Cold Blood - Part Three

Chaos unfolded around me rapidly the moment Restac gave her command. I was unchained and forcefully led to the space directly in front of the holographic screen. In the haste of it all I tripped on a small step and wound up on my knees before the team of warriors all with their guns at the ready. All around me people were pleading with Restac for my life.

"She doesn't speak for us!" Rory shouted, referring to Ambrose.

"There's no need for this," the Doctor said.

"She's only sixteen!" Amy pleaded.

Restac gave the order to take aim, and I found myself staring into four blasters. My heart was doing backflips and my breathing grew more rapid. I frantically looked from Amy to the Doctor, then up to Thomas on the screen.

"Don't do this!" he commanded in a voice that send shivers up my spine, but it was no use. Restac gave the order that everyone in the room was dreading.

"Fire!"

I screwed my eyes shut, bowed my head and braced myself for what would come when a new voice rang out with a single demand.

"STOP!"

Everything came to a halt as I looked up to see Malokeh enter the courtroom accompanied by another Silurian. He appeared older and must've held a higher rank going by his attire; silken robes of red, yellow and black in a geometric pattern flowed as he and Malokeh walked forward.

"You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" he asked. Restac turned to offer an explanation to the new arrival.

"The apes were attacking us," she said.

"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them." The higher ranking Silurian stopped at the far end of the table.

"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane."

"Well then, you must shoot me."

Tensions rose as Restac crossed the room to confront Malokeh, quite obviously furious about being undermined. With a subtle wave of his hand, Eldane gave the order for us all to be unchained. I rose to my feet slowly with a hand from Amy which I was quite thankful for. Near-death experiences are hell on the knees, as it turns out. After a few deep breaths though, I regained my composure.

"You were about to die via firing squad, how can you be so calm?!" Amy asked as I leaned against one of the columns.

"Amy, I'm from the Bible Belt of America," I said in a matter of fact tone, "People open carried to go grocery shopping."

"Fair point," she nodded, watching Restac exit the courtroom, "Looks like there's a new sheriff in town."

"Looks like it. Seems a bit more of the diplomatic type too so that's a plus."

Eldane and the Doctor were conversing as Mo and Nasreen were released; and as we all started to walk towards the tableside benches, the Doctor got the hologram running again.

"—get down there," Rory was in the middle of talking when the connection was established.

"Rory, hello!" the Doctor greeted, waving to the group still on the surface. Rory was about to say something when he was shoved aside by his brother.

"Doctor, where's Ginny?" Thomas asked worriedly. I walked up quickly to join the Doctor in frame.

"I'm fine Tom! Sorry for scaring you like that!" I said, giving a quick thumbs up as I saw the anxiety leave his face. I could've stayed looking at his smiling face for all time if the Doctor hadn't gently nudged me out of frame.

"Sorry you two, no time to chat right now," he said as I took a seat next to Amy, "Listen, you need to get down here. Go to the drill storeroom. There's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble technology. It's how they travel and frankly, it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash. Hurry up."

After giving two thumbs up to the surface dwellers he ended the transmission and focused his attention on the four of us; Eldane, Amy, Nasreen, and myself.

"I'd say you've got a fair bit to talk about," he said.

"How so?" Eldane asked.

"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it."

"Are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?"

"Me? No," the Doctor then snapped his fingers and pointed to the three of us, "But they are."

I quickly glanced a look to Amy and Nasreen and yep, they were just as confused as I was. Nasreen and I were quick to question the Doctor's choice in ambassadors, each of us offering a quick "What?" and "Huh?" in response.

"No, we're not," Amy scoffed.

"Course you are! Amy Pond, Nasreen Chaudhry and Ginny Parks speaking for the planet?" the Doctor walked up behind us to offer a reassuring pat on the back, "Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?"

Amy got up from her spot between me and Nasreen and went to stand next to the Doctor.

"Is this what happens in the future?" Amy asked, "The planet gets shared. Is that what we need to do?"

She was clearly trying to whisper but the acoustics in the courtroom were doing her no favors. Nasreen quickly took note of this and rose from her seat to ask for some clarification.

"Er, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, Nasreen, sorry. Probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy, Ginny and I travel through time a bit."

Nasreen took this revelation surprisingly well. Then again, given everything she'd seen today alone I doubt there was much left that could really surprise her.

"Anything else?" she asked, to which I figured I'd drop another mind-blower.

"I'm from a parallel universe," I said, rocking back and forth on my heels waiting for a reaction. But other than a couple raised eyebrows and a nod, I got nothing. "Damn, nothing gets past you now, does it?"

Nasreen laughed slightly and shook her head. I returned to my seat across from Eldane as the Doctor took a few steps back.

"There are fixed points through time where things must stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity," he explained, "A temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you, here, now."

Despite knowing what was to come, and how this was doomed from the start, I couldn't help but feel inspired by the Doctor's words. The man could talk his way out of a locked box and have the box ready to turn a new leaf. I'm not sure why, but in that moment I felt particularly proud to be traveling with him.

"So do good. For humanity, and for Earth." he finished.

Amy clasped her hands together and came to sit next to me, her eyes widening slightly as she looked over to me.

"Right. No pressure at all then, yeah?" she asked me.

"None at all, Pond. None at all," I said, raising my hand for a high-five which she quickly reciprocated.

"But we can't share the planet!" Nasreen said, putting forth a realist's perspective, "Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It's just too big a leap."

"Come on," the Doctor encouraged her, "Be extraordinary."

Nasreen didn't say anything in response, but going by the big smile on the Doctor's face it would seem as though he got through to her. She then sat next to Amy on the far end of the bench and folded her hands on the table, ready to negotiate for the planet.

"Okay," the Doctor slammed his hand against the basalt tabletop like a court gavel, "Bringing things to order. The first meeting of representatives of the human race and Homo Reptilia is now in session," he laughed after making his statement, "Never said that before. That's fab. Carry on!" He then turned his attention to Mo and Malokeh who were still standing by the courtroom entryway. "Now, Mo. Let's go get your son."

The three of them then walked back out the entryway, leaving the four of us alone to discuss the division of Earth.

"Now, before we begin, I'd like to offer my apologies for Restac. Her actions by no means define who we are as a species," Eldane stated, "But that isn't to say she was without reason."

"You're quite right, sir," I said, reaching forward to shake Eldane's hand, "I'm sure that if roles were switched humanity would have acted quite similarly. And on behalf of the people gathered today, I'd like to offer an apology for damaging your oxygen pockets."

"Quite well spoken for a juvenile. Now then, my people lived on the surface long before yours did. Our sole purpose has been to return to our rightful place."

"And we've got a planet that already can't sustain the people who live there," Nasreen chimed in, "And you want to add a whole other species to drain resources and take up space."

The seismologist made a fair point. By this point there had to be eight billion human beings on Earth, so adding a new race of the same population to the planet certainly was something to be worried about.

"What if we were to open the underground dwellings up to humanity?" I asked, "I mean, I understand that your people wouldn't exactly be in a rush to come back underground, but many humans are fascinated by caves and would be more than enthused to relocate. This building alone proves that subterranean habitation is possible."

"Yes, that's all well and good Ginny, but what about the people who don't want to go underground?" Nasreen asked, "There's hardly enough room on the surface as it is, and the majority of people probably don't want to live underground."

"What about the areas that aren't habitable to us?" Amy asked, using the holograph dial to load in a globe which she began spinning, "Australian outback, Sahara desert, Nevada plains. They're all deserted."

"And they're all deserts, Amy. Not all members of Homo Reptilia are probably equipped for an arid desert climate. We should also think about some more locations in a more tropical climate."

"Yes, fine, but what happens when their population grows, and breeds, and spreads?" Nasreen asked, ever the realist, "And anyway, what benefit does humanity get, and how will we ever sell this to people on the surface?"

"If I could get a word in, maybe I could tell you," Eldane chimed in, drawing our attention towards him, "You give us space, we can bring new sources of energy, new methods of water supply, new medicines, scientific advances. We were a great civilization. You provide a place for us on the surface, we'll give you knowledge and technology beyond humanity's dreams. If we work together, this planet could achieve greatness."

I nodded slowly and smiled, picturing a future in my mind where against all the odds this did end up working out. Humanity and Homo Reptilia standing as equals, each benefiting from Earth's gifts and ushering in a new age of prosperity.

"Okay, now I'm starting to see it," Nasreen said, likely having a similar idea to what I was imagining. Amy excitedly began drumming on the table.

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, followed by single applause coming from the entryway. I turned to find the Doctor, joined by Mo and Elliot walking in to join us.

"Not bad for a first session," the Doctor said, "More similarities than differences?"

"Most definitely, Doc," I said, rising from my seat to stretch. A sudden whirring noise further down the hall caught my attention.

"The transport has returned. Your friends are here," Eldane announced.

Okay, I thought, knowing what their arrival really meant, Now it starts.

Wow! Two chapters in one day! This is certainly a change from a near five year long hiatus... I thought I'd treat y'all because a few days ago was the 10 year anniversary of me first publishing this fic! It's really incredible that after a decade people are still reading this story, and it's wild to look back on those earlier chapters and see how far I've come as a writer. Anyways, I hope you've been enjoying Ginny's journey so far, because it's only gonna get better from here!