Crossed Wires
by ErtheChilde

'You're trying to say that everything you do is reasonable, and everything I do is inhuman. Well, I'm afraid your judgement's at fault.'

AN: One down, one to go. I will try my damndest to get the next chapter up tonight for you guys, but until then, I'm posting this now in case something random happens, like a power-outage or aliens and I can't update :P

TWENTY-ONE

The TARDIS jolted and juddered, moving in spurts as the Doctor tried to force her through the tiny breach in the Quiisojeanan tractor beam. It was a long shot, and fully contingent on Rose keeping that lever and that button down – as long as she did that, the breach he'd made would stay open.

Long enough to get through.

He could practically feel the TARDIS' efforts the squeeze through, and offered her silent encouragement. As soon as they sorted out the trouble on this moon, he promised her a complete diagnostic and overhaul of anything that could possibly trouble her.

The scraping, keening sound of something large being shoved through a much smaller opening filled the air, and he gritted his teeth and quickly rushed to correct several digits he'd entered into flight coordinates. They were bringing him too close to the breach, and it was unstable, it could close on them and then –

There was a rumbling thud, and then silence.

We did it, the Doctor realized, feeling a collective pull of relief from all three of them.

'Bsf xf uifsf?' Rose asked. 'Dbo J mfu hp opx?'

She gestured to where she was still carrying out the task he'd given her, and he nodded, telling her she could let go now.

She huffed a sound that was like a laugh and an exhausted exhalation, falling back onto the jumpseat for a moment like her legs were going to crumble out from beneath her.

He watched her across the console, trying to keep his expression neutral, trying to figure out a way to convince her to stay behind in the TARDIS. She had still been limping – he hadn't had a chance to take a look at what was wrong, and he didn't want her getting hurt worse – but even if he could have told her so in words, she'd fight him on it.

Short of locking her in the TARDIS, she'd follow him. And he knew if he did that, he'd face her wrath when he got back.

He really didn't fancy finding out if the slapping was hereditary.

And so he held out his hand to her, which she took immediately.

'Cfuufs xjui uxp,' she said, sounding like she was in agreement.

Together they strode through the door to meet whatever waited on the other side.

It was immediately obvious that they hadn't managed to land in the ime's chambers. Considering the effort it had taken just to move the TARDIS, however, it was better than he could have hoped.

Still, when Rose suddenly tugged at his hand, he froze, his entire body tensing in preparation for a possible attack.

Instead, he noticed what she had seen.

A middle-aged Quiisojeanan stared up at them from the desk where it was sitting, an ancient looking scroll in hand and pince-nez balanced on its snout. Although obviously startled by their appearance, the creature didn't cry out or look like it was about to raise the alarm.

He also looked nothing like the female the Doctor had seen on the screen in his prison cell, so it was a safe bet this wasn't the ime. In fact, judging by the slightly emaciated form beneath his robes and the weariness in his eyes, the Doctor would guess this might be a prisoner of some importance.

'Xiz jto'u if dbmmjoh uif hvbset?' Rose whispered.

The Doctor shook his head at her worry, and told her his suspicion that this creature was a prisoner and might be able to help them. She shook her head, uncomprehending, and then froze when the Quiisojeanan slowly got to its feet.

The Doctor moved to put his body between the stranger and Rose, a move which the man watched with some surprise, before he brought his paws up. The Doctor saw that his fingers were a bit arthritic, which contributed to his slow, halting movements.

And then, as if it wasn't something he was used to doing, he began to sign.

'Are you Resistance?'

'If dbo tjho!' Rose let out an exclamation of surprise and relief, and the Doctor couldn't help echoing it.

'You know this language?' he asked. 'Are you with the rebellion?'

'No,' the man replied. 'However, I was one of the reasons behind the need for one.' He sighed. 'I can do little from here, as you can see, but I keep apprised of their activities. When it is safe to do so.'

'Who are you?'

'As you and your woman have entered my chambers unannounced, it would be customary to give your names first,' he replied, a hint of imperiousness there. 'If you are here to kill me – which I somehow doubt or you would have done something already – I could die with clear conscience and knowing I have not been led from my principles,' he adopted a faraway look. 'I would at least be reunited with my Kagane.'

Rose was tugging at the Doctor's sleeve now, looking at the Quiisojeanan with realization. 'Epdups, J uijol uibu't uif jnf't ofuifx! J nfbo, xiz fmtf bjo'u if buubdljoh vt?'

Realization hit the Doctor.

'You're the ime's nephew, aren't you?'

The Quiisojeanan glanced was looking at Rose with his own kind of comprehension. 'She does not understand, does she?'

'Understands more than you or me would expect,' the Doctor replied. 'And you haven't answered my questions.'

The Quiisojeanan nodded in resignation. 'I am Jungyao Aishin Goro.'

'Suppose it's not exactly something you want to go around advertising, is it?'

Jungyao offered a bitter smile. 'It is the only thing which keeps me alive. By law, I am rightful ruler of this moon, but I have not yet had the privilege of ruling.' He snorted depreciatingly. 'Although, perhaps that is best.'

'What do you mean?'

'My honorable aunt has been losing her mind for ten years, stranger. Her advisors and flatterers, intent on preserving their own positions, have guarded that secret violently. And so they maintained the last dictates she made with a sound mind, and cracked down on any dissent in order to maintain the farce that she is still a competent and strong ruler,' Jungyao explained bitterly. 'They say it is in fear of upheaval and rebellion – but as we are in the midst of one anyhow, I would say they have failed.'

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. 'Are you telling me…that the atrocities I've witnessed – that the woman presiding over the execution of hundreds of innocent people every day – doesn't even know what she's going?'

'Funny how trusting the infirm become as they deteriorate,' Jungyao said mildly. 'She spent her entire life expecting everyone she met to have a hidden agenda, and now she is like a child. Saying the words her advisors tell her to say, making appearances when they suggest it. I think I might pity her, if she hadn't executed my wife.' His eyes suddenly widened, and he stared at the Doctor in awe. 'She made a prophecy, before she died. She spoke of a time when the ime's decisions would become her undoing. Is that what has happened today? The sounds of battle that I heard…has the man from her vision come?'

The Doctor kept himself in check. He'd had enough talk about prophecies for one day, but he also had a timetable.

'Yep, that's today. But for things to turn out right, we're gonna need to move fast. Don't suppose you know how we can get to the ime, do you?' He cocked his head and studied Jungyao. 'I guess being a prisoner makes it a bit difficult…'

'I know where her chambers are,' Jungyao replied. 'And if there is a way to escape from this room, I can show you.' He eyed the TARDIS warily. 'Perhaps in your…transportation?'

'Nope, she's landlocked for now. Had enough trouble just moving her a few kilometers,' the Doctor replied. 'But…' He drew out the sonic. 'Tell me, your highness, are those locks on your door computerized?'

'I believe so –'

'Fantastic!' the Doctor was already aiming the sonic, relishing in the sound of the lock opening. 'Come on, let's go ring in the end of a revolution! Lead the way, your highness!'

The Quiisoeajeanan looked as if he wasn't quite sure what was going on, but complied all the same.

The three of them hurried out into the hallways – beautiful, marble smooth walls adorned with colourful art and gilded carvings. A far cry from the settings deep in the catacombs and in the prison facility where the Doctor had been kept. The high ceilings echoed with their footsteps as they followed Jungyao.

The Doctor was uneasy. He had expected more of a fight once they arrived here, but there were no guards. In fact, the entire place seemed deserted.

'Xifsf'sf bmm uif hvbset?'Rose queried.

'Where are all the guards?' the Doctor asked.

A grim expression overtook their companion's face, and he slowly signed, 'I think I know.'

'Don't tell me that lot have all committed suicide too?' the Doctor demanded, revolted at the thought. Not every guard was guilty, and to commit some kind of honorable suicide for the deeds of someone else…

'No. Most are likely helping the army, but those that guard the palace interior must be accompanying the ime's advisors.'

'Accompanying them where?'

'Something must have convinced them that this rebellion is over. Or someone,' Jungyao's eyes lingered on the Doctor in calculation, before he continued. 'If the rebellion is truly coming to an end, they would be in fear for their lives and their livelihood.'

'And the repercussions of what they've done, once the surrounding planets and governments find out,' the Doctor hypothesized. 'They'll be tried for war-crimes.'

'My aunt's clan were not given to accepting their own wrongdoings. Rather to destroy evidence of it than to allow anyone to know they were fallible,' Jungyao said. 'They will have ordered everything questionable from their regime to be destroyed.

'Including prisoners,' the Doctor said, bitter.

'Yes. The dead cannot give testimony,' Jungyao sighed.

'And the missing can't be held accountable – d'you know where they've gone?'

'Not for certain, now. However…if I were in their position, I would relocate to the summer palace on the other side of this moon.'

'Then we'll head there. Deal with them, grab the ime, have a bit of conversation and –'

'She will not be there,' Jungyao said. 'She is still here.'

'What? Why?'

'As I said…if it were my situation, I would have a contingency plan. And that would be to leave the ruler and the last legal heir behind to be dealt with by the rebels,' Jungyao said. 'Then, I could tell the people anything I wanted in order to legitimize my own government. If I was particularly ruthless, I would demolish the palace with my enemies still inside.'

The Doctor frowned. 'You've thought this through to a disturbing extent.'

'I have spent almost my entire adult life a prisoner, and have had to think several steps ahead of would-be assassins. I know how their kind thinks.' He looked abruptly ashamed. 'I wish I did not.'

'Well, if we succeed here, maybe you won't have to any more.'

They turned another corridor.

What they found in the ime's chambers was not the cunning murderess that Doctor had imagined in his mind, or the collected woman he had seen on the screen. That had been artifice, he knew now.

Instead, a balding creature was sitting on her bed, twirling her grey hair around her claws and murmuring rapidly to herself. She was clutching a bulky, metallic box, which was emitting a high-pitched frequency that made the Doctor's ears cringe. He had a suspicion that in addition to the problems it had caused on this moon, it was likely responsible for the woman's mental state. She smelled as if she hadn't washed in days, and the remnants of many meals were stacked in the corner of the room, attracting insects.

An old, neglected, senile woman.

The Doctor stared down at the pitiful creature before him, his mind casting from one punishment to another. He had come across many in all his centuries of travel that would be a fitting punishment for the woman responsible for such suffering and anguish. If any one being on this moon was qualified to pronounce any sort of judgement on her, it would be him.

But seeing Rose looking at the woman with that flash of pity – which she seemed to be trying to hide from him, as if her feeling for the ime made her a bad person instead of the unbelievably sympathetic creature he had been lucky enough to convince to travel with him – he thought better of it.

There were better ways to deal with this situation.

If Jungyao was to be believed – and the Doctor was rather sure he was – this woman might have been the start of the horrible regime, but she was no longer in charge. She hadn't been in charge for a long time, and no longer even had the mental capacity to understand what she had done wrong.

The classic case of a figurehead being set up to take the fall, and the Doctor didn't intend to let that stand.

Jungyao was looking at his aunt now, with something like revulsion.

'It is my duty – my responsibility – to atone for the sins of my blood,' he said gravely, stepping forward. He flexed his fingers and claws meaningfully.

'Can understand that,' the Doctor agreed, keeping an eye on the appendages that could so quickly become weapons if he didn't pay attention. 'But it's a bit useless, don't you think? She's not even lucid right now, and her death wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't bring back the dead. Besides, while she's still alive, I think I might be able to persuade her to hand over power to you legally, so you won't have to launch your own coup against your advisors. The people will back you, not them.'

'You can do this?'

'Might be able to, yeah,' the Doctor allowed, and then turned serious. 'Besides, do you really want your reign to begin with another execution?'

Jungyao regarded him for a long moment; a fair amount of thought went on behind those tired eyes, and then he nodded.

'Your words are wise,' he agreed. 'There are more effective punishments, more appropriate to situation. My rule will not begin with death.'

'Can I make a suggestion then?' the Doctor asked. He nodded at the whirring device. 'In the interest of better communication between yourself and your people, might want to deal with that.'

Jungyao smiled. 'Yes. I think that would be best. I will have my aunt's – my scientific advisors – examine the device and turn it off.'

But the Doctor was already handing him his sonic, keyed into the proper setting. 'Got a better idea than turning it off. Though…seems only right to let you do the honors. First official act and all that.'

Jungyao looked at the sonic warily, then glanced at Rose who was watching the exchange with rapt attention, and then took it.

He aimed it at the device, and muttered and growled something. With his hands employed, he couldn't sign, and all the Doctor could understand were the grumbling sounds of the Quiisojeanan language.

There was a sputtering and sparking from the device, and then the lights emitting turned a brilliant green.

There was a lull in the Doctor's head, a frequency he doubted anyone else noticed, and then the grumbling, snarling sounds began to melt into understandable words. '…witness to the end of the Age of Nekane.'

English. All in simple, uncomplicated and painless English.

Rose, on the other hand, whirled around to stare at the Doctor in joyous realization.

'Hello,' he said, wiggling his fingers at her.

She squealed happily and through herself into his arms. 'Hello!'