The Doctor quickly dropped the Data Pad, and grabbed hold of his granddaughter's hand. All but dragging her as he ran. Rose was hot on their heels, for all of a moment.
"This way!" The Blonde appeared in front of them and made a sharp turn. The Doctor followed, still grasping his granddaughter.
Rose found a door and, without hesitation (or even stopping to see if it was locked), kicked it in. Then ushered them inside. Once they were all in, they quickly closed what turned out to be double doors.
As the Doctor looked for something to brace them. Susan touched the frame. The wood began to twist and grow. Twigs expanded out as the door fused together and became one with the wall.
The Doctor huffed in disapproval, "Magic really should be left to the priest."
"Sorry, Grandfather." Susan looked down, in shame.
Rose scoffed, "Your granddaughter likely saved our lives and you scold her?"
"I'll have you know." a voice came from behind them. "Most species believe it is the fundamental right of all Sapient beings to practice magic." The group spun around to see Professor Song with her team.
"Really now? Then I wonder why the actual study is limited to those who can afford it." The Doctor countered.
Song sighed, "Damn your hard work young. I thought you were stubborn as an adult." She tentatively walked over to the man child, "Is there anything in particular you were running away from, dear medical student?"
"The lights were cutting out." Susan quickly said, mostly to keep her Grandfather on task, instead of getting flustered over the playful banter.
"Likely a malfunction in the station's environment systems." The Doctor brushed off, "Must be what the AI was trying to warn us about. If something damaged the automated repair Command Mode, things would be less then safe around here. Could also explain why the AI is so scrambled."
A plump, bolding man, stepped forward, "The Repair Mode has hundreds of redundancies to insure that wouldn't happen."
"Well it seems it did anyway." The Doctor scoffed. "Everything goes wrong eventually."
The man bristled. Looking truly offended.
"Why are you taking it so personally?" The Doctor huffed.
"I'm Strackman Lux!" The man glared, "My family built this library. Miss Evangelista!"
A short, absolutely gorgeous, woman was instantly by the man's side, "I'm Mister Lux's personal... everything." She seemed very self conscious. Not at all behaving like someone so beautiful, and who should know it. She was acting kinda shy and timid. "I need you to sign these forums, acknowledging that your individual experience are the..." she paused as she tried to remember what she was suppose to say, "The sole intellectual property of the Lux Foundation."
"I don't particularly care for people trying to claim ownership of my experiences," The Doctor eyed. "And what, pray tell, is a 'forum'?"
River smiled, "Humans are rather big fans of bureaucracy, and verbal agreements aren't binding in a court of law, without proof. So they like to have it in writing."
"How utterly ridiculous." The Doctor huffed.
Lux stepped up, "My family built this library. I have rights."
"I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with humanoid 'rights'," The Doctor waved off. "Nor do I even understand what you hope to gain from me signing a piece of paper."
Rose spoke up, "Sounds like he wants to have your word you won't talk about what you learn about the library. At least, not until he is ready to make it public knowledge."
"Is that it?"
"Well you would face legal trouble if you break the contract." Rose explained, "But good luck having them make good on that."
"And how do you figure?" Lux glared.
Rose shrugged, "Our governments don't have any treaties with your civilization. Which makes us signing a piece of paper all but worthless."
Lux scuffed, "All humanoids fall under the jurisdiction of the Empire."
Rose then pointed at the Doctor and Susan, "Time traveling aliens," then at herself. "Dimension hopper."
Lux visibly slumped, before pinching the bridge of his nose. Time travel had been in existence for 2000 years. Yet depending on the time period they came from, they were exempt from most laws, like legally binding contracts. Only the Time Agency had the authority to police Time Travelers in anything.
Where as dimension hopping was even worse. Such technology was so new the law hadn't caught up with science. It's not like they even had so much as trade agreements with most interdimensional civilizations.
"Regardless," River got the crowds attention. "If the station is malfunctioning, I think it's best if we go back to my ship and get you three," She nodded at the Time Travelers and Dimension hopper, "Some suits."
"We're in a bit of a hurry." Lux scoffed, looking around. "Let's take the teleport." He nodded at the gift shop in the back of the port." Should save us about a half an hour walk."
The Doctor smiled, "Excellent! Then we can get to making repairs and reopening your family's legacy!" he rubbed his hands eagerly.
Lux actually gave a light smile at that. Which was ruined by Rose.
The young woman sighed, "I was honestly hoping for something a bit more exciting then repairing a Command Mode."
"Non sense!" The Doctor waved off. "What exactly did you expect? Monsters running through the library?"
River smirked well Rose said, "Kinda, yeah."
"I'll be sure not to disappoint you next time." River promised.
The group walked towards the shop, spotting the Teleports in the back.
"We should run a diagnostic on the beam before using it." The Doctor advised, "If the Main Repair Mode has been damaged, we can't risk using the device all willy nilly."
River blinked, "You actually think things through as a child." as she pulled something off her belt.
The Doctor was about to snap at her... when he stopped and looked at what she was holding. "A sonic screwdriver..." he awed.
River smirked, imagining it was a shock for him to see anyone else use such a device.
"May... may I see it?" The Doctor asked hesitantly.
River continued to smile as she handed it over.
The Doctor studied it a moment, rotating it in his hands, his face in pure awe. "I never imagined the technology would develop so far."
Anita blinked , "What's the big deal, it's just a pocket scanner, right?"
The Doctor turned towards the dark skinned woman. "My dear, I invented this... back when I was a school boy. It uses the manipulation of sonic vibrations to interact with near anything... Never could figure out how to make it work with wood. It just doesn't vibrate enough... I made it for a science fair project... it was the last..." the Doctor trailed off.
"The last what Doctor?" Rose asked well River frowned.
The Doctor looked over at her, his eyes slightly misty, "The last project my mother ever helped me with... she died just after it was completed... I couldn't even bring myself to enter the thing in the fair... skipped it entirely... I can't imagine what could possess me to let this technology out of my grasp." it meant far too much...
River was staring at the Doctor, a calculating expression. Then decided to explain, incase the Doctor assumed he had no choice but to release the technology one day due to a time paradox.
"You didn't." River gently took the screwdriver back, holding it out and running the scan on the teleporter, "Oh, there are those that attempt to make copies of the technology. Though without a real blue print, they are all just cheap knockoffs. The true secrets, and all the ideas and improvements you will one day make, are safely kept in your hands. Though, on occasion, you have been known to give one of your devices to people you really trust."
Rose eyed River, using the screwdriver... hearing the explanation... and couldn't help but feel jealous. Yes the Doctor had let Rose use his Sonic, and she supposed she should feel honored if her Doctor had the same backstory with the device... but the Doctor never made one for her... never told her how it worked... and she had asked... but nothing...
"Who are you?" Rose was shocked to see it was the Doctor asking and not herself.
"How could anyone be so important to me?" now the Doctor eyed her with a great deal of... worry... the only person he had ever given a sonic to... was the Master... he didn't like to think of the idea that he could just move on from what he had with the Master.
They had known each other since they were small. They had run away together... experienced their early childhood together... had a child together... it had taken losing the child to drive them apart... how could anyone measure up to that? How could he allow such a thing?
"Spoilers." River just smiled. Forcing herself to remain strong for the Medical Student.
"That's not good enough." The Doctor glared.
"It will have to be." River finished her scan.
"I will not be dismissed as an annoying child!" The Doctor glared. "I demand to know!"
River sighed, looking back at her confused crew, then at the Doctor, "We can talk about this once we are at the ship." leaving no room for arguement, she pointed her sonic back at the controls of the Teleport. Having learned it was safe, she widened the beam, and teleported the whole group back to the ship, herself included.