-1852-
-The Clementine-
The hull of the ship was markedly worse than the rest of the levels. Even before she had reached the ships hold, there were various beams that had been crushed or twisted so badly across the walkway that they were unrecognizable. The Silurian's seemed to have little trouble seeing their way through the mess, but Calypso found her single flickering lamp to be of little comfort. She did take a moment to remind herself to be grateful that the Doctor and Donna had been unable to reach the hold, as that looked to be where the worst of the damage had occurred. When she finally spotted the ladder that would lead her down into the very belly of the ship, she knew the Silurian's would have to wait. Their larger bodies were not as capable of navigating the awkward angles of the shattered woodwork, and so they had stopped and let her descend the remainder of the journey alone.
She hated to admit it, but she wasn't exactly pleased at the prospect. Whatever she was going to find down there wasn't bound to be any happier to see Calypso than it had been to see any of the other passengers who had run across it. What would happen if she were attacked? Would the Silurian's even try to come to her aid? Would they even hear her? The darkness of the hold seemed hardly penetrable to the faint light that her lamp cast, and it swallowed up the sound of everything but her own beating heart. She hadn't much liked the hold when they were at sea, possibly because she always had the secret fear that the walls would suddenly cave in and flood the place with water before she could escape to the upper decks. It wasn't much better now, there was still that stale smell of the ocean, and now the added sense that the whole of the ship could come crashing down on her.
But if her theory was right, this was where the creature would be. The majority of their supplies were down here, along with plenty of spare crates that could be used as places to hide. If it had planned to stow away, this would be the place to do it. Calypso had the sinking feeling that whatever had been down here, must surely be dead by now. The walls still held, as far as she could tell, but there were places where they had buckled inward from the force of the rocks outside, and the planks that once made up the smooth floor were now sticking up jaggedly.
"Hello?" She called out into the darkness, she certainly didn't want to sneak up on anything. Of course, will all the noise she was making trying not to fall on the uneven ground, she seriously doubted she could. "Is there anyone here?" Her voice was swallowed up by the murky gloom that surrounded her. She thought she could see something, some kind of light that didn't match the darkness of the rest of the hold. Maybe she was imagining it, but it was all she had to go on, and so she followed it. She finally rounded the corner so that she realized she hadn't imagined it, and in fact, she recognized it. It was the pale white light of the TARDIS windows. She had forgotten that it was even down here.
For all the destruction that had occurred, the blue box seemed entirely untouched. A place of safety in all the chaos. She wanted to be glad to see it, but still she felt her heart racing as she approached. This had been the source of all her troubles, all her doubts for the past year. The reason she couldn't look the Doctor straight in the face any more without hating herself. She hadn't even been able to go near the TARDIS the night the Doctor had left, instead, saying her goodbyes in the courtyard. It seemed silly to her now, to think of how she had blamed her. More than silly, she felt sorry for having held the TARDIS responsible for her own demons. For releasing those memories that she had buried so deep inside. Just because they had been forgotten, didn't make them any less true. And she had been so desperate to learn the truth, how could she blame the TARDIS when she had done exactly what Calypso wanted.
She set down the lamp and slowly made her way toward the blue box, uncertain of how to form an apology. As her hands brushed against the grainy wood of the door, she felt the recognition alight again, just as strong as it had ever been. A soft smile spread across her lips, it felt like a warm hug, being welcomed once home again. She pressed her forehead against the panel and breathed for a moment. This was the only home she had, the only family she had. It had been cruel of her to try to push that away.
Sister. The TARDIS wrapped around her mind eagerly.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered in the dark, truly feeling it. She had been alienating the last thing in the universe that she could still claim to have a real connection to. She knew she had some shared heritage with the Doctor, but it seemed insubstantial when she compared it to the bond she shared with the TARDIS. They were both creatures of the time vortex, particles of space and time itself. "I suppose you don't know why." Calypso smirked, realizing that it was earlier in the timeline for both the TARDIS and the Doctor.
Of course. The TARDIS replied rather smugly. I exist in every point of time and space. I know.
Instead of reiterating her apology, Calypso felt the TARDIS brush against her mind pleasantly, filling her with a sense of forgiveness, as though it had never even been a question.
"Thank you." She said finally, pushing back from the box and remembering that she had a task to do down here. Before she could return to it, she was interrupted.
I kept her safe. When the ceiling falls in, she'll be protected.
"What?" Calypso asked, a little startled and confused. The ceiling, for the most part, already looked as though it had crumbled in, in fact, Calypso wasn't sure what was supporting it, because it seemed as though an invisible barrier was preventing the broken beams from crashing down around her.
Sorry. Wrong tenses again. The ceiling has fallen in already, when the ship crashed. But she is safe.
Then the door clicked open and slowly swung inward under the weight of her hand. Calypso stared down at the lock, disbelieving. They key had to be with the Doctor, so how had it opened? It didn't matter though, because the door was open. And now she suspected that the missing Silurian was waiting within the TARDIS. She stepped inside, feeling a bit like a rebellious child. Surely, the TARDIS wouldn't have let her in if she wasn't allowed. She recognized the tall branch like supports and the warm orange glow of the interior. She took comfort in the knowledge that the TARDIS was with her, but if the Silurian was inside, it could be anywhere, and that thought was a little worrisome.
"Hello?" She tried again, her voice echoed off the walls and made the ship sound strangely empty. "Is someone in here?" She heard the distinctive sound of something being dragged across the metal flooring and she froze. It came from somewhere below her. Her eyes trailed down to the grating and realized that there was plenty of space for something or someone to be lurking beneath. As her eyes flicked across the floor again she realized one of the metal panels was a bit off, not quite laying flush with the rest of the grated floor. With a deep breath, she walked over to the grate and knelt down, nothing popped up out at her immediately, but that didn't mean she wasn't still expecting it at any moment.
"If you're down there," Her voice was noticeably shaking now, but she couldn't quite stop it. "I think…I think your people are looking for you." She didn't really know what she could say that was convincing to a Silurian, but she was hopeful that something she said was reassuring. "We're down in the ocean now. They think we've taken you. I was sent down to look. I'd like to bring you up top, if that's alright?" She thought she saw something down in the shadows shift quickly, but it didn't move any closer. Nor did it give any inclination that it was going to willingly come up. What if she couldn't convince the creature to leave? Could the Silurian's come down for her? Would they believe her? Something made her think that the TARDIS wouldn't be interested in opening her doors again for a pair of gun wielding Silurian's.
"I'm just…" Her hands were shaking as she lifted the grate up and away, wondering if she would have time to scream before the tongue came lashing out at her. "I'm going to climb down. I'm not going to hurt you. Maybe we can just…talk." She suggested.
Calypso waited a few heartbeats before lowering herself down beneath the flooring. It was darker down here, the grates casting shadows over the cramped storage space of the ship. It did nothing to ease her nerves. She had to sit down, otherwise her neck would start to cramp from hunching over. As she did so, she saw a flicker of movement behind a trunk that she thought looked vaguely human.
"Oh, hello." She said, once her heart had managed to stop thundering in her chest. She took it as a positive sign that she hadn't been attacked. Yet. "Um. What's your name?" She finally asked in the growing silence. "I'm Calypso." She added helpfully. She thought maybe she wasn't going to get an answer, and wondered how else to try and approach the creature.
"Mesi." Said a small voice, she realized that behind the trunk, a shadow of a head had appeared.
"That's a lovely name, Mesi." Calypso smiled genuinely, excited to have gotten any response from the creature.
"I like your name." Mesi responded after a brief silence. Calypso was struck by how young she sounded.
"Well, thank you." Calypso shifted so that she could see around the trunk a little better, but Mesi remained mostly hidden. "Do you know how you got on the ship, Mesi?" She thought that was neutral enough conversation, that might encourage a discussion about how she might get off the ship.
"I got caught." Mesi said in a frustrated voice, she scooted out a little further from behind the trunk. She didn't look much like the Silurian's above. Her skin was slick, but even in the shadows, she could see it was a vibrant green. "With the silver bellies."
It took Calypso a moment to understand that she was talking about fish. "Oh, the fishing lines." She was a little relieved to find it had been an accident. She hoped that would be something they could explain to the Silurian's who were still accusing them of having kidnapped the creature. Perhaps she had just gone unnoticed as the crew had hauled up the gear.
"Fishing?" Mesi had moved closer and Calypso could see her nose wrinkled up like she had said something funny. She realized that she didn't just sound young, she was young. But suddenly, she wasn't afraid any more. Because it wasn't a strange alien creature, it was just a lost little girl.
"Yeah, that's what we call it. Catching fish in a big net. Fishing. Funny word, isn't it?" Mesi nodded with a shy grin on her face. That's when Calypso caught sight of her arm. Instead of being smooth and green like the rest of her, she could see it was raw and angry looking, pink and red where blood was oozing out, scales torn away had hanging from her skin. "What happened to your arm?" Calypso asked alarmed, crawling forward without realizing what she was doing until Mesi started to retreat behind the trunk again.
"I'm sorry." She said, stopping her movement quickly, "It just…it looks like that hurt." Mesi didn't retreat any further, but she did watch Calypso more carefully.
"Everything started to crash." Mesi said, her chin wobbling as she looked down at her arm. She must be very young then. "But the blue box wasn't. So I hid inside."
"I'm glad you did." Calypso brushed her fingers against the cool floor soothingly. "I think she likes you."
"It's a she?" Mesi asked doubtfully. "Is she alive?" Her uncertainty about the prospect was fairly evident from the way she looked around.
"She certainly is. Can I tell you a secret?" Calypso made an effort to look around to make sure no one was around to hear. That had Mesi's attention, all children loved secrets. She nodded eagerly. "She's magic too. She can take you any place at all. Anywhere in the whole universe."
"The Universe?" Mesi was skeptical once again, though she seemed interested in the possibility of magic.
"Think of it like the ocean, but bigger." Calypso widened her arms to illustrate the point and Mesi's clear green eyes grew wide at that.
"Do you think it can take me home?" She asked in a quiet voice.
"Of course it can. But I can't fly it. That'll have to be the Doctor. He's up top with the other Silurian's. That's what you are, right?"
Mesi nodded once, recognizing the word.
"Alright, do you think I could look at your arm? And then we can take you up top and figure out how to get you back to your parents. Does that sound like a good idea?" Mesi seemed like she might protest, but she finally agreed, sliding forward. Deciding that her arm hurt badly enough to ask for help. And while Calypso was a stranger, she seemed like she didn't pose much of a threat.
The red jar in the trunk will aid the healing, and the pain. The TARDIS suggested, sending her an image of a ratty looking can buried amongst a pile of junk. Calypso frowned, wondering how the TARDIS had known what she would need, but that answer was given too. I saw you find it. Or, I guess, I will see you find it. When you've found it. It will help.
"Alright," Calypso smiled encouragingly at Mesi before opening the trunk between them. "I think we've got just the thing for it."
