So looking at this one I may have been wrong about these chapters being longer, but I'm not sure just yet. I think the next chapter will be the last one of this episode...but I'm not sure...it's kinda hard to tell.
But anyways, I'm sorry it took so long. I'm in a show right now and our tech week started Friday and I haven't had a day off since and I meant to upload this yesterday to celebrate Capaldi's birthday but that didn't happen...my bad! Anyways, please R&R, I'd really appreciate it.
The Doctor heard Christina shouting after him but he tried to ignore her. Well, he was too invested in his thoughts to really be paying her too much attention. He was not only worried about getting everybody back home, but now Athena was feeling sick. Last time this happened…he pushed the thought aside and assured himself it must have been some form of sun poisoning.
Christina ran up to his side, breathless. The Doctor cast a glance down at her before surveying the horizon, "Easier if you had left that backpack behind."
"Where I go, it goes." She shot back.
"Backpack with a spade and an axe. Christina, whose going so far away, and yet stalled by the sound of a siren." He turned to face her, "Who are you?"
"You can talk. Let's just say we're two equal mysteries."
"I'd say that's a safe assumption." He turned his attention back to the horizon.
"Will Athena be okay? Will she be able to help? She seems to be your little worker, doing everything you say. She could come in handy." Christina asked.
"Oh she'd be very handy. She's wonderful." He could feel his chest getting warm, but he could also feel the frown forming on his face. "But she isn't my worker, she's my friend. She helps out because she feels like she should, not because she needs to." He gulped. "But she may be in serious danger."
"What do you mean? I think we're all in danger, what makes her so special?"
The Doctor glanced down at his feet. "Last time she had these symptoms…I…well, she…"
"She's pregnant, isn't she?" Christina figured it out.
"You're a clever one, Christina." The Doctor whispered. He straightened back up. Why was he talking to this stranger about this? Typical Doctor, he just couldn't stop his mouth. "Last time she had these symptoms it…" He couldn't finish his sentence. But Christina noted the pain in the Doctor's voice and facial features. "It didn't make it, did it?" Christina asked hesitantly. The Doctor nodded his head and ran his hands through his hair. "I need to get her home." He said. "I need to get you all home, but now it's even more urgent." He took in a breath, "No offense. Not like you all don't matter, you do. I just…I need to fix this."
Christina decided it was time to change the subject, otherwise the Doctor would be just as useless as Athena. "Come on then, tell me, if Carmen's right, that wormhole's not an accident. So then, what is it? Someone's done this on purpose?"
The Doctor sighed. "I don't know. But every single instinct of mine is telling me to get off this planet right now. Not just because of…you know." He shook his head a little, as if trying to convey some sort of emotion.
"Well do you think we can?" Christina asked
"I try to live in hope." The Doctor responded, giving a weak smile.
"That must be nice." She made eye contact with him and extended her hand. "It's Christina. Christina da Souza." The Doctor took her hand in his and shook hands. "To be precise, Lady Christina da Souza." She said with an air of triumph.
"Oh, that's handy. And I'm a Lord." He replied, same air of triumph in his voice.
"Seriously? A Lord of where?"
"It's quite a big estate." He replied, offhand.
"No…but there's something more about you. That device you were carrying, and the wormhole, like you knew. And the way you stride around this place like…"
"Like?"
"Like you're not quite…" She was trying to piece together the mystery that was the Doctor and Athena.
"Anyway, come on. Allons-y." He put on his usual mask of happiness and giddiness. The Doctor and Christina continued to walk around the dunes, trying to see if they could figure out anything about this planet.
Athena got bored of sitting around. She stood up and looked out the window. She could see Angela helping Barkley with the engine and Nathan lying boards and cushions underneath the wheels of the bus. She made her way to the aisle.
"Athena, you must not go outside." Carmen said, her voice stopping Athena in her tracks. "You must wait for the Doctor to return."
"I can't sit around and do nothing." Athena argued.
"I know you can't, sweetheart." Carmen began. Lou added his own commentary, "You should rest, Athena. The Doctor wants you to rest."
"I'm okay. I rested and now I'm okay." She was trying to get them to believe her as much as she was trying to believe herself.
"The Doctor won't believe you." Carmen told her.
"I'll just have to convince him." Athena said, shrugging. She got off the bus and made her way over to Nathan. "You need any help?" She asked. She could feel Nathan's eyes staring at each of her tattoos. "Hey, do you need any help?" Nathan gulped. "If I'm good enough for the Doctor I'm good enough for you too, all right?" Nathan's eyes widened. "Yes…yes I could use your help. Thanks." He rushed out. Athena moved to his side and began lying the boards and cushions down with Nathan. "Sorry…didn't mean to stare."
"I used to be used to it." Athena started. "I'm not anymore, just caught me a bit off guard is all." Nathan nodded and the two continued lying the boards down.
The Doctor and Christina had reached the crest of another dune. They looked towards the horizon to see a huge cloud of what looked like dust and sand.
"Oh…I don't like the look of that." The Doctor mumbled.
"Storm clouds. They must be hundreds of miles away." Christina said, sounding like she was reassuring herself more than she was informing the Doctor.
"And getting closer." He mumbled.
"If that's a sand storm, we'll get ripped to shreds." Christina said, with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Right…we need to get back." The Doctor turned Christina around and began running in the direction that they came. They ran and ran, the sand slowing them down. The Doctor could feel his legs starting to cramp, he couldn't imagine what Christina must have been feeling.
Finally they reached the crest of the last dune. The Doctor waited for Christina to catch up. They both ran down the dune towards the bus. Everybody outside saw that the Doctor and Christina were running and stopped their work.
"Get in the bus!" Christina shouted. Without another word everybody dropped what they were doing and climbed onto the bus. Athena waited for the Doctor and Christina. The Doctor reached Athena and forced her against the bus. He put both of his hands against the bus near her head, cornering her. "What are you doing outside?!" He almost shouted at her.
"I'm helping the others!" She matched his intensity.
"You can't be outside Athena, you need to stay safe, you hear me? Safe!" He emphasized his point by hitting the bus.
"I'm feeling just fine!"
"You can't take any risks." The Doctor's voice started getting hoarse.
"You two, on the bus, now!" Christina shouted, trying to pull the Doctor away from Athena.
"On the bus, Stephanie." He grabbed her wrist and led her to the doors and had her go up the stairs before him. Christina climbed on after them. "Sit down, Stephanie." The Doctor ordered. She leaned against the wall, ignoring him. He rolled his eyes and fished through his pocket for Martha's old mobile. It wasn't there. "Where's my mobile?" He felt his suit pockets and dug through his trouser pockets again. Athena pushed herself off of the wall and walked to the bench where his trench coat was folded up. She reached into one of the pockets and felt something that could've been his mobile. She was about to grab it before the Doctor gave a triumphant "There you are!" and pulled the mobile out of his suit pocket. Athena folded up the coat again and set it back on the bench.
"You're hardly going to get a signal, we're on another planet!" Christina exclaimed.
"Superphone. I'm brilliant." He directed to Christina. Then he quieted the cabin, "Right, now, bit of hush, thank you. Have to remember the number, very important number." He entered the phone number and the phone rang several times before someone answered.
"Hello, Pizza Geronimo."
"And again." The Doctor hung up and retyped the number. "7-6, not 6-7."
A recorded female voice sounded from the other end. "This is the Unified Intelligence Task Force. Please select one of the following four options."
"Oh I hate these things…" The Doctor groaned.
"If you keep your finger pressed on 0, you get through to a real person." Angela informed, happy she could help.
"Thank you Angela!" The Doctor shouted. He held down the button and waited. The phone rang several times before a female voice sounded on the other end. "UNIT Helpline, which department would you like?"
The Doctor sat down, slightly relieved. "Listen, it's the Doctor, it's me." The other line went quiet for a few moments. The Doctor quirked up his eyebrow and gave a confused look at Athena who, despite her glare at him, shrugged her shoulders. He turned his attention back to the phone and Athena observed the rest of group.
A mumbled voice came from the phone. It was some man trying to get someone else's attention. Then a female voice cut through the air, "Doctor? This is Captain Erisa Magambo. Might I say, sir, it's an honor."
"Did you just salute?" The Doctor asked, quirking an eyebrow up at the phone.
There was silence for a few moments before a weak "No." came over the receiver. Athena watched the group. They all seemed very surprised that his name had had such a strong impact. Athena knew he had such a strong reputation, but she wasn't aware it was that powerful. Even she was a bit surprised.
The Doctor started up again, "Erisa, its about the bus. HQ said you were at the tunnel, yeah?"
"And where are you?" She asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.
"I'm on the bus. But apart from that, not a clue."
"A body came through here, have you sustained any more fatalities?" Erisa asked.
"No. And we're not going to." He responded, his gaze fixed on Athena's abdomen. "But I'm stuck. I haven't got the TARDIS and I need to analyze that wormhole." Everybody in the cabin exchanged confused looks at the word 'TARDIS'. Athena and the Doctor exchanged sly smiles.
"We have a scientific advisor on sight, Dr. Malcolm Taylor. Just the man you need, he's a genius." Erisa responded. It sounded like she was walking now, probably to get Malcolm.
"Oh, really? We'll see about that." The Doctor replied, his air of confidence back.
"Be nice." Athena warned.
"I am being nice!" The Doctor replied, feigning hurt.
They could hear a slightly comical conversation taking place on the other side of the connection. The Doctor was reacting to everything. At first he was trying not to laugh but he eventually just got really bored and annoyed.
"Do you mean…the Doctor doctor?" A man, who must have been Malcolm, asked.
"I know. We all want to meet him one day. But we all know what that day will bring." Erisa responded, sounding both impressed and scared at the same time.
The Doctor groaned and rubbed his eyes, "I can hear everything you're saying."
"Hello Doctor? Oh my goodness!" The man responded, much louder.
"Yes I am! Hello Malcolm." The Doctor responded, still a bit annoyed.
They could all hear Malcolm giggling like a little schoolboy on the other end. Despite the dire situation, Malcolm's laughter seemed to make everyone in the cabin smile. "The Doctor! God! Blimey! I can't believe I'm actually speaking to you. I mean I've read all the files!"
"Really?" The Doctor asked, a huge smile spreading across his face. "What was your favorite? Giant robot? No no! Hold on, let's sort out that wormhole." He got up and ran to the wheel. Athena got up and followed him. "Malcolm, I need some help here. I've got a storm and a wormhole, and I can't help but think there's a connection. I need a complete full range analysis of that wormhole, the full thing."
"Well I've probably got the wrong idea, but I've wired up an integrator, I thought it could measure the energy signature." Malcolm informed from the other end.
"No no no no that'll never work." The Doctor rattled off. He absent-mindedly pulled Athena to him and began rubbing his hand up and down her back.
"I'm measuring an oscillation of 15 malcolms per second."
"15 what?" The Doctor asked. He stopped rubbing Athena's back and stared at the horizon.
"15 malcolms. It's my own little term. A wavelength parcel at 10 kilohertz operating in four dimensions equals 1 malcolm." The technobabble began confusing Athena so she just accepted it.
"You named a unit of measurement after yourself?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"Well it didn't do Mr. Watt any harm. Furthermore, 100 malcolms equals a bernard."
"And whose that, your dad?" The Doctor asked.
"Don't be ridiculous. That's quatarmass."
"Right…fine…but, before I die of old age, which, in my case, would be quite an achievement so congratulations on that, is there anyone else I can talk to?" Athena slapped his shoulder and he glanced back up at her.
"No…no no no no no but listen. I set the scanner to register what it can't detect and inverted the image."
"You did what?" The Doctor asked, standing up from the chair and bracing himself against Athena.
"Is that wrong?" Malcolm asked, a little upset.
"No, Malcolm, that's brilliant! So you can actually measure the wormhole? Okay…oh, that is genius." The Doctor replied, sitting back down.
"The Doctor called me a genius." Malcolm sounded a bit distant.
"I know, I heard." They heard Erisa respond from far away.
"Now, run a capacity scanner for the wormhole and call me back when you've done it." He got up and was just about to hang up the phone, "And, Malcolm, you're my new best friend."
"And you're mine too, sir!" Malcolm shouted from the other end. The Doctor hung up the phone. "Right…have to see that storm." The Doctor jumped off the bus with Athena and Christina following behind. "Stay on the bus, Athena!"
"Not likely!" She shouted back.
"You need to stay behind. Please. For my sake." He started begging.
"And for my sake I need to come with you. I can't sit cooped up on that bus, what if something happens to you?"
"I don't want you to be there if something happens to me."
"You do not make decisions for me, do you understand? No more of that."
"But every decision I've ever made for you has been to make sure that—"
"Could you two just shut up?" Christina shouted, cutting the Doctor off. They both silenced themselves. "Thank you. Now, Athena, are you feeling better?"
"Yes." She replied somewhat breathily.
"I'm going to ask you again; are you feeling better?" Christina intensified her gaze.
Athena made direct eye contact with her, despite the height difference, "Yes I am."
Christina studied her face for several seconds. The Doctor looked between the two women, feeling very out of his element all of a sudden. Christina straightened herself back up, "Good then. Off we go." The Doctor cleared his throat, pointed towards the dunes, and led the way.
It didn't take long until Athena found it getting more and more difficult to walk in a straight line. Her vision started getting hazy and she felt dizzy again. She tried her best to hide it because there was no way in hell she was going to remain on that bus, not with the Doctor wandering around who knows what. As they climbed another particularly tall dune, the Doctor ran up ahead to the top. Athena had to stop about halfway up the dune to catch her breath. She had been walking alongside Christina the entire time and it didn't take long for Christina to realize that Athena wasn't next to her anymore. She dropped her bag and ran back down the dune to Athena, who was now on all fours.
"Athena…Athena, you need to get up."
"Just give me a second…" Athena muttered.
"Doctor!" Christina shouted up the dune.
"Hold on, busy!" The Doctor shouted back down. "Need to send this picture to Malcolm…he'll analyze the storm. It looks like there's something shining in the storm…metal maybe? Christina? Athena?" He looked down the dune to see Christina crouching down near Athena. "Athena…" He ran down the dune to help.
Christina had managed to get Athena standing again, but she was relying heavily on Christina for support.
"What? What happened?" The Doctor asked. He took Athena from Christina and laid his hand against her forehead. "You're burning up…okay…okay…what do we do? Christina, what do we do?" Panic obviously fueling his reactions. "What the fuck do we do…Athena? Stephanie, what do we do?"
"I'm okay…I'm okay." Athena huffed out. "Just the heat, I promise."
"Doctor…there's something…" Christina pointed to the crest of a nearby dune. On top of the dune stood a human-sized bipedal fly. And it had a gun.
"This is not what we need right now." The Doctor muttered under his breath.
Suddenly, the fly-man was gone. The trio blinked several times, thinking maybe that the suns had managed to play a trick on all of them. It was only seconds later before the fly-man reappeared several feet in front of them. "Oh…right…short range teleport." The Doctor muttered. Athena began slipping and he held her upright. The fly-man began clicking. Christina became instantly confused but she noticed the Doctor's facial expressions remained unchanged. Christina was almost knocked off her feet when the Doctor began clicking back.
"That's 'wait'…" he whispered to Athena and Christina.
"You speak the language?" Christina asked.
"Every language…show off." Athena responded heavily and the Doctor pulled her closer to him.
The Doctor continued clicking. "That's begging for mercy."
The fly-man pointed his gun at them and jerked it, urging them to move. "That means move." Christina responded, frightened. The Doctor nodded. Christina linked an arm around Athena, she and the Doctor helped Athena walk as the three of them followed the fly-man.