𝐄𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲|•|𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐡𝐨|•|

𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝘄𝗼, 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘆.

𝗙𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.

Season four, episode nine:

Forest of the Dead - Part Two.

- ~ -

"See? There it is!" The Doctor exclaimed in delight as he, Lynnette and River crowded around a screen, "A hundred years ago, a massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. As soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm and the computer tries to teleport everyone out."

River furrowed her brows in sheer bewilderment at the possibility, "It tried to teleport 4,022 people?"

Lynnette whistled, "Must be a very powerful computer."

Mr Lux looked away from her prying eyes. She wasn't going to let go of the idea that he knew much more than what he was willing to say. At some point she'd drag it out of him.

"Very powerful. And it succeeded, pulled 'em all out, but there was nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the Library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people, all beamed up with 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?"

River grinned widely, "It saved them.

Lynnette's heart leapt, "The robot said Donna was saved, does that mean she's alive?"

The Doctor smiled down at her warmly, "Yes, Firefly, it does. I haven't failed her yet."

Lynnette reached and fixed his glasses in a moment of tenderness, "We haven't failed her yet. Now, go make a plan."

He nodded, practically bouncing on his feet as he cleared the table, pulling out a marker pen from somewhere in his pockets. Rapidly he drew a circle and hatched lines across it, eyes focused as he spoke, "The Library, a whole world of books, and right at its core, the biggest hard drive in all of history. The index of everything ever written, backup copies of every book ever made. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can It saved them to the hard drive."

"That's going to be difficult to get to, isn't it?" Lynnette hummed as she looked out a window, the library seemed to span on for eternity, like it would never end.

Suddenly, the beeping began.

Now, they truly were bathed in a red light. It was thick and copious as it covered them all ominously. Accompanied by the searing alarm that echoed throughout Lynnette's head like a bomb ticking, the light looked like death itself.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Mr lux breathed and if his voice was just a little quieter he would have been whispering.

Everyone looked at each other, frozen. Eyes wide as their chests heaved as stones crashed into their stomachs, pulling them down. Maybe being pulled down was safe, dying in the dirt was better than being slain by shadows.