There were good days in the Doctor's life, and then there were bad days. Lately the good days had outweighed the bad. Travelling with the Ponds was good for him. But this, decidedly, was turning into a very bad day indeed.
Delnos Delta.
Funny how one name could make this whole situation clear and make it infinitely worse at the very same time.
'That's halfway across the galaxy,' River commented. Judging by the slight frown in her forehead she knew perfectly well what this was about and she wasn't any more pleased about it than he was.
He only took a very brief second to wonder just how many places his future self would take her to, because the Stormcage he'd picked her up from was in what, the fifty-second century or thereabouts? This hadn't chronologically happened for her yet. Where she came from humans had not even discovered this galaxy and wouldn't for about five hundred years. You and me, time and space, the River in the Library had told him. The more he saw of her, the truer the words started to sound. And it terrified him more than he was about to admit anytime soon.
Best keep his mind on things he knew how to handle. 'Delivery for the local population, is it?' he inquired. There was that sarcasm that he could not quite keep out of his voice. It wasn't something he would characteristically do, but the more the realisation began to sink in, the stronger the anger became.
He had been to Delnos Delta a couple of time, one time to save the peace conference of 6798 – and to stop a renegade Dalek from exterminating everyone in attendance – another to show Donna the famous temples – and be sent running when he accidentally insulted their gods – and once during his ninth face to stop the humans from committing genocide. Come to think of it, that would only be about five years from now.
Not that that particular attempt would be the first, merely the most serious in a long list of attempts to clear Delnos Delta from the original owners in order to make room for all the human colonists wishing to settle there. The air was particularly good for human health, hence the influx of humans, and there was not enough room for Delnosians and humans both. And humans in this part of the galaxy were not to be counted among the most peaceful.
The realisation of what was really going on here left a foul taste in his mouth.
River's face was calm. In fact, he would find it hard to read any kind of expression from it. but she radiated danger, and not in a good, attractive sort of way. Her fingers were fiddling with the gun now attached to her hip as if it had been glued to it.
'Please,' Terry – the Doctor had just discovered the identification card still clipped to his chest – pleaded. 'I didn't know. I promise. I had no idea. Only the captain knew.'
'I take it your captain is currently reduced to bits of bones,' River concluded. She sounded wholly unconcerned. 'At least he got the justice he deserved.'
The Doctor wondered what kind of justice River had been given, seeing as how she was supposed to be in Stormcage, where only the most dangerous criminals were held. Who is she?
You're going to find out very soon now, she'd said when he asked her that exact same question after the Ponds' wedding. He hoped that was going to happen anytime soon, because he couldn't stand not knowing something.
'Right,' he said, more to get his thoughts back on track than to announce that he had a plan. As it happened, he hadn't. Not yet anyway.
'Yes, sweetie?' River was still keeping one eye on the crew member, but he could tell he had her attention. The flirtations were well and truly done with for the moment; she was all business. It was different from Amy and Rory on so many levels. They would be asking what to do by now. River wasn't. River Song could keep up with him and that was something he hadn't had in a very long time. For a moment, just a moment, he thought he could have that with Donna. But that had been a fool's hope. From the moment he realised what had happened, he had known how it would end. But River was just human and quite amazing, intelligent and she could keep up with him without being turned into a metacrisis first.
'We are going to repair the ship, get the wolves and let them loose on an empty planet,' he announced. 'And then we're going to take the crew home.'
River gave him that look that she had given him in the National Museum as well, that look of pure scepticism that failed to insult him but for some reason very much made him want to prove that he could pull it off. Not that he was trying to impress her – why would he? – but he did have a reputation to uphold. He was the Doctor after all.
'Well, that sounds nice, Doctor,' she said. 'But this ship won't fly for weeks, if ever, and the TARDIS is miles away.' Unfortunately, there was rather more truth in her words than he would like. 'Just how were you hoping to achieve that?'
'Doctor?' They had both all but forgotten about Terry until he spoke again. The dazed look caused by River's lipstick had mostly vanished and he was looking at the Doctor as if he was seeing him for the first time. He staggered back. 'Who are you? What did you do to me?'
'We're from the Intergalactic Crash Emergency Corporation,' he replied, flashing the psychic paper under his nose again. 'The Doctor and Dr River Song. Oh, Doctor and Doctor, that does sound cool. We could be a team.'
River only rolled her eyes. 'We are a team,' she said. There was a little hesitation there, though, as if she was not entirely sure about it, almost as if she expected him to contradict it, which he was not about to do.
'Yes, we are,' he agreed. Being in a team with River Song was something he could live with. It were the other aspects she kept hinting at but never divulged that were driving him up the wall. 'Well then, team, what was your idea?'
River didn't miss a beat. She pulled a small object out of her pocket and dangled it in front of the Doctor's nose. 'I'll go and get the TARDIS, while you fix this ship.' It sounded more like a command and less like a suggestion. Oh, he had been right about her. She was good. For an archaeologist.
But not that good that he was about to let her go and do this. 'You are not flying my TARDIS,' he protested. 'And that…' he pointed at the vortex manipulator, 'is no fit way to travel, Dr Song.'
'It's a vortex manipulator, sweetie.' There was that flirtatious smile that was doing rather strange things to his hearts again.
'Cheap and nasty time travel,' he countered. 'If anyone is going to use that, it should be…' The rest of that sentence trailed off when he realised that River had completely ignored him; she was already gone. 'Me,' he ended lamely.
It was something of a relief to be back inside the TARDIS. And thank goodness she had known better than to land outside those doors; the scanner indicated that there were still more than enough hungry wolves prowling around, just waiting to see if more people would come through that door.
River patted the console in greeting. 'Hey, old girl,' she muttered.
The TARDIS hummed in response, a friendly and reassuring presence in the back of her head, something she'd felt from the moment she had first walked through those doors, even when she was rebellious young Mels and she had shot the console. Well, truth be told, she had been aiming for the Doctor, but he'd moved at the last possible moment.
'He's so young.' It was easier to say it when it was just the TARDIS who heard her. It certainly wouldn't do for the Doctor to hear it. He only scoffed and snorted when she said things like that. And it wasn't his fault. He just wasn't there yet. He wasn't her Doctor yet. He would be, in time, if she performed her task well.
But it was hard work, and she wasn't certain the Doctor even wanted this, wanted her. True, he had shown up at her cell, but it had been the first time he'd ever done that. He kept getting younger. There wasn't much that could frighten River Song these days, but seeing the Doctor slowly forget her – if that was even the right word to use – that scared the living daylights right out of her. She remembered telling her father – although in fairness he didn't know that he was her father then – that there would be a day when the Doctor wouldn't know her, when he would look into her eyes, ask who she was and not even know her name.
'He doesn't know yet,' she told the TARDIS. 'This him, he's just gotten himself a diary. He doesn't know who I am, he doesn't know what we are and it feels like he is just pushing me away time and time again.'
All it took for her to fall was Berlin. She had already been intrigued by him long before she met him in person. The Doctor needed much more persuading. So she had to smile and flirt and be there, be what he needed her to be. And there were times that it was almost without effort, times that she almost forgot this was not quite her Doctor yet. It happened when he called her dear, it happened when he bopped her nose, when he took her hand to run and when he did his best to impress her, whether he was aware he was doing it or not.
And at least she could say it here and be sure that no one but the TARDIS could hear her. And the old girl had always had a soft spot for her, no matter what time. There was a soft comforting sort of feeling in the back of her mind.
'I know,' she said. 'Come on, before himself gets into even more trouble.' Knowing the Doctor, that was not completely out of the range of possibilities.
Flying the TARDIS was easy. It always had been that way. It was the Doctor who danced around the console with flailing limbs, pretending he knew what he was doing when really he was just making it up as he went along.
She parked the TARDIS in the kitchen. It wouldn't do to land on one of the crew members and at least the kitchen was empty. Now all she had to do was find the Doctor and help him to somehow get the ship working again, gather all the wolves and get rid of them. And she had a feeling the Doctor would like a word with whoever had ordered the creation of these beasties for this specific purpose.
'Ah, River, you're back,' the Doctor said, swivelling around from where he had been standing, near the kitchen sink. One peek over his shoulder told her that said sink – now filled with water – had become the final resting place of Terry's gun.
'Shame about the gun,' she remarked. 'I could have used a spare.'
He sputtered for a few seconds. It was so easy to wind him up when he was still this young. 'Oh, you bad, bad girl,' he chided, clearly the best he could come up with.
'You love it,' she returned.
He didn't correct her.
'Well then, what are we up to?' she asked. 'You do realise this ship will never fly again, don't you?' He should have understood that at the very least. 'All the doors are deadlocked open. The sonic won't help much in closing them.'
'I knew that.' He had that face on that betrayed that he hadn't spared it as much as a moment's thought. Bless. Sometimes she did wonder why she let him go out on his own. He was a genius, the most brilliant man she had ever known, but sometimes… 'But there is something you don't know!'
She raised an eyebrow in a silent request for him to elaborate.
He was on a roll now, eager to impress. 'If we hack into the system, there is an override for the deadlock that will close the doors. You wouldn't want to be crashed in an ice field and freeze to death because you couldn't close the doors. No, humans can be quite smart, so they develop an override.' He looked at her, smugness written all over his face. See, River, don't you think I'm terribly clever?
The corners of her mouth curled up of their own volition. That was her Doctor, right there. 'Even so, sweetie, these engines won't work.' They had been outdated and faulty even before the crash and given that the engines were the reason this ship crashed in the first place, her faith in the ship's capacities were practically non-existent.
His confidence did not falter for even a matter. 'We don't need engines,' he declared. 'Why would we need engines? Engines are boring.' He made one quick dash and took her left hand in his, using the free one to unstrap the vortex manipulator. 'We, Dr Song, have a better way.'
'Cheap and nasty time travel,' she quoted him. But it might just work; it had gone well enough when he wired her previous vortex manipulator into the Pandorica. Granted, the Pandorica had been a great deal smaller than the ship they were standing in.
'Rude,' he said, bopping her nose again before making off with the vortex manipulator, leaving River little choice but to follow. Clearly he had come up with the first hints of a brilliant plan while she was gone to fetch the TARDIS. Which was good. But getting the ship flying again was only the first step. Stopping a genocide from taking place would be the second.
'Where has Terry gone off to?' she inquired. Not that she minded his absence – in fact, she was rather glad to be rid of him – but last she checked he had been rather eager to take a shot at the Doctor. And no one was allowed to shoot the Doctor but her.
'In the freezer,' he said. 'Which should start working again sometime soon if I can get the power back. Basic life support won't do in deep space.'
River rather thought that would be the only place she would find suitable to release the wolves. They'd be well rid of them and there was no risk that they could start feasting on any sort of local population again. But of course that plan was never going to get her husband's seal of approval. And she loved him for that, for wanting to protect life no matter what form it took, but it was just so bloody impractical at times.
Instead of offering her opinion, which would go entirely unappreciated under the given circumstances, she turned her attention to the nearest terminals to get a better look at what possibilities they still had with this ship. The Doctor was right at least about the engines; they were fit to be put on display in a museum for outdated technology, but not for much else.
'Look at this!' The Doctor had commandeered the other terminal, calling up the protocols they would need to get control back over the doors. 'You beauty.'
The temptation was too much to resist. 'I do my best,' she said, plastering on her most winning smile, knowing full well the comment had been directed at the computer rather than at her.
The Doctor made a choking sound and, if her experience was anything to go by, it also involved a fair bit of flailing arms. 'I didn't mean you,' he said, before correcting himself. 'Well, you too, I suppose, but don't tell Pond I said that.' Because Amy would never ever let him hear the end of it. River knew, from stories Amy had told her when she was still Mels, that she had met a time-travelling archaeologist who she was sure would be Mrs Doctor once the Doctor finally got his head out of his arse and did something about it. Oh mother, you had no idea.
She turned around, unleashing the full benefits of the smile on him. 'Thank you, sweetie.'
He gave her a dark look. 'Like you don't know. Is there anything you don't know?'
Yes. There was something she didn't know. She had no idea how this Doctor, the one that flirted with her one second and then was utterly wary of her the next, would ever become her Doctor, who took her on semi-romantic dates to faraway planets – which ended in running for their lives at least half of the time – and did his best to show off to impress her. This was not a Doctor she could show weakness to, because that was not what he needed from her. She'd seen it already, back in the village, when she didn't have a clue what was going on any more than he had. He'd almost looked disappointed in her, expecting she would have all the answers, given that she seemed to know all about him and his future.
But that was only because she had already lived it and he still had all of that ahead of him. And it was in moments like this one that she missed her Doctor the most.
'Well, I don't know where you're planning on taking the wolves, dear,' she replied, which was an altogether safer answer and not even a complete lie. 'Although there is this nice little planet at the edge of the Lihor system that's completely uninhabited. So small they didn't even bother to give it a name other than Lihor 7. They did contemplate revoking its planetary status, until someone convinced them otherwise.' It'd be no use telling him that was something the Doctor himself had done or, in this case, would do. 'Of course we would have to take them there sometime in the eighty-seventh century. We can't have another picnic ruined, although I wouldn't be surprised with your track record.'
'Spoilers, Dr Song!' he chided. 'And there is nothing wrong with my track record. Trouble generally finds me, not the other way around.'
That was such an obvious falsehood that River did not even bother to correct it. 'So, Lihor 7 it is then?'
'I was going to take them to the Zoo,' the Doctor said.
River turned around. 'The Zoo?'
His eyes lit up now that there was something she apparently didn't know and he got the chance to show off. Some things really never changed. 'Yes, River, the Zoo. Great, big planet that's been turned into a Zoo. All sorts of animals, we should visit sometime. It's cool.'
River arched an eyebrow. 'You want to stick the most dangerous predators in the galaxy in a zoo, sweetie? Right next to the zebras and giraffes? Why, Doctor? Were you planning on visiting?'
His face fell.
'Right then, uninhabited planet at the edge of the Lihor system,' she said. Inwardly she cringed at her own decisive tone. Something had changed between the moment they had entered the spaceship and now. And during that time he seemed to have lost the tolerance for her being occasionally cleverer than he was. He was so unpredictable when he was this young. And this was going to rub him the wrong way.
And it did. 'Lihor.' The one-word reply spoke volumes.
She worked in silence after that. The Doctor was right; there was an override for the deadlock, but it was technology way more advanced than the technology on the rest of the ship. 'Patchwork,' she remarked, more meant to be commentary to herself than to the Doctor. The corporation must be a collection of cheapskates; they only replaced what had really given out and left the rest until that too died of very old age.
The Doctor nodded. 'Very patchy patchwork. Oh, look at this, River, haven't seen a system like that in ages. I wanted to install it in the TARDIS once, but she deleted it when I went to take a shower.' His grumpiness seemed to have vanished as quickly as it had come on; he smiled widely at her as he pointed at the screen to indicate the system in question.
Well, at least she was in calmer weather for now. 'They proved that it didn't work ages ago,' she pointed out.
He shot her an indignant look. 'It was cutting edge, River,' he reprimanded her, tapping her nose.
'Two hundred years ago,' she countered.
'I've got a time machine; it can be two hundred years ago in an hour.' He thought he was so impressive and, if she was really honest with herself, he was, just a bit. 'And that is better than digging in the mud looking for lost treasures.'
'As opposed to stealing the treasures from the owners while they still live. I think that's considered theft on most planets, sweetie.' Because contrary to what he liked to think, the Doctor was not exactly a saint. River knew there were warrants out for his arrest on more planets than she had fingers and toes to count them on and a fair few concerned the illegal removal of objects from their home.
'For the tenth time, River, Cleopatra gave me that vase.' He sounded a little annoyed, but there was that twinkle in his eye that told her she hadn't reached the danger zone just yet. This was banter, their banter. 'The real one, not the you-one. It was a gift.'
River, as it happened, didn't know anything about any vase. 'I haven't got the faintest idea what you're talking about, Doctor.'
He coloured a bright crimson. 'Oops. Spoilers.'
Her smile widened. 'So, I was there, was I?' That'd be something to look forward to. Because as long as he could say spoilers, it meant there was always another adventure that still had to happen for her, a sign that, no matter how young he was, it wasn't over yet. There was still more to come.
The Doctor did what the Doctor did best and changed the subject. 'And, gotcha.' He pushed one last button with a flourish. The result became apparent almost immediately when the doors hissed and clicked as the deadlock released. 'See?' Don't you think I'm terribly clever?
No matter what he claimed, he was showing off, very much so, trying to one-up her on basically everything and then expected to be showered in praise. But that was what he had companions for. And, as his wife, she had to do her best to keep his ego at least somewhat in check.
'Very impressive, sweetie,' she said. It wasn't undue praise, but it wasn't the gushing he'd been fishing for either. 'Well then, the doors work again, we've got our destination, so how do we get the wolves on board?'
The Doctor practically grinned. 'With bait.'
Three hours, one shopping trip, one prison visit – really, it was just a misunderstanding – and one daring escape later they were back on the spaceship before Terry and his patients could have had any time to miss them.
'You know, when I asked if you were going to lure them in by dangling a doughnut in front of their noses, I didn't think you'd mean it quite so literal, Doctor,' River grumbled. She was balancing boxes over which she shot him the most deadly glare he'd seen in a while. In a way it reminded him of Amy. She would have that exact same look when he had announced a brilliant plan that was just the slightest bit reckless and she demanded more answers. It was a bit unsettling really.
'It's not a doughnut, River,' he pointed out, rather unnecessarily. 'They're Jammie Dodgers.'
'We are going to lure them back into the ship with Jammie Dodgers.' There was no way he could have imagined the incredulity in her voice. 'You must have gone addle-brained in your dotage.'
He turned back to shoot a glare at her over the boxes of Jammie Dodgers he was holding. 'You said I was young, River.'
Her mouth was hidden from sight – he could only see the top of her nose and her eyes – but he could have sworn that she smiled. 'I said you are not as old as you are going to be. Not the same thing.'
He shook his head – and would have shaken his finger at her as well had it not been for the Jammie Dodgers – in triumph. 'No, you called me young. Time Lord memory, Dr Song. You can't beat that.'
'Says the man who can't remember how to fly his own ship properly.'
'I fly her perfectly,' he protested. And if sometimes he did not land quite where he had anticipated, it was because the TARDIS had plans of her own, which often as not involved him getting into trouble. It wasn't his fault.
'For someone who didn't pass the driving test,' River countered.
Where did she learn all of that? What was he going to tell her and what had she found out on her own? River Song was tight-lipped enough when it came to her precious spoilers, but she was flaunting her knowledge about him at every occasion and it was making him jumpy. She didn't even seem to do it knowingly all the time – although the Doctor strongly suspected she liked seeing him in something of a fluster – so she must know him really well. While intriguing, it also gave him the urge to run, away from her or towards her. He wasn't sure which yet.
'You never passed the test either,' he accused her. It was a bit of a guess, but as far as he knew River Song was perfectly one hundred per cent human and humans did not attend the Academy on Gallifrey, so there was no way she could have learned how to fly a TARDIS there, ergo he had been the one to teach her, except River said he hadn't. A shame you were busy that day.
One day, these spoilers were going to drive him 'round the bend.
She smirked. 'Guilty as charged. But then, I never took the test in the first place.' She dropped the boxes on the nearest table. 'Well then, Doctor, shall we go and leave a bread crumb trail for our hairy friends?'
'Yes, we shall.' This was the action part. He was good with the action, better than with this flirty sort of banter anyway.
Apologies for the ridiculously long delay. There are lots of little reasons, which you probably aren't interested in, so I'll just stick to saying I'm sorry. I'm trying to get back on track with this, so the wait for the next chapter probably won't be so long.
As always, reviews would be welcome. I'd love to hear your opinion.