A/N - Not much to say really, so, yeah, here's Part Three! Reviews are appreciated :)
The Anthopilians were now directly in front of them. Callum closed his eyes, waiting to be struck with the Anthopilians stingers.
"What on Earth are you doing?" he heard the Doctor say. He opened his eyes again to see the Doctor and Amy looking at him in confusion.
"Um, you mean they aren't going to kill us?" Callum asked, uncertainly.
"No, of course not," the Doctor answered, sounding quite amused.
"Oh, thank God!" Callum laughed with relief.
"Well, not yet at least," the Doctor replied, and Callum felt the sudden urge to tip over.
"Thanks for that, Doctor!" Callum said, weakly. "Feel so much better."
"We'll be fine!" Amy said, as the Anthopilians motioned for them to move.
"Where are we going?" Callum asked, as they made their way single-file back down the corridor.
"Main Deck, apparently... They need us for something..." the Doctor whispered.
"This can't be good!" Amy whispered back. Callum inclined his head in agreement, a lump forming in his throat.
The Main Deck was a massive hexagon-shaped chamber with glass tubes of what appeared to be honey running throughout the room. There were many screens, much like the one in the Numb Rooms. Keypads covered in the strange circular language were everywhere. The Doctor and Amy were amazed, but Callum was worried – his friends were stuck in some other part of the ship.
He was drawn out of his thoughts by one of the bee creatures handing him what appeared to be a small plastic hexagon, and a cup of honey.
"What's this?" Callum asked, holding up the hexagon.
"Oh, it's an earpiece. It'll translate what they're saying to you, and what you're saying to them," the Doctor explained, absent-mindedly, looking around the room. Callum clipped the earpiece into his right ear and immediately he heard the Anthopilians speaking in English. Scottish accents as well.
"Um, why am I hearing Scottish accents?" Callum asked, confused.
"Oh, the translator program probably sets their language to come out in something you'd be familiar with."
"That's pretty cool," Callum grinned. Amy nodded her agreement – the Doctor didn't answer – he was gazing intently at a door identical to the one that they had come to earlier. The hexagons were spinning, and the other Anthopilians in the room all turned to face the door. A larger bee, with a white stripe and no sting made its way into the room. The Anthopilians bowed to this other bee, and the Doctor, Amy and Callum followed suit.
"It's the Queen Bee! Well, Queen Anthopilian... She's the one in charge. Which means she's the one we're having a Q and A with!" the Doctor whispered to Amy and Callum.
"Doctor, why are you onboard my vessel?" buzzed the Queen.
"You know me?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"Yes, of course I know you, Time Lord. You stopped the battle between my Hive and the Vespiform Congregation just last year."
"Ah, not yet in my case, your Majes-bee – Majesty! But that's something to look forward to. This is Amy and Callum."
"I am aware of the both of them. Although for separate reasons. Amelia Pond was with you in the Parliament last year, and Callum Hendrick is here for two reasons."
"Two reasons? Oh, of course! Blindingly obvious now that I think of it. I can tell you both of them right now. In fact, I've worked out your whole plan."
"Really?" Amy interrupted, impressed.
"Well, Amy, it's really sort of obvious if you think about it."
"Nope, sorry, you've lost me as well," Callum said, as confused and impressed as Amy. The Doctor looked frustrated.
"Right, the Anthopilian Hive is moving across the galaxy if my watch is correct. But the mothership – the ship the Queen is travelling on – is the last to leave. They use a mixture of time energy and their own energy to power the ship. Their own energy's easy enough – honey! Anthopilian honey, which acts as a tranquiliser to certain species. Anyway, they needed the time energy, so, best thing to do? Hunt down the easiest time anomaly possible and find a key to opening the anomaly, and plan it down to detail. So, they get Callum Hendrick and line him up against the home box in the elevator shaft. The second the clock hits eleven minutes past three, the anomaly shatters open, releasing a burst of time energy that the home box takes with it along with the source – Callum! Keeping up so far?"
"I think so..." Callum said, straining to keep up.
"Although, I am stumped at how the Anthopilians knew we'd be here. Care to fill in the blanks, your Majesty?" the Doctor blasted out rapidly, before turning to face the Queen Bee.
"Well, Doctor, you're completely correct, as usual. It was predicted in the Honey Rivers all across the Hivelands. We use the Rivers to predict future events of importance."
"Oh... care to elaborate?"
"Our Honey Readers took great time trying to figure out what story was unfolding in the Rivers, but the only piece of information they found was a warning. A warning for the Doctor."
"And what would that be?" the Doctor said, hoarsely – a sign that he was worried.
"The Prophecy is that one day the Doctor's darkest day will come, and his actions that day will bring darkness to the triangle. But that day is far away, and right now, you aren't required. You played your part in this, and now all we need is the boy."
"Why do you need Callum?" Amy asked, stepping up. The Queen turned to her and clicked her mandibles.
"The boy is the source, therefore he is the only one who can control it."
"That's not how time energy works! If you want him to go anywhere near that time energy, then he'll burn up! He's human – they're not supposed to do that," the Doctor said. "In fact, if you were looking for someone to control the time energy, you shouldn't have chose this side of the galaxy."
"The boy will do it!" shrieked the Queen, turning to Callum. "Guards, hold the Doctor and his companions."
"Ah, companion, actually," the Doctor corrected. Callum turned to him helplessly. "Oh, okay then, maybe not the time for corrections!"
"I didn't mean that!" Callum cried as an Anthopilian grabbed him with its four arms. "Not got a plan?"
"Well, actually, now that you mention it, Callum, I do!" the Doctor cried, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointing it at the main flight console. "Let us go, or I'll blow it."
"You wouldn't, Doctor, don't even bother pretending. You would not kill us all. Seize him."
Two other bees stepped towards the Doctor, he grinned and pushed the button on the screwdriver, releasing the claws on it.
"Ah, sorry, your Majesty – I don't think I was clear enough there. I never mentioned killing. When I said I'll blow it, I was referring to doing... this!" He blasted the console. "Get down!"
There was a massive explosion, followed by the large door that the Queen had walked through exploding into the room, and smashing off of the opposite wall. In the confusion, and as the bees buzzed angrily, the Doctor ran across the room through the smoke and grabbed Amy's hand. Amy grabbed Callum and they dragged themselves up a small set of stairs to where another door had just slid open.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, your Majesty!" the Doctor called back as the door shut behind them. "Now we're in trouble!" He grinned at Callum and Amy who returned half-hearted smiles. The Doctor began to run, beckoning for them to follow. They ran down several corridors, and Callum noticed that all the corridors seemed to connect in several points, making every room a hexagon. Typical bees, he thought – then: I've gone mad, I just said that as if it was normal.
Eventually, the Doctor found a screen and began glaring at it in frustration.
"I think they've deadlocked the computers. That's not good. Means that the doors'll have to be opened manually. How annoying. Ah, but we have to find your friends first!"
Callum immediately felt bad – he had completely forgot about his friends. But now wasn't the time for feeling guilty, especially because a wave of sleep had just crashed into him. He stumbled into the wall, trying to keep his eyes open. Amy grabbed him by the shoulders and helped him lean against the wall for support.
"Are you alright?" she asked, concern in her shiny, brown eyes. Callum nodded, and let out a long yawn. The Doctor frowned at him.
"Did you drink any of that honey?" he asked. Callum nodded again – he felt too tired to talk. The Doctor groaned. "Why is there never a manual?"
"There is, actually, you just have a nasty habit of throwing them into supernovas," Amy reminded him. The Doctor gave her a look. She didn't seem too fussed about it, and turned back to Callum.
"Don't close your eyes, Cal," she said to him. She turned to the Doctor. "Should we lift him?"
"Hush, I'm thinking!" he replied, closing his eyes and tapping the bridge of his nose with the end of the sonic screwdriver, deep in thought. "If we take him back to the Numb Rooms, we can stick him in the lift and then we can go get his friends."
Callum shook his head drowsily.
"Just – leave – me - here."
"No, wait, better idea! I'll leave Amy with you, then I'll go find the others, and then I'll go to the heart of the ship and find some amazing way of containing the time energy. The Anthopilians are in too deep with this one. They don't usually siphon off proper chunks of time. This is something odd. But anyway," he cried, making Amy jump in surprise, "let's get him in the Numb Room. It's only down this corridor and down the stairs. Hopefully."
A few minutes later, Callum had completely fallen asleep, snoring gently. With a decent amount of effort, Amy and the Doctor had managed to find the Numb Room with the lift in it, and had laid him down next to it.
"Right, if I'm not back in half an hour, the home box will activate and take you home."
"I'm not leaving you!" Amy said, standing up.
"Sorry, Pond!" He kissed her on the forehead and stepped out into the corridor. "Just half an hour."
"No! Doctor, no!" she cried, but it was to no avail as the doors to the Numb Room closed. Amy crossed to the screen and started to tap at it, hoping something would happen. She sighed. "No such luck." She crossed over to where Callum was lying, eyes shut. He looked so peaceful. It was weird, it was as if he reminded her of someone – but she couldn't think who. She sat down next to him and thought.
The Doctor was having a whale of a time as he bolted down the corridors. He had just ran into the sleeping quarters of five Anthopilians who hadn't been on the Main Deck, and they were now chasing after him, buzzing furiously. The adrenaline rush he was getting was fantastic!
He took a turn to the left where a set of stairs lead up towards the corridor with the large metal door that Callum's friends were stuck behind. The Doctor sonicked the door control, which seemed to be much more co-operative this time.
"Ah, I love it when things go my way," he said to no-one in particular. The hexagon seals in the door twisted around and the door inched open with the familiar clash of metal. The Doctor slid through the gap and was pleased to see that Callum's friends hadn't wandered off. They had been gazing out of the large window – it was the Viewing Deck – and they were transfixed by the sight of the Earth below them. The Doctor stepped over to them.
"Enjoying it?" he asked quietly. Keith nodded, smiling widely.
"It's beautiful. I don't think Abby's taking it as well. She just stopped crying a minute ago."
"Ah, nothing too out of the ordinary. The Universe is a big place, and you've all been thrown in at the deep end. You don't get days like this everyday. Well, unless you're me. But it's time to go – I'm sending you all home, out of harm's way. Come on."
He stepped over to the door and peeked out, just in time to see his Anthopilian chasers turning the corridor. He yanked the door shut.
"But apparently not out that door." He crossed the room to another identical door. He hit at the keypad, trying a few random combinations, and then decided it made more sense just to hack the door controls. "Easiest method."
The door slid open, after its hexagon seals finished spinning. Keith, Sean, Abby and Bex stepped through and the Doctor followed behind.
"Right, listen closely – follow this corridor until you come to the junction, then take the corridor on the right, there should be a set of stairs. Walk down them, walk along that corridor, then walk up the next set of stairs at the end of that long corridor, then take the corridor to your left, down those stairs, and the fifth door is the room that Amy and Callum are in. I'll be back in about twenty minutes – just tying up some loose ends."
The four of them nodded and – following Keith – ran down the corridor. The Doctor stepped back in through the door, and crossed to another door that was in the middle of the room. This one lead into a lift, with a sign indicating that it lead to the Main Deck going up the way, and the Engine Room going down the way. The Doctor hit the Down button and the doors slid open with a hiss. He stepped in and the doors shut behind him, before the lift began to descend.
In the Engine Room, it was no longer honey-coloured walls, it was now mixtures of burnt reds and oranges, and strange blue flashes of light were coming from the centre of the chamber. The Doctor stepped out of the lift and ducked behind a generator as an Anthopilian in what seemed to be a plumber outfit, mumbling to itself about "grind plates".
The Doctor stepped out from behind the generator and navigated his way through the maze of metal and glass, avoiding the honey pipes. If a single pipe were to break, the entire system would go into lockdown, and the Doctor could do without a lockdown on top of time energy leaking out. He side-stepped around a large bulky generator covered in dials and gauges and gasped.
Above him, encased in a massive glass sphere, was a spiralling mass of blue energy.
"An entire minute of the Earth! This... is beautiful!" he breathed, taken in by the wild spiral of energy. It was breathtaking – curling and twisting – writhing in its glass prison. An entire sixty seconds of energy, an energy so powerful it could power the entire Earth for an entire generation. The Doctor was broken from his trail of thought by the sounds of buzzing drawing closer. He ran up a flight of stairs onto the platform that held the computer bank that controlled the time energy. The Doctor started to type at the keypads frantically. A screen on the console lit up with a message:
SOURCE REQUIRED FOR CANCELLATION
"Callum! Of course!" the Doctor cried, slapping himself in the forehead with the palm of his hand. The screen then began to flash red, and another message appeared:
FAILURE TO LOCATE SOURCE – DETONATION PRIMED FOR 5:00
The Doctor ran.
Callum finally came round and he was pleased to see that his friends had found their way back to the Room. They'd narrowly avoided another group of Anthopilians on the hunt for the Doctor.
"Who is he, Cal?" Keith asked. "He's bloody mad! In a good way," he added after getting a look from Amy.
"The Doctor's my best friend," Amy said. "When I was a little girl, he was my imaginary friend. It's a long story, but right now, I think it's time I go find him. You lot stay here!"
"Imaginary friend?" Abby laughed as Amy left the room.
"Like I said, kid: long story!" Amy said as the door slid shut. Callum dived out just in time, and the door shut.
"Where are you going?!" Bex cried through the door.
"Off to find the Doctor," Callum replied, pressing his head against the door. "We'll be back soon!"
"Good luck, mate!" he heard Keith say.
"Yeah, good luck!" Sean said.
"Cheers, guys – we won't be long... I hope."
Callum followed Amy, who seemed to be guessing her way around.
"So, he was your imaginary friend when you were a girl? How does that work?" he asked. She turned to him and smiled.
"Well, he's not human, for starters. He's an alien - a Time Lord."
"A what?!"
"Time Lord. He's from a planet called Gallifrey, and he's over 900 years old. I travel with him."
"Oh... right," Callum said, taking it all in. I suppose anything's possible after today, he thought. "And you and him?"
"Best friends," laughed Amy. "Nothing more than that!"
"Ah! Just the two people I was looking for!" came a voice from behind them. They turned to see the Doctor running down the stairs behind them. "We have about two minutes until the Engine Room detonates and kills us all. I accidentally set off a security protocol, and you're the only one who can stop it now, Hendrick!"
"How?" Callum asked, as the Doctor darted away, and they chased after him.
"It requires the source of the time energy to do a shutdown and cancel it. Easier to do rather than explain, but nonetheless, without you, we're all going to die, so keep running!"
"So we've got about a minute and a half left before we all go boom?" Amy asked.
"Pretty much!" replied the Doctor from the end of the corridor. He had came to a set of double doors, and the doors slid open to reveal a lift. "Get in!"
They ran into the lift and the doors slid shut behind them.
"So, you two do this everyday?" Callum asked the Doctor, his heart pounding.
"Oh, this is a lazy day!" he replied, smiling. The doors opened at the Engine Room and the Doctor motioned for them to follow him. They were nearing the platform when the Anthopilian worker stepped out from behind one of the generators, buzzing angrily.
"You will be taken to the Queen!"
"Sorry, mate, not right now," the Doctor replied, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the generator. It immediately burst into flames. The Anthopilian squealed and cringed away from the flame. The Doctor, Amy and Callum ran past it, while it reached for a fire extinguisher.
"Bees hate fire, y'see. I'd say we have about a minute left," the Doctor said, checking his watch. "Right, up these stairs, Callum. Just need a voice print off of you and that'll be that."
They ran up the metal stairs and the Doctor began to hit away the keypads. A microphone slid out of the side of the computer bank.
"What do I say?" Callum asked.
"Just tell it to shutdown the time sphere," the Doctor replied.
"And to activate the home box," Amy added.
"Ah, yeah, that as well!" the Doctor frowned, annoyed at himself for forgetting that.
"Alright – should I do it now then?"
"Well, considering we've got half a minute, I'd go for it!" Amy cried, pointing at the timer on the screen. Callum nodded, shakily.
"Um – sh-shutdown time sphere? And activate home box. Thanks?" he said into the microphone. There was a small burble of white noise, and then an approving beep. The screen flashed green and the large glass sphere containing the time energy began to open. The time energy began to fly out across the room, smashing off of the walls and ceiling. Amy narrowly avoided a blast, swearing as she hurt her hand off of a pipe. The room began to shake, and Callum lost his footing and crashed to the floor. Jets of steam were blasting out of pipes and the generators were going into overdrive. The Doctor zapped the computer with his screwdriver and it made a strange electronic whirring noise. A green light began to outline each of them, and the last thing Callum saw before disappearing in the light was the Doctor giving him a thumbs up.
A/N - this chapter took a little longer to edit cos it's a bit bigger than the others - but aye, hope you enjoyed! reviews pls :')