MISSING IN ACTION

Chapter 13

River was about to turn back to help the Doctor, but Rory forcefully dragged her down. She was all set to tackle him, when another blast from a Dalek gun sent them both ducking for cover.

"Listen. River. Calm down and listen. I want to help him, too. Do you think I don't?" Rory tried to reason with her. "But we can't. Look, the Doctor has risked his life to save us. The best thing we can do for him now, is to not make his efforts pointless. We have to get to the TARDIS. Then, when we're safe, we can rescue the Doctor."

Glaring at him, River wanted to tell him how wrong he was. Instead, she sighed. She knew that Rory was right. The Doctor lay perfectly still, his helmeted face plastered to the dusty surface of the planet. There was no way to tell if he was dead or alive.

"Alright, Rory." She agreed reluctantly. "The Doctor said the TARDIS was over behind these rocks. Altaar is controlling those Daleks. What we need is some way to distract him."

"I think I can handle that." Came a voice from behind the rocks.

"Margatha! What are you doing here?" Rory asked. "I thought the Doctor told you and Amy to stay in the TARDIS?"

The young alien woman scooted over to them on her hands and knees, narrowly missing a Dalek laser ray. She was suited up in an old fashioned silvery earth space suit. Strangely, it had Russian wording on it and a shoulder patch that read USSR. She appeared to be weaponless.

"How are you going to distract him? You don't even have a weapon. Altaar's gone completely off his nut. I mean, there should be men in white coats hauling him off to the Priory." Rory said to her. "He'll probably have those Daleks shoot you dead, as soon as you show your face."

As if to prove her point, the Dalek robots started putting up a searching fire along the rocks and boulders. Bright flashes of light sent rock chips flying in all directions. River prayed that none of this shrapnel would penetrate their space suits. That would kill them just as certainly as a death ray would.

"I found this space suit in the TARDIS wardrobe. I told Amy I was going to find the kitchen to get something to drink. Then I put the suit on, and ducked out when she went looking for me." Margatha told him. "When I go, you run for the rocks. The TARDIS is less than two minute's run from here. You just have to get around that big boulder over there." She pointed past the rock she'd just come from behind. Get ready to run. There won't be more than a few seconds I can buy you."

"Margatha, please. We can find another way." River pleaded, "Don't..."

Before River could say anymore, the alien girl jumped up from her place and ran a zig-zag pattern towards Altaar's transport. Rory barely had time to register this, when River grabbed him and headed for the rocks. Momentarily, the robotic Daleks halted their searching fire, as Altaar noticed the young woman. Then without warning, one of the robot Daleks swiveled in Margatha's direction. In the blink of an eye, it zapped her. Stopped in her tracks, she gave a silent scream and flung out her hands, as her bare skull glowed in green X-ray vision, through the visor of the spacesuit.

"No!" Rory shouted, trying to twist out of River's grasp.

"Rory. Remember what you just told me about the Doctor?" River said gently, as they ran around the large boulder.

"Yeah. I know." He panted. "One good thing. With this rocky ground, those Daleks won't be able to get at us."

Rory noticed his visor was steaming up. So was River's. That wasn't good. They had to get to the TARDIS while they could still see properly. Obviously these suits weren't intended for track and field events. The Daleks were once again in hot pursuit. One had even begun levitating, to find them over the rocks.

"Oh look. It can fly. Got any bright ideas, River? Cos if you do, I'm all ears." Rory sighed. "No. Don't even think about it.." He added, as he saw the smirk on her face.

"Spoil sport." She sighed.

Just as the Dalek was about to rise over the rocks and get them in its sights, they spied the TARDIS. Putting on some extra steam, despite their bulky space suits, Rory and River just about made it to the ship. Meanwhile, another Dalek was approaching the Doctor's enert form. It stood over the Doctor's body, as if it were gloating. All of the sudden, it began to speak. Its voice was a distorted version of Altaar's. He was using the Dalek's speech modulator to talk to the Doctor.

"I've waited so long, Doctor. So very, very long. It took decades to train the Howling to obey my will. And no one ever suspected. You know Doctor, we're so alike, in so many ways. The last of our kind. By our own hands. It's almost a shame to have to do away with you. Oh, but I have to admit. I can't help myself. Killing you will be such a pleasure. The universe will revere me as the man who did away with the last Time Lord." Altaar said.

"You know, Altaar. I'd like to say something really witty and sarcastic right now, but the situation is just too pathetic." Said the Doctor. He slowly sat up, shaking his head groggily. "Look at you. You could have been brilliant. But, really. Us, alike? My people died because I had no choice. They were going to destroy everything that ever existed in time and space. But you? You butchered your people for one selfish purpose. To get at me. And that really makes me very angry."

Slowly, the Doctor stood up. His face was dark, and his eyes were smoldering. His fists were clenched. He ignored the Dalek and looked over at the transport vehicle.

"Enough with the idle chit-chat. Time to die, Time Lord." Came Altaar's satisfied voice.

The Dalek raised its weapon arm. The Doctor stepped back...just as the dust in front of him began to swirl. A grinding noise rent the air, as the TARDIS materialized. Right on top of the Dalek, flattening it. Then, the door opened, and the Doctor quickly ducked inside. He smiled tiredly at Amy and Rory, pleased to see that they were unharmed. Their helmets off, the two of them stood beside the Doctor, happy to be reunited with him.

River was standing by the TARDIS controls. The Doctor went and looked the console over critically.

"You know, River. There are times I do wish my future self hadn't given you TARDIS flying lessons. But," He grinned at her. "This isn't one of them. Thank you."

Inside the transport, Altaar let out a frustrated cry. He instantly summoned the Howling. If his Daleks couldn't get at the Doctor, the Howling would. It would consume the TARDIS and everyone inside it.

Within seconds, the whirling, bloated purple and green cloud came to its master's call. It headed straight for the Doctor's ship. Yet, all of the sudden, it came to a grinding halt, as overhead, another funnel cloud developed. This one was nearly invisible though, except for particles of dust it disturbed underneath it. It was inverted in shape. Like an upside down tornado. Dust from the surface began to be sucked up into the reverse vortex. Then, the Howling disappeared into it. The unusual tornado moved on to Daleks, then the mining transport. In seconds, they too, had disappeared.

As quickly as it had come, the inverted tornado vanished. Leaving nothing but the barren planet behind.

"What happened?" Amy said, watching it all on her monitor screen. "What was that thing?"

"We had to wear spacesuits because it's a vacuum out there, Amy. I merely changed the atmospheric density and ramped up the air pressure in one specific spacial ." The Doctor told her.

"And all that means what, exactly, Doctor?" Rory asked.

"I just invented the universe's biggest Hoover. As they were sucked into the vacuum, the Daleks and Altaar's ship were automatically consumed by the Howling. Then I made it go away. I sent the Howling to a remote part of uninhabited space, where it can exist without harming anyone."

"But why didn't you destroy the Howling?" A puzzled Amy asked.

"I think maybe cos there's been enough death today. Right, Doctor?" Rory asked softly, as he put his arms around his wife.

"Yes." The Doctor said, his eyes suddenly ancient and sad. "I had to save somebody. It's not the Howling's fault it killed so many. It was only doing what it was trained for. After all, it's a unique life form. Only marginally sentient, though. I doubt it really understood what it was doing. It was just obeying its natural instincts. And, I thought the Howling deserved its freedom."

"Doctor. I'm so sorry about Margatha." Amy said miserably. "If I'd only known, I would've stopped her."

"Stop it. You couldn't have known, Amy." River spoke up, walking up to Amy. "None of us did. Rory and I couldn't stop her either."

The Doctor had already shed his spacesuit and was busy working the TARDIS' controls.

"OK, we're all set." He said loudly, smiling at his friends. As if wanting to put everything behind him and move on. "River? Where can I drop you?"

"Oh, I might as well go back to prison. It's getting too dull around here for my taste." River told him. Then added, "But first, maybe a little side trip to Studio 54, say, circa 1976? I'd love to meet John Travolta!'

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