The planet of diamonds was called Midnight, the Doctor had told her when they'd arrived after a few hours of rest and relaxation. From the moment they'd stepped into that massive Leisure Palace, she'd been in awe of the beautiful world. Every wall here was made of glass, to ensure that one could see the miraculous, lethal world outside – fifteen feet thick, of course, to protect them from the deadly sun that helped to craft the beauty.
Jay impatiently bounced on the balls of her feet, shaking out her wrists and urging her heart to calm down as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on a pay phone, intent on trying just one more time as the crusader they were taking began boarding. Donna had tried coaxing her to stay and enjoy the spa with her, but Jay had been fascinated by what the Doctor had told her and wanted to see other parts of the planet. He'd been so excited, he'd even opened up in a rare moment about Rose and her mother, a woman named Jackie Tyler. "Jackie would go to the end of the universe to try and find a way to survive on this planet to get her hands on those jewels!"
Donna had grinned teasingly at her when Jay had guiltily rejected the offer, elbowing Jay and whispering, "I get it, don't worry." She'd flashed the Doctor a sly, knowing look when he'd not been looking, and Jay had grown flustered for a reason she didn't fully understand.
Hastily, Jay pushed such thoughts from her head and focused on the Doctor as he began speaking. "Come on, Donna," he said as soon as Donna was on the other end. "A sapphire waterfall – it's literally a waterfall made of sapphires. There's an enormous jewel, the size of a glacier, reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred-thousand feet into a crystal ravine."
Jay's lips parted in awe at the mere thought. She couldn't wait to see the beautiful sight. She glanced over her shoulder as passengers brushed past them to board. She tugged impatiently on his sleeve, pointing when he glanced at her. Come on, she mouthed.
"Come on," prompted the Doctor hastily. "They're boarding now. It's no fun without you, Donna. Four hours, that's all it'll take, and you can stay at the spa afterwards, as long as you like!" Donna must have denied him again, because the Doctor sighed heavily in disappointment. "Oh, alright. You be careful. That's ex-tonic sunlight." Donna said something back – something that must have been insulting, because he made a face and said, "Fine. We'll be back for dinner. We'll try that anti-gravity restaurant – with bibs. See you later."
Jay was startled when the Doctor offered her the phone. She took it and put it to her ear, unsurprised when Donna warned her on the other end as soon as she'd greeted her, "Jay, you be careful, okay?"
"I will, Donna. See you later," promised Jay, and Donna hung up. She handed the Doctor the phone again, and he hung it back on its machine. She rocked back on her heels, beaming up at him as she tucked some blonde hair behind her ear. "Think we'll run into trouble, Time Lord?" she teased, and he grinned back at her.
"Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight?" he challenged, ushering her towards the crusader and flashing his psychic paper in place of tickets. "What could possibly go wrong, Jay?"
He playfully offered her his arm as they boarded, and she took it gleefully, her eyes roving the vehicle with interest. Others had already boarded. There was a family of three in the back – a man, his wife, and their teenage son. An older man and a woman who appeared to be his assistant of sorts were in the middle, and then there was an older woman with graying air in the front row. Jay and the Doctor took the pair of seats opposite her, the Doctor nudging her into the one closest to the wall.
A hostess began pacing down the aisle, pausing at the woman beside them. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts," she offered, sounding somewhat bored.
"Just the headphones, please," the woman responded boredly. The hostess passed her the said headphones, and she slid them over her head without hesitation.
The hostess turned to the Doctor and Jay and began offering them items, listing them off as she went. "That's the headphones for channels one to thirty-six, modern link for three-'D' vid games, complimentary slippers, complimentary juice pack, and complimentary peanuts." She looked as if she was bored just looking at them as she finished, "I must warn you; some products may contain nuts. Enjoy your trip."
Jay fought the urge to roll her eyes at the woman. She hoped that the beginning of the trip wasn't a sign of how the rest of it would go, because she couldn't say she would be overly excited for it if that was the case. Still, she supposed the Doctor was going to be there beside her for all of it, and he would find some way to make the trip fun if it turned out not to be. And just to prove it, he said cheerfully, "I can't wait. Allons-y!"
"Excuse me?" the hostess questioned, somewhat annoyed and confused as she looked over her shoulder at them, dark eyes questioning.
The Doctor flashed her a bright grin. "It's French. 'Let's go!'"
"Fascinating," the hostess said with exaggerated patience before moving on. The Doctor pouted a little, and Jay felt a flicker of amusement as she sympathetically patted his arm.
"She's probably done this too many times," she whispered to him, trying to fight back her smile and finding herself rather unsuccessful. The Doctor merely huffed, but couldn't seem to stay bothered for too long. Especially when the people in the row behind them caught their attention and introduced themselves.
"Excuse me," said the older man behind them. He was lacking in hair on top, though still supported some on the sides of his head, and wore a thick pair of glasses. He offered the Doctor his hand, and the Doctor willingly shook it as he said, "Hobbes, Professor Winfold Hobbes."
"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said cheerfully, and then inclined his head at Jay. "And this is my friend, Jay. Hello."
Hobbes shook Jay's hand, too, and smiled kindly at her. "It's my fourteenth time," he said proudly, gesturing to the vehicle around them. He looked just as happy to be there as they were, and Jay could tell that the Doctor was relieved by the fact.
"And I'm Dee-Dee," said the younger woman with him. She offered them each her own hand, and Jay found herself smiling brightly at him, rather fond of this young, dark-skinned woman. "Dee-Dee Blasco."
Jay wasn't so fond of Hobbes when he snapped at Dee-Dee, "Don't bother the man! Where's my water bottle?"
The Doctor and Jay exchanged a grimace as they sank back into their seats, checking their seatbelts. The Doctor looked inclined to address the woman beside them, but she hid her face in a book and ignored them obviously. He shrugged to Jay and they sank back to wait, muttering about various things between themselves and pretending not to be entertained by the bickering between the couple and their son near the back of the vehicle.
Eventually, the hostess made her way back to the front of the vehicle. "Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon," she called loudly enough to be heard by the rest of those in the crusader, "welcome onboard the Crusader Fifty. If you would fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment." She smiled rather falsely as the doors slid shut and shields suddenly slid down over the windows. "I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder: Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear, and…should we need to use it, you first. Now, I will hand you over to Driver Joe."
"Driver Joe at the wheel," reported Driver Joe himself over an intercom system. Jay lifted her brows in astonishment at this display. This sounded right out of an old movie, when people would board one of the old-styled aircrafts to travel. "There's been a diamond fall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour as you'll see on the map." A map materialized on a screen at the front of the crusader, and the Doctor leaned forward to peer at it curiously. "The journey covers five hundred clicks to the Multifaceted Coast; duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for traveling with us, and, as they used to say in the olden days…wagons roll!"
Jay exchanged an excited grin with the Doctor when the crusader roared to life around them. It jerked slightly as it started moving, and Jay settled back, focusing on the hostess when she began to speak again.
"For your entertainment," she said, "we have the music channel playing retrovids of Earth Classics." She removed a remote from her pocket and pressed a button. A screen of sorts descended from the ceiling, and Jay frowned, not recognizing the old song one bit. "Also, the latest artistic installations from Ludovic Klein." She hit another button, and a hologram appeared in front of the screen, blinding them all. "Just for the youngsters, a rare treat – the Animation Archives." Jay's jaw dropped when yet another screen appeared, playing an ancient cartoon she remembered hearing about once, but couldn't recall the name of. "Four hours of fun time. Enjoy!"
With that, the hostess strode between the seats to the back of the crusader, leaving them to the ear-splitting chaos of sound. There were a few moments of it blasting in the air, and everyone settled in. But the Doctor glanced at Jay, noting her expression of discomfort as she fumbled with her stone necklace, and casually slid his hand into his suit, retrieving his sonic screwdriver. Hiding the light and hoping the sound would be disguised beneath all the others, the Doctor flashed her a wink, and then hit the button. Within seconds, everything had shut off and the lights had flickered back on.
"You didn't," whispered Jay as the hostess, flustered, rushed back up the aisle. Her eyes gleamed with mischief.
His grin widened, and he hastily hid it when the hostess whirled around to face them all, embarrassed. "I do apologies, ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, but we seem to have had a failure of the entertainment system."
"What do we do?" the woman at the back of the crusader demanded.
Her husband huffed. "We've got four hours of this? Four hours of just…sitting here?"
The Doctor nudged Jay and then clambered around, kneeling on his seat to look over the back of it at everyone else there. Jay sighed, passing a hand over her face to hide her amusement. "Tell you what," he said cheerfully, "we'll have to talk to each other instead." He grinned at them all.
From the look on the woman's face across the aisle, Jay guessed she would have preferred all the noise.
Jay supposed it wasn't all that bad, chatting with others on the crusader. The Doctor dragged her along, forcing her to get to know each and every one of them as he excitedly met with each of them. Val and Biff, the couple at the back, told a story that Jay didn't entirely understand, but supposed was somewhat funny after introducing themselves and explaining what they were doing aboard the crusader. Their son, Jethro, hadn't found the story very funny at all.
Next they met with Dee-Dee, who Jay was pleased to speak with while Hobbes remained in his seat. She'd gone to get a drink, and the Doctor had thought it important to catch her alone. Dee-Dee seemed happy enough with it. "I'm just a second-year student, but I wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh," she told them. "Professor Hobbes read it, liked it, and took me on as a researcher – just for the holidays." Her face fell slightly as she adjusted her glasses. "Well, I say 'researcher.' Most of the time he's got me fetching and carrying, but it's all good experience."
Curious about the Lost Moon of Poosh, Jay asked, "Did they find it? The Lost Moon of Poosh?"
"No," laughed Dee-Dee, smiling at her kindly. "Not yet."
"Well," suggested the Doctor, lifting the cup he'd been drinking from, "maybe that'll be your great discovery one day. Here's to Poosh!" Jay, playfully, echoed him, as did Dee-Dee.
It took some wiggling and finagling, but the Doctor also managed to convince the woman across the aisle to chat with them as the hostess served them a meal. She reluctantly introduced herself as Sky, and perched on the seat closest to theirs. The Doctor and Jay took their own seats to eat, and Jay happily dug in, listening to her friend chat with Sky.
"We're with this friend, Donna. She stayed behind in the Leisure Palace," the Doctor told Sky. "You?"
She picked at her peas sadly, her face falling. "No, it's just me. I'm still getting used to it. I found myself single rather recently – not by choice."
The Doctor flashed her a sympathetic smile, and Jay fell quiet, pausing when he said, "Oh, I've done plenty of that. Travelling on my own. Do what you want, go anywhere…" He flashed Jay a quick look to see what she thought of such a thing, and thought he saw a flicker of a frown cross her face for just a moment. He quickly changed the subject. "What happened?"
"Oh, the usual," sighed Sky bitterly. "She needed her own space, as they say. A different galaxy, in fact. I reckon that's enough space, don't you?"
"Yeah," the Doctor mused, briefly distracted. "I had a friend once. She went to a different universe."
Jay's attention snapped to him then. He was speaking of Rose, she knew. She wondered once more what it would have been like, to meet the girl who'd loved the Doctor. Who she knew, no matter how quiet he was about the matter, the Doctor had loved so dearly in return before she'd been forcefully separated from him. Sometimes, when Jay was lying awake at night, she'd find herself simply staring at the ceiling, picturing what life would have been like to have met this other girl. Something in her gut told Jay they would have been good friends.
But the Doctor said no more about Rose Tyler, and Jay focused on the meal before her.
Now was not the time for such thoughts. They had a waterfall of sapphires to look forward to. With that in mind, Jay made herself eat and listened as the Doctor and Sky debated what, precisely, their food was made up of.
Some time after their meal found Jay kneeling on a seat with her arms folded atop the back of the seat in front of it. She'd rested her chin atop her arms, and was focused on the presentation before her with vivid interest. Her eyes were round with interest. Hobbes had offered to present what he knew of Midnight to them, and with not much else to do, everyone had agreed. The Doctor had been as interested as Jay had been, and sat in the seat she leaned on, occasionally muttering up to her.
Now, he quieted as Hobbes, prepared, began. "So, this is Midnight," he said, gesturing to a series of planets on a screen he'd had Dee-Dee prepare. He pointed to one planet in particular: Midnight. "D'you see? Bombarded by the sun – ex-tonic rays. Raw galvanic radiation. It's my pet project," he added proudly after ordering Dee-Dee to change the slide. He seemed to swell with that pride. "Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because, you see, this history is fascinating…because there is no history! There's no life in this entire system! There couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity! Not one living thing."
"But how do you know?" voiced Jethro with interest from his seat in the back. Jay glanced back at the teenager, with his black clothes and equally as dark hair. He was pretending to be bored, but was clearly not. "I mean, if no one can go outside?"
Val scoffed. "Oh, here we go, his imagination," she grumbled, and Jay frowned at her in disapproval.
"He's got a point," argued Jay, turning her face back to Hobbes. "How could we possibly think of all the variables when we can't set foot outside?"
"Exactly!" Hobbes cried. "We look upon this world through glass – safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit, and here we are now, crossing Midnight…but never touching it."
Hobbes had just finished speaking when there was a massive crashing sound, followed by fading whirring – and then silence. Jay stiffened in surprise, lifting her head and looking around alongside everyone else. The engines had gone silent, she realized, and when the Doctor tipped his head back to check on her, she shrugged. She had no idea what was happening.
"We stopped," Val mumbled, confused. "Have we stopped? Are we there?"
"We can't be. It's too soon." Dee-Dee was firm in her comment.
Hobbes was simply confused. "They don't stop – crusader vehicles never stop."
The hostess, who'd been watching them all from the back of the crusader since they'd started their interactions, hastily started forward, reaching for the nearest intercom. "If you could just return to your seats! It's just a small delay."
Jay took the chance to clamber into the aisle and then over the Doctor, back into her seat beside him. It was far more secure than anything else, being beside the Doctor. "What do you think?" she whispered as the others began to express distress behind them. "Trouble?" She'd never not expect trouble where the Doctor was involved, although she couldn't say she was too excited to encounter it so soon after the mess that had been the Library.
"Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon," the hostess said, turning to face them. Neither the Doctor nor Jay could have missed the nervous smile or the uncertainty on her face. "We're just experiencing a short delay. The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine. So if you could just stay in your seats – sir!" she cried as the Doctor, gesturing for Jay to remain where she was, clambered to his feet and started for the door that would take him to the cockpit. He merely flashed her his psychic paper and entered anyways.
Jay left him to his own devices, patient. He'd tell her what he discovered when he came back. She listened warily to the chattering of those around her. They all sounded nervous, and Sky was muttering under her breath, complaining that she was on a schedule and that this entire event was unnecessary. Hobbes and Dee-Dee were arguing softly about something. Jethro was clearly enjoying the chaos. Val and Biff were arguing, too.
Jay wished they'd all just shut up for a few seconds.
When the Doctor re-emerged a few minutes ago, he looked troubled enough that Jay didn't even need to ask. He slid into the seat beside her again, ignoring Sky's demands for answers. Jay leaned in close after he'd told Sky that the engines were merely stabilizing – a clear lie – and murmured in his ear, "Actual trouble then?"
"Oh, yes," he said, flashing a brief grin that faded. "The engines simply stopped." He kept his voice so low that even Jay could barely hear him, bending his head near hers. "And one of the pilots saw something out on the planet – something they say was moving."
Jay's eyes flickered with alarm. "But you said nothing lived here."
"Exactly." There was excitement on his face now, and he grinned at her. "Something entirely new. We'll have to wait and see what happens."
Her brow furrowed and Jay said uneasily, flexing her fingers, "Doctor…I'm not sure about all this. I mean, it's not intentional on our part or anything, but I really don't want actual trouble after the Library…"
"We'll be careful and hope it leaves us alone," he said, not looking very convinced. He eyed her flexing fingers. "Alright?"
"Hopefully," she said with a rueful smile, pulling back to look at her hands. "They're numb. Usually they go numb before an attack, but the numbness stops at my elbows. We did a lot of running in the Library, Doctor." And it certainly didn't help that her heart was now racing for a new, terrifying reason.
"Um, excuse me, Doctor," Dee-Dee said softly, catching their attention as she leaned around his seat to speak with him. "They're micro-petrol engines, aren't they?"
"Don't bother the man," snapped Hobbes, who they all ignored.
"My father was a mechanic," said Dee-Dee firmly. "Micro-petrol doesn't stabilize. What does 'stabilize' mean?"
The Doctor began to look nervous now. Jay couldn't figure out if it was because he'd been caught in a lie, or if it was because he didn't want to be the one at the center of all the loud, aggravated questioning that this group had already proved themselves capable of. So, she turned to Dee-Dee and offered a smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure the pilots are sorting it out, Dee-Dee," she soothed.
"So…it's not the engine?" demanded Hobbes, and Jay could have throttled the man when he asked, "How much air have we got?"
Val latched onto the question, even as the Doctor reassured Hobbes that it was fine. "What did he say? Are we running out of air?"
Jay bit back a scowl as the hostess, who'd gone to check in with the hostess, came back and was immediately bombarded with a flurry of furious questions on behalf of those present. She didn't mind these people individually, she found, but together…they were going to be a nightmare to handle. "If you could all just remain calm," said the hostess, frustrated.
"How much air have we got?" snapped Val.
Jethro groaned. "Mum, just stop it."
When the hostess reassured them that everything was under control, looking frustrated, Biff scoffed, "Well, doesn't look like it to me."
"It's fine," Dee-Dee tried to reassure. "The air is on a circular filter–"
Everyone's voices began to rise as they tried to talk over one another, and Jay groaned, losing her patience. The Doctor glanced at her curiously as she rose to her feet, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted with shocking strength in her voice, "SHUT UP." Silence fell immediately, and everyone looked at her. Even the Doctor looked stunned. Refusing to become embarrassed, Jay glared at them all half-heartedly and snapped, "My goodness. Thank you. Dee-Dee, if you would explain what you were saying just then…"
Flustered, Dee-Dee rose slowly to her feet and looked around at all of those within the cabin with her. "Well, it's just that, um, the air's on a circular filter, so we could stay breathing for ten years, actually." Everyone breathed sighs of relief.
"There you go," the Doctor said, rocking to his feet and flashing Jay a happy look, proud of her. She winked tiredly back at him, shaking out her wrists. "Look, I've spoken to the captain, and I can guarantee you everything's fine."
No more than a breath after he'd spoken, however, there was a very loud pair of knocks on the metallic surface of the crusader, echoing loudly around the cabin. Silence fell as they all looked around. Jay, suddenly unnerved, stepped closer to the Doctor, and Val fretted beside her husband. Hobbes eyed the walls warily. "Must be the metal. We're cooling down. It's just settling," he reassured.
The Doctor glanced at Jay again, and she shook her head nervously. That sure as hell didn't sound like the metal cooling down – and she knew what that sounded like after accompanying her father to the factories. It sure as hell wasn't rocks falling like Dee-Dee suggested either She fumbled with her necklace, holding it up to show him when his gaze turned intent and questioning. She was wearing it, and had no intentions of removing it this time.
Something in her gut told her to keep it on, no matter what happened this time.
A second pair of knocks frightened them further. "What is that?" Sky demanded, voice hitched in fear.
"There's something out there," Val whispered, clutching Biff.
Hobbes scoffed at Val, rolling his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."
Dee-Dee looked to the Doctor and Jay for support when she said, "Like I said, it could be rocks."
The hostess shut her down immediately, horrified as she said, "We're out in the open – nothing could fall against the sides here."
When yet another series of knocks echoed, Jay bit her lip – hard. She really, really didn't like what was happening here. And she glared at the Doctor when he mused curiously, "Knock, knock, Jay." She elbowed him irritably.
"Who's there?" Jethro cackled, and Jay glowered over at the boy in the back of the cabin, her stomach churning. Stop it, she warned, and he quieted immediately when he saw the look of rage on her face. She wasn't impressed – nor was anyone else on the crusader.
"Is there something out there?" fretted Sky, shaking in her fear. "Well? Anyone?" Her only answer was another pair of knocks on the metallic wall, and her voice rose as she cried, "What the hell is making that noise?!"
"I'm sorry." Hobbes glared at her, snapping angrily, "But the light out there is ex-tonic. That means it would destroy any living thing in a split second. It is impossible for someone to be outside."
Jay glanced at the Doctor as he slowly began removing what looked like a stethoscope from his pocket. "And one of the pilots saw something out on the planet – something they say was moving," he'd told her when he'd come back from visiting with the pilots. Her face paled at the thought. Something that could survive ex-tonic rays, whatever they might be, was something to be feared, in her opinion. The Doctor had told her when they'd come to Midnight that even Time Lords couldn't survive them. She watched quietly as the Doctor ignored the hostess ordering him to return to his seat in favor of pressing the stethoscope to the place in which the banging had occurred.
Jay's head snapped up when the knocks came from the back of the cabin now. Her skin crawling, she didn't dare move as she watched the Doctor slowly approach the back of the cabin, eyes narrowing with fascination when there was the sound of clattering and the door at the back seemed to jostle. Her breath hitched, heart racing in her chest. "It's trying the door," she whispered.
Hobbes threw her a nasty look. "There's no 'it,'" he spat, looking at her down his nose, and Jay scowled back at him, fighting the urge to throw him a rude gesture. She got the feeling he wasn't too fond of women. "There's nothing out there – can't be."
The door jostled once more before there was a knock above their heads on the roof, and then the door closest to Sky and Jay. Both women recoiled in fear. Jay fought the urge to sink to the floor and pray for mercy from whatever it was as it tried knocking once more. "That's the entrance," whispered Val from her seat as Biff slowly made his way over. "Can it get in?"
"No." Dee-Dee threw her a reassuring look. "That door's on two-hundred-weight hydraulics." When Hobbes snapped at her to stop encouraging the people within the crusader, Dee-Dee ignored him. "What do you think it is?"
Biff approached the door with care, and even the Doctor became wary, frowning at him. "Mr. Cane, better not," he warned, but Biff ignored him.
"It's cast iron, that door," he muttered, knocking three times. Silence fell and they all held their breath.
When the creature outside, whatever it was, knocked three times back, all hell broke loose. Everyone began chattering, frantic about what was happening. The Doctor frowned at them all, urging them to calm down. Sky was frantic, however, as it knocked again – three instinctive knocks. "No, but it answered. It answered! Don't tell me that thing's not alive! It answered him!"
Oh, boy. Jay could tell this was going to get worse before it was going to get better. The Doctor tripped over to join Biff, fascinated, and Jay reached out to grab his arm in an attempt to stop him. She could hear the hostess and Sky bickering about something, but she ignored them in favor of hissing, "Don't make it worse!"
"I'm not," he complained, and proceeded to knock four times. Jay thought she could have slapped him in that moment, shaking her wrists out frantically. Her heart was racing – painfully so, and she thought she could feel the beginnings of pain splintering through her fingertips as Sky's voice rose above the rest of theirs.
"What the hell's making that noise?" shrieked Sky, shaking. "She said she'd get me. Stop it, make it stop! Somebody, make it stop! Don't just stand there looking at me!" She glowered at them all, staring at her in surprise. "It's not my fault, he started it with his stories," she jabbed a finger at Hobbes, who spluttered, "and he made it worse," she added with a glare at Biff. "Why couldn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me! Just tell me what the hell it is!"
Jay's hair rose on her arms as the knocking suddenly shifted. One knock after the other, they began creeping up the side of the crusader. Sky became frantically scared, screaming as it began heading towards her. "It's – it's coming for me! It's coming for me!" Her screaming grew in volume, and even the Doctor forgot to be excited about this new discovery, eyes widening with alarm.
Pain shot through Jay's fingertips, spreading like wildfire up her arms as the Doctor stepped after her, trying to help, and she stumbled forward a step, wheezing already. "Doc–"
The world suddenly erupted around them. Jay didn't even have the breath to yelp as the floor ripped beneath her feet, knocking her to the ground. Lights sparked and flickered out as those within the crusader, and there were shouts and screams as everyone was thrown to the ground. It rocked and shook, and it took a few moments for it to stop. In the darkness, the Doctor slowly rose to his knees, frantically searching for Jay. He found her behind him, choking as she grappled at her chest, unable to breathe. Hastily, he scrambled over, feeling a little guilty for focusing so much on the creature outside when she'd been apparently in the midst of an attack.
"Hold on, Jay," he muttered, touching her cheek as her eyes rolled blindly, seeking something – anything. Pained tears streamed down her cheek, making her face wet. As the others began creeping back to their feet, fretting about what had happened and trying to make sure each other was okay, he let himself stay focused on Jay. This was not a good time for this, and he wished he could see her better. He checked her pulse and pressed his lips into a hard line when he felt nothing.
And just as suddenly, what seemed like ages later but was only, perhaps, a few seconds, her heart sputtered back to life, thundering like that of a racehorse. She choked on air, gasping and wheezing, a sob in her throat. "Easy," he soothed, ignoring Dee-Dee when she realized what was happening and questioned what was wrong. Of course, that brought panic to the others.
He ignored them all. Not now. Not when Jay was as terrified as she was, eyes slowly regaining sight as they shot around, seeking answers for what had happened before she'd been knocked off her feet. He frowned. He'd not really even noticed her being so scared before the lights had gone out.
Then again, the Doctor realized. Hey, who turned out the lights?
"Alright?" he asked a moment later, gently brushing some tears away for the exhausted girl's face.
"Will be," she croaked, letting him pull her upright so that she was sitting up despite still being a little shaky. She flashed Dee-Dee a weak smile, ignoring the terror in Dee-Dee's expression, as if she suspected the creature had been the cause of her incident. "Don't worry," she rasped, "that's normal."
Not really, but still. Her point had been made.
The Doctor let her sit on the floor as he rose to his feet, ensuring to keep close as he checked on the others. Jay watched blearily, looking around herself. She was tired enough that she almost missed it – almost, of course, being the key word.
The Doctor's back was to the playing screen, so she wasn't surprised when he missed it, but her heart skipped a beat when she saw the girl on the screen. She remembered immediately seeing her before, back when they'd been investigating the Sontarans. She'd appeared on the TARDIS screen then, image burning into Jay's memory. She looked exactly as she had then; blonde hair neat and groomed, her dark eyes round and determined as she mouthed something in desperation. It took Jay a moment to realize what she was mouthing, even as the image vanished, replaced by Hobbe's still playing presentation.
Doctor.
She'd been mouthing "Doctor." Frantically. As if she was trying to get his attention.
"Did you see that?" she asked before she could think about what she was seeing, and the Doctor glanced down in concern. But he moved on quickly. There were other things to worry about right now then what Jay had seen.
"We've got torches, everyone take a torch! They're in the backs of the seats," informed the hostess shakily from where she'd managed to get to her feet, beside Jethro's seat. She grabbed one for herself, and the Doctor reached into the back of a seat, fishing one out. He passed it to Jay, and then took another one for himself as Jethro began investigating, shining his flashlight around.
"Oh, Jethro," fretted Val, concerned for her son. "Come here, sweetheart."
"Never mind me – what about her?" Jethro had stopped, and with good reason, Jay thought, pointing her flashlight at the woman bent over on the floor. Sky. She was huddled in the corner closest to the door that would take one to the cockpit. Her head was cradled between her hands, and the seats surrounding her looked as if they'd been shredded by massive claws. Jay whimpered at the sight of them.
The Doctor turned on Sky, checking on Jay one final time before approaching. "It's alright," he soothed as he made his way over, ensuring to move slowly. "It's alright, it's over, Sky. We're still alive. The wall's still intact – do you see? We're safe."
The hostess, eyeing Sky warily, tried to contact the pilots through the intercom. "Joe? Claude?" she said into it. "Can you hear me? I'm not getting any response," she said to those within the room. She swiftly strode over to the door that would take her to the cockpit, reaching for the door. But the second she opened it, a blinding white light flared viciously and there were shouts and screams. Jay screwed her eyes shut at the brilliant light, pressing her forehead into the floor of the crusader to help block it. When the light had gone, the hostess shaken and having closed the door, she lifted her head again.
"Doctor," she rasped, "what the hell happened?"
"The cabin's gone," whispered the hostess, her gaze darting around in horror. The Doctor ignored them all, kneeling by a panel near Jay. She carefully hauled herself over to look, curious about what he was looking for. Hobbes scoffed, and the hostess choked out, "There's nothing there. Like it was ripped away – what are you doing?"
The Doctor ignored her, the soft buzzing of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver a comfort in Jay's ears. After a moment, the lights turned back on. The Doctor flashed her a warm smile. "That's better, right?" he said cheerfully. "Little bit of light. Molto bene."
"Do you know what you're doing?" Val snapped.
"The cabin's gone, you better leave that wall alone," added her husband angrily, and the Doctor rolled his eyes.
"No, no, it's safe. Any rupture would automatically seal itself." He removed the entire panel, exposing various wirings. Jay stared at the wiring with interest. She knew a little about such things. Not as much as the Doctor, of course, but…she didn't need to know anything at all to recognize that something had cut straight through some of those wires. "Unless something sliced it off. You're right," he added to the shaken hostess, "the cabin's gone."
"But if it gets separated," whispered the hostess, and the Doctor nodded sadly.
"It loses integrity." The Doctor rose to his feet, offering a hand to Jay. She took it, and he grunted slightly as he drew her up as well, taking most of her weight. She staggered slightly, leaning heavily on him. "I'm sorry, but they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic sent a distress signal though – help is on the way. They saved our lives. We're going to get out of here, I promise. We're still alive, and they're going to find us."
"Doctor," said Jethro suddenly. He'd been continuing to stare at Sky; Jay couldn't blame him. She thought it rather interesting that Sky hadn't moved, too. "Look at her. Why hasn't she turned around?"
"What's her name?" Hobbes questioned.
"Silvestry," whispered Jay, voice hoarse. "Mrs. Sky Silvestry." The Doctor paused to ensure she'd be alright to stand alone, and she nodded. "Is there a first-aid kit we could use for her, maybe?" Jay asked the hostess, who nodded and went to fetch it.
"Sky?" the Doctor asked softly, crouching behind her, near enough to be close but not near enough to crowd her. "Can you hear me? Are you alright? Can you move, Sky? You just need to look at me."
"That noise from outside," Jethro said slowly, and as clever as he was, Jay wanted nothing more than to throttle him when he continued. "It's stopped, but what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?" He looked around gleefully when it unnerved those around him. "It was heading for her, right?"
Ignoring him, the Doctor coaxed, "Sky…it's alright, Sky. I just want you to turn around. Face me, just face me, Sky." A gentle smile appeared as she slowly lowered her hands from her head, hesitant. She turned around to face him, eyes wide and blank, and stared at the Doctor for a good long moment, as if judging him.
Slowly, she shifted her gaze from person to person – until her eyes landed on Jay. The moment they did, Jay found herself recoiling. Away, whispered the voice in her head, and she stumbled back a few steps, to press her back against the opposite wall in fear. Get away, get away, GET AWAY–
This thing was dangerous. Lethally so, whatever it was. It was as bad as the creature that had locked her away in its dungeons and eaten those around her – worse, maybe, for she saw no hunger in its gaze. Sky was no longer there, she knew without asking. Sky was long gone, her mind eaten away by whatever had taken her place. "Doctor," she whispered, and the creature cocked its head in a predatory fashion, intent. "Doctor, get away from her."
The Doctor glanced at her, and then focused back on Sky. Deciding to listen to her at least a little, he did crawl back awkwardly a step or two, but he didn't go as far back as she would have liked. He tipped his head to one side. Sky copied, so he tipped his head the other way, and she copied once more. "Sky?" he said slowly.
"Sky?" echoed the woman blankly.
"Are you alright?"
"Are you alright?"
"Are you hurt?"
"Are you hurt?"
A chill went down Jay's spine and she wildly looked around, trying to figure out how to get further away without going closer to Sky, whose gaze darted back to Jay with dark interest that the Doctor seemed to miss entirely.
"You don't have to talk," the Doctor said, and Sky copied every word he said, a fraction of a second after he said it. "I'm trying to help. My name's the Doctor." When she copied that, he grew a little aggravated, frustrated with Sky and what she was doing. "Okay, can you stop?" Of course, she echoed that. "I'd like you to stop!"
"Why's she doing that?" Hobbes demanded, nervous.
Sky's eyes darted to him. "Why's she doing that?"
Biff glared warily at Sky, nudging Val back a little, as if he'd be able to protect her. Jay wanted to laugh. No one was safe here, not a single one of them. Did they not see what she did in that woman's gaze? "She's gone mad."
"She's gone mad."
"Stop it," said Val angrily. When Sky echoed her, she snarled, "I said stop it!"
"I said stop it!"
"I don't think she can," Dee-Dee tried to soothe, wincing when Sky imitated her, too. Hobbes told Sky to stop it, and scowled when Sky copied him.
The Doctor tried to shush them all, grimacing when Sky went so far as to imitate that, too. "Why are you repeating?" he asked gently, ignoring her when she continued. Jay wanted to strangle him and shout at him to shut up. "What is that, learning? Copying? Absorbing?" He listed off a string of numbers, and was startled when Sky repeated them perfectly. "Wow!"
"But that's impossible," snapped Hobbes.
"But that's impossible."
Dee-Dee looked to the Doctor with wide-eyed agreement. "She couldn't repeat all that!"
"She couldn't repeat all that!"
"Tell her to stop!" cried Val, clutching Biff when she, too, copied. Terrified tears rolled down her face as she lifted her voice, nearly screeching, "Make her stop, she's driving me mad! Just make her stop!"
Jay kept her jaw clamped, her mouth shut as voices rose. People began talking over one another again, ranting and crying and screaming. Jay clamped her hands over her ears, her heart racing. She slid down against the wall she'd backed into, unable to tear her eyes away from Sky as the Doctor glared at them all in frustration. He left them to it when he flashed his light towards Jay for a moment to check on her, hastily moving over as pain tore through her again. She bit back a cry as it flooded her veins like acid, sending her muscles trembling and her breath stuttering as it rushed out.
"Jay?" he murmured, touching her shoulder as he crouched in front of her. His eyes narrowed a fraction when Val's voice tore through everyone else's attention.
"What's wrong with her?" cried Val, jabbing a finger at Jay. Sky echoed her. "She's been doing that since all of this started happening!"
As Jay coughed, breath returning, her face filled with exhaustion, the Doctor turned a sharp look on those that had began frantically staring at Jay. His jaw tightened, concern about what such scared humans would do to his friend flooding him. "She's sick," he said sharply. "This isn't something that developed here. She's been sick for a while now."
Jay's fingers circled his wrist as she recovered from the aftershock a little further, her grip shockingly tight for someone who wasn't feeling well. Her blue gaze, bleary with tiredness, searched his. "She's stopped copying," she said tiredly, and the Doctor blinked when he realized that Jay's voice was the only one without a new ring to it. Her grip was white-knuckled as she searched his gaze. "The voice. It doesn't like her, Doctor."
He felt a flicker of uncertainty upon hearing that, and he nodded curtly to show her he'd heard and understood. This new creature, as fascinating as it was, needed to be something he was cautious of. He searched her gaze until she gave a very faint smile, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before standing again, turning to face those that were chattering nervously amongst themselves, eyeing Jay hatefully. He couldn't say he liked that very much. The Doctor lifted his chin as Jethro called for him. "I know," he said evenly.
"Doctor," said Hobbes sternly, "I think we should leave her…alone…" He faltered when he realized Sky was speaking in unison with him, unnerved further. "What is she doing?"
"How can she do that?" whispered Val fiercely. "She's talking with you – and with me!? Oh, my God! Biff, what's she doing?"
"She's repeating at exactly the same time," said Jethro with interest. He studied Sky with such interest that the Doctor shot him a stern look, silently ordering him back.
Dee-Dee gawked at Sky in horror. "That's impossible," she murmured at the same time that Hobbes declared, "There's not even a delay!"
The Doctor huffed and glanced over his shoulder at Jay again. She was staring intently at Sky, her head resting back against the door and eyes drooped with exhaustion despite the sheer terror shining in her gaze. Sharply, he turned back to those on the ship and snapped, "I think you should all be very, very quiet. Have you got that?" When Val demanded to know how Sky was doing it, he snapped, losing his patience, "Mrs. Cane, please be quiet. Just stop it. All of you, stop it."
But Val grew more panicked, sobbing in her fear, and Biff hugged her tightly. As he comforted her, the Doctor bit back a small retort and crouched in front of Sky again. He ignored the disapproving sound Jay made, for Sky was still speaking in unison with anyone who spoke. "Now then, Sky. Are you still Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs. Silvestry? You know exactly what I'm going to say. How are you doing that?" He tipped back slightly, watching as she replicated the action. Interesting. He offered a series of tests, including listing various foods, his previous companions and current ones, the alphabet, and a small conversation with himself before rising to his feet with a delighted grin. "First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?"
"Doctor," Jay rasped, "not the time."
"Right," he agreed, wincing when he realized that there were others staring at him in horror.
Jethro had lost his excited look and was now eyeing Sky with nervousness. "That's not her, is it? That's not Mrs. Silvestry anymore."
"I don't think so, no," the Doctor admitted just as quietly. Val gave a soft and the Doctor's expression softened with sympathy as Biff wrapped her in another hug, offering her what comfort he could in this odd situation. "I think…the more we talk, the more she learns. Now, I'm all for education, but in this case…maybe not. Let's just move back. Come on, everyone, back of the cabin. Everyone, get back, all of you, as far as you can." He ushered the others back, and then offered a hand to Jay. Jay took it tightly, grunting with the effort as he pulled her to her feet. She leaned heavily on him as she staggered along to the back of the cabin, where everyone else had reluctantly gone.
"Doctor, make her stop," begged Val.
The Doctor encouragingly smiled at her. "Stop looking at her. Fifty minutes, that's all we need. Fifty minutes 'til the rescue arrives." He glanced over his shoulder at Sky. "She's not exactly strong – look at her. All she's got is our voices."
"I can't look at her," Val whispered, searching his gaze when he met hers. "It's those yes."
Dee-Dee swallowed thickly and recited, "'We must not look at goblin men. We must not buy their fruit. Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots.'"
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" asked Biff angrily, glaring at her, and Jay winced.
"It's a poem, Christina Rossetti," said the Doctor hastily, trying to soothe the angry man. "And I don't think that's helping, Dee-Dee." He hastily glanced to Jay when she suddenly shuddered, another after shock racing through her. This time, however, she remained on her feet, merely locking up for a heartbeat before relaxing again. He frowned at her. They normally didn't race through her as they were doing this round…he'd be willing to bet the fear was contributing to it.
"She's not a goblin or a monster." Hobbes sounded outraged with their suggestions. "She's just…just a very sick woman."
"Maybe that's why it went for her," suggested Jethro. Hobbes snorted, and Jethro insisted, "Think about it though! That knocking, it went all the way around the bus until it found her. And she was the most scared out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in."
"For the last time…nothing can live on the surface of Midnight!" barked Hobbes, and the Doctor scowled lightly at him, frustrated.
Jay spared a look over her shoulder, checking on Sky, and shivered when she found those piercing blue eyes locked nearly hungrily on them. And not all of them, but she and the Doctor. Whatever it was, it would glance between them with a blankness that had the voice screaming to get out, get out, get out–
"Professor," barked the Doctor, snapping her out of her fearful trance, "I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own. Now, trust me, I think there might well be some consciousness inside Mrs. Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there and it's our job to help her."
"Look," Biff scoffed, scowling in the direction of Sky, "you can help her, but me and my wife and my son – we're not going near."
"No, it's gotta be you lot," the Doctor said firmly. "We've gotta stay back, 'cause if she's copying us, maybe the final stage is becoming us. I don't want her becoming me, or things could go a whole lot worse. And the same goes for Jay," he added, glancing at her. She was still staring at Sky, her eyes hazed with terror. He frowned, wishing he could take away some of that fear for her.
Val huffed a laugh. "Like you're so special."
"As it happens," he snapped back, "yes, I am. So, that's decided. We stay back, and we wait, and when the rescue ship comes, we can get her to a hospital."
Jay tugged weakly on his arm and whispered so only he heard, "We…Doctor, there's no helping her. I can see it. Can't you? She's gone, and whatever's taken her mind and body…it can't…I can't explain it, but it's not something that should exist in this realm."
The Doctor flashed her a small, reassuring look, and silence fell as everyone considered what they should do.
"We should throw her out."
The hostess's quiet suggestions had everyone jolting and staring and sputtering in shocked horror. The hostess looked dead serious as she said sharply, "That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver and the mechanic – and I don't think she's finished yet." The Doctor began to protest, but the hostess cut him off. "Look at her eyes!" she hissed. "She killed Joe and she killed Claude – and we're next!"
"She's still doing it," commented Biff when he realized Sky was speaking at the same time that they did. "Just stop it! Stop talking, stop it!" His voice rose to a shout as he took a threatening step towards her. When Val tried to stop him, he snarled, "But she won't stop! We can't throw her out – we can't even open the doors."
The Doctor's gaze darkened to a black expression. "No one is getting thrown out." He stared down Biff until he looked away.
As if the Doctor hadn't said anything, Dee-Dee turned to Biff and said in a hissed, confident voice, "Yes, we can. There's an air pressure seal, like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out. You had a couple of seconds, 'cause it takes the pressure wall about six seconds to collapse. Six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out."
Jay groaned softly, frustrated. While she didn't think there was any helping Sky now, that it was a bad idea to get anywhere near the creature that occupied her body, she sure as hell didn't think it was a good idea to throw the woman out of the shuttle either. "This is a bad idea–"
"Would it kill her?" said Val hesitantly. "Outside?"
"I don't know," Dee-Dee answered. "But she's got a body now, it would certainly kill the physical form–"
The hostess nodded and added slowly, "I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one." She pointed to the second door in the shuttle, her dark eyes darting this way and that as she considered what needed to be done. "All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out–"
"Now listen, all of you!" the Doctor shouted over the commotion, silencing them all. They stared at him in surprise. The Doctor dropped his voice again, leaning in to his with a hint of anger in his voice, "For all we know, that's a brand-new lifeform over there, and if it's come inside to discover us, then what's it found? This little bunch of humans…what do you amount to? Murder? 'Cause this is where you decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?"
There were a couple heartbeats of silence as they debated what they'd like to do after hearing the Doctor speak. And then the hostess lifted her chin and said coldly, "I'd do it." Biff and Val echoed her. So did Dee-Dee.
Jay stared at them all in horror, her fingers seeking the Doctor's until she could squeeze his hand tightly. He gave her hand a squeeze in return, and for the first time in a while, Jay thought he looked rather nervous of what a couple of humans would do.
"I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor," Dee-Dee continued, voice desperate. "She's growing in strength!"
"That's not what he said," Jay said angrily, and Dee-Dee only shook her head and said softly in response, "I want to go home. I'm sorry. I just…want to be safe."
The Doctor's expression softened, and he offered her a kind, sympathetic look. "You'll be safe any minute now – the rescue truck is on its way."
The hostess threw him an angry glare. "And what then, Doctor? If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilization – what if it spreads?" She gestured angrily to the incapacitated Sky.
Jay knew what the Doctor would respond with before he'd even spoken. "When we get back to the Leisure Palace, I'll be there to contain it," he said confidently, and Val and Biff just scoffed at him. Jay gave them sharp looks, her lips pressed into a line. They'd done this before; they'd handled such danger. Daleks, the Master…then again, there was something about this thing that made her more scared of it than she'd ever been of someone akin to the Master.
"She's dangerous," declared the hostess furiously, sweeping her hands down her front anxiously. "It's my job to see that this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her!"
"Now hang on," Hobbes said anxiously, and Jay nearly cheered when he said, "I think, perhaps, we're all going a little bit too far."
"I'm not killing anyone," added Jethro, no longer finding any of this to be entertaining.
Val threw her son a dirty look. "He's just a boy," she spat, and Jethro bristled, demanding to know if he didn't get a vote because of it.
"There isn't a vote," Jay snapped, her gaze studying each and every person there. She winced, wishing her voice was stronger. But exhaustion was creeping further and further along, threatening to drown her in darkness soon if she didn't rest properly. "You can't throw her out that door. You'll be no better than...than monsters."
"Fine by me," snapped Biff, and Val nodded curtly along with the hostess.
"Oh, now you're just being stupid," snapped the Doctor, losing his patience with the people before them. "Just think about it – could you actually take hold of someone and throw them out that door?"
"Who put you in charge anyway?" grumbled Val as Biff glowered at him, furious that the Doctor had supposedly called him something akin to a coward. Jay winced, and the Doctor scowled when they all jumped on that comment.
"I'm sorry, but you're a doctor of what exactly?" Hobbes challenged.
The hostess glowered at them, and sneered, "They weren't even booked in, neither of them. The rest of you had tickets in advance, but these two just turned up out of the blue." In a show of bravery as the Doctor stammered, insisting that they were merely travelers, she stepped forward and demanded, "Who were you talking to? Before you got onboard, you two were talking to someone – who was that?"
"Donna Noble," Jay said sharply. "We were talking to – to Donna! Our friend, Donna Noble!"
"He," Val jabbed her finger at the Doctor, "hasn't even told us his name. And hers is so odd – how do we know it's not a fake name? They could have been lying this entire time!" Jay gawked at the woman, startled. Her name was not odd, she quite liked it, even!
Even Jethro piped up, much to the Doctor's disappointment. "Thing is, though, Doctor…you've been loving this. Ever since all this trouble started…you've been loving it."
"Oh, Jethro, not you," protested the Doctor, pouting slightly. He nudged Jay back a step, not wanting her so close if violence broke out. She didn't seem to notice or care, her eyes glazing just briefly before refocusing as a small aftershock struck her. She staggered, and took hold of his arm, using it for balance. When Hobbes commented that the Doctor did seem to be enjoying himself, the Doctor said firmly, "Alright, I'm interested. Yes, I can't help it, 'cause whatever's inside her is brand-new – and that's fascinating!"
"Not now," hissed Jay, yanking on his arm tiredly. He inclined his head just slightly in acknowledgement; probably not the smartest thing to say when there were angry humans in front of them.
"And you were talking to her," pointed out Biff. "All on your own, before all the trouble – right at the front. You were talking to that Sky woman. The two of you together – I saw it!" He glowered as Val agreed, and the Doctor fought the urge to sigh heavily as Biff shouted, "What were you saying to her?"
"I was just talking," he tried to say even as the hostess suddenly snarled, "And you went into the cabin!"
"You called us 'humans,'" said Jethro, and Val gasped, nodding her head rapidly. "Like you're not one of us."
"And the wiring, he went into that panel and opened the wiring," Dee-Dee accused, nodding at the panel of wiring he'd investigated. The Doctor groaned that he'd done so after everything had happened, and Dee demanded, "How did you know what to do?"
"BECAUSE I'M CLEVER!" the Doctor finally just bellowed over the noise, losing his patience. Jay slid a hand down her face when that immediately created a new barrage of shouts and angry retorts from those before her, accusing him of various things. Jay tried to drone them out for a short moment – until Biff said, "Do you mean we need to throw him out as well?"
Jay's head snapped up. "No."
"If we have to," the hostess said firmly.
"No," repeated Jay, voice lifting slightly in volume, eyes flashing with anger.
"Look," the Doctor said hastily, "just…hold on." It was his turn to take a hold of Jay's arm when she went to step forward, furious. "Look, I know you're scared – and so is Jay, and so am I. Look at us – we are. But we have all got to calm down, and cool off, and think!"
Val tugged nervously on a strand of hair and glared coldly at him, saying sharply, "Look at his face, his eyes are the same as hers."
They all began to speak over one another again, and the Doctor grew increasingly distressed. Jay's eyes darted among those present, viciously angry, just daring them to so much as try and throw the Doctor out. But it wasn't long before she realized something was off – that only one voice among them had an echo. Slowly, she turned to look at Sky. The creature who'd occupied her was staring gleefully at the Doctor – and only speaking when he spoke. Her anger grew again, as did her fear, and she wanted nothing more than to simply hide her friend away. Because once the humans aboard this shuttle figured out what was happening–
"Mum," Jethro said suddenly, and Jay swore under her breath, frustrated when he jabbed a finger at Sky. "Stop. Just look." Val shrugged him off, but Jethro raised his voice, shouting, "Just look at her! She's stopped!"
Of course, everyone there turned to look. Jay scowled at Jethro angrily as the Doctor muttered, "When did she – no, she hasn't stopped, she's still doing it." And Sky spoke along with him, word for word.
"She looks the same to me…" Val trailed off, startled. "No, she's stopped! Look, I'm talking and she's not!"
Slowly, the Doctor moved away. Jay tried to stop him, gripping his wrist, but he shook her off with a gentle smile and went to crouch in front of Sky again. "Doctor," Jay protested, eyes wide with fear. "Doctor, don't–"
"Sky?" the Doctor said, Sky speaking right alongside him. "What are you doing?" She didn't answer, merely stared at him with such coldness that Jay found herself trembling with fear. Hobbes commented that it was only the Doctor who was being copied now, and the Doctor echoed the unsaid question. "Why me? Why are you doing this?"
"She won't leave him alone, do you see?" said Dee-Dee, nervous albeit a little curious about the matter.
"Do you see?" snapped Val rather unhelpfully, ushering Jethro as far back as she could. "I said so. She's with him! They're together!"
Hobbes scowled at the Doctor when the Time Lord glanced over his shoulder at the rest of them. His eyes narrowed angrily. "How do you explain it, Doctor?" he sneered. "If you're so clever."
"Leave him alone," barked Jay. She rounded on Sky, angry. Ignoring her own fear and the Doctor's word of warning, she marched over and dropped beside him, not tearing her eyes away from the wide-eyed Sky. "Doctor," she hissed to him. "You have got to stop. You're only going to scare them more, and with the way we're heading…"
But the Doctor ignored her, and Jay fought the urge to stifle a scream that almost escaped her, wanting to throttle him. "Mrs. Silvestry," he said to Sky gently, "I'm trying to understand. You captured my speech – what for? What do you need? You need my voice in particular, the cleverest voice in the room, but why? Am I the only one who can help? Oh, I'd love that to be true, but your eyes…they're saying something else. Listen to me – whatever you want, if it's life or form or consciousness or voice, you don't have to steal it. You can find it without hurting anyone. And I'll help you. That's a promise. So, what do you think? Do we have a deal?"
Silence fell as Sky suddenly began speaking just a fraction ahead of the Doctor, as if he was echoing her, and Jay knew immediately that things had just gone from worse to hellish. She took hold of his arm, squeezing it, but the Doctor couldn't seem to move, his eyes locked on Sky. "Doctor," she begged, even as Sky seemed to light up with a triumph that no other seemed to notice.
A chill unlike any other ran down Jay's spine and she nearly whimpered aloud, tugging desperately at the Doctor's arm to try and get him away as Sky said slowly, "Oh, look at that. I'm ahead of you." The Doctor echoed her, just as she'd been echoing him, and Jay felt tears of terror building in her eyes. She wished they'd never come on this shuttle – had never set foot on Midnight. They should have forgotten the spa and just gone to the big beach the Doctor had promised Donna.
"Did you see?" gasped Hobbes. "She spoke before he did!"
"He's copying her," Jethro added.
Sky shifted just barely, and Jay fought the urge to whimper. It wasn't good that it was moving now. She could practically feel the cold rage radiating from Sky, and she was sure if she removed her necklace, she'd be met with a song that would drive her to insanity. "I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go."
The Doctor echoed, "I think it's moved. I think it's letting me go."
"What do you mean? Letting you go from what?" asked Dee-Dee hesitantly.
Biff nodded at the Doctor. "He's repeating now. He's the one doing it – it's him."
"Mrs. Silvestry, is…is that you?" stammered Hobbes with hesitance.
"Yes, it's me," said Sky, the Doctor copying her with every word she said, "I'm coming back. It's me!" Jay fought back a sob of despair when Sky slowly began moving, as if getting used to the idea of movement in a foreign body. The voice in her head screamed for her to move, to get away, get away, get away – and Jay simply couldn't bring herself to. She would not leave the Doctor in such a vulnerable state when he couldn't even seem to move.
"It's passed into the Doctor," suggested Jethro, eyes wide, though he didn't look as if he fully believed what he was saying himself. It was more as if he was trying to convince himself. "It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside him."
"No," argued Dee-Dee, frowning, and Jay felt a bit of hope. "That's not what happened."
"Look at me," coaxed Sky. "I can move. I can feel again. I'm coming back to life. And look at him – he can't move. Help me. Professor, get me away from him. Please." Sky desperately reached out to Hobbes, as if pleading for help.
Jay clenched her jaw, throwing a vicious glare at Sky. How could they believe this thing? It sounded nothing like Sky had in the beginning. It spoke slowly and intently, with no emotion behind those words except for cruelty. "Don't," she said in a whisper to Hobbes, trying to stop him, but he ignored her entirely and helped pull Sky to her feet.
"Oh," sighed Sky, breathless, and Jay thought it was from excitement rather from relief, "thank you. It was so cold. I couldn't breathe. I'm sorry," she said to those around her, even as she threw Jay a quick, vicious look that made Jay nearly flatten herself to the floor like a terrified cat. "I must have scared you so much."
"I wouldn't touch her," said Dee-Dee warily, and Jay bit her lip, rising to her feet slowly. With the Doctor incapacitated, it was her responsibility to figure out what was going on.
"But it's gone, she's clean. It passed into him," Biff argued, and Jay cleared her throat tiredly, eyes blazing with anger towards those before her.
"That's not what happened," she said with such cold anger that Biff faltered. "The Doctor's situation isn't the same at all. Whatever this thing is, it thrives off of fear – and the Doctor wasn't scared by it. Fascinated, yes. Interested, yes. Maybe even a little intimidated. But scared? He was not scared."
"Thank you for your opinion," Hobbes told Jay sharply, glaring at her. "But clearly, Mrs. Silvestry has been released. From observation, the Doctor can't move, and when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so –
"There we are then." Biff spoke loudly, waving at the Doctor. "The only problem we've got is this Doctor."
Jay clenched her jaw as Sky said, "It's inside his head. It killed the driver, and the mechanic, and now it wants us." She forced herself to meet Sky's gaze and Sky stared her down. Jay lifted her chin, even as her entire body shook beneath the force of that glare. She wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and hide, but she would protect the Doctor against all of those present no matter what. Even as her knees threatened to buckle when a hint of an aftershock passed through her. "He's waited so long," continued Sky. "In the dark, and the cold, and the diamonds. Until you came. Bodies so hot with blood and pain…"
"Stop!" Val cried, sobbing. "Make him stop – someone make him stop!"
"But she's saying it," Dee-Dee snapped.
"And you can shut up!"
Dee-Dee threw her hands up. "But it's not him, it's her! He's just repeating now!" The hostess snapped her dark eyes to the other woman, faltering, and when Biff tried to snarl at Dee-Dee, she silenced him with a single "shut up." Dee-Dee threw her a thankful look, and then explained, "I mean, from what we've seen here, it repeats, then synchronizes, then it goes onto the next stage – and that's exactly what the Doctor said would happen!"
"What! And you're on his side?" challenged Biff.
Dee-Dee denied it uncertainly, not necessarily wanting to go against the group, but Jay snapped, "She's right! For God's sake, look at the situation." Why the Doctor spent so much time saving humans when they turned around and did such things as this was beyond her. With everything they'd seen between this, and the Ood Sphere, and her own family…she wasn't entirely sure she had much faith left when it came to her own race. "Sky is the voice – she stole the Doctor's! Look at her, already. She's not possessing him, she's…she's stealing from him!"
"She's got his voice," said the hostess softly, uncertain now.
But Val was hysterical now, her fear making her blind to reality. "But that's not true, 'cause it can't be! I saw it pass into him – I saw it with my own eyes!" Dee-Dee snorted loudly at that, and Val glared at her before looking to her son. "It went from her to him. You saw it, didn't you?"
Jay's hands curled into angry fists when Dee-Dee tried to argue with logic, only for Hobbes to snarl, "I think you should be quiet, Dee-Dee. And that's an order! You're making a fool of yourself, pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics when I can tell you: you're nothing more than average, at best! Now shut up!"
Sky looked so triumphant that Jay considered launching herself at the thing within her. She was smirking at them all in pride, unnoticed. How could they not notice? How could they not notice? Jay wanted to scream. "That's how he does it," Sky said smugly, the Doctor echoing her. Jay knelt beside him, nervously resting her head just briefly against his arm as she fought to figure out what to do. "He makes you fight…creeps into your head…and whispers, 'Listen. Just listen.' That's him inside."
"Throw him out!" shouted Biff, and Jay stiffened, her fingers tightening as they took hold of the Doctor's arm. She wouldn't let them. She couldn't. She wished Donna was there, with her loud attitude. She would have been able to make them see sense.
"Get him out of my head," sobbed Val. "Don't just talk about it, just – you're useless!" she shouted at her husband, terrified. "Do something!"
"I will! You watch me!" Biff began storming towards the trapped Time Lord and Jay, who shot to her feet and slid between them, eyes blazing in challenge. "I'm gonna throw him out!"
"Yes!" said Sky gleefully. "Get rid of him! Throw him out!"
Biff looked shocked when Jay didn't hesitate to slam her hands against his chest and shove so hard he stumbled back. She trembled with the effort, her muscles weak from the attack and aftershocks, but she made herself stay standing. "You won't touch him," she breathed, something cold creeping into her tone. Anger bled in from every corner of her. She was nearly blinded by it. They would not touch her Doctor, no matter what took place. "If you want to throw him out, you'll have to throw me out, too, because if you do…you'll know what that thing was talking about when I make certain you go to prison for murder."
And there were plenty of good prisons she'd been told about in her time aboard the TARDIS, all reachable from the TARDIS herself.
"Throw him out!" shouted Val, and Sky agreed.
Jay was sure it was more Sky's agreement, but Biff nodded curtly and simply grabbed her by the arm. Jay yelped at the pain of it, startled, and then squawked when she was roughly shoved away, hard enough that she landed awkwardly on the floor between two rows of seats. She hissed when she knocked her head rather hard, stunned momentarily. But she shook her head to clear it and struggled free when Biff grabbed the Doctor beneath the arms and began hauling him to the back of the shuttle.
"Doctor," she rasped, stumbling after them. "Don't throw him out. Please! Doctor–"
She could see it then, the fear in his gaze, entirely separate from what the others thought they saw.
"Don't!" snapped Dee-Dee, stepping forward to stop Biff, but Val slapped her hands away, blocking her as she bellowed, "It'll be you next!"
"I don't think we should do this," said the hostess desperately.
Biff glared at her. "It was your idea! Professor, help me." When Hobbes stared at him in horror, not wanting to do it, he snapped, "What sort of a man are you? Come on!"
Jay shoved herself forward, blocking Hobbes when he reluctantly went to grab one of the Doctor's arms, awkward in what he was doing. She glared at him until he stepped back, uncertain. And then she rounded on Biff, not hesitating to try and pry his hand away until she was forcefully dragged away by Val. Val looked as coldly angry as Sky did as the possessed woman cried, "Cast him out! Into the sun and the night!"
Jethro, looking rather upset with what was happening, stepped forward and pried his own mother's hands off of Jay. She threw Jethro an approving look as she rubbed her sore arms, wincing. They'd bruise, if they survived this.
"Do it!" Sky said rather impatiently. "Do it now! Faster!" Val echoed her, urging them along as Biff and Hobbes began dragging the Doctor towards the rear door. Jay rushed after them, face pale with fear. "That's the way! You can do it. Molto bene." Jay flinched, recognizing her friend's words in Sky's. She could picture the cheerful look he always wore when he said it, and tears began rolling down her cheeks as she found herself scared that she'd unable to actually stop this from happening. "Allons-y!"
"That's his voice," rasped the hostess, catching Jay's attention. She impatiently wiped at her cheeks, glancing over her to see the hostess glaring at Sky in realization.
"The starlight waits," crooned Sky. "The emptiness…the Midnight sky!"
Jay saw the moment the hostess made her decision. Instinctively, Jay went to stop her, but the hostess shoved past her and barreled over to Sky, grabbing her tightly. She slammed her elbow into a red emergency button that sat beside the rear door of the shuttle and Jay yelped, throwing her hands up to protect her eyes as blinding light flashed through. Everyone screamed and shouted, and distantly, Jay heard the hostess count to six.
And then, the door slid shut. The light was gone. And so was Sky and the hostess, who'd been sucked out to the surface of Midnight.
Silence fell, broken only by heavy pants for air. Jay wildly looked and nearly sobbed with relief as she discovered the Doctor on the ground, whispering "It's gone" over and over again, relieved and exhausted from whatever fight had taken place in his mind. Jay hurled herself to the floor beside him, sobbing, and the Doctor slowly sat up as the others slid away, horrified with the realization of what they'd almost done.
He offered her a reassuring look. It didn't do much, and Jay only sobbed harder, throwing her arms around his neck. He grunted softly, almost falling, but hugged her just as tightly as she buried her face in his shoulder, body shuddering with the sheer relief she felt. Admittedly, he felt the same. "I'm alright," he said softly, so only she could hear, resting his chin on her shoulder.
"I said it was her."
Val's softly uttered words had Jay stiffening beneath his touch. One moment, she was hugging him, the next, she was storming across the shuttle. "Jay," he warned tiredly, wondering just how she had so much energy after everything that had happened.
She ignored him – and even the Doctor flinched when her hand cracked across Val's cheek. "Shut up," snarled Jay, her voice choked from crying. Val stared at her in shock, touching her cheek. Exhaustion swept through Jay, and she staggered back over. She sunk down beside the Doctor, leaning heavily against him and resting her head on his shoulder.
There was a few heartbeats of silence, and then the Doctor rasped, "That hostess…what was her name?"
No one could answer, and he'd never felt more disappointed in humanity.
It was a long twenty minutes before the rescue vehicle arrived, and a long quiet trip back to the Leisure Palace. Jay kept a tight grip on the Doctor's hand the entire way back, sleeping for most of it. Her body, having lost the adrenaline, could no longer keep up after everything that had happened, and she needed to rest.
But when they got back, she was awake enough to silently cry again as she nearly tackled Donna in a tight hug. "Oh, sweetheart," whispered Donna soothingly, rubbing her back. She glanced to the Doctor, who didn't so much as smile in greeting – merely looked at her grimly. Eventually, they found themselves at a small table beside the pool Donna had spent her time at while they were away. Jay sipped at some water that she'd found, rubbing at an eye tiredly. "What do you think it was?" Donna asked.
"No idea." The Doctor sat there, looking just as tired as Jay, with his chin in his hands. He glanced at his friend to check on her. She was staring numbly at nothing in particular. Whatever the creature had been…it had sufficiently freaked Jay out.
Jay slowly set her water down, her fingers trembling. "Whatever it was, the voice didn't like it." He slid his gaze to her, curious, and Donna looked downright confused. "It kept screaming at me to get away. It wanted me to run and run and run." Neither Donna nor the Doctor had any response to that, though Donna reached over and touched her shoulder comfortingly.
"Do you think it's still out there?" Jay tensed at the idea presented by Donna's question, face going white, and Donna winced when neither answered. "Well, you'd better tell this lot."
"Yeah," murmured the Doctor. "They can build a Leisure Palace somewhere else. Let this planet keep on turning 'round an ex-tonic star in silence." He rocked back slightly and then stood. He wanted to get this over with. "Stay here with Jay, would you, Donna?" He offered the pair a tight smile and then was walking away, off to warn those in charge.
He'd not been gone for more than a few seconds before Jay said shakily, "I hate humans, Donna. I think I really hate them. They were going to…they were going to throw him out. Without listening to what was really happening." Her voice cracked. "I don't know what I would have done."
Donna eyed the bruises that had slowly started forming on her friend's arms, the blood that had dried from the cut on her head that had yet to be looked at. She'd been told by the Doctor as they'd found the table what had happened, and she was angry enough to go and track down those who'd done it. "They're not all bad. Right?"
"You and Martha are okay," she admitted. "You're both brilliant. But…I don't think I can think the best of anyone else anymore."
She sounded so defeated that Donna couldn't find the right words to say. Instead, she stood, pulled Jay to her feet, and gave her another hug. Jay clung to her, dissolving into silent tears, and wished she'd never set foot on the planet of Midnight.
Midnight! This is one of my favorite episodes in the entirety of Doctor Who. I've been so excited to write this for AGES.
Next up, however, we have a small original chapter (which will have some important developments regarding some emotional things), and then onto the finale episodes of Donna's season! I'm somewhat sad. The 10th Doctor will be leaving soon. But then we'll get the 11th! I have so many things planned for his seasons. ;)
Thanks to the ever lovely bored411 for reviewing as always, I really appreciate it! And thanks to savethemadscientist as well for reviewing on multiple past chapters; I've been very excited to see the reviews! I'm glad you (and everyone who favorited and followed!) is enjoying this!