Silence in the Library- Part 1
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The Doctor, Donna, Jack and I burst into the rotunda. The Doctor and I ran forward toward the little girl in the center while Jack and Donna hold the door with their backs, preventing what was coming after us from getting in. We were all panting hard from the mad dash to get here.
"Books!" I yelled, glancing around frantically. The Doctor ran and got a book and used it to jam the door handles so it won't open.
The Doctor finally noticed the little girl in standing in the middle of the room with a frightened look on her face. "Oh, hello. Sorry to burst in on you like this. Okay if we can stop here for a bit?"
The little girl gasped and faded away. The Doctor groaned. I turned around and said, "Didn't you see that she was frightened to death?" I asked The Doctor, hands on my hips.
The Tardis less bumpy this time. I think that she knew where The Doctor was trying to go and my plan, she is a sentient ship in my mind after all.
"Books!" The Doctor said excitedly. People never really stop loving books." The Doctor lands the tardis. Donna and The Doctor run out side immediately, ready for a new adventure. I hung back and ran my hand along the counsel, my way of saying goodbye. The lights dimmed as I walked to the door where Jack was waiting.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, noticing that there was something up.
"Noting… just this is going to be hard one."
Jack sighed. "Another trip gone bad?"
I looked Jack in the eyes and said, "Yeah." Then I walked out of the Tardis for the last time. Jack closed the door behind me and we caught up to The Doctor and Donna in the marble hallway. There was columns every few feet. If I tried, I probably couldn't get my arms around it.
I walked behind them hearing Donna say, "Yeah, very you. Always a death at the end." Great timing. I thought to myself.
"You need a good death." The Doctor said. "Without death, there'd only be comedies. Dying gives us size." I definitely agreed.
Donna picked up a random book and The Doctor took it from her. "Wait. Spoilers." The Doctor told Donna while she looked at him, annoyed.
"What?" Donna asked.
"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead. Spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end." I said. The Doctor and Donna turned around. My eye's meet The Doctors. He looked away, realizing that he was going to say just that.
"Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?" Donna asked,
"I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent." The Doctor uses his screwdriver on a nearby information screen, bringing it online.
"The library?" Donna asked.
"The planet." Jack said, walking over. "The whole planet."
"Maybe it's a Sunday."
"No, I never land on Sundays. Sundays are boring." The Doctor informed Donna.
"Well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet." Donna said, whispering the end.
"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system." Jack said.
"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?"
"Oh, you know, just passing."
"No, seriously. It was all let's hit the beach, before we went to Susan's new flat, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?" Donna asked, very annoyed that she did not get her beach time.
"Now that's interesting." Jack and The Doctor said at the same time. They glared at each other. The Doctor leaned closer to the screen.
"What?" Dona asked.
"Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids. You know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home. But if I widen the parameters to any kind of life." The Doctor said. The screen says Error 1,000,000,000,000 lifeform number capped at maximum record.
"A million, million. Gives up after that. A million, million." I said.
"But there's nothing here. There's no one." Donna said, very confused.
"And not a sound. A million. million life forms, and silence in the library." I said.
"But there's no one here. There's just books. I mean, it's not the books, is it? I mean, it can't be the books, can it? I mean, books can't be alive." Donna said. The Doctor and Donna both reach slowly for a book. A voice makes us jump.
"Welcome."
"That came from here." Donna said, pointing to the information screen.
"Yeah."
We headed to a rotunda, a very large empty room. A vaguely humanoid sculpture by a curved desk turns its head and speaks with a female voice from a small face on its surface.
"I am Courtesy Node seven one zero slash aqua. Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo." Node said over the speaker.
"That face, it looks real." Donna said.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Jack said, trying to get Donna off that particular topic.
"A statue with a real face, though? It's a hologram or something, isn't it?" Donna asked.
"Donna." I said, warningly.
"Additional. There follows a brief message from the Head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter. Message follows. Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The library has sealed itself, we can't. Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarg. Snick. Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers." The Node said.
"So that's why we're here. Any other messages, same date stamp?" Donna asked.
"One additional message. This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of five zero eleven."
"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine. Just play it." I snapped. Boy it was going to be a hard day.
"Message follows. Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember, if you want to live, count the shadows. Message ends."
"Donna, Susan, Jack?" The Doctor said.
"Yeah?" All three of us said at the same time.
"Stay out of the shadows." The Doctor told us.
"Why, what's in the shadows?" Donna asked.
We were walking through the stacks, overhead lamps lighted our way. "So, We weren't just in the neighborhood."
"Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper." It reads - The Library. Come as soon as you can. X. River I thought.
"What do you think? Cry for help?" Jack asked.
"Cry for help with a kiss?" Donna asked, suspiciously.
"Oh, we've all done that." The Doctor said.
"Who's it from?"
"No idea."
"So why did we come here? Why did you-"
"Donna." I said sternly, pointing behind us. The lights behind us are going out one by one, slowly catching up to us.
"What's happening?" Donna asked.
"Run!" Jack, The Doctor and I cried. We ran to the nearest door then couldn't get it open.
"Come on!" Jack said.
"What, is it locked?" Donna asked.
"Jammed. The wood's warped." I supplied.
"Well, sonic it. Use the thingy."
"I can't, it's wood." The Doctor groaned.
"What, it doesn't do wood?" Donna said, annoyed.
"Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings. I can shatter line the interface." The Doctor said.
"Oh, get out of the way." Donna and I said and together we kicked the door open.
The Doctor, Donna, Jack and I burst into the rotunda. The Doctor and I ran forward toward the little girl in the center while Jack and Donna hold the door with their backs, preventing what was coming after us from getting in. We were all panting hard from the mad dash here.
"Books!" I yelled, glancing around frantically. The Doctor ran and got a book and used it to jam the door handles so it won't open.
The Doctor finally noticed the little girl in standing in the middle of the room with a frightened look on her face. "Oh, hello. Sorry to burst in on you like this. Okay if we can stop here for a bit?"
The little girl gasped and faded away. The Doctor groaned. I turned around and said, "Didn't you see that she was frightened to death?" I asked The Doctor, hands on my hips. Then we see a small metal globe fall to the ground.
"What is it?" Donna asked, stepping forward one step towards the object.
"Security camera. Switched itself off." I explained.
The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver on the security camera. "Nice door skills, Donna, Susan."
"Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends. Sometimes you need the element of surprise. What was that? What was after us? I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?"
"Possibly." Jack told Donna.
"Are we safe here?" Donna asked The Doctor. I rolled my eyes. only Jack saw this.
"Of course we're safe. There's a little shop." A sign on the wall says The Shop, and Entrance This Way. The Doctor gets the camera open. "Gotcha!" The Doctor yelled.
Suddenly words rolled across the screen saying: No, stop it. No. No. No. No.
"Ooo, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It's alive."
"You said it was a security camera." Donna asked, very confused.
"It is." I told her. "It's an alive one."
Others are coming. The Library is breached. Others are coming.
"Others? What's it mean, others?" Donna goes to a Node. "Excuse me. What does it mean, others?"
"That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you." The Doctor said.
"So why's it gotta face?" Donna asked, agitated. I sighed.
"This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death." Mark Node said.
"It's a real face?" Donna asked, stepping back from it.
"It has been actualized individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy." Mark Node said.
"It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got a real dead person's face on it." Donna asked, shocked.
"It's the fifty first century. That's basically like donating a park bench." Jack said.
"It's donating a face!" Donna cried. Donna tried to run away.
"No, wait, no!" The Doctor grabs Donna as she backs away.
"Oi. Hands." Donna said.
"The shadow. Look." The Doctor said.
"What about it?" Jack asked.
"Count the shadows." I told Donna. Jack's eye's widened.
"One. There, counted it. One shadow." Donna said to me.
"Yeah But what's casting it?" The Doctor asked. It is a triangular shadow.
"Oh, I'm thick! Look at me, I'm old and thick. Head's too full of stuff. I need a bigger head." The light in adjoining corridor is going out.
"The power must be going." Jack said.
"This place runs on fission cells. They'll out burn the sun." I told the group.
"Then why is it dark?" Donna asked.
"It's not dark." Jack stated. I walked over to his side and held his hand.
"That shadow. It's gone." Donna said, starting to freak out now.
"We need to get back to the Tardis." The Doctor said.
"Why?" Donna asked.
"Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved." I told her.
"Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached." The Mark Node kept on saying it.
A door is blown open in a flash of bright light, and six space suited figures enter. The leader adjusts her polarizing filter so we can see her face.
"Hello, sweetie, darling." River said with a smile.
A/N: Some notes on reviews:
copperdragon 2: Yeah, these two episodes will defiantly have spoilers. :)