Galileo's Burden, Phase Alpha: Bungle in the Jungle

[cityship]

((PLOT POST! READ IT!))

Stacy's voice rang out through the corridors of the ship, announcing that a message had been received and would be played on the Obs Deck momentarily.

The message was patched through a few minutes later, shown on a holographic screen. It was shot in very poor video, from a very old communicator frequency.



A woman wearing a blue veil over her face appears on the screen. She speaks in a soft and cultured voice, bowing deeply before she begins.

“Greetings to the crew and command of the Transmigration 9. My name is Reda, revered mother of the village of Avania III on the planet Orya."

Reda pauses, bowing once more before removing her veil and revealing the face of a beautiful humanoid woman.



"It… pains me to ask for the help of outsiders, when we have so little to offer in return, but I beg of you. Please aid us. My people are becoming sickened by an ailment we have never seen before. It seems to come differently for all who suffer from it... some have fevers, some strange dreams, some begin to speak madness while awake. But no matter how it develops, they grow weary. Their faith weakens and they die, disgraced and turned from the eyes of the great goddess Avani."

Reda folds her hands together, frowning worriedly. "I have heard of your ship's great deeds even in such a small and isolated planet as Orya. Though I am hardly worthy of asking, I know there is no one better to ask for a favor such as this. What I ask is for… those who have knowledge."

"My people know little of the universe outside their village. They do not know what you know in the ways of medicine. Our shamans are not equipped to deal with a threat of this magnitude. We seek those who can help us ease our suffering. We have little to give in return for your help, but what we have is faith… enlightenment and enrichment of the soul, which we will gladly share with those who come to visit us."

Reda smiled softly, shaking her head. "I will understand if you deny my request. I ask much of you and cannot give much myself, but should you assist us, I will do what I can to help you. I will see to it personally that those who come to our help are taken care of and shown the greatest hospitality. My own Chosen soldiers will protect them, and if they should help us in our time of need, I will do everything in my power to aid your efforts against the Ohm. You have my word as a devout child of Avani."

The revered mother bows once more, kneeling down before the camera. "I will be happy to speak with you if you require more information. Please... I beg of you, help my people."

Comments

[itslikeimhappy.livejournal.com]

No, of course he didn't have what all he needed. He kept everything and nothing in those pockets of his, and who knew when any of it would actually come in handy. "Broken, what, did you tear a hole in them?"

Didn't matter how he broke the pockets, really, the process of watching the Doctor pack was worth the questions of why. Amy watched with a great amount of interest as the spade popped off to wherever, then smiled at the Doctor. "Might be a good idea," she agreed. "Wouldn't want any jammie dodgers in there getting lost." She was only half-joking. If he could fit the cookies in there, he probably would have.

Amy shifted on the crate to give the Doctor a little more room, and things were almost normal for about ten seconds before he had to go and say a strange thing like Rory not being Mr. Pond. The companion looked over to him, confused. "Does that mean we got married, then? How is that even possible, Doctor, I died."

[makeherblue]

"Already checked for holes," the Doctor said, lost in thought. He looked up sharply when Amy Pond had to go and un-marry herself as well in the next second. "Died? Oh...well," the Doctor seemed to suddenly have more formerly dead friends than he quite knew what to do with, the Time Lord staring at Amy and leaning closer to inspect her.

It wasn't quite the same as with Jamie. For one, both Amy and Rory were supposed to be well and alive not much later and he didn't get the sense of paradox coming out from her. If she hadn't told him she was supposed to be dead, he wouldn't have known. Clearly she must've taken a tip from Jamie -- she looked rather well for a dead woman, too. Not that Jamie was a woman (right, so that kilt did confuse things: Jamie only had to go and wear it so well). The Doctor searched Amy's eyes for a long moment before pulling back, almost reluctantly.

"I thought you'd look brilliant married. Ginger and a wedding dress. And," he reached out and patted Amy's knee, smiling at her. "Now that you've obviously not dead, nothing's stopping you from getting married."

...Although there was the matter of a proper wedding dress. Somehow the Doctor doubted she'd find one close to what she had hanging up in her bedroom.

aaaaand I fail.

[itslikeimhappy.livejournal.com]

And there was the regular Doctor, right there in her face and looking at her as though she was some kind of science experiment gone terribly wrong. At least something was halfway normal in the middle of Stacy. She obediently held still and let him look her over, even without orders. Easier (and better for everyone) if she just let him have his research or whatever and then moved along.

When he finally pulled back, Amy kicked her feet again and frowned. "Nothing except this ship," she noted, somewhat grumpily. There was no way she wanted her wedding to be on some insane dinosaur ship, even if it did seem like an okay plan. Rory was here, as was the Doctor. And the TARDIS, which meant they could avoid the scaly ship if necessary. After a moment, Amy nodded and looked decently pleased with the idea.

"If it would be okay with Rory, maybe someday soon. I don't exactly have the dress anymore, though." Pity, that, but as long as she had the other components and didn't spontaneously go back to being dead, the dress didn't matter so much.

Re: aaaaand I fail.

[makeherblue]

The Doctor frowned.

"Why wouldn't it be okay with Rory? He seems like the settling down sort." The way he said settling down made it seem like it was something he, personally, would rather avoid and he didn't quite see why Rory was so for it in the first place when his fiancee had it the right way around. "Good point about the dress, though."

Bit of a point. He wasn't sure if he had something in Amy's size in the TARDIS and anyway, he had a feeling -- not a niggle, a feeling -- that it was vitally important Amy Pond get married in that very specific dress. So, aside from saving all the never-where humans on Earth, it was also important he save her planet so she could have a proper dress and a proper wedding. He didn't tell her that yeah, okay, so maybe he'd already been and it was a fantastic wedding with her new-again parents. Lovely people. Unfortunately, as far as Amy was concerned, she was still an orphan, so that did make things...complicated.

The Doctor would simply have to watch what he said around either Rory or Amy. "So I trust you got all your...business out of the way with Rory," he said. "You'll have to be careful around the TARDIS; she's gone and shuffled about some of the rooms."

[itslikeimhappy.livejournal.com]

Rolling her eyes, Amy gave the Doctor's arm a light thwap. "That's not what I meant. I'm talking about here." She motioned around them. "I don't know how he would feel about having it here." Because he sure as everything had better not ever try to back out on her, or else. But wanting to postpone because of location? Well, she could sort of understand that. It wasn't exactly her favorite pick for the wedding or the honeymoon or...anything, really.

Amy sighed, scrunching up her nose with the smallest bit of disappointment. "He's been helping with the Medbay." It wasn't a bad thing, really. It was good Rory was helping, and that he'd found his little niche in all of this madness, but it meant that they had less time to spend together. A lot less.

"We found our room after some searching," she laughed. They found more than a few rooms they had never seen along the way, too. "Some adventure we had trying to find it, though. That pool of yours is trouble..."

[makeherblue]

Looking up at the sprawling flesh tubes running up the length of the Hanger’s ceiling, the Doctor followed Amy’s gesture, frowning to himself. Really? Because he wanted to say that it wasn’t often Rory Williams could get married in a living sentient ship with a fantastic name and if he was that hard to please, well! The Doctor didn’t know what to say.

He wouldn’t have thought Rory would be so hard to impress from his first impression of the human!

The Doctor listened as Amy filled him in on what Rory was up to. Medbay, nurse, human nurse, and so on and so forth. Sounded about right for Rory, he supposed, even if it probably cut into…kissy time. Whatever it was they still hadn’t got out of their systems after the honeymoon(s). Was Rory qualified to deal with the Time infected? No, probably never in his short human lifetime, but the Doctor rather loved him for trying anyway. Rory Williams, the best human in the world for Amy Pond. The Doctor laced his fingers together in his lap, comfortable sitting almost bumping shoulders with Amy.

“I told you it’d turn up,” the Doctor said, with the tiny bit of smugness, flashing a grin at Amy. Okay, so maybe it hadn’t been entirely 100% on purpose, but Amy didn’t need to know that. “Hopefully your stuff didn't got flying off in the shuffle.”

If not, expect a bit of a search.

[itslikeimhappy.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, Rory probably wouldn't mind it, and the ship was sort of growing on Amy. Still a little too squishy for her tastes, but there wasn't much to be done about that. The people weren't bad, though, and that counted for something.

There was a small pause as she finished the Rory update. Once all of this was sorted they would have more time together, she was sure of that, but he was going to stay busy with Medical after. Even if he hadn't actually said so, Amy knew. It was what he did, who he was. He wasn't Rory at all if he wasn't trying to help someone.

At least they had a real bed now. The Doctor didn't necessarily need to know about that one, though he would probably figure it out soon enough. "It's still there, most of it. What isn't can be easily replaced." She waved the sleeve of her sweatshirt. "At least our clothes were still around."