(Untitled)

[lost_the_time]

Unlike the past few times he's been here, Professor Yana doesn't simply wander in, looking mildly bemused or curious or any of those things he does so well.  Oh no, this time, he rushes in, all clipped, panicky steps, voicing a constant stream of alarmed, subvocal exclamations as he bats at a spark eating into one of his billowing sleeves.  He's

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[holycrap2hearts]

Usually when the Doctor encounters Professor Yana, he's all smiles and happy to see the man. The urgency in what Yana has to say today though has him worried, so when he rushes over, there aren't very many smiles.

"Professor?" he asks. "What's wrong?"

[lost_the_time]

'Doctor!' Oh, thank goodness, of all the people to hear him, yes, oh, the Doctor will be able to help. Compulsively, he seizes the Doctor's hand in both of his, squeezing hard for a moment. 'Oh, Doctor, Doctor, good, good good good, marvellous, I was hoping to find you.' He pauses for a breath, searching for the right words in his fluster. 'It's- the atmospheric shell, the life support shielding surrounding the planet, it's failing. The Futurekind broke into the Silo, destroyed all the workings, the barbarians, and I can't- I managed to patch something together to keep it going altogether, but it's not enough.'

And at the heat death of the universe, Doctor, as soon as that shield fails, the very atmosphere will be sucked away into the vacuum, leaving every single life on Malcassairo to die. Freezing or suffocation, the Professor's not sure which would come first.

[holycrap2hearts]

The Doctor knows exactly what would happen should the life support shield completely fail. He's never quite been to Malcassairo, but he knows enough about the situation to guess what it must be like, and how disastrous something like that would be.

"How much time do we have?"

[lost_the_time]

'I-' he falters, shrugging helplessly, his movements twitchy with adrenaline and panic. 'Minutes? I- I honestly don't know, probably more than that, maybe an hour, a little less, until the shell collapses completely, but it's all a bit slapdash...'

He trails off, biting his lip, fingers drumming nervously against his hip. 'Do you think you can help? Anything would be-' His words cut out again, and he shakes his head. 'Time here doesn't pass in the rest of the world, I know, but I can't help feeling that we ought to hurry.'

[chanyestho]

Part of Chantho had been hoping she would run into him again. This him. The nice him. Not the... not the man who had killed the nice him. Another part of Chantho, however, really never wanted to see him again. It was painful, the time she had stumbled across him in the nexus, and only reminded her of her situation, and his.

Unsure of what to do, she just sits there, on a couch, not really looking at him, and not sure if she wants him to notice she's there or not. It isn't as though she could leave to help him if she wanted anyway.

[lost_the_time]

Professor Yana has a way of overlooking Chantho, a way of taking her for granted so much that he often doesn't really register her presence, so used to it is he. But right now? Oh, right now, he sees her, because as far as he's concerned, right now, this is the last place Chantho is supposed to be.

'What the devil are you doing here?!' He rounds on her, spluttering in his indignance, fear flaring up for a moment in his eyes. 'You're supposed to be back at the Silo, helping the Lieutenant with- oh god, it hasn't failed. It can't have failed; you'd be dead.'

Forgive him, Chantho, he's a little panicky right now.

[chanyestho]

Oh. Oh he did notice her. Oh. And he's-- oh dear.

"chan I am afraid, Professor," she begins, looking away slightly. This was not the conversation she wanted to get into today. This was not the conversation she wanted to get into ever. "that we are not from the same universe, tho. chan Have you been here long enough to learn about alternates, tho?" Because right about now, Chantho was wishing she wasn't an alternate of the one he knew, and that she was back at home, frantically trying to fix things.

[lost_the_time]

'Alternates?' He falters, thrown off kilter for a moment, both by her words and how hesitant she looks, almost as if she was afraid of him. 'No, no, I don't think- I mean, there's the Doctor, of course, but that's different.'

The look he fixes on her after he collects himself enough to process things is a shrewd one, though his breath is still going a bit shallower than normal. 'Why haven't you mentioned this before?'