Merry Christmas and/or Happy non-denominational winter Holidays!
This chapter is my Christmas present to all of you, so enjoy! Thank you to all who have read, followed, favourited, and especially reviewed. You're all fabulous. *sends out kisses and Christmas cookies*
Enjoy the chapter! Here we learn a bit more about what's going on, and stuff starts to progress. :)
p.s. please take note of the utterly AMAZING cover art by RippahGoneWolf! Thank you so much again, it's incredible and I love it so much!
It took about half an hour for the Doctor and Aliya to find Sif and Ardi. They had spent a while locating the Aquian side of the city, and then had manually asked around until they came to a very small flat and had Ardi open the door only to be bewildered by their appearance
"How did you find us?" She asked with wide eyes.
"We asked around until we found someone who knew you," The Doctor said cheerfully, walking past her into the flat without being invited in, "And we've just been to the parliament buildings…do you want to know what we found?"
Ardi gaped but nodded, indicating for Aliya to also come in before she shut the door. "What? What did you find?"
"Absolutely nothing," The man sighed, and the Aquian deflated visibly, "All we know is that they're going outside of the city and drilling for something, but all the real details were deadlocked."
Ardi's grey eyes widened. "But that's not nothing at all! Drilling, are you sure?" Both of the travellers nodded. "How did you get access to the information?"
"Psychic paper, shows them anything they want to see, they thought I was a senator from the surface and that Aliya was my personal assistant," The Doctor explained, flapping his hand to show that it wasn't important.
"Is there anything near the city that would be worth drilling for?" Aliya asked Ardi, who shook her head.
"No, nothing. Not anything they would actually touch."
"What do you mean by that?" The blonde asked with a frown.
"Well, there's the Trove of Traquan," Ardi said. When the two Time Lords just stared at her blankly, she sighed and sat down on the couch next to the Doctor, who had already made himself at home. "Actually, I shouldn't have expected you to know about it. The humans don't even know about it, it's an Aquian secret."
"Well, we're not human, so you can tell us," The Doctor said simply.
"Alright. As you know, the Aquians were here first, we evolved and grew from this planet. Some sub-branches of our species – such as the one that is found in this city – have the ability to live underwater for prolonged periods of time. Or did, no one has tried in a few centuries. But to our entire species, water is sacred, sacred to our god, Traquan. It is said that this part of this ocean is where he resides. So, centuries ago, our ancestors apparently came across a great cavern on the sea floor. It was filled with gold, more gold than anyone could possibly spend in a lifetime. They were going to take some, but then they came face to face with Traquan himself, who warned them not to take a single piece if they valued their lives." Ardi smiled as she recounted the story. "When the city was proposed to be built centuries later, the Aquians were thrilled at the chance to live so close to somewhere so sacred, even if it meant sharing the space with the humans that treated us dubiously. But it was decided that the Trove of Traquan should not be mentioned, in case the humans disrespected it and decided to mine the gold without heeding the warning. One can never be too careful."
"Do you think it is possible that somehow they found out, and that they are mining it now?"
Ardi ran a hand over one of her silver fins as she shook her head. "No, not at all. Even if someone did find out, they would know that it is sacred, and that it's dangerous. The story comes with a warning for a reason."
Aliya glanced at the Doctor, who seemed to mirroring her expression of disbelief. From their experiences with humans, there was every chance that they were doing just that, ignoring the danger completely.
"All the same, I think we might just stick around just to be sure that it's nothing to worry about," He said, "Because we're – well, I'm – quite good at helping people get out of trouble. So, we might just go and have a look around the city and then get back to proper investigating in the morning." He hopped up off the couch.
"But you can't!" Ardi protested. "There's a curfew in ten minutes. If they catch you outside after that, then they could arrest you." Aliya sighed at the same time that the Doctor looked horrified.
"Well that's just rubbish!" He exclaimed. He sank back onto the couch. "In that case, can we stay here for the night? We'll be quiet, I promise."
The blue girl eyed him and then his companion. "Sure…" She said, not sounding sure about it at all, "But there's only that couch, and there's two of you."
"No problem," The Doctor said with an easy smile, "Aliya and I don't sleep much anyway, shouldn't need any tonight. I'm sure we'll find a way to pass the time."
"You'll have to do so on your own, I need to get some sleep," Ardi headed towards the doorway into a very small hallway, "And by that I mean right now."
"That's fine," Aliya told her, "Good night." Ardi nodded and with that, left them alone.
"So, I was thinking that in the morning we could pose as workers for the project and get to the actual site of the drilling, see if it is this Trove of Traquan or something completely different," The Doctor mused.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Aliya said warily as she came to sit on the couch next to him. "And what are we going to do all night?"
"I think I've got something…" He reached into his jacket pocket, dug around for a few seconds, and pulled out a packet of cards. "Ah, there we go. Fancy a few games?"
"I don't think I know any games. Maybe a few of the names, like Poker and Snap. Oh wait, no, I know Snap!" Aliya felt incredibly pleased with herself. Then she frowned. "Of course, I was drunk at the time."
The Doctor, from where he had gotten onto the floor to start dealing the cards, looked at her incredulously as she joined him. "Drunk?"
"Jack and I played it. There was whiskey involved, I think," She recalled.
He didn't look very impressed. "Do I even want to know what else you got up to at Torchwood? Jack might be one of my best friends, but he's not a good influence on someone like you."
"Someone like me?"
"You know."
"No, I don't, actually," Aliya said, crossing her arms, "Do you mean some who is a thousand years old? Someone who's blonde? Someone who happened to be a little emotionally unstable at the time?"
His brow furrowed in concern. "Emotionally unstable isn't exactly the term I would have used. Hang on, was this the first time or the second time?"
"First," She said quietly, eyes on the cards.
"Then I definitely don't understand. Why were you emotionally unstable?"
"Bit personal," She muttered.
He made a noise between a snort and a giggle. "Bit past that, aren't we?"
"Not necessarily." She took her pile of cards and gripped it tightly. "Just because we've known each other for a long time, know a lot about each other, consider ourselves to be the best of friends and spend all our time together, doesn't mean that we tell each other personal details."
He just lifted an eyebrow at that. A few seconds later, he said, "Was it River?"
She let out a breath of relief that he had guessed – one half of it at least. "Yes. Imagine having to sit on Earth knowing that you'd just said goodbye to one of your best friends but couldn't make it sound like a final goodbye because spoilers and you were never going to see her again and you had to sit around until your other friend who was her husband came back and you knew that he was going to be mourning her and-" Suddenly out of breath, she gulped in air to try and calm herself down, not liking how the Doctor was eyeing her with concern and sympathy. She had spoken faster and faster without stopping until she just couldn't continue, and was now trying push away the unpleasant memories. She rubbed her forehead. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"Don't apologise," He said softly, "I forgot what it had to have been like for you. I've been so caught up in what it was like for me that it didn't really occur to me." He sighed. "I'm just a selfish old man in the end. Not that you really need telling that."
Aliya just shifted so that she was sitting cross-legged. "I'm thinking that I wasn't just emotionally unbalanced at the time. I think I just am emotionally unbalanced."
She wasn't sure what she expected him to say. Maybe look worried for her, or tell her that she wasn't, but he did neither. Instead, he just gave her a funny little smile.
"Aren't we all?" And somehow, that made her feel so much better than anything else he could have said.
They played Snap for nearly an hour, and tried to be reasonably quiet about it for Ardi's sake, but there were a few times that they couldn't help but starting loudly arguing about whose hand had gotten there first. Then they switched to Go Fish, which Aliya spent half an hour criticising how idiotic the whole term 'go fish' was, only for the Doctor to retort that he thought she felt the need to complain because she was losing.
Which was certainly not the case. It was a stupid game with a stupid name, and she was not at all prejudiced.
"I've had enough of cards," She eventually said, about two hours in.
"Fair enough," He said, and they were soon back on the couch.
"Now what?"
"I don't know, I'll think of something." A few minutes later he went back to digging in his pockets, to ultimately pulled out a small novel. "There we go, time for a bit of reading, maybe."
Aliya gaped when she saw it. "Hound of the Baskervilles?"
"Of course. I always carry a book with me, in case of impending boredom. Shall I read, or you?"
"You, at least to start with," She said, and leaned against his shoulder so that she could rest her head on it, unable to keep a smile off her face even as he merely opened the book to the first page.
"Mr Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he stayed up all night, was seated at the breakfast table," The Doctor read, "I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before…"
When a sleepy eyed Ardi entered the room in the early morning, Aliya held the book and was reading to the Doctor, who was stretched out on the couch and had his head half in her lap, his eyes shut.
"A woman of Spanish blood does not condone such an injury so light. And now, my dear Watson, without referring to my notes, I cannot give you a more detailed account of this curious case. I do not know that anything essential has been left unexplained…" She trailed off as she spotted the third person in the room. "Good morning, Ardi. Did you sleep well?"
"Well enough," The girl answered, just as the Doctor's eyes opened and his body swung around so that he was sitting properly on the couch next to Aliya, who shut the book with a sigh – they were on the penultimate page – and handed it back to him for him to return to his jacket.
That was when the entire room began to shake, and judging by the yells that could be heard on the floors above and below, it was throughout the whole building. Or perhaps further than that.
"Is seismic activity common here?" Aliya asked Ardi, who blinked at her.
"Do you normally get earthquakes?" The Doctor tried, and the girl shook her head.
"No, never. That was…frightening."
Sif burst into the room then, and looked alarmed to find other people in the apartment. "What the hell are you doing here and what the hell was that?"
"We were just leaving, and that was an earthquake, we think," The Doctor said to him as he pulled Aliya up from the couch and they headed to the door. "Thank you for your hospitality, but we'll be on our way." Before either of the Aquians could say another word, they left the flat and headed down the building until they were back on the street.
"So we're going to the submarine deployment site to pretend to be workers, then?"
"Exactly. That Trove of Traquan sounded exactly like the sort of thing they would be drilling for, if they think there's money in it," He said.
"How much of the story do you think is true?"
He frowned thoughtfully. "Hard to say. Assuming that the person claiming to be Traquan actually existed, and assuming that there was actually gold, why would he have been there in the first place and is he even still there now? Considering how long ago it was, that's not likely."
"There's too many holes in the story. None of the information is concrete in any way," Aliya agreed, almost getting a headache just from thinking about it, "Our best shot is to just wait and see what we find, because speculation is going to get us absolutely nowhere in this situation."
"I couldn't agree more."
Getting into one of the subpods leaving the city was surprisingly easy with the psychic paper, even if the man in charge had given their clothing a few odd looks.
So they sat in their seats and tried to not do anything that would make them stand out amongst all the humans in the pod, who thankfully didn't seem too interested in the new arrivals. It was a fairly short trip, and everyone in the pods put on oxygen and pressure suits that would allow them to move freely on the ocean floor.
Being in a suit actually made Aliya feel considerably safer, and she actually considered trying to steal it before deciding that perhaps she was being just a little ridiculous.
There was no way for them to communicate inside the suits – the com links inside were only between the workers and their commander. So they just followed what everyone else was doing and reluctantly began to head into the cave.
The inside was a large cavern of rocks, but bright golden glints were visible all around. With their suspicions confirmed, the two Time Lords had no choice but to work as miners until the end of the shift.
When they were finally off the subpod and back in the City, they both let out sighs of relief as they began to walk away.
"So it is the Trove of Traquan," Aliya said, and the Doctor nodded. "Except, Ardi said that it was a cavern filled with more gold than any person could ever spend. There were only flecks, it was mostly rocks."
"It was a long time ago, I think that rocks have formed over the real mother lode, and the mining is to reach it. The flecks on the top are just being picked up because it would be stupid to waste them."
"According to the legend, removing the treasure results in some kind of danger. Do you think that part of it could be somehow true?"
The Doctor frowned as they turned a corner and ended up back in the market which they had arrived in the day before. "I don't know. But Ardi did say that they didn't get earthquakes, and there was definitely one this morning. Could be a sign of trouble brewing."
"They mine gold in a sacred cavern and it results in an earthquake, in at least partial concurrence with the local legend," Aliya recapped, more to herself than anything, "I really don't like the sound of that." Then something else occurred to her. "Earthquakes can cause a lot of damage. If we get any more, who knows what will happen? They could break the dome and we could all drown."
The Doctor came to an absolute stop and turned around to look her in the eye. "So help me, Aliya, if I hear one more word about the dome, when this is all over I will purposely fly above the ocean and drop you in it."
"You're full of shit," She said confidently, rolling her eyes.
"Alright then. I'll sneak into your bedroom and dump an entire bottle of maple syrup over your head while you're sleeping and then throw glitter on you so that you can never get it out of your hair."
Her jaw dropped and she stared at him with utter horror. "That's just cruel."
"Well then," He smiled pleasantly, his eyes the only things conveying the threat, "You'd better keep very quiet about the dome."
She just huffed and pushed ahead of him. Soon enough, they found Ardi and Sif in almost exactly the same spot as the previous day. Ardi's tricks were no less impressive and they waited until she was finished twirling before joining the crowd's applause.
As the people bustled away back to whatever it was that they had been doing, the Doctor and Aliya approached their Aquian friends once again.
"Where have you two been, then?" Ardi asked.
"At the mining site," Aliya said, and got the reaction of complete shock that she had been anticipating.
"It is the Trove of Traquan. There's rocks blocking the floor of the cavern, but the gold must be underneath it and they're practically through," The Doctor said, "And there's every chance that part of that legend is true, that the earthquake this morning is a result." Ardi and Sif looked at each other. Their eyes burned with fury, betrayal and injustice.
"I can't believe that they would actually do it," She said.
Sif just scowled. "I can. But they haven't quite made it yet. There's still time."
"Yes, now, if we go to the Parliament and explain the risk-" The Doctor began, only to be cut off.
"They would not listen," Ardi told him firmly, "All that is left to do is spread the word. We Aquians have cowered for too long. We have taken their oppression. But they have gone one step too far. They have spat on our religion and our history, and shown that they don't even respect us."
"But there's a lot of us. Same amount as humans. And if we tell everyone…we can make them sorry," Sif agreed. The two Time Lords exchanged looks.
"I think we should go for something a little more diplomatic," Aliya said.
Sif laughed sourly. "As if they would pay us any attention. But if we get every Aquian to stand up in protest…we would have enough power to destroy the mining equipment and the submarine pods, enough power to make them sorry that they ever went behind our backs…" He took his cousin's hand. "Thank you for the information, both of you, but this is our fight. We can take it from here. Unless you wish to stand with us, which would be welcome, but obviously you are not obliged to." The two of them ran off down the street and disappeared around a corner.
The Doctor stared after them. "Oh dear. I think we just gave them enough ammunition to start a civil war."
"Then what do we do?"
He glanced around silently, and she could practically hear the cogs in his brain whirring as numerous thoughts raced through his head. Eventually his shoulders deflated. "I don't know."
"But what if it's just a protest?" She pointed out. "What if they just intend to make the parliament understand?"
"It didn't sound like that to me, but I suppose there isn't much we can do but wait and see. You're right, we don't know for sure if violence is their intention. We'll do our best to help, but we need to know what it is we are fixing first."
"So we just wait?"
"Yes."
She looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Does waiting involve getting more of that fruit from yesterday?"
He grinned. "I don't see why not. Good plan. We can play a few more games of cards, too."
"I think I've had about as much Snap and Go Fish as I can handle," Aliya said honestly.
"That's alright, I'll teach you another one. Nyssa invented it when she found a pack of cards on the TARDIS. Brilliant girl in more ways than one," The Doctor said fondly as they headed towards the fruit stall.
Aliya nodded. "I remember very well. Pretty, a cybernetics genius, and without exaggeration the nicest person I've ever met. Though what would you expect? She did come from a society that pretty much existed to be nice to people."
Once they had their fruit, it wasn't much longer after that before they could literally hear trouble brewing. Between the whispers of Aquians all around them, and surprisingly large groups of them moving through the streets, it was obvious that something worth being present for was about to go down.
"They're all going in the same direction," Aliya noted, and got a nod from the Doctor.
"Towards the parliament building."
It went unspoken between them that they would follow, and so as nonchalantly as they could, they went with the flow of the Aquians around them until eventually they ended up at the parliament building. The sheer number of small blue people there was astounding, inspiring, and concerning all at once.
If the Aquians found it strange that there were two – supposed – humans amongst them, none of them brought it up. All were too preoccupied with their angry shouting at the small group of human politicians and governmental workers who had come out of the building to stare uncomprehendingly at the huge mob before them.
Several different chants were coming from the crowd of Aquians. 'Leave the Gold', 'Respect Traquan', and 'The mining stops now' were a few of them.
One of the humans had found himself a microphone or loudspeaker of sorts. "I have no idea who has been feeding you this nonsense, but I assure you that I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Liar!" One very loud Aquian shouted who sounded suspiciously like Sif.
"The Trove of Traquan must be left undisturbed or else everyone in this city is in danger!"
"No one has touched it!"
"We have people on the inside who told us everything! About the mining, about the subpods, about how the rocks have grown over the gold in the cavern so you haven't reached the gold yet," The owner of the loud voice stood up on several boxes, revealing Ardi. "So stop acting innocent. By mining there, you gamble with all our lives."
The human looked very flustered, and his cheeks were almost red enough to match his ginger hair. "I will not be bullied because of an old superstition!" It was clear that her knowledge of the details had thrown him completely.
"Even without the danger, it is a blatant disrespect of our religion and our culture for you to have even considered touching the place," Another Aquian shouted, an elderly man with fire in his eyes.
"Alright, I've had enough of this," The Doctor muttered, and he pulled Aliya to the front of the crowd, pushing past Aquians until they were suddenly between the two groups – right in No Man's Land. "Listen! Everything that Ardi just said is true. And it might be a legend, but there could be truth in it." He turned to the ginger man. "We were the ones who went to the site, and you've almost reached the gold, and suddenly you get an earthquake, the first earthquake anyone here can remember, am I right?"
The Aquians chorused in agreement, despite many of them looking puzzled about why a human was speaking for them.
"So, what if the danger is real?" He asked the human. "What if the closer you get, the more earthquakes there are? What if a real disaster occurs?"
"It's just fairytales, old religion," The man said weakly.
"Even if that's true, you are still destroying and degrading a sacred religious site which has tremendous value to half of the citizens in your city," The Doctor reminded him, voice just a tiny bit lower and that little bit more dangerous, "And what person could call themselves decent after doing that?"
For several seconds, he got no reply. Then the human turned around and shouted to those behind him, "Arrest these two for industrial espionage and trespassing."
"What the-" Aliya began angrily, only to get cut off as the humans surrounded the two Time Lords before they could move, and the black plastic cuffs trapped their hands behind their backs as they were dragged into the parliament building despite the protests of the Aquians.
But right before they got in the door, the whole ground shook and everyone swayed and staggered. The ginger turned to look at the Doctor with wide eyes.
The Doctor just shook his head. "You see? It's happening again! Worse than last time because you're closer!" He yelled.
"Take them away!"
So as the city finally stopped shaking and the Aquians were pushed back from the parliament building by force, the Doctor and Aliya were thrown in a jail cell. They had only been in there five minutes when the shaking began again.
Hope you liked it! And yep, the classic Doctor and companion ending up in some kind of jail trick. An oldie but a goodie. Next chapter we might get a little flashback to the first time they got imprisoned post-fight. :)
So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays once again, hope you're enjoying yourselves. And now we just have to sit back and wait for the Christmas Special with chocolate and tissues at the ready. If anyone needs to come and cry with me, I'll be around. :P
GOODBYE MATT SMITH I LOVE YOU
AND WELCOME PETER CAPALDI I KNOW THAT I WILL LOVE YOU
Much love,
-MayFairy :)