Chapter Twelve
A soft white shadow spilled into the doorway of the Sleeper Chamber, blocking Jack's way with a snowy, claw-filled fog.
The fog thickened and condensed down, becoming a small young Xja. He outstretched his claw, and pointed it wide at the Time Agent.
"The Lord will be displeased if you do not release his partner," Yahs murmured, as his mandibles coalesced from the fog.
Jack beat his fist against a wall panel, denting it in as dark silver fog blew slowly out from his mouth, filling the hallway.
The pirates turned Jack's head up toward Yahs, wrenching his neck muscles so harshly the veins in his neck strained.
"You are freed from our control, little shadow," they screeched, drawing blood from Jack's mouth with the force of their speech, "and no longer under our protection from Yahlas. Now go and die with the rest of your kin, a fragment of life, as you were born!"
Yahs held the door, thickening his own essence against the onslaught of the pirates possessing Jack's body. But doubt still held him in its claws, sharp, blood-hungry, slamming into him again and again, nibbling away.
"The captain contacted us… told us the Time Lord had constructed the crèche as a focus for the Sleepers, to use their power to repair the ship and power it after the Drive collapse… he said that it was a blasphemy and must fail, that the Xja had been doomed for leaving in the first place. We wanted to junk it for parts at first, but the ship was so… full of walking meat, we had to make a slight detour around the larder before turning our attention to the matter of the Time Lord and her crèche! We realized it could be utilized, so we used it, but didn't have a chance to destroy it once we were done converting ourselves with it until the Doctor came. So we kept you fighting the Time Lord woman's data ghost as insurance, you- the manifest emanation of those pitiful Sleepers! And then we took their place, filling your little white head with false records and tales about the Time Lord woman's treachery. Too bad the captain had already emptied and sealed the egg chamber… all those tiny soft heads would have proved a rich dessert! And your precious Lord can do nothing to save them."
The cackling laughter of hundreds of pirates swarmed over Yahs, and his shivering fog-limbs melted away from the door like little bits of melting snow.
As he retreated into the Chamber itself, his fog-body turning to thinning vapors in the air, Yahs looked up at the Sleepers in the tombs with the truth bright in his eyes, at last.
At last, he remembered. Grief like a mountainous tide spilled over him, trembling his misty carapace and sinking him to the floor.
At last. If only he could remain awake long enough to convince Yahlas in time… or reach the Doctor.