Here's the next one. Bit of a cliffy at the end... oops~
"Oi. Oi, Riley. Wake up. Riley!"
I reached out and grabbed the wrist shaking me, startled from my sleep as I looked to see my crewmate, Josh, staring back looking slightly frightened. I quickly released him and he took a step back with a small scowl, as he rubbed at his wrist. I sat up and ran a hand through my short, messy brown hair.
"Sorry," I muttered. "Bit of a nightmare. What is it?"
"Something's up with the second engine," he grumbled. "They want you downstairs."
"Right. Tell them I'll be—" I was cut off by the slamming shut of my door, and I sighed. "—a few minutes."
I was used to this sort of treatment by this point. Josh had probably lost a bet to get sent up here to wake me, but I had no choice on the matter. This was what life was like after the accident. I looked down at my hand as I flexed my fingers and scowled at the slightly slow reaction time. Damn, it's getting worse. Yet another thing I couldn't do anything about, but we were supposed to dock soon, so I could get fixed up then. For now, I had an engine to go look at. So, I got up and stretched, pulling on the dark blue jumpsuit and zipping it up; rolling the sleeves up to my elbows, and attaching the tool belt before heading out. People avoided me in the halls and the elevator as I headed down to the engine room, letting out a yawn. Someone rammed into my shoulder, jarring me as they spat a short "bucket of parts" insult. I ignored it, though my blood boiled as it always did, and I continued on my way through the station's corridors. Space station Derek. High tech, state-of-the-art for a ship built in the 39th century, yet one thing goes wrong and it's the end of the damn world. I made it to the engine room and approached the man in charge with a small sigh. Great. It's Reeves.
"So, what's going wrong with it this time?" I drawled. "Belt snap again?"
The older man's mustache twitched in annoyance as his eyes narrowed at me. "Don't be stupid. If it was something as simple as that, why the hell would we call you?"
You did last time. I mused silently as he went to the console nearby and pointed at a map of the engine on screen.
"Something's not turning here, so we're shutting it down and shifting to the backup engine while you go in and fix it."
My eyebrow twitched. "You're sending me into an engine that anyone could 'accidentally' turn on?"
He smirked, like the ass he was. "Yes."
"Fine. Whatever. Keep the trigger-happy people away from the console and I'll fix it. If anyone turns it on, you'll have one busted-up engine to fix anyway."
I waited until the engine was fully shut down before I climbed down the ladder and into the underbelly of the engine. It took some squeezing, but I soon reached the area that was jammed and blinked in surprise.
"I think there's something stuck in here!" I called out above and Reeves shouted back.
"Just get it out so we can turn back on the engines!"
I reached for the object, twisting it and tugging at it until it came loose and I furrowed my brows in confusion as I tilted it around.
"I… I don't know what the hell it is," I informed him as I walked back towards the ladder. "A shell?" I peered into the opening but saw nothing. "Nothing in it; looks like."
"Who cares? We can fan over it later. Just get up here."
I sighed but climbed back up the ladder so Reeves could restart the engine. I then showed him the large shell.
"So, what do you think it is? Awfully big for a shell and strong enough to jam the engine."
He took it and looked it over briefly before shrugging. "I don't know. I'll send it to the lab. They'll probably get a kick out of it. Not like they've been doing much else."
There was something about the shell that bothered me, but I stayed silent and went on to do maintenance work on the outer hull. The spacesuit was bulky and hard to move in, and I'd been given the one with a broken inner fan, so it was sweltering inside it too. Probably another prank by the crew. "Oh, what does she need comfort for? Hell, she probably doesn't even need to eat or sleep or anything either." Racist assholes. I'm still mostly human. I huffed in annoyance as I welded another break in the hull. We'd apparently been hit by scattered asteroid debris or something. The damage was minimal, but there was quite a bit of it and it took nearly seven hours before I had to return inside to get a new oxygen canister. It was rather quiet when I returned and I frowned, searching for one of the crew who were in charge of handing out suits and other equipment, but to no avail. I don't have time for this. I sighed and went to simply take one of the canisters when the alarm went off.
"Attention! Unidentifiable species onboard! Requesting code yellow to all crew members! Repeat code yellow!"
"What the hell…" I muttered, pulling off my helmet and bolting for the elevator; having no time to remove the full suit.
It was taking too long, so I simply ran to the stairs and began taking them two by two in order to get down quicker. When I made it down to the evacuation chamber where the pods were, I was a bit surprised to find a decent number of the crew there; some pounding on the ports to the escape pods. I spotted Reeves and hurried over to him, confused.
"Hey, what's going on? I was out on the hull doing repairs and came back for an oxygen tank when the alarm went off."
He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "It was that damn thing from the engine. There's dozens of them now and they're somehow killing people," he explained, shocking me.
"W-What? Then, why isn't anyone escaping?"
"All the pods are locked," he snapped. "The Captain was the first to find out and he bolted as soon as he heard, locking all the other pods with the quarantine lock under the claims that he couldn't let any of the creatures escape."
"None of the techies can hack it? Bring down the quarantine?"
"None are willing to head all the way back upstairs to get to the main controls." He grumbled. "We need weapons and very few of us have any."
He drummed his fingers on his hip to where a gun holster sat; a pistol sitting in it. I winced, never really liking the weapons, but knowing that we didn't really have a choice in this situation.
"Can't get to the armory, then?"
"Would have to fight our way through and with their numbers? It's a risk. One I'm planning on taking." He stepped forward and rose his voice over the panicking crew members. "Alright, you lot! If we want to make it through this mess, then we're going to have to fight our way through! Security, you have your energy pistols and a few of the other crew have their own weapons. If we gather together, we'll be able to make it to the armory and then upstairs to the main controls to unlock the quarantine."
"You're nuts!" Someone called out.
"Then, feel free to sit here and wait for them to find you and die," he said harshly, silencing the protest. "I'm heading out there because I'd rather take that chance than die like a coward."
"Count me in then." Josh stepped forward, wielding a metal pipe.
A number of others joined him and, not one to sit back and let things happen, I joined the group.
"Now, let's go. Every minute we wait here for those cowards is another that those things are using to multiply. So, move out!"
The group headed after him, moving cautiously through the corridors with the gun-wielding people in the front and back, and the rest of us in the center. I was also near the back of the group, unfortunately, but I was lucky they were even letting me go with them. I might be the only one in this group who could open the doors anyway. I looked around the group and saw one other weapon-less, frightened young man, whose tag labeled him as one of the IT crew. Not the only one then, but how could that thing from the engine be the cause of this? It looked empty. I heard scuttling then and stiffened, looking around for the source and having apparently drawing attention to myself when I stopped walking with the group.
"Oi, what are you doing?" One of the guys hissed.
"I hear something," I muttered. "Like… nails tapping the floor."
"The hell are you—"
"No," Reeves cut in, having overheard us. "She's not like us, remember? We can use you to let us know where the creatures are coming from. Which direction?"
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from getting angry at the comment of being used as a tool and pointed up ahead.
"That way and to the left, about twenty feet."
Reeves nodded. "Right. We'll have to take the long way 'round then. Move up front, android."
I'm not a fucking android. I mentally snapped, only holding my tongue to keep alive. We headed to the right and kept going, with my more advanced hearing on the left side to keep track of whether the creatures were nearby. We made it to the door of the armory and our techie was sent to unlock the door as the others kept guard. The door was opened easily enough and in their excitement, the group hurried in and began to look over the weapons. The tech started the long task of unlocking section by section of the weapons, but then I picked up the skittering again.
"Reeves, they're coming."
"How far away are they?"
I winced, feeling a headache coming on. "Not more than a meter at most, and… there's more. A lot more."
"Shit. Hurry up!" He shouted at the techie, who was doing his best, but he'd only managed to unlock one case of guns before the creatures showed up.
"They're here!"
Guns went off and I cringed, backing up further into the room as the spider-like creatures scrambled into the room with screeches; the bullets bouncing almost harmlessly off their shells. One launched up and latched onto the face of one man, who screamed for maybe a few seconds before the creature moved on; leaving nothing but a bloodied mess on the ground. A few of the creatures were hurt and eventually killed as the group grabbed the bigger weapons, but it was too late. There were only a few of us left. Reeves, myself, Josh, and one other. The techie was down, making me the only one who could do the controls, but the creatures had stopped. We were safe… for now.
"Are we going back for the others?" I asked, typing as quickly as I could to open up more weapon cases; ditching the bulky spacesuit as quickly as I could.
"No. They wanted to stay behind. It will be a waste of time to go back for them and return here," Reeves said, stomping on one of the creatures that had twitched. "Just grab as much as you can carry and let's go."
I grimaced. "I don't like weapons."
He scowled. "Then don't bloody use them, but you better carry all you can for the rest of us. Otherwise, you're dead weight. I can risk going back for one techie if need be."
"Right," I murmured, going to the open cases and grabbing what I could.
I eyed the pistol I'd picked up, begrudgingly deciding that if my life was on the line, it would be the one I used; tucking it into the back of my toolbelt and grabbing a number of other weapons for the rest of them. We made our way back out and headed towards the elevator. Unfortunately, it was down and out for the count.
"Any way you can repair it?" Reeves questioned as I connected with the computer.
"No. They've infested the shaft, so unless there's a way to clear it, it's impossible."
Josh cursed behind me, but I kept going.
"There's the stairs and a smaller freight elevator."
"How small?"
"Might hold all of us if we ditch some of the bigger weapons. It'll be a tight fit," I offered and that seemed good enough for him.
"Let's do it."
I nodded, moving aside and showing him on the map where it was. "Not too far, but still far enough for those things to catch up. Not to mention dealing with whatever ones are already there."
"No other choice. I know the stairs are already infested. Let's move."
We headed out as quickly as we could, my ears open for signs of the creatures, but it was getting more difficult to distinguish where they were.
"There's too many of them," I muttered, catching their attention as we neared ever closer to the freight elevator. "I-I… I can't tell how close they are."
"Well, what good are you then?" Josh snapped. "You think a stupid robot could do something properly."
I finally felt my patience snap and I grabbed him by the shirt, getting in his face. "I'm not a fucking robot, you asshole! So, what if I have some cyborg parts? If you want to get out of this mess alive, you better shut the hell up about the shit that I've been through since that damn accident. Because I might just decide to keep my mouth shut the next time one of those creatures is within your reach."
"Enough," Reeves said shortly pulling me off the startled Josh. "We don't have time for this."
I ripped my arm out of his grip and stomped off ahead; the trio following behind me silently. I glanced around the corner where the freight elevator was and let out a sigh of relief.
"There it is and none of those creatures are around either. We lucked out."
"Good. Now get that freight open."
I went over and pressed the button, but grimaced. "It's in the upper levels. We'll have to wait until it gets down here."
"So? We wait. Not so bad." The third man of our group murmured.
"Not quite," I answered him. "If those creatures find us via sound, then the elevator will lead them right to us. That, and if this was open upstairs, it might have those creatures inside it."
"Great," Josh complained.
"We just need to be ready for them," Reeves replied, arming his shotgun.
Within minutes of the clanking, clattering elevator making its way down, the noise in the walls picked up and I watched the entrance cautiously. The first creature to come scuttling in was splattered on the wall with a shot from Reeves' gun and from there, the noise only increased. It's as if the death of one, brings a horde of them. The minutes felt like hours though, as the trio fired shot after shot and I passed them freshly loaded weapons when theirs ran out. The buzzer for the freight elevator went off then and Reeves sent Josh and the other guy into the elevator as he covered us. When I went to enter the elevator though, Reeves pushed me aside and climbed in himself, slamming the button to send it off.
"W-What are you—"
"Sorry, but you said it yourself. There's not enough room," he said shortly, leaving me no room for argument when the door closed, separating me from them and trapping me in the room with the creatures.
"Reeves… Reeves! You can't leave me here!" I shouted, pounding on the door and mashing the elevator button, but I knew it would go all the way up before returning.
I knew that the creatures would get to me before I had the chance to escape. I knew that all I had left was the pistol in my toolbelt and I hastily grabbed it, arming it and whipping around to face the creatures as panic settled in, but I couldn't do it. The gun quivered in my hands as they came closer and I finally just dropped the gun. It's over… It's done. I'm not leaving here alive and… at this point, what does it matter? It might… It might even be nice. I looked down at my metallic hand that quivered in uncertainty from the mixed signals my body was sending it, and back at the creatures. One finally launched itself at me and my natural instinct forced me to raise my arms to shield my face. Then, something amazing happened. The creature squealed and jumped away, having done nothing more than tear the sleeve of my jumpsuit and leave a few scratches on my metal arm casing.
I hesitantly lowered my arms and looked at the creatures as they seemed to hiss and back up. I didn't understand and I tried to take a step forward, only for a number of them to skitter further away from me.
"You… You're not going to kill me?" I asked in vain and a number of the creatures left the room in search of other prey, while the others hissed a bit more before turning away themselves.
I moved slowly, somehow able to walk through the room without further problem from the creatures, and even able to run down the hall and start making my way up the stairs. I'm alive. Oh my God, I'm alive! A giddy laugh escaped me as I ran past more and more creatures, panting heavily as I reached the top and made my way to the main control hub.
"Reeves! Reeves! You wouldn't believe it, but the creatures! They seem to—" My voice trailed off as I realized that the door was standing wide open and a familiar shotgun lay on the ground outside it. "Reeves?"
I hesitantly made it around the door and into the room, covering my mouth as I took in the carnage before me. They were dead. All of them. Everyone who had been in the control hub was torn apart; some still being feasted on. Only two were fresh and was unable to resist the urge to vomit as I recognized one of the bloody masses as Reeves. Stomach empty, I tried to regain some control of myself and grimaced as I snaked around the creatures and corpses to a computer panel. There's got to be somebody. They wouldn't have just sat down there and died. They would have created fractions, made their own moves, done something. I picked up the internal comm and called out to anyone who may have been on the ship.
"Attention, this is Engineer Riley Withers. I've unlocked the internal comms and if there's anyone out there, please respond. I'm willing to unlock the quarantine just long enough for us to escape, but I need to know that there's someone out there. Anyone."
There was radio silence. A silence so thick and lasting so long, that I didn't remember when I'd sank to the ground or when I'd begun to idly speak into the radio, begging for other survivors. Then, I forced myself up onto my feet, ignoring the creature who skittered past my ankles at the action as I searched through the computer systems. Reeves Castellos, deceased. Teri Lester, deceased. Joseph Williams, deceased… The lists went on and on, showing life signs of all the crew on board, and the further down I went, the more discouraged I felt. Then, I reached the end finding only a single life sign. Riley Withers, alive/functioning. My heart sank even further when I noticed the man nearby slumped over a glowing red screen. I gently moved him to find that he'd sent out an SOS signal and I cursed under my breath as I realized what I was going to have to do. Tears welled up as I cursed the crew, the captain, anyone I could think of, for this situation. It took ages before I was calmed down enough to start up the external messaging system; picking up the comm for the last time.
"This is Mechanic and Engineer Riley Withers of the Space Station Derek. I am turning off the SOS signal and advise all ships who have received it to steer clear of the station. A quarantine is in effect and I advise that any shell-like creatures that are found or picked up in this area are to be immediately disposed of as they are a mass-multiplying alien threat. I am… the last survivor of the station and as such, will be doing my public duty of keeping our planet safe, by incinerating the entire station when I finish this message." My throat tightened, but I pushed past the emotion to finish. "The ship's home box will be left intact, however, I advise against picking up any scrap that may remain in this ship's explosion if one wishes to avoid the same fate. I repeat, Space Station Derek is in quarantine, will be detonated, and the area in effect will be placed under quarantine from Section 9 to 72 until the proper facilities come to ensure the alien threat has been thoroughly disposed of. As my final note, this is Riley Withers, signing off as the only survivor of Space Station Derek."
I placed the comm down and shut off the main controls other than the self-destruct sequence that would give me another hour on my own. I used that time to head downstairs to the cafeteria and sneak out the good drinks, before moving back to the control hub and opening the shutters to look out at space. And to think, this is all I ever wanted to do. Go out and see what the universe has to offer. Would have been a much better reality if it weren't for the accident… Instead, I'm stuck blowing myself up in a ship full of aliens who won't even give me the luxury of ending my suffering. I cursed as my glass slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor; spilling scotch everywhere. My metal hand quivered and shook, out of my control and I let the appendage drop uselessly at my side.
"Can't even have a proper drink…"
I closed my eyes before I heard something strange. I frowned and abruptly bolted upright when the computer announced an unknown teleport breaching the quarantine.
"No, no, no," I breathed out trying to find the location of the breach and grabbing the pistol just in case.
More to use as a threat than to actually shoot, I thought with a cringe as I ran through the corridors towards the bio lab. Why did they teleport there anyway? The teleport stations are below deck near engineering. Oh, who cares? I need to get them off before the creatures find out and come after them! I skid around a corner and punched in the code for the door quickly, entering the room with my weapon out to find a man in a brown coat and pinstriped suit roaming with a young blonde.
"Oh, this is brilliant! Rose, come look at this. They're learning how to advance the oxygen production of everyday house plants in order to cope with living on a space station and potentially eliminate the use of CO2 filtration systems!"
"Sounds cool," Rose, the blonde, remarked as I lowered my weapon and got their attention.
"W-What are you doing?"
They turned to me and the man grinned, heading over with an arm outstretched to shake mine.
"Hello! We got your SOS signal and thought we'd drop by and see what was going on. I'm the Doctor and this is Rose."
"Hello." Rose smiled, but I wasn't smiling back.
I could already hear one of the creatures coming to check out the noise from before.
"Look, you need to leave," I insisted, turning the man and physically pushing him away from the door I'd come through. "I don't know what you used to teleport here, but you need to leave. If you need to get down to the teleports, I-I don't know if I can get you there."
"Now, hold on a minute. We just showed up!" The Doctor complained. "That deserves a look around or an explanation at least."
"There's no time!" I said shortly, looking back at the door as the creature grew closer. "We're in quarantine!"
"From what?" Rose asked curiously and I winced, whipping around as something scratched at the door.
"From whatever's on the other side of that door, apparently," the Doctor mused, giving me a look. "Am I right?"
"Look, please. Just go," I muttered, but he ignored me.
"Where's the rest of the crew? Usually, when someone pops up out of nowhere in the bio lab, there's a group of people who greet me; typically with guns." He commented, eyeing the pistol I had.
The scratching stopped, but then started up in another area; one where there was a vent on our side of the wall. Shit. It's going to go through the ducts.
"You really want to know?" I said quickly, voice tight. "They're dead. All of them and you're going to be too if you don't get the hell off this station."
"Dead?" Rose breathed out, looking at the Doctor, but he was watching me.
"And you?"
I grit my teeth, turning away to face the vent. "They don't want me, so I'm making sure they never get off this station."
"How?" Rose asked and I gave her a brief sad glance as the computer announced it over the intercom.
"Self-destruct sequence initiated. Please evacuate to the nearest escape pod. Twenty minutes until detonation."
"I can't let them get back home," I murmured.
"But what about you?" Rose asked, coming up beside me looking worried; something I hadn't seen in a long time.
"It's fine," I answered solemnly in acceptance. "The pods are locked in quarantine and even if I did get one, I'm not entirely certain it wouldn't have them inside. I can't risk them getting back home."
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked.
"Riley… Riley Withers."
"Well, Riley Withers." He smirked. "What would you say if I told you I could get you off this ship without worry of your little friends coming after us?"
I shot him a look, not pleased by his teasing, but before I could respond the vent grate fell off. I whipped around and moved in front of the Doctor and Rose.
"Stay back," I demanded, facing the shelled creature with as much confidence as I could bear. "You need to leave. Now."
"What is it?" Rose asked and the Doctor hummed; neither listening to my order.
"Dunno."
He pointed something at it and a sound came out of the stick, making the creature screech. I whipped around and grabbed the stick the Doctor was using.
"Are you stupid?" I shouted, panic growing as I heard more of the creatures coming. "You've practically given yourself a death sentence!"
The creature jumped towards us and I got between it and the Doctor, using my arm to shove it off as I shouted at the Doctor and Rose.
"Get out of here!"
He finally did listen, grabbing Rose and moving towards a blue box I hadn't noticed before. Once they were inside, the creature seemed to hiss and growl at me as more entered the room; bristling as they watched me. God, I don't like this. They don't want to kill me yet, but I'd rather not push them. I lifted the pistol, hoping to scare them off, but my hand still quivered and refused to pull the trigger. I cursed under my breath and tossed the gun away in the hopes that the noise it made would distract the creatures. Some of them wandered off to check it out, but the rest remained. Maybe I can herd them back? I slowly walked towards them, earning hissed from the creatures as they scuttled back slightly, but then something grabbed my arm and tugged me back.
"Come on!"
I was pulled away from the creatures by the Doctor and struggled slightly in his grip as the creatures started to come after us.
"What are you doing?! Just go! I already told you they won't hurt me!"
"Well, I'm not about to leave you here to get yourself blown up; for a noble cause or not," he countered, making me sputter as he pulled me to the blue box.
"S-So, you're dragging me into a box? They'll just get in!"
"Oh, trust me. Nothing can just break in and I think you'd be surprised." He grinned at me, making my heart skip in… excitement? Curiosity? "She's not just any old box."
I was pulled inside and he shut the doors behind us just in time for a creature to slam into it. I flinched, eyeing the doors hesitantly as the Doctor released me and walked past. There were more noises of the creatures trying to get in and I grimaced as I turned.
"Are you sure that these doors will… hold…"
My mouth dropped open in shock at the size of the room I was in and something very nearly made me hurry outside to check and make sure I wasn't imagining the size of the box. The box—no, ship—shuddered then, causing me to grab a hold of the railing as the Doctor ran around a console of some sort and the ship gave off this strange wheezing noise. Once it stopped, the Doctor turned to me, looking pleased.
"So? What do you think?"
I blinked, opening and closing my mouth for a minute, before finding my voice. "I-Is it supposed to make that noise?"
He looked surprised; though, at what, I didn't know. "Oh, well… it's the noise she makes."
Rose snorted beside him and he shot her a look, as I glanced at the door and realized that I couldn't hear the creatures anymore.
"What did you do?" I asked, concerned.
"Well, I got us out of there. We're a safe distance away now if you want to have a look."
He gestured to the doors and I hesitantly went over and opened one, only to stare out in shock at what was before me. We had moved, definitely. Space spread out before me with the space station in the center of my view.
"The self-destruct should start up within the next few seconds," the Doctor said from behind me and as he said, the ship exploded not a moment later.
"Are they dead?" I asked hesitantly, hating to think that the creatures had somehow survived the explosion.
"No life signs," he answered back solemnly as I closed the door; slowly trying to get my head wrapped around what was going on. "Though, I'm curious. Why didn't they want you?"
"I-I don't know," I murmured, moving over to a seat nearby and sinking into it as I looked over my trembling hand. "Maybe… Maybe because I'm not like the others."
"Well, you certainly are special. It's not every day that I pick up someone willing to blow themselves up to save their planet," he joked with a smile as realization dawned on me.
He doesn't… He doesn't know that I'm… But how? Just because I'm mostly covered up, doesn't mean he shouldn't notice… A part of me was glad he didn't know; didn't want him to know. The universe was against me though, and the Doctor hurried over.
"Oh! I best get you fixed up." He gestured to the tears in my sleeve. "I don't see any blood, but that doesn't mean they didn't get you."
"Ah, no. That's alri—" I was cut off with a wince as he grabbed my wrist and pulled up my sleeve to reveal the metal I'd been hoping to hide for a moment longer.
"O-Oh."
I pulled my hand away from him and tugged my sleeve down, looking away with grit teeth in preparation for the usual insults and verbal abuse from those who'd learned about me being partially an android.
"Whoa, hold on. Are you a robot?" Rose asked and I snapped at her.
"I'm not a robot."
She blinked in surprise as the Doctor cut in.
"Sorry, she's still a bit new to the whole… greeting people thing." He apologized for her, a bit awkwardly. "You wouldn't happen to know what year it is, would you?"
I shot him an annoyed look. "You can't be serious."
He didn't respond, though he did look serious, so I begrudgingly answered his odd question.
"It's the year 3876 if you honestly don't know."
He grimaced, surprisingly. "Ooh, not a good time for you then, is it?"
I furrowed my brows at the question, but he turned to Rose to explain.
"People who end up becoming cyborgs or androids don't really get equal rights treatment until around the fiftieth century. During the fortieth century, terms to describe people with android mechanics and such were rather derogatory." He glanced at me and I bristled, should he start to treat me like the old crew members from my ship. "Must have been rough. No worries here though. I've met a number of decent androids and cyborgs alike, and where I'm from, your people are not all that rare."
"And where are you from?" I demanded, more suspicious than ever. "You keep talking like you're psychic or from another time or something. How do you know about what's supposed to happen in the fiftieth century?"
"Ah, well… My ship, it's sort of a time machine too," he replied, grinning away like he'd just told a big secret. "Rose here is actually from twenty-first century Earth and I'm from a different planet entirely."
Rose smiled as well. "We sort of bounce around here and there. We're kind of… travelers, you know? Helping people and stuff. Seeing new sights, that sort of thing."
I looked between the two, a bit overwhelmed with what they were telling me, and I turned away after a moment, rubbing at my face.
"Right… Yeah, okay. And let's say I believe all this nonsense, what now?"
"Hm, well, we could drop you off back home; wherever that might be for you." The Doctor shrugged.
I hesitated. There wasn't really anything left for me at home. My family was long gone, my friends had abandoned me after the accident, and now my job had been blown up. I had no doubt that the so-called Captain had made it back and was stringing up some lie about the mess on the ship, and technically, I was already labeled as dead thanks to that end message I'd done before the ship blew. I'd be lucky if I still had a place to call home when I returned. Undoubtedly, my flat would be put up for rent and cleared out once people got the news. What did I have left to go back to?
The honest answer was nothing, but then where would that leave me? I couldn't just stay with the Doctor and Rose. The idea was ridiculous and this was their home, not mine. I shouldn't be intruding. So… what? Ask to get dropped off elsewhere? With what money? With what life? I felt a heavy weight fall on my back, and my shoulders sagged under it. I should've just stayed on the ship. I… I have nothing…
"Yeah, home's good," I said automatically, darkness settling in my mind as I kept my back to the Doctor and Rose. "I have a flat on Smith and Cantbury. There's a ship off in the thirty-second quadrant. Do you need the coordinates?"
"No, I think I've got it," the Doctor answered and I nodded silently, staring off into space as I leaned on a rail, not sensing his eyes on my back.
It was messier than he expected, Riley's flat, though the woman herself, seemed in a bit of a daze. The Doctor wasn't stupid. Even without using his Time Lord telepathic abilities, he could tell that something was wrong. She hadn't said much of anything since he offered to bring her home and she simply sighed when she tried to flick the lights on, only for nothing to happen.
"Forget to pay the bill?" Rose asked, looking around as well.
"No. I've been on that station for three months. The company pays for my flat while I'm gone, but they keep the power and water turned off until my scheduled return," Riley answered dully. "No one knows I'm back, so no power until I decide to let someone know."
The Doctor raised a brow at her wording. Until she decides? Most people would be eager to let someone know, unless…
"Don't you have anyone you want to let know you're okay?" Rose asked before the Doctor got the chance. "I'm sure your family must be worried."
There was a moment of silence that lasted a bit too long for anyone's comfort before Riley responded.
"My parents died years ago, back when I was still in training. I'm an only child and none of my other relatives bothered to keep in touch with my parents," she said, sounding almost… bored. "I don't have many friends either."
The Doctor caught the subtle movement of her clasping her metal appendage, understanding dawning on him. Because she's a cyborg… What rubbish. A hint of anger flickered through him, before he pushed it back, spotting a picture frame nearby and picking it up.
"What about your boyfriend?" He asked, waving the picture of Riley grinning away with another young man at their graduation from engineer training.
He must have done something wrong though because Riley took one look at the photo and immediately turned away with a grimace.
"He's not my boyfriend and…"
The Doctor saw her jaw clench, but she forced herself to relax as she shook her head.
"There's no one to inform except my work and the building manager."
"Do you want us to go with you?" He asked her, still feeling the need to be cautious with her for some reason. "Help explain how you made it back if they give you a hard time?"
Something made him think that she was very fragile right now, and it wasn't just the fact that she'd been the only survivor of an alien attack on her station.
"No, it's fine." She waved off, sitting back on her couch with a sigh. "You two can go ahead and… go back to whatever you were doing. Thanks for getting me out of that mess."
"Sure thing," he muttered, brows furrowed, but Rose headed back to the Tardis and he followed after her; preparing to send the ship off.
"She seemed a bit… off, don't you think?" Rose asked, coming up beside him as he sent the ship into the Time Vortex.
"You think so too?" He mused and she nodded.
"Yeah. I feel bad for her, you know? It must be rough being the only survivor of something like that. Maybe it's survivor guilt?"
"Perhaps," he agreed, thinking back and frowning slightly. "Though, if they treated her like most people do in that time, then I don't believe she'd have too much guilt. She seemed more upset about something else."
"She doesn't have anyone to go back to either," Rose added. "No family, or friends or anything."
"True…"
Then, the Doctor felt it. A change in time. Unexpected, devastating. A sharp shift that even had the Tardis groaning and lunging abruptly.
"W-What's going on?!" Rose demanded as she clung to the railing while the Doctor tried to control the ship.
"Something just changed in time. Something big!" He answered, fighting to try and stabilize the shuddering ship. "I need to set her down and get her stabilized, in order to check what went wrong!"
"Was it something we did?"
"I don't know!"
He finally got the Tardis to jerk to a stop, throwing Rose and him onto the ground, though he was quick to get up on his feet and check the readings on the monitor.
"Oh… Oh, that is not good. That is very not good." He muttered, flipping a few switches as Rose got up and came over to look as well.
"What is it?"
"Human history has changed," he explained, flipping through articles and text as a lump grew in his throat. "Equal rights for cyborgs and alien immigrants has been pushed back hundreds of years. A war actually broke out between them. That never happened. This is all wrong."
"So, what do we do?"
"We find the source," he declared, pushing the monitor away and heading for the door. "The Tardis landed at the turning point, maybe a few days or a month off to give us a better idea of what we're dealing with. Then we can go back and have some wiggle room. So, this is our only chance."
"Chance to do what?" She asked as he pulled on his coat and gave her a grin.
"Chance to fix history."
They headed out and were rather surprised at the barren hallway they'd wandered into after leaving the janitorial closet the Tardis landed in.
"Where are we?" Rose asked as the Doctor sonicked the area.
"Don't know. Not often that I don't know, but let's see…" He checked his sonic. "Ooh, that is… not pleasant."
"What?"
He scratched the back of his head as he tucked the device into his pocket. "Well, I believe we're in a prison."
"What?" She hissed at him. "Doctor, won't we get in huge trouble? You can't just walk into a prison!"
"Bit late for that, but I've got my psychic paper on me." He pat his pocket. "So, we should be fine if anyone were to spot us."
"Reassuring," she mumbled, looking around as they started walking. "So, how do we know when we've found whatever changed history?"
He tapped his head with a finger. "I'll know. Time Lords are time-sensitive, remember? The moment we find it, I'll be able to tell. It'll be like spotting a giant neon sign saying, 'look at me!'"
That being said, it was harder than it looked. They wandered various halls for a while, avoiding open areas in the prison where multiple prisoners would be out for their designated rec. time. They had bumped into a few guards, but the psychic paper got them past those small roadblocks and soon, the Doctor finally managed to latch onto something. He and Rose followed the sense to another area and soon they were on a balcony over the cafeteria, where a number of prisoners were having their lunch.
"It's here somewhere," the Doctor muttered, glancing over at Rose. "Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."
Rose shot him a look. "Oh, right. Because us being in a prison full of criminals and aliens is normal."
He rolled his eyes as she gave him a cheeky grin. "You know what I mean."
They looked over the prisoners for a moment, before a commotion started up. A figure had had their tray of food knocked to the ground while a group of larger women smirked. The women's section of the prison? The Doctor frowned, having not even noticed until now that they'd gotten into that area.
"Shouldn't the guards be doing something?" Rose asked then, drawing his attention back to the ground as that singled-out figure was forced onto her knees, half in her smashed food on the floor.
"Don't know," the Doctor murmured. "Rules vary depending on the prisons, the locations, the guards. They might not get involved unless things become more problematic."
"Then why doesn't she defend herself?" Rose questioned, beginning to bristle as the figure slowly pushed herself up onto her feet once more only to get thrown back to the ground.
"They're probably stronger than she is and sometimes the problem gets resolved quicker if the victim doesn't physically fight back," he said, though his answer was half-hearted.
He wanted the woman to fight back as well, especially now that things were starting to get out of hand. The lone woman was curled on the ground now as the group attacked her and after a few moments, the guards were brought in and separated the bunch; dragging the lone figure out and sending the rest of the riled-up prisoners back to their cells.
"Come on," the Doctor murmured to Rose, lightly tugging her from the balcony. "I want to get a look at those prisoners. One of them is the source."
They headed back to where the cell blocks were, asking one of the ruffled guards about the cells where the prisoners that fought were; going by them one by one. None of the group set off any bells in the Doctor's head and soon, the only one they were left with was the lone woman. She'd been sent to the infirmary but wasn't there when the Doctor arrived.
"Oh, her? She's always coming in here." The doctor on hand sighed out, seemingly uncaring as he flipped through some paperwork. "She's supposed to have meal and rec. times different from the others since she's in solitary, but no one really bothers to do it after what she's done."
The Doctor scowled, bristling with anger. "And what, exactly, would that be?"
"You don't know?" The man questioned. "She's a traitor to the world. She's the one who set up Space Station Derek to fail, killing everyone on board. Doesn't help she's one of those. Tensions have been running high between both groups ever since she was caught."
"One of what?" Rose asked, curious but also concerned for the woman.
"An android," he answered, making the two look at one another before the Doctor stood straighter.
"Where is her room?"
I sat in a corner of the room, still wheezing from cracked ribs and trying to deal with the pain from earlier. The chains around my wrist rattled as I shifted to find a slightly more comfortable position to no avail, closing my eyes and tipping my head back against the wall as I muttered under my breath.
"It's fine… I deserve this… I deserve more than this."
A lump formed in my throat, but I forced it back as I turned to lean my shoulder up against the wall; my back facing the door. I shuddered with a pained grimace, hating that I'd let things come to this, but knowing that it was better than my other option. Not much better, but I was alive… Am I really? I brushed the thought aside, looking down at my scratched and dented arm and flexing the fingers, only to earn useless, jerky motions from said digits thanks to the damage done. And the rest of me is bruised or broken too. They aim for my actual body now that I've shown I don't care about the rest. I clenched my hand into a fist, cursing under my breath and slamming it harshly into the cement to try and vent some anger.
"I should have just kept my mouth shut. What good did it do me to tell them? I already knew they would believe him over me. I'm just a stupid android…"
I heard keys to my cell door then and closed my eyes once more. Why can't they just leave me alone? I slowly began to push myself off the wall and to a standing position as footsteps entered the room; knowing better than to remain on the ground when a guard was here to escort me somewhere.
"What is it now?" I asked, keeping my voice as even as I could.
Being patronizing or rude only ended up with me having more injuries. I turned towards the guard, only for my eyes to widen in shock at the two figures that stood there; looking no different than when they had picked me up from off the space station.
"Oh my God…" Rose breathed out. "Riley?"
I took a small step back away from them, cautious of what their intentions could be. "W-Why are you here? How did you…" No. That's wrong. Who cares how they got here? I swallowed thickly. "What are you doing here?"
"There was a temporal flux and…" The Doctor cut himself off with a shake of his head. "No, I'll explain that later. Riley, what happened? How did you end up here?"
He reached towards me and I flinched back out of habit, making him pause before he pulled back, looking torn.
"I… I'm so sorry."
I simply moved back to my spot up against the wall, ignoring the way their expressions shifted when I cringed. They both reluctantly took the bed and sat in wait for me to explain.
"After you left, I went and spoke with the company about what happened," I told them, not making eye contact. "I couldn't live in a flat without food or anything, though at this point, disappearing should have been my first thought."
"Y-You should have told us," Rose argued. "We wouldn't have left you if it was going to turn out like this."
I lifted my gaze to hers, solemnly. "Bit late, don't you think?"
She flinched, turning away sheepishly as I went on, unbothered.
"The captain of the ship must have heard from someone that I was around. It was my word versus his, and his was already putting him in the news. And what with me being… this." I lifted my metallic arm. "I didn't stand a chance. He somehow twisted things around to make me out as the villain who trapped the others on the ship to die. 'How else could she be here?' he'd said." I scoffed.
"We offered to stay and help explain things," the Doctor said, but I waved him off.
"It's fine. What's done is done and—"
"No, it is not fine!" He shouted, standing abruptly and startling me. "Nothing about you getting hurt for something you didn't even do is fine with me! You did what you could to try and keep those things from getting here, and instead of being treated like a hero, you're being treated like garbage!"
I pushed myself up and shouted in return. "Hero? I'm not some savior for the stupid people on this planet! I just followed a directive! I followed orders! Don't glorify me when all I did was send out some stupid message! I couldn't even fire a fucking gun at those creatures! People died on that station because of me! I deserve more than this! More than prison! More than getting beat every time I walk out those doors! I should have just stayed on that damn ship and died like everyone else!"
I doubled over in pain then; the shouting had been too much for my aching body, and tears finally slipped down my face.
"G-God dammit," I cursed as I cried. "It would have been… so much easier if I had just…"
"Rose, we're leaving," the Doctor announced suddenly, clasping a hand on my shoulder. "I'm going to make sure this never happens to you, Riley. I won't let it come down to this."
