Unfinished Symphony-E7-Hallelujah-Part Six
Prelude
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Unfinished Symphony Episode Seven
Hallelujah-Part Six
The Doctor walked past Donna's room and saw she was still sleeping. He walked out to the control room and checked the TARDIS' readings. It was a habit he had picked up over the years, since any attempt to move them in space or time would have been instantly sensed by him.
In theory.
He needed address the Susan problem, and he had no idea how to do that. He now knew the reason he had this deep seated desire to keep her safe. That gut wrenching guilt that always bordered in the back of his mind had been given name by One and his revelation on the past, now Ten needed to figure what to do about it. He wanted to tell her, but he was terrified to do so. Any rational person would never want to see him again.
An unbalanced person might think of revenge.
And that was the question wasn't it? Was Susan becoming unbalanced? She seemed overly aggressive in regards to the Tagin. He needed to know if that was because she was bonding with them, or if the fault lied somewhere else. He knew precious little about the Trell, maybe they were the culprit here., he just didn't know. He did know, if Susan was becoming more and hostile, and was willing to use another race as a weapon, then it fell to him to stop her.
And he didn't know if he could do that.
He walked out into the sparse atmosphere of the moon and wondered, how far was he willing to go this time?
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She ran as fast as she could.
She knew he was behind her, and that this time he was the enemy. She ran and ran until her chest felt like it was about to burst. As she made her way over the small ridge, she felt her foot slipping out from under her she called out in frustration as she slid down the other side of the hill.
Her leg was throbbing as she tumbled down over and over, all the while knowing he was coming after her. Her head was spinning as she came to a rest at the bottom of the expanse, her body ached from head to toe. As she laid there trying to gain her mind, she heard the sound.
The sound of the TARDIS appearing.
She looked up as a box materialized in front of her from nothing, her mouth went dry as the phone booth became solid. She tried to get up but her leg would not support her, she cried out in pain again as the door slid open, and her grandfather with the other face walked out.
She looked up as he looked down at her. He held out a device and opened his mouth to speak, she screamed in terror as her world dissolved around her.
Susan shot out of her cot screaming. She was covered in sweat as her heart pounded in her chest. She sat there for several minutes, the image of her grandfather coming towards her with malice intent was too much to handle. Her entire world had been turned upside down since he arrived, and now she didn't know what to think.
As she climbed out of her bed she wondered for the millionth time what he was doing here. The look of complete shock on his face told her he had no idea he was going to find her. Which meant something else.
And usually that something else was always bad.
As she pulled on the last of her clothes she vowed to find out why he was here. How long he was staying.
And exactly when he was leaving.
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As he walked among the Trell miners he was struck at the absolute silence of the area. Not even the gravel beneath his feet made noise as he walked through the many sifting stations that littered the camp site. He watched as the miners took the large chunks of rock and earth from deep in the mines and placed it into the sifting machines. They tore down tons and tons of useless gravel and pulled out the microscopic quantities of crystal that were contained within. He had heard that he dust was useful in millions of different sonic applications around the universe, but it was the large crystals where the money lay.
He wandered by, watching them all work with what seemed to be an endless supply of energy about them. If they had any objection to his presence they gave no notice, the entire team worked in the eerie silence. Each one of them doing their job like clockwork.
They didn't seem the hostile type at all.
One of the tables was set up for the larger rocks. Spread out across it were dozens of different size crystals, ranging from the size of a quarter to larger than a man's fist. There was a Trell there, using what looked like some kind of laser etching device to mark each crystal. As the Doctor approached the miner looked up at him and then back to work.
Working on a hunch, the Doctor reached down and picked up one of the larger crystals. It hadn't been cut yet but even raw, it's value was immense. Looking it over he could tell the miner had not gotten around to marking this one yet, the almost invisible numbers that get contained within were missing. If he somehow was to leave with the stone, there would be no recourse for the Trell to say it was theirs. A rock like this was untraceable without its markings and worth more than a miner would make in a year.
Very casually, the Doctor examined the rock and then placed it in his coat. He made no attempt to hide the action, but he watched the miner out of the corner of his eye. The Trell was watching him, and after a moment he began to shake his head and made a motion for the pocket. The Doctor raised his hand and offered no resistance as the alien pulled the rock out and placed it back on the table. The Doctor was about to take a step back when the miner grabbed another rock, one even bigger than the one he had taken. The miner looked to the Doctor and handed the rock over to him. When the Time Lord didn't respond the miner moved his head and motioned to the rock again.
Slowly the Doctor reached out and took the larger specimen slowly. When the miner saw he had taken it, he went back to marking the other rocks. Seeing the miner wasn't going to do anything more, the Doctor tried to put the rock back down on the table, but the miner put his hand over the rock and pushed it back towards the Doctor.
“No, no”, he said as loudly as he could. When the miner kept stopping him he said, “I don't need it! It's yours!!” But the Trell wouldn't budge from letting him keep it. As the miner got between the Doctor and the table he heard Susan's voice.
“Once they give a gift, it is expected to be taken.”, she walked up and placed a hand on the Trell's shoulder as she smiled. The miner took another look at the Doctor and went back to work.
“But he gave me a larger one.”, he said showing her the crystal.
Susan nodded, “Once he saw you looking at them he wanted to make sure you got the largest one they had.”, she smiled, “It's how they are.”
“But this is..”, the started.
“They have no concept of money.”, she said interrupting him.
“None?”
“She shook her head, “The Trell trade the crystals for goods and services off world, most of it is done through third party contractors. They honestly have no concept of greed in their culture.”, she walked around the table, examining the rocks that were already marked as she talked, “So do they pass?”, she asked looking up at he Doctor.
He blinked twice before answering, “Pass? Pass what?”
“Your test of course. I can't think of any other reason you would get up early and not let me know you were walking around except to test the Trell for...whatever you are here for.”, she took his arm and began to lead him through the camp, “Why exactly are you here?”
The Doctor slipped the rock in his pocket, “I could ask the same to you. You aren't Trell last time I checked.”
She smiled a half grin, “You talk as if I could wake up as a Trell.”, she looked at him, “Besides I asked you first.”
He wasn't sure if she was hinting at something or just being vague, but he answered carefully, “We were following a...well another TARDIS. It left an arton trail and it led here.”
She stopped, “But for a TARDIS to leave such a visible arton trail something would have to be wrong with it.”, she thought for a moment, “A faulty wave converter or loose baffle plates.”, she kept walking, “So you were tracking a broken TARDIS. And here I thought you were the last.”
He stopped, “How do you know that?”
She stopped and looked back at him, “What? That Gallifrey is gone?” He nodded, face pale as she thought about it. After a moment she said, “I don't know, I just do.”, she shook her head, “I'm sure I heard it somewhere.”
He was silent as he stared at her, all of his senses were screaming something was wrong.
Which was when the Tagin ship attacked.
The ground exploded around them as the scout ship flew a low pass towards the mines. The Doctor threw himself towards Susan, pulling her to the ground as debris flew past where she was standing. He looked up and saw the Trell moving around in a panic as the ship moved to a hover over the mine.
“Again!”, Susan spat. She moved out from under him, in a move he wasn't quite sure how she pulled off. One second he was over her, his weight pressing down, the next he fell to the ground and she was standing over him. If she noticed his shock she gave no notice.
Raising her hands outward she held her head upwards, her eyes closed as if in prayer. Within seconds the silence of the moon was replaced by howling. The gathering screams of the Anemoi as they embraced her and moved towards the scout ship. From where he laid, it was hard to miss the look of pure hatred and malice on Susan's face as she flew off towards the mines.
The Doctor scrambled up and ran off the other way. Directly towards the TARDIS.
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Loper watched as the Trell scrambled out of the mine. The small scout ship wasn't more than an armed shuttle, but the weapons it possessed were more than enough to handle a pack of miners. His hoofs moved over the controls as he vowed not to make the same mistake again. Last time he landed a small raiding party on the ground, and met that woman.
This time he was going to do it right.
This time he peppered the ground and mine with energy fire, making the Trell scatter for cover. His navigator moved them around for another pass, making sure there were no ground to air weapons visible. No matter what armaments they may have, they didn't have anything that could take down a scout ship.
Which ironically was the very thought that was going through his head when the foot and half thick plasteel view screen cracked directly through the center. Loper screamed in fright as he heard the internal atmosphere of the cabin begin to hiss out the growing crack. Warning alarms began to scream all over the ship as the internal dampeners were stressed to over triple their rated safety limit.
The last thing he recalled was the control panel sparking and exploding in his face as the shuttle began to lurch downwards.
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The Doctor barreled into the TARDIS at top speed.
Donna, who was just waking up, let out a yelp as she threw her hands up in fright. Also throwing the mug of coffee she had made moments before in her hands into the air. Donna screamed again as the hot droplets of coffee rained down over her, assuring she was as wide awake as she was going to get today.
The Doctor, ignoring her peril, slammed a hand down on the control panel, sparking the ship into life. The center time rotor began to churn as his hands danced over the controls.
“What the bloody hell!”, Donna said a she was thrown to the floor.
“Watch yourself!”, the Doctor said as the TARDIS lifted off. Though technically a spaceship with the ability to move through space as well as time, the TARDIS wasn't the easiest ship to navigate in the air. Most of the problem stemmed from the non functional chameleon circuit, that if working correctly, would have transformed the TARDIS into a more aerodynamic shape. But as it was, the TARDIS was now and forever a police call box which had all the aerodynamics or a thrown brick.
Donna grabbed on to the side rails as the ship listed from one side to the other. “What the hell are you doing?”, she screamed to him.
“Come on, where is it?”, he said to himself, holding the controls with one hand and moving the monitor with his other.
“Are we flying?”, she called out, trying to get herself to her feet.
“Like a brick!', The Doctor said moving the ship in a wide arc. Donna clawed her way towards the control panel, hand over hand before she was next to him.
“Last time I saw you do this you almost caused a wreck on the motorway!”, she said bolting herself to the controls with her hands.
“It's complicated, but this would be much easier if it was something else!”, he said.
“Yeah cause a phone booth is just dying to be flown.”, she moved one hand over and grabbed a lever from him. Suddenly the ship began to level itself out, “I got this one, just get this over with!”, she called out to him.
Moving over to the other console he began moving the controls, bringing them into range of the failing shuttle. Pointing to the monitor, “There! It's going down already!”
Donna looked up and saw the smoking wreck of the craft heading in a nose dive towards the surface, “What hit it?”, she asked.
“Susan”, was all he said as he moved the ship into an intercept course.
“We're heading right towards it!”, she called out.
“I know!”, he said moving more controls as he watched the ship.
“I mean we are heading right towards the crashing ship!”, she said again.
“I know !!”, he said again.
“Then why are you heading towards it!!”, she screamed.
“For this!”, he said pulling a lever, making the time rotor churn. The TARDIS began to fade around them, for one brief moment moving itself out of space and time. And the next, it materialized in the middle of the failing shuttle. For one sliver of a second, the TARDIS formed within the small shuttle, pulling the Tagin crew into its relative space, and then instantly dematerialized again. On the surface it looked like the call box had formed with the shuttle, moments before it crashed into the ground.
The same oppressive silence fell over the moon again as the smoking ruin of the craft burned itself out in the low atmosphere. The Trell mires looked up from their embankments as Susan stood there, watching the craft burn.
And then, as if waking from a dream she called out, “GRANDFATHER!”, and began to run towards the crash site. She got two steps before she heard the TARDIS begin to materialize back into normal space and time. Within seconds the call box was standing in front of her, and her heart pounded as a flash of the dream raced through her head.
The door opened and the Doctor stood there, supporting the injured and unconscious form of Lt. Commander Loper leaning against him. “Get me some help!”, he called out to her, his voice carrying the same authority she remembered from her grandfather. She barely got one step when the sound of the Anemoi filled the air around them.
Within moments the Doctor was thrown viciously back into TARDIS, the howling screams of the creatures were deafening. But even above their clamorous din could be heard the screaming pleas from the now conscious Loper. Donna and the Doctor watched as the Tagin's large form began to shake violently. Parts of his thick hide began to flay itself outward, dark red blood gushed from every slice. Within seconds, the still screaming creature, was reduced to its bones as the sonic creatures ground him into something resembling a warm mass of hamburger meat.
And there, as the creatures raced off across the skies, singing a triumphant tune did he hear Donna say, “I think we found your aggressive aliens.”
The Doctor, covered in blood, stood there and watched the excited glow of Susan's eyes fade and focus on the quivering mass of dead flesh.
She started screaming and didn't stop for almost five minutes later when she passed out.
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Commander Dolph sat in his command chair and waited. The bridge crew was silent as they waited to see how the latest raiding party was faring. So far the attack pattern had been a success.
And then they heard the warnings.
He watched the ops crewman monitor the shuttle's condition on long range sensors. He heard the scream of Loper over the com system and then the shuttle was gone. Dolph sat there, watching the blinking screen that read, “No signal”, for almost twenty seconds before he said in a deep voice.
“Set course for that moon. Flash all stations to mauve and bring all weapons on line.”, he sat back down gingerly, “Send a war signal to the fleet, tell them we are engaging the Trell.”
The communications officer nodded, “Signal away sir, I have three warships in the area asking for permission to join.”
Dolph looked back at the screen, “Tell them the more the merrier. I have blood to avenge!”
To be continued...