Cold Blood
The Doctor, Professor, and Nasreen walked along the pathways of the caverns, walking across a bridge above molten magma and past quite a few buildings.
"This place is enormous and deserted," the Doctor commented.
"The majority of the race are probably still asleep," the Professor reasoned, "Only the Advanced Guard would be alerted and awoken for anything."
He nodded, pulling out the sonic, "We need to find Amy, looking for heat signature anomalies."
"But...how can all this be here?" Nasreen looked around as they entered a tunnel, "I mean, these plants…"
"Must be getting closer to the center of the city."
"You're sure this is the best way to enter?"
"Front door approach!" he grinned, "Definitely. Always the best way..."
"Says the man who'd rather enter through the kitchens," the Professor retorted.
"Well, I said backdoor approach for that party and you said front, so…" he nudged her, "Front it is!"
"Yes, and NOW I'm saying backdoor approach," she rolled her eyes playfully at him, "Circumstances dictate the door to be used."
And then an alarm went off.
"Hostile life force detected, Area 17," came over the loudspeaker, causing them to stop.
"Ah, the backdoor approach," he nodded, "You were right. That's also good," he turned around, "Sometimes better."
"Hate you," she muttered.
"Hostile life force detected, Area 17."
"No you don't," he replied, looking around.
A door slid open in front of Nasreen, "Doctor! Professor!"
The Doctor whirled around, grabbing the Professor's arm to keep her from grabbing her blaster, seeing the armed Silurian soldiers with weapons of their own. He raised his hands and hers as well, "We're not hostile!" he shouted, "We're not armed!" he lied a bit, hoping they didn't have any scanners and thankful that her blaster was hidden in its holster...on her leg...under her skirt...
'Not the time!' the Professor hissed in his head.
He winced, she'd caught that thought, and shook his head, turning back to the armed reptiles, "We're here in peace!"
The Silurians shot a gas out of their weapons, causing them to drop to the ground, unconscious.
~8~
The Professor was clamped to an examination board, biting her lip to keep from crying out in pain as a machine scanned her.
"Stop!" the Doctor shouted as he struggled on his own examination board, trying to get them to stop hurting her because, clearly, it was.
"How can they have escaped?" another female warrior ignored them to speak to an older male in a white lab coat, "This proves all prisoners should remain under military guard."
"I'm sure you'd prefer to be in charge of everything and everyone, Restac," the scientist remarked, "But we rank the same. Is there any word from Alaya?"
"No," she turned to watch the Professor writhe in pain.
"It's fine to show concern, you know. She's part of your gene-chain. I'm decontaminating now."
"Decontamination!" the Doctor snapped to him, "No, no, no!"
"It's alright," the scientist tried to reassure him, "It won't harm her. I'm only neutralizing all her ape bacteria."
"She's not an ape!" he shouted, "Neither am I! Look at the scans! Two hearts! Totally different! Totally not ape! Remove all human germs and you remove half the things keeping her alive!"
The scientist frowned but checked the scans. His eyes widened before he quickly shut down the machine. The Doctor breathed as sigh of relief as the Professor was freed.
"No, complete the process," Restac ordered.
The Professor tensed a bit, fighting off a flashback to her time with the Krillitanes and opened her eyes, "Thanks," she told the scientist.
"Not got any celery, have you?" the Doctor asked for her, knowing it would help her stabilize faster, "No, no, not really the climate, tomatoes, though, you'd do a roaring trade in those. I'm the Doctor, she's the Professor, oh, and there's Nasreen, good!"
The scientist walked over to Nasreen and examined her as she awoke, "Oh, a green man…" she breathed.
"Hello, who are you?" the Doctor asked Restac, his gaze flickering to the Professor though.
"Restac," she replied, "Military commander."
"Oh, dear, really? There's always a military, isn't there?"
"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city," the scientist told them.
"Oxygen pockets! Lovely! Ooh, but not so good with an impending drill! Now it makes sense!"
"Where is the rest of your invasion force?" Restac demanded.
"Invasion force? Me, the Professor, and lovely Nasreen? No! We came for the humans you took."
"And..." the Professor swallowed, taking a few deep breaths, "To offer the safe return of Alaya."
"Oh, wait, you and she, what is it, same genetic source? Of course you're worried, but don't be, she's safe."
"You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage," Restac glared, motioning for the soldiers to take position by the trio.
"Wait, wait, we all want the same thing here!"
"I don't negotiate with apes," she spat, "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface."
"What's that?"
"Your execution."
"Yes..." he frowned.
"Did I say?" the Professor glanced at him, "Hate you?"
He gave her a little smile, knowing she was still in a bit of pain and rather irritated, "No you don't," she rolled her eyes at him, "Love you too dear."
~8~
The Doctor walked beside the Professor, rather irritated with the fact his hands were bound behind his back as he wanted to put his arm around her waist to support her a bit. Nasreen followed just slightly behind them, beside the Silurian scientist, through a large section of vegetation, the soldiers around them being led by Restac.
"These must be the only ones awake, the others must still be in hibernation," the Doctor remarked.
"So, why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Nasreen frowned.
"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to Earth on a crash course," the Professor replied, "They a built life underground and put themselves to sleep for millennia in order to avert what they thought was the apocalypse. When in reality, it was just the moon coming into alignment with the Earth."
Restac stopped and turned to look at her, stunned.
"How can you know that?" the scientist breathed.
"Research paper," the Processor shrugged.
"Long time ago, I met another tribe of Homo Reptilia," the Doctor added, "Similar, but not identical."
"Others of our species have survived?" Restac's eyes widened.
"The humans attacked them. They died, I'm sorry."
"A vermin race," she spat before turning and leading them on again. In the middle of the vegetation was a large building which Restac and the scientist entered, stepping into a courtroom area, a large shining room, followed by the trio and the soldiers.
"You're not authorized to do this," the scientist reminded her.
"I'm authorized to protect the safety of our species while they sleep," Restac sneered.
"Oh, lovely place, very gleaming," the Doctor looked around.
The Professor just leaned over to whisper, "The Silurian court is also where they hold their executions."
"Ah," he nodded, "Not so lovely."
"Yeah."
Just then Amy entered through another door at the end of the room, aiming a Silurian gun at Restac, "Let them go!"
"Amy Pond, there's someone to rely on," the Doctor smiled as another human, a man, entered through the main doors, a gun of his own on the soldiers.
"You're covered both ways, so don't try anything clever, buster," the man glared.
"Mo!" Nasreen smiled, spotting him.
"Now let them go, or I shoot," Amy threatened. Restac simply stepped closer and it became painfully clear to them all that Amy didn't know how to work the gun, "I'm warning you!"
Restac grabbed the gun from Amy and pushed her to the ground.
"Don't you dare touch her!" the Professor shouted.
"And you," Restac motioned to the soldiers who surrounded Mo till he gave up his gun.
"Alright, Restac," the scientist sighed, "You've made your point."
Restac glared at him, "This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your laboratory, Malohkeh."
One of the soldiers jabbed Malohkeh in the back and he frowned, "This isn't the way," he told her but was forced to leave.
"Prepare them for execution!"
The soldiers moved in, ushering the humans and Time Lords to two pillars at the end of the room, tying them up.
"Ok, sorry, as rescues go, didn't live up to its potential," Amy muttered as she was tied to a beam with the Doctor and Professor while Nasreen and Mo were on the other side.
The Professor just took her hand behind their backs, "We're glad you're ok."
"Me too! Lizard men, though!"
"Homo Reptilia..." the Doctor corrected, "They occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back."
"After they've wiped out the human race," Nasreen added.
"Right, preferred it when I didn't know, to be honest," Amy sighed, watching as the soldiers lined up like a firing squad.
"Why are they waiting? What do you think they're going to do with us?"
Restac turned to stand before them, behind the soldiers as she faced away from them. She let out a hiss and suddenly a holographic screen appeared before them, showing Rory, Ambrose, and Tony standing in the basement of the church.
"Oh, my God!" Ambrose gasped, spotting them.
"Who is the ape leader?" Restac demanded.
"It's them. How are they doing that? How do they know that we're in here?"
"Who speaks for the apes?" she repeated.
The humans looked at each other, when Tony muttered something to Rory who nodded and stepped forward, "I speak for the...humans. Some of us, anyway."
"Do you understand who we are?"
"Sort of. A bit. Not really."
"We have ape hostages."
Rory's eyes widened as they assumed the footage zoomed out, "Amy! Professor! Doctor!" he rushed towards the screen.
"Mo!" Ambrose cried, "Mo, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, love!" Mo called, "I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!"
"Amy!" Rory breathed, "I thought I'd lost you!"
"What, 'cos I was sucked into the ground?" Amy rolled her eyes, "You're so clingy."
"Tony Mack!" Nasreen smiled.
"Having fun down there?" Tony joked.
"Not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm," the Doctor called.
"Show me Alaya," Restac cut in, "Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friends…one by one."
"No!" Ambrose shoved her way in front of Rory.
The Professor frowned at the action.
"Ambrose..." Rory warned her.
"Steady now, everyone…" the Doctor tried again.
"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony glared.
"Get off me, dad!" Ambrose pushed him away, "We didn't start this!"
"Let Rory deal with this Ambrose," the Professor told her.
"We're not doing what you say any more," Ambrose glared, "Now, give me back my family!"
"No," Restac glared, "Execute the girl!"
The soldiers marched forwards, pulling Amy away and into the middle of the beams.
"No!" Rory shouted, "No, wait!"
"Rory!" Amy screamed.
"She's not speaking for us!"
"There's no need for this..." the Doctor began.
"Listen!" Rory called, "Listen! Whatever you want...we'll do it!"
"Aim," Restac ordered.
"Amy!"
"Rory!" Amy shouted.
"Don't do this!" the Professor squirmed in her bonds, trying to get out of them to help.
"No!" Rory called as the connection cut and static came over the screen.
"Fire!" Restac grinned.
Amy closed her eyes in fear.
"Stop!" a male shouted. They looked up to see Malohkeh enter with an older Silurian, clearly one of the Elder Council, "You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep, Restac?"
"The apes are attacking us!" Restac spat.
"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them."
"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane."
"Well, then, you must shoot me."
They tensed, waiting for Restac to give the command, but she merely let out a frustrated hiss and turned to Malohkeh, "You woke him to undermine me."
"We're not monsters," Malohkeh stated, "And neither are they."
"What is it about apes you love so much? Hmm?"
"While you slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself."
"We used to hunt apes for sport. When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet."
"Shush now, Restac," Eldane cut in, "Go and play soldier. I'll let you know if I need you."
"You'll need me, then we'll see," Restac sent him one more glare before storming out.
The soldiers quickly moved forward to release them and the Professor rushed to the controls for the transmission, snatching the Doctor's sonic on the way. She flashed the equipment and the screen sprang back up.
"Rory!" she cheered, seeing Rory, Tony, and Ambrose.
"Hello!" the Doctor grinned.
"Where's Amy?" Rory demanded.
"She's fine, look, here, she is," they stepped to the side so Rory could see Amy behind them.
"Oh, thank God."
"Keeping you on your toes!" Amy smiled.
"No time to chat," the Doctor cut in, "Listen, you need to get down here..."
"Go to the drill storeroom," the Professor continued, "There's a large patch of Earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians can send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology."
"It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!"
And before Rory could get another word in, he cut the signal.
~8~
Amy and Nasreen sat on one side of a table in the middle of the courtroom while Eldane sat on the other, the Doctor, Professor, Mo, and Malohkeh standing around.
"I'd say, you've got a fair bit to talk about," the Doctor remarked.
"How so?" Eldane looked at him.
"You both want the planet," the Professor explained, "You both have a genuine claim to it."
"Are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?"
"Us?" the Doctor laughed, "No!"
"Well...unless we're dealing with Sontarans, eh?" the Professor nudged him lightly.
He laughed, "Yes, but they'll do anything to appease the 'greatest warrior the Universe has ever known,'" he nudged her back, putting an arm around her waist before smiling at her softly, 'Not just them though,' he added silently, 'I'd do anything for you Kata.'
She smiled at him as well, leaning close to nuzzle the side of his face, 'The feeling's mutual Theta,' she told him, 'There's nothing I wouldn't do for you.'
He pulled back a bit and dropped a gentle kiss on her head.
"Still," the Professor shook her head, turning back to Eldane, "You're not walking baked potatoes so no, we aren't authorized."
"But they are!" the Doctor gestured to Nasreen and Amy.
"What?" Nasreen gaped, shaking herself out of her confusion at their odd conversation about baked potatoes.
"No, we're not!" Amy added.
"Course you are!" he grinned, "Amy Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet! Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?"
Amy got up and walked over to them, standing at the end of the table, "Is this what happens, in the future, the planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?"
"What are you talking about?" Nasreen asked, walking over as well.
"Oh, Nasreen, sorry, probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy, the Professor, and I travel in time a bit," the Doctor smirked.
"Anything else?"
"There are fixed points through time," the Professor added, "Where things must always stay the way they are."
"This is not one of them," the Doctor agreed.
"This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point."
"Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality."
"The future pivots around you."
"Here. Now. So do good. For humanity and for Earth."
"Right," Amy nodded, overwhelmed, as she headed back to the table, "No pressure there, then."
"We can't share the planet," Nasreen argued, "Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It is just too big a leap!"
"Come on," the Doctor nudged her, "Be extraordinary."
"Oh...you..." she smiled and moved to sit back down as well.
"Ok," he slapped the table, "Bringing things to order, the first meeting of representatives of the human race and Homo Reptilia is now in session. Ha! Never said that before," he grinned at the Professor, "That's fab! Carry on!" he pointed at them.
"Now, Mo," the Professor clapped, "Let's go and get your son."
The Doctor put his arm around her as they headed for the door, "Oh, you know, humans, and their predecessors, shooting the breeze. Never thought I'd see it."
~8~
The Doctor, Professor, Mo, and Malohkeh stood outside a small chamber where Elliot was being held.
"Elliot, there you are," the Doctor mumbled, seeing the boy standing within, in some sort of stasis.
"If you've harmed him in any way…" Mo threatened as Malohkeh punched in the code to start the thawing procedure.
"Of course not!" Malohkeh sounded offended, "I only store the young."
"Why's that?" the Professor asked, curious.
"I took samples of the young, slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate. So I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface."
"You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone?" she frowned. She could relate very much to that. Her fourth incarnation had done much the same, but by choice. She'd rather plow into her work, into her research, anything that would keep her mind off the Doctor, to keep herself from wondering where he was, what he was up to, whether he was safe or not...
The Doctor reached out and squeezed her hand, lifting it to his lips to drop a kiss on it as she thought on her past self.
She just smiled though and squeezed it back.
"My family," Malohkeh sighed, "Through the millennia…for the last 300 years, just me," he looked at Mo, "I never meant to harm your child."
"Malohkeh, we rather love you," the Doctor remarked as he bumped his fist with the reptile's.
The panel beside the door beeped, "It's safe," the Professor read, "We can wake him."
Malohkeh entered the room and removed the few wires connected to Elliot and turned to Mo, "Come," he stepped out and Mo entered, standing before his son as he started to wake up.
"Elliot?" Mo whispered as his son blinked, "Ell, it's dad."
"What..." Elliot looked up, "Dad!"
Mo pulled him into a tight hug, "You're safe now."
"Where are we?"
"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son. We're in the center of the Earth...and there are lizard men."
Elliot looked past him to Malohkeh, "Wow."
The Doctor stepped into the room, "Elliot, I'm sorry," he apologized, feeling far more responsible for this than he believed the Professor to be, she had been working away at the computer at the time and he had been the more aware of the two, "I took my eye off you."
"We both did," the Professor squeezed his hand again.
"It's ok," Elliot smiled, "I forgive you."
They stepped out of the room and started down the hall, when Malohkeh called out, "You go on, Doctor, Professor. I'll catch up."
They nodded and continued on.
~8~
"…give us space, we can bring new sources of energy," the small group heard Eldane say as they headed back into the courtroom, "New methods of water supply, new medicines, scientific advances. We were a great civilization. You provide a place for us on the surface, we'll give you knowledge and technology beyond humanity's dreams. We work together, this planet could achieve greatness."
"Ok," Nasreen nodded, "Now I'm starting to see it."
"Oh, yeah," Amy smiled.
Someone started to clap and they turned to see it was the Doctor and Professor as they entered with Mo and Elliot.
"Not bad for a first session," the Doctor remarked.
"More similarities than differences," the Professor nodded.
There was a whoosh above them, "The transport has returned," Eldane realized, "Your friends are here."
Amy and Nasreen stood up from the table, waiting for the others to arrive. Rory was the first one to enter the courtroom.
"Here they are!" the Doctor waved at them.
"Mum!" Elliot ran over as Ambrose stepped in.
"Rory!" Amy ran to him, hugging him.
The Professor frowned, seeing Rory try to speak but unable to find the words, "Something's wrong..."
And then Tony entered, carrying a body in a shroud.
"Doctor, what's he carrying?" Amy asked, fearful.
The Doctor stepped forward, "No. Don't do this. Tell me you didn't do this," Tony laid the body on the floor and stepped back to his family as the Doctor crouched down and pulled the cloth away from Alaya's face. Everyone looked on in mounting horror and sorrow as he put the shroud back and turned to glare at Tony, "What did you do?"
"It was me," Ambrose stepped up, "I did it."
"Mum?" Elliot shook his head, stepping away from his mother.
"I just wanted you back."
Elliot stepped back and walked over to his father. Everyone looked at her with varying mixes of pity and disappointment while the Doctor turned to Eldane, "I'm sorry. We didn't know. You have to believe us, they're better than this."
"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouted.
"We had a chance here!" the Professor snapped at her.
"Leave us alone!"
The Doctor strode over to her, "In future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity."
Just then armed soldiers entered the room with Restac.
"My sister," she gasped, rushing over to the body and pulling the shroud back. She hissed, wailing, as she gently replaced it, "And you want us to trust these apes?"
The Doctor wagged a finger, "One woman. She was scared for her family. She's not typical."
"I think she is," Restac glared at her.
"One person let us down," the Doctor pleaded with Eldane, the Professor was silent, already knowing you only needed one chink in a defense to bring it all crashing down, "But there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there. You were building something, here, come on...an alliance could work."
"It's too late for that, Doctor," Ambrose threatened.
"Why?" the Professor turned to her, her expression growing hard, "What did you do?"
"Our drill is set to start burrowing again in..." she checked a stopwatch, "15 minutes."
"What?" Nasreen gasped, looking at Tony in horror.
"What choice did I have?" Tony asked, frustrated, "They had Elliot."
"Don't do this, don't call their bluff," the Doctor warned.
"Let us go back," Ambrose demanded, "And you promise to never come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone."
"Execute her!" Restac ordered.
"No!" the Doctor leapt forward and grabbed Ambrose, pulling her away as the soldiers fired.
"Everybody, back to the lab!" the Professor commanded, grabbing her blaster, "Run!"
The humans ran through a small archway in the middle of the stadium-like seats.
"Execute all the apes!" Restac snapped.
The Doctor pulled out the sonic and flashed it at the guns, making them spark, "This is a deadly weapon, stay back."
One of the soldiers climbed atop the seats and lashed out at the Doctor with her tongue. The Professor fired, blasting off the tip of it, enough where the venom sack was cut off but the soldier would still be able to speak. It hissed, retracting its tongue and gripping its mouth in pain but the Professor grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him through the archway.
They ran after the humans, down the tunnels.
"Take everyone to the lab!" the Professor called to Rory as they dodged a beam from a gun, "I'll cover you! Go! Go!"
She pushed the Doctor onwards and turned to face Restac and the other warriors but he wouldn't leave, taking a place beside her with the sonic.
"Ah, ah!" the Doctor held up the sonic, "Stop right there! Or either the Professor will use her blaster or I'll use my very deadly weapon again."
"One warning, that's all you get," the Professor stated, hard, "If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you. Now."
"This ends here."
"No," Restac hissed, "It only ends with our victory."
"Like we said...one warning," he flashed the sonic and disabled two of the guns while the Professor blasted Restac's hand, causing her to drop her own gun and give chase.
~8~
The Doctor ran to the group which had gathered in some sort of control room and soniced the doors to slide shut and lock behind the Professor.
"Elliot," the Professor took charge, "You and your dad keep your eyes on that screen. Let us know if we get company. Amy," she took the stopwatch from Ambrose and tossed it to her, "Keep reminding us how much time we don't have."
Mo and Elliot turned to the screen of the tunnels while Amy looked at the watch, "Ok, 12 minutes till drill impact."
Tony fell down heavily against a control as Nasreen stood beside him, the Doctor ran over, "Tony Mack, sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding?" Tony opened his shirt to show a green infection spreading through the veins of his chest.
"Tony!" Nasreen gasped, "What happened?"
The Doctor flashed the sonic on the infected area, shaking his head at the Professor, not wanting her to touch it as they didn't yet know if it was contagious or what it was.
"Alaya's sting," Tony groaned, "She said there's no cure. I'm dying, aren't I?"
The Doctor looked at the sonic's readings, "You're not dying, you're mutating. How can we stop it?" he looked at the Professor.
"Decontamination program?" she suggested.
"Might work," he nodded, "Don't know."
"Eldane, can you run the program on Tony?"
"Professor, shedload of those creatures coming our way!" Mo called, "We're surrounded in here!"
Eldane moved to help Tony to the decontamination chamber.
"So, question is, how we do stop the drill, given we can't get there in time?" the Doctor asked, "Plus also, how do we get out, given that we're surrounded?"
"Nasreen," the Professor turned to her, "How do you feel about an energy pulse, channeled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?"
"To blow up my life's work?" she breathed.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded, seeing the Professor's idea, "Sorry. No nice way of putting that."
"Right, well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city, in..."
"11 minutes, 40 seconds..." Amy finished.
"Yes!" the Doctor grinned, truly loving it more the worse it got, "Squeaky bum time!"
"The explosion will cave in all the surrounding tunnels, we need to be on the surface by then," the Professor added.
"But we can't get past Restac's troops," Rory shook his head.
"I can help with that..." Eldane spoke up, "Toxic Fumigation, an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection. A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation, by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down."
"You could end up killing your own people," Amy frowned.
"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."
"Eldane, are you sure about this?" the Doctor looked at him closely.
"My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."
"No."
"10 minutes, Doctor," Amy reminded.
"But maybe it should be," he looked at the Professor, relaying his plan, and she nodded, getting to work at the controls, "So here's the deal. Everybody listening? Eldane, you activate shutdown..."
"I'll amend the system," the Professor called, "Set your alarm for 1,000 years' time."
The Doctor looked at the humans, "1,000 years to sort the planet out, to be ready. Pass it on. As legend, or prophesy, or religion, but somehow, make it known. This planet is to be shared."
"Yeah," Elliot nodded, "I get you."
"9 minutes, 7 seconds," Amy reported.
The Doctor moved to join the Professor at the controls, "Yes, fluid controls, my favorite!"
"Energy pulse tied, primed, and set," the Professor nodded, "And before we go, need to cancel out that energy barricade…" she snatched the Doctor's sonic from his pocket and flashed the controls, shutting the force field down before tossing the sonic back to the Doctor.
"Fumigation pre-launching," Eldane added.
"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface," Rory remarked.
"Ah ha, super squeaky bum time!" the Doctor laughed, "Get ready to run for your lives. Now..."
"But the decontamination program on your friend hasn't started yet," Eldane reminded them. They all looked at Tony.
"Well, go," he ushered them, "All of you! Go."
"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose shook her head.
"Granddad!" Elliot ran to Tony, hugging him.
"8 minutes, 10 seconds," Amy called.
"Now you look after your mum," Tony told Elliot, "You mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."
"I'm not going to see you again, am I?" he breathed.
"I'll be here," he touched Elliot's heart, "Always. I love you, boy," he hugged him tightly and turned to his daughter, "You be sure he gets home safe!"
"This is my fault," Ambrose breathed shakily.
"No, I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show. The technology down here's my only hope," he hugged her.
"I love you, dad."
"Go. Go. Come on…go on."
Eldane activated the fumigation.
"Toxic fumigation initiated," came over the loudspeaker, "Return to cryo-chambers. Toxic fumigation initiated. Return to cryo-chambers…"
"They're going!" Amy called, glancing at the monitors, "We're clear!"
"Ok," the Doctor looked around, "Everyone follow Nasreen. Look for a blue box. Get ready to run," he soniced the door and it slid open before he turned to Eldane, "We're sorry."
"I thought for a moment, our race and the humans..." Eldane breathed.
"Yes," the Professor nodded, "Us too."
"We've got less than 6 minutes!" Amy shouted.
"Go!" the Doctor waved them off, "Go! We're right behind you!" they ran from the room and he turned to Nasreen, "Let's go."
"I'm not coming either," Nasreen smiled, calm.
"What?"
She moved to stand by Tony, "We're going to hibernate with them, me and Tony."
"Doctor, Professor, you must go!" Eldane called.
"I can be decontaminated when we're woken," Tony looked at Nasreen with a small smile, "All the time in the world."
"But...Nasreen...you..." the Doctor shook his head.
Nasreen walked over to them, "No. This is perfect. I don't want to go. I've got what I was digging for. I can't leave when I've only just found it."
The Doctor nodded, squeezing the Professor's hand in his own, understanding completely, "I get it."
"Doctor!" Amy ran in, "Professor!"
"Thank you," Nasreen smiled at them.
"The pleasure was all ours," the Professor hugged her quickly before they turned and ran out of the room.
"Come and look for us!" Nasreen called after them as the door slid closed behind them.
They ran along the passages, meeting up with Rory on the way.
"Immediate evacuation..." the loudspeaker announced.
"Other way, idiot!" Amy shouted, pulling Rory along.
"Toxic fumigation is about to commence."
They ran into the large cavern, the bridge above the magma, only to see Mo, Elliot, and Ambrose looking around in awe.
"Come on!" the Doctor shouted, shocking them into action. They ran down the passages, back the way they came, and to the tunnel where the TARDIS was sitting, "No questions, just get in!" he unlocked it, "And yes, we know it's big!"
"Ambrose," the Professor called, ushering them in, "Med-bay up the stairs, left, then left again...get yourselves fixed up."
"Come on! 5 minutes and counting..."
A bright light sprang to life behind them.
They turned slowly to see the crack in the tunnel, the same as on Amy's wall, though huge, almost big enough to climb through.
"Not here," the Doctor shook his head, "Not now."
"It's getting wider…" the Professor looked at it in horror.
"The crack on my bedroom wall," Amy gasped.
The Doctor walked up to it and squatted down, "And the Byzantium."
"All through the Universe," the Professor crouched beside him, "Rips in the continuum. Some sort of space/time cataclysm."
"An explosion, maybe."
"Big enough to put cracks in the Universe."
"But what?" he studied it fascinated, the Professor borderline analytical.
"4 minutes 50..." Amy checked the watch, "We have to go!"
"The Angels laughed, when we didn't know," the Doctor muttered, "Prisoner Zero knew, everybody knows, except us!"
"Doctor, just leave it!"
"But where there's an explosion," the Professor realized, pulling out a blue hankie from one of her pockets, "There's shrapnel," she looked at the Doctor who nodded, moving to the side so she could move to the center of the crack.
"Professor, you can't put your hand in there!" Rory shouted, alarmed.
"Why not?" she countered, reaching in with her hand, grimacing in pain as the light got brighter, she frowned, "I've got something!"
"What is it?" Amy asked nervously.
She pulled her arm back, falling backwards onto the ground, clutching the item wrapped in the hankie as it sizzled with heat and energy. The Doctor quickly moved to her side, helping her up, "I don't know."
"Doctor!" Rory shouted, spotting Restac crawling into the tunnel.
The Doctor jumped and spun around, putting himself before the Professor.
"She was there, when the gas started..." Amy realized, "She must've been poisoned!"
"You!" Restac snarled.
"Get in the TARDIS," the Professor ordered, moving to the Doctor's side, slipping the hankie into her pocket and grabbing her blaster, "Both of you."
"You did this!" Restac aimed her gun.
"No!" Rory shouted, pushing the two out of the way as she fired, striking Rory instead. It hadn't mattered that he knew the Professor could probably avoid the blast, but he'd reacted too quickly, just wanting to save her like she and the Doctor saved so many...
"Rory!" Amy screamed, rushing to his side as he groaned in pain on the ground, none of them noticing Restac die.
"Rory, can you hear me?" the Doctor quickly soniced him.
"I don't understand," Rory moaned.
"Shh, shh," Amy hushed him, stroking his face, "Don't talk," she looked at the Doctor, "Doctor, is he ok? We have to get him into the TARDIS!"
"We were on the hill. I can't die here."
Amy's eyes grew tearful, "Don't say that."
"You're so beautiful..." he breathed, looking at her, "I'm sorry."
And with a final breath, his head lulled to the side.
"Doctor, help him!" Amy shouted.
The Doctor moved to try and scan him again when the Professor grabbed his arm. He looked at her, following her gaze over to the crack behind them, seeing tendrils of light reaching out, already touching Rory's feet.
The Professor quickly stood, "Amy, move away from the light, if it touches you you'll be wiped from history. Amy, move away now."
"No!" she screamed, "I am not leaving him! We have to help him!"
"The light's already around him, we can't help him," the Professor grabbed her shoulder.
"I am not leaving him!"
"We have to," the Doctor agreed, moving over to grab her other arm.
"No!"
"Sorry!"
"Get off me!"
"Sorry!" they hefted her to her feet and pulled her to the TARDIS, kicking and screaming.
"Get off me!"
They shoved her in, the Professor grabbing her in a hug and pushing her in more as the Doctor locked the door.
"No!" she struggled, "No! No!" the Doctor soniced it locked. Amy squirmed away and ran to the door, pounding on it, "Let me out, please let me out...I need to get Rory."
The Doctor and Professor exchanged a glance before rushing to the console and setting the controls.
Amy whirled around and ran after them, spotting Rory on the monitor, the light enveloping him like a cocoon, "That light, if his body's absorbed I'll forget him. He'll never have existed. You can't let that happen!" the Doctor pulled a lever on the console, "What are you doing?" she ran over to it, "Doctor! No!" she moved to try and pull the lever down again but the Professor grabbed her and pulled her away as the TARDIS dematerialized.
Amy beat her hands on the Professor's chest, trying to pull away, "No! No! Professor, we can't just leave him there!"
"Keep him in your mind," the Professor told her in a last ditch effort, "Don't forget him. If you forget him, you'll lose him forever."
"On the Byzantium, I still remembered the clerics because I am a time travele, now you said," Amy shook her head.
The Doctor moved over, looking Amy in the eyes, "They weren't part of your world. This is different...this is your own history changing."
"Don't tell me it's not going to be ok. You have to make it ok."
"It's going to be hard, but you can do it, Amy," the Professor led her to the jump seat and sat her down, the two of them kneeling before her, "Tell us about Rory."
"Fantastic Rory, funny Rory, gorgeous Rory," the Doctor nodded, "Amy, listen to us. Do exactly as we say. Amy, please. Keep concentrating. You can do this."
"I can't," she sobbed.
"You can," the Professor insisted, "You can do it. We can't help you unless you do. Come on. We can still save his memory."
It shouldn't have been possible. Rory had been taken by the time energy but Amy still seemed able to remember him, to hold on for now.
"Come on, Amy," the Doctor squeezed her hand as she struggled to think about Rory, "Please…come on, Amy, come on. Amy, please. Don't let anything distract you."
"Remember Rory. Keep remembering. Rory is only alive in your memory."
"You must keep hold of him. Don't let anything distract you. Rory still lives in your mind."
The TARDIS jolted as she landed, knocking them all to the floor. The engagement ring box fell to the ground before the Doctor as he stared at it.
Amy jumped up, smiling, "What were you saying?" she asked them brightly, but they could only stare at her.
"I have seen some things today, but this is beyond mad," Mo commented as he and his family walked down the steps.
Amy glanced at the stopwatch, "5 seconds till it all goes up!"
They ran out of the TARDIS, just in time to see the drill explode.
~8~
Elliot, Amy, and Mo walked through the graveyard as the Doctor, Professor, and Ambrose stood by the door to the church.
"All Nasreen's work just erased," Amy was saying as they passed.
"Good job she's not here to see it," Mo laughed, "She's going to give Tony hell when they wake up."
Ambrose waited till they passed before turning to the Doctor and Professor, "You could've let those things shoot me. You saved me."
"An eye for an eye is never the way," the Professor told her sagely.
"Now you show your son how wrong you were," the Doctor nodded.
"How there's another way."
"You make him the best of humanity...in the way you couldn't be."
They gave her a gentle smile and walked away.
~8~
"You're very quiet," Amy remarked as she joined the duo while they stood outside the TARDIS, "Oh!" she smiled, spotting something, "Hey! Look! There I am again! Hello, me!" she waved at her future self.
"You ok?" the Professor asked, seeing her frown a moment.
"I thought I saw someone else there for a second. I need a holiday. Didn't we talk about Rio?"
"You go in," the Doctor nodded at the TARDIS, "Just fix this lock, keeps jamming," he unlocked the door and opened it for her.
She laughed, looking at the Professor, "Your boy and his locksmithery," she rolled her eyes but entered anyway, shutting the door behind her.
The Doctor looked over at the Professor as she pulled the piece of shrapnel from her pocket, unwrapping it, only to see a piece of white with words written on it. Her eyes widened in horror as she quickly held it up to the TARDIS's sign, a perfect corner piece.
They looked at each other in shock.
A/N: Congrats you guys! You've beaten the reviews for Reunion and Rebound! You guys are awesome! Seriously! I give each of you a virtual hug :)
And I have to say, it's your reviews that made me post this chapter today. I uploaded it to FF(dot)net and edited it and added a bit more fluff to it and saved it all...and when I went to double check it last night, for some reason ALL the editing was gone as well as HALF the chapter! AND, thinking I was safe and that it was all uploaded, I didn't bother to bring my flashdrives with me (I'm at my aunt's house and borrowing her laptop to post). Which meant I had to look up the transcript again (kidnapping her laptop in the process) and basically rewrite the entire last half of this chapter. It was like 10 at night and I was freaking out trying to get it done while still awake and I was so frustrated that I had to write it again and go through to edit it again that I was almost going to say 'to hell with it, they can last a day with no update' and not post it till I could get to my flashdrives.
BUT, I couldn't do that to you guys, not to the readers and especially not to those of you who take the time to review and those of you who have always reviewed :) You're amazing and you didn't deserve my frustrations getting the better of me. I apologize if there are editing/grammar mistakes after Eldane stops the execution, that's where it got cut off, I tend to read each chapter like 3-4 times before posting it, didn't get the chance to last night, just one go, so sorry!