The Doctor took a few casual steps into the room, looking around admiringly. "So, I take it it's you we have to thank for all that nasty snow down there."
What was once the Ice Lady snarled with a blood-curdling screech that reverberated unnaturally over the torrent.
"You can stop her, yes?" said Kauffman, gripping the hand rail in fear. "You have to stop her! I thought I could work with her – I mean, it – but I realise now that it's nothing but a creature of voracious appetite."
"That's enough out of you!" snapped the Ice Lady in a distorted growl, before whipping a stream of sharpened ice crystals straight into Kauffman's body.
He barely had time to scream, before being flung into the torrent, his body instantly disintegrated by the maelstrom of charged particles.
The Doctor shielded the children behind himself, a look of supressed anger on his face.
"You didn't have to do that," he growled.
"He had outlived his usefulness," it replied.
"What are you exactly?" asked the Doctor. "Tell me what it is that you want and I might be able to help you. There's no need for bloodshed."
The ice creature made a disturbing sound that was its closest equivalent to a laugh.
"There is always need for bloodshed Doctor. For one organism to live, others must die, that is a basic law of the universe."
"Some would call that a very narrow and cruel way to view the universe," said the Doctor.
"Well, that would be unlucky for some, wouldn't it? To be weak is to be prey; to be strong is to feed. We are the Crystalline Confederation of the Crystalline Nexus and we must feed. We aren't even the first to pick this planet clean, you have these vermin to thank for that."
"Crystalline Confederation? Can't say that I've ever heard of you, but your modis operandi does have a familiar ring to it. Are you by any chance related to the Vashta Nerada?"
The ice creature gave an impression of a smirk. "We are cousins from the same home world, but our similarities are purely superficial. While they evolved in the forests, we evolved in the polar ice caps. While they are little more than swarming beasts, our kind share a hive mind through the psionic field generated by our individual crystals. We are many, but we are one. What's more, we possess the ability to traverse the open space between worlds."
"Right, like a swarm of intelligent space locusts, devouring a world before moving on to the next."
"We are a perfect lifeform," it said with what sounded an awful lot like pride.
"Well, I don't know about that, I can see at least one pretty big character flaw."
It snarled. "What?"
"You're driven to distraction pretty easily. Now, children!"
The raging torrent suddenly shut off, the room suddenly filling with the deafening absence of sound.
"What?" it screeched.
It was only then that it turned and noticed George and Alicia each standing by a different control panel.
"That's the problem when you like hearing the sound of your own voice," said the Doctor. "You tend to get caught up in yourself and lose focus. Trust me, I know from experience." He turned to the children. "Amy, Rory – good work. Wait, no, no. I know that's not right, is it? You're both far too young to be married."
The Crystalline Confederation roared, before swarming towards the children.
Alicia shielded her brother with her body, but just before the swarm hit them a high-pitched noise resonated around the room, causing the ice crystals to lose their cohesion and warp into a convulsing mass.
"Oh, I don't think so," said the Doctor as he held his gnawed and sparking sonic screwdriver over a microphone, piping the distorted sound through the P.A. system.
The Crystalline Confederation roared and turned its attention towards the Doctor, its convulsing mass twisting towards him. It was a thing of awe, to see a maelstrom of such ferocity move with sentient intent.
The Doctor's eyes bulged as the swarming mass crashed down onto him, knocking him backwards and causing him to hit several switches as he did. As he smacked into the cold, hard floor he felt his skin being bitten by millions of frozen sets of teeth. At the same time, there was a heavy groaning sound as the dome overhead began to open, letting in the cold winter air.
"Doctor!" screamed George, but his voice could barely penetrate the frozen swarm.
The Doctor grunted and squirmed against the weight of the sentient storm, which convulsed against the sound of the screwdriver. Soon though, the sound began to falter and warble and the Doctor turned his head to see what remained of his precious device slowly disappear under the gnashing fangs of his attackers. The casing was gone in a matter of seconds and the inner workings were soon to follow, bringing an end to his only line of defence.
A fierce look of determination set on his face and in sheer defiance he drew himself to his feet and backed out of the swarm, standing defiant.
"You owe me a new screwdriver," he seethed with barely contained anger.
But the swarm wasn't impressed and charged at him again. The Doctor took a step backwards and realised all too late that he'd backed himself onto the edge of the observation balcony. A balcony which was now unprotected by the retracted dome.
He felt his foot slip.
His eyes grew wide as he looked through the flurry of ice to see the terrified children who were depending on him.
"Oh no…" he said softly as he fell backwards and disappeared over the edge, his faint scream quickly disappearing.
"No!" screamed the children simultaneously.
The Crystalline Confederation hovered there for a moment, its voracious mass looking almost shocked. It was as if it had been taken off guard and hadn't fully comprehended what had happened.
After a moment though it turned around to face the children, a sinister grin etched out across the flurry.
"You killed him," yelled George. "You killed the Doctor!"
"George," his sister chided him, holding him back.
"He was a fool," hissed the Confederation with a hint of glee. "No mortal of flesh and blood can stand before the Crystalline Confederation."
"We'll stop you!" spat George.
Alicia gripped him and gave him an intense stare. "George, this isn't a game, we have to get out of here right now, you understand me?"
She gripped his wrist and began to lead him towards the lift, but suddenly a cloud of ice blocked their path.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere children. With those fools, Kauffman and the Doctor both gone, we need you to work the controls and enact the final stages of our plan."
Alicia scoffed. "You must have rocks in your head if you think we'd help you."
"Yeah, you tell 'em sis!"
"Oh, I think you'll find us very persuasive," said the Confederation maliciously.
Suddenly George was swarmed by a flurry of crystals.
"George!"
"Sis!"
"OK, OK, I'll help!" Alicia shouted, gripping George and pulling him free. "Just… just promise you won't hurt Georgie. You let him get in that lift and walk out that front door right now, you hear? After that I'll do anything you want, OK?"
"No sis, don't," yelled George as he gripped his sister's arm. "Don't be daft, they'll just kill you once they've finished with you!"
"I know that, George, I…" she took a breath and suddenly all signs of panic disappeared. She knelt down before her brother and took his hand in hers, while gently caressing his cheek. "George, I've never expected much of myself. Never thought I'd amount to nothin'. But being your sister, George, that has been my reason for living for as long as I can remember. That's why it doesn't matter what happens to me, because as long as I know you're safe… well, that'll be enough for me."
A tear began to well in George's eye.
"No, sis, I need you. I-I can't do this without you."
She closed her eyes and smiled as her own tears began to fall. "That's where you're wrong, Georgie. That's where we've both been wrong. All these years I thought I was looking out for you, but you're strong Georgie – always leapin' headfirst into trouble with a smile on your face. The truth is that it's me that's needed you all these years, not the other way around."
She stood up and wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "That's why-"
"Sis, wait…"
"Georgie, please…"
"No, I mean it, shush! Listen. Can you hear that? Beneath the sound of the snow."
"Georgie, what are you…?" Suddenly, she heard it. A strange wheezing, groaning sound.
They both turned and faced the Confederation, facing the direction of the sound. The Confederation itself appeared confused.
"What is that sound? Tell us!" it demanded.
George and Alicia payed it no attention as they peered through its swarming mass and saw a faint, blue shape pulsing in time with the strange sound.
Running past the Confederation swarm, they took a closer look at the strange phenomenon. They gasped when they saw the faint image of a figure through the blue shape. A figure that looked a lot like the Doctor, standing with a devious smile on his face and his hands resting atop his cane.
The shape solidified with a final thud, settling in to the shape of a big blue box.
"Hold the phone!" exclaimed George. "That's-"
Suddenly the doors creaked open and the Doctor swept out. "Right you are, George. The Doctor is in."
The children both stared with open mouths, gobsmacked.
"But we saw you," said Alicia, "you fell – there's no way you could…"
"Oh, my dear Alicia," The Doctor said, leaning in to tap her on the nose, "there's always a way."
"I knew you couldn't be knocked off that easily," said George, proudly.
"Never doubted me for a second, eh?"
George thought for a moment. "Well, maybe just a tiny bit."
The Doctor smiled. "Excellent! You should always hold on to just a little doubt – it keeps you ready for anything."
He stood up and scruffed George's hair affectionately.
"Speaking of which," he said as he faced the looming mass of the Crystalline Confederation. It seemed to be scrutinising both the Doctor and the TARDIS intently.
"Impossible! What technology is this? We can feel the energies it vibrates with – it is alien to this world. As are you, Doctor. That is what they called you, yes? You should not have survived that fall, yet here you are, and like your machine, you are positively brimming with exotic energy." The way it spoke, it would no doubt be salivating if it had saliva glands.
The Doctor smirked, before holding up his hand, which danced with golden energy, accompanied by an eerie pitch.
"Blimey…" muttered George.
Alicia just pulled him a little closer.
"You're all right, of course," continued the Doctor. "I couldn't have survived that fall, not intact anyway, and I didn't. I broke nearly every bone in my body. Thankfully though, I still had enough residual regeneration energy flowing through me to mend myself again.
Not completely, you understand. I mean, residual regeneration energy does have its limits. I couldn't, say, fall from a ship in low orbit, straight to the ground and then spring back up without a scratch – that would be ridiculous. But it was enough to let me get back to my TARDIS – oh, that's my magic blue box over there," he said to George, "use some advanced medi-tech to patch the rest up and nip back in time a few hours to pick up here, right where I left off. Well, not right where I left off, per se. I might have missed my mark by a few minutes, but still pretty impressive, don't you think?" He held his arms out and smiled, like a magician who'd just finished dazzling the audience.
The Crystalline Confederation swarmed with fury, its crystals agitated by the sheer arrogance of the inferior being.
"Just who do you think you are?"
The Doctor smirked. "Why don't you look me up? You can tap into the psionic fields of the Earth, correct? Theoretically you should be able to see echoes of any and all events that have ever occurred on this little blue-green rock. Why don't you run a search on me?"
The crystals continued to swarm around for a moment before freezing, then in a sudden burst, they spread outward, filling most of the room.
The children shrieked in surprise and Alicia shielded her brother.
"Not to worry children," said the Doctor. "We're just going to be treated to a little light show."
Suddenly the crystals began clumping together in unique patterns, reflecting light in unique ways, creating images. It looked as if film were being projected onto them.
Alicia and George chanced a look up and were surprised by what they saw: Faces. More than a dozen different faces dancing across the floating field of ice.
There was one with curly hair, a toothy grin and a ridiculous scarf. Above him was a young man with a bow tie and a monster of a chin. Several grey or white haired older men floated about, while George reached out and nearly touched a gentle-faced young man with blonde hair and question marks on his collar.
"Who…are you?" came the voice of the Confederation, reverberating around the room and full of disbelief.
There was a big-eared man with short, spikey hair; a funny little man with a mop of dark hair; an indignant-looking fellow with a hint of an outrageously coloured coat; and a dashing chap with curls that almost fell to his shoulders.
"Are they…are they all the Doctor?" said Alicia, looking upon the spectacle with awe.
There was the stylish young man with a shock of brown hair and sleek spectacles; the sad-looking bearded older gent; and another funny little man with a funny little hat. All of them danced about the room, carrying out motions from long ago.
Finally, one of the grey-haired men – the one with the craggy face and angry eyebrows – floated down towards the ground and hovered for a moment. Suddenly it exploded into a shower of snowflakes as the Doctor walked through it, a self-sure expression on his face.
"I'm the Doctor," he said, full of determination. "Now, if you could be so kind, get off this planet."
The Confederation swirled about the room, whipping up a gale before reforming in an amorphous shape, figuratively staring down at the Doctor.
"This changes nothing," it said.
The Doctor lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I suspected as much. This is your last chance – allow me to relocate you to another world, uninhabited by intelligent life. A world where you can roam free without the need for killing sentient beings."
The Confederation gave its best impression of a laugh. "It is our right to dominate all lesser beings, Doctor. We do not merely wish to survive, we wish to make all worlds part of our glorious confederation."
The Doctor sighed. "Of course. I suspected as much. Well then, what if I make you an offer you can't refuse?"
He snapped his fingers and the TARDIS doors swung open, revealing a glimpse of the wonders that lay beyond.
The Confederation's reaction was immediate.
"What…is that? That beautiful energy! Frequencies the likes of which we have never felt before!"
"Well," said the Doctor quietly, "what are you waiting for? Dig in."
Like that, the Confederation swarmed the TARDIS, funnelling through its narrow doorway and spreading out into the cavernous space beyond. The moment the last shard of ice was through, the Doctor raced in after it, slamming the doors closed behind him.
George and Alicia just looked on in disbelief as the blue box faded away with that same groaning, wheezing noise.
They clambered to their feet and looked around.
"Doctor!" called George. "Where's he gone? Where'd he take that snow thing?"
"I-I don't know, Georgie."
They were silent for a moment, as they just looked around the room, waiting to hear that strange sound again; the sound that would signal the Doctor's return.
But it never came.
"Come on, Georgie," said Alicia after some time had passed, "we've got to get out of here. Any moment now people are going to show up and they're going to start asking questions. We don't want to be here when that happens.'
"But what about the Doctor?"
"He can take care of himself, Georgie. And I've got to take care of you. Now come on."
George took one last look around the room and frowned, before following his sister back to the lift.
The TARDIS rocked violently as the Doctor struggled with the controls. Sparks erupted as the Crystalline Confederation gnawed at the ship's interior, and the cloister bell tolled from deep within the interior.
"If you could just –ow! – stop that, I am trying to find you a new home!"
The Doctor gritted his teeth through the pain as the vicious little snowflakes began to gnaw at his clothes and exposed skin, all the while trying to steady himself as the ship rocked to and fro. Looking around the cavernous expanse of the console room, it was as if the ship's interior had been turned into an infinite snow globe. A snow globe that was slowly dissolving.
"Almost there," grunted the Doctor.
Suddenly there was a groaning sound and a beam fell from overhead, causing the Doctor to shy away as it bounced off the console, right where his head had been mere moments ago.
"That does it," he growled in anger. "I tried to be nice, I wanted to give you a chance, but you wouldn't have it. None of you ever do. So suffer the consequences."
With that he pulled a lever down and the TARDIS' doors opened wide, revealing the raw, untamed time vortex beyond.
"All of time and space, everything that is or ever was. Have at it, boys!" And with that, he lowered the outer shields.
The noise was deafening as the untamed temporal winds whipped through the console room. The Doctor gripped to the console as tightly as he could, trying desperately not to be sucked out of the ship.
All around him the Crystalline Confederation screeched in anguish as they were sucked through the open doors and dissipated into the vortex beyond. The Doctor couldn't be one hundred per cent sure whether they would survive, but he thought that it was highly unlikely. They would more than likely burn up in the vortex – very little could survive in that environment.
His legs slipped out from beneath him and were sucked towards the door, but he gripped that console as if his life depended on it. Because, as a matter of fact, it did.
Now he was facing directly into the raging torrent of ice crystals as they screeched their way through the doors. He tried his best to avert his eyes, but a few of the vicious little things still managed to gnaw at him on their way out.
His muscles burned and his face was covered in stinging lashes that rapidly healed with residual regeneration energy. Soon though, the ice storm passed and sneaking a look around, he determined that the entire Confederation had been ejected. With a scream of effort, he pulled himself over towards the controls for the air shield and flicked the switch.
Immediately, the forces of the vortex dissipated and he fell to the floor, his chin collecting on the console on the way down.
"Oww," he groaned as he laid there on the floor. "I think… I think I'll just lay here for a moment, Jamie."