Edited , as of October 2021:
I finished the latest chapter, but decided to clean up the grammar and spelling of the rest of the fic, before posting it.
They had been here for days, years in the real world according to the Doctor.
Rose and River each were working at the... quaint computers, as Grandfather stood at the door, still trying to open it.
Susan sighed, she felt right useless. Everyone was busy working, but she had nothing to contribute. She was the child in the room... it wasn't like she would even know how to help... this reality was such an archaic program she couldn't recognize the coding.
The only reason Grandfather could, was because he had gotten his Mastery, in every field of study known to Time Lords... well not medicine but he did qualify as a field medic. The point was, one of the Doctor's degrees was Xeno-programming. That meant he knew how to operate the less advanced computers of alien civilizations...
Susan hadn't even gotten her first Mastery, though she did have a large number of Apprentice worthy studies under her belt. That may be quite advanced for her age, given other such children were still novices, but when compared to someone like Grandfather... she just felt useless...
She was clever, beyond clever, but if the Doctor was considered a teenager at near 4000... she was practically a toddler at 1016. Time Lords, during their first face, tend to stop aging into their later teens. As their Genetic code was programmed. They don't start aging again until they hit 10,000. When their body starts degrading rapidly. Aging a single year for every 10... well it was rapid by Time Lord standards.
Truthfully, Time Lord's didn't really keep track of the years they lived. They measured based on regenerations, as age was near meaningless to them. The Doctor was in his first regeneration, his second face. And that made him the human equivalent of 17, barely an adult teenager. While Susan, in her first regeneration, was still very much a child... and nobody takes children seriously...
It didn't help that both humans present, were aware of how Time Lords marked "age". So they understood Susan's toddler status.
Grandfather was just having her sit at a computer of her own... but she was working on school assignments, as the Doctor felt it was important not to neglect her education...
The Doctor completed his schooling at 42, at the human equivalent of 12. When the Academy ran out of things to teach him. then he and grandmother ran away. They accomplished far more by the time they were Susan's age.
Susan was rather excited by the idea of traveling like they had... but Grandfather wasn't letting her do anything TOO dangerous.
Perhaps it was the few human genes she had that made her want more. Yes Grandfather had virtually all of his removed, and then he mated with a Time Lord, and then Father mated with another Time Lord... but then there was still something deep inside her. Something compelling her to explore and advance. It was something Time Lords once had, but they had stagnated millions of years ago. They only really explored now out of tradition, and then only to record the passage of time... but she felt compelled to change it. She wanted to help...
Her human blood, however thin, called to her. It loudly declared she should be taken seriously. That she should be stepping out on her own, and learning independence... The Time Lord in her insisted that was irrational and she should be content with her place. However, like her grandfather... and like her father... she wanted to listen to her human side.
"Got it!" Rose grinned. "I have traced roughly 4 million people in this place, and, I believe, I can find a way to get us all out. That AI is trying to block me but, if you two help, I can activate the teleports and materialize everyone."
"Might want to hold off on that," River sighed. "I found footage of what attacked the Library."
The Doctor and Rose paused in their work as River projected a video on the Television.
"Susan, Sweetie." River looked over at the teenage toddler year old. "Do you mind closing your eyes? The video is rather graphic."
Susan resisted the urge to roll her eyes, instead whined, "Grandfather?"
"You best mind her, Susan."
Susan sighed, but obeyed. She was a good girl after all. So she didn't see whatever it was on the video.
However, She heard Grandfather mutter, "Vashta Nerada." and couldn't help but gasp as she imagined what was on the Video. She had read about those in school. They were quite literally "The Shadows that melt the flesh", as their name translates. Susan found herself strangely thankful they were apparently watching with muted visuals.
"I have never seen an infection on this scale." The Doctor noted.
"What's happening to them?" Rose gulped.
"Vashta Nerada, they roughly translate to 'The Shadows that melt the flesh', they are carnivores spores that feed off road kill. Most planets have them, quite mundane things, very rarely do they feed on people. If they got imported here... with no animals to scavenge... they must of become more aggressive. I wouldn't worry about it though. 100 years? They would have starved too death."
"What if-" Susan began, but faltered as all the adults looked at her. She gathered her courage, and forced out the question. "What if they begun cannibalizing other swarms?"
Rose gulped, before turning to the Doctor. "It might not have been a power cut chasing us?"
The Doctor scoffed. Then spoke with a dismissive voice and a wag of his finger. "The Vashta Nerada are not simple pest. They have a hive mind. The more of them there are, the smarter the entity. A swarm so large it covers a planet?... I refuse to believe such a magnificent creature would resort to eating itself."
River smiled that sad smile, as she was once again reminded how young this medical student was... how innocent. "You would be amazed what any creature will do if desperate enough," she said gently.
The Doctor huffed, "It be easy enough to see which of us is right. Do a scan for any life within the library. This is a sterile environment. Not even bacteria should be present."
River smiled, a bit more condescending now, "Couldn't hurt to get confirmation, Rosey dear?"
"It's just Rose." Rose insisted before punching a few keys at her laptop. "Only my mum can get away with calling me 'Rosey', and I can tell you I have to fight the urge to strangle her each time she does."
River filed that away to use for later.
Rose suddenly paled as what she was looking for popped up... After a brief gulp She began to count the numbers on her screen... why one would need to count to read a number, Susan didn't know. "What is 20 nines called?"
All the adults paled as Susan automatically answered, "one shy of Sextillion."
"I take it that is as high as the computer can count?" River speculated, looking thoughtful, as if she was already formulating a plan. "If we set the Sanitation Mode to maximum, we could potentially vaporize all of these creatures."
The Doctor looked affronted, "You want to KILL these lifeforms!"
Rose caught on to what River was REALLY saying. "We should set up the option, if it comes to that." Before pulling up a map through the projector. "The Sanitation Mode is located here, in the planets core. If we increase the lighting, I figure it can keep shadow creatures out."
"More like slow them down." The Doctor muttered, still glaring. "I must insist I don't approve of this plan."
"When can you implement it?" The whole group froze as they turned to spy The Doctor Moon program. Now standing behind them. The AI explained to them. "The Central Computer is strained to it's limits. Keeping everyone here, distracting them from their former lives so they don't go mad. The sheer act of protecting all the organics will inevitably result in the destruction of the core."
"So that's what your doing." River eyed. "Trust a computer to use logic to inact the most irrational plan." she shook her head. The Doctor glared at her disapprovingly.
"It was a fail safe in case the planet became endangered. Activate the Teleports and save the patterns while keeping the minds entertained. However, It was only supposed to last a few months at most. But the organics never sent a sterilizing crew, to remove the infection and reclaim the people we saved to the harddrive.
"If you came here to finally kill the infestation, then I apologize for the inconvenience."
"Slight problem." River smirked.
"Whoever activates the Mode will be caught in the process?" Rose smirked backed.
"Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who gets to be the hero?" River suggested.
"Straws are more dramatic but that works." Rose grinned.
"Mental." The Doctor shook his head. "Absolutely mental."
"Ha! Rock crushes Scissors." Rose widely grinned. "Looks like I get to be the hero!" She boasted.
"Now wait a minute!" The Doctor stepped over to them, but went ignored.
Rose wrote out a series of numbers and forced them into the Doctor's hand. "Do me a favor. Memorize this. If things go pear shaped, get yourself to Chrome and look for a dimension with this frequency. Then send these coordinates to this dimension." She handed him another slip of paper. "I imagine memorizing a few numbers won't be that hard for someone with your brains."
The Doctor looked at the slips of paper, "You can't..."
"I know Chrome is a scary place for you Time Lords, but it is a fixed point in every dimension in the multiverse. Your TARDIS will be able to work out a map between both dimensions from there... I need this Doctor. The fate of everything depends on my universe getting these coordinates."
The Doctor gulped, "I'll do my best."
"And don't look so glum, I have no intention of dying tonight." Rose grinned. "Let me show you what being the Doctor is REALLY about." turning to the AI, Rose kept up her confident grin. "Drop me off as close to the lights as you can."