Health and Safety: Chapter 15 – No Candle Can Replace It
The moment I move an index finger to tap the first button though, my whole body is jolted with a surge of electricity, making me stagger backwards and blurring my vision…
Sora Cowald locked the door of her flat behind her, and checked her watch again to ensure that she had plenty of time to make it to work. A few days ago, a bridge had collapsed under very mysterious circumstances, and the police had cordoned off the entire street for their investigation, forcing Sora to take a rather roundabout way to get to her job. Today though, the police tape was gone. She thought it odd, but decided to continue as normal, until she discovered that the bridge was still a ruin. It had only been a few days, she should have known better… Frustrated, Sora turned around; thankful she had given herself so much extra time. She began worry that she had forgotten something back at her flat, when a yellow car sped down the street beside her, barreling towards the ruined bridge. She dropped her bag without a thought and ran after the car, calling out to the driver; an older man she somehow knew was called the Doctor. She begged him to stop, and shouted out all the warnings she could think of, if he didn't turn away soon there was no way he could stop in time! A moment before it was too late, he seemed to hear her, veering off across someone's lawn and speeding away. Sora slowed to a halt and stood there in shock, trying to catch her breath and feeling utterly relieved that this man was safe, although she couldn't for the life of her understand why… The sense of respite didn't last long however, as she was thrown to the ground by a faceless man in an old fashioned suit, who hissed curses at her in a callous whisper, staring into her soul with invisible eyes. She cried out as she saw his hand reach down to her, inching towards where her heart was thudding rapidly in her chest… But, just as the hand was about to touch her, it suddenly melted away, as did everything else around her, leaving her surrounded by darkness. "Clara!" A voice called out. That wasn't her name was it? It couldn't be… where was she? What had happened to the faceless man? "Clara!" The same voice called again, stronger than before. All around her strange lights started appearing, concentric circles swirling inside of each other, cast in shades of oranges and gold… Feeling so confused, she could no longer keep herself from sobbing, she didn't know where she was, and she didn't know who she was. Her hands moved up to her face, clenching into fists against her tearstained cheeks, but then a gentle pressure settled on them, pulling them back down and holding them with a fearsome gentleness. She hesitated but looked up; it wasn't dark anymore, and a beautiful young man in a bowtie was staring down at her, eyes filled with concern and wonder. "My Clara, it's okay, I promise it's going to be okay. I found you, you're safe, and I'll take you home aga-"
My eyes fly open, to once again find the Doctor's hands clasping both sides of my head, his body pinning me upright against a desk just beside the computer I had been trying to use... The loud snapping noise rings inside of the room, and he jerks back for a second before gasping slightly and pushing right back against me again, reaching behind us to stop the table cloth from pooling into a heap on the floor.
"Hey there, well that was… sort of better wasn't it?" He says somewhat breathlessly, reaching up to stroke my hair.
"How was that better?" I rasp out, blinking a few times and shaking my hand that is still tingling from the shock I got.
"Better because I am going to go ahead and believe that you actually let me in of your own free will, and that it had nothing to do with the fact that you were stunned into unconsciousness which would make it a lot harder to notice my presence in your head until the shock wore off a bit… That was a good save by the way, blimey, forgot how recklessly I drove Bessie sometimes. You saved me Clara, thank you."
"You saw all of that?" I manage to choke out, pushing his hands aside and stepping away from the table.
"Most of it." He answers hesitantly.
"Well, I'm kind of afraid to let you near the Maitland's car again when all this is over."
"I've had a long while since then to hone my skills; my aim with a ladder truck is verging on incredible."
"I'm sure you have a lot of impressive skills I could appreciate Doctor, but it's your keeping tires on the road skills I am worried about at the moment."
"Roads can be overrated, they are very linear, and never take you to the best places."
"No you do that, but the TARDIS doesn't exactly have tires to worry about does she?"
"Okay… Point taken, but how else are you going to make sure Angie doesn't sneak off to Nina's on Thursdays after school instead of getting to her homework if you have to get Artie yourself?"
"You could watch her?"
He tilts his head a bit, rolling his eyes slightly and weighing his options.
"The photosynthesis in the front flowerbeds has un-optimized itself again, I could fix that while I keep an eye on her, you know, be helpful..."
We both chuckle, almost a little nervously.
We're talking about normal things, the little things I have to do every day. Most of those days used to be Doctor-less days, my responsibilities carry on with or without him… though they seemed to be carrying on with him more often than without him in the last couple weeks.
But not only are we talking about my life, we're talking about his life, his past.
I know things from his past. I know his third face sometimes drove with reckless abandon, I know his fifth face loved cricket, I know his sixth face had the most rubbish ideas on what to wear of any of them… If we weren't in the middle of whatever is going on, we could sit down and he could talk to me about things from his past and I might actually understand them… Wow… What is this going to mean for us?
Through our conversation, Ria's undivided attention has been on the same machine that had stunned me, hands moving efficiently across the touch screen, pulling files up and arranging them in some kind of order, a look of being completely intent on her work etched on her face.
"Well someone has the magic touch apparently." I joke to her, a little bitter sounding.
"No, it just only had enough juice for one shock." She mumbles back in a distracted tone before putting a hand behind her head, groaning in frustration and pointing angrily at the screen with her other hand.
"The records are right there, I've found them, but they are locked up pretty tight, I'm useless with computers, I can't get at them..."
Brushing past her I give them both a grin and quirk an eyebrow at them. Besides the Victorian me, there is one other echo that I can remember pretty easily on my own: Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager for the Starship Alaska. Probably both the most and least human I have ever been…
"Luckily I recall a time when I was a 'total screaming genius' with computers, let me have a go if it's safe to touch now. I'll have them in no time."
"Not 'was' Clara, you are a genius, Oswin was you. She was your cleverness, your wit and ability to think things through, your stubbornness, and your refusal to have your ability to love be taken away from you." The Doctor insists firmly.
"Does that mean I'm a tiny bit sexy too?" I ask playfully, getting to work on the security programs and listening to his wordless sounds behind me, starting at a high pitched protest but lowering to a 'humph' that I would call a reluctant agreement… Well well Chin Boy…
"I don't have a clue what you two are talking about, but it might be nice to get let in on some of this… I know it's not the best time, but I have kind of put myself out on a limb for you." Ria mentions worriedly, toeing the floor with her boot.
Compared to Dalek technology, or even the system that group at the Shard was using, this is absolutely nothing, just a set of a few password locks that can be bypassed with ease. I guess they were hoping the physical protection of the machine's location would keep it safe. Less than a minute later, all of the files Ria pulled up are unlocked and readable, well they are open, but I can't read them…
"Got it, but I can't make any sense of these. It almost looks like code, just strings of numbers and symbols. Maybe it was encrypted as well…" My hands start to move again, determined to find out if the records have been coded, but Ria reaches out to stop me.
"No, they're not encrypted, just written in a system that is easier for archiving. They are government records. Each row and column corresponds to a piece of information about an acquisition, the agency that made the sale, price, quantity, the company that moved the goods if applicable, what exactly was purchased and so on." Ria tells me, pointing to each row or column while describing it and flicking through the files.
"So they are coded then, just by their writers and not their hackers." The Doctor grumps behind us.
Ria smiles knowingly at him, before she replies.
"Anything with this symbol in the third position is a dry grain of some kind, like wheat or corn. If you look through there are at least a dozen different sequences in the row for the freight company delivering the goods, I know for a fact that Devedas, Fredonia, Darling & Luther and Qianlong are all in there. Every purchase was made in the last six months, it would take that many companies to move it all, and it would probably help make it more discrete too. We're talking quantities to put the best stocked Federal Reserve's to shame. And it's all been coming to this city, to Estevan."
"How can you get all that?" I ask somewhat incredulously. The Doctor looks equally shocked; he couldn't make sense of the strings of numbers and symbols either. It isn't a proper language, so the TARDIS translation matrix doesn't sort it out.
"Um… I have a pretty good memory… Hikaru has to use the same system for a lot of the Devedas records she maintains, I help her sometimes when things are slow, so I've worked with it before." She tells us quickly, clearing her throat before continuing.
"Doctor, you said that the Etulians don't have a natural sun, just a synthetic replacement that keeps the place from going dark and cold, does that effect their growing season? Would that make foodstuffs a real asset? A price that would be hard to beat?"
The Doctor mulls over her words, seeming to be headed for a deep thought, when the velvety voice of the female Etulian, Captain Kelvia, and the other male she was with float down from the balcony above us. I forcibly shove the Doctor under the covered desk he had pinned me to in my shock induced state; before tugging my hood back over my head and diving right after him.
"Ria, get down here!" I hiss up to her in a forced whisper.
She doesn't listen though, judging by the tapping noises she is trying to put all of the files away we just rooted through to cover our tracks. The voice of Captain Kelvia continues to get louder, until I can actually make out what she is saying.
"These earthling thugs are not handling the situation outside as well as I would like and they are being rather difficult to convince to just get on with things and show us this girl."
"Agreed Captain, could we call in our guard to quiet this rabble down? With… discretion of course."
"Now now Naveesis, Control may not like that- but if we get the girl then our means meet their end..." She hums, seeming to savour the thought of finding… well probably finding me. All I can see of Ria are her feet, and I don't dare whisper to her again, they sound too close now. The Doctor starts to try and push past me to get her, but I grab his shoulders, keeping him in place.
He looks at me questioningly, and I just shake my head, moving my fingers up to trail over his bowtie, trying to remind him of what Naveesis had said earlier, about knowing that the person they were looking for was with a… uniquely dressed alien. His face hardens, but he looks me in the eyes. He wants to help her, but oddly Ria's probably got a better chance on her own right now…
"You, girl, what are you doing down there?" Naveesis calls, obviously having gotten close enough to see Ria.
"This place is under attack, wouldn't want valuable information falling into the wrong hands." She answers.
The steps from the balcony begin to groan, meaning that they must be coming downstairs. This can't really get much worse can it? Oh I shouldn't have thought that, if past experiences mean anything, things can almost always get worse.
"Do you know who we are girl?" Kelvia asks her, almost kindly.
"No, but I don't suppose you know who I am either." She retorts saucily.
Her boots begin to move away from us and across the room; we're not that well hidden, the table cloth we pulled askew earlier helps but not that much… It looks like she is intentionally trying to keep their focus away from our direction. I hate this… Sitting and hiding is not what we do…
"No, we don't know who you might be, but you have a most, how do you humans say it, pleasing form? I am sure your face would also be aesthetically intriguing, why don't you take that hood off and show it to us?" Naveesis asks, tone dripping with a fake charm.
"Don't answer, don't answer, don't answer… They're speaking Etulian… Don't answer; they'll know you're not normal if you answer… Please…" The Doctor begs silently, shutting his eyes tightly.
The next sound that leaves Ria's mouth however is a scream, followed by the sound of shoes scuffling off the ground.
"Got her Ma'am." A new voice says.
"Thank you Private Jocaal. Now, please loosen your choke hold enough to show us her pretty face." Kelvia keens.
The Doctor's eyes shoot open as his hand flies to his vest pocket, pulling out a tiny brass mirror, which he angles carefully on the floor, giving us a hazy reverse image of what is happening in the room.
Kelvia seems to be distracted by a small screen in her hand, which I think she is reading. Another of the Etulians has his arm around Ria's throat, with her own gun to her head as her hands clutch to his arm, trying to pull it away enough to breath. Naveesis is stalking towards them, reaching out to pull the hood from Ria's face.
"Heh, not so pretty after all, what are these little brown spots on your skin." Naveesis sneers at her, thumbing at her freckles before running a finger down her braid.
"Now now, let's not be uncivilized. I don't know who she is, but I have a rather strong suspicion that she shouldn't be here; there is no way she is working for a toad like Reginald. We can deal with her later, she might know something, or be something we need. We can take back what we lent to Reginald and see for ourselves." Kelvia says in an evil tone, leering at Ria and reaching out to touch her hair as well.
"Jocaal, make sure she will be waiting for us to return, and join us in the atrium, Lieutenant Serdan has reported that Reginald has failed us, the girls he had have escaped, all of them. Even if he had the one we want, he is no longer of any use and this petty gun fight outside is getting out of control; Reginald's competitors have infiltrated the building. I am calling in a strike to neutralize the area before our involvement becomes known. There are plenty of other humans for us to deal with. So many are so eager to be of assistance..."
"Now, Captain, the one we had scanned positive! I swear she did! I saw it myself! There was a spike of energy in this very building a few minutes ago, she can't have gone far, we'll bring her back!" Reginald's panicked voice suddenly sounds from above.
"If you were not on the brink of having your headquarters taken over, I might agree with you. But please, do join us in the atrium." She orders, voice no longer sounding so smooth...