This is the story of our planet, Earth, of the day one thousand years past when we came to share it with a race known as Humanity. It is the story of the Doctor and the Commander who helped our races find common ground and the terrible losses they suffered. It is the story of our past and must never be forgotten.
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The Silurian doctor began to approach Amy, strapped down to the table, as she struggled in vain.
"Don't you come near me with that!" she shouted as he eyed the scalpel in alarm. The Silurian stopped, tilting his head to one side before lowering his surgical mask and speaking into a small recording device.
"From the clothing, the human female appears to be more resistant to the cold than the male," he said in accented English. Amy stopped her struggling for a moment to glare.
"I dressed for Rio!"
"Leave her alone!" Mo shouted from a separate table. "You got me!"
The Silurian pressed a button, and clamps tightened around Amy's wrists.
"Decontamination complete," he said calmly. "Commencing dissection."
He began to lower the scalpel towards Amy, and Jenny's eyes widened.
"Wait!" she shouted desperately, and the Silurian stopped. A tense silence filled the room, only broken by Amy's panicked breathing, although the Time Lady thought her hearts were beating so loudly in her chest that Mo could hear them on the other side of the room. Straightening up, he turned to look over at the young Time Lady. She swallowed nervously, pulling the connection to her father deep within herself so he couldn't see or hear or feel anything that was going on. "Wait... Just- just wait." She took a deep breath. "Humans are all similar in structure, male and female. Aside from miniscule differences from person to person in distinguishing features, outwards appearances, the occasional differentiation in pigment, and reproductive organs, that girl there is just the same as him. But me... I'm not human."
Amy's eyes widened in realization at the same time Mo's eyes widened in shock at her admission. "Jenny, don't-!"
"I'm not human!" she repeated forcefully. The doctor slowly began making his way towards her, leaving Amy behind him. "Easiest way to check is the hearts, I've got two of them. Two hearts, heartbeat of four, just check my pulse. There's more, if you're interested, too, aside from the cardiovascular system. Doesn't it make you wonder?"
The doctor pressed two cool fingers to Jenny's neck, jerking backwards at the double heartbeat. He pulled the device out of his pocket to speak into it.
"Dissection of the human female will be postponed for dissection of the second female, species as of yet undetermined."
"Amy, don't look," Jenny said quickly as the doctor replaced his surgical mask. "Don't look, promise me you won't. Close your eyes, try not listen, my dad will be here soon, okay? It's going to be fine-"
The scalpel pierced through her skin.
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"I can't find her..." the Doctor mumbled as they wandered through the pathways above molten magma and past towering buildings in the underground cavern. Nasreen looked at him curiously.
"Sorry, what?" she asked. "Find who?"
"Jenny," he replied in agitation. "We have a bond, I... I can hear her, in my mind. I can talk to her, she can talk to me, but I can't hear her right now, and that's never good. You can't block that, it doesn't work, so that I can't hear her..." He glared at nothing and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, waving it about. "We need to find Amy and Jenny, looking for heat signature anomalies."
"But Doctor, how can all this be here? I mean..." Nasreen nodded to the plants and ferns all around them. "These plants..."
"Must be getting closer to the center of the city," came the reply.
"You sure this is the best way to enter?" she asked as they walked through a large tunnel.
"Front door approach, generally works..."
An alarm began to blare, and a female voice came across a speaker system.
"Hostile life forces detected, area 17."
They stopped. The Doctor frowned. "Apart from the back door approach, that's also good." He turned around. "Sometimes better."
"Hostile life forces, area 17."
A door slid open in front of Nasreen and she froze.
"Doctor!"
They held their hands up as armed Silurians strode in, weapons aimed directly at them, masks covering their faces.
"We're not hostile!" the Doctor said quickly, backing away. "We're not armed! We're here in peace!"
The only response to their pleas was the Silurian weapons firing gas into their faces, and they collapsed to the floor in unconsciousness.
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Amy was sobbing, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She'd done as Jenny asked, kept her eyes closed, didn't watch, but she didn't need to see what was happening to understand. She couldn't block her ears. She could hear every cut of the scalpel, everything the Silurian doctor said into his recorder. She now knew Time Lords had a heart rate of nearly 200 beats per minute, a body temperature of 16 degrees Celsius, and a respiratory bypass system which explained her resistance to the gasses that had been used on them. Their organs were somewhat larger than normal humans, their gene code radically different, and there were some organs humans lacked in place of organs that were missing in a Time Lord body that would have been present in a human body. The young girl never cried out, never screamed, but she could hear her strained breathing, the occasional gasp or groan of pain.
A wave of confusion poured over her as a female voice came from the speakers.
"Are 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested. Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested."
There was a sigh from the doctor, a low thud as he set whatever instrument he was holding in his hand down, and then the door slid open and slid back shut.
Silence, for a moment.
Amy's eyes flew open and she looked over at Jenny. Her breath caught in her throat and tears burned at her eyes at the sight.
The younger girl's blonde hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, and she was still strapped down to the board. Her green shirt had been cut down the middle in order to do the dissection; there was a thick red line running from just below her collarbone to her navel along with two more red lines running across, one just underneath the bust and the other directly across the stomach. Two more lines went from her wrists to her elbows, and it was a miracle that she hadn't bled out.
"Amy..." she gasped. Amy stubbornly forced back tears, and her eyes focused on Jenny's trembling hands. The Time Lady was holding the key to their respective tables. She fumbled with the small metal device before pressing the button a couple of times - all of the clamps locking them down snapped open.
Amy was at Jenny's side in an instant, while the man had found an extra coat from somewhere, probably a spare of the Silurian doctor's. They eased the Time Lady into a sitting position before dressing her in the coat; it was oversized but it worked.
"You're amazing," Amy said gently as they got her to her feet. "You got that key from him, and that means we're gonna get out of here and back to your dad, okay? Come on, Jenny, let's go. Come on..."
Jenny's eyes were clenched shut, her breathing labored, entire body trembling. Her lips moved, but Amy couldn't quite make out what she was saying. The best she could make of it was patierfa, so it was most likely Gallifreyan, but that only made her worry all the more.
"Come on, Jenny," she repeated. "We're gonna get out of here, come on..."
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"That creature," Mo asked as they stumbled through the tunnels. "Do you think it was an alien? Are there any more of them." He paused as a sudden thought came. "...Do you think the Earth's been invaded?"
"Homo..." Amy looked over quickly at Jenny, who blinked a couple times with a look of concentration. "Homo reptilia... S-Silurian race... prehistoric Earth species, before humans were humans..."
"Homo reptilia," Amy repeated. "Thanks, Jenny, you're doing good." They stopped at a door in the hallway. "Wonder where this leads?"
Amy glanced around to make sure nobody was coming, then hesitantly placed her hand on the panel next to the door. Mo looked inside as the lights came on, and his eyes widened as he saw Eliot in a sort of stasis, wires trailing up his face.
"Oh my God, no..."
Jenny looked up weakly.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
Mo slammed against the door, trying to force it open before moving over to the panel.
"It's my son. It's Elliot. What've they done to him?"
"Access denied. Unauthorized genetic imprint."
"No!" he shouted in frustration. "He's in there! We have to get him out!"
Amy used her free arm, the one that wasn't supporting Jenny, to gently pull back his hands.
"We can't get in," she said gently.
"That's my boy in there!"
Both Jenny and Amy motioned towards the screens. "These screens, they're monitoring something," Amy said. "I think they're vital signs, heartbeats, pulses." Jenny nodded. "Why else would he be wired up? He's still alive."
"All right." Mo nodded shakily. "We find weapons, get that- that creature from the lab and force it to release Eliot, yeah?"
Amy nodded in reply, and they started off once again.
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The Doctor is clamped down like Amy and Mo and Jenny had been, crying out in pain as a machine scanned him.
"...I'm decontaminating now." The Silurian doctor's conversation with the warrior became audible to the Doctor, and his eyes widened even as he cried out again.
"Decontamination!" he gasped. "No, no! No!"
"It's all right," the Silurian assured. "It won't hurt you. I'm only neutralizing all your ape bacteria."
"I'm not an ape!" he said frantically. "Look at the scans! Two hearts! Totally different! Totally not ape! Remove all human germs, you remove half the stuff keeping me alive."
The Silurian checked the scans, glancing over them, then nodded at shut down the machine.
"No, complete the process," the warrior ordered. She was ignored.
"Oh, that's much better, thanks," the Doctor breathed, slumping backwards against the thing he was strapped into. "Not got any celery, have you? No, not really the climate, tomatoes, though, you'd do a roaring trade in those. I'm the Doctor..." He glanced over, seeing Nasreen begin to awake, and grinned. "Oh, and that's Nasreen, good!"
Nasreen groaned as her eyes opened only to see the Silurian bending over her, examining her.
"Oh, a green man..." she said weakly.
"So, who are you?" the Doctor murmured, looking at the Silurian warrior.
"Restac," she said coldly, glaring. "Military commander."
He sighed and leaned back. "Oh, dead, really? There's always a military, isn't there?"
"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city," the doctor explained, looking at them. The Doctor grinned.
"Oxygen pockets!" he exclaimed. "Lovely! Oooh, but not so good with an impending drill... Now it makes sense!"
"Where is the rest of your invasion force?" Restac demanded.
"Invasion force?" he repeated. "Me and lovely Nasreen? No! We came for the humans you took. And..." Here he watched her carefully. "...to offer the safe return of Alaya." Restac hissed in a breath. "Oh, wait, you and she, what is it... Same genetic source? Of course you're worried, but don't be, she's safe."
Restac eyed him for a long time before speaking abruptly. "You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage."
Two soldiers came and took position by the Doctor and Nasreen.
"Wait, wait, wait, we all want the same thing here-" the Doctor started.
"I don't negotiate with apes." She turned to the Silurian doctor. "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface."
"...What's that?"
She looked over at the Doctor, who had asked the question. "Your execution."
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While stumbling through the city, they had come across chambers with glass covered alcoves in them, the glass being dark and opaque so that it was impossible to see through. Jenny, having regained enough of her senses to stumble along and support her own weight, breathing not quite as labored, reached out to touch a panel next to the alcoves the next time they passed one.
The three jumped backwards as the alcoves lit up, revealing masked Silurians inside.
"Turn it off!" Mo said frantically. "Quick!"
Jenny shook her head slowly. "Sleeping," she murmured. "Stasis. When they activate..." She motioned vaguely to the round platforms the warriors were standing on. "...sends them up to the surface, ready for war..."
Amy looked at her. "Can you stand on your own for a minute?"
Jenny nodded, and Amy slipped away to press a few more times on the panel. The glass around the warriors slid away, and she stepped inside. As Jenny had said, there were long, circular holes directly above the Silurians so they could travel to the surface, but she was more interesting in one thing."
"Weapons," she said, taking three from each of the warriors and closing the alcoves back up. The lighting inside them went dark. "Here, we can each take one, it'll help."
"Which way now?" Mo asked as Jenny looked blankly at the weapon.
Silurian make, Earth weapon, long-range, firing speed of .67 terahertz per second. Firepower averaging at lethal strength, medium range, percentage of survival-
She blinked once and pushed back the programming, leaning on Amy once more as they walked, fingers curled around the gun.
"Door at the end," Amy stated.
"You sure?" he asked.
"Nope."
They continued down the tunnel until they reached another sliding door, and they walked out onto a balcony. Jenny's hearts skipped a beat.
Beneath them were thousands, tens of thousands of Silurians, all in stasis, all armed.
All waiting.
"We don't have a chance," Mo whispered.
Amy let out a shaky breath. "We need to find the Doctor."
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"These must be the only ones awake," the Doctor whispered to Nasreen as they were escorted through the city.
"So why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" she whispered back.
"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to Earth on a crash course," he replied, not really bothering to keep his voice down. "They built a life underground and put themselves to sleep for millennia in order to avert what they thought was the apocalypse. When in reality, it was the Moon, coming into alignment with the Earth."
Restac and the Silurian doctor both stopped and turned to stare at them.
"How can you know that?" he asked.
He looked back calmly. "Long time ago, I met another tribe of homo reptilia. Similar, but not identical."
When Restac spoke, it was hesitantly, barely daring to hope against hope. "Other... members of our species have survived?"
He looked away. "The humans attacked them. I'm sorry."
"A vermin race," Restac spat, all former emotion gone.
They continued to walk.
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They were moving too slowly.
That was the most important thought on Jenny's mind. She wasn't letting her father know what was happening (he couldn't know, he'd kill them, he can't know, can't know, can't know) but she could still hear what was happening on his end. He and Nasreen were going to die, and they were moving too slowly.
"You guys keep going," she said quietly. Amy stopped short and stared at her.
"Jenny, I'm sorry, but you can hardly even walk without me standing here, and you just want us to leave you in a room full of hostile lizards?"
She chuckled. "I've got a gun... can still punch harder than you..." She shook her head a couple times in confusion and looked back up. "Listen, Amy, they're in trouble. The Doctor and Nasreen, they're both in trouble, and you need to go and save them. You and Mo. I'm going to slow you down, but if you go ahead... I can catch up..."
The two women looked at each other for a long time. Jenny was aware that her entire body was shaking, the gun rattled in her hands. Her breathing was heavy, labored, every step was like climbing a mountain. Sure, she was a Time Lady, easier to heal, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
"Fine," Amy said, unwrapping her arm from around Jenny's waist and helping her sit down on the floor. "You stay safe, now, okay? I want to see you walking into that room like you own the place."
They shared a weak smile, and then Amy and Mo were hurrying off down the corridor, leaving Jenny behind.
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"You are not authorized to do this!" Malokeh demanded as they were escorted in the courtroom.
"I am authorized to protect the safety of our species while they sleep," Restac replied with a glare. Malokeh stopped talking.
"Oh, lovely place," the Doctor commented, looking around at the large room with a sloping ceiling.
"This is our court and place of execution," Restac said. The smile dropped from his face, but it was back almost instantly as Amy burst through the doors, gun in her hands.
"Let them go!" she shouted, pointing the gun at Restac.
"Amy Pond, there's a girl to rely on," the Doctor laughed as Mo burst through the doors on the opposite side of the hall, carrying another Silurian weapon.
"You're surrounded on both sides, so don't try anything clever, buster," Amy said to Restac. "Now let them go or I shoot." Restac regarded her for a couple moments before moving closer. "I'm warning you-!"
The gun was wrenched out of her hands as Restac forced her onto the ground.
"Don't you touch her!" the Doctor shouted.
"And you," Restac sneered at Mo. Soldiers approached him, and he set the gun on the floor, holding up his hands.
"All right, Restac," the Silurian doctor started. "You've made your point-"
Restac turned around and strode up to him. "This is now a military tribunal," she said, glaring. "Go back to your laboratory, Malokeh."
One of the soldiers stepped forwards and jabbed Malokeh in the back with the end of their gun. Malokeh spared a final glance at Amy, his eyes drifting towards the Doctor, before turning. "This isn't the way..." he murmured as he left.
"Prepare them for execution," Restac ordered.
The soldiers stepped forwards and began pushing Amy and Mo towards the back of the room, along with the Doctor and Nasreen, and they were all tied to pillars.
"Okay," Amy muttered to him as her hands were tied behind her back. "Sorry. As rescues go, that didn't live up to its potential."
He tried to muster up a smile, but it gave way to frantic concern. "Where's Jenny? Amy, I can't hear her. Where is she?"
"She's alive," Amy said quickly. "I was talking to her."
He restrained from asking further questions. She was alive, she was okay, alive, that was what mattered...
"I'm glad you're okay."
"Me too," Amy smiled. "Lizard men, though!"
"Homo reptilia," he corrected. "They occupied the planet before humans. Now the want it back."
"After they've wiped out the human race," Nasreen added.
"Right," Amy said slowly. "Figured it'd be something like that."
The soldier lined up in a formation similar to a firing squad and took aim. Restac turned to someone and motioned to them. A moment later a large, holographic screen appeared in the center of the room, showing Rory, Ambrose, and Tony standing in what appeared to be the basement of the church.
"Who is the ape leader?" Restac demanded. The humans could only gape. "Who speaks for the apes?"
Rory finally stepped forwards. "I speak for the... humans," he said after a pause. "Some of us, anyway."
"Do you understand who we are?"
"Sort of," he nodded. "A bit. ...Not really."
"We have ape hostages."
Rory's eyes widened, and he rushed towards the screen. "Doctor!" he shouted. "Amy!"
"Mo!" Ambrose shouted. "Mo, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, love!" Mo shouted from where he was tied to the pillar. "I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!"
"Amy!" Rory repeated. "I thought I'd lost you!"
"What, 'cause I was sucked into the ground?" She smiled. "You're so clingy."
"Tony Mack!" Nasreen called.
"Having fun down there?" Tony called.
"Not to interrupt," the Doctor cut in, "but just a quick reminder to stay calm."
Restac, evidently having enough of their conversation, stepped forwards once again.
"Show me Alaya," she demanded. "Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friends... one by one."
"No!" Ambrose screamed.
"Ambrose..." Rory warned.
"Steady now, everyone," the Doctor said quickly.
"Ambrose, stop it!"
"Get off me, Dad! We didn't start this!"
"Let Rory deal with this, Ambrose, eh!" the Doctor urged.
"We're not doing what you say anymore," she continued, heedless of their please. "Now give me back my family!"
There was a tense silence as Restac remained quiet, and they waited for her reply. The Doctor and Amy exchanged quick, worried glances.
"No," Restac finally responded. "Execute the girl."
Rory shoved Ambrose to one side. "No! No, wait!"
"Rory!" Amy cried.
"She's not speaking for us!" Rory continued desperately.
"There's no need for this," the Doctor added quickly as Amy was pulled to the center of the room in front of the soldiers.
"Listen! Listen! Whatever you want, we'll do it!"
"Aim." Restac said calmly, ignoring their pleas.
"Amy!"
"Don't do this!" the Doctor shouted.
"No!"
The screen vanished as Vastra barked out her order. "Fire!"
"Stop!"
All heads turned towards the double doors at the entry of the hall. A Silurian elder dressed in regal robes entered, followed by Malokeh.
"You want to start a war, while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" the elder asked, but the Doctor now only had eyes for Jenny, leaning heavily against the scientist, almost unconscious.
"The apes are attacking us!" Restac defended.
"You are our protector, not our commander, Restac," the elder sighed. "Unchain them."
"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane."
"Well, then, you must shoot me." The elder, Eldane, looked calmly at Restac until she turned away, frustrated, and strode up to Malokeh in fury.
"You woke him to undermine me," she spat.
"We're not monsters," he replied, gaze drifting over towards Amy, then to Jenny at his side. "And neither are they."
"What is it about apes you love so much, hmm?"
Jenny lifted her head up enough to form a retort, but it came out as quiet Gallifreyan to the Doctor's ears and gibberish to everybody else. It was ignored.
"While you slept, they've evolved," he said. "I've seen it for myself!"
"We used to hunt apes for sport," she continued. "When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet!"
"Shush now, Restac," Eldane finally cut in, evidently having enough of her. "Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you."
Restac glared before striding out, leaving the group by themselves.
As soon as Restac had left, the Doctor practically dove across the room, ignoring Eldane's murmur of "I apologize for her" in reference to the warrior. He skidded to a halt at her side, instantly knowing that something was wrong by the tear tracks running down her cheeks. Jenny never cried. She was pale, sweating, her face drawn up in pain. Her breathing was heavy, and her eyes were a bit dazed. She seemed to come back to herself as he drew nearer, at least, but his hearts stuttered as he realized he still couldn't hear her, which meant she was purposely hiding...
"Jenny?" he asked softly, but she winced, jerking backwards, her arms curling around her stomach protectively. His frown deepened, and he hesitantly moved forwards, almost shielding her entirely from the rest of the room with his body, fingers tugging lightly at the hem of the white coat she was wearing. Where did she even get-?
Her hands loosened their grip enough for him to pull aside the coat, revealing her green shirt in tatters and angry red lines trailing across her abdomen.
A roaring wave of fury tore through him, and he spun around to face Malokeh. The Silurian backed up a little at his glare, fear flashing across his face. "What did you do to her?!" he shouted, starting to move forwards, but Jenny reached out to grab his wrist.
"Patierfa..." she whispered, and he stopped. "Aniat, aniat, patierfa..."
He turned back, forcing down the bile that rose up in his throat at the red lines now visible on her wrists as well.
"They dissected you," he muttered angrily. "Nobody does that and gets away with it, nobody."
In reply she let her mind open up again, he did his best not to stumble at the sudden onslaught of emotions and memories and pain, but then he found himself being sucked into new thoughts. Amy, Mo, Malokeh moving to dissect her before Jenny distracted him. How the scientist had tried to numb her before starting without realizing that human drugs wouldn't work on a Time Lord, that it wasn't intentional, that this was kinder, that he needed to calm himself before the tentative peace built here shattered...
"Protected her," she whispered. "Said I would... Patierfa... patierfa..."
He managed a weak smile.
"Silly little girl," he muttered, pulling her into a hug. "My brave little girl..."
After a moment he pulled back, turned around, and waved his sonic around where the screen had been. It reappeared, showing Rory, Tony, and Ambrose yet again, looking significantly more distressed than they had before.
"Rory!" he called to get their attention. "Hello!"
"Where's Amy?" Rory gasped at the sound of his voice, leaning forwards and peering towards the screen, eyes flicking in brief concern over to Jenny.
"She's fine, look, here she is." He shuffled to one side so Amy could wave at him.
"Oh, thank God!"
"Just keeping you on your toes," Amy smiled.
"No time to chat," the Doctor cut in. "Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of Earth in the middle of the floor."
"They'll send transport discs to bring you down here," Jenny added quietly, and the Doctor wrapped his mind around hers in reassurance. "They use geothermal currents and gravity bubble technology, which, in our opinion, is pretty cool."
The Doctor grinned. "Bring Alaya! We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work out, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!"
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Amy and Nasreen were sitting on one side of a long table with Eldane sitting opposite. The Doctor and Jenny were standing next to Mo and Malokeh. The Doctor's arm was around his daughter, and she was resting her head against his chest. The pain from the incisions had dulled from a slow burn to an irritant, similar to a painful insect bite, but she was still drained and tired. All the Doctor could do was murmur calm reassurances through their bond, soft words of encouragement.
"I'd say," he stated aloud, "you've got a fair bit to talk about."
"How so?" Eldane asked, looking over at him.
"You both want the planet," Jenny said softly. "You both have a genuine claim to it."
"Are the two of you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?"
The Doctor smiled and Jenny scoffed. "Us?" he repeated. "Nah. We're just passing by. But those two, they are!"
"What?" Nasreen exclaimed at the same time Amy said, "No we're not!"
"Course you are!" he argued. "Amelia Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet!" He smiled at them. "Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?" They moved to stand at the head of the table. Amy stared at them for a few moments longer before getting up and walking over to them.
"Is this what happens, in the future?" she asked. "The planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?"
"What are you talking about?" Nasreen asked, hearing them.
"Sorry," Jenny managed a strained smile. "Probably worth mentioning at this stage, he's my dad, Amy and Rory travel with us in time, a bit."
Nasreen nodded weakly. "Anything else?"
"There are fixed points through time, where things must always stay the way they were," the Doctor said slowly, carefully. "This is not one of them. Whatever happens here, it's a... a temporal tipping point, if you will. Whatever happens today will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you, here, now. So do good. For humanity, and for Earth."
"Right," Amy said faintly. "No pressure there, then..."
"We can't share the planet," Nasreen hissed as Amy made her way back to the table. "Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It's too big of a leap!"
"Come on," he grinned. "Be extraordinary."
"Oh..." Nasreen tried to glare, but it turned into a smirk. "You."
She sat back at the table as well, and the two Time Lords shared a grin. "Okay!" they said in unison.
"Bringing things to order - the first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilia is now in session," Jenny said triumphantly. The Doctor pouted a bit.
"I wanted to say that," he said. "I've never gotten to say that before."
"Neither have I!" she protested. "That's fun, I've said something you haven't!"
He cleared his throat and went back to the matter at hand. "Okay, sorry, tangent. Carry on! Humans and their predecessors, shooting the breeze. Never thought I'd see it." He spun around and looked at Mo. "Now, then. Let's go and get your son."
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The Doctor, Mo, Jenny, and Malokeh walked down the hallways, through tunnel after tunnel. Jenny pressed closer to her father's side as they neared the scientist's lab. His lips thinned, but he didn't say anything, remaining silent as Malokeh pressed a few buttons on the panel, and the door slid open.
"If you've harmed him in any way..." Mo said warningly, but Malokeh quickly shook his head.
"Of course not!" he said, almost offended. "I only store the young."
"But why?"
"I took samples." He looked back towards Eliot. "Slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate, so I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface."
"You've been down here, working... all alone?" Jenny asked softly.
He shrugged, although there was pain in his eyes. "For the last 300 years, just me." He looked over at Mo. "I never meant to harm your child."
"Malokeh, I rather like you," the Doctor said with a nod. "It's safe now. We can wake him."
The Silurian walked into the chamber, removing the wires from Elliot's face, then backed out so Mo could come inside.
"Elliot?" the man said quietly as his son's eyes fluttered open. "Eli? It's Dad."
"What...?" Elliot looked around blearily. "Dad?" He stumbled forwards and wrapped his father in a tight hug, then stepped back and looked around. "Where are we?"
"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son..." Mo glanced around at the chamber. "We're in the center of the Earth... and there are lizard men."
The boy looked towards the doorway, seeing the two Time Lords and Malokeh.
"Wow," he said with a grin.
The Doctor walked in, squeezing into the small chamber with the other two. Jenny watched with a smile.
"Elliot, I'm sorry," he apologized. "I took my eye off you."
"It's okay," Elliot replied easily with a small smile. "I forgive you."
The group stepped back out and began making their way back down the hall. "You go on, Doctor, Jenny!" Malokeh called after them. "I'll catch up!" Jenny gave an encouraging smile, and they parted ways.
Unnoticed, the four watched from the doorway while Amy, Nasreen, and Eldane debated over the planet.
"We lived on the surface of the planet," Eldane was saying in exasperation. "Long before you did... Our sole purpose has been to return to our rightful place."
"And we've got a planet that can't already sustain the people who live there," Nasreen pointed out. "And you want to add a whole other species? To drain our resources..."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
As I sat there that day across the table from the humans, the future of both species and of our beloved planet rested in our hands, but as the discussions went on, I began to despair about whether we would ever find any common ground. As ambassadors for our species, we all had too much to lose.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Eldane brought up a hologram of the Earth, and Amy stood up.
"So, erm, what about the areas that aren't habitable to us?" She pointed to a few spots. "Australian outback, Sahara Desert, Nevada plains..."
Nasreen pulled her back down to the bench. "Yes, fine, but what happens when their population grows and breeds and spreads? And what benefit does humanity get, and more importantly, how do we sell this to people on the surface?"
"If I could get a word in, maybe I could tell you." They both turned to look at the Silurian elder. "You give us space, we can bring new sources of energy, new methods of water supply, new medicines, scientific advances. We were a great civilization. You provide a place for us on the surface, we'll give you knowledge and technology beyond humanities dreams! We work together, this planet could achieve greatness."
There was a pause, and then a slow smile began to spread across their faces.
"Okay," Nasreen said slowly. "Now I'm starting to see it."
The Doctor couldn't help it, he laughed and started to applaud. Jenny smiled approvingly, pulling the white lab coat a bit tighter around her.
"Not bad for a first session," she praised. "More similarities than differences, yeah?"
A whooshing noise echoed throughout the room, and Eldane glanced up. "The transport has arrived," he stated. "Your friends are here."
They waited for a couple of minutes, and then Rory walked through the doors. The Doctor smiled and waved. Ambrose came next, and Eliot broke away from his father and tackled her in a hug.
"Mum!" he shouted.
"Rory!" Amy cried, grinning. Rory just stood there awkwardly, opening and closing his mouth as though he wasn't quite sure how to say something, and Jenny frowned.
Something's wrong, Dad.
Very wrong.
Tony came last, holding something in his arms, wrapped in an orange blanket. Amy's smile faded.
"Doctor?" she asked. "What's he carrying?"
"Don't do this," Jenny whispered. She looked at Rory with wide eyes. "Tell me you didn't do this!"
Tony only set his burden on the floor. The Doctor, shaking his head, squatted down and pulled back the cloth to reveal Alaya's face. After a moment he replaced the covering and stood up to glare at the older human. "What did you do?" he demanded.
"It was me," Ambrose said softly. The Doctor turned to stare at her. "I did it."
Elliot took a half-step backwards and looked upwards in confusion. "Mum...?"
She looked down at him pleadingly. "I just wanted you back."
He shook his head and backed away. The Doctor turned and walked up to Eldane.
"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head, voice strained. "I didn't know. You have to believe me, they aren't all like this... They're better than this."
"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouted.
"You're not helping," Jenny snapped.
"We had a chance here," the Doctor said to her.
"Leave us alone." Ambrose was still glaring at the Silurian. The Time Lord strode over to her and looked her in the eye.
"In the future," he said, voice dangerously quiet, "when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance, but you were so much less than the best of humanity."
Armed soldiers came into the room, followed by Restac once more. Jenny could only shake her head. It had been going so well...
"My sister..." she started, but then she said the body. Her sentence trailed off and she ran over, kneeling beside it and pulling back the shroud. A low wail escaped her throat before she replaced the cloth and glared at the Doctor, hatred and anguish written across her face. "And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor, Jenny?"
"One woman," he tried to argue.
"She was scared for her child," Jenny continued. "Humans aren't normally like this, you threaten their children and they will do anything to get them back."
"One person let us down." Now the Doctor had turned to Eldane, pleading. "But there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there. You were building something here, coming on... an alliance could work..."
"It's too late for that." The Time Lords turned around again to look at Ambrose. "Our drill is set to start burrowing again in..." She glanced down at a stopwatch. "...Fifteen minutes."
Jenny could have sworn her hearts stopped for a moment.
"What?!" Nasreen asked.
"What choice did I have?" Tony cried. "They had Elliot."
"Don't do this," the Doctor begged. "Don't call their bluff."
"Let us go back," Ambrose ordered. "And you promise never to come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone."
Restac glared, fury evident in her gaze. "Execute her!"
"No!" They all ducked for cover behind one of the columns as the soldiers opened fire. Jenny grabbed the Silurian weapon she had taken from the hallways from its resting place on the table. The Doctor gave a disapproving glance, but didn't comment.
"Execute all the apes!" Restac's shout echoed behind them as they took off for the corridors, the Time Lords remaining behind long enough to wave their sonics at the oncoming soldiers, causing the guns to explode. The Doctor looked as though he was about to say something, but Jenny fired a warning shot, grabbed him by the hand, and they took off after the others.
"Take everyone to the lab!" the Doctor shouted to Rory, dodging a blast from one of the guns behind them. "I'll cover you!" In a lower tone, so that Rory could hardly hear, he added, "and don't let Jenny out of your sight, okay?"
The Doctor took his stand as the rest of the group rounded the corner of the hallway and neared the laboratory.
"Ah-ah!" he shouted, holding up the sonic once more. "Or I'll use my very deadly weapon again." The soldiers stopped warily, Restac in the front of the group. "One warning, that's all you get. If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you. Now. This ends here."
"No," Restac spat. "It only ends with our victory."
The Doctor responded with a bitter smile. "Like I said... one warning." He disabled the last of the guns and bolted.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The doors of the lab slid shut behind the Doctor as he ran into the room. Jenny breathed a sigh of relief.
Don't do stupid things without me.
Ah, Jen, I'll be fine.
"Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen." He pointed to a security monitor. "Let me know if we get company. "Amy." He tossed her the stopwatch. "Keep reminding us how much time we haven't got."
She glanced down. "Okay, twelve minutes till drill impact."
"Lovely," Jenny mumbled, then glanced over at Nasreen and Tony. The woman was looked at him in concern, the Doctor was watching him out of the corner of his eye. Rory kept glancing up every so often. The older man was pale, sweaty, shaking just the slightest bit...
"Okay, Tony Mack." Jenny looked at him pointedly. "Sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding from us?"
In reply, the man just wearily pulled back the collar of his shirt to reveal a massive infection spreading across his chest, probably from Alaya's venom.
"Tony!" Nasreen gasped. "What happened?!"
"Alaya's sting," he said weakly. "She said there's no cure... I'm dying, aren't I?"
Jenny pulled her sonic screwdriver out of her boot and waved it over him, then looked at the readings. "No, you're not dying, you're..." Her father leaned over her shoulder to look at the data. "Mutating?"
"Mutating," her father agreed. "How can I stop it?" A pause.
"Decontamination program!" they exclaimed at the same time.
"Might work," Jenny added.
"Don't know," her father shrugged. "Eldane-"
"-can you run the program on Tony?"
"Doctor, shedload of those creatures coming our way!" Mo announced from the monitor, looking up fearfully. "We're surrounded in here!"
Eldane began helping Tony towards the decontamination chamber as the Doctor started talking through his thought processes.
"So, question is, how do we stop the drill, given that we can't get there is time?" he murmured.
"On top of that, how do we get out, considering we're surrounded," Jenny added, glancing towards the screen. They shared a brief look, and the Doctor sighed.
"Nasreen, how d'you feel about an energy pulse, channelled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?" he asked.
She stared at him. "What, to blow up my life's work?"
"Yes," he shrugged. "Sorry. No nice way of putting that..."
"Right," she quietly, almost sadly. "Well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city in..."
"Eleven minutes," Amy piped up.
"But the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels," she pointed out. "We need to be on the surface by then."
"But we can't get past Restac's troops," Rory said.
Jenny's thought of we're doomed left at Eldane's next words. "I can help with that..." he said calmly. "Toxic Fumigation. An emergency program meant to protect my species from infection, a warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down, goes dormant."
"You could wind up killing your own people!" Amy said in shock.
"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."
"Eldane," the Doctor asked quietly. "Are you sure about this?"
The elder drew himself up to his full height and met the Doctor's gaze. "My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."
"No." The Doctor shook his head in sad agreement. "But maybe it should be. So here's the deal. Everybody listening? Eldane, you activate shutdown. I'll amend the system, with some help from Jen here, set your alarm for one thousand years' time." Eldane moved to the controls. "One thousand years to sort the planet out. To be ready, to pass it on."
"Legend, prophecy, religion..." Jenny trailed off. "Doesn't matter, just make it known." She looked pointedly at Elliot. "The planet is meant to be shared.
"Yeah." Elliot smiled. "I get you."
"Nine minutes, seven seconds," Amy said urgently.
The Time Lords joined Eldane by the computers.
Ooo, fluid controls, Jen! My favorite!
I personally prefer the solar circuitry, but each to their own- cancel the energy barricade first!
Right, yes, thank you. Important, that.
"Fumigation pre-launching," Eldance announced.
"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor!" Rory said anxiously.
"Get ready to run for your lives," he grinned. Rory didn't look too assured.
"What about Tony?" Jenny looked pointedly at the older man.
"Well, go," he said, looking at them. They stared. "All of you! Go."
"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose went to his side.
"Granddad!" Elliot ran to Tony and hugged him.
"Eight minutes, ten seconds," Amy murmured.
"You look after your mum," Tony said quietly to Elliot so he was the only one who heard. "You musn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."
The boy looked as though he was trying not to cry. "I'm not going to see you again, am I?"
"I'll be here." He touched Elliot's chest, right where his heart would be. "Always. I love you, boy." He hugged him tightly, then looked over at Ambrose. "You be sure he gets home safe!"
The young woman looked miserable. "This is my fault."
"No," Tony assured her. "No, I can't go up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here is my only hope."
Eldane pressed a button, and the fumigation process was initiated. A voice began to speak calmly from various speakers, giving the order to return to cryo-chambers, and soon enough the hallways outside were empty.
"Okay," the Doctor said the instant they were clear. "Everyone follow Nasreen, look for a blue box, be ready to run. Jenny has a key if you really need it." He unlocked the door, then turned to Eldane. "I'm so sorry."
"I thought for a moment..." the elder sighed. "Our race, and the humans..."
"Yeah," the Doctor sighed sadly. "Me too."
"Doctor!" Amy called from the doorway. "We've got less than six minutes."
"Go!" he shouted. "Go, we're right behind you!"
The others rushed from the room, but Nasreen stayed behind. The Doctor and Jenny both looked at her.
"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Let's go."
"I'm not coming either."
They stopped.
"What?"
"We're going to hibernate with them." She placed her arm on Tony's shoulder. "My and Tony."
"Doctor, you must go!" Eldane urged.
"I can be decontaminated when we're woken." Tony looked up at Nasreen. "All the time in the world."
"But..." the Doctor started. Nasreen just shook her head.
"This is perfect, though!" She looked around. "I've got what I was digging for. I can't leave when I've only just found it."
Amy ran in to see them still standing there. "Doctor!"
"It was an honor, Nasreen," he said.
"We'll come and visit sometime. Sound good?"
They shared one last smile before running out the doors, which slid shut behind them.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
So, the Doctor sent our warriors back to their rest on the promise of future harmony with humans.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Other way, idiot!" Amy called as Rory started down the wrong hallway.
They made it to the larger cavern where the TARDIS was just as the ceiling began to shake.
"No questions, just get in!" the Doctor shouted as the human family of three stopped and stared. "And yes, I know it's big!" Jenny unlocked the doors and practically shoved them inside.
"Sickbay is up the stairs," she told them. "Left, then another left, and it's the door marked 'SICKBAY' so it's pretty hard to miss. Get yourself fixed up." She darted back to the doors and poked her head out. "Come on! Five minutes left-"
She froze, along with the other three, at the sight of the massive crack spreading across the wall of the chamber, glowing that familiar ethereal white.
"Not here," her father whispered. "Not now... It's getting wider."
"The crack on my bedroom wall," Amy whispered in fear and confusion.
The Doctor slowly walked forwards, squatting so he was eye level with the crack. "And the Byzantium," he added. "All through the universe, rips in the continuum."
"A... space-time cataclysm?" Jenny tried. "Some sort of explosion? It's massive, it's putting cracks in the universe, but what is it?"
Amy looked at the stopwatch. "Four minutes fifty, we need to go!"
"The Angels laughed when I didn't know," he continued bitterly. "Prisoner Zero knew, everybody knew, except for us!"
"Doctor, just leave it-"
"But where there's an explosion," he continued, heedless, pulling a red handkerchief out of his pocket. "There's shrapnel."
Jenny bit her lip nervously. "Dad, maybe you shouldn't stick your hand in there..."
"Why not?" He wrapped the fabric around his hand and shoved his arm into the crack, crying out as the light got brighter. Jenny winced as her own hand began to burn slightly, a phantom pain of what he was feeling right now. "I've got something!"
He fell to the ground a moment later, fabric smoking and sizzling with heat, but there was definitely something there."
"What is it?" Jenny murmured.
He shook his head. "I don't know."
"Doctor!"
Time seemed to slow down, however impossible that actually was. A dying Restac crawled into the tunnel, gun clutched in one hand. "You..." she rasped. "You did this..."
The next thing she knew, Restac was dead, Rory was lying on the ground, and Amy was sobbing.
"Rory, can you hear me?" the Doctor asked, waving the sonic over his eyes.
"I don't understand," he whispered, gasping in pain. Jenny felt her eyes burn with tears.
Silurian weapon, set to full power, closer range, victim hit in chest, chances of survival at zero percent-
"Shh, shh." Amy stroked his face, blinking back tears. "Don't talk. We're gonna get you into the TARDIS, it's okay."
"We were on the hill," he said faintly. "I can't die here..."
"Don't say that," she said tearfully, but Rory could only just meet her gaze.
"You're so beautiful..."
Jenny looked away as Amy broke down and Rory went still, glancing up towards the rocky ceiling, trying not to cry. The Doctor noticed the light from the crack slowly reaching around Rory's feet, and he stood up.
"Amy, move away from the light," he said. "If it touches you you'll be wiped from history." Amy could only stare at Rory's motionless form. "Amy, move away now."
"No!" she shouted. "I am not leaving him! We have to help him."
The Doctor grabbed her shoulders and turned her to look at him. "The light's already around him, we can't help him."
"I am not leaving him!" she protested.
"We have to."
"No!"
Apologizing over and over, trying not to listen to her heartbreaking pleas, the two managed to get her inside the TARDIS and lock the doors. Jenny just collapsed onto the floor, leaning back against the railing, head down, eyes squeezed tightly shut. The Doctor sent them into flight.
"That light..." Amy said, tears pouring down her face. "If his body's absorbed, I'll forget him. He'll never have existed. You can't let that happen..."
The Doctor just pulled another leaving.
"What are you doing? Doctor! No!"
He pulled her into a hug as she beat his hands against his chest, shaking.
"No! No! Doctor, we can't just leave him there!"
"Keep him in your mind," he said, looking her in the eye. "If you forget him, you lose him forever."
"On the Byzantium, I still remembered the clerics," she said weakly. "Because I'm a time traveller, you said."
He grabbed her head with his hands and turned her face to look up at him. "They weren't part of your world. This is different... your own history changing."
"You have to make it okay," she whispered. "Please, please..."
He pushed her down into the pilot's seat in the TARDIS and knelt in front of her. "Tell me about Rory," he urged. "Fantastic Rory, funny Rory, gorgeous Rory." She could only shake her head. "Amy, listen to me. Do exactly as I say! Amy, please. Keep concentrating. You can do this."
"I can't-"
"You can," he stressed. "You can do it. I can't help you unless you do. Come on, we can still save his memory. Come on, Pond, please. Don't let anything distract you. Remember Rory. Keep remembering. Rory is only alive in your memory. You need to keep hold of him, don't let-"
The TARDIS landed, as it normally did, with a jolt, sending them all tumbling to the floor. The box holding the engagement ring fell off the console, landing next to Jenny. She stared at it blankly for a moment before wiping away the tears from her cheeks before anyone could notice and sliding the box to her father, who shoved it into a coat pocket. Amy glanced up at him.
"What were you saying?" she asked brightly.
He couldn't even formulate a reply as Mo and Elliot walked down the stairs.
"I have seen some things today, but this is beyond mad," Mo laughed.
Amy chuckled, then glanced down at the stopwatch again. "Five seconds until it all goes up!"
The group ran outside just in time to see the entire structure explode in a pillar of fire.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Elliot, Amy, and Mo were wandering through the graveyard while Jenny, Ambrose, and the Doctor stood in front of the entrance to the church.
"You could've just let those things shoot me," she said quietly. "You saved me."
"An eye for an eye," Jenny shrugged. "Not the right way." She had changed into a clean shirt, long sleeves to hide the lines running up her arms, but she was feeling better than she had before.
"Now you show your son how wrong you were," the Doctor continued. "How there's another way. You make him the best of humanity... in the way you couldn't be." He gave her a gentle smile before walking away.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The trio walked up to the TARDIS, and Amy grinned as she saw herself in the distance.
"Hey! Look! There I am again!" She waved to herself, alone of the opposite side of the valley. "Hello, me!"
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked as her smile seemed to flicker.
She paused for just a moment, but then the grin was back in place and they might have just imagined it. "I thought I saw someone else there for a second," she said in confusion. "I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?"
"You go in," he said, waving a hand. "We just need to fix this lock, it keeps jamming." He made a point of struggling with it as he unlocked the doors for her.
"You Time Lords and your locksmithery," she laughed, stepped inside the TARDIS and closing the door.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Now, as my people awaken from their one thousand year sleep, ready to rise to the surface, my thoughts turn back to the Doctor - the losses he suffered then and the greater losses that were yet to come.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The Doctor unwrapped the piece of the TARDIS, and Jenny didn't think she could be any more shocked and confused than she already was.
That changed as they held the broken piece of the TARDIS doors in their hands.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Writing this at some insane hour of the morning (lost track of the time) so apologies for any typos and humungous apologies for the ridiculously long wait. Here's a double chapter to make up for it. I'd try and get something up over April break, but we're going on an exchange trip to Spain and... well, you all know how my luck with laptops work. If I tried to take it overseas it would somehow wind up jumping out of the airplane window over the Atlantic... I should have another chapter up sometime in a couple weeks though, and I'll let you know when I get a new story up, set in this universe. It's a series of interludes between or during the episodes here that are alluded to but never actually shown. It'll be called Meanwhile in the TARDIS and there will be sporadic updates on that. Hope you all have a wonderful April vacation!