Chapter 81

Push and Pull Factors.

Raven washed more water down the plants stem. The water trickled in the low light of the dozen or so candles she had floating in the air around her room. The curtains were drawn despite it being so bright outside. She didn't like the light, she felt happier in the dark, she felt happy when she couldn't see the world around her. This room was her world and she'd dressed it up the way she wanted, dim, dark, giving off a feeling of foreboding, there was also a musky smell too which added to the macabre atmosphere. This was her space and she liked everything inside, everything, except for this stupid weed. This yellow and green weed. She hated green, she hated yellow. They felt 'warmer' than dark blue. It gave off a false sense of kindness and security. Look deep into how the plant functions and you see the darkness, the parasites which feed off it, the disgusting viruses, the pores and pits which, if magnified, would look like a scary alien world. Everything was creepy, if you looked deep enough. Raven just chose not to hide her creepiness from the world. Was she dangerous, was she evil? She didn't thing so. She just saw the world a different way, but it was a view of the world people found upsetting to their own sensibilities. She was fascinated by the dark and mysterious that most people reviled. Which is why the presence of this potted plant irritated her so. It stood out like a sore thumb in her little shrine to the dark.

Raven had been 'looking after' this plant for the best part of a week and whatever lesson Azar was trying to teach her, it just wasn't coming to her. Did he just give her this task to get her off of his back? Was he hoping she'd look so deep into this that she'd find an answer, or at least some bullshit answer that didn't really answer anything?

Raven was cynical, yeah, so sue her. She'd been reading plenty of popular books from Earth, some of which put doubts into Raven's head about 'wise people.' Were they really, truly wise or is it all just hype? Speak vaguely enough and ignorant people will look into it for years to decipher the words. Eventually, you'd find an answer, but that didn't mean the wise guy had the answer in the first place. If it wasn't for the fact that Azar was her tutor and seemed more tolerant of her differences than the other monks she'd probably have just dismissed him entirely. She'd just nod her head with his teachings while underneath she'd resent them.

Still, she poured more water over the plant. It was a weed, it was tough, it was resilient, it would survive so much and still remain standing. Did it matter if she watered it? She guessed the answer was yes, a weed might be tough but it could still dry out and die.

With it sufficiently watered Raven placed it on her desk, folded her arms and looked at this yellow flower. She raised her hands and waved her fingers to channel power. She muttered a string of spells in a language long dead. With intense focus she forced the weed to turn from yellow, to dark blue, and then to black. Now that was more like it. She liked how it looked like the shadow of the plant rather than the plant itself.

She held the head of the little flower between her fingers and stared into it's void-like, dark petals, they were almost hypnotic now. Gently, she rubbed the petals again like it was some cute, little creature.

But disappointment followed as the blackness began to crack and wilt away as the yellow of the flower broke through to shine brightly again.

Raven's fingers gripped tightly around the head of this weed and she was tempted to pull its head off for daring to disobey her. She'd pulled the stem to it's breaking point. But she stopped pulling and allowed the stem to relax as she forced her own frustration down. She'll try again later, and hopefully make the change permanent. If she had to keep this flower in her own, dark space then it would bend to her will and become what she wants.

As they flew to their destination the Doctor decided to find out why so many people defected to join Big Dog's pirate crew. Raven was tempted to just sit and meditate, but the Doctor twisted her arm to make her be more sociable. It didn't take much social skill to make them all talk about their problems, it sounded like they all wanted to say this stuff for a long time, but for some reason could not.

It was all very political, and for the most part Raven kind of blanked out. God, politics was just so boring, and people seemed to get really needlessly emotional about it all. But to sum it all up. Some felt the Earth establishment wasn't listening to them anymore, treating them like they didn't matter, or that they were disposable or even just an inconvenience to be brushed aside for more 'important things'. Instead, the establishment were focusing, and favouring, and tailoring everything to new commers and refugees from the war. Those words 'new commers' and 'refugees' weren't very descriptive, but she quickly caught on it was a polite way of saying 'aliens'. Going by just their words they all said they had no problem with alien species living on their planet side by side, they just felt their own concerns were not treated as important enough by the Government to address as those of the newcomers. Their concerns and complaints were dismissed as just prejudice or just 'human issues,' so they could be dismissed in the eyes of the Government and the media. They all spoke these words in a familiar and dismissive tone Raven recognised.

"We don't care what you think, you're just a demon!" Echoed a common slur from the past in Raven's head. She could understand being dismissed purely because of where you came from.

What did kind of surprise Raven was this was a common complaint by some of the aliens too. Apparently, they too would tell the Government their concerns and complaints, and they felt like their concerns were being dismissed as just more 'human issues' despite the fact they were aliens.

That was bizarre, and the demon girl didn't know if she believed it or not.

But the one thing that got under everyone's skin, human and alien alike, was the heavy restriction of something called the Galax-Net. Like the internet of the 20th century, but much more expansive. It apparently allowed everyone to talk to each other via social networks over super-lightspeed connections. But Earth Alliance began snooping on peoples private conversations, and when people began saying things the Earth Alliance didn't like then there were heavy consequences. Character assassinations, -misquoting and wilfully misrepresenting what one has said to paint them as something nasty.- Yeah, welcome to my world. Heavy fines, and imprisonment were the preferred methods to maintain control of the populace and manage their 'thoughts'.

It all sounded very 1984 to Raven, and she honestly hoped such a civilisation would never come into existence. But apparently, it did for the Earth Alliance, they just got the date wrong.

"Is Earth Alliance really like that?" Raven had asked the Doctor. He just shrugged.

"I don't know. It could all be propaganda. Perhaps they really do believe it, but it's not as bad as all that. Allowing everyone to communicate so well is a marvellous thing. Knowledge and wisdom can be spread through the galaxy and for such a low price. However, what can also spread are falsehoods, lies and cons, and the saying goes, 'A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can finish tying it's shoe laces.'" The Doctor said as he played with his yo-yo. "The lie just has to have a kernel of truth in order for it to take a hold in someone's mind. Or perhaps the politicians have grown out of touch with their common voters and are following their own quests to do what they firmly believe is good despite everyone else. Or, more than likely, they do what they think will secure them the vote in the next election, not realising the common view has shifted. That's politicians for you. Everyone is just a faceless tick or cross on a voting ballot, you only have value come the next election. Once the vote is cast, you don't have value anymore."

God, politics is boring.

"Do you think this Safe Harbour place is just more propaganda?" Raven asked. "A simple, 'yes,' will do." But the Doctor ignored her.

"Could be." The Doctor agreed, his eyes looked quite distant. "Sometimes when people get desperate for change, for something new, they'll gravitate towards what looks good, never once wondering if it's a trap or if it's something worse. People never vote for the demon in office, they vote for the angel they present themselves as."

By what everyone in the hold were saying, Safe Harbour, sounded like a utopia. It was rich in minerals and resources, it had a society were all forms of life lived together peacefully without prejudice, -yeah, right.- There were no speech laws, you could say whatever you wanted, the other person just had to be big about it and walk away, and no exemption was made for any species, race, colour or creed and so on. Raven liked the sound of that. You could even protest the Government if you so wished. Though the line was drawn at physical forms of protest. You could talk shit to a person, but the line was drawn at actually beating the shit out of them. Their local 'intra-net' wasn't regulated nor filtered either.

It was presented as a place of ultimate freedom for all.

However, Earth alliance didn't like people who tried to escape to it. It was apparently only presented as an evil place to stop people going. It was also presented as alien-hating in an attempt to stop aliens migrating there too. Most of the population of Earth Alliance believed this, and so the subject was a social taboo. But leaked footage to the Galax-net painted a totally different picture. Aliens and humans living together peacefully and working together to build something. The footage was taken down, censored and the person who leaked it was now one of Earth Alliances most wanted.

What they all failed to mention at the start, however, was how order was kept. The place was under the control of a militia. A kind of private army of retired and forgotten soldiers and veterans of recent wars; and it was all under the control of Big Dog, he was the King Pin, hence the name Big Dog. Which made this 'Utopia of Freedom' more a dictatorship.

The only big rule of Safe Harbour that kept being reiterated again and again was that 'you left all prejudices at the door. You hated the Rhanda for an injustice committed against your species? You forget it. You blame the Polliox for the state of your own planet? Forgive and forget it. You blame humans for causing so many galactic wars. Forget it! No one individual is guilty for the crimes of their species, their creed, their likeness. In Safe Harbour everyone has equal opportunities, equal representation under the law, because the moment you step out of your Star Ship, the slate is wiped clean. A new start.'

Or that's how all the propaganda went.

"Sounds like Utopian nonsense." The Doctor scoffed. "Differences cause friction, and some peoples tolerances for that friction can be short."

"I don't buy it either." Raven said, "Big Dog is evil."

"That's a rather scathing review of him." The Doctor said, "Considering you've never met him."

"I just know." Raven said vaguely.

"Do you?" The Doctor said, "There is no such thing as good and evil as you or I understand it. Everyone does all kinds of things because they think it good or angelic. That being said, that means a lot of hurt can be done in the name of 'goodness' and 'progress'."

"I know he is evil." Raven repeated, looking at the door to the hold as if it were the giant Big Dog. "I can sense it in him."

"There's something..." The Doctor trailed off and he looked like he'd withdrawn into himself to think because he was totally still and his eyes were staring forwards. God, she hated when he did that.

"We've made planetfall." The Doctor said suddenly a few hours later. He took out his yo-yo and played with it a little. "We are on a planet, the gravity doesn't fluctuate."

Raven didn't bother saying it, but she could guess they were right back on the planet the TARDIS couldn't escape from earlier. Which meant even if they could get inside and take off, they could never leave. Unless Big Dog was willing to give up the Time Ship and give both them and the TARDIS a lift to the edge of the interference field they were stuck on the planet. Perhaps they'd even be trapped inside the TARDIS.

Actually, that wouldn't be so bad. No more adventures, no more stress, no more people. It would be just Raven, her library, -yes, she'd decided it was her library,- the quiet solace and solitude of the TARDIS and her Doctor to keep her company. Plus, the endless supply of tea and waffles, and ice-cream and strawberries.

Heaven.

Sadly, she was snapped out of her fantasy as both she and the Doctor were split up and were given medicals. But there was no creepy doctor asking you to strip so they could inspect you, instead she just passed through a red beam of light. Set into the wall of this long corridor was a long window in which people in surgical clothing looked at monitors. An image of Raven's skeleton was projected into the screen at the back and they were pointing out certain fascinations with her skeletal structure. She was half demon, did she possess some demon physical traits?

"Are you feeling okay?" Came a voice over a tanoy system. "Do you feel sick? Warm?"

"I'm a little hot." Raven said in her quiet, relaxed monotone. Actually, she was a little too hot, so much so she flapped her cloak out and pulled at the neckline of her winter attire. She wished she could just change back into her usual, leotard. No way was she going to make it to this frost fair before she melted.

"Have you come into contact with any other ill people?" Said one of the people at the monitor, over the tanoy.

"Huh?" Then she realised, "I'm not sick. I'm just dressed for winter." She parted her cloak to show her form hugging, yet greatly insulated attire with the white frills around her hips.

"Why are you dressed like that?" They'd asked.

"I wish I knew." Was the only answer they got out of her.

Next came some kind of evaluation where they asked questions about where she came from and why she was here. She was vague on all answers and they clearly weren't satisfied with what she was giving them.

Name: Raven Roth

Species: Human

Gender: Female, -the other options being male, uni-sex, undecided or robot.-

Age: Seventeen. -She must be seventeen by now, right?-

Previous Occupation: Travelling Monk

Special talents: Psycho-kinesis. -They thought she was joking.-

Education: She'd actually said the 'College of Azarath' and the 'University of the TARDIS', but they eventually just put her down as 'Home Schooled'. The woman asking these questions gave her a look. Was being 'Home Schooled' a bad thing?

Siblings: None

Religion: Prefer not to say.

Relations: One uncle. She called him the Doctor but she knew she had to give him a real name. Would it have to tally with what the Doctor said?

"Where is my uncle?" She asked, "Shouldn't he be present, him being my guardian?"

"We're having a little trouble with our scanners." The female doctor said, "It keeps double exposing his body." So the Doctor's two hearts were confusing the scanners. A small smirk played upon Raven's face. She could affectively name the Doctor this time.

What would be a humiliating name he wouldn't like? Rattling her brain she couldn't really think of one that didn't sound childishly silly. Technically, as long as she got to name him first before he could do the usual thing and name himself John Smith then she'd greatly annoy him. The female doctor was waiting for an answer so she said the first name which came into her head.

"He's called… Sirius, no wait, Percy, Percy Weasly." She fought the evil smile on her lips.

As she was led from the interview room she spotted the Doctor coming the other way, flanked by escorts. Since she was not able to tell him verbally she projected her mind into his and communicated telepathically.

"You're name is Percy Weasly."

"Huh, what?"

"They asked me your name, I named you."

"Raven! Why Percy Weasly?"

"Why does it matter?"

"It's the principle of the thing."

"Tough! Nah, nah! Nah-nah, nah!" She sent rather childishly.

"Two can play at this game!"

"Too late, they already asked mine."

"We'll see."

Raven was left in a small waiting room where she could wait for the Doctor. He took a very long time so she tried to busy herself with some magazines she'd found in a rack. Like all light reading it was dull, opinionated, and she could feel her brain rotting, so she ended up putting it back.

The door opened and stood in the frame was the Doctor. He was smiling a playful smile Raven did not like.

"Come along, Dorothy dear." Raven's face fell and her eyes adopted a horrified look. "… What?"

"I said come along, Dorothy. We've been cleared to enter Safe Harbour." The Doctor motioned and Raven came towards him, her eyes staring daggers at him. Over and over in her head she was chanting one thing like a mantra.

DO-NOT-PUNCH, DO-NOT-PUNCH, DO-NOT-PUNCH, DO-NOT-PUNCH, DO-NOT-PUNCH!

As they were escorted onto the next stage in the process Raven asked telepathically.

"How did you change my name?"

"Guardian privileges. They needed your 'proper name' so I told them 'Raven' was a name you dreamt up yourself. After that, I had the choice of the English language."

Raven tried to remain calm, but underneath she was seething with humiliation. For now, she was 'Dorothy Roth'. She felt disgusted.

She turned her head to look at him, and caught his eye. He was still smiling despite her glowing red eyes. Her voice projected a slight demon like, threatening tone as she said.

"Don't ever be alone in the dark again, ever!"

To be Continued…

Authors notes:

Push and Pull Factors is a geography term and means what pushes people away from one country, and what pulls them towards another. In this case, people feel the world is too 1984 and they wish to escape to somewhere with more freedoms, like a kind of civilised Wild West place.

This part of the story was based on stories I read about people escaping from *cough-cough* a certain country where the population is greatly controlled.

In the Audio Story the Twilight Kingdom, I remember the eighth Doctor did come into contact with a kind of private army and he was sceptical that it presented itself to be something angelic. Which is part of what this story was inspired by. Obviously, there is going to be something strange about Safe Harbour, and the Doctor and Raven are going to uncover it.

The political views in this chapter do not necessarily reflect my own.