The prisoner chambers were arranged like a clock - twelve trapeze-shaped rooms in a circle with one round in a middle. In the very center there was a small console, a younger relative of the one from the TARDIS. But its functions were completely opposite: if no weapons could work in the Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, then here it was a fine kind of weapon. The main task of this item was punishing - all together or one, no matter. The settings were easy, as everything damaging.
Rhodie Smith was waiting, nervously biting her nails. She was in one of those rooms, leaning on the bars which replaced the fourth wall - the one facing the center. Stonehenge, blast it. Right now all cages but one, the one on her left, were occupied. In the one on her right there was her sort-of sister Alice Tyler, who was punching the bars, muttering curses to herself, and in the rest... Rhodie knew most of them. The room after Alice's was "taken" by Langley Troughton Bluegrass, aka Loner Trouty, who was sitting in the corner, therefore almost unseen. But why was he there? He wasn't a regular time traveller. Peacefully living on Earth like any other kid... Then there was the youngest of all - little Five, gazing out. These rooms should be deadlocked if the sonic screwdriver didn't affect them, Rhodie decided (Five had his own small version of the "science tool", but with all the functions of a normal one, so he must've tried it on the hatch above). The next two were unfamiliar to Rhodie. A boy and a girl of the same age with her (if there was difference, it would be a year or two, no more), very similar in appearance (must've been siblings): dark unruly hair (the boy had a long fringe getting into his eyes all the time, so he was shaking his head without stopping, and the girl had it tied on the top of her head, which didn't prevent it from flying around), sharp lines of faces and bodies and hidden power in every action, even right now when they didn't have much to do apart from waiting. Next... Rhodie recognized him despite the distance. The grass green prickles on the head of the one in the room opposite to her left no doubt that it was Skasis Fane, the young Time Detective with an awful lot of running to do. He must've been left without his tools, including his hand-made history-mystery timey-crimey detector... Then there was perhaps the oldest one here. It was a girl in her early twenties with a blond ponytail, dressed in some kind of a military uniform. After that there was... Rhodie didn't see his face because he was sitting, having hidden it into his knees, so only golden blond hair was visible. The next two rooms were occupied by a ginger-haired girl with two pigtails (like Alice's, but longer and curlier) and by a dark-topped boy three or four years younger than her, who was eyeing the "console" in the middle.
"You will regret, I will not forget! Let me go, you Hand-devourers!"
"Devors".
"No difference!"
Rhodie jumped up, as well as the rest of the prisoners - the guards (those very tough guys which smacking hands - it was better not to think what was under their gloves!) were carrying her sort-of brother Kaster Tyler in here, having walked out of the lift which landed onto the "roof" of the room ring. Next sounds were opening the ceiling hatch of the neighbour room and a yelp of pain after the sound of a small body landing onto the floor, followed by an electric crack.
"Kaster?" Rhodie whispered, having pressed her ear against the wall. "Are you okay?"
"Fine, if not to count that I'm deadly tired..." A loud yawn. "Why don't you speak normally?"
"If I speak too loud, I'll get an electric shock", Rhodie replied. "Automatic motion, I think... What did they do to you, Kaster?"
"You'd better ask what I did to myself", Kaster mumbled - his voice sounded as if he was struggling with a desperate wish to fall asleep. "Care for a prank?"
"Suppose that I said yes".
"I told the head scientist that I was the Doctor. And, perhaps, convinced him".
Rhodie gasped.
"How?!"
"Made my heart beat twice faster. And you know it well that it's really tire-aaaaaaaah-some", Kaster answered, having not coped with another monstrous yawn. "Sorry..."
Rhodie didn't reply. She was able to make her heart beat faster as well. This was a useful ability when she needed to warm yourself up, but it demanded so much life force that immediate falling asleep was the only option afterwards. As an approval, gentle snoring followed, and only after that Rhodie heard that Alice was knocking on the opposite wall. One-two-three-four, one-two-three-four. No good rhythm.
"What's there, Rhodes?" Alice asked.
"They got Kaster in here. He's sleeping".
"Sleeping?! How can he sleep right... AH!"
Rhodie bit her upper lip - Alice forgot about the sound limit.
"He was convincing the boss that he was the Doctor by making his heart beat faster".
"Dammit..." It was unclear if this referred to Kaster's behaviour or to recent electric shock. "And did he manage?"
"Unclear".
"I've spoken to Troutfeet", Alice hissed - judging by the sound, she was rubbing her knees (her favourite puffy skirt was rustling). "He said that he cannot make his regeneration energy appear, as if something's blocking it, though he managed to heal two or three scratches. Maybe cuz they were fresh".
"You mean, it was unseen?"
"He said he couldn't make it stronger or something, though it couldn't have got anywhere. Otherwise he could've used it to shoot at that control panel".
"Is he able to do it? Using too much of it can harm him, and you know it".
"Think logically, Rhodie. If full regeneration can destroy the TARDIS - okay, not all of her - then some streams of its energy could set some of our own options in there", Alice explained. "Either these cages are energy-proof or... Don't know".
About twenty minutes passed when a clank and rustle brought Rhodie back to reality from her thoughts - she was wondering what was going to take place next. Muffled whispering was heard from her right - now Alice was talking to Trouty again, which finished with four more knocks:
"Are you there, Moriarty?"
"I am, Holmes", Rhodie replied.
"Hold it". Alice's hand showed itself from behind the wall through the bars, holding a tangled rope with metal boxes tied to it. Or no, it wasn't a rope, it was a wire, quite thick and empty on the inside, and each box had a hole on it. "Careful, it shouldn't touch the floor. Pass it on".
Rhodie realized that this wire began at Skasis's chamber right next to her, and half of the chambers' bar walls already had an "addition". She carefully moved the wire across the bars, fixing in on them, until her patch was over, and then called out:
"Kaster! Wake up!"
"Huh... whaa?.. whassup?.." Kaster rolled over and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Rhodes, is that you?"
"Yes. Here, pass it on". Rhodie gave the wire to him. "Don't touch the floor with it".
"No wonder. Electric shock to everybody!" Kaster replied, alert as always - either he learned how to get "recharged" quicker or already got used to making his heartbeat faster. "Primitive technologies rule!"
After all the boxes were fixed, Skasis's voice sounded from Rhodie's one:
"Testing, testing! One, two, three!"
It wasn't too loud - like it's heard through a cell phone, but more clearly.
"Skasis Fane online". He raised his hand, identifying himself, and spoke on into the box. "As far as some of us don't know each other, let's tell our names to the rest. Clockwise. Once again - Skasis Fane!"
"Erfin Temple", the girl with a dark ponytail said. Her voice was heard from the box as clearly as Skasis's.
"Lionel Temple", her neighbour added. Yes, Rhodie had been right about their being siblings.
"Five Kitekid", Five caught up.
"Trouty Bluegrass". Trouty seemed a little reluctant. As he usually was, and now there was one more reason.
"Alice Tyler". There was an obvious grin in Alice's voice.
"Rhodie Smith".
"Kaster Tyler".
"Jamie Storm".
"River Storm". The ginger girl slightly pouted at the sight of (at least) half of her neighbours staring at her. No wonder! "River" wasn't a very common name, and for somebody it was associated with a certain hybrid archaeologist.
"Hamish Turner".
Rhodie started. Hamish Turner?! What, for Rassilon's sake, was he doing here? It was just... impossible! But Rhodie quickly recalled the name of their gang - The Impossible Kids - and calmed down, though she was still anxious. Something was going to take place, apart from Kaster's imitation of the Doctor.
"Jenny. Just Jenny", the oldest girl finished.
"Fine. Now put your hands at the sides of your box. It can be folded flatly. I've set a perception filter there, so if all of our boxes are flattened, it will be activated. Next... Why did they put us all here?"
"Maybe it's some kind of a ritual. Ultra sci-fi ceremony", Erfin supposed.
"Or they don't want to lose any of us", Jamie put in.
"Or we have something in common", Alice interfered. "Look. Skasis is a pure Timelord. I am one quarter Timelord. So is Rhodie. So is Kaster".
"So am I", Hamish added, hardly hiding trembling in his voice.
"So am I", River nodded, toying with her pigtails - that meant either concentration or anxiousness.
"So am I", Jamie repeated not without sense.
"Listen, are we the only ones who have no idea about what you're talking?" Lionel wondered. "Erf and I had never heard about any Timelords. Who are they?"
"Listen, do you believe in aliens?" Kaster asked.
"Yes. Great-grampa told us stories about a man from the stars when we were little", Erfin replied. "A man from the blue box".
"The Doctor?" Jenny put in. "My dad?"
"Ye-es..." Lionel murmured, not knowing how to react to the multitude of knowledge flowing over him and his sister. "He told me he had an artificially made-up daughter, who died soon after her 'birth'..."
"But I'm here, alive and well!" Jenny grinned.
"Great-grampa..." Kaster nibbled on the tip of his thumb. "Great-grampa! Wilf? Wilfred Mott? Is that his name?"
"Mm-hmm", Erfin approved.
"Temple! So your mother is Donna Noble? And you are hybrids too?" Alice exclaimed, but got silent as soon as she recalled about the possible punishment.
"We're not geeks!" Erfin shot out.
"I didn't say that you were geeks". Alice's voice, though calm, sounded with tension. "Human-Timelord hybrids are not geeks. They have additional perks. Like Troutfish... Wait. Troutfish! You're part Timelord as well! And Fivey too!"
"Ten percent", Five reminded.
"This is it!" Kaster exclaimed. "All of us are partly Timelords! Well, most of us, sorry... River, Jamie, what are the names of your parents?"
"Rose and Adam", River confessed.
"YES!" Kaster jumped just in time not to get his by another strike of electricity. "Rose Tyler, Adam... Storm! Or Handy Smith - better than 'Poppy Fields', eh? - or John Turner, or John Tyler? Whateverrrrrr!"
"Kas, let me check", Rhodie interfered. "I know the best way to do it".
"How?"
"Trust me". Rhodie cleared her throat and began:
"I cross the Void beyond the Mind,
The empty space that circles Time".
"I see where others stumble blind
To seek the truth they never find,
Eternal wisdom is my kind..." Jamie caught up.
"Through cosmic waste the TARDIS flies
To taste the secret source of life". This was whispered by River.
"Prison and science can't deny
Of Him outside and behind,
The latitude of human mind..." Kaster caught up, speaking as if he was hypnotized.
"My voyage dissects the course of Time,
Who knows? You say that... Are you right?" This was Alice.
"Who searches deep to find the light
And glows so darkly in the night?
Towards that point I guard my fleet". Hamish didn't delay the continuation.
"A Sangrias move to end Mankind,
Metallic teeth begin to grind", Rhodie continued.
"With sword of truth I turn to fight
The Satanic Powers of the Night,
Is your faith before your mind?" This was caught up by Skasis. Logical - due to his being made of four parts, three of which belonged to Alice, Rhodie and Kaster (and the fourth being the particle of the Master), he had the shadows of their memories, and this was a powerful one. All the kids of Rose and Metacrisis Doctor knew this poem by heart, but none of them remembered where it came from, as well as none of them had ever finished it. The approval came in the final (unfinished again) line of it, whispered by seven voices:
"Know me. Am I..."
Silence.
"Approved", River nodded. "Now it's clear, though it's a bit of madness".
"Listen, I think those bars will surrender if I laser them up", Kaster offered. "Those scientists thought that this", he produced a thin metal cylinder all covered in buttons and switches, "is a sonic screwdriver. Tell ya more. It's a sonaser!"
"Kaster, I tried to open the hatches in the ceiling with my sonic, but they're not moving", Five informed.
"Look from a different angle, Fivelet", Kaster interfered. "I'll try to fry one of those bars up".
"Sure you will squeeze through the hole if you do it". This was Erfin, and she wasn't asking, as if she knew what was going to take place. "Even from here I see that you're skinny. Hug ya and get a scratch! But what about the rest?"
"Trust me, Erfin Noble", Kaster grinned, having recognized the intonation.
"Kaster, I don't want to be a grumpy-face, but are you sure that it'll work?" Trouty interfered. "I've tried to use my regeneration energy, but it wouldn't show itself. I made a couple of scratches disappear, but no more".
"There's always a way out", Kaster replied and set to work.
"I hear the lift approaching. Activate the filter", Skasis said and was the first to "fold" his box.
The activation wasn't extra, because in about a minute or two a group of scientists walked over the roofs of the rooms and approached into the central room with the help of two narrow see-through platforms that functioned like stairs, changing each other. Immediately, the prisoners pretended to be either bored or sad or sleepy, though inside most of them were burning - some with impatience, some with frustration.
"Erfin Wilma Temple! Stand up!" the leader scientist ordered. The girl obeyed. "Let's see who you really are".
"I am who you said, and nothing more", Erfin sniffed. "Perhaps you have eyes and ears everywhere, but when I get ya, they'll be on the back of your head. And on your butt. Legs beginning at ears! Whatever".
"Aliens are fine blabbers, I see", one of the men commented, and the rest two pulled Erfin with themselves by her wrists, not caring to shut her mouth. And that was just what the girl needed.
"Freaks no geeks! Freaks no geeks! FREAKS NO GEEKS!"
A/N: Time for explanations. Most of the mentioned kids are children of Rose and Metacrisis Doctor from different versions of Universe, this is why they carry a nickname The Impossible Kids:
- Rhodie Smith and Hamish Turner belong to me;
- Alice Tyler belongs to deviantART user Miss-Alex-Aphey (just check her out!);
- Kasterborous "Kaster" Tyler belongs to Person-without-a-FF.N-account (as well as Skasis Fane);
- River and Jamie Storm belong to ninewood (I simply loved those two!).
Erfin and Lionel Temple are the kids of Donna, and quarter Timelords as well.
Five is the child from dystopian future where emotions are forbidden, this is why he is so shy, but there's something special about him as well.
And "Loner Trouty" is the artificial mix of human, Twobody (mutation) and Timelord, who's able to use energy to heal others (and not only that).
Note: the poem which the kids read is a real-existent one. Search for it on youtube, and you'll make sure.
So, what would you say? Please tell me!