1x10: No Place Like Houm (2/3)
Title: No Place Like Houm(2/3)
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: Rose and the Doctor get waylaid yet again, forcing them to put off addressing some important issues.
Author's notes: Thank you first and foremost to shinyopals and all of the mods of the comm. for their patience as I dallied with this story. Thank you to ginamak, who wouldn’t let me get away with simply meeting the letter of the law; and thank you to Ms. Mak, earlgreytea68, and chicklet73 for quickly and thoroughly beta-ing the story once I finally got it final-final.
Episode 10 of a virtual series at the_altverse.
Virtual Series Masterlist
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
They spent a good bit of time walking the corridors, Rose consulting her map periodically with a frown as they took hallways which should have led outside but instead took them into another building directly. Pubs-almost empty-had been visited; buildings identified as being of interest on Rose’s map had been toured. People seemed willing to speak with them, although to a person they seemed to think the shield was more of a myth than a fact.
It was all rather vexing, and the Doctor found himself getting more and more frustrated with the attitude of the populace in general as the day progressed. Rose seemed to be growing more determined, her questions becoming more dogged in the face of disbelief.
She really was extraordinary, his wife. Never quitting, always determined to help, to make things right. He felt a sharp twist as he was, once more, hit with the sensation of how very much he loved her; how very little he’d be able to cope if anything happened to her.
“You alright?” Rose turned to him, the corners of her mouth turned down in a frown of concern.
“Right as rain.” He beamed at her, his brilliant wife. He forced his hand to relax, conscious now that its tightening around her own had led to her question.
She sighed. “There has to be someone who knows about the shield. You said the knowledge was handed down for generations, right?”
“I did indeed. It was a familial thing-the shield-staff, they were called. You had to be in the family to know the secrets of maintaining it.”
“So there’d be a family name tied to it? Right?”
“Welll…to some degree. Everyone changes names as they see fit, merging names or coming up with entirely new ones once they’re married. Fathers taught daughters; mothers taught sons. It was a system designed to ensure that there would always be people around who knew how to keep that shield running.”
“So the system broke. Somehow.”
“Somehow. And long enough ago that no one alive now knows how it happened-or, more importantly, how to fix things. But…the technology they have, it’s just what should exist. So it couldn’t have been a technology failure, or a war-that’d have been in those tourist clippings, and at least someone would have mentioned it in passing. Wars are always a good topic for conversation…”
“Maybe Ygrozy became the main shield-families, and…” Rose slowed as she worked out the logic of her argument. He waited patiently, content to simply gaze at her as she thought. He trusted her to come up with something clever-she always did, after all. “This place, it’s been around a long time, right?”
“Millennia.”
“And it’s been stable the whole time? Politically?”
“Solid as the proverbial rock. Which, well, it is.”
“So they’ve got to have archives. Loads and loads of them. Right?”
He wanted to slam the palm of his hand against his forehead. Houm had an extensive library. Granted it was known more for the information it held relevant to astronomy-even Gallifreyans had been known to pay a visit for research-but it was large enough that there were sure to be documents that would be of use. “You, my dear, are brilliant.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She smiled at him, her head tilted just so, and he was physically unable to resist leaning in, kissing her briefly before she could react. She leaned into him, her lips curving into a smile against his. And then she pulled back abruptly.
Hurt flashed through him. “I’m not going to take advantage of you here, Rose.”
“I…I know. I just…not until we talk. We need to talk first.” The last was almost to herself, and she freed her hand from his. “Which means we need to get this solved.”
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, resisting the urge to sulk. She was right. Of course she was right. “Then let’s away to the library.”
Rose’s hand found its way into the crook of his arm as they made their way down the corridors; and by the time they reached the large doors to the library, her hand was once more entwined with his. She tugged him to a stop before he could pull the doors open.
He turned to her, waiting for her to speak, and was surprised when she leaned forward and placed a brief kiss against his lips. “I’m sorry I was so abrupt,” she whispered as she pulled away.
He was still trying to collect his thoughts as she reached for the door, giving it a firm tug. The door creaked open, and the universal smell of old books wafted out in welcome. Rose preceded him into the space, her head turning as she took it all in.
He’d never been, but he’d heard about it from others who’d visited. They’d rhapsodized over the atmosphere as much as the contents, and he wasn’t disappointed. Clean lines, bright walls: the room was indescribably large, low tables ranging back as far as the eye could see. Above them, inky blackness was filled with dots of light, randomly spaced in some cases and forming beautiful whorls and ribbons in others.
“At least they didn’t cover that up,” he said softly, gazing upwards.
“’s beautiful. Is that what it really looks like outside?”
“It is. That’s Perspex, effectively-and when it’s full daylight out, it filters the light so you aren’t distracted by it. But at night, it lets you see just what you might see from outside. With walls, of course. They might fear what’s out there, but they still want to see the view.
That earned a chuckle from Rose, and he grinned.
“I can’t imagine how anyone got any work done in here.” Rose was smiling in return.
“It helps to be able to research something, then look upwards immediately to verify what you’ve found. Or to refute it.”
“Handy, that. But it kind of makes it hard to come up with an excuse to go outside and verify things…”
“Oh, I’m sure people still managed that.” He gave her another grin, and then moved to one of the tables. As his fingers rested on it, text suddenly appeared in the wood. “Oh, it’s still on. Glad to see that-I’d hate to think they’d neglected this place.”
“I’d think they’d be using it non-stop, trying to find a solution to what’s happening.”
“I’d half-expected that, myself,” he replied, his attention now fully focused on the words before him. It took only a moment to work out how to navigate the computer, and he was quickly executing a search of the database. The results made him frown.
“What’s wrong?” Rose had been at another station, but moved to where he stood when she heard his hiss of frustration.
“It says here there are no records pertaining to a shield over the planet. But there should be; people came from far and wide to study it, and they didn’t do it through interviews.”
She stood next to him, her arm warm where she leaned into him as she read what was before them. “Maybe they don’t call it a shield?”
“Hmm.” He re-typed his query, tweaking the language and spelling, and felt a small measure of relief as something was returned.
“Shcheet?” Rose asked, her cheek resting against his shoulder as he pulled down the article.
“Got it in one. The old word for shield, here. Hard to say for people from off-world, so it eventually shifted over to the boring old ‘shield’ you know and they doubt.”
A quick scan of the article showed that, at least when it had been written, the protective atmosphere was still fully functional and a fact of everyday existence. And, blessedly, the article ended with several references which would enable him to do a spot more research.
Rose took a few minutes longer to read, and turned to him once she was done. “So if you know the word, and it’s in the system…why does no one think it exists? Surely someone had to know it was called something else, yeah?”
“A loremaster would. But…” He scrolled back to the top of the article, looking for the date. “This is almost five hundred years old. Enough time for the word to pass completely out of memory, for a species whose lifespan is seventy some-odd years.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “But that still doesn’t explain what happened to any of the number of families who ran the thing.”
“Maybe there was a plague?”
“Maybe. Or a fire, or any number of terrible things.” He sighed, trying to stifle his frustration with the lack of information. It would be so much easier to work out what needed to be fixed if there was a despot in charge. “If you look for that, I’ll go through and see what else I can find on the shield proper.”
“You’re staying here to do that, right?”
“I can only access the database from here, Rose.”
That seemed to satisfy her. “Then why don’t you show me how to use the search on this thing?”
He was aware of Rose periodically glancing over to make sure he was still at his table, her suspicion that he’d be leaving her behind clear. He had to admit that she did have a point-that he did, in fact, dash off without her with a fair bit of regularity. But it was to keep her safe, every time: to keep her from injury, to keep her alive. He knew what his body could take, even since it had changed. He knew, too, that he was better able to concentrate when Rose was in some safe place, although he was certain she’d kill him if he so much as hinted that he left her behind because he found her distracting. But it was true: she distracted him, always, her very being such a miracle that it sometimes dizzied him. Risking losing her…
As he perused articles and books, one corner of his brain marshalled arguments in his defence in advance of the discussion he and Rose were going to have when this was over. He was doing what he thought was best. He wanted her safe. He knew his own limits.
“Doctor!”
He was out of his chair without a thought, moving to Rose before he registered fully that her exclamation was of excitement, not fear. She was practically bouncing in her seat, and hastily shifted over so he could join her as she gestured to the document before her.
“It was a plague. Not the plague, nothing like that, but close enough. It apparently affected the families who spent their time near the generators the most, but it also infected engineers and some physicists.”
“When?” He pulled out his glasses, peering down at the tiny print.
“A while ago. There’s another article here…” she danced her fingers over the wood, the screen shifting as she agilely navigated the system. “This one. Written about fifty years later. Talking about how the shield families are having trouble going on, because people are afraid of marrying in and dying.”
“So they did die out,” he mused, scrolling through the article as he digested its contents.
“Sounds like it. But I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t they have made sure the knowledge was preserved?”
“An excellent question.” He beamed up at her. “And I suspect I may have the answer on my very own desk. Shall we?” He held out his elbow, waiting for her to slip her arm into its crook before escorting her to his seat. She laughed, a sound he’d not heard in what felt like an eternity.
It took him a moment to find what he was after, once they settled together. “Ah, here it is!” he said triumphantly when it finally appeared-a book written almost two hundred years earlier. “A guide to how to run your very own station.”
“But if it’s been here the whole time…and they’ve been searching for an answer…” Rose turned to him, confused. “Why don’t they know about it?”
He sighed, leaning back until he remembered there was no back to the chair. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of how it refers to the shield. Maybe because it was written by an Ygrozy. Perhaps someone found it, but their notes got lost, or no one believed what was written in it.” He turned to Rose. “Do you remember anyone we spoke with today-anyone at all-mentioning going outside? Ever?”
Rose shook her head. “No. They all sounded terrified of it.”
He nodded. “Exactly. They think they’ll die if they set foot out those door. But this-” he gestured to the book on the screen before them. “This requires that they do go outside-that they go to a station, and they follow the steps there every year, and maybe even that they live out there.”
“If everyone I knew who worked outside died, I’d be a little unwilling to go there myself.”
“But the thing is, they didn’t die because they worked with the generators. Well, not per se.” The Doctor scrolled through the information so quickly she wasn’t able to keep up, his eyes riveted to the screen before him. “That was a one-off. Look.” He pointed now, the text unmoving as he found what he’d been looking for. “Everyone who fell ill was outside after some debris crashed on the planet. It was simply bad luck.”
“So perhaps they did find this book. Maybe they decided that it would be suicide to follow what it says.”
He sighed, slowly tugging his glasses off. “It didn’t need to come to this-it’s perfectly safe outside. To the shield almost gone, no one coming here anymore as the planet dies. They can fix this, on their own-they could have fixed it ages ago! If they’d just read what was here and done it!”
“Can they still fix it?”
“I think so. I think they still have people who could follow this, who could maintain the equipment. They still have everything they need; they just have to choose to use it.”
“But if they’re terrified of going outside…is it dangerous? Truly?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe.” He shook his head. “First step, though, is to make sure we find someone who’s willing to listen.”
~ - ~
Finding someone to listen had, ultimately, had to wait until morning. The pubs had been shut by the time they found their way back from the library, and not even the small security station they’d discovered on their earlier explorations was open.
“How many people live here?” she’d asked as they lay curled together on their bed, sleep slowly pulling her in.
“Thousands. Just in this quadrant; there are hundreds of thousands on the entire planet. Or were.”
“Yet it feels like we’ve not seen anyone at all. Just twenty or thirty people. Isn’t that weird?”
“Very.” She’d felt him brush a kiss over her hair before she’d finally drifted off.
He was already dressed by the time she finally awoke, his legs draped over the side of the chair in a corner of their room, his arm dangling over the back. His hair was a mess, evidence of him having run his hands through it several times, and she wondered how long he’d been sitting there, thinking.
“Been up long?” she asked as she slowly shuffled across the room to place a kiss against his cheek.
“Long enough.” He smiled up at her, the expression distracted.
She left him to his thoughts as she saw to her morning ablutions, and by the time she rejoined him he had smoothed out his hair and was sitting in a more traditional way.
“Ready to save Houm?” he asked by way of greeting.
“Always.”
There were more people moving about as they made their way to the security station, the acid yellow clothes standard, apparently. Rose remained amazed by the diversity in the population, hair and eye colour both running through the spectrum. Perhaps that was why everything was white in the building-to balance out the vividness of their natural colouring.
The security station was bustling when they arrived, staff milling and talking over each other as some crisis seemed to have occurred. She wondered if something had happened with the atmosphere, a suspicion which was only reinforced when she heard repeated mentions of “outside”.
“Sorry to bother you,” the Doctor said mildly after a moment. “Don’t suppose we could get some help?”
It took a minute, but a harried looking woman finally moved to them. “Yes? What do you require?”
“I’m looking for the person in charge. Need to speak with them about the shield you lot have got.”
“There is no shield.”
“Oh, there definitely is. Saw it myself when I went for my morning constitutional.”
Rose turned to the Doctor, her heart sinking as one glaring possibility presented itself to her. The Doctor had been up for a long while by the time she got up that morning…and the security staff were panicking about something that had happened.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do a thing!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Rose! Are you accusing me of lying?”
“No. I’m just saying I don’t believe you.”
“We’re exceptionally busy today, so if you do not have legitimate business-“
“Oh, we do indeed. I went outside this morning, and saw a few things which might be of interest to whoever’s in charge.”
“I am sorry?”
Rose heard the confusion in the woman’s voice, in spite of having dropped her own head forward. She was going to kill him. No question, without remorse. How could he? He didn’t know what had been outside; he could have been exposed to who knew what, and he’d not told her he was going…
She balled her fists, her teeth clenching with the effort of not yelling at him that very moment. When they got back to the TARDIS, however, she was going to make sure he knew exactly what she thought of him running off to do what he thought was right, consequences be damned.
By the time she had relaxed enough to look up, the woman had walked away. The Doctor was still standing next to her-brave, she thought-and was leaning forward with leashed impatience.
“You went outside this morning,” she bit out.
“You were asleep. I figured I’d use the time to do a bit of reconnaissance.”
“I don’t suppose you bothered to tell anyone?”
“I left you a note.”
“Of course you did. And you knew you wouldn’t be killed because…”
“Don’t be silly. Even if the shield fails, going outside won’t result in instant death. It’d take a week, at least.”
“How very reassuring,” she replied sarcastically.
“Are you the one who went outside today?” The deep voice prevented the Doctor from replying, and drew his attention away from her.
“I am indeed. I’m the Doctor, nice to meet you. And this is my wife, Rose.” The Doctor looked confused when his extended hand wasn’t shaken, and slowly pulled it back. “Who do I need to talk to about saving this planet?”
Rose had to admit she was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they worked their way up through the ranks of government from that point. The station officer had rung the section mayor; the section mayor, upon hearing the tale the Doctor had spun, then rang their community chief. From there it was apparently not far at all to reach the head of government for the planet, and by mid-afternoon they found themselves ushered into another of the stark white offices, a group of Houm’s residents awaiting them.
“Trusting bunch,” the Doctor observed, echoing her own thoughts.
“Any port in a storm,” she replied quietly.
“Thank you for the reassurance.” He stepped forward then, a smile hiding the tone of hurt she’d detected in his words.
There was scepticism as the Doctor explained what they’d learned-the history of the shield and the families who’d run it; the illnesses which had led to the loss of the knowledge of how to keep it running. And the discovery of the book which explained it all, buried in the archives of the library, found in a simple evening’s search. She understood the doubt, especially once the efforts to save the planet had been explained in return: the years upon years of searching and experimenting, of frantically enclosing their cities to save the people even as hope that the shield was real slowly died.
“Oh, but it’s quite real. I can assure you of that.” The Doctor was leaning forward in his chair, his glasses just slightly askew. Rose had to fight the urge to lean over and tweak them just that little bit.
“But how did you survive?”
“It won’t kill you, going outside. Especially once you fix the shield stations. Just a quick fix, get the thing powered back up a bit. That’ll make sure you’re well protected, and let you spend as much time as you like outside.”
“That is impossible.” The older man who spoke had expressed doubt throughout their discussion. “You are Ygrozy; you do not understand what is here.”
“We might be,” Rose interjected. “But we know how to fix your planet. Maybe you should give it a go, since nothing else has worked.”
“Ygrozy are responsible for this to begin with!”
The council fell into debate, the normally calm voices suddenly rising in pitch as an old argument was once more re-hashed. She and the Doctor were forgotten as the debate grew heated, council members now shouting over each other and even periodically slamming a hand on the table.
"In your sneaking around this morning, did you ever work out why there are so few people?" Rose finally broke the silence between the two of them, crossing her arms as she looked to the Doctor.
"No. Well, yes. Sort of."
"They all outside, then?" She could hear the sarcasm in her voice, and forced herself to take a deep breath.
"No." He drew the word out, frowning at her. "And no need to get stroppy." The Doctor ran his hand across the back of his neck. "I wanted to be able to prove we were right. That they would be fine if they went."
"Stroppy? You call this stroppy?"
"Yes." He didn't pause, denying her a chance to respond. "As for the people, it seems several of the ships used for emergency purposes are gone. They most likely had an evacuation of women and children. Non-essential personnel. That sort of thing."
Rose felt a bubble of fury form within her. "Women and children. Non-essential." She bit the words out.
"I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. Stop being so obtuse."
She crossed her arms and leaned back, holding her breath and counting to ten so she'd not say something she might regret. “If you’re right-if the women and children and the non-essential people were evacuated-how come there’s still a populations here?”
“I didn’t say all of the women and children. They’d not have forced them; some would have stayed. Enough to keep a community going. And some of the men would have chosen to leave, as well, so overall the population would have been reduced, but not to the point that they’d die out.”
“At least they were given a choice,” she muttered.
"Rose, this isn't the time for this discussion." The Doctor's voice was low and urgent, somehow managing to cut through the cacophony around them.
"It never is." She let out a sigh then rocked forward, standing without looking at the Doctor. She threaded her way around the room, tired of the debate, more than ready to be off this planet, to be someplace quiet where she could talk to the Doctor properly, where she could find some way to truly express how mad he was driving her. This had to stop-the argument in the room, the tension between her and the Doctor, all of it.
The leader of the council was arguing with a tall woman with cream-coloured hair, gesturing wildly as he tried to convince her of his point. She didn't wait for him to pause, was tired of dealing in niceties.
"Your library has the answers, you know."
The two stopped arguing, staring at her in disbelief. She supposed she'd committed some grave breach of protocol, but she'd learned that there were times to play by the rules of the locals, and times not to. This was definitely one of the latter instances.
"Your library. I can show you, actually. If you don't believe the Doctor going outside is proof enough. It's there in the collection, a book on what to do. A book on how to run the shield itself."
"I don't believe you!" It was the same alien who'd doubted their word earlier, and who'd precipitated the argument in the first place.
"And that's why I'm saying I'll show you, without you having to set a precious foot outside. It's in your library. It's been there all along. It's not going to kill you to walk down a corridor or ten and look at a display."
"And how do we know you're not lying?"
"Because the proof of this exists! You lot are worse than he is!" She gestured to where the Doctor still sat, earning her a titter from some of the council and a look of affront from the Doctor. "What will it cost you to come to the library? Some time? Seems to me you've got that in spades as it is. So why not do it?" She tilted her head, giving the man a smile. "Maybe you'll be surprised."
She watched the Doctor sit up straighter as she tried to charm the council into falling in with the suggestion, and had to fight back a smug grin as she saw the person before her accede.
"Very well. I have no objection to this action. Even if it will be fruitless."
Rose smiled, and turned back to the leader. "And you?"
He bowed his head. "I agree with this suggestion as well. We will all go, and we will look to see if what you say is true."
~ - ~
Chapter Three
Author: jlrpuck
Rating: PG
Pairing: Rose/Ten II
Summary: Rose and the Doctor get waylaid yet again, forcing them to put off addressing some important issues.
Author's notes: Thank you first and foremost to shinyopals and all of the mods of the comm. for their patience as I dallied with this story. Thank you to ginamak, who wouldn’t let me get away with simply meeting the letter of the law; and thank you to Ms. Mak, earlgreytea68, and chicklet73 for quickly and thoroughly beta-ing the story once I finally got it final-final.
Episode 10 of a virtual series at the_altverse.
Virtual Series Masterlist
Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three
They spent a good bit of time walking the corridors, Rose consulting her map periodically with a frown as they took hallways which should have led outside but instead took them into another building directly. Pubs-almost empty-had been visited; buildings identified as being of interest on Rose’s map had been toured. People seemed willing to speak with them, although to a person they seemed to think the shield was more of a myth than a fact.
It was all rather vexing, and the Doctor found himself getting more and more frustrated with the attitude of the populace in general as the day progressed. Rose seemed to be growing more determined, her questions becoming more dogged in the face of disbelief.
She really was extraordinary, his wife. Never quitting, always determined to help, to make things right. He felt a sharp twist as he was, once more, hit with the sensation of how very much he loved her; how very little he’d be able to cope if anything happened to her.
“You alright?” Rose turned to him, the corners of her mouth turned down in a frown of concern.
“Right as rain.” He beamed at her, his brilliant wife. He forced his hand to relax, conscious now that its tightening around her own had led to her question.
She sighed. “There has to be someone who knows about the shield. You said the knowledge was handed down for generations, right?”
“I did indeed. It was a familial thing-the shield-staff, they were called. You had to be in the family to know the secrets of maintaining it.”
“So there’d be a family name tied to it? Right?”
“Welll…to some degree. Everyone changes names as they see fit, merging names or coming up with entirely new ones once they’re married. Fathers taught daughters; mothers taught sons. It was a system designed to ensure that there would always be people around who knew how to keep that shield running.”
“So the system broke. Somehow.”
“Somehow. And long enough ago that no one alive now knows how it happened-or, more importantly, how to fix things. But…the technology they have, it’s just what should exist. So it couldn’t have been a technology failure, or a war-that’d have been in those tourist clippings, and at least someone would have mentioned it in passing. Wars are always a good topic for conversation…”
“Maybe Ygrozy became the main shield-families, and…” Rose slowed as she worked out the logic of her argument. He waited patiently, content to simply gaze at her as she thought. He trusted her to come up with something clever-she always did, after all. “This place, it’s been around a long time, right?”
“Millennia.”
“And it’s been stable the whole time? Politically?”
“Solid as the proverbial rock. Which, well, it is.”
“So they’ve got to have archives. Loads and loads of them. Right?”
He wanted to slam the palm of his hand against his forehead. Houm had an extensive library. Granted it was known more for the information it held relevant to astronomy-even Gallifreyans had been known to pay a visit for research-but it was large enough that there were sure to be documents that would be of use. “You, my dear, are brilliant.”
“And don’t you forget it.” She smiled at him, her head tilted just so, and he was physically unable to resist leaning in, kissing her briefly before she could react. She leaned into him, her lips curving into a smile against his. And then she pulled back abruptly.
Hurt flashed through him. “I’m not going to take advantage of you here, Rose.”
“I…I know. I just…not until we talk. We need to talk first.” The last was almost to herself, and she freed her hand from his. “Which means we need to get this solved.”
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, resisting the urge to sulk. She was right. Of course she was right. “Then let’s away to the library.”
Rose’s hand found its way into the crook of his arm as they made their way down the corridors; and by the time they reached the large doors to the library, her hand was once more entwined with his. She tugged him to a stop before he could pull the doors open.
He turned to her, waiting for her to speak, and was surprised when she leaned forward and placed a brief kiss against his lips. “I’m sorry I was so abrupt,” she whispered as she pulled away.
He was still trying to collect his thoughts as she reached for the door, giving it a firm tug. The door creaked open, and the universal smell of old books wafted out in welcome. Rose preceded him into the space, her head turning as she took it all in.
He’d never been, but he’d heard about it from others who’d visited. They’d rhapsodized over the atmosphere as much as the contents, and he wasn’t disappointed. Clean lines, bright walls: the room was indescribably large, low tables ranging back as far as the eye could see. Above them, inky blackness was filled with dots of light, randomly spaced in some cases and forming beautiful whorls and ribbons in others.
“At least they didn’t cover that up,” he said softly, gazing upwards.
“’s beautiful. Is that what it really looks like outside?”
“It is. That’s Perspex, effectively-and when it’s full daylight out, it filters the light so you aren’t distracted by it. But at night, it lets you see just what you might see from outside. With walls, of course. They might fear what’s out there, but they still want to see the view.
That earned a chuckle from Rose, and he grinned.
“I can’t imagine how anyone got any work done in here.” Rose was smiling in return.
“It helps to be able to research something, then look upwards immediately to verify what you’ve found. Or to refute it.”
“Handy, that. But it kind of makes it hard to come up with an excuse to go outside and verify things…”
“Oh, I’m sure people still managed that.” He gave her another grin, and then moved to one of the tables. As his fingers rested on it, text suddenly appeared in the wood. “Oh, it’s still on. Glad to see that-I’d hate to think they’d neglected this place.”
“I’d think they’d be using it non-stop, trying to find a solution to what’s happening.”
“I’d half-expected that, myself,” he replied, his attention now fully focused on the words before him. It took only a moment to work out how to navigate the computer, and he was quickly executing a search of the database. The results made him frown.
“What’s wrong?” Rose had been at another station, but moved to where he stood when she heard his hiss of frustration.
“It says here there are no records pertaining to a shield over the planet. But there should be; people came from far and wide to study it, and they didn’t do it through interviews.”
She stood next to him, her arm warm where she leaned into him as she read what was before them. “Maybe they don’t call it a shield?”
“Hmm.” He re-typed his query, tweaking the language and spelling, and felt a small measure of relief as something was returned.
“Shcheet?” Rose asked, her cheek resting against his shoulder as he pulled down the article.
“Got it in one. The old word for shield, here. Hard to say for people from off-world, so it eventually shifted over to the boring old ‘shield’ you know and they doubt.”
A quick scan of the article showed that, at least when it had been written, the protective atmosphere was still fully functional and a fact of everyday existence. And, blessedly, the article ended with several references which would enable him to do a spot more research.
Rose took a few minutes longer to read, and turned to him once she was done. “So if you know the word, and it’s in the system…why does no one think it exists? Surely someone had to know it was called something else, yeah?”
“A loremaster would. But…” He scrolled back to the top of the article, looking for the date. “This is almost five hundred years old. Enough time for the word to pass completely out of memory, for a species whose lifespan is seventy some-odd years.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “But that still doesn’t explain what happened to any of the number of families who ran the thing.”
“Maybe there was a plague?”
“Maybe. Or a fire, or any number of terrible things.” He sighed, trying to stifle his frustration with the lack of information. It would be so much easier to work out what needed to be fixed if there was a despot in charge. “If you look for that, I’ll go through and see what else I can find on the shield proper.”
“You’re staying here to do that, right?”
“I can only access the database from here, Rose.”
That seemed to satisfy her. “Then why don’t you show me how to use the search on this thing?”
He was aware of Rose periodically glancing over to make sure he was still at his table, her suspicion that he’d be leaving her behind clear. He had to admit that she did have a point-that he did, in fact, dash off without her with a fair bit of regularity. But it was to keep her safe, every time: to keep her from injury, to keep her alive. He knew what his body could take, even since it had changed. He knew, too, that he was better able to concentrate when Rose was in some safe place, although he was certain she’d kill him if he so much as hinted that he left her behind because he found her distracting. But it was true: she distracted him, always, her very being such a miracle that it sometimes dizzied him. Risking losing her…
As he perused articles and books, one corner of his brain marshalled arguments in his defence in advance of the discussion he and Rose were going to have when this was over. He was doing what he thought was best. He wanted her safe. He knew his own limits.
“Doctor!”
He was out of his chair without a thought, moving to Rose before he registered fully that her exclamation was of excitement, not fear. She was practically bouncing in her seat, and hastily shifted over so he could join her as she gestured to the document before her.
“It was a plague. Not the plague, nothing like that, but close enough. It apparently affected the families who spent their time near the generators the most, but it also infected engineers and some physicists.”
“When?” He pulled out his glasses, peering down at the tiny print.
“A while ago. There’s another article here…” she danced her fingers over the wood, the screen shifting as she agilely navigated the system. “This one. Written about fifty years later. Talking about how the shield families are having trouble going on, because people are afraid of marrying in and dying.”
“So they did die out,” he mused, scrolling through the article as he digested its contents.
“Sounds like it. But I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t they have made sure the knowledge was preserved?”
“An excellent question.” He beamed up at her. “And I suspect I may have the answer on my very own desk. Shall we?” He held out his elbow, waiting for her to slip her arm into its crook before escorting her to his seat. She laughed, a sound he’d not heard in what felt like an eternity.
It took him a moment to find what he was after, once they settled together. “Ah, here it is!” he said triumphantly when it finally appeared-a book written almost two hundred years earlier. “A guide to how to run your very own station.”
“But if it’s been here the whole time…and they’ve been searching for an answer…” Rose turned to him, confused. “Why don’t they know about it?”
He sighed, leaning back until he remembered there was no back to the chair. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because of how it refers to the shield. Maybe because it was written by an Ygrozy. Perhaps someone found it, but their notes got lost, or no one believed what was written in it.” He turned to Rose. “Do you remember anyone we spoke with today-anyone at all-mentioning going outside? Ever?”
Rose shook her head. “No. They all sounded terrified of it.”
He nodded. “Exactly. They think they’ll die if they set foot out those door. But this-” he gestured to the book on the screen before them. “This requires that they do go outside-that they go to a station, and they follow the steps there every year, and maybe even that they live out there.”
“If everyone I knew who worked outside died, I’d be a little unwilling to go there myself.”
“But the thing is, they didn’t die because they worked with the generators. Well, not per se.” The Doctor scrolled through the information so quickly she wasn’t able to keep up, his eyes riveted to the screen before him. “That was a one-off. Look.” He pointed now, the text unmoving as he found what he’d been looking for. “Everyone who fell ill was outside after some debris crashed on the planet. It was simply bad luck.”
“So perhaps they did find this book. Maybe they decided that it would be suicide to follow what it says.”
He sighed, slowly tugging his glasses off. “It didn’t need to come to this-it’s perfectly safe outside. To the shield almost gone, no one coming here anymore as the planet dies. They can fix this, on their own-they could have fixed it ages ago! If they’d just read what was here and done it!”
“Can they still fix it?”
“I think so. I think they still have people who could follow this, who could maintain the equipment. They still have everything they need; they just have to choose to use it.”
“But if they’re terrified of going outside…is it dangerous? Truly?”
“I don’t think so. Maybe.” He shook his head. “First step, though, is to make sure we find someone who’s willing to listen.”
~ - ~
Finding someone to listen had, ultimately, had to wait until morning. The pubs had been shut by the time they found their way back from the library, and not even the small security station they’d discovered on their earlier explorations was open.
“How many people live here?” she’d asked as they lay curled together on their bed, sleep slowly pulling her in.
“Thousands. Just in this quadrant; there are hundreds of thousands on the entire planet. Or were.”
“Yet it feels like we’ve not seen anyone at all. Just twenty or thirty people. Isn’t that weird?”
“Very.” She’d felt him brush a kiss over her hair before she’d finally drifted off.
He was already dressed by the time she finally awoke, his legs draped over the side of the chair in a corner of their room, his arm dangling over the back. His hair was a mess, evidence of him having run his hands through it several times, and she wondered how long he’d been sitting there, thinking.
“Been up long?” she asked as she slowly shuffled across the room to place a kiss against his cheek.
“Long enough.” He smiled up at her, the expression distracted.
She left him to his thoughts as she saw to her morning ablutions, and by the time she rejoined him he had smoothed out his hair and was sitting in a more traditional way.
“Ready to save Houm?” he asked by way of greeting.
“Always.”
There were more people moving about as they made their way to the security station, the acid yellow clothes standard, apparently. Rose remained amazed by the diversity in the population, hair and eye colour both running through the spectrum. Perhaps that was why everything was white in the building-to balance out the vividness of their natural colouring.
The security station was bustling when they arrived, staff milling and talking over each other as some crisis seemed to have occurred. She wondered if something had happened with the atmosphere, a suspicion which was only reinforced when she heard repeated mentions of “outside”.
“Sorry to bother you,” the Doctor said mildly after a moment. “Don’t suppose we could get some help?”
It took a minute, but a harried looking woman finally moved to them. “Yes? What do you require?”
“I’m looking for the person in charge. Need to speak with them about the shield you lot have got.”
“There is no shield.”
“Oh, there definitely is. Saw it myself when I went for my morning constitutional.”
Rose turned to the Doctor, her heart sinking as one glaring possibility presented itself to her. The Doctor had been up for a long while by the time she got up that morning…and the security staff were panicking about something that had happened.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do a thing!”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Rose! Are you accusing me of lying?”
“No. I’m just saying I don’t believe you.”
“We’re exceptionally busy today, so if you do not have legitimate business-“
“Oh, we do indeed. I went outside this morning, and saw a few things which might be of interest to whoever’s in charge.”
“I am sorry?”
Rose heard the confusion in the woman’s voice, in spite of having dropped her own head forward. She was going to kill him. No question, without remorse. How could he? He didn’t know what had been outside; he could have been exposed to who knew what, and he’d not told her he was going…
She balled her fists, her teeth clenching with the effort of not yelling at him that very moment. When they got back to the TARDIS, however, she was going to make sure he knew exactly what she thought of him running off to do what he thought was right, consequences be damned.
By the time she had relaxed enough to look up, the woman had walked away. The Doctor was still standing next to her-brave, she thought-and was leaning forward with leashed impatience.
“You went outside this morning,” she bit out.
“You were asleep. I figured I’d use the time to do a bit of reconnaissance.”
“I don’t suppose you bothered to tell anyone?”
“I left you a note.”
“Of course you did. And you knew you wouldn’t be killed because…”
“Don’t be silly. Even if the shield fails, going outside won’t result in instant death. It’d take a week, at least.”
“How very reassuring,” she replied sarcastically.
“Are you the one who went outside today?” The deep voice prevented the Doctor from replying, and drew his attention away from her.
“I am indeed. I’m the Doctor, nice to meet you. And this is my wife, Rose.” The Doctor looked confused when his extended hand wasn’t shaken, and slowly pulled it back. “Who do I need to talk to about saving this planet?”
Rose had to admit she was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they worked their way up through the ranks of government from that point. The station officer had rung the section mayor; the section mayor, upon hearing the tale the Doctor had spun, then rang their community chief. From there it was apparently not far at all to reach the head of government for the planet, and by mid-afternoon they found themselves ushered into another of the stark white offices, a group of Houm’s residents awaiting them.
“Trusting bunch,” the Doctor observed, echoing her own thoughts.
“Any port in a storm,” she replied quietly.
“Thank you for the reassurance.” He stepped forward then, a smile hiding the tone of hurt she’d detected in his words.
There was scepticism as the Doctor explained what they’d learned-the history of the shield and the families who’d run it; the illnesses which had led to the loss of the knowledge of how to keep it running. And the discovery of the book which explained it all, buried in the archives of the library, found in a simple evening’s search. She understood the doubt, especially once the efforts to save the planet had been explained in return: the years upon years of searching and experimenting, of frantically enclosing their cities to save the people even as hope that the shield was real slowly died.
“Oh, but it’s quite real. I can assure you of that.” The Doctor was leaning forward in his chair, his glasses just slightly askew. Rose had to fight the urge to lean over and tweak them just that little bit.
“But how did you survive?”
“It won’t kill you, going outside. Especially once you fix the shield stations. Just a quick fix, get the thing powered back up a bit. That’ll make sure you’re well protected, and let you spend as much time as you like outside.”
“That is impossible.” The older man who spoke had expressed doubt throughout their discussion. “You are Ygrozy; you do not understand what is here.”
“We might be,” Rose interjected. “But we know how to fix your planet. Maybe you should give it a go, since nothing else has worked.”
“Ygrozy are responsible for this to begin with!”
The council fell into debate, the normally calm voices suddenly rising in pitch as an old argument was once more re-hashed. She and the Doctor were forgotten as the debate grew heated, council members now shouting over each other and even periodically slamming a hand on the table.
"In your sneaking around this morning, did you ever work out why there are so few people?" Rose finally broke the silence between the two of them, crossing her arms as she looked to the Doctor.
"No. Well, yes. Sort of."
"They all outside, then?" She could hear the sarcasm in her voice, and forced herself to take a deep breath.
"No." He drew the word out, frowning at her. "And no need to get stroppy." The Doctor ran his hand across the back of his neck. "I wanted to be able to prove we were right. That they would be fine if they went."
"Stroppy? You call this stroppy?"
"Yes." He didn't pause, denying her a chance to respond. "As for the people, it seems several of the ships used for emergency purposes are gone. They most likely had an evacuation of women and children. Non-essential personnel. That sort of thing."
Rose felt a bubble of fury form within her. "Women and children. Non-essential." She bit the words out.
"I didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. Stop being so obtuse."
She crossed her arms and leaned back, holding her breath and counting to ten so she'd not say something she might regret. “If you’re right-if the women and children and the non-essential people were evacuated-how come there’s still a populations here?”
“I didn’t say all of the women and children. They’d not have forced them; some would have stayed. Enough to keep a community going. And some of the men would have chosen to leave, as well, so overall the population would have been reduced, but not to the point that they’d die out.”
“At least they were given a choice,” she muttered.
"Rose, this isn't the time for this discussion." The Doctor's voice was low and urgent, somehow managing to cut through the cacophony around them.
"It never is." She let out a sigh then rocked forward, standing without looking at the Doctor. She threaded her way around the room, tired of the debate, more than ready to be off this planet, to be someplace quiet where she could talk to the Doctor properly, where she could find some way to truly express how mad he was driving her. This had to stop-the argument in the room, the tension between her and the Doctor, all of it.
The leader of the council was arguing with a tall woman with cream-coloured hair, gesturing wildly as he tried to convince her of his point. She didn't wait for him to pause, was tired of dealing in niceties.
"Your library has the answers, you know."
The two stopped arguing, staring at her in disbelief. She supposed she'd committed some grave breach of protocol, but she'd learned that there were times to play by the rules of the locals, and times not to. This was definitely one of the latter instances.
"Your library. I can show you, actually. If you don't believe the Doctor going outside is proof enough. It's there in the collection, a book on what to do. A book on how to run the shield itself."
"I don't believe you!" It was the same alien who'd doubted their word earlier, and who'd precipitated the argument in the first place.
"And that's why I'm saying I'll show you, without you having to set a precious foot outside. It's in your library. It's been there all along. It's not going to kill you to walk down a corridor or ten and look at a display."
"And how do we know you're not lying?"
"Because the proof of this exists! You lot are worse than he is!" She gestured to where the Doctor still sat, earning her a titter from some of the council and a look of affront from the Doctor. "What will it cost you to come to the library? Some time? Seems to me you've got that in spades as it is. So why not do it?" She tilted her head, giving the man a smile. "Maybe you'll be surprised."
She watched the Doctor sit up straighter as she tried to charm the council into falling in with the suggestion, and had to fight back a smug grin as she saw the person before her accede.
"Very well. I have no objection to this action. Even if it will be fruitless."
Rose smiled, and turned back to the leader. "And you?"
He bowed his head. "I agree with this suggestion as well. We will all go, and we will look to see if what you say is true."
~ - ~
Chapter Three