Crying from the Moon
Chapter 2: More Running
"Wait, what?" Amy asked the Doctor and Rory. "What's chasing you?"
"Three guys collecting psychic energy," Rory answered.
"A walking statue," the Doctor replied at the same time.
"Which way do we go?" Rory asked.
Two people suddenly started screaming. The Doctor, Amy, and Rory saw Satrick and Nayl nearby being held by the statue at their shoulders. As they screamed, Satrick and Nayl were desiccated while Jon stood by, gaping in horror.
"Up!" Amy yelled.
"Jon! Come on!" Rory cried, shaking Jon out of his trance.
The Doctor and Jon continued to glance at the statue as they ran and thought they saw sparks or semblances of Satrick and Nayl in it.
The four went up five levels before they stopped hearing the statue walking, so they entered the common area on another floor.
"Amy, what were you running from? You told us to run, too," the Doctor inquired.
"I don't know. There were doors in the hallway opening. I couldn't see anything coming out, but I heard something, like voices."
"Psychic energy," Jon commented. "It takes a lot of their power to affect the physical world like doors. That would have weakened them, made them easier to contain." Jon sighed in disappointment.
"Forget about what you came here to do," Rory told Jon.
"Wait, who are you and what did you come here to do?" the Doctor asked.
"My employer detected psychic energy and decided to contain it for our own uses."
"Why is there psychic energy on this ship?" Amy asked.
"I said most of the people on this ship were from Argentina," the Doctor indicated. "There was a rift running through Vedia over a century ago, could have given people limited telepathic abilities."
"And now they're dead, but the consciousness, their minds, are still here, lingering as whispers and things out of the corner of your eye, or so we believe," Jon added. "That's what was suggested to us."
"And you wanted to capture these minds for your own purposes?" the Doctor asked.
The group heard footsteps again and saw the blue statue.
"We'll find out later," Rory said as all four ran away.
Jon pulled out a gun and started shooting at the statue, but found his weapon useless.
"What is that thing?" Amy asked as they ran.
"I don't know, but I'm assuming it's responsible for everyone dying. Maybe it's also responsible for the crash."
A second statue appeared in front of the group.
"Oh, this is bad," Rory commented.
The four darted into a different hallway and were relieved to find stairs. They went down as quickly as they could.
"Keep going down!" Jon cried.
"How well do you know this ship?" the Doctor asked.
"I know that one of the utilities rooms is nearby. The doors are especially thick," Jon responded.
"Where's your ship?"
"Too far away. Yours?"
"Also too far."
The four reached the large doors of a room. Jon knelt down to start picking the lock and the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to get immediate results. All four rushed into the room and closed the door behind them. They backed away as they heard heavy footsteps. Then, they heard loud banging on the door.
"They can't get in," Rory concluded.
"But we're stuck in here," Amy said.
The Doctor looked around and saw many machines and computer consoles. He used the sonic screwdriver to access several of the systems.
"There's power," the Doctor realized.
"What?" Jon asked.
"I thought the ship ran out of power some time after it crashed. Actually, after it detected no life signs from Earth, I'm assuming after those things killed everyone, the ship went into hibernation mode."
"That's great, isn't it?" Rory asked.
"More or less," the Doctor answered. "Well, less because many of these systems have been offline for decades and a lot of the hardware has worn down. The trip itself would have stressed the structure to a large degree."
Amy was looking aimlessly around her when she saw two amorphous shadows near her. As soon as she noticed, she started hearing whispers.
"Doctor?" Amy said with a hint of fear.
"One second, Amy. I'm seeing how much power would be used by restarting everything."
"Do you hear that?" Amy asked.
"Yeah," Rory responded. "Those things are still trying to get in." Rory joined Amy and then saw the shadows. "Oh. What is that?"
"I don't know," Amy said. "Doctor!"
Jon held out a small electronic device as the Doctor turned his head. "The psychic energy," Jon concluded.
"We're finally breaking through!" one of the voices said in a comprehensible whisper. Gray metallic smoke-like entities coalesced into two forms vaguely resembling humanoid.
"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.
"We are Briella and Ivan Alfaro."
"Are you from Vedia, Argentina, by any chance?" Rory asked.
"We've lived there our entire lives until the day we left Earth."
"That was you? Opening the doors?" Amy asked.
"We meant no harm. We are sorry for scaring you. We have not felt humanity in so long, we got too excited. We've been calling out for so long, and no one cried back."
"Okay, so you're conscious astral remnants. I'm assuming those statues killed you?" the Doctor asked.
"Yes, all three are terrifying, even in our state."
"Three? There are three of them?" Rory asked. "Do you know where the third one is?"
"Everywhere."
"And how many are there of you?" the Doctor asked.
"Only the two of us remain."
"Okay," the Doctor said. "So what Amy saw were psychic ghosts. Nice to meet you. That solves that Amy's mystery. Jon, you're not getting them. Give up. That solves Rory's problem. Now we deal with the two statues outside that door and the third one that can be anywhere and apparently everywhere on this ship."
"Any ideas?" Amy asked.
"I need to know first how they brought this ship down."
"They tried again," one of the Alfaros said. "After the last of us died, we saw the statues pull out four large magnets and two machines."
"Throw off navigation," the Doctor realized.
"You intend to do something about that?" Jon asked.
"We can't just leave that equipment here for someone else to use."
The banging became slightly clearer, drawing everyone's attention. They turned in fear to the door and saw a slight crack.
"Where can we go?" the Doctor asked.
"I've reached the limit of my knowledge," Jon answered. "Nayl was the one who memorized the ship's design."
"That's why I'm asking the Alfaros," the Doctor said.
"Move these boxes. There is a grate behind. You four can fit through the ducts."
The Doctor, Amy, Rory, and Jon complied. They uncovered the ducts and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to remove the grate, allowing all four to enter and crawl into another room.
Jon discreetly pulled out a device that was slightly larger than his hands.
"Where are the magnets and machines that the statues used?" the Doctor asked.
The Alfaros couldn't answer. They began merging into one being and got sucked into Jon's machine.
"What are you doing?" Amy yelled.
"We're free and I've got my job to do," Jon replied. "If you want to work on the statues' apparatus, good luck. I'm leaving with my prize."
Jon ran with Rory in pursuit. The Doctor used the screwdriver to vibrate some columns. Some boxes leaning on the columns fell, delaying Jon and letting Rory catch him.
The Doctor and Amy ran to Jon and the Doctor grabbed Jon's device and scanned it.
"No, it's too late," the Doctor said. "What did you do?"
"The device automatically converted them into energy," Jon replied.
"You killed them!" Amy chided.
"They were already dead."
"I can still retrieve some imprints," the Doctor said quietly.
"What will that do?" Rory asked.
"Give us information about the ship. We need to know where everything is, and I'm guessing the Alfaros have been floating around long enough to know everything we need." The Doctor sighed. "They're half-memories, basic facts. The knowledge of the head without the feeling of the heart."
The Doctor looked at Jon. He postured with an angry look on his face, a look that reflected the centuries he had experienced.
"I need an interface link," he coldly told Jon.
"Only if I get that back when you're done."
"Give it now. Every second delayed means less information." The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at Jon.
Jon held out two cables that contained pads on one end and connectors on the other.
"How does that work?" Rory asked.
"I don't know. I was just going to press all the buttons," the Doctor answered.
The Doctor grabbed the cables and hooked them to Jon's converter. He put his sonic screwdriver down, which prompted Jon to tackle him. The converter, with the cables attached, flew out of the Doctor's hands and landed behind Rory.
Amy tried to help the Doctor against Jon while Rory retrieved the converter. The column that the Doctor vibrated suddenly collapsed, bringing down with it many more boxes and sections of the floor from above, separating Rory from everyone else.
Jon managed to push the Doctor and draw out his gun, but Amy grabbed the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
"Just point!" the Doctor cried.
Not understanding the reference, Jon was surprised when sparks flew from the gun, which he dropped. Amy then grabbed a canister and knocked Jon unconscious with it.
The Doctor quickly tried to get to Rory, pushing past the debris, with Amy joining him. They eventually cleared enough away to see Rory lying on the floor, shaking, and ran to him. Rory had the two pads attached to his head.
The Doctor removed the pads from Rory's head. He put one hand on Rory's chest and the other on Rory's head.
"Rory, it's all right. Just go limp and let it pass through you."
Rory soon stopped shaking and breathed heavily as if out of breath.
"Rory, are you all right?" Amy asked. She put a hand on Rory's head.
"Yeah, this is just going to take a little bit of time to get used to."
"Why did you do that, Rory?" the Doctor asked.
"You said every second delayed meant losing more information and I didn't know how long it would take to handle Jon and dig through all that. If I can handle two thousands years of memories, I figured I could handle this, so I just started pressing random buttons."
"Do you have the imprints in you? Can you consciously access them?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah, I remember Argentina, the voyage, Monsirl, and the plank ship."
"Monsirl?" the Doctor asked.
"Planet," Rory answered.
"They said they were in Argentina their whole lives until they left Earth," Amy remarked. "Did the city-ship make a stop somewhere?"
"No," the Doctor said, eyeing Rory suspiciously.
"The magnets are on opposite sides of the ship, two on each end and a hexagonal combustor with each," Rory said. "They needed a wide range."
"Did the Alfaros see the statues try to activate the magnets and combustor?"
"Yes, I have their memories of it," Rory answered.
"Good. I'll use my sonic screwdriver to destroy the magnets and combustor on one end, you use their memories to do the same. Be careful. Be quiet. We'll meet back in the TARDIS."
Rory nodded and ran to one side of the ship. Amy followed him
"How are you feeling?" Amy asked.
"I'm fine. There's just a lot going on in my head."
"Are you going to be all right?"
"Yeah, I just need a couple more minutes. After our wedding, it took me a while to process two thousand years of memories, but I managed."
The two statues suddenly appeared in front of Rory and Amy. Amy gasped, but Rory looked at them curiously.
Amy headed in the opposite direction, but saw Rory unmoving and grabbed him.
"Come on!"
"It's okay, Amy."
"They are the statues that killed those two people. Why would you say it's okay?"
"They're called Monsirlaps."
The two aliens approached Rory slowly.
"Why didn't the Alfaros tell us that before?"
"Because they didn't know."
"How do you know?" Amy asked.
"Because I am a Monsirlap. I'm the third one."