Title: Half Sick of Shadows (Chapter Four)
Author: E.A. Week
E-mail: eaweek at hotmail-dot-COM
Date of publication: May 2012.
Summary: The barren planet Gossan holds a powerful secret, one that is somehow connected to River Song's release from prison. Can River and the Eleventh Doctor defeat the Papal Mainframe, or will they become its prisoners for all eternity?
Category: Doctor Who. Eleven/ River.
Distribution: Feel free to link to this story from another web page, but please drop me at least a brief e-mail and let me know you've done this.
Feedback: Letters of comment are always welcome! Loved it? Hated it? Send me an email and let me know why!
Disclaimer: Copyrights to all characters in this story belong to their respective creators, production companies, and studios. I'm just borrowing them, honest!
The story title is shamelessly stolen from the ballad "The Lady of Shalott," by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Datclaimer: This story is rated M for sex, language, and mild gore/ violence.
Continuity (PLEASE read this): This story follows after the events of Doctor Who, season six. I assume that this story will be rendered apocryphal/ alt-universe/ moot/ irrelevant once Steven Moffat decides to continue telling the story of the Silence. This is my version of how events might play out.
Chapter Four
The Doctor stared at River with a dumbfounded expression, baffled by her apparent non-sequitur.
"Guards?" he repeated. "What guards?"
She folded her arms, glaring at him. "The ones who beat me!"
"Beat you?" His brow furrowed into deep, wavy lines, as his confusion gave way to concern. "When?"
"Fifteen years ago, in Stormcage time," River said.
"What?" The Doctor scratched behind one ear. "Why don't I know about this?"
"Because you didn't visit me for the better part of a year," River said, startled by the depths of her anger. She hadn't realized, until this moment, just how much rage she still harbored. "Which I'm sure you don't even remember." He looked so befuddled that River exploded, "Before I had the vortex manipulator! You know, it's still a prison, Doctor—it's not a holiday camp or a spa! Brutality is hardly uncommon behavior for prison guards!"
"What'd they beat you for? You escape all the time!"
"It wasn't for escaping," River said through her teeth. "I made the mistake of standing up for a laundress when an overbearing prison warden wouldn't take no for an answer."
"How—how badly were you hurt?" asked the Doctor.
"Oh, I was only in medical for six or seven weeks—a few broken bones, multiple bruises and lacerations, both eyes swollen shut, had to be fed intravenously for a while—really, nothing major."
He just kept staring, wounded by her biting sarcasm. Finally, he said, "I'm sorry."
"Don't insult me," River snapped.
"No, I am—River—I had no idea. Why didn't you tell me?"
"What difference would it have made?" she asked.
"I—" he waffled. "I could've—I might've—"
"What, popped into solitary one night and told me silly jokes?"
"Solitary? You were in solitary confinement?"
"Yes, a black pit in the basement of Stormcage. Next time you bring me back there, I'll show you. Charming place—first class accommodations."
"Why'd they put you in solitary?"
"Automatic sentence for any prisoner who attacks a guard."
"Those guards—why'd you think I killed them?"
"Of course you killed them! They both died within months of the attack on me—one was poisoned and the other fell off the prison battlements—that's too much coincidence for me to believe. Of course it was you!"
The Doctor drew himself up with wounded dignity. "River—I swear I never killed anyone in Stormcage."
"Who else was it, then?" River was aware she was ranting but seemed unable to stop herself. "You must've popped back in time and killed both of them to salve your miserable conscience!"
"And cold-blooded murder wouldn't weigh on my conscience?" he asked.
River stared at him. "You really didn't kill them?"
"On my honor," he said.
"Rule One—you always lie."
"Not this time. Not about something like this."
River exhaled in a gusty burst and turned in a circle two or three times, trying to organize her chaotic thoughts, staring at the glowing control panels as if they could give her the satisfaction she sought. The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" she exploded.
"Does it make you feel better," he asked, "knowing I didn't kill them?"
"I don't—" River ran a hand through her curls, trying to pinpoint exactly how she did feel. After so much emotional manipulation by the Papal Mainframe, anger and resentment burned at her core, and none of the Doctor's words seemed capable of dampening the fire. His calmness only served to further enrage her.
"No, no, of course you didn't kill them," River said, finding a new outlet for her frustration. "God forbid you get blood on your hands. So much easier to let everyone else do your dirty work for you."
"All right, first you were angry because you thought I killed them, and now you're angry because I didn't. River—you're not making sense."
"How could I not be angry?" she screamed at him. "I didn't see you for almost a year; I didn't know if you were dead or alive! Imprisonment in Stormcage is a lark when you can escape whenever you please, but when your designated driver buggers off for a year and you don't know if he'll ever come back, it's another matter entirely! Yes, I'm angry at you, Doctor! I took the fall to protect you from the Silence; you could be a little less cavalier about it!"
The Doctor said, "Would you honestly have wanted me to kill them?"
"Like it would've made a difference," River snorted. "I'll tell you want I wanted, Doctor, and that was you! I wanted you at my side when I was in so much pain I couldn't move, when I was locked in a pit so black I couldn't see my own hand! Where the hell were you?"
"I don't know!" the Doctor shouted. "I had no idea I was even gone that long from your perspective! You never said!" Lowering his voice a fraction, he said, "Would it really mean that much to you if I went back in time, found those guards, and—" His head jerked to one side, a gesture of brutal finality. "Would that make you feel better?"
"It won't undo what happened," River said. "Or the fact that I spent months in agony and then buried alive in solitary. Can you appreciate what that was like, Doctor?"
"If you want me to share all my experiences being imprisoned and tortured, we'll be here for a while," the Doctor said.
"Don't belittle what happened to me!" River yelled. Her right hand alternately twitched toward her blaster and curled into a fist, as if torn between shooting the Doctor and punching that stupid expression off his face. "You miserable fuck!"
"All right, then." The Doctor had been pacing, but now he stopped, fixing River with his level, cool gray gaze. "I'll kill them for you."
"You wouldn't," River said.
Raising one eyebrow he said, "It's not like I've never taken life, River. What's a little more blood on my hands? Tell me how they died—I'll go back in time and make sure it happens—give fate a little nudge."
She snorted, "You're bluffing, you coward. I know you—we'll get back to the TARDIS, you'll be conveniently distracted by something else, and Stormcage will be forgotten."
"No." He shook his head. "No, I mean it, River." He crossed both hearts. "Whatever you want."
"Not you," she said, sneering through her teeth. "You're much too good for cold-blooded assassination. You don't have the stomach for it."
"You don't know me as well as you think you do," he said, and in his stormcloud eyes, River glimpsed all of his 1515 years, the kinds of horrors that made her experiences with the Silence and in prison seem like ephemera by contrast. "We may be married, but I've still only shared with you a tiny fraction of my life. If you want me to kill those guards, if it will give you peace, I'll do it. Or, if you'd rather, I'll take you back and you can kill them yourself. Or, if you'd prefer eternal punishment for them, that can be arranged, too."
"I don't believe you." But River's voice faltered.
"Ask me about the Family of Blood."
A long silence stretched between them. The Doctor glanced at his watch. "Let's get moving," he said. "It's a long way to the surface."
"You wouldn't," River said.
"Do you want me to?" he repeated. "If you want me to, I will."
For a moment, River debated saying yes, just to see if the Doctor could steel himself to commit such an act. But looking at his beloved face, her resolve crumbled, taking with it her petty anger, her childish wish to force the Doctor to do something he found abhorrent.
"Well?" he pressed. "It's up to you."
River shook her head, mouthing the word no.
"Why not?"
"I—I can't make you do that," she said. "It's not—it's not who you are. It's not why I love you."
He stepped closer. "Tell me why you love me."
"You know why, Sweetie."
"Tell me," the Doctor insisted. "Say it out loud."
Why did she love him? The reasons were so vast and frankly irrational that River doubted she could put such a complex array of emotions into mere words.
Grasping at a memory, she said, "Do you know what first made me fall in love with you? It was Berlin. You were dying and in excruciating pain, but you didn't care about yourself. You asked me to save Amy and Rory. It didn't even matter to you that I was the one who'd poisoned you. All you cared about was saving your friends. You even begged me to help you—me, the woman who was trying to kill you! Nothing in my training could have prepared me for that. It was the most unselfish thing I'd ever seen. You weren't angry at me. You didn't want vengeance against me. You forgave me and only wanted me to help my parents. How could I not love that?"
He touched her face, and River felt as if tight chains that had held her bound were suddenly released. She threw her arms around the Doctor, pulling him close.
"Oh, Sweetie, whatever got into me?"
"Shh," he whispered in her ear, his voice barely audible. "It's the Papal Mainframe—it was trying to turn us against each other."
"What do we do?" River whispered back. "How can we fight it?"
The Doctor answered by kissing her, long and passionate.
She drew back, staring at him. "Seriously? Now? Here?"
With an enormous grin, he began to disrobe.
River thought for an instant he must be mad, but his shirt fluttered to the floor, exposing his long, pale, subtly muscled torso. He drew her into his arms again, and River realized he was completely serious.
"All right," she gasped when they came up for air. "This works for me, too." She unbuttoned her lightweight shirt, unzipped her khaki trousers and let them fall, then casually stripped off her sports bra. At last, she peeled out of her knickers and let them drop around her ankles. The Doctor, meanwhile, had kicked off his thin shoes and removed his trousers; as usual, he wore nothing beneath them. He embraced River again, the hard length of his erection pressing against her belly. His hands slid down her spine to the round curves of her bottom and the backs of her thighs. River likewise caressed his back, his firm, muscular buttocks, his slim hips. She wasn't sure what good he thought sex would do, but she allowed herself to be drawn down to her knees. The Doctor turned onto his back, sparing River the cold floor, encouraging her to straddle him with her thighs.
"What do you love about me?" he asked, sliding a hand between her legs.
"Fishing for compliments?" she asked, then gasped, "Oh!" when he opened her folds and began to gently stroke her clitoris with one finger.
"Tell me," he insisted.
River arched her back, moaning as she rocked into his hand.
"Tell me!"
"Oh, Sweetie," River groaned. "Everything—I love everything about you—your hands and eyes and voice—" She cried out when she came, but continued, "I love your brains and your crazy—sense of adventure." Panting, she went on, "I love your secrets and even your lies. I love having your hands on me. I love the way my nipples get hard when you stroke the TARDIS console." River paused, shuddering as she came again. Impatient now, she pushed the Doctor's hands aside and sank down on top of him, guiding his hard shaft of flesh into her slippery wetness. "Oh, God, I love the way your cock feels inside me."
River began rocking her hips, moving in a way that would cause both of them the most intense pleasure. The Doctor shouted, banging his fists on the floor, then grasped her by the waist, pushing up to meet her.
"Tell me why you love me," River demanded.
"Oh, River—everything about you drives me mad." The Doctor's face screwed up in a hilarious expression. "I love your crazy hair, your gun, the way you walk like you own the universe—" He broke off, gasping. "I love the way you smell and the way nothing fazes you; I love your brains, your guts, and your lipstick and your handcuffs and those shoes of yours—"
"My fuck-me shoes," River taunted.
"God help me, I even love your spoilers—" They were moving faster and faster now, and River came hard enough to see stars, and the Doctor shouted, "Even when you killed me, I loved you!" They climaxed together, thrashing so wildly that River could barely keep the Doctor beneath her; he was shouting her name, she was screaming; River came again and again until she was utterly spent, and they collapsed together in a tangle of sweaty limbs.
(ii)
River jumped, staggering backwards, disoriented by the sudden, pitch darkness.
"Doctor!" she gasped. "What happened? Where are we?" Then, "Why am I standing up? And dressed?
There was a click, and a moment later, a wide beam of light lit up the small space. The access portal had gone completely dead, the computer screens all black, the blinking lights gone out. River realized the Doctor had switched on his mining lamp, and she did likewise.
"I smell something burning," she said, her nose wrinkling.
The Doctor was casting his sonic screwdriver back and forth across the panel, checking the readings.
"Why are we dressed?" asked River. "We were on the floor humping like dogs a minute ago."
"No, we weren't," the Doctor said. "That was a simulation—we were still inside the Papal Mainframe." Lowering the sonic screwdriver, he said, "Like dogs?"
"Want me to be a little more Victorian about it?" River laughed. "As virtual reality experiences go, that one packed quite a wallop."
"It's dead," the Doctor told her.
"What's dead?"
"The Papal Mainframe." He showed her the readings from the sonic screwdriver. "We destroyed it."
Blankly, River asked, "How?"
The Doctor coughed, looking embarrassed.
"What, we shagged it to death?" River's voice rose on a note of incredulity. "With our clothes still on?" She began to laugh, loud and raucous. "Damn, I'm good."
"Illogic," the Doctor said.
"Come again?" River kept laughing. "Oh, wait, you already did."
"Stop it," the Doctor complained. "Can you be serious for one moment? The Papal Mainframe is a computer. The one thing it can't abide is illogic—things that don't make sense."
"Like you and me?" River asked, catching his meaning.
"Exactly," the Doctor said. "We should never have fallen in love. You were raised and trained and brainwashed into killing me. You're an assassin who was sent to murder me, but instead you fell in love with me."
"And instead of hating and fearing and resenting me, you loved me in return and forgave me for trying to kill you," River said.
"Love and forgiveness," the Doctor said. "Two things a machine will never understand. We blew every circuit in its motherboard."
"Are you sure?" River asked. "We really should be absolutely certain before we—"
Beneath their feet, the floor began to vibrate slightly.
"Aah," the Doctor said. "Our victory celebration will have to be a bit short-lived, I'm afraid."
"Doctor," River said, "if you tell me there's an automatic self-destruct, I really will kill you."
"There's an automatic self-destruct," the Doctor said. "The planet's starting to break up."
The tunnels around them began to shake. Without another word, River and the Doctor bolted from the access portal, sprinting along the corridor, fighting to keep their footing as they ran, the light from their miner's lamps bouncing with a weird, strobe-like effect.
"We'll never make it!" River screamed. "It took us more than an hour just to cross the lake!" She and the Doctor burst into the cavern where the dead Silents lay.
"There's another way out!" the Doctor shouted over the din of noise coming from the planet's artificial core.
"Where?"
"They're showing us—look!" As they sprinted past the Silents' corpses, River saw once again the two creatures that had been crawling across the cavern floor when they'd died. They'd been facing away from the entrance to the access portal, toward the opposite cavern wall, and it was this wall that the Doctor was now scanning frantically with the sonic screwdriver.
There was a grating noise, and a section of the stone wall slid away.
"Is that a lift?" River gasped, her legs still churning. Damn—why did the cavern have to be so big?
"Even better—a transmat module!"
"Oh, you genius!"
They were running so fast now they were almost parallel to the floor. As one, they leaped into the transmat module, and the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to activate the controls, River praying that the thing was still operational. A moment later, they materialized on the planet's surface, atop a rocky outcropping—the roof of the cave where Tremaine's people had been camping. In the distance, about a mile away, they could see the TARDIS, the size of a soup can from their vantage point. The Doctor held up the sonic screwdriver, sending out an ear-piercing signal. River watched the TARDIS begin to fade away.
"Come on, Sexy!" the Doctor shouted.
"It's too far!" River screamed.
"Not for my girl, it isn't!"
By now, the rumbling and shaking had engulfed the entire planet, boulders tumbling, rocky outcroppings collapsing down into valleys, everything churning together in a gritty cloud of pulverized rock. Beneath her feet, the roof of the cavern collapsed, and River screamed, scrabbling wildly for purchase, but there was nothing to hold onto, and she began to fall—
—only to land with a thump on the glass floor of the console room.
"Yes!" the Doctor was shouting, triumphant, already racing to the controls. "That's my girl! Now, get us out of here!" He threw the lever, and the TARDIS began to dematerialize. "Into orbit!"
A moment later, Gossan simply ripped apart, and the blast knocked River clear off her feet. She went flying across the console room, cracked her head against a railing and slid to the floor, unconscious.
(iii)
"No, no no." The Doctor's voice seemed to come from very far away. "She'll be fine."
River managed to get one eye open. She was staring up at three faces, all looming over her with comical expressions of concern. The Doctor, Tremaine, and Marissa.
"Hello, Sweetie," she smiled. Then she winced. "Ow. How bad is it?"
The Doctor touched the top of her head, where River could feel a painful swelling, the size of an egg. "Well, you're going to have quite a lump there for a day or two, and perhaps some bruising, but other than that…"
"Right as rain," River said. Marissa slid an arm beneath River's shoulders and helped her sit. The console room spun alarmingly, but her head settled after a few moments. Blinking to clear her vision, River asked, "Where are we?"
The Doctor gestured to the console. "Come look."
With Marissa's aid, River went and checked the monitor. Outside the ship, an array of rocks tumbled past, some tiny as gravel, some the size of small buildings.
"That's Gossan," the Doctor said, checking the coordinates. "Well, what's left of it."
"It's an asteroid belt now," said River.
"Right," the Doctor said, peering at the monitor. "Brand-new coordinates and everything. It's—hello—what?"
River looked over his shoulder. "What's the matter?"
"That's not right," he frowned. "Those are the coordinates of—aah." He looked abashed.
"Coordinates of what?" asked River.
"The Delirium Archive," the Doctor said. "See that huge piece, over there? Several thousand years from now, the Delirium Archive will be built on the biggest piece of rock in the Gossan asteroid belt."
"The museum?" said River. "I've heard about it, but I've never been."
The Doctor brushed his finger down the bridge of her nose. "Twelve thousand years from now, that's where the home box of the Byzantium will be archived."
"Oh!" River laughed, despite her throbbing head. "So, that's where…"
"Amy and I will pick up your message," the Doctor said. Something else seemed to occur to him. "Well, that's poetic."
River gave him a questioning look.
The Doctor glanced at Tremaine and Marissa, who so far had been watching the exchange with baffled expressions. In an academic voice, the Doctor said, "The Delirium Archive is also famous as the final resting place of the Headless Monks."
River absorbed the implications of this, but she said nothing, not knowing how much Tremaine and Marissa could be trusted. She gave a brief nod and said, "I see."
At last, Marissa spoke. "What about us?" she asked. "What happens now?"
"Oh, right," the Doctor said. He set some coordinates. "Off to Symestine, as planned. I trust you had a lovely rest while Dr. Song and I were exploring?" The ship shuddered as he throw the materialization lever.
"Well, actually," Tremaine began.
"Brilliant! We'll be there in a few seconds—you might want to fetch your things."
(iv)
River had never been to Symestine, but it was a lovely planet with a good atmosphere. The Moolotites had established their colony on a subtropical archipelago, and warm winds caressed River's face as soon as she stepped outside the TARDIS.
"Lovely," the Doctor pronounced, looking about. Everywhere they turned grew palm-like trees, towering overhead. The Moolotites had constructed their homes of dried reeds woven together, built in the shade of the tall trees. A crowd of people had gathered, all clad in sleeveless tunics and knee-length trousers, staring with mouths agape at the blue box that had appeared out of nowhere.
Tremaine cleared his throat. "My brothers and sisters—my name is Tremaine, and this is my daughter Marissa. We're refugees from Euclase, which we fled because of the religious persecution we faced there. Once there were sixty of us, but our ship crash-landed on Gossan, and everyone on board perished. Marissa and I are the only survivors. These kind strangers agreed to bring us here to Symestine."
A woman of middle years stepped forward. "Brother and sister," she said, embracing the two newcomers. "Of course you're welcome to stay with us here—I believe we have more than enough provisions for two extra people, and we'll be honored to help you build your own home."
"Thank you," said Tremaine. "And we'll do our part in whatever tasks are required of us."
The Moolotites insisted that River and the Doctor stay for their meal of freshly-caught seafood and tropical fruit. River could see the Doctor would rather be away, but he consented graciously to share lunch with Tremaine's and Marissa's new community. River herself fairly burst with questions for the Doctor, but she set them aside in the interests of good manners. Besides, she was ravenous.
After the meal, the community elders took Tremaine and Marissa on a tour of their island home, River and the Doctor trailing behind, making small talk, though the Doctor was by now twitching with impatience. At last the group circled back to the TARDIS, where Marissa threw impulsive arms around the Doctor, then River.
"Thank you so much," she said. "We owe you our lives."
Tremaine, more dignified, shook the time travelers' hands.
"Thank you," he said. "We'll always grieve the loss of our people, but thanks to you, we at least know why they died."
The female elder who'd first greeted them added, "Doctor, if ever there's anything we can do for you, please feel free to ask."
"Thank you," the Doctor said. "I hope that won't be necessary." He made a courtly little bow. "And now—Dr. Song and I really must be on our way. Goodbye."
Once the TARDIS doors were shut, he bolted to the console. River waited until they were in the time vortex before she spoke.
"The Headless Monks," she said. "If that asteroid will be their final resting place, who put them there…? Sweetie?"
The Doctor tapped the edge of the console with his fingertips and gave River an enigmatic smile.
"With no Papal Mainframe in control, the Headless Monks will have nothing to animate them," River said, thinking out loud. "They'll collapse on the spot. All of them. At once."
The Doctor said, "Quite a blow to the Silence, don't you think? Their most incorruptible, formidable warriors… kaput."
"So the Silence will know Gossan's been destroyed," River went on. "And they'll know there's only one person in the universe with the knowledge to do something like that, someone who also has the motive, someone who can go anywhere in time and space, and therefore has the opportunity. By now, they'll have realized you're alive, Doctor."
Unperturbed, the Doctor said, "Yes, obviously." If anything he seemed almost happy about this prospect. "Which is why this is the perfect time to do something that's twenty years overdue."
"What's that?" asked River.
The Doctor touched her nose. "Clear your name."
(v)
Before they left the TARDIS, the Doctor made a call from the console phone, tapping in what seemed like a hundred digits.
"Oi, it's me." After a beat, he said, "Never mind how I know the security code. Get him, now." The Doctor winked at River. Then he said, "Yes, it's me—no, it really is me. I believe I have something that belongs to you." With one finger, he jabbed the console keyboard. "I'm sending you some coordinates. Meet me there."
He set the receiver back in its cradle and offered an arm to River. "Dr. Song?"
"Shouldn't we change our clothes?" asked River. They were both still wearing their grubby, sweat-stained khakis from the cavern exploration.
"No time," the Doctor said. "They'll impound the TARDIS if we don't show ourselves right away."
Outside the ship they were greeted by a sextet of menacing Judoon troopers. One aimed a gun at the Doctor and barked in its own language. The Doctor responded in kind, a string of gibberish that sounded to River like "Jō hō kō pō thō dō rō pō." She stood listening, miffed that even she, a child of the TARDIS, couldn't understand. Judoonese was a "locked" language, impervious to telepathic translation systems. To the best of River's knowledge, only a full Time Lord, like the Doctor, could comprehend the Judoon's harsh babble.
The Judoon captain touched the chest plate of his armor, and the conversation became comprehensible to River.
"You are dead," the captain told the Doctor. "Your death is confirmed fixed point—Earth, intergalactic time oh-seven-seven-slash-two-nine-oh-slash-beetle."
"Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated," the Doctor said grandly.
The captain turned to River, flashing a red light in her face. "Species confirmed: human, showing trace Time Lord DNA. Identity: Melody Pond. Current status: imprisoned, Stormcage, for murder of the Doctor. You are under arrest."
"No, no, no, no, that's why we're here," the Doctor said quickly. "See, I'm not really dead. She didn't really kill me. And I can explain it all, if I could just have a quick word with the Grand Assembly of the Shadow Proclamation."
Before the captain could respond, a woman appeared in the corridor: tall, thin, ageless. Her hair was white, her eyes pink, her skin almost translucent. An albino.
"Doctor," she said, astonished. "This is—this is impossible. How did you…?" Her gaze settled on River, and she simply gawped, mouth moving in a wordless exclamation of shock.
Taking River's hand, the Doctor strode forward, ignoring the bristling guns of the Judoon.
"I request an audience with the Grand Assembly of the Shadow Proclamation. River Song is innocent. She didn't kill me. I was never dead, and I can provide evidence of that."
The albino woman regained her composure. "Audiences with the Grand Assembly must be made by application, Doctor! We have a full agenda—you can't simply walk in here and—"
By now, word of the Doctor's arrival had spread all over the base. Two more black-robed albino women appeared, one of them quite old, wearing an elaborately embroidered mantle over her robe. The long sleeves of the mantle, lined with purple silk, suggested she held a position of authority. The albino women, River knew, were Shadow Architects—the sisterhood that oversaw the governance of the Shadow Proclamation.
"So, it's true," said the eldest woman. "Doctor—this is remarkable, even by your standards. We all believed you had died on Earth, in their year 2011. We even held a day of mourning in your memory."
"That was very touching of you," the Doctor said. "But this is a bit of an urgent matter, and it shouldn't take long."
The young woman who accompanied the elder leaned toward her superior and murmured quietly under her breath.
The eldest Architect shifted her gaze back to the Doctor. "It seems there's a Justice Department vehicle requesting permission to land."
"At my request," the Doctor said. "They can provide the best proof of River's innocence."
The Architect who'd first greeted River and the Doctor frowned. She said to the eldest woman, "Chancellor, this is highly irregular."
The Chancellor of the Shadow Architects responded, "We have a brief recess on the agenda in a few minutes. The Doctor can make his case then." She gestured to River and the Doctor. "Come this way, please."
River squeezed the Doctor's hand, and they followed the Chancellor and her minions, the trio's black robes fluttering. Her heart pounded so hard she felt as though everyone on the base would be able to hear it.
(vi)
The assembly hall of the Shadow Proclamation was a vast amphitheater stretching so far overhead that River had to crane her neck to see the uppermost levels. The seats were filled with a mind-blowing array of species, seemingly every race in the cosmos represented.
The Chancellor spoke through some unseen address system. "Good beings of the Shadow Proclamation, I bring before you an unexpected but most urgent matter. The last Time Lord, known as the Doctor, previously believed dead, is in fact alive."
A quiet gasp, a palpable ripple of astonishment and disbelief, swept through the gathered assembly.
"The Doctor would like to request a pardon for the woman who allegedly murdered him: Melody Pond, also known as River Song."
The Chancellor nodded, and the Doctor stepped forward. He and River stood on a small platform at the base of the amphitheater, and if the Doctor felt diminished or intimidated, he gave no sign of it.
"Good beings," he said, using the Shadow Architect's term of address. "I'm the Doctor, the last Time Lord of the planet Gallifrey. Four hundred and twelve Earth years ago, I faked my death to escape murder at the hands of the order known as the Silence."
More murmurs followed this, along with some loud remarks in angry voices. River felt a current of sympathy emanating from the crowd; it seemed she wasn't the only one who'd been wronged by that damnable cult.
"Melody Pond, the daughter of two good friends of mine, had been kidnapped as an infant and brainwashed by the Silence, trained and conditioned to be an assassin with one target—me. She almost succeeded in killing me on Earth, in Berlin in the year 1938, but she was persuaded by her parents, Amelia and Rory Pond, to save my life instead. Since then, she's been one of my closest friends and most trusted allies."
From the electric vibration running through the assembly, River knew the Doctor had the Shadow Proclamation squarely in his corner.
"Berlin was just a prologue of things to come, though. I'd learned that River Song was going to kill me, very definitely, again on Earth, this time in Utah in the year 2011, a fixed point that couldn't be altered. So I borrowed a Teselecta from the Justice Department and used it to fake my death. My friends were there to witness my assassination and burn what they believed was my body. River was arrested by the Judoon, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to Stormcage for life. She did this willingly to protect me, so that the Silence would think I was dead and no longer a threat to them. But now I believe the time has come to have River Song's name cleared. I've come before the Grand Assembly to ask that she be granted a universal pardon."
A wild buzz of conversation exploded as members of the assembly debated this remarkable request amongst themselves. River was flabbergasted. A universal pardon, which only the Shadow Proclamation could grant, didn't mean the accused was innocent—it meant the crime had never been committed.
The hubbub quieted, and a small creature on one of the lower levels called over the address system, "Doctor, can you provide proof of all this?"
"Irrefutable proof," the Doctor responded. He glanced over at the Chancellor, who nodded to one of her minions.
The doors to the assembly hall opened and in strode a man River had never seen before, but whose identity she guessed right away. He was perhaps in his mid-forties, average height, thinning fair hair swept back off his forehead. He wore an ordinary red space pilot's uniform, with a gold emblem embroidered over the heart. At a word from the Chancellor, he went and stood beside the Doctor on the platform.
Another member of the Grand Assembly addressed the newcomer.
"Please state your name and title or occupation."
"My name is Captain Eugene Carter, and I'm pilot and commander of Justice Department Vehicle number 6018, also known as the Teselecta."
"Have you met this man, the Doctor, before?"
"Yes, twice. Once on Earth in their year 1938, and again on Calisto B in their year 5087."
"And did you, on either of these occasions, allow the Doctor use of a Justice Department vehicle for his own ends—which I might remind you, is expressly prohibited?"
"Yes, I did loan him the Teselecta so he could avoid assassination by the Silence. I also cleared the loan with my superiors. We'd been investigating the Silence for some time, and as the Doctor is the last of his species and a known champion of justice, the loan of the vehicle was permitted."
Another member of the Grand Assembly spoke up. "Captain Carter, I was on the jury that convicted River Song of the Doctor's murder. The key piece of evidence was the Doctor's body, which was discovered at the bottom of Lake Silencio in the province of Utah on Earth. Dr. Song was also underwater, near the body, wearing a life support suit. The Judoon arrested Dr. Song, and the Doctor's body was brought here for examination. The energy signature of the weapon that had killed the Doctor matched the weapon system in Dr. Song's suit. A tissue sample from the body matched the Doctor's DNA. And now we're to believe this was all a sham, that Dr. Song in fact shot a machine? You will pardon me for feeling that this account stretches the bounds of credulity."
"Dr. Song did shoot a Justice Department vehicle," Captain Carter said. "The Teselecta can take any shape, any appearance, and its outer skin can be programmed so that even a tissue sample can match any DNA with one hundred percent accuracy."
The assembly murmured. Finally, a third member said, "I believe the Doctor's body is in cold storage, here, on this base. I viewed it before it was laid to rest. But that body is your ship, your 'Teselecta?'"
"Bring the body here, and I'll show you."
At a nod from the Chancellor, one of her minions slipped away.
While they were waiting, Carter offered a hand to River. "We met in Berlin, but not face-to-face." He told the Doctor, "An interesting message came over our news feeds on the way here, Doctor. It seems the planet Gossan has been destroyed. At the same instant, every Headless Monk, everywhere, collapsed. The Silence are said to be in a state of extreme disarray. If you wanted to let them know you're still alive, you couldn't have sent a better calling card."
River said, "Gossan was the computer that housed the Papal Mainframe."
A swift look of comprehension crossed Carter's face, and he whistled at the implications of Gossan's destruction. "We've been searching for the Mainframe for ages. Good work."
They became aware of a growing commotion outside the assembly hall. The Chancellor was summoned, and when she returned, her face was hard, her mouth set into a grim, tight line.
"Good beings," she said. "A most unexpected development has arisen in connection to this case. Our Judoon commander was found sending a message about the Doctor's arrival to a person or persons unknown. The message was deleted before it could be sent, and the commander is refusing to disclose the recipient of the message. He's in custody now."
"The Silence had a mole here," the Doctor said. He seemed unsurprised and unconcerned. "Dorium Maldovar told me the Silence had paid him for the cerebral cortex of a Judoon trooper, because they were looking for certain security software, information on how to imprison a Time Lord. Your commander probably was the one who sold out that trooper to Dorium's agents."
River spoke up, giving the assembly her birth date in intergalactic time, and she added, "Check your records, and I'm sure there'll be a Judoon death from some time in the preceding months."
One of the Shadow Architects consulted a small handheld computer and confirmed, "Yes, about two months prior to your birth date, a very high-ranking Judoon officer died in a freak accident. The circumstances of his death were considered suspicious, but nothing definitive was ever found."
The Chancellor said, "We'll deal with the traitor in due course. In the meantime, Captain Carter, the Doctor's body is available for examination."
"Show me," he said.
A sextet of young Shadow Architects wheeled into the assembly hall what appeared to be a black coffin mounted on a type of gurney. The box was plain, only adorned by the Seal of Rassilon, in gold, on the lid.
One of the albino women handed the Chancellor a gold key, which she used to undo a series of locks around the outer edge of the coffin.
"My apologies," she said to the assembly. "This won't be pleasant." And she raised the lid.
Unpleasant wasn't the word River would have used. The thing inside the casket looked, for all the world, like a corpse that had been partially cremated and then immersed in water for several hours. Bits of shriveled, leathery flesh still clung in places to the blackened skeleton. The hair and clothes had been completely burned away. The lower jaw gaped wide in a leering grin. River had seen death in many, many guises during her lifetime, but it still distressed her to see this gruesome simulacrum of the mummified remains of the man she loved.
She noticed one thing right away, however: there was no smell of decaying or burned flesh, none whatsoever. The Doctor had done an excellent job of programming the Teselecta to resemble his own burned corpse, but some things just couldn't be faked.
The gurney was turned so that everyone present could get a better look. Some of the Grand Assembly members averted their gaze.
Once everyone had had the opportunity to examine the purported remains, the Chancellor asked Captain Carter, "And this body is in fact a Justice Department vehicle?"
"Yes, it is. Watch."
He tapped some buttons in a remote control device on his wrist. Without warning, the corpse in the coffin jerked up into a sitting position, its skeletal head bobbing alarmingly. Several members of the Grand Assembly let out involuntary shrieks.
"My apologies," said Carter, still tapping buttons. The skeleton swung its legs over the edge of the coffin and dropped down to the floor, like an effect from an old Ray Harryhausen movie. River found herself backing away out of pure reflex.
A moment later, the outer skin of the corpse began to change, millions of tiny panels shuffling outward and then inward again. When the process ended, the corpse was gone, and in its place stood an android-like figure with smooth, silver skin, its face blank save for two round eyes that River could now see were portholes of some type.
The outer skin shifted again, and in a matter of seconds, the android had become a perfect replica of Captain Carter. The entire Grand Assembly watched, riveted.
"So you see," Captain Carter said, "the body retrieved from the bottom of Lake Silencio was this Teselecta. The Doctor would have piloted the body like so."
A ray of light shot out from the Teselecta's eyes, miniaturizing Captain Carter and teleporting him into the machine. It happened so quickly that the assembly members were on their feet, exclaiming in astonishment.
Now Carter spoke to the assembly through the Teselecta. "So you see how easy it is for this vehicle to take any form, including that of a dead body. Using the Teselecta, the Doctor was even able to effect a simulated regeneration. Every aspect of his death appeared completely genuine, right down to the DNA in the outer tissues."
The Doctor said, "I have reason to believe the Silence had sent witnesses to Lake Silencio to see that my execution was carried out, and they must also have alerted the Judoon, because within several hours of my friends' departure from the lake, a Judoon ship landed. River Song was retrieved from the lake and arrested, and my supposed body used as evidence at her trial."
By now, the Doctor could barely be heard over the hubbub of the assembly, and the Chancellor called for quiet.
One of the Shadow Architects asked River, "Dr. Song, you pleaded guilty at your trial. According to our records, you've been imprisoned in Stormcage for twenty years. You accepted this sentence willingly, in order to protect the Doctor?"
"Yes, I did," she smiled.
"If you'll pardon my curiosity… why?"
"Because I love him."
This revelation caused another uproar, and the Chancellor called for quiet once again. She nodded to the front row of the assembly, and those beings rose and followed her to a secluded alcove at one side of the hall. After a few minutes' spirited debate, this council returned to their seats. The Shadow Architect now addressed River and the Doctor.
"The story you present is fairly extraordinary, and although the testimony of Captain Carter seems to corroborate you, it would be taking a lot on faith to grant Dr. Song a universal pardon based on the evidence at hand. My fellow councilors, however, would be satisfied if both of you would submit to one further test."
"What test is that?" asked the Doctor.
"That both of you consent to being read by an Ood."
River glanced at the Doctor, who told her, "Ood are telepathic."
"Yes, I know that, Sweetie."
"If Dr. Song consents to this, so will I," the Doctor told the Chancellor. He told River, "It won't hurt. Just relax and keep your mind open. The only side effect is that you'll remember everything—memories that the Silence wiped will come back, and some of them won't be pleasant. Is that all right?"
River nodded. "The chance to be free and whole?" she said. "I can live with some unhappy memories for that." She told the Shadow Architect, "I consent to be read by an Ood, gladly."
"Very good." The Chancellor signaled with her hand, and a dark-clad figure from an upper level rose to its feet and made its way to the floor. Its head was oval, its eyes dark and set at an angle in its inscrutable face. A mass of wiggly tentacles hung from its mouth. In its left hand, it held something connected by a glistening white cord to its head, and when the creature drew closer, River saw that the thing in its hand was a small brain. It looked at River, eyes blinking.
She tried not to be revolted.
"It's all right," the Doctor said. "Just let it touch your hand."
River wasn't so reassured, but it was too late to back out now. Squaring her shoulders, she held out her right hand. The Ood placed its hand on hers, touching lightly. River relaxed her mind, lowering her usual Time Lord defenses, allowing the Ood to see everything, something she'd never before permitted to anyone, not even the Doctor.
The sensation was peculiar, not a draining sensation or an intrusion, but a shuffling and reordering, much like the Teselecta changing its outer skin. River could see, in a sudden rush of clarity, so far back, to when she must have been no older than seven or eight months. Incredible, that she could remember events all the way back into her infancy. She could see Dr. Renfrew, she could see the Silents and the Clerics who'd raised and trained her, all supervised by Madame Kovarian, whose face hovered perpetually in the background, avaricious and gloating. River could remember being taught one thing over and over and over: the Doctor was the enemy; he must die; she was the only one who could kill him. That directive had been programmed into the very cells of her body until it was as much a part of her as the color of her eyes.
She saw her training in the Apollo suit, practicing first on stationery targets, then scurrying rats in the Florida sewers. The purpose of the suit had been so that she could follow the Doctor anywhere, into any environment, surviving long periods of time without even needing food. She saw Amy and Canton Delaware arriving at the orphanage; she saw her own escape; she saw her long journey to New York City on foot, where she'd first regenerated. Shortly after that, the Silence had recaptured her and transported her to Leadworth in the early 1990s, where she could continue training and grow up near Amy and Rory, thereby gaining close proximity to the Doctor.
She saw her crazy youth in rural England, her journey to Berlin, her second regeneration. There had been her convalescence with the Sisters of the Infinite Schism, then her enrollment at Luna University. The day she'd received her doctorate, she'd been kidnapped again by the Silence and forced into the Apollo suit—this time, as a punishment for her second escape, for defying her orders, for saving the Doctor's life in Berlin when she should have killed him. The encounter at Lake Silencio had been as much about making River suffer as it had been about killing the Doctor.
Next, in swift succession, came her arrest, her trial, her imprisonment, the years of her sentence interspersed with her adventures with the Doctor: the Pandorica, the Byzantium, all their escapades large and small, all her memories, every emotion from the profound to the insignificant: pain, ecstasy, humor, all the pieces of her life at last assembled in their proper order, in one cohesive strand of memory, stretching from infancy to the present instant.
River blinked, opening her eyes. The process that she assumed had taken several hours had passed in a few fleeting moments. She waited for the memories of the Silents to evaporate, but they remained in her mind with absolute clarity and permanence.
The Ood nodded and released her hand. Then it turned to the Doctor.
He held out his hand and stood there, face serene, as the Ood read him. River felt an envious jolt: that kind of communication, the flow of thought from one mind to another, was as natural for the Doctor as breathing. She herself possessed a tiny fraction of that faculty, and she could only imagine what it must be like to exchange thoughts and dreams and visions so easily with another being, a true communion of souls.
After a moment, the Ood's hand dropped. The Doctor stepped away, and the Chancellor conferred telepathically with the Ood. At last the Ood addressed the assembly, although River couldn't see how it spoke. Could it project its thoughts outside of itself, using only its mind?
"The Doctor and River Song speak the truth," was all it said.
A great wave of excitement went through the crowd, a kind of thrill.
The Chancellor once again drew aside her council into their alcove. When they reconvened with the main assembly, the Shadow Architect said, "You have heard the testimony of these witnesses and the verification of Ood Zeta. The Council sees no reason not to propose that Dr. River Song be granted a universal pardon, since clearly the Doctor is alive and no crime has been committed. You will now please vote."
River could see the members of the Grand Assembly touching the screens of their handheld computers. Her heart pounded and her mouth went suddenly dry. Most of her prison sentence had been made tolerable by the freedom afforded her by the Doctor's regular visits; since the acquisition of the vortex manipulator, she'd come to view her prison cell as little more than an apartment or dormitory room, a place to sleep and store her belongings. It surprised her now how badly she wanted the assembly to vote in her favor, for her good name to be restored, for her to be viewed not as a criminal and murderer, but as a woman of courage and integrity.
The Chancellor kept a tally of the votes on her own computer, and after everyone had made their decisions, she conferred one last time with her Council. At last, she turned to River with a smile.
"Congratulations," she said. "The Grand Assembly voted unanimously in favor of granting you a universal pardon. A message will be sent to the commandant of Stormcage right away."
Legs as weak as rubber, River could only say, "Thank you. Thank you so very much."
"You also should know that the Shadow Proclamation will be investigating the Silence on your behalf for its violations of intergalactic law."
"Thank you," River repeated. "Although there are others who honestly have been harmed far more than me."
The Doctor took River's arm and helped steer her out of the assembly hall. One of the young albino women brought River a tall glass of water, which she drank down in thirsty gulps. The Doctor drew Captain Carter aside for a quick conversation in low voices.
"…hope I can count on you?" the Doctor was saying.
"Of course," Captain Carter responded. "All the resources of the Justice Department can be put at your disposal if need be. Just send us word, and we'll be there."
"Good man." The Doctor clapped Carter on the shoulder and went to River's side.
"Dr. Song? How would you like to spend your first day of freedom?"
River smiled at him over the top of her water glass.
"That's what I thought," the Doctor responded. "Captain Carter—it's been lovely. And now, I erm, I really must, erm, well, I guess you could say—"
"We have some celebrating to do," River said. "You know how it is."
"I understand," Carter smiled. "Until the next time, Doctor, Dr. Song."
River took the Doctor by the arm and muscled him back to the TARDIS before the Grand Assembly recessed and all the awkward questions began.
(vii)
River's prison block buzzed with activity when the TARDIS materialized. The commandant was waiting, along with a small platoon of guards.
"Dr. Song," the commandant said, "we've received word from the Shadow Proclamation that you—"
"Yes, I was there." River used the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to unlock her prison cell. "It's been lovely, but I really must collect my things and run."
"You haven't completed your release interview," the commandant huffed.
In her cell, River began gathering up her small collection of possessions, loading them into her sturdy trunk. "Let's see," she said as she worked. "The linen service leaves something to be desired. Don't get me started on the food. The showers have two levels: on and off—surely something could be done about that? Oh, and the guards would be just darling if they wore fancy dress a few days each month. There—does that cover everything?"
The commandant stood sputtering. River scooted down, hefted the trunk, and threw it onto one shoulder.
"Ta," she smiled, brushing past the phalanx of guards. "Give Valeria my love, would you? And tell her I'm sorry I won't be able to finish cataloging the library."
The Doctor was at the TARDIS console. "It's all over the news feeds," he said. "Your pardon. In every galaxy." He gave River a meaningful look. "Everyone knows," he said simply. "They know."
"Good," River said, setting down the trunk. "I want them to be afraid. I want them to know who's coming for them. I want them to spend their last days and weeks in fear. The Papal Mainframe's destroyed. There's no Headless Monks to give them an advantage. It's just the Silents and the Clerics, and they're flesh and blood. We know they can be killed."
The Doctor nodded, eyes sad and resigned. River took his hand. "Whatever you need me to do, I'm here. I promised you wouldn't have to face them alone. I keep my promises." She added, "And the playing field's a bit more level now. I remember the Silents."
"You do?" he asked.
"Yes," she said. "Just like you. But let's keep that to ourselves, hmm? It's a hand best played close to the vest—there's no telling what we might learn if the Silents assume we can't remember them."
The Doctor threw the lever on the console, sending the ship into the time vortex. River closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the sensation of leaving Stormcage forever. It was a giddy feeling, and not a little frightening: Stormcage had been River's prison but also her refuge. Now the Silence knew she was free, that the Doctor was alive, and surely they would guess the two of them had destroyed Gossan. River knew that the order—Madame Kovarian in particular—would stop at nothing to defeat her and the Doctor, to destroy both of them utterly.
Do your worst, River thought. I'm not that frightened little girl in the orphanage any more. I'm a battle-hardened warrior, and I'll blast down every Silent in the universe if I have to.
Studying the Doctor's long hands and angular face, River decided battle could wait. The virtual reality experience in the Papal Mainframe had left her feeling distinctly randy, the urges heightened by her giddy sense of triumph. She wanted her husband—for real, this time. She kissed the Doctor aggressively, pushing him up against the TARDIS console. Some of the controls made a discordant noise of protest, and River laughed.
"Sexy's feeling a bit left out," she said.
"I think Sexy likes to live vicariously through you." The Doctor took River by the hand and led her up the stairs. "Shower?" he asked.
"Eventually," River smiled.
To be continued…