Chapter 5

The street was eerily quiet when they arrived. As predicted, Yeris promptly vomited, thankfully missing River's shoes. Before he could fully recover, though, the Doctor yanked him toward the Duchess's residence.

"Why didn't you land us inside?" he asked River irritably.

"And risk setting down right in the middle of a pack of those soldiers? Not smart, sweetie. Never land inside a place unless you're completely sure it's either empty or full of friendlies. I only risked it with the ship because I knew you were trapped and probably about to do something incredibly unwise to escape." As she spoke, they arrived at the doors, which the Doctor handily unlocked. They stepped inside, met by an expectedly luxurious entryway dominated by a large staircase leading up to the second floor.

"Duchess Claudia?" He shouted at the top of his voice. River winced. Hopefully Her Excellency didn't keep many guards at home. "Duchess? It's the Do- Caretaker! I need to speak with you at once! Your city isn't safe!"

A door above them slammed, and they heard the sound of a (thankfully singular) pair of feet running toward the staircase. "Caretaker? Is it really you? Macris said-" she stopped, a horrified look on her face as she recognized Yeris. "You!"

He tried to take a step back, but River's grip was too strong. The Duchess darted down the stairs, pointing an accusatory finger at him, "You did this!"

"Please, Duchess, you need to listen to me," the Doctor gently took her arm, but she pulled out of his grasp.

"No. We lost another twelve people to his bone meadows today. Caretaker, Macris and Delvaria told me you and Doctor Strangelove were in the building when it disappeared! I thought you'd been killed! Does -" the look on her face turned joyous as she considered them. "Does this mean that the others who disappeared are alive as well?"

River shook her head, hating to be the bearer of two pieces of very distressing news. "I'm afraid not. Duchess, the Caretaker and I weren't anywhere near any buildings that vanished today Macris and Delvaria lied to you. What's more, they've been in collusion with Mr. Favlor the whole time."

The Duchess's face froze in a horrified expression for several moments. She blinked, but didn't move otherwise. The Doctor waited for her to process the information, considering what he would do if she didn't believe them. It was entirely possible she wouldn't. She'd known him and River for all of a day, but Macris and Delvaria had likely been in her life since she was born.

"I know," she said, her voice wavering as she plainly struggled against the impulse to burst into tears. River's jaw dropped.

"You know?" the Doctor asked, incredulous. Of all her possible responses, he hadn't even considered this one.

"It was just too perfect, wasn't it? An offworld trader arriving just after Macris mentioned that it was time for me to prove myself as an independent leader to my people, the bone meadows creating a crisis that forced me to keep relying on them for guidance long after they both should have retired because the people's confidence in me was so shaken, Delvaria telling me to send a message offworld for help but then acting so surprised and hostile when someone actually answered it, the news that the two of you had been killed… I'm not stupid, Caretaker. I know I don't act like it all the time, but I was well-trained by my father not to blindly trust those around me when the facts don't add up." She took a deep breath, blinked the last tears out of her eyes, and straightened her shoulders. "Tell me everything."

They were too late.

The Doctor heard the first screams from terrified citizens as soon as they left the Duchess's home, and a deep, resounding roar followed. He exchanged a look with River.

"Okay, new plan. Duchess, we're going to need to circumvent the streets. Do your soldiers have weapons? Guns, that sort of thing?"

She nodded sharply, casting a fearful look in the direction of the shouting. "I can't run, Caretaker. My people need me."

"And they'll have you. I promise, we're not leaving, just…relocating. To the government center," he clarified when she didn't look reassured. "Can you contact the soldiers and make sure they're moving to contain the creatures?" She nodded and pulled a communications device out of her pocket. As she spoke quietly into it, the Doctor turned to Yeris. "You're going to tell us exactly what those things are and how to contain them. Now."

Yeris threw up his hands. "Honestly, Caretaker, I have no idea. It wasn't considered need-to-know information yet. I didn't even realize that they had matured to this point yet. Would I still be here if I had?"

The Doctor considered this for a moment. Something wasn't adding up, but now wasn't the time to explore it fully. Now they needed to focus on protecting the population.

"River, I need you to take the Duchess to the government center. Get Macris and Delvaria contained, then make sure the soldiers are equipped to handle those things. Yeris, you're coming with me." The younger man blanched as the Doctor unlocked the handcuffs.

"What are you doing?" the Duchess demanded. "He's under arrest!"

"And he'll be dead if he can't use his hands. I won't take my eyes off him, I promise. Now go!" River nodded briskly, placed the Duchess's hand firmly on her vortex manipulator, and with little more than a warning to hang on, they were gone.

"Wait, where's your gun?" Yeris asked. "She had a gun, where's yours?"

The Doctor smiled grimly. "Never touch the things if I can help it. And believe me, I can help it today. Now come with me and don't wander off – your life depends on it."

It hadn't taken them long at all to run to the site of the nearest bone meadow. All they'd needed to do was follow the screaming.

Dozens of panicked people were streaming out of their houses, clearly interrupted during their evening meal. Looming above them were three enormous greyish-green creatures – bipedal with strong legs, barreled chests, and incredibly long teeth. There was no real intelligence behind the eyes, but they moved like the predators they were, surveying the crowd for easy targets. The Doctor watched in horrified fascination as one swung its head down to snatch at a young man who accidentally ran too close. Seizing the man in its jaws, the creature jerked its neck, throwing him into the air before snatching him in its jaws and biting down hard.

"Incredible," the Doctor breathed, while Yeris vomited behind him.

There were no soldiers in sight, and given the sheer quantity of bone meadows it was hardly surprising that the small military force that guarded the city was spread too thin.

"We need to run!" Yeris cried, apparently recovered.

"No, we don't. Here, hold this," the Doctor passed him River's handheld scanner. "Read me the number sequence in that second column – quickly!"

As Yeris read, the Doctor programmed his sonic. He'd done this sort of thing once before, but the principles at work had been slightly different and he'd had a chance to test his theory first. Also, he hadn't been in danger of being eaten that time. Still, if he was anything, it was brilliant, and he was at least 75 percent sure this was going to work.

Aiming his sonic at one of the creatures, the Doctor whispered, "I'm sorry," before activating the screwdriver. For a moment nothing happened, then suddenly the creature shook violently before collapsing. In the space of a moment, it disintegrated into a pile of small bone shards.

"You…you…" was all Yeris could manage as the Doctor took aim at the next creature.

"Yes. Now get those people inside. Quickly!" Yeris didn't need to be told twice, and immediately turned toward the still-panicking crowd, attempting to shout above the din that everyone should retreat to the nearest shelter.

The Doctor quickly dispatched the three creatures, but he knew he couldn't work fast enough with his sonic to destroy the hundreds that were wreaking havoc across the city in time to save more lives. "We're heading back to the government center," he told Yeris. "Run!"

Dispensing with all pretense at formality (or manners) the Doctor shoved his way inside the building and immediately accosted Duchess Claudia, who was giving orders to a small contingent of soldiers just inside the doors.

"You sent me a message to come here. How?"

"I'm sorry?" she began, but he cut her off.

"The message you sent offworld, the one Delvaria told you to send, how did you transmit it?"

She shook her head, not understanding why he needed to know. "We have a transmitter, down in the council room. It's not used much anymore, but-"

"Good. That's where I'm going. Tell River to meet me there." And without another word he took off for the large meeting room labeled "Council Chamber" he'd passed with River during their earlier escape from the building. Too late he realized that he'd asked her for River – she had no idea who River was.

"About time you got here," she snapped as he entered the room. He grinned. Of course she'd realized the same thing he had. She was brilliant.

"No time like the present," he said, giving her a swift kiss on the cheek. "Figured it out, did you?"

She made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. "Sweetie, a five-year-old could have figured it out. Now, I assume you have the correct sequence programmed in there?" He nodded, and she finished crossing a wire before holding her hand out for the sonic. "Unless you'd like to do the honors?"

The Doctor paused. He knew what she was doing. He hated taking life of any kind, particularly innocent life. Those creatures, as destructive as they were, were innocents. They were doing what their biology programmed them to do, and through no fault of their own that same programming ensured that he had to destroy them.

"No, I can do it," he gripped the sonic tightly, ignored the disapproving purse of her lips, and, holding down the button to transmit a signal, pressed the button.

Hours later, night had fallen. The official death count – for now – stood at fourteen. More bodies would likely turn up in the morning, but for now there was no point in continuing to search. The Doctor and River met the exhausted-looking Duchess outside the doors of a small room in the basement of the government building. A sign on the door simply read, "Cell".

"Are you ready for this?" River asked her quietly. The younger woman looked absolutely wrung out, but a fire the Doctor hadn't seen before blazed in her eyes. Not only was she ready, he realized, but she needed to do this now.

"Yes," she said, and gestured for one of the guards standing outside the door to unlock it.

The door swung open to reveal Macris and Delvaria. He was sitting on the floor, she was pacing back and forth. Neither looked particularly contrite, though there was fear in their eyes as they saw who had arrived to interrogate them.

"You know why we're here," the Duchess said simply. "It's time to tell the truth. Both of you. Why did you do it?"

Macris ran his hands over his face, and the look in his eyes when he removed them was one the Doctor hadn't seen before – hatred.

"You really need to ask, your Excellency? I assume you've neutralized the creatures – we wouldn't be high on your list of priorities if you hadn't."

"Yes, we did," she replied. "Now tell me why."

Delvaria laughed, a bitter and spiteful laugh that sounded less surprising coming from her than its matching look had from Macris. "Why? Because it was a way to get rid of you. Do you have any idea, Duchess," she spat the title out as if it dirtied her mouth, "how long we've wanted to destroy you and your family? You have ruined our world – our way of life! You talk about making contact with offworlders as if it will be the solution to all our problems. We needed to make sure everyone saw what a mistake that would be."

The Duchess remained motionless and silent, and the Doctor briefly wondered if he would need to continue the interrogation by himself. Then she spoke again, her voice soft but firm.

"So in order to preserve our way of life – a way of life that has kept us stagnant for decades – you were willing to take innocent lives? You disgust me, Delvaria."

This time Delvaria did spit in her direction. "Then the feeling is mutual."

"What I'd like to know is how you even found out about the ecological engineering program," the Doctor interjected. "It's plain enough that you used the transmitter in the Council Room to make the official arrangements, but where did it all start?"

Macris stood and straightened his clothing. "When you search our homes, Caretaker, as you undoubtedly will, you'll discover that we've been in contact with the outside for far longer than you realize. Our parents were the first to set up a secret resistance to the government. They wanted to know if the plague had passed, but in their quest for information they discovered the decadence and corruption of offworld society. They realized that our way of life needed to be preserved, but continued to receive information from the outside as a precaution. When we heard about Acturhl's ecological engineering program, we decided it was the perfect solution to our problems."

River shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. The Achturhlian genetic engineering program is among the most sophisticated scientific operations in the sector. How could you have possibly known the solution to their problem? I've seen your technology – you're simply not that scientifically advanced."

Delvaria laughed her bitter laugh again. "We didn't need to. They came to us. You mentioned earlier, Caretaker, that our genetic structure isn't anything out of the ordinary for humans. You were right. What the Acturhlans needed was unadulterated human DNA – human DNA without any alien hybridization – to stabilize the genetic codes of the creatures they were trying to create. The quantities they required for even one subject were vast – at least three individual humans per creature, preferably four or five – and we offered them an unlimited supply of that DNA on a world no one cared about."

The Duchess shook her head slowly in disbelief. "I don't… And what was your plan once our people took steps to depose me? Were the Acturhlans just supposed to leave? Why would they do that?"

Macris and Delvaria exchanged a look. He shrugged, as if giving her permission to reveal the final stage of their plan. The Doctor had a sinking feeling he already knew what it was. "Achturhl wasn't the only planet we were in contact with. Once we were ready for them to depart, we planned to contact the head of their interplanetary alliance – the Madelian Confederacy. They would come in, remove the Achturhlians, and we could go back to the way life here should be."

"So what now?" Macris asked, turning to the Duchess. "What will you do with us? Execution? Banishment?"

Without a word, the Duchess turned on her heel and left the cell. The Doctor and River followed, exchanging a worried look. None of the viable options were appealing, and neither was convinced that the Duchess was prepared to make such a difficult choice on her own.

"What do you plan to do, Your Grace?" The Doctor asked in a low voice once the guards had secured the door again.

Instead of answering, she took several steps down the corridor, smoothing her skirts over her hips before taking a deep breath and turning again to face them. "They must be banished. I was already planning to contact the Madelian Confederacy about the Achturhlians – I will ask them to incarcerate Macris and Delvaria as part of the conspiracy to commit genocide on Elfenor VII."

River nodded. It was the right choice. The Doctor didn't say a word, but reached out for her hand. The look he shared with her was one of sympathy and respect. Perhaps, he hoped, she was finally ready to lead on her own.

They didn't stay long enough to see Yeris, Macris, and Delvaria delivered to the Confederacy. The ships were in orbit, though, as River searched for the Doctor in the depths of the government center. He'd mumbled something about needing to check the transmitter again almost an hour ago, but he hadn't been in the Council Chamber when she'd gone to find him. He wasn't in the war room, either.

River fought to contain a rising feeling of annoyance mixed with concern. Macris and Delvaria had insisted that they had acted alone, without assistance from anyone else on the colony. Still, she didn't trust them for a minute, and it was always possible that someone else who had access to this building might have the motivation to strike against the offworlders who had uncovered their plot.

"There you are!" she exclaimed, finally catching sight of the back of his tweed as he bent over a large data terminal in a small room that couldn't have been farther away from where he'd told her he was going. "Forget where the transmitter was?"

"Just needed to check something," he said, tapping a final command into the terminal before turning around and giving her a broad smile. "Are you ready to go?"

"Anytime you are, sweetie." She smiled back, pleased to see that he wasn't dwelling on the unfortunate conclusion to their adventure. People had died, and it was far from clear whether or not Duchess Claudia was truly ready to lead her people into a new era of contact with the outside universe. Still, he'd clearly chosen to focus on the positives, which he didn't do often enough, in her opinion. "Where to next?"

He took her hand and once again brushed a kiss over her knuckles. "Come with me."

River was only mildly surprised to find that he had no intention of saying goodbye to the Duchess.

The Doctor bounded up the TARDIS's ramp, as full of energy as if he hadn't just spent the last 24 hours running all over the city. For her part, River felt that she could do with a nap. He flipped switches and dials (half of them unnecessarily, she noted) while she curled up on the jumpseat, watching him work with a bemused smile on her face.

"I should probably be getting back to Stormcage," she noted with a yawn.

He turned around, clearly disappointed. "So soon? It was only a day – time machine, you know – we could go somewhere relaxing next if you're tired. Perhaps the beaches of Yevih, or the low-grav resort on Hilnc?"

She shook her head. "No, dear. I need to get back to my cell, at least for a few hours, and you need to do whatever it is you do when I'm not around. Just not for long , understand?"

He crossed the short distance between the controls and her seat, and bent over until his head was level with hers. "Sure I couldn't persuade you to stay a little longer?" He brushed his lips softly against hers. "I'm sure we could find a few things to occupy ourselves right here." He moved his lips down to her jaw, then placed a light kiss on her earlobe as one hand reached out to stroke her hair. "Nothing strenuous, of course."

She laughed, scooting closer to him to give him easier access. "Now where's the fun in that?"

He didn't reply, but simply continued to trail light kisses down her neck and collarbone.

Needless to say, River didn't see the inside of Stormcage for quite some time.

Six Linear Years Later

It was a game she played, sometimes, searching for them in the history books. She hadn't intended to dally in the library when she'd broken into the palace of the Grand Chancellor, but it had been right there next to his private office, and, well, she did enjoy games.

River tapped commands into the data terminal, flipping through her mental files as she did so. Which of their adventures to look up today?

"Ah," she breathed softly. "The bone meadows."

Of course the bone meadows and their time on Elfenor VII would be recorded here. The Grand Chancellor's territory extended across the sector where the small colony had been located, though it had been incorporated into the Madelian Confederacy nearly a century ago from the perspective of the colonists, which had been nearly a century after she and the Doctor had neutralized the creatures and the bone meadows. She smiled fondly, remembering the adventure.

Entering her search terms, River waited and watched.

"No items found" read the screen.

She frowned. That wasn't possible. Even though Elfenor VII was still a minor planet within the larger Confederacy, the bone meadows would turn up on a search of the Chancellor's own records. She tried again, this time adding in Macris, Delvaria, and Yeris's names.

"No items found" the screen read again.

"What on earth…?" she murmured, trying one last time to retrieve the information. This time she typed in the pseudonyms they had used. "The Caretaker and Doctor Strangelove," she said softly to herself as she typed.

"Hello, dear" the screen read. River's eyes widened. That was unexpected. "Hello sweetie," she murmured, watching as more words filled the screen.

"I've taken the liberty of erasing any mention of our adventures here. Ask me why sometime. Now stop looking us up and get back to whatever it is you're about to do. I'm sure I wouldn't approve. X"

"That man…" she said, shaking her head as she turned off the terminal. "Ask him sometime. Just watch me do exactly that."

Verifying that she hadn't left anything behind – particularly not the rather intriguing documents she'd extracted from the Chancellor's office moments ago, River programmed coordinates into her vortex manipulator and was gone in an instant.

The End! Thanks so much for reading!