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The first thing Amy was aware of when she woke up was the fact that she was trapped. She was encased in some sort of glass coffin, and it was definitely not something she appreciated. She remembered being pulled under the soil but not much more after that.
She looked through the glass, or at least tried to. It was frosted and carved with a swirly pattern that made seeing out of it pretty much impossible. All that did was highlight how she had no idea what was happening, or where she was. She started to panic.
"Let me out," she cried, pounding on the glass to try and get anyone's attention. "Let me out! Can anybody hear me?! I'm alive in here! Let me out!" Something moved at the edge of the glass and her eyes narrowed angrily. They were ignoring her. She hated being ignored.
"I know you're out there!" she warned them. "My name is Amy Pond and you'd better get me the hell out of here or so help me I am going to kick your backside!" She gave the glass one last bang before lying against the back of the coffin, panting slightly from the effort. A distorted green figure with a white surgeon's mask leant over the glass and she suddenly wondered if it had been better when they were ignoring her. "Please?" she asked, much more timidly.
"Shh!" the creature hushed her and she glared upwards, suddenly rather angry again.
"Did you just shush me?" she demanded. "Did you just shush me?" She began to pound on the glass again. No one shushed her, no one.
From across the room, Danni looked up out of her own frosted pane of glass. She'd woken up the same as Amy, which had been the first clue that something wasn't quite right. She'd panicked and demanded to be let out, much like Amy but with a lot more panic in her voice. It turned out that she really wasn't a fan of being trapped in a coffin. This dream really was bringing out a lot of things about herself. She was learning a lot.
Still, she remembered this part of the episode. Amy demanded to be let free then she was gassed to go back to sleep. Danni had a feeling that was going to happen to her regardless, so even though she couldn't see anything, she tried to spot the other redhead.
"Amy, be quiet!" she called over.
"Danni?" Amy called, sounded both relieved and terrified. Danni rather liked having someone like Amy Pond be relieved she was there. "What's happening?"
"We've be trapped underground by lizard people," she said as quickly as she could. "The Doctor and Rory will be here soon. Just relax and try not to panic at what happens next."
"What happens next?" she repeated as gas began to filter into the coffin around her. Immediately she started panicking. "No no no, don't do that," she begged. "No gas! No gas!"
Danni tried to stay calmer, not copying Amy's actions of banging on the glass. Her dreams were realistic, it would seem, but she knew how they always went and she tried to cling onto it even as she shook. Tear filled her eyes and gas filled her lungs as everything began to dull around her. She wasn't crying because she wasn't scared. She wasn't scared because the Doctor always came. She knew the episode and she knew her mind well. The Doctor would save her. The Doctor always saved her.
~0~0~0~
Danni's head felt incredibly heavy. Her brain seemed to be rebooting and she couldn't quite work out what was going on. All she knew was that this dream had stopped being fun a little while ago and she really hoped that Claire woke her up soon.
She opened her eyes and saw herself no longer in the glass container she had been placed in, but rather staring across what appeared to be a rather dark, metal room. She looked to her left and saw Amy strapped to a similar examination board like she was. She groaned, realising that she was also strapped down. She struggled slightly but there wasn't much movement.
"Don't struggle," a voice said in a Welsh accent and she looked to her right. There was a man next to her, his shirt undone.
She looked at the long pink scar that ran right down the middle of his torso and began to shake her head. "Nope, not a chance," she said firmly. "This is—" she grunted as she pulled against the metal restraints holding her down, "-this is my dream and I am not being dissected. Let me go!"
"How did you know that?" he asked. She opened her mouth to explain, but the 'whoosh' of the door opening had both of their attentions pulling towards it. In stepped the same Silurian that had knocked her out. He had a mask over his face. He didn't pause in his path as he picked up his scalpel and headed towards them.
Next to her, Amy began to rouse from her own state of unconsciousness. She immediately began to struggle.
"Don't struggle," the man repeated to her. She looked over at the pair. "Close your eyes and don't struggle."
She looked surprised to see him, but her gaze shot to Danni. "What's happening?" she asked her friend. "Where are we? Why can't I move my body?"
"See our friend there?" Danni asked, nodding towards the Silurian. "He's wants to dissect us. But he won't, it's fine. The Doctor's already here so he won't be long."
Amy tried to take comfort in the fact the Doctor was coming for them, but the word 'dissect' didn't exactly fill her with much confidence that everything was going to be alright. She turned to the Silurian. "Stay away from us!" she demanded. "Don't you come near us with that!"
The Silurian paid no attention to her, surprising them both by turning to the left and stepping towards Danni. Her eyes widened slightly. This wasn't right. He was supposed to go to Amy. That was how the show happened. Why was it changing?
"Oi! You stay away from her!" Amy continued to shout. "Hey, I'm talking to you! Leave her alone."
The Silurian pulled his mask down as he looked Danni over and her eyes narrowed angrily. The rising panic in her chest, the shouts from Amy, were making everything seem like it was really happening and she did not appreciate that. Her palms were even going sweaty and she felt like she couldn't breathe.
"Don't you dare," she warned the Silurian. "Cause I'm gonna kick your arse if you come any closer."
Instead of reacting to any of the noises the humans made, he turned to the device hanging from ceiling.
"From the clothing," he started, "the human female appears to be more resistant to the cold than the male."
"Actually, I'm rather cold. If I had known I was coming to Wales I would have grabbed a jacket," she rambled out. "Have you ever been to Wales? Very wet, but quite pretty. You should- You should visit sometime."
He reached into his pocket, pulling out a smaller device with two buttons. He pressed one and the restraints clamped down harder on her wrists.
"Leave her alone! You've got me!" the Welsh man cried, being rather amazing and brave by trying to pull the attention back onto him.
"Decontamination complete. Commencing dissection," the Silurian declared. Danni shook her head, pressing back onto the board she was strapped to. The scalpel started to glow and her heart felt lie it was going to burst out of her chest.
"Please don't do this," she begged, terrified. "I just want to wake up. Please."
Amy clamped her eyes shut, turning away as the scalpel went through Danni's dress and cut into her. "The Doctor is going to kill you," she warned. "When he gets here and sees what you're doing to her, he will kill you."
Danni groaned heavily, suddenly feeling rather woozy. It didn't hurt as she thought it would – she assumed that had something to do with the decontamination process - but it felt like a sharp, heavy weight was pressing down where he was cutting. The scalpel must have had something else on it because with each little drag across her she felt her energy draining.
"Please…" she whimpered. She didn't scream, she just let her eyes fall shut. She didn't want this anymore. This was, by far, the worst dream she'd ever had. It was like being in her own little horror movie that had disguised itself as a romp through Doctor Who.
"Female is less vocal than the male when it comes to pain, this may be due to less nerves on the outer skin," the Silurian narrated. Danni could feel his hands on her, probably in her, but she didn't dare look. "First visual examination concludes that while most organs are very similar..."
Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested. Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested.
Danni almost sobbed in happiness as he was interrupted by the tannoy above them. He paused, sighed heavily, and reached over to turn off his recording device. With another long swipe up her with the scalpel, he closed her back up again.
She only had a moment, so she reached into his pocket while he was distracted by cleaning up the mess he'd made of her. She grabbed the device he'd used to lock her down with and clenched her hand around it until he had left the room.
"Yeah! And stay out!" Amy shouted at him as if she had made him leave. Danni looked down at her hand, seeing the device she was grasping and smiled slightly. That had actually been a rather good move on her part considering she hadn't ever pickpocketed anything before. She pressed one of the buttons but nothing happened, so she tried the other and her restraints came undone.
She groaned as she raised her arm, pressing the same button again whilst pointing the device at Amy. Unfortunately, nothing happened again so, with another heavy groan, she lifted herself off the board and stumbled over to Amy. The button worked once she was in close proximity to the other redhead, who quickly helped hold her up the moment she was free.
"Are you okay?" Amy asked her as she helped Danni over to the Welsh man. She sounded very concerned, which Danni appreciated.
"Not the best dream I've had, I'll admit," she replied as she unlocked him. "Plus, have you seen my dress? If he'd gone any higher I'd may as well be naked."
Amy seemed to know that she was trying to be funny to hide her confusion and pain so she rolled her eyes to play along. "It's just a dress."
"It's a nice dress," Danni murmured to herself, thinking about how the previous Doctor had seemed to like it.
"How did you get that?" the Welsh man asked, amazed.
"You never picked a lizard man's pocket?" Amy replied for Danni. "Come on, before he gets back." The exited the room before heading into a corridor, each of them looking around in case they were spotted. The hallway was a strange mix of metal and overgrowth and gave no sign of where it was leading to.
"That creature, do you think it was an alien? Any more of them do you think? Do you think the Earth's been invaded?" the man asked them.
"They didn't invade Earth, they were already here," Danni explained. "Silurians were here before humans. They've got a colony down here, if I remember correctly."
"How do you know that?" Amy asked. Danni shrugged.
"The Doctor told me," she offered as an explanation. "That's where I normally get all of my sci-fi knowledge from. I was never a fan of Star Wars, or Trek for that matter. The Doctor was pretty much it."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Urgh, even when you're young you're both gross," she grumbled.
Her words confused Danni. Everyone talked about her like she had been around before. Was that some strange dream continuity, or was it because they did know her? She didn't understand and, in her weakened state, she didn't really want to question it. She didn't want to know anything. She didn't want to do anything, let alone following the episode through to the end. She wanted to go home.
Amy paused, causing Danni to stop, to look at a door in the mossy wall. The Welsh man turned to look back at what was holding them up.
"I wonder where this leads," Amy mused excitedly, shooting the man a grin before leading Danni to it.
"Maybe it's a way out of here," the man replied just as hopefully as he joined the pair. There was a panel to the side of the door and Amy placed her hand on it. It immediately activated, showing off what appeared to be some readings of the thing inside.
Instead of opening, the lights on the other room flashed into life. The man took a step closer, almost like he was trying to get through. "Oh, my God, no," he breathed.
"What is it?" Amy asked, concerned by the look of horror on his face.
"It's my son. It's Elliot. What've they done to him?" he cried as he shook on the door to try and get it open. He backed away and Amy moved closer to look inside at the young boy stood in the middle. He was attached to wires and stared outwards, but it was obvious he couldn't see anything.
"No! He's in there! We have to get him out!" the man continued. "Elliot! Elliot, it's Dad!" He tried to panel but it flashed a deep red.
"Access denied. Unauthorised genetic imprint," it told him in a calm, automated voice and he breathing picked up in panic.
Danni used as much strength as she could to grab his arm before he could try to open the door again. "You're not going to get in," she told him firmly. "Elliot is fine. He probably has no idea that he's even down here. None of us are Silurian so we can't get in and we could cause him actual damage if we try."
"That's my boy in there!" the man protested and Amy nodded.
"These screens," Amy explained, "they're monitoring something. I think they're vital signs - heartbeats, pulses. Why else would he be wired up? He's still alive."
It took a moment but the man nodded. "All right," he agreed. We find weapons, get that creature from the lab and force it to release Elliot, yeah?"
Amy just nodded, agreeing to get him moving again. "Yeah, trust me we'll get him out."
She quickly ushered him around and down the hallway. Amy shared a look with Danni, who wasn't looking the best she ever had. "Are you sure you should be moving?" she asked quietly. "Maybe we should hide you?"
"I'll take my chances, thanks," Danni replied. "The Doctor turns up soon." She frowned. "I think."
Amy didn't seem too bothered by her words, instead they continued through the hallways of the underground city, coming across rows of glass chambers again and again, as well as a couple of beautiful views over the buildings below.
"These chambers are all over the city," Amy commented as they headed down yet another corridor. There was a door at one end and they took the moment to stop and let Danni rest. The man, Mo, seemed to be holding up better than Danni was considering he had also been cut open. But, Danni assumed, it was because he wasn't just sealed up for the examination to continue on at a later time.
Amy spotted a sensor by some of the glass chamber and, with the curiosity of a small child, placed her hand in it. Immediately the two chambers lit up and she and Mo jumped back, alarmed. Inside were two Silurians, with masks and guns, stood to attention.
"Uh! Turn it off quick!" Mo hissed. Amy did as she was told and the chamber went dark. When the Silurians didn't break out and attack the Welsh man frowned.
"They're not moving," he stated.
"Maybe they're asleep," Amy suggested. "Let's have another look." She reached into the sensor, leaving her hand in it longer this time.
"No, Amy, don't!" Mo cried but the lights came on and nothing happened once again. The doors on the chambers slid open and they still didn't move. Taking a chance, she stepped inside and began to circle on the Silurians. "Amy, what are you doing? Get out of there!"
"They're not asleep, they're in stasis," Danni told them. "We need to find the Doctor, they're not going to be any use unless we wake them all up and that seems like a bad idea."
Amy ignored her, bending down to take a look at the round, stone discs that the Silurians were all stood on. She gave it a small tap. "I wonder what these are," she mused. "The Doctor would know. The Doctor always knows."
Danni didn't have the strength to argue that she actually knew what they were. She, really, didn't have the strength to go find the Doctor either but she knew that, until she woke up, that was always the best course of action. Everyone was at their safest when they were with him.
And she was going to wake up. She knew she was.
Instead of saying anything, she directed Amy's gaze upwards with a point. The companion grinned, connecting the dots. "Wait... I've got it," she said. "It's how they came up to the surface. Some sort of powered transport discs. It's our way out of here."
"Amy…" Danni groaned weakly. "Seriously, I just wanna go home."
"Right, sorry," Amy apologised, standing up. Mo looked over the creatures one last time, grinning as he saw the strange guns they were both holding. "Even better, weapons." He grabbed one. "Come on, now we can fight back." Amy hesitated a moment then took the other one.
"There's only two," she pointed out.
"I don't want a gun, thank you very much," Danni replied. "I don't even think I could lift one right now, let alone shoot it."
Amy stepped out, using the sensor to close the doors again. "Which way now?" Mo asked. With no other way to go, Amy wrapped an arm around Danni again.
"Door at the end," she said decisively.
"Are you sure?" he replied.
"Nope!"
Danni was starting to walk slower, she knew she was. Whatever energy she'd had making it this far was running out and she didn't want to be the reason that they didn't find the Doctor in time. She had to keep the episode going as planned, otherwise how would she make it to the end and wake up? She hadn't even got to spend this part of the dream with the Doctor, which would have been the part she would have rather done. But, as she glanced up at Amy, at least the red-head seemed to be rather happy to see her.
The doors at the end of the hallway opened, leading to a balcony that overlooked a large room below. A room full of lines upon lines of Silurians, all in uniform and all ready to be awakened once the time was right.
"Wow," Mo breathed.
Amy nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"We don't stand a chance."
The Silurians below them didn't matter. The ones that had the Doctor and Nasreen did. Danni couldn't remember where they went after they came down in the TARDIS, all she could remember was that Amy and Mo would find them. So she had to get them to find them.
"We need to find the Doctor," she stated, barely paying the Silurians a glance. "I need to get to him so I can get home."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Even when we're in the middle of a lizard man uprising—"
"Silurian," Danni corrected.
"Silurian uprising, you can't keep away from each other, can you?" They turned and headed out the door again. "It's sickening."
"Oi," Danni replied shortly. "My dream, my injury and my Doctor. I'm not an idiot. He's my ticket home."
Amy couldn't help but think she wasn't talking about the TARDIS. "I'm sure he'll help if he can," she said airily. "Or, at the very least, patch you up again."
~0~0~0~
"No, no, I need to stop," Danni suddenly declared. She came to a halt before Amy and Mo did, leaning against a wall. "And I need to talk to the manager of this bloody dream. I'm not one for complaining, but this is ridiculous." Amy let out a snort of a laugh and she glared at the other woman. "What's that for?"
"Not one to complain?" Amy repeated. "Seriously?"
Danni didn't reply, feeling insulted that her own brain was questioning her. The pain was just getting worse, or she was coping with it less, she wasn't sure. Either way she felt like she had been split in two and put together again. Which, technically, is what happened but why did she feel it? Why was everything feeling so real? She knew it was a dream, wasn't that something she could control once she knew about it? Shouldn't her pain have gone away? Shouldn't the Doctor appear, take her somewhere pretty and declare his undying love for her? That was how her dreams normally went. Not like this. Not so… well, like reality.
She slid down to the floor and Amy joined her. "Sorry," she said softly. Danni smiled at her, feeling a little guilty that she'd made her look concerned.
"Don't worry about me, sweetie," she replied. "Just give me a moment, then we'll continue forwards, yeah?"
"We don't even know where we're going, how are we supposed to find the Doctor?" Amy asked her.
"He's down here somewhere in the courtroom. Can't miss it," Danni replied, closing her eyes. She took a couple of deep breaths. Maybe if she fell asleep here then she'd wake up back home.
"How do you know?" Mo asked, suspicious.
"She can see the future," Amy explained and Danni opened her eyes to look at her, baffled. Was that how the dream was playing her love of Doctor Who? It was creative, she had to give herself that.
Mo didn't protest, but that was more than likely because it wasn't the strangest thing he'd heard or seen since he had been sucked into the soil. He just kept an eye out, gun at the ready, just in case they were ambushed.
"Why's he in a courtroom?" Amy asked before taking a sharp breath. She looked down at Danni. "Is he appealing to get us out or something?" she asked hopefully.
"Nah," Danni drawled out. "They're going to execute him and that lovely Nasreen lady."
"Wait, what?"
"Oh, calm down. It's fine. We interrupt them, it's all peachy," Danni said with a wave of her hand. "He should actually be getting there soon." With a groan, she slowly stood up, using Amy to push herself off the ground. "I can't remember really, this isn't my favourite episode if I'm honest."
"Excuse me?" Amy protested, outraged. "Not your favourite? How dare you?!"
~0~0~0~
Restac and Malokeh, the military commander and the head science officer respectively of the Silurian tribe, strode purposefully into the state courtroom. They were closely followed by the four soldiers Restac had awoken with her who were bringing in the two apes that had been caught.
"You're not authorised to do this!" Malokeh protested.
"I'm authorised to protect the safety of our species while they sleep," Restac retorted firmly, angrily. She was worried about her sister, everyone could see that, and it was coming out in a hatred for the humans that they had decided were attacking their home.
The Doctor and Nasreen looked around the stately room. There were rows of benches lining each wall, with all the decoration seemingly made of gold. It would have been lovely if they hadn't been sentenced to death.
"Oh, lovely place, very gleaming," the Doctor said anyway, enjoying the look. He'd been in worse situations than this. He just needed to keep them all talking until he could convince Restac that killing them wasn't the best idea. Then he could get out, find Danni and Amy, and then deal with the sudden appearance of a very ancient but unknown - to the humans – species.
All in a day's work, he should think. And definitely something that would impress Danni.
Not that he was trying to.
"This is our court," Restac explained, "and our place of execution."
The Doctor grinned happily as, from the side, Amy Pond appeared. She was holding a gun, granted, but he did love being rescued from time to time.
"Let them go!" she demanded, aiming her gun straight at Restac.
"Amy Pond, there's a girl you can rely on!" he said to Nasreen before his smile faltered slightly. "Where's Danni?"
"Here." The other red-head appeared from around the corner, looking rather pale and shaking slightly. His frown only deepened.
"Something's wrong…" he said quietly. Her dress was torn as well. She had been hurt
"You're covered both ways, so don't try anything clever, buster," Amy continued. The Doctor and Nasreen both glanced behind them and saw a man stood there, also aiming a gun into the room.
"Mo!" Nasreen cried happily at the sight of her friend's son-in-law. That explained that, then. The Doctor turned his attention back into the room to see Restac advancing on them both.
"Now let them go, or I shoot," Amy warned as Restac hissed. "I'm warning you!" Restac grabbed the gun out of Amy's hand, chucking her into Danni and sending them both to the ground. Danni landed with a yelp, followed by a groan because landing really hurt.
"Don't you touch her," the Doctor snarled. He wasn't sure what had happened to Danni, but whatever made her make such a pained noise can't have been good. He should have been paying more attention to her. She was so new and she was a danger to herself because she didn't seem to care.
Restac didn't pay him attention. "And you," she commanded, pointing the gun she'd wrestled off Amy at Mo. He reluctantly handed his gun over to one of the soldiers.
Malokeh, who had stood and watched for long enough, held his hands up. "All right, Restac. You've made your point."
She obviously wasn't happy at being addressed in such a manner. She let the gun hang at her side as she approached him. "This is now a military tribunal," she declared. "Go back to your laboratory, Malokeh."
One of the soldiers jabbed Malokeh in the back, telling him to leave. He looked to Restac, ready to protest but she hissed at him at the challenge. With a glance over at Danni and Amy on the floor, he shook his head. "This isn't the way," he said to her before leaving.
"Prepare them for execution," Restac commanded. The soldiers did as she commanded, tying them all to the large pillars at the end of the room.
"OK, sorry, as rescues go, didn't live up to its potential," Amy apologised as the Doctor was tied up on the pillar next to hers. Nasreen had been the first to be tied up and, as the Doctor was strapped down they tied Mo to her left.
"I'm glad you're OK," he replied sincerely. He was. He had been worried about the pair of them.
Danni groaned loudly as she was slammed into the pillar on the Doctor's left, tied tightly. "Oh, you wouldn't have known how to even shoot that gun," she teased lightly. The Doctor strained his neck to look around and down at her but immediately looked away, blushing lightly.
Danni frowned. "What's up with you?"
"I... I can see into your dress," he stuttered.
She looked down. The slit that had been put in made the fabric sit funny on her and, just as he said, it now was much more open on the top than it had been originally.
"Oh for the love of..." She looked over at Restac, glaring angrily. "I want compensation for this dress!" she demanded. "It's a very nice dress! A blue box gave me this dress, I'll have you know!" She paused for a moment. "And I had a cardigan!"
"Silurian, though?" Amy interrupted, sensing a rant coming on.
The Doctor frowned. "Yes, actually, how did you…" He shook his head. "Right, stupid question," he admitted, knowing the woman next to him had probably told her. "They occupied the planet before the humans," he explained. "Now they want it back."
"After they've wiped out the human race," Nasreen added.
Amy turned away, looking at the lizard people with a new sense of dread. "Right, preferred it when I didn't know, to be honest."
"We all did," Danni agreed. She turned her attention to the soldiers. "Can you loosen this just a little, please?" she asked them. "I'd like to be comfortable if I'm going to be shot." She got no response as the soldiers all lined up in front of then, ready to be their firing squad when commanded to be.
"Why are they waiting? What do you think they're going to do with us?" Nasreen asked. Restac stood in front of them, between the soldiers but faced the opposite way. A green projection appeared in mid-air of the inside of the church above, looking upwards at the ceiling. Rory, Tony and Ambrose were huddled together, looking surprised.
"Who is the ape leader?" Restac demanded. The humans on the other side scrambled around but didn't answer, annoying her "Who speaks for the apes?" she snapped. After a little more conferring, Rory approached his end of the projection, becoming larger as he did.
"I speak for the... humans. Some of us, anyway," he stuttered out. Danni giggled slightly.
"Oh look it's Rory. Roman Rory. Rory, Rory Rory..." She turned her head to look up at the Doctor. He was starting to look a little out of focus, but she didn't mind too much. "He looks so big, like a giant!" she whispered.
The Doctor frowned, still concerned about her. The pain was obviously going to her head. "What happened?" he asked her gently, hopeful that he'd get an answer out of her.
She smiled brightly. "Oh, I just got a little bit dissected," she explained. She whispered too, because he was being quiet. "Can I tell you something, though?" She pressed onto the tips of her toes the best she could. "It's not much fun, being in this episode. It really hurts. Mo doesn't seem to mind, but I do. Just don't tell anyone, alright?"
He was still frowning deeply. "Dissected?" he repeated, trying desperately hard not to explode in anger. In fact, Danni recognised his calm tone.
"Oh, you're angry, aren't you?" she stated. "Angry, angry, angry…"
"Do you understand who we are?" Restac asked the projection of the humans harshly, interrupting their moment and causing Danni's attention to flutter away from the Doctor and to Rory.
"Sort of. A bit. Not really," Rory admitted awkwardly.
"We have ape hostages," Restac told him.
Rory immediately ran towards whatever screen he was looking at, towards his girlfriend and friends. "Doctor! Amy!" Rory cried, spotting them on the pillars.
"And me, don't forget me!" Danni cried back, wanting to wave but being unable to. Being tied up really wasn't as fun as she had been told it could be.
A woman and Tony also joined Rory. "Mo! Mo, are you OK?" the woman asked, who Danni vaguely remembered being his wife. She really hadn't liked this episode so much, mainly because of the ending. She frowned, what happened at the end? She couldn't remember, her head was so jumbled.
"I'm fine, love!" Mo told her. "I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!" She held her hand to her chest as she began crying in relief.
"Amy! I thought I'd lost you!" Rory told her.
Although rather relieved to see him, Amy rolled her eyes like she didn't understand his relief. "What, cause I was sucked into the ground? You're so clingy."
"Tony Mack!" Nasreen called happily, seeing the older man.
"Having fun down there?" He asked.
"Not to interrupt," the Doctor said, completely interrupting. "But just a quick reminder to stay calm."
"Show me Alaya. Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friends," Restac demanded, "one by one."
"No!" Mo's wife cried out angrily.
"Ambrose..." Rory warned, the Doctor's eying them suspiciously.
"Steady now, everyone," the Doctor said slowly, trying to calm the human's down before they did something stupid.
Danni sighed next to him. "Something bad's happened, hasn't it?" she muttered and the Doctor twisted, reaching around to grab her hand. Her brain was too befuddled to realise that he'd done it without asking and that she didn't really care.
"Nothing yet, Danni-Girl," he told her and she smiled, her eyes slightly glazed. He had to get her off that pillar so he could check her out properly.
"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony warned his daughter as he pulled her back. She shrugged out of his grip and glared at him.
"Get off me, Dad!" she demanded before she turned back to the screen. "We didn't start this!"
"Let Rory deal with this Ambrose, eh?" the Doctor told her nervously. If she didn't calm down she her behaviour was going to threaten everyone's safety.
"We're not doing what you say any more. Now, give me back my family!" Ambrose demanded. She and Restac stared each other down as everybody watched on tensely.
"No," Restac declared firmly. "Execute the girl." The soldiers move over and untied Amy as she struggled, everyone protesting in the court and in the church on the surface. Rory pushed Ambrose out of the way as he tried to get closer to the screen.
"No! No, wait!" Rory begged.
"Rory!" Amy cried, terrified.
"She's not speaking for us!" Rory tried to explain but the soldiers moved her to the centre of the room.
"There's no need for this..." the Doctor tried in a panic, struggling to get free so he could help his friend. If he didn't calm the situation down Amy was going to die. He couldn't let that happen. They were all under his care and he'd failed enough already.
"Fire!" Restac cried. Amy closed her eyes at the command, expecting to die.
"Stop!" a male voice cried and Restac spun to see Malokeh entering with another Silurian in fine robes. He was clearly older than Malokeh and the look on Restac's face suggested that he was important.
"Oh yeah, that guy," Danni giggled, her brain finally catching up to the moment. She remembered this. Restac wasn't happy at all. "I forgot about him."
"You can't expect to remember everything," the Doctor replied quietly.
"I wish I could..." she trailed off with a groan. "Okay, the pain's just pain now. Can they let us go, please?"
He shushed her gently. "Not long, Danni-Girl," he promised.
"You want to start a war, while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" the elder Silurian asked.
"The apes are attacking us!" Restac protested.
"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them," he commanded. She stood silently for a moment, regarding him and weighing up her options.
"I do not recognise your authority at this time, Eldane," she snarled. He sighed and held his hands out at his side.
"Well, then, you must shoot me," Eldane replied, as if resigned to his own death. Her eyes widened slightly in shock and she hissed, staring him down. Then, knowing she wouldn't harm him, she stormed up to Malokeh.
"You woke him to undermine me," she accused.
"We're not monsters. And neither are they," Malokeh replied calmly, looking at the group chained up behind them.
"What is it about apes you love so much?" she pressed. "Mmm?"
"While you slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself," he explained.
"We used to hunt apes for sport," she spat out. "When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet."
"Shush now, Restac," Eldane commanded. "Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you."
She walked over, face close. "You'll need me," she warned. "Then we'll see."
Eldane quickly gave the order for the prisoners to be released, for which Danni was incredibly grateful. As soon as she was released, though, her knees gave way and the room span slightly. It felt like she was slightly out of sync with the rest of her body, and for a moment she forgot she was in a dream. It felt so real that she clung to the Doctor tightly when he caught her.
"I think I need to sit down," she told him and he helped her sit on one of the many benches at the side of the room.
He crouched down in front of her, shooting her a kind smile that helped her feel more reassured than she probably should have. "I'm just going to take a look," he said softly.
"I don't think you can do anything, though," she replied.
"Hey, I'm the Doctor, aren't I?" he countered. "It's what I do."
"Yeah, a Doctor of cheese making," she retorted. His brows furrowed slightly and once again he had to wonder how she knew so much after only being there for such a short amount of time.
He wanted to ask her. He wanted to use her weakened state to gently probe her for information, but instead his concern won over. He gently parted the slit in the middle of her dress, tracing his finger lightly up the scar until he reached her ribs. She squirmed slightly at his touch, uncomfortable at the feeling.
He gently closed the dress again. "It's fine," he promised. "It's been healed properly but the painkillers have probably worn off." With another soft smile he stroked a strand of hair behind her ear. She was just so young. "Can you remember anything about it?"
She could see the concern on his face and realised that she really didn't want to be the source of it. "Not a thing," she lied and he nodded, standing up.
"You just rest. When we get back to the TARDIS I'll stop it hurting," he instructed before he placed a kiss on top of her head.
He then turned to the thing he could actually make a difference with at that particular point. He stepped into the middle of the room, holding his sonic screwdriver aloft. "Right, first things first." He buzzed the air and the green projection reappeared, showing Rory's back as he talked to the two other humans.
"Rory!" the Doctor cried and the man spun around, almost alarmed. "Hello!"
"Where's Amy?" he asked worriedly, his only thoughts at that moment on his wife.
"She's fine," the Doctor promised. He moved out of the way showing Amy stood slightly awkwardly "Look, here, she is."
Rory didn't look any more relaxed, but he did sound it. "Oh, thank God."
"Keeping you on your toes!" Amy told him before moving out of the way of the monitor.
"No time to chat," the Doctor continued. "Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology. It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!"
He didn't wait for a response, turning the transmission off before turning to look back into the room. His eyes darted to Danni first, who looked pale but otherwise not too bad. She seemed to be coming back to herself now that she wasn't tied up, which was a blessing. Amy and Nasreen had taken a seat at the large table in the middle of the room, both of them also grateful for being free.
"Right, right," the Doctor said, clapping his hands together. He had a lot to work on and not a lot of time to do it. He quickly ushered Eldane over to the table before he looked over them all. "I'd say you've got a fair bit to talk about."
Eldane looked up at him. "How so?"
"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it," the Doctor replied.
Eldane looked positively confused. Malokeh had explained how he was different from the humans and yet he was talking as if he was part of them. "Are you authorised to negotiate on behalf of humanity?"
"Me? No! But they are!" He motioned to Danni first with a flourish then to Nasreen and Amy, who stared back in shock.
"What?!" Nasreen exclaimed.
"No, we're not!" Amy added.
"Or me, for that matter," Danni chipped in, pushing herself up and walking over to the table. She was feeling a little better, but if she was going to stay with the Doctor she needed to not get caught up with Amy's part of the episode again. Especially since it hadn't panned out too well the last time.
"Course you are!" he told them, walking to stand behind Amy and Nasreen. "Amy Pond, Danielle Fielding and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet!" He placed a hand on each of sitting women's shoulders. "Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors." He grinned at Amy. This was so much better than Rio. Well, apart from the dissection of Danni. That could have gone better. "Come on, who has more fun than us?" He moved to the opposite end of the table and Amy stood up and walked over to him.
"Is this what happens, in the future, the planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?" she asked him excitedly. Nasreen frowned and stood up as well.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. The Doctor looked at her with a slightly guilty look on his face.
"Oh, Nasreen, sorry, probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy, Danni and I travel in time, a bit." He held up his fingers to show a little bit, just in case she didn't understand.
"Anything else?" she asked, crossing her arms, annoyed she hadn't been told that little bit of information. The Doctor and Amy shared a look and he paced away, putting his thoughts together in his head.
"There are fixed points through time, where things must always stay the way they are," he started. "This is not one of them. This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So do good. For humanity, and for Earth."
"Right. No pressure there, then." Amy retorted with a roll of her eyes. She didn't protest further, however, and sat back down at the table.
"We can't share the planet. Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It is just too big a leap!" Nasreen pointed out.
"Come on. Be extraordinary," he tempted with a grin.
Her eyes narrowed, annoyed that his words were working on her. It was what had convinced her to believe him in the first place. "Oh...you..." she stuttered out before sitting down as well.
"OK." The Doctor slapped his hand on the table as if he was banging a gavel. "Bringing things to order - the first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilian," he motioned between the two species, "is now in session." He chuckled in delight. "Ha! Never said that before, that's fab! Carry on!" He pointed at Mo. "Now, Mo, let's go and get your son." He walked over to Mo and the pair headed towards the door.
"Wait, I'm coming too," Danni called out, walking as fast as she could to catch up to the two men.
"No, you've got to stay too," the Doctor told her. "Humans and Silurians. You can do your part just as much as they can. Probably better."
She shook her head then grabbed his hand. "It's not my Earth, is it?" she pointed out. "I'm coming with you and that is final Spaceman." He opened his mouth to protest but she had a point, and how could he resist it when she took hold of his hand like that? With no prompting at all?
He smiled at her. "Oh, alright. Come along Danni-Girl," he agreed and she smiled brightly at him. They began heading out the door. "Oh, you know, humans, and their predecessors, shooting the breeze. Never thought I'd see it," he told the pair as they headed down the hallway towards Elliot.
~0~0~0~
"Doctor, really, I need to tell you something," Danni insisted as they followed Mo to where Elliot had been stored. She had been trying to get his attention as they'd headed to find the young boy, but he'd been too interested in talking to Mo about the possible new treaty between the humans and the Silurians.
"Not now," the Doctor dismissed and she growled in frustration.
"It's about Alaya!" she cried. He paused in his steps then turned to look at her.
"Alaya?" he repeated. She nodded and opened her mouth to explain about the dead Silurian when Mo cried out, seeing where his son was being held. Malokeh was stood outside the booth checking the vital signs of the young boy. Danni stopped slightly back, not really feeling comfortable near the Silurian who had cut her open, even though she felt silly being scared of a figment of her own imagination. Well, technically someone else created the character, but... Oh it was too complicated. The Doctor squeezed her hand, trying to reassure her that she was safe. It did help, but she still didn't move any closer.
"I was just checking the young human was stable," the scientist explained.
"We're here to get him out," the Doctor explained. Malokeh nodded. The Doctor moved over to look at him through the window on the door, seeing him suspended there. "Elliot, there you are," he breathed, relieved that the boy was okay. Malokeh began using the panel next to the door to revive him, pushing his thumb against it.
"If you've harmed him in any way…" Mo warned, still slightly freaked out by the entire affair.
"Of course not!" Malokeh promised before turning to the Doctor. "I only store the young."
"But why?" the Doctor asked. Malokeh smiled widely.
"I took samples of the young, slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate. So I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface," he told him passionately. He couldn't help but look upwards, as if he was imagining what it was like. A little like the Little Mermaid, Danni realised. It instantly made her forgive the Silurian a little bit.
"You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone?" the Doctor asked with a hint of a grin.
"My family, through the millennia..." Malokeh told him with a tiny little smile, like he could tell the Doctor was slightly impressed with the dedication. "For the last 300 years, just me." He turned to face Mo. "I never meant to harm your child or your mate." The Doctor blushed faintly, as he was addressed. "I just wanted to know more about the humans I'd watch grow."
"Malokeh, if you hadn't cut up my Danni-Girl I'd rather love you," the Doctor placed his fist on top of Malokeh's gloved one. With a smile Malokeh tapped the top of the Doctor's a couple times with his other.
The panel on the wall beeped and Malokeh turned to look at it. "It's safe. We can wake him," he said happily. The scientist pressed the large button on the panel and the door slid open. He stepped into the room and removed the machinery from Elliot. "Come," he told Mo, beckoning him forward. They swapped places as Elliot began blinking, waking up from his stasis.
"Elliot? Ell, it's Dad," Mo asked, trying to get a response out of his son.
"What...? Dad!" the boy exclaimed happily and they hugged, Mo clinging to his son, so happy he had finally gotten him back.
"You're safe now," he promised as he let Elliot go.
"Where are we?"
"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son," Mo replied. "We're in the centre of the Earth... and there are lizard men." Elliot looked over at the doorway where the Doctor, Danni and Malokeh stood. Malokeh waved slightly, grinning widely, obviously ecstatic to interact with the human child.
"Wow," Elliot breathed, impressed. The Doctor gave Danni's hand another squeeze before stepping into the room, wringing his hands slightly.
"Elliot, I'm sorry," he apologised. "I took my eye off you." Elliot studied him for a moment and, seeing his sincerity, smiled.
"It's OK. I forgive you," he replied. He held his hand out and with a huge grin the Doctor shook it. Mo patted his son's back, so proud of his forgiving and accepting nature and the trio stepped out of the room into the hallway. The Doctor grabbed Danni's hand and they set off down the hallway back towards the courtroom.
"You go on, Doctor." The Doctor paused to look back at Malokeh. "I'm going to get your mate some more painkillers. I'll catch up." The Doctor nodded, glad that Malokeh was showing remorse for his actions. With a grateful smile they continued on.
Danni frowned to herself. She felt that she should warn the Doctor about Alaya, but there was nothing they could do about it now. The Doctor she had watched on television hadn't known, but then again, the Doctor she had watched on television hadn't half-dragged her down a hallway, eager to get back and see how the negotiations were going on. In the show, the discovery of Alaya triggered an attack on the humans, which was counter attacked and eventually led to Rory not existing. The following series of events would take them to the Pandorica, which would in turn lead to the Doctor rebooting the universe and saving everyone from certain annulation. What if she changed that, and doomed the universe?
She knew she needed to keep silent. She could ask him later when he explained what was going on. But she didn't want him to go into the next part of the episode with no idea, no time to plan around what had happened on the surface. She didn't know what to do.