"The hyperdrive would've split on impact," The Doctor explained to River and Octavian while gesturing to the crashed ship. "The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing." He put his hands on his hips.
"Deadly to an Angel?" Octavian asked, sounding a bit too hopeful.
"Dinner to an Angel," The Doctor said with regret. "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow." He added, distracted for a moment as Jenny stepped out of the trailer and came toward them. He could sense she was upset before he could see her face clearly, and he made a mental note to ask about it later. "Who built the temple, are they still around?" He asked.
"The Aplans," River said with confidence. "They were the indigenous life-form, but they died out four hundred years ago."
"Planet's now populated by humans." Jenny said.
Octavian nodded. "It was terraformed 200 years later. There's about six billion colonists here now."
The Doctor groaned. "Why couldn't it have been a dead planet? We could have just packed up and left, not need to worry about anything. Send out a warning like I did the Library." He dragged his hands over his face, cursing in his language and seeking out Rose in hopes she was a bit more conscious and could help him through it. He couldn't feel much but the brush of her mind against his.
"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the human population," Octavian started to say.
The Doctor gave a mirthless laugh. "Oh, there is. Bad as it gets." He said, withdrawing his screwdriver and playing with the settings. "Best lock and load." He murmured, not at all surprised when Octavian started shouting orders.
"Doctor Song, Tyler, two minutes, then you're with me." He said before taking off to help with whatever.
He didn't pay much attention, finding the setting he created the last time he'd encountered the angels and pointing the sonic at the TARDIS. He heard her hum of understanding in his mind, a confirmation of program changes.
"Dad?" Jenny asked.
"Emergency protocol 452." The Doctor said, replacing his sonic before looking at his daughter. "In the event that I have left the time and place where the TARDIS is, and Rose is unable to fly her, she will lock on to the sonic and transport herself to when and where ever I am. We are dealing with the Angels, after all, and I don't dare leave your mother alone when I have no idea when or …."
"She wakes up, Dad." Jenny said. "Remember? I heard the stories." She comforted him, reminded him that there wasn't an 'if' at all.
"Right, of course. But the point stands, I can't have her waking to find me gone. Now, did you need me for something?" He asked, and Jenny gestured to River. He turned to her, and she handed him a book. "What's this?" He asked.
"Found this in the library at school. Definitive work on the Angels, the only one as far as I know that isn't a touch fictitious. Written by a madman, it's barely readable, but I've marked a few pages."
The Doctor opened a book, reading quickly. "Not bad." He concurred. "Hang on, wait, this book is wrong." He said, opening it up again and looking through it a touch slower. "What's wrong with this book?" He asked.
"Nothing that we could tell." Jenny said with a shrug.
"No, there's something wrong. Something off." He opened the book up, reading through it again. "It is definitive. Which is the problem."
"Dad?" Jenny asked, and he glanced away to see Amy coming out of the trailer toward them, arms folded over her chest.
"How do you study something that you can literally never look away from?" He asked the women who flanked him, glancing first to Jenny, then to River.
He waited, and watched as the two women looked at each other in confusion.
"Well," River said. "I suppose, umm…."
"Well you would want to watch it, wouldn't you?" Jenny asked.
"Of course, but to save your own life. You blink, you look away for a split second, and the Angel attacks. Even a slow angel is fast when your gaze is away from it for long enough." He turned to Jenny. "Private auction? Who was the last buyer?"
Jenny shook her head. "Name was stripped from the record. 'Ms' was the only thing that remained."
"And it was pulled from where?" He asked her.
"The ruins of Razbahan," River replied, and he whipped around and looked at her. The name of the planet set off a warning in his mind, though he couldn't quite sort out why as of yet. River seemed to understand this. "There's a team who has been trying to prove the Time War was real," She said quietly. "Humans who'd heard the legends, among others, and want to know if there was truth behind it. Why they hadn't known about it before." She swallowed as the Doctor's brow furrowed. "Humans have been in contact with Daleks here and there since the 21st century. Again, considered legend. Even the battle of Canary Wharf, and the temporary displacement of Planet Earth, but when they got snippets of information here and there, mentions of what they overheard Daleks say."
"Investigating the Time War." He said, low and cold. "Why? What had they learned?"
"Dad," Jenny said soothingly, her voice small as if she wasn't sure she should be speaking. "It's considered a legend, all legends get picked to death. As of right now, in this century, it's still a story."
"I know, Uncle Jack had said as much once, but that's not why I'm worried. Razbahan was a casualty in the war. It's population was relocated, as was most of their tech, but the planet itself was a wreck."
"Yes, ruins." River said with a nod.
"Yes, ruins. Ruins mean destruction, River. As in nothing survives or stays intact."
"So how could you pull a statue from it?" Amy suddenly asked, all the understanding that the two women who were too deep into the investigation couldn't find.
"Precisely, Pond. How does one pull a statue, a complete, intact statue, from ruins? Sure there may be a piece or two that survive, but given the circumstances, how likely would it have been? Not likely at all, really. So someone planted it there after Razbahan's destruction. Girls." He looked between Jenny and River. "One of you mentioned sabotage."
"Yes," River said. "When we first got on board to have a peek, when we heard what Alistair and his archeology team pulled from the ruins we went to see if it was possible. We teleported on board in the engine room."
"There was someone messing with the controls," Jenny said. "Been on ships enough to know what someone doing damage looks like."
"We checked, but noted that it was only likely to be a problem if they hit warp speed." River said.
"We left a note." Jenny added, sounding a little guilty.
"So someone sabotaged a ship with Weeping Angel on board to crash land. Likely knew that the result of said crash would be all the Angel would ever need to feed and regain strength." The Doctor said, eyes falling on the ship.
"You think this was all planned." Jenny said, not a question in the least.
"I think someone did this, yes. I think who ever owned the Angel last stripped herself from the records because she didn't want it tracked back to her. Left the Angel to be found and sent someone, a mercenary or a grunt, to sabotage the ship that would be carrying it back. But why plant it on Razbahan? And why allow the ship transporting it to crash on to a planet with a population of any variety at virtually any point in time?" He looked up as he heard the sound of heavy boots coming toward him. "Father Octavian, change of plans, if we could." He said, marching over to the military man who seemed startled by the Doctor somehow. "We need to evacuate the humans, all of them on this side of the planet. Call in as many favors as you can, contact all ships available to you, get them out of here."
"Why?" He asked the Doctor. "A moment ago you said lock and load."
"I did, and now I'm saying use that priestly side of you and get the population cleared out. I would wager you have one day, eleven hours maximum before that ship blows and we're going to let it." The Doctor said decisively, only partially doubting the plan that was coming to him as he went.
"What about the radiation?" River asked.
"Radiation. Yes. Deadly to any and all sentient beings except for the Angels, but do you know what the angels are, River? They're stone. Stone can not survive, can not withstand explosions."
"But they aren't stone if you aren't looking at them." Amy reminded him.
"No, Pond, you're absolutely right, they aren't. But you know what else can't survive explosions? Anything. Well, I say anything, but I know of two beings in the Universe that can survive one, but I don't like to think about that too much. And while, yes, the radiation can be bad, will be bad, disastrous really, that's where I can help post explosion. Because right now, right this second, there isn't anything I can do but destroy the ship and the angel inside it or allow it to wreak havoc on the entire planet once it's strong enough. And an explosion is the only way to stop it, I'm afraid."
Octavian looked at him, holding his eye for a long while. He then turned to River.
"Do you trust this man?" He asked her.
"I absolutely trust him."
"So he isn't some sort of madman?" Octavian asked, arching his brow.
River smirked. "I absolutely trust him."
"Oi!" The Doctor said indignantly, fixing his bow tie.
"Don't hear you denying it," She said.
Well … he couldn't really say anything to that, could he? Madman in a blue box. Rose had called him that a couple times over their century together, called himself that a few times.
"Fine," Octavian said. "I'll round up the troops, see what kind of support we can get. Evacuate the population from this point moving out. And then what?"
"Then I'll do my part." The Doctor said, sounding a bit more confident than he felt.
~DWDWDW~
They were back on the TARDIS, the four of them, though Amy had no idea where the Doctor and his daughter went. Disappearing down a corridor, Amy had kept her eyes on his backside until he was out of sight, leaving her alone with River.
"So how do you know the Doctor?" She asked the curly haired woman watching the monitor. Amy didn't quite understand why, it was all swirls and weird things on the screen that reminded her of clockwork.
"He's a family friend." River said simply. "I've known him my whole life."
"And Jenny's your best mate, yeah?"
A smirk pulled at the corner of River's mouth. "You could say that."
"Lovers?" Amy asked, twitching her eyebrows.
River laughed, "While I'm quite flexible when it comes to who I spend my time with, no. Jenny is not my lover. She's …." She paused, seeming to choose her words carefully. "She's like my sister." She said in the end.
"It's like me and my mate Mels," Amy said, noting River turning her head slightly like she was trying not to look so interested. "She and I were really close growing up. Haven't been since, though. She liked trouble a little too much."
River snorted. "Most Melody's do." She said really softly, almost so quiet that Amy nearly missed the comment. She furrowed her brow, curious if maybe River knew a Melody as well. Must, why else would have made such an odd comment?
The woman in question had a sharp intake of breath, her whole body tensing as she gripped the monitor with white knuckles.
"What is it?" Amy asked, and River turned and looked at her over her shoulder.
"Something not good."
~DWDWDW~
"How did you know it was an Angel?" The Doctor asked Jenny as he cobbled together a device that would help absorb the radiation leak the explosion would cause.
"Learned from the best," Jenny grinned, pulling a small, almost screw driver looking device from the pocket of her fatigues. "Quantum-lock detector. I didn't even have to enter the vault fully and it started beeping." Jenny wiggled the thing between her fingers. "You and Mum told me stories of the Angels, and when we heard the rumors of what it was…."
He smiled at her fondly. "You clever, clever girl." The Doctor put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in and giving her a peck on the forehead. "So how old were you when you first met this me?" He asked her.
Jenny laughed. "Three months old." She replied. "You and Mum came to visit River and me." She met his eye fleetingly. "How long have you had that face?"
"About three or four days." He replied quietly. "I still haven't really looked at it. Don't dare to, not without your mother around."
"She loves you, Dad. You and Mum teach us what real love looks like. Always, no matter what face you wear."
"Doctor!" River yelled, and a moment later she was panting from the doorway of the workshop. "The radiation from the starliner," She paused, taking a breath, "It's not just revitalizing one angel, but hundreds. There are hundreds of angels in the catacombs. And they'll be at hunting capacity within the hour."
He straightened. "An hour? You're sure?"
She nodded vigorously.
He sighed as he stepped away from the table. He wanted to break something. Oh, that was new-ish. Hadn't wanted to do that in his tenth life. Did in his Ninth, but that was so close to the Time War it never surprised him what kind of rage was within the coward's body. But this, this was like having all his scars from that time cut open again.
"There is no way we're going to have this half of the planet evacuated in time is there?" He asked through gritted teeth, looked to River from the corner of his eye, hands on his hips. She looked chastised somehow, shaking her head minutely. He nodded. "Someone's sent someone in to sabotage a ship, send it crashing to planet, and leave who ever cleans up after it to make a choice: let the humans on it die, either by the explosion or exposure to radiation over time, or allow the humans to suffer what was likely the same fate as the Aplans and get sent back in time by the angels. Eventually, though, this could lead to a paradox as there was only two hundred years between the two. The Angels usually work within a century time frame, don't normally displace anyone further back than that. But, they send the humans back to a time when they were supposed to be starving, suddenly they have a food source that keeps them going a little longer." He rubbed his brow, pinching his nose. "Which would lead to some nasty anomalies."
No one said anything, though he heard River's boot move into the room. "Dad," She said very, very softly, and the Doctor whipped his head around to look at her.
Back when they first met, he stared at her whenever possible, cataloging every detail of her appearance, checking it against any possible physical trait he'd ever had, as well as anyone in Rose's family. She never matched up, she still didn't match up as far as he knew, and it made him narrow his gaze on her.
River smiled, her eyes glistening a bit. "Sorry," She said barely above a whisper. "Just, this is the face I'm most familiar with, and it's a title I've used with you in jest, in … in comfort. Slipped out, I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He said, holding her eye. "River, how old are you?"
"Ninety-six." She said, her voice cracking. "I remember the day you and Rose met me in the Library." She added, "And it was the only time I really saw that face after I turned fifty, and since you're fresh from regeneration, I know this is really the only time you've really seen me since."
He nodded, turned away, moved to a corner and turned abruptly. He folded his arms as he leaned back. "It's going to have to be the humans. I can't let the Angels create the kind of problems allowing them to send people back would create. Radiation can be handled, I think. I hope. Probably. Don't have a lot of time if there's only any hour. Exposure will start within two to anyone within a ten mile radius. Planet is not that big, which means…."
"Exposure." River said like a curse, and she turned to Jenny. "Did you give Amy the shot?" She asked, and Jenny shook her head. "Damn." She then looked to the Doctor who'd been watching her curiously. "Sorry. Shots that help metabolize the radiation. Amy's been near the ship enough, probably should have given her one sooner."
"Shot?" The Doctor repeated, and the word kicked his brain into gear. Even if the ship exploded, and they evacuated most of the people, and he came up with a solution that would help eliminate as much of the exposure long term, there would be those who'd have gotten sick or worse. But shots, vaccines, wonderful little human invention that they were, could be used as a solution. An easy solution. And if he didn't think of it sooner, what were the chances that whoever it was that set this up would think their way around such a simple solution themselves? He grabbed River by the back of the head and gave her a firm kiss on the forehead. "My girls, my clever, brilliant, fantastic girls!"
"Not really your daughter, you know." River reminded him as he dashed toward the door.
"No, but with a brain like yours, you may as well be," He said, feeling proud, knowing that whoever she was in the context of his future he had to have shaped that aspect.
He stopped short part way to the console, stiffening in wonder.
Like a daughter. Big brain, fast thinker, aged slowly. Bit of ginger in those curls. Could she be ….?
He'd have to check on Donna, future Donna, Donna with children and make sure she didn't have any girls. Could be a circular paradox, her meeting River. Then again didn't … no, River had called her Aunt, didn't she? Still, he'd have to check, just to be sure. He was certain her part of the meta crisis couldn't be triggered or passed on again, but then again he didn't think his wife would drop into a coma because he regenerated.
But that could be set aside. Right now, he had a Father to call about some vaccines.
~DWDWDW~
They hovered just above Alfava Metraxis' atmosphere, TARDIS doors open and facing the side of the planet that the ship had crash landed on. Amy was on edge, in a literal sense as well as metaphorically, as she sat on the doorstep of the ship with her legs hanging out. The Doctor was behind her, standing on his knees, chin resting on her head, arm around her waist. Probably to hold her in place, but she wasn't complaining. He was cool to the touch, something she'd noticed before but surrounded by him without feeling much body heat was, well, alien. And it left her mind wondering at what things would be like with that cooler skin a bit more … exposed.
But his daughter was sitting beside her, and River was just behind Jenny, so if there was a moment to try and figure out how to convince this fantastic looking widower the give her a very proper send-off if she was going to marry Rory it wasn't now. Besides, there would be an explosion big enough to see from space. Anything else could wait.
"Five, four, three, two," The Doctor paused in his countdown, and she could feel him smiling. "One."
Her mind filled in the sound that she couldn't hear as the bright, brilliant light flooded about a quarter of the planet.
"So what's going to happen to the people who live there?" Amy asked. "All that radiation?"
"The Church are administering vaccines that will help them metabolize it." He explained. "I've also cobbled together a few gizmos that will help clean up the radiation."
"And…?" Jenny asked coyly.
The Doctor's head lifted off hers. "And nothing, Jenny Tyler. I can make things that do not have multiple functions. To be honest, it felt weird to create anything with these hands, might not do it as often this time around."
"You did drop a lot of things." Jenny teased.
Amy chuckled, still mesmerized by the glow as it faded. "And the Angels? The 'kind killers?" She asked.
"Gone." The Doctor said. "And those that may survive will likely be too weak to cause any damage."
"What happens, exactly?" She asked turning and shifting to look up at the Doctor. "How does it kill you if it's not stone 'til you look at it?"
"It sends you back in time, feeds of the time you should have had left." He explained briefly.
Amy squinted in thought as she looked out over the planet. "But you have a time machine? Why would you be worried about them?"
"I'm not." He replied. "Been touched by an Angel before, had my ship come and find me. But if someone was to see something definitive, read an obituary, glimpse a memorial, proof of a life passed on when they shouldn't be it becomes sorta fixed. You could go back, and you could risk the Universe falling apart, but most cases it's best you don't. Paradoxes. You try to fix an event by going back and changing it you can cause trouble."
"So it's not really dying, just losing the life you know." Amy nodded. "Which, I suppose, could be like dying for some."
"Can be." The Doctor said absently, inhaling sharply and suddenly he was gone. She turned and saw he was already over at the console, flipping switches and turning knobs. "Ladies, do you mind coming inside and closing the doors?"
"Heading back down to the planet?" Jenny asked.
"No, not yet. There's somewhere I need to go. Nowhere special, really, just a quick errand before I drop you two off somewhere." He paused, looking up at the three of them. "Amy still hasn't had a proper tour of the TARDIS, so perhaps that's something you two can do for the few minutes I'm gone."
River reached down, helping Amy to her feet as Jenny got up on her own much quicker. They closed the doors, and the Doctor flipped a switch on the console that made the engines grind. It landed with a shudder, and he moved toward them but remained on the top of the ramp and off to the side. "Well, go on. Lots to explore. TARDIS knows which places to keep out of bounds and all." He said, waving them up.
As Amy made it to the top of the ramp, she stopped in front of him, straightening his bow tie. "See you in a bit." She said, adding just a touch of suggestion to her voice. He smiled and nodded, and they went their separate ways.
She watched as he disappeared through the door, having hardly opened it before he left.
"I'm not sure what you think's going to happen," Jenny said slowly, almost like a warning. "But my Dad …."
"Jenny," River said quietly, and she turned to her friend. River shook her head. "You don't need to worry." She reached out and clasped Jenny's hand tightly, and after a few seconds, she nodded once. River grinned. "Come on, we'll show you around."
Amy narrowed her eyes at Jenny when her back was turned, but there wasn't any real threat or fight to it. The Doctor was her Dad, and Amy knew that if it were just her mother who passed and she still had her tiny, little Dad she'd have been very protective of him as well. No one would ever be good enough, and Jenny had no idea that Amy wasn't exactly thinking long term.
She pushed her thoughts and plans and opinions aside. Maybe this was a good chance to get to know the mysterious Time Lord a little better through the one person he truly had left in the Universe.
~DWDWDW~
He felt wrong, and he couldn't shake it. He didn't mean to hold Amy like that, not the way it ended up. But he missed Rose's presence so terribly that he didn't full think through his actions. He meant only to keep Amy from falling out should anything startle her, knowing full well that Jenny was very capable of keeping her balance by comparison. He rested his head on Amy's head because it was like muscle memory from a life gone. She didn't smell right, she didn't feel right, but his mind replaced her with the one woman he missed most in the universe. She may have been safe on the TARDIS, but Rose's mind seemed to have receded a bit, and it crushed his hearts.
So he did what he knew deep down he really, truly, shouldn't have done. It was bad, very bad, terrible really, but he needed her.
Yet as he stepped outside the TARDIS and looked around he realized that he'd gotten the year right, just not the location. It was damp, like it'd just rained, and he could see her waiting at the bus stop across the alley he was parked in. Her blonde hair was braided back, and she looked utterly exhausted. And nineteen. He wanted Canada, and September, and a human him being the only thing preventing him from taking his Rose in his arms and simply holding her, the Family be damned. But he knew instantly this was London, and he was in the wrong area. But how could he not just go to her anyway?
He glanced up and down the currently quiet street and crossed it, moving right for the bench she was sitting on in the bus shelter. She glanced up from her examination of her nails, giving him a slight smile that made him want to cry out with joy and pain as she gave no sign of recognition. He sat, giving her personal space but only just enough that he'd be considered polite for once.
"Terrible weather, isn't it?" He said after a few moments of silence, and she turned back to him. Her smile was a little warmer, and he felt a rush of smugness as he realized she'd just checked him out.
"'S March, 'course the weather's bad." She said with a bit of cheek.
"March," He said, his mind wandering as he glimpsed Hendricks just down the block. "March is good, brings change. Did you know the original new year was celebrated in March?" She bit her lip, shook her head, and he smiled just a bit wider. "It was. March signals spring, rejuvenation, I bet you'll find that you'll have change yourself." He said, and she arched her brow. "You don't believe me?"
She shook her head. "Want to. Be nice to, I dunno, have something different happen for once." She replied a bit wistfully.
"I bet it will." He said. "And very soon. May just meet someone who will change your life forever."
She hummed, maybe in amusement, maybe with hope. It had been over a century since he'd spoken to this Rose Tyler, and the nuances she exhibited at this point were different. "And would that be you?" She challenged.
He grinned. "Might just be."
"Sorry, mate. Already have a boyfriend." She replied.
"For now." He replied, and Rose looked as if his confidence and cockiness actually interested her. And oh how he wanted to spring a kiss on her, reach out and touch her cheek, take her hand, but he didn't dare to. This Rose, magnet for pretty boys (which was what he assumed he sorta was in this body), had been very attracted to the daft face with the big nose and ears it bore. He wasn't sure if he could affect the time lines by making contact with her in this body, and he wasn't going to risk that he wouldn't.
She suddenly looked alert, looking around him.
"That's me." She said absently, glancing at him with a grin. "See ya." She said, giving his tweed covered shoulder a brief squeeze as she got up and darted out for the double decker bus that pulled out.
He smiled, relishing the phantom sensation her brief squeeze left behind before he got up and made his way back to the TARDIS.
When he entered the console room, the girls where emerging from a corridor above, the three laughing about something.
"So where should I bring you two? I assume that 'school' will not be the proper answer." He asked, noting on a double take that Jenny and River were back in their evening wear. "Heading somewhere fancy?" He teased.
River shot him a good humored glare as she moved down and over to the coordinates. "We aren't telling you where." She said simply as she set the time and place they wanted to be.
"Alright then." He said, glancing over to Jenny who gave him a nod to say she was ready. River moved to a spot that seemed to naturally be hers, and he set them on their way.
The TARDIS landed with a shudder, and as soon as it settled Jenny moved toward him. She got on her tip toes, kissing his cheek. "See you soon." She said before giving him a hug.
"Course, Love." He said before she stepped away.
River came over, giving him a hug but not the kiss. "Thank you again for your help." She said as she stepped back.
"From what I remember you said I would always come for you." He replied, smirking a bit as she chuckled.
"That you do." She smirked back, moving away and giving Amy an exceptionally tight squeeze. His companion's eyes bulged, but she said nothing as River stepped away and sidled up to Jenny.
Arm in arm, the women moved down the ramp and out the door, the sounds of a party filling the console room before the doors shut behind them. He flipped the switch, and they dematerialized
"So! Pond! Where can I take you now? Anywhere and any when you'd like to go." He smiled to the ginger in the room, but it fell as he met her eye.
He's seen that look, was usually really fond of it as it typically meant he was about to have a very fun time with the woman he loved. Amy moved slowly toward him, another move he knew the meaning behind. Panic made him freeze.
"Amelia." He said her name, her full name, the one that he'd used when she was a child to try and sway her.
"You're so clever," She said, and he couldn't pin point the tone but knew it was bad. "Clever and brave."
"Lucky and a coward." He corrected, though he would say clever was an accurate description.
Amy was close, almost too close, and he took a couple steps back only to collide with the rail. Something unsettling tickled in his mind, one of his Time Lord senses picking up on a shift that shouldn't be. A shift that could very well be catastrophic.
She chuckled in her throat. "Lucky, yes. I'd say you probably are."
A/N: Happy New Year! I realized I wasn't going to be able to post until Wednesday, so as a special treat it's a couple days early. And you'll still get another post Wednesday! Woot!
Thank you, as always, to the readers, favoriters, followers, and of course the reviewers.
WaitingformyDoctorintheTardis, CupcakeFlake, micbb (all good things to those who wait), texaspeach, Ryann Bennett, Antisocial Me (Rose won't have anything against her regardless of what may or may not happen), annabethfan15, Eagle Hawke, DuShuZhi, Nyx MG, PanoramaGirl, Maria EduardaB, Nayru Von Karma, debygobel (He doesn't know that's what she thinks), Shadow Eclipse, Dreamcatch56, Sommerlee, and jackjenfan. Thank you as always for leaving word.
If you reviewed before and I didn't mention you I had just noticed that there seemed to be a stopping point in which the site didn't list reviews. Dunno what was going on there, but I double checked my email this time and noticed a lack. If it happened before, I do apologize.
Next post will be on the shorter side, but that doesn't mean interesting things don't happen ...