Invasion
As the Archivist returned to his duties, the visitor carefully opened the ancient leather-bound volume, slowly turning a few pages at random. The hand-written words had been painstakingly translated, page by page – English on one side, SenSaru'i on the facing page. He looked closely at the writing; yes, both had been inked by the same hand.
He went back to the beginning of the book, glancing at the dedication page – and then did a classic double-take, laughing out loud before he could stop himself. Still smiling, he settled back in his chair, trying to find a comfortable position, turned to the first page, and began reading.
'You will wonder why I am writing this. It is because I believe in Truth – that there is such a thing, and that it is important that it is known. So many half-truths and outright lies about those first days have become enshrined in myth, and so believed to be Truth, that I feel I MUST attempt to set the record straight. To remain silent would be a lie. Worse, it would let the lies impugning the honor of good men and women stand – and that is the worst lie of all.'
^..^
Professor Gallifrey was perched on the front of his desk at one side of the lectern stage, quietly helping one student while the rest of the class began tackling the problem he'd set them on the board, when Rose's internal voice broke in. *Corin?* The fact that she'd interrupted a class said as much as her tone did that something was up – he could practically hear the adrenaline.
*What is it, love?* he replied.
Just then the alarms sounded. *Hold on. Lockdown drill.* Without a word aloud, he quickly stood and waved his hands out to both sides, and his students sprang into action. Two nearest each door shot the bolt and pulled the shade over the small inset window, while one at the end of each row on the other side checked that each of the large windows lining that side of the lecture hall was locked, and lowered and closed the shades. Before an observer could count to thirty, every student would be back in his seat, books stowed, mobiles out and turned on Silent, quietly watching him and the clock over his head.
He spared them an approving smile for their smooth efficiency before returning his attention to Rose. While he abhorred the reason, he couldn't argue with the necessity for the lockdown drills, and was determined that should a deranged gunman strike Cambridge, none of his students would be caught in the crossfire. As a result, he drilled each of his classes several times at the beginning of each semester – and invariably had the best marks whenever the drills were observed and graded by the campus police.
Corin suddenly realized what Rose had been telling him. *It's not a drill! You've got alien spacecraft landing in your back yard!*
A beat, while the shock ran quickly through him. *Say that again?*
She chuckled, a flow of cool peppermint in his mind. *Time to get your alien arse in gear, Doctor. One large mothership is in orbit overhead, and we're reading six smaller ships just landing in and around Cambridge. Small being relative, of course. Hold on, we're getting finer details now.* He pictured her in the Control Room at Torchwood, peering up at the huge viewscreen on the wall. He felt a shock go through her mind to his, but before he could speak, she asked, *Corin? What building are you in?*
*Brookings Hall.*
She quickly scanned the screen. *OK, there's none near you. But... Corin, there's one landing on Sara Commons.* He didn't need her to tell him the significance of that. Sara Commons was the central green within the School of Medicine.
Where Donna was right now sitting in class.
*I'm on my way.* He returned his attention to his surroundings, looking over the class. Their faces were just showing the realization that the alarms hadn't stopped – this wasn't a drill.
"We've got visitors, but nothing's near here – for now," he announced to the class, not caring about the rumors that his odd display of 'foreknowledge' would inevitably start. "Stay in lockdown till you get the all clear, but you can turn on the telly to see what's happening. But stay here. Anybody leaving this room to play hero or eyewitness: don't bother coming back; I'll personally expel you. Leroy, you're in charge," he added to his teaching assistant.
He strode quickly from the lecture hall, pausing outside the door just long enough to hear the deadbolt shot home again behind him, then turned and half-ran down the corridor to the outer doors. Once he hit the stairs outside, though, he took off his brakes and RAN northward, towards Sara Commons with its new, (possibly) dreadful tenant.
He could hear numerous sirens coming from all over the city, converging on several spots from the sounds of them. And then he heard the rumble of starship engines come creeping under and then over all other noise. He stopped for a moment to listen intently. Was that...? No. He didn't recognize the aural signature – not that that meant a whole lot. He took off again. There was another one closer, a few blocks to his left, but he ignored it. His daughter came first.
The streets and sidewalks were filling fast with people running and cars screeching this way and that, and he began having to dodge and weave, holding back his frustration. He made it up to the Commons before the police began setting up barricades, just slipping through the line of uniforms. There he came to a screeching halt, staring at the hulk now resting on the grass.
"Hulk" was definitely the operative word. Inexperienced humans might simply see an impressively massive pile of alien metal, but his eyes picked out battle scars and broken attachments. Vaguely wedge-shaped, it sat, a bit crookedly, on three legs extending out and down from the base, with a wide ramp leading from the belly to the ground. Corin took that in quickly and dismissed it as unfamiliar, then focused in on the aliens themselves, several of whom were standing in a double line between the ramp and the nearest building – Sheffield Hall, from which was issuing a steady stream of loud bangs and human screams. The situation had started badly for inter-galactic peace, and was already deteriorating. Several people were stretched out on the ground, unconscious or dead, in the open area between the ship and the crowd, which was now holding back well away from the aliens even as it kept swelling from the rear.
*Rose? I'm there. I don't recognize the ship. Hold on, let me get closer to them.* He worked his way quickly through the growing crowd, and spotted a TV crew already on the scene to his right. He sent her the station ID on the side of the satellite van so she could snag the video they were sending out, then returned his attention to the aliens.
*Bipedal. Two arms. One head. About two meters tall. Standard for spacefaring species*. Corin peered closer while building a quick mental inventory as he pushed through the crowd, trying to see their faces. *Grey skin, kind of rubbery-looking. Flat faces. No visible hair. Wide, lipless mouths.* He thought furiously, mentally thumbing through his vast mental rolodex – and back again, before he gave up. *I don't recognize them at all.*
*Damn.* came her reply. A species he knew, even if they didn't know the Doctor in this alternate universe, would have been a big plus.
*Are you getting that video feed?*
*Yes, we just snagged it. Corin... answer your mobile, it's me. We need audio.*
He dug his mobile out of his pocket and thumbed the button without looking. "Recording?" he asked.
"Yes."
"OK. I'm going in." He dropped the phone back into his jacket pocket to empty his hands and began walking carefully towards the line. The leader – at least it looked rather in charge, standing off to one side – was barking orders into a comlink, and Corin strained his ears to hear the words.
"Ssa tesstanssini eftaklit! Beki ini ssepindu!" The S's were elongated and hissed, and Corin realized the alien had gill slits on his neck that were creating the effect. The words themselves, though, were nonsense. *Damn, I don't know that language, either. I've never run into these guys before. They may not have an equivalent in the other universe.*
The leader turned slightly and saw him approaching, and held up his hand in an obvious gesture: Stay back! Corin raised both his hands, holding them out to show he wasn't armed – he didn't like the looks of the weapon the alien was clutching, though he wasn't sure what type it was. He kept moving forward, slowly, calling out clearly, "I'm no threat! Please, stop! Tell me what you want! I can help you!" Although this didn't look like a friendly group, it was usually best to treat newcomers that way and give them the chance.
The alien didn't respond with anything that looked like understanding, so they apparently had no universal translator. Corin repeated the greeting in several different intergalactic languages, hoping to hit on something familiar to the other. No luck. The closer he came, the more agitated the leader became, continuing to motion him back and repeating the same alien phrase, louder each time. "Tassmubi! Etssa! Etssa!" When he brought his weapon up from his side and pointed it at Corin, the latter stopped walking, though he didn't stop talking, continuing to try different languages, alternated with English, in what he hoped was a calm – and calming – voice.
Suddenly a new hubbub broke out on his right, and both he and the alien leader swiveled their heads to see a group of students pushed out the Hall's front door and herded towards the bottom of the ramp. Cracks of what sounded like forcewhips rang out above the cries and screams of the kids, while answering yells and screams echoed from the crowd at the edges of the Commons. The leader whirled and fired a shot – some kind of energy bolt – up into the air to quell the noise.
About fifty or so students had been herded past – and more evidently behind them, judging from the noise from the Hall – as Corin shifted his attention back to the leader and stepped forward again, determined to get close enough to try to talk to him and get hold of the situation. The leader saw him move and yelled at him again, training his gun straight back at Corin. He stopped once more and took a deep breath to try again – and the leader fired, out of patience. The energy bolt hit his chest and blew him back several feet, stunning him but not killing him outright. As he blacked out, Rose's mental scream ringing in his mind, the last second of vision before the shot replayed again – a headful of long auburn hair framing wide, shocked blue eyes and an open, crying mouth stood out in high relief from the rest of the line of students running into the ship.
Donna.