It's my first week at university and the only classwork I must do is read, so I'm good to write now. That's why I've been uploading like mad, I've had a few strokes of productivity with this story and I really want to keep it going, the reviews I have gotten help with that and I really am thankful for every single one of them! I also realized that this fic is going to be super long, I might break it into two separate books classic who and new who I don't know yet, let's see how this pans out for the moment. Also, I changed this from T to M, I really like some of the freedom that writing a mature story gives me.
Chapter 11
Antimatter
"How long have we been traveling?" Sarah asked, "You promised me we'd be back in London five minutes before leaving Loch Ness."
"Did I?" The Doctor asked in a distracted tone.
"Oh, you're trying to wriggle out of it," Sarah wiggled a finger at him.
"Wriggle out of what?" He questioned.
"Your promise," She answered.
John had watched that exchange over the edge of her book and slowly moved it to where she wouldn't have to watch. She didn't want to see her…lover...get hit by her friend. Though, she would admit that he probably deserved it with how he was acting. If he made a promise, then he needed to keep it. She sent him a look at that one.
"Listen, we're on the edge of a time-space vortex and you're talking in minutes," He told Sarah.
"What's gone wrong this time?" She asked with a slight sigh.
"Nothing, nothing at all," He answered with a slightly insulted tone, "What makes you think something's gone wrong?"
"Because you always get rude when you're trying to cover up a mistake," John informed him with a slightly apologetic expression on her face, "But judging by how your body language relaxed you seemed to have fixed it."
"I merely overshot our landing," He stated as he walked past her and gave her a slight wink, "It was easily rectified."
John had made a face knowing that it had happened when they had spent a couple hours together. She felt her cheeks grow warm and hid behind her book. It was a manual on the Tardis of all things. As she read it, she started to see that flying the Tardis was simple but landing it was hard. She wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that he never really seemed to land where he wanted to go. Well, except for the fact that he had gone and helped the Brigadier with the Zygons, Harry had decided to stay behind. She made a mental note to give Harry his objects from the wizarding world to him the next time they were in that time period. It wasn't as if she was going to leave the Doctor, and he wasn't going to send her away any time soon.
"Where are we?" Sarah questioned.
"We've come out of the time vortex at the wrong point is all," He answered, "A few years too late."
"How many?" Sarah asked him with a slight look of disbelief that was slowly morphing into a frown.
"Thirty thousand," He stated with a slight grin.
"Oh, so a few," John muttered to herself as she turned the page and continued to read.
A loud beeping started to sound from the console and Sarah looked at it. It was an obvious distress call; it was beeping in an order that was similar to morse code. A small SOS was being broadcasted to them and the Tardis was letting them know that's what it was. John lowered the Manual and put a piece of paper inside to mark her spot.
"A distress call," Sarah commented.
"Someone's in trouble," He muttered, and he got a look from John as she joined him at the console, he immediately grabbed her hand and she blushed and looked away from him.
"Where?" Sarah asked him.
"Who knows," He answered as he released John's hand with a small squeeze, "Stand by for emergency materialization."
Sarah and John moved to grab onto the console to stop themselves from falling on the floor as he pushed buttons and pulled levers. Sarah looked to John and did a double-take at the sudden long hair. She felt her brows raise at that and when John looked over at her she motioned towards her hair. John made a face of understanding and motioned towards the Doctor with a look that told she wasn't pleased with the new length of her hair. It was mainly because every time she lost someone, she had long hair. Without fail, she lost someone she cared about. Her dad was killed in the second war. She couldn't lose the Doctor, she just couldn't.
They landed and the Doctor opened a small compartment that held a viewing screen. Outside the Tardis was a lush jungle. A small drop of water slid down the screen and John immediately removed the cream-colored jumper she had put on after leaving her briefcase with the Doctor. If it was humid enough to create condensation on the Tardis viewing camera then it was going to be far too humid for a jumper. She had turned away from the Doctor as she fixed her hair back into a ponytail, she missed the look of surprise and slight horror that Sarah had sent her after seeing the scars that littered her skin. He didn't and knew why she covered them up, getting looks like those would be enough to hurt the self-esteem of anyone even the most self-assured.
He grabbed a small device and moved to exit the Tardis, his companion and lover right behind him. He felt giddy at having a title for the witch. He had been happy just to be friends. She stopped beside him and looked around at the jungle surrounding them. It was lush and green, and just as humid as she had thought it was. Sweat was already going down her face within seconds. She simply ignored it, just as Sarah was doing.
"Which way?" Sarah asked the Doctor as he looked at the device in his hand.
"This way," He answered.
They headed into the jungle. Leaves brushed against the tops of their heads and large tree roots almost tripped them as they headed further into the depths of the trees. The Doctor and John were holding hands- her body still reacted like a human, so her hands were a bit sweaty from the humidity- their fingers intertwined. Her hand was quite smaller than his, but they didn't care.
"You have no clue where we are," Sarah stated after a while.
"Oh, with any luck, we're near enough to reach wherever it is," The Doctor commented in a light tone.
"That is not what I meant," Sarah informed him as she walked over a particularly large root.
"Before whatever it was that made them transmit the call overwhelms them," He replied.
"That is if we aren't too late," John said and they both turned to her, "You were both thinking it, don't even try to deny it."
"What planet are we on?" Sarah asked as she changed the topic.
"Oh, it's a weak signal," He said, not even answering Sarah's question, "Allowing for the fact of interference from the time warp, could you move faster?"
Sarah watched as he received a swat to the arm and a look of disbelief from John. He didn't say anything, but she could've sworn that he grimaced. He knew that John was a bit upset that he was being rude. He had that bad habit of being horrible to others when something went wrong or made a mistake. He stopped in his tracks when the two women froze in place, their eyes wide and fingers stretched out. He placed his hands against John's cheeks and looked into her eyes. The pupil was dilated to the point where it was just a small dot in her iris. As quick as they went into the trance, they broke out of it.
"Ah Circe's left tit, it's like I'm made out of atoms again," John stated as she held a hand against her forehead with a grimace.
"What happened?" the Doctor asked them.
"I don't know, I just felt so odd, as though my mind left my body," Sarah replied.
"I just got hit by a frequency," John replied, "It was enough to leave me with a headache and make my teeth hurt, it was odd."
"Are you all right now?" He asked them.
"Yes," Sarah replied and they both turned to a still grimacing John.
"The headache will wear off after a while," She stated, "I will be fine."
The Doctor nodded at them and went to move. His foot hit something heavy and he bent down to pick it up. He had to brush some leaves away from it, but eventually, he revealed a metal handle. He picked that up and out from the floor of the jungle came an ax.
"What's that you've found?" Sarah asked.
"A hand tool of some kind," He replied as he weighed it, "A rather heavy one at that."
"So, the people who sent that signal must be humanoid," Sarah theorized, "Well, they have hands at least."
"Might be friendly this time," John added, "Knowing our track record most likely not."
She gained a strange expression on her face at that. They continued walking without adding more to those words. The signal was growing stronger and their pace picked up. They stumbled across a piece of land that was obviously man-made. The trees were cut down and it seemed to be set up like a graveyard of sorts with small stones as markers for the graves. There was a corpse on the ground that looked as though it had been there for quite a while.
"Looks like we're too late," Sarah said as John slipped her wand from her short pockets and knelt in front of the corpse casting diagnostic charms on it.
"Several months too late, by the look of him," The Doctor added.
"That's odd," John muttered, "This man died from complete organ failure, everything failed him all at once, I've never seen something like this before."
"It's rare, incredibly at that," The Doctor informed her as she stood up and placed her wand back into her pocket.
They meandered around the site before noticing a small building that stood out from the jungle. It was white with dark splotches of dirt on the walls that had been kicked up by heavy rainfall, so it was rather impossible to miss. They walked to it, though John had paused to study a bright red fern that had moved a bit when she walked past it. It was strange to see something out of the realm of fiction, but she supposed others could say the same of her. She shrugged slightly and joined the two in looking inside the small building.
"Anyone about?" The Doctor called into the darkness before turning towards the two girls, "Seems like no one about."
"Can't we get some lights?" Sarah asked as they moved into the dark.
"The power might've run down," John quietly said as she squinted into the dark before blushing in embarrassment and creating a ball of light to stay near the ceiling and light everything up, "Sorry, I'm a bit out of sorts still."
"Would the power running down account for a weak signal?" Sarah questioned.
"Yes, that could do it," The Doctor answered before making a sound as a thought came to him.
"What?" Sarah and John asked him.
"An automatic distress button, it all adds up," He stated, "It may have been running for months off a high capacity power cell dependent for sunlight on charging."
"Yes, but which star from what solar system is the question…" John stated as she slowly trailed off in thought.
The Doctor gave a fond smile at that as Sarah gained an amused look to her face. Sarah moved around the now lit up room and looked at the blank monitors and consoles where the buttons were out. John had paused in her thoughts as a frequency hit her. She thought she had passed the stage of feeling frequencies, but she was wrong. She focused on it and a shiver went down her spine. It felt wrong, like something bad was going to happen if she continued to focus on it. It was a very negative feeling and she didn't want to focus on it anymore.
"I wonder what happened," Sarah stated, and John chose to focus on the conversation.
"Hmm?" The Doctor hummed in thought as he looked around with a keen eye, "Well, this is clearly the base for a type of scientific expedition, possibly geological. Something went wrong and they sent out a distress signal."
"And died before help arrived," Sarah commented.
"One hell of a signal," John added as she looked towards the console, "A lost expedition, a little Lost in Space."
"What do we do?" Sarah asked.
"Let's head back to the Tardis and fetch my spectromixer, and I'll fix our position by that star," He answered, "Then I'll repair this power cell and try to make contact."
"Well, you can get on with that now, I'll get the spectromixer," Sarah told him, and she turned to John, "Make sure he doesn't get into trouble."
"Easier said than done sometimes," John chuckled, "Be safe out there, Doctor she needs the key to get in."
"Right," He muttered as he handed the key over to Sarah.
Sarah gave them a slight wave before walking out of the building. The Doctor turned towards John and she gave him a look before moving around the room. She was checking out the consoles with a slight frown and gently pressing some of the buttons. He watched as she pushed the buttons in a sequence that would activate a small homing signal if there had been any power to the consoles. He walked up behind her and she looked at him.
"Somethings bothering you," He commented.
"It's just a frequency I picked up," She stated, "I can still feel them, the Tardis has one that I'm constantly feeling so I got used to it, but this one didn't feel right…it's hard to explain."
He grabbed her hand and she gave him an uncertain look. He gave a short nod and she slowly let him feel the frequency as she felt it. It still sent a shiver down her spine even if it was a bit muted due to sharing it with the Doctor. He rubbed a thumb against the top of her hand, and she stopped focusing on the frequency. She will be the first to admit that it was nice to focus on the Doctor. He radiated such warmth.
"Let's continue looking around," He stated, "You might find something interesting, you never know."
"Right," She nodded.
He released her hand and they continued to look around. He heard mechanics working from the rear of the building and walked to a slightly ajar door. He pushed it open and found a body on the ground. This one was a bit fresher than the one outside. He realized that John and Sarah were in trouble if something was going around killing people.
"Doctor," He heard John call, slight warning in her voice.
He turned to go see what she was warning him about when the barrel of a gun was in his face. He gave a grin towards the owner of the gun and looked behind him. John had one against her head and was shooting the owner of the gun an annoyed look. He continued to grin, even though the sight made him rather cross.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't point a weapon at my wife's head," He stated and the gun pointed at John was lowered a bit, while her cheeks and body turned a brilliant pink.
A man with short dirty blonde hair and a tan uniform pushed his way into the room. He glanced at John before looking towards the Doctor. His blue eyes fixated on the corpse and his face turned pale. He ran a hand against his sparse scruff.
"Baldwin?" The man asked.
"He's dead," The Doctor replied.
"Yes, murdered," The man stated, "Just like the others."
"Stay where you are," The man holding the gun to John stated.
He was an older gentleman and was pulling his gun away from the younger woman. She shot him a grateful expression before looking towards the Doctor with concern. The guns were still pointed at him. He thought it was rather strange to see a couple on the planet. He narrowed his eyes at the obvious age gap between the two, it was starting to look wrong almost like a kidnapping.
"You're wrong," He heard her say and he looked to see her staring at him with a slightly amused smile, "I'm here willingly."
"How did you know that?" He asked her.
"It was written on your face," She replied, "He didn't kidnap me, and I defiantly don't have Stockholm syndrome, I could leave at any time."
"But you don't want to," He muttered, "It's rare to see that level of devotion nowadays."
She simply smiled at that before he walked away from her to report in. John watched the other officers that had walked in with the older gentleman. They were pushing the Doctor away from the body. She got a hold of him when they pushed him past her spot. His hands gently gripped her forearms as he stood up.
"Do you ever get tired of being pushed around?" She softly asked as he stood up straight.
"Very," He answered as he held onto her hand.
"You called me your wife, does that mean I get to call you Sweetie?" She asked him with a teasing grin.
"I'll call you that in response," He informed her, and she gave out a small chuckle at that and he informed her of something in a low tone, "I'd rather you call me Theta."
"Is that a nickname?" She asked him a low tone.
"It's part of my name, the rest is too long for casual conversation," He answered with a sly wink.
"Ah," She made a sound of understanding.
It was going to be an interesting thing to call him, but one look at her and she knew that he wanted to be called Doctor when around others. She could understand the need for that kind of privacy. She was starting to wonder why she got the feeling that the universe would be in danger if his name were to get out. She watched as the older gentleman came towards them again.
"Have you checked the transmitters down there?" A male voice asked over their communicators.
"Yes, but any signal would have been monitored by our receivers," The man replied.
"Perhaps my receivers are better than yours," The Doctor stated, and he was amused when an elbow made itself known in his side.
"Shut up!" One of the men growled at him, it was a dark-skinned man with, what John would call, a very glorious beard.
"My manners certainly are," The Doctor muttered.
"I would beg to differ, love," John quietly informed him with a slightly amused look on her face, "You and Sherlock seem to have the worst case of a lack of filter I have ever seen."
He gave a smirk at that and she shook her head in slight disbelief. They had talked over the older gentleman and had missed what had been going on. The two guards walked up and grabbed an arm from both of them. John was starting to find herself in the same boat as the Doctor. She was getting tired of being manhandled by people. She didn't like it as a child and she certainly didn't like it as an adult. As they were carted out of the building a man was waiting for them with a stern expression on his face.
"We'd only been working a few weeks when Lorenzo went," The Dirty blond stated as one of the men listened to him, "After that, Gura and then Summers, and for a while, it stopped, we thought that we were safe that whatever it was had decided to leave us in peace, but it wasn't to be."
"The killings always happened at night?" The older gentleman asked.
"Oh yes," The Dirty blonde answered with a curt nod, "The nights are the worst."
"Naturally, any force of alien infiltrators is going to operate under cover of darkness," The newcomer stated, "A full and immediate confession would save you great discomfort."
"Discomfort?" The Doctor asked with a slight frown, "You mean you're going to torture us."
"Interrogate you, and nobody withstands Morestran interrogation for very long," The man replied, "Put them with the other prisoner."
The two were dragged through the jungle all the way to the site of a ship. John didn't even struggle as they were forced up a ramp and into the metal innards of the ship. It was as futuristic as she thought it would be. She wondered if they were in the same age as Space Station Nerva, it looked like it came from the same factory at least. There was more evidence to the fact that humans would eventually use kits to build things such as space stations and ships, it sounded about right.
"One of these days the Tardis will be nice and send us to a resort planet," John stated, "Though knowing our luck there'll be trouble."
"Could always enjoy the planet afterward," The Doctor said as they were pushed down a hallway, "There are several planets to go to for such things."
"Any come to mind?" She asked him with genuine curiosity.
"A planet named Midnight, it's completely made of diamond," He replied, "It has a few luxury resorts littered about the planet, you wouldn't be able to go outside due to the Xtonic rays, they vaporize you within a nanosecond."
"Sounds lovely," She stated before looking at the two men escorting them to the prison, "I don't think our jailers agree with that sentiment."
The two men looked like they might be sick to their stomachs, perhaps it was a hard thing to digest, being vaporized before you even had a second to understand what was happening. She supposed it was like getting a silent killing curse to the back. Then again, no one really knew how the mind reacted after being hit. She wondered if one even had last thoughts. She didn't want to be the one to answer that. They were shoved into a room and the guards simply left them in there.
"Hello," Sarah's voice greeted them.
"Oh, hello Sarah," John greeted back, "They got you as well, did they have you at gunpoint as well?"
"Oh yes," Sarah nodded, "I'm not exactly thrilled with them at the moment."
"Want to get out of here?" John questioned.
"How do you propose that?" The Doctor asked butting into the conversation.
"Through the window," Sarah jutted a thumb behind her and pointed it at the window.
"They're magnetically locked," The Doctor countered.
"But the power is low," Sarah stated in a blunt tone.
The Doctor didn't say anything else but moved to the window and began to push against the glass. It was thick and heavy, but he made quick work of it. Soon he was helping the two girls out of the ship. John was the last one out and she shut the window behind her out of habit. They moved around the ship and watched as a sentry walked past them. They headed towards the jungle when the sounds of a gun firing caught their attention. A large ball of energy had bolted from the jungle and attacked the sentry. Sarah tensed up and stumbled a bit but was able to stay out of a trance this time. Something that was shared by John.
"Run," Sarah hissed.
They quickly moved through the jungle and hid amongst the trees. They went in far enough that the ball of energy couldn't follow them. Sarah was breathing heavily, and John had started to shake slightly while sweat went down her face. That ball of energy was a condensed form of those frequencies she had begun to feel. It was bad news, really bad news.
"I think it's gone," The Doctor stated as he turned to the two women, "Are you all right?"
"It's how I felt before, in the jungle," Sarah answered, "As though I was being drawn from my body."
"That ball of energy is like a highly condensed form of those frequencies I was picking up," John quietly said, "It actually feels worse than the frequencies."
"What a narrow escape," he muttered.
"Any idea what it was?" Sarah asked him.
"I'm not sure yet, but I've got a very unpleasant theory," He answered, "We need to find that sentry."
They nodded and started to trek back toward the ship. The body was just at the entry point to the jungle. John gave a quick diagnostic charm and frowned once again. All the organs had stopped in unison, complete organ failure in such a young man was extremely rare.
"It's the same, all the organs shut down at the exact same time," She stated.
"I think we've been missed," The Doctor stated as he saw some lights in the distance.
They headed back into the depths of the jungle, bark flying off some of the trees as they were shot at. John made a face as some of the bark landed on her. It wasn't every day that she got into a fight. It was every other day, she had to remember that being with the Doctor was like signing a form saying that she didn't mind the danger. She didn't he was worth it, a lot of work but worth it.
"It's so dark," Sarah muttered.
"Sorry but putting up any kind of light would give away our position," John apologized as she moved a low hanging branch out of her way.
"Fair enough," Sarah agreed.
"Shush," The Doctor shushed them as the sound of something crackling started coming towards them, "It's coming this way."
They all stayed quiet and crouched in some brush as the Lianas and seed pods swayed as the crackling energy went past them. Seed pods fell on the tops of their head, but they remained silent. As soon as the crackling got quieter, they stood up to watch its path. The trees seemed to have wilted away from the energy as it passed through their foliage.
"That was lucky," Sarah quietly commented.
"Fortunately, time is on our side," The Doctor said.
"Time?" Sarah questioned.
"Yes," The Doctor replied, "Night's candles are burned out and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain top or something like that."
"Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day, stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops," John began to quote, "I must be gone and live, or stay and die. Yon light is not day-light, I know it, I, it is some meteor that the sun exhales, to be to thee this night a torch-bearer, and light thee on thy way to Mantua, therefore stay yet; thou need'st not to be gone."
"That's a posh way of saying that it's getting light," Sarah informed the two and got a grin from John.
"That's what Shakespeare meant," The Doctor replied.
"Doesn't it like daylight?" She asked.
"That is the question," He muttered as he began to walk away from them.
"John, which play was that?" Sarah asked.
"It's a small excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, act three scene five," John replied, "I had to read that in my last year of primary before starting my magical education, did you know that Macbeth's Boil and Trouble is an action potion, apparently it summons a demon."
"Have you ever tried it?" Sarah asked.
"When I was eleven, the professor smacked me outside the head with a rather thick book," John answered rubbing the back of her head with a slight wince, "Never attempted again, the man was a bit scary."
Sarah gave a soft chuckle at that as they followed behind the Doctor as he traversed the jungle. He had the longest legs out of the three of them and seemed to have the easiest time walking through the roots. John and Sarah struggled for a while before finding a groove that allowed them to efficiently walk over the roots and keep their fast pace. When one tripped the other was there to help steady them.
"Somethings heading this way," John commented as she felt a soft frequency coming towards them, "It's mechanical, possibly from those gents back at the ship."
"Take cover then," Sarah nodded as she got the gist.
They ducked behind more brush. Sarah was on the other side of the path. John and the Doctor were hiding in the same spot. He had covered her from sight, and she sent him a look at that. She didn't need protection, but a part of her was touched that he thought of protecting her from the small circular flying device that had moved overhead.
"A surveillance device," He murmured.
"That means they're trying to figure out where we went," John muttered as she felt his arms tighten around her waist, "Why do I get the feeling that the energy has no interest in us."
"What makes you say that?" He questioned.
"Not once did it go after us," She answered with a slight shrug, "It seems more interested in the expedition crew."
He had been thinking the same thing. He released her and stood up. She followed suit and Sarah walked over to them from the other side of the path. The short brunette was looking toward the last spot the disk had been. Her nose was slightly scrunched up in thought and she had a slight frown on her face.
"What was that, a fairy of the forest?" She asked the Doctor.
"Some sort of surveillance device, a drone I think," He replied.
"Oh, at least we know we can't get lost," Sarah stated in a light tone.
"No, I met him once, you know," He said and both women looked at him in slight confusion.
"Who?" Sarah and John asked in unison.
"Shakespeare, he was such a charming fellow," He answered, "Dreadful actor though."
"Perhaps that's why he took up writing," Sarah commented.
"Perhaps it was," He nodded in thought.
John had no idea how he had gotten so lost in his own thoughts that he was still on the topic of Shakespeare. She simply shook her head in slight amusement and gently grasped his hand as she caught up with his pace. He shifted his hand and intertwined their fingers. A small smile played upon her face at that. He was changing the entire dynamic between the two of them, and he was so quick about it. Before she knew it, they would be married, it was a strange thought to think. They came across a rock area surrounding a black pool. There was no surface tension. There was nothing to tell them that there was anything beneath the surface.
"Oh, this is disconcerting," John mumbled, and the Doctor felt her grip on his hand tighten.
He stooped down and picked up a stone before tossing it into the pool. Nothing happened with the surface. No splash and no ripples. It made him know that it was where he needed to be to figure out what was going on. It was enough action for John to figure out something. At least it made sense at what was creating the frequency.
"Nothing could live in that," He heard John say, "Well, nothing corporeal at least."
"Oh no," Sarah hissed as she looked above them the drone from earlier hovered above them, "I believe we've just been found."
"Never mind about that, look down there what do you see?" He asked her.
"A pool," Sarah replied as she moved closer to it and peered into the dark water.
"You don't have a reflection," John commented as she moved closer as well, "This has to be it."
"Raise your hands over your heads!" A voice commanded and they did so, "Search him."
Men came towards them and the Doctor was searched by one of them. His pockets were being searched and he had a slightly annoyed expression on his face. He had some sensitive objects in there, one of them was pulled out. The yo-yo was looked at by one of the men with an expression of confusion.
"I can empty my own pockets, thank you," He informed the men as he attempted to move back a bit.
"Put your hands over your heads," The man commanded again, it was the dark-skinned man who was shooting the Doctor an annoyed look.
"I've got nothing up my sleeves if that's what you were thinking," The Doctor stated in an amused tone.
"Search all of them," The man ordered, and John began to nervously sweat as one of the guards grabbed her left arm and roughly pulled it behind her back so he could begin to go through her pockets.
"Watch where you put those hands before you lose them," She growled at him as he decided to cop a feel.
"Cute," The man muttered as he moved towards her front pockets.
He got an elbow to the groin as his hands moved somewhere, they really shouldn't have been. One of the guards that had been watching the entire group sighed but didn't fire at her. At that point, it had been self-defense and he wasn't going to do anything about that, she had every right to do that. He noticed that her husband had a furious look on his face, but pride had quickly replaced it when she defended herself. His commander had stepped forward to search the other woman's pocket but had slipped on one of the rocks and fell into the black pool.
"No one moves towards it!" John ordered and several of the men stepped back at the tone.
"Armageddon's out," The Doctor muttered before speaking up, "Didn't you learn anything? You're tampering with the balance of nature on this planet in ways you don't understand, it may already be too late."
He was ignored and they were forced back to the ship. John gained an annoyed expression on her face, but it softened slightly when the guards allowed her to hold the Doctor's hand. He had taken to playing with her fingers as he thought. He usually pressed buttons and moved levers when he thought, it was a habit of his to have his hands busy when contemplating something. He had her left hand, so he found some humor in teasing her by messing with her ring finger, watching her turn a light pink out of the corner of his eye had been slightly entertaining. They were only parted when they had to go through quarantine. They were each scanned and nothing was revealed, no wand and no screwdriver.
"Bring the prisoners forward," The older gentleman called.
"Prisoners?" The Doctor questioned, "We're here to help, we're not prisoners."
"You are prisoners," A man with shaggy brown hair bluntly informed them, "And you are charged with diverse acts of war against the subjects of Morestra."
"Not guilty," The Doctor stated.
"This is ridiculous," Sarah muttered.
"I love the fact that you have no evidence besides happenstance," John stated, "Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty."
"Silence," The older gentleman ordered as the younger man glared at the group.
"Do you have any idea of what you're up against on this planet?" The Doctor questioned them.
"You will not respond to questions with counter-questions" The younger man informed them.
"If you won't allow us," He was cut off by a slight pressure on his hand and he looked towards John who gave him a shake of her head.
"You will have a chance to speak, Doctor," The older gentleman stated, he was going to be harsher towards the man but something about the way he looked at his wife stopped him.
"This interrogation will be conducted in an orderly manner," The young man informed them, "Failure to comply with result in your immediate execution."
The Doctor looked ready to argue, but a look from Sarah and a squeeze to his hand made him stay quiet. He would rather not kill one of his best friends and his lover. They were far too precious to him for him to take that sort of gamble that could put them in danger. He would never forgive himself. They were taken to a room that had a console set up right in front of a large screen.
"Yesterday, you were found with the body of one of our scientists, and last night one of our guards died and you were seen kneeling over him," The young man stated as the dirty blonde man walked in, "Can you explain this?"
"We had nothing to do with those deaths," The Doctor defended, "They were brought about by your intrusion, listen, now listen to me please, here on Zeta Minor is the boundary between existence as you know it and the other universe, which you just don't understand."
"Other universe?" The older gentleman asked in genuine curiosity.
"Yes, from the beginning of time, it has existed side by side with the known universe," The Doctor explained, "You call it nothing, a word to cover ignorance, then centuries ago scientists invented another word for it, Antimatter, they called it."
"Nonsense," The young man stated as the dirty blonde eyed the group with a blank expression, "It's just a clever deception to cover their real motives."
"I don't think so," The older gentleman stated, "Let him finish."
"Any you, by coming here, have crossed the boundary into that other universe to plunder it," The Doctor stated, "And that's an extremely dangerous thing to do."
"Salamar," The dirty blonde started getting the attention of the young brunette male, "My mineral samples are aboard, and it is getting dark, prepare for the return journey."
"Mineral samples?" The Doctor questioned, "You can't take any part of this planet with you."
"That was the purpose of my expedition," The blonde argued.
"Get them out of here," Salamar ordered, "I'll deal with them later, Sorenson we'll make sure the samples don't move."
"Sorenson, if you don't listen to me, you'll never leave this planet," The Doctor stated as the three were being dragged away.
They were dragged all the way back to the quarantine area. John rubbed her shoulder as it throbbed a little in pain. The rough treatment she had gone through earlier was enough to cause old pains to come back. She caught the frequency again and her magic responded in kind. The Doctor and Sarah jumped in surprise when a loud crack went through the air and John vanished. The Doctor mentally cursed at that and ran a hand through his mop of hair.
"Well, there goes the idea of getting into the Tardis and disappearing," Sarah stated, "Where did she go?"
"Wherever it is, she wasn't willing," He stated with a frown as he went towards one of the canisters and opened it.
"Doctor," Sarah hissed at him before noting his expression, "What is it?"
"Do you remember the rocks around the pool?" He asked.
"Yes, they were a brownish color," She nodded.
"This is the concentrated form," He informed her as he removed a tin from his coat and took the lid off, and used the lid to take a few of the concentrated rocks out, "This is what took John off the ship, she's back at the pool."
"It's changing color," Sarah commented as it shifted through the colors green, red, and gold, "Is it letting out a frequency?"
"It's harder for a human to feel it, but John was in an atomic state at one point," He answered, "She's more sensitive to it."
John found herself lying on the ground next to the pool. She let out a groan as her head started to throb in pain. That had been forced apparition and quite annoying really. All she could feel was the frequency around her, it was suffocating.
"I am not your enemy," She hissed, "Don't make me your enemy."
The frequency backed off and she let out a sigh of relief. Her hearts had slowed down a bit and the pain was beginning to recede. She stayed on the ground, so the frequency wouldn't start up again. She barely reacted when footsteps started to come close to her. The sound of rustling clothes let her know that someone had knelt next to her. She blinked when a thumb gently caressed her cheek.
"John, there you are, love," A voice whispered.
"Hi, Theta," She mumbled in response, "Remind me not to apparate for a while."
He gave a low chuckle at that and gave her hand a gentle squeeze before standing up. He noticed that she was going to be on the ground for a while. Those frequencies had disoriented her more than she realized. She did seem relieved to see him, he felt touched at that.
"Are you going to do something that I'll hate?" He heard her quietly question as he watched the energy creature rise from the pool, "If you are, I'm going to hit you."
The ball of energy moved towards him and it knocked him off balance. John let out a sound of distress when he went over the edge. She was finding it difficult to move but somehow dragged herself to the edge to wait for him to come back. He had to come back, he needed to prove her wrong that having long hair didn't kill off those she loved.
"Come on, Theta," She murmured, "Don't you dare leave me now."
She slowly pushed herself up. Her whole body was throbbing in slight pain and she was extremely dizzy. Her vision swam for a few seconds, but she fought against it and waited for any sign of the Doctor. She heard rushing footsteps and gave a nod towards Sarah as they both waited for him to return.
"So, Wife?" Sarah asked.
"He said it, not me," John replied with a slight grimace, her voice was hoarse, "Sorry, forcibly being apparated is extremely dangerous, it's been known to kill people."
Sarah grimaced at that. She almost lost both of her best friends in one go. A hand appeared over the edge and John was the first to move and caught the second one. Sarah moved forward and grabbed the first one. They both gave a tug and pulled the Doctor from the pool. John made a face as a toffee tin almost got crushed between her hand and his.
"John, Sarah, Vandervelt's equation of knowledge," He started, he sounded a bit out of sorts, "Quite wrong."
"Doctor," John grunted as he collapsed on them, she sighed and took her wand out, "We've got no choice, he needs medical help."
She gave a quick swish of her wand and he was lifted into the air. The two women raced back to the ship with the Doctor floating between them. It was easier for them to run closer to the trees than to accidentally ram the Doctor into one. He was still enough as it was, he didn't need a hit to the head to make things worse.
They were greeted by the Older Gentleman who John learned was named Vishinsky. He helped them to get the Doctor inside. He looked as though he had several questions for them. They didn't have the time for questions, John was more focused on getting the Doctor the medical attention he needed. She just hoped they weren't too late.