Fic: Solaris
Author: bell_jar_fics
Story: Solaris
Character/Pairing: Doctor, Rose, Jack, OC, Hints of Doctor/Rose
Era: Ninth Doctor Era; Takes place between The Doctor Dances and Boomtown.
Rating: PG-13 (To be safe)
Chapter 8/? (Rose's Story)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retreive a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
I'd really like reviews for this story. Hardly anyone has left comments, which makes me sad.
Previous Chapters
The Doctor and Jack sat at opposite ends of the cell they had to share. The past six days had become routine. When the sun first rose, the guards would come to their cell and escort them to the building site. There, they were forced to join the other slaves in building the fourth pyramid. Then, before dusk settled, the same guards brought them back to their cell, where small meals were waiting for them. It was always the same meal, too: bread and beer. The bread that was given to them was usually hard enough to have been stale for a month, but Jack had quickly discovered it was easier to chew if you softened the bread by dunking it into the beer first.
This night was the same as the other nights. For what must have been the billionth time, for the Doctor was quickly loosing track, they voiced their thoughts over how Rose was fairing, while trying to digest their beer-soaked bread loafs.
“Well, on a positive note,” Jack began, in an attempt to provide some levity. “There aren’t any barrage balloons for her to hang from on this planet..” At Jack’s joke, a reluctant smile started to appear on the Doctor’s face. But before he could reply, the sounds of footsteps approaching began to echo through the dungeons. Moments later, one of the guards was outside their cell, leering at them.
“I just thought you two should know,” the guard mocked. “King Hoaraph caught your female friend lurking outside his throne room without permission. No doubt to try and steal the item you came to filch.” The guard then turned on his heal and started to walk off, but not before sending one last taunt over his shoulder. “I’d hate to be your friend once King Hoaraph’s through dealing with the little miscreant.”
As the guard’s daunting laughs died away, the Doctor got to his feet, gripping the bars of the cell so tightly, his knuckles were turning white. Jack momentarily felt his blood chill at the sight of the look on the Time Lord’s face as he whipped out the sonic screwdriver and fervently jabbed it at the lock in a desperate attempt to get out of their cell.
“I thought you said that wouldn’t do any good with that lock,” Jack reminded.
“You have a better suggestion?” The Doctor snapped, rounding on Jack. “Because if you do, I’d be glad to hear it. Right now, Rose could be hurt, or worse, and it’s my fault!” With that, the Doctor turned back to the cell door and gave the bars a futile yank before hanging his head, looking completely lost.
At that moment, a low, hissing ‘pssst’ could be heard. When Jack and the Doctor glanced up to the window that was positioned in their cell, they saw a young slave boy crouched down, looking at them.
“Are you the friends of Rose?” The boy asked.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded. Instantly, a satisfied smile appeared on the slave boy’s face, and he turned to look at someone to his left.
“I found them, Rose.”
“Rose!” The second Rose's face appeared, the Doctor crossed the cell to the window, griping her hand through the bars. “How did you…? I thought….”
“Rose, are you okay?” Jack stepped into the conversation.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“What were you doing outside King Hoaraph’s throne room?” The Doctor questioned, gazing at her face out of relief that she was safe. Rose paused for a moment, remembering that she’d seen that same look on his face before, back in the underground bunker after he’d seen that the Lone Dalek hadn’t killed her. Her thoughts were interrupted when he continued talking. “The guards said you were punished for that.”
“No,” Rose shook her head, looking suddenly awkward and guilty. “It wasn’t me they caught outside the throne room. But they almost did.”
“You were outside?” The Doctor’s hold on Rose’s hand tightened instinctively.
“Why were you…?” Rose cut Jack’s question off before he could finish.
“We were outside the throne room,” Rose explained, “because some suitor was bringing an item to King Hoaraph, as some sort of payment for his daughter.”
“When you say ‘we’,” the Doctor spoke with forced calmness, trying not to let his dislike for the thief show too much. “You mean you and Solaris?”
“Yeah, I do,” Rose confirmed. “But that’s not the point. The item that the suitor brought. It’s the knife! The first artifact!”
“Are you sure?” Jack whispered as his and the Doctor’s faces registered their surprise.
“Solaris and I heard them talking. The pommel stone of the knife has eight smaller stones surrounding it. It’s one of the artifacts we need.”
“And this is how you were caught eavesdropping?” The Doctor’s face slightly shifted to a stern expression.
“No. I wasn’t the one who was caught.” Rose looked guilty again before explaining what had happened.
Flashback
From outside the throne room doors, Rose and Solaris stood frozen as they heard the guards, alerted to their presence by the fallen incense burner, approaching. Rose turned to run to find a place to hide, but as she did so, Solaris grabbed her and shoved her in the direction of the space where the doors met the wall. Mere seconds later, the doors flew open, but since they opened outward, they concealed Rose from the view of the guards.
“It’s one of Refetinti’s new handmaidens!” Rose heard a guard bellow. “She must have been eavesdropping.”
“So!” King Hoaraph’s voice could be heard now. “Thought you’d try and figure out how you could get your hands on more, were you? I will not be so lenient to you this time. You may be my daughter’s property, but I still carry the right to punish all slaves. Guards, you know how to deal with unruly slaves.” As the guards dragged Solaris off, Rose chanced a look from behind the door. In doing so, she alone caught the look Solaris sent her way. One that seemed to say ‘get back to Refetinti’s bedchamber with the wine’. Rose stayed where she was a moment longer, in case a guard returned, slightly shaken by how Solaris had virtually sacrificed herself protect her, but then she snuck out from the hiding place Solaris had forced her into to quickly return to Refetinti with the wine, as Solaris had nonverbally told her to.
End Flashback
“So, Solaris took the fall so you could get away?” Jack concluded.
“I haven’t seen her since then,” Rose confirmed with a nod.
“I’m sure she’ll be all right,” the Doctor reassured, understanding that Rose was feeling concerned for the alien thief. “So, we’ve found the knife.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how we’re going to get it and get back to the TARDIS.”
“Well, the knife you’re looking for would be in King Hoaraph’s treasure hold by now,” Nomra spoke up, momentarily surprising the three friends. They had almost forgotten the slave boy was there. “The one inside the green pyramid. That’s where he stores all his most valuable treasures.”
“But how are we going to get the knife from inside the pyramid?” Jack wondered. “If it’s so full of treasure, it must be heavily guarded.”
“I wonder,” the Doctor spoke slowly as he thought about the situation. “Rose, you said the knife was meant to be payment for Refetinti?”
“Yes, that’s what King Hoaraph and the suitor was saying.”
“Do you know when the marriage is supposed to take place?”
“The kitchen slaves are preparing a large feast for the night of the harvest moon,” Nomra remembered. “That must be when it is.”
“And when’s the harvest moon?” The Doctor asked.
“It’s in about three nights.”
“Right. That gives me an idea.” Jack, Rose, and Nomra all listened closely as the Doctor explained his plan.
“Sounds insane,” Jack smirked in approval. “I like insane.”
“You think it’ll work?” Rose asked.
“It better. It’s the only plan we got.” At that moment, a low gong was heard in the distance.
“That’s the curfew gong,” Nomra whispered. “If you’re caught outside after it’s sounded, you’re in a lot of trouble.”
“In that case, you get back to the servants quarters,” the Doctor ordered. “And remember to watch for Nomra’s signal, Rose. We’re only going to have one shot at this.”
“I’ll remember,” Rose promised as she snuck away with the young slave boy.
-----
Thanks to Nomra, Rose managed to get back to the servants quarters without running into any of the guards, even though there were quite a few near misses. As she snuck into the large room, she thought that everyone else in the room was already asleep. But as she got into her makeshift bed, a sudden voice made her jump.
“It took you a while to get back here. Did you get lost?” Rose spun around to see Solaris sitting by the wall, pressing a rag to her cheek.
“Solaris! Are you okay?” Rose made an effort to keep her voice down.
“Compared to some injuries I received in the past, it’s nothing too bad.” Solaris lowered the rag to reveal a painful looking gash on her cheek, which still had flakes of dried blood caked to it.
“Here, let me help.” Rose came up to her side and took the rag. Ignoring Solaris’ reluctant grunt, she wet the rag in a nearby basin of water and proceeded to clean the cut. “Solaris? Thank you…. for what you did earlier.”
“Wish you people would stop thanking me,” Solaris hissed as the wet rag came in contact with the open cut. “I only did it because I didn’t think the Doctor would continue to gather the artifacts if you died. Your life is his motivation.” For a moment, the two were silent as Rose continued to clean the cut, but then Solaris spoke again. “So. What did make you take so long getting back?”
“A slave boy I met, Nomra, helped me find Jack and the Doctor,” Rose explained. “I needed to tell them what we found out.”
“And what did ‘Doctor X’ say?”
“Actually, he’s got a plan about how we can get the knife. Nomra says it’ll be kept in the green pyramid with the rest of King Hoaraph’s treasure.”
“What makes Nomra so sure it’ll be there?”
“He said that’s where Hoaraph always stores his most valued treasures.” For the briefest moment, Rose thought she noticed a scheming expression pass over Solaris’ face, but it quickly vanished, leaving Rose thinking it was just the shadows playing tricks.
“Well? Go on. What’s your friend’s plan?” Solaris urged. As Rose continued to tend to Solaris’ cut cheek, and a few wounds that were on her arm as well, she conveyed the Doctor’s plan.
Story: Solaris
Character/Pairing: Doctor, Rose, Jack, OC, Hints of Doctor/Rose
Era: Ninth Doctor Era; Takes place between The Doctor Dances and Boomtown.
Rating: PG-13 (To be safe)
Chapter 8/? (Rose's Story)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retreive a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
I'd really like reviews for this story. Hardly anyone has left comments, which makes me sad.
Previous Chapters
The Doctor and Jack sat at opposite ends of the cell they had to share. The past six days had become routine. When the sun first rose, the guards would come to their cell and escort them to the building site. There, they were forced to join the other slaves in building the fourth pyramid. Then, before dusk settled, the same guards brought them back to their cell, where small meals were waiting for them. It was always the same meal, too: bread and beer. The bread that was given to them was usually hard enough to have been stale for a month, but Jack had quickly discovered it was easier to chew if you softened the bread by dunking it into the beer first.
This night was the same as the other nights. For what must have been the billionth time, for the Doctor was quickly loosing track, they voiced their thoughts over how Rose was fairing, while trying to digest their beer-soaked bread loafs.
“Well, on a positive note,” Jack began, in an attempt to provide some levity. “There aren’t any barrage balloons for her to hang from on this planet..” At Jack’s joke, a reluctant smile started to appear on the Doctor’s face. But before he could reply, the sounds of footsteps approaching began to echo through the dungeons. Moments later, one of the guards was outside their cell, leering at them.
“I just thought you two should know,” the guard mocked. “King Hoaraph caught your female friend lurking outside his throne room without permission. No doubt to try and steal the item you came to filch.” The guard then turned on his heal and started to walk off, but not before sending one last taunt over his shoulder. “I’d hate to be your friend once King Hoaraph’s through dealing with the little miscreant.”
As the guard’s daunting laughs died away, the Doctor got to his feet, gripping the bars of the cell so tightly, his knuckles were turning white. Jack momentarily felt his blood chill at the sight of the look on the Time Lord’s face as he whipped out the sonic screwdriver and fervently jabbed it at the lock in a desperate attempt to get out of their cell.
“I thought you said that wouldn’t do any good with that lock,” Jack reminded.
“You have a better suggestion?” The Doctor snapped, rounding on Jack. “Because if you do, I’d be glad to hear it. Right now, Rose could be hurt, or worse, and it’s my fault!” With that, the Doctor turned back to the cell door and gave the bars a futile yank before hanging his head, looking completely lost.
At that moment, a low, hissing ‘pssst’ could be heard. When Jack and the Doctor glanced up to the window that was positioned in their cell, they saw a young slave boy crouched down, looking at them.
“Are you the friends of Rose?” The boy asked.
“Yeah,” Jack nodded. Instantly, a satisfied smile appeared on the slave boy’s face, and he turned to look at someone to his left.
“I found them, Rose.”
“Rose!” The second Rose's face appeared, the Doctor crossed the cell to the window, griping her hand through the bars. “How did you…? I thought….”
“Rose, are you okay?” Jack stepped into the conversation.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“What were you doing outside King Hoaraph’s throne room?” The Doctor questioned, gazing at her face out of relief that she was safe. Rose paused for a moment, remembering that she’d seen that same look on his face before, back in the underground bunker after he’d seen that the Lone Dalek hadn’t killed her. Her thoughts were interrupted when he continued talking. “The guards said you were punished for that.”
“No,” Rose shook her head, looking suddenly awkward and guilty. “It wasn’t me they caught outside the throne room. But they almost did.”
“You were outside?” The Doctor’s hold on Rose’s hand tightened instinctively.
“Why were you…?” Rose cut Jack’s question off before he could finish.
“We were outside the throne room,” Rose explained, “because some suitor was bringing an item to King Hoaraph, as some sort of payment for his daughter.”
“When you say ‘we’,” the Doctor spoke with forced calmness, trying not to let his dislike for the thief show too much. “You mean you and Solaris?”
“Yeah, I do,” Rose confirmed. “But that’s not the point. The item that the suitor brought. It’s the knife! The first artifact!”
“Are you sure?” Jack whispered as his and the Doctor’s faces registered their surprise.
“Solaris and I heard them talking. The pommel stone of the knife has eight smaller stones surrounding it. It’s one of the artifacts we need.”
“And this is how you were caught eavesdropping?” The Doctor’s face slightly shifted to a stern expression.
“No. I wasn’t the one who was caught.” Rose looked guilty again before explaining what had happened.
Flashback
From outside the throne room doors, Rose and Solaris stood frozen as they heard the guards, alerted to their presence by the fallen incense burner, approaching. Rose turned to run to find a place to hide, but as she did so, Solaris grabbed her and shoved her in the direction of the space where the doors met the wall. Mere seconds later, the doors flew open, but since they opened outward, they concealed Rose from the view of the guards.
“It’s one of Refetinti’s new handmaidens!” Rose heard a guard bellow. “She must have been eavesdropping.”
“So!” King Hoaraph’s voice could be heard now. “Thought you’d try and figure out how you could get your hands on more, were you? I will not be so lenient to you this time. You may be my daughter’s property, but I still carry the right to punish all slaves. Guards, you know how to deal with unruly slaves.” As the guards dragged Solaris off, Rose chanced a look from behind the door. In doing so, she alone caught the look Solaris sent her way. One that seemed to say ‘get back to Refetinti’s bedchamber with the wine’. Rose stayed where she was a moment longer, in case a guard returned, slightly shaken by how Solaris had virtually sacrificed herself protect her, but then she snuck out from the hiding place Solaris had forced her into to quickly return to Refetinti with the wine, as Solaris had nonverbally told her to.
End Flashback
“So, Solaris took the fall so you could get away?” Jack concluded.
“I haven’t seen her since then,” Rose confirmed with a nod.
“I’m sure she’ll be all right,” the Doctor reassured, understanding that Rose was feeling concerned for the alien thief. “So, we’ve found the knife.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how we’re going to get it and get back to the TARDIS.”
“Well, the knife you’re looking for would be in King Hoaraph’s treasure hold by now,” Nomra spoke up, momentarily surprising the three friends. They had almost forgotten the slave boy was there. “The one inside the green pyramid. That’s where he stores all his most valuable treasures.”
“But how are we going to get the knife from inside the pyramid?” Jack wondered. “If it’s so full of treasure, it must be heavily guarded.”
“I wonder,” the Doctor spoke slowly as he thought about the situation. “Rose, you said the knife was meant to be payment for Refetinti?”
“Yes, that’s what King Hoaraph and the suitor was saying.”
“Do you know when the marriage is supposed to take place?”
“The kitchen slaves are preparing a large feast for the night of the harvest moon,” Nomra remembered. “That must be when it is.”
“And when’s the harvest moon?” The Doctor asked.
“It’s in about three nights.”
“Right. That gives me an idea.” Jack, Rose, and Nomra all listened closely as the Doctor explained his plan.
“Sounds insane,” Jack smirked in approval. “I like insane.”
“You think it’ll work?” Rose asked.
“It better. It’s the only plan we got.” At that moment, a low gong was heard in the distance.
“That’s the curfew gong,” Nomra whispered. “If you’re caught outside after it’s sounded, you’re in a lot of trouble.”
“In that case, you get back to the servants quarters,” the Doctor ordered. “And remember to watch for Nomra’s signal, Rose. We’re only going to have one shot at this.”
“I’ll remember,” Rose promised as she snuck away with the young slave boy.
-----
Thanks to Nomra, Rose managed to get back to the servants quarters without running into any of the guards, even though there were quite a few near misses. As she snuck into the large room, she thought that everyone else in the room was already asleep. But as she got into her makeshift bed, a sudden voice made her jump.
“It took you a while to get back here. Did you get lost?” Rose spun around to see Solaris sitting by the wall, pressing a rag to her cheek.
“Solaris! Are you okay?” Rose made an effort to keep her voice down.
“Compared to some injuries I received in the past, it’s nothing too bad.” Solaris lowered the rag to reveal a painful looking gash on her cheek, which still had flakes of dried blood caked to it.
“Here, let me help.” Rose came up to her side and took the rag. Ignoring Solaris’ reluctant grunt, she wet the rag in a nearby basin of water and proceeded to clean the cut. “Solaris? Thank you…. for what you did earlier.”
“Wish you people would stop thanking me,” Solaris hissed as the wet rag came in contact with the open cut. “I only did it because I didn’t think the Doctor would continue to gather the artifacts if you died. Your life is his motivation.” For a moment, the two were silent as Rose continued to clean the cut, but then Solaris spoke again. “So. What did make you take so long getting back?”
“A slave boy I met, Nomra, helped me find Jack and the Doctor,” Rose explained. “I needed to tell them what we found out.”
“And what did ‘Doctor X’ say?”
“Actually, he’s got a plan about how we can get the knife. Nomra says it’ll be kept in the green pyramid with the rest of King Hoaraph’s treasure.”
“What makes Nomra so sure it’ll be there?”
“He said that’s where Hoaraph always stores his most valued treasures.” For the briefest moment, Rose thought she noticed a scheming expression pass over Solaris’ face, but it quickly vanished, leaving Rose thinking it was just the shadows playing tricks.
“Well? Go on. What’s your friend’s plan?” Solaris urged. As Rose continued to tend to Solaris’ cut cheek, and a few wounds that were on her arm as well, she conveyed the Doctor’s plan.