The TARDIS materialized itself inside a lonesome room. Th Doctor stepped out, a bit concerned after noticing the rather tensed landing the box had done. He came out and gently put a hand on the box, trying to get a feeling of the problem. "What's wrong? You're not happy. Why aren't you happy? Tell me."
"Come on!" Elias poked his head out from the doorway, clearly excited.
Above him, Clara did the same thing, with the same excitement written across her face. "We're so on a roll!"
"More running, Daddy! More!" Elias urgently said, making Clara laugh above him.
Minerva walked out of the box, playfully rolling her eyes. "Settle down, children."
"Children?" went both Elias and Clara, sharing the same incredulity.
"You're not making a case here, Clara," Liv appeared Minerva.
"And excuse me for calling my four year old baby a 'child'," Minerva bent down in front of Elias. "Was that a wrong label?"
Elias made a face. "I'm big!"
"Mhm, sure. Talk to me when you don't need Mommy to help you out of that monstrous little sweater," Minerva tugged on his zipperless, green sweater's sleeves, pulling a little smile from Elias in the end.
"Oh, hey-" Clara stepped out from the TARDIS completely, her hands patting her dress' pockets, "-can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries? I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity."
"I hid them," Elias corrected with cheeky smile.
"Elias!"
"Ca-yah!" Elias mimicked her scold, making Clara groan and Liv laugh.
"Settle down children," Minerva found herself repeating again. She straightened up and turned to the Doctor who was still trying to figure out what was wrong with their TARDIS. "Dear, where exactly did she bring us to?"
"Underwater. Some sort of a base," the Doctor turned away from the box, dejectedly. "The technology's twenty second century. Maybe military, maybe scientific."
Liv looked around the solitary place, noticing some chairs were turned over. "Is there a crew?"
"Must be," Minerva settled her hands on her hips as she took another scan of the area, "If there's oxygen."
"I want another adventure," Clara declared when she saw them walking down the corridor.
"Oooo! Me too!" Elias loved when his parents took him away from Monsoon to have adventures, and with Clara and Liv too!
"Yeah, see, Elias feels the same," Clara came up beside the Doctor with a hopeful smile. "You're itching to save a planet, I know it."
"Noooo, my husband, the Doctor?" Minerva sarcastically gasped. "What would ever make you say that?"
Elias tugged on the Doctor's arm, making him look down. "Mommy's making fun of you, isn't she?"
"Yes, I think she is," the Doctor gave a brief look at Minerva.
"What ever shall you do with me?" came the smirkful question.
The Doctor just raised his eyebrows with a smirk back. 'I got a couple ideas I'll be sure to share with you later, darling.'
Minerva laughed out loud.
"What's funny, Mommy?" Elias looked between his parents with curious eyes like his mother would have.
"Nothing, El. C'mon, there's a room over here," Minerva had quickly looked for a decent answer and thanked the gods for seeing a large room at the end of the corridor.
Liv was already inside when the group entered. She was staring a big mural of a dragon-like creature threatening a group of men on a boat. "Humans, I would assume by this painting," she informed the others.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Elias began to hop, pulling both his hands from his parents and ran over to an overturned chair on the floor. "Oooooo, someone had a fight," he turned to his parents with widened eyes. "Can I have a food fight?"
"Food fight?" Minerva and the Doctor repeated, confused.
But then Elias' excitement fell and was exchanged by a small gasp and him covering his eyes. He was scared.
"El," Liv appeared in front of him. "What is it?"
"Uh...I think he means because of that," Clara had seen where his gazing ended up. Both Minerva and the Doctor turned to find a knife stuck on the wall.
"Well, looks like you've got your wish, Clara," Minerva said and went back to Elias to comfort him while the Doctor walked up to the knife on the wall.
"Food fight doesn't seem it anymore…" Clara shook her head.
"Whatever it was, it happened pretty recently," the Doctor passed a table with a cup of what he assumed to be tea. He dipped his finger into. "Seven or eight hours ago. No bodies, though."
"And they took provisions," Clara and Liv noted, exchanging prideful smiles afterwards.
"Okay," Minerva bobbed her head while she thought of a plausible reason for all the mess they were seeing, "So something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base..."
"A swim?" Elias wanted to contribute to the 'thinking part'.
Minerva smiled, shaking her head. "Afraid not."
"There's a creepy flooded village outside," Liv crinkled her nose after checking the environment from a window.
"Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it," Clara raised a hand for a high five but no one was interested...except…
"Me! Me!" Elias rushed up to her, hopping with a hand raised. "High-five, Ca-yah! C'mon!"
Clara lowered her hand and allowed the boy to clap his hand against hers. "Well, I'm glad Elias didn't leave me hanging."
Minerva smirked. "I haven't done high fives since I was a human."
"And even then she was snooty about them," the Doctor passively remarked on his way out of the room. Minerva gaped and went after him with a very sharp 'excuse me?'.
Elias put a hand over his mouth and let a giggle out. "Daddy's in trouble."
"When isn't he?" Liv rolled her eyes and disappeared. Clara took Elias' hand and the two walked out to follow the others.
They walked for a couple minutes in silence, searching for amy life signs. Fortunately, they believed, they spotted two men at a distance, bent down with their backs to the group.
"Ah, a crew," Minerva smiled.
"Hello, sailors!" the Doctor called to them.
"No, please don't do that," Minerva made a face of distaste beside him.
The figures stood up and turned around. The group was taken aback by the fact that the two figures, two men, had dark holes where their eyes were meant to be. However, they didn't notice right away that their lips were moving.
"Right, I did not expect that," the Doctor breathed in. "Hands up who expected that."
Clara gasped when the two men started for them. Even Elias moved to hide between his parents.
"Wait, wait," Minerva said, eyes intently watching the men. "I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious."
"What are they?" Liv tilted her head after appearing behind the two men.
The two men, one of which seemed to have familiar alien features, stopped in front of the three adults. Elias made a small whine of fear and hid his face on the Doctor's pant leg.
"Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?" the Doctor was quite fascinated with them, and frankly a not disappointed when they turned away from them. "Oh, c'mon!"
"Um, dear, I think they want us to follow,' Minerva concluded.
"And you're sure that's a good idea?" Liv raised her eyebrows but of course the only answer she got was Minerva smiling cheekily.
"But what are they?" Clara whispered as they started following.
"I haven't a clue. Isn't that exciting?" the Doctor replied, honestly giddy.
They were lead in a white room full of machinery and with one great spaceship standing on a dais.
"Where did they go?" Clara was confused when they walked into the room and saw no more freaky men.
"And what is that?" Liv pointed a finger at the spaceship.
"Spaceship!" Elias cheered and made a run for it when Minerva snatched him from behind.
"I think not, mister!"
Elias fussed as he saw his father and Clara walking past them to get into the spaceship. "Mommy! I want to get in! I want to see! C'mon!"
Minerva ignored his pleads and watched as the Doctor and Clara took a look inside the spaceship. "So, what's in there?"
The Doctor stopped by a wall where he saw several symbols carved into the wall. Clara picked up a flashlight and shined it on the wall to see herself. his hand over the rectangular object and sees the symbols on the wall.
"Why hasn't the TARDIS translated it?" Liv inquired from behind.
"What? What is it?" Minerva grew impatient. "Clara!"
At her name call, the brunette handed the flashlight to the Doctor and came down the steps from the ship. "Babysitter duty again?"
"I'm not a baby!" Elias said, incredibly offended while his mother just passed him on like he was still a baby who couldn't walk.
"Oh poor you," Clara mocked the boy and laughed.
Minerva came up the stairs and stopped beside the Doctor to see what exactly was on the wall. "Oh, Liv had a point. Why isn't it being translated?"
At a hiss, Clara turned around and saw that the two mysterious men were back."Hey, look, they're back!"
"Hello!" the Doctor turned to greet them. "Did you want to show us this? It's very nice."
"Except for the 'we can't read it' part," Minerva added in a low mumble.
Liv squinted her eyes to focus on them. "Wait, are they saying something?"
But one of the men picked up a fire axe from the wall, letting it clang onto the floor since it appeared to be too heavy to carry completely.
"Okay, they now appear to be arming themselves," Clara breathed.
"Ca-yah, step back!" Elias commanded in her arms. Clara didn't need to be told twice.
The Doctor grabbed Minerva by the hand and quickly came out of the spaceship. Minerva watched the second man grab a harpoon gun.
"I would put that down if I were you!" she called to them. "I don't allow guns near my son!"
"Water pistol?" Elias asked, confused as he did have those.
"That's a toy," Minerva rolled her eyes. "And it shoots water."
"Guys…" Clara's voice drawled as the man began to sing the axe. She yelped and ducked away when he brought it over, just narrowly missing her.
"Yay! Run!" Elias cheered over her shoulder.
"Only you!" Clara shot him a mini-glare.
"GUYS!" Liv shouted when the second man fired the harpoon gun.
The group did another duck then ran out of the room. Elias laughed as he was bobbed in Clara's arms, clearly enjoying the ride after all.
"Oh my God you are unbelievable!" Clara put him down the moment they found a hiding place in the corridor.
Minerva snorted beside her, taking one of Elias' hands into hers. "You're one to talk. Weren't you the one laughing away while the Mary, Queen of Scots, nearly had us beheaded last week?"
"Hey!" Clara pointed at her. "That was different."
"Yes, because you are 29 and my boy is four!"
Before Clara could refute that, a translucient hand stuck out from the wall, making her gasp and jump away.
"GHOST!" Elias laughed even more.
One of the men emerged from the wall indeed like a proper ghost and made the group retreat.
"Run!" Liv appeared only to give that instruction.
The group ran down the corridor again, but not before seeing the second man rising through the floor like another ghost.
"Mommy, it's like Casper!" Elias cheerfully made the comparison he thought was correct.
"Nothing like Casper, El!"
Suddenly, a door at the end of the corridor they were in opened up, revealing a group inside the small room.
"In here!" called a brunette woman in a cap. "Quick!"
Without questioning, the group ran straight in. The Doctor turned around and saw the ghost coming to peek at them through the round window on the door. "What are you?" he was beguiled to see that the 'ghosts' were not coming through.
"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?" one of the men in the group demanded straight away.
Minerva cleared her throat for the Doctor to turn around and get the introductions out of the way.
The Doctor whipped around with the psychic paper in hand. "This is Minerva, our son Elias, and that's Clara over there. Oh, and I'm the Doctor."
The man's eyes widened after reading the psychic paper. "You're from UNIT."
"Well, if that's what it says," the Doctor shrugged.
"I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett," Pritchard gestured to the man in glasses beside him.
The woman in the cap stepped up, rather excitedly, to greet them. "O'Donnell! Are you really the Doctor? I'm a huge fan!"
"Oh please don't feed his ego," Minerva sighed.
"Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass," the last man, the youngest, spoke up and then gestured to a light-haired woman beside him, all in the meanwhile of doing sign-language translation for her.
"I know that!" Elias cheered for himself when he recognized the hand movements. "Ca-yah taught me that!"
Clara smiled awkwardly when they all looked at her for a moment. She was so touched when Minerva and the Doctor asked her if she would like to take part in Elias' education by becoming his teacher of...humanity. At first, Clara wasn't sure if she was up for the job. She was, after all, only an English teacher and a teacher for late childhood. But they persuaded her by pointing out that she'd seem things first-hand about Earth and that she was one of Earth's best representatives. There could be no one better than her for the job. Besides, she and Elias got along fine despite their initial rocky relationship. Elias loved to mess with Clara but as he was growing it lessened and turned more into a sister-brother bond.
"Right, tell me, what about those things out there?" the Doctor inquired from the group. "What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?"
"Well, they're er, they're ghosts," Bennett replied, although his face betrayed the convincing stance the group was trying to give.
"Like Casper?" Elias looked from his mother to his father again.
"No Elias, there's no such thing as ghosts," the Doctor gave him a stern point.
"I resent that," Liv appeared to the entire room, causing further suspicions from the crew.
"It's okay, she's not...a ghost, exactly…" Clara finished weak on her explanation.
"She's my landline," Liv jerked a thumb in Clara's direction. "But please...do keep giving me all those...looks…" because everyone was indeed still staring at her oddly.
"The ghosts, if we could, please," Minerva made a gesture with her hand for some explanations to be thrown.
"They're not gh-"
"Shh," she pointed at the Doctor.
"Cass is saying-" Lunn had begun as Cass signed when the Doctor cut in.
"Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign," he signed as he spoke after. "Go ahead."
"Dear, that's not actually tr-" Minerva then received a hand for her to stop. She crossed her arms and leaned on her hip, just waiting for the Doctor to remember.
Cass began to sign her response for the Doctor until the man shook his head and looked back at Lunn. "No, no, actually, I can't."
"You deleted it for semaphore," Minerva's sharp voice made him wince. "That's what I was trying to tell you, Martian."
"Sorry darling."
"Mhm."
Lunn took over as translator again. "One of the ghosts is our previous commanding officer. The other, um moley guy, we don't know what he is."
"He's from the planet Tivoli," the Doctor corrected.
"See?" Bennett cast a look at his crew. "I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?"
"Yes, but the weird part is that this specific species is not violent," Minerva revealed, quite puzzled like the Doctor. "They're too cowardly. I mean, Elias could probably enslave them all now."
"What's enslave?" Elias curiously looked up.
"Something we will be covering next week," Clara promised him.
"When did they first appear?" the Doctor asked the crew.
"Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar? Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got…" O'Donnell took a pause, her cheeriness fading, "...Moran was killed."
Cass began to sign and so Lunn spoke for her. "Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us. So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realised the ghosts couldn't come in here."
"What is this place?" Liv and Clara asked as they both examined the small room.
"It's a Faraday cage," the Doctor replied. "Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently, whatever those things are out there. So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore."
Cass' eyebrows furrowed, clearly offended.
"That would be me," Lunn said for her. "Her," he pointed at Cass.
"Actually-" Pritchard stepped forwards holding out a small business card for the Doctor, "-that would be me. I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil."
"Oil?" Minerva took the card from the Doctor to give it a brief look over. "Where are we, exactly?"
"This used to be a military training site. There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged," Bennett explained for them.
"Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it," Pritchard finished.
'Good morning,' a computer voice echoed in the room. 'Entering day mode.'
"Good morning," Elias waved up to the ceiling as everything around them brightened up with new lights.
"Okay, it's morning. We can go outside now," O'Donnell clapped her hands together and headed for the door.
"Thank God for that," Lunn sighed.
"At last, we can get out of here," Pritchard said, relieved.
"Morning?" Clara made a face and looked out at the corridor that was far brighter than earlier.
"Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights," Bennett pulled a towel from a hook.
"I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship, but what about those things that aren't ghosts?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh, it's all right. They only come out at night," O'Donnell opened up the door for them.
"Weird how that is not comforting," Clara mumbled as they followed out.
~ 0 ~
The group had relocated to the main hangar, where the spaceship was located.
"If whatever they are-"
"They're ghosts," Pritchard told the Doctor but the man refused to believe it.
"They're not ghosts. Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?"
"That was my call," Pritchard raised a finger. "We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it…" he paused for a moment when the group of travelers stared. "What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus."
"Yes, you seem like the type…" Minerva said slowly, looking the man up and down.
"I'm sorry, type of what?"
"The type to value money over people's lives because you are in fact...an idiot," Minerva finished with a straight face, which made it all the more funny to the rest.
The Doctor cleared his throat, awkward for the poor human man who obviously stood no chance against his clever wife. "Why is there a Faraday cage on the base?"
"It's the mining equipment," Bennett replied. "It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak."
"So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor. Anything else I should know?" the Doctor headed back for the spaceship. "Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?"
"Pears, Daddy, remember?" Elias crinkled his nose as he reminded of his allergy.
"That's okay, I'm allergic to those too," the Doctor smiled.
"No, you're not," Minerva corrected, slightly smiling herself. "You just hate them and got lucky with Elias."
"No idea what you mean," the Doctor hummed as he got to looking at the wall of the spaceship with the funny symbols. "Now then, it all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be." He started taking a walk around and spotted a small compartment on the floor. He bent down and pulled its lid to reveal a resemblance of a battery. There was a black, cylindrical object inside but there seemed to be a second one missing. "What's happened to the stuff you've removed? This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing."
"Power cell?" Pritchard raised an eyebrow, curious of the whereabouts of the object.
"Don't trip," called Minerva when the man made a bolt for the ship. "Wouldn't want to lose our money man."
"You can see the casing is empty," the Doctor gestured to the empty space in the compartment, witholding a smirk from his wife's comment. There was definitely no more filter on her anymore.
"It's not safe out HERE here!" Lunn's voice carried over, making everyone see he and Cass were having a disagreement.
"What's the matter?" Clara asked.
"She won't let me look inside the spaceship. She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here!"
"Well, if you'll be outside, hold my son's hand while I go take a looksie," Minerva walked Elias over, forcing the boy to take Lunn's hand. "And pity the both of you if either of you let's go."
With that, she left them and walked for the spaceship. The others were crowding around the Doctor who was still bent over the compartment on the floor.
"I imagine they're pretty valuable," Pritchard remarked.
"What?" the Doctor looked up at the man's almost hungry face.
"I mean powerful. Those power cells. I imagine they're pretty powerful."
"Oh please, don't bother to mask your greediness," Minerva rolled her eyes, giving a disapproving look afterwards. "Not like there's more important things to think about."
"They can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark," the Doctor added afterwards, straightening on his feet.
"And the missing one must still be out there…" Pritchard made a nod to the side to indicate 'outside'.
"Yes, well, otherwise - sorry, why is this man still talking to me?" the Doctor looked around, genuinely lost. Minerva gave a shrug.
"We haven't removed anything," O'Donnell informed him. "There hasn't been time."
The group then started coming back out with the Doctor in lead. "So what have we got? Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through."
Liv smirked, appearing just as the Doctor passed her by. "Am I hearing the beginning of a beautiful apology?"
"They're ghosts!" the Doctor pointed at her, Liv gasping for dramatic effect.
"Like Casper!" Elias ran up to them and stopped beside Clara. "Can we watch the movie again?" he asked her.
"If we make it out we can watch anything you want," Clara patted his head.
~ 0 ~
Moving to the main control room, the Doctor had all of the equipment he would need at his disposable.
"You said there was no such thing as ghosts yet here we are," Liv proudly said after they regrouped again.
"So you're...you're a proper ghost, then?" O'Donnell pointed at her.
"Echo would be the proper term but I suppose so," Liv shrugged. "Which is why I wish someone-" she shot the Doctor a hard look, "-would stop trying to debunk that idea."
"You are an abnormality, Olivia!"
Minerva smacked the Doctor upside the head. "Don't you call my sister an abnormality!"
"You know I meant that in the nicest way possible," the Doctor rubbed the back of his head. "I meant that these people are literally dead. No echoes of them anywhere. They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead. Wow. This is, it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost!"
Cass glowered at the man and did some signing.
"Moran was our friend," Lunn translated for her, although his hurt voice indicated it wasn't just a thought of Cass'.
"Ca-yah," Elias tugged on Clara's hand and made her bent down for him to whisper. "Is it time for the cards?"
"Cards?" Minerva raised her eyebrows. "What cards?"
Clara smirked. "Elias and I had a lesson about human manners last week. We had an assignment based on a visual," her eyes flickered to the Doctor and her smirk widened. She pulled out a series of flashcards from her jacket's pocket and handed them to Minerva.
"I helped write some!" Elias excitedly informed his parents.
Minerva could easily identify the squiggling letters Elias had made in some of the cards and smiled. "Oh now these are some keepers."
There were various lines on each of the cards, going from 'I completely understand why it was difficult not to get captured' to 'I didn't mean to imply that I don't care.'
"What?" the Doctor frowned at them all.
"Ah, here we are," Minerva plucked out the correct flashcard for the situation and held it for the Doctor to take.
The Doctor stared in disbelief.
"Take it Daddy, it's to help," Elias anxiously awaited for the Doctor to take the card from Minerva.
Minerva smirked, knowing that of course the Doctor wasn't about to shoot down Elias' work when the boy was clearly so set on it being used on grounds of being 'helpful'. He snatched the card from Minerva and turned to the awaiting crew. He released a small breath and read the card. "I'm very sorry for your loss. I'll do all I can to solve the death of your friend slash family member slash pet."
"We helped!" Elias declared proudly.
"No more lessons with Clara," the Doctor hissed as he handed the flashcard to Minerva again.
Both Clara and Liv struggled not to laugh, but feeling each other's emotions was not making it easy.
"But don't you see what this means?" the Doctor addressed the crew again. "Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone. How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects? Oh-" he paused, "-I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so!"
"Calm down, Doctor, calm," Minerva rubbed his back. "You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey, you know. Bit jealous, actually."
The Doctor settled that with a kiss on the cheek. "Okay. Question one. What is a ghost? Question two. What do they want?"
And just then, the lights went out. 'Good evening. Entering night mode.'
"That's not right," O'Donnell rushed for the computers. "We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!"
They then began to hear the cloister bells ringing.
"Er, what's doing that?" Bennett looked at the others, sure that the sound was a new one.
"Doctor?" Clara noticed the man going stiff.
"The Tardis Cloister Bell!" Minerva told them and they hurried out with Elias. Clara ran after and Liv disappeared.
By the time they made it to the TARDIS they found the console bathed in a red glow with series of smoke billowing out in different compartments of the room.
"Roger!" Elias ran straight for his forgotten teddy bear on the console chair.
"Doctor, Minerva, what's wrong?" Clara pulled her jacket off and draped it over a railing.
"It must be the ghosts," Minerva remarked. "Probably why she was upset when we got here."
"Why?" Liv made a face after appearing.
"It's just what I was saying. You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations," the Doctor explained. "A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them."
"Oh, well, mind me and my offended face!" Liv called loudly.
"Not you, I said you were an echo," the Doctor shook his head. "With a foot in the world of the living. You're not the same."
"Yet somehow I still feel offended."
"So, what do we do?" Clara adamantly awaited for an answer.
Minerva turned a handle on the console and stopped the toiling of the cloister bell. "What the Doctor hardly ever does: put the handbrake on."
"Good!" Clara clapped her hands together, the excitement quickly making its way back to her face. She turned around and rushed for the doors.
"Uh, excuse you," Minerva's sharp call made Clara stop and turn back. "Where do you think you're going?"
Clara's lips stretched into a wide smile. "Out there, where the action is."
"Me too!" Elias, now holding his teddy bear, ran to where Clara stood.
"Oh, this is our own fault," the Doctor came up beside Minerva, the latter crossing her arms. "I like adventures as much as the next man. If the next man is a man who likes adventures. Even so, don't, don't go native."
Clara's smile turned into a confused one. "What do you mean? I'm not."
"Clara, sometimes we get the feeling you're not...entirely conscious anymore when you get into these adventures," Minerva tried to put it as kindly as possible. "I mean...you're just as blind as Elias is at times; running into danger."
"Do you know what you need? You need a hobby," the Doctor pointed, but Clara laughed.
"I really don't."
"Or maybe finding another relationship," Minerva added with thought. "To clear your head from so much of...this…" she gave a wave of hand to signal the room.
"You guys, I'm fine," Clara promised them, although part of her was a bit offended they had compared her to a four year old.
"We just...felt that we needed to say something," the Doctor admitted.
"I know. And I appreciated it."
"Because we've got a duty of care," Minerva said. "We've seen this sort of thing before. Our friend, Amy, in the beginning...she was...dazzled...and...a bit wreckless."
"I'm not reckless," Clara frowned, now a bit irritated.
"No that's not what I meant. We're just concerned that you may get there in the end...and unlike Elias...you don't exactly get to regenerate," Minerva felt awful picturing her son regenerating but she felt it was the only way to get their point across. They didn't know if Clara getting so blind was because they were once again picking up travelling and she was compensating for the gap...or if it was because they were aiding her to become like it.
"Okay, I really don't need to be compared to Elias who is four years old," Clara raised her hands. "Liv?"
"Coming," Liv walked by, shooting some apologetic smiles at Minerva and the Doctor on her way.
With a sigh, the two adult aliens followed out with their son between them.
~ 0 ~
In the mess hall, Clara, Bennett and Elias were busy grabbing food for their unexpected fallback to the faraday cage. They could hear to O'Donnell's voice over the speakerphone asking for Pritchard to report himself after a long while of no contact.
"I'd love to work for UNIT, Earth's first line of defence, and all," Bennett admitted to Clara as they dug through the miniature fridges. "I'm probably not suited, though. Not much of a fighter. More of a bleeder."
"I got a scar from fighting," Elias reported, slightly proud of himself as he showcased his left arm to the man.
Clara rolled her eyes beside the boy. "Uh, no you did not. You tripped. On a brick, I should add."
Elias stomped his foot and whipped his head at her. "Ca-yah!" he whined. He was trying to sound cool and there she was ruining it.
Liv appeared, playfully rolling her eyes at the two. She happened to look back and saw Pritchard standing across them, with his back to them. "Clara, Pritchard's here."
Clara, Bennett and Elias looked over to see the man.
"Pritchard! Where you have you been?" Clara called. "Everyone's been looking for you. What's with the wet suit?" she noted the odd suit the man wore. Well, it couldn've be worse than those ugly bright, orange spacesuits the Doctor still had lying about inside the TARDIS.
"Yeah, where have you been?" Bennett wondered the same and moved over to the comm. "O'Donnell, it's okay. Pritchard's in here!"
"Pritchard, you moron," snapped the woman over the speakers. "Grab your stuff, we're locking down early. In case I can't get this back into day mode."
"Ca-yah, why isn't he moving?" Elias asked after Pritchard remained completely still, not even making a noise.
Something then bumped against the window in the room. Liv popped over to get a closer look and gasped in horror to see Pritchard's corpse floating outside. "It's Pritchard!"
"If that's…?" Clara slowly looked back at the figure standing INSIDE inside the room. It was Pritchard's 'ghost' of course, with black eye sockets, who was now there.
Liv disappeared to get the others.
"It's another ghost!" Elias clapped a small hand over his mouth. "Run?"
The ghost looked about in the room while the others tried inching their way to the doors. Just as it picked up a chair off the floor, the others ran into the room. Liv then reappeared.
"Elias!" Minerva quickly motioned for her son to come to her.
Elias scurred alongside the wall, clutching his teddy bear, until he made it to his parents. "It's another ghost!" he excitedly reported.
The lights turned back on and forced the ghost away, leaving only the chair he was using to fall on the floor.
'Good morning. Entering day mode,' the computer announced.
"Daddy, I saw another ghost!" Elias said as if no one but him had seen the newest of ghosts in the room. "You want me to tell you about it?"
The Doctor rubbed his forehead, for once not so keen on having Elias excited over their latest enemy. Still, he took Elias' hand and started heading out. "Tell me all about it," he gave in.
~ 0 ~
Back in the main bridge, the group looked over the security camera to see how exactly Pritchard had turned into a ghost. They saw that Moran's ghost had basically drowned Pritchard.
O'Donnell turned off the camera.
"They're working out how to use the base against us," Minerva said, a bit impressed the ghosts knew those sort of tactics. "Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning."
"And now there's three of them," the Doctor could only wonder how much trouble three ghosts would cause in the matter of an hour.
"Cass, what do we do?" Bennett turned to their crew leader.
"We abandon the base," Lunn translated for Cass. "Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever."
"Wait, wait-" the Doctor faced Cass but the woman fiercely moved face-to-face with him, signing her equally fierce thoughts.
"I can't force you to leave, so you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew."
Clara scooted closer to Minerva behind the Doctor, whispering, "But we're coming back, aren't we?"
"Oh of course," the blonde gave a small nod of her head.
Cass turned away from the Doctor, looking to O'Donnell and signed, "O'Donnell, contact Topside. Tell them we're abandoning the base on my orders."
O'Donnell moved over to a field telephone set on a table. "Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over."
'Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over.'
O'Donnel's eyebrows furrowed together, as did for the rest. "Repeat, Topside. Over."
'We've received your request for a rescue sub. It's two minutes away. Over.'
O'Donnell glanced at the crew, but no one had an idea of what was going on. "Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over."
'Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over.'
The Doctor snatched the handset from O'Donnel and took over. "Topside, this is the Doctor, UNIT security visa seven one zero Apple zero zero. You may be familiar with my work. Call back the sub."
'Doctor, why would-'
"Call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base is now under quarantine."
"What did you do that for?" Bennett frowned when the Doctor hung up.
"Isn't it clear?" Minerva's response made all eyes turn on her. "None of us sent that message which means that the ghosts sent it. And if they sent it then they want the crew down here."
"Why would they do that?" Lunn dreaded to know.
"Well, we don't know, but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band," the Doctor remarked. "Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings. Why? What's different at night?"
O'Donnell looked around to see if anyone would answer, but seeing as it didn't happen she went for it herself. "It's mainly atmospheric. The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled."
"No. Something, something else."
Cass realized there was perhaps another answer. "The diagnostic sweep. When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power," Lunn translated for her.
"Well, what systems specifically?" asked Minerva.
"Life support, the locks," O'Donnell asnwered. "They're electromagnetic. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds."
The Doctor rubbed his chin, thinking out loud. "The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it."
"What do we do?" Clara waited with anticipation.
The Doctor paced back and forth for a bit until he got just the idea. "O'Donnell. Excellent work, returning the base to day mode…"
The woman in question lit up at the compliment. "Shut up. It was nothing…" but she paused, "You really think so?"
"Now put it back into night mode."
Her face fell. "What!?"
"We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not any more. So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. We want to know what these ghosts are after? We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost."
"Do we need nets?" came Elias' innocent question, making the Doctor smile.
"No El, not for this one, no," the Doctor shook his head, thinking of a more elaborate plan.
~0~
All around the lights went out, indicating it was night mode time. Bennett, Clara and Lynn were set at strategical points for the ghosts. From the main bridge, the rest watched through the security cameras. Elias stood on his tippy-toes trying to get a better look himself, although his disappointment was still marvelously evident in his face.
"I wanted to go too," he huffed once more.
"Over my body," Minerva patted his head. "Hunting ghosts is for adults."
"But I'm big, see!?" Elias raised his hands over his head, trying to look as tall as possible.
"Come over here, El," the Doctor called to him. "You can help me guide them, okay?"
Elias beamed and left his mother's side to go 'help' the Doctor. "I get to help!"
"Yes you do, c'mon!" the Doctor picked him up and pointed to the screens.
"Bennett's got them moving, and Clara's in position," O'Donnell informed after Bennett had managed to get the ghosts on his trail.
The plan was simple, they hoped. It was just to draw the three ghosts into the farday cage where they would not be able to escape.
"I see Ca-yah!" Elias pointed at the screen that showed Clara, and Liv, waiting in one corridor.
"Yes," the Doctor agreed. "Clara, Bennett is going to run across the top of the T-junction to your right. In about ten seconds. Draw the ghosts towards you. Turn right, and then take second left."
"Got it," Clara called from the comm.
And they saw how Clara grabbed the ghosts' attention.
"Lunn, they're coming your way," the Doctor then informed. "Clara's going to duck down to her left. You've got to keep the ghosts going on the same route they're on now. Then, after about fifty yards on your left, there is a flood door. O'Donnell will close the door once you're through."
"I-I can hear them," Lunn nervously replied.
"We imagine you would," Minerva remarked, thinking it would've been obvious without saying it.
"Lunn, don't let them see where you go," the Doctor warned.
They watched as Lunn grabbed the attention of the three ghosts but after he ran off, they realized that only one of the ghosts was following him.
"They've separated," O'Donnell gasped. "Moran and the mole guy are going after Clara."
Minerva pressed for the comm. system to alert Clara she was still being chased. "Clara, look out. Two ghosts are still on your case. Right behind you."
"I'm beginning to think we should have let the ghosts in on the plan!" Clara exclaimed, slightly panting from the unforseen running.
"Clara, there's a flood door at the end of the corridor, around the corner to your right," the Doctor informed. "We'll close it from here. Listen to me. You've got to get through that door before Moran and the other ghost sees you."
"Guys, I'm nearly at my door!" Lunn then said, still doing his bit of the plan. He made it through his designated room and waited for the door to be closed. However, as it closed, he saw that Pritchard's ghost had caught sight of him. "It saw me. Oh, God. It saw me. It's coming through. It's coming through the door!"
"We don't have a camera in there!" O'Donnell told the rest when they expectedly waited for her to switch the camera view.
Cass turned to leave, terrified of the situation, but Minerva grabbed onto her. "It's not going to do anything!"
"What's going to happen, Daddy?" Elias blinked rapidly, understanding that this man was now in danger because of a ghost.
"Uh…" the Doctor frankly didn't know and he would rather not answer the question. He put Elias down on his feet and tried getting ahold of Lunn. "Lunn, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Lunn, what's happening?"
But in the room, Lunn was backing away from ghost-Pritchard. His back hit the wall and he had no other choice but to simply watch ghost-Pritchard pick up a wrench from the wall. Lunn slid down the wall as the ghost neared him. But then, at the last moment, the ghost dropped the wrench and walked away.
"Lunn, can you hear me? Lunn? Lunn?" the Doctor's voice was the only thing ringing in the room. "Lunn, Lunn! What's happening? Lunn? Lunn? Can you hear me?"
Lunn opened his eyes and released a giant breath when he saw the ghost wasn't there. "I-I'm okay," he slowly pushed himself back on his feet. Everyone else calmed instantly. "It didn't hurt me. I'm okay!"
"What?" the Doctor paused for a second. "What's wrong with you? Why didn't it hurt you?"
Minerva elbowed him on the side, shooting him a look for his imprudence. She shook her head and looked at the cameras again. "Bennett, you're on again. There are two ghosts just around the corner from you."
Bennett was in another corridor, and was taking discreet glances into the next one where he could see the other two ghosts just standing there. "Yes, thanks, I'd noticed," he whispered back to the group.
"The Faraday cage is across the intersection and down the corridor to your right. This last bit is down to you," the Doctor said.
Bennett went into a running and didn't need to look back to know that he had three ghosts behind him. "Okay, so, the good news is, they aren't split up any more. Cue Liv!"
Liv appeared in the center of the Faraday cage, which had its door open. "Come on in!" she clapped her hands to make as much noise as possible.
The ghosts walked right into the room. Liv smirked when the doors shut behind them. "Doctor, it worked!" she then called up to the comm.
In a matter of seconds, the Doctor had ran up to the room. He put on his sonic sunglasses to hopefully get some readings off the ghosts back in the main bridge. "We need to talk."
Clara, Bennett, and Lunn ran back to the main bridge. Cass and O'Donnell greeted their respective members with hugs and a punch on the arm.
"I'm fine, by the way…" Clara raised a hand after not getting much, "...in case any of you were worried."
Minerva turned around with a smirk on her face. Elias laughed and ran towards Clara. "I can do it!" he threw his arms around Clara's waist, hugging her.
Clara smiled. "Thanks, El. You're the best."
"Yeah," Elias pulled back with a boyish grin.
"You are so your father's son," Clara playfully rolled her eyes.
"Minerva, are you all seeing it?" the heard the Doctor call. His sonic sunglasses were infiltrating the security cameras and displaying what he saw, which were the ghosts and Liv.
Minerva squinted her eyes as did the rest. "We can't get a proper look. I think the glass is too thick or they're too far away...or both."
"Open the door," the Doctor said so calmly.
"Are you kidding me?" Clara stared at the screen like the Doctor could see her. "We just went through this whole plan to make sure the ghosts didn't hurt us and now you want go inside?"
"Doctor whatever you want, just...just let Liv get it," Minerva was thinking logically, and thankfully Liv agreed.
"Doctor what do you need?" Liv stood right on the other side of the door from him.
"A look at the ghosts - Minerva!" the Doctor called for his wife. "Get them to open the doors!"
Minerva rolled her eyes, waving a hand at O'Donnell. "Let him in, but if he dies I'm killing him."
"Mommy, does he need a net?" Elias tugged at Minerva's hand.
"No, he's going to need a miracle if he wants to survive me," Minerva mumbled as she attentively watched the screen where her husband was in.
In the Farday cage, Liv walked up with the Doctor to the ghosts. "My sister's going to kill you if this goes wrong," she warned him.
"I got the memo," the Doctor promised.
But as soon as they could, Moran's ghost thrust a hand right through the Doctor's body. The Time Lord gasped and twitched but was otherwise not in pain.
"Quit your playing!" Liv hit him on the arm. "I give Minerva five minutes before she comes in here herself to pull you out by the ear!"
The Doctor couldn't disagree there. "Cold, isn't it?" he smirked at ghost-Moran as it took its hand back. "Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you? Is that better, Minerva?"
"I guess," came the grumbling response.
Liv tilted her head at the three ghosts that had aligned themselves. "Wait, Doctor, I think...I think they're saying something…"
And back on the main bridge, the others were beginning to realize it too.
"They're moving their mouths at the same time, and finishing at the same time," Minerva noted.
"Cass says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over," Lunn said after Cass had gotten closer to the cameras. "They're saying the dark. The score. No, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple."
"What?"
Cass repeated her signging, looking very assured. "Yes, she's sure. The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple," Lunn said for her. "Just that. Over and over."
"Kind of like...last words?" Liv tried reasoning with her own logic.
"Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean?" the Doctor stared blankly at the ghosts. "What are you telling me, big man?"
"I think if they could tell us we wouldn't be in this situation," Liv remarked.
"It's hidden like a riddle," came Minerva's clear voice over the system. "And I love riddles."
The Doctor smiled. "I think my wife's figured it out."
~0~
"They're coordinates," Minerva gestured to the map the Doctor had placed between the group.
"How do you know?" Clara raised an eyebrow. It's not that she wouldn't believe Minerva but the words were scarce on any relevancy to be actual coordinates.
"One of my childhood friends is head of my kingdom's military, Clara," Minerva reminded, smiling just a tad smugly. "I know my military talk when I have to."
"Unfortunately," the Doctor couldn't help but bitterly say. See, the word 'military' should never have to be in Minerva's vocabulary. He understood that she was only acting as any leader would by making sure that her people would always be protected. It just didn't mean the Doctor liked it.
"But how can they be coordinates?" Bennett continued with Clara's disbelief, although now the brunette was totally convinced it was coordinates.
"The 'dark' means space," Minerva answered first. "Meaning that whoever is following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet."
"And the sword?" Liv slowly asked.
The Doctor handed an apple to Bennett, a knobby ball to O'Donnell, a tennis ball to Clara and a Vector Petroleum place mat for her right hand. He positioned them up in a diagonal line, making them raise their hands with the respective objects up.
"My toys," Elias huffed as Clara lowered the tennis ball. Clara knew that was his favorite tennis ball to play with.
"Orion's sword!" he finally answered Liv. "The sword, the three stars, although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula, hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here-" he ran to the end of the line where Clara was, "-the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer."
"And the forsaken means the abandoned or empty town," Minerva explained while the Doctor took back all the objects he'd given out. Of course hearing Elias' whimpers the Doctor have him his tennis ball back.
"See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over," the Doctor have a light shrug of his shoulders. "And every time they kill one of us -"
"It strengthens the signal," Clara understood, slightly disturbed. "Another ghost, another transmitter."
"Which is why they sent for that rescue sub," O'Donnell also made the connection.
"If they get more people down here then they kill them and make even more transmitters," Minerva simplified for the rest.
Cass began to sign and Lunn asked, "But why are they beaming out the coordinates? Is it a distress call?"
"It could be. Or a warning," the Doctor offered as another reason.
"Might even be a call to arms," Minerva spoke her thoughts with ease, despite them being a tad scary. "It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself."
"Wait a minute, though. Wait a minute!" the Doctor suddenly pointed no where in specific. "Do you know what this means?"
"What? What!?" Elias excitedly hopped till he was next to his father.
The Doctor smiled in what Minerva would only call his 'idiot smile'. "It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters."
"What's that?" Elias innocently asked then, only understanding his father was talking fast and pretty happy.
"What do the coordinates lead to, though?" O'Donnell inquited. "To us? To the ghosts? What?"
"Ah!" the Doctor continued with his excited demeanor. "What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking." He waited anxiously for the others to react but was met with blank stares instead. "Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?"
Cass looked at her crew and decided to give her own answer. "The temple," Lunn said for her. "The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?"
"Finally," the Doctor mocked a dramatic sigh. "It's like pulling teeth. This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this-" he pointed at a the map. They were now looking at a long, narrow building on a photograph on the wall. "
"A church?" Clara made her assumption.
"Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them."
"Wait, you're not suggesting that?" Bennett blinked. "But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here."
"Well, no one was forcing to you stay in the first place," Minerva pointed out. "My husband here probably prefers you all to leave."
"They'd ask ridiculous questions and get in the way," the Doctor argued without much strength. "But…" he pointed to the crew, "...you know, you have chosen to protect and serve. You-" he directed his finger to Bennett, "-have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned? I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving."
"Cass says we should go-" Lunn said once Cass began to sign, "-but everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay. So I, er, guess I should too."
O'Donnell seemed to be waiting these sorts of answers and happy chimed in her own. "Well, count me in. Who wants to live forever, anyway?"
"Sorry, er, have you gone insane?" Bennett frowned at his friends. "We can go home." But O'Donnell gave him a big grin and of course the man had to rethink. "They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts? Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all."
"That's the spirit," Liv laughed before suddenly adding, "No pun intended."
~ 0 ~
And so, with the help of a drone submarine they scoured the flooded church in the town until they came across the item or device that was raising the dead. It didn't take them long to find a futuristic - clearly alien - large, white casket. They brought into the base, into the main hangar room where the spaceship was.
"Mommy, let's open it!" Elias had his trusty, toy sonic screwdriver in hand and was now aiming it at the casket.
Minerva's eyes flickered to the Doctor, shooting him a 'this is your problem' look. She still didn't like that little gift because she felt it would only enhance Elias' wish to have a real sonic screwdriver and there was no way in hell she was ever letting him have one...at least not until he was grown.
"Uh, El, we can't quite open it yet," the Doctor lowered Elias' hand. "It's deadlocked. And we know what that means, right?"
With a pout, Elias nodded his head. "No sonic screwdrivers."
"So if it's deadlocked...does that mean the pilot is still in there?" Clara stared down at the casket with mild curiosity.
"Well there's definitely something in there," the Doctor replied. "It should be the pilot, it should be."
"So why do you think it isn't?" Liv concluded from the Doctor's face that he wasn't quite sure it really was the pilot that was in the casket.
"More questions," the Doctor mumbled. "Everything I solve, just more questions."
"Oh...no," they heard Minerva sigh from behind. She'd gotten a whiff of the Doctor's thoughts and couldn't decide if she was happy to have a smart husband like hers, or if she should be irritated she had a husband who loved danger so much.
The Doctor glanced back at her with a cheekish smile. "I have to go back to the beginning." He rushed back to the spaceship, mumbling what they already knew. "We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then they try to kill us." He stared at the wall with the untranslated symbols. "Not translated by the Tardis. Why?"
"The TARDIS doesn't know, Daddy. She needs to learn," Elias answered innocently. Maybe the TARDIS needed to learn things like he was. His Mommy always told him that everyone always needed to continue learning or else they would never new things.
The Doctor smiled and shook his head. "Maybe, El." He slipped on his sunglasses and studied the symbols with them, hoping to get some readings off it.
Minerva didn't need to study the symbols anymore. What was there was there. "I think we should be discussing more about those symbols than just staring at them dear," she called.
"Ideas, darling?" the Doctor turned to her, a smile pulling at his lips.
"Well…" Minerva tilted her head, thinking.
"Oh, you already know, don't you?" Clara made an unceremonous snort. Minerva smirked. "You're just as much of a show off as he is," she jerked a thumb in the Doctor's direction.
"Why do you think I married her?" the Doctor came back from the spaceship, stopping just in front of Minerva with a smuggish smile.
Minerva raised an eyebrow, feigning offence but pretty happy with what she was hearing. "Hm."
"Before you two start flirting, can we get back to the ghost problem?" Liv appeared just beside the two.
Minerva pulled away from her husband because she could not make promises that she would stay focused if he kept shooting her those smug smiles. "Okay," she clapped her hands together. "So by this point we know that those symbols-" she pointed a finger to the spaceship, "-are not just words. They can't be. Because clearly it has something to do with the ghosts' motives to kill. Question," she turned to face the group, "if they're not words, what are they?"
But no one answered her.
Minerva sighed lightly and continued. "Okay, picture them like… magnets."
"Magnets?" Bennett repeated, frowning. "How?"
"Well, a localised and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise," the Doctor couldn't help himself from correcting them. "The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that?" Like Minerva, he received no answers. "No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us."
"So that writing is the coordinates?" O'Donnell asked just to be sure they were all following the same page.
"Everything we see or experience shapes us in some way. But these words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain," Minerva said, making a gesture to her head. "They literally change the way you are wired. Clara, why don't we have a radio in the Tardis anymore?"
Clara playfully rolled her eyes. "Because the Doctor took it apart and used the pieces to make a clockwork squirrel."
Elias giggled. "My squirrel, Ca-yah."
"And because whatever song I heard first thing in the morning, I was stuck with," the Doctor added. "Two weeks of Mysterious Girl by Peter Andre. I was begging for the brush of Death's merciful hand."
Minerva cleared her throat loudly on purpose. "I love that song."
"You were making a point, darling?" the Doctor quickly motioned her to continue before he got into real trouble.
Minerva shook her head. "What we meant was that these words are like that catchy song you get rid of. The words are like a song you can't stop humming, even after you die."
"Okay…" Clara gave a small nod to indicate she was understanding, "...so, the spaceship lands here. The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber…"
"...waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up," Liv finished for her, getting the same thoughts as she.
"My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me," the Doctor said, a bit breathless from his awe. "It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death."
"Oh, now you're in deep trouble," Minerva raised her hands and turned away from him. The Doctor had just opened his mouth to amend his error when the alarms of the base began blaring.
'Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures.'
O'Donnell ran to the wall touch screen in the room and was horrified to see 'Flooding Initiated' beginning. "Oh, no. The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its its first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base!"
"Cass says, close the internal flood doors," Lunn translated for the brunnette. "That'll contain the water in the central corridor."
"Where's the Tardis?" Liv asked from her friends but O'Donnell answered.
"On the other side!"
"We need to get there. It's our only way out!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"Okay. We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close!" O'Donnell informed.
"Let's go!" Minerva ushered everyone out the room.
They all ran down the corridor but Elias began to whimper seeing he couldn't quite keep up with the rest. "Daddy!"
"C'mon!" the Doctor grabbed the boy and adjusted his weight to continue running.
He crossed first through the central corridor into the next. O'Donnell and Bennett made it right after before the flood door closed, leaving the rest on the other side.
"No, Minerva!" the Doctor turned around to see their door slide down shut as well.
Minerva backed up everyone on her side so that she could see through the door's small window. 'There's no way to open the doors anymore, just keep going!' she told him telepathically.
"Mommy," Elias leaned forwards to touch the window of their door.
'I will get you and the others out' the Doctor promised Minerva. 'Sit tight, I'll come back for you.'
Minerva nodded slowly, knowing that TARDIS wouldn't even dare cross over to their side because of the ghosts. It would be quicker for the Doctor to go back in time and figure out the reason for the beacons.
'I've no doubt of that, Martian. Just...take care of our mini-Martian over there.' Minerva looked at her son who was no doubt fearful of their newest circumstances. 'You just make sure he stays safe. I come second.'
'You and Elias are my first priorities - not one over the other.' the Doctor promised her once again. Minerva just smiled softly. The Doctor then tore his eyes off his wife and started for the TARDIS.
"Wait, where are we going?" Bennett asked as he and O'Donnell scurried after the Doctor. "We can't just leave them!"
"Mommy's there," Elias looked over the Doctor's shoulder at the door that was growing farther and farther away.
"We are not leaving them!" the Doctor growled at Bennett, leaving it clear that he had absolutely no intention of leaving his wife behind. "To save them I need to go back in time to see why the ghosts started killing in the first place."
"Wait, you're going to go back in time? How do you do that?"
"Extremely well," the Doctor then put Elias down so that he could walk alongside him. "And El, you know I would never leave Mummy behind. We're her boys, aren't we?" Elias nodded, although his small hand gripped the Doctor's, indicating he was still mighty scared. "So we are going to save her. Show me your sonic." Elias pulled out his little toy sonic and held it up. "There we are. No one better for the job than us, huh?" the Doctor ruffled Elias' ginger hair, making the boy smile.
They were most definitely saving their favorite girl.
~ 0 ~
Minerva led the others back into the mess hall seeing as there was nothing else to do but simply wait.
"You're sure they're not going to hurt us?" Lunn was right behind her, this time asking out of his own accord and not translating for Cass.
"Yes, alright?" Minerva turned around, her short hair swinging with her. "The ghosts are still in the Faraday cage and they can't get out."
Cass started signing, but Minerva could easily detect a look of distrust on the woman's face. "And you're sure the Doctor won't just leave us here?"
Minerva tried her best not to look offended at the question. "I'm his wife. Have been for centuries now. I think I'm past the whole 'is he coming back for me' thing, dear."
Cass frowned. Clara smiled and tried easing the tension that was slowly building between them. "Okay, we'll be fine. This is how we roll. The Doctor's going to go away, come back and we'll have to listen to how he did it."
"Uh...Minerva?" they suddenly heard Liv who had appeared in front of the big windows in the room. Minerva glanced at the blonde woman. "I think...I think one of the ghosts did get out." Because now Liv was looking at a darkish figure approaching the base from outside, through the water.
"What?" Minerva scowled, clearly not buying it. "No, that's impossible. You have to be mistaking it."
"Uh I assure you that I'm not," Liv pointed ahead as Minerva and the others approached the windows.
"I don't think it's any of the ghosts we know about," Clara said as the figure grew closer. "I think it's a new ghost."
"What does that mean?" Lunn asked.
"Isn't it obvious? It means that something happened in the past…" Minerva stared the best she could to get a clearer look, "...it means that somebody else must have…" but her breath hitched when she made the figure out.
Beside her, Clara's and Liv's eyes widened.
"Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no!" Minerva slammed a hand against the window. Her heart constricted but all she could do is stare at her husband's would-be ghost on the other side...slowly approaching them.
Author's Note:
It's been a while hasn't it? It was a pack filled semester of assignments, presentations and experiments. I actually just graduated last week so I'm now barely getting some time to get back into my writing!
For the Reviews:
lautaro94: I mean, like I've said before: it's a different narrative here. It could never be like the show portrays. Perhaps in my other fanfics for doctor who, it'll be closer to what the show has!
TheBlueRiver: Thanks so much! Hope you liked this chapter too!
Updates will resume as usual now! Thanks for those sticking around to read ;)