The Distance Between Eternity 4/6
Fifteen minutes later Adelayo returns, a maniacal grin on her face, lungs gasping for air from running and elation glowing in her deep blue eyes.
“Breaking the rules is fantastic” she says “He wouldn’t let me go with them.”
“Hartley” Captain Delise says, her voice strained and her tone short “You will not be on the recommendation list for the next mission.”
Adelayo just shakes her head “Do you not get it? I quit. Effective immediately, all of this romanticised excitement, adventure and discovery bullshit is nowhere near what I thought it’d be. You can’t fire me because I’ve already quit. I’m done.”
“You can’t quit” Captain Delise says “We are literally on the edge of the universe, there aren’t any other jobs out here sweetheart.”
“The Doctor has a ship” Adelayo says “And I am going to go with him, I’ll go back to Earth and maybe raise awareness about the mistreatment of The Ood, it doesn’t even matter what I do, the point is it won’t be here.”
“Addy” Alair says “Be rational, The Doctor and Sam aren’t coming back. Nothing could survive that storm.”
“He’ll be back” Blaine cuts in “He always survives and he always comes back. You don’t know him like I do.”
“Nobody is leaving the base, whether they come back or not and those are my express orders. Disobey them and you will be terminated at the end of the mission” Delise says “I never should’ve taken a chance on you Adelayo Hartley, you’ve been nothing but trouble ever since I hired you.”
“You better hope he comes back” Alair says to Blaine “Because otherwise he marooned you here sweetheart.”
“You all better hope he comes back” Adelayo says “Have any of you guys seen these latest readings?”
Alair all but leaps over to Maret’s workstation where Adelayo has been fiddling with the computer.
“The back-up generator hasn’t got long left, something is burning through its life like nobody’s business” Alair says “We’re going to run out of air and the stabilisers are going to fail...”
“Right” Maret says “Move out of the way, you might be a scientist but let the technicians do what they do best please.”
“You’ve got to get everyone onto Floor One” Blaine says to Delise “The Doctor can get everyone out of here safely as long as they are all in the one spot. Everybody can live, Captain please.”
“The scientists need to keep working” Delise says “As do the technicians and maintenance staff, The Doctor is not coming back and they are our only hope of survival.”
“We’re losing stability” Emil calls to Maret “Rapidly.”
“Please listen to me” Blaine says “The Doctor is impossible, but he pulls it off every time. I have ten years worth of experience that says so, you’ve got to believe me or innocent people will die.”
“We can’t bank our survival on it” Delise says, her voice softening “I know you trust this man with your life blindly but I cannot risk the lives of my entire staff just because of your faith in someone” and Blaine gets it, he does. Blaine was brought up on faith and trust via a life in the TARDIS; he’s got no reason to doubt The Doctor, experience in his favour. Delilah, Alair, Maret, Emil and Ulysses cannot - they can’t put their entire fate in the hands of a man they only just met hours ago, and that’s humanity for you they’re rational for the most part. Then there’s people like Kurt, Sam, Adelayo and even Jedda (although Jedda wasn’t actually human) people who are so ready to drop everything and run to take chances. No matter how slim the odds are, Kurt took a huge chance in moving to New York, applying for a fantastic job he was probably underqualified for but putting his faith in his own drive, passion and talent hoping to succeed. Putting his faith in Blaine, his faith in them and Blaine had just faltered and broke under pressure. Unable to live up to the image McKinley had projected onto him year in year out, unable to believe in himself the way Kurt so readily had. Blaine should’ve believed in love, in Kurt and most importantly in himself. Blaine should’ve made that leap, like Adelayo had just so readily done, risking her job and her life - placing all her bets on The Doctor. Blaine needed to be more like Sam and Kurt, readily flinging open doors and racing through them with unshakeable optimism and excitement. Some things don’t come to you, sometimes you have to beat that damn door down until somebody opens it. Sometimes you’ve got to take off the stage make-up, leave the show face at home and stop running. Blaine just has to wait and trust in The Doctor to come and take him back to Earth, and then he has to trust in Kurt finding a way to forgive him - learn to love him again. Blaine has to learn to trust like an Ood but to articulate his needs like a human being. He’s got to hold onto the sentiment that love conquers all.
But sometimes faith can be empty, sometimes The Doctor can’t save the world just in the nick of time. Sometimes people die.
The most heartbreaking sight Blaine has ever witnessed was on a trip he and The Doctor took for his fifteenth birthday. They’d met a girl named Harper Carroll, only 19 years old working as a nurse in a hospital in the far future. London was unrecognisable and the whole place had looked like a fantastical science fiction movie. At first it had been awe-inspiring, they’d ended up at the hospital by chance meeting Harper much the same way they’d met Jedda and Adelayo, just from wandering.
Harper was working in the quarantine ward, The Doctor and Blaine, intrigued, had tagged along.
There was an infection, slowly, systematically spreading and nobody had any idea how to stop it.
This wasn’t a trip that hadn’t been wondrous and fantastic - it had been terrible, terrifying and sobering. One of the Doctors had gone rogue, releasing the infection as some futuristic kind of terrorism and as a grande finale the hospital had been locked down and sealed. The Doctor and Blaine had managed to get out unscathed as they’d been fighting the clock in a desperate scramble to retrieve the antidote from the TARDIS (The Doctor apparently had a first aid kit stowed away in there with all kinds of anti-venoms and antibiotics as well as the obvious basics). The Doctor had promised Harper he’d be back for her - that he’d show her the stars. They hadn’t made it back in time and Harper in a desperate bid to keep the infection contained had pressed the button to lock down and seal. People were scrambling to the glass doors, terrified, dying before they could even get halfway down the stairs. Some people made it just to the front of the door banging and scratching, begging to be let out - The Doctor frantically trying to sonic the door back open.
Blaine will never forget the sad smile and tiny wave Harper gave them as she stood amongst the chaos, not fighting her death shrouded in acceptance.
“Don’t run” she told people with her last breath “it’s too late for us, it has to end with us.”
Blaine had to watch her die, watch them all die. He heard their scream and begs and pleas and there was nothing he could do to help them. The deafening thick silence surrounding the hospital when it was all over - no survivors, is still an eerie, terrifying thing Blaine can’t get out of his head.
Sometimes The Doctor can’t save everyone but Blaine will be damned if he dies here today.
“Still failing!” Alair calls frantically “Stability is just going down we can’t stop it!”
“We’re going to run out of air...” Delise says “Back up is all we have”
“I’ve lost the computer!” Maret screams as Blaine’s heart sinks.
There’s an incredibly loud clunk and whirr as all the machines once again grind to a halt.
The eerie silence and darkness that follows is thick and encompassing, like at the hospital but it doesn’t last long as the planet begins to shake. Blaine can’t falter, not this time.
“He’s coming” he tells himself “He’s coming, he’s coming, he’s coming...”
---
Part 5: http://bemyparamore.livejournal.com/99359.html