Author's Note: So plans went awry. I intended to update prior to leaving for two weeks on vacation, but clearly I failed. Upon returning to the States, (where I'm from,) I finally purchased a new laptop, but do not have Microsoft Word so I'm using Open Office for now. Ugh... Also, family stuff happened, school stuff happened, but I'm back on it now. Due to my not having posted the third chapter before leaving, I dedicated my time on the plane rides to writing most of this and it's longer than normal, at least slightly. Not quite sure how this turned out, honestly, not my favourite chapter, but at least it's up.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who. In fact I hardly own any merchandise, yet… Yet.
Chapter Three: Developments
Tarin cast a glance at the slightly swaying, ginger haired female known as Donna. With a slight sigh, he spoke to her. "Come, you are tired. You may rest in the bed the back. I will not need another resting phase for two more cycles."
At Donna's bemused look, the Doctor leant down and whispered, "Lussonians only sleep about three to four times a week. Go on and get some shut eye. I don't sleep as much as you humans do either. I'll try to figure out what I can for tonight and fill you in when you wake up." With a dazed nod, Donna followed the direction Tarin was pointing and disappeared deeper into the building.
A semi-awkward silence stretched between the two remaining men until Kora's—who had been lying quietly on a cushion in the corner—eyes flashed gold and she let out an otherworldly howl that chilled the Doctor to the bone.
"Kora!" Tarin exclaimed, rushing to kneel next to his beloved companion. The Doctor followed suit, dashing to the beast's side, but at a loss for what to do as there was no outward trauma. It did not seem to matter, however, as Tarin had already flung his arms around his friend and pulled her close. "Kora! It's not real! It's not you! You're safe!" the boy yelled over the ongoing bay. After a few tense minutes, the Quaniki's eyes faded from the violent gold to their normal deep purple. As the glow faded, so did the howl. Eventually, Kora had calmed and simply whimpered softly in Tarin's arms.
"Is she okay?" the Time Lord asked after a minute.
"Y-yeah," the Lussonian stuttered, clearly shaken. "It's happened every night recently, but never this bad…" he trailed off, feeling the Doctor's scanning gaze.
"I think it's about time you fill me in on what exactly has been happening lately, Tarinoccaopthulmu. I might be able to help."
With a hesitant glance, Tarin sighed. "Where do I begin?"
"Let's start with why a clearly educated Lussonian boy of approximately 16 years is living on his own at the edge of town with a Quaniki as a pet."
"She's not a pet, Doctor. As I said, she is my friend. As for why I am here, I'm sure you can guess. It was discovered shortly after my birth that I had been a recipient of the Curse, the proclivity for knowing what should not be known. My maternal and paternal figures were of the high ranking class. They viewed me as a smear upon their name. The accidental fourth son already held little value within such a family. To be one of them, the cursed, might as well have been a smack in their faces. Still, my mother held hope that I could grow out of it, that it might have been a mistake." He paused, contemplatively. "She always was a foolish creature.
"Anyway, because of my mother's urging, I was kept and educated like the rest of my siblings. Though I continually performed better than my brothers, my father never acknowledged me as a being. The best tutors were hired to teach me control. For a time, their methods worked. I quickly learned to suppress the visions and influx of knowledge. However, about a year ago, that control shattered. I do not know why, but in the middle of a public gathering I was overcome with a new apparition. The spectacle I made was dire enough to insight the gaze of my father for the first time in years, and with the acknowledgement came his wrath."
Tarin raised his eyes to meet the Doctor's. "I was stripped of my name and thrown out that night. I wandered the streets, attempting to seek a roof for the night, but the sight I had made earlier had been large enough to curb any generosity. I resigned myself to wandering the alleyways for the night. After a week or so, I found this place abandoned and broken enough so that no one would wish to renovate." A mischievous glint entered his dark eyes. "Will that answer suffice, old one?"
"Oh, I'm not that old, not really." The pinstriped man chuckled, scratching his neck.
"Not in appearance, no, but those eyes betray lifetimes of experience and pain. You are not the happy man you masquerade as, are you, Doctor?"
The laughter trailed off, the brown haired man leaning his back against the wall. The Doctor leveled his gaze on Tarin. "Maybe so, but there is more you have not said. What of her?" he asked, tilting his head in the direction of Kora. "Quaniki are the one native living species of this planet. Though, in all honesty, their numbers were always dreadfully slim."
"I found her about four months ago. I had fled to the nearby quarry to escape some of my… old friends… and heard a hauntingly beautiful, but sad howl. I followed it into a partially concealed alcove and found her. Her eyes were glowing golden, and she remained hostile for about an hour. I chose to simply rest outside. She was too beautiful for me to just leave. I must have dozed off, because when I awoke again, she had approached me with purple eyes and had curled herself around me as I slept. The rest, as they say, is history," he said, fondly stroking Kora's neck and back. "With as protective as she has been with me, Doctor, I must admit I wonder what happened to lead her to such solitude."
The Doctor swept his eyes over the sleeping beast. "It is possible she was outed from the role of alpha of her pack. It is possible she had lost her litter and fled to mourn. It is possible that she is in the same situation as yourself," the Doctor murmured, bringing his eyes back to the boy.
"What do you mean?"
"It is possible she too was driven away for being different," he said sagely.
"Why do you think that?" Tarin's eyes lit up with curiosity.
"Tarin, Quaniki eyes don't glow gold. There is something more at play here. Now," the Time Lord stood and pulled out a pair of glasses, "I am going to ask again. Have you noticed anything unusual in the past months?"
Tarin snorted acerbically, stood, and began to pace as he spoke. "I may be scum in the eyes of my people, Doctor, but I am far from stupid. The day before I found Kora, there was a disturbance of some kind in one of the villages nearby. According to the newspapers released over the following days, someone was taken into custody after they failed to produce the necessary legal papers. That's all fine and good. Trans-planetary travel is regulated for a reason, after all. However, I had seen the enforcement carts enter the city and drive right past me. They certainly weren't headed to the depot. The route the car took seemed to be aimed for the Lab District on the opposite side of town."
"Lab District? Chemical labs? Nutritional labs?"
The boy shook his head sadly. "The Lab District houses the nine companies that deal in experimentation and a few of the shadier projects that are on the fringes of legal. Those who work there aren't very well respected amongst common society unless they discover some big revelation… though their presentations at the festivals are always interesting and well attended."
The older man spent a moment in silence, absorbing and reflecting on this information. Big Time Lord brain of his, it only took a moment. He was beginning to think Donna's declaration of him having finally landed them somewhere on time was wrong. "Tarin, exactly how far away is the village all this started in?"
"Maybe an hour, I'd say. The cables don't go out that far, but I have a few scrapped machines for transport I've stripped and fixed."
The Doctor smiled. "Sounds great, Tarin, my boy!"
When Donna finally wandered out from the back rooms, running her fingers through her hair in a vain attempt to tame it. Giving up, she threw herself blearily down on a chair at the small table. Mercifully, a slightly chipped mug with steaming tea was placed in front of her. Greedily snatching up the cup and inhaling the aroma with relish, the irritability and drowsiness drained as quickly from her form as the tea from the mug. Letting out a happy groan Donna wiped the sleep from her eyes and looked up at the apron the Doctor was wearing. "Forgive me, Spaceman, but I'm gonna pass."
The cheeky smile on the man in question's face slipped off as he glanced down at the "Kiss the Cook" apron wrapped 'round his waist. "Oi! I'm not that bad am I?"
"Too skinny for my tastes, mate." She winked.
"Oh bah your tastes. I'm rather fond of this body, m'self. Now!" The Doctor pulled up a chair across from his companion. "Let's get you up to speed."
Two hours and three full bellies later, Tarin lead the Doctor and Donna into the tiny town of Yogunada.
Donna glanced around curiously. The Lussonians who dominated the capital city were scarce here. This lot looked almost human, except for a magenta tinge to their skin. Despite every structure being made of metal, the village still managed to give off that conservative, small-town feel. The women were clothed from the neck down with heavy, draping fabric. The men wore some kind of thick linen trousers and long sleeved tunics. The storefronts all looked gently weathered and the road was paved only in loose gravel. It looked like an alien take on an American old west mining town. Suitable, she supposed as Tarin pointed out that Yogunada was a mining town. What the ginger could not get over was the pointedly judgmental stares the boys and herself were getting.
Oblivious to the scrutiny as ever, the Doctor immediately strode up to a couple of men finishing drinking their morning beverage of choice. Donna shot an apologetic look at the young boy beside her and followed.
"…told you, man, we don't know nothing."
"Oh, come now, surely you know what I'm talking about?" the Doctor pushed back, trying to be as charming as he could voluntarily.
"Yes, we know," the other man muttered, "but we're not gonna be talking about that. Bad signs, the Orgor says. Best to leave it be, I says." His companion raised his glass as if to toast to that statement.
"Here, here! 'Sides, whoever she was, she was trouble with a capital 'T'."
The second man sharply elbowed the first pointedly. The Doctor's eyes, however, gained a distinctive glint that Donna recognized quite well. He wasn't going to let that one go. With a growing smile, he prodded. "So what was so troublesome about her? Can't say I can picture any of these well mannered women causing any sort of trouble."
He took the bait. "She wasn't from here, obviously." His partner walked away muttering about decent conversation. "Never seen someone like 'er. Must've been city folk, like yourselves."
Donna stepped forward, unable to help herself, recalling the pointed looks the party were receiving. "An' what's that supposed to mean?"
The man shot her a look that so clearly meant 'are you daft or something?' "Other than her incessant rambling of nonsense, her garments were so…" he struggled to find the right word, "shameless. Her trousers," he directed a brisk glance at Donna's own jeans before returning to her face, "lacked any pretense of modesty in their cutting. Her hair was untamed and she acted so very aggressive towards good Holdanta who offered to take the offensive garments in exchange for more honest ones. I think it was her son that called the Enforcement. When they arrived, the beastly girl started grabbing at the device on her wrist, shouting at it. Quite the ruckus she made too. Took a tranquilizer to finally subdue her." He finished his drink with a generous gulp and tossed the mug into a bin at the side of the porch. "But, as the Orgor said, she must'a been a bad omen. Thank the stars she's gone now."
As he walked away, the Doctor let out a considering "Hmmm…".
The silver door smashed into the office wall, startling the man inside. Setting his phone down with a simple, "I'll call you back," the occupant glared at the intruder. "Gods, Ferrin! This had better be good! That was one of our largest sponsors I just hung up on."
"O-of course, Sir. Sorry, Sir. It's just... there has been a development with patient 2145636," Ferrin stammered.
"Oh? And pray tell, boy, what news have you?"
"Though the subject has yet to wake from whatever coma they've placed themselves in, the apparition has not dispersed. When two of our scientists approached the pair, the beast lashed out."
The elder man leant forward, tenting his fingers on the desk between them. "Were there any injuries?"
"A-actually, Sir, our men, for lack of a better term, seemed to disintegrate on contact with the creature. We attempted to subdue it remotely, but the tranquilizers passed straight through it. It also seems that gaseous sevoflurane does not work either, as it had on the patient itself. I have personally ordered the room a high-risk, high-security zone. No one is to enter without express permission."
Ferrin's superior sat back in his seat and mulled over this new development for a few long minutes. Finally, he announced, "I wish to see the anomaly myself."
Ferrin bowed respectfully, muttering, "Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir." Straightening back up, he stuttered out, "O-od course. Please follow me."
Together the pair left the office and maneuvered their way down the twisting labyrinth of walls and rooms. Eventually, they came upon a hallway both knew to house the more... controversial testing. There at the end of this paranoia-inducing hall, two armed guards stood watch. The men continued down the corridor, the clicking of their heels drowned out by the strange sounds, cackling, scraping, wailing, and the distinct hiss of gas emanating from behind the numerous metal doors lining the path. When they arrived in front of the guards, the armed pair gave a swift salute and shifted to the side of the final door. Ferrin's companion stepped forward and lifted the built in observation window on the door.
Silence rang loudly between the men, despite the relative noisiness of the hallway. The older man spent a solid five minutes simply watching whatever was unfolding within the room beyond. Seemingly satisfied by what he had seen, he closed the window once more. Turning to the rather antsy, fidgeting Ferrin with a growing, greedy grin he spoke. "Make the arrangements, Ferrin. This we can present at the festival." Pulling himself up to his full height, he announced, "You are relieved of your other duties for today. Put your full effort into preparing the patient for display."
"Yes, Sir."
The pair walked back to where they had come, leaving Patient 2145636 behind. As the guards resumed their positions in front of the door, what lay inside let out an ethereal, bone chilling howl.
Back in Tsunowa, a man who goes by "the Doctor", a woman by the name of Donna Noble, and a boy called Tarinoccaopthulmu had grabbed a late lunch as they processed what they had learnt.
Having finished his own meal first, the Doctor had decended upon Tarin, grilling him for everything the boy knew about the Lab District and what goes on there. Sadly, Tarin seemed to know very little. Most of the experiments and procedures carried out there were kept and performed under the tightest security and secrecy as a means of protecting the companies' rights to conduct their tests. After all, you cannot disparage what you are not aware of.
At around question 73, Donna figured it was time she rescue the poor boy. "Oi! Spaceman! Let the boy finish his meal."
The Doctor shook his head and turned to look at the ginger woman, apparently only just remembering her presence. Clearing his throat and tugging shyly on his ear, the Time Lord stopped the barrage of questions. "Eh-hem... Er... Right you are, Donna Noble. My apologies, Tarin."
"It's fine, Doctor."
As the brightest of Lussonia's twin suns began to set, the time traveling duo and their friend were picking their way back to Tarin's home.
They had been firmly turned away from the Lab District gates by, in the Doctor's personal opinion, incredibly rude and unfriendly armed guards. Not even his last piece of psychic paper permitted them entry. Apparently, the protocols dictated that no one is to enter unaccompanied by a worker, all of which the guard staff know the faces of. Not even the Doctor's frankly magnificent gob could wheedle his way inside the fenced zone. Finally, after two hours had passed and the three investigators still standing outside the walls of the district, Tarin became concerned about Kora and Donna managed to convince the Time Lord to simply wait for the festival the next day.
Author's Note: Whew... At least it's done. The next one has been planned out for a while now so it shouldn't be too long at all before it's out. As in, I'm hoping to have it up within a week. Anyway, please review and let me know what you think. Tomorrow is the festival and it's sure to be interesting. ;) Thank you for reading, and as always, please review!