Chapter 21

The doors opened onto a brilliant blankness. No cars moved down the gleaming streets; no pedestrians walked past the oversized billboards. The silence of the place was deep enough to swallow the soft footfalls of the crew as they stepped warily out of the TARDIS.

Inara moved closer to Mal, her voice low and nervous. "What is this place?"

He glanced over at her, his expression unreadable. "This? This is Miranda." He waved an arm at the damning stillness. "This is what happens when the Alliance decides they can do whatever they want."

She wrapped her arms around her ribs, folding herself up tightly. "What happened here?"

The Doctor cleared his throat. "There was an experiment, a specific compound—G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate—that was filtered through the air, the food… it was everywhere. There was no escaping it." He raised a hand and touched the dim glass of the building next to him, and the lights flared to brightness. Kaylee shrieked and backed into Simon's arms as River disappeared back into the TARDIS, and Zoe and Wash paled. "So they didn't escape." Rotting corpses filled the windows in a cruel parody of everyday life—some bodies were slumped over computer terminals and propped against copy machines; others littered the floor. He closed his eyes briefly before moving away. "But I'm not here about them."

"So who are you here for?" Sometime in the past few minutes, Inara and Mal's hands had caught and tangled. Neither of them seemed to notice, but nor were they letting go.

The Doctor glanced over at her as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and checked its readings. "I'm here for the others—the victims of the Pax that are still living." He scowled and started moving, following the steady beeps of the screwdriver. "If you can call it that."

Inara looked at Mal, confused, and the captain grimaced. "He means the Reavers."

She paled. "Lao tyen yeh."

Rose stepped up to the Doctor, slipping her hand in his. He glanced down at her and smiled crookedly, just a faint tug upwards of his lips. She cleared her throat. "Does it ever get easier?"

"Does what?"

"Seein' stuff like this." They walked past a parked car, the driver slumped against the steering wheel. There was a tiny, still figure strapped into a booster seat in the back.

The Doctor sighed. "I wish I could say it doesn't, but it does. After a while, it becomes harder to care. It's the only way to keep going, sometimes." He tightened his hand around hers. "I wanted to show you the universe, Rose. I just never wanted you to see all of it."

She rested her forehead against his shoulder, staring at the brightly-lit mausoleum around them. "Somebody's got to be the witness."

"Here we go." He held up a hand, stopping the crew's rag-tag procession. "The signal's coming from here." The room was small and dim, crowded once all the crew fit inside. An image flickered to life—a woman, trim and brown-haired, in a practical jumpsuit and a ponytail.

"These are just a few of the images we've recorded," the woman said. As she spoke, holographic images scrolled in front of her. Close up shots of corpses, of faces rotted away. "And you can see... it isn't what we thought."

More pictures appeared and disappeared in front of her. She didn't look at them. The woman stared straight ahead, exhaustion and fear in her eyes. "There's been no war here. And no terraforming event. The environment is stable." She stopped, her eyes filling with tears. "It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression."

"Well, it works." She almost smiled, but it was more a flinch than an expression of happiness. "The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped... everything else." Her voice trembled as she continued. "They stopped going to work. They stopped breeding. Talking. Eating. There's 30 million people here, and they all just let themselves die."

A roar sounded through the small space, and she gasped and glanced off to the side. A pounding began to reverberate through the room, and she looked back at the screen, panic in her eyes. "I have to be quick. About a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased. Beyond madness. They have become..."

She glanced off-screen again. She tried to continue, but her fear was clear in every move she made. "Well, they've killed most of us. And not just killed. They've done things..." She shook her head. "I won't live to report this, but people have to know. We meant it for the best. To make people safer…" The pounding thundered on, until a loud crash sounded through the room. The woman trembled. "Oh GOD!" she wailed, pulling a gun from her pocket.

There was a click, and the Doctor pulled out the holovid cartridge.

The others blinked and shook their heads, slowly coming up for air. Shepherd Book had his hand in front of his mouth. Jayne had a death grip on his gun. Kaylee cleared her throat, clutching Simon's hand in hers. "What… what happened to her?"

The Doctor looked down, tracing the long scratch marks on the floor. "She didn't make it."

Simon spoke up, his eyes following the Doctor's. "And that's what River's been carrying around in her brain?"

"Since the Academy, yes. But this—" he held up the holovid—"this is everything. This means those people didn't die in vain. They will get justice."

Jayne cleared his throat. "So what do we do now?"

"Now? Now we go to the Shadow Proclamation. Now, Blue Sun has to face up to what it's done." He looked impatiently around at them, crowded into the room with him. "Well? Back to the TARDIS!"

The crew filed back onto the Serenity and found River waiting, her eyes wide and dark. "Did you see? Did Miranda speak to you?"

Simon wrapped her in his arms. "We saw, mei mei." He kissed her lightly on the crown of her head, squeezing his eyes shut. "You're very brave."

Rose stepped closer to Kaylee, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. The brunette leaned into her, sighing softly. "I just can't believe somebody'd do that to people."

Mal spoke softly, his hand still in Inara's. "People do crazy things, lookin' for power."

The Doctor started the TARDIS dematerialization sequence, moving quickly around the console. The console room was silent as the crew braced themselves for flight, all caught in their own heads. Rose watched them thoughtfully as she clung to the railing. Wash and Zoe hadn't let go of each other since they first stepped onto Miranda, and Mal and Inara looked to be following their example. Jayne's brow was furrowed in confusion, but every once in a while he'd catch Book's eye and calm down. River was curled up in Simon's arms, watching the others.

They landed with a quiet thump, and Rose detached herself from the railing. She glanced up at the Doctor, surprised. "That's prob'ly the softest landing I can remember."

He tucked the holovid into his jacket, his jaw tightening. "She's probably as eager to get this over with as I am." He rested a hand on the controls. "She first sent me into this five months ago."

Kaylee cocked her head, curious. "Sent you into it?"

He glanced at her and smiled perfunctorily. "She's telepathic."

He pushed the door open onto a shining cavern of a room, the tiered walls stretching up beyond what the eye could see. Rose stepped onto the floor and gasped—she felt the chill of polished marble, but the deep black floor was decorated with the stars of the cosmos. The Doctor took her hand, speaking to her quietly. "It's a Eunxonian projection—a bit of a welcome mat, designed to show off the Shadow Proclamation's jurisdiction." He grinned a little. "You're standing on Saturn."

A tall, gleaming creature walked towards them, its feathers cresting over a delicately featured skull. It bowed gracefully to them, its wings spread wide. "Welcome, entities, to the Shadow Proclamation."

The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet, his hands deep in his pockets. "Hello, K'shorrna. Is Yvex in?"

The being blinked wide, amber-coloured eyes. "Forgive my insolence, but I do not recall your external appearance, that you would speak with me so familiarly."

"No, I don't suppose you would. Last time I was in this time period was in what, my sixth life? Yes, that would've been it." He grinned and waved his hand. "Hello! I'm the Doctor."

The amber eyes widened. "Doctor? I see." K'shorrna cocked its head, staring at him. "Your plumage has calmed considerably."

He winced. "Yes, I suppose it has. Forget that for the moment, though—I need to talk to Yvex about something, and it's rather important."

"You always consider it rather important." The Doctor spun to find a squat purple alien behind him, watching him affably with six blue eyes.

"Well, yes, but it's generally because it is." He grinned. "Hullo, Yvex." He glanced around at the others, who were watching with wide eyes. "I'd like you all to meet Yvex Ourian Kalos, the Shadow Architect and an old friend of mine." He tugged on Rose's hand, pulling her forward. "Yvex, this is my wife, Rose Tyler."

Remembering a long-ago conversation with a living tree, Rose grinned. "It's a pleasure."

Yvex raised his white eyebrows and made an odd purring sound in greeting. "Charmed, I'm sure. To be this one's partner, you must have much courage and even more patience."

"Oi!" One of Yvex's eyes swerved away from his study of Rose to stare at the Doctor.

"You know it's true." There was a pause, and he blinked one pair of eyes after another. "Is there a reason the large one is staring at me?"

Rose glanced back and bit her lip against laughter—Jayne had been staring, bug-eyed, at Yvex, but at the small alien's remark he moved his gaze to the ceiling, blushing furiously.

The Doctor scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, there is—that's what I've come to talk to you about, incidentally. How quickly could we arrange a quorum?"

Yvex turned back to the Doctor, his multiple eyebrows furrowed. "Within minutes, most likely. I believe there are eleven delegates on the platform at the moment."

"Good. There's something that needs to be brought to the Proclamation's attention."

"Something more important than the poultry civil wars of Jeyvos 4?"

The Doctor winced. "Am I ever going to live that down?"

Yvex smirked and turned, leading them out of the entrance hall. "No, probably not."

(lao tyen yeh- Jesus)

(mei mei- little sister)