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: 17/30(?) (The Harvest-time Trials, part 1)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retrieve a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
Note: since Chapter 17 is going to be a long one, I've decided to break it into two parts, with the first part being posted here. Part 2 will hopefully be up before too long.
Previous Chapters
When morning came, the Doctor, Rose, Jack, and Solaris were personally escorted to a large arena-style ring that had been set up along the coast of Aquaria, where all the Anaphus had been gathered. They were soon greeted by Shor.
“Welcome, friends,” Shor greeted. “The Harvest-time Trials will begin shortly, but before we start, the four of you must be given the individual trial tokens, to identify which trial each of you will participate in.” As he spoke, Shor held up four shell necklaces, which were all identical except for the tokens strung to them, and placed them around the necks of the four companions one by one. When Rose glanced down at her token, she saw that it was a small carving of a footprint, an obvious reference to her task of racing to the center of the island to retrieve the amulet.
“Now, just to make sure everyone is clear on what they have to do before we begin…”
“It’s okay, we remember,” Jack assured. “I fight against your best warrior, the Doctor solves your riddle, Solaris gets the hidden box with the key inside it, and Rose heads off to get the Amulet of Nine Stones.”
“Very good. In that case, we can begin as soon as the overseer from the Umepha race arrives. It’s customary of the Harvest-time Trials, you see, for each side to send a representative over to supervise as the other race competes in the trials, to ensure that no cheating is attempted. This year, my brother Shok has been selected as the overseer for the Umepha, so he won’t be back here until later on tonight. Now then, is everyone’s ready?”
“I guess,” Rose shrugged, unable to shake her worry about her approaching footrace.
“I told you,” the Doctor squeezed her hand in comfort. “You’ll do fine.”
“So who exactly am I supposed to fight against?” Jack asked, looking around at the large group of Anaphus.
“Our best warrior is Baranafus,” Shor announced, pointing over their shoulders. The moment the four friends turned toward the Anaphus Shor had indicated, Rose couldn’t stop the sudden gasp that escaped her throat. Baranafus was a huge heavyweight with bulging muscles. He looked too big to be allowed anywhere.
“Jack’s supposed to fight him?” Rose cried in horrified shock.
“That guy could snap him like a twig!” Solaris speculated, visually just as nervous as Rose was. “Come on, Shor. Your best warrior’s got an unfair advantage here!”
“No need to worry about it,” Jack smirked, looking his opponent up and down. “I’ve been up against challengers even bigger than this guy, back in my days as a Time Agent.”
“Are you sure?” the Doctor asked in concern.
“Hey, I’m not just a pretty face, you know,” Jack assured confidently. “I can take whatever Baranafus can throw at me.”
-----
Jack was thrown to the ground with great force, inducing a sudden low groan of pain to escape his lips. However, he managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid Baranafus’ massive fists as they came crashing down like a pair of sledgehammers. Nearly scrambling to his feet, Jack had to act fast once again to block another attack. Baranafus was clearly more of a match than he’d thought, remarkably fast for his massive size, and too fast for Jack to completely anticipate his moves. So far, he had been putting all his effort into defensive techniques against the Anaphus’ assault. It was getting to be clear to Jack that he wouldn’t be able to win this particular trial by relying just on his skills. He was going to need some sort of strategy as well, but it was hard to come up with something when he needed to continue blocking Baranafus’ attacks, when one direct strike might result in completely knocking him out. Already, he’d suffered from minor blows, resulting in a blackened eye, bloody nose, and a split lip.
Just as another one of Baranafus’ attacks was deflected, Jack finally spotted it. It was a very small, hardly noticeable movement, but a movement nonetheless. Every time he was about to strike, Baranafus’ right foot shifted ever so slightly as he prepared to move. Knowing exactly when Baranafus would attack could help give Jack the advantage, enabling him to deliver a counter attack. Although, it was more than likely to be a risky attempt. If he misjudged the timing of Baranafus’ attack by even a second, he might not have enough time to dodge for a counter attack. Still, it was the only chance he had.
Watching Baranafus’ right foot carefully, Jack got himself ready to move at a moment’s notice. When the betraying movement finally came, he acted as quickly as he could. As Baranafus’ sizable fist cut through the air, Jack sidestepped, avoiding the blow by a hairsbreadth. Before Baranafus could recover from the shock that Jack had dodged successfully, the former time agent was able to land a well-aimed strike at Baranafus’ suprascapular nerve, leaving the gigantic alien temporarily immobile from his pressure point being hit. Taking advantage of the momentary advantage, Jack connected his foot to the back of Baranafus’ knee, which sent the Anaphus crashing to the ground. For a long moment, everyone stood watching anxiously, until the bird-like Umepha who was acting as the trial’s overseer stepped forward to bend over Baranafus, his large owlish amber eyes blinking as he examined the massive alien closely.
“Total knockout,” the Umepha finally announced, triggering applause from the assembly of Anaphus. With a shaky breath, Jack started to turn to join his friends among the crowd, but suddenly stumbled, his injuries from the fight finally taking their toll. He was immediately steadied, however, by a pair of strong hands. While Jack was too exhausted to look up to see the identity of his helper, he couldn’t mistake the familiar Northern accented voice that spoke into his ear, and a relaxed smile formed on his face.
“Jus’ take it easy,” the Doctor instructed as he shepherded the worn-out Jack back to where Rose and Solaris were waiting, and carefully helped him sit down to rest.
“Told you I could handle him, didn’t I?” Jack chuckled with an air of well-meaning machismo, but he still didn’t refuse the handkerchief Rose handed him to treat his bloody nose.
“That was handling him by you?” Solaris shot back. “I’m blind, and I can still tell you’re in bad shape.”
“Hmm, am I detecting a hint of concern there?” Jack spoke flirtatiously, winking with his non-blackened eye.
“Get over yourself,” Solaris scoffed, giving his shoulder a playful punch.
“All right, you two,” the Doctor instructed, glancing back to the arena, where an elderly Anaphus was watching him expectedly. “Make sure Jack’s resting up for a bit. I gather it’s my turn to solve their riddle.”
“Good luck, Doctor,” Rose smiled as he made his way over to the elderly Anaphus, pausing only to return the smile.
“Your friend has done well in the strength trial,” the elderly Anaphus stated. “Now, Doctor, are you ready to test your skills at the intelligence trial?”
“Yes,” the Doctor nodded truthfully.
“Very well. Let us see if you’re as clever as you and your friends hope you are.” With that, the elderly Anaphus recited his riddle.
Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
In mystic force and magic spelling
Celestial sprites elucidate
All my own striving can't relate
From her spot on the sidelines, Rose looked up sharply from her task of helping Jack with his black eye. Celestial sprites? Mystic force and magic spelling? What kind of riddle was that? It didn’t seem to make any sense at all. Turing to Jack and Solaris, she could see that they both were just as confused as she was. The Doctor, on the other hand, held an emotionless expression for a few moments, seemingly calculating a connection in what sounded like utter nonsense. Finally, he opened his mouth to give his answer
“Pi,” he replied. “It’s the number pi. Specifically, the number pi truncated to twenty decimal places.” The elderly Anaphus looked taken aback for a long time, and everyone watching the intelligence trial was completely silent, waiting to hear if the Doctor’s answer to the riddle was the correct one. Suddenly, the elderly Anaphus broke out laughing.
“Most impressive. I have never heard of anyone solving that particular riddle so quickly. You are right of course, but it should be your speed in solving it that should be commended. Well done.”
As the elderly Anaphus accompanied the Doctor back to the others, he pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment and handed it over. “You and your friends have done very well this far. Now, this parchment contains directions to an underground cavern located on the coast of this island. The hidden key that your friend needs to find in the hunting trial is located within this cavern.”
“I don’t suppose this cavern would be the same one that’s at the rocky shoal where Shok and Shor ran into us, is it?” Jack’s question was met by stunned looks from the Doctor, Rose, and Solaris.
“I'm sorry, what cavern at the rocky shoal?” Rose questioned.
“Well, yesterday, when I was messing around with Solaris,” Jack began.
“And someone needs to remind me to pound him again for that later,” Solaris inputted.
“Anyway, I noticed that there was this pit cave formed in the shoal. It was hidden by the ocean surf at the time, but during low tide, it might reappear.”
“Doesn’t sound like we have a lot of time then, does it?” Rose noted. “If the cavern is only visible during low tide, that means it’ll get flooded during high tide, doesn’t it?”
“It’ll be more than enough time for me,” Solaris announced confidently. “I once found a pin in a shipping crate full of needles. Only took me five minutes.”
“Good thing the TARDIS is parked near that rocky shoal,” the Doctor stated, giving a sideways glance at Jack. “That nosebleed isn’t stopping, and it might need cauterization. It’s probably a good idea to check if he has internal injuries as well. So while Solaris is searching the cavern for the key, Rose and I could get Jack to the TARDIS med-bay.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jack agreed, pushing himself up to his feet. Together, the four friends began heading back towards the TARDIS, with Rose, the Doctor, and Solaris working together to help Jack along..
“Doctor, how did you solve that riddle, anyway?” Rose demanded to know as the question crossed her mind again.
“Easy,” the Doctor grinned in response. “It was the line about the magic spelling that was the main hint. All you had to do was pay attention to the number of letters in each word. When you do that, you come up with the number pi.”
“Your brain must weigh so much,” Solaris stated, shaking her head in amazement and admiration.
-----
Once the group had returned to the spot where the TARDIS had landed, they immediately located the pit cave Jack had discovered shortly after their arrival. Already, the occasional wave was breaking over the cavern entrance, a sure reminder of how they had limited time before the cavern was completely flooded.
“You’re sure you want to go down there, Solaris?” Jack asked unsurely. “You don’t know how big this cavern is, and if you can’t locate the key before….”
“Well, it’s a little late for me to switch trials with anyone,” Solaris replied. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t do it. After all, your best hope of finding the key is me.”
“Just take this, okay? Rose stepped forward pulling out her mobile phone. “If you run out of time before the tide comes in and floods the place, you can just call us up. The TARDIS is on the super-phone’s speed dial, so all you have to do, is press this button here, yeah?”
“Might take me a few tries, but I think I can handle that," Solaris agreed, pocketing Rose’s ‘super-phone’. “Now, come on. Get Jack checked over, already. I’ll be fine. Survived fifteen years without you three, didn’t I?” Without another word, Solaris began scaling down the pit cave. The others waited for a little longer before a sudden splashing sound echoed up from the cavern, followed by Solaris’ loud cry.
“Solaris, are you all right down there?” the Doctor called down.
“Fine, fine,” Solaris’ voice answered a moment later. “The water level down here is only ankle high, but it’s really cold. Took me by surprise, that’s all. Now get goin’ already! Get Jack’s nose cauterized, or whatever it is you need to do, and let me work.” Reluctantly, the three companions did what Solaris asked and walked over to the nearby TARDIS.
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: 17/30(?) (The Harvest-time Trials, part 1)
Summary: The Doctor, Rose, and Jack travel to an Alien city, where they must team up with a local thief to retrieve a series of mysterious artifacts of unknown capacity.
Disclaimer: Obviously not the owner.
Note: since Chapter 17 is going to be a long one, I've decided to break it into two parts, with the first part being posted here. Part 2 will hopefully be up before too long.
Previous Chapters
When morning came, the Doctor, Rose, Jack, and Solaris were personally escorted to a large arena-style ring that had been set up along the coast of Aquaria, where all the Anaphus had been gathered. They were soon greeted by Shor.
“Welcome, friends,” Shor greeted. “The Harvest-time Trials will begin shortly, but before we start, the four of you must be given the individual trial tokens, to identify which trial each of you will participate in.” As he spoke, Shor held up four shell necklaces, which were all identical except for the tokens strung to them, and placed them around the necks of the four companions one by one. When Rose glanced down at her token, she saw that it was a small carving of a footprint, an obvious reference to her task of racing to the center of the island to retrieve the amulet.
“Now, just to make sure everyone is clear on what they have to do before we begin…”
“It’s okay, we remember,” Jack assured. “I fight against your best warrior, the Doctor solves your riddle, Solaris gets the hidden box with the key inside it, and Rose heads off to get the Amulet of Nine Stones.”
“Very good. In that case, we can begin as soon as the overseer from the Umepha race arrives. It’s customary of the Harvest-time Trials, you see, for each side to send a representative over to supervise as the other race competes in the trials, to ensure that no cheating is attempted. This year, my brother Shok has been selected as the overseer for the Umepha, so he won’t be back here until later on tonight. Now then, is everyone’s ready?”
“I guess,” Rose shrugged, unable to shake her worry about her approaching footrace.
“I told you,” the Doctor squeezed her hand in comfort. “You’ll do fine.”
“So who exactly am I supposed to fight against?” Jack asked, looking around at the large group of Anaphus.
“Our best warrior is Baranafus,” Shor announced, pointing over their shoulders. The moment the four friends turned toward the Anaphus Shor had indicated, Rose couldn’t stop the sudden gasp that escaped her throat. Baranafus was a huge heavyweight with bulging muscles. He looked too big to be allowed anywhere.
“Jack’s supposed to fight him?” Rose cried in horrified shock.
“That guy could snap him like a twig!” Solaris speculated, visually just as nervous as Rose was. “Come on, Shor. Your best warrior’s got an unfair advantage here!”
“No need to worry about it,” Jack smirked, looking his opponent up and down. “I’ve been up against challengers even bigger than this guy, back in my days as a Time Agent.”
“Are you sure?” the Doctor asked in concern.
“Hey, I’m not just a pretty face, you know,” Jack assured confidently. “I can take whatever Baranafus can throw at me.”
-----
Jack was thrown to the ground with great force, inducing a sudden low groan of pain to escape his lips. However, he managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid Baranafus’ massive fists as they came crashing down like a pair of sledgehammers. Nearly scrambling to his feet, Jack had to act fast once again to block another attack. Baranafus was clearly more of a match than he’d thought, remarkably fast for his massive size, and too fast for Jack to completely anticipate his moves. So far, he had been putting all his effort into defensive techniques against the Anaphus’ assault. It was getting to be clear to Jack that he wouldn’t be able to win this particular trial by relying just on his skills. He was going to need some sort of strategy as well, but it was hard to come up with something when he needed to continue blocking Baranafus’ attacks, when one direct strike might result in completely knocking him out. Already, he’d suffered from minor blows, resulting in a blackened eye, bloody nose, and a split lip.
Just as another one of Baranafus’ attacks was deflected, Jack finally spotted it. It was a very small, hardly noticeable movement, but a movement nonetheless. Every time he was about to strike, Baranafus’ right foot shifted ever so slightly as he prepared to move. Knowing exactly when Baranafus would attack could help give Jack the advantage, enabling him to deliver a counter attack. Although, it was more than likely to be a risky attempt. If he misjudged the timing of Baranafus’ attack by even a second, he might not have enough time to dodge for a counter attack. Still, it was the only chance he had.
Watching Baranafus’ right foot carefully, Jack got himself ready to move at a moment’s notice. When the betraying movement finally came, he acted as quickly as he could. As Baranafus’ sizable fist cut through the air, Jack sidestepped, avoiding the blow by a hairsbreadth. Before Baranafus could recover from the shock that Jack had dodged successfully, the former time agent was able to land a well-aimed strike at Baranafus’ suprascapular nerve, leaving the gigantic alien temporarily immobile from his pressure point being hit. Taking advantage of the momentary advantage, Jack connected his foot to the back of Baranafus’ knee, which sent the Anaphus crashing to the ground. For a long moment, everyone stood watching anxiously, until the bird-like Umepha who was acting as the trial’s overseer stepped forward to bend over Baranafus, his large owlish amber eyes blinking as he examined the massive alien closely.
“Total knockout,” the Umepha finally announced, triggering applause from the assembly of Anaphus. With a shaky breath, Jack started to turn to join his friends among the crowd, but suddenly stumbled, his injuries from the fight finally taking their toll. He was immediately steadied, however, by a pair of strong hands. While Jack was too exhausted to look up to see the identity of his helper, he couldn’t mistake the familiar Northern accented voice that spoke into his ear, and a relaxed smile formed on his face.
“Jus’ take it easy,” the Doctor instructed as he shepherded the worn-out Jack back to where Rose and Solaris were waiting, and carefully helped him sit down to rest.
“Told you I could handle him, didn’t I?” Jack chuckled with an air of well-meaning machismo, but he still didn’t refuse the handkerchief Rose handed him to treat his bloody nose.
“That was handling him by you?” Solaris shot back. “I’m blind, and I can still tell you’re in bad shape.”
“Hmm, am I detecting a hint of concern there?” Jack spoke flirtatiously, winking with his non-blackened eye.
“Get over yourself,” Solaris scoffed, giving his shoulder a playful punch.
“All right, you two,” the Doctor instructed, glancing back to the arena, where an elderly Anaphus was watching him expectedly. “Make sure Jack’s resting up for a bit. I gather it’s my turn to solve their riddle.”
“Good luck, Doctor,” Rose smiled as he made his way over to the elderly Anaphus, pausing only to return the smile.
“Your friend has done well in the strength trial,” the elderly Anaphus stated. “Now, Doctor, are you ready to test your skills at the intelligence trial?”
“Yes,” the Doctor nodded truthfully.
“Very well. Let us see if you’re as clever as you and your friends hope you are.” With that, the elderly Anaphus recited his riddle.
Sir, I bear a rhyme excelling
In mystic force and magic spelling
Celestial sprites elucidate
All my own striving can't relate
From her spot on the sidelines, Rose looked up sharply from her task of helping Jack with his black eye. Celestial sprites? Mystic force and magic spelling? What kind of riddle was that? It didn’t seem to make any sense at all. Turing to Jack and Solaris, she could see that they both were just as confused as she was. The Doctor, on the other hand, held an emotionless expression for a few moments, seemingly calculating a connection in what sounded like utter nonsense. Finally, he opened his mouth to give his answer
“Pi,” he replied. “It’s the number pi. Specifically, the number pi truncated to twenty decimal places.” The elderly Anaphus looked taken aback for a long time, and everyone watching the intelligence trial was completely silent, waiting to hear if the Doctor’s answer to the riddle was the correct one. Suddenly, the elderly Anaphus broke out laughing.
“Most impressive. I have never heard of anyone solving that particular riddle so quickly. You are right of course, but it should be your speed in solving it that should be commended. Well done.”
As the elderly Anaphus accompanied the Doctor back to the others, he pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment and handed it over. “You and your friends have done very well this far. Now, this parchment contains directions to an underground cavern located on the coast of this island. The hidden key that your friend needs to find in the hunting trial is located within this cavern.”
“I don’t suppose this cavern would be the same one that’s at the rocky shoal where Shok and Shor ran into us, is it?” Jack’s question was met by stunned looks from the Doctor, Rose, and Solaris.
“I'm sorry, what cavern at the rocky shoal?” Rose questioned.
“Well, yesterday, when I was messing around with Solaris,” Jack began.
“And someone needs to remind me to pound him again for that later,” Solaris inputted.
“Anyway, I noticed that there was this pit cave formed in the shoal. It was hidden by the ocean surf at the time, but during low tide, it might reappear.”
“Doesn’t sound like we have a lot of time then, does it?” Rose noted. “If the cavern is only visible during low tide, that means it’ll get flooded during high tide, doesn’t it?”
“It’ll be more than enough time for me,” Solaris announced confidently. “I once found a pin in a shipping crate full of needles. Only took me five minutes.”
“Good thing the TARDIS is parked near that rocky shoal,” the Doctor stated, giving a sideways glance at Jack. “That nosebleed isn’t stopping, and it might need cauterization. It’s probably a good idea to check if he has internal injuries as well. So while Solaris is searching the cavern for the key, Rose and I could get Jack to the TARDIS med-bay.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jack agreed, pushing himself up to his feet. Together, the four friends began heading back towards the TARDIS, with Rose, the Doctor, and Solaris working together to help Jack along..
“Doctor, how did you solve that riddle, anyway?” Rose demanded to know as the question crossed her mind again.
“Easy,” the Doctor grinned in response. “It was the line about the magic spelling that was the main hint. All you had to do was pay attention to the number of letters in each word. When you do that, you come up with the number pi.”
“Your brain must weigh so much,” Solaris stated, shaking her head in amazement and admiration.
-----
Once the group had returned to the spot where the TARDIS had landed, they immediately located the pit cave Jack had discovered shortly after their arrival. Already, the occasional wave was breaking over the cavern entrance, a sure reminder of how they had limited time before the cavern was completely flooded.
“You’re sure you want to go down there, Solaris?” Jack asked unsurely. “You don’t know how big this cavern is, and if you can’t locate the key before….”
“Well, it’s a little late for me to switch trials with anyone,” Solaris replied. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t do it. After all, your best hope of finding the key is me.”
“Just take this, okay? Rose stepped forward pulling out her mobile phone. “If you run out of time before the tide comes in and floods the place, you can just call us up. The TARDIS is on the super-phone’s speed dial, so all you have to do, is press this button here, yeah?”
“Might take me a few tries, but I think I can handle that," Solaris agreed, pocketing Rose’s ‘super-phone’. “Now, come on. Get Jack checked over, already. I’ll be fine. Survived fifteen years without you three, didn’t I?” Without another word, Solaris began scaling down the pit cave. The others waited for a little longer before a sudden splashing sound echoed up from the cavern, followed by Solaris’ loud cry.
“Solaris, are you all right down there?” the Doctor called down.
“Fine, fine,” Solaris’ voice answered a moment later. “The water level down here is only ankle high, but it’s really cold. Took me by surprise, that’s all. Now get goin’ already! Get Jack’s nose cauterized, or whatever it is you need to do, and let me work.” Reluctantly, the three companions did what Solaris asked and walked over to the nearby TARDIS.