Chapter 7
They went back into the room they had been in, the Doctor demanded the torch that was attached to Mr. Lux’s spacesuit and then the Doctor started scanning with his screwdriver, the Master was actually copying him going in the opposite direction but without a torch of his own, the Master had left Harry in the middle of the lights so the Master knew he was safe.
"Found one!" The Doctor shouted out mainly to the Master.
"Let's make sure it's the only one in the room Doctor, you watch it I'll carry on around to you!" The Master told the Doctor with some heat. Luckily for them it was the only one.
"I'm going to need a pack lunch." The Doctor shouted straight after the Master had spoken the Doctor was now pointing the torch at the shadow. River Song was just behind him while he continued pointing the torch at the shadow and the woman rummaged in a bag.
"Hang on." River Song muttered to the Doctor. While she searched for the lunch pack that she knew she had in her bag, she took out the blue book she had been carrying since the beginning.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked River Song after he had seen the blue book again, he now knew what it contained but why would she need it.
"Professor River Song, from the University of" River Song started to explain to the Doctor.
"For us I mean." The Doctor interrupted her, the Doctor then looked back at where Harry stood.
"Who are you to us?" The Doctor asked her again refocusing on her.
"Again, spoilers." River Song explained then took a box of food out of her bag and put the diary back in it.
"Chicken and a side salad. Knock yourself out." River Song explained to the Doctor while handing the box over to him so he could take it.
"Well, you guys." The Doctor started talking while flipping the torch in the air and standing.
"let's all meet the Vashta Nerada." The Doctors Responded next after he was stood up.
"How long have you already been travelling with them?" River Song asked after she had moved over to Harry who was now stood on his own but in the lightened area.
"With both your dad and Pere?" She explained further so he would understand. She had stated that she knew them in the future, but they still didn't know her. That meant this was the time when they had met her originally.
"How long have you all been traveling together Arbitrator?" River Song asked him again.
"Around eleven years now but we spent some of that in Time Vortex when we were all first reunited so we could all get to know each other without it aging me to much not to worry my godfather that we had been gone for so long!” Harry explained to River song.
"Then you've barely started." River Song responded with surprise. Their attention returned to the Doctor when he spoke again.
"First Dave, could you move a bit?" The Doctor asked one of the crew.
"Why?" First Dave inquired from his place sitting on a desk with his feet swinging under it.
"Just go over there, near the water tank." The Doctor ordered him to move while he pointed to where he wanted him. The man stood and did as he was asked with resignation. Harry’s attention returned to the blonde woman River Song.
"You know us all well then?" Harry asked River Song.
"Oh, yes. Very well. We've met many times, but in the future. All your futures Arbitrator." River Song explained to Harry. Harry nodded and glanced at the Doctor for a second, seeing him crawling back towards the desk with the live shadow.
"It's so strange to think that you don't know me… I sent you a message and altered the coordinates on the TARDIS, but I got the timing for you to come here too early. These are the days before you knew me. You look at me and you look right through me. It shouldn't hurt, but it does." River Song explained to Harry upset.
"I'm sorry. Maybe next time we see you we'll be able to really look at you. Right now, we know nothing about who you are. Maybe this meeting is exactly what made us really start looking for you and getting to know you although I feel as though I should already know you for some reason so we will obviously see you again and you have your diary!" Harry Explained to River Song trying to give her hope.
"You're always so mature… It's hard to keep in mind that you're still so young. Seeing Time and your other duties are barely out of childhood. Oh, Arbitrator when you finally come into your own, your dad and Pere will be so supportive of you they will love you even more." River Song muttered with a smile.
"But you're right even so young you have compassion and love for life. For without life there would be no death!" River Song continued on to tell him.
"Could we please focus on the matter at hand?" Mr. Lux asked and River Song looked up from the talk she had been having with Harry and moved over to the Doctor where the live shadow was Harry decided to follow her over to the Doctor also so he was near to him as he seemed to know as much as the Master what was going on but he was taking the lead in this and the Master was already standing near the Doctor but they had put Harry in the lighted section again.
"Okay, we have only one alive!" The Doctor informed everyone there he had squatted down on the floor again with the torch, then he jumped up some seconds later and left the torch pointing at the shadow.
"It's not darkness that's in the corridors. This is not a shadow." The Doctor explained to everyone there still and then he took the box of chicken and knelt down again with both the Master and Harry back at his side.
"It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm." The Doctor explained and then showed them by taking the chicken leg and he threw it at the shadows under a table where he had found the live shadow. The instant it touched the darkness, all the meat disappeared, the only thing left was a completely clean chicken bone that hit the floor meatless, they all saw it with the torch shining on it.
"The piranhas of the air. The Vashta Nerada. Literally, the shadows that eat the flesh." The Doctor explained after the chicken leg bone hit the floor. Everyone listened very carefully to the Doctors explanation.
"Almost all planets have them, but usually in small groups. I've never seen an infestation of this scale or as aggressive." The Doctor spoke in contemplation.
"Why almost? Not Earth surely?" Harry frowned as he asked the Doctor about the Earth.
"Yes, the Earth and millions of other planets. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. Sometimes you can see them if you look at the dust in the sunbeams." The Doctor explained.
"That sounds familiar to me." Harry explained trying to think as to where he had heard it before. Yes, Harry had an eidetic memory, the problem was Harry remembered everything and even at his young physical age his mental age was a lot more and so he had to go through it all.
"Did you read about something like this when you were learning about your powers, Arbitrator?" The Doctor asked gently.
"Right now, I'm not sure. It sounds familiar as I said, but I cannot place where I’ve heard it, the problem of an eidetic memory is you remember everything, but that is a lot even for me, let me think on it Doctor." Harry explained sounding frustrated, so the Doctor just nodded and went back to what he was doing.
"Every shadow?" River Song asked the Doctor worried.
"No… But any shadow." The Doctor explained to all of the people there even though it was River Song who had asked.
"So, what do we do?" River Song asked the Doctor next.
"Daleks, point to the eyes; Sontaran’s, back of the neck; Vashta Nerada." The Doctor started still looking at the shadow. Then the Doctor and the Master turned and looked at her, right at her eyes to show how serious they were.
"Run. Just run." The Doctor and the Master both said together.
"Okay, let's move then!" First Dave shouted and he started to move to the door before anyone else did.
"Actually, First Dave, could you wait there for a moment?" The Doctor asked him gently. First Dave as he had been named did as the Doctor asked him and stopped at the centre of the room.
"Why?" First Dave asked back to the Doctor.
"I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows." The Doctor Explained while he walked around the pilot so he put himself in front of First Dave. Everyone looked down and saw that, effectively, First Dave did have another shadow apart from his own. The man's face showed nothing but fear when he saw this himself, as it should.
"It's how they hunt. They latch on to a food source and keep it fresh." The Doctor explained to First Dave, but the others were listening in.
"What do I do?" Asked First Dave, for the first time nearly begging for the Doctor and the Master to help him.
"Stay still. Absolutely still. As if there was a bee in the room. Millions of them in the room All around just you and you’re trying not to get stung because you are deadly allergic to them." The Master Explained to him calmly, coming around to his side so he didn’t step into the two shadows either.
"We're not leaving you, Dave." River Song told him trying to offer him some comfort.
"Of course, we're not leaving you." The Doctor agreed with River Song trying to give First Dave hope.
"Where's your helmet? Don't point, you just tell me where you left it." The Doctor asked then explained to him next in a calm voice.
"On the floor, by my bag." First Dave answered in a very frightened voice.
"Don't cross his shadow!" The Doctor Warned them all when Anita nearly stepped on it to grab the helmet that First Dave had explained where it was. She carefully rounded the two shadows and grabbed the helmet, passing it over to the Doctor.
"Thanks." The Doctor said before he put it over First Dave's head and sealed it shut.
"Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and seal them. We need all we've got." The Doctor ordered the rest of them to do as he had done for First Dave.
"What do we do?" Harry asked the Doctor slightly scared, now another person looked like they would die, Harry also didn’t want to get caught up by a shadow himself he knew what it would do to him and he really didn’t want that to happen.
"Don't touch the shadows. Be very careful Arbitrator, and don't touch the shadows." The Doctor Explained to Harry. Keeping himself as far from the shadows in the room as Harry could he took the Master’s hand again and moved them into the light then he nodded to the Doctor. Harry wasn’t going near a shadow.
"Professor. Is there something that can be done with the suits?" The Doctor asked to River Song to see if she had any ideas, he had never worn a space suite like the ones the expedition were wearing.
"Forget about the damn suits! Miss Evangelista was wearing one and there was nothing left!" Mr. Lux exclaimed clearly a little hysterical over the fact that another one of his people on his expedition could die.
"We'll increase the mass density over the four hundred percent mark. We'll make a tougher meal for them." River Song offered up as a suggestion to the Doctor.
"Okay. Eight hundred percent. Pass it on." The Doctor said to her trying to give his sonic screwdriver to River Song after using it to up the mass density of First Dave's suit.
"Got it." River song spoke while showing the Doctor another sonic screwdriver.
"What's that?" The Doctor demanded off her seeing the screwdriver she had.
"A screwdriver." River Song answered the Doctor.
"It's sonic." The Doctor said looking at it.
"Yeah, I know. Snap." River Song answered then she went around the group. The Master had left Harry to help out River Song, upping the mass density of all the people in suits starting on the other side to her. After a moment, the Doctor snapped out of what his mind was focusing on, the Doctor really wanted to send Harry to the TARDIS but River Song spoke breaking his train of thoughts.
"Doctor!" River Song called making the Doctor look at her instead of at Harry.
Both the Master and the Doctor had been moving around the room scanning again for any more Vashta Nerada. They saw everyone looking at First Dave. They noticed then that he only had one shadow now.
"Where did it go?" The Doctor asked everyone in the room perplexed and surprised.
"It's disappeared. I've looked and there is only one shadow." First Dave said just as surprised.
"Then, can we leave? I don't want to stay here." River Song intervened while watching the Doctor look around First Dave.
"I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him here, no? I mean, no offense but we have other things to be concentrating on." Mr. Lux said to those left in the room.
"Shut up, Mr. Lux." River Song said to him in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
"Did you feel something? Like energy transference? Anything?" The Doctor asked as he looked around First Dave to see if he could see the shadow anywhere.
"No! No, but look! It… It's gone!" First Dave exclaimed turning around in a circle.
"Stop there! Stop. Stop there! Stop moving! Stay Absolutely still again. They never leave, they never give up! Just stay exactly where you are now!" The Master ordered. The Doctor kneeled beside the now lonely shadow and used his screwdriver to scan it.
"Hm, this one's benign." The Doctor spoke confused he knew the Vashta Nerada didn’t give up a meal once they found one, but the Doctor couldn’t find them anywhere on First Dave.
"Hey! Who turned out the light?" First Dave shouted out to everybody.
"No one did. It's on." The Doctor answered First Dave.
"No, really, turn it back on." First Dave shouted out to everybody again.
"It is on First Dave." The Doctors explained to First Dave that they still had light.
"I can't see absolutely nothing." First Dave admitted to everyone in the room.
"Dave, turn around Slowly." The Master requested of him and slowly First Dave turned around again until they could see his face, or the place where his face should have been. They could only see darkness through the viewer of the suit's helmet he was wearing.
"What's happening? I can't see. Is the electricity gone? Are we safe here?" First Dave asked everyone there again. Harry gulped and contained his breath. The Vashta Nerada had already found a way to enter the suit First Dave was wearing he would be dead in less than a millisecond once they decided to eat him.
"Dave, I want you to remain still. Completely still." The Doctor told him. Suddenly First Dave stilled and shouted out in agonising pain and Harry felt his life taken as quickly as the other young Lady Miss Evangelista. Harry was really worried now.
"Dave! Dave, Dave! Are you hearing me? Talk to me, Dave!" The Doctor asked First Dave trying to look into the black visor. The man had gone quiet, just as suddenly as he had screamed.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine." First Dave shouted out, the Doctor thought he was speaking to him.
"I want you to stay still. Absolutely still I don’t want you to move at all." The Doctor explained to First Dave what he wanted him to do.
"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I, can't. why can't I… I, can't, why can't I… I, can't, why can't I." First Dave spoke in broken sentences. Harry already knew what the Doctor would find. The Doctor was the first to notice that the green lights of the communicator in the suit were slowly going off. Just as they had done when Miss Evangelista's date ghost started to disappear.
"He's gone. It's a date ghost." River Song explained to the room at large in a sad voice.
"I, can't, why can't I." First Dave continued to talk, Harry showed his understanding and sadness. But the Doctor could feel through the bond that Harry wasn’t regretting agreeing to stay with them for this Harry did however keep checking SATURN to see how far she had got with her scan he had set going when he was given the order off the Doctor once it was released he had slowed it down so he could use SATURN for other things if he needed to but the scan was still going on in the background of SATURN’s programming.
"Why is he still standing?" Mr. Lux asked both the Master and the Doctor the obvious question, if First Dave was dead, why then was the spacesuit still standing upright? It should have collapsed to the floor.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?" First Dave demanded. The Doctor started to slowly approach the man, trying to see through the viewer of the suit.
"Doctor, don't." The Master warned him. The Doctor acted as if he had not heard the Master, though his movements slowed even more.
"Dave, can you hear me?" The Doctor asked.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Was all the Doctor got back in reply off the suit. The Doctor was nearly touching him when the suit grabbed him by the shoulders with enough strength to make him fall to his knees. The movement caused the dead man's head to fall forward, they were able to see a skull through the viewer.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The data ghost demanded. The Doctor tried to free himself, but the pressure of the space suit had too strong grip on him.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" Was again asked with the Doctor trapped. Harrys reflexes kicked in as a Magical Time Lord. He used a simple repelling Magical assault with his hand to repel the skeleton's arms from the Doctor's shoulders. The Doctor crawled backwards and stood up with the Master’s help. Frist Dave's voice continued asking about the lights.
"Get away from here! Walk back!" The Master shouted to all the others. They saw with shocked eyes as the skeleton in the space suit gave a step forward.
"It doesn't move very fast, does it?" River Song asked both the Master and the Doctor only everyone heard her.
"It's a swarm in a suit, but it's learning." The Doctor explained to her now that he was back with the other two. The Master had grabbed Harry’s hand just after the Master had helped get the Doctor away from First Dave or really the Vashta Nerada. They watched as more shadows appeared around the body of First Dave’s space suit and they started to grow and grow towards them. They realized then that those weren't shadows but swarms of more Vashta Nerada.
"What do we do? Where do we go?" Mr. Lux asked everybody there panicking again. Both the Master and the Doctor each had a hand holding Harrys now, to keep him between them as they looked around for an escape.
"See that wall behind you?" River Song suddenly asked. The group looked back at where she was pointing and saw the wooden wall she meant.
"Duck!" River Song ordered them all. They did just that and it was fortunate, because an instant later a beam of blue light shot from a gun in her hand. Leaving a square hole on the wall right where Harry’s head had been. The wall had vanished where the gun had pointed.
"Are you crazy!? You could have shot our son!" The Master shouted at River Song really angry over River Song nearly killing Harry.
"Oh, come on, the Arbitrator is better than that." River Song answered the Master without even batting an eyelash. Making Harry blink at her how did she know how good he was at this age if she had never met him this young.
"Everybody out! Run, run!" River Song ordered everybody there. They did as she ordered, exiting through the new hole and leaving behind the growing swarms.
"What was that?" Harry asked to the Master while the Master dragged Harry out of the room that they had been in by his hand.
"Squareness gun not very original but it does what it says, it's further on in your education." The Master explained while he pulled Harry behind him so he was stuck in the middle of the group where the Master hoped he would be the safest. They ran along the corridor until they had put some distance between them and First Dave or really the swarm of Vashta Nerada then the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at a lamp.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" Harry asked looking nervously back at the place they had come through.
"I'm trying to up the power. The light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down." The Doctor explained what he was doing to Harry.
"So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?" River Song asked the Master and the Doctor pointing her own screwdriver at another light and upping the power in only a few seconds copying the Master and the Doctor.
"Your screwdriver. It's like the Masters and mine." The Doctor muttered to River Song looking at her with his eyes a bit bigger than normal.
"Yes, you all gave it to me." River Song answered the Doctor as if she was talking to an abnormally thick person.
"We don't give a screwdriver to anyone even the Arbitrator has to wait until he can make one on his own!" The Doctor retorted to River Song, that had been what the Doctor had said to Harry when he had asked for one both the Doctor and the Master had agreed when he got to that section in his course and could build his own, he could have one.
"I’m not just anyone." River Song responded to the Doctor.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked River Song again, trying to get more information out of her.
"What's the plan?" River Song asked back without answering the Doctors question.
“We need to find another room to move into with light so all of you run!” the Doctor told everyone and so they all set off running along the corridor until the came to a room that they all ran into there was daylight shining through the room and there were no shadows anywhere, even so the Master and the Doctor quickly scanned around the room looking for any Vashta Nerada. Once they knew it was clear they let out a breath of relief.
"Arbitrator, you said before that the Vashta Nerada reminded you of something?" The Doctor asked Harry when he remembered their earlier conversation.
"Lethifold. They look like a black cloak that crawls over the planet at night. You only get one at a time and it normally attacks when its victim is sleeping, it leaves nothing of its victim though. Not even the bones." Harry replied to the Doctor, Harry had remembered as they were running down the corridor.
"Similar to the Vashta Nerada. Interesting. It could be an evolved form." The Doctor spoke his thoughts out loud musing if they were the same thing.
"Is there any way to kill them?" The Master asked Harry, Harry hesitated, but in the end, Harry shook his head.
"There's never been a case of our kind killing one. They are not seen very often, and their victims don't usually survive the encounter." Harry answered the Master, River Song sighed at that.
"However, they can be repelled. Though I don't know if it would work against the Vashta Nerada I know how to repel a lethfold, but which one is more evolved if they are the same thing? I honestly don’t know if it would work on the Vashta Nerada." Harry continued explaining hoping to help he did not want to be caught by one of those swarms.
"What repels a lethifold?" The Doctor asked Harry out of curiosity.
"Light." Harry answered the Doctor straight away.
"We already know that doesn't work." Other Dave said shaking his head he was the only Dave left alive now that First Dave had died.
"Not any light. The light of a memory of love." Harry replied quietly so only the Master, the Doctor and River Song could hear him as they were the closest to him.
"A Patronus." River Song whispered in realization.
"Exactly, it’s a guardian made of bright pure light powered by the memories of love a person has. I will just have to be precise though to try it which means using my conductor." Harry explained to the room at large.
"Something like that doesn't exist." Mr. Lux protested out loud.
"It does actually, and if it works on lethifold then it" The Doctor started to explain.
"Hey! Who turned out the light?" They all heard and when they all turned around and saw that First Dave's skeleton had caught up with them, they started to run out of the room and ended in another corridor the one they were in before where they had exited. The Master still had a hold of Harrys hand dragging him around so that the Master knew he was safe.
"What are we going to do?" River Song shouted to the Master and the Doctor. Just then they heard the voice 'hey who turned out the lights'. River Song saw a door and pushed it open.
"Okay, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in!" River Song ordered everyone in the party to get into the room.
"Form a circle in the middle of the light! Quickly! Do not let your shadows cross each other's…. Doctor, Master!" River song ordered everybody then she shouted at the two older Time Lords.
"I'm doing it." The Doctor and Master responded in sync. They had reached the same room as before but through a different exit this time and the Doctor and the Master were now checking with their screwdrivers pointing at the different shadows checking them for more of the Vashta Nerada.
"Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Found one alive?" River Song asked both the Master and Doctor looking between the two of them so they both knew she was talking to them.
“Maybe. It's hard to tell. What's wrong with you?" The Doctor shouted and then muttered bumping his screwdriver against his hand.
"We're going to need a chicken leg. Who has a chicken leg?" River Song asked everyone there frantic over the fact that there might be more Vashta Nerada in the room. Sensing that, Harry hid his hands behind his back and conjured a chicken leg using his powers of creation to do so.
"Here." Harry replied to River Song holding it out to her. Everybody turned to look at him when he gave her a chicken leg that seemed to come from nowhere.
"What?" Harry asked looking at them all. Knowing what they were all going to ask through the timelines but playing clueless.
"Where did you get that?" Anita asked Harry suspiciously.
"I'm a Magical Time Lord I’m always prepared for an emergency!" Harrys responded and didn’t elaborate any further. River Song smiled slightly and took the offered meat knowing what Harry had done, Harry had used his powers of creation to create a chicken leg.
"Thank you, Arbitrator." River Song told Harry then she approached the shadow slowly and threw the chicken leg into it, but the only thing that touched the floor was the bone.
"Okay, we've got one alive. Careful with the feet." The Doctor shouted out to everybody while still looking around his area.
"They won't attack till there are enough, but they've got our trail. They're coming." The Doctor informed everybody as the Doctor stood up. The Doctor went a little further away from the shadow and Harry went after him, pulling the Master with him on the way. They heard as Other Dave, the only Dave now, started a conversation in low tones.
"Who are they? You haven't told us but expect us to trust them." The only Dave left asked River Song.
"They're the Doctor, the Master and the Arbitrator." River Song replied simply to his question which didn’t really answer anything they all knew their names they had been used often enough by the four of them since they had all met in that room the first time after they had entered The Library.
"And who are they?" Mr. Lux asked pushing for more information off her.
"The only story you'll tell, if you survive it." River Song answered them all seriously.
"You say they're your friends, but they don't even know who you are." Anita added into the conversation they were having, keeping it still quiet not knowing how good the three Time Lords hearing actually was.
"The only thing you need to know is this, I would trust them till the end of the universe. In fact, they have saved it many times." River Song replied to them all.
"They don't seem to trust you." Anita told River Song from what she had seen from her observations so far.
"Yeah, that's the main problem here. They haven't met me yet." River Song answered her finishing the talk, but all the group heard her. The Master and the Doctor shared a look. Harry walked away grabbing the Master’s hand again so he had to follow him moving them back into the light with the others, the Doctor went back to where the Vashta Nerada were in the shadow, River Song went to crouch near the Doctor where he had been before.
"What's wrong with it?" River Song asked the Doctor, seeing the Doctor look at his screwdriver and hearing the sound it was making, it sounded as if it was buzzing on and off.
"There's a signal coming from somewhere that is interfering." Explained the Doctor.
"Use the red setting." River Songs suggested to the Doctor and the Doctor looked at her strangely.
"It doesn't have a red setting." The Doctor told River Song as if it was something obvious.
"Use the dampers then." River Song replied to the Doctor after the Doctor told her that.
"It hasn't got dampers." The Doctor told River Song this time wondering what she was going on about.
"It will have them one day, use this." River Song explained to the Doctor giving the Doctor her own screwdriver. The Doctor took it and stood up.
"So, one day in the future the three of us will just give you a much more advanced screwdriver than even the ones the Master and I have?" The Doctor asked River Song looking at her straight in the face.
“Yes. All three of you gave it me as a Christmas present actually." River Songs replied to the Doctor.
"Why would we do that?" The Doctor asked River Song next.
"I didn't take it from any of your cold dead hands, if that's what you're concerned about as I said you three gave it to me as a Christmas present." River Song responded to the Doctor looking straight back at him.
"And that I know that is the truth because?" The Doctor asked as he looked distrustful at River Song thinking why had the three of them just given someone they had never known before a screwdriver for a Christmas present? River Song sighed with serious resignation.
"Look, I understand, Doctor. We're in danger, mortal danger, and the Arbitrator is here. you and the Master are scared for him. You fear you'll fail to save your son. But right now, you need to stop being so emotional!" River Song explained giving the Doctor an order really at the end.
"What? I'm not being emotional!" The Doctor protested to what River Song had just said.
"Yes, you are. Right now, there are seven people alive in this room. Focus on that! Focus on what you can do and save them. That's the only way you can save the Arbitrator!" River Song instructed the Doctor.
"Dear god, I didn’t know you were this difficult when you were all young." River Song then spoke to the Doctor in aspiration.
"Young? Who are you?" The Doctor asked her shocked, the Doctor pretended he was nearly one thousand years old now even if the Master was older than him. Well, it’s what everyone thought about the Doctors age and the Master was older than him, the Doctor and the Master were both very old compared to most people as the Doctor had once said only Jack Harkness may outlive them in linier time, even then the Doctor and the Master had once told Harry the Time War on its own had lasted for thirty thousand years and they were both born before that.
"Oh, for god's sake! Look at you! We're all going to die here, and you two are discussing things like an old married couple could we get a move on with things!" Mr. Lux intervened telling them what he thought standing up having a go at River Song and the Doctor.
Both the Doctor and River Song looked at each other, perplexed, then the Doctor and River Song turned and saw that Harry had ducked his head looking at the floor. The Doctor nearly cursed. The Doctor was not attracted to anyone but the Master and the Doctor loved Harry as a son, his own son as though the Master and the Doctor had loomed Harry themselves. Harry just remained looking at the floor knowing through the bond what the Doctor was thinking and feeling but he was still a little insecure boy at times that just wanted a family that loved him and didn’t despise even the sight of him.
"We're not and never will be an old married couple Mr. Lux, the Master is the Doctors partner and the Arbitrator is their son jointly." River Song directed he words at Mr. Lux, but River Song clearly looked at Harry. Harry looked at her then re-ducked his head, ashamed of being read so easily. The Doctor had to give that to this mysterious woman, River Song seemed to know an awful lot about the three of them and how to reassure their son.
"Doctor, one day, I'm going to be someone you all will trust implicitly, but there's not enough time for you to figure it out. You don't have to trust me; you just have to trust the Arbitrator he’s your son so trust him that he wouldn’t put you in danger!" River Song explained to the Doctor, River Song didn't wait for an answer off the Doctor and walked till she was in front of Harry then she bent down so she was at his height. Speaking very, very quietly River Song addressed Harry making sure only he and the Master heard her.
"Arbitrator I need you to listen carefully to me. The only way for the Doctor and the Master to trust me even a little is if you trust me. I can only tell you this, I solemnly swear I am up to no good as a member of the Marauders, I’m asking for your help now with this!" River Song told Harry. For a few seconds, Harry simply looked at her. He was stunned at hearing those words coming out of her mouth. It was impossible, wasn't it? Then he staired at her face for five second and reached a decision.
“I will do whatever you ask of me, what do you need me to do Professor Song?” Harry explained then asked River Song hoping to everything she didn’t ask him to do what he said he never would.
“I need you to convince the Doctor and Master that I can be trusted and that they need to do what they usually do and try to save us all from here please and then get as many as they can out of here the Doctor was right, we should have left, but the way to the ship in blocked with darkness now.” River Song replied to what Harry had asked of her. Harry actually let out a breath at that and turned to the Doctor.
"We can trust her completely. She knows us all Doctor." Harry spoke with conviction to the Doctor.
"Are you sure?" The Doctor asked Harry moving over to them, the Master was still looking at her with distrust as well but also confusion.
"Yeah. In this I'm one hundred percent sure. Trust me please in this, she is known to us very well and is totally trustworthy we have to help her no matter what she asks of me I will do it for her! You have to trust her Doctor and Master she will not put us in anymore danger she needs our help and we have to give it to her!” Harry explained to the Doctor and the Master. The Doctor and Master looked shocked at each other hearing that declaration made, eventually with a head nod off the Master, the Doctor also nodded, and River Song smiled slightly at Harry before she reached out for her screwdriver off the Doctor. The Master just looked from the woman to Harry. The Master did not understand fully what had changed, but from that one sentence his son trusted her and was prepared to help her, his son would do whatever this woman asked of him, the Master decided to let it drop for now.
"Something interesting about my screwdriver is that it's very hard to interfere with. Very hard. There's nothing powerful enough." The Doctor suddenly said in that way he had of changing his mood in a second and making Harry smile.
"Almost nothing." Harry added with a small smile on his face now he knew this woman had nothing to do with the Doctor or the Master and he still had his family with the two of them.
"Yeah, some hair dryers can, but I'm working on that." The Doctor explained to everyone there and then he started to circle around them.
"There's a very strong signal coming from somewhere and it wasn't there before. What's new? What's changed?" The Doctor asked but nobody answered him.
"Come on! What's new? What's different?" The Doctor asked trying to get them all to help and feel more involved.
"I don't know. Nothing. The sun's setting." The Other Dave said.
"It's a screwdriver. It works in the dark." The Doctor told Other Dave sarcastically, Harry had to stop himself from laughing at the Doctors words, but then he looked up and noticed something.
"Doctor, the moon." Harry announced. Everyone looked up and effectively, they saw the moon.
"The moon… Tell me about the moon. What's there? What is it?" The Doctor asked Mr. Lux who knew the most about The Library even if he wasn’t very forthcoming with information.
"It's not real. It was built as part of The Library. It's a doctor Moon." Explained Mr. Lux to the room.
"What's a doctor Moon?" The Master asked Mr. Lux next.
"it’s a virus checker that’s all. Its purpose is to maintain the main computer hard drive in the core of the planet." Mr. Lux again explained to the room at large.
"Hum, it's still active. It's sending signals, look." The Doctor told everyone and then the Doctor moved a few steps forward with his screwdriver pointing up and they heard it as the noise increased.
"Someone, somewhere inside The Library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or alive and drying their hair… No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I can't lock directly onto it, but it's trying to get out though that much I do know." The Doctor explained to everyone there. Eventually the Doctor gave up and looked over at Harry. Harry looked back and looked through the timelines before deciding to answer.
"There is life in this place, Doctor, but I cannot tell you more about its nature. I've never seen something like this, there is life at the centre of the planet a lot of lives but there is one consciousness overriding all the others put together." Harry replied to the Doctor worried as well about this. As everyone was talking and looking at the Doctor. The Master, Harry and the Doctor realised that instead of there being seven people in the room there was eight. It was yet another run to escape. They ran through bridges, they passed other buildings without a pause, and even through a few rooms to put as much distance between the Vashta Nerada and themselves as they could.
“Keep walking! Find a safe spot to stay in.” The Doctor ordered everyone stopping where he was on a balcony that had windows running the full length of it on one side and rows of books on bookshelves on the other going all the way up to the ceiling of the enclosed balcony.
“It’s a meat-eating swarm in a suit. You can’t reason with it!” River Song protested to the Doctor.
“Five minutes is all I need with the Vashta Nerada.” The Doctor explained to River Song.
“Other Dave, stay with him.” River Song ordered Other Dave, but everyone hear her.
“Drag him when he insists on staying. Two minutes, Doctor.” River Song told both the Other Dave and the Doctor.
“Go with them, Arbitrator.” The Doctor told Harry what to do.
“I’m staying with the Master, we are not leaving you for anything we’re a family and family stick together.” Harry replied. Harry didn’t want to lose the Doctor to the Vashta Nerada.
“I’ll follow in a second Arbitrator. Please, go with them. Master, please take the Arbitrator and find a safe spot, five minutes and then I’ll be back with you both!” The Doctor explained to the Master looking at him, so he knew he was serious.
“You promise you’ll follow?” The Master asked searching the Doctors eyes that were looking at him for the truth in that answer.
“I swear I will.” The Doctor replied. They looked each other in the eyes telepathically talking to each other and finally the Master nodded. The Master turned around, then with the Master still holding onto Harry’s hand the Master followed River Song forcing Harry to go with him. The Doctor waited until who he thought of as his son was gone before turning to the skeleton walking along the balcony towards him. The Doctor approached it.
“Hey! Who turned out the light?” The swarm asked still data ghosting the first sentence First Dave had said before the Vashta Nerada had eaten him.
“Do you hear that? Those words? It’s the very last thoughts of the man that wore that suit, before you entered inside and ate his flesh. It’s the soul of a man, trapped inside a neural relay, walking in circles forever.” The Doctor stated to the Vashta Nerada slowly stepping back as the skeleton walked forward.
“If you don’t have the decency of letting it go, at least use it. Talk to me. It’s easy, it’s a neural relay. Just think, use it. Talk to me.” The Doctor explained to the Vashta Nerada in the suit trying to get them to speak to him.
“Hey! Who turned out the light?” The space suit repeated with the Vashta Nerada inside of it.
“The Vashta Nerada lives in the worlds of this system but hunts in the forests. What are you doing in a library?” The Doctor explained then asked the Vashta Nerada that were using the space suit.
“We must leave, Doctor.” Other Dave reminded the Doctor.
“One minute Dave. You came to The Library to hunt, why? Tell me why?” The Doctor demanded off the Vashta Nerada in the space suit. The Doctor and Other Dave saw as the suit stop advancing and it seemed to sway.
“We…. Did.… Not.” The Vashta Nerada in the suit answered, the words were slow, but they undoubtedly weren’t First Dave’s.
“Oh. Hello.” The Doctor spoke back to the Vashta Nerada sure he was talking to them now.
“We…. Did…. Not.” The Vashta Nerada repeated.
“Don’t worry, you’ll catch on quickly. You didn’t what?” The Doctor explained then asked with a raised eyebrow.
“We, did, not, come, here.” The words were still slow but much surer this time off the Vashta Nerada using the neural relay to talk to the Doctor.
“Of course, you did. Of course you came here.” The Doctor replied to the Vashta Nerada still in the suit, luckily, they hadn’t started to spread out like they had tried before.
“We come. From here.” The Vashta Nerada answered the Doctor.
“From here?” The Doctor repeated what they had said confused turning it into a question.
“We hatched here.” The Vashta Nerada explained to the Doctor this time.
“You hatch on the trees. On spores of trees.” The Doctor stated very sure but still confused by what they were trying to say.
“These are our forests.” The Vashta Nerada told the Doctor through the neural relay that was on the suit.
“There’s no forest nearby. Look around you.” The Doctor reasoned with them then he stepped forward.
“These are our forests.” The Vashta Nerada emphasised to the Doctor.
“You are not in a forest. You’re in a library. There are no trees in a” The Doctor started to explain until for the first time, the Doctor seemed to truly look around and understand.
“Library.” The Doctor finished looking all around him at the books that were all on the shelves.
“We must leave, Doctor.” Other Dave insisted. The Doctor didn’t look back at him, still gazing at the things surrounding them since they entered. They had had the answer in front of themselves all this time, yet it didn’t show up in the timeline until he realised about the books.
“Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million-million, books.” The Doctor muttered to himself.
“We must leave. Doctor!” Other Dave told the Doctor, but the Doctor wasn’t listening to Dave. He was looking out through a window at the expanse of ‘The Library’. The greatest library in History housing every book ever written up until one hundred years ago.
“Oh, look at that. The forests of the Vashta Nerada. Pulped, printed and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows.” The Doctor mumbled to himself rubbing the back of his neck.
“We must leave. Doctor!” Other Dave told the Doctor but the way that it was said by Other Dave seemed to make something snap in the Doctors mind and he turned around to see the black visor of Other Dave.
“Oh. Dave... Oh, Dave, I’m so sorry.” The Doctor Said taking a few steps in his direction. The fleshless skull fell forward until it was supported by the helmet looking back when he heard the other Suit talk, the one he had been speaking to, he saw that they had him trapped.
“Hey! Who turned out the light?” Asked the Vashta Nerada in First Dave’s suit that the Doctor had been talking to stepping forward slowly.
“We must Leave. Doctor.” Other Dave spoke or at least the Vashta Nerada from within his suit spoke as it also started moving towards the Doctor.
“I’m silly, I talk too much I’m always chattering I don’t stop talking for anything. Do you want to know why I’m still alive?” The Doctor explained then asked the Vashta Nerada talking very fast and looking between them. The Doctor took out his screwdriver and pointed it at the floor.
“I’m always near a door.” The Doctor answered. A square piece of the floor under him opened and he fell. The two skeletons were left to look down at the overwhelmingly low floor of the planet. However, the Doctor hadn’t really fallen. He was dangling from the pipework underneath to the front of the windows. The Doctor had promised, swore, to both Harry and the Master that he would follow them. It took the Doctor about fifteen minutes to return which was spent with the Master assuring Harry that the Doctor would return.
“He will return for all of us but especially for the Master and the Arbitrator. He’s the Doctor. They have so much to do, all of time space and the universes to run through if they lived a liner life, they would eventually be older than the original Earth when they found their son again……. No matter what I know he will return. I've seen them turn whole worlds upside down for others destroying all who stood against them to protect the innocent. The Doctor would snap his finger and the TARDIS would open for them, always making sure the Arbitrator entered in the middle to keep him safe so no matter what I know the Doctor will return for his husband and son.” River Song said aloud ensuring everyone heard giving them hope.
“Of course, I would, I promised you both that I would…. Me and the Master are not together officially we’ve not bonded yet, furthermore, no one can open a TARDIS with a click of their fingers, well actually the Arbitrator might but he’s never tired mind you I’ve never thought to ask him either!” The Doctor replied to River songs statement and there standing at the top of a set of stairs was the Doctor, Harry let out a breath at seeing him, only he was alone.
“Yeah, someday but not today, as I said you’re just starting out. Anyway, where’s Dave?” River song demanded of the Doctor after her explanation to him.
“He’s not coming… I'm sorry.” The Doctor replied and you could see the pain in his eyes admitting that it hurt him losing yet another of the people he was trying to protect. The Doctor had started walking down the steps going over towards where the Master, Harry and River were congregated waiting for him.
“It would have been as quick as the other deaths Professor Song.” Harry spoke quietly and gently to her. She smiled a little shakily and nodded, thankful for him telling her that.
“Please, call me River. No need for formalities between us Arbitrator.” River Song answered him. Harry regarded her seriously. Remembering what she had told him to make him trust her, before accepting. Really, if what he knew for definite was true, they didn’t need the formalities, but he just nodded at her.
“If they’ve taken him, why haven’t they got me yet? they got me as soon as we ran into that first room but took First Dave within seconds of him having two shadows, but we’ve been here over ten minutes now.” Anita asked and explained so that they all heard her. She had been infected as they had entered a room that they were going to use the Master had ordered them all out of there and had them running to where they were now never letting go of Harrys hand, but Anita still had two shadows, everyone was staying away from her.
“I don’t know.” The Doctor answered honestly looking at the two shadows she had.
“Maybe tinting your visor has changed something.” The Doctor explained to her trying to give her hope.
“Of course, it has. Nobody will ever see my face again.” Anita replied but you could tell she was scared about having two shadows.
“Can I help you?” The Doctor asked genuinely if there was anything he could do.
“Getting old would be good. Can you do something about that?” Anita replied to the Doctor.
“I’m working on that.” The Doctor answered then the Doctor turned to the Master and Harry.
“Arbitrator, do you know anymore?” The Doctor asked next.
“Nothing I haven’t already told you. They’re not common creatures in fact there is very little known about them as I said only the basics and that is they glide over the floor of a planet and leave nothing left of the victim you only know it’s happened that way through the Magical residue they leave nothing of the victim it’s as though they have just gone missing you only know if you know what you are looking for and have a power core able to scan with but they will go after anything like the Vashta Nerada and can only be stopped by a Patronus charm but never killed however the Vashta Nerada also leave a Magical residue after they have eaten all the meat of someone they have caught.” Harry explained to the Doctor. The Doctor nodded gravely, looking pensive.
“Do you think you could create a Patronus and set it against the Vashta Nevada?” The Doctor asked Harry next.
“Yes, though I don’t know if it’ll work with the Vashta Nevada as I said. Also I will have to be precise doing it, I will have to use Linguistic Science and my conductor as I explained, it’s the only way to ensure the shadow is covered and hit all at once it will not be what a normal Patronus looks like but it will work the same way hopefully repelling them away from Anita then I need either the Master or you to scan the second shadow to ensure it’s the benign one.” Harry explained seriously.
“We’ll have to try it.” River Song said to the three of them, Anita deserved to try and be saved.
“It’s your choice, Anita. I don’t know if it’ll work. It could even make them attack quicker killing you.” Harry explained to Anita.
“What are you going to do if I say yes?” Anita asked him so she knew what would happen.
“I’m going to create a very special kind of light Anita and direct it to the shadows. It should make them flee.” Harry explained to her.
“How are you going to create that light?” Anita asked him next.
“I have more abilities being a Magical Time Lord in certain areas, not an ordinary Time Lord like my dads’, this is one such area I will create a Patronus charm using my power core that I have within me and try to make them flee from you.” Harry explained to Anita, she seemed to visibly gather her courage.
“Do it Arbitrator.” Anita told Harry, Harry knew it was the only thing not tried the other two had died he may be able to help Anita.
“Are you sure? As I said I don’t know what this will do it should make them flee but it might not it may force them to attack you.” Harry asked then explained, even Harry was unsure what this would do to her, but he had offered now he needed to make sure she understood just what could happen.
“Yeah, do it.” Anita told him her mind was made up now. Harry breathed deeply and approached the brave woman. Harry gave a thankful smile to the Doctor when the Doctor passed beside him, and the Doctor squeezed his shoulder.
“Okay. I need you to stay very still, Anita.” Harry told her. She agreed and went still. Harry released his wand into his hand, needing to be as precise as was possible especially using Linguistic Science. He took another deep breath and spoke the familiar incantation.
“Expecto Patronum.” Harry spoke for all to hear. Harry thought on all the time he had spent with Sirius since coming to this universe, about him finding his real dad the Master, about how much he was loved by both his dad the Master and Pere the Doctor he thought about the fact they didn’t argue over him using the timeline to protect himself to get rid of his old identity even if he wanted it gone for other reasons as well, how they were always there for him, how the Doctor treated him just like he really was the Doctors own son. Suddenly a blinding white light shot out of his wand and snaked straight for the infected shadow, Harry had to pump more and more power into the command as he felt the Vashta Nerada trying to push back suddenly the shadow seemed to explode and he cancelled his spell a few seconds later. Both the Master and the Doctor were checking the other shadow.
“it’s benign, they’ve gone. Its best to keep your helmet on for the time being until we sort this whole mess out. Wait!” the Doctor explained what his screwdriver was telling him before shouting at Harry.
“Drop your wand! It has two shadows Arbitrator!” The Doctor shouted truly terrified at seeing that. Harry actually jumped dropping it without conscious thought then suddenly the Master was pulling Harry away from his wand so it wouldn’t go back into his holster, the Master had moved from his position in less than a second to reach his son and get him out of the way of his wand. Harry cut his connection to his core so they couldn’t get at him through that either.
“You okay?” Anita asked Harry. But Harry did reply he had just lost his wand and the connection to it. The only wand in existence that matched up to him and his power core he was slightly disorientated through the loss of it and having to cut the connection off.
“How did you do that?” Anita asked Harry next. Harry tried to get over the feeling of cutting his wand from his core.
“As I’ve said, I have more abilities which just made me feel like I’ve lost my arm through these bloody Vashta Nerada that is the only conductor in this universe that will channel my powers, why did they go after a wooden stick?” Harry explained then demanded still disorientated a bit the Master steadied him as he could see he was having trouble standing up straight. Harry knew what this meant though now having to cut the connection, he was very, very worried, but cleared his mind quickly before the Master and the Doctor, could pick up on it.
“Don’t worry about that now, we’ll sort it you can still use your Linguistic Science powers without a wand.” The Master explained gently still holding onto Harry not letting him go after such a fright and the Master could see Harry was still unsteady on his feet.
“Except I need a conductor to do more precise things like warding, enchanting and creating a Patronus!” Harry explained back to the Master still disorientated and having to be held onto tighter by the Master.
“Sorry I know it just cost you something but come on, give a dead girl a break how did you do that? Your secret is safe with me I promise.” Anita Insisted, if Anita could see the devastation in Harrys eyes or the way he looked so disorientated to the rest of them there unable to properly stand, she wouldn’t have said anything.
“Safe.” The Doctor anounced to everyone.
“What?” River Song demanded of the Doctor. The Doctor’s eyes lit up in sudden understanding and realisation.
“Safe. You don’t say saved. nobody says saved. You say safe. The second message! What did it say?” The Doctor explained to the room the asked while looking at Mr. Lux.
“Four thousand and twenty two people saved. No survivors.” Mr. Lux answered the Doctor confused.
“Doctor?” River Song asked standing up off the step where she had sat down in shock after the Doctor had shouted out to Harry.
“No one sane says saved. The crazies say saved. You say safe.” The Doctor explained to everybody what he had worked out, he started to pace.
“You see, it didn’t say safe. It meant it, it literally meant, saved!” The Doctor exclaimed, gripping his hair with both hands and looking at them as if it were obvious.
“See? Here it is. A hundred years ago there was massive power surge. All the teleports running at once. As soon as the Vashta Nerada started the hatching cycle they attacked. Someone gives the alarm and the computer tried to teleport everyone out.” The Doctor explained to the others around him showing them the computer screen with all the information on it showing the readings and the power surge going to the transporters suddenly.
“It tried to teleport four thousand and twenty two people out?” River Song asked the Doctor shocked.
“It succeeded. Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people. All beamed up and nowhere to go. They’re waiting in the system, ready to be sent, like emails. So, what’s a computer to do? What does a computer always do?” The Doctor explained and then asked the others.
“It saved them?” River Song questioned the Doctor this time. The Doctor jumped towards a table and took a marker pen out of his jacket pocket, all the Doctors pockets were bigger on the inside for more storage so were Harrys and the Masters, then the Doctor started to draw on the table with the marker pen.
“The Library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written up until a hundred years ago, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive.” the Doctor explained to everyone there. Drawing a big circle on the table with a dot in the middle and an arrow pointing to it showing the planet and the hard drive in the middle of it right at its centre.
Harry could now see the timeline the Doctor was seeing. This technology… it was astounding the things humans could do in the future. He knew a lot of what technology could do through his lessons and the TARDIS engineering course, but this was something new, never thought of before and not by a higher race. His feelings of impressiveness didn’t last for long however, as suddenly an alarm started to sound and the lights became red. Everyone looked around.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Mr. Lux asked everybody.
“Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes.” The voice of a computer announced. The computer screen then started to show the countdown.
“What’s maximum erasure?” River Song asked the Master and the Doctor seeing it on the screen underneath the countdown that was on it as well.
“In twenty minutes, this planet’s going to crack like an egg!” The Master explained annoyed looking at the Doctor.
“No. No, it’s all right. The doctor Moon will stop it. It’s programmed to always protect Cal.” Mr. Lux explained to them all. As soon as the words left his lips, the terminal screen went blank, startling the humans with them.
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” The Doctor shouted hitting the computer before jumping onto a chair and working on it with his screwdriver.
“Doctor, what’s going on?” River Song asked the Doctor.
“All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience.” The computers voice announced inadvertently answering her.
“We need to stop this. We’ve got to save Cal.” Mr. Lux urged all of them there.
“But what is it? What is Cal? Up until now you wouldn’t tell us, but now you're insisting we save it?” The Doctor asked Mr. Lux wanting to know what was going on.
“We need to get to the main computer. I’ll show you.” Mr. Lux finally answered the Doctor.
“It’s at the core of the planet as you showed us with your drawing.” Mr. Lux further explained.
“Well, then. Let’s go.” River Song told those that were left with a big grin. They saw her walk to the platform in the centre of the room they were now in, and she used her screwdriver to open it. A blue and white light appeared, and she looked down, still grinning.
“Gravity platform.” River Song explained to them all.
“I bet we all get along with you.” The Doctor told River Song walking forward and looking down too.
“Oh, you all do.” River Song told him with a smile for the three of them. The Doctor, the Master and Harry all smiled back even though Harrys was a bit strained.