Time Book I

The Unquiet Dead

CHAPTER 14| THIS GIRL KNOWS NOTHING

   "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in the big town. Come, we must all join hands," Everyone is gathered around a table while Gwyneth. (Y/N) is to the right of the Doctor. Sneed next to her, Rose on his right. Charles is next to her, with Gwyneth on his right, next to the Doctor.

   "I can't take part in this," Dickens says, standing up from his spot.

   "Humbug? Come on, open mind," (Y/N) says smiling lightly.

   "This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tabourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

   "Now, don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium!" (Y/N) laughs at her own joke.

   "I can't believe you just said that," Rose says watching the two Time Lords laughing at the joke.

   "Come on, we might need you." Dickens sits back down. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out."

   "Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden," Gwyneth says as everyone holds hands forming a circle.

   "Can you hear that?" Rose says. Whispering can be heard by everyone in the group.

   "Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly," Dickens says.

   "Look at her."

   "I see then. I feel them," Gwyneth says as gas tendrils drift above the heads of the group.

   "What's it saying?"

   "They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through!" the Doctor says.

   "I can't," she responds closing her eyes.

   "Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."

   "Yes." Blue outlines of people appear behind her.

   "Great God! Spirits from the other side!" Sneed says.

   "The other side of the universe!" (Y/N) says.

   "Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us," Gwyneth speaks with the two figures behind her, they have children's voices.

   "What do you want us to do?"

   "The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

   "What for?"

   "We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

   "Why, what happened?"

   "Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came."

   "War? What war?" Dickens asks.

   "The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state." (Y/N) and the Doctor look at each other then to Rose.

   "So that's why you need the corpses," (Y/N) says.

   "We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us!"

   "But we can't," Rose says.

   "Why not?" (Y/N) asks.

   "It's not. I man, it's not-"

   "Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives."

   "Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth," Gwyneth says before passing out across the table.

   "Gwyneth?" Rose asks running to her.

   "All true," Dickens speaks with disbelief.

   "Are you okay?"

   "It's all true." A little later, Gwyneth has been laid on the chaise lounge. 

   "It's alright. You just sleep." Rose tells her as she tries to sit up.

   "But my angles, miss. They cam, didn't they? They need me?" She says sitting up. (Y/N) crosses and crouches in front of Gwyneth.

   "They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival," (Y/N) says softly.

   "I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles. Drink this." Rose hands Gwyneth a cup of what looks like water.

   "Well, what did you say, Doctor? (Y/N)? Explain it again. What are they?" Sneed speaks.

   "Aliens," the two Time Lords speak at the same time.

   "Lie foreigners, you mean?"

   "Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there," the Doctor says pointing to the sky.

   "Beacon?"

   "Close. And they've been trying to get through from Beacon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes," (Y/N) explains.

   "Which is why they need the girl," Dickens says.

   "They're not having her," Rose says.

   "But she can help. Living on the rift, she's part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through," (Y/N) says gently placing her hand on Gwyneth's hands.

   "Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exists in our world by inhabiting cadavers," Dickens says amazed.

   "Good system. It might work," the Doctor says.

   "You can't let them run around inside of dead people!" Rose says angrily.

   "Why not? It's like recycling."

   "Seriously though, you can't."

   "Seriously though, I can."

   "It's just wrong. Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death."

   "Do you carry a donor card?"

   "That's different. That's-"

   "It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home. You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying."

   "I don't care. They're not using her."

   "Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth says to Rose.

   "Look, you don't understand what's going on."

   "You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."

   "That's not fair."

   "It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from. but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. (Y/N), Doctor, what do I have to do?"

   "You don't have to do anything," (Y/N) says.

   "They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me."

   "We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

   "That would be the morgue," Sneed answers.

   "No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?" Rose asks. (Y/N) stands walking to the Doctor as the rest leave the room following Sneed to the morgue.

   "Let's go," the Doctor takes her hand gently and smiles at her.