Holding fast to my hand, the Doctor whips around and pulls out the sonic screwdriver. He holds it up to the advancing soldiers threateningly for a moment, then clicks the button on its side. The guns in the hands of the Silurians in the first row, a mere five feet from him and me, explode in a shower of sparks. "This is a deadly weapon," he states. "Stay back."
Suddenly, amidst the smoke and flashes of electricity, the extensible tongue of one of the warriors shoots out and lashes at his neck. I see it before he does. On instinct, I shove him to the side just before it reaches him and feel him scrabble for my hand as he crashes to the floor. His unexpected pull on my fingers causes me to go sprawling down on top of him, and he stares up at me like I'm insane. "You can't do things like that!" he whispers, both annoyed and fearful.
I wink, smiling. "You promised you'd let me be brave," I tell him.
"I most certainly did not."
"Well, I promised for you."
Now recovering from the detonation of their weapons, the Silurians start crowding around us again, and in a flash he's yanked me back up to my feet. Once more he slips his hand into mine, and we take off into the tunnel. In the distance, I can see Hunter's and the others' backs. "Take everyone to the lab," the Doctor pants at Hunter when he's in earshot. He turns his head, looking surprised and relieved to see us. "We'll cover you!"
Restac marches forward, taking her time, but the soldiers are running as fast as they can to catch up to us. My stomach twinges in discomfort, yet it's not the kind I would connect with fatigue, especially since we haven't been running long. Before I can think much about it, the Doctor stops, jerking me to a halt sharply, and turns around, brandishing the sonic at the army again. They slow their pace but continue nonetheless.
"Ah-ah-ah!" he says as they grow ever nearer. "Stop right there, or I'll use my very deadly weapon again. One warning, that's all you get. If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you. Now, this ends here."
"No," Restac replies coldly, pushing her way through the ranks. "It only ends with our victory."
I tug on the Doctor's hand, wordlessly begging him to keep going. You'll get yourself killed! I scream in my head. Like he hears me, just as he used to be able to, he nods ever so slightly. "Like I said," he tells the commander in a voice low with dismay. "One chance."
He turns swiftly on heel, and again we hurry down the hall to a laboratory. It's not the same as where Mo and I were kept; that lab was cold, damp, and dark. This one is clean with white stone walls and shiny tile floors. There are containment units along the far left wall. At the back are various machines. It actually looks as futuristic as the Silurians claim to be. In the middle, Hunter, Ambrose, Elliot, Nasreen, Mo, Tony, and Eldane huddle together. I didn't even realize the Silurian leader had fled with us; I shoot him a soft smile when he sees us. All the humans cling to one another except Hunter, who watches us approach with an unreadably intense look.
As soon as we're inside, the Doctor releases my hand, turns, and slams the door. Then he takes the sonic and slides it along the edge of the doorframe, sealing it shut. He flicks it one last time in the general direction of something like a television sitting on a nearby table; it roars to life with static a second later. "Elliot," he says, shattering the brittle quiet, "you and your dad keep an eye on that screen. You too, Hunter. Let me know if we've got company. Annalise," he adds to me as he puts a tender hand on my arm, "keep reminding me how much time I haven't got."
"O-okay," I stutter, holding him still long enough to retrieve my iPhone from his inner jacket pocket. He gives me an unsteady smile when I meet his gaze. "Bit over twelve minutes till drill impact."
After a momentary pause, the Doctor eyes Tony, who wipes perspiration off his temple with the back of his hand. "Tony Mack," he says, walking over to him. He crouches to peer into the man's downcast face. "Sweaty forehead. Dilated pupils. What are you hiding?"
Without much reluctance, Tony unbuttons his shirt to reveal thick, pulsating, sickly green veins that have spread from a point on the side of his neck all the way to his chest. They branch out unevenly from each other like vines on the side of a building. My blood turns to ice at the sight. Elliot touches one of the infected veins on his grandfather's stomach tentatively, not sure what to make of it.
Nasreen gasps, "Tony, what happened?"
He looks at her, miserable. "One of them stung me," he dully replies. "Alaya said there is no cure. I'm dying, aren't I?"
This is directed at the Doctor, who tells him thoughtfully, "You're not dying. You're mutating."
Tony shivers despite his obvious sense of overheating. "How can I stop it?" he asks. His voice cracks somewhere in the middle and causes my heart to ache.
"Decontamination program," the Doctor replies at once. "Might work. Dunno, though." He gestures to Eldane. "Can you run the program on Tony?"
"Doctor!" exclaims Mo. "Boatload of those creatures coming our way. We're surrounded in here."
"So," says the Doctor in a strangely high voice, "the question is, how do we stop the drill, given we can't get there in time? Plus, how do we get out, given we're surrounded?" Agitated and nervous, he paces around the room as Eldane silently hooks Tony up to a machine. The Doctor's hand presses to his chin in thought; a second later, he drops it back down so he can rub his hands together, a familiar sight that brings me an ounce of peace despite the tense situation. My fingers grip my phone tightly as it almost slips from my sweaty palm.
"Nasreen," he suggests out of the blue, turning to her, "how would you feel about an energy pulse channeled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?"
"To blow up my life's work?" she demands in reply.
"Yeah. Sorry. No nice way of putting that."
Nasreen rolls her eyes. "Right. Well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city in, um—"
"Eleven minutes forty seconds," I supply.
"Yes," says the Doctor, clapping once. "Squeaky bum time."
I laugh against my better judgment.
"Yeah, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels," Nasreen points out. "We have to be out and on the surface by then."
Hunter looks up from the computer screen, standing behind Elliot with a fatherly hand on the boy's back. "But we can't get past Restac's troops," he reminds her.
"I can help with that," inputs Eldane humbly. "Toxic fumigation. It's an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection. There'll be a warning signal to occupy the cryochambers. After that, citywide fumigation by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down."
My heart drops into my stomach. I say quietly, "You could end up killing your own people."
"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac," he answers, giving me the same reassuring and kind smile I gave him a few minutes ago.
The Doctor takes a step toward him. "Eldane, are you sure about this?" he confirms.
The old Silurian straightens both importantly and exhaustedly. Those wise yellow eyes glint in the laboratory's clinical light. "My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet."
The Doctor shakes his head sorrowfully. "No."
I glance down at my phone. "Ten minutes, Doctor," I tell him.
"But maybe it should be," he adds, apparently unfinished with his last thought. "So, here's a deal. Everybody listening?" There are shaky nods from around the room. "Eldane, you activate shutdown. I'll amend the system and set your alarm for a thousand years' time. That's a thousand years to sort the planet out, to be ready. Pass it on as legend, or prophecy, or religion, but somehow make it known. This planet is to be shared."
"Nine minutes seven seconds!"
"Yes," he says, pointing at me in response and starting for a control panel at the back of the room. He starts pressing buttons and turning knobs just as he does in the TARDIS, appearing to know what each does without having to be told. There is a jumpy excitement to his movements now, and I can tell his confidence has been restored. "Fluids control, my favorite!" he quips to no one in particular. "Energy pulse... Timed, primed, and set. Before we go—ooh!—, the energy barricade. Need to cancel that out quickly."
"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor," Hunter tells him. I start and realize he has suddenly appeared over my shoulder to look down at my phone. In the back of my mind I pick up on the lightness of the atmosphere. I register that he and the Doctor are on much better terms than they were at the beginning of this adventure, and I wonder madly what could have possibly prompted their new friendship.
"Aha!" the Doctor exclaims. "Super squeaky bum time. Get ready to run for your lives." He poises his hand over a large white button in the glass control panel. All the air seems to be sucked from the room. I watch him meet everyone's stare in turn, giving each a hopeful expression. His eyes fall on me, and I see them twinkle. "Now—"
Struck by a sudden realization, I say hastily, "What about Malohkeh? Wasn't he with you?"
My husband shifts uncomfortably, thinking. "We left him in Elliot's holding chamber. He told us he'd catch up."
Eldane sighs like the weight of the world rests on his chest. "Then he's most likely dead," he tells me with an air of true sadness. "Restac always felt quite threatened by Malohkeh's strong moral compass."
I let out a shaky breath of air as the reality settles in. It should not affect me as much as it does, but for some reason, I feel as though I've lost a dear friend. By the crestfallen expression on the Doctor's face, he feels the same way.
Before another word can be said, Eldane drops another bombshell: "The decontamination program on your friend hasn't started yet."
Again, the room goes deathly quiet. Tony stares down at the wires hooked up to his skin, glances at his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson, and sighs. "Well, go. All of you, go!"
"No, we're not leaving you here!" Ambrose tells him defiantly.
"Granddad," Elliot whimpers.
Hunter takes over for me and calls, "Eight minutes eighteen seconds."
Tony pulls Elliot close to him, brushing the hair away from his face. "Now, you look after your mum," he says strongly. "You mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."
Elliot looks up at him with teary eyes. "I'm not going to see you again, am I?" he asks in a voice that makes my heart lurch. Tony's grayed eyebrows pull together. "I'll always be here," he replies. "Always. I love you, boy." He gives Mo a knowing look. "You be sure he gets home safe."
Mo nods resolutely.
"This is my fault," cries Ambrose. The petty part of me agrees.
"No," Tony exclaims, "I can't go back up there. I'd be a freak show! Technology down here's my only hope."
Ambrose runs to her father and hugs him as tightly as she can without hurting his already sore body. "I love you, Dad," she tells him.
He kisses her on the forehead. "Go," he breathes. Mo takes Ambrose and Elliot both by the hand.
Without a word, the Doctor presses the button.
"Toxic fumigation initiated," a computerized voice says, and alarms begin to blare all around us. I stride over to the door and peer through the tiny circular window about halfway up to the top. I see Restac standing not four feet away, appalled by the sound she hears. Her soldiers are crowded behind her. "Return to cryochambers," the computer announces. I see Restac open her mouth in a way that looks like she's shouting "no." The computer repeats its message, and she just stands there yelling. It would be a comical sight if it wasn't so frightening.
"This is not the order!" I see her mouth form the words, but I cannot hear them. The other warriors begin to understand what's happening and scramble through the tunnels. One of them yanks Restac's gun away from her, carrying it away down the hall. Restac stalks the opposite way, and I whip around and say to the room, "They're going. We're clear."
"Okay, everyone follow Nasreen," the Doctor instructs. "Look for a blue box. Get ready to run." The computer announces the protocol on a continuous loop as the humans flee the room, Hunter heading up the rear. Nasreen gives Tony a hug goodbye while the Doctor looks at Eldane with remorse. "I'm sorry," he tells him sincerely.
Eldane nods, looking at his own feet. "For a moment I thought, our race and the humans..."
"Yeah, me too."
"Doctor, we've got less than six minutes left," I tell him, pulling on his arm.
He jumps as if remembering why we're here. "Go," he implores me. "Go, I'm right behind you. Go!" He gives me a gentle push toward the door, but I don't budge. The Doctor's gaze suddenly becomes saturated with unspoken meaning. "I refuse to risk losing you one more time," he whispers, "let alone twice in a single day. Annalise, if you love me, please just trust me and go."
With a defeated sigh, I turn and jog out the door. Right as I cross the threshold, I hear Nasreen say, "I'm not going either."
I skid to a stop, watching as Ambrose, her family, and Hunter form a tight, defensive circle at the end of the hall, and groan, "Oh, for goodness sake!" I trudge back into the room with my arms folded, looking directly at her. The Doctor doesn't question my return.
"What?" he says.
Nasreen still stands beside Tony, whose pale face shines in the harsh light, her arm hooked in his like a young girl. The look she gives him warms my heart. "We're going to hibernate with them, me and Tony," she tells us.
Eldane waves his hand at us urgently. "Doctor, you must go!" he urges.
"I can be decontaminated when we're woken," Tony agrees with her. He gazes lovingly down at Nasreen. "All the time in the world."
"But Nasreen, you—"
"No, this is perfect!" she interrupts the Doctor. "I've got what I was digging for. I can't leave when I've only just found it." She pauses thoughtfully. "Actually, you kind of inspired me."
My husband furrows his scarce eyebrows. "How did I do that?"
"You were brave for her," she says, nodding my way. "You helped me see that if you're brave for love, nothing can stop you."
A soft smile spreads across my face, and I realize why her expression when she looked at Tony was so touching. It's exactly how I look at the Doctor.
I feel him gently entwine our fingers as Nasreen looks at him with admiration. "Thank you, Doctor. You too, Annalise."
He bows while I nod beamingly. "The pleasure was all mine," he replies, earning a grin from her.
"Come and look for us," she adds. He winks.
Eldane is the last one to speak, and his words seem to echo in the cave-like tunnels behind us. "Good luck to you both."
Unceremoniously, the Doctor pulls me out of the lab. We sprint down the tunnel toward the cluster of humans, and I start to call to them when a familiar form breaks from their group. In midstride, I catch him by the waist before he can pass us and spin him around. "Other way, idiot," I say, and Hunter nods as he runs, grinning.