Mae and The Doctor

10 - Shadow Babies

"This can't be the right place," the Doctor says breathlessly. I stare around, confused. Little whimpers and baby gurgling can be heard from the cribs - "cribs" being plural, meaning about 500. I start to think I'm not even exaggerating; the room goes out before us forever, the exact same yellow and white striped wallpaper leading down a tunnel of a room. There seems to be a turn at some point at the end, but the consistent wallpaper gives the illusion there isn't one. Light orbs stick from stubby stalactites.

"They must have filed those down," I mutter, staring to the ceiling, astonished by the short length of the spikes lining the ceiling.

"So as not to hurt the ba-" the Doctor stops as he releases my hand and walks to a nearby crib. He just sits there staring, and I walk up beside him. I notice he isn't tense, so it must not be anything too harmful. When I'm there, I cautiously lean over the edge to see a small silver ball, about the size of a baseball. It shakes slightly, and I hear noises coming from it.

"They're..." the Doctor starts again. Then he runs to the opposite side of the room, looking into cribs. He runs back and forth for a little bit, staring into cribs and grinning. "They're genius! They're eggs, Mae, eggs!" He spins around happily on his toe to look at me. "Eggs," he shouts again.

I walk over to the crib beside him and look in. Another silver ball. "This is great," I say, looking up to the Doctor, "and I was right."

My smile slowly fades as I see his fade as well. I stare at him, confused; then I notice he's staring just past me. Slowly, I turn my head to look over my shoulder. I jump and back up into the Doctor. It's a tall, dark, wispy figure - a multae ab umbra.

"I see you've found us out," it chimes. Unexpectedly, I hear a light, high pitched voice. The Doctor extends his arm out beside my head, buzzing his sonic screwdriver at the shadow. Side stepping away from his arm, I look over my shoulder at him. He looks like he's reading it, and then he releases the button, tucking it into an inside pocket.

"You're totally harmless," he says to the creature, a hint of a smile on his face. "But why are you taking an innocent planet's energy?"

The creature steps - no, glides - closer. "We're a very shy people," she says, "but we needed the energy to reproduce. And this planet's underground caves seemed absolutely perfect for a nursery! So, we swooped in, and we took it."

"Exactly how many is 'we'?" I put air quotes around the last word. It seems to turn toward me.

"Not many. Us multae ab umbras are a dying breed," she replies sadly.

"So that's why you had to get this energy so quickly," the Doctor states.

"No," the shadow says, "we naturally suck energy quickly. Actually, if we had been stronger and had more with us, the process would have taken a couple weeks."

"But," I start, "why couldn't you find your own planet?"

The creature glides over to a crib beside me, extending a tendril of black wisp to the silver egg. "We are... picky," she says simply. As the multae ab umbra touches the egg, it quivers violently and with a pop it breaks cleanly in half. A black wisp flies from the ball, springing up into itself like a slinky, forming an orb of shadow. The adult multae ab umbra reaches out and pushes it back down gently into its crib.

"Are you interested in making anymore?" I ask her.

"The Trichechus would really appreciate their power back," the Doctor cuts in, staring at the shadow skeptically.

"We should be done here," she starts hesitantly, "very soon."

"How soon?" I demand.

"A few days. There aren't enough of us to release all of the children now, and they still need energy to form properly," the shadow defends.

Glancing to the Doctor, I let out a sigh; he looks back at me thoughtfully.

"Alright," he says, after a while of silence. "We'll be back in a 'few days' to see if you've told us the truth."

Then the Doctor walks back to the TARDIS. Quickly, I run after him.

"So, you trust her?" I ask as we walk back into the spaceship. He nods, his back still to me, as he walks up to the console. Flicking a few tiny switches as he walks around, I notice his features are still scrunched up as if he was thinking. "Are you still upset about what I said about the TARDIS?"

"I'm upset you were right," he mumbles. Then he stares up at the bright blue tube running through the middle apologetically. "My TARDIS didn't know anything about this creature."

"Well maybe there's not much to know about it," I say quickly, trying to make him feel better. The Doctor glances to me before walking around the console and dismally pushes the lever up. Somehow, the engine noise the TARDIS makes sounds sadder than usual, like it knows it let the Doctor down. Not much shaking occurs, because we're just moving in the same spot through time.

In an attempt to comfort the Doctor, I reach out and take his hand. He gives my palm a light squeeze, and together we walk out the TARDIS to the underground cave; nothing's there anymore. I turn to look at the Doctor, smiling, and notice that he's also smiling - however, it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Great, now let's go see the planet above the surface," he says, leading me back into the police box.