Cold Snap Part Two
With amazing speed the Doctor grabbed Millie's wrist as she fell. Dangling in mid-air, terrified, she looked up at the Doctor, her eyes pleading with him not to let her fall.
'It's okay, Millie, I've got you. Don't struggle.' Slowly the Doctor pulled her up to safety until she was back on the balcony. She flung her arms around his neck burying her face in his shoulder, holding back tears. Her chest heaved as she tried to catch her breath in the icy air. Pulling herself away, she looked at the Doctor.
'You saved my life, Doctor, thank you,' she said, clearly shaken.
'Oh that? All in a day's work. Besides, I seem to recall a certain young lady saving me from a very unfriendly dummy not so long ago.' The Doctor nudged her gently in the ribs, making Millie smile sheepishly.
With more bravado than she felt she said', 'Come on we have to get these blankets to Louie.' The Doctor helped her to her feet. And very carefully the friends made their way down the icy staircase.
***
'Millie!' cried out Aunty Rachael as she heard her daughter scream in the distance. She made for the door but the handle was still turning. Gripped with indecision, Aunty Rachael sank to her knees. Louie had an idea.
'Hang on, aunty, if I just adjust the sonic like the Doctor showed me.' He aimed the sonic at the door and switched it on. A short burst of noise emitted from the device and the handle abruptly stopped moving. 'Hopefully that has scared it off for now.'
'Whatever it is,' replied his aunt.
***
As Jack began to black out his legs buckled and he stumbled forward activating the generator as he fell. The machinery sprang into life and the lights throughout the theatre came on. Whatever was on his back became dislodged and heat again began to pulse through Jack's body. He slowly turned his head and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something dome-shaped, grey and gelatinous slither behind one of the many boxes. Resisting the urge to be sick, he pulled himself up and staggered towards the stairs.
***
'Good old Jack!' declared the Doctor brightly, as the lights came on just as they reached the bottom of the stairs, their arms full of blankets.
With that Jack staggered into the far side of the foyer before collapsing to the floor.
'Get these to your cousin,' said the Doctor urgently as he piled his blankets on top of Millie's. She looked over concerned at Jack as she walked the final few steps to the manager's office. The Doctor was sprinting over to Big Jack, agile despite the icy floor.
Mum, can you open the door?' asked Millie, 'my hands are full.' Millie could hear something being moved away from the door, and almost immediately her mum stood in front of her, a concerned look on her face. Millie stumbled in. Despite everything, Louie let out a feeble laugh at the sight of his cousin's mop of curly hair just visible atop the blankets.
'Here,' said Rachael, as she took the blankets from her daughter and began laying them over Louie. 'I heard you scream, what happened?' asked her worried mother.
'Oh I just slipped mum, it was nothing.' But Louie caught the look Millie shot him.
'Oh, oh. You sounded really panicked.'
'I'm fine mum, honest.'
***
The Doctor was kneeling over Jack, the young man's face pale and drawn. His strength slowly returning, he explained to the Doctor what had happened.
'Do you think you can stand?' Jack nodded and the Doctor helped him to his feet, and slowly they walked over to the warmth of the office, Big Jack leaning on the Doctor for support. Jack eased himself into the office chair that had barricaded the door just minutes earlier and Aunty Rachael placed some spare blankets over Jack's knees. As she went to place a blanket around his shoulders, the Doctor stopped her and taking a pencil off the nearby desk, he rolled it across Jack's back. Holding it up they all saw that it was covered in grey slime.
'Is it dangerous?' asked Millie.
'I don't think so, but let's get your jacket off, eh, Jack? Just to be sure.' Big Jack slowly removed his jacket and Aunty Rachael covered him with more blankets.
'Something attacked Jack in the basement,' the Doctor told them.
'We heard it,' Aunty Rachael said, 'it was outside the door. It made a kind of slithering noise. It was like nothing I've ever heard before.' The Doctor was studying the slime on the back of Jack's jacket.
'Do you know what it is?' asked Millie.
'I have an idea, Millie, but it doesn't quite fit. What am I missing?' The Doctor ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. With that the lights dimmed but this time didn't go out completely. 'Stay here,' the Doctor told them emphatically as he went out into the seemingly deserted foyer. After a minute or two Millie joined him.
'Doctor, you're worrying me.'
'Am I? Oh no, that will never do! We've been in much worse scrapes than this, Millie. Besides, my plan will work.'
'Your plan?'
'Yes, the one I'm working on right now, it's nearly there, on the tip of my tongue. It just needs a few more minutes to brew, like a good cup of tea.' Millie screamed, not the reaction the Doctor was expecting at all, but then he saw it, a grey, domed jelly like creature that had attached itself to her back.
Before he could react, the sound of the sonic split the air and the creature fell to the floor. Louie was leaning against the office door. He used his last vestiges of strength to save his cousin. The sonic slipped from his grasp as he sank to the floor.
Big Jack rallied himself, picked the young lad up, and carried him back to the sofa, slipping the discarded sonic in his pocket as he did so. Louie was exhausted and weak, but Jack could see he was a fighter.
'That was a very brave thing you did there, Louie,' Jack told him, 'You and Millie are such great friends. You remind me of someone I haven't seen in a while, he would have done anything 'to help his friends too, to help me.' Louie smiled weakly as Jack's voice trailed off. 'I'm going to get you some water,' said Jack. The Doctor who was standing just outside, smiled at Jack, before turning his attention back to the alien.
Aunty Rachael and Millie were sitting on the foyer floor, Aunty Rachael holding her daughter tightly.
'Are you alright?' Aunty Rachael stammered, hardly able to comprehend what was happening.
'I'm fine, Mum, it only touched me for a second, it was just a bit chilly that's all.'
Aunty Rachael stared at the creature in horror.
'What is it?'
'It's a newborn Brakari,' the Doctor answered. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to the alien. 'And it's very sick.'
'What's wrong with it?' asked Millie as she hauled herself up from the floor and moved towards the Doctor.
'Gently does it, we don't want to scare her now, do we?' said the Doctor smiling up at Millie. 'She's only a few hours old. The Brakari are a space dwelling species. They traverse the great distances between the stars and store energy, much like a camel stores water.'
'But this poor little thing is malnourished. Her mother must have been very low on energy when she gave birth.'
'And that's why it,' Aunty Rachael corrected herself, 'she, attacked Millie?'
'The Brakari aren't sentient creatures like you and I Rachael, they act on instinct. She was just doing what she needed to survive.'
'We must help her,' declared Millie, 'we can't let her die, she's just a baby.'
Jack had been listening this whole time, holding a glass of water for Louie. 'Doctor, if the creature, has only just been born, doesn't that mean...' his voice trailed off.
'Yes, the mother is here too. I think it was the mother that attacked you in the basement Jack. A fully grown Brakari, would be able to drain all of the energy from a human in just a few seconds. You were lucky to survive.' Big Jack went pale.
'So how do we find the mother?' he asked.
'Oh, with all of our body heat and the heat from the urn, I think it's much more likely that she will find us.'
'Well that's reassuring,' was his only reply as he took the water into Louie.
'Millie's right, Doctor, we have to help her,' said Aunty Rachael, kneeling beside the infant.
'And I intend to.'
'Doctor!' called Big Jack from the office, 'It's Louie, he unconscious!'
'I have to get into my TARDIS!' said the Doctor as he leapt to his feet.
'Your WHAT-IS?' asked Aunty Rachael.
'It's some special, umm equipment of the Doctor's that's all,' said Millie. The Doctor went over to the doorway under the staircase but it was locked shut.
'Of all the places to land...' said the Doctor in frustration as Millie came over.
'We have to get in Doctor, we have to save Louie and the alien.'
'Think, Doctor, think!' he said to himself.
'You can't open the lock with the sonic?' asked Millie.
'No it's a special kind of lock. A deadlock seal. A bit sophisticated for a cashier's office I would have thought but there you go.'
'But what about the hinges?'
'The hinges?'
'Well you can't open the lock, but can't you just remove the screws from the hinges on the other side of the door?'
'I knew I liked humans for a reason!' said the Doctor triumphantly, as he scooped Millie up and swung her around. 'Come on!'
Big Jack was holding the back of his hand on Louie's forehead, when Millie and the Doctor burst into the office.
'How's he doing?' asked the Doctor.
'About the same, Doctor,' replied Big Jack, 'I'm not sure how much longer he can last.' Millie came over and took Louie's hands between hers.
'Hang on in there, Louie. We have a plan,' his cousin told him, but Louie just lay there, seemingly oblivious to her words.
'Do you have my sonic screwdriver Jack? The cylindrical device Louie had earlier.' Big Jack nodded and handed it over. From outside, Aunty Rachael screamed for the Doctor. He raced towards her, followed by Millie and Big Jack. Aunty Rachael was kneeling next to the baby Brakari, but her eyes were fixed a few feet away from her at what was clearly the adult Brakari. It was shaking as though preparing to pounce on Aunty Rachael.
'Stay calm, Rachael,' implored the Doctor, 'we have to try to calm it down. Make it understand that we want to help them.' He slowly advanced until he stood between Aunty Rachael and the Brakari, but was careful to make sure that the Brakari could see her daughter.
The Doctor lay on his stomach so his face was eyelevel with the Brakari. 'I don't know if the TARDIS can translate what I am saying to you, but we want to help you. If we can get through that door over there,' said the Doctor gesturing with his hand, 'we can provide you with enough energy for both you and your daughter and our young friend in there. Nobody need die.'
Millie found she was holding her breath as the Doctor spoke, scared that the adult Brakari would simply attach itself to the Doctor's face and smother him, draining him of life. Seconds seem to last forever as the Doctor spoke, quietly and reassuring to the alien. Slowly its body movement relaxed and the creature seemed to settle. As the Doctor stood up, the Brakari instantly became agitated again, as she saw her daughter, who had grown increasingly grey and looked almost brittle. The baby was clearly dying.
Big Jack walked over to the Doctor and the Brakari.
'Doctor, you need time to get your equipment, but I don't think this wee one has that time. Let it feed off me. You have to save her and Louie'
'Jack!' cried Millie in alarm, but the Doctor looked Jack in the eye.
'Are you sure Jack, absolutely sure? The child might drain you before I get back, you could die.'
'I can't just stand by and let her die, and you're needed to get the equipment, Doctor, so that leaves me.'
'You're incredibly brave, Big Jack,' said the Doctor simply.
The Doctor knelt down beside the aliens and in his calm reassuring voice, told them that the child, and just the child could feed off Jack and that it was to try to control itself, to just take enough energy to survive. The Doctor looked up at Jack who nodded and then lay beside the infant.
'Thanks for everything, mum,' whispered Jack to himself.
'Now very slowly, Jack, move your left hand close to her, until just your fingertips are touching. The less physical contact you have, the less energy she should be able to drain at once.' Jack did as the Doctor suggested and as his fingers touched the creature, he stiffened and his hand went icy cold. Aunty Rachael returned from the office where she had been checking on Louie and lay blankets over Jack's prone body.
'Be quick, Doctor!' she implored.
With that the Doctor was on his feet, headed to the cashier's office. Millie was at his side. Millie glanced over her shoulder as the Doctor activated the sonic. Big Jack looked as grey as the aliens now, but at least the mother Brakari hadn't attacked.
'Hurry, Doctor!'
'That's one hinge off, just one more to go.' The Doctor turned his attention to the lower hinge and slowly but surely the screws span out under the influence of the sonic screwdriver. The Doctor handed Millie the sonic. 'Can you remove the last two screws? I need to brace myself against the door otherwise it will crash to the ground.'
Millie took the device, which she had never used before, and under the Doctor's reassuring gaze she activated it. Sure enough the first of the two screws rose out of the hinge and fell quietly to the floor. Less than a minute later the second screw fell away and the Doctor lifted the door clear.
'You're stronger than you look,' smiled Millie.
In the corner of the surprisingly large cashier's office stood the TARDIS. With not a moment to lose the Doctor quickly unlocked the door and Millie and the Doctor went inside.
Jack was fighting to stay awake, every bone in his body felt as though it was made of ice. Aunty Rachael was holding his hand and the Brakari child, while seemingly no better, hadn't deteriorated.
The Doctor and Millie bustled over; the Doctor was carrying some kind of heavy equipment and Millie cables that trailed behind her back into the cashier's office and the TARDIS. Millie handed the Doctor the end of the cabling which he attached to the equipment. Immediately it sprang into life and the Doctor removed a small circular pad and attached it to the infant. The effect was almost immediate. The grey gave way to a vibrant translucent white with small pieces of bright blue inside. Then to everyone's astonishment, the child began to levitate and thin tentacles hung from the body. The Doctor attached placed a further disc on Jack's forehead and then one on the Brakari mother. Millie took a fourth disc and ran in to Louie.
A few moments later, the mother and child were both hovering in the air, the light from their bodies reflecting around the room. Jack propped himself up on one elbow'' staring at the aliens. Millie was helping Louie over to the rest of the group, colour back in his cheeks and looking much more like his old self.
***
A short time later, Jack was finally locking the front doors to the theatre. It was snowing outside still, but from the warmth of the foyer, it looked magical. He slowly walked over to the cashier's office and read the sign on the blue box.
'Police Public Call Box. Nobody is ever going to believe this,' he muttered to himself, as he stepped inside the impossibly large ship. Louie, Millie, the Doctor and Aunty Rachael were stood by the console with the Brakari hovering nearby. Everyone seemingly none the worse for wear.
'Come on, Big Jack!' cried Louie, 'We're going to release them back into space.'
'This truly is a Christmas miracle,' he sighed to himself as the doors closed behind him. The TARDIS engines sprung into life and the ship slowly disappeared from the theatre.
