I had seen birth and death, but thought they were different.
- T. S. Eliot
Felsius Four
Pete Tyler visualized the numbers six, one, and three in his mind and sent them through his neural transmitter. The sealed door of the command node opened with an efficient popping sound and slid up, revealing the cavernous hexagonal room within.
Dark except for the green arc-lights the Locastalan used within their hives, the command center buzzed with Locastalan drones that skittered over embedded computer relays. Pete hesitated at the doorway, temporarily overwhelmed by the contrasting darkness and the constant tinny noise of the Locastalan's communication, which seemed to tickle and scratch on the inside of his skull.
At his side, Gerard Price wore a bewildered smile.
"Look at that. Giant space bugs. And I'd be licked if it doesn't smell of honey and apples in there," Mr. Price marveled. "Can you believe it?"
Pete drew a deep breath and nodded. "You've never been off planet, have you?"
Mr. Price shook his head. "Not even the moon, sir."
Pete had been to the moon. He had been to the International Space Station, to Mars, to Felsius Proper, and to Felsius Four when he and Jacks and Rose and James were negotiating terms for the Contingency.
"Jacks had been fairly freaked by all this," Pete recalled with a smile. "She never cared for space travel. Always worried she'd get vaporized by solar flares or kidnapped by radioactive space apes. Too many late nights watching sci-fi on the telly."
"We'll find her, Pete," Gerard said. "And the kids. And they'll all be fine. Jake, too."
"They're in good… hands? Pincers? Legs? Whatever this lot has, anyway," Pete said, trying to sound cheerful. "They'll take good care of everyone. Now let's see what's got them so worked up."
When they stepped inside the command node, two of the Locastalan drones broke off from their posts and met them.
"Petetyler, you will come with us," they said in unison, and Pete and Gerard fell in behind them.
The drones led them through a maze of computer terminals, some set into walls, some into the floor, some into the ceiling. After navigating through a cloyingly close and unbearably warm labyrinth of Locastalan work stations, the waxen tunnel opened up into a vast room swarming with activity. At its heart pulsed the crystalline structure that appeared to be the central computer.
But that was not what drew Pete's attention. Across the entire wall to their left, the Locastalan projected the holographic image of the earth, the moon, and a network of twinkling satellites. Only something else had entered the picture: a horrid, bloated, tentacled creature, a leviathan from the depths of time.
Awestruck, Pete muttered, "The storm."
They watched in stunned silence as the storm collided with the satellites, shattering them each in succession like a strand of Christmas lights. Then, with terrifying rapidity, the misshapen mouth of the storm engulfed the earth. Soon nothing green or blue could be seen beneath the swirling swathes of leaden cloud. Vivid scarlet lightning throbbed within it, a dull and steady beating.
Then the relay crisped to static and the whole thing started again.
"This is a recording?" Pete shouted. He jumped the rail and ran forward to stand beneath the holograph. "No, we have to stop it! Rose–"
"–We are sorry, Petetyler," came the trill of hundreds of forlorn Locastalan voices at once. "We could not stop the storm."
Pete clawed out the neural transmitter and buried it in his palm. He couldn't bear them singing, not now, not when…
He watched again as the storm consumed the earth. What had gone wrong? He'd given the security protocols to River. She was supposed to take down the Bellweather grid. And the Doctor was down there. The Doctor and James. And Rose...
Pete's knees threatened to buckle, but he forced himself to stand. He replaced the transmitter. "Look. It's not over. The three of them together are bound to come up with something. They will find a way, you have to believe it."
"But Petetyler, we've lost the signal. The earth is–"
"–No," he said firmly. "No, they'll be broadcasting. Another wavelength, another frequency, something. They will find a way. Reconfigure your sensors, do whatever it takes, but find them. Rose and James McCrimmon would not give up, and neither will we. Do you understand?"
A hum of activity, then, "Aye, consort of Jackietyler, we understand."
The pale horror of the holograph recording cast its light across Pete's face as it looped again to replay to its gruesome end.
"Neither will we," he whispered. Pete turned from the display and gripped Gerard's shoulder. "Come along, Mr. Price," Pete told him. "There's work to be done. Let's go find our family and friends."
Within Memories
The clouds burst, dashing them with freezing rain. The Doctor seized James, bringing his face close to his own. Blistering waves of energy surged through the Doctor, searing James' skin, and though he screamed in agony, the Doctor did not relent.
"It's over," the Doctor cried. "I've won."
James leveled his eyes with the twin burning suns of the Doctor's, and with great pain and great effort, he brought his hands to the Doctor's face. "Let him go," James whispered.
The Doctor laughed. "So persistent. So predictable. I'll never let any of it go now. Why should I?"
"This is — This is your — last–"
The Doctor clamped a hand over James' mouth. "Oh, do us all a favor and SHUT UP."
He shoved James hard and he stumbled over uneven stones to sprawl in the mud. The Doctor swooped down from the slab and crouched beside him.
"My whole existence I've searched for this," the Doctor hissed. "The one ember that can rekindle life into these brittle bones. You can't stop me. No one can."
"I know," James said. "And I'm so sorry. But you're wrong. You were never a man, never alive. You are deceived."
The Doctor's smile faltered. The rain drenched his hair, plastering it to his grim face.
"Let him go," James whispered.
He uttered a weak laugh. "Never. He's mine. It's all mine."
"It's over."
The Doctor recoiled and hovered over James, who lay in a pitiful heap in the mud and rain. "Yes, for you, it's over," he spat.
James closed his eyes and let his head drop back to the ground. "Then do it," he said. "End it. Swallow us all and leave. Take your prize and run."
The Doctor howled. He threw his head back and shrieked.
And James saw his moment. He scrabbled to his feet, leaping to the plinth to stand nose to nose with the Doctor. "You can't, can you? And I know why. Don't you see?" he said. "Up there, in your clouds. Did you think they were just random flashes of color and light? Do you think I'd come alone?"
"Oh no, not you," the Doctor snarled. "James McCrimmon. The Inventor. Famouser even than the queen. You're never alone. You, with your family and your friends and your… castle." He stumbled backward a step, but James caught him before he could fall.
"That's our memories you're feeling," James said. "Our memories. Rose and me, together. The light of love and hope against the darkness of loss and pain. That's all that you've had, 'til now. You've been a long time on your own, a long time listening to your voice, with no one to guide you. You grew up with no one to stop you, and who could? No one. 'Cause you're alone in the Universe, the only one of your kind, and I know what that does."
"Stop it," the Doctor moaned. "Please. Just stop."
"He gave us this. The Doctor. And now I'm giving it to you. What does a memory want more than anything?" James asked.
Slowly, the fire faded from the Doctor's eyes. He raised his fist, but when he swung, all the energy trickled from him in that one motion, and he stood, a disheveled young man in a soaking suit, his wild hair hanging like a curtain over his eyes. At the same time, the rain swirled into luminous fog around them, effacing the ruins of Sacre Coeur, and the sky, and the ground beneath their feet.
"Let him go," James said again.
"He's all I have," he whispered. "Where will I go?"
James pushed the hair from the Doctor's forehead. "Where you belong," he told him. "Now, close your eyes."
"Wait," the Doctor said. "Wait. There's something…"
"Shhh."
"It's a binary star," the Doctor said. "One eclipses the other. Tell her."
"I'll tell her," James said. He covered the Doctor's eyes, and in a double heartbeat, he fell unconscious into James' arms.