.
"Long story," Eva sighed. "Not mine to tell."
The Doctor nodded, taking her hand again as they ran.
"Autodestruct in fifteen minutes."
"The Data Core!" the Doctor said when they finally reached it. "Over 4,000 living minds, trapped inside it."
"Yeah, well they won't be living much longer," River said. "We're running out of time."
They moved to another room so the Doctor could log into a terminal.
"Help me," a voice said emotionlessly. "Please, help me."
"What's that?" River asked. "Was that a child?"
"Computer's in sleep mode," the Doctor said. "I can't wake it up. I'm trying."
"You won't be able to," Eva told him. "It's not just a sleep mode, she's dreaming."
"She is dreaming," Lux repeated, "Of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written."
"Computers don't dream," the Doctor said.
"No," Eva agreed as Lux opened the door that led to the room where a Node with CAL's face stood.
"Help me," she said. "Please help me."
"But little girls do."
"Please help me," CAL repeated. "Please help me."
"Oh, my God," River whispered.
"It's the little girl," Anita said. "The girl we saw in the computer."
"She's not in the computer," Eva told her. "In a way, she is the computer."
"The main command Node," Lux said. "This is CAL."
"CAL is a child!" the Doctor called. "A child hooked up to a mainframe?" He looked between Eva and Lux. "Why didn't you tell me this! I needed to know this!"
"Because she's family!" Lux called out. "CAL. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a Library, and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything. He gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace."
"A secret, not a freak show," Eva told the Doctor. "I told you he wasn't protecting a patent. He was protecting her."
"This is only half a life, of course," Lux said. "But it's forever."
"And then the shadows came," the Doctor said.
"Shadows," CAL said. "I have to... I have to save... Have to save..."
"And she saved them," Eva said. "She saved everyone in the Library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."
"Then why didn't she tell us?" Anita asked.
"Because she's forgotten," the Doctor said. "She's got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head, it must be like being..."
"You?" Eva offered, and the Doctor shrugged.
"So what do we do?" River asked.
"Easy!" the Doctor said, running to the room they just came from.
"Autodestruct in ten minutes."
"We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown," the Doctor explained.
"Difficult, Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer," Eva said.
"Easy!" the Doctor replied. "I'll hook myself up to the computer and she can borrow my memory space!"
"Difficult!" Eva and River said.
"It'll kill you stone dead," River told him.
"Yeah, it's easy to criticise," the Doctor muttered.
"It'll burn out both your hearts," Eva said.
"And don't think you'll regenerate!" River added.
"I'll try my hardest not to die," the Doctor told them. "It's my main thing."
"Doctor!" River called.
"I'm right, this will work, shut up!" the Doctor told her, "Now, you and Luxy-boy, back up to the main Library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention, shut up!"
"Ha!" River huffed, turning to the exit. "I hate you sometimes!"
"I know!" the Doctor said.
"Mr Lux, with me!" River ordered. "Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him! Eva?"
"I'm staying," Eva told her in a voice that left no room for argument and River nodded as she ran outside.
"What about the Vashta Nerada?" Anita asked.
"These are their forests," the Doctor said. "I'll seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content."
"So you think they're just gonna let us go?" Anita asked.
"Best offer they're gonna get," the Doctor replied.
"You're gonna make 'em an offer?"
"They'd better take it," Eva said. "Cause right now, he's finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know why?"
The Doctor paused, looking at the suit and nodding at Eva when he saw the distance she was keeping from it.
"I really liked Anita," he said. "She was brave, even when she was crying, and she never gave in. And you ate her." He used his sonic screwdriver to reveal the skeleton inside the suit. "But I'm gonna let that pass. Do you know what I won't let pass?" Eva's head turned to look at him, not understanding until he spoke again. "Evie's got two shadows."
Slowly, Eva looked down to see that she does, indeed, have two shadows.
"I..." she said. "I didn't notice."
"I very much hope so," the Doctor told her. "Because if I find out that you knew and hid it from me, the first thing I'll do after saving your life is killing you."
"I can't die," Eva said.
"Yes, you can," the Doctor said. "It's just harder than most. Now, as to you," he turned back to the Vashta Nerada, "I promise I'll be kind... if you'll be."
"These are our forests," the Vashta Nerada told him. "We are not kind."
"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them," the Doctor said. "You are letting them go – letting Eva go."
"These are our forests," the swarm repeated. "They are our meat."
"Don't play games with me," the Doctor told them, taking a step closer. "You just killed someone I like, and you are threatening the person I love most, and that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, this is the Omniscient and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look us up."
For a moment, Eva held her breath and then she felt an energy transfer and looked down to see her second shadow was gone.
"You have one day," was the Vashta Nerada's final warning before Anita's body fell to the ground, dead.
"Eva," the Doctor said, "You and I are going to have a very long talk about what just happened, but it's going to have to be later."
"You'll have to live for that," Eva said, leaning on the wall for support. "Which won't happen if you do what you're planning!"
"Anita!" River's voice called, and Eva knew why she was back, and what she was going to do.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "She's been dead a while now, I told you to go."
"Lux can manage without me," River said. "But you can't."
With two long strides, she closed the difference between them and punched him unconscious before turning to Eva.
"No," she said. "No way."
"Evie..." River started.
"You'll die."
"There isn't another option," River said, trying to knock her unconscious, as well.
"Yes, there is," Eva said. "I could do it. I can't die."
"Yes, you can," River told her.
"Maybe," Eva shrugged. "But I've got better odds than you do."
"Even if the odds are one in a million, I won't let you do this," River said, aiming at her again. "If you'll die –"
"I won't," Eva repeated.
"I'm sorry," River said. "But I can't take that chance, and I think you've forgotten how I was raised." She hit Eva over the head, making her fall to the ground and sighed as she looked at the two unconscious forms. "I'm sorry, my love."
EMH
"Oh, no, no, no, no," the Doctor said as he woke up and saw River wiring herself into the computer. "Come on, what are you doing? That's my job."
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" River retorted.
The Doctor looked at his hand, cuffed to the wall and his eyes landed on Eva who was laying, still unconscious, next to him.
"Why are we handcuffed?" he muttered to himself before looking back at River. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"
"Spoilers!" River said, looking nervously at Eva, who was slowly regaining consciousness.
"This is not a joke," the Doctor told her. "Stop this now, this is gonna kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."
"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I," River stated. "And I'm sorry for hurting Eva, but she would have tried to do it herself."
"River..." Eva muttered.
"I'm timing it for the end of the countdown, there'll be a blip in the command flow," River said. "That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."
"River!" the Doctor called out. "Please! No!"
"Funny thing is, this means you two have always known how I was going to die," River told him. "All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. Eva probably knew today, as well..."
"River," Eva said, her voice steady. "I wanted to stop it, I wanted to –"
"I know," River said. "And I know that if I would have let you, the Doctor would have killed me."
"Let her do what?" the Doctor asked.
"Connect herself to the machine," River replied. "But it was always me, in the end. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean - you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit, and Eva with a dress. You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers. What a night that was!" she sighed, tears in her eyes. "The towers sang and you cried. You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the Library."
"River, please don't do this," Eva begged.
"You even gave me your screwdriver," River went on, ignoring her. "That should've been a clue."
The Doctor looked at the two screwdrivers that sat on River's notebook and tried to reach them, but they were out of his reach.
"There's nothing you can do," River said.
"You can let me do this!" Eva called. "I can't die!"
"Yes, you can," River said. "And if you die here, it'll mean I've never met you, and it'll mean the Doctor never has, either."
"Yes, you will, because I won't die! I'll survive this!"
"It's okay," River said. "It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. The Doctor, his Evie and me, time and space." She smiled sadly. "You watch us run!"
"River, you know my name!" the Doctor called. "You whispered my name in my ear." He looked at Eva, worried. "There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could –"
"Shh, now," River whispered. "Spoilers."
The countdown reached zero and River connected herself to the machine.
"No!" Eva cried, feeling like a piece of her heart was torn out as blinding white light filled the room.
A/N: Killing River in this chapter was harder than I thought it would be... but it still had to be done...
Until next time, you can look for me on Tumblr (Mayalr96, Fandoms All Day) for sneakpeeks and updates, or on pa tr eon (Delete the spaces on the site name, ffnet in annoying, Mayalr96) where you can already read the next two chapters!
