OK - it has OFFICIALLY been far too long since I last updated. Why did I take so long, you may ask?
Well, I've just been through a great deal of stress that stopped me from continuing this when I'd planned to. Between losing my family's cat and all the insanity that's going on in the world, I just haven't been able to find the time whilst simultaneously coping. :( But now, I'm back in the writing picture, and here's the update you've waited long enough for.
I hope you enjoy reading this - I certainly enjoyed writing it! :) Let me know what you think of the way I'm going with this part of the story - feedback is much appreciated! :D
Village Under Siege
Meanwhile, Amy Pond and Rory Williams were busy investigating the fact that a whole host of graves were currently empty of the bodies that once occupied them without any conventional sigh of digging out any remains. Both Human TARDIS Travellers were straining their brains trying to figure this one out, but neither of them was getting anywhere, even standing in the empty graves themselves. It was only when the boy, Elliot, came back to offer them tea that they finally had any idea…and it wasn't entirely their own idea, either…
"Do you want sugar?" he asked the pair.
"Sorry?" Rory replied, a little dumbfounded – he'd been almost completely caught up in the mystery of the missing bodies.
"In your tea? Mum's asking," said Elliot, looking between the two of them.
"No, just white, thanks," the Nurse declined.
"Same here, thanks," Amy decided to decline as well. Just as Elliot looked like he might decide to head back and tell Ambrose that they didn't want any sugar in their tea…
"There's only one explanation, as far as I can see," he told them, still under the impression that they were Police Officers.
"What's that, then?" asked Rory, interested to hear what conclusion Elliot had drawn from this.
"The graves eat people," he told them. "Devour them whole, leaving no trace."
"What makes you say that?" questioned Amy.
"Well, they didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides. Only other thing is, they get in from underneath," he listed off the impossibilities like a checklist.
"Not very likely, though…"
"'When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,'" quoted Elliot…a quote that Amy recognised from somewhere, even if she wasn't terribly well-versed in the 19th Century crime fiction series it came from…
"Don't tell me – Sherlock Holmes?" she guessed, knowing the answer even before Elliot provided it.
"Got the audiobook," he explained, shrugging modestly – it came with being a geek who happened to be into the Sherlock Holmes book series…even if he wasn't quite able to read them, instead making do with listening to them. "The graves 'round here eat people…"
*DW* Mine, Store Room…Romana's POV… *DW*
The bad side of Time Lady Romanadvoratrelundar was an incredibly dangerous place to be. Anyone who tried to take the Doctor from her would find themselves in that incredibly dangerous place. And someone had taken the Doctor from her. Whoever had done it had really ought to be thankful that she hadn't felt him die – a death by natural causes would break her…but to try and take his life would seal the Time Lady's oath of vengeance. Right now, however, she was focused on the patches of soil that had taken him into the crust of the Earth…after learning that the same thing had happened to a man named Mo…
"Is that what happened to Mo?" Tony was asking her. "Are they dead?"
They'd better not be, the Time Lady growled to herself. If they are, then it won't be pretty! If Romana had been in her right mind, she'd have been horrified by what she was thinking, as would her fiancé. But unfortunately…her right mind was not the place she was in. "This isn't quicksand – the Doctor wasn't sinking into the stuff, he was being dragged." She finally turned to face Tony and Nasreen, properly addressing them in conversation again, her voice a perfectly serious tone of authority. "You said the ground was dormant, that you only found a patch of soil this morning, and the drill wasn't active, yes?"
"Yes."
"But when the drill was reactivated, this happened," she continued, gesturing to the patches of dirt.
"Are you implying that the ground wants us to stop all of this?" demanded Nasreen, scoffing at the sheer improbability of it all. "Romana, that's ridiculous!"
"Did I say the ground wanted you to cease these activities, Nasreen?" snapped the Time Lady, her retort cold and precise, scalpel-esque in its delivery of her words. The woman had the common sense to look fearful – and just as well, too. If she'd challenged the Gallifreyan, she wouldn't have like the results. It was when an idea occurred to her that her voice returned to a bearable level of cool. "Could it be? Bioprogramming?" she wondered, much to the bewilderment of the two Humans in the Store Room…
"What?"
"Using bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects," explained Romana. "Primarily used in engineering and construction environments on jungle planets…but not in this Time Period…and not on this planet."
"You're not making any sense, woman!" scoffed Tony, not believing a word she was saying. He might have said more were it not for the fact that she walked up to him and stared right into the pupils of his eyes.
"Do not test me, Tony Mack," she snarled. She could see the man's fear in his eyes – though she took no relish in it, perhaps it might be necessary to get them to cooperate. "Any moment now, I could lose my fiancé to whatever's down there. I have to do something about that soon, and it would help – it really would – if you weren't giving me lectures on what does or doesn't make sense!" With that, her tirade against him concluded. "Am I clear?" He nodded. "Good. Now then…perhaps we should stop the drilling operation?"
"Um, why, might I ask?" Nasreen cut in.
"Because I can't say what doing any more drilling might mean for the safety of the people who live in Cwmtaff," she replied, "given what happened to Mo and the Doctor. On the other hand, if we discover the cause of the bioprogramming, we have a better chance of finding them." Romana did a quick auditory check of her surroundings…before putting her index finger to her lips for both of them to see. "You stopped the drill, correct?"
"Yes," replied Tony, confused by her question.
"And there's only one drill?" continued Romana.
"Yes," Nasreen answered this time, equally as confused as Tony.
"Well…if that's the case," she began, right before she dropped the bombshell, "then why can I still hear something…" she gestured to the ground beneath their feet, "…right under the ground?"
"That's not possible," breathed Tony.
"You said that about the Earth swallowing people – look how that turned out," deadpanned Romana, quickly moving over to the computers and activating her Sonic against them.
"Oh, no, what, what are you doing?"
"I'm hacking into the records – probe reports, samples, the lot," replied the Time Lady, waiting for the screen to display some cohesive, corroborative information. "We need to unite all of the data and see what correlations turn up." When the screen finally showed the outcome she described, she began explaining away. "So, we're here, and this" – she gestured – "is your drill hole. 21.009km – congrats!"
"Thank you – it's taken us a long time," replied Nasreen, grateful for the praise this strange woman gave them.
"I would like to know why you drilled here, though…"
"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years."
"The blue grass?" asked Romana…and when Nasreen nodded, she face-palmed. "Nasreen, those trace minerals weren't a signpost indicating a digging site – they were a sign warning of a no-go area. Whilst you, Tony and Mo were drilling down…someone else was drilling up." When she turned to the screen once again, she was greeted by the deep sensor readings…and alarmed by what they showed. "A network of tunnels…"
"No, no, we've surveyed that area," protested Tony, confused by the deep sensors' findings.
"And you only found what you searched for," she reminded him…but even she was surprised by what she saw coming up the tunnels. "Dual heat readings – hot and cold? That doesn't make sense. They're also moving up…fast. How many live in the area?" she asked, her mind already forming a plan to cope with the situation…
"Just my daughter and her family," said Tony. "The rest of the staff travel in."
"Grab your equipment and follow me," she instructed them, her tone of voice bearing nought but clarity of purpose. "The noise you heard isn't a drill – it's what you saw on the screen, all three of them, thirty kilometres beneath the surface, travelling at around 150kph. It won't take long for them to arrive – possibly no more than twelve minutes. We need to move – now!" Her voice brooked no argument – at once, they snapped into action, preparing to move their equipment to whatever place she had in mind…
*DW* later…in Cwmtaff… *DW*
"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" demanded Tony, half his effort devoted to carrying the equipment in his hands, getting ready to set it up in the Church.
"Were you not paying attention?" sneered Romana, patience rapidly waning. When no reply came, her voice became a resentful mumble. "Humans…" she muttered bitterly.
"Who are you, anyway?!" Nasreen snapped, having heard what she'd muttered and taking it none too well. "How can you know all this?" Before any kind of response could be given, a red hue began to envelop the whole of Cwmtaff.
"Oh, crumbs!" hissed the Time Lady. "Looks like they're setting up an Energy Barricade to cut off any avenues of escape – like that was ever my plan," she scoffed. Whoever had set up the Barricade had no idea who they were dealing with…
"Romana!" Amy's voice carried over to her ears. When she turned, she saw Amy and Rory running towards her. "Something weird's happening around here…"
"…The graves are eating people!" Rory joined in.
"Can't discuss that right now, Ponds," she replied, filing away what they told her in case she needed that information later. "An Energy Barricade has been set up around the village – we can't leave, and nothing outside can enter."
"What about the TARDIS?" suggested Amy.
"The energy patterns of the Barricade would mess with the Circuits," said Romana, shooting that idea down immediately. "If we had Time, perhaps – but there's only nine and a half minutes."
"Until what?" demanded the ex-Kissogram.
"We're trapped, and something's burrowing to the surface," Nasreen told her. The answer satisfied that particular ignorance…until she noticed two things – the absence of any kind of emotion that was signature to Romana as Amy knew her…and the absence of her fiancé…
"Romana…where's the Doctor?" she asked, absolutely sure that she wasn't going to like the answer. When no reply came, panic began rising through her entire being. Not Raggedy Man, please, she pleaded, panic morphing into horror…even dread. Horror because she'd lost her friend…and dread because she'd seen how the Doctor reacted to the thought of losing Romana. "Romana, tell us!"
"Amy," warned Rory, reminding her to be careful – as much as they cared for both of their Pilots, he knew that they had good reason to fear a Time Lord's fury…especially the fury of a Daughter of Gallifrey. "Romana, what happened?"
"The Doctor was taken by whoever's been stealing the dead bodies from their graves," she replied darkly…it was a tone of voice so dark that it actually scared them. But what neither of them expected was the plea that Romana gave to them. "Amy, Rory…please, help me get him back," she begged, refusing to lose control and let any tears fall again – she had to be strong. "I can't lose him…"
"I know," said Amy, understanding at once. "I saw the look on the Doctor's face when he thought you died, remember? Did you really think you needed to ask?"
"We're right behind you," added Rory, nodding in agreement. "We'll get him back."
"Thanks," said the Time Lady, smiling wanly. "Now, let's get this stuff into the Church…"
*DW* inside the Church… *DW*
The equipment was now stacked inside the Church, but it remained in an inoperable condition, due to the fact that no one had gone about setting it up yet. So far, the Human residents of Cwmtaff were proving to be uncooperative – or rather, one of them was…
"So, we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something – the something that took my husband – is coming up through the Earth," Ambrose, the Human woman in question, summarised, her voice laden with disbelief and sarcasm.
"Well, if we move quickly enough, we can be prepared for when they arrive," replied Romana, her voice far too even for someone who'd just lost her fiancé.
"No, stop – this has gone far enough!" the woman snapped. "What is this?"
"She's telling the truth, love," said Tony.
"Come on," scoffed Ambrose, the woman already beginning to earn the ire of Romana. "It's not the first time we've had no mobile phone signals-"
"Oh, is that what you think this is, then?" said Romana, the typical Time Lord derision of Humans beginning to make its presence felt in her mind, surprising herself by managing not to let it creep into her voice. "A bad reception?"
"Look, Ambrose," cut in Nasreen, sensing a pointless argument about to break out. "We saw Romana's fiancé get taken, OK? You saw the lightning in the Sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it, for me, is her." She gestured to the ginger Time Lady, standing with her fellow TARDIS Travellers on her left.
"Her?" asked Ambrose, her tone one of lax scepticism.
"Me," confirmed Romana, grinning and waving. "I specialise in the impossible."
"Can you get my dad back?" the boy, Elliot, asked her, a little intimidated by the formidable woman. The Time Lady's grin of dry humour transformed into a genuine smile of assurance.
"Specialist in the impossible? Yeah, can do, will do," she declared boldly. "But it might be a great deal easier if you trust me and listen to every instruction – we're on a Time limit."
"So tell us what to do," said Ambrose, finally believing that this strange velvet-clad woman could get her husband back – if Romana could lose her fiancé at any minute…then the two of them were in the same boat. But looking into her eyes…the Human woman felt the existence of something more powerful than anything she could ever have imagined in her wildest dreams…
"Thank you, Ambrose. Now then – eight minutes to set up defences. Phones, cameras, every recording or transmitting device off the top of your head. Burglar alarms, movement sensors, security lights – cover the whole area. Go!" commanded the Time Lady, her words sending them into record pace trying to set up the equipment she'd listed off…
*DW* seven minutes remaining… *DW*
Merely a couple minutes later, the mining equipment was set up, with the surveillance devices waiting to be placed around the area. One more thing Romana needed to do was to become familiar with the surrounding area in the village – for that, she was going to need a map marking the cameras…
"We need to be ready for whatever's heading up the tunnels," she told the others, companions and new acquaintances alike. When she thought on the dual hot/cold readings…she began to have suspicions. "Could you get me a map of this village, please?" she asked Elliot. "I need to know where the cameras should go."
"I can't do the words," replied Elliot, almost apologetic in manner. "I'm dyslexic."
"That's OK, Elliot," assured Romana, sending the boy an encouraging smile. Admittedly, it was taking a lot of effort not to descend into hysteria at the fact that her fiancé could be in danger…but the part of her that sounded disturbingly like her immediate previous incarnation, the War Queen, was commanding her to remain focused…and she couldn't help but make every effort to heed and act upon the command. She had to help her Doctor…her Theta – she couldn't lose him again. "Just do as best you can!"
"Six minutes forty!" announced Tony…
*DW* five minutes remaining… *DW*
"Works in quadrants," Tony was saying, after they'd set up the CCTV array. "Every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know…"
"Great work!" praised Romana.
*DW* four minutes remaining…outside… *DW*
The Time Lady was busy examining the interior of Ambrose's meals-on-wheels van, hoping to find anything that could help to stop the incoming threat. If the intruders had a dual hot/cold reading – which, admittedly, seemed impossible, but there they had it – then perhaps…
"Oi, what're you doing?" Ambrose called over.
"Finding some resources," replied Romana. "Got to be ready." When her focus was on the van again, she noticed some differences between the front and the back. "This thing's a lot warmer in the front than it is in the back, don't you think?" She then heard the sound of objects landing on the front seat and turned to face the woman…and noticing a pile of rifles on the seat. "What's with those?" she inquired, trying not to show her alarm. Maybe she wasn't as averse to weapons as her fiancé, but Romana still had reservations, especially after uncounted years of being a Time Lady at war with the Daleks.
"Like you said, got to be ready," said Ambrose.
"Ambrose," said the Time Lady, gathering a sense of foreboding from the woman. All too clearly, she could see where this might go…because she was in the same position as Ambrose. Both of them were looking to get their loved ones back – in her case, the Doctor, in Ambrose's, her husband. "Can we leave the weapons out of this, please?"
"I thought we were defending ourselves," protested the Human woman, not understanding why she was asking this of her. "We both want to get our men back, don't we?"
"Yes, we do," answered Romana, only just managing not to snap. "But I'm trying to do it without excessive force. Please, Ambrose," her tone became a plea. Although she appeared to comply, it didn't shake the feeling that something awful could happen if things went pear-shaped…
*DW* nearly three minutes remaining…inside the Church… *DW*
Elliot came rushing back into the Church with a map in hand, just as Romana had specified. One look told the Time Lady volumes about the effort put into the thing – the boy had drawn for dear life. Humans simultaneously confused and amazed her. On the one hand, there was the matter of the chaos they perpetrated on their surrounding environments, even to the point of systematically killing one another…but on the other, the was the fact that they seemed to be able to overcome almost anything, even appearing to snatch victory away from certain death against almost impossible odds…
"Well done, Elliot!" she congratulated, enthused by the amount of effort he'd put into getting past the dyslexia. "Looks like you're the next Einstein that Earth has to offer – dyslexia didn't stop him."
"Thanks," replied Elliot, blushing a little at the comment. "What are you doing, by the way?"
"Well, the sensors and cameras should tell us when something arrives," Romana listed off, "then, when that something arrives, I can use this" – she held up her Sonic Screwdriver – "to send a sonic pulse through the network. It ought to incapacitate them."
"Knock 'em out? Cool," grinned the boy, sounding a little relieved, possible due to the fact that she wasn't planning on killing anyone with the equipment set up. The trouble was, part of Romana dearly wanted to…but the other part wanted to follow and honour the Doctor's example – it was up to her to determine how that would apply here, as she still didn't know how this could pan out…
"Is it nice, growing up here?" she asked, trying to make idle conversation to stave off the fear that threatened to consume her…and the fury that might follow if she lost her Theta.
"S'pose," mumbled Elliot, not particularly enthusiastic about the place…kind of like how the Doctor would be in any place where routine was a constant shackle. "I want to live in a city one day – soon as I'm old enough, I will."
"My fiancé was the same back home," commented Romana, smiling lightly as she thought of Gallifrey and the confinement that it once meant to the Doctor. "Always rushing off, bad case of wanderlust – he rubbed off on me. He got away, though…"
"Does he ever miss it?" he asked, not being able to help but wonder.
"Loads, Elliot," she said, nodding in admittance – maybe Gallifrey did stifle the Doctor…but it was still home, and it certainly didn't deserve to fall victim to the worst monsters ever known.
"Is it monsters coming?" continued the boy, an undertone of worry in his voice.
"Possibly…"
"You scared of them?"
The question actually made the ginger Time Lady think – did she fear monsters? Well, she'd be stupid not to have some fear…and there was the argument that hate grew from fear. Indeed, there were monsters she genuinely hated – Daleks being the most obvious candidate, the Dalek Emperor and Davros in particular. But was there a monster where fear, even dread, was the sole emotional investment?
The answer was, in truth, a resounding yes – there was one. She hadn't truly faced him in a long time…but he haunted her nightmares long after his physical death. And how could he not? It wasn't every day that one of the worst enemies you'd ever had the displeasure of encountering turned out to be someone to whom you'd once been as close as Romana II had to the Time Lord she loved as much as she did. To learn that the one she feared was the one she loved?
Enough, she snapped to herself. He is not, and never will be, that creature – he's the man you love, and agreed to marry. He is your Doctor…your Theta. Surprisingly, the disquiet went away – it was clear she'd have to truly deal with it one day. Another disquieting thing was the fact that she was talking to Elliot as freely as she could to any Human. Why? Was it the fact that he reminded her of someone?
"Just one, and he's not here right now," assured Romana, smiling at the young boy that reminded her of someone she couldn't quite place…or perhaps didn't want to…
"Will you really get my dad back?" he asked hopefully…and it was the hope in his voice that almost melted both of her hearts. Both the hope and the plea for that hope to be realised resonated in such a way that reminded Romana of the hope of her own son, Jonathan, in the days before he'd met his father. With Jonathan, it had a hope that he would meet the man who made his life possible – no surety could have been given to him that he and the Doctor would eventually meet. With Elliot, it was a plea for the safe return of his father – she couldn't fail him…
"Cross my hearts," she swore, using her index finger to do just that. When she got a raised eyebrow from Elliot, she elaborated. "I have two." They both grinned – Elliot in complete awe, Romana in wan mania…
"Oh! I left my headphones at home!" he told her, shocked that he actually forgot the devices that help him with audiobooks. "Back in a minute, Romana." With that, he proceeded out to find his headphones.
"Be careful, Elliot!" the Time Lady called after him.
"I will!" he called back as he left the Church. What bothered Romana was the surge of protectiveness that shot through her when she thought of him rushing off on his own – why should it bother her? Maybe it was because he reminded her of her own son? But her son was dead…and maybe she didn't want Ambrose to know her pain. And with that, she had her answer. This could be painful for her – her guilt at what happened to Rosanna had eaten away at her for a week. If something happened to a boy who was that characteristically reminiscent of her own child, and Ambrose suffered Romana's pain of losing a child…she didn't know if she wouldn't fully succumb to the War Queen part of her soul…
*DW* one…minute remaining…Graveyard… *DW*
"How it's going, Ponds?" asked Romana, walking up to take stock of their progress on the sensor array. "Everything up and running?"
"We're all done here," replied Amy, smiling in satisfaction at their work, and indeed, when she looked, the Time Lady saw that no sensors were left to set up. Just then, the entire area began to dim…and eventually, none of them could see the Sun. "Is this like with Prisoner Zero?" she inquired with much trepidation – the entire thing looked remarkably familiar…
"A bit more extensive than that, I'm afraid," answered the Time Lady. "They're completely blocking the Light wave frequencies – trying to isolate us in darkness."
"Meaning…?" Rory trailed off, almost knowing the reply before it even left Romana's lips…
"They're here," she confirmed, her tone turning resolute and steely, reminding them of the image in Romana's mind of the War Queen. "Let's move." At once, she began leading them away toward the Church…
*DW*
"I can't get it open – it keeps sticking, the wood's warped!" Ambrose told the approaching TARDIS Crew. At once, Romana began to try and force the door open, not meeting with much success.
"Amy, Rory, come and help!" commanded the Time Lady, brooking no room for argument. At those words, they snapped into action to try and get through the obstacle that barred them from safety within the Church.
"Why not use the Sonic?" shouted Amy, bewildered as to why she hadn't broken out her Sonic Screwdriver and tried to open it that way.
"For some reason, the TARDIS didn't give it a setting that could do wood!" growled Romana, pushing with all her might in order to open the door to safety.
"That…is rubbish!" Rory scoffed bitterly.
"I KNOW!" yelled the Time Lady…just as all four of them succeeded in forcing through the door…and falling onto the floor of the Church. Picking themselves up, they raced into the Church to meet with Tony and Nasreen and set themselves to work monitoring the equipment they'd set up earlier. "See if we can get ourselves a fix," she ordered them…right before the lights exploded in a shower of sparks, leaving them completely inoperable and sending the inside of the Church into darkness.
"No power," said Tony.
"This isn't an accident," murmured Romana, a very good idea forming in her mind as to just who had done this.
"What now?" asked Rory, a little unnerved by the dark, quiet atmosphere within the Church.
"There's nothing more to be done – what just happened was an energy surge," answered the Time Lady.
"The classic EMP trick?" said Amy, suggesting what she thought was an appropriate description of what they were now going through.
"If you like, Amy…"
"Is everyone OK? Is anyone hurt?" the Human ginger's fiancé demanded, needing to know if he had to employ his skills as a Nurse.
"I'm fine," said Nasreen.
"Me too," replied Ambrose…right before a big rumble shook the room.
"OK – what was that?" demanded Amy, feeling a tingling thrill of foreboding surge down her spine.
"It's like the holes at the Drill Station," said Tony, talking more to himself than anyone else, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Is this how they happened?" asked Nasreen, the chilling atmosphere sinking into her soul.
"Looks like they broke through the final layer of the Earth's crust," Romana told them, her voice betraying no emotion but her feeling of suspenseful dread…and she soon realised who was missing from the gathering in the Church. It wasn't a very peaceable notion, either – in fact, it was one of the worst feelings she'd ever felt…and she'd felt it before. "No…" she whispered, just as silence fell over the gathering…
"The banging's stopped," commented Tony, wondering just what the Hell was going on around them. But nobody was prepared for the question from Ambrose…the question that sent horror rampaging through the binary hearts of the Last Time Lady in the Universe…
"Where's Elliot?"