Episode 04: The Diamond that Wouldn't Stay Stolen Part I
Everyone hates you.
Everyone is just waiting for a reason to hate you.
That was the earliest conscious thought Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach could remember thinking—learning, feeling, knowing—though he could not remember what, if anything, had led him to arrive at that conclusion.
Perhaps it was something he just knew naturally, instinctively. From the disdained and quietly annoyed looks of unspoken exasperation on his tutors' faces, the frigid aloofness of the other boys at school, the sneer of expected-disappointment in his father's eyes, and even the submissive-terror of his agents and underlings.
It was like…
He could not remember a specific moment when he stopped believing in such whimsical things as God and angels and miracles and love. It was just there, this lack of feeling, whatever it was he was supposed to feel, whatever everyone else seemed to feel naturally, surrounded by church patrons and the congregation at mass on Sundays, standing in the great gleaming church with its towering arches of stained glass, rays of hot morning light filtering in shafts of pure gold.
He could remember thinking, and at a remarkably early age, that it was very convenient for them all to have someone, in this case, 'God' looking out for them, someone who 'cared' about them, someone who was always watching out for them. Someone who cared.
Someone who loved.
It would have been a sort of comforting thought, he supposed, hypothetically, and that was why the masses indulged in it—his father, his aunts and uncles, strangers he did not know but seemed to be somehow or another connected to the Eberbach family—but this reasoning did nothing to change the fact that he never felt it.
All that he felt standing in that vacuum, the deep baritone of the priest rolling over him, the murmur of bodies shifting with every slightest breath all around him, the light filtering in through coloured windows and washing the smooth surfaces of the oak pews and the deep burgundy carpet, was a sort of painful acuteness of his surroundings, and the universe, and how empty and black and hollow it all was. He could not feel the 'love' of any higher being above him. He could not feel whatever it was that caused the warm rosy sparkle to dance in the eyes of those who had their faith. He felt uncomfortable and awkward to the extent that it was physically painful to be in the same room with the rest of the congregation. He felt a gaping black hole tearing up above and drowning everything and meaning nothing. Nothing.
Where everyone else seemed to look up and see light and happiness, Klaus had felt only despair. It had been quiet, of course, internal and unnamed. But that's what it had been.
And then nothing.
He slowly became numb to these feelings, these emotions. And there was a sort of comfort in that. And then he could appreciate at least the quiet of the church. There was a sort of empty peace to it. A sort of calmness, but it was an empty calm. It was the calm of not killing, not being shot at, not yelling at his agents or listening to his father berate him.
But there was no God, no angel, no miracle. No love.
"Why do you get so angry when I look at you?" said the annoying thief, tearing his eyes away from the unearthly orange-gold glow of the alien sunset long enough to ask Klaus the question, serious, albeit out of nowhere. "I mean, in a way, you get more upset then when I act…well, to use your own term 'perverted.'"
"'Why?'" he flung his cigarette to the posh balcony floor and ground it out under the heel of his boot. "You know I hate that…look you have in your eyes."
"It's called love, darling."
"There is no such thing."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Dorian stared at Klaus blankly for a moment or two, before the Major turned and went back into the alien palace. Sure, it wasn't a particularly un-Klaus-ish thing to say, but the way the Major had said it had been so…quiet. Reserved and almost weary. It lacked the heated fire his darling German usually possessed. It lacked the anger and the simmering withheld torrent of emotion. The familiar fiery gleam, determined for argument, had not flared in the sea-green eyes then. It had simply been a tired man stating a weary fact.
And for some reason that hurt Dorian more than if his beloved Major had just punched him and swore at him to stop being such a foppish idiot. Turning back to the truly fabulous alien sunset, the Englishman sighed.
Only to be distracted by a sharp nudge against the back of his knee. Looking down, he saw the small robotic dog, K-9, it's red eye-band beeping in a way that might have suggested urgency.
"What is it…err, boy?" Dorian asked, dropping down to one knee beside the mechanical animal. He regarded the robot for a minute, thinking, it really was a darling little thing, the dog.
"The Doctor and Rose Tyler are in trouble, Master," K-9 said, spinning around and pointing it's metal snout back towards the alien palace. "They went after more information on the Solar-Crystal thief and…"
"Oh great," Dorian sighed, standing back up. "Major?" he looked around, but Klaus had abruptly vanished from sight. "This just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
"I believe your logic is flawed, Master."
"Shut up, K-9."
All things considered, it did not take long for the little robot dog to lead Dorian to where the Doctor and Rose were, indeed, affixed into rather dire straits. They were just inside the Meren palace, in fact, down a long swirling staircase (Dorian was obliged to carry K-9 down the stairs) that ended in a rather shadowy looking pub—a stark contrast to the polished golden appearance of the upper floors. It was a small dark room with old tables made of splintered wood, or some alien equivalent of wood, with a bar in the distant background. A large clanking chandelier made of twisted black steel that was not at all aesthetic dangled precariously from the low ceiling.
The Doctor and his young companion were seated at a small wooden table, sitting across from them was a large grotesque man. The stranger looked nearly human except for the fact that he was eight feet tall and his skin had the odd purplish tinge of the Meren. He had a hideously deep gash of a scar disfiguring the left side of his face, gouging deep into the socket of what had presumably once been his left eye, and a large overbite gaping with a few oversized, rotten teeth separated by hideous black gaps where the others had fallen out. His enormous corded hands rested on the rickety tabletop, menacing even when immobile.
And that wasn't even the worst of it! Standing all around the Doctor and Rose towered a dozen of the threatening Meren, unlike the calm, friendly attendants Dorian had seen in the palace, these people looked ready to rip the Doctor limb from limb and drink his blood.
All in all, it was quite unsettling.
"Now what do we do?" the thief whispered to the robot he had hoisted in his arms. The two remained concealed by shadows along the staircase, a few steps from the ground. "This doesn't look good."
"I believe the aesthetics of the situation at hand are quite irrelevant, Master."
Okay, Dorian looked at the robot mutt, he could swear it was doing that on purpose.
"Listen…'Doctor'…" the large, slovenly Meren began in a voice like grating steel. "…you and your little friend poke your noses in where they don't belong…and you're gonna get them cut off!" it spoke in a slow, lumbering way, breathing heavily as though strained.
"So, what you're saying is, this Ristead fellow did steal the Solar Crystal of Luinway?" the Doctor asked with his usual, chipper personality. "Or at least hired someone else to steal it. You, perhaps, my large ugly friend?"
Rose looked around nervously at the advancing aliens, with a concerned expression, not exactly fear, no where near panic, but definitely concerned. "Uh, Doctor, are you sure you want to be making these guys angry?"
Dorian felt a frown tugging at his lips. If he were Klaus, he would storm down there, knocking aliens to the left and right, shooting the seedy little pub until it was blasted beyond recognition. But if he were Klaus, then he would be able to fire a .44 Magnum with one hand, and he'd be able to…hit the broad side of a barn…he thought, grimacing at the reminder of his own—and one could only honestly describe it as lousy—skill with guns.
Alright, he couldn't do whatever amazing thing Iron Klaus would have done in his place, so he would have to do what Eroica, the Prince of Thieves, did best—and that was all stealth and silence and surprise. The Earl carefully lowered the mutt to the ground, more for fear of it causing a loud resonating clank than for fear of K-9's well being, and slipped lower into the shadows.
Meanwhile, Rose and the Doctor continued to argue with the menacing enemies. "So, and let me get this straight now, Ristead stole the Meren's power source, leaving you all here on Luinway to die a horrible, horrible death, and you're protecting him because…? Oh right, he's rich. I almost forgot. So how much did it take to sell out your planet? Your people? Your history? Your families?"
"That's enough out of you!" the hulk thundered, raising a fist to slam into the Doctor's jaw. At that moment, the Doctor brought his arm up, effectively blocking the punch, ducked down and swiftly kicked the Meren backwards, so that the goliath stumbled over Rose's outstretched leg and crashed to the ground with a tremulous bang.
With an angry cacophony of roars, the rest of the gang lunged at the two. Rose leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding the crazed lunge of one of the larger Meren, who smashed clean through the table behind her, sending bits of debris scattering across the room.
The Doctor spun around and found himself faced with a tall lanky fellow, who grasped a long sharp knife in one meaty fist. But the Doctor did not hesitate, acting with a speed to take his opponent by surprise, he smashed the alien's jaw with his fist and stole the knife from his enemy's hand.
Dorian took this as his opportunity and, knocking the alien's legs out from under him, leapt up beside the Doctor. "Here, give that to me."
Taking the knife, Eroica effortlessly flung it through the air, and straight into the shoulder of the group's leader, who had been struggling back onto his feet. A look of pure pain and shock flew over the alien's face, and the mouth twisted into a truly vicious snarl.
"You'll pay for that—" he growled, yanking the blood-soaked blade from his own shoulder in one violent movement that sent a thick spray of red splattering across the floor.
"Not so fast," the Doctor said, pulling the Sonic Screwdriver from his jacket pocket. He flicked a small dial and pointed it at the alien. A moment later, a bright flash of light filled the room, and then the Meren slumped unconscious to the ground.
"That's the hyper-amplitude beam-emitter," the Doctor explained, turning to Dorian. "It allows the Screwdriver to function as a mid-power laser tool, but it's not really supposed to be used that way."
"Oh, is that why the bloke is getting back up again?"
"What?" the Doctor turned back to the Meren who was picking himself up off the floor, gripping the bloody knife, his eyes shining with rage and a thick pool of saliva frothing from his cracked and bloodied lips. "Oh shit."
"No kidding," Dorian murmured, backing away with the Doctor as the dangerous alien lumbered towards them.
A minute later a resounding CRACK rang throughout the tavern and the alien slumped to the floor, this time for good, revealing a very triumphant-looking Rose holding a shattered wooden board. She tossed what had once been a piece of table to the side and dusted off her hands, regarding Eroica and the Doctor with a rather bemused expression. "Looks like I save the day yet again, Doctor. What would you do without me, hmm?"
He smiled nervously, "Um, yes, good show, Rose!"
Dorian sighed with relief, picking a few splinters and shards off his clothes. "Thank goodness that's over!"
"Uh…I think you spoke to soon," the Doctor replied, and Dorian looked up to see that the three of them had somehow or another become surrounded by a murderous mob. Their enemies groped thick heavy chains and the sheen of the metal of knives glinted in the murky shadows as large clubs and even larger fists were being readied for the encroaching brawl.
Eroica blanched slightly, such bouts were really not his forte, after all. The thief cast a glance quickly over the room to see if he could find something—anything—that would give him an advantage—and wondered if Rose and the Doctor even realized that they were holding hands—and found hope in the form of the rickety old twisted black steel of the dangling chandelier.
With a terrific guttural yell, the first Meren attacked. Rose jumped back and simultaneously delivered a sharp kick behind the creature's kneecaps and it stumbled for a moment unsteadily, giving Eroica just the opportunity he needed—running up, he jumped onto the Meren's bulky shoulders and, with the grace and agility of an Olympic gymnast, pushed himself into a leap and caught the metal rungs of the chandelier. A moment later, he twisted himself around and pulled himself up. He found he had quite a good view of the ensuing brawl.
The Doctor punched one of their attackers and grasped Rose's hand tightly, pulling her back with him as he picked up a large splintering piece of what might have once been a table leg. "Persistent lot, aren't they?" he asked, swinging the makeshift club hard into someone's skull with a resounding crack.
As Eroica had hoped, a good portion of the Meren had gathered beneath him and his steel chandelier, and were yelling and threatening him and trying to reach him. He watched all of this with some amusement for a moment, stretched out along the steel rungs which was very uncomfortable, and not quite sturdy.
Turning to the rusted metal plug that held the fixture in place he gave it an experimental tug. The entire pendant groaned and shuddered beneath him. "Well, that's interesting."
"Get down here!" an angry voice growled, and Eroica felt a large hairy hand curl around his ankle. Not a good sign.
"You want the chandelier?" he asked, twisting his neck around to grin at his attacker, who was being hoisted up by his friends. "You can HAVE it!"
The resulting crash resonated throughout the entire Luinway palace. The walls, floors and ceilings all seized in one great violent shuddering jolt and a deafening bang rang out as the solid steel contraption exploded against the distant ground in a thick storm of dust and debris.
Alright, so it wasn't the smartest move he had ever made, Dorian thought, lying on his back, momentarily stunned still with a wave of pain and coughing in the thick dust. He had been thrown from the chandelier during the fall and felt the bruises forming on his shoulders and back. And when he squinted his eyes open, he saw the biggest, ugliest of the Meren louts towering over him.
"Uh…….hello?"
The giant had a bloodthirsty glare in his eyes and lifted a hand, clenching a large piece of wood that came to a jagged splintered end in a cruel stake with one obvious intention in mind. Eroica tensed himself, gathered his strength in his bruised limbs to spring away…when a gunshot exploded above him, and the Meren collapsed into a lifeless pile on the floor.
Several more gunshots sounded in crisp succession, each sharp and precise, and followed by the noise of several large bodies falling to the ground. Then the loud military footsteps crossed the floor, and this time Dorian cracked his eyes open to see the Major looking down at him with a strange expression he was unsure where to place. Sort of pale, tightly drawn, almost…concerned.
"My hero!" Eroica gushed, ignoring the splintering pain in his back and neck as he struggled to sit up.
The German's expression instantly transformed into the more familiar scowl of disdain, disgust and disapproval. "Sheiβe! You IDIOT! You're ALL bloody worthless idiots! How is it I'm gone for ten minutes and you almost get yourselves killed AGAIN?" This was followed by lengthy stream of German curses, ending in: "…In a God-damn HOTEL!"
Never mind that the hotel was on the other side of the galaxy.
Dorian merely groaned, feeling the bruises on his neck and turned a little to see K-9 trundling along over the various rubble behind Klaus. "AND I had to be told this was going on by this—this—this—" the Major stared at the electric dog for several seconds and then tossed his cigarette to the ground, more cursing, turned on his heel, and stomped off.
Sighing a little wistfully, Dorian picked a bit of slag out of his hair and smiled at the small robot gratefully.
"Good work, K-9," the Doctor said, stepping over bits of chandelier, ceiling and wall. He extended a hand for Dorian and pulled him to his feet. "Don't worry, I can take care of those bruises once we get back to the TARDIS."
"Thanks," Dorian winced. "So what did we learn?"
"We know who stole the Meren's Solar Crystal," the Doctor supplied. "His name is Julius Ristead III."
"I'm not sure I want to get it back for them after that,"
The Doctor shrugged indifferently. "Considering how wealthy the man who stole it is, it's no surprise he could convince a few of the Meren to betray their own people."
"So he's a powerful chap, then?"
"Ristead is infamous in this part of the galaxy. The president of an intergalactic business that deals in supplying powerful weapons to warring planets, and a well-known crime lord with ties to various illegal slavery rings, smuggling, drugs, assassination—the man's got his nose in everything deplorable, really. He lives on a space station orbiting this galaxy's sun."
"A space station?" Dorian repeated.
"An extremely large one guarded by a veritable army of mercenaries," the Doctor nodded.
"So, stealing this diamond back is going to be pretty dangerous, then?" Eroica asked, smiling widely. "A real challenge."
"Sounds like an adventure to me," Rose said, smiling a bit as she stepped up beside the Doctor.
He turned and looked down at her, a smile softly forming on his face, and in her eyes. Dorian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
He wondered if they knew they were a couple.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Klaus sat in a room in the TARDIS. Yes, there were even separate rooms, joined by hallways upon hallways, that always seemed to be changing their minds about where they led one or which rooms went behind which doors, all concealed in that small blue phone box. The Major shuddered, taking a deep drag from his cigarette and buried his face in his hands for one moment to stifle a deep groan.
This was not how the universe should be. The universe should be logical, predictable and mostly dull. It should not be…twisted and wild, an existence where absolutely nothing seemed beyond possibility. At present, they were hurdling through space, in the blue phone box, towards some supposedly well-known crime lord's space station fortress to steal a diamond that powereda civilization of purple castle-dwelling aliens. It offended his sense of…well, everything really.
Klaus Eberbach watched the thin trail of grey cigarette smoke simmering in the air and shut his eyes again. He could accept the situation, since he had to. Earlier, he had been able to kill the aliens that had attacked them, knowing what they were and the complete—incredulity—of the situation. He had been able to act because it had been imperative for him to do so and he was a soldier—what had Eroica called him, so many years ago when they had first met?—the very epitome of a soldier—he did what he had to do.
The Iron Major ground the cigarette to a pulp of ash between his gun-callused fingers and then gripped his knees tightly, to stop himself from shaking. NEVER in his thirty years of life, had he felt as unnerved as he did then. His entire world—hell, universe!—had been turned inside out and upside down. If time travel and space stations and aliens and robots were all possible, then what else that he had believed to be nothing but nonsense was real and out there just waiting to mock his preconceptions of reality?
Images of the saints and angels he had dismissed in his childhood swam about uneasily teetering on the corners of his mind, and even more discomforting—
Twisted and wild, an existence where absolutely nothing seemed beyond possibility—
How could he help but think of that damned beautiful thief, shimmering torrent of golden curls cascading over firm shoulders, glowing in the hotred-orange aura of the sunset, all too like one of the mythical angels painted on the walls of the chapel his father had taken him to over twenty years ago. And with those eyes, even bluer than heaven, and always—infuriatingly!—staring at HIM with that LOOK that was not quite lust and was sort of hazy and full of admiration and affection and never seemed to dull or fade despite the fact that it was NEVER returned.
"It's called LOVE, darling."
Klaus stared at the white door and wall infront of him for several long minutes without seeing them at all, shaking his head furiously when reason finally returned to him.
"I am losing my mind," he muttered, and, retrieving his magnum from his shoulder holster, he began cleaning the weapon with an automatic and ingrained efficiency.
It was some time later, he had just finished reassembling the gun, when a brisk knock at his door came. "SO sorry to interrupt, darling, but it seems we have arrived at our destination."
"Since when does Eroica knock?" Klaus asked dryly, the door sliding open as he walked towards it.
The thief looked a little nonplussed about that and pouted slightly. "I couldn't open the door," he confessed finally. "I don't know how to pick a door that doesn't have a handle much less a lock."
"We'll have to do something about that," the Doctor's voice said cheerily as he appeared behind them, from a door across the hall that Klaus could have sworn led to a broom closet earlier, but now appeared to lead directly to the central control room. "Here," he pulled the Sonic Screwdriver out of his jacket and tossed it to Eroica. "I have others," he explained.
"He has an innumerable number of gadgets," Rose added, as the four assembled in the TARDIS' main room.
"Really?" Dorian asked, one golden eyebrow arching curiously. "Which is the most useful?"
"In my considerable experience?" the Doctor replied. "A teaspoon and an open mind. Now then, let me show you how to use the Screwdriver, you'll find it useful for all sorts of things. The ultrasonic coherent wave generator, for example," he switched something on the small instrument, "generates a focused wave of sonic vibration that can be used for the removal of screws. The sonic-electro impulse generator, on the other hand," another switch, "produces a high degree of static electricity and radio interference. It can trigger bombs and alarm systems, or, by reversing the polarity, it can disable circuits, halt detonators, all manner of useful things! It can also work as a metal detector—even override electronic neural brain implants, useful for dealing with victims of brainwashing. The linear wave emitter can repair electrical circuits, although the correct intensity must be used...by reversing the polarity this mode can be used to damage and physically destroy electronic parts."
"Um…that's all very well and good," Dorian said, smiling a little weakly. "But are you sure you should be giving this to me? I don't know much about machines and the like…let alone the intensity…waves of…electronic…circuits…Wouldn't the Major be more suited to—"
"No, no, I haven't gotten to the best part yet!" the Doctor insisted. He turned to the door behind them. "The kinetic impulse generator! By producing high-kinetic vibrations this mode will open locks, control switches from a distance…see?" he removed a panel from the TARDIS' wall and waved the screwdriver around a collection of wires, showing Eroica what he was doing, and the door slid open."It will also work on those primitive locks you have back in your time, by the way. And I don't need it, I've got dozens of them!"
A familiar manic grin from the Doctor, and the Major was beginning to wonder if he was even more insane than the bloody thief, when the TARDIS came to a shuddering halt and the Doctor immediately turned from them, and headed for the doors. Dorian shrugged and pocketed the Sonic Screwdriver, and Rose shook her head, although Klaus wasn't entirely sure why.
He was distracted by Eroica tugging lightly on the sleeve of his uniform with the incessancy of a child, and wondered whether to yell at the idiot or grudgingly ignore him. And then Eroica started chattering, which wasn't exactly a new annoyance to Klaus, but nevertheless…
"Isn't this incredible, Major? It isn't like anything we've ever done before—not that I was exactly bored before, mind you—but, well you know—" the Earl's slender hands fluttered around for a moment and he twirled one of his golden curls around his fingers absently while talking. Klaus wasn't about to wonder why he was paying so much attention to the thief's actions.
If I glare at him, will he stop talking? Probably not.
"Didn't you ever feel like, well, I don't know, like something was missing before? Like there was something more out there in the universe just waiting for us? And now we're here—wherever here is—and just think that we're saving thousands of those strange aliens from a horrible death and—"
The Major thought he could mention that his usual missions for NATO involved protecting thousands of people, a.k.a. the free world, from war and a horrible death and he didn't need to disobey the laws of physics and travel half way across the universe in a blue box to do it, but suddenly he found that Eroica had led him to the TARDIS' door and it was more than a little disconcerting that he had been too busy watching the thief to notice that theyhad been walking. In fact, it was exceedingly disturbing.
"Come on, come on!" the Doctor exclaimed, ushering them out of the TARDIS' wooden doors. Rose stood beside him, watching him with an expression that was disturbingly similar, the Major thought, to the way the Earl looked at him. "We haven't got much time. I've landed us right inside Ristead's complex but it shouldn't be long before the mercenaries he has guarding this place take notice of us. And from what I've heard they aren't very friendly. I'm not sure exactly what they are, but from what I've gathered I've narrowed down the list of possibilities to 5, 479 different species of warrior races that live in this galaxy, none of whom are very pleasant company."
"So all we have to do is not get caught," Eroica said easily.
The Doctor grinned. "I like the way you think, Lord Gloria!"
Rose shook her head slightly again, but this time she was watching the Doctor with a sort of bemused smile. "Right then, let's find that Solar Crystal diamond thingamajig and get out of here!"
It wasn't long at all, before they were being shot at.
Racing through endless hallways, the close walls, floor and ceilings all a non-descript metallic silver with slight indentations where the door slid apart, completely devoid of any sort of windows, which, Klaus supposed, made sense as they were supposedly hurling through space in a twisting orbit around the sun. A sun. Whatever.
Mechanical surveillance systems equipped with rapid firing machine guns swivelled around from the corners of the walls bombarding them with wave after wave of blinding explosions, tearing up the walls and floor behind them into unrecognizable smouldering wrecks and heaps of slag. Alarms were blaring shrilly, nearly deafening in their ears and Major Eberbach ground his teeth and restrained from the urge to kill the three incompetent idiots he was working with—why was he working with them again?—this was no way to infiltrate enemy territory!
The Doctor pulled them to a sudden halt near one of the metal doors and shouted, "Open this!" Presumably to Eroica, while at the same time pulling out his own Sonic Screwdriver, pressing some buttons on it and waving it in the direction of the mechanical arms that were shooting at them.
Instantly, the machines stopped and fell silent, the long rifles of the machine guns dropping forwards limply in defeat. "Sonic electro-impulse generator," the Doctor breathed a little heavily after their long run. "Reversed polarity—disabled the circuits, although now our enemies know where we are—if they didn't already."
The Major turned to Eroica, who was kneeling by the door's control panel. Ever-adaptable, Eroica was somehow a natural at using the Doctor's tools, and after a few seconds of his poking around with the Sonic Screwdriver the electronic door groaned and slid open. Klaus watched the excited flash of triumph dance across Eroica's blue eyes as the door gave way and the thief laughed.
A loud gun shot cut the laughter short as a smoking hole the size of a fist appeared in the tarnished metal of the wall beside them. The four turned and saw more of the invulnerable, enormous masked men who had also attacked them in the KGB hideout thundering towards them, this time bearing heavy weapons that appeared to be across between rifles and canons.
Klaus automatically fired his magnum, striking the closest of their attackers dead centre in the chest, but the man did not flinch, nor did their enemies stop advancing. "What in hell are they?"
"I don't know!" the Doctor muttered. "I wish I did, believe me! They're like Cybermen, on a biological level, but they aren't Cybermen. They're warriors of some sort, and they seem to have cybernetic implants—or they're just robots, OR—"
"SHIT! MOVE! NOW!" Klaus roared, grabbing Eroica, who was still kneeling on the floor in a sort of stunned stillness, by the shoulder and hauling him through the opened door. Rose and the Doctor ran in after them, and from there it was another desperate race through twisting hallways.
The girl stumbled and almost fell, but the Doctor was instantly behind her and caught her in his arms against his chest. She turned her head back and looked up at him, and just for that second their eyes met and he brushed back a piece of her hair, his dark gaze swimming with concern.
And then they were running again, and turned a sharp corner when—
Eroica stumbled to a halt and Klaus ran into him and startled back, unconsciously grasping the thief's shoulder in a bruising grip as they stared at the universe that seemed to open up beneath them. The entire wall and ceiling of the room they had just entered was covered by a transparent window of some sort (Klaus assumed it could not be glass) and the thick black sky unfolded everywhere, blazing stars scattered across the darkness and a red-golden sun burning and flaring before them. Somehow it was not blinding to look at the sun despite the proximity, which again, Klaus attributed to whatever was being used for the window. They could also see a portion of the complex they were racing through; a giant silver ring stretching across the darkness, with jagged corners jutting out like glistening knives and bits of satellites swimming through the deep black curtain of space around them.
Klaus could not stop staring at it, although he was quick to release the Earl's shoulder. It was…even for him…incredible in its sheer unearthliness and impossibility. And that was the precise moment that he had to admit that everything he was seeing and experiencing was not some sort of complex trick being played on him by the Russians. It was all true. It was not a drug or a hallucination or an insanely complicated plot to drive him insane. And the force of that hit him….
"Major? Major? …Klaus? Are you okay?" It was Eroica's voice, finally, that brought him back. "It's just a window. A really BIG window," the Earl laughed nervously, twisting a golden curl around again, obviously he had been quite shaken by the sudden appearance of the universe as well.
"Of course it is! Idiot!" Klaus snapped automatically, reaching for a cigarette with oddly shaking hands. I need a cigarette. And after this is over, one hell of a drink.
Oddly, if anything the Earl looked reassured by his outburst. Well, he hadn't understood the thief for ten years, no reason to start now. Taking a steadying breath from his cigarette, the Major surveyed their surroundings.
He saw that only one wall and half of the ceiling opened up to the great window, the rest of the area expanded into a massive open area several yards wide, easily the length of two football fields, with artificial trees scattered about, some benches and tables to sit at, and several fountains with a long narrow pool of water stretching across the length. It seemed to be some sort of recreation or observation centre.
Along the wall opposite the observation window, several stories of separate levels of the complex could be seen clearly, as the hallways opened up in a manner that would allow the people walking them to lean over and look into the park-area, directly above the fountains and pool.
Eroica was laughing again. "This is—this is brilliant!" he enthused, stretching his arms as though to encompass the whole enormity of the space. He turned back to Klaus suddenly, the long buoyant golden curls bouncing lightly off his shoulders and brushing the pale face, the expression alight with excitement and wonder. The Major quickly became very interested in the remains of his cigarette and pulled out a second.
"Alright," the Doctor's voice interrupted them and Klaus was surprised that he had almost forgotten the alien and Miss Tyler were with them. "We'll meet back here in this park-area and then head to the TARDIS after we've finished."
"Meet back here? You mean we're splitting up?" Eroica asked, a moment of concern flickering over his face.
The Doctor nodded. "You and Rose can steal the diamond. The Major and I will go have a word with our friend Ristead. I don't like how those same creatures we fought in Russia are also attacking us in the Luinway galaxy on the other side of the universe. Something is definitely going on here and we need some answers."
There was a moment's pause and then both Rose and Eroica turned to face each other with something like horror.
"You mean I have to work with him?"
"You mean I have to work with her?"
"Doctor!"
"Major!"
"You'll be fine," came the dry and unanimous response as both Doctor and Major turned quickly on their heels and left.
Klaus followed the Doctor down another long hallway, the man seemed to know where they were going, well sort of. The Major merely sighed and reloaded his magnum. When the Doctor wasn't around Rose Tyler, his personality seemed more subdued, the Major realized. The dark shadows forming over the stranger's eyes belied the weariness and solitude of a soldier, it was a look that Klaus had seen often before in the eyes of veterans, wounded and tired. It was something, at least, that he could understand.
Both men were silent.
In short time they came to the end of a wide hallway which had been lined with ornate glaring lights and a long carpet. Display cases had been built into the walls and an odd assortment of various strange things sat proudly behind planes of glass, although whether they were supposed to be some sort of alien weaponry, art that even the Earl would not have been able to appreciate, or random things fished out of a garbage bin, Klaus honestly could not decide.
"Something tells me we're on the right track," the Doctor commented.
Klaus snorted. "I find this man loathsome already. Let's get this over with."
"Couldn't agree more," the Doctor replied, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver and waving it in front of the closed metal door at the end of the hall.
With an acquiescent buzz the metal sheet slid open, and the two men found themselves standing in a great deep room that might have been an office, or a throne room. It opened up into a wide circular area all covered in thick carpet. Standing in the centre, looking over a series of flickering surveillance screens, stood a tall straight-backed man in a pinstriped suit and tie with shiny black shoes and slicked back hair.
"I'm a busy man," Ristead drawled. "What do you want?"
"Who do you work for?" the Major demanded in a thunderous tone.
"What are you talking about? I'm the richest man in this galaxy—Julius Ristead III works for no one!"
"Try again," the Major growled, releasing the magnum's safety with a decidedly loud clack.
Ristead turned to face them then, and the Major felt his eyes widen and tightened his grip on the magnum so hard he could nearly feel the gun bending under his iron grasp. The man had what looked to be a dozen long thin horns sticking up out of his skull in long blue-black splinters that jutted up from beneath his black hair. His nose was long and pointed like the beak of a vulture, and his ears curved into points that branched off in three separate layers of flesh.
"Is it the Master?" the Doctor asked. "Is he back? Did he survive the Time Wars? Do you work for him?"
Klaus shook his head and narrowed his gaze on the alien, determined not to let a thing as irrelevant as the man's appearance throw him off. He was Iron Klaus, after all. And Ristead was beginning to look uncomfortable, his shaky gaze travelled from one man to the other and when the Major took one menacing step towards him, he jumped. "N—no! It isn't the Master, he's dead or gone or something but it—n-no it's not him, I swear!"
"Then who is it?" the Doctor exclaimed angrily. "IS it another Time Lord?"
"Damn it where are my guards?" Ristead shouted shrilly, turning back to the computer screens. "Where the hell are they when I need them?"
"ANSWER me!"
"Or you'll do what, exactly, Doctor?" the slimy-looking man sneered.
"You had better give us some answers, Ristead," the Major said slowly, raising his magnum.
"What is that? Is it supposed to be a weapon?" the man sneered asked.
A piece of wall exploded in bits of shrapnel an inch from the man's head. This got Ristead's attention. "What the hell—who do you think you are? I could have you killed!"
Another shot rang out in the quiet of the office and this time Ristead let out a scream of pain as a bullet dug deeply into his shoulder, quickly soaking the right arm of his suit with thick red blood. "Just answer the question," the Major said slowly, his green eyes menacing.
"Is it a Time Lord controlling this—controlling you? The theft on Luinway—and those things that keep attacking us, the cyborg men with the masks, is it a Time Lord behind all this?" the Doctor demanded.
Ristead stared at them with his eyes wide and black. Clutching his wounded arm, he stumbled backwards, hitting the computer screens and leaving a thick trail ofblood behind him. "I…y…yes…it is…another Time Lord," he choked. "And those cyborgs are my own invention, I had them constructed right here on this station.They're the ultimate in weapons of mass warfare. I call them Spartens. Now you've got what you wanted—get out!"
"And you sell these 'Spartens' to this Time Lord? What exactly are his plans?" Klaus demanded.
"Why is he trying to kill us?" the Doctor added. "Or is he trying to kill everyone, and we just get to go first?"
Ristead looked around with wide eyes, "Where—where—where are my damn guards! Where are my weapons? My Spartens!"
"Shut up!" Klaus thundered.
"I—" Ristead turned back to the surveillance monitors that lined his walls, as though desperately searching for some small scrap of hope. And evidently he found it, because he began to laugh a hideous, horrible, deep throated cackle.
"What are you—" the Doctor was cut off when the criminal gestured to the flickering monitors lining the walls.
"You fools! You've already lost. Now I know where my Spartens have been all this time you've been harassing me. So, you brought some friends along, did you?"
Klaus stared at the flickering screens, beside him he heard the Doctor, as though very far away, cry out, "Rose—NO!"
But all Klaus could see were the small blurry forms running from an army that swarmed around them, an army that they could not beat and could not escape, a bloodthirsty machine. On the screen, Eroica grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her away from a column of Spartens that came out of the wall in front of them and desperately, the two ran…
"My army has been taking care of your little friends and ensuring the safety of my precious diamond! You won't get what you came for, and when my robots are through with your comrades they'll kill you, too!"
But Klaus and the Doctor had long since stopped listening the madman's ramblings.
"They're heading back in the direction of the—"
"Recreation centre!"
Ristead was forgotten as both men turned and ran.
The silver walls flashed by them, the display cases vanished into unimportance and the long stretches were torture as a million horrors imagined wormed their way into each man's mind. The Major felt a darkness deep in his chest that pulled so hard it almost froze him completely.
Everyone hates you.
Everyone is alone.
He could rationalize that he had a responsibility to protect the thief, since Eroica was currently working for NATO. He could reason that the thief, as annoying and frivolous and unpredictable as he was, had often in the past risked his life to help Klaus. He could always think that the two had been…something…if not exactly friends or enemies…they had been a constant in each other's lives and…perversity and idiocy aside, Eroica was a (relatively) good man, and he did not…deserve…to die.
Hurt to admit that, didn't it?
He did not deserve to be ripped apart by a pack of mindless creatures that he had no chance or hope against.
Only fools believe in things like love and friendship. And they never live long.
There is nothing in the universe but darkness.
But that did nothing to explain why the constant torrent of images flooding Klaus' mind then were—the thief's profile bathed in the aura of the setting sun, the blue eyes shimmering at him, the smile, laughing when he opened the door with the Doctor's tools, amazed at the view from the observation centre, and looking at him…with that look…that Klaus could finally recognize as Love.
He and the Doctor tore around the last corner, the observation area opening up before them in a sudden burst of light so strong it was momentarily blinding. But the artificial trees, the fountain, the long narrow strip of pool, these things ceased to exist as, three stories above them, they could see Dorian and Rose running, long blond hair whipping out behind them as they raced and stumbled and skidded around the Spartens that surrounded them.
Even from so far away, the fear on the faces of Rose and Dorian was painfully clear to both observers. And Klaus and the Doctor could do nothing but stand stock still, three stories below, and watch.
Dorian seemed to be yelling something to Rose, as the Spartens closed in around them, and the two of them back up against the waist-high railing that separated them from the large open space of the observation centre.
And then they heard what he was screaming.
"Jump! Rose, you have to JUMP!"
Beside him, the Doctor made a sort of strangled noise deep in his throat. "—Rose!"
But the cyborgs were surrounding the two in a tight circle, all bearing long black rifle-like weapons that raised in unison and took the girl and thief in their sights.
In that instant, as the Doctor and the Major watched, Dorian grabbed Rose Tyler, and shoved her roughly over the edge of the railing. The Doctor cried out, the girl fell, and there was a volley of gunfire more harsh and piercing than anything Klaus had ever heard in his entire career.
Nothing but that great terrifying darkness opening up above him and obliterating all sight and sound, casting his senses into a deep smouldering sea where he was disgustingly and eternally alone.
Except…
Dorian smiling. Dorian laughing. Tossing those abundant golden locks over his shoulder teasingly. Stretched out like a cat on an antique divan. Coyly sipping an ornate goblet of wine while casting him suggestive glances. Looking at him like he was not alone.
He was
Not alone.
The Major felt the floor slam hard into his knees as the world fell apart around him and the air seemed to be driven from his lungs. He could do nothing but watch as the stream of golden hair spilled in a thick river, and the slender body fell, a thin trail of red blood following through the air.
He seemed to fall forever.
The world, the angel, all falling. Light, life, cruelly ripped away.
Klaus forgot how to breathe.
The Earl's body hit the water in the fountains below.
To be Continued in Episode 05: The Diamond that Wouldn't Stay Stolen Part II