Doctor Who: Panic Moon Ch. 06

'Hell yeah,' Ren stifled a laugh, unsuccessfully. 'Did you have as much fun as I did?'

'No,' It was almost like Amy was stuck in a loop.

'Oh, really?' Ren pouted. 'That's highly unrealistic, given that it was your Idyll. You are a naughty little thing, aren't you? I like it!'

'You are kidding me!' Amy hissed, eyes narrowed to hateful slits. 'That was really... You were you?'

'Only experiencing what you had already cooked up in that filthy little head of yours, Hime,' Ren's arms extended, touching the floor. Gracefully, she disengaged her legs from the beam and, using her body to build momentum, flung herself from a one-handed handstand into a seated position to one side of Amy, forming a rough triangle with her and Dulsie. 'Setton-san sort of picks one person, and sits in their head. She can't introduce any new events outside of what the dreamer dreams, because of... Oh, what was it again, Setton-san?'

'Dissonance. Too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say. Although in this case, the broth is the totality of another person's mental being. It'd be like trying to jam a hard-drive into another hard-drive: whatever happens, I'll guarantee you won't end up with two hard-drives, or one hard-drive with double capacity.'

'It's official,' Amy said in a disbelieving voice. 'I hate you two.'

'Well, that's too bad!' Ren grinned, rocking from side to side. 'Because we love you, Hime! Intensely! You're like my favorite new toy. Speaking of... Setton-san, what happens to her for the rest of the day? After that, I'd sort of like to, y'know...'

'She is to be given the rest of the day to rest, Ren,' Dulcimer sent. 'It's been a busy day for her, she needs it. Sander's orders, although I cannot access the Command Collar myself. Would you be so kind, Ren?'

'Oh, right,' Ren nodded. 'No voice, no commands. Amy-hime, Command: walk back to your cell. Jeri-chan will light a path for you.'

Woodenly, Amy stood, allowing the Collar to do its work. Her mind burned with shame at the unfortunate thoughts she had just shared with Ren, but nevertheless it picked up on an interesting fact and filed it away. So, the Collar still worked via voice... The Dullahan couldn't command her to do anything? That might be useful...

Of course, Amy realized that there were still plenty of people around who could issue a command. Beyond that, there was something about Dulcimer that she didn't like; she couldn't place it, but she was sure that disobeying the strange alien would have unforeseen consequences. Still, anything that might help her escape was worth knowing.

'This way, Mrs. Pond,' Jericho's crisp voice flowed out of the walls. The track lighting set into the floor of the hallway lit up, marking a path for Amy to follow, back to her cell. 'Your Command Collar has been fitted with several additional functions that, along with my suite of sensors and defensive protocols, make confinement to a single location unnecessary. Master Hackett has- System Error.... Code... Code: M-Marduk...'

The A.I's voice faded out momentarily, replaced with static from the speakers. Amy continued to walk, the Collar making it impossible to stop, but she cast her eyes around for some clue as to what had just happened. Something similar had occurred just after her first meeting with Ren, but Amy refused to believe that the highly advanced computer brain had merely encountered a glitch and frozen up.

The static stopped suddenly, completely dropping away without warning to be replaced with the same voice as before, continuing as though nothing had happened, 'Master Hackett has decided that you are to be granted access to certain, non-essential areas of this facility, in the interests of boosting morale and, in his words:' The voice changed momentarily to a recording of Sander, '"Because we can't keep her locked in a cage forever. She's a person, not a fucking hamster or a Dalek." When you have been returned to your containment cell, I will explain the rules that you are required to follow in future. Failure to follow these rules will result in, again, in Master Hackett's own words: "The angry hand of Mara coming down on you like a ton of bricks, Pond! Seriously, don't fuck with us."'

Oh, good, Amy thought. They're making my stay pleasant...

**************

'Ah, thanks for letting me join you, Setton-san,' Ren stretched her arms above her head. 'I needed that.'

'Yes, you did,' Dulcimer sent. 'You were rather upset, when you came in.'

Ren blinked, frowned, and inspected the Dullahan closely, 'How much do you know, about that? I guess you were in my head, weren't you?'

Dulcimer held up her hands in a universal "it's not as bad as you think," gesture, 'Oh, don't worry. I don't go around prying into all the dark recesses of your mind, Ren. Actually, I try to avoid all of that. Aside from the distinct possibility of infecting my own thought processes with what I'd find, I feel it would be... rude. I won't endanger your privacy, but I do know that something is troubling you, Miss Syfte. If you ever feel like talking, I'm here.'

'Don't get me wrong, I like you, Dulsie,' Ren muttered. 'But I won't be taking you up on that offer.'

Without realizing it, Ren had unsheathed her long, polished combat knife and was idly flipping it from one hand to the other. She often did this, when agitated, or bored, or when her hands weren't otherwise occupied. She loved that knife; it was one of the few possessions she had brought with her when she moved to Trismestigius, and she had engraved its name, "Sir Slicington III" along the blade. It was a slightly unsettling obsession of hers, but it wasn't like anyone else in the crew was going to risk their safety by picking her up on it.

Dulcimer didn't have eyes, but Ren could feel her deadpan stare, 'Whatever will bring you the most peace, my friend. I shall see you later.'

'Yeah, sure,' Ren waved nonchalantly with her free hand, moments before it became occupied with Sir Slicington. 'See you around.'

As the door closed behind her, Ren had thrown the knife in a particularly high arc, both eyes on it as she was obscured from the Dullahan's view. She leaned back against the door, a frown marring her face. The knife came down, blade first, and at the last possible second her hand snaked out, capturing the favored weapon between two fingers. There was a smaller engraving, on the pommel of the knife, in a tiny, flowing script. A message, just for her: "From Jae, with love."

Ren Syfte exhaled hard, through flared nostrils, and thought of the past for the first time in a long time.

'Shit.'

************

'Just so you know, excision's almost complete,' Sander said, with a yawn, as the sun set. 'We should have a new arrival by tomorrow.'

Mara grinned, her eyes heavy lidded as she basked in the final warmth of the day. Her eyes never left the horizon, but her hand drifted out to find Sander's, and she laughed, 'Killer.'

'Should be interesting.'

'It's...' Mara paused, wondering whether it would be smart to say anything at all. But she'd known Sander for fourteen years, and that one day of the year would come whether she spoke of it or not. 'It's getting close to that day, isn't it?'

'Yes,' To his credit, Sander was only frowning. 'Yes, it is.'

Mara almost sighed. Great. For the next few days, until that day had passed, being alone with Sander would be mildly unpleasant. When the others were around he would be completely normal and fun, but that would only be his public face. On the one hand, it was kind of nice that he trusted her enough to show her when he was unhappy, but on the other... This was a sustained period of, well, moping. She understood why, but it didn't make it any easier to watch.

It probably didn't help that, to the rest of the galaxy, that day was a day of celebration; the day that Sander Hackett, one of recent history's greatest villains, had been ousted from power. That had to sting.

It couldn't be easy, watching people celebrate the day his wife had died.

To be continued...