Disclaimer: I give up. If you haven't got it yet, you never will.
Ch. 36:
"Close your eyes and tell me what you see." A man's voice said.
"The Library." The girl replied.
"Open your eyes again." The Man's voice said.
The girl opened her eyes and saw that she was sitting in her living room, her father and Dr. Moon sitting across from her.
"Where are you now?" Dr. Moon asked.
"My living room, Dr. Moon." The girl replied.
"When you close your eyes…" Dr. Moon prompted.
"I go to the Library." She replied.
"Go to the Library now." Dr. Moon told her.
She closed her eyes and she was in a large circular room with several doors around and walls covered in books. In the middle of the room was an opening, letting sun in, and that's where she stood.
"Are you back there?" Dr. Moon's voice asked.
"Yes." The girl replied.
"The same part?" Dr. Moon asked.
"No, it's always different." The girl told him. "The Library goes on forever."
"How do you move around?" Dr. Moon asked.
"By wishing." She replied.
Suddenly, one of the doors began shaking.
"What's wrong?" Dr. Moon asked.
"Something's here!" she told him. "Someone's got in! No one's supposed to get in!"
"She's never mentioned anyone else." Came her dad's voice. "She's always been alone."
The doors were close to opening.
"Someone's in my Library!" the girl told them. "No, no, please, that's not allowed! It's not allowed!"
"Listen to me." Dr. Moon told her. "The Library is in your mind."
"I know it's in my mind-" the girl replied, "but something's got inside!"
The door burst open and a man with two women, one with black hair and one with red, came running in. The black haired woman but a book through the handle of the door to prevent anyone from coming through.
"Oh!" the man said, spotting the girl. "Hello!"
He put his hands in his pockets and walked towards her, followed by the two women.
"Sorry to burst in on you like this." He told her. "Okay if we stop her for a bit?"
The girl opened her eyes and she was back in her living room, gasping in terror.
"Books!" the Doctor called. "People never really stop loving books."
While he spoke, he picked up his coat and exited the TARDIS, followed by Donna and Lily, arm and arm. Outside was a large, empty reception area.
"51st century." He continued. "By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, by you need the smell. The smell of books, ladies. Deep breath."
"This from a man who has a gigantic library at his disposal at all times." Lily muttered.
They crossed the room and walked through a door. The Doctor led them down and out to a balcony. Before them was a huge city of book shelves.
"The Library." The Doctor said. "So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big 'the'."
"It's like a city." Donna marveled.
"It's a world." The Doctor told her. "Literally a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer, biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written. Whole continents of Jeffery Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed. We're near the equator, so…"
He licked his finger then lifted it up to feel the wind.
"This must be Biographies!" he told them. "I love biographies!"
"Yeah, very you." Donna told him. "Always a death at the end."
"Hey, you need a good death." Lily said, leaning against the rail. "Without death, there'd only be comedies, and where's the fun in that? Dying gives us size."
Donna picked up a book but the Doctor snatched it away.
"Oi!" he said. "Spoilers!"
"What?" Donna asked.
"These books are from your future." The Doctor told her. "You don't wanna read ahead, spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end."
"Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?" Donna asked.
"I…try to keep you away from major plot developments." The Doctor said.
"And fails miserably at it." Lily added. "Take this little jaunt for instance. Does anyone in the class want to explain what's wrong with this picture? This is the largest Library in the universe. So where are the people? It's silent."
The Doctor walked to the nearest information terminal and began fiddling with it with the sonic screwdriver.
"The Library?" Donna asked.
"The planet." Lily clarified. "The whole damn planet is silent."
"Maybe it's a Sunday." Donna suggested.
"Nope." Lily replied. "He doesn't land on Sundays. He thinks they're boring."
"They are boring!" The Doctor protested.
"You can't just assume a day is boring because of its name!" Lily shot back.
"Fine!" he said. "A hundred bucks says that if we land on ten different Sundays, not one will have anything interesting happening on it."
"I pick the Sundays, at random?" Lily asked.
"Sure." He agreed.
"Deal." She said.
"Can we get back to the silent planet?" Donna asked. "Maybe everyone's really, really quiet."
"Yeah, maybe." The Doctor said, humoring her. "But they'd still show up on the system."
"Doctor, why are we here?" she asked. "Really, why?"
"Oh, you know, just passing." The Doctor replied.
Lily snorted.
"No, seriously." She said. "It was all 'let's hit the beach' then suddenly we're in a library. It wouldn't have anything to do with why Lily's annoyed with you all of a sudden, would it? Because you two have been sniping at each other for the last hour and it's becoming kind of annoying."
"Now, that's interesting." The Doctor said, ignoring the question, while Lily nodded her head vigorously.
"What?" Donna sighed.
"Scanning for life forms." The Doctor told her. "If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids-you know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada, see? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life…"
He pushed some keys and a new number appeared.
"A million, million." Lily whispered.
"It gives up after that." The Doctor told them. "A million, million and it just calls it quits. Doesn't even bother trying to finish counting."
"But there's nothing here." Donna said. "There's no one."
"And not a sound." The Doctor said. "A million, million life forms, and silence in the library."
"But there's nothing but books." Lily said. She paused and looked at the surrounding books. "Someone please assure me that the books aren't alive."
No one said anything.
The Doctor slowly reached for a book.
"Welcome!"
They all jumped and Lily grabbed her chest.
"Oh for god's sake." She said. "I'm going back to the TARDIS. My heart isn't up to this."
"That came from in there." Donna said, pointing back to reception.
She and the Doctor started to walk back, but Lily stayed put.
"Oh yes, let walk towards the creepy disembodied voice." She said.
When they didn't stop, she reluctantly followed.
"We're all certifiable, you know that right?" she asked as she caught up.
"And you're in a bad mood, you know that right?" the Doctor shot back.
Lily just glared at him.
Inside was a statue that looked like bad modern art piece with a face stuck on it.
"I am Courtesy Node 710/aqua." It said. "Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers regardless of species or hygiene taboo."
"That face, it looks real." Donna said.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." The Doctor told her.
"But a statue with a real face, though!" she pushed. "It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"
"No, but really, it's…fine." He told her.
"Additional." The Node continued in its monotone voice. "There follows a brief message from the head librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follow. '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. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers."
There was silence.
"Okay." Lily said slowly. "That was horrifying. Let's go."
"That's why we're here…" the Doctor murmured, reaching out and grabbing Lily by the collar of her jacket. "Any other messages, same date stamp?"
"One additional message." The Node replied. "This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of 5, 0, 11…."
"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine." The Doctor told it. "Just play it."
"Message follows. 'Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember…if you want to live, count the shadows.' Message ends."
"Donna, Lily…" the Doctor said.
"Yeah?" Donna replied.
"Stay out of the shadows." He told her.
"Why, what's in the shadows?"
"We never should have come here." Lily told him before stalking off, careful of the shadows.
The Doctor sighed and he and Donna followed her.
They walked through another door and arrived in a aisle between bookshelves. Lily stood staring up at the height of them. They went on as far as they could see.
"So…" Donna said. "We weren't just in the neighborhood."
"Yeah, I kind of, sort of, lied a bit." The Doctor told her. "I got a message on the psychic paper."
He showed it to her.
The Library. Come as soon as you can. X.
"What do you think?" The Doctor asked. "Cry for help?"
"Cry for help-with a kiss?" Donna asked.
"Oh, we've all done that." The Doctor replied.
"Who's it from?" Donna asked.
"No idea." The Doctor told her.
"And you just came running." Lily said sarcastically. "Just dropped everything and came."
"This is what the fight is about?" Donna asked.
The couple ignored her.
"What was I supposed to do?" The Doctor demanded. "Ignore it because the fact that it has an x on the bottom bothers you?"
"I'm not bothered by the x." Lily told him dismissively. "I am bothered by the fact that you routinely run into situations without any regard for safety!"
"Um, guys?" Donna said.
"How do you know that the person didn't need help right away?" the Doctor asked.
"Guys?" Donna repeated.
"YOU HAVE A TIME MACHINE!" Lily yelled at him.
"GUYS!" Donna shouted.
"WHAT?" they both yelled back at her.
"You know that thing about staying out of the shadows?" she asked. "Well we're about to have a problem with that."
She pointed and they turned to look. At the end of the corridor, the lights were going out and the dark seemed to be advancing.
"Suggestion?" Lily said.
"Well, I wouldn't want to be accused of not taking into account everyone's safety." The Doctor said sarcastically.
"Can we please just run?" Donna demanded.
The trio took off down the aisle until they reached a door. The Doctor tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.
"Come on!" he shouted.
"What, is it locked?" Lily asked.
"Jammed!" the Doctor replied. "The wood's warped!"
"Sonic it, use the thingy!" Donna shouted.
"I can't!" the Doctor shouted back. "It's wood!"
"What, it doesn't do wood?" Donna asked incredulously.
"Hang on, hang on." The Doctor said. "If I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings, I can shatterline the interface-"
"Seriously?" Lily interrupted.
"Oh, get out of the way!" Donna ordered.
He moved and she kicked the door open. They ran into the room, slamming the door shut after them. Lily quickly grabbed a book and shoved it through the handles to bolt it shut.
In the room was a floating orb.
"Oh!" the Doctor said as he spotted it. "Hello! Sorry to burst in on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?"
Suddenly, the orb fell to the ground.
"What is it?" Donna asked.
"Security camera." The Doctor said. "Switched itself off."
He picked it up and began examining it.
Back in the living room, the girl was scared.
"They were in my Library." She said. "How can they be in my Library?"
"Who were they?" Dr. Moon asked.
The girl suddenly clasped her hands to her head in pain.
"What's that?" she cried. "What's that noise?"
"What noise?" he Dad asked, worried.
In the Library, the Doctor was using the sonic screwdriver on the security camera.
"Nice door skills." Lily told Donna as he worked.
"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends…" Donna said. "Sometimes you need the element of surprise."
"Yeah, I can see that." Lily said, glaring at the Doctor, who ignored her.
"What was that, what was after us?" Donna asked, trying to keep them from fighting again. "I mean did we just run away from a power cut?"
"Possibly." The Doctor replied.
"Are we safe here?" Donna asked.
"Course we're safe." The Doctor replied. "There's a little shop."
"If that's your definition of safe, we need to get you a new dictionary." Lily told him. "I'm sure this place must have one. I could go find it for you."
"Gotcha!" the Doctor exclaimed.
The girl was laying on the ground, crying in agony.
"No, stop it, no, no!" she cried.
The same words scrolled across the display of the security camera.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The Doctor told it, stopping what he was doing. "I really am, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
He put the sphere down.
"It's alive." He told the girls.
"You said it was a security camera." Donna told him.
"It is." The Doctor replied. "It's an alive one."
"Oh good." Lily said. "We can add torture of living cameras to the list of things you've done today."
He glared at her.
The girl was now laying still and quiet on the floor.
"Can you hear me?" Dr. Moon asked. "Are you all right?"
"Others are coming." She told him.
"Who's coming?" Dr. Moon asked. "Who are the others?"
"The Library is breached." She told him. "Others are coming."
"What others?" Dr. Moon asked.
"Others?" Donna read off the screen. "What's it mean, 'others'?"
Neither the Doctor nor Lily had an answer.
A/N: Okay, so I know this is a little different than normal. Usually I only do scenes that actually contain the Doctor, Lily, or the companion, but I felt the Little Girl scenes were important, so I'll be including them. So let me know what you think.
Abbey