A/N: There is a poll on my profile regarding to which 2 of my stories you would want me to continue the most. Come September I will be back at uni and very busy. So please go and vote so I know which ones to work hard on right now.
"See, there it is, right there." The Doctor said, pointing to the mass of blue dots on the screen. "A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out." He explained.
"It tried to teleport out four thousand and twenty two people?" River asked, not really believe what she was seeing.
"Yeah, and it succeeded as well." Kari informed her.
The Doctor nodded. "Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails." He explained.
"So what's a computer to do?" Kari asked her, a glint in her eye. "What does a computer always do?"
"It saved them." River said, as it finally dawned on her as well.
The Doctor rushed over to the large wooden table in the room, swiping his arm and throwing everything that was on the table on the floor. He pulled out a black marker pen from his pocket and drew a circle on the table. "The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history." He said, drawing a smaller circle in the middle. "The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can."
"It saved them to the hard drive." Kari and the Doctor said at the same time, making them both smile at each other.
"And that includes my super temp." Kari told them all. "So, now we just have to find a way to get them all out of the system and back into the real world."
"I take it you have a plan?" River asked her, a smirk on her face.
Kari forced herself to smile back at her. "I have a thing. And you know how my things are so much more extravagant than his." She said, nodding towards the Doctor.
"Oi!" He called in protest of what was being said about him and his 'things'.
The next thing that happened grabbed everyone's attention. A red warning light started flashing and an alarm started blaring. "What is it? What's wrong?" Lux asked, having no idea what was going on.
"Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes." The computer called.
"Uh, okay, that's not good." Kari announced, knowing what was coming. "We need to get working, Doctor, this place isn't going to be here for much longer.
River just looked at the screen. "What's maximum erasure?" She asked.
"In twenty minutes, this planet's going to crack like an egg." The Doctor told her, keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.
"No. No, it's all right. The Doctor Moon will stop it." Mr Lux said, the only person to still be calm, was him.
"I wouldn't hold my breath on that one, Lux. Not all virus checkers pick up everything. Every now and again, something slips through." Kari told him. She knew it wasn't going to work, she knew everything was about to explode in their faces.
A few moments later the screen went blank. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor cried as Kari let out a sigh. It had started, and now she was going to have to put her thing into action.
"All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience." An announced came to everyone.
"We need to stop this." Mr Lux said in a bit of a panic. "We've got to save Cal."
The Doctor just turned and looked at the man. "What is it? What is Cal?"
"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you." It was clear he was eager to save the library, and Cal.
"It's at the core of the planet?" The Doctor queried.
"Well then, let's go." Kari and River said at the same time, River smiling away while Kari looked more nervous than anything.
River just bounced over to the centre of the room, getting her screwdriver out and pointing it at the logo in the middle of the floor. It suddenly opened up and disappeared, being replaced by a platform with a blue energy beam around it. "Gravity platform." River told them all, still smiling away.
"I bet I like you." The Doctor said, holding on to Kari tightly. He could see she was getting more and more anxious.
"Oh, you do." She said, before sending a wink at Kari.
Kari just rolled her eyes. "There is a time and a place for that Professor Song." Kari told her, dragging the Doctor on to the platform with her. "Now come on."
"How you doing?" The Doctor whispered to Kari as they flew down on the platform to the data core.
"I'm okay." She told him quietly. "But you know that really stupid thing I was talking about earlier?" The Doctor nodded at her. "Well, that time is approaching." She told him, biting her bottom lip due to her nerves. "Just promise me you won't interfere."
"Kari, what are you going to do?" He asked her, now worrying about what is going on. "I can't promise anything unless I know what is going on."
"Doctor, I can't tell you. But believe me, it's something that has to be done. I'm not doing it for myself, I'm doing it for other people." She told him, just hoping that he would agree to not get involved with what she was going to do.
"Then I can't promise you anything, Kari. I'm sorry." The look on his face said it all. He was sorry, but he was not going to let her do anything stupid if she wasn't going to share what it was. He knew that he done stupid things all the time, but he always had a backup, well most of the time. But this was Kari, his Kari, and he was not going to let anything happen to her.
"That's okay. I'm sorry as well." Kari whispered to him. She knew he was going to end up being very angry with her, but if it saved River, she could handle it.
"Kari…"
She shook her head at him. "No, Doctor. I'm not going to tell you anything. Yes, I know too much, yes I plan on doing something very, very stupid. But you don't understand what is at stake here, Doctor. It's not just Donna, and everyone else that is currently trapped in the computer."
"Who else then? I can't help you if you don't tell me." The Doctor asked her softly as they carried on the descent to the data core.
"I'm sorry, Doctor. I can't tell you. Just remember, I will do anything for my friends, for the people I care most about." Kari told them, just as they reached the bottom.
"Autodestruct in fifteen minutes." The computer called, reminding them of how much time they really didn't have to waste.
"The data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it." The Doctor said, looking up at the glowing orb in the centre above them.
"Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer." River told him. "We're running out of time."
"Exactly, so come on." Kari said, dragging the Doctor with her. "We need to find a terminal."
"Help me. Please, help me." A voce rang out as they rushed through the corridor and reached the main room for the data core.
"What's that?" Anita asked, looking around.
"Was that a child?" River asked, slightly shocked and disturbed by the idea.
The Doctor ignored her as he tried to access the terminal. "The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying." He said as he carried on tapping away at the keyboard in from of him.
Kari just closed her eyes and thought about what had been happening to Donna. She would have lost her children, and have no idea what was going on. And then she would lose her husband, they would be torn apart when they were all teleported out of the system.
"Doctor, Kari, these readings…" River said, looking at the screen and grabbing Kari's attention.
She looked up at the screen, even though she already knew what it was. "I know. You'd think it was dreaming." The Doctor said, still working away.
"It is dreaming, of a normal life, and a lovely dad, and every book ever written." Mr Lux said, getting everyone to look at him.
"Computers don't dream." Anita scoffed, as Mr Lux opened up a glass cupboard and reached for one of the levers.
"No, but little girls do." He told them all, before running to a door that was just opening.
All of them charged after him, eager to find out what the hell was going on. They didn't know what to say when they reached the room, and saw a node, with he face of a little girl. "Please help me. Please help me." The little girl cried, looking straight at them.
"Oh, my God." River said, not really knowing what else to say.
"It's the little girl." Anita said. "The girl we saw in the computer."
Kari knew the time was there for Mr Lux to explain everything, the whole reason for the library. "She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is Cal."
"Cal is a child?" The Doctor asked, completely and utter stunned with the information. "A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!" He shouted at the man.
"Because she's family!" Lux shouted back at the Doctor. "Cal, Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time." He told them all. It was hard for him to admit it, to confess what was really going on. "Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show."
The Doctor seemed to have calmed down a little. "So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her."
Mr Lux nodded. "This is only a half life, of course. But it's for ever."
"And then the shadows came." Kari muttered at the same time that the Doctor said it. She was paying attention to what was going on around her, but only just. She was thinking ahead, of what was to come and how she was going to save the people she cared about.
"The shadows." The little girl, Cal, said. "I have to… I have to save… have to save."
"And she saved them." The Doctor said softly, looking at the face on the node. "She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."
"Then why didn't she tell us?" Anita wondered.
"Because she's forgotten." Kari told her, getting everyone to listen to her. "She has over four thousand living minds chatting away insider her head."
"It must be like being, well, me." The Doctor said, earning a whack in the chest from Kari. "Sorry."
"So what do we do?" River asked the pair. She knew one of them had to have a plan, and she hoped that it was going to be a good.
"Autodestruct in ten minutes."
Kari just looked at the Doctor and then River. There was no doubt in her mind, she knew exactly what she had to do. "Easy." The Doctor called, bouncing around. "We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown." He told them all. "Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy. I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space."
Kari closed her eyes tightly while River just gawped at him. "Difficult. It'll kill you stone dead."
"Yeah, it's easy to criticise" He said, doing his best to ignore River and not worry about Kari as he started ripping wires out and putting them back together again in a different way.
"It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate. And what about Kari?" River snapped at him. "Do you think she wants you to do this?"
The Doctor took a moment to stop and look at Kari. She was just standing there, her eyes closed tightly with a few tears already starting to fall. "I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing."
"Doctor!" River shouted, knowing that he wasn't taking it very seriously. She could see that Kari was struggling, and that she wouldn't be able to cope without the Doctor.
"I'm right, this works. Shut up." The Doctor told her. "Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up."
"Oh, I hate you sometimes." River said to him.
"I know."
River went over to Kari. "Hey darling, you okay?" She asked her gently.
She nodded. "We will stop him, River. I'm not going to let him do this." Kari whispered to the woman. "There is no way in hell he could survive this."
"I know. We'll think of something, darling. Just hang in there and don't let him do anything stupid." River whispered to her before turning to the others who were waiting to find out what was going on. "Mr Lux, with me. Anita, if he dies, make sure Kari kills him." She said, before charging out of the room.
"What about the Vashta Nerada?" Anita asked, making Kari look back over at the Doctor.
"These are their forests. I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts content." The Doctor told her, focusing on what he was doing and running around like the mad man he was.
Kari was starting to feel extremely nervous now, and went to stand beside the Doctor. "So you think they're just going to let us go?" Anita asked.
"Best offer their going to get." He replied, before looking at Kari. There was the concerned look of his on his face, and he had every right to be concerned. Kari took a deep breath and shook her head, a sad look then forming on the Doctor's face.
"You're going to make them an offer?" The woman in the suit asked.
"They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all." He said, before turning around to face the woman. "You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her." He spat, using his sonic screwdriver to untint the visor, revealing the skull in the helmet. "But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass."
"How long have you know?" The voice of the dead woman asked.
"I counted the shadows. You only have one now. She's nearly gone. Be kind." He asked the swarm, pulling Kari just that little bit closer to him. She was twisting her ring around on her finger, and he knew she was scared.
"These are our forests. We are not kind."
"I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me then. You are letting them go." The Doctor said in a very firm tone.
"These are our forests. They are our meat." The swarm told him, several shadows now stretching out from the suit, reaching for the Doctor and Kari.
"Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked. That is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up." He snarled, really starting to loose his penitence, and his temper.
Kari held her breath, waiting, as the shadows paused while the Vashta Nerada looked up the Doctor. "You have one day." Anita's voice told them, before the suit fell to the ground.
That was when River came back into the room, just like Kari knew she would. "Oh, Anita."
"I'm sorry. She's been dead for a while now. I told you to go!" He shouted at her, working away on the computer with Kari by his side.
"Lux can manage without me. But your can't." River said, before punching the Doctor around the face, knocking him out completely.
Kari knelt down and looked at him. "I take it you have your handcuffs ready, Professor Song?" Kari asked, dragging him over to the side so that the two women could keep him safely restrained.
"Kari, there's only one option." River told her.
"I know, okay. I already know. Someone has to take the Doctor's place. Let's just get this over with." She said, as River cuffed the Doctor to a pipe.
"Kari…"
"Shut up, River. Just… shut up." Kari shouted. She was scared, so scared now. "The Doctor could never survive this, and neither could you, even if you hadn't been so stupid and used up all your regenerations. But I can."
River's eyes widened. "Darling, what are you talking about? You can't be serious."
"I am serious, River. Like I would ever like you or the Doctor do this. I've been planning this for such a long time now, and I'm scared. But that's okay, being scared is good." Kari told her, getting to work on the wires that the Doctor had been dealing with.
"Kari, even you can't survive this." River said to her gently.
Kari just looked at her. "Yes, I can. I'm the Angel of Time, I have the Time Vortex running through me. I'm a lot tougher than I look. Now shut up and get to work, we're running out of time." She snapped at her.
"Autodestruct in five minutes." The computer called a few minutes later.
River just set her eyes back on Kari. "Are you sure about this?" She asked her nervously.
"Yes. I am. I'm not letting either of you die, River. I need the Doctor, and we need you." Kari replied, twisting a few more wires together.
"Then I'm sorry." She said, before taking a swing at Kari. Except she had expected River to put up a fight and try to do the same thing to her, and she managed to duck just in time.
"Stop it, River." Kari growled at her, grabbing the woman's arm. The next thing she knew, there was a cuff on her wrist, and River kicked the back of her leg, behind her knees, making her fall down to the ground. "River, don't you dare!" Kari screamed at her, as she was cuffed to the same pipe as the Doctor was.
"I'm so sorry, darling. But I have to." She said, before reaching into Kari's pocket and pulling out her screwdriver and placing it out of reach with the Doctor's, and her diary and her screwdriver.
"I swear if you do not let me go, right now, you are seriously going to regret it." Kari shouted at her, tugging at the cuffs and forcing the tears back that were pushing forward.
River just chuckled at her. "I would never let you do this, Kari. Never."
"Melody Pond!" Kari screamed, tugging at the cuffs so hard that her wrist made a horrible cracking sound. "Don't you dare, don't you dare!"
"Shush. It's okay, Kari. Everything is going to be okay." River told her, as she hooked herself up to the machine that they had both been working on.
"No it's not. You can't do this, I'm not going to let you die, River. You're my best friend, I know I can tell you anything. Please, let me do this. I can survive it, but you can't." Kari pleaded, giving up with trying to hide the tears now.
River just smiled at her, and carried on working. "Autodestruct in two minutes." The computer announced. That was when the Doctor decided to finally wake up.
He looked over at Kari, and saw the tears staining her face, before he noticed River. "Oh, no, no, no, no. Come on, what are you doing? That's my job." He said when he saw what she was doing.
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?" River retorted, still working.
The Doctor tried to get up, only to realise he couldn't and that something was restraining him. "Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?"
River just smiled at him as Kari continued to silently cry. "Spoilers."
"This is not a joke." He spat at her. "Stop this now. This is going to kill you. I'd have a chance, you don't have any."
"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I." She said, before looking at Kari. "And I wouldn't even chance letting Kari anywhere near this. Not ever. You'd never forgive me if something happened to her."
"River…" Kari whispered, her eyes pleading for her not to do it.
"I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."
"River, please. No." The Doctor said, seeing how upset Kari was. He was only now starting to realise just how much the woman meant to her, how close they must have been. And it was breaking his hearts to have to see any of this, to know that someone going to die, someone who meant so much to his Kari, to see it happen.
"Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die." River said, chuckling a little. "All the time we've been together, you both knew I was coming here."
"Yes, and I was prepared for this, River." Kari shouted at her, her voice wavering slightly.
"The last time I saw you, both of you, the real you, the future you I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you both cried." River told them softly.
"Autodestruct in one minute." The computer called.
"You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was my time. My time… time to come to the library." She said, trying not to get emotional. "You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue."
"No, River. I made that screwdriver. I made that, for you." Kari cried. "I always knew, I had a plan, and you've screwed it up!"
River just looked at her sadly. "There's nothing you can do."
"You can let me do this. Please, River. Don't do this, I can't let you do this." Kari said, another wave of tears falling down her face.
"No. I know you're going to blame yourself for this, Kari. But please, don't. This wasn't your fault. I would do anything to keep you safe, you should know that by now."
"I should be doing this." The Doctor shouted, trying once more to get out of the handcuffs.
"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you." River told him, the tears that had been building in her eyes getting ready to fall as well.
"Time can be rewritten." Kari and the Doctor told her.
River just shook her head. "Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's not over for you, for either of you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. Both of you and me, time and space. You watch us run."
"River, you know my name." The Doctor said, as the time started counting down from ten. There was only ten seconds left now. "You whispered my name in my ear. There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could. Why would Kari tell you?"
"Hush now." River said, as the count down reached five.
"River, please…" Kari whispered, closing her eyes tightly.
"Spoilers." She said, before plugging two large cables together as the time reached zero.
There was a blinding flash of light, and Kari knew that River was going to be gone now. "River…" she felt an arm reach out and pull at her, and she shifted on the hard ground so that she could reach the Doctor. Her wrist was limp and hurting like hell, but she didn't care. No one could ever replace the woman that she had just lost.
"I'm so sorry, Kari." The Doctor whispered to her, rubbing her back and trying to calm her down. "I'm sorry."
"It should have been me, I could have survived that. River shouldn't have died." She mumbled, burying her head against his chest the best she could.
The Doctor let out a sigh. "Oh, Kari."
The pair of them stayed there, the Doctor holding Kari as close to him as he could. Eventually, Mr Lux came down and found the pair. He gave them their sonic screwdrivers, allowing them to free themselves. Then they had to break the news that River was gone as well.
"We need to go and find Donna." The Doctor whispered, while Kari continued clutching River's diary and screwdriver to her chest. She was hurting so badly, and she couldn't think straight. She simply followed the Doctor back up to the shop area where people were being teleported out.
As they got there, Donna stepped out of the TARDIS. The moment she spotted Kari and the Doctor, she charged over to them, hugging them tightly. "Oh my God, you're okay. You're both okay." Donna cried, squeezing them tightly.
"Ow!" Kari cried, pulling away from the red head. "I… uh, I may have, quite possibly, broken my wrist." She said, moving her other hand with the book and screwdriver in away from it so that the Doctor could see it.
It was seriously bruised, and he had no doubt that it was broken. "How did this happen?" He asked, her, taking a gentle hold of it and trying his best not to hurt her.
"Uh, the handcuffs. I may have tugged at them a little too hard. Something cracked, and it wasn't the cuffs." She told him, trying so hard not to flinch. "Anyway, Donna, while the Doctor fixes me up, there's someone you need to go and find."
Donna just looked at her. "How did you know?"
Kari just rolled her eyes. "Donna, how could I not know? Now go, he was real, and he is here."
A little while later, after the Doctor had bandaged up Kari's wrist, since she refused to let him fix it for her quickly, Donna returned to them. "Any luck?" He asked her, leaning against the wall with Kari's back pushed against his chest.
The red head shook her head. "There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the library that day. I suppose he could have had a different name out here, but… let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?" She said sadly.
"Maybe not." The Doctor replied, kissing the top of Kari's head. She was still in her own little world, not paying much attention to anything around her and still keeping River's things close to her.
"I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?" Donna wondered, sending a worried glance at her friends.
"Everything." The Doctor said, not really thinking about it, earning a slight whack from Kari and a fierce glare from Donna. "Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say nothing. I was aiming for nothing. I accidently said everything."
"What about the pair of you? Are you all right?"
The Doctor just let out a sigh and rested his head on Kari's shoulder. "We're always all right."
"Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?" Donna asked the pair.
"Why?"
Donna just smiled at them both. "Because I'm all right too."
That was when Kari finally remembered. "No… God I am so damn stupid." Kari shouted at herself.
"Kari, what is it?" The Doctor asked, looking at her with concern.
"I made this stupid screwdriver. I flipping made it. How the hell could I forget!" She cried, flipping part of the screwdriver open, revealing a neural relay chip. "That was the whole point of it, why I made the damn thing."
"What is it? What have you done?" Donna asked, looking from Kari and to the Doctor.
"Saved her." Kari whispered.
The Doctor then grabbed hold of her hand, dragging Kari with him and back to where the platform was to go down to the date core. Kari used to sonic, making the platform disappear. "Short cut." She said, before the pair of them jumped down and into the hole.
"Come on, River, just a little longer." She whispered as they neared the bottom.
Once again the Doctor dragged her along, stopping when they reached the room where River took her last breath. She plunged the screwdriver into the core, smiling at the little girl as she looked at them both.
"You saved her, Kari. You saved her." The Doctor said, holding her tightly.
"Can we go now? Please?" Kari asked him, wanting to leave the planet and never return.
The pair of them slowly made their way, to find Donna standing by the TARDIS, waiting for them. Kari watched as the Doctor snapped his fingers, opening the TARDIS doors. They all stepped in, Kari turning around and looking at River's final resting place, before clicking her own fingers, making the doors close.
A/N: Well, I hoped you all liked it. Kari did want to save River, and she really did try, but as always, River was just one step ahead.
But what effects is this going to have on Kari?
Thank you to everyone who has favourtied/followed, it really is great to know there are people out there who read my story. And a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, they always make me smile and I love reading them.
And to answer some questions, yes I will be doing Doctor's 1-8 and that will be mostly in a NEW story. But I will be doing Kari and a younger Doctor right here, you just have to wait for it.
There was a poll for whether Doctor's 1-8 should be in a separate story or not, and the votes said separate. I'm working on that now, but I will let you know what I start posting it.
Pippa.