[DW] BigBang: Dancing Star IX
Dancing Star
~EIGHT~
..............~oOo~..............
~NINE~
The cabin was a mess. Donna had expected nothing else, of course. There was a large table, which could have been covered in maps, but they were all on the floor now. A chair had toppled over, but the Doctor quickly pulled it upright, flopped down on it and placed his trainers on the desk. They squeaked and left a little puddle of water on the ground.
Donna sat on another chair. “What now?”
The Doctor tossed the compass from one hand to the other, his expression grave. “I can't really do anything against the Dancing Star, not without the TARDIS, and even with it... It's probably one of the last surviving members of its species, and besides, it won't do any harm to anyone.”
“That's... different. And it doesn't look like it.”
“That's because she's got it all wrong!”
“She?”
“Yeah, the Dancing Stars are all female, didn't I say? Anyway, when she arrived here, there were probably dinosaurs in the water, not many, but she wouldn't have cared back then. She was young, so very young, still needing to just grow, mature, and then, when she got older, adapt. Only, but then, the humans had come round, and they were building boats. So many boats, on all the waters and travelling from island to island, and, over the centuries, still more boats came - and that's where she got it wrong.”
“How?”
“The Dancing Stars feed when they want to reproduce, and only then. They don't need much, and to maintain the natural balance of the world they've chosen, they only feed off the dominant species, the one with the most members, whatever that is. Their energy, anyway.”
“But that would be humans, right?”
“Insects, more likely. Except she's so very young, and all she's known is water and the life in it; she can't imagine the billions of creatures crawling around on the land, and she has learned to ignore the life in the water during her childhood. And so, she latches onto the ships. Her body and her mind create a template, and when the day comes she will reproduce, she will start to feed of ships, anything, any part of them from which she can gain energy. The crew are just annoying objects to her, incombustible, and so, she filters them out, drops them off somewhere, and takes the ship.”
“And that's what's happening? What happened to the Pearl?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she give it back?”
“This is a wooden ship. Hardly eatable material on board. I suppose every single drop of lantern oil and alcohol is gone, perhaps the supplies, too, depending on what they were - the things to draw energy from. It's like... the Dancing Star considers the ship to be an organism. The crew are bacteria, dangerous, and therefore removed. And then, she starts draining the lifeblood out of the ship.
“At any rate, while she was making due with the meagre meals of ships, we came along, travelling in the time stream, a ship drawing its energy from the time vortex itself. So much energy. The TARDIS fitted her template, and so, she dragged us out of the vortex, tricked the TARDIS into removing us - only the TARDIS recognised what was being done and blocked her. I made some adjustments to the TARDIS's firewall after that, but all the while, the Dancing Star was gathering strength for a full blown attack. When we were close enough, she lashed out. She couldn't break through the firewall and found no means of removing us, which checked her for a moment. But then, she discovered how she could trick us into leaving, and placed the Pearl, now only a corpse to her, to bait us. And it worked.”
“So if Jack hadn't left the TARDIS...”
“I told him not to. But when do your humans ever listen?”
“Oi! Now you're just being unfair.”
A smile flickered over the Doctor's face. “Maybe. The point still stands, though.”
“What would have happened to the Pearl if Jack hadn't stepped out of the TARDIS?”
“The Dancing Star would have set her adrift anywhere. She would probably have been torn apart in the next storm without anyone ever knowing about it.”
“So we helped Jack to get his ship back, yeah?”
“I s'ppose.”
“You're being selfish, spaceman.” It wasn't as if Donna didn't want to get home, someday, but she just wouldn't wait until the Doctor had overcome his self-pity and stopped blaming Jack and instead started looking for a way to get the TARDIS back. “And eventually, the TARDIS will turn up somewhere, so all we have to do is stick with Jack, find a way to detect her when she does, and pick her up.”
The Doctor's face instantly told her that she was missing something. “The Pearl might have returned intact because there wasn't much energy to drain. The TARDIS, however, will be dead once the Dancing Star is done with her. All I could do is prevent her getting a functioning time machine. Once the TARDIS is returned, she will be nothing but a worthless piece of coral.”
Donna couldn't think of a suitable reply. Her mum and gramps flickered through her head - she wouldn't see them again, now. Or Chiswick, for that matter - although, perhaps, some version of it existed, but the one she'd known was forever out of reach. It couldn't have been easier for the Doctor.
“So, what're we gonna do?”
The Doctor shrugged. “Get off at the next harbour, find some employment... Blimey, I'll need money! I never really bothered about money...”
“We'll stick together, though, yeah?”
“Course.”
For a moment, the cabin fell silent. Donna could hear the waves against the ship's hull, a low, creaking sound whenever the masses of water impacted. She could hear the Doctor's breathing, and her own, and the rustling of his clothes as he settled deeper into the chair.
“Doctor, what is it you want most?”
The Doctor glanced at her, then pulled the compass out of his pocket. “Donna Noble. You could never except the inevitable, could you?” He tossed it to her, and Donna caught it clumsily, flipping the lid open.
“What use it is to me?”
“Don't you want to go home?” the Doctor shot back.
“I do! I just thought it would work better for you.” She stared down at the needle, which was twitching and turning, until it eventually settled on a direction. “Fat lot of good that is.”
“Does it show a course?” The Doctor sounded almost surprised.
“Yeah... It's zoned in on South. You know, I really fancy some pineapple juice right now.”
The Doctor clearly didn't appreciate her joke. He'd jumped up from his seat and was peering cautiously over her shoulder at the tiny needle. It was shivering slightly, but definitely pointed south - until the Doctor got too close. Suddenly, the needle was in a wild frenzy, swirling there, then there, almost jumping out of its casing.
“Oi, spaceman! Get off - what did you do?”
The Doctor had backed away against the wall, keeping a good few feet between them. He looked slightly embarrassed, hands buried in his pockets, and staring down at the tip of his plimsolls. “I suppose we just have to rely on the fact that your graving for pineapple juice is not your dearest wish.”
Donna looked down at the compass. The needle had returned to it's previous position. “Can't handle Time Lords, I guess?”
The Doctor's answer was cut short by a sharp knocking on the door and Gibbs peering in. “Captain thought ye should see this.”
They followed the pirate on deck, where Jack still hadn't abandoned the wheel entirely, but gazing intently out towards the islands they were just leaving behind. “Have never seen something like that, Doc. Figured it might interest ye,” he said, pointing ahead. “That island over there is growing.”
The Doctor had instantly climbed the wooden railing, holding on to a robe, and stared into the given direction. The sun was glaringly bright in his eyes, but he could still see what Jack had meant. Out of the blue ocean, one of the islands was slowly but steadily rising. Smooth curves of wet sand were already above the water where previously there had been only been the glittering surface of the ocean. The little group of palm trees on the island looked forlorn and lost inmidst the new masses of land shifted from the sea.
“The very heart of the Bermuda Triangle... It's started.”
“Doctor...” said Donna, from the other side of the ship. In her hand, there was Jack's compass.
The Doctor jumped down onto the deck. “Let me guess - that's were the needle is pointing.”
Donna nodded, uneasy.
The Doctor turned to Jack. If there was any chance, even the slightest, that he could get the TARDIS back, then he had to take it, even if it meant placing Donna and himself in terrible danger, not to speak of the two pirates. He didn't approve of ordinary pirates, of course, but then Jack was no ordinary pirate. Perhaps it had been the compass that twisted his mind, or perhaps he was just exceptional, but the Doctor had his doubts whether Jack would plunder, kill and destroy - he looked more like the type that searched for lost treasures. “Captain, might I beg use of one of your boats?”
Jack frowned, and toyed absent-mindedly with the pummel of his sword. “Ye enjoy danger, Doctor, don't ye?”
“And you like to avoid it.”
“You'll never reach that island in a dinghy. I'm takin' ye.” And with that, he pulled the steering wheel sharply about and the Pearl groaned in protest, slowly turning around.
“Thank you.”
~TEN~