Fic: Alien Abduction. Chapter 2/5.
Oh Alex...
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Interlude
Summary: This story begins with abduction and ends with waffles. In between there's some adventuring and some heartache and a fair few truths are revealed.
Setting: 2023 (Alex is 16).
Characters: The Doctor (Tenth), the Master (Simm), Lucy, Jack, OCs (Alex, Matt, Josh)
Rating: PG-13.
Word count: 2500 words.
Feedback: I would love your thoughts on this one!
Chapter 2
Josh suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. It seemed that there wasn’t actually room for anything in his head except the numerous alien weapons aimed squarely at him. As through a daze he heard Alex swear, and then saw him slowly throw down the gun, which ruled out any possibility of his best friend (who-had-suddenly-turned-out-to-be-an-alien) also being some kind of superhero who could mow down any attackers in his way...
He was shaken out of his frozen state when Alex very slowly moved himself to act as some sort of human - or alien, rather - shield, before starting to speak what had to be Glattian, and the little cylinder thing in Josh’s hand began to spew out a translation...
“Um... Please don’t shoot.”
Alex’s face looked almost as tense as Josh felt. “Sorry about the awkwardness of this... I - I seek audience with your leader under peaceful contract, according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. OK?”
The aliens started muttering amongst themselves, and then one of them, the only one dressed in green, spoke into some sort of communication thing on its wrist.
“What was that?” Matt whispered to Alex, leaning forward, and Alex suddenly smiled.
“Baloo taught me the Jungle Law and all its Masterwords when I was only a cub. Comes in handy.”
Matt shook his head, and Josh shot him an understanding look. Apparently nothing - not even life-or-death situations - stopped Alex from quoting his favourite books.
After a short moment, however, the aliens finished their conference, and the green clad one, who appeared to be the leader, addressed Alex.
“Come along children. The Captain wishes to see you.”
“Excellent,” Alex beamed, and - snatching the translator from Josh’s hand - stepped forward happily.
“By the way, could you furnish my friends with better translators? This one’s a bit... basic. And, if I may ask, what is a surgeon doing commanding troops?”
The alien let two of its eyes fasten on Alex with a look that could only be surprise.
“And who are you to asks such questions?”
Alex just smiled, utterly unconcerned.
“Just curious. Or are you a military doctor of some kind? I’m afraid I wasn’t as attentive as I should have been during my lessons.”
The alien didn’t answer, instead ordering one of the guards to ‘sort out the human children’, and Josh tried to not show too much worry as a tall blue bulk approached and attached a small starshaped object to his ear.
But the next time one of the aliens spoke it sounded as if it was speaking English, and Alex winked at them, before being distracted by the surgeon, who was now guiding them towards another lift.
Josh told himself that if Alex was calm enough to make small talk with their alien captors, then things were probably OK, although it was possible that he was just lying...
Again.
Because clearly Alex was even better at lying than they had previously suspected, Josh thought with a fair amount of bitterness. And it didn’t help that Alex was now chatting with the surgeon with perfect ease. It turned out that he - the surgeon - had been in the middle of dissecting an ‘Arkan’ when called away, and Alex was excitedly asking questions. (An Arkan being a creature which - bizarrely - was apparently made up mostly of water, from what Josh could gather from the conversation, and thus somewhat problematic from a surgical point of view.)
Matt was looking as uneasy as Josh felt - probably worrying about the poor alien that was being cut up, something Alex (ever the scientist) was blithely ignoring. Josh, however, was feeling rather jealous. He was good with people, but aliens were something else... He’d have given his right arm for Alex’s easy banter.
Then the doors whooshed open, and Josh forgot everything he’d been thinking. In front of them was the ship’s bridge, and it was everything he could ever have dreamt. A giant curved window took up about a quarter of the walls, and in front of it were rows upon rows upon rows of control panels, full of blinking lights and a myriad of buttons. There were more Glattians, all in bright blue uniforms - in a shade which clashed terribly with their skin tone, Josh noted disapprovingly - and odd purple balls which hung almost motionless in the air.
Matt asked in a whisper what they were, and Alex explained that they were living, sentient cameras - lab created cyborgs and rather popular thanks to their efficiency. He started saying something about unions, but then they were summoned by the Captain, and Alex stepped forwards, as diplomatic a look on his face as Josh had ever seen.
“So, these are the human children who escaped? Speak child.”
Josh held his breath as his friend started talking - this was quite literally life or death, and he silently prayed that Alex’s gift of the gab would prove useful once more.
“Greetings Captain. Many apologies for any upset we might have caused, we were merely trying to get home after you abducted us - in clear violation of the laws of the Shadow Proclamation, I might add. However, I hope we can sort this out amicably. You see, a little while ago I sent a message to my family, and they should arrive shortly to rescue me and my friends. Either let us go - which would be the most preferable option by far - or, when my family arrives, be exceedingly polite, since they will be... very upset that I was stolen. Do we understand each other?”
Then he frowned, eyes caught by the controls.
“Oh and if you like, I can tell you how to boost the efficiency of your engines by 37.4% - it’s quite simple...”
The Captain blinked thrice, and frowned. Josh hoped that frowning was a good thing for Glattians.
“What is this nonsense?” he asked. “We do no reward insolence, child.”
Alex was finally beginning to show some of the worry that Josh had felt the whole time.
“I’m not being insolent. Please believe me - my family is coming and they will kill you, unless-”
All three of the Captain’s eyes began to look very angry, and Josh pulled at Alex’s sleeve.
“Alex! Have you gone insane? What the hell are you doing threatening them?”
His friend turned, pale and serious.
“You don’t understand. These guys stole me and my dad... God, you have no idea. He’s going to slaughter them, and my uncle is going to let him...”
He was interrupted by the Captain, whose attention was now on the guards stationed behind them.
“Enough. The human children are wasting our time. Take them away and find out how they escaped. Make sure their feat cannot be replicated, then ready them for studying.”
Alex sighed deeply and very nearly rolled his eyes.
“Oh come on, it should be obvious that I’m not human.”
The Captain let one dismissive eye turn towards him, and what probably passed for a Glattian sneer crossed his face as he looked at Alex.
“I’m sure we’ll work out what sort of mongrel you are soon enough.”
The soldiers stepped forwards, laying heavy, blue hands on them, and Josh felt that terrible fear he’d first encountered in the holding cell come back with a vengeance. This was it. They were all going to die, just like that. He felt like he was going to be sick.
Even Alex looked like he was frozen with shock, and for a moment Josh thought that the situation had finally hit him. But then...
“How dare you?” Alex exploded, wrenching himself out of the guards grasp and staring at the Captain as if he could kill him with just a look.
“I was born to rule the universe you worthless troglodyte with the brain of an adipose and the integrity of a Slitheen! If I had an army still, you wouldn’t live long enough to even think of begging for mercy!”
The silence that followed Alex’s outburst was so complete that Josh didn’t dare breathe. All he could think was ‘Oh G-d, he’s finally snapped, just like his dad... We are so dead!’
Then the Captain leaned forwards, eyes fixed on Alex with unnerving intensity.
“Who are you?”
A cold, haughty smile on his face Alex let his eyes take in the whole bridge, as he slowly folded his arms, head held high - all of a sudden reminding Josh of the footage of Harold Saxon when he’d faced off against President Winters.
“I am the Seeker, only son of the Master; and I-” he paused for effect, “-am the last child of Gallifrey.”
There was another silence, but this time it was swiftly broken by whispering amongst all the Glattians.
‘Timelord...’ ‘It can’t be...’ ‘the legends say...’
Then the Captain spoke, disbelief and uncertainty clear as day on his face.
“Impossible.”
Josh didn’t have a clue what Alex was doing, but whatever it was he could almost feel the shift of power in the room.
“Count the hearts, Glattian.”
Josh and Matt stepped back as a guard came forwards with some kind of scanner, and Alex pocketed his bracelet, silently waiting for a verdict. For a moment Josh looked at the spectacle as from the outside, viewing it as if he were watching a movie - and the image was utterly incongruous. Alex, slender, pyjama-clad and tousle-haired, with perfect disdain and grace allowing the far stronger, taller and seemingly more powerful Glattians the honour of ascertaining his credentials. Trying to take on board the implications, he wondered... what exactly was a ‘Timelord’?
Alex had, on account of his father, always been somewhat notorious when they went out together, but he had always brushed it aside, unconcerned with ‘reflected notoriety’. Yet now he seemed to grasp a different inheritance - and was using it.
Plus, and Josh’s eyes narrowed, he had called himself ‘the Seeker’ and not ‘Alex’. A different name after all, just as he’d expected...
Then the gizmos apparently proved Alex right, and the Captain was now watching him with undisclosed... something or other Josh couldn’t quite determine. Something unpleasant in any case. Something that looked like desire, or greed, or hunger...
“Tell me young Seeker, is it true was said of the Timelords? That they had the power of gods? That they knew all the secrets of the universe and could tell the future?”
Alex appeared to mull this over.
“Don’t know about the power of gods... Although from your point of view I suppose that’s not entirely inaccurate. Time and space bends to our desires, and the past and the future are ours to command if we so wish it.”
“But you are only a child,” the Captain said slowly, and Alex - through nothing more than a raised eyebrow - somehow managed to communicate utter contempt and superiority.
“And yet I have seen eternity. I know the story of Glattis from first to last, its fate a mere drop in the cosmos. A million worlds such as yours were destroyed in the Time War... And mark my words, my uncle was the man who ended that war.”
There was a pause, as the Captain studied Alex, all three eyes fixed on him with a look that was exceedingly unnerving. Alex, however, didn’t so much as blink.
“Does your uncle have a name?” the Captain finally asked, and Josh could have sworn that Alex shook his head just the tiniest fraction. But he answered readily enough... by not answering.
“The Daleks called him The Oncoming Storm. He might show you mercy, if you make sure to explain very carefully that this is all a misunderstanding.”
The Captain sat very still, but then a determined look entered all three eyes and he began issuing orders left and right.
“Guards - escort the Timelord and his human pets to the most secure holding cell on the ship, and guard him with your lives. Pilot - fire up all the engines and set a course straight to Glattis. Crew - get us ready for an interstellar space jump. And keep a lookout for any craft following us and fire on them pre-emptively.”
Guards once more closed in on them and Josh sought out Matt’s eyes. What now?
And then Alex - their always calm, reliable and self-possessed friend - collapsed into hysterical giggles.
Chapter 3.
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Interlude
Summary: This story begins with abduction and ends with waffles. In between there's some adventuring and some heartache and a fair few truths are revealed.
Setting: 2023 (Alex is 16).
Characters: The Doctor (Tenth), the Master (Simm), Lucy, Jack, OCs (Alex, Matt, Josh)
Rating: PG-13.
Word count: 2500 words.
Feedback: I would love your thoughts on this one!
Chapter 2
Josh suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. It seemed that there wasn’t actually room for anything in his head except the numerous alien weapons aimed squarely at him. As through a daze he heard Alex swear, and then saw him slowly throw down the gun, which ruled out any possibility of his best friend (who-had-suddenly-turned-out-to-be-an-alien) also being some kind of superhero who could mow down any attackers in his way...
He was shaken out of his frozen state when Alex very slowly moved himself to act as some sort of human - or alien, rather - shield, before starting to speak what had to be Glattian, and the little cylinder thing in Josh’s hand began to spew out a translation...
“Um... Please don’t shoot.”
Alex’s face looked almost as tense as Josh felt. “Sorry about the awkwardness of this... I - I seek audience with your leader under peaceful contract, according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation. OK?”
The aliens started muttering amongst themselves, and then one of them, the only one dressed in green, spoke into some sort of communication thing on its wrist.
“What was that?” Matt whispered to Alex, leaning forward, and Alex suddenly smiled.
“Baloo taught me the Jungle Law and all its Masterwords when I was only a cub. Comes in handy.”
Matt shook his head, and Josh shot him an understanding look. Apparently nothing - not even life-or-death situations - stopped Alex from quoting his favourite books.
After a short moment, however, the aliens finished their conference, and the green clad one, who appeared to be the leader, addressed Alex.
“Come along children. The Captain wishes to see you.”
“Excellent,” Alex beamed, and - snatching the translator from Josh’s hand - stepped forward happily.
“By the way, could you furnish my friends with better translators? This one’s a bit... basic. And, if I may ask, what is a surgeon doing commanding troops?”
The alien let two of its eyes fasten on Alex with a look that could only be surprise.
“And who are you to asks such questions?”
Alex just smiled, utterly unconcerned.
“Just curious. Or are you a military doctor of some kind? I’m afraid I wasn’t as attentive as I should have been during my lessons.”
The alien didn’t answer, instead ordering one of the guards to ‘sort out the human children’, and Josh tried to not show too much worry as a tall blue bulk approached and attached a small starshaped object to his ear.
But the next time one of the aliens spoke it sounded as if it was speaking English, and Alex winked at them, before being distracted by the surgeon, who was now guiding them towards another lift.
Josh told himself that if Alex was calm enough to make small talk with their alien captors, then things were probably OK, although it was possible that he was just lying...
Again.
Because clearly Alex was even better at lying than they had previously suspected, Josh thought with a fair amount of bitterness. And it didn’t help that Alex was now chatting with the surgeon with perfect ease. It turned out that he - the surgeon - had been in the middle of dissecting an ‘Arkan’ when called away, and Alex was excitedly asking questions. (An Arkan being a creature which - bizarrely - was apparently made up mostly of water, from what Josh could gather from the conversation, and thus somewhat problematic from a surgical point of view.)
Matt was looking as uneasy as Josh felt - probably worrying about the poor alien that was being cut up, something Alex (ever the scientist) was blithely ignoring. Josh, however, was feeling rather jealous. He was good with people, but aliens were something else... He’d have given his right arm for Alex’s easy banter.
Then the doors whooshed open, and Josh forgot everything he’d been thinking. In front of them was the ship’s bridge, and it was everything he could ever have dreamt. A giant curved window took up about a quarter of the walls, and in front of it were rows upon rows upon rows of control panels, full of blinking lights and a myriad of buttons. There were more Glattians, all in bright blue uniforms - in a shade which clashed terribly with their skin tone, Josh noted disapprovingly - and odd purple balls which hung almost motionless in the air.
Matt asked in a whisper what they were, and Alex explained that they were living, sentient cameras - lab created cyborgs and rather popular thanks to their efficiency. He started saying something about unions, but then they were summoned by the Captain, and Alex stepped forwards, as diplomatic a look on his face as Josh had ever seen.
“So, these are the human children who escaped? Speak child.”
Josh held his breath as his friend started talking - this was quite literally life or death, and he silently prayed that Alex’s gift of the gab would prove useful once more.
“Greetings Captain. Many apologies for any upset we might have caused, we were merely trying to get home after you abducted us - in clear violation of the laws of the Shadow Proclamation, I might add. However, I hope we can sort this out amicably. You see, a little while ago I sent a message to my family, and they should arrive shortly to rescue me and my friends. Either let us go - which would be the most preferable option by far - or, when my family arrives, be exceedingly polite, since they will be... very upset that I was stolen. Do we understand each other?”
Then he frowned, eyes caught by the controls.
“Oh and if you like, I can tell you how to boost the efficiency of your engines by 37.4% - it’s quite simple...”
The Captain blinked thrice, and frowned. Josh hoped that frowning was a good thing for Glattians.
“What is this nonsense?” he asked. “We do no reward insolence, child.”
Alex was finally beginning to show some of the worry that Josh had felt the whole time.
“I’m not being insolent. Please believe me - my family is coming and they will kill you, unless-”
All three of the Captain’s eyes began to look very angry, and Josh pulled at Alex’s sleeve.
“Alex! Have you gone insane? What the hell are you doing threatening them?”
His friend turned, pale and serious.
“You don’t understand. These guys stole me and my dad... God, you have no idea. He’s going to slaughter them, and my uncle is going to let him...”
He was interrupted by the Captain, whose attention was now on the guards stationed behind them.
“Enough. The human children are wasting our time. Take them away and find out how they escaped. Make sure their feat cannot be replicated, then ready them for studying.”
Alex sighed deeply and very nearly rolled his eyes.
“Oh come on, it should be obvious that I’m not human.”
The Captain let one dismissive eye turn towards him, and what probably passed for a Glattian sneer crossed his face as he looked at Alex.
“I’m sure we’ll work out what sort of mongrel you are soon enough.”
The soldiers stepped forwards, laying heavy, blue hands on them, and Josh felt that terrible fear he’d first encountered in the holding cell come back with a vengeance. This was it. They were all going to die, just like that. He felt like he was going to be sick.
Even Alex looked like he was frozen with shock, and for a moment Josh thought that the situation had finally hit him. But then...
“How dare you?” Alex exploded, wrenching himself out of the guards grasp and staring at the Captain as if he could kill him with just a look.
“I was born to rule the universe you worthless troglodyte with the brain of an adipose and the integrity of a Slitheen! If I had an army still, you wouldn’t live long enough to even think of begging for mercy!”
The silence that followed Alex’s outburst was so complete that Josh didn’t dare breathe. All he could think was ‘Oh G-d, he’s finally snapped, just like his dad... We are so dead!’
Then the Captain leaned forwards, eyes fixed on Alex with unnerving intensity.
“Who are you?”
A cold, haughty smile on his face Alex let his eyes take in the whole bridge, as he slowly folded his arms, head held high - all of a sudden reminding Josh of the footage of Harold Saxon when he’d faced off against President Winters.
“I am the Seeker, only son of the Master; and I-” he paused for effect, “-am the last child of Gallifrey.”
There was another silence, but this time it was swiftly broken by whispering amongst all the Glattians.
‘Timelord...’ ‘It can’t be...’ ‘the legends say...’
Then the Captain spoke, disbelief and uncertainty clear as day on his face.
“Impossible.”
Josh didn’t have a clue what Alex was doing, but whatever it was he could almost feel the shift of power in the room.
“Count the hearts, Glattian.”
Josh and Matt stepped back as a guard came forwards with some kind of scanner, and Alex pocketed his bracelet, silently waiting for a verdict. For a moment Josh looked at the spectacle as from the outside, viewing it as if he were watching a movie - and the image was utterly incongruous. Alex, slender, pyjama-clad and tousle-haired, with perfect disdain and grace allowing the far stronger, taller and seemingly more powerful Glattians the honour of ascertaining his credentials. Trying to take on board the implications, he wondered... what exactly was a ‘Timelord’?
Alex had, on account of his father, always been somewhat notorious when they went out together, but he had always brushed it aside, unconcerned with ‘reflected notoriety’. Yet now he seemed to grasp a different inheritance - and was using it.
Plus, and Josh’s eyes narrowed, he had called himself ‘the Seeker’ and not ‘Alex’. A different name after all, just as he’d expected...
Then the gizmos apparently proved Alex right, and the Captain was now watching him with undisclosed... something or other Josh couldn’t quite determine. Something unpleasant in any case. Something that looked like desire, or greed, or hunger...
“Tell me young Seeker, is it true was said of the Timelords? That they had the power of gods? That they knew all the secrets of the universe and could tell the future?”
Alex appeared to mull this over.
“Don’t know about the power of gods... Although from your point of view I suppose that’s not entirely inaccurate. Time and space bends to our desires, and the past and the future are ours to command if we so wish it.”
“But you are only a child,” the Captain said slowly, and Alex - through nothing more than a raised eyebrow - somehow managed to communicate utter contempt and superiority.
“And yet I have seen eternity. I know the story of Glattis from first to last, its fate a mere drop in the cosmos. A million worlds such as yours were destroyed in the Time War... And mark my words, my uncle was the man who ended that war.”
There was a pause, as the Captain studied Alex, all three eyes fixed on him with a look that was exceedingly unnerving. Alex, however, didn’t so much as blink.
“Does your uncle have a name?” the Captain finally asked, and Josh could have sworn that Alex shook his head just the tiniest fraction. But he answered readily enough... by not answering.
“The Daleks called him The Oncoming Storm. He might show you mercy, if you make sure to explain very carefully that this is all a misunderstanding.”
The Captain sat very still, but then a determined look entered all three eyes and he began issuing orders left and right.
“Guards - escort the Timelord and his human pets to the most secure holding cell on the ship, and guard him with your lives. Pilot - fire up all the engines and set a course straight to Glattis. Crew - get us ready for an interstellar space jump. And keep a lookout for any craft following us and fire on them pre-emptively.”
Guards once more closed in on them and Josh sought out Matt’s eyes. What now?
And then Alex - their always calm, reliable and self-possessed friend - collapsed into hysterical giggles.
Chapter 3.