Dusk

"Doctor, make her stop," Val/Sky said as they reached the back of the gallery.

"Val, come with me," the Doctor stepped away from Caroline to touch Val's shoulder. "Come to the back. Stop looking at her. Come on, Jethro. Everyone, come on." He managed to gather everyone in the small area of the back, though Caroline stood a bit out with him. "Fifty minutes, that's all we need. Fifty minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong, look at her. All she's got is our voices."

Val looked at a point on the ground, shaking her head. "I can't…I can't look at her. It's those eyes."

"'We must not look at goblin men'," Dee Dee/Sky began to quote.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a poem," the Doctor/Sky explained. "Christina Rossetti."

Dee Dee nodded. "'We must not look at goblin men. We must not but their fruits. Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots?'"

The Doctor frowned. "Actually, I don't think that's helping."

"She's not a goblin, or a monster," Hobbes/Sky said. "She's just a very sick woman."

"Maybe that's why it went for her."

Hobbes sighed. "There is no it."

"Think about it though," Jethro/Sky said, looking towards the Doctor. "That knocking went all the way round the bus until it found her. And she was the most scared out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in."

"For the last time. Nothing can live on the surface of Midnight!"

"Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, hmm?" the Doctor/Sky said, finally quieting Hobbes. "Now trust me, I've got previous…I think there might well be some consciousness inside Mrs. Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her."

Biff shivered. "Well, you can help her. I'm not going near."

"If she's copying us," Caroline said quietly, she was always speaking quietly, trying to deal with so many people in such a small space and an alien threat that latched onto words, and Caroline still remembered all too well what her existence had been inside the computer at the Library, "then perhaps the final stage is becoming us."

The Doctor nodded. "I don't want her becoming me, or things could get a whole lot worse."

Val scoffed. "Oh, like you're so special."

"As it happens, yes, I am." The woman looked shocked, and thankfully she didn't say anything else. "So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to hospital."

The hostess was staring at Sky over the Doctor's shoulder. "We should throw her out."

Hobbes leaned away from the woman. "I beg your pardon?"

Val's eyes widened. "Can we do that?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

"That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver, and the mechanic, and I don't think she's finished yet."

Caroline glanced at Sky. "She can't move."

"Look at her. Look at her eyes. She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next."

"She's still doing it." Biff stalked towards Sky, pushing the Doctor aside. "Just stop it. Stop talking. Stop it!"

"Biff, don't, sweetheart."

"But she won't stop. We can't throw her out, though. We can't even open the doors."

"No one is getting thrown out!"

"Yes, we can," Dee Dee/Sky said quietly. "Because there's an air pressure seal. Like when you opened the cabin door," she looked to the hostess, "you weren't pulled out. You had a couple of seconds, because it takes the pressure wall about six seconds to collapse." She shrugged. "Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."

The Doctor sighed. "Thanks, Dee Dee. Just what we needed."

"Would it kill her outside?"

Dee Dee shook her head. "I don't know. But she's got a body now. It would certainly kill the physical form."

"No one is killing anyone!"

"I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one." The hostess pointed at the fire exit. "All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out."

"Now, listen, all of you," the Doctor interrupted, stepping forward. "For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, than what's it found? This little bunch of humans. What do you amount to, murder? Because this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?"

There was a pause, long enough that the Doctor was hopeful everyone was reconsidering and calming down. But then the hostess spoke. "I'd do it."

Biff nodded. "So would I."

"And me," Val agreed.

"I think we should."

The Doctor turned to Dee Dee in shock. Maybe from the married couple, but not Dee Dee, surely. "What?"

The woman shrugged. "I want her out."

"You can't say that."

"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor. She is growing in strength."

"That's not what I said."

"I want to go home. I'm sorry. I want to be safe."

"You'll be safe any minute now. The rescue truck is on its way."

"But what happens then, Doctor?" the hostess asked him. "If it takes that…thing back to the Leisure palace, if that thing reaches civilization…what if it spreads?"

"No, because when we get back to the base, I'll be there to contain it."

Val scoffed. "You haven't done much so far."

Biff nodded. "You're just standing in the back with the rest of us!"

"She's dangerous. It's my job to see that this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her."

Hobbes shook his head. "Now, hang on. I think perhaps we're all going a little bit too far."

The Doctor sighed in relief. "At last. Thank you."

"Two people are dead."

"Don't make it a third!"

The shuttle fell silent. The Doctor glanced at Caroline. "Caroline?"

She just shook her head. "We are not killing her." She was scared, more scared then she'd even been in the Library, but she wasn't letting that stop her from being human. She may be panicking at the moment, wanting it all just to stop, but she was still thinking. She still knew that killing Sky wouldn't do anything, it wasn't the solution, not at the moment. Not when they didn't really understand what was happening. "Jethro," she turned to the boy, who'd been standing on his own, "what do you think?"

"I'm not killing anyone."

The Doctor smiled. "Thank you."

Val shook her head. "He's just a boy."

"What, so I don't get a vote?"

"There isn't a vote! It's not happening. Ever. If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first."

The hostess straightened, looking the Doctor up and down. "Okay."

Biff shrugged. "Fine by me."

The Doctor frowned. "Oh, now you're being stupid. Just think about it. Could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out of that door?"

Biff leaned back. "Calling me a coward?"

"Who put you in charge, anyway?"

Hobbes nodded, and Caroline knew that they had lost him. "I'm sorry, but you're a Doctor of what, exactly?"

"They weren't even booked in," the hostess/Sky said. "The rest of you, tickets in advance. The two of them just turned up out of the blue."

"Where from?"

Now was not the moment to try to explain that he was a time traveling alien and she was a human from the twenty first century. "We're just traveling. We're travelers, that's all."

"Like an immigrant?"

"Who were you talking to? Before you got on board, you were talking to someone. Who was that?"

"Just Donna. Just our friend."

"And what were you saying to her?"

"He hasn't even told us his name."

"The thing is, though, Doctor," Jethro/Sky said and Caroline almost felt like she couldn't breathe, because everyone was turning on them, "you've been loving this."

The Doctor groaned. "Oh, Jethro, not you."

"No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it." He glanced at Caroline. "Even you're enjoying it."

Hobbes nodded. "It has to be said, both of you do seem to have a certain…glee."

"All right, I'm interested." The Doctor gestured to both of them. "We both are, we can't help it. Because whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating."

"What, you wanted this to happen?"

"No…"

"And you were talking to her, all on your own, before all the trouble. Right at the front, you were talking to that Sky woman, the three of you together. I saw you."

Val nodded. "We all did."

"And you went into the cabin," the hostess/Sky said, though that was to the Doctor far more than Caroline.

"What were you saying to her?"

"We were just talking."

"Saying way?"

Jethro's eyes widened. "He called us humans like he's not one of us."

Val nodded. "He did. That's what he said."

"And the wiring. They went into that panel and opened up the wiring. "

"That was after.'

"But how did you know what to do?"

"Because I'm clever!" the Doctor/Sky snapped, and everyone went silent.

"I see," Hobbes said, his voice tense. "Well, that makes things clear."

"And what are we, then? Idiots?"

The Doctor shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

"If you're clever, then what are we?"

"You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in."

"Even if he goes, he's practically volunteered." They were all attacking the Doctor now, seeming to have forgotten Caroline, the woman too quiet to be much of a threat in the moment.

"Oh, come on, just listen to yourself, please."

Biff looked at the hostess. "Do you mean we throw him out as well?"

She nodded. "If we have to."

"Look…just…Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just…" the Doctor scrambled for something to say. "I know you're scared, and so am I. Look at me, I am. But we all have got to calm down and cool off and think."

"Perhaps you could tell us your name." Hobbes did make a perfectly reasonable request, but not when the Doctor was involved.

The Time Lord frowned. "What does it matter?"

"Then tell us."

"John Smith."

Hobbes sighed. "Your real name."

"He's lying. Look at his face."

"His eyes are the same as hers."

"Why won't you tell us?"

"It's a simple enough question."

"He's been lying to us right from the start."

"What's your name?"

"No one's called John Smith. Come off it."

"Now, listen to me," the Doctor tried again. "Listen to me right now, because you need me, all of you. If we are going to get out of this, then you need me."

"So you keep saying. You've been repeating yourself more than her." But as Hobbes spoke, Caroline noticed one distinct factor. Sky's voice had almost become a white noise, a truth that none of them heard anymore. But she heard the moment it stopped.

Sky had stopped. But if she was following a pattern, if that consciousness possessing her was following a particular pattern, that would mean…

"If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor. He's the expert."

Jethro had noticed it too. "Mum, stop. Just look."

"You keep out of this, Jethro."

"Look at her!"

Everyone in the shuttle turned to look at the still Sky. "She's stopped."

"When did she?" but Sky was still copying the Doctor, and Caroline looked at him in horror. "No, she hasn't. She's still doing it." Before, the knocking had chosen one of them, it had chased down the most scared, the most vulnerable. And it had clearly shown that it had a pattern, words were just harder to learn then knocks.

If it was only stealing the Doctor's voice, that would mean…

"She looks the same to me…no, she's stopped." Val laughed. "Look, I'm talking, and she's not."

"What about me, is she…" Biff tried, laughing as well when he was the only one speaking. "Look. Look at that. She's not doing me. She's let me go."

"Mrs. Silvestry?" the hostess asked. "Nor me. Nothing."

"Sky," the Doctor turned to face the woman, stepping closer, "what are you doing?"

"She's still doing him."

"Doctor, it's you. She's only copying you."

"Why me? Why are you doing this?"

"She won't leave him alone."

Val nodded. "Do you see? I said so. She's with him"

"They're together."

"How do you explain it, Doctor, if you're so clever?"

But the Doctor could only shake his head. "I don't know. Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it."

"First she repeats…" Caroline said, making everyone look at her. Her voice was shaking. "She did it with the knocks first, and then our voices. She's just following a pattern." She looked at the rest of the passengers. "He didn't pick this, don't you see, why would he have picked this? This is the 'it', this life that none of us understand; repeating then syncing and then becoming…"

"Mrs. Silvestry, I'm trying to understand," the Doctor/Sky said, crouching before the woman. "You've captured my speech. What for? What do you need?" he frowned. "You need my voice in particular. The cleverest voice in the room. Why? Because I'm the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes…they're saying something else. Listen to me. Whatever you want, if it's life, or form, or consciousness, or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So, what do you think?"

"Do we have a…" and then Sky did the one thing that Caroline was terrified was going to happen, the one thing she knew should if the pattern held "deal?" Sky spoke first.

And the Doctor repeated her.

"Hold on," Dee Dee whispered, "did she?"

Jethro nodded. "She spoke first."

"She can't have."

"She did."

"She spoke first."

Caroline stepped forwards, eyes fixed on the Doctor's stiff back, her vision swimming slightly. "No…"

"Oh, look at that," Sky said, completely on her own. "I'm ahead of you."

"Oh, look at that. I'm ahead of you." The Doctor was fighting it, Caroline could hear it, all of the struggle and pain and hatred in his voice as he tried to fight past the consciousness.

"Did you see? She spoke before he did. Definitely."

"He's copying her."

"Doctor, what's happening?"

"I think it's moved," Sky said slowly, sounding out the syllables carefully, like she didn't quite know how to speak on her own.

"I think it's moved."

"I think it's letting me go."

"I think it's letting me go."

Caroline shook her head. "No…"

"What do you mean? Letting you go from what?"

"But he's repeating now. He's the one doing it. It's him."

Jethro nodded. "They're separating."

"That can't be how it works…" it didn't fit, it couldn't, it shouldn't. Why trade one useless host for another? Why would any creature bother with that? It had chosen Sky for a reason, used her to learn, and then it had chosen the Doctor. It wouldn't just leave the first one, not after so long.

Especially when the Doctor was only copying Sky.

"Mrs. Silvestry, is that you?" Hobbes asked carefully.

The woman looked up. "Yes. Yes, it's me."

"Yes. Yes, it's me."

"I'm coming back. Listen."

"I'm coming back-"

"It's me." She spread her arms wide.

"Listen. It's me."

Jethro shook his head. "Like it's passed into the Doctor. It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him."

Dee Dee looked at Caroline, watched her expression, watched the woman attempting to figure everything out. "No, that's not what happened."

"But look at her."

"Look at me, I can move." Sky moved her hands.

"Look at me."

"I can feel again."

"I can move. I can feel again."

"I'm coming back to life."

"I'm coming back to life."

Sky turned to look down at the Doctor. "And look at him. He can't move."

"And look at him. He can't move."

Sky turned to the group, holding out her hands. "Help me."

"Help me."

"Professor?"

"Professor?"

"Get me away from him."

"Get me away from him."

"Please."

"Please."

Hobbes stepped over the Doctor carefully, avoiding touching the man, and helped Sky stand and move back to the others. "Oh, thank you."

"Oh, thank you."

Caroline, meanwhile, walked to the Doctor, stumbling slightly when she tripped because everything had begun to spin. She leaned against one of the chairs. She couldn't focus on anything, not a single thought, but the Doctor and her mind and the fact that the consciousness hadn't left Sky, that wasn't how it worked, why couldn't any of them see?

"They've completely separated," Jethro said, looking between the two of them.

Biff nodded. "It's in him. Do you see? I said it was him all the time."

"She's free," Val touched Sky's arm. "She's been saved."

"Oh, it was so cold."

"Oh, it was so cold."

"I couldn't breathe."

"I couldn't breathe."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I must have scared you so much."

"I must have scared you so much."

Val shook her head. "No, no, it's all right. I've got you." She hugged the woman. "Ooo, there you are, my love. It's gone. Everything's all right now."

Dee Dee glanced back at the Doctor and Caroline, the woman half fallen into one of the chairs, seeming to be shaking. "I wouldn't touch her."

"But it's gone. She's clean. It passed into him."

Dee Dee shook her head. "That's not what happened!"

"Thank you for your opinion, Dee," Hobbes interrupted, "but clearly Mrs. Silvestry has been released."

"No."

"Just leave her alone," Val scolded. "She's safe, isn't she? Jethro," she turned to her son, "it's let her go, hasn't it?"

The boy nodded. "I think so, yeah. Looks like it. Professor?"

The man straightened. "I'd say, from observation, the Doctor can't move. And when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so…"

"That's not how it works!" Caroline shouted suddenly, interrupting all of them; that was the loudest they'd heard her get, and even then it wasn't that loud. Her voice was shaking, her entire body was shaking, and she was gripping onto the chairs on either side of her like they were the only thing she had left to hold onto. She tried to say something else but words failed her, just like they had at the Library, because she felt like she couldn't breathe.

The Doctor was in danger and they were in a closed space and no one was paying attention to anything! No one was actually noticing anything important, no one was doing anything! They were just shouting and complaining and she couldn't think! She couldn't do anything to stop them or help the Doctor.

"The only problem we've got is this Doctor," Biff said carefully, studying Caroline. The woman was the man's companion, sure, but she didn't seem like she was actually putting them into any danger now. Besides, they'd all agreed that it was the Doctor they should be wary of.

"It's inside his head," Sky said, glancing back at Caroline as well before looking back at the group of terrified humans.

"It's inside his head."

"It killed the driver."

"It killed the driver."

"And the mechanic."

"And the mechanic."

"And now it wants us."

"And now it wants us."

Val nodded. "I said so!"

"He's waited so long."

"He's waited so long."

"In the dark."

"In the dark."

"And the cold."

"And the cold."

"And the diamonds."

"And the diamonds."

"Until you came."

"Until you came."

"Bodies so hot."

"Bodies so hot."

"With blood."

"With blood."

"And pain."

"And pain."

Val shook her head. "Stop. Oh, my God, make him stop. Someone make him stop."

"But she's saying it!" and if Caroline had been able to pay enough attention, she would have thanked the heavens that one of the idiotic humans was finally understanding.

"And you can shut up," Val snapped.

"But it's not him, it's her. He's just repeating."

"But that's what the thing does, it repeats."

The hostess held up a hand. "Let her talk."

"What do you know?" Biff hissed. "Fat lot of good you've been."

"Just let her explain!"

"I think…I mean, from what I've seen, it repeats, then it synchronizes, then it goes on to the next stage and that's exactly what the Doctor and Caroline said would happen."

"What, and you're on his side?"

Dee Dee shook her head. "No."

"The voice is the thing," Jethro said.

"And she's the voice. She stole it. Look at her. It's not possessing him, it's draining him."

"She's got his voice," the hostess looked at Sky with wide eyes.

Val shook her head. "But that's not true, because it can't…because I saw it pass into him. I saw it with my own eyes."

Biff nodded. "So did I."

"You didn't!"

"It went from her to him. You saw it, didn't you?" she looked at her son.

"I don't know."

"Oh, don't be stupid, Jethro. Of course you did."

"I suppose he was right next to her."

"Everyone saw it. Everyone."

Dee Dee shook her head again. "You didn't. You're just making it up. I know what I saw, and I saw her stealing his voice."

Val rolled her eyes. "She's as bad as him. Someone shut her up."

"I think you should be quiet, Dee."

"Well, I'm only saying…"

"And that's an order!" Hobbes snapped, turning on the woman. "You're making a fool of yourself, pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics, when I can tell you, you are nothing more than average at best. Now shut up."

"That's how he does it," Sky said quietly.

"That's how he does it."

"He makes you fight."

"He makes you fight."

"Creeps into your head."

"Creeps into your head."

"And whispers."

"And whispers."

"Listen."

"Listen."

"Just listen."

"Just listen."

"That's him."

"That's him."

"Inside."

"Inside."

"Throw him out!" Biff shouted.

"Get him out of my head!"

"Yeah, we should throw him out."

Val shoved her husband. "Don't just talk about it, just…you're useless! Do something!"

"I will. You watch me. I'm going to throw him out!" he strode forward.

Sky nodded. "Yes."

"Yes."

"Throw him out."

"Throw him out."

"Get rid of him."

"Get rid of him."

"Now."

"Now."

Biff grabbed the Doctor under his arms. "Don't!" Dee Dee cried.

"It'll be you next!" Val hissed.

The hostess shook her idea. "Don't think we should do this…"

"It was your idea." Biff glanced over his shoulder. "Professor, help me."

Hobbes shook his head, sputtering. "I can't…I'm not…"

"What sort of a man are you? Come on!"

"Throw him out!"

"Come on!"

"Just do it! Throw him out!"

"Help. Professor, help me!" Biff moved the Doctor a bit, but the Time Lord's foot caught on a chair, the same chair that Caroline was collapsed into, fighting against the feeling that the world was collapsing around her.

"Get him out!"

"Grab hold of him! Not like that. Are you stupid?" Hobbes tried to move around, but he didn't want to get too close to Caroline.

"Cast him out."

"Cast him out."

"Into the sun."

"Into the sun."

"I want him out!"

"And the night."

"And the night."

"Get him out!"

"Come on! Don't just stand there, do something!"

"Get him out!"

Sky nodded. "Do it."

"Do it."

"Do it now!"

"Do it now."

"Faster."

"Faster."

"Just do it!"

"That's the way."

"That's the way."

"You can do it."

"You can do it."

"Molto bene." The hostess turned in horror when she heard that phrase, recognizing it. Biff and Hobbes hadn't gotten far, the Doctor continually catching on things in the shuttle aisle.

"Throw him out!"

"Molto bene."

"Get him out!"

"Allons-y."

"Allons-y."

"That's his voice."

"The starlight waits."

"She's taken his voice!"

"The starlight waits."

"The emptiness."

"The emptiness."

"Get him out!"

"The Midnight sky."

"The Midnight sky."

"It's her."

"Throw him out!"

"She's taken his voice!" the hostess ran forward and grabbed Sky, pulling her with her towards the door. She pressed a button and it opened, everyone shielding themselves from the bright light. "One, two, three, four, five, six." The pressure collapsed, and the pair were sucked outside. The door closed, and the men dropped the Doctor.

The Time Lord pulled himself a bit away from them, practically collapsing on the ground. "It's gone. It's gone. It's gone," he breathed, pressing his face against the carpet. "It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone."

And then he realized that he couldn't see Caroline. He should at least see her somewhere in the shuttle, but she was nowhere.

And he had the horrible, sinking feeling that she had been the one to do it, that it had actually been her who had sacrificed herself to save everyone.

But then he heard her voice, weak and shaking and almost silent, but her voice.

He pushed himself up from the ground, looking around for her. As it happened, he was at the perfect height to see where she had ended up, since she had ended up falling to the ground.

The Doctor rushed to her side. "Caroline…" she was still shaking, but now she was more curled on her side, crying. "Caroline, please…" he touched her back. "What do you need me to do?"

"Water…" she said quietly into her hands.

The Doctor looked up at the group of humans still huddled in the back of the shuttle. "Get her water!"

It was Dee Dee who did so, passing forward a mug filled with just water. He adjusted Caroline, as carefully as he could, so that she was sitting up enough to drink the water. She was still crying, but soon she was able to take slower breaths, the Doctor quietly helping her count them, helping her focus on something else.

Anything else.

|C-S|

Twenty minutes later they were leaning back against a row of seats. Caroline was curled into the Doctor's arm, half asleep, while he stroked his thumb in a circle on her shoulder. Just keeping her calm, quietly reminding her that everything was okay now, they were both safe again.

He had been partially conscious as the creature had taken his voice. It had been difficult to see anything, or to focus on anything, but he'd been able to hear Caroline. And he'd heard her grow more and more panicked as no one listened to what she was attempting to say. She'd figured it out before anyone else, even before him. She'd determined exactly what the creature was attempting to do.

She's seen the pattern.

But she'd been too scared to really do anything.

Granted, he was almost certain he would have been almost equally as scared if Caroline had been the one being possessed. Really, if any of his companions were in danger.

But there was something different. Like with the Library, and River. There was always something odd about Caroline, something he couldn't place. Something he couldn't understand. She always reacted differently than a normal human. And as relieved he was sometimes about that, it didn't stop him from wondering exactly who or what Caroline was.

"Repeat," a voice said over the intercom, drawing all of their attention again. The rest of the passengers were sitting separately around the shuttle. "Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat. Prepare for boarding."

"The hostess…" the Doctor said quietly. "What was her name?"

But no one knew the answer.

No one had bothered to ask.

After another three minutes, the Doctor and Caroline were the first two out of the shuttle, both helping the other. However, they weren't that far before Caroline paused, suddenly realizing that something was missing.

"Caroline…" Jethro called, and the time travelers turned around. The boy jogged up to them. "You dropped this." He held out the pocket watch and Caroline grabbed it before the Doctor had really gotten a close look at it, clutching it close to her chest.

"Thank you Jethro."

|C-S|

When the Doctor and Caroline returned to Donna, she hugged both of them tightly. Then they moved to a small table for the pair to properly tell her what had happened. Donna was shocked, but she listened quietly.

"What do you think it was?" she asked once they were all finished.

The Doctor shook his head. "No idea."

"Do you think it's still out there?" the Doctor didn't say. "Well, you'd better tell them. This lot."

"Yeah." He looked around them. "They can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else. Let this planet keep on turning round an Xtonic star, in silence."

Donna nodded. "Can't imagine you without a voice," she chuckled.

"Molto bene."

Donna grinned. "Molto bene."

But the pair's faces fell. "No, don't do that. Don't. Don't."

A/N: Poor Caroline :( She's not had a fun time these past few episodes. Hopefully it'll get better for her soon.