the hourglass (doctor who fan fiction)

Planet of the Ood pt. 4

The Doctor sonic'd the door controls leading us to see, "The Ood brain. Now it all makes sense, that's the missing link. The third element, binding them together. Forebrain, hind brain, and this, the telepathic centre. It's a shared mind, connecting all the Ood in song." the Doctor said. "Cargo. I can always go into cargo. I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business. Much more manageable, without livestock." Halpen thought out loud. "He's mined the area." Ryder warned. "You're going to kill it?" Donna asked. I saw the anger in her eyes. "They found that thing centuries ago beneath the Northern Glacier." Halpen said. "Those pylons." The Doctor looked around.

"In a circle. The circle must be broken." I said. "Damping the telepathic field. Stopping the Ood from connecting for two hundred years." The Doctor turned back to Halpen. "And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here. I expected better." Halpen said to Sigma. "My place is at your side, sir." Sigma responded. "Still subservient. Good Ood." Donna spoke up. "If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?" the Doctor turned to Donna. "Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt. The subconscious reaching out?"

Ryder looked over at us. "But the process was too slow. It had to be accelerated." Ryder looked back at Halpen. "You should never give me access to the controls, Mister Halpen. I lowered the barrier to its minimum. Friends Of The Ood, sir. It's taken me ten years to infiltrate the company, and I succeeded." I smiled, but it soon faded away. "Yes, yes you did." Halpen threw Ryder over the catwalk and into the brain. It absorbed him. "Oh my god..." I took a step back and bumped into the Doctor, who was behind me. He put his hands on my shoulders.

"You... murdered him." Donna said. "Very observant, Ginger. Now, then. Can't say I've ever shot anyone before. Can't say I'm going to like it. But er, it's not exactly a normal day, is it? Still." Halpen said holding his gun. "Would you like a drink, sir?" Sigma asked holding a drink in his other hand. " I think hair loss is the least of my problems right now, thanks." Halpen responded. Sigma moved infront of me and Donna. "Please have a drink, sir." Sigma said. Halpen began to look sick. "If, if you're going to stand in their way, I'll shoot you too." He couldn't hold the gun steadily. "Please have a drink, sir." Sigma repeated. Halpen gasped. "Have, have you poisoned me?"

"Natural Ood must never kill, sir." Sigma responded. "What is that stuff?" I asked motioning towards the drink. "Ood graft suspended in a biological compound, ma'am." My eyes widened. "What the hell does that mean?" Halpen exclaimed. "Oh, dear." the Doctor said. "Tell me!" Halpen looked pitiful. "Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red eye as revenge, came out in the rabid Ood as anger, and then there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma. How's the hair loss, Mister Halpen?" The doctor asked.

Hair came away in Halpens hand. "What have you done?" Halpen asked. "Oh, they've been preparing you for a very long time. And now you're standing next to the Ood Brain, Mister Halpen, can you hear it? Listen." Halpen looked more worried, he was sweating. "What have you? I'm not." His face went blank. I turned around hiding my face in the Doctors chest. I heard him drop his gun. "It's okay, Juno." The Doctor whispered to me. I turned around and saw that Halpen had become an Ood. "They... they turned him into an Ood?" Donna asked. "Yep." The Doctor responded. "He's an Ood." I said. The Doctor replied, "I noticed." Halpen sneezed and a small hind brain floped into his hands.

"He has become Oodkind and we will take care of him." Sigma stated. "It's weird, being with you. I can't tell what's right and what's wrong any more." Donna said. "It's better that way." I said. "People who know for certain tend to be like Mister Halpen." the Doctor added. There were a few beeps and the Doctor rushed over to the explosives and turned them off. "That's better. And now, Sigma, would you allow me the honour?" The Doctor asked. Sigma nodded. "It is yours, Doctor."

"Oh, yes! Stifled for two hundred years, but not any more. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!" Just as he finished, I heard current shut off, and then, most beautiful song I've ever heard. "I can hear it!" Donna exclaimed.

"The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies. Everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home." The Doctor said. Sigma looked at us. "We thank you, Doctor Donna and Juno, friends of Oodkind. And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you." The Doctor looked at Sigma. "Oh, I've, I've sort of got a song of my own, thanks." He smiled. "I think your song must end soon." Sigma said. "Meaning?" The Doctor asked. "Every song must end." Sigma replied. "Yeah. Er- what about you? You still want to go home?" He turned to Donna. "No. Definitely not." he turned to me. "And you, Juno?" I smiled. "Not me either." He turned to Sigma. "Then we'll be off."

"Take this song with you." Sigma said. "We will." I replied. "Always." Donna said. "And know this, Doctor Donna and Juno. You will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of Juno and the Doctor Donna, and our children's children, and the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever." Sigma said as we entered the tardis.

"I'm gonna head up for some rest." Donna said walking off into the tardis. "Alright then. G'night." the Doctor yelled from the console. "Juno? What about you?" he asked me. I shrugged. "So. What were you up to those five years?" he asked sitting down in the pilots chair. "Oh you know... stuff." I responded fiddling with my necklace. "Doctor, that night, when I asked about the necklace... you never answered." He looked up at me. "I know." I tilted my head. "You didn't have to leave did you?"

"I know what that necklace is." he responded. "Then why not tell me?" I asked. "Reasons." he said standing up. "Go get some sleep, Juno." he ruffled my hair and leaned on the console. I sighed and left him alone.