"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

There is nowhere else to go. Grabbing for her squareness gun, River opens up the wall next to us in a last bid for escape. "This way, quickly, move!"

We keep running this time. The shadows follow, closing in on all sides. It takes a while before River opens up a wall and leads us into another rotunda, with a circular skylight. "Okay, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross."

Seeing him at the edge of the safe zone, I nervously warn him, "Doctor..."

"I'm doing it," he calls back, fiddling with the settings on his sonic.

"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming, we can't stay long." She doubles over, hands resting on her knees for support as she breathes deep. "Have you found a live one?"

He doesn't reply for a moment, too distracted with his search. "Maybe, it's getting harder to tell." The sonic flickers and he slaps it a few times. "What's wrong with you?"

I fall to the floor in my exhaustion and allow my aching legs to rest. The darker it gets, the more the shadows creep in, the harder I find it to breathe.

River clears her throat and looks around at her colleagues. "We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?" Reluctantly, Dave pulls out the one he seemed to have been keeping for later, wrapped up in tinfoil in his pocket. She tosses it at the shadow and it immediately turns to bone. "Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming."

Groaning, I hide my head in my hands and try to shut out the drumbeat pounding in my ears. My hands only muffle the sound so much. I still hear Dave's hushed question, "Who is he? You haven't told us. You just expect us to trust him."

She glances over her shoulder at him. "He's the Doctor."

"And who is the Doctor?"

"The only story you'll ever tell, if you survive him."

I shut my eyes tightly and try harder to block out their voices but it's no use. "You say he's your friend," Anita hisses, "but he doesn't even know who you are."

"Listen, all you need to know is this: I'd trust that man to the end of the universe — and, actually, we've been."

They all go quiet as his footsteps come and go. "He doesn't act like he trusts you."

She sighs, "Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met me yet."

"You love him, don't you?"

Everyone looks to me. My whisper is hoarse, barely audible, but I know she hears it. For a moment, she hesitates, caught out. "That's a very big question to ask, Inara. What makes you think I do?"

I shrug helplessly, tears threatening to fall. "Because you know his eyes."

She remains silent.

"Nobody ever notices them," I continue with a despairing laugh. "They just think, 'brown'. But there's so much more, you and I both know that. He's lived a long time, he's seen a lot. And they show it."

With that, she moves over, coming to kneel in front of my huddled form. She goes to rest a hand on my quaking knee but thinks better of it. "I'm not trying to come between anything, I hope you know that. I didn't know you would be here."

My fidgeting stops. I look up in alarm. "What's that supposed to mean?" When she doesn't answer, I catch hold of her wrist. "River, do you know me, too? Have we met?"

Her lips part to form an answer that doesn't come. She winces and tries again. "No."

My heart drops. I don't think I truly expected her to say it. When I asked, there was still some hope. She said before, she lies all the time. Something tells me this isn't one of those times.

With nothing left to say, she gets up and makes her way over to him. He has the sonic up to his ear again. "What's wrong with it?"

"There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it."

She shifts on the spot, too nervous to keep still. "Use the red settings."

He looks up at her in confusion. "It doesn't have a red setting."

"Well, use the dampers."

"It doesn't have dampers."

Digging through her pockets, she passes him her screwdriver and says, "It will do one day."

His task forgotten, the Doctor stands, eyes darting from the screwdriver to her face. "So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver."

"Yeah."

"And why would I do that?" he snaps.

She smiles. "I didn't pluck it from your cold, dead hands if that's what you're worried about."

Of course that isn't what worries him. But he pretends so. "I know that because..."

"Listen to me. You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor."

Still hugging myself tightly, I watch their conversation develop. His anger flares at her words. "Less emotion— I'm not emotional!"

Quickly growing exasperated, she sighs and gestures to the rest of us. "There are six people in this room still alive — including your wife —, focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young."

Once again, fear flickers across his features. "'Young'? Who are you? And how do you know about Inara?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Mr Lux finally shouts. "Look at the pair of you! We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple!"

Startled, they look to him, then back to each other. It finally sinks in. They know it, too. "Doctor, one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry." River glances over to me, true remorse shining through, causing her voice to crack. "I'm really very sorry."

She leans up and whispers something in his ear. I watch as his face changes. His eyes widen, the fear now more real than ever. And he looks at me. He looks at me like he wants to cry, like he wants to burn this place to the ground.

I know there can only be one thing that would do that to him. Something I don't know yet. His name.

"Are we good?" He has gone still, shaken, his eyes lost in mine. River tries again, "Doctor... are we good?"

He nods. "Yeah. Yeah, we're good."

She takes her screwdriver back and re-joins us. Her hand comes to rest on my shoulder as she urgently pleads with me, "Inara, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I had to—"

"It's all right," I utter, barely a breath. She stares at me. Smiling weakly, I grasp her hand. "If you know who I am, then you know I can't lie. River, I understand."

Before she can reply, the Doctor returns to the centre of the room, ending whatever could have come from this conversation. "Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with, nothing's strong enough. Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. There is a very strong signal coming from somewhere and it wasn't there before, so what's new? What's changed?" He barely gives us a chance to stand, shouting again, "Come on! What's new? What's different?"

Dave pouts as he has to get back to his feet. "I don't know, nothing. It's getting dark."

He looks to the young man, as if stating the obvious when he retorts, "It's a screwdriver, it works in the dark."

I look up at the window. The sky has turned lilac, patterned with sunset clouds. A giant waxing moon has appeared, like a pupil at the centre of the dusk's iris. "Maybe it's not about the dark," I muse quietly. "Maybe it's about what comes with that. What do we know about the moon?"

Mr Lux shrugs. "It's not real, it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon."

"What's a 'doctor moon'?"

"A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet."

Sparked by the idea, the Doctor tries his sonic again and points it skywards. "Well, it's still active, it's signalling. Look. Someone somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the moon, or possibly alive and drying their hair." He holds it to his ear again. "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it but it's trying to break through."

A ray of light suddenly shines from the end of the sonic, projecting a hologram before us. "Donna!"

She gasps and disappears.

"Doctor, that was her, that was your friend. Can you get her back? What was that?"

The buzzing of the sonic comes in intermittent waves, losing strength. "Hold on, hold oh, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength. I'm being blocked!"

"Professor?"

"Just a moment."

Sniffling, Anita speaks up again, "It's important. I have two shadows."

We all scatter away from her. Just like with Dave, she has a second silhouette right behind her, looming.

"Okay. Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours," River gently commands.

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good."

She fixes the woman with a stern look. "Just keep it together, okay?"

Anita laughs softly. "I'm keeping it together. I'm only crying. I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction."

The helmet is fixed over her head. The Doctor scans it with his sonic and the visor goes dark. River gasps, "Oh, God, they've got inside."

"No, no. I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone."

We both look to him, impressed by the idea. "Do you think they can be fooled like that?"

His guilt only shows for a moment. "Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm, not like we chat."

Dave cautiously takes a step towards her and calls out, "Can you still see in there?"

"Just about."

I try to approach but the Doctor waves us away. "Just— Just stay back. Professor, a quick word, please? Inara, come here."

"What is it?"

We crouch beside him and lean in to hear his lowered whisper. "Like you said, Professor, there are six people still alive in this room."

She nods. "Yeah, so?"

"So... why are there seven?"

In the entrance to the rotunda, the skeleton suit stands. "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The Doctor grabs my hand. "Run!"

—

The next door we pass through leads us to a glass-covered walkway. One side is walled with bookshelves, the other, windows overlooking the spires and towers below. The Doctor ushers us ahead of him. "Inara, Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot."

"Have you lost it?" I shriek.

"It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it!"

"Five minutes."

I try to go back to him but River pulls me back. "Get off me!"

Her hold on me tightens, not enough to hurt but enough to stop me from struggling. "Don't be an idiot," she urgently pleads. "You haven't got a suit and, let's face it, you are not in a fit state to be facing off these things. Being dead is of no use to anyone. Now, come on. Other Dave, stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor."

We find ourselves in another circular room, with yet another marble design on the floor, like the star of a compass. This one, however, has a metal panel at the centre. I frown and walk over to it, crouching to get a better look. "That wasn't in the other rooms."

"No, it wasn't."

"You check it over. I'll take a look around, see what else there is here," I say. 

A moment passes, only the whirring of her sonic fills the silence. She glances up at me a few times. "You're taking this surprisingly well. Are you sure you don't hate me, not even a little bit?"

I chuckle, making my way up to an information panel at the side of the room. "One of the first things I realised when I fell for the Doctor was that I could never be the only one. I'm not the first, I won't be the last. That doesn't make it mean any less, though. I just have to be ready to let go when the time comes. Besides, how can I hate someone for loving him?"

We pass into the quiet again. I try to type a request but the computer refuses to recognise me. All I can find is the lifeform scan: only six of us left. My mind is distracted. I look to her again. "What's he like? In the future, when you know him, what is the Doctor like?"

"He's good," she replies with a fond, distant smile I know far too well. "Very good. Scary sometimes, and a bit intense. But I see the mannerisms really carry through — the hands on his hips, bounding around like a bloody puppy... and, oh God, the sarcasm! Sometimes I just want to scream."

"Yeah, he'll do that to you. Bloody nightmare sometimes. But in a... sweet way. Does he still do that thing where his voice raises an octave when he's surprised?"

Moving to scan another part of the hatch, she sighs. "Oh, yes! I'll admit, I find it rather—"

"Endearing. Yes."

"Are you two quite done?"

At the same time, we look over and shout, "Oh, shut up, Mr Lux!"

Behind her darkened visor, we can hear Anita's tearful laugh. "The way you two look at him... it's like he's magic or something."

River nears her, still anxious to get too close. "He's better. You've only seen a fraction of what he can do now. But my Doctor?"

I can't help but smile again at that. I remember what it was like meeting that future version, how she had been so similar but not quite right. She was like the last page in a book I'd barely begun, so much still to discover.

I put my full focus on River, watching that all too familiar struggle on her face as she tries to find the right words to describe such an indescribable person. "I've seen whole armies turn and run away, and he'd just swagger off back to his Tardis and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor... in the Tardis... next stop: everywhere."

"Spoilers!"

There he is, standing on the overhanging walkway above us. He makes his way down the steps a few at a time as he always does, his glare fixed on River. "Nobody can open a Tardis by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that."

"It does for the Doctor."

The look he directs at her is withering and I find myself suddenly feeling quite ill. I never want to experience what River is, to meet him and not be recognised. It must be the most painful thing in the universe —  the Doctor not wanting to know you.

He spits back a cutting response, "I am the Doctor."

"Yeah. Some day."

Without another word to her, he heads over to Anita. "How are you doing?"

Only now do I realise that he has returned alone. "Where's Other Dave?"

"Not coming, sorry."

Anita stands rigid in place, scared to move a muscle. "Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?"

He looks to the two shadows darkening the floor at her feet. "I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference."

"It's making a difference, all right," she replies with an edge of nervous sarcasm. "No one's ever going to see my face again."

He remains cold and serious. "Can I get you anything?" he still manages to warm his voice for her, to offer comfort.

"An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?"

"I'm all over it."

When he turns to leave, she speaks again, "Doctor. When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" No response comes. She sighs, "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe."

I know that tone. He's had an idea. "What is it, Doctor?"

"Safe. You don't say 'saved', nobody says 'saved'. You say 'safe'. The data fragment! What did it say?"

Surprised by the sudden attention, Mr Lux looks up to him. "'4022 people saved. No survivors'."

River joins me, watching as realisation morphs across his features. "Doctor?"

"Nobody says 'saved'. Nutters say 'saved'. You say 'safe'. But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant— it literally meant... saved!"

It hits me. "Oh my Gods!"

He runs over, pulling me with him to the information panel. With a bit of work from his sonic, the screen finally changes and we see a globe projected on it. It is overcome in a second by a pulse of blue light. "See, there it is, right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. The Vashta Nerada came here in the books, in the paper, it's their forest. As soon as they hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out."

Leaning around us to get a look, River is baffled. "It tried to teleport 4022 people?"

"It succeeded, pulled them all out. But nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the whole Library, Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4022 people, all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"It saved them."

Seeing the others are confused, the Doctor hurries over to the nearest desk and swipes away the books scattering it. I anticipate him and toss a nearby whiteboard pen into his waiting hand. He draws a large, rather squashed circle. "The Library, a whole world of books—" he then adds a smaller circle within and shades it clumsily "—and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4022 people the only way a computer can." An arrow leads right through the two circles into the centre. "It saved them to the hard drive."

A red glow falls across the room. The lights have changed, flickering, and an alarm blares. "Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes."

"What? What's going on?"

The computer screen flashes up a countdown. River fearfully reads its warning. "What's 'maximum erasure'?"

"Twenty minutes, this planet's gonna crack like an egg."

"No," Mr Lux argues. "No, it's all right, the doctor moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL."

"Again with 'CAL'!" I shout, storming up to him. "What in Minerva's name is CAL?"

The screen goes dark. Panicking, the Doctor shakes it. When that doesn't work, he climbs up the shelves behind to get a look at the back of the panel. When he shakes it, the computer announces, "All Library systems are permanently offline, sorry for any inconvenience."

Mr Lux's panic rises as the alarms continue to ring. "We need to stop this. We've got to save CAL!"

"What is it, what's CAL?"

"We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you."

The Doctor frowns. "It's at the core of the planet."

"Well then, let's go." Heading over to the metal hatch in the centre of the floor, River points her sonic at it. It opens up and a pillar of blue, rippling light shoots up from the opened gap. "Gravity platform."

I step onboard, sending her a playful nudge. "I can see why he likes you."

—

A/n:

Things are getting interesting...

Of course Inara and River get on, they're way too similar. The Doctor really does have a type.