Disclaimer: Alice & Ariana belong to me the rest is BBC.
The Doctor, Alice and Donna burst into a blue lit room full of books, trying to escape something, the door gets barricaded shut with a book put through the handles as they try to catch their breath. It's that out of the corner of the young Noble's eye she sees a wooden ball with a lens floating in mid-air, but it seemed that the other two hadn't noticed it yet.
"Doctor,"she whispered, trying to get his attention by tapping him on the arm.
"Oh! Hello!" the Doctor after hearing Alice, turned to see the ball floating before him and is rather surprised to see it there. He puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers and casually strolls over to the ball, Alice and Donna following not far behind, "Sorry to burst in on you like this. OK if we stop here for a bit?" he asks kindly before then the wooden ball suddenly drops to the ground.
Half an hour earlier...
"Books! People never really stop loving books," the Doctor talked animatedly in excitement after landing, going around the console and fetching his coat off the coral beam as he exited the doors of the TARDIS Alice and Donna following out behind find themselves in a rather large open reception area looking around at the large roomwith tall shelves it was filled to the brim with books but it's empty and not a person in sight. Alice found this rather odd indeed.
"51st century," he went on lecturing both sisters, leading them out of the room to a rather large staircase, "By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell. The smell of books, Donna and Alice. Deep breath."
Alice sighed appreciatively,"Love a good book," she said seeing as she was rather an avid book reader herself.
"Your such a bookworm sometimes," Donna joked about her little sister's book habit, giving her light playful nudge.
"Wow!" Alice's gasped mouth dropping open as they went down the stair case. It was a city, a city full of books, stretching out as far as the eye could see, "Where are we?" she asked in awe.
"The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big 'The,'" the Doctor replied to her, whilst loving the reaction upon her face, noticing she at this very moment was in her element by being here.
"Oh like 'the' Doctor," Alice smirks, as he gave her a quick wink rather liking the joke.
"It's like a city," Donna marvelled, trying to soak it in as they kept walking.
"It's a world, literally, a world," he informed them.
"What like a whole planet?" Alice asks, rather surprised by this.
"Yep. The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written," he replied simply, going on to explain about the planet in more detail as they reached a balcony.
"Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand-new editions, especially printed," the Doctor lists as he now looked over the edge of the balcony.
"We're near the equator, so..." he tries to figure out where they are, licks the tip of his finger and puts it in the air, "This must be biographies!" the Doctor gushed in excitement, behaving like a child in a sweet shop, "I love biographies."
"Yeah, very you." Donna joked with a scoff, "Always a death at the end."
Alice sniggers, "Well that's the truth?"
"You need a good death. Without death there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size." the Doctor protests, telling them how wrong it seemed not have death in a book, that it gave it more depth and meaning.
"Keep telling yourself that, Doctor," Alice put with a shrug of her shoulders and a light pat on the shoulder.
About to return with something on her comment he sees Donna picking up a book, about to open it he quickly snatched it from her hand, "Whay! Spoilers."
"What?" She complained with a frown, wondering what she's done wrong.
"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead, spoil all the surprises. It's like peeking at the end."
"Yes, but travelling with you, isn't that all one big spoiler?" Alice pointed out to him, with a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"I...I try to keep you away from major plot developments."
She sniggered again shaking her head, "Yeah, it's like you telling us to keep away from danger," Alice put in amusement.
He just rolled his eyes trying to ignore her, "Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at...don't you dare," he adds looking in Alice's direction who was about to say something but closes it instantly pretending to zip it closed and throw away a key, "'Cos, you know what, this is the biggest Library in the universe," He ponders aloud, looking around, "So where is everyone?"
He moved on the direction of an information terminal and flashes it with the sonic, "It's silent."
"The Library?" Donna asked unsure what he means looked around as well.
"The planet. The whole planet."
"Maybe it's a Sunday. Library's never open on Sundays." Alice offered with a shrug.
"No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring."
"Oh God would love the sound of that," Alice put in sarcastically.
"Oh well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet."
"Yeah, maybe," the Doctor mused, "But they'd still show up on the system."
"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?" Donna asks changing the subject, giving him a look.
"Oh, you know, just passing," he replied rather too quickly and vaguely for Alice's liking, getting an unsettling feeling that he's hiding something.
"As much as I like it here Doctor, what aren't you telling us?" Alice asked, crossing her arms over her chest looking at him curiously, wanting a proper answer from him.
"Yes it was all, 'Let's hit the beach' then suddenly we're in a library. Why?" Donna huffed in complaint..
"Now that's interesting?" the Doctor announces ignoring Donna's question, frowning at the screen.
"What is?" Alice asked him as her and Donna now come over.
"Scanning for life forms," he replied, "If you do a scan looking for your basic humanoids, you know your book-readers, few limbs and a face…" he pressed a few buttons and the screen flashed: Filtered Humanoid Life Form Scan: 3; complete, "Apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home, but if I widen the parameters to any kind of life..." He changes the search and numbers appeared on the screen until stopping completely, it comes up showing 100,000,000,000, "A million million. Gives up after that," he says that all it gives him. "A million, million."
"But there's nothing here," Alice stated with a frown, looking out across the city of books not seeing a single person.
"There's no one," Donna pointed out feeling just the same.
"And not a sound," the Time Lord adds now frowning also, "A million million life forms and silence in the Library"
"But there's nobody here," Alice pressed, "I mean there's nothing but books here, it can't be the books can it?" she laughs nervously at the thought of how ridiculous that sounds, "I mean that can't be possible can it?" she looks to the Doctor for reassurance, "Books can't be alive?"
After speaking, they shared a look between them and spot a book on a pile, cautiously approaching. Before carefully opening the book on top, a voice called out, making the trio jump and some curse under their breath.
"Welcome!" The greeting of an electronic female voice startles them.
"That came from here?" Donna recalls, pointing back towards the door they had came through a couple of minutes ago.
"Yeah it did," Alice breathes with a sigh of relief, nodding her head.
"Yeah," the Doctor remembered, as they all walk back to the reception.
A sound of something mechanical could be heard turning, it was a stand alone robot whose head was rotating to greet them. But Alice and Donna receive a bit of a shock seeing a rather good likeness of a human face upon it.
"I am Courtesy Node 710/Aqua," it introduced, "Please enjoy The Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo." The Node greets them with a rule.
"That face, it looks real," Donna looked it over unsure what to think.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," the Doctor tells in an offhanded manner.
"What do you mean by that, it has a real face on it though?" Alice asked, as she wrinkles her nose.
"It's a hologram or something, innit?" Donna hints a guess, that it's probably some sort of computer trickery.
"No, but really, it's…fine," the Doctor assured them again.
"Additional," the Node continued to speak, "There follows a brief message from the head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter." The Node tells them. "Message follows. 'Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe. The Library has sealed itself. We can't... oh, they're here. Arg. Slarg. Snick.' Message ends" It then relays message to them and it was rather confusing to understand. "Please switch off your mobile comm-units for the comfort of other readers."
"So that's why we're here," the Doctor muttered to himself, now understanding the message he got on the psychic paper earlier, making the sisters look at him questionably. "Any other messages, same date stamp?" he now asked of the Node speaking up, seeing if it had anything more to give him.
"One additional message," the Node confirmed in reply, "This message carries a Felman Lux Coherency Warning of..."
"Yeah, yeah. Fine, fine, fine! Just play it," he brushed off it's warnings getting it to hurry along, not really bothered.
"Message follows. 'Count the shadows. For God's sake remember, if you want to live count the shadows.' Message ends," It was now after the message ends that the Doctor looked behind him getting an uneasy feeling that this wasn't really safest place to have brought the sisters.
A shiver goes down Alice's spine, one she's familiar with, when watching a horror movie with scary music playing at the start.
"Al...Donna…" he said slowly.
"Yeah?" they both replied together, Alice gulping slightly.
"Stay out of the shadows…" he warned ominously. The young Noble not liking the way he had said it.
"Why, what's in the shadows?" Alice wondered out of general curiosity, if there is something that they should be careful.
He never answered and led them slowly from the room into another it was huge shelves tall as anything, going far above them with walkways and platforms.
"So...we weren't just in the neighbourhood," Donna wonders aloud about why the Doctor had been so secretive towards them.
"So you lied, about why were here?" Alice asked in disappointment, for him not being honest in the first place..
"Yeah, I kind of, sort of, lied a bit," the Doctor admitted, "I got a message on the psychic paper," he replied feeling a little guilty, fishing the wallet out of his coat pocket.
Holding it up showing the message on the psychic paper to them: 'The Library come as soon as you can X'
"What do you both think?" he asked as Donna looked it over, "Cry for help?"
"A cry for help with kiss?" Donna joked to the Doctor, before he takes the wallet back from her. While Alice can't help but feel completely jealous about the message.
"We've all done that," he states awkwardly with a shrug of his shoulders and clearing his throat staring at the young woman across from him, who had saved his life a few weeks ago just by kissing him. He hasn't stopped thinking about it since.
"Of course, we all have," Alice agreed gazing back at him briefly, feeling rather awkward yet confused about it a slight tinge coming to her cheeks. She also hadn't been able to stop thinking about that kiss either.
Donna looked at her little sister who was trying to act normal as if nothing had happened between the two, but she could see Alice wasn't. Donna had tried having a talk with Alice about what was going on with the Doctor, but she would just deny that there was nothing. But she could see the look in her sister's eyes that she wanted more than friendship with the Doctor and that kiss and look of jealously when she saw a couple of seconds ago with the note said it all.
"Who's it from anyway?" Donna cleared her throat breaking the tension.
"No idea."
"So why did we come here? Why did you..." Alice starts to question, before the Doctor interrupted.
"Donna. Alice!" He shouted, seeing the lights at the far end of the corridor go out and into darkness moving towards them.
"What's happening?"
"Run!" the Doctor yelled, grabbing Alice's hand without thinking running down the aisle, with Donna beside them as the darkness followed. They reached a door, the Doctor let's go of Alice and tries tugging it open but it wouldn't give. "Come on!"
"What, is it locked?" Donna asks quickly.
Getting panicked, he looks over Alice's shoulder seeing the lights continuing to go out. As also he really didn't want her to know what would happen to them after all the lights would go out.
"Jammed! The wood's warped!"
"Use your sonic screwdriver!" Alice yelled in suggestion becoming rather scared, her heart beating hard against her chest.
"I can't, it's wood!" the Doctor replied sensing how she was.
"It doesn't do wood?" Donna asks sarcastically.
"Oh, that's really helpful that it is!" Alice puts in, using the same tone of sarcasm as her sister.
"Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatter line the..." The Doctor now rambles thinking he might now have a way to get the door open.
"Oh, get out of the way!" Donna getting rather impatient shoved him out the way before kicking the door open and hurried inside.
-Doctor Who-
And now...
"What is it?" Donna asks looking at the wooden ball curiously from afar, before then her and Alice approach where the Doctor is standing by it.
"A security camera," the Doctor informs her simply nudging it ever so slightly with his foot, "Switched itself off," he continued, crouching down to pick the camera up. Starting to examine it over before pulling the sonic out. While Alice leaned on the desk that was behind him.
"Nice door skills, Donna," the Doctor complimented her, rather impressed by what she had did.
"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends…sometimes you need the element of surprise," she responded, moving over to him..
"Definitely with the men you ended up picking," Alice comments receiving a look from her sister. Making her smirk about it, "What was that anyway? What was that coming after us? I mean did we just run from a power cut?" Alice now changed the subject, hoping that it's nothing serious. She stops leaning against the desk, wandering into the middle of the room, looking up through the glass dome above seeing daylight coming through and the slight faint outline of a moon.
"Possibly,' he shrugged slightly, not quit sure himself what could have caused it. As he continued checking the camera, Alice came over to stand by them both.
"Are we safe here?" Donna asked looking around.
"Of course we're safe," the Doctor answered in duh sort of manner, nodding his head in the direction of the sign, "There's a little shop," the cameras lens snapped open, "Gotcha!" he cheerfully shouts in success, both the sisters now peering over his shoulders.
Whilst looking at it words suddenly appear on the screen: 'No, stop it! No! No!'
It now was making the Doctor feel guilty for tapering with it in the first place, looking at it apologetically, "Ooh, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he mumbles in apology, putting the camera back on the ground, "It's alive," he informs both the sisters.
"You said it was a security camera?" Donna enquired rather puzzled.
"It is. It's an alive one," he picked it up again and showed the display to them. Words moving across it, 'Others are coming.'
"Doctor, the camera is saying that 'others are coming,'" Alice tells him trying to make sense of it or maybe that the camera was broken.
"'Others'?" Donna frowned, "What's it mean, 'others'?" but they could see he was just as confused.
"Excuse me. What does it mean, others?" Alice turned to the Node she sees in a corner of the room, hoping that it would help answer the question.
"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine. It can't help you," the Doctor told her with a scoff, knowing the information it will give won't be of any use, shifting on his feet slightly looking around uneasily.
"So why's it got a face?" she asks, turning to look at him before turning back again nodding her head at the Node wanting to know the reason for it looking the way it did.
Donna nudges him in the side, "Got you there didn't she, Doctor."
"This flesh aspect has been donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death," the Node replied seeming to have heard Alice's query. The young woman wrinkles her nose in disgust, the Doctor finding it rather adorable.
"It's a real face?!" Donna exclaimed.
"That's just nasty," Alice comments as she wrinkles again, glancing over to the Doctor, who was looking rather sheepish, "Makes me wonder why you never like telling the truth sometimes."
"It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy."
"That is just so wrong," Alice continued voicing her opinion, "It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like?" she asked rhetorically, "That statue's got a dead face on it!" she points out now thoroughly freaked out.
"It's the 51st century, that's...basically like donating a park bench," the Doctor informed Alice's bluntly.
"It's donating a face!" Donna agreed with Alice not likening it either. The young Noble backed herself away, not noticing the dark shadow behind her.
"No! Wait! No!" the Doctor sees this and quickly tugged Alice back by her waist moving her away from the shadow. Knowing something awful would of happened if she had step into it.
But his arm hasn't moved from it's place, still resting on her waist her body perfectly suited to his like a puzzle piece. Smiling at each other as time seemed to stop around them, this moment felt right to Alice, so perfect and so right making her realise something. Alice Noble was in love with the handsome and brilliant Doctor.
Donna sees something between the Doctor and her sister that was how happy and perfect they looked together. She didn't want to ruin it but she had to, clearing her throat for their attention. Both moved away from each other quickly looking rather awkward about what had just happened.
"The shadow, look," he told them clearing his throat, both pointing to the triangular shadow Alice almost had stepped into.
"What about it?"
"'Count the shadows'," the Doctor reminds them in an eerie tone.
"Alice shuddered, "Did you really have to say it like that?"
"One," Donna rolls her eyes, pointing at it, "There. I counted it, one shadow."
"Yeah. But what's casting it?"
They looked around trying to find something, but there wasn't anything they could see.
"Oh!" the Doctor suddenly exclaims, making the sisters jump. Alice hated it when he did that sometimes, "I'm thick! Look at me! I'm old and thick!" he slapped the sides of his a couple of times, "Head's full of stuff! I need a bigger head!"
Alice stared at him a couple of seconds longer, rolling her eyes before they landed on a corridor nearby. It was pitch black down there and the only light on was blinking.
"The power must be starting to go," Donna notices the light as well.
"Yeah, sure," Alice agreed nervously with a chuckle.
"This place runs on fission cells," the Doctor shook his head knowing this wasn't right, "They'll out-burn the sun."
"Then why's it dark?" Donna asks frowning.
"It's not dark."
Alice gestures at the darkness, "Well it is, don't you see that? It's dark as anything over there."
Before he responded, Donna called for their attention, "The shadow," turning around looking and seeing it had disappeared, "It's gone."
Alice noticed she was right and gulps.
"We need to get back to the TARDIS..." the Doctor said slowly voice full of fear, stepping away leisurely wanting to get them all to safety.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," Alice nodded in agreement, wringing her hands nervously. She really wanted to get out of here as the place had that creepy vibe and definitely didn't feel right to her.
"Why?" The older Noble asks in a confused whisper.
"Because that shadow hasn't gone," he told her, "It's moved."
The younger Noble squeaked gripping onto the Doctors arm, "Moved, moved where?"
But he didn't say a word.
"Reminder: the Library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder: the Library has been breached. Others are coming…" The Node nearby warned repeatedly.
With that there is a flash of white light and a door burst open. Alice counted six people entering the room in spacesuits, the leader of the group approaching as she still gripped the Doctor's arm. The leader changes their visor to see the face of a woman is looking back at the Doctor and the two women standing next to him.
She smiles at the Doctor in greeting, "Hello Sweetie.
