Author's Note: Apparently I liked hurting poor Rey….

Chapter 9

Everything was silent.

Silent and still.

Rey blinked, black flashing before her eyes. Metal bit into her arm and a weight pressed on her chest. She struggled to draw a breath. She remembered crashing and shouting and something crunching into her ribs—pain flared through her side as the weight was suddenly released and air rushed into her lungs. Her eyes popped open.

The Doctor's face hovered in her field of vision.

"Well!" He shook himself and looked around. "That's one way to get to the basement!"

Rey pushed herself up with a groan. Pain radiated through her chest and she had to stop and draw a shallow breath. Sheaths of twisted metal and wires surrounded her. She edged her shirt up and peered at her ribs.

Not too much blood, but that was definitely going to be a bruise.

Wonderful.

She just sat there for a moment in the pile of ruined metal, trying to get the nerve to stand. The Doctor stepped up and held out a hand—and for once, she let him help her to her feet, biting back a gasp of pain as he slipped an arm around her waist, brushing against her bruised ribs.

Concern wrinkled his brow. "You alright?"

"Well, I've just had an elevator collapse on top of me, so I think you can answer that yourself." The words were strained as she tried to get her breath.

Beside them, a woman cleared her throat. Rey blinked and turned to see Irena standing to the side, one eyebrow raised. "For the record," she said, "your husband took the brunt of the impact. He pushed me out of the way and fell on top of you."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Now—"

"Didn't think he'd tell you that," Irena said matter-of-factly. "Now, we need to get out of here. This is the wrong part of the lower level and it's not safe."

Leaning a little too heavily against the Doctor, Rey looked around.

Half-finished metal pillars stretched away into shadow, the only light coming from a few small utility lanterns planted about the cavernous area. Every movement echoed. In the distance, Rey thought she could see the twinkle of starlight.

It was open.

Unfinished.

"It's been unstable ever since they started building it." Irena was already walking forward, her heels clicking on the metal floors. "Prone to losing pieces."

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. "Losing….pieces?"

"I meant that exactly how it sounded." She smiled a humorless smile. "Losing pieces." The smile dropped. "We…have a high turnover here. Of workers."

Rey blinked. "So it just…loses…pieces?" She tensed, staring at the floor. What if it decided to drop out from under her? "Sections just drop off? Why?"

The Doctor gave her a half-grin. "Always did like girls who ask the right questions."

She smacked him on the arm.

He was only making this worse, acting like he was flirting.

"Nobody knows. The whole ship's volatile, although the core sections aren't quite as bad. It's the new sections that are the worst." Irena led them around a corner and stopped.

They stood in the doorway to a slightly more finished room, the walls sleek and polished. An empty table stretched across the far wall and floor-to-ceiling windows looked out into space. The only light was distant starlight, casting the room in silhouette and shadow.

"Please forgive me." She frowned. "I've only been to this level once and never to this section. We seem to have stumbled on some sort of observation chamber?"

Rey's eyes widened—and she ran to the window with a small gasp.

She had seen the stars every night on Jakku. But these—these were stars from another universe. She pressed her hands against the cold glass, her breath fogging up the window as she gazed out into the blackness, pinpricked with distant points of light.

How many universes did they hold?

She turned to see the Doctor standing at her side, grinning a little. She felt herself smiling. "Doctor—can you show me the constellations?"

"That one, right there, is the Lasley System." He directed her gaze to a tiny spiral of stars, just at the edge of the window. "Remember that one time I mentioned the Crystal Falls of Calissa? Ooh, I think that was back on Jakku. Yeah, they're there, second star to the right. Ooh, I like that, second star to the right." He grinned. "Sounds like a GPS. Galaxy positioning system?" He laughed. "And that one—"

"That one's the Spirian System." Irena's voice at Rey's side made her start and turn. She stood silhouetted by starlight, a slight smile touching her lips. She looked almost dreamy. "The Planet of Spires."

"Oh!" The Doctor grinned. "The Planet of Spires! Ooh, I've always wanted to visit. The whole intergalactic investigations operation they've got going there is brilliant, just brilliant. You've been there? You happen to have visited the Academy?"

"Been there? I—" She cut herself off quickly. The businesslike mask returned. "Yes. I've been there. Now, we've got to—"

A noise echoed through the cavernous basement.

Rey's eyes flicked across the room, scanning for exits. Nothing. No way out except for the way in.

It sounded like metal clanking against metal. Like some giant machine was making its slow way down the hallway toward them, nearly making the floor shake. A shadow flickered across the doorway and then a giant bulk of a droid engulfed the opening, blocking out the residual light of the utility lanterns outside.

Rey froze, her hand on her lightsaber.

And then she was running forward, the blade flashing out. She slashed wildly as the droid turned, almost clumsily, and brought up its hand. With fingers large enough to engulf her waist, it could crush her in an instant. It raised its hand, moving back as if to grab her—

She slashed forward, the lightsaber blade cutting through metal with a hiss. The giant hand fell with a clank to the floor, wires sticking out in all directions.

Rey took a deep breath.

Don't relax. She'd probably just made it angry…

Clank. The giant hulk of metal maneuvered itself through the doorway and she backed away, lightsaber sizzling. It raised its arm, wires poking from its empty wrist, and she thought she heard the crackle of electricity. It moved forward, slowly, ponderously, the twisting wires approaching her—

She shoved her lightsaber into the open wires.

Electricity shot down the blade, through the hilt, and up her arm. She stiffened and froze, unable to move, unable to cry out at the white-hot pain that shot through her. The blade crackled and fizzled and bolts of electricity shot along the white laser and she struggled to let it go, struggled to let it fall to the ground—

The droid stopped.

Rey nearly collapsed, the lightsaber retracting and clattering to the floor. She stumbled forward and fell to her knees, gasping, her fingers tingling and stinging where the electricity had coursed through them. The droid tried to take a step forward, its movements jerky and clumsy. Wires broke from its arms, torso, and legs.

She forced herself to a sitting position and wiggled away, staring.

It collapsed to the floor, the wires squirming and wiggling like worms. The twitching pile spread out like a seeping puddle—and then, it seemed to dissolve into the floor, turning to dust.

She jumped to her feet, staring wide-eyed.

The Doctor and Irena came to her side, also staring.

Footsteps clicked on the metal floor outside.

"Oh, good." Dr. Maryn appeared in the doorway. "We've finally found you."