Disclaimer: Leave me alone, would you? I'm very happy in my little fantasy world, so don't wreak it for me!
Ch. 53:
This is the story of our planet, Earth, of the day 1,000 years past when we came to share it with a race known as Humanity. It is the story of the Doctor and the Phoenix who helped our races find common ground and the terrible losses he suffered. It is the story of our past and must never be forgotten.
The Doctor, Lily, and Nasreen walked along a pathway in a cavern above molten magma and past buildings.
"This place is enormous and deserted." The Doctor said. "The majority of the race is probably still asleep."
"We need to find Amy." Lily said, taking out her sonic screwdriver. "I'm scanning for heat signatures. Where ever the anomalies are, that's where we'll probably find her."
"Good thinking." The Doctor said.
"You wish you'd thought of it first, don't you?" Lily asked, grinning.
"Shut up." He replied.
"But, how can all this be here?" Nasreen demanded. "I mean, these plants."
"Must be getting closer to the center of the city." The Doctor said.
"You're sure this is the best way to enter?" Nasreen asked.
"Front door approach!" he replied. "Definitely. Always the best way."
"No, it's not!" Lily protested. "If we've learned nothing over the years, it should be that sneakiness should be used whenever possible! When we go through the front door, we get shot!"
An alarm began to sound and a female voice came over the speaker system.
"Hostile life force detected, area 17."
"Apart from the back door approach, that's also good." The Doctor said, turning around. "Sometimes better."
"I told you!" Lily said, following him. "Don't let it be said I didn't tell you so! If I get shot, I'm blaming you."
"And this is different how?" he asked.
"Hostile life force detected, area 17." The voice repeated.
A door slide open in front of Nasreen.
"Doctor!" she yelled.
Armed Silurians began pouring though the door as the warning repeated. More came from the tunnel behind them.
"We're not hostile, we're not armed!" the Doctor called, holding up his arms and pulling Nasreen's up. "We're here in peace!"
Can you transport to Amy? He asked Lily silently at the same time.
Not without something to track. She replied, also holding up her arms. Given enough time, I might be able to follow the TARDIS's neural link with her, but I'd have to have to follow my link back to the TARDIS and then follow it's to her. We don't have enough time.
Then jump back to the TARDIS. He told her.
Yeah right. She told him.
The Silurians shot gas from their weapons and the Doctor, Lily, and Nasreen fell to the floor, unconscious.
The Silurian doctor approached Amy as she struggled.
"Don't you come near me with that!" she yelled.
The doctor lowered his mask and turned on a recording device.
"From the clothing, the human female appears to be more resistant to the cold than the male." He said.
"I dressed for Rio!" Amy shouted.
"Leave her alone!" Mo yelled. "You got me!"
The doctor took a small device from his pocket and pressed a button. Clamps appeared, looking Amy's wrists into place.
"Decontamination complete." The doctor said. "Commencing dissection."
He was just about to start when a voice came over the speakers.
"Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested. Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested."
The doctor sighed and left the lab.
"Yeah!" Amy shouted. "And stay out!"
When he was gone, Amy looked down at her hand. In it was the small device. She pressed the button and she was free.
"How did you get that?" Mo demanded as she freed him.
"You never picked a lizard man's pocket?" she asked. "Come on, before he gets back."
"That creature, do you think it was an alien?" Mo asked as he and Amy made their way through the tunnels. "Any more of them do you think? Do you think the Earth's been invaded?"
"Don't know." Amy replied. "But I know someone who could have some answers. We need to get back to the surface and find them. And if all else fails, we'll ask the Doctor." She stopped at a door. "I wonder where this leads."
"Maybe it's a way out of here." Mo suggested.
Amy put her hand on the panel next to the door as Mo looked inside. The lights came on and Mo gasped. Inside was a boy attached to wires.
"Oh, my God, no." Mo moaned.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
"It's my son." He told her, trying to force the door. "It's Elliot. What've they done to him?"
Amy looked through the window as Mo tried the panel.
"No!" he yelled. "He's in there! We have to get him out! Elliot! Elliot, it's Dad!"
"Access denied." A voice said. "Unauthorized genetic imprint."
"Seriously, we can't get in." Amy said, holding Mo's arm.
"That's my boy in there!" Mo protested.
"These screens, they're monitoring something." Amy said, motioning to them. "I think they're vital signs – heartbeats, pulses. Why else would he be wired up? He's still alive."
"Alright." Mo said, calming slightly. "We find weapons, get that creature from the lab and force it to release Elliot, yeah?"
"Yeah, trust me we'll get him out." Amy assured him.
They continued down the tunnel as the light in Elliot's room went out.
Ambrose knelt on the ground, holding Elliot's headphones as Rory joined her.
"Ambrose." Rory said.
"You lied." She said. "You told us you were the police."
"It was a misunderstanding…" Rory started.
"Who are you?" Ambrose demanded. "You and the Doctor and the Phoenix? Why is this happening to us? What did we ever do?"
"The Doctor and Lily'll get your son back, I promise." Rory told her. "In the meantime, we take turns guarding the creature."
"So that's it?" she asked. "We sit and wait."
"And then we exchange her for your family." Rory replied. "I promise you Ambrose, I'd trust Lily and the Doctor with my life. We stick to the plan. We keep that creature safe."
Lily slowly came round to the sound of screaming. Her brain didn't seem to comprehend what the sound was. She opened her eyes and it clicked into place.
"Theta!" she screamed, wrenching against her bounds.
She and the Doctor were both strapped to a table and the Doctor was being scanned as the Silurian doctor and a female warrior stood in front of them.
"How can they have escaped?" the female demanded. "This proves all prisoners should remain under guard."
"I'm sure you'd prefer to be in charge of everything and everyone, Restac." The doctor said. "But we rank the same. Is there any word from Alaya?"
"No." Restac replied, turning to watch the Doctor.
"It's fine to show concern, you know." The doctor told her. "She's part of your gene-chain. I'm decontaminating now."
"Decontamination!" the Doctor yelled, writhing in agony. "No, no, no!"
"You can't do this!" Lily screamed. "You're killing him!"
Alaya sat on the floor, meditating, when Tony walked in.
"Why aren't you dead?" she asked, looking up at him. "You're carrying my venom in your blood. But you should have died. Why aren't you dead? Show me."
Tony walked forward, unbuttoning his shirt, to show her the contaminated area.
"How does it feel, ape?" she asked, hissing with pleasure.
"Like it's burning in my blood." Tony told her. "Please. If you help me, I can help you. If you could cure me, I could help you escape."
"You see?" Alaya said. "You beg, and offer betrayal, so early! Why would I want to escape when I can watch you die? The first ape death of the coming war."
She returned to her meditation, ignoring him.
"It's alright." The doctor said as The Doctor screamed. "It won't harm you. I'm only neutralizing all your ape bacteria."
"We're not apes!" Lily screamed. "Look at your scans! He has two hearts! We have two hearts! We're totally different! We're not apes! If you remove all the human germs, you remove half the things keeping us alive! You have to let us go!"
The doctor checked the scans and shut down the machine.
"Oh, thank god." Lily breathed. "Doctor?"
"I'm fine." He told her, breathing heavily. "Stay where you are."
She nodded, but the fire didn't leave her eyes.
"No, complete the process." Restac demanded.
"Oh, that's much better, thanks!" the Doctor said. "Not got any celery, have you?"
"Celery?" Lily shrieked. "Really?"
"No, you're right." The Doctor said. "Not really the climate, tomatoes though, you'd do a roaring trade in those. I'm the Doctor, that's the Phoenix, oh, and there's Nasreen, good!"
The doctor went over to examine Nasreen.
"Oh, a green man." Nasreen said, waking up.
"Hello, who are you?" The Doctor asked.
"Restac." The female replied. "Military commander."
"Of course you are." Lily muttered. "There's always a military."
"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city." The doctor told him.
"Oxygen pockets!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Lovely! Oooh, but not so good with an impending drill! Now it makes sense!"
The doctor nodded and continued to examine Nasreen.
"Where is the rest of your invasion force?" Restac demanded.
"Invasion force?" the Doctor said. "Me, the Phoenix, and lovely Nasreen? No! Well, I could see how you could think that of the Phoenix, but no! We came for the humans you took. And…to offer the safe return of Alaya. Oh, wait, you and she, what is it, same genetic source? Of course you're worried, but don't be, she's safe."
"You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage." Restac told him, motioning for soldiers to take position by the Doctor, Lily, and Nasreen.
"Wait, wait, we all want the same thing here." The Doctor protested.
"I don't negotiate with apes." She told him, turning to the doctor. "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface."
"What's that?" Lily asked, snidely.
"Your execution." Restac replied.
Lily snorted.
"Go ahead and try." She told her. "You aren't the first and you won't be the last."
"Lily." The Doctor growled.
"What?" she asked innocently.
Amy and Mo continued to explore and they came across a chamber with glass-covered alcoves on either side.
"These chambers are all over the city." Amy said.
She put her hand over the sensor and the alcove lit up, showing masked warriors inside. Mo stepped back in surprise.
"Uh!" he exclaimed. "Turn it off quick!"
Amy put her hand on the sensor again and light went off.
"They're not moving." Mo said.
"Maybe they're asleep." Amy replied. "Let's have another look."
"No, Amy, don't!" Mo protested.
Amy touched the panel again and the door slid open and she walked forward.
"Amy, what are you doing?" Mo demanded. "Get out of there."
"Some sort of suspended animation." Amy whispered, ignoring him, noticing they were standing on small round discs. "I wonder what these are. The Doctor would know. The Doctor always knows."
"Hey, look." Mo said, pointing the ceiling.
Above them was a small chute. Amy could see that each container had one.
"Wait…I've got it." She said. "It's how they came up to the surface. Some sort of powered transport discs. It's our way out of here."
"Even better, weapons." Mo said, taking a gun from one of the soldiers. "Come on, now we can fight back."
Amy reached over and took one as well before closing the containers.
"Which way now?" Mo asked.
"Door at the end." Amy replied.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Nope!" she said brightly.
They continued down the tunnel and through another sliding door. Below them was a large chamber filled with soldiers in suspended animation.
"Wow." Mo said.
"Yeah." Amy agreed.
"We don't stand a chance." Mo said.
"We have to find the Doctor and the Phoenix." Amy said, leading him out.
Tony searched through a closet until he found a first-aid kit and pulled out a bottle of aspirin.
"Dad, are you alright?" Ambrose said, walking towards him. "Dad!"
"Ambrose, I'm fine!" he told her. "Leave me alone."
He stumbled and she helped him sit.
"You are not fine." She told him. "Let me…Let me look."
She reached out to him, but he batted her hand away.
"Get off!" he told her.
"Let me look." She ordered, unbuttoning his shirt to see the wound. "Oh, my God, Dad."
"I don't know what's happening to me." He said weakly.
"It's going to be fine." She assured him. "First thing is bring this temperature down, get you resting."
She stood and left him.
The Doctor, Lily, and Nasreen were being escorted through the city.
"These must be the only ones awake." The Doctor said, looking at their guards. "The others must still be in hibernation."
"So, why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Nasreen asked.
"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to Earth on a crash course." Lily told her. "They built a life underground before putting themselves to sleep for a millennia in so they wouldn't be wiped out. What they didn't realize was it was really the moon coming into alignment with the Earth."
Restac stopped and looked at them.
"How can you know that?" the doctor asked.
"Long time ago, I met another tribe of homo-reptilia." The Doctor said. "Similar, but not identical."
"Others of our species have survived?" Restac asked.
"The humans attacked them." The Doctor replied. "They died, I'm sorry."
"A vermin race." Restac sneered, leading them on.
"What's the cure?" Ambrose demanded, standing in front of Alaya.
"What?" the Silurian asked.
"I saw what you've done to my dad." Ambrose said. "What's the cure?"
"Why would I tell you?" Alaya asked.
"Cause if you don't, I'm going to have to use this on you." Ambrose said, holding up a taser.
"No you reveal yourself." Alaya said, smiling.
"First you take my son, now you hurt my dad." Ambrose growled. "I'm just protecting my family here. That's all. I don't want to use it. I want you to put things right."
"Use it." Alaya pushed.
"What?" Ambrose asked, surprised.
"Use it on me." Alaya repeated. "But you're too afraid." She walked up to Ambrose. "A woman who can't even protect her own child must be too weak to…"
She walked into the taser and fell to her knees with a shriek.
"I didn't want to do that." Ambrose told her. "Are you all right? Tell me, what's the cure for my dad?"
"He's vermin." Alaya ground out. "He deserves a painful death."
"I'm giving you a chance." Ambrose told her.
"I knew it would be you." Alaya pressed. "The one with the most to lose. The weakest."
Ambrose put the taser to Alaya's chest and the Silurian fell to the floor with a shudder.
Tony sat beside Rory as the man tended to his wound.
"I'm a nurse." He told the older man. "You should've told me."
Suddenly there was a scream in the distance. Both men leapt to their feet and raced down the stairs to find Alaya wheezing on the floor and Ambrose standing over her, the taser in her hand. Rory rushed to Alaya.
"Ambrose…" Tony breathed. "What've you done?"
"She kept taunting me about Mo and Elliot and you." Ambrose replied.
"We have to be better than this!" Tony told her, angrily snatching the taser from her.
"She wouldn't tell me anything." Ambrose tried to defend herself. "I thought sooner or later, she'd give in. I would've done. I just…I just want my family back, Dad."
"I'm sorry." Rory told Alaya. "How do we help you? Tell us what to do."
"I knew this would come." Alaya said, her breathing labored. "And soon, the war."
"You're not dying." Rory told her. "I'm not going to let you, not today…"
Alaya moaned and was gone.
A/N: Okay, so I know it's been a long time, but honestly, the only thing more painful than killing the Doctor is killing Rory. I don't know how that came to be, since I was so ready to hate him, but there it is. I promise I will try to get it out faster.
On another note, Never Gonna Be Alone is now on 101 people's favorite lists. How cool is that? And all we need for 300 reviews on this one is one more review. I feel a little like a rock star.
Abbey
