Philippi…"
Summary: The Doctor, seeking an answer to the mystery of Clara, has decided to turn to the one person who always has the answer…Even if she never tells him straight out. And gets a message from an old acquaintance…
Disclaimer: Who me? No commercial interest or infringement intended whatsoever…
Part XXV…
Command deck, Dalek battle cruiser…Approaching the famed and long quarantined Lux Galactic Library…
"So Trenzalore…The Silence and the attempts to use me…River, I mean…The explosion that fractured Time and gave the Time Lords in their pocket universe a signal that return home might be possible…" Clara sighed…River frowning…As the 12th Doctor, Kravos, and Davia sipped tea, the tea cart Dalek…Identifying itself with friendly efficiency to the Doctor as "Winchester, sir…Honored to be of service to you…" offering "Tea, miss?" to River who took a cup, while Clara set hers down… "It was all cover?" Clara eyed the Doctor.
"Oh, no…Not at all…" the 12th shook his head. "Well, it wasn't intended to be till it was needed to be…"
"It's important the rest of the Universe not learn of the peace negotiations too soon…" Davia noted carefully. "Too many races would fear an alliance of the United Scarians and Gallifreyans, no matter how benevolently intended."
"Surely everyone will rejoice at the thought of the Time War never returning…" River, dryly.
"Don't be a cat, River." The Doctor eyed her sternly. "You know the warrior races can't help but view this as both threat and opportunity."
"Oh…" River looked to Clara who sighed back. "And there it is, at last, in part…The real bargain at the core of all this. You didn't set up the negotiations to save us…You threatened to break them off. And not even Rasillon can negotiate with the…Scarians…"
"Thank you…" Davia smiled.
"…They'd only accept what their foe and 'savior' would guarantee…Of course." Shake of head. "You made us the price of this bit of rather creative diplomacy, once you realized what Rasillon had been setting up for eons. His son…Nice touch, egowise…To be the one creature in the Universe the Scarians and Gallifrey would accept as negotiator."
Sound of another TARDIS materializing next to the already River-parked TARDIS on the command deck…
"Right on time, as usual…" the Doctor noted… "And…River…"
"…that's hardly fair to Father…" the voice of the 13th from the now open door. "He was always ready to take a risk to save his daughter-in-law."
"Is it really bigger on the inside as they say, Sister Clara?" Sharia asked Clara shyly, her viewstalk observing each TARDIS in turn.
...
"So then Tasha Lem was so freakin' angry at the Daleks for killing her…" the 13th Doctor noted. Davia looking sheepish. Kravos grinning.
"I remember this one…" Davia sighed. The 12th Doctor looking sympathetically her way. "She beamed abroad my command ship and stuck her fingers through my…Davros'… eye sockets."
"She has a temper, does our Tasha…" the 12th Doctor nodded. "Actually makes her more in touch with the people I'd say…Not some distant sort of papal type or some Buddha pretending to be above it all…I always hated that fellow, one of the smuggest Time Lords I ever met. 'No need to tell me anything, I know all, my son.' Made Dad look humble."
"I know I deserved it, but the memory still hurts…Worse than all the times you or someone else blew me up." Davia winced. "Still, it did work as a convincer to my original self that there was no cheap way out."
I know …She sighed at Kravos' look. "Not as bad as getting your artificial heart stopped…But…"
"Tasha Lem…" River, looking annoyed. "That cheap floozy of a high priestess?"
"She didn't send those Silence through time after you…" the 12th Doctor noted.
"But she did let you kiss her…" River glared.
"You remember that?" Clara eyed her.
"She means me…" the 13th Doctor sighed. "River, I just wanted to thank her for all she'd done for us…It was her birthday."
"I knew it…" River ignored the 13th, staring down the 12th as Davia watched with Kravos, both fascinated. "You did fool around with her before…The Siege of Trenzalore, eh?"
"Don't look at me to defend you…I was there…" Clara glared at the 12th as he looked to her for support. "An altar-bed, eh…?"
"Ladies…Sweetheart…" the 13th tried.
"Men…" Sharia, annoyed tone to Kravos. "And don't think I don't carry the ancestral memory of your ancestor dumping me on Scaro just before the Doctor came to begin saving us." Her eyestalk wagging at him…
"We'll talk about it later…" River, Clara…Nodding to each other…
No need to air the family laundry too much in front of the Scarians…
"And we mean it…" River noted, eyeing both Doctors.
"It was wartime, Sharia…" Kravos sighed to the somehow grimly staring eyestalk. "I...My ancestor couldn't make a commitment."
"So we're in orbit around the Galactic Library. Have we been detected yet?" River asked, sipping her tea.
"Dalek vessel…" the android girl copy of CAL's human form, standing quietly by the command center doorway, suddenly spoke up.
"I'd say…Yes." Clara noted, dryly.
"We've established the wavelength and interphase, Doctor." Davia noted to the 13th Doctor.
"Greetings. This is CAL, the Primary Computer of the Lux Interspecies Galactic Library." The android spoke, staring at each one of them in turn and settling on the 13th Doctor for a moment, then to Davia. "You are identified and confirmed as primarily Dalekian, an aggressive and hostile species. Any attempt to penetrate Library defenses or access this mainframe without permission of the Galactic Consortium of Independent Systems will be rejected using all means necessary. Please apply for membership through your local Galactic Consortium representative and submit authorization code on receipt of the same. The Galactic Library is the gift of the Lux family to all friendly sentient species. Warning…The Galactic Library has been occupied by a potentially dangerous species, the Vashta Nerada, and decontamination measures are still in effect. On admission with authorization, please enter with caution."
"Actually we have applied for membership…" Davia smiled to Clara. "But we'll have to apologize and resubmit later."
"I assume you can blast your way in if you have to…" Clara sighed.
"One cruiser? Against the Galactic Library's defenses?" Davia grinned to the 13th Doctor who smiled back. "Not likely, this is after all the 51st Terran century. And the Library's defenses have been generously supplemented with weaponry from a number of member species. Even a fleet would have quite a time…And then there's the Vashta Nerada…"
"I thought you have a deal with them." River noted to the 13th Doctor, who shrugged.
"One shot thing, I'm afraid. They know the Daleks by reputation and acquired knowledge from various victims and when I did attempt to get permission to enter, I'm afraid they assumed I'd chosen to violate the agreement. They won't remember those tries but it stands to reason they'll behave in the same way now."
"We barely made it out a few times…" Davia noted. "When CAL didn't almost destroy us…"
"You went without me…?!" Clara, River…Glaring mutually at the Doctor.
"Idris was upset too, I think…" the 13th Doctor sighed.
"And as usual…" River smiled.
"…he needs us…" Clara finished.
"Are all spouses like them, Doctor?" Davia asked, with genuine curiosity.
"Fortunately, no…" he sighed.
"Ladies, the thing is…" the Doctor began…
"CAL recognizes me as a memory file…" River, archly.
"Say…As an old friend…And Clara too, since CAL has deconstructed the whole River Song memory structure, uncovering the past lives…"
"Great…A computerized little girl knows my life better than I do." Clara frowned.
"I've thought…From my Rose memories…That having your husband know you as well as the Doctor does…" Davia grinned.
"Yes. That is worse." River nodded, cool glare at the Doctor.
"But the counter is…We know him as well." River shook her head. "You need me to negotiate your way into CAL's archives, fine. But why all the fuss and mystery? You have something to offer her, you just need to get in to make the offer. There's more here…"
"You're right." Clara nodded. "He's keeping something back…"
"As are you…" River frowned. "You know it's one thing to not be able to trust one's husband to be honest with you but to have your own self working to keep you in the dark…If this is all…Peace between the Time Lords and the Scarians, a new dawn for the Universe…What the dickens is so terrible about it that you'd kill us all to prevent it?"
"I don't know…" Clara sighed. "I only know, right now, that I'm afraid of what he'll do to pull this off. The specific memories…I can't access."
"And the reason being…?" River eyed the Doctors… "Gentlemen, I can wait here all…"
"River Song has been downloaded…Unauthorized download." The CAL android spoke up… "River Song has been downloaded…Unauthorized download." The voice paused.
"River Song has been detected…Please submit authorization for previous download or reload River Song."
"You said you failed…" River eyed the Doctors.
"River Song will be reloaded in thirty standard seconds unless authorization code is submitted…Please submit code."
"Reloaded?" River looked at the Doctors…Blinking. "You didn't bring me here to access CAL, you…" she began.
"River, forgive me…But if we're to permanently save you we need to know who took you and how they did it…CAL's records were wiped regards you beyond the holding folder with a few basics." The 12th Doctor noted.
"River Song is being saved, please stand by…" the android noted. River gasping as she dematerialized from the deck.
"But not me?" Clara glared at the Doctor.
"You aren't being recognized as River Song in that body…" the 13th Doctor noted.
"River Song has been uploaded." The android noted impassively. "River Song not recognized as original, shall I save with a new name?"
"River Mark II…" the 13th Doctor noted.
"Sorry…" Davia sighed to Clara… "I tried to get him to use River Clara or at least something more 'Melody'."
"Too hard keeping those names straight..." the 12th Doctor shook head. "She'd hate 'The Wife'. You do hate that, don't you, dear?" he eyed Clara.
"Not as much as two other things right now..." she noted grimly.
"And The Song...That just sounds ridiculous." the 13th noted.