lostwolf | Acquainted with the Night

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12

Chapter 13. Worthless Things to Joy
from Robert Green Ingersoll

(fleeting allusion in this chapter to the first ever Dr Who episode – virtual cookies for anyone who spots it).

‘Fugitive 410.beta.orange 97 deceased.’

The Judoon’s guttural pronouncement penetrated the Doctor’s agony, filtering through the pain, past the roaring silence in his ears, just enough for his brain, anaesthetised by loss though it was, to trigger cognition.

‘Repeat, fugitive 410.beta.orange 97 deceased. Collection team requested, reference five one five, two three eleven, one nine six three.’

Rage began to swirl in the Doctor’s veins; a number, they were reducing Rose, his Rose, to a number. As the Judoon guard repeated himself, his harsh, ugly tones labelling Rose, comprehension coalesced and in that instant the Doctor was on his feet. He rounded on the Judoon, Rose still in his arms, cradled against him like a sleeping child, one large hand holding her head gently against his chest as if he could even now shield her from the cruelty of the Universe.

‘Stop it!’ He said, his voice cold and quiet and demanding obedience.

‘Your command is not relevant. You will surrender the transgressor.’

‘She was not a transgressor. You murdered her.’

‘Negative. Fugitive 410.beta.orange 97 was guilty. Justice is swift.’

‘Justice? How is this justice? You killed the wrong person! You punished the wrong person.’

‘Appeal noted.’ The Judoon pulled a device from his belt, ‘Appeal lodged. Your appeal will now be heard.’ He pointed the device at Rose and an intense blue glow sufficed her form for a moment. ‘Identity confirmed. Fugitive 410.beta.orange 97 deceased. Appeal rejected.’

‘How? How can Rose have been a fugitive? She was a girl, just a child, she’s done nothing to warrant this, nothing!’

‘The deceased’s status has been verified. Fugitive 410.beta.orange 97. Appellation and age are irrelevant. You will release him.’

‘She’s not a… wait, him?’

‘Fugitive 410.beta.orange 97 is designated male.’

The Doctor stared. The Judoon race were stupid but not that stupid. Something was wrong here. Slowly the growls of Sniff and the words of the Judoon coalesced into the first flicker of hope. Shaking lest he was wrong, he lowered Rose to the ground and, fingers slipping in their hurry to perform their task, he gripped his sonic screwdriver and scanned the blood bathing the floor. Human. Rose. His hearts sank. And then… aberration. He scanned again. Alien DNA. Beneath the human reading a new reading appeared, predominant and entirely alien. Shaking violently, he scanned again, and then again, hardly daring to believe what the scans told him. Not Rose, this was not Rose. He fell backwards, his backside colliding with the pavement as the reality flooded in; Rose was not dead. This was not Rose.

His brain fought to process what the device was telling him. The body looked like Rose, felt like Rose, but wasn’t her. He studied the readings, struggling to make sense of them. Whatever lay before him was not a shape shifter or a projected image; it was something different, something new, but not Rose, not Rose. He dragged Sniff into his arms, hugging the little dog in joy. Clever, clever little canine had seen what he had not. He’d known that this was not his mistress. And he, idiot Time Lord, had ignored him. Not anymore, though. He scrambled to his feet, stepping silently away from the Judoon guard as he surveyed his prize. This was not Rose, but she was still out there. She was still at risk. Somehow her image, her DNA, had been used to create a disguise. He didn’t understand how, not yet, but he knew that, despite his present joy, her continued absence was not good. He needed to find Rose and he needed to find her before the Judoon.

Rose drifted slowly towards awareness, conscious that she was not comfortable. She was lying on something hard and cold and her head was throbbing with the insistence of a nasty hangover. Reluctant to leave oblivion behind her, she opened an eye cautiously. Murk greeted her and she cracked open her other eye, blinking rapidly as she tried to focus. The room she was in looked large but was almost entirely in shadow. She tried to move, groaning as her head pounded furiously.

‘Do not try to move yet, the drug makes waking uncomfortable.’ A face moved into Rose’s eye line, fuzzy but somehow familiar.

‘Lariff?’ Her voice was croaky with disuse and her throat horribly dry.

‘Yes. Here,’ as Rose struggled to sit, Lariff moved to help her, easing her upright and back against the chill wall. She carefully pressed a cup against Rose’s lips and encouraged her to take a few sips of water.

Rose closed her eyes as her head swam, stabbing vicious knives of pain through her retinas. ‘Where are we?’

‘I do not know for certain. We are in a room beneath ground, I fear, somewhere within the city boundaries. Beyond that I and the others do not know.’

Rose fought to focus, something Lariff said was important, ‘Others?’

‘Yes. There are five of us, six now you are here.’ As Rose opened her eyes again, new figures drew into focus. Lariff drew away from her slightly and began to introduce her; ‘This is my husband, Rignilf.’

Rose flinched slightly and interrupted her, ‘Yes, we’ve met.’ He tone was not entirely friendly; this was the man who had grabbed her from the hotel.

Lariff shook her head, ‘No, no! The man you met was not my husband. It was one of them dressed in my husband’s form.’ She moved closer to her husband, stepping into his embrace as she recounted her experience with ill-concealed horror, ‘They took him and the man that returned to me, the man whom I introduced to you and your colleague at our home, was an impostor. They took me as soon as you left. They knew I was suspicious.’ She gestured to the couple beside her, ‘The same is true of Calrrisan and Kioriki; they captured Kioriki and then took Calrrisan.’ Finally Lariff pointed to a small woman on the outskirts of the group, ‘The other is Hiedlif, she was captured first.’

Rose blinked at Lariff, trying to follow what she was being told. ‘The people who took us, one of them looked just like your husband? How’d they do that then?’

Lariff smiled, ‘I do not know, I only know that the man who returned to me, although he looked like Rignilf, was not him. He did not act like my husband. He was strange. He frightened me. When you came I knew I had to conceal my concern, lest they hurt my real husband. As soon as you left, the false Rignilf pressed something against my neck and I woke here, with Rignilf.’

Seeing Rose’s discomfort at craning her neck, Rignilf settled himself and his wife on the floor in front of her. ‘They took blood from us,’ he said, showing her an angry puncture mark on his arm. Lariff raised her sleeve, revealing an identical mark on her own arm. Slowly, frightened of what she would find, Rose lifted her arm into view; there, bright against her pale skin, was a livid bruise. Rose swallowed past her dry throat.

‘You think they make some sort of disguise from our blood?’

‘They clone us,’ piped up Calrrisan, ‘Kioriki came to me at my place of work; there were scanners but they permitted him inside. He registered as Kioriki, but he was not Kioriki. He was cruel and hard and vicious, he hit me when I resisted coming to this place,’ she said, gesturing to the nasty bruise that bloomed over her right cheek. ‘He looked and smelt and registered as Kioriki, it was as if he was Kioriki, but he was not. Inside, he was not my husband at all.’

Rose’s eyes widened, ‘Of course, the fugitives the Judoon are after; they needed a way to move around the city, they must have found a way to replicate us, like a disguise.’

‘They inject themselves with something, it transforms them, but it does not last long. They come for more blood often.’ Rose looked at the owner of this voce with alarm, she sounded weak and listless. Hiedlif slumped beside Rose; she was pale and wan and was breathing heavily from the small exertion of moving across the room to join them. ‘They did it in front of me once. Their skin seemed to ripple and reform and then I was looking at myself. They took a bottle of my blood to make their special potion, and they have been back thrice more since then. I think this is why they have taken you; I have little more to give.’

Rose reached out and squeezed the woman’s hand, noticing with alarm how cold she was. Hiedlif was right, she could not afford to give their captors any more blood, Rose was rather afraid she had given too much already.

Lariff sighed, ‘That and your inquisitiveness. The one in my home knew that you were not the police. He taunted me for my gullibility and spoke to his colleagues and sent one of them to watch you. When you came back to find me they discussed the situation and agreed that they would take you.’

Rose smiled, ‘Then they’ve made their first mistake. The Doctor will find me. He always finds me. And then he’ll stop them from whatever it is they are doing… what are they doing, anyway, apart from kidnapping people?’

Lariff shrugged her shoulders, ‘We do not know. They do not seem to be doing anything. Just waiting. We do not know for what.’

‘Well, they must want something. They robbed the last planet they visited. Perhaps they are planning a heist? Lariff, you worked for the big department store, what about the rest of you?’

‘I work in a bookshop,’ Hiedlif said.

‘I am a chef at the Martian eatery,’ said Rignilf.

Calrrisan smiled, ‘And I work at a woman’s wear shop.’

Rose turned to Kioriki, ‘I manage a men’s wear outfitters.’

Rose sighed, they were each from different circles and different shops. She could see no obvious link between them and no obvious advantage in kidnapping them.

Lariff correctly interrupted Rose’s mood, ‘There is no reason for them to want us, and yet they do. It does not make sense and I am afraid. They do not care for us. We are like fodder to them. They have hurt Hiedlif and show no concern for her suffering. They have not fed us and we have water to drink only because this room has a tap. We are needed only for our blood and when we have no more to give they simply find a new source.’ She paused, swallowing back a sob, as she looked Rose in the eye, ‘I think we will die here.’

‘No!’ announced Rose. ‘We will not die here. My friend will come and even if he doesn’t, we will escape. I’ve seen the end of the world, I’ve fought gas monsters and Slitheen and I’ve come back from the world of the dead, I am NOT going to die in a dreary, cold, nasty basement.’ She pushed herself to her feet, ‘Come on,’ she challenged, ‘Let’s get out of here.’

Chapter 14

Current Mood: silly
Current Location: home

Tags:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2008-03-08 04:34 pm (UTC)

From:

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags