River Song pointed her sonic blaster a that the wall, creating a square hole and looking through it. The room was circular, a skylight in the ceiling letting in light directly on the centre of the room. She stepped in.
"OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in!" She motioned for the remaining members of their crew to enter the room, "Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor..." She began as he ran to the other side of the room, scanning the shadows with his sonic screwdriver.
"I'm doing it." There was a flash of light and the occupants not used to Danni appearing screamed slightly as the ginger girl stumbled into existence, tripping over her own feet.
"Woah!" She cried, arms flailing to try and balance herself. River moved quickly towards her and caught her around the waist, helping her stand up.
"I've got you." She told her and Danni grinned widely.
"River Song!" She exclaimed, "Oh my god, I can't believe it!" She chucked her arms around River, squealing slightly. The woman chuckled and hugged her back just as tightly.
"Nice to see you too." Danni pulled back, looking up at the taller woman.
"I've always wanted to meet you. You're amazing." Danni told her excitedly.
"You've not met me yet either?" River frowned sadly. Danni shook her head and looked around, spotting Ten scanning as if she hadn't appeared.
"What's going on?" She asked, deflecting the question.
"We're in a library, and the shadows are trying to kill us." River explained before turning to the Doctor, "There's no lights here. Sunset's coming, we can't stay long. Have you found a live one?"
"Maybe, it's getting harder to tell." He smacked it against his hand angrily as the screwdriver refused to work properly, "What's wrong with you?" He hissed at it. Danni looked up at River.
"Quick question." River nodded.
"Yes, dear?"
"Does this Doctor still hate me, or am I all right?" River squeezed her arm reassuringly.
"He's just busy. We're gonna need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?" Almost reluctantly, one of the other members handed her something wrapped in tinfoil. She took it gratefully, "Thanks, Dave." She unwrapped it, moving cautiously towards the shadows before chucking it in. They watched as a bare bone landed on the ground, the meat having been stripped mid-air.
"OK... OK, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet." River warned, pushing Danni into the middle of the group and onto the floor.
"They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming." The Doctor explained as he moved to examine another shadow.
"Who are you? Are you one of the people who disappeared all them years ago?" The other woman asked Danni, who shook her head.
"Oh no, I'm Danni. I'm with him." She pointed over her shoulder vaguely at the Doctor, "I'm just a bit late. It happens."
"Who is he? You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him." Dave asked River.
"He's the Doctor." River replied.
"And who is 'the Doctor'?" The other man asked.
"The only story you'll ever tell - if you survive him." River replied.
"You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are." The woman pointed out.
"Listen, all you need to know is this; I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been."
"Do I go too?" Danni asked, trying to fish as much information she could. She had decided to try and learn as much as she possibly could, if she was going to keep jumping around she may as well try and plan ahead. River to looked at her with a slightly exasperated but also slightly proud look, as if she had been expecting her to ask.
"Yes you do, sweetie." Danni grinned widely.
"He doesn't act like he trusts you." The woman added and River glared at her slightly, not appreciating it being pointed out. She stood up.
"Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met me yet." She replied before moving to head over to the Doctor. Danni stood up after her and River held her hand out, motioning for her to stop.
"Stay there." She told Dani firmly.
"Why?" Danni asked, confused.
"Because the shadows are eating people, now sit down." River scolded as if she was a child. Danni's eyes narrowed angrily as River continued over to the Doctor.
"I'm not a child!" She yelled over.
"Yes, you are." River replied softly before she leant over the Doctor.
"What's wrong with it?" She asked as he held the screwdriver up to his ear, trying to get it to work.
"There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it." He explained.
"Then use the red settings." River replied as she pulled off her gloves. The Doctor looked at her, confused.
"It doesn't have a red setting."
"Well, use the dampers." She told him.
"It doesn't have dampers." He replied.
"It will do one day." She pulled out her own screwdriver and held it out to him. He took it off her as he stood up.
"So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver." He said slowly.
"Yeah." River replied with a smile.
"Why would I do that?" River laughed slightly.
"I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about."
"And I know that because...?" He trailed off, obviously not believing her.
"Because I know it." Danni bounced on the spot between the two, smiling up at him, "Hello, by the way. I've been here a while, in case you didn't notice."
"I did." He promised, grabbing her hand. She smiled in surprise, she had expected him to shout at her. Her last trip with Ten hadn't gone so well but then she remembered the Ood Sphere. He had been lovely to her then, and with the Racnoss for that matter.
"I thought I told you to stay over there?" River asked her, a frown on her her face. Danni nodded.
"You did, then I remembered I'm 23 in a couple months." Danni replied. River shook her head then turned back to the Doctor.
"Listen to me." River told him, "You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor. Right now..."
"Less em..." He interrupted, "I'm not emotional!"
"There are six people in this room still alive, focus on that." She told him, exasperated, "Dear God, you're hard work young!"
"Young?" He exclaimed, "Who are you?!"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!" The man from across the room screamed, tired and scared, "Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple." The Doctor looked at him, horrified at the implication of his words. His grip tightened on Danni's hand and she yelled in pain, twisting her arm slightly to get out of his grip. He loosened it slightly, shooting her an apologetic smile.
"Doctor..." River started, calmer now, "one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry." She turned to Danni, "I'm really very sorry." She leant forward and whispered something in his ear, and when she settled back down on her heels he stared into the distance, stunned, "Are we good?" She asked but he didn't reply, "Doctor... are we good?"
"Yeah... Yeah, we're good." He told her with a nod, his mind reeling. She turned to Danni, who was just looking sadly at him, biting her lip. She didn't know what she had hoped for, really. And why did it matter if she was still his wife? It's not like he hadn't taken anyone else for ice cream on distant planets or anything. She wasn't allowed to be jealous. She nodded and shot a smile at River, who seemed very upset. She wasn't jealous, she was fine.
"Good." River whispered, taking her screwdriver back before walking back to the rest of the group. The Doctor continued starting into space, holding onto her hand tightly before looking down at the screwdriver still left in his grip. He let go of her hand and began pacing around the group.
"Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?" He asked, "Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing's strong enough... Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed?" The group looked at each other, confused. Danni sighed and pointed up.
"It's the moon." She stated, trying to force some emotion behind her voice but just feeling very... sad. He turned to her, noticing that she had just gone straight for the answer, and he knew she was right. She always liked letting people work stuff out, 'living in the moment' she called it.
"Moon rise..." They all followed his gaze upwards, "Tell me about the moon. What's there?"
"It's not real, it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon." The other man brushed off. Danni looked around, knowing all this and saw the woman looking down at the floor worriedly.
"What's a doctor moon?" The Doctor asked as Danni walked over to her.
"What's your name?" Danni asked her gently.
"Anita." She replied shakily.
"Hold my hand, Anita." She held her hand out and Anita took it, squeezing it tightly.
"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet." The Doctor turned on his screwdriver, pointing it upwards as he stepped into the middle of the room.
"Well, still active, it's signalling, look. Someone somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the moon, or, possibly alive and drying their hair." He held the screwdriver to his ear, "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through..." He fiddled with it for a moment before the light expanded, projecting Donna's image in front of them.
"Doctor!" River called, bringing his attention to the image.
"Donna!" The Doctor and Danni both cried, then the image disappeared. The Doctor ran over, trying to get her back, Danni still not leaving Anita's side.
"Doctor, that was your friend! Can you get her back? What was that?" River asked.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength." He told her, holding the sonic up so her could spin through the settings, "Ah, I'm being blocked." Danni turned to Anita.
"Right, tell them now, okay?" Anita nodded once.
"Professor?" She called.
"Just a moment." River replied, not turning around.
"It's important. I have two shadows..." They all span around to see the two shadows pointing out of either side of her feet, Danni stood in the middle holding her hand.
"OK. Helmets on, everyone." River instructed, "Anita, I'll get yours." She ran over and grabbed the other helmet.
"It didn't do Proper Dave any good."
"Just keep it together, OK?"
"Keeping it together, I'm only crying. I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction." The Doctor and River approached them slowly, River putting the helmet on for her. She then, forcefully, moved Danni away from the shadows. Danni shrugged her off.
"Leave me alone, I'm fine." She snapped.
"We don't want you getting caught either." River muttered.
"Yeah, well, if I had been I'd be dead, so leave me alone." River winced at her tone, Danni not seeing it as she walked back over to stand by the Doctor.
"Hang on." The Doctor swept the sonic over the front of the helmet, tinting it black.
"Oh, God, they've got inside." River exclaimed.
"No, no, no, I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."
"D'you think they can be fooled like that?"
"Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm, it's not like we chat." He replied.
"Can you still see in there?" Dave asked.
"Just about." Anita replied shakily, holding onto the last bit of hope she had.
"Just, just, just... stay back." He told the group, holding his arm out as they stepped away, "Professor, a quick word, please."
"What?" She asked. He took hold of Danni's hand again.
"Down here. You too Danni-Girl." The trio crouched down on the floor by Anita.
"What is it?" River asked as he began scanning the ground, pretending he was showing them something on the floor.
"Like you said, there are six people still alive in this room." He began.
"Yeah, so?"
"So..." He trailed off, motioning with his head. Danni glanced around and saw what he was motioning at.
"So, why are there seven?" She breathed. River's eyes went wide and they stood up slowly, looking behind them. The other two turned and all six froze at the new figure in the background.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" It called to them, it's skeletal face pushed against the visor of it's spacesuit.
"Run!" The Doctor screamed. They all tore out of the room as the figure chased them down.
~0~0~0~
The group, all but two in spacesuits, ran down huge corridors lined with books, all with glass walls and ceilings showing the expanse of buildings outside. The figure was following them at a steady pace, never quite catching them but never quite falling behind. The Doctor eventually skidded to a stop, motioning everyone past him.
"Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot." He commanded River, who stopped and turned to him.
"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it!" She exclaimed. He looked at her and held his hand up, five fingers stretched out.
"Five minutes." He told her. Seeing he wasn't about to follow, she turned to Dave.
"Other Dave, stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Danni, with me." Danni, who had stopped with the Doctor as he had been holding her hand, turned to her.
"Not bloody likely."
"I'm not arguing with you. With me." River bit out, now getting to the end of her tether. Why wouldn't she ever listen?
"Look, I don't know what your problem is." Danni told her, "And I have enough problems with this grumpy Time Lord here!" She motioned to the Doctor, "But I'm not leaving him. Now, find a safe spot Professor." River sighed angrily.
"Two minutes, Doctor." She warned him before following the rest, leaving just Danni, the Doctor and Dave as the figure arrived.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The Doctor squeezed Danni's hand firmly, telling her to stay where she was before approaching the figure, hand out.
"You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside it and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy, neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me." He told them.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?" The figure repeated.
"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?"
"We should go. Doctor!" Dave told him.
"In a minute. You came to the Library to hunt, why? Just tell me why?"
"We...did not." The figure stuttered out, obviously struggling.
"Oh, hello."
"We did not." It tried again, sounding more confident but unable to progress.
"Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?"
"We... did not... come... here." The Doctor stared back, confused.
"Well, of course you did, of course you came here."
"We come from here." It told him.
"From here?"
"We hatched here."
"But you hatch from trees, from spores in trees." The Doctor argued.
"These are our forests." The figure stated.
"You're nowhere near a forest, look around you."
"These are our forests." It repeated, trying to get the man to understand what it couldn't put across.
"You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a..." He paused, the realisation dawning on him, "library." he breathed.
"We should go. Doctor!" Dave told him.
"Books. You came in the books. Microspores in a million million books."
"We should go. Doctor!" Dave told him.
"We really have to go Doctor!" Danni cried, staring at Dave, terrified. The Doctor ran his hand through his hair as he turned to look out the window at the endless city scape.
"Oh, look at that. The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million million books, hatching shadows."
"We should go. Doctor!" Dave told him.
"Doctor!" Danni cried and he tensed, turning around and staring at Dave. He moved over and stood in front of Danni, watching the neural relay blink on his suit. The visor suddenly became clear and a skeletal face fell onto the shield. Both figures began stepping closer, closing in on the pair.
"Oh Dave! Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry." He turned to Danni, "How's your upper body strength?"
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"
"Crap, you?" she replied with a scared laugh. He winked and pulled out his screwdriver.
"Do you trust me?" He asked in reply. She nodded.
"Implicitly." He nodded, wrapping an arm around her tightly.
"Hold on tight. Straight ahead" She nodded.
"We should go. Doctor!"
"Thing about me, I'm stupid, I talk too much, always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything. Wanna know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door." He pointed the screwdriver at the floor, opening a trap door. Danni screamed as they fell through it, grabbing onto the first beam she saw, her arms jolting painfully. The Doctor was behind her and she struggled to move, but she slowly began making her way forward. They were at the end of the hallway, a wall directly in front of them with a window into the next room.
"Oh thank god!" She screamed, "Never again, you hear me Spaceman?" He laughed from behind her, the screwdriver in his mouth as she landed on the ledge, grasping onto the edges tightly. The Doctor squeezed on next to her and soniced the window open. They fell in rather than climbed, landing in a tangled mess on the other side. Danni panted, the adrenaline making her breath in short bursts.
"I hate you." She said simply from underneath him. He shook his head.
"No you don't." He panted back. They didn't move for a few moments, their hearts coming down from the near-death experience. He studied her close for a moment and her brow furrowed in confusion.
"What?" She asked. He leant down and placed a quick kiss on her lips, before jumping up.
"Come on!" He pulled her up and dragged her off as if nothing had happened. Danni blinked at him, confused.
"What?" She exclaimed.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor led Danni to a large, circular room where the remaining members of the archaeological team were waiting. They ran onto the platform overlooking the team, catching the end of their conversation.
"...I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor, in the TARDIS, next stop: everywhere." River was telling Anita. Danni watched as his features hardened, obviously not liking the idea that she was actually in his future.
"Spoilers!" He shouted, drawing their attention to the pair as he pulled Danni down the stairs, "Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that."
"It does for the Doctor." River told him firmly and Danni bit her lip as she studied to woman. She hadn't even thought about how hard this was going to be for her, his firsts were her lasts after all. And, she did have some experience being berated by a grumpy Time Lord.
"I am the Doctor." The Doctor snapped.
"Yeah. Some day." River scoffed. Danni tugged on his arm as she walked over to River.
"Actually, she does open like that. River's right." He looked down at her, surprised and she shrugged, "What? I'm not going to lie, am I? Try it when we get back." She teased him, grabbing River's hand. The Doctor's eyes narrowed, back to being angry again and he walked over to Anita, checking on her. Danni rolled her eyes at the drastic change in his mood before she turned to River, who was smiling softly.
"I'm sorry." Danni told her sincerely, "I don't mean to be cross at you." River squeezed her hand.
"I know, sweetie." River replied gently, "This is hard for the pair of us." She reached over and brushed a lock of ginger hair behind her ear, "I can't believe I see you so young." She whispered and Danni blushed, slightly uncomfortable, "I can't believe this is the last time I see you."
"You don't know that." Danni told her, "I'm more random than you are, you'll probably see me again." She lied, not wanting her to know what would happen to her today. She couldn't save River, no matter how much she wanted to. It was just too big a moment, and if Donna didn't come back what would become of the metacrisis?
"Where's Other Dave?" River asked the Doctor, breaking them out of their moment but not letting go of her hand.
"Not coming, sorry." The Doctor replied curtly.
"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" Anita asked.
"I don't know." The Doctor admitted, looking down at Anita's two shadows, "Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."
"It's making a difference all right. No-one's ever going to see my face again." She replied gently.
"Can I get you anything?"
"An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?" She asked hopefully.
"I'm all over it." He promised back.
"Doctor... When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" He paused, not replying and Danni walked over, knowing what was coming next, "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."
"Safe..." He repeated, the word standing out to him. Danni nudged him.
"What?" Anita asked.
"You say safe." Danni told her gently, "You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe." The Doctor turned to the other man.
"The data fragment! What did it say?"
"'4,022 people saved. No survivors.'" He repeated.
"Doctor?" River asked, seeing the Doctor had connected something. He began pacing.
"Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe. But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant..." He trailed off and spun around to face them, hand grasping his hair, "it literally meant... saved!"
"The computer saved them." Danni confirmed and he grabbed her hand, dragging her over to an terminal. He brought up an image showing the computer's power usage around the time the 4,022 people disappeared. The image of a sphere glowed steadily until it exploded, going almost white until it all disappeared, leaving an empty circle behind. River watched, fascinated.
"See, there it is, right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out."
"It tried to teleport 4,022 people?" River asked.
"Succeeded," He replied, "pulled 'em all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the whole Library, Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"
"It saved them." Danni and River said at the same time, both smiling widely. Danni leant on her shoulder and River wrapped her arm around her waist in reply, hugging her close. Danni felt almost giddy, her and River were going to be close in the future, she could feel it. The Doctor ran over to a table, pulling out a marker pen and pushing a pile of books out of the way. The other two joined them as he drew a circle on the table, a smaller one inside and coloured it in.
"The Library, a whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive." Danni grinned.
"Donna's okay." She whispered and he nodded, relaxing slightly. She was okay. Donna Noble had been saved. Danni grinned and looked at Anita, at the two shadows protruding from her feet. Maybe she could find a way to save Anita. She followed the long stretch of the silhouette, one joining her shadow. She frowned, that wasn't right. She looked down at her feet and paled, her breath catching in her throat. Two shadows, one from each foot, stretched from underneath her, each an exact Danni-Girl shape.
She had two shadows.
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