4
"We should not be here. It is a bad place."
The Doctor shrugged. "Oh I don't know. A little paint, a little street sweeping…or a lot of street sweeping…and the place'd be lovely. It's really all about the ambiance, you know. But at the moment, yes, it is a bit gloomy."
He was babbling and he knew it. Sometimes it helped him think, and sometimes it let him keep from thinking over a situation he couldn't affect. They'd been down in these streets for the last two hours, and still no sign of…well, anything much.
She was here, though. Somewhere. He just had to find some hint, some clue. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "She's got to be around here. Think, think, think…" Leaning back against the wall, he sighed. "There ought to be a sense at least…Sha-Ta, I need a tick."
"You are ang-ry at me?"
"No. Why would you think I'm angry at you?"
"Your light is big and ang-ry. Very big around you."
The Doctor stared at her for a long moment.
"I'm not angry, Sha-Ta. Well, not at you. I'm angry that I can't find my friend. And I'm going to try to find her right now. Amuse yourself for a minute."
He closed his eyes. If he cleared his mind and listened, really listened, he'd feel her somewhere. He had to.
It took time to clear a mind as busy as his. Sounds filtered through; wind sighing down the street, the click of Sha-Ta's talons on the street.
Jenny. Jenny. Where are you?
Jenny.
Click-clack. Ruffling feathers.
Jenny.
A high pitched squawk snapped him out of his frame of mind.
"Sha-Ta." He said irritably, opening his eyes, "I said I needed…" he trailed off, realizing that he was talking to an empty street.
"Sha-Ta?" she wasn't anywhere he could see.
"Sha-Ta!!" he shouted. Only the wind replied.
She couldn't believe she hadn't done this already. They'd visited Harry Houdini a year ago; she should kick herself for waiting this long to try some of his techniques. She blamed it on the cracks she'd taken to the head. She had to focus. Focus. It helped that these handcuffs were overly large, and that her thumbs bent in ways that Houdini was covetously jealous of.
Carefully, she pulled her thumb inwards until the inside of her knuckle pressed into the flesh of her palm. Then she pulled. One hand free. Then both.
In a moment, Jenny had concealed herself, keeping on the move. Objective was pretty clear. Do the maximum amount of damage to this facility in the least amount of time. Shut this place down. That, she was good at.
He'd run up and down the street two or three times, through the side streets. How could he have lost her in a matter of seconds?! He shouted her name.
If he admitted it to himself, he was panicking a little. He couldn't believe it. First his daughter, now this girl he'd gotten in his charge. He slammed a fist into the wall, cursing. "The bloody street can't just swallow her up!" he shouted. The words echoed back at him.
Or could it?
The thoughts came together in his head. People disappearing. Disappearances without transports. So what else could happen?
"Of course!!" he yelled. Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, he began to run it over the walls and the road, moving at a jog.
"Catch or locking mechanism, it'll open with…probably biometrically set, or electrometrically, either way this'll do the job! Booby traps! Oldest trick in the book! Probably in the road, best place for it. And who's been setting traps then? And for what? Oh, figure that out as we go along. Come on, come on…" just ahead, something clanked and juddered.
"Yes!!!"
Dropping to his knees, he focused the sonic beam. The spot in the road shuddered, and the stones fell away. A black pit gaped open. The Doctor stared down into it. He drew a quick breath.
"Well, down the hatch."
Then he leaped into darkness, his coattails flapping.
He landed with a crunch. Beneath his feet, white shards splintered.
"Bone." The Doctor murmured. "Not exactly something to inspire confidence." He changed the setting on the screwdriver, and shined its light ahead. For a moment, he closed his eyes.
Jenny?
Hands full of wires, Jenny's head shot up.
Father?
Jenny! Where are you?!
Clearing her mind, Jenny replied.
I've investigated these tunnels, so I'll come to you. Just let me finish this. And be careful, there are armed combatants down here.
Armed combatants? How do you…Jenny, what are you finishing?
Tell you in a bit. Busy right now.
Jenny had cut off contact. She was refusing to answer him! The Doctor indulged in a silent curse and a tug on his hair. The nerve of the girl! He broke into a quick trot. Fine, if she wasn't going to talk to him, he'd just have to track her the old-fashioned way. He could feel her quite clearly now, and it would be easy to use that sense as a compass. The corridors turned, twisting and branching like the pipes in the ceiling. Maintenance tunnels probably. He ducked into a side tunnel at the sound of voices, slipping by rooms filled with refrigerated produce boxes. The next chamber was full of packaging plastic, produce quality if he wasn't mistaken. He hurried down another corridor. He'd almost reached the light of the next chamber, when the ring of running feet froze him where he stood. He glanced around desperately. Maybe if he pressed himself against the wall-
Too late. A figure showed dark against the entry, a large sack held in its hand by a strap.
Jogging into the light, the girl gave him a wide grin."Hello, Father!" Grabbing his hand, she pulled him back the way he'd come.
"Let's keep running, I think we're still in the blast radius."
"Blast radius!" the Doctor yelped, "Jenny, what-"
"I rigged their power generator to explode. We've got eighteen minutes twenty nine seconds, and there's civilians to extricate in that time window."
"What?!"
"Just run, okay?"
They barreled through halls, past chambers that stank of-was that blood?-and into a tiny room. The Doctor whirled on his heel, staring back out the entrance.
"Jenny, what kind of generator is it, because from the wall construction and the-"
"Help me with these, will you?"
Turning to reply, the Doctor saw the contents of the room. Cages. And what-who-was in them. About a dozen sickly-looking Pa'aqui sat or stood inside the wire mesh cages. The Doctor's face hardened as everything he knew clicked into place. Taken together, it meant only one thing. The derelicts of the city, trapped, slaughtered, taken as produce and sold as meat off-world.
"Doc-tor!"
"Sha-Ta!" the Doctor cried, bounding to the nearest cage on the left. Sha-Ta stood huddled beside an adult, staring up at him. He grinned at her. "There you are, wonder where you'd wandered off to. I'm always telling people 'don't wander off', and I swear nobody listens. But let's have you out of there, shall we?" he aimed the sonic screwdriver at the lock, and it sizzled away into nothing.
"There, much better. Last stop, everybody off!" Running cage to cage, he burnt off locks and opened doors.
"Five minutes!" Jenny called to him. Then she turned, facing the huddled mass of feathers and craned necks.
"All right, everybody, get to the end of the corridor, turn left, there's a door. Get outside. Move, move, move!!"
As an unruly gaggle, the Pa'aqui took off. The Doctor turned to the nearest wall, and ripped loose a series of wires.
"Father, what-"
"Wait a minute!" He set the last wire, then shoved the whole mass back against the wall. Already it had started to spark. Grabbing his daughter's hand, he pulled her out of the room. A blue-white streak of electricity arced from one side of the doorway to the other.
"Malto bene!" the Doctor said fiercely, "Unless you like being deep-fried you won't be crossing that. That means anybody down here won't be sneaking out and getting away! In a minute that short will pass through the whole system down here. Presto, instant prison cells."
He turned to his daughter. "The electrostatic pressure in each room should contain most of the blast, but unless we want to stay down here we better get out before that short spreads through the rest of the system. Run!"
Still hand in hand, the Time Lords pelted down the corridors. Sparks flashed and spat from the walls. There was light up ahead. The Doctor put on an extra turn of speed.
Then the rumble began, deep in their bones, a force that shook the walls. Just a little further. It was hard to keep your balance when the floor didn't stay in the same place. The door. Finally. The Doctor and Jenny tumbled out the door on ground that bucked and writhed.
For a long moment they lay side by side, breathing hard. Drawing a breath, Jenny rolled over.
"Nice…job….Father."
He smiled weakly. "Same…on..you. Always…exploding…something!"
Before much time had passed loud squawks and whistles announced the arrival of the City Guard. There were explanations. The power grid was shut off and the conspirators hauled from their underground den. Before the blue-white sun had set, the two Time Lords were standing in front of the Sisters of Justice.
"Our thanks and ccon-grat-ul-at-ions on the find-ing of these fiends."
"Well, thanks," the Doctor said lightly, hands in the pockets of his coat, "Always glad to lend a hand. By the way, we'll be leaving now, so I think Sha-Ta has served her sentence."
"Yes." The judging Sister said, "She is ex-ccused."
"Welll," the Doctor drawled, "Actually I think it might be a good idea if you kept her around. Since she seems to have the Light Eyes and all."
That got the attention of every avian in the room, and an astonished stare from Sha-Ta.
"The Light eyes?" one of the lesser Sisters said sharply, "A cchild of no hatch-ing line?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Only way to know is to give her the test."
He was favored with long stares.
"Oh go on." He cajoled, "Can't hurt to try, can it?"
The judging Sister ruffled her feathers. "The cchild will be tes-ted. The Lit-tle Ccourt rec-ess-es."
The Doctor bowed, holding his arms out from his body as was polite, and turned to leave.
"Doc-tor, wait."
Straightening her long legs, the judging Sister stalked across the room to stand over him.
"You have done us great ser-vice."
"Oh, all in a day's work, really."
"And be-cause of your aid," the lady continued as if she hadn't heard, "There is a thing I wish to tell you. A thing I see ar-ound you. There are some who are wait-ing for you. They are in pain. They are cry-ing."
The Doctor's brows drew together.
"Who?" he asked.
The Sister ruffled her feathers.
"The High Ones. Gods."
The Doctor stared into her great yellow eyes, brow creased.
"Yes. Thanks for the message."
The Sister bobbed her head, and walked away.
The last of the sunlight bathed them as they stepped out of the Little Court.
"What was that about?"
The Doctor glanced at Jenny's puzzled face.
"I don't know. Just…"
Jenny watched her father's pensive expression as they walked, but he said nothing else. Soon they were standing in front of the TARDIS. The Doctor unlocked the door, his eyes still preoccupied. He strode to the console. Jenny took up her place at the controls without a word, her eyes on the older man's thin frame. For a long moment, the Doctor stared at the weaving light within the time rotor. Then he sighed.
"Que sera sera." He murmured.
"Whatever will be will be?"
The Doctor glanced at her with a refuel half-smile. "That's about the size of it. Just have to wait and see what comes, won't we?"
Jenny nodded hesitantly. The Doctor smiled.
"Then let's see what's out there for us."
Reaching out, he pulled the handbrake.