The Impossible Basement

Part Seven

"Is there more to this plan of yours?" Jane kept shooting glances behind her as they ran forward. She heard the sonic screwdriver whirr and with a click, the front door unbolted and flew open.

"Aluminium. Thanks for small favors and all that," he muttered to himself. "It's not really a plan, not yet anyway. It's still just…well…it's a thing. A work in progress. Respect the thing." the Doctor said as he pulled them both out the door.

"Does this thing end with us being eaten?" She thought it was a fair question to ask as he dragged her to the street.

"Maybe," He shrugged. "Haven't got it all sorted yet. Ideally, no. Of course, it's good to keep our options open."

"What?"

"Well, obviously, our best hope is to avoid imminent doom. But I find it's good to cover all bases. Besides, how silly will we look if we don't consider being devoured as an option?"

"Are you kidding me?" Jane mustered a scowl despite her clawing terror.

"No. Absolutely not." He stopped and pointed a very stern finger in her face. "There's nothing funny about being seen as silly. Ah! Look, a river!" His serious frown turned to a grin.

"Is that good?" She glanced at the bridge just down the block.

"Well. I don't know yet. But I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks."

"Er. Probably time we picked up the speed a bit. They've caught our trail." Jane followed his gaze back over her shoulder toward the house. She had to swallow back a yelp when she saw it. It was too large to fit through the door, but it had split itself in half to make the trip. Once it was in the yard, it was stitching itself back together again.

She didn't stop to watch the whole process. Instead, she focused on pumping her legs. More specifically, in a direction away from whatever that thing was. It was something she was glad to see they were both in agreement on.

"Yes. It'll have to be the river. No helping it." He was muttering to himself again as he held his screwdriver up, causing it to hum at different frequencies. "Alright, here we are! Time for supper!" He pulled them both to a stop as they reached the bridge and started to wave both his arms in the air. Jane prepared to run again, but the Doctor remained still.

"We're…we're just going to let it come at us?" Her eyes darted between the Doctor and the giant Arthropoda as it stalked toward them. "Is that the plan thing?"

"Yes. All the better for it to catch us." He nodded. "Come on then! Haven't got all day!"

"What? Are you completely crazy?" The relief she had experienced at drawing the creature away from the kids had been decidedly short lived.

"Yeah." He shrugged. "A bit. Said you trusted me?" He grinned mischievously.

"Starting to reconsider." Her voice was shrill as his grip tightened around her wrist, no longer giving her the option of retreat.

"Just a bit longer." He winked. "Let's have it then. We give up. Time to feed." Jane felt her stomach curl up uncomfortably at the mention of feeding.

"No…more…running." The creature sounded gleeful as it closed on them, blotting out the streetlamps. If Jane's legs hadn't turned to an incredibly useless mixture of jelly and lead, she would have tried to flee.

It started like raindrops, tiny little creatures pelting against her face, and then a whole wave of them crashed against her, their tiny legs prickling all over. She focused on keeping her mouth firmly shut and breathing out violent short bursts of air from her nose.

"Slowly…"The Doctor spoke somewhere nearby, but she was too frightened to open her eyes. She did feel as he pulled her backward, toward the edge of the bridge. "Now, jump!" He commanded just a moment before pulling her over the railing, along with the swarm that had surrounded them.

Jane, in that not-so-in-the-moment part of her brain, didn't like the idea of taking a swim in the Charles River. Even though she was covered in tiny black alien spiders and barely able to breathe and really not looking forward to getting wet, just before she crashed into the water, her last thought was, "Please don't let me catch a gross disease." But then all thoughts left.

There was only the water, the lack of oxygen, and the flailing of limbs. Jane's hand lost contact with the Doctor's and she panicked, kicking up, trying to break to the surface again. A shock much like static electricity stung her skin. She pumped faster. Finally, she broke the surface.

Gasping and spitting water, Jane blinked water out of her eyes. The Doctor was gasping next to her, splashing about. Jane looked down at the water. It was covered in little black dots. The Arthropoda were treading the water away from Jane and the Doctor.

"That was your big plan?" Jane asked, spinning as well as she could in the water. Her legs kicked wildly as she tried to stay afloat. "What if I couldn't swim?"

The Doctor grinned at her, more self-satisfied than sheepish, though a bit of the latter did creep in. "Well, would you rather have been consumed by Arthropoda?"

Jane thought about it a second, then shivered. She decided not to answer. Instead she asked another question. "Well, what did the water do to them? They're heading away from us. Are they going to attack us once we reach the shore?"

The Doctor started to swim to the right bank, urging Jane to follow. "No. But good thinking. No, the water was just an instrument to deliver the shock." He climbed onto the bank, offering a hand to Jane.

"Shock?" Jane let the Doctor help pull her out onto shore. She immediately started to shiver in the cool evening air. She ran her hands up and down her arms, trying to dispel the goose bumps.

The Doctor wove his fingers through his hair and shook it furiously. "Arthropoda aren't that much different from Earth spiders. So, I used the sonic screwdriver to charge them with a biological reversal sequence."

"A what?" Jane raised her eyebrows as she squeezed water from her hair.

"They're just regular spiders now. Off to live their spidery lives eating regular insects and not swarming the basements of innocent children's homes."

Jane gasped and took off running. "Oh my god, Aaron and Sophie!" She let out a curse that made the Doctor, who was running right beside her, give her a shocked look.

"Language, Jane!" the Doctor admonished.

Jane glared at him for a second, but didn't say anything else. She concentrated on getting back to the house before Sophie and Aaron realized that they were gone. She ran up the short steps and opened the unlocked door, which slammed into the wall as she raced up the stairs, calling out their names.

Jane was relieved to find they were both alright, aside from looking a few shades paler. Sophie started to cry, probably because she had been startled when Jane threw the door open. But there was no sign of the creatures.

"Are they gone?" Aaron asked with wide eyes, she could see he had been on the verge of tears.

"All gone," She knelt down and scooped him in her arms, letting out a relieved sigh. "Like it never even happened."

"You're all wet." He pointed out, suddenly recovered and trying to pry his way out of her arms.

"Yes. We went for a swim." The Doctor added helpfully. "Though I do seem to be dripping. Sort of…all over your floor." Jane gave a nervous laugh when she realized she was doing the same.

"I'll grab some towels." She said as she stood up. "Watch them." She warned the Doctor very seriously.

"Of course." He nodded sharply and gave a salute. She only hesitated a little when she left. She did trust him, but it was so inexplicable as to why it worried her that she had accepted it so quickly. Still, she supposed defeating giant spider monsters together did that sort of thing to people.

She went downstairs, careful to check around each corner as she went. When she braved her way to the top of the basement stairs, she found that it was brightly lit just like she had remembered it from before. The odd contraption the Doctor had built was now a sad looking half-melted puddle of plastic.

She wasn't quite brave enough to go down the stairs, but she was fairly confident that whatever had lurked there before, was now gone. She set up the baby gate once more, making sure it securely barricaded the stairs. Then she ducked into the bathroom and grabbed a few towels, and upon seeing the slug trail of water she was leaving behind, decided to change into her pj's, dropping her soggy clothing into the tub where she could deal with them later.

When she returned upstairs, she was a little unnerved to see the room was dark and only the nightlight cast a gentle glow over the occupants. But everyone was alright. Sophie was down in her crib, miraculously asleep. And so was Aaron. He had built a small mattress out of the scratchy blankets and was settled in front of the crib. The Doctor sat nearby, on a blanket of his own, he had neatly folded his jacket and laid it along side of him. His boots were tied together at the laces and draped over his shoulders. He still managed to look dignified despite being soaked to the bone.

"How did you manage that?" Jane had to ask as she handed him a towel. She doubted that she was going to drift off so peacefully tonight after everything that had happened.

"Oh, I'm an excellent babysitter." He smiled, rubbing the towel over his head like he were a dog. "This towel is magnificent!" He beamed as he wrapped it around his shoulders, looking quite cozy.

"You can keep it." Watching Sophie and Aaron sleeping peacefully, and more importantly, safely, made her all the more aware of just how lucky she was that this strange man had taken an interest in her basement.

"Really?" His face lit up like she had given him a solid gold statue instead of a strip of fabric. "Oh, this is just…thanks!" He held out his prize, beaming at it.

"Well, thanks for saving us all from the whole, giant alien consciousness." Jane shrugged.

"No trouble at all. I'm the Doctor." He said with a smile. "It's sort of what I do."

"So…what do I tell him?" She nodded toward Aaron. She had no doubt it was going to come up when Marshall came back, and she was completely at a loss as to what to say. What else, other than a serious night of drinking, could explain this?

"Tell him the truth." The Doctor said matter-of-factly.

"With aliens? And everything?" She laughed. "I'll be locked up. No one will believe me. I'm not totally sure I believe me."

"Well, I didn't say tell everyone the truth. But Aaron deserves to know. Besides, he's a smart enough lad to know it'll just be a story to everyone else." He plucked his jacket up from the floor and hooked it over his shoulder, along with the towel. "This was loads of fun. But it looks like it's mostly sorted. So I'll just be off then." He kissed the air on either side of her cheeks, which was very awkward, and she did her best not to flinch.

"You're leaving?" She wasn't overly upset, but she was a little surprised.

"For now." He grinned, something secret sparkled in his eye. "I can promise you that your weekend will be largely speed bump free from now on. Well. Aside from the spaghetti incident." He scowled. "That's…well. Best for you to find out on your own. See you around, Jane."

"Bye," she said as he walked out the door. She wasn't sure why he seemed so certain they would meet again, but she believed him.

She settled down next to Aaron on the blankets, brushing his hair away from his forehead. When she leaned back she realized the nightlight was different, it wasn't just glowing the pale pink of the crystal start that was plugged into the wall. There were shapes above them, planets, and stars, entire constellations spread across the ceiling. She had only meant to watch them for a moment, but her heavy lids closed on their own. Before she knew it, she was sleeping just as soundly as Aaron and Sophie both.