A/N: Thank you everyone for the recs and a special super huge thank you to FredNeverDied for an amazing and thorough review! I really really REALLY appreciated it! Thanks all around! I swear we're nearly out of this damn arc.


-1933-

-Dust Bowl-

"Well I must be dreaming," Jack looked up from where he was secured to the cell wall as the ventilation grate clattered loudly to the floor. "Because I remember leaving your pretty face locked in a basement."

"I'm not especially pleased to see you either." The Doctor said in an irritated tone. Balzar, Calypso reminded herself. He was not the Doctor, and it seemed important to keep that firmly at the forefront of her mind. He lowered himself through the narrow hole into the cell, a beam of light streamed through the narrow slit in the door, giving the cell its only illumination. Balzar dropped to the floor, it was only a few feet to fall with his long limbs. It was a relief to see he could stand properly upright in the cell, as they'd been crawling through the ships exhaust vents for what felt like miles.

When they'd found their way onto the ship, Balzar had explained that it was built mostly to accommodate creatures who could shrink their mass at will. The interior of the ship was a maze of intricate, and extraordinarily narrow causeways. The engines required an effective cooling system, so they had been able to make their way through the vents, but it had made for a slow infiltration.

"Did you change your mind?" Balzar asked wryly, noticing she hadn't yet dropped through the vent.

"Oh, you brought back up?" Jack muttered. "Can't wait to meet your friends. They've been a real hoot so far."

Calypso slipped her legs through the hole and began to inch herself lower until her armpits reached the edge of the vent. She debated on letting herself drop entirely, or trying to see if she had the upper body strength to lower herself to a height less likely to twist an ankle.

Balzar made the decision for her as he grabbed her waist, helping lower her from the ceiling. She grabbed awkwardly for his shoulders as her reach fell short of the ventilation shaft, but he seemed to have a steady grip as he helped her to the floor. She pointedly ignored his gaze and as soon as her feet were on solid ground she readjusted her top and took a steadying step backward.

"Oh good," Jack sighed. "I was worried he'd killed you and escaped on his own." When she met Jack's eyes, there was a look of exasperation in them. "But you intentionally let him out. That's just great."

"You didn't leave me much of a choice." Calypso's relief at finding Jack was quickly souring. "Should I have just left you here to die?"

"Well, when you put it like that." Jack's half-cocked grin was back. "Still, you could have left him to rot."

"We could still leave you to rot." Balzar snapped, evidently still sore from his time imprisoned.

"Balzar, please." Calypso's nerves were already frayed to bits, and she didn't think them antagonizing each other was likely to improve things. Balzar flinched visibly, meeting her gaze with a curious frown.

"Oh, he's got a name now? That's fun. Sort of prefer 'Parasite' myself, but I'm an old fashion kind-"

"Jack." Calypso's tone was harsher and she leveled her gaze at him. "Without Balzar I would have never found the ship. Without him everyone on this ship would be lost, and I would be dead. He's agreed to help, so if you could find it in your heart to minimize the hostility, it would be greatly appreciated."

Jack blinked, startled at the rush of words. "Yes, ma'am."

Calypso let some of the tension out in a breath. "Balzar, if you could." She motioned to the bar that held Jack's arms securely to the wall.

He gave a sharp nod and pulled the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket.

"Whoa there pal, I'm all for kumbaya if that's what's happening, but are you sure you know how to use that thing?"

"I'll figure it out." Balzar said with an alarming smile. Calypso opened her mouth to protest, but he was already pressing the button. A low whirring sound came from the sonic and the lock clicked audibly, allowing Jack to pull his arms free.

Jack massaged his wrists and gave Balzar an appraising look. "Not bad, for a rookie." He said grudgingly.

"I have my moments." Balzar said, flipping the screwdriver in the air and catching it. A gesture that was disquietingly similar to the Doctor.

"Do you know where they've taken the rest of the people?" Calypso asked Jack as he pressed his face against the small window in the door.

"Yeah, looks like there's two main containment cells. There were two or three of us put in these separate compartments, and down the hall to the left there is another cell that holds everyone else."

"They're separating the sick from the healthy," Balzar said casually as he aimed the sonic at the door and the lock snapped open.

"Should… we be worried about guards?" Jack asked, reluctant to open the door.

"Evening checks will be done. The halls in and out are too small for people to access so they patrol fairly infrequently."

"Well you two got in fairly easy." Jack sniffed. "It's not exactly an impenetrable fortress in here."

"Sonic." Balzar wiggled the screwdriver.

"So your ship is impenetrable, unless you're a time lord."

"Our ship engineers didn't think it was necessary to plan for a species that has been erased from the universe." Balzar snapped as he pushed the door open. The hallway was illuminated by pale yellow lights that ran the length of the ceiling, giving the metal ship a sickly glow. Calypso's boots squeaked loudly on the smooth metal floor. It looked like they were walking through enormous copper pipes.

"Yeah, the whole species erased except for that one last troublemaker." Jack said with a grin. "Nobody really plans for him. Or me." He winked at Calypso.

"The cells," Calypso reminded him. There was a flickering control panel next to each of the smaller doorways, the one near Jack's cell was now glowing green.

"Right, should be easy enough. I've spent my fair share of time breaking in and out of these sorts of places." Jack seemed in his element now. "Did the Doctor ever tell you about that time I was up for execution? Made some friends-" His eyes flickered over her shoulder, distracted from his story. He gave a sharp whistle. "Hey, guy. Prisoners are this way."

Calypso followed his gaze and saw Balzar had gone to the right, pointing the screwdriver at another locked door and heading further from them.

"Yes, but the medicine for the prisoners is this way." Balzar didn't even bother turning around.

Jack let out an irritated sigh, his eyes going from Balzar's vanishing back to the controls he was still struggling to make any sense of. "Don't like him wandering off." Jack said in a terse voice. He seemed to be debating whether to follow him or not.

"Try blowing on the controls." Balzar yelled over his shoulder, just before he vanished around the corner.

"Blowing?" Jack frowned but curiosity got the better of him. He pursed his lips and bent over the screen, blowing a puff of air at what Jack thought looked like a promising button. The panel chirped cheerfully and one of the solitary cells hissed as the door slid back. Jack grinned. "My kinda controls."

"I'll go with him." Calypso said, growing more anxious every second she couldn't see Balzar.

"Probably a good idea," Jack admitted. "Would rather not find out about his plan to kill us all after it's too late."

"He's not going to do that." Calypso said, more sharply than she intended. Jack just shrugged, so she turned toward the right and jogged to catch up with Balzar. The hallway curved in a lazy S-shape which led to a dead end. Balzar was at the end of it, in the process of opening another door.

"Didn't trust me?" He asked in a cold tone as the door slid open. The lights were bright white, giving the whole room the impression of sterility.

"Jack doesn't," Calypso shrugged. If he noticed her lack of answer, he didn't pursue it.

The walls of the room were covered in white metal cabinets, various scientific instruments were set up on the counters that circled the room. In the center were more cabinets, and a pair of tables. She froze. Two bodies were laid out on the tables, long since robbed of their fluids, but easily identified as human.

Were they Alona's people? People she had sworn to save? One of the drawers shrieked as Balzar opened it and she started, realizing she had been holding her breath. He pulled out a small case filled with colorful vials, selecting specific ones as he went. Calypso swallowed back the bile in her throat and went to help him, gawking at the bodies would help no one.

"They weren't from the farm," Balzar said as he pulled a plastic container to load with the vials that were opalescent in color. He met her eyes briefly, and she knew he was speaking of the bodies behind them.

"They-" She swallowed again, her eyes lingering on the frail forms. They were husks now, but once they had held life, they had held hopes and dreams. They were people who had loved and been loved. "That doesn't matter." She said firmly.

He paused as he opened another drawer, "I know," he said quietly, before returning to work. "There are syringes on the far wall. We'll need them." He gestured over his shoulder.

Calypso nodded, glad to have a task. Her breath caught in her chest as she passed the bodies, but she pressed on, doing her best to ignore their presence. It took her several tries to find the right cabinet with the needed supplies. She had no idea how many might be necessary, so she stuffed several handfuls into a small box and turned when she heard the familiar hiss of an opening door.

"Get down!" Balzar warned her in a low voice.

She abandoned the syringes on the shelf and immediately ducked down behind the nearest row of cabinets.

"Abomination." A cruel voice hissed as it entered the room, Calypso spotted a second shadow following closely behind the first. And they were both angling toward Balzar.

"That is what they call me." Balzar gave a sickly grin as he backed further into the lab.

"Alert Roz we have an intruder." The creature spoke to its second. Balzar reached for the branch he'd tucked into the back of his trousers and wielded it like a sword. The creature hissed as it approached and Calypso fought the urge to stand.

But she knew she couldn't remain still, even if she let Balzar fight his own battle, there was the second creature. Even now it was retreating back out the door of the lab, on its way to retrieve reinforcements. Calypso scuttled around the back of the cabinets to stay out of the first creature's line of sight and then ran for the door.

"Cal!" Balzar shouted, but he was too preoccupied with his own troubles to make any real effort to stop her.

She ran down the hall toward the dead-end where the creature was heading. It wasn't really a dead-end, but an entryway for a hallway that was much too small for any human to fit through. The creature was already shrinking down and elongating itself so it would fit through the narrow passage.

Calypso rushed at it, and at the last second she dropped to her knees, sliding across the slick metal floor until she struck the wall and spun around. She yanked the second tree branch from the back of her shirt and got to her feet, determined to look less frightened than she actually felt.

"Think you should deal with escaped prisoners first." She said, trying to stay on the balls of her feet. These things were quick, and she wasn't an especially gifted fencer.

"Escape?" The creature spoke with an implied sneer. "Where is there for you to go?" It lurched down at her like a snake and she swung wildly with the branch, cutting a line through the shadowy substance. It didn't have the satisfying thud as it had when she'd first attacked one of the creatures. That one had been solid, but this beast merely split where the wood drove through, swirling around it like smoke. It congealed into one form again, pausing for a moment as if to asses if she were a threat.

It lunged again, an over-sized viper striking for her face. She ducked in reflex, and tried to bring the stick around in a more controlled fashion. It retreated with a hiss, and then it split into two heads, both striking at once. She had to jump sideways to avoid one while also swinging frantically at the other. For a minute, she thought she could handle it, while the creature was quick, it also telegraphed its movements early. But she was slow to react on another drive, and she misjudged the left arm as it swung around and slammed into her ribs.

The wind was driven from her lungs as she flew sideways, colliding with the wall hard enough to cause the world to briefly spin. It didn't hesitate to take advantage, driving at her again as she struggled to defend herself.

Calypso suffered another glancing blow by the creature as it dodged her single weapon. She made a quick decision and jumped back to put some distance between herself and the creature. She took the stick across her knee, snapping it in two. The single branch that once had been longer than her forearm was now a pair, barely twice the width of her hand. She hoped she hadn't made a mistake.

"Pathetic." The creature sounded as though it were laughing at her as it attacked again. She moved quickly, struggling to strike the solid of the creature but it seemed to sense her efforts and her weapon met only ghostly mirages while her shoulder was struck with another blow from the creature.

Calypso was panting now, struggling to get her limbs to move as quickly as necessary. Her attacks had been infrequent before, but now they were obsolete. Every swing of the sticks was only to defend herself, to stay alive.

"Waste of effort." The creature spat as it struck her on the same side again, her ribs screamed in agony but she managed to stay upright.

Instead of attacking further, it moved past her, to the hallway where it had originally been headed. Its form was already elongating as it stretched to fit the narrow passage. If it left now, there would be dozens of the creatures swarming them in moments. If she couldn't fight one, she certainly wouldn't be able to fight a handful.

The passage was barely wider than her hand span, and while she could stand in front of it, it would be only a matter of time before the creature crippled her in such a way she couldn't block it any longer. Her fists tightened on the wood in her hands, and then she had an idea. She rushed past the creature, wedging the only weapons at her disposal into the narrow passage. The sticks created a cross-bar that would refuse entry to all by the most meticulously careful. She didn't know if it would be enough to stop it completely, but she'd hoped it would slow it down enough for her to come up with an alternative plan.

It gave an irritated screech and a solid arm shot out at her before she could dive out of the way. It latched onto her throat and squeezed. "Remove the pieces." It hissed, she could feel the tendrils turning into claws as it slowly began to pierce her flesh.

"No." Her voice was a strangled whisper now, it was all she could managed as she gasped for air.

The creature squeezed so hard she thought it was going to crush her windpipe. It made a disgusted noise and then turned, hurling her down the hallway. Her body hit the ground hard and she rolled to a stop, feeling each bump as a fresh bruise. Calypso coughed violently, trying to fill her lungs, still too dazed to do anything but lay sprawled on her back.

The shadow was closing in, having grown to block her view of the hallway behind it. Two long blades extended from its sides and grew solid as she watched. Rolling onto her shoulder, she struggled to right herself, despite her whole body crying in protest.

She reached her knees by the time it closed the distance between them, but her limbs were too jellied to get her to her feet. It seemed unlikely that she'd be fast enough to dodge its attacks at this point anyway. She gathered the energy to glare at it as its bladed limbs rose above her, ready to strike. Before they fell, a stick ripped through the creature's center.

Calypso was too startled to react, and so too was the creature. It rippled, as though it was a flag pinned in place, and then the branch came down, ripping through the creature like tissue. The creature finally burst into a cloud, scattering over Calypso like ash.

Balzar stood behind the remains of the creature, his eyes wide and breathing hard. "Are you hurt?" He asked the still stunned Calypso.

"I-" Calypso didn't quite know what to say, her eyes flicked to the lab doorway where she could see a similar ashy pile of remains on the floor. Balzar had evidently been able to handle the creature that had attacked him. "I'm fine." She said, although it wasn't really true.

He offered a hand to her, and she somewhat reluctantly accepted it so he could pull her to her feet. She stumbled forward on weak limbs and had to clutch at his jacket to steady herself. His arms caught her shoulders and she scrunched her eyes shut as the hallway spun around them. This was the exact reason she had wanted to wallow on the floor a little longer, but she supposed they didn't really have time for that.

"I told you to get down." He said, his tone scolding, though not as irritated as she would have expected. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that if he let go of her right then, she'd topple to the floor.

She took another deep breath and she risked opening her eyes, the world had finally stilled. "I don't listen very well." She offered, slowly unclenching her fingers from his jacket.

"That might get you killed." His voice was sharp, but when she looked at him, there was more fear than scorn in his eyes.

"It might." She admitted.

"Hey kids- er… " Calypso turned to see Jack rounding the corner, wearing his navy jacket and armed with a weapon. "You…um. Find the meds?" He looked between the two of them, and it was only then that Calypso realized how compromising they looked. He likely hadn't expected to find her in Balzar's arms when they had taken far too long to return.

"We were attacked," Balzar seemed able to speak, which was a relief. Calypso felt heat flood her cheeks as she took a self-conscious step back. "We managed to secure the medicine." He spun back to the lab, quickly retrieving the vials and the syringes Calypso had left behind.

"Look, I'm all for experimenting," Jack had walked up behind her with a skeptical look on his face. "But this doesn't seem like the safest bet."

"I'm not-" Calypso had to bite her tongue from reacting too harshly. "I was a little dazed is all. He saved my life, again. So perhaps your judgment isn't especially safe."

"Huh." Jack said, watching Balzar approach the hall again with his arms laden with supplies. "In that case, you guys looking for a third?" He winked at Calypso and she thought she might pass out from the volume of blood that rushed to her face.

"A third what?" Balzar scowled as he passed them

"Nothing," Calypso said a little too quickly. "It was a joke. He was joking. We should get this medicine to the people who need it." She snatched one of the boxes from Balzar's pile and made a pointed effort not to look back as Jack stifled a laugh.