Planet of the dead part 2! Thanks all of you who have reviewed, favorited and followed this story. It really means a lot to me. :)
Meta answers the phone. "Malcolm, tell me the bad news."
He waits while Malcolm explains something. "How can it get bigger by itself?
He listens intently. "Good work, both of you"
He seems relieved when another call comes in. "Oh, sorry. Call waiting. Got to go."
He switches calls. "Yeah?"
"Why, what's happened?" He looks concerned.
"What is it, what's wrong? Doctor, tell me."
I don't feel the need to ask but Christina does. "Doctor, tell me. What did he say?"
"It's the probe. It's reached the storm."
"And what's it saying?"
"It's not a storm." Meta hits a button and an image of a sting ray like creature appears. I smile. It's actually rather beautiful.
"It's a swarm. Millions of them." Christina is intrigued.
I correct her. "Billions. And the probe just got eaten, just like everything else on this planet.
She shudders slightly. "How far away is that swarm?"
Meta answers. "A hundred miles. But at that speed, it'll be here in twenty minutes. No, no, no, they're not just coming for us. They want the wormhole."
"They're heading for Earth?"
"Show the analysis. Incredible. They swarm out of a wormhole, strip the planet bare, then move on to the next world. Start the life cycle all over again."
"So, they make the wormholes?"
Meta turns to me to answer that. "Yes."
I sit back and watch as he starts to figure out everything with the worm hole. His excitement is contagious. But when he says that the worse it gets the more he loves it and she says she does too, I feel invisible. The smile he gives her makes my heart clench with jealousy.
"The thing is, Doctor, you're missing the obvious. We came here through the wormhole, yes? But our Tritovore friends didn't. They came here to trade with San Helios. Therefore, the question is, why did they crash?"
"Ah, good question. You're right Ryder. What a team. Like she said, why did you crash?"
The Tritovores take us to the engine room. There is a gaping hole in the side of the ship.
Meta looks down the deep hole in the floor.
"Oh, yes. Gravity well. Look, goes all the way down to the engine. So what happened? He says the drive system stalled. Ten miles up, they fell out of the sky. But what caused that?"
The fly chitters a response. I translate. "Which means no idea."
"Yeah. But wait a minute. That's a crystal nucleus down there, yes? And it looks like it survived the crash. If the crystal's intact? Oh, yes. That's better than diesel."
"What, you can use the crystal to move the bus?" Christina cocks her head.
I nod. "He can."
He explains. "The spaceship's a write-off, but the two hundred's small enough."
"How does a crystal drive a bus?"
Her tone is a bit patronizing.
"In a super clever outer-spacey way. Just trust me. There's the crystal! It's fallen to the bottom of the well. Have you got access shafts? All frozen? Well, maybe I can open them. Ah! Internal comms. Put that on.
He hands me a Bluetooth.
"You stay here. Keep an eye on the shaft. Tell me if anything happens."
I don't like this idea. If I spend any time with her alone I just might do something I'll regret later. So I shove the Bluetooth into her hand. "What he said." And I take off after Meta.
If I can use that sunlight to start the automatic maintenance. What are doing? I thought i..."
"Chrissy can handle it." My time leaves no room for an argument. And he has no time so he moves on.
"Christina? If you see a panel opening in that shaft, let me know."
"Nothing yet," comes through the comm unit.
"Anything now?"
"Afraid not."
He's busy connecting cables together. "Any sign of movement?"
They continue back and forth like this but I know that she's not really paying attention. And then she tells him to consider it done if he wants the crystal. Meta starts yelling at her as we start running to her.
"No!" I hate the concern in his voice. He sonics a pulley and stops her from free falling.
"I decide when I stop, thank you," she calls upward.
"You're about to hit the security grid. Look."
"Excellent. So what do I do?"
"Hit the red button," I say with a bored security grid goes out.
"How predictable."
"Now come back up. I can do that."
"Oh, don't you wish." Her words lap with mine. "You wish." I scowl that we said basically the same thing.
"Slowly."
"Yes, sir." An she continues down.
Meta starts riffling through her bag. "Quite the mystery, aren't you? Lady Christina de Souza, carrying a winch in her bag."
"No stranger than you, spaceman."
"my sister calls me that. Well, she calls me dumbo. My brother is spaceman."
"And is she right? Do you zoom about the place in a rocket?"
"Well, a little blue box. Travels in more than space. It can journey through time, Christina. Oh, the places I've been. World War One. Creation of the universe. End of the universe. The war between China and Japan. And the Court of King Athelstan in 924 AD." He pulls the goblet out if her rucksack. "But I don't remember you being there. So what are you doing with this?"
"Excuse me. A gentleman never goes through a lady's possessions. You should have told him that Ryder."
"You might be a lady, but you're no woman. And I believe that the lesson was never go through a woman's purse."
"Touché."
"It's the Cup of Athelstan, given to the first King of Britain as a coronation gift from Hywel, King of the Welsh. But it's been held in the International Gallery for two hundred years."
I relish in saying it. "Which makes you, Lady Christina, a thief."
"I like to think I liberated it."
"Don't tell me you need the money."
"Daddy lost everything. Invested his fortune in the Icelandic banks."
"No, no, no, no, no. If you're short of cash, you rob a bank. Stealing this? That's a lifestyle." He's so hot when he does the Sherlock thing. Wait, what?
"I take it you disapprove?"
"Absolutely. Except. That little blue box, i, and my brother stole it from our own people."
"Good boys. I think we do make quite a team." I of course, gag. Then there is a roaring sound.
"What the blazes was that?"
"We never did find out why the ship crashed. Christina, I think you should come back up." I say nothing.
"Too late. I can see it."
"Careful. Slowly. Have you got an open-vent system?" The fly answers him and he's not surprised.
"What does that mean?"
"It's like when birds fly into the engines of an aircraft."
I tune out the rest of it for now. I don't much need to hear all of it. I know what's down there. I start stretching out my legs. Running through sad is hard work. Christina start coming back up with the help of the sonic. On her way past, she hits the button to deactivate the grid.
"Ooh, she's good." It is clever, but I don't like that he notices.
She makes it out he drags us both out. I revisit the rug to facepalm and my anger for no reason. Meta tries to get the flies to leave, but they won't listen. I try too. I don't want them to die this time. They should live. But in the end there is nothing either of us can do, and they die.
We rush out and then the phone rings. "Not now, Malcolm!" He hangs up. We finally make it to the bus.
"At last. Where've you been?" Nathan asks.
"Get inside. Get them sitting down. Now then, let's have a look." Meta takes charge.
"So what does that crystal do?"
"Oh, nothing. Don't need the crystal." He tosses it.
"Oh, I risked my life for that."
"No, no. You risked your life for those." Meta holds up the clamps and grins. He attaches them to the wheels. "One there. One there. One there. And one there."
"But what are the clamps for? Do they turn the wheels?"
"Yeah, something like that. I just need to fix this. Have you got a hammer in that bag?" I smile. This will be fun.
"Funnily enough."
"Phone, phone. Call Malcolm." He hands the phone over to me. I redial and hold the phone up to his ear.
"Malcolm, it's me." He pauses. "Ready for what?" I snicker. Then he continues.
"I'm going to try to get back. But listen, there might be something following us. You need to close the wormhole."
"Oh, Malcolm, you're Brilliant." I revisit the urge to say I told you so again.
He pauses for a bit and I know what's going on. "Sorry, got to go." Ever the avoider. I hang up the phone for him. He gives me a grateful look as I pocket it.
We have troubles starting the bus up. "Oh, it's not compatible. Bus, spaceship, spaceship, bus. I need to weld the two systems together."
"And how do you do that?"
"I need something non-corrosive. Something malleable. Something ductile."
As he's talking, I reach into Christina's bag and grab the goblet. I grin manically. "Something gold." Meta gets a glint in his eye.
"Oh no you don't."
"Christina, what is it worth now?" Meta pleas with her.
Barclay tries to give Meta his watch and he may have tried it but I explain that he's been had and returns to his seat as I hand over the goblet. Christina looksresigned.
"It's over a thousand years old, worth eighteen million pounds. Promise me you'll be careful."
"I promise." And then he hammers know it.
"I hate you," she groans.
"Promises are just lies told in advance. You should have made him swear in blood." It's habit that makes me say it. But I've been making more and more of them lately. I'm not sure I believe it all that much anymore.
Meta gets it working. "This is your driver speaking. Hold on tight."
"But what for? What's he doing?" The passengers look a bit scared.
"Do as he says. What are you doing?" Christina shouts before leaning closer. Lucky in in between them.
Meta fires up the bus. "Come on. That's it. You can do it, you beauty. One last trip."
The bus rises into the air and let out a laugh. Everyone in the back is beside themselves. "Ah, you are so kidding me." "We're flying. It's flying." "He's flying the bus." "It's a miracle."
"Antigravity clamps. Didn't I say? Round we go." I shake my head at his cheekiness.
"Doctor, they're coming," Carmen warns us. I don't have to look to know that the swarm is close behind us.
"Do you think this thing will survive the journey back?"
"Only one way to find out. Well two ways. Ryder?"
I grin. "Next stop, planet Earth!"
Everyone screams as we fly through the wormhole. It's shaking and it reminds me of the turbulence in the plane so long ago. But it doesn't matter because this time I'm not alone. God, I'm a sap. I call Malcolm back for Meta.
"Malcolm, close that wormhole." There's a commission, then, "He's hung up on me."
He takes the phone from me and dials himself. As if it's my fault there a problem.
"Malcolm!" He barks. "He's hung up again."
He calls again. "Malcolm, listen to me. I need that signal. We've got billions of those things About to fly through."
he answers a question. "Loop it back through the integrator, and keep the signal ramping up." He shouts another response, "Five hundred Bernards. Do it now!"
He's distracted and doesn't notice the sting ray in out path. "Meta look out!" He grunts in determination. "Oh no, you don't." He hits the sting ray. People cheer.
"Did I say I hated you? I was lying." I'm not about to let her kiss him so I 'fall' onto his lap. He's startled for a moment but he makes no move to push me off. I'd move myself but his arms trapping me so that he can reach the steering wheel. He lands the bus.
"Do not stand forward of this point. Ladies and gentlemen, you have reached your final destination. Welcome home, the mighty two hundred."
The passengers begin to disembark one by one and Christina is as controlling as usual. I try to get up but Meta holds me. I look into his eyes and his expression is amused and thoughtful. "What?"
"Nothing," he chirps and the. Let's me go. I scramble up and away. If stayed that close much longer I have no doubt that I would have fallen into him and kissed him. Not the time. Or the place. I take a steady breath before getting off the bus myself. Meta isn't far behind.
A soldier corners us. "Welcome back. If you could step away from the bus, just to be safe. As fast as you can, thank you. It's standard procedure. We need to screen you and then you'll all be taken to debriefing."
Meta doesn't have any psychic paper to flash but he claims that we don't count anyway. The soldier just takes out word sense he's the doctor. "With me, thank you."
"Doctor." Malcolm rushes over.
"You must be Malcolm." Meta goes to shake his hand, but ends up getting a hug instead.
"Oh. Oh. I love you. I love you. I love you."
A super officer cuts in and I desperately try to keep a straight face. "To your station, Doctor Taylor."
"Yes, ma'am. I love you," he backs away and I snicker besides my best efforts not to.
"Doctor, I salute you whether you like it or not. Now, I take it we're safe from those things?"
"They'll start again. Generate a new doorway. It's not their fault, it's their natural life cycle. But I'll see if I can nudge the wormholes on to uninhabited planets." I know that means that I'll be making a call to Rose. The Doctor will have to take care of this. Rose and I talk on the phone from time to time but we never say anything important. Usually just reminiscing about the past.
Meta keeps talking. "Closer to home, Captain. Those two lads. Very good in a crisis. Nathan needs a job, Barclay's good with engines. You could do a lot worse. Privates Nathan and Barclay, UNIT's finest."
The officer nods. "I'll see what I can do. Now, I've got three dead alien stingrays to clear up. I don't suppose you fancy helping with the paperwork?"
I cringe. "Not a chance. I've had enough of pepper work." Meta nods in agreement.
The officer doesn't even crack a smile. "Till we meet again, Doctor."
"I hope so." Something tells me that he really doesn't.
Christina is dodging police. "That's quite enough of that." She runs over to us.
"Little blue box. Right then. Off we go. Where are you parked. Come on, Doctor, show me the stars."
"No." I'm not sure what I was expecting but no works fine for me.
"What?"
"I said no." Is he saying that because he doesn't have a TARDIS?
"But I saved your life. And you saved mine."
"So?"
"We're surrounded by police. I'll go to prison."
"Yeah."
"But you were right. It's not about the money. I only steal things for the adventure, and today with you. I want more days like this. I want every day to be like this. We're made for each other. The perfect team. Why not?"
"I've got Ryder." I startle at that. He doesn't want her to come because he doesn't need her, but me?
The detective comes and breaks my thoughts. He's looking smug and triumphant. "Lady Christina de Souza. Oh, I have waited a long time to say this. I am arresting you on suspicion of theft. You do not have to say anything, etcetera, etcetera. Dennison, take her away." She's carted off in handcuffs.
Carmen stops to talk to us. "Doctor? Ryder? You take care now."
We both smile as he answers. "You too. Chops and gravy, lovely."
"No, but you be careful. Because your song is ending." No. It can't be. Not Meta. He can't regenerate.
I reach for his hand and he doesn't hesitate. "What do you mean?"
"It is returning. It is returning through the dark. And then? Oh, but then he will knock four times." His grip tightens and so does mine. I don't like how this sounds. I don't like how this is looking.
I'm thankful for the distraction of Christina making a fuss. She's about to be pushed into the car. Meta turns to me and I shrug and let him know he can do whatever he wants. He sonics her handcuffs and she gets out of the car on the other side and runs past is to the bus. The police and the detective following after her.
"I'd step back, if I were you," Meta warns the detective.
"I'm charging you too. Aiding and abetting." He looks pointedly at both of us.
"Yes. We'll just head to the station and arrest ourselves." We back away and the detective is too busy to notice anything.
"Out, now." Christina waves at him and then starts the bus and starts to fly.
"No! Come back!" I laugh. The detective and the thief. I could ship that.
Christina flies the bus over to us and opens the door to wink at Meta. "We could've been so good together."
He pulls his hand out of mine and wraps it around my shoulders, shaking his head. "Maybe."
She shrugs and flies off. But his sentence is unfinished. "Maybe in another universe."
I look up at him and my heart stops. It's a bit cheesy and romantic but I can't help the giddiness I feel. But then look on his face changes. He's just as scared as i am I realize. Something is happening between us, and something tells me that Rose isn't consuming his thoughts anymore. Maybe, given time, we could both be ready for something other than we have? But for now?
I take his hand and smile. "Come on. I'm starving. Let's go home. Gramps said he was going to get curry tonight."
With that we head off, bantering and talking as we've done for months.