Ch 106
The three hurried down the street, through town towards the restaurant that Ramone recommended. Ramone tried to inquire about why this lunch was happening but got no straight answer from either of his unexpected dining companions.
"How is that research coming along Professor Moon?" River asked.
"Very... well," the Doctor answered though his expression was anything but. "It's yielding some, um, results."
"Oh, well I'm glad to hear that." She glanced around the street. The Doctor quietly handed her the scanner. It showed the three of them giving off temporal energy and a fourth figure nearby giving off the same energy.
They were heading in its direction.
River tried to think quickly, handing the scanner back to the Doctor. They needed to get away from the fourth figure. She remembered that Ramone's flat was in the opposite direction of where they were heading.
River stopped walking. "I'm suddenly not feeling well," she murmured, pressing a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache.
Ramone was next to River before the Doctor could move. "What's wrong, dear?"
"I'm feeling a bit faint..."
The Doctor easily put an arm around her, catching onto her plan. "That's no good. We should get you someplace where you can rest, Dr. Song."
"My apartment is so far out of town. Wouldn't it be better to go to a doctor?"
The Doctor spared a glance at the scanner which showed the fourth signal coming closer. "No, your house. I'll drive."
"Ramone..." River breathed, reaching for the man.
He hesitated but seeing River's face finally agreed. "Alright, but if you start feeling worse we're taking you to a doctor."
She leaned against him, the three now hurrying in the opposite direction of the fourth figure. They reached Ramone's car quickly, the Doctor taking the driver's seat and Ramone sitting in the back with River.
"Oh, god..." River moaned, fiddling in her pocket to try and find a perception filter for Ramone, hoping her words would distract him enough, "My head…"
Ramone ate up the bait easily. "River what's causing this? Did you drink enough water today? Are you nauseous?"
"It's a migraine," she breathed, picking something that sounded so utterly human, "I don't know where it's come from." She found the perception filter, now needed a way to get it on Ramone.
"Oh my..." he sounded quite concerned. "Do you get those often?"
"No...very rarely." Maybe she could wrap the perception filter around his wrist.
He took her hand and squeezed it. "Just, um, try to breathe. I have some Motrin in my flat, that might help."
She nodded, subtly wrapping the perception filter around her wrist. The Doctor glanced at the scanner, seeing that the fourth signal had stopped following. He looked at River through the rearview mirror and nodded.
"I can feel it subsiding now..." She murmured, sitting up straighter.
"What?" Ramone looked confused. "Really?"
"I think so, but it could come back." She tried to recover.
"I've never seen a migraine come and go so fast," he murmured, bewildered. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes. I've seen doctors about it. They say quick migraines are very rare, but nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about? That looked pretty intense," he fretted. "You should rest at my house."
"I guess we'll have lunch there," the Doctor murmured. "Are you feeling up to that, Professor?"
"Yes, I can manage that." She nodded.
The rest of the ride was relatively quiet. Ramone kept asking questions, trying to figure out how his day went from Christmas shopping to having River and a stranger over for lunch. He still failed to get a real answer.
"I'll put the kettle on," the Doctor offered once they were inside Ramone's flat. River went to sit on the couch, letting Ramone guide her since he still seemed to believe that she needed assistance.
He still seemed oblivious to the bio-damper on his wrist, "Do you want some water or something?"
"No, no. I'll be alright. Just sit."
Ramone settled next to her, "Sorry about lunch."
"Don't worry about lunch." She shook her head, "We have plenty of time for more lunches."
He nodded and tried to lighten the mood. "You may as well have your meeting while you're both here."
"Right..." River murmured, glancing towards the Doctor's direction.
He came back with three mugs of tea. The one he gave to River was made just how she liked it. Ramone's was black and still had the bags in.
"Thank you, it's perfect." River smiled, taking a sip of her tea. "We should discuss that thing from earlier." She murmured, referencing the fourth figure that had been following him.
"Yes," the Doctor agreed as Ramone frowned at his tea. "That, er, student who's been causing trouble… I know you suspended him but we're going to have to have a meeting with him sooner or later."
"When do you think that meeting will be?" She frowned.
"Soon, I should think." River's perception filter had bought them time, but these creatures were quite persistent. At the moment, the Creature was probably finding a way to calibrate it's targeting algorithms. "It's possible he'll bring his parents. To, um, help him negotiate."
"Negotiate?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I've seen parents come to meetings," Ramone piped up. "Usually just to scare the school into doing what they want."
The Doctor said nothing, knowing that there wouldn't be any real negotiating with these creatures.
River resisted the urge to shoot Ramone a glare, not appreciating the interruption. "So we need a plan then, we don't want to give in to the… parents demands."
"No," the Doctor agreed, "But... we might have to hear them out. If we want more information, if we want to figure out what to do about, um, that other thing then it might be our only option."
She sighed, not liking the sound of this plan, "I suppose so...we don't really know what's going on on their side."
"I think the longer we wait, the more likely it is that they'll... call," the Doctor added. There was no telling how much time they had before the bio-damper was overridden.
"Maybe we should call them first. That way we have the upperhand."
"Are you prepared for that?" he asked.
"I supposed I'm as prepared as I can be." She sighed.
"River," the Doctor started slowly. He sounded more serious and it seemed he was forgetting his character. It wouldn't matter much since it was clear they were going to have to wipe Ramon's memory at some point. "It'll be dangerous. The moment you take that bracelet of they'll come for him. We won't get another chance to get to their base so, whatever happens, follow them."
"I'm well aware of all of that." Her tone matched his, "I could say the same to you. If anything happens, keep going."
Ramone was completely lost, looking between his guests. "Excuse me but, what the hell are you talking about? Are you still talking about the meeting with that kid? How is a meeting dangerous. What bracelet? What's going on?"
River cleared her throat, having forgotten that Ramone, "Ramone, dear, I think it'll be best if you just stay calm and do exactly as I say. Everything is going to be fine." She reached for his wrist to remove the bracelet.
"It really doesn't sound like everything's fine," Ramone swallowed, staring as River look the bracelet off. "When did that get on my wrist?"
"I put it on in the car. And like I said, If you trust me it'll be alright."
"River what's going on? Please tell me what's going on." Ramone was trying to stay calm for her but wasn't doing a good job.
She tried to think of a way to explain everything so he wouldn't freak out. She remembered keeping a bit of hallucinogenic lipstick in a compartment of her blaster. She swiftly reached for it and put it on before hauling Ramone in for a kiss.
"Really?" The Doctor pouted as Ramone got a proper snogging.
River pulled away, having lingered a bit longer than necessary just to annoy her husband, "Well, what else did you want me to do?"
"You could've just knocked him out," the Doctor muttered but was cut short by a growling noise outside the window.
Ramone was oblivious, dizzy on the hallucinogen.
"Well, if we make it out of this then I'll snog you later to make up for it, fair?" She got up, blaster ready.
The Doctor couldn't help a smile as he stood as well. "Sound deal."
The power suddenly went out. and shadows lurked by the locked door. River grabbed Ramone's arm, holding it in a vice grip. No one was going to get to him without taking her as well.
The growling grew louder coming from both the door and the window leading outside. The Doctor jumped as something slammed against the door. He moved closer to River as something started pounding on the window as well.
After a few good thumps, the window shattered and the door broke down. Two creatures, identical to the one in the TARDIS towered over the three humanoids.
River could feel her heart quickening, pointing her blaster in the direction of one of the creatures.
The creature on the right, the one closer to River, extended a hand and pointed at Ramone. Its voice came in a harsh, poorly translated tone. "Give... him..."
"No! Who are you? Why do you want him?" She shouted back, holding him tighter.
There was a pause and it was unclear whether the creatures were taken back by the question or the translating was just slow. "We are... Z'knoaa... give... Human."
"I'm human! Take me instead." She baited.
"River!" the Doctor hissed.
The Z'knoaa hesitated again before making a screeching noise reminiscent of the once their device made. With no warning, they lunged for River and Ramone.
River fired her blaster as the creature lunged, though the deafening noise threw her off and hurt her head. The shot bounced off the Z'knoaa's armor and shattered another one of Ramone's windows.
One creature grabbed Ramone's arm and the other grabbed River's. The room started to spin as they activated a teleport.
River shot again, this time aiming for the hand that was holding Ramone. The Z'knoaa shouted and retracted its hand. Ramone stumbled, nearly falling on the floor that no longer seemed to belong to his living room.
River tried to squirm out of the Z'knoaa's grip while it was distracted, looking around to see where the Doctor has ended up but he was nowhere to be seen. Their surroundings were unfamiliar and full of strange metallic structures.
River was able to slip free, grabbing Ramone and running for cover.
The Z'knoaa seemed to make no effort to go after them.
Ramone let River pull him along, giggling with a hallucination.
"Ramone." River hissed, "Be quiet."
"Such pretty stars." he hummed, pointing at the wall where a control panel was embedded.
"What? Oh!" River looked at the wall, examining the controls.
Ramone stumbled after her River, echoing in a sing-song voice, "Pretty stars."
"Hush, sweetie, I'm thinking." She muttered, fiddling with some of the control, "I think I can download their files to the TARDIS, so then we can figure out what we're dealing with."
"That's a funny word," he slurred. "TARDIS. Taaaaardisss. What's a TARDIS?"
"Don't worry about it, love." River shook her head.
"Love," he echoed. "I love your hair. And I love our friends. Here come our friends." Footsteps came from down the hall in the direction they'd been running from.
River swore under her breath, "Come on." She typed in a few more buttons on the controls before grabbing Ramone's hand and running. Ramone followed, though was slowing them down by being distracted by the base's many shiny parts.
River tried to yank him along, pulling him down a dark corridor and through a door. It was dark on the other side of the door. Nothing could be seen at all except for a line of lights on the floor leading to what was presumably the other side of the room which seemed miles away.
"Ooh, fairies," Ramone said.
"Follow the fairies, Ramone." River murmured, following behind him. He giggled again and did as he was told, following the path in the massive room.
They seemed to be walking by large structures set out at even intervals, but it was too dark to tell what they were. "What is this all?" River murmured, examining the large structures as best she could in the dark.
The structures seemed cylindrical, towering several feet above River's head. Upon touch, it felt to be made of glass and metal. She tapped the structures, "Glass..." she murmured, "What are they doing with these glass..." she trailed off, looking closer.
Suddenly the one she was touching lit up from the bottom, revealing a massive containment chamber. Some sort of liquid was being contained behind the glass she was touching, and floating in it attached to wires and tubes was a person from the planet Nyx.
River jumped back, staring at the person in the container, "So this is what they're doing with all the information, but why?"
Other containers began to light up along the path they were following, each one holding someone from a species different from the last. The whole room started to glow with the light of each chamber, revealing hundreds of rows of creatures. Each specimen was unconscious in the liquid and attached to a similar set of wires and tubes. The tubes led up to the ceiling and disappeared somewhere in the ducts.
"Nap time." Ramone hummed, seeing the unconscious people.
"They shouldn't have these..." River breathed, "We need to stop this." She looked for a way to shutdown the machine, finding a control panel and trying to shut down the chamber.
The case in front of her that held the Nyxian suddenly shut off. The glass started to lift, spilling the liquid and the unconscious Nyxian all over River and the floor.
River managed to catch the Nyxian, pulling out various wires in the process. He groaned, moving to shield his face. She laid the Nyxian down on the ground, running to the next container.
"Rivaaaaaah," Ramone called. He'd wandered over to the new alien. "Why's it blue?"
"Why are you so irritating?" She muttered under her breath as she worked. "Ramone, just sit and hush."
"But he's done with his nap," Ramone whined.
"Ramone! Please!" She snapped at him, the next case opening up just like the first.
A Marlvoan sloshed out of the next case, just as unconscious as the last. Unlike the Nyxian, she opened her eyes immediately, staring at River in fear.
River looked at her, "It's alright. Can you understand me? Everything is going to be fine."
"Where... Who..." The woman was clearly having trouble understanding what was going on."Where's Thila?"
"She's not here, but I'm going to get you home. Everything will be fine." She frowned a bit, realizing these people were copies. Could she actual send them back to their homes? She wished she could consult with the Doctor, instead of having clueless Ramone.
Ramone had passed next to the Nyxian, the hallucinogens finally catching up with him.
"They... so many..." The woman got to her feet and looked around at the chambers. She then looked at herself and squeaked, "My clothes! Where are my—oh dear."
"We'll find you some clothes, but we need to get everyone out first. Do you think you can help if I show you want to do."
She nodded feebly. "But... there's so many. There are thousands!"
"You're right..." River murmured, starting to realize that her initial ideas where hopeless, "Maybe there's a system override. Wait here." She needed to get back to the original control panel she saw. Maybe it would provide some help.
An alarm started to blare as she ran. She slipped through the hall again, finding the controls and trying to get to work on overriding the system. She needed to be fast, she had no idea how much time she would have.
"Find... human... find... human," Voices of the Z'knoaa floated around the corner coming closer by the second. She just needed a few more seconds to work, typing as fast as she could.
The creatures rounded the corner at that moment, grabbing River by the back of the neck. She yelled in pain, trying to fight back.
"Do... not... interfere...," it growled over the alarm.
"It's too late, I already have. There isn't anything you can do to stop me." She fought back.
"Can... punish..." The thing started dragging her away, heading to a lift.
"Let go of me!" She shouted, using all her strength to fight the creature off. She much as she tried, it only seemed to grow stronger.
"Punish... punish..." It kept saying. They got off the lift on the floor above. It was almost empty except for a door which River was thrown inside.