Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse: Part 15/34
Water
Blue morning sunlight sparkled over the eerie spired topped hills. The native 'whispers' echoed through the skulls of River Tam, Richard B. Riddick, and the Doctor. It sang of darkness and feeding, wanton breeding and blood, survival of the powerful and death of the weak. Each of them tried to ignore it while all of them hoped that what the mass mind was waiting for would not happen before they were able to get off this world. The Doctor had a feeling though that events and Fate would conspire against him no matter what. Too many survived the crash, too many that should have died walked around him now. People without time. Without futures. He refused to look at how they would go, but the cloud of Death's mark on those she wanted could not be denied. How many would she let him save and what price would she ask for? They reached the rise at the start of the boneyard. There was a canyon beyond, and the close ledge followed straight to the settlement. “Let's keep the sled up here. It will be easier to pull and control over the flatter terrain,” the Time Lord asserted.
“There's shade down there and they've walked it already,” Johns countered.
The pilgrims both stared at the incline and Hassan stated their agreement with the Doctor. All the while Richard stayed quiet, knowing that his opinion counted for shit with these people. Fortunately the Doctor was persistent enough on his own, “Then let us pull the sled around, all right?” Imam, the older brothers, and Carolyn agree. Having gotten permission of a sort, the heavy sled was guided along the top of the canyon, instead of them trying to lower it down the steep slope. Johns didn't like it, but he couldn't argue with the Doctor's reasoning that it would be easier on the boys and the hauled cargo that way. Imam, Paris, Simon, Ali, Carolyn, River and Jack went down into the boneyard, Johns took the top route, along with the sled. He claimed it was because something was making his danger sense go off. Both the older men knew what it was, the same things that had killed Shazza and Zeke, tracing their path under their feet. The brothers had no clue. A touch of fingers, a slide of skin on skin, was enough to reassure each other that neither was about to panic over the sensation. Hunger waiting.
At the end of the canyon past the boneyard they met up with the larger group.
Hassan and Suleiman gratefully took a breather even though they still had some way to go. They were closer to living than they were even an hour ago. The Doctor forced himself to not seek their cards, to not touch on their strands of webbing woven by Fate. He didn't want to know. For the Tams and the art dealer this was a new thing. Jack and Ali chattered to each other, with Ali talking about how much there was to discover here. The adults were more cautious, knowing danger still existed in abundance. Quietly they surveyed the settlement laid out before them. Even from a distance it was clear that this place had been long abandoned. Older buildings, made from older technology. It might be several decades gone, at the least. After a short pause the entire group headed down into the outskirts. Simon frowned at the structures, recognizing the language but not the style. Carolyn said, “Made of Aluminex pre-fab. Standard short-term housing. Last time I saw anything like this was after a fire burned half the town my folks were working in.”
The Tam scion mumbled, “Pö-Net, inc.?” He gestured at the decorative characters on the nearest wall, “This is Tibetan. Folks speak that still?”
“Is that what this is?” Fry asked, her eyes following the line of exotic symbols on the wall. The group slowly moved into the shadows cast by the buildings.
“Not in Company space they don't,” Johns told them.
The young doctor's frown deepened, “Then this would have been built by a Blue Sun Subsidiary. But what would Pö-Net have been doing so far out of Alliance space?”
River said, “Paldorje. Clan name.” She was ignored by almost everyone, but Jack looked at the wall and frowned. Her saying the word caused it to morph into Chinese that he could read, although the sounds came up different that what she'd said. He shook his head and blinked. The original runes swam back into focus. Jack studiously pushed the event to the back of his mind and tried to ignore the intense shimmering hum that coated the inside of his skull. He glanced over at the odd new individual, tall, lean and pale. He was causing that noise, like a constant low level field of static. Fortunately at the moment the blue-eyed stranger was fully involved in pulling the sled and the convict next to him. The sound only seemed to lessen when River took his hand.
Paris added, “I remember Pö-Net, from when I was younger. They haven’t been in business for over two decades.” The art dealer looked over at the dark headed young surgeon, “There was, for a few years, talk was that the two societies might benefit from linked trade routes. Non-sleeper, if possible. This planet sits someplace in the halfway point, doesn’t it? They might have been trying to establish a colony here. It’s habitable enough to not need a huge investment.” He thought about it a bit, “The required terraforming for a Blue Sun standard colony would have been very cheap, as far as those things go. Actually this isn't a large of a surprise as you all might think.”
Simon had the grace to nod. He could see Blue Sun doing something like that, even tossing aside a business branch when the deal fell through. He looked over at his sister and was happy to note that she seemed fine for once, happy even, as she walked hand in hand with Ali and Jack.
Silence filled the walk for a few moments, with just the scrape of the sled to break it. Everyone took in the sense of the place being left in a rush, of stuff having been dropped where people might have been standing. They moved past the bike laying in the track, and the Doctor noted the somewhat sandblasted finish to the exposed side of it. He frowned. “It didn’t take, whatever the goal was.” Johns finally offered.
“I suspect there would have been issues with the fact that there are three suns here,” Simon replied, “Maybe not even obvious ones, dependent on very long or very irregular time cycles.”
Paris scoffed, “I don't think that was an problem; likely they ran out of funds.”
“It wasn’t registered with the Company or Sol-Track,” Carolyn stated as they moved into the center of town, “So whoever was behind this was getting their capital from one end and their tech from the other. We located a safe with documents and there were no Charters included.”
Both Ogilvie and Tam asked her, “Why -- ?”
“The skiff isn’t Blue Sun tech,” the docking pilot replied. “It’s New Oslo.” She led Paris, Simon and Johns off to the runway. Imam indicated where the main building was and the four men pulled it into place. He told the older pilgrims to get the pump and the subsystems for it and get it installed, he'd be right there. They scrambled to do as he asked.
The Time Lord glanced at the ex-ranger as they stepped away from the sled. Neither of them have any intention of unloading the thing. It was not their stuff on it after all. Richard said, “Let's go look at this craft, huh? I got a feeling that there's something not being said about it.” The Doctor was of course curious about this skiff. He couldn't deny that he shared the strange sensation that there was more information about it known than had been relayed. It was bigger than her just needing time they might not have to rewire it. But he'd not know until he got a look for himself. He just placed a hand on Richard's arm and indicated for him to follow. River and Jack tagged along with them, the light hand settling into the edge of his pocket to indicate exactly where the young lady was. The con looked over at Jack, “You OK, kid?”
He wasn't sure if he could talk to the large bronze complexioned man yet, but he wanted to, very much. Jack licked his lips, “Got a bit of a headache. I think it's because of too much sun.” That was a lie, the ache in his head was from the deep vibrating hum he was feeling. So strong and powerful. It was scary.
“You'll be fine, young man,” the Doctor told him, “Just take it easy.”
Jack shot a glare up at the tall fellow, “Why? You're not my keeper.”
River looked over at the boy, blinking, “Lei-Yu is trying to assist you, little bird. Hostility gains you nothing.”
“Sorry, I'm hot and tired and hungry. I've had people I care for fucking die, already. I'm just not gonna be 'fine' ever,” Jack retorted somewhat pissed off.
Riddick watched the kid, then reached over and put a hand between the boy's shoulders, resting against his neck. The hazel-eyed boy stiffened a moment and then relaxed, apparently deciding that the touch was a good one. The con knew he had to advocate for the boy, “Doctor, happen to have any water?”
This made the other man dig through his pockets until a rather promising piece of fruit emerged, an apple. “No, but this might help,” he offered the food to Jack. The boy looked at it, really wanting it, but scared of having it snatched away. Most times it would be. But it was held steady. He stared at it. Would the strange pale fellow withdraw it? The Doctor stopped and crouched to the boy's level, focusing on him. Something about the kid was very familiar. But what? “I'm offering it to you, lad. You alone. Do you want it?”
Jack made a face, “I ain't got nothing to give you back.”
The Time Lord glanced up at the goggled man, 'Something about Company homes make folks think they have to purchase everything?' The response he got was a shrug. “I'll tell you my price, yeah? Stop being hostile towards me and help me here. I can't save anyone without helpers. So, what do you say?”
Jack looked at the fruit. The apple was priceless, and he could share it with Ali. His friend would like it. “Yeah,” He accepted the food, “Thank you.” He felt a definite air of approval from Riddick. That was, currently, far more important to him than the Doctor liking him. He wanted Riddick to take him under his wing. The other man he was not so sure about. There was something unsettling about the intense expression the sharp-featured fellow wore, like he was looking through his soul and seeing every blemish. It made Jack feel dirty, as if there was some way to scrub those marks from his past. He couldn't, of course. And if this Doctor bloke didn't like it he could fuck himself for all Jack cared. The con didn't look at him that way. He understood.
The Time Lord set aside his attempt to reach the boy, feeling unsettled by the half-acceptance-half-rejection he had sensed, in spite the kid's verbal agreement. The twisting in his gut was odd. The temporal eddies about the child shifted in such a way that he couldn't peg them down properly. It was like the boy was shielded from his senses. And he couldn't read his biodata either, which indicated more hardship than the Doctor wanted to think about right now, or ever, really. The Doctor knew what that meant. Someone had taken the boy's virginity, likely without his permission given his age. He felt just a bit angered at that, although he really didn't have the right to be, did he? The pale man hadn't ever run into a child this young-old that he couldn't read the past or ancestry of. Who were the boy's parents? Where did he come from? And why did he seem so familiar? He stood, letting the problem go. There would time enough to unravel the mystery. This child was meant to live. Like Richard and River and Simon...
He turned and led the way to where the others gathered. He took in the lines of the Skiff as it sat there on the runway, survivors clustered in the shade near the back, where the door was. His first impression was that it was a beauty of hybrid human invention. Compact and spaceworthy. One of the more elegant yet rugged designs he’d seen over the years. Then he realized that it might fit nine cryo-lockers into the thing, but that the pilot would have to stay awake unless the entire computer system of the crash ship had survived the impact. The last time he’d repaired a computer after a crash he’d messed up royally. He didn’t want nor need a repeat performance on a larger scale, thank you very much. And that there was the main problem; the skiff was tiny. There were eleven survivors, not counting himself, and room for ten if there were ten working cryo-lockers, and if the autopilot from the crash ship could be converted over to work on this smaller scale. The numbers just were not adding up here. It was painfully clear that even if the skiff saved most of them at least one person would be leaving with him on the TARDIS, if the Cryo-systems on the crash ship could be salvaged. If not, then he’d be taking half of the survivors or all of them and he wasn’t quite sure how he would explain any of it to anyone, anyhow. The Doctor mulled over this problem, his mystery boy, his filtering for Saritha -River-, and realized that the pounding in his head had returned. His temples really were throbbing.
Beside him looking on in nearly stunned silence, Paris Ogilvie finally managed, “I mean, usually I can appreciate antiques, but, uh....” before words once again failed him. The Time Lord glanced over at the fellow as Riddick ambled past with Jack on his heels. The ex-ranger walked a circuit around the skiff with a critical eye, the kid stopped at the ramp where Carolyn was using the override to get the door open. The power cell sat on the ramp behind her. The temporal eddies that rippled around the boy bothered the Time Lord, a great deal. They seemed deliberately dense. Scrambled.
Johns circled around from the other side, “Little ratty-assed.”
And while it was true that time or something had torn the wings quite badly, it was just a cosmetic thing, really. The skiff might need them repaired to take off, but the wings were designed burn away before it reached space. “Nothing we can't repair.” Fry said as she turned her attention from the open door to the power cell.
“We will get the pump replaced on the moisture recovery unit,” Imam announced as he steered Ali from the skiff. His brothers should already be working on it. The sooner the water flowed the better their chances. Jack decided to follow, perhaps he can share his apple with them all.
“How about we start with a 10 gig converter? Or would you suggest a 5?” Fry asked as she started tugging the cell up the ramp rather unsuccessfully.
The Doctor walked forward to give her a hand and said, “Start with a 5, you are less likely to blow systems that way.”
The blond nodded, “-- so long as some of the electrical adapts.” A fraction will save them weeks of time. Simon stepped in to assist as well. River took up Jack's previous spot on the ramp and watched.
Paris made a face. “Not a star-jumper,” he observed.
“Doesn't need to be. Use this to get back to the Sol-Track Shipping Lanes, stick out a thumb. Bound get picked up,” Riddick shrugged, “Ain’t that right, Captain?”
Fry looked up with curiosity, but not fear, at Riddick then over at Johns. ‘How did he know that?’ she wondered. Johns wasn’t giving away any clues. The cell was almost in place, “Thanks for the help. Either of you know how to rewire?”
Simon shook his head, the Doctor nodded, Riddick stepped forward like he knew how as well but Johns blocked him. The merc didn’t want to lose total control of the situation, and he did not like the fact that the docking pilot seemed unafraid of the killer. “Whoa, whoa… Why don’t you check those containers over there for me? See what we got to patch wings with.”
Riddick gave the redhead a blank look and a shrug. He can find out what was going on later with the skiff. The Doctor was sure to tell him anything he wanted to know. The ex-ranger made a show of looking in the crates and barrels as he made his way to where the older pilgrims and Imam were doing their own repairs. At least they would accept his help, even if it was just lifting and holding the pump, without question.
Paris showed up a few moments later, River and Simon in tow, asking for help with something, “Might I borrow the younger boys? We'll want the cafeteria cleaned up.” Imam agreed that it would be a good idea to keep them busy. Ali and Jack grumbled a bit, but with the half an apple each in their stomachs they really couldn't protest much. Helping clean won't kill them.
The art dealer set the four of his helpers to dusting and decorating while he took inventory of what was here. The two boys finished dusting the area they’d been assigned and slip away from Paris while he wasn't looking. River and Simon both remain quiet, and the girl giggled when the businessman realized that two ‘helpers’ slipped away. She then offered to complete the task he wanted done, which consisted of re-hanging some holiday decorations to make the place look a little more festive. Simon assured Mr Ogilvie that he and his sister can finish up the work and that there was no need to be angered with the boys.
Freed from having an adult keeper, Ali and Jack set off to explore. They found a playroom filled with various games and solar powered toys. There were books, old fashioned ones, in various languages. Each boy assumed that the predominate script was the one they knew natively, not realizing that it wasn't. Plus they found sporting gear, balls and bats and gloves... Many of which neither one was able to place. The board and card games were neatly stored, with instructions. The solar powered toys and building sets were in good repair, if dusty. They vowed to come back and really spend some serious time here playing with the stuff, more because Jack's never had the chance to.
They pass by many living areas, offices, boring adult stuff. However, both boys noted the pictures, the clothes, the huge amount of stuff left casually about. What happened here? Where are the original settlers? And why was there so much stuff left here? Not just papers and expensive tools, but personal stuff, jewelry, journals, homework, mementos, clothes that were more expensive than anything Jack had ever owned - just left behind. Something was not right here. But the adults wouldn't listen to him. He was just a kid, after all. Some of the buildings that had open windows were covered with sandy grit inside. One of the cleaner ones looked to be a family dwelling. There were clothes in the dresser that were Jack's size, dusty but clean. Ali found a razor. Jack spotted some dark lensed swim goggles. The two boys looked at each other, a plan sparking into the air between them. “I'm gonna shave my head,” Jack said.
“I'll help you,” Ali offered. What better way to make someone care than remaking yourself after them, right?
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Doctor and Fry worked together to carefully hook up the proper power converter. The managed this with only minor sparking, and amazingly enough the fuses in the single use craft did not short out. The docking pilot let out the breath she'd been holding since before turning on the first switch. She prayed that something would still be working here. If only a system or two survived and was drawing power from the 20 gig cell that would allow her to start work on the craft. Lights began to flit across the control panels, indicating what was working and what was not. The power light was on, so the main computer should be working. She fiddled with the computer's buttons but the screen remained dark. The Doctor reached past her and gave it a whack. It flickered, rolled, and then popped up with the 'system loading' screen. She looked at him with a grin. “I'm good, me,” he gloated.
“I'd say,” she agreed.
Outside the marshal snorted. He was haunting the proceedings, as he'd done before, not really helping but staying out of the way. The leather clad brown haired man shifted into the co-pilot's chair and started checking systems as the computer came fully on line. Johns had to admit that a surprising number of lights were twinkling throughout the skiff’s controls. “The backup computer and emergency systems look like they are more resilient than life support or engine controls,” the Doctor said after a bit.
“Okay, that should buy us a sys-check, at least. What else do you think we’ll need?” Carolyn asked him.
The Time Lord looked at her, “The autopilot and navigation systems, ten cryo-lockers and full cryo system support with enough cryo-drugs to last six months, engine and thruster control, and at least 150gigs of power.”
“How many cells would that be?” Johns asked.
Carolyn frowned slightly at the Doctor’s logic. She can understand it, because the skiff won’t have any internal life support aside from the Cryo-lockers once the rewire happened. But she hated cryosleep. “Seven more. The Hunter-Gratzner has 20gig cells. With this one, we have to have eight to launch. ”
The marshal mimiced her frown, “35kilos each, huh?”
“If you no longer need me here, I’ll locate the sandcat that Imam referred to and see if I can get it running,” the Doctor said. Carolyn nodded.
As the Time Lord stood Johns added, “And if you need an extra hand, since you seem to work with him well, tap --” He peered out and around, “ -- Um, Where's Riddick?” The fellow really bothered him. Still.
The Doctor told Johns not to worry himself, that he’d find the ex-ranger and keep an eye on him, if only to keep the merc away from con in an effort to prolong the redhead’s life. The Doctor was far more interested in where the children were, actually. Amadak, he knew, wouldn’t just walk into something blindly that he couldn’t handle. The missing Jack and Ali however were another story.
The town was truly a ghost town, the Time Lord can see, once he started walking it. He paused and narrowed his eyes as he spotted the plastic yellow flash of swim goggles sitting atop a shaved, but small, head. Jack. He began to trail the children, who were, he figured, trailing the bronze man ahead of them. The brown-haired fellow passed long dry hanging gardens, tossed and twisted outdoor furniture made of sturdy wrought iron, and discarded toys, tools, and other signs of daily life while plexi crunches underfoot. The entire time he had his eye on Jack and Ali who think they were sneaking unseen. The temporal eddies swirlled around the boy making him stand out from his fellows. Who had altered the child's past and why?
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The the pump finally started picking up the energy from the solar panels. With a groan the thing revved and started providing the suction for the water to flow. Hassan, Suleiman, and Paris waited eagerly. They watched the first drop slowly, oh so slowly squeeze into the clear feeding tube and down to the spigot. The first drop of water. Life. It moistened the metal fount and formed a bead of liquid.
The two young men fought for it. Then another formed, and another… soon there was a steady trickle that threatened to become a wasteful flow. The waiting crowd cheered it on before Paris realized that it was falling to nothing but the dry earth below. The boys dashed away to spread the news. “My turn! My turn!” he set to filling containers with water.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Doctor slipped around to the side, out of sight. The ex-ranger investigated the signs around him. Both men were aware of the children. The taller of the two men figured he can ask what has been uncovered later, and was more intent on keeping an eye on the two smaller foolish forms hunched across the way. It was the toy robot that Riddick uncovered from in front of the door warbling to life that distracted the Time Lord from his watch, “ -- to all intruders. I am the guardian of this land. I will protect my masters at all cost. Death to all intruders -- .” He frowned at the disruption and before scanning to relocate the children. Pesky creatures. The sounds of the doors rattling sent the Doctor out of his hiding place and around toward the back of the building. His ears, far more sensitive than human ears, picked up the ultrasound chatter and flutter of wings that the shaking caused. Now, where are those kids?
The marshal let out a piercing whistle, “Missin' the party. C'mon, boy.”
The cloud of black over the children that formed and flickered gave them away. Death will let this prize go if he wants to fight her for them. 'I most certainly will,' the Doctor thought as he rounded the next stack of crates. Moments later he laid his hands on the collars of two, very in trouble, young lads. “No sneaking into buildings you don’t belong in,” he said giving them both a shake. He then, fast as lightning, changed his grip from their clothes to their earlobes. There was a stereo yelp from the children.
If Richard hadn't known where they were before he certainly did now. Around the corner. The goggled man grinned like the devil at the trio, motioned with his head and echoed Johns, “Missin' the party. C'mon.”
“Hey, let’go” said Jack as he was brought up beside the man he'd remade himself after, “Ouch! That hurts.” Ali just took the punishment quietly after the first protest and found the Doctor merely holding him by the back of the neck after a few moments. Why wasn't Death letting the children go?
“Makin’ it worse with the protests, Jack,” Richard told the boy. He could tell the kid's been beaten, and burned, no telling how much abuse he'd suffered.
“But it’s not fair!”
“Life rarely is, young man. Do stupid things and you’ll be treated like you are stupid,” the Doctor informed him. The bleak cloud rolled back from the boys.
Riddick took Jack’s arm and the Doctor released his ear. The ex-ranger knelt down to the boy’s level, “Listen Jack, and listen good. If you want to survive this you need to take it serious. Don’t go asking for protection if you’re gonna throw it away.” The boy swallowed and nodded. Somehow this was important.
The con stood, ran his hand over Jack’s shaved head, letting his fingers trace one scar. He ushered Jack back to the main square, trying to impress on the kid how deep a thing he's being asked by the child's flattery. Richard propelled the boy into the room where the Imam’s voice rang out in prayer, “...and for this, our gift of drink, we give thanks in the name of our Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, and to his father, Allah the Compassionate and the Merciful.” Jack headed to the water, ignoring the expressions of the others.
The Doctor handed Ali off to Abu with the warning, “He went looking for trouble and almost found his death.” The holy man took the child from him.
Abu gave Ali a stern frowning look. “I won’t no more. I promise.”
Paris at that point interrupted, “Well, look who won the look-alike contest.” His eyes were on Jack. The boy was rather striking. He could also see the evidence of past scars on the child's shaved head and neck.
“Shut it, you pig-faced -- ” but Jack stopped short when he realized that everyone understood his words. “My hair was nasty. No water. So I shaved. Big deal.” It was besides the point that he'd stopped wearing his cap.
The pilgrims finished filling the first round of goblets and Johns went to hand Riddick the last one poured. The Doctor snatched the sediment filled glass out of the marshal’s hand as he walked past him, forcing the man to give Riddick a cleaner glass. The two men, long standing enemies that they were, glared at each other over the water until Simon gave Richard a glass plucked from the table. “Thank you, Doc,” the goggled man said. He drank as he followed the Doctor’s path around the room.
The Time Lord was scanning papers and pictures, shuffling through charts and other bits of data and ignoring his glass entirely where he’d set it on the windowsill. Riddick looked over the other man’s shoulder at the information curious that the strange characters he saw morphed into those he can read. He absorbed what he could of the information before it was snatched away. Instead the Doctor split the pile and slowed with his own rapid reading. It seemed to Richard that this was expected behavior, as though they'd done this before, even though he had no memory of it. The notes the Doctor had found looked like Company communications.
“Perhaps we should toast our hosts. Who were these people, anyway? Miners? Free settlers?” asked Ogilvie. There was money to be made here, he knew.
The stack was already about half searched through,“Geologists. Advance party, according to this. They had a ten-year contract to scout and locate resources for use by Blue Sun, Pö-Net, and New Oslo corporations. If the resource threshold were found high enough then there would have been a joint colony and space port built here.” The Doctor answered holding up the aged papers.
Fry had been rifling through stuff on the other side of the room. There were emergency rations to feed twenty-five to thirty people for a good two years or so, or longer if they were careful, still stacked inside spoil proof containers. “Nice of them to leave so much of their stuff here.” She turned away from the cabinets and walked to the table. Rubbing her nose, Carolyn put the goblet down and Johns refilled it, “So, why’d they leave their ship?”
An uneasy silence settled on the room. Simon looked around and noticed River wasn’t there. He ducked into the side room that looked like an office, filled to overflowing with papers and charts and pictures. But no River. Panic built inside him. Where had she gone? He'd not seen her leave. She knew better.
Johns scoffed at the docking pilot, “It’s just a skiff. One use. Disposable, really. You said so yourself, Carolyn.”
“Like an emergency life-raft, right?” Jack asked.
Paris nodded, “Sure. I imagine after the contract was up that a real drop-ship picked them up and took them off-planet.”
The bronze-skinned man found himself staring into the intense bright eyes of an alien and realizing that he and the Doctor shared a deducted truth. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, “These people - They didn’t leave.”
The Doctor just gave him a curt nod before adding, “Look around you. Eight years worth of data here.” He gestured with his hands full. “This is what they were sent for. If nothing else, all of this should have gone with them.”
“What are you saying?” Carolyn said, leaning over the table toward him.
It was Riddick’s turn to scoff. But Simon was the one to speak up as he came back into the room; “They are dead, aren’t they? Whatever it was that killed Zeke and Shazza killed them.” Even through his panic about River being missing, the young surgeon was astute enough to guess the truth.
“Come on, cut the crap.” Johns said standing up. “Maybe all the data was stored on a drive, and the crew had weight limits.”
“And they left behind their clothes, still on the line? Personal photos, toys, wedding bands scattered on their dressers?” The ex-ranger retorted.
Johns went flushed, disliking the boldness of the argument, “You don’t know.”
“I do know!” Riddick tossed back as anger flared.“You don't un-crate your emergency ship unless there's a fucking emergency!” Fuck these people if they couldn't see the truth because he happened to be the one speaking it.
“Fuckin’ Right!” Jack exclaimed. He ignored the intense stare from the Doctor.
“Watch your mouth,” Johns wagged a finger at the boy. The kid glared back.
Carolyn stepped in before Johns and Riddick launched at each other’s throats, “So what happened? Where are they, then?” She was aware that the Doctor was watching her, by the possessive stance he had, as she moved between the two opponents and conveyed to Riddick that she still trusted him.
“Anyone know where River is?” Simon asked. He was alarmed.
Bells went off in the Time Lord's head. No lead weight here. Time was about to shift. He had only minutes to stop it. Now he heard the whisper in his mind of River's frozen panic. She'd heard something and followed it. Death cackled in his ear. Hearts pounding, the Doctor took off, flying through the room, papers scattering across the floor as he dropped them. He hit the door in a run and was out of sight before anyone could react. Riddick looked at Fry, “The coring room?” Simon spun and followed the tall pale man out in a run.