[EDITED NOVEMBER 2018]
Part Fourteen – The Beast Below
Soundtrack:
"The Weight of Truth" - Azure by Corner Stone Cues
"Tragedy & Kindness: Soul of the Whale" - Sweet Rain by Bill Douglas
Everything was blurry. Viera hissed in irritation as she squinted and tried to will the world back into clarity. A slightly grimy metal room finally coalesced into view and with it came her memories. "Well, at least they weren't out to kill us," Viera muttered as the haze of drugged sleep lifted. Alarm jolted through her system then. "Amy?" she checked, sitting up suddenly enough to make her head spin. She winced and pressed a hand to her head; her ears were still ringing.
"Fine," the other woman groaned. "Where are we?" Amy sat up from where she'd been slumped in a chair.
Viera had been laid out on the floor beside her but there was no one else in the room, unless you counted the creepy clown man in the booth. Viera could only hope that Mandy was safe and sound somewhere else.
"Welcome to voting cubicle 330C," came a greeting from a speaker. There were four little displays stacked in front of Amy's chair, all with the same welcome screen playing.
"What is going on?" Amy muttered, looking around.
"I don't know," Viera said. "If we're in trouble for going into that tent, why would they put us in a voting booth?" There were buttons in front of the computer screens: protest, record, forget. "Forget? What in the world-"
"Please leave this installation as you would wish to find it. The United Kingdom recognizes the right to know of all its citizens," the speaker continued. "A presentation concerning the history of Starship UK will begin shortly. Your identity is being verified on our electoral roll." Amy sat back down as her name appeared on the screens. Viera stood nearby, eyeing the man in the booth warily. It had its smiling face on rather than its snarling one, but that didn't make her feel much better. What is going on?
"Name - Amelia Jessica Pond. ' Age - 1,306," stated the computer. Amy gave a startled laugh. "Marital status-" She stiffened, all amusement vanishing as she watched the screen like it held the answers to the universe.
A bit more than cold feet then? Viera wondered.
"Unknown," the computer declared. Amy slumped in the chair, but there was no time to ask her about it. A video started playing: an older man stood in front of the camera, speaking solemnly.
"You are here because you want to know the truth about this starship, and I am talking to you because you're entitled to know. When this presentation has finished, you will have a choice. You may either protest...or forget. If you choose to protest, understand this. If just 1% of the population of this ship does likewise, the program will be discontinued, with consequences for you all. If you choose to accept the situation – and we hope that you will – then press the "forget" button. All the information I am about to give you will be erased from your memory. You will continue to enjoy the safety and amenities of Starship UK, unburdened by the knowledge of what has been done to save you. Here, then, is the truth about Starship UK, and the price that has been paid for the safety of the British people. May God have mercy on our souls."
"Well that sounds encouraging," Viera muttered, leaning against the back of the chair to watch the video over Amy's shoulder.
Any thoughts of sarcasm or humor or even worry about their situation soon vanished, drowned beneath the terrible, dreadful truth.
"The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. Our nation was on the brink of destruction. But at last we found a way," the video explained. Images of burning buildings and crying children were replaced by a blurry video of a creature that looked more like it belonged in the sea than in the sky. "The creature you are looking at is called a star whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. We had no other way to survive. We trapped it, built our ship around it, and made it carry us to safety. To keep this creature under control we send electric shocks directly into its brain," the old man stated, his voice quiet but steady. Viera felt like she couldn't breathe. An image of a patch of exposed brain being stabbed by bolts of energy flickered across the screen.
"It is a terribly thing we do, the animal lives in pain, but it is the only way. We have done what we must to save this nation, to save you. But we leave the decision in your hands. If even 1% of the population protests this reality, the star whale will be released and our ship will disintegrate, killing everyone on board. Or, you can choose to forget, to go back to your life free of this knowledge. The choice is yours."
The video ended on that grim note and for a long moment both women were still, just reeling under the weight of what they'd learned. Viera finally noticed that Amy was crying and she put a hand on the redhead's shoulder, struggling to find something to say that would sound vaguely comforting.
Then Amy stiffened and reached for the 'forget' button.
"Stop!" For once her reflexes were fast enough. Viera lunged and grabbed Amy's wrist just in time. "What are you doing?" They wrestled just a moment before Amy jerked away and Viera positioned herself in front of the buttons.
The redhead was crying. "I don't want to know this. I don't-" Amy swiped at her tears and shook her head furiously. "We have to get off this ship. We can't let the Doctor find out. Knowing this- It would tear him apart. We have to get him off this ship!"
It would tear him apart, knowing what they'd done, what they were doing. It would break his hearts. "We can't leave things like this. The whale-"
"There's nothing we can do! You heard what they said!" Amy exclaimed, waving wildly at the video screen. "It's the whale or the entire British population." Her voice broke, pleading. "He shouldn't have to choose."
Worst-case scenarios scrolled through Viera's imagination, but she shook her head firmly. "Maybe there's another way. Something they haven't thought of, or something the Doctor can do that they couldn't-"
"What other way?! Don't you think they'd have found it if they could after all these years? There isn't anything we can do-"
"There has to be!" Viera shouted, startling herself nearly as much as Amy. She swallowed and pressed the back of her hand against her mouth, pushing down the urge to rage against her own race and the things they were capable of under desperate circumstances. Choosing between the torture of an innocent creature and the survival of the British people… "Human beings- We cannot become this. We cannot be this. We have to be better." Viera shook her head, moving a hand towards the 'protest' button behind her. "There has to be another way."
There was a rapid knocking at the door and both girls jump.
"Amy? Viera? Are you in there?" the Doctor called.
They looked at each other a long moment. "We're here," Viera yelled back, her voice a little shaky.
"Everything all right in there?" he asked over the familiar hum of the sonic screwdriver.
No, not really. "Just- Can you get the door open?" Viera asked instead.
"Give me a minute. The door is being stubborn."
"It's probably not supposed to let us out until we vote," Amy said listlessly, frowning at the buttons beneath the video screen.
"Ah, there we go!" The door slid back and the Doctor bounded in, full of energy as usual, though his grin faded abruptly upon seeing their expressions. "What's this then?"
"Unauthorized entry! Unauthorized entry!" the computer protested, distracting them all. The video screen flickered with the image of the mechanical man in the booth snarling at them, identical to the one in the booth tucked into the corner. "All occupants must be purged!" And with that the floor dropped out from beneath them. Viera just barely caught sight of wide-eyed Mandy hovering in the doorway before gravity took her and they fell.
"Whoo-whooooooooo!" the Doctor shouted gleefully as they were flung down a long chute.
"AAaaaaaaahhhh!" Amy and Viera echoed his yell with a bit less joy. Viera had never been fond of either falling or rollercoasters, and the tunnel was a bad mix of both. Still, she rather missed the ride when it ended and they were all thrown to the wet, smelly ground with a squish.
"Oh, that's just- gross," Viera gasped, climbing carefully to her feet. The floor tried to slide out from under her and she swayed unsteadily. Nearby Amy slipped and landed on her side with a splash. The Doctor wasn't much better off, barely keeping his lanky frame upright as his arms flailed for balance. She supposed they were just lucky they hadn't landed on top of each other.
"High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel," the Doctor remarked absently, looking up and scanning the ceiling with his screwdriver.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, picking bits of… stuff off her nightshirt.
"600 feet down. We're at the heart of the ship! What's this, then – a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave."
"It's a rubbish dump," Amy groaned. "And it's minging."
"Minging?" Viera mouthed the unfamiliar word, grimacing faintly as her head complained; the crazy ride, the emotional rollercoaster of the last few minutes, and the stress of what lay ahead felt like they were curling around her thoughts and squeezing like a python.
"Yes, but only food refuse." The Doctor drew in a deep breath through his nose, and Viera grimaced. She supposed she should be glad he hadn't tasted anything yet. He did have a disturbing habit of licking things. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship."
"Wait," Viera said, finally looking up from her shaky feet. "Feeding tubes?" She caught Amy's gaze and stricken realization spread across both their faces.
"What? What is it? What'd I miss?" the Doctor asked, eyeing them both suspiciously.
"Doctor…" Viera started. A rumbling from deeper in the 'cave' cut her off. They all looked out into the darkness for a long moment.
"A mouth!" the Doctor exclaimed suddenly. Wonder spread across his face as he turned a wobbly circle, staring around them. "We're in great big mouth! This creature must be enormous!"
"And it's eating us!" Amy reminded him, caught somewhere between amused and appalled by his reaction.
"What? Oh. Right. Probably not the best way to study a new creature." The Doctor peered at the tube above them. "It's been fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is… closed for business," he said.
Viera followed his gaze to the great wall of jagged teeth, firmly closed.
"We can try though," Amy said, beginning to make her way forward.
"No, wait!" the Doctor yelped. The floor, or tongue as it were, began shaking. It felt like an earthquake, but considering they were in a mouth… "Oh, too late. You've done it now."
"What's it doing?" Viera asked, fairly certain she didn't really want to know.
The Doctor gave her a bemused little grin, a little disturbed himself but still enjoying the feel of a new experience far more than he should. "We triggered its swallow reflex."
"Oh great," Viera said.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked as the Doctor pointed the screwdriver towards the back of the creature's throat.
"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors."
"The what?"
"The eject button."
Viera groaned.
"How does a mouth have an eject button?"
"You're about to find out!" the Doctor shouted over the groans of the beast. He straightened his jacket and sighed a little. "Well, this isn't going to be big on dignity."
Viera gave him an annoyed look, which he answered with a grin. Then she took a deep breath and held it, folding her arms over her head as the sound of a flood rushed up behind them.
They were caught in a great wave of, well, Viera was trying very hard not to think about that. They were tossed about, rolled over and over helpless in the force of it, then thrown against something hard. Viera lay stunned for several seconds, curled up in a ball, before she realized that the world had stopped moving. She took a deep, gasping breath, which turned out to be a mistake. The scent of bile and half-digested food, and just the thought of it all over her was too much; her stomach heaved.
"Oh, we are never doing that again," Viera said when she could finally open her mouth without being sick. The Doctor had just finished checking over their unconscious companion. He moved over to her and did a quick scan with the screwdriver.
"Nothing serious," he murmured, asking as much as he was telling. Despite the readings from the scan he was watching her carefully.
"Just the smell," Viera agreed with a grimace. She nodded towards Amy. "She all right?"
"Just got knocked about. She'll be fine," the Doctor said. He offered her a hand up, and Viera climbed unsteadily to her feet. The floor was slick but at least it wasn't moving beneath her. They were in a long, metal tunnel with drains on the side that had gotten rid of most of the mess.
"I suppose that's why Mandy was so afraid of breaking the rules. Troublemakers get sent 'below'," Viera said. The Doctor was studying her still, and she held his hand tighter in both of hers, ignoring the fact that they were both filthy. It was probably time to explain. "Doctor, that voting booth… They said British citizens had a right to know, but at the end- they offered the chance to forget, to go on with their lives and not have to know…"
"To know what?"
"It's a star whale," she said, motioning back down the tunnel towards the mouth they'd just been in. She couldn't look at him. Viera saw Amy stirring behind him, but she wasn't willing to be interrupted again. "They trapped it, built their ship around it. They said if they let it go, everyone on board would die, but Doctor…" Viera looked up at last. "They're hurting it. To 'keep it under control', to keep it moving, they're-"
The Doctor stepped back, horror and anger flickering across his expression before he settled on determination. He stalked towards the door, his fist clinching around the sonic screwdriver as he drew it from his jacket and started scanning the rim of the door.
"They said there wasn't another way, that it was the whale or the entire British population," Amy said, sounding defeated as she leveraged herself to her feet. Viera wondered if she was wishing that they had chosen to forget after all.
"There's always another way," the Doctor growled past gritted teeth, not turning away from the door.
That was a lie, of course. The Doctor knew better than anyone that there wasn't always another way, that there wasn't always a good choice. He'd killed nearly his entire race for the safety of the rest of the universe because there hadn't been a better option. But there were some things it was important to believe in whether or not they were actually true.
There has to be another way. They'd towed the earth once; perhaps they could tow the ship to safety after they let the whale go. But then… the ship was built around the whale; it would fall apart when it left. Still, surely the Doctor could find a way around that, find some way to keep it together long enough to get them to another planet somewhere.
"Come on!" the Doctor snapped, jerking Viera out of her thoughts as he slammed a fist against the door in frustration. He scowled at the 'forget' button next to it. "One door, one door switch, one condition. Not letting us out of here unless we agree to forget, is that it? Well that's not going to happen!" he shouted.
"Doctor-" Viera started. Then the lights behind them switched on and they all turned to look at two Smilers in their booths at the other end of the hallway. The Doctor stalked towards them, and the two women followed
"What are you here for? Scaring people into forgetting?" he demanded of those silent, smiling faces. Well, used to be smiling. Their head turned around with the sound of winding gears until they both displayed frowning faces. "Who is responsible for this? Who's shoving people down this poor creature's throat? Where is the control room?" The heads of those men in the booths turned again, displaying the snarling, red-eyed faces they'd seen before getting dropped into the feeding tube. "Is that supposed to scare me?" the Doctor laughed. "Blimey, you are thick. I'm not forgetting and I am not leaving without answers. You've already tried to feed us to the whale; that obviously didn't work!"
The Doctor stepped right up to the glass, leaning down so his face was as close to theirs as he could get. "So what are you going to do about it?" he challenged quietly.
There was a click and a creak as the front of the booths swung open; the Doctor had to leap back out of the way.
"Oh, you just had to ask," Viera said as the mechanical men slowly stood and stepped towards them.
"Yes, well…" The Doctor shrugged one shoulder a bit sheepishly. The three of them backed away. "Now we know."
"Doctor?" Amy asked nervously as the snarling men stalked them. There was the hiss of a door seal opening behind them and they all glanced back to see a woman in a red cloak raise a gun. With fierce determination on her face, she shot the two Smilers and they went down with a crack and hiss of broken mechanics. The woman slid the gun into its holster on her hip.
"Well, look who it is," the Doctor said. "Dunno what you were hiding behind that mask for; you look a good deal better without it."
She gave a confident little smirk and walked up to his companions. "You must be Viera and Amy. Liz. Liz 10."
"Hi," Amy said, taking the offered hand. Liz flinched when their hands made a squelching sound and pulled away.
"Hello," Viera echoed, fighting a grin at the other woman's expression. Then she looked down at herself and grimaced. What she wouldn't give for a shower.
"Er, yes. Lovely to meet you." Liz wiped her hand on the edge of her cloak. She stepped towards the door and waved a young girl in. "You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave."
The Doctor grinned at Mandy before returning his attention to Liz. "How did you find us?"
"Stuck my gizmo on you. It quit working sometime after you got spit out, so I couldn't listen in, but the tracker held on. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"
Something hardened in the Doctor's tone and gaze. "You're old enough for voting rights. This 'big fella', you've chosen to forget about him."
"No. Never forgot, never voted, not technically a British subject," Liz said.
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?"
"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot."
"Oi. I have great hair!" he protested, reaching up to cover his hair protectively. He flinched when he remembered it was covered in sick, then pouted.
There was mechanical clicking at the other end of the tunnel. Viera grimaced at the sight of twitching Smilers.
"Resilient, aren't they?" she muttered.
"They're repairing. Doesn't take them long," said Liz. "Let's move." They followed her out of the room into another road, this one completely absent of people. Amy jogged up walk next to the Doctor. Viera walked next to Mandy a few steps back, occasionally glancing behind them to make sure they weren't being followed.
"I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was," Liz said.
"Your family?"
"The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day."
"Doctor-" Viera warned, spotting a Smiler coming around the corner behind them. Another rose slowly from its booth as they passed.
"Liz 10?" the Doctor interrupted with a quick glance back to gauge how much time they had.
"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" she ordered, spinning around with two guns in hand. They all ducked. She shot the Smilers with expert aim and they fell. Liz chuckled and grinned at the looks on their faces. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."
"So you're in charge of this ship," the Doctor said as they got to their feet and hurried down a side street, "this whole country. How is it that you don't know what's going on?"
Viera couldn't see Liz's face, but she could hear the anger in her voice. "My government is keeping secrets from me." She picked up the pace, then paused to open a door. "This way. In here." She ushered them through and locked the door behind them.
They were in a long corridor with bars blocking off a hallway to one side. It was clear why: a tentacle like the one that had nearly skewered Amy and Viera had broken through the floor. It was smashing against the bars, trying to get to them.
"There's a high-speed Vator through there," said Liz. She turned and eyed the tentacle with a frown. "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?"
"Doctor, we saw one of these up top," Amy said. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root."
"Exactly like a root, or a feeler. It's all part of the same creature. The star whale is reaching out," the Doctor said sadly. "It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."
Reaching out. Trying to stop the pain? Trying to get free? Viera bit her lip as they watched the tentacle lash out again and again. I'm sorry. I'm promise, we'll make this stop. There has to be a way.
"What, like an infestation?" Liz asked.
"No," the Doctor said coldly. He straightened from where he'd been leaning against the bars, scanning the feeler with the sonic screwdriver. "It's not invading your ship; it's trapped here."
"What do you mean?" Liz asked. The Doctor just met her eyes silently, his mouth clamped shut and his whole body tense. He wasn't sure he trusted her, he wasn't sure he believed that she was innocent of what was being done, and he wasn't in any mood to cater to the humans responsible for causing such pain. "Doctor, someone's been feeding my subjects to that thing. I demand answers!" For a moment they stood toe to toe, stubborn aggression on both their faces, but then Liz's stance shifted a little and the Doctor's expression softened slightly in response. "I need answers. My people need help."
There was the sound of distant footsteps growing closer and the Doctor finally backed down. "Not here."
Liz didn't look happy, but she nodded. "You're right. We've got to keep moving. Come on."
They started off again at a faster pace, no longer lingering to talk. Viera was thoroughly lost before long as they turned corner after corner, hurrying down side streets and hallways until they finally found themselves in the Queen's rooms. There was a luxurious bed in one corner, a fireplace on the opposite wall, and plush rugs on the floor. It was lovely; the dozens of half-filled glasses in the far corner through off the décor a bit though.
"What's with all the glasses?" Amy asked.
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what."
The Doctor studied her, still trying to figure out whether she was being entirely honest. "A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"
"Secrets are being kept from me," repeated Liz, frustrated. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this – my entire reign – and you've achieved more in one afternoon."
The Doctor paced around the room as they talked, pausing when he reached the white mask Liz had set on a chair. He studied it like it held some sort of answer, though Viera couldn't tell whether it was something important or if it just made him think of a fond memory.
"Wait," he said, pausing to tilt his head at the Queen. "How old were you when you came to the throne?"
"Forty. Why?"
Amy looked up from where she'd been peering into a side room. "What, you're 50 now? No way!"
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."
"Really? They can do that?" Viera asked, perking up and giving Liz her full attention. She ignored the odd looks at her eagerness from the others. Her mind raced, fueled by crazy hopes and wishes. Aging could be such a heavy burden to bear when people didn't do it together. When they couldn't do it together. What if- What if Jack could have centuries more with Ianto instead of half a dozen decades at most? What if she could stay longer with the Doctor? Would he want that? Would he tire of her company? There was no question of whether she'd want it. Even if they were never more than friends, Viera would stay with him until the end of the universe, the end of time, the end of everything if she could manage it. That hadn't changed even after twelve years apart.
"Do you actually live longer or is your body just younger for the same lifespan?"
"I… I don't-." Oddly enough, the question seemed to stump the Queen for a moment. "I'll live a bit longer than usual, I suppose. I don't really pay attention to the science. Why? You're a bit young to be looking for the fountain of youth, aren't you?"
Viera shrugged one shoulder, forcefully herself not to look at the Doctor. "Just curious."
"I've got another question?" the Doctor interrupted, waving the mask with his left hand. "Do you always wear this in public?"
"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."
The Doctor hummed and turned to show the mask to Amy and Viera. "Air-balanced porcelain. It stays on by itself because it's perfectly sculpted to her face."
"Okay… is that important?" said Amy.
"Oh, very," he said turning back to look at the Queen. "Liz, the truth has been right under your nose this whole time." He looked down at the mask. "Or right over your nose, to be exact." The Doctor took a deep breath, his expression opening up subtly as though he'd finally decided to trust her. Or at least trust her enough to explain. "That creature down below, it's a star whale-"
The door to the hallway opened with a creak and Viera took a step back as the cloaked men from earlier walked into the room. Amy looked at her and they nudged Mandy behind them.
"What are you doing here?" Liz demanded, standing. "How dare you come in here?"
"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK," said one of the men. His voice was a respectful monotone, but he looked less than pleased when the Doctor got into his personal space to study him. "You will come with us now."
Liz lifted her chin. "Why would I do that?"
Viera sucked in a startled breath as the man's head turned with a familiar mechanical clicking and his face was replaced by the snarl of a Smiler.
The Queen stepped back, just as surprised. "How can they be Smilers?"
"Half Smiler, half human," the Doctor mused, scanning one with the screwdriver. He looked less enthusiastic than usual despite the new discovery. The fate of the star whale must be weighing heavily on his mind. Maybe that meant he didn't have a plan yet.
Liz stepped up to the one who had spoken, unafraid or at least not showing fear. "Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?"
"The highest authority, Ma'am."
"I am the highest authority."
"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am," the Smiler said, still respectful
"Where?"
"The Tower, Ma'am."
They were taken deep into the ship, down two separate elevators and through a long stone corridor that felt like it belonged to an old castle rather than a spaceship. At last the Smilers herded them through a doorway and into what looked like some sort of control room.
"Doctor, where are we?" asked Amy.
"The lowest point of Starship UK: the dungeon."
"Wonderful." Viera grimaced and looked around, eyeing the computer consoles and wondering how they were going to get out of trouble this time.
"There are children down here. Why?" the Doctor asked. Viera turned to see Mandy trying to talk to a dazed little boy. There were half a dozen of them wandering through the room.
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children," the steward said dryly.
"You fed them to the whale?" Viera asked, appalled. Would they even have cared if the whale had eaten the children?
The steward seemed unconcerned. "You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."
"Oh, yeah, lucky: that's us," the Doctor muttered. Viera followed him further into the room, freezing when she caught sight of a metal funnel poised over an opening in the floor. Energy shot down through the funnel and she jumped when it shot down into the well below, into what Viera knew was the whale's brain. Seeing it on the video wasn't at all the same as seeing for herself. The horror took her breath away.
She took an automatic step forward, only to be stopped by the unyielding grip of the nearest Smiler-human hybrid. "Doctor…"
His eyes were dark and grim when he glanced her way. "I know." The Smilers didn't stop him when he made his way closer to stare down into the well. They let Viera go too once it seemed like she wasn't going to do anything rash. She didn't. She didn't even move closer. She didn't want to see what was happening.
"What's that?" asked the Queen.
The Steward was silent, so the Doctor answered. "That is the gas pedal, the accelerator: Starship UK's go-faster button. It is also the exposed pain center of the star whale's brain."
"I don't understand."
"Don't you?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous as he stalked around the room towards her. The Queen stepped back. "This spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature – this poor, trapped, terrified creature," he spat furiously. "It's not infesting you, it's not invading – it's what you have instead of an engine! And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving." He dug through his pockets. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing, its cries for help. Let me lend you an ear," the Doctor growled, lifting the sonic screwdriver. "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear."
It was terrible, the screaming. High pitched and overwhelmed with pain, and none of them had ever heard. They'd all chosen to ignore it, to forget.
The sound drilled into her ears relentlessly, causing a vicious headache to flare. Viera hissed and stepped forward, intending on catching the Doctor's arm, on making it quiet again until they could find a way to fix things. The Smiler behind her must have thought she was trying something else because it grabbed for her, catching her hand. It might have been fine if she'd gotten a chance to clean up, but her skin was still slick from being in the whale's mouth, and the little gold ring on her right hand slid right off her finger in the Smiler's grip.
Without the bio-dampener there was nothing to protect her mind, and the whale was desperately reaching out with everything it had. Agony, fierce and endless and pleading, crashed down on her. Viera couldn't even scream, her breath stolen away by the depthless pain of another. She doubled over and tried to cover her head with her hands.
"No." The gasped word barely made a sound as it left her lips. "Stop." There was no other thought in her mind besides the desperation to make it end, to answer that plea. Viera lunged forward and scrambled atop the railing that surrounded the exposed brain. She couldn't hear the other's yelling for her to stop, she couldn't even hear the Doctor. There was only the voice of the whale.
Viera clung to the rail and reached out a hand, catching the next bolt of electricity before it could stab into the star whale's brain. It skittered down the power channels in her arm and settled inside. Then finally, finally the searing pain in the back of her mind began to ease.
Too focused on the whale and the energy the machine continued to shoot into her grasp, Viera didn't hear the sound of a gun cocking behind her.
"Stop her!" the steward ordered frantically. "She's going to kill us all!"
"Don't you touch her!" the Doctor barked, brandishing his sonic screwdriver at the cyborg-hybrids. "Don't you dare." Their faces twisted into angry snarls with red eyes as they tried to edge around him.
The ship shuttered beneath them and they all tumbled sideways, trying to hold on to whatever they could. In the wake of the chaos, the steward lunged for the Queen and managed to get ahold of her gun before she shoved him away. Desperate, he raised it to aim at Viera, hesitating only when the Doctor stepped in front of her.
"She's going to kill everyone on this ship," the steward repeated, threatening and pleading and a heartbeat away from pulling the trigger. "Get out of my way."
"Stop!" Amy yelled. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed the steward's arm. "Don't you get it? It's not leaving! It's not leaving!"
The whole deck went still and quiet. Aside from that one sudden jolt, the ship was perfectly fine. It hadn't fallen apart. The whale hadn't abandoned them.
"See? It's still here. Ship's fine, am I right?" Amy demanded, turning towards the nearest techs.
It was the steward who examined the readings. "We've increased speed."
"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot," Amy pointed out snappishly. "Gotta help."
"Turn the machine off," the Doctor demanded lowly. He still looked like he was on the edge of doing something dangerous as he pointed to the sharp point above the whale's brain crackling with electricity. "Right now. Turn it off."
Hawthorn hesitated, looking at the Queen. "Do it," she ordered immediately.
"I'm afraid we don't have the authority, Ma'am. That's something you will have to do." Quiet and grim, the steward led Liz to a video screen nearby with two glowing buttons sitting below it: 'forget' and 'abdicate'. He left the gun on the ground behind him. "We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us."
"What?" Liz breathed, but then the video was playing and she had far more answers than she wanted.
"If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London…"
The Doctor listened absently as he turned towards the machine still firing bright blue blots of electricity towards the whale's brain, intercepted by Viera. He wasn't sure exactly how much of that energy she could store up before it needed an outlet, and he wasn't going to wait for the Queen to shut it down. He'd do it himself.
"The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales," the video continued behind them. It took a minute to follow the power cords back the computers and find the spot where he could use the screwdriver to flip an internal switch and shut the whole thing off. There was a quiet hum of dying energy as the crackling blue energy threatening the whale vanished.
The Doctor returned to Viera's side and hesitated a brief moment before reaching for her; his hands were shaking.
"Viera? It's all right. It's over. The star whale is safe. You can come down now," he coaxed quietly. She jumped a little at his touch, turning to look at him with wide hazel eyes. Her pupils were dilated. "Ah, hold on just a minute." The Doctor hurried away to snatch up the little gold ring still held loosely in the fist of the hybrid. The cloaked man had returned to his human form, and he gave up the bio-dampener without complaint.
"Here you are," the Doctor murmured, sliding the ring onto her finger again. Viera took a deep, shuttering breath and slumped against him. Worried, he scanned her with the screwdriver, but nothing seemed to be wrong aside from stress.
"I'm all right," Viera muttered into his shoulder, clutching at him. He wrapped his arms loosely around her as she slowly regained her bearings.
The video was just finishing as the Doctor returned his attention to the rest of the group. "If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision." The video turned off.
"But that's… that's me," Liz said, struggling with the weight of everything she'd just learned. "The woman on the video…" She stared down at the 'forget' button with horror. "Right under my nose," the Queen muttered, glancing up at the Doctor. "My mask…"
"Yeah," the Doctor said quietly. His earlier rage was gone, replaced by relief and sorrow and perhaps even a degree of sympathy that these humans would have to live with what they'd done, the pain they had caused without reason. "It's old. An antique, made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."
"I made myself forget," Liz said.
"Over and over again," the Doctor said. He watched silently as Liz closed her eyes and slumped back in her chair.
"But I don't understand," Hawthorn spoke up hesitantly. "It didn't leave. Why didn't it leave?"
Amy was watching Mandy and a boy her age pet one of the whale's feelers with a look of realization on her face.
"The star whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago," the redhead said, turning back to the rest of them. "It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it – that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." Her gaze focused on the Doctor. "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."
The room was quiet as they all digested that. Grief and guilt and regret stained all their expressions. Viera just felt tired. All that time, all that pain, and they'd never needed to hurt the whale at all.
"Never again," the Queen swore at last, quiet and fierce. "No more forgetting; no more pain. We will take care of the star whale, and everyone will know that it saved us."
She looked up and met the Doctor's eyes, and he nodded.
"Would you excuse us? I need to make sure do a more thorough scan," he said, motion towards Viera, who was still leaning against his side.
"Of course," said Liz. "Why don't you use my quarters. You could use a bit of freshening up." She was finally starting to look a little more like herself, a little less overwhelmed and more confident again. She was back in charge, and this time there would be no more secrets.
Probably.
The chance for a shower was too good to pass up. They could have gone straight to the TARDIS, but the Doctor wanted to make doubly sure that everything was settled and that there wasn't any permanent damage to the whale before they left. The Doctor tugged Viera back the way they'd come, his arm slung over her shoulders. Amy trotted beside them.
"Is she all right?" Amy asked the Doctor. "How did she do that? How come you never told me you could do that?" she turned the question to Viera instead.
"I'm fine," Viera said, smiling at her. She was fine, for the most part. The whole situation still made her sick at heart, but at least it was over and the whale was safe. Everyone was safe.
"She's a conduit of sorts," the Doctor answered Amy's other question. "Her body and mind are riddled with power channels, which lets her control certain types of energy."
"Wow," Amy said. "But I thought you said you were born in America. Aren't you human?"
"I was born human. I suppose I don't rightly know what I am now." She shrugged. "It's a long story. There's a few I never got around to telling you." Nenavist was not her favorite memory.
There was silence for a few steps before Amy spoke up again. "You sort of… freaked out when we heard the whale screaming. I mean, it was awful, but..."
The Doctor grimaced, apology written all over his face. "Sorry about that."
Viera shook her head and squeezed his waist in a loose hug. "It's all right. I just- I had a headache," she explained. "And that sound felt like it was drilling through my ears. I was going to ask you to stop, but then my ring slipped off and…" Viera leaned around the Doctor to talk to Amy. "The power channels in my head leave me vulnerable to things like telepathy, and with that much pain so near… I kind of lost it." She took a deep breath, looking away. "I could have killed everyone," Viera said quietly, wincing. "I didn't even think…" She'd just reacted, desperate to make the pain stop. Not a good habit to get into.
"No one got hurt," Amy said. "You saved the whale!"
"Could have done that more rationally," Viera said. She didn't regret what she'd done, but it scared her to think how badly things might have gone. She should have let the Doctor figure it out instead of risking all those lives.
"I don't know," the Doctor said carefully. "Things worked out for the best in the end. I'm not sure what I would have done, with the choice left up to me." Viera looked up, surprised by the quiet tone. He looked contemplative, troubled.
"You would have figured something out. We would have figured something out," Viera said firmly. He looked down at her, solemn for a moment that seemed to stretch and grow… then he smiled that slow, honest smile that made her feel like the sun had come out from behind the clouds.
"Yeah," he agreed, slinging his free arm over Amy's shoulders in a sudden return of his cheerfulness. "We'd have managed."
They were back at the Queen's quarters soon enough. They let Viera have the first shower, for which she was eternally grateful. She finished quickly, or as quickly as she could while washing herself from head to toe three times. She scrubbed her clothes nearly as well as she scrubbed herself, then took them into the speed-dryer with her. It was a nifty little cupboard with walls full of vents. She pressed a button and was immediately surrounded by a whirlwind of warm air. When she finally came out, she was clean and dry, and finally felt human again. It did wonders for her optimism.
Viera borrowed the Queen's hairbrush, which might have been a little rude but the dryer had left her hair completely wild, then explained the dryer to Amy before settling herself on the edge of the bed.
"So…" she started awkwardly when it was just her and the Doctor again. "Do you think there's any way we could convince Liz to let us bring Ianto here?" Viera asked as nonchalantly as she could manage, watching the Doctor for his reaction. "Slow his biological clock. I mean, we'd need to talk to Jack first, of course."
The Doctor studied her carefully, tilting his head. "Do you think they're ready for that kind of commitment?" He sounded amused by the idea but thoughtful too.
Viera shrugged. She wanted to say yes, considering the grief he'd felt at Ianto's death, but she didn't know Jack well enough to make that call. "I think they should have the option if we can give it to them. They wouldn't have to decide now, but we could offer. Even if it wasn't Ianto, Jack ought to have somebody he doesn't lose to age so quickly. Besides, can you imagine Jack's reaction?" They shared a grin before the Doctor returned his attention to poking about the room. Viera tried to draw up the courage to ask her next question in the quiet the followed, but the Doctor beat her to it.
"Were you asking just for Jack?" He asked it very casually, but his movements were a little too careful as he adjusted a few trinkets on the dresser, and he didn't so much as glance at her as he asked.
Viera stared at him a long moment, trying to calm the deafening sound of her panicked heartbeat enough to hear herself think.
"No," she said finally. The Doctor looked up and Viera looked away. "Shouldn't you- Shouldn't you know the answer to that?" she asked, pulling the brush through her hair a little too sharply. She winced as it caught on a tangle. With a quiet huff she put the brush down and looked at him. "I mean… I told you I loved you. I meant that." Sure she'd been drunk the first time and thought she was dying the second, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. "And you- you saw… everything. Didn't you? When I used the Obetovat?"
"Suppose I did," the Doctor admitted. "But… It's been a long time for you. People change their minds."
"Not me. Not about this," she said.
"Living that long's not all it's cracked up to be, Viera," the Doctor cautioned. "You'd outlive everyone you care for. Makes relationships a bit tricky, you know. And seeing so much, living so long… You might end up with an awful lot of baggage to carry."
Like you did? She didn't know quite how to deal with that subject, so she tried for lightheartedness. "Oh come on, I live in a time machine. The only person who would ever even notice I wasn't aging right is you. Unless you're planning on kicking me out?"
"Of course not. But sooner or later-"
"I'm not going anywhere," Viera said.
"Everyone leaves." The dark tone to his words and the look in his deep eyes pulled her up short. Bitter rage was buried there, old and restrained and reasoned against, but still there. Her heart ached in response, as it always did. For a long moment they both just stared at each other.
"Not by choice," she said more quietly.
The Doctor softened a bit at that, but it only made him look worn, dejected. "I think maybe that's worse."
Viera took a deep breath and let it out slowly. What was she supposed to say to that? It was true, everyone left him sooner or later, by choice or by circumstance. And yeah, she realized that was pretty much how life was for everyone, but as long as he'd lived, as many people as he'd lost… it broke her heart.
She'd give anything to be able to say she'd never leave, but that wasn't in her power to promise. She slid off the bed and stepped closer, hazel eyes never leaving his.
"What do you want me to do? Give up on you? Stop trying?" Viera asked. His gaze slid away but he didn't disagree. "Well I can't. I'm not wired that way. We can be just friends if that's what you want, but I'm staying as long as I can manage, even if that means extending my life. Unless you're planning on abandoning me somewhere, there's nothing you can do to stop me. So get used to it."
The Doctor flinched; it was faint and she never would have noticed it if she hadn't been standing so close, but it made her wonder. Maybe that's what he was afraid of: getting used to it. Viera had to admit that in his life the moment things started to seem steady and peaceful it was almost inevitable that things would find a way to fall apart. He attracted chaos like bees to honey.
"A lot of things change over time," the Doctor said. "Maybe you'll spot a place too pretty to leave. Or maybe you'll get tired of all the near-death experiences. Oh hey, maybe you meet a bloke, decide to settle down, procreate."
"Procreate?" she asked with a slight, incredulous laugh.
The Doctor shrugged. "The idea of lots of little Viera running around isn't a bad one. The Universe could use more like you."
She shook her head at the image, trying to refocus the conversation. "That's not going to happen. The leaving, I mean." She couldn't even imagine loving someone else the way she did him. Not ever. She knew her own heart now, better than she'd ever thought possible. It wouldn't change.
The subject of children she wasn't touching with a ten-foot pole just then.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting a settled life, a home."
"No, there's not. But I'm settled here, despite all the excitement and utterly insane adventures, despite being gone for twelve years. The TARDIS is home." Viera took that one step more she needed to peer up into the Doctor's brown eyes. "You know me. Better than anyone, never mind the time that's passed. Think about what you saw in me. Do you really think I'm ever going to change my mind about this? That I'm even capable of regretting this?" Viera wasn't confident about much, especially when it came to herself, but this she was sure of. Whatever happened to her, to them, between them, she could never regret staying with him.
The Doctor knew it too; she could see it in his face.
"If you don't want me around that long…" Viera started softly.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like, whether that's one more year or a hundred lifetimes," the Doctor interrupted, all quiet sincerity though he still looked caught between worry and hope. Viera hadn't noticed the tension growing inside her until it was gone, relief filling in its place.
"Good," Viera said. "Because if I have anything to say about it, you're going to be stuck with me a very, very long time."
"Can I have that brush-" Amy stopped talking abruptly as she stepped into the room. Viera flushed, realizing they were standing very close together, and turned to snatch up the brush she'd left on the bed. "Sorry… am I interrupting something?" The redhead sounded decidedly more gleeful than apologetic.
"Nope," the Doctor replied, popping the 'p'. "Shower's open? Good! Excuse me." And just like that he disappeared into the bathroom.
Coward, Viera huffed halfheartedly. She felt heat spread across her cheeks all over again as Amy sat down next to her. She could feel her gaze.
"Sooo… Things getting a little more… complicated between you two?"
Viera gave up ignoring her and flopped back on the bed, handing over the hair-brush. "Something like that," she admitted with a sigh, watching Amy grin from the corner of her eye. The redhead might be younger, but she did have more experience with certain things than Viera did. "I think the more important question is, why did you let us steal you away on your wedding night?" And how bad is your case of cold feet?
Amy's grin faded a bit, and she shrugged. "I don't know exactly. One last adventure before- Well, you know."
"I always figured being married would just be another kind of adventure," Viera said gently.
"I… guess I hadn't thought of it quite like that," Amy said. "It's so permanent and Rory's just so... I mean, he's always been there, you know? He's always been… Rory." Fondness crept into her voice and smile, and Viera wondered if Amy even realized that the hesitancy was gone. "He's my best friend. He's… I don't know, he's just Rory. Did I ever tell you I used to think he was gay?" Amy laughed and shook her head. "Because he never paid attention to any girls. Because he never paid attention to any girl but me. And somehow we just- we just started dating and then he asked me to marry him and… I said yes."
"What?! You're engaged?" the Doctor exclaimed, rejoining them. He certainly hadn't taken as long in the shower.
"Yes, I am engaged," Amy said, grinning crookedly at his expression.
"Huh. How about that. Who's the lucky bloke?"
"Rory."
"Rory…" the Doctor echoed thinking. "Is that the one with the nose?"
"Rude," Viera scolded with a laugh as Amy made a face at him.
"Ah, well, there are worse things. My last body, for instance, you should have seen my ears," the Doctor rambled, bounding to the door. "Come on you two. Allons-y. Things to do; people to save!" he exclaimed, trying to wave them through the door.
"Trouble to find; chaos to make," Viera added, grinning at him as she stepped out into the hallway.
"Wait a minute. What you mean your last body?" Amy asked behind her. "No one told me you could change bodies."
"Oh, never mind that. Come on." Apparently deciding not to sate her curiosity at the moment, the Doctor snatched up both their hands and took off down the corridor once more.
They went back to the Tower. The whole place made Viera's skin crawl, but Amy was a good distraction. The redhead spent the whole time the Doctor was checking on the whale trying to pry whatever facts and stories she'd missed out of Viera.
When they were all more or less convinced that things would be fine without them, Liz approached, a tired smile on her face. It had been a very trying day.
"The British Empire owes you a debt. If there's every anything we can do for you-" the Queen began. Viera spoke up before she could lose her nerve.
"Actually, there is something. Is there any way…" It felt like such an awkward request, but it was a chance she couldn't bear to let go. The best thing to do was to just come out and say it. "I'd like my biological clock slowed."
The Queen and Amy looked surprised; the Doctor just looked a bit concerned. "Are you sure? That's a very big decision," Her Majesty cautioned.
"I know. I do," Viera said. "But I am absolutely certain."
"You don't have to do this now, you know," the Doctor said quietly. "We can come back anytime."
"I'm not going to change my mind," Viera said. She turned to hold his gaze, completely certain of her words. "I want this."
"All right," the Queen agreed as the Doctor backed off. "Of course, if that's what you want, we'd be happy to help. I'll tell my scientists to get ready."
"Thank you." They were left alone again for a while. The Doctor paced; Viera thought he was more nervous than she was. And she was nervous; she just… knew it would be worth it.
"And I thought marriage was a big step," Amy murmured, too quietly for the Doctor to hear.
Viera shrugged and then shook her head. "People do crazy things…"
"When they're in love?" Amy finished. A wondering, crooked little smile lit up her face. "You really are, aren't you?"
Viera watched the Doctor bother one of the scientists, demanding every detail of the exact process they intended to use. She rested a hand absently on her chest, feeling the echo of his hearts near hers, the rush of warmth and the sense of home that came from that presence. Helplessly, she smiled.
"Yes. I suppose I am."