The Twilight Zone
2
The submarine was a rust bucket if she ever saw one. Clara couldn't believe it could stay afloat, and did not like the presence of leaks in the walls and roof; she couldn't take her eye off a drip sneaking around a big slab of metal welded onto the wall.
Nate was piloting the submarine, which was of human design and clearly wasn't designed for six people, while Sostan and Alexa bickered. It had quickly become apparent that they were a couple, and though Clara wasn't very good at understanding the xetian facial expressions yet, it was clear that Aio was exasperated listening to them. She actually welcomed the Doctor's myriad questions, the Doctor who was fixated on the view out of the front window.
"What is all that?" she asked, staring through the glass. Clara was sure she could see the bright lights and holograms of even more vending machines and advertisements out there, despite them having just descended beneath the water.
"It's the Platform," said Aio.
"What's the Platform?"
"It's the underwater part of Aegean-4," she said, "It has and facilities for us to use. Xetians, I mean, not protestors." Through the watery gloom, Clara thought it looked like a lot of catwalks, only they were suspended beneath the colossal, opaque object that was the city itself. It was a good thing the submarine had headlights; it would be impossible to navigate down there by the distant white dwarf star otherwise.
"Then – what's that?" the Doctor was astonished by whatever she spotted now. Clara was still struggling to see much at all, but slowly something else enormous came into view.
"One of the turbines," said Aio, "How do you get to Xetos without knowing about Aegean-4?"
"Time travel," said the Doctor, still pretending to be the Corsair, "You always miss your mark. I was hoping to catch the Doctor on her last visit, years ago."
"The city is a power plant, it generates electricity with the turbines and then Aegean Industries sells it to… whoever they sell it to, I don't know."
"They don't sell to Xetia?" the Doctor asked.
"We have the volcano, we don't need tides," she said.
"Isn't it bad to have that thing up there?" asked Clara, confused by the presence of one city floating directly above another, "It blocks out what little starlight you must get."
"Ooh, that's a good question," said the Doctor. Clara smiled a little.
"We don't need a lot of light, Xetia is already quite high up," said Aio, "We get most of our heat from the volcano, and the placement of Aegean-4 was calculated very carefully. Our important reefs get all the light they need."
"Xetia is… it's sort of like the twilight zone on Earth," the Doctor explained to Clara, "Where all the bioluminescent fish hang out."
"I've never understood why they glow when it's so dark down there," Clara mused, "Doesn't it attract predators?"
"No, it's camouflage. Don't you listen to Cameron when he talks about biology?"
"I don't listen to Cameron when he talks about anything," said Clara. She felt very strange discussing their day jobs while on a weekend getaway to an alien moon on the other side of the galaxy.
"Well, you can't see the tiny flecks of sunlight in the twilight zone, but the fish can, and them glowing like that makes them blend in with the sunbeams. It's neat. I'm surprised you don't know that when you like the sea so much," she turned and then added to Aio, "She grew up on the coast, on Earth."
"My parents went to Earth for their honeymoon," said Aio.
"Really?" Clara was surprised, "Is it far…?"
"It's a couple thousand lightyears away," said the Doctor, "I think a commercial cruise would take you about a week with the current state of warp drives. Where'd they go on Earth?"
"They always wanted to see the Mariana Trench. They've got photos."
"I've heard that Megalodons live in there – is that true?" Clara asked her wife.
"Not in this time period. D'you wanna go back and see when they did?"
"Um… not particularly. I don't really like sharks after that whole… thing…" she trailed off and the Doctor didn't continue their conversation, her attention waning and drifting back towards the window. Thinking about sharks was making Clara anxious again, which got progressively worse the deeper they went. They were far below Aegean-4 now, and though she thought she could see speckles of light in the distance she wasn't focused on them. She took the Doctor's hand.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked softly, whispering so only she could hear.
"Mm… I just… it's the sea, I don't know, I…" The Doctor squeezed her hand.
"It'll be alright. I've got you right here to keep an eye on me, Coo-Bear."
"Can I just ask something?" Aio interrupted. Clara looked at her expectantly. "The two of you… are you…?"
"We're married," they said at the same time.
"A human and a Time Lord? Is that normal?"
"Didn't realise you were prejudiced against inter-species relationships," Alexa quipped from near Sostan at the front of the sub.
"I'm not!" Aio protested, "It's just… is it allowed? The Doctor doesn't seem to like humans much. She doesn't seem to like anybody." The mysterious Doctor hiding in Xetia was not a people person, apparently.
"It's frowned upon," the Doctor said, "But, uh… they're basically all dead now. Nobody's left to tell me off."
"The Doctor might," said Sostan.
"Well, I think the Doctor quite likes Clara," she said, then decided to try and change the subject, "Y'know, I've always wanted to ride on a xetian spaceship, those things blow my mind. They're so heavy."
"They are?" asked Clara.
"Because of the water," Aio said, "Humans carry air around with them, we need the water."
"Not that mass is hugely important with faster than light travel," the Doctor added again, "When you reach a certain speed, all mass is infinite. Then you just gotta," she raised her hands (having to let go of Clara's) and lightly punched her own palm, "Break through. Unless you're really clever and you build a machine that exists everywhere and everywhen at once, of course."
"Who'd ever be that clever?" Clara joked a little.
"I'll call you when I find out." She turned towards the window again and a grin split across her face. "There! You see?" she pointed, "That's what I'm talking about, a whole city at the bottom of the sea."
A smattering of vibrant lights swam towards them through the dark ocean, and it really was just as the Doctor described. A vast, sprawling city spread across the slopes of an underwater mountain with endless fields of glowing, coral reefs and strange, rocky buildings. There were other submarines and bathyspheres bobbing along above the rooftops and the crisscrossing streets, many of them of alien design and steadily ascending to go to Aegean-4 and the Platform. Then Clara began to make out the inhabitants themselves, xetians free from the bulky suits Sostan and Aio were wearing; humanoid cephalopods gliding between the plant life and the infrastructure – though the two were almost indistinguishable to her untrained eye. In all Clara's years travelling with the Doctor, she didn't think she had ever seen a place quite like Xetia.
"We should've brought Captain Nemo, he'd love this," said the Doctor as Nate piloted the sub down so it cruised above the crowds, approaching a metal structure that didn't fit in with the rest of Xetia.
"Captain Nemo doesn't have the capacity for emotion," said Clara, "And he pees out of his face."
"You're such a spoilsport," the Doctor dismissed her. She raised her voice to address the others, "What's that up ahead?"
"A dock, for the humans," Sostan answered. It had a few other submarines lingering there, but not many; less than half a dozen. They were buoyant and had chains keeping them tethered to the small dock.
"So, whereabouts do we find this Doctor?" asked the Doctor, "I wouldn't want to keep such a good friend waiting."
"In the caves," said Sostan as Nate brought the sub to a halt above the dock, "But you can't go straight in there, you need permission from Zono."
"We don't need to talk to Zono," said Aio. Sostan scoffed. "What?"
"Just because she doesn't approve of you hanging around with us," he remarked. Aio wasn't happy with that comment. Nate cut the engine. The Doctor was about to ask who Zono was, but the logistics of how they should all navigate the airlock quickly took over the conversation. It wasn't big enough for all six, so Sostan, Aio and Alexa went first because they said it was better for the two xetians to talk to Zono. That left Clara and the Doctor with only Nate for company.
"Who's Zono?" the Doctor asked as soon as she had the opportunity, the airlock closing behind the other three to let them out. Nate was checking the inside of his helmet was empty before he put it back on.
"Aio's mother," he said shortly, "She's the ambassador to Aegean-4, it's her job to try and fix this problem with the sqwills."
"And what's your stake in the whole sqwill-thing?" the Doctor pressed him for information. He was not willing to give it, however, and simply refused to answer.
"Do you have a comm-link in those fancy suits? You'll need one to hear anybody out there," said Nate.
"Yes, I'll just deal with that now… if I could just remember which of these pockets…" the Doctor fumbled with the spacesuit. Both of their suits were ancient now, covered in marks and scars from where they had been repaired over and over again over the years. The Doctor had a bad habit of putting stickers on hers, though, almost entirely ones bearing activist political slogans. Eat the Rich, No Nukes, Make Love Not War. Clara didn't think they would survive the deep water.
Finally, the Doctor found her sonic screwdriver in a holster specifically designed to keep screwdrivers in them. Clara was surprised the Doctor had remembered to move the screwdriver somewhere sensible.
"Those things aren't waterproof, are they?" asked Clara.
"This one is," said the Doctor, "Well, it's meant to be, it hasn't been rigorously tested in deep water. Not like the last one." Which Clara had possession of, though she'd left it in the TARDIS for that very reason. "Actually, the last one was also meant to be made of sturdy stuff, after that shark ate it. Not the sharks in Belfast, one on this other planet – Ember. A flying shark."
"A flying shark…?" asked Clara. The Doctor didn't answer, instead pointing the sonic screwdriver at the bulky, mechanical collar of the spacesuit. Clara heard a crackle and then a resounding buzz of feedback, then voices began to come through crystal clear. It sounded like an argument but was quickly interrupted.
"What was that?" It was Sostan.
"Just your friendly, neighbourhood Corsair," said the Doctor, her voice also coming through the speakers inside Clara's helmet.
"Well… the airlock's empty now, you can join us out here," said Sostan.
"Yes, please, introduce me to this renegade Time Lord you happen to have run across…" said a new voice.
"I'm the Corsair," said the Doctor, pushing a button on the collar so that the glass helmet curled out from the back, like the roof of a convertible, and locked in at the front. Clara didn't understand how the space helmets worked but wasn't one to question her sister's ingenuity. She put her helmet up too, the voices still coming through loud and clear across the newly established comm link. The trio clambered into the airlock after Nate opened the door.
"The Corsair?"
"Yes, and you must be Zono? The interspecies liaison for Xetia?" Nate pulled the door shut. They had to crouch in the very small airlock. An alarm sounded and it steadily began to fill with water.
"Yes."
"I like the personal touch of coming to meet visitors at the dock here, a lot of ambassadors would consider that kind of thing beneath them," said the Doctor.
"She's only here because of me," Aio grumbled.
"Aio, the situation has grown more complex-" Zono began softly.
"I understand the situation, I just-"
"I don't want you going to the surface anymore. Not until this can be remedied."
"You sound like such a politician," Aio argued. At that moment, she reminded Clara of Matilda.
"Divisions are only going to get worse if you ban people from going to the surface," Sostan argued.
"I'm not banning people; I'm protecting my daughter. You're too young to understand."
"Most of those humans up there are suffering because of the Aegeans just like we are," Sostan continued, ignoring her. Clara wondered how old they were; she didn't think Nate and Alexa could be more than twenty. The water rose above her helmet, submerging them all. It was very cold. "Someone needs to do something."
"I'm doing everything I can. You four are becoming a liability," Zono continued. The alarm sounded again, this time muffled by the water, and Nate opened the door. They clambered out to see Sostan, Aio and Alexa challenging Zono. They'd taken their helmets off now they were back in the sea.
"Bureaucracy isn't going to fix anything. They don't want to listen to us, we have to make them," Sostan was still raging, "We were just up there, and they had a… a… what was it they had?" he turned and asked the Doctor.
"Sonic barrier," she said, "Basically a forcefield that also blocks out soundwaves."
"You see?" said Sostan, "They won't even listen to us, as they parade a dead sqwill through the streets."
"Do you know why they had to dock at the side of the city, Sostan?" Zono said, "Because they were up there hunting and got attacked by a wrangler, and when someone went to help them – a reef farmer – he accidentally shot their fuel tank with a harpoon and they took that as an assault. Now I'm in the middle of an incident and you're not helping." Sostan finally shut up. Zono turned back to the Doctor and Clara. "You're the Corsair?"
"Absolutely, that's who I am, for definite," said the Doctor, smiling, "And this is Clara. Heard an old friend of mine is hanging around down here and thought I'd stop in and say hi – and I promised the kids here I'd take a look at your situation with the radio."
"The Corsair is a pirate," said Zono.
"But never a poacher," said the Doctor, "So, uh… and y'know, I've… dabbled with the old pirate radio, so, um…"
"Are you a Time Lord as well?" Zono asked Clara while the Doctor fumbled, trying not to get caught in a lie.
"No, I'm a human," said Clara, "From Earth."
"Really? I've been to Earth; we saw the Mariana Trench. Have you seen it?" On her honeymoon, as Aio had said.
"I have not, sadly," said Clara.
"I think it's the most romantic spot on the whole planet."
"Well, Niagara Falls might fight you on that," she joked. It wasn't very funny. "But, erm… the falls are overrated, to be honest. I think the best date I ever went on was bar hopping in New York all night."
"That's the best date you've ever been on?" the Doctor challenged her, "We've done that loads of times."
"When we broke into the Museum of Modern Art."
"Oh, right, that was…" she got lost in the memory for a second or two, then cleared her throat. "Anyway. Radios. The Doctor. She'll be dying to see me, I'm sure."
"…I can take you," said Zono, "But you four stay right here. I don't want that submarine going back to the surface until you understand the implications of your actions."
"We get it, you don't have to keep going on…" said Aio, exasperated.
"We'll get in touch if we need a ride back topside," said the Doctor as they trudged towards the steps down from the dock. Well, Nate and Alexa trudged, weighed down by their suits and the pressure; Aio and Sostan swam. Underwater, they moved just like an octopus would. "Kids, huh? Who needs them?"
"I understand their frustration, but it's a delicate matter," said Zono. They also descended from the docking platform but went in the opposite direction to the youths and towards the volcano the entire city was nestled into the slopes of.
"What're the juicy details, then? Lay it on me." Zono gave the Doctor a strange look. "We saw them bring the dead sqwill out." She didn't mention Sostan and his 'singularity bomb.'
"About a year ago the two brothers came to take over operations of Aegean-4, after an unfortunate accident with the previous city manager."
"Accident?" asked the Doctor as they reached street level. None of the xetians gave them a second look.
"Choked on a gold-coated truffle."
"They… that's a joke, right?" asked Clara.
"Why would it be a joke? Is it funny?"
"It's deeply ironic for the person in charge of a corporate hellscape like that to choke to death on a gold-coated truffle… not to laugh at the suffering of other people," said Clara. "Like when you hear a consultant cardiologist had a heart attack because he's eaten too much wagyu beef."
"I didn't realise the famous Corsair also travelled with a companion," said Zono.
"You've heard a lot about the Corsair, then?" asked the Doctor. Clara, by comparison, had heard nothing about the Corsair. "By which I mean me. As a Time Lord, I'm hugely arrogant and frequently talk about myself in the third person."
"It's true," said Clara, "She's always doing that."
"I've been interested in Time Lords ever since I met the Doctor, when I was a hatchling. He helped prevent the destruction of Pheran. Or, she now. Not that it's easy to find information on them anymore."
"No, the Doctor's really, uh… tried to make info scarce. But – tell me about how the Doctor then compares to the Doctor now, out of curiosity."
"Well…" Zono began as they walked, making slow progress. Clara felt like she was in an episode of SpongeBob, and desperately hated that that was the first thing that sprang to mind. Xetians drifted past them, around small gardens full of glowing plants with smaller, alien fish with three eyes darting around as well. "It's just… she didn't remember something she said to me. But it was a long time ago." The Doctor began to think about this, sinking into a silence.
"…How old are those kids, then?" Clara decided to ask a question now it looked like she had the opportunity.
"Only just old enough to drive that submarine. It was Nathan's father's, but he died recently."
"He did? Of what?"
"I'm not sure. There have been a lot of deaths in the city since the brothers took over from the last manager. They've relaxed a lot of safety laws."
"We've seen, almost everyone up there who works underwater has decompression sickness," said the Doctor. They were approaching a cave mouth now, signposted by bright, electric lights. "Which seems to be most of the people. But what about the sqwills, and the radio? Their poaching is a violation of intergalactic law."
"Yes, but our off-world communications haven't been working for the last few months. Nobody has been able to work out what's causing it."
"Do you think it's the Aegeans?"
"I couldn't say. If it was them, we would have no way to prove it. And the Doctor is looking into it."
"Yeah, well – if she's got too much on her plate, I'm more than happy to see if I can dig anything up."
"You already offered."
"I'm passionate about radios. I even suggested to my wife that we should get walkie-talkies to communicate with each other."
"Just get a phone," Clara muttered for the umpteenth time.
"I will not." Clara rolled her eyes. "Anyway, worse comes to worst, I'll just take my TARDIS to the Shadow Proclamation directly and tell them what's going on. Or I'll send Clara to do it. I think they want to arrest me, and I can't give them the opportunity."
"Sounds great…" said Clara.
"You keep those kids out of trouble if they do take you back to the surface," Zono advised, "Sostan's the ringleader, and he's reckless. I know he means well, but… he's not old enough to see the full picture yet." They entered the cave in the side of the volcano, the passage lit up by more LEDs.
"The sqwills, though," the Doctor reiterated, "Have you tried to talk to them about it?"
"I've tried, but they refuse to grant me a meeting. We try to stop them hunting, but there's only so much we can do. We can't arrest them, we don't have the facilities to house human prisoners, and we can't contact anybody else. But they just won't listen to reason."
"Has the Doctor tried to negotiate?"
"Oh, no. I wouldn't ask her to get involved in local politics like this."
"What, exactly, is she doing down here?"
"Studying the volcano, trying to help us improve the efficiency of our geothermal plant, and resolving a problem we have with chemical waste."
"Chemical waste?"
"I don't really understand the science. She has a lab assistant, Emix, to help her. One of our own. Oh, and she's excavating."
"Excavating?"
"To expand the plant."
"And you're just letting her?"
"She's the Doctor."
"Maybe people trust the Doctor a little too much…" The irony of this statement wasn't lost on either of them; Clara trusted the Doctor with every aspect of her life, and so did most people who met her. The closer they got to unravelling this mystery, the more enticing it was.
They passed a large cluster of glowing barnacles nestled on the wall, which reminded Clara of the strange barnacle Adam Mitchell had had growing on his arm for decades. It never got any bigger or changed, but if they removed it he'd have an un-heeling, open wound; such were the drawbacks of cryokinesis. Clara had to admit, despite her reservations about deep water, it was a beautiful city; even the caves were stunning, and she hoped they could help the people both in Xetia and Aegean-4 with all the issues plaguing them.
"You can't be here!" A xetian nearly crashed into them coming around a corner in the cave, swimming so fast that the Doctor and Clara had to dodge. "You can't."
"Emix, it's fine," said Zono as they twisted around in the water to face the group, "They're with me."
"No," said Emix, the Doctor's alleged lab assistant, "The Doctor isn't taking visitors at the moment. You should turn back."
"Nonsense," said the actual Doctor, putting her hands on her hips, "She's a friend of mine. I'm a Time Lord as well."
"It's really not a good time."
"This is the Corsair," said Zono, "She's just been on the surface, she thinks she can help with the communications problems and inform the Shadow Proclamation about the situation with the sqwill poaching."
"I…" Emix faltered, "She…"
"Please," the Doctor implored, "If she's the Doctor I know, she'll want to see me. And I swear I'll help with the sqwills if she's too busy with… whatever it is she's up to. Something very important, I'm sure."
"…She might see one visitor."
"And Clara," said the Doctor, "She comes everywhere with me."
"This is on my authority," said Zono, "I'm the liaison-"
"You're a diplomat, this is a much more sensitive…" Emix stopped talking and looked away for a second; Clara realised she had an earpiece on the side of her head. "I'm just… you have visitors… I know, that's what I – well, it's a Time Lord… the Corsair…" She was talking to 'the Doctor.' "Oh. Yes, I'll – alright…"
"Well?" Zono prompted.
"She says she wants to see the Corsair immediately."
"Of course she does," said the Doctor, "Why wouldn't she? I'm very likeable. Is it just this way, then? I can see myself in; c'mon, Coo." She grabbed Clara's arm through the water.
"We'll be in touch," Clara added hastily to Zono as they passed her in the tunnel.
"I'll be nearby. I have to go have some words with my daughter, in the meantime," said Zono as they separated. As the Doctor threatened to overtake Emix in her own domain, Emix – who was wearing one of the bulky suits like Aio and Sostan – swam ahead to lead them. It quickly became clear why she needed the suit; the water level began to get lower and they surfaced, climbing up a sloping passageway past more lights. Then Emix was at a disadvantage and could no longer swim, having to crawl along on tentacles.
The tunnels opened up into a cavern, within which an advanced laboratory was housed. Its most defining feature was a cylindrical structure running its length in a neat circle, propped up on makeshift metal legs and a little under two feet thick. Everything else of note was contained within the cylinder, and Clara saw an array of large tanks full of a substance glowing faintly blue. There were other tanks inside them, but they were silver and opaque. In the centre of the room was the person who presumably had been talking to Emix through her comms device, a woman with dark hair and a very severe expression. Her gaze fell upon the Doctor.
"These are the people who wanted to see you," said Emix tentatively. The woman narrowed her eyes.
"Leave us now," she ordered. Emix turned to them.
"She says you should-"
"No, you leave, Emix. Must you make me repeat myself? Anymore disobedience and you will forfeit the great privilege I am affording you; working alongside the Doctor herself." Emix fidgeted – she was clearly frightened, and Clara could see why just from their brief exchange. The Doctor didn't say a word as Emix disappeared back into the tunnel. The Time Lords waited until they heard the splash of her returning to the water to do anything, at which point the Doctor slapped the top of the cylinder like it was a car roof.
"Nice particle accelerator," she said, "A little bulky for my tastes, but I suppose if it gets the job done."
"My sources told me you were dead."
"You should get better sources, then. And maybe don't steal my identity if you don't want me to put a stop to your plan."
"What plan?"
"I don't know yet. I'll work it out, though," she ducked underneath the cylinder into the centre of the room.
"To think, for a moment I believed it was the Corsair paying a visit."
"Sorry to be a disappointment."
"Where is he these days?"
"Dead. I've seen his body. Bits of it, anyway." Clara didn't think she wanted the full story behind that – but who was this Time Lord? Not the Master, not the Corsair, and certainly not the Doctor.
"You should take better care of your associates."
"Uh-huh," said the Doctor, unconvinced. She seemed to have forgotten that Clara was in the room at all, at least up until that moment when she turned and glimpsed her out of the corner of her eye. "This is the Rani," she finally explained. Only then did the Rani realise there was someone else in the room. "An old… well, not friend… she's one of the most brilliant minds to ever come out of Gallifrey, and the most evil."
"Nonsense," said the Rani, "Evil implies malice, and I have no malice, only contempt. Contempt and disdain for these fetid creatures you insist on befriending."
"Then what could you be doing on Xetos? They think you're helping them."
"It's nothing you should concern yourself with," said the Rani.
"Really? Because I happened to stumble across a black hole bomb when I was up in the city," said the Doctor seriously, "Looks a lot like those gizmos on the table behind you. It's funny, because I clearly remember the last time we ran into each other, you needed my help to get your little experiment to work."
"I was assembling the greatest minds in the universe, you arrived by complete accident. And were fooled into helping me with a fancy-dress costume, if I remember clearly," the Rani jibed, turning away from the Doctor and Clara to focus on her devices.
"Why are you building those things? Are you sure it's worth the risk? You never were any good with thermodynamics." The Rani grimaced. "It didn't work, by the way – didn't detonate. Leave it to you to grossly miscalculate the entropy conversion rate of a locally generated micro-singularity."
"What was that? I didn't hear you."
"I said the entropy conversion rate was… hang on!" The Rani laughed coldly. "I won't fix your toys for you."
"So I need to re-examine the entropy conversion rate… thank you, Doctor. You've been a big help. I shan't make the same mistake again." The Doctor scoffed, irritated. "As always, your hubris is your downfall. If you fought this compulsion you have to appear as the most intelligent one in the room, you might be less predictable. That's my advice, to you."
"I'll be sure to take it on board," said the Doctor sarcastically. "But why give the bombs to those kids?"
"I didn't. I wouldn't let those insipid squids have access to my work, lest they create some sort of diplomatic incident and destroy that ridiculous, floating city." She paused, the Doctor waiting for an answer. "They stole it."
"From right under your nose?"
"No. I was elsewhere. I can't punish them the way I'd like without tarnishing your good name, and it's the only reason I have access to these facilities at all. Besides, if they blew themselves up, I wouldn't need to think about punishing them. But if you say the device didn't work I haven't lost much by the way of good science."
"But why do you need the singularity bombs at all?" the Doctor implored. The Rani did not deign to answer this question; it seemed like they were both very good at getting on each other's last nerve. Clara idled nearby, unsure of what she should be doing. But then the Doctor had an epiphany. "Oh, don't tell me you're using them to excavate!" The Rani, again, said nothing. The Doctor took that as a 'yes.' "Why don't you try to dig with something a little less volatile – like a stick of dynamite, or a nuke?"
"Sorry – she's using black holes to dig underneath a volcano!?" asked Clara in horror.
"It's futile for a human to try and understand the scope of my research. You yourself can hardly manage, Doctor," said the Rani, glaring at Clara.
"She's right," said the Doctor firmly, "You could trigger an eruption that could destroy both cities. And for future reference, don't ever speak about her like that again, or you'll make me even angrier than I already am." The Rani only laughed again.
"You have always gotten too attached to these pets."
"Is that the tunnel over there?" the Doctor pointed at a dark alcove on the far side of the cavern, beyond the rim of the particle accelerator and the workstation the Rani was currently using.
Clara was alarmed when the Doctor took off running towards the dark corner and didn't know whether she should follow. She took a few steps around the outside of the circular tubes but stopped dead when the Rani picked up a blaster from the cluster of machinery on the table. So did the Doctor, because she was the one the gun was being aimed at. The Doctor froze and raised her hands in surrender, but still craned her neck to get a look at the alcove over her shoulder.
"I see why you need the bombs, that tunnel is pretty rock solid if you ask me," she said, and then she began to enunciate very clearly, "It's a shame you can't walk through walls."
"Yes. Quite." The Rani put down the harpoon gun as the Doctor backed away from her, towards the blueish tanks of liquid. Clara, however, needed to go into action, because that hadn't been a snide comment: it had been an instruction. The Doctor wanted her to sneak through the rock and investigate where the Rani could not.
"Tell me about the radios," said the Doctor, "Are you going to fix them?"
"Why should I fix something that works in my favour? It keeps the Shadow Proclamation out of my way, which I am truly grateful for."
"It's not your doing?" The Rani put down the tools she was fumbling with and turned to face the Doctor directly, scrutinising her. She was trying to decide whether she should tell the truth.
"No. It's a – what is it the humans say? 'Happy coincidence.'"
"Serendipity," said the Doctor. "Do you know what the problem is? Do you have any transmission equipment down here?" She glanced around the cavern, doing a quick survey of all the items present. She couldn't see anything designed for communications, though.
"The interior of a volcano isn't the best place for sending long-range transmissions. But by all means, investigate the radios if it will keep you away from me," the Rani explained. "Do be careful not to catch 'the Blues,' as they call it."
"And what do you know about that?"
"I avoid the surface. Xetians are pitiful enough, but humans? They're so… insular."
"Well, that's never been my experience," said the Doctor, more to herself. She ambled over to peer at the vats of blue liquid, pulsing with radiation; she could taste it on the air.
"How old are you now?"
"A little over twelve-hundred." The Rani didn't make a quip; the Doctor assumed this meant they were still the same age. If she was significantly older she would lord it over the Doctor, she wouldn't be able to resist.
"And how much of that time have you spent gallivanting with those apes?" The Doctor didn't answer this, she only laughed a little to herself. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"You're smirking." The Doctor didn't think she was actually doing anything with the tools on her table, just using them to pretend like she was busy when really she was watching the Doctor's every move.
"I wasn't. What's your goop, anyhow? What're you growing in here?" the Doctor inquired about the big vats, knocking on the glass.
"Don't touch those," the Rani snarled.
"Ooh, must be something exciting if you're so protective," said the Doctor. She clambered up onto the base the tanks were stored on, much to the Rani's dismay, so that she could get a look into them directly. "It's sad that I'm not taller these days."
"Get down from there," the Rani ordered her as she lifted off the lid of the vat, which she carelessly let fall to the floor. Then she could lean on the rim to keep herself steady. "I'll shoot you."
"Oh, please," the Doctor ignored her and tugged off one of her spacesuit gloves, detaching it from the airtight seal (so much more convenient than those one-piece suits) and dipping her hand into the liquid. It was water, with extra toppings. She licked her finger. "Mm, tastes like a whole lot of caesium-137 with just a dash of plutonium-250. I gotta say, it's not what I would choose for a mixer."
"Get down, you imbecile," the Rani dragged her elbow, so she was forced to jump off the base rather than come toppling down on top of her old friend.
"Cherenkov radiation always has a kick to it."
"I will not allow you to mangle my work."
"You're doing a pretty swell job of mangling it yourself, don't stop on my account."
"And what is this ghastly thing?" The Rani grabbed the Doctor's wrist and pulled her hand up to her eye level. The Doctor had made a mistake and removed her left glove, and now the Rani had spotted her wedding ring.
"Oh, that…? It's just, um…" She neither wanted to lie or tell the truth – truly stuck between a rock and a hard place…
Elsewhere, Clara was having a very different experience. At the Doctor's prompt, she had snuck around behind the glowing, blue vats of chemical and towards the rock tunnel in the midst of its excavations. She didn't really like trying to navigate tunnels intangibly, but she didn't have to worry about that for long. The tunnel blockage was only a few feet thick. Promptly she found herself in another cave, smaller than the one the Rani had set up her laboratory in, but with inferior airflow. She put her helmet back on along with the comms, able to listen to what the Doctor was saying in her absence in case they needed to make a quick getaway. They were only talking about the radios.
There were some pieces of equipment littering the cave, another electric light that was still turned on. It was a large floor lamp that had been knocked over in what she presumed was a cave-in, probably caused by these 'excavations', and Clara hauled it upright so she could get a better look around.
Then she spotted what was so interesting about these caves: there were large bones half-buried in the rock. They were rust-coloured rather than the white bones Clara was used to, but bones nonetheless. The Rani was digging up a fossil, but why? And why perform violent excavations with black hole bombs if she wanted to preserve a valuable asset? Clara couldn't make sense of it, but perhaps the Rani was right about the 'scope of her research.'
"What's your goop, anyhow?" the Doctor said over the comms. Clara crouched down next to the bones to get a closer look. Could she take any of them? A small piece the Rani might not notice her carrying out? She didn't really want to snap a piece off, but maybe she would have to so that she could show the fossils to the Doctor.
A a memory came over Clara; she remembered their trip to Yellowstone, spelunking in the sulphur-filled caves of the caldera looking for an extinct mega-bear. That thing had almost been a fossil, too. It was human bodies they found in those caves, though. The Doctor was talking about isotopes.
She spied what looked to her untrained eye like a skull. At least, it had a big, circular depression in it nearly a metre across but was risen out of the grown like a miniature volcano of its own. If there was a skull, there would probably be teeth, and teeth were something she could take. She was left with no alternative but to phase her arm through the ground and feel around blindly for anything she could retrieve. This was difficult because it was very hard to tell what was rock and what was bone, and she couldn't pick and choose which substances she passed through. The bone felt hollower though, the difference between dragging her arm through water or through gravy; acute, but definitely there, and she was finally able to dislodge something. Deftly, Clara brought her hand back to the air and discovered she had successfully pulled out a tooth. It was the weirdest tooth she had ever seen, it looked like two teeth morphed together, crisscrossing and coming to a very sharp point.
"And what is this ghastly thing?"
"Oh, that…? It's just, um…"
"Every time I see you, you become more of a degenerate. You would tie yourself to a human?" the Rani asked. Uh-oh. Clara needed to get back. She got to her feet, tooth in hand, and slipped away through the rockface again.
"It's not a crime to fall in love," the Doctor defended herself, wrenching her hand free of the Rani's grasp and pulling her glove back on.
"In love?" the Rani sneered, "With who? The girl?" The Doctor said nothing. The Rani glanced around the room. "Where has it gone, the child you are apparently so infatuated with?"
"She's not a child. She's… older than she looks."
"Dear lord, what have you done?"
"I haven't done anything," she lied.
"And here I thought you couldn't bring any more shame down on Gallifrey. I always knew you would give in and start fornicating with the creatures eventually – I hope you know they have no higher thought, only impulses. If you think it loves you, I pity you, Doctor." Clara emerged from the tunnel while the Doctor fumbled over her words.
"You don't – I – she's – you-"
"Funny, I've never seen you at a loss for words before. You can't think of a thing to say in defence of your new bride?" The Doctor just made an enraged noise in response to that.
"Interesting fossils you've got back there," Clara interrupted.
"Excuse me?" the Rani asked.
"In the cave," Clara nodded in the tunnel's direction, "Sorry – did she not mention? I can walk through walls." She kept the tooth hidden firmly in her fist as she walked around the outside of the cylinder to get back to the entrance. The Doctor saw what she was doing and also backed away from the Rani.
"If your pet has disturbed my research-"
"I'm not her pet," said Clara, "Although, we do do a lot of petting. Of the heavy variety. But, please, call me a degenerate if it makes you feel better about yourself." Clara was done being timid around the Rani if her relationship was being called into question. "I think it's about time for us to leave."
"And you do as she tells you? You bend to the whims of a fickle organism like this?"
"We can both be quite bendy in the right circumstances," said Clara. The Doctor ducked underneath the particle accelerator again to leave.
"Eurgh. Not just a human, but a repugnant one at that."
"It was nice to meet you as well!" Clara called, "My name is Clara, by the way. Always good to use people's names when you insult them behind their back, I think." The Rani only scoffed again, dismissing them both, and it was down to Clara to pull the Doctor out of the cavern by her hand. It was like she was shell-shocked, didn't say a word. In fact, it was worse than that, she was barely even there; it was Clara who pressed the button to get her helmet to re-emerge as they slipped back into the water when she failed to do so herself.
She did not have time to ask the Doctor what was the matter, however, because they were assailed by Zono as soon as they were beneath the surface.
"I'm so glad you're back," she said, "I need your help– Emix was refusing to go and retrieve you, and I haven't got a suit nearby."
"I can't interrupt the Doctor when she's working," said Emix, who had been standing guard in the tunnel apparently for the entire time they had been in there, "She ordered me to leave." Zono was clearly annoyed by this, but it sounded like they'd been having the argument for a while.
"What's going on?" asked the Clara when the Doctor didn't.
"The kids, they've gone back to the surface, they're threatening to protest one of Aegean-4's sponsors," Zono explained quickly, beckoning for them to follow her out of the volcano, "If it's not too much trouble, can you make sure they don't do anything reckless?"
"Of course," said Clara, "Where did they go?"
"Something about Milky Way Shakes, I'm not sure what they're planning… they might just picket, or they might try something more radical… I can't be seen meddling in things in the city, I-" she was panicking.
"It will be fine," Clara said firmly, "The Corsair and I will go and make sure no one gets hurt." The Doctor mumbled something in the affirmative. "How do we get to the surface without their submarine?"
"You'll have to take one of the public bathyspheres, I'll show you," Zono explained, leading them away, "What happened with the Doctor?"
"Just, um… you know how it is when you haven't seen someone for years. Awkward." That was an understatement. "Like a school reunion." Bad joke. "…Bathyspheres, then?"
"Right this way…"