Chapter 8

Pride had taken to floating on his back. He could see Lilly sitting on the box. The water had gotten high enough she could, with some difficulty, pull herself on top of it.

Pride was still calm. The Doctor would get them out of this mess. Even in the unlikely event she had no desire to rescue him, because of his past, she'd want to save Lilly. He was mostly content to sit and wait, but just sitting in the water was dull, and he'd noticed something, thinking back on how they got into this mess.

"You knew circle-less alchemy," Pride said. Lilly jumped, turning her attention to him in surprise. "You knew I was going to use alchemy when I clapped my hands together. Not everyone makes that connection. It's not a very common talent."

"Well no," Lilly agreed. "You have to commit human transmutation, right?"

Pride sat bolt upright. Or at least he tried to. Being in the water, that just involved sinking. He quickly resurfaced. "What? That's really not common knowledge."

And from what he'd seen, Lilly had no alchemical skill. Everyone had specified Simon was an alchemist. That implied he was the only one.

Even in the dim lighting, he saw her frown in confusion. "Someone published a book a while back, detailing exactly what happens if you try human transmutation. Not a lot of people read it, since it's not relevant if you're not an alchemist. But there was so much debate everyone sort of heard the book exists. And I know Simon. He can also do circle-less alchemy, and he's missing a lung. It doesn't affect his breathing too much, but it is ironic for someone who lives underwater."

Yes, Truth was big on irony. If she had started with the explanation of Simon he'd be less surprised, but no one talked about Truth or human transmutation.

"Isn't human transmutation forbidden? You could get in a lot of trouble for publishing that book."

"Well, they did use a penname. Apparently, whoever published it thought it was worth the risk. It would save future people a lot of trouble."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Pride said dismissively. "Humans are naturally inclined to think they're special, that they alone can play God where others have failed. Just look at Simon. You said he tried, but surely he must've come across that book."

Lilly frowned. "You . . . you shouldn't say things like that. Anyway, didn't you commit human transmutation?"

"Not technically," Pride said. He had forced someone else to, but such things weren't free. "I was along for the ride."

Lilly looked confused. Pride didn't care.

The creature that had attacked the base dug its teeth into the hall and swung back and forth, trying to get in. But then, abruptly, it left. The Doctor tried to watch it, but it was disappearing from sight. It could be going after Simon, or maybe it was going to the box where Lilly and Pride were. Either way, the Doctor had to get out of here. Part of the glass broke, fragile from all the cracks and holes.

She turned around, and saw someone in the hall across from her, separated by some ocean.

"Ruth?" she asked.

Yes, that was Ruth. She clearly hadn't heard the Doctor. Ruth pulled something out of her pocket, flashing a light across the ocean in a pattern. Some sort of Morse code? The Doctor gestured for her to go on and Ruth repeated the message, all be it a little slower than the Doctor would've liked. (The hall was filling up with water.)

She was basically asking what happened. The Doctor got her sonic screwdriver out and used its light to explain Ivan had betrayed them, in as few words as possible. Ruth told her to wait, and then was gone.

Wait? For what? It wasn't like she could go anywhere.

She got her answer a few moments later, when a submarine came up to the hall. Well, a very small one. It looked a bit like an underwater version of a space escape pod, but the Doctor would define it as a submarine still. She could see Ruth in the front window. Ruth extended a claw outside the submarine, shattered the remaining glass, and brought the Doctor in with the claw. Ruth had positioned the submarine as close to the hall as she could, but that did still involve essentially being dragged into the ocean briefly, and the Doctor had to hold her breath. Luckily she was good at that. Ruth closed the airlock doors, the ones that led to the ocean, and then opened the other set.

"Right, thanks for that," the Doctor said, walking into the main section. She straightened her jacket. Water sloshed everywhere. "You could've mentioned you had these sooner."

"Is it true?" Ruth asked, ignoring the comment. "Ivan's betrayed us?"

"I'm afraid so. Simon took that smaller creature to study, and Ivan agreed with him."

Ruth's eyes got wider, her hands clasped together. "But that's terrible! The adult creature could do so much damage to the base. There are innocent civilians here, you know? Now come on, we've got to track that creature down."

"No."

Ruth stopped, partway back to her seat. "What? But we've got to . . . go . . . fight it, don't we?"

It had been nice Ruth instantly understood keeping these creatures here was bad, but apparently, she still couldn't catch on to the rest of the plan.

"No. We need to get to the doors where Lilly and Pride are," the Doctor said. "You can do that, right?"

Ruth looked uncertain, but sat down. Still glancing at the Doctor occasionally, she set course for the dead-end hall. The Doctor turned her attention to the submarine. There was nothing in here that would help her project her voice out into the ocean, but there was a way to contact the base. The Doctor took the panel out, to Ruth's protest.

"Just get us to the door," the Doctor said. "We're on a time limit here."

The unfortunate thing was, if she spoke with this, the whole base would hear her. But she'd just have to deal with that. It seemed unlikely Ivan and Simon could do anything even if they did hear.

Ruth had gotten them to the hall, doors visible at the end. The Doctor shoved the panel back into place and pressed the button for speaking.

"Pride Lilly, it's the Doctor here. I'm going to need you to open the box."