A/N: Well, you didn't think I wouldn't make
them face the gauntlet did you? They just ain't after power cells.
Another
'What if', sorta: What would an eclipse of this nature really
look like, as the solar tides and gravity lock planets into a line
that they can't escape? How fast would this really occur since it
takes the system up to 14 years to break free?
My
Reflection (sorry about your pounding head, did you get a Dalek stuck
in there?), ck16 and Robin Moto (heh, I see you are hitting near
every chapter with a review. I feel so honored that my writing for
whatever reason inspires you to respond), great feedback, Thank you
very much.
It's 2517. Something in the past has prompted humanity to explode out from their home world. Could the events of 2164 be responsible? Was Earth a myth or was it real? In fleeing Earth-that-Was, humanity scattered to the stars across the galactic arm. Initial survey teams targeted likely planets and systems for habitation and not all of them ended up on the same side of the sector. Blue Sun exists on one side, separated by a patch of 'wild space' filled with exotic binary and triple star systems, from the rest of civilized space. Few ships brave the route. But luck has it that one ship is. It's a ghost run, the only contact that the two sides have. Port of Departure: Eavesdown Docks, Persephone. Mixed Sino-Anglo culture. Port of Call: Tangiers-5. Darkside. Mixed Islamic-Anglo culture. Crew complement: Four. Passengers: Forty. Living 'Cargo': Two.
So what happens when a passenger by the name of Dr. Simon Tam and his cargo get on the wrong ship? And just how is this related to the TimeWar?
Doctor Who / Firefly / Riddick X-over.
Features Doctor 9, Pre-"Rose"; Simon and River Tam, Pre-"Serenity" Firefly episode 1 and the cast of Pitch Black…
Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse
Part Twenty-Three
Aegis
They are waiting. Hunger drives everything they do. Teeth gash and claws slash in the cramped darkness below as they yearn for the freedom of flight, wind cool against their leathery skin, the feel of rain and renewing moisture that only fell while the fires were away, and the burn of their need to beget the next generation. They are so many, forced back into ancient tunnels and caverns by the invisible enemy that flames ever so hot, ever so bright. It pains them with its rays. But soon… Soon this will change again. The entire world will shift, and they will have the sky.
Sharp talons scramble for purchase on the hollow tubes, where they gather for their emergence. For the little ones this will be their first time in the sky, for the older, the bigger… this will be the time to fight for position, mates, food… And like the last time there are better things to eat than each other. Better blood to drink then the weak blue liquid that flows through their own veins. Delicate things, rich and tasty, easy to catch, highly prized for their flavor…
The ebony haired teen sat up suddenly from a sound sleep, a strangled cry attempting to emerge from her throat. For a disorienting moment she can smell the blood that courses through the veins of all those here. Rich, coppery, warm blood. A local delicacy, with a crunchy center. The ideal way to earn a mate. The part of her mind that is a girl, River, tries to scramble away from the alien invaders, panicked at the intense touch of the mass intelligence all focused on one thing: the coming aegis.
Simon scrambles at the sound that manages to escape from his Mei-Mei's throat. It's a horrible choking sound, half a scream and half a sob. He catches her as she starts to fall from her cot, wild-eyed but unseeing, "River! Mei-Mei, I'm here." She hasn't acted like this for days, and he'd almost forgotten her true state. Now when he touches her he feels a vibration in his mind that is gray, sharp, dangerous, alien… What ever it is, it overwhelms her. Unconcerned for his own mental status, he thrusts his way into the slashing layer, looking for the kernel that is River.
When he finds the crystal blue pool that is her, he spreads out like a shield, forcing away the foreign mass-mind from his sister's psyche. She clings to him like he's a life jacket as the other presence is swept away by the Storm. Simon can see the blue-black bubbling turbulence of the mentality as it arrives, and he wonders if this other alien mind is something he should worry about, not perceiving it as the Doctor because he is seeing from River's point of view. Until his and the Time Lord's minds actually touch. It's the rumble, what he once thought was distant voices but now knows is lightening, that he recognizes.
Opening his eyes Simon takes in the quickly fading colors and eddies that make up his sister's world. 'No,' he thinks, 'I don't want to lose this!' but it diminishes in spite his struggle to retain it. His mind is not completely ready yet and rejects the extra input. River is still clinging to him, warm tears soaking into his shirt. He rubs her back and looks into the hard flinty blue eyes and chiseled face of the pale man with his too large ears and baby fine brown hair. He's a bit envious, that this alien can see what his Mei-Mei sees and he cannot. "River, they are gone. It's Okay. They're gone," he whispers into her hair while maintaining that intense eye contact with those timeless blue eyes. 'Teach me. Let me see what she does. Help me understand.'
The Doctor's face softens. This is what he's been waiting for, the invitation to shatter this boy's -- no -- man's mind and piece it back together again. That Simon wants it means he won't fight the process, won't reject it, won't be driven mad by it. But his mind will be just as weak as River's mind for a long while after, and the Time Lord knows that guarding them both falls onto his shoulders. But he owes them this and so much more.
Simon doesn't hear words. His world explodes into color and shapes as the cool fingers settle against his temples. Time is running out. There's a sense of urgency. Swirls of gold and amber, ethereal filaments flickering in physical space that indicated connections of energy, mental intent, temporal possibilities, or life force. Beyond that are the auras of those around them. The hot fire of the marshal, the smoldering smoke of the docking pilot, the spring brightness of the Imam, the varying degrees of nature in the pilgrim brothers, the deeper soil richness of Jack, the metallic earth of the ex-ranger, the constant movement of percolating mist of the Doctor, and the sweet liquid flow of his Mei-Mei. He studies it all in wonder; it's so beautiful. He can scarcely believe that this is what River sees all the time even as he knows the truth of it.
And he can sense the buzz of the native life. They are waiting. It is like a constant drone, inescapable. He wants to shield River from it but can only lessen the alien presence.
It's forever, eternity, and yet an instant in time. He understands, but he can't force his mind to bridge the gap alone, yet. But he does grasp what it is that River has. Those extra senses that they were both born with that he has filtered out when she cannot. He also knows that what they see is only a third of what the Doctor sees. And he's inside the void, in the eye of the storm with River and she's dancing. Somehow, they belong here.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Carolyn has been working on the engines of the skiff with Abu for nearly an entire sunrise to sunset straight. She can barely see the wires in front of her, much less the read the manual for the damn thing. It's tipping to twilight, the blue star sinking into that hour of pseudo-night before the yellow sun rises. She scrubs her eyes. They still have 2 days worth of rough rewiring to do before she can risk hooking up fresh power cells to test their work. They have barely two sunrises left before the eclipse hits.
The blue star dims on the horizon, twinkling as the faster inner planet wobbles over its face. She looks at the holy man and then out at the sky. Faint shimmering bands cut into the darkening sky where the yellow sun should rise. The distortion is moving now, slowly, like almost not, but if one really concentrates on them they are. How the settlers could have missed the oncoming eclipse is beyond her. 'One more day, just one more…' she prays, fearful that perhaps they won't get both of the two remaining predicted sunrises.
Over at the trailer being converted to mirrors, Riddick orders, "Keep working. Don't stop! We're almost done." The pilgrims and Jack jerk their eyes away from the shimmering bands of light and dark cutting across the darkening sky and turn back to their work. The solar powered sanders sputter but still manage to buff the paint off. He turns his attention back to wielding once he has the boys focused on the polishing.
Paris is over with them, holding a support beam steady as it is attached into place by bolts that Hassan is installing. He's never been too sure about the skiff and right now it doesn't look overly much like it is going to be ready in time. Getting into a cryo-chamber on a ship that might explode on takeoff really doesn't seem like much of a good idea to him.
He's fought with Johns over pushing the skiff to be done before the eclipse happens, trying to make the man understand the danger of not having everything checked and double-checked for safety's sake. If the marshal had his way, they would have taken off yesterday, regardless of the fact that the skiff wouldn't have done much more than glide across the planet's surface unable to break free of the gravity due to weak thrust.
The art dealer has just about given up on the man, although he'd tried to take his side, standing with Imam about how they should give everyone a fair shot at survival. Not that the others have said any different, but Paris gets the distinct impression that Johns backed himself into a corner and lost the support of most everyone that might have had a good heart enough to spare him. He has to wonder if the ideal solution wouldn't have been to just go into cryo-sleep through the eclipse on the hopes that they had enough drugs to outlast the darkness.
The Arabic youth finished and said, "Done there. Still helping?"
Paris gives him an odd look, "Of course. Is there more?"
"Another beam, down low. You want to rivet? Or me?"
"I'll hold." It's only after the beam is moved into place and the boy began to sing while he worked in the twilight that Paris realized that he understood what the youth had been saying. Hassan didn't speak English. He didn't speak Arabic. So how did he understand the lad?
His puzzled expression becomes more of a frown as he watches the redhead move out into the twilight, the long shadows fading into the same dim murkiness as everything else as the twinkling blue star slides down past the horizon. The bands across the sky at sunrise toss golden spikes across the deep blue sky, indicative of the reflection of the sunlight off the planetary rings. And Johns just stares out at them, not working, not helping, not supporting any of their chances one way or the other. Even the youngest boys have consistently tried to help, no matter how much he'd complained about their noise.
Simon and River both move over to the skiff, each seeming to support the other. The Doctor walks behind them, as if to catch them should they fall. Only after Carolyn agrees that more hands checking connections is better than one do the trio set in to double-check her work. It doesn't make the art dealer feel any better about getting onto the skiff when River begins to undo a section of the wiring and proceeds to redo every connection altering them as she goes. At least River has been sleeping and has memorized the manuals for the skiff. What else might be off because the docking pilot has been burning the candle at both ends?
The twilight lasts longer this time, nearly two hours, as the yellow star and it's ruddy companion have to clear the rings that are blocking them before actually hitting the ground. As they clear the final ring and cast their heat across the soil there's a fearsome wail that seems to rise from the ground making it vibrate. The noise makes the art dealer tremble. Those things know that the eclipse is approaching. "I need to go inside. Please hurry, Hassan," he mumbles. He's going to lock himself inside the 'safe area' for a while and try to calm his nerves down.
"You are in the Light. This is safer than being inside. It is God's way of protecting you," says the youth.
"But, young man, I can't piss out here. There are women around."
Hassan has the cheer to laugh at the statement; "This is very true."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Throughout the day the planetary rings reached up into the sky chasing the twin suns on their morning path, only seeming to give up after the stars reached the zenith of the sky. The Doctor frowns at the bands as if his scowl can chase them away. The planet itself breeches the horizon before lumbering across the sky, down low, pacing and gaining on the suns, the rings seeming to strive for catching the light and imprisoning it. The scene makes for an eerie decoration in the once flawless sky. This must have been the sight for the last 13 days, although it was blocked by the sandstorm.
By the time the mirrors are done the twinkling blue star is on the rise, but the yellow and red ones have yet to set. The rings catch up to the red star filtering the entire landscape with a ruddy hue. But it isn't total. They have one sunrise left. The blue star is much fainter, as if it has caught and is holding the smaller planet almost still now. There is not much light to reflect. But it does seem to be enough illumination to keep the natives from coming out.
"If you are gonna try it…" Fry calls.
Abu is looking over the 'cat. "I'm not sure we have a way to pull it. There is not enough solar energy to power the vehicle."
"Then everyone inside. When the yellow sun goes down those things might decide to scout. We'll figure out something, " she orders.
The boys push the mirrors inside, and then return for the 'cat as the last of the yellow light fades. There's a squeal that echoes on the breeze, as the creatures prepare for the coming night. This 'day' is going to be twilight. The survivors swing the doors closed. "We better get the power cells hooked up to the system so we have light, water and heat for cooking," Paris says as he moves over to the locked storage where the cells are.
Imam follows him, "I agree. At this point our reliance on solar power is dangerous."
"Hey. We have a day yet, why waste the energy?" Johns asks.
"Because we don't have a day yet. We have maybe half a day of twilight before total darkness overtakes us."
The merc swings around to look at the alien, who thus far had not said a word, "So you lied. You said we had fourteen days."
"I said very clearly, Mr. Johns, that it might be thirteen and a half days."
"You also said that ten of us would fit on the skiff, but I only see room for seven."
The Doctor narrows his eyes, "I left open the allowance for ten, but made no guarantees."
Outside the eerie clicking wail builds as whatever it underfoot anticipates what the next half day will bring. Riddick locks the inner re-enforced doors with a loud click.
"Cut it out, Johns!" Fry steps in between the two glaring men. "We don't have time for this. If you had wanted so bad to get the fuck off this rock then maybe you should have been helping!"
"I've been h-- "
"No, You haven't! You didn't cook, you didn't clean up, you didn't help Paris plot on the map, or the Doctor build the life support system from scratch. You sure as hell haven't been helping with the rewire. Pounding a few spearheads or supporting a wall that doesn't need support hardly counts." Carolyn explodes at him; "The boys brought over the crates, welded them together, and built the inner doors. Riddick re-enforced most of the roof by himself, built the inner defensive line, made the support shelving for the cryo-drugs and power cells, on top of doing the damn dishes every meal. Simon's been learning electronics and life support systems as he goes. River has been directing my fixing the engine by reading the manuals and telling me what I should do. Even Jack and Ali scoured the settlement and found bedding, toiletry supplies, and rations. You, on the other hand, have been higher than a kite this entire time while we are all busting our asses here!"
The words are enough to have nearly everyone watching them. "If this is about Owens again, Fry --"
"This has nothing to do with Owens, Johns. Nothing to do with Zeke, or Shazza. Nothing to do with anything other than your little red friend there," with that Carolyn points at the red shell that he's been playing with the entire time. "Now, we are not leaving until I know for sure that the skiff is not going to go up in a fireball. If that means we sit here in the dark for two more weeks then so be it. But -- I hear one more word out of you against the Doctor, I will personally escort you to the doors and you can find your own damn shelter."