Chapter Text
The Paths We Walk
Orbiting two suns at the far reaches of the galaxy, between the dead world of Amadi I and the vacuous space left by Amadi II when it vaporized sixty four thousand years ago, Amadi III was bathed in a soft amber light as the northern hemisphere entered into the transitional period between the two suns. The planet’s distance from both solar objects was great and left the surface frozen; ice, thirty kilometres thick in some places, formed on top of permafrost preventing any living creature from inhabiting the planet by natural means. Nevertheless as the light from the amber sun dimmed and the fainter green light from the nocturnal sun stretched its way across the frozen wasteland the glow of artificial lighting stretched up from the planet in large numbers turning the ice into a patchwork quilt of colours.
On the surface, at the outer edge of Toteln City limits, beyond the compound walls, two mostly humanoid people walked, arms linked together over the snow drifts staring up at the pale stars. As 243rd generation Amadi they had been born on the planet and were becoming genetically suited to the harsh environment. Dressed warmly their paper white faces were the only part of them left exposed to the cold. Their eyes were wider than humans with pupils more dilated to cope with the low light levels and they had no discernable nose, breathing instead through a series of small holes which were protected by tough flaps of skin that sat in a vertical line half way between eyes and mouth.
The stars are bright tonight
The woman, the taller of the two with an angular face and blue eyes, pointed skyward with her free arm, the other entwined with the man’s and stuck firmly in her coat pocket.
They stood on the summit of a low lying hill admiring the sky and the lights that danced on the ice.
He looked at her with soft brown eyes, Do you ever wonder what it would be like to spend the night under the stars? Just you and me?
She laughed soundlessly her face alive with possibilities, It would be beautiful and for you I’d try it, just the once.
As they talked the wind picked up and snow started to fall. Huddling together against the cold they watch a meteor burn up across the sky with an orange vapour trail following behind. Amadi III was an inhospitable planet beyond the walls of the compounds, nocturnal wandering — and in general any activity outside of the city limit — was considered foolish. The wind blew across the city in a north/south direction and carried with it the odd note of music, not loud enough to hear the words, but beautiful just the same.
We should go back, Ellor, the night is getting cold.
Ellor nodded his agreement and squeezed her tightly, Come on then.
Turning around they stared in disbelief. Toteln city had vanished and all that could be seen from the hill to the mountains in the East, was ice.
* * *
“It’s snowing!”
Rose held out her hand and caught a large snowflake as it tumbled helplessly from the sky. In her hand it lasted just a second before melting away to a tiny drop of water.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows and grinned, “That’s what I love about you…You see the end of the Earth, save the planet a handful of times, survive Cybermen and Daleks, and are still marvelled by snow.”
The droplet of water in Rose’s hand evaporated into the atmosphere and she touched the spot where it had been idly with a lightly clenched fist, “It’s colder here than Earth,” she said drawing her duffle coat close around her neck, “Where did you say we were?”
The Doctor, with only a trench coat over his suit to ward off the cold, appeared not to notice the icy conditions, “Amadi III, nice little planet, semi-humanoid race, bit hairy though, probably to do with the weather… cross between the yeti and a mild tempered grizzly bear,” he paused ignoring Rose’s slightly blank look and stared out into the distance, “You see that?”
Following the Doctor’s outstretched finger towards the horizon Rose could make out the outline of a structure which seemed to be built into the snow. Vaguely resembling what human’s would call a cathedral, towers of snow, or perhaps ice, were illuminated by a neon blue light which dissipated into the vaguely green light from Amadi III’s second, nocturnal, sun.
“It’s beautiful… what is it?”
“Opera house,” he wrinkled up his nose and considered for a moment, “Well… they call it opera, sounds more like a cat with its tail stuck in the door.”
Rose laughed, “All opera sounds like that to me.”
“Trust me, it’s much worse.”
“So what are we doing here?” The snow began to fall more heavily covering an already white landscape with an extra coating of frozen ice particles. Standing still Rose thought she could feel the earth moving beneath her feet, turning in its orbit so many millions of miles away from her home, “Don’t tell me you brought us here to see a show?”
“Close, beauty competition, best in the galaxy,” the Doctor’s face as impassive but his eyes flashed with a smile that he had banished from his lips.
Rose slapped his arm and then huddled up to him for a little extra warmth, “Hairy women in bikini’s?”
“Equality Rose! Males and females compete together here… it’s a bit cold for bikini’s though,” squeezing Rose’s arm for a second he released her to grab her hand, “Come on, there’s something I want you to see but we have to take a little walk.”
“In this weather?” Rose complained.
“The Amadi aren’t too fond of Time-Lords, can’t imagine why. The TARDIS will have to stay here where no-one can see it.”
“And they aren’t going to find us the slightest bit strange then?” she quickened her pace to keep up with the Doctor’s long strides, “Them being hairy and us… well… not.”
“Oh they have all kinds of alien’s here, even humans; it’s just the TARDIS that will draw too much attention,” he looked up to where a shuttle flew overhead making its way through the start of the snow storm, “A little misunderstanding I had with them a few centuries ago, the regeneration will throw them off the scent for a while, and if we keep out of trouble….”
Laughing loudly the pair headed off across the snow plain towards the blue light.
* * *
The opera house was infinitely more beautiful on the inside. The blue lights which shone through the windows, seeped through the crystal like columns of pure ice and reflected off the surface, dancing on the intricately carved ceiling which was decorated with heroic images from one of the Amadi mythologies. Winged creatures hung from the icy supports by their claws dangling upside down over the auditorium, some curled up in a sleeping type pose and others with their wings spread wide in preparation for flight. Semi-human people interacted with the animals, dancing, feasting, and inevitably fighting. In the very centre of the ceiling protruding down towards the auditorium by several metres there was a globe, presumably Amadi III, which was peeling like the skin of an orange, torn apart by a creature with talons as long as Rose’s hand, wings of a pterodactyl and the body of something that could once have been humanoid. Looking at the ice beneath her feet Rose realised she was walking on the discarded skin, peeled sections of the planet’s crust were carved into the floor directly under the ceiling decoration. Awed by the scale of the building she gapped at the carefully carved decorations which appeared to reach up from the centre of the earth right up into the world above.
Beside her the Doctor grinned, “Thought you’d like it,” he said his eyes more on his companion’s stunned expression than on the beauties that surrounded them.
“Like it? It’s amazing. It must have taken centuries to do all this.”
“Two actually, they had a little war in the middle that set them back a decade or two. Skilled craftsman aren’t so skilled with their fingers missing,” he nodded in the direction of a frieze which depicted the same monster from above cradling another globe in its lap, “Look at the difference in the carving, this one is still beautiful but the edges aren’t as precise. Mind you, working with ice for decades must have a numbing effect.”
“If this is all ice why doesn’t it melt away?” she reached out to touch the wall only to find the Doctor’s hand catching hers, “Is it always this cold here?”
“Don’t touch it. Your body temperature is much higher than the Amadi’s. A second of contact between your skin and this ice would wipe away half a face. That’s why this place feels so cold to you, it’s about 70 degrees below zero. Don’t knock it, this is summer. For half a solar year this place is in constant icy darkness. Gets down to zero degrees Kelvin outside.”
Snuggling into the duffle coat Rose shot a bemused look at him, “It doesn’t feel that cold.”
Giving a little shrug he exposed the inner lining of Rose’s jacket, his long fingers prising apart a small fault in the seam, “Special stuff. Didn’t want you to be cold.”
“Thanks,” Rose laughed loudly and listened to the sudden echo around the auditorium, “and ‘special stuff’ is a technical term I take it?”
“Oh absolutely,” he grinned again and, still holding her hand, whispered quietly, “Come on, they’re going to start singing in a minute.”
“Can’t we listen?” Rose hurried to keep up with the Doctor, “It can’t be that bad!”
“Outside,” he said, and thrust her out into the bitter wind as a low moan began to vibrate throughout the walls.
Outside the moan was quieter but still clear. It was a mournful sound, full of pain.
“Tuning up,” the Doctor said wincing at the sound, “The music is based on the harmonics of the building… or is it the other way around? Anyway if you stand inside it would perforate your eardrum. Should be okay out here; just remember I warned you, if you want to listen to howling felines you carry on.”
The snow began to fall more heavily as they stood a short distance from the building listening to the resonance of deep voices which rippled through the air. It began quietly, one voice joined by another and then another until the intensity seemed to be surrounding them, lifting them up but pushing them down at the same time. It was hypnotic. Others had gathered outside the opera house, small groups of Amadi dressed in fur coats Rose thought until she realised that they were unclothed and that the fur was their natural skin covering. The backs of their hands were also fur covered but the palms were pale and their faces were almost human except for the absence of a nose, at least at a hundred paces she could not see one, evidently an evolutionary device to protect against the cold winds. Short in stature, Rose estimated them to be about the same height as her, the fur concealed what she could only assume was strong muscle bound arms and legs. No looks were exchanged and Rose went back to staring at the opera house feeling the deep voices drawing her in.
Music reverberated through the ice the whole landscape amplifying the strange melody. It reminded Rose of a car passing by with the bass turned up so loud you could feel the air moving. The low bass resonated in her chest and she realised that her face was wet, the sound provoking a deep inexplicable emotional response as though the pain in the music was hers. The intensity of the sound was overwhelming and the hypnotic blue light kept her fixed to the spot, transfixed by it all.
The Doctor stood equally still, except for his eyes which he kept away from the blue lights focusing instead on the back of Rose’s head as she stood just a little in front of him. The sound rolled through his body too, awaking memories and driving itself into the forgotten corners of his mind bringing back with moments of love and loss with excruciating agony. His timing was out, which was unusual. He had anticipated being back at the TARDIS before the songs began, perhaps they had changed the performances in the last two centuries, after all, the last time he had been on Amadi III the building had only just been carved out of the ice face, the decorating had barely been started. But it was more than that, the music was wrong, very wrong. Before it had been loud, high pitched, and melodic but underscored by strange vocal anomalies that syncopated the tune like old jazz sung into an empty room. The ‘caterwauling’ he had promised Rose was something of an embellishment his memory of the last trip was tainted by some unwelcome advances from the lead vocalist and some other moments that he chose not to examine too closely too often. He felt his eyes drawn to the soft blue light and regretfully stared at it as it bleed through the ice towards them.
The cold forced its way through Rose’s jacket and she stepped backwards to stand side by side with the Doctor. She looked up at him with icicles forming from the tears on her face.
“Its so beautiful it hurts,” she said quietly.
The Doctor merely nodded, he seemed to be inside himself.
“I think we better get out of here,” she said, an uneasy feeling crept over her, “Come on.”
Rose took a few steps forward but realised that the Doctor was not following. He was standing, staring into the ice beneath his feet which seemed to be glowing with the same blue light that came from the opera house. It was spreading, reaching out from the building and surrounding the clusters of people who stood oblivious to the changes at their feet. Further away Amadi were falling without a sound, and then, Rose realised, they were sinking into the ice.
Dropping to her knees she used her arm to clear the freshly fallen snow. Beneath it was a solid ice sheet, clear as glass, that looked down to a crypt with dead eyes staring back up at her. Then the dead eyes blinked and a hand reached up stretching through the ice. With an exclamation of horror Rose jumped up and grabbed the Doctor’s sleeve.
“Doctor! Come on we have to go, unless you want to be a Time-Lord ice pop!”
Something of her words seeped into his dazed mind and his eyes focused on hers, “Oh, right-o lets get moving then,” he said in his usual cheerful tone and they made a run for it.
* * *
In the TARDIS Rose handed the Doctor a cup of sweet tea.
“Just like me mum’s,” she said with a laugh that sounded more forced than anything else, “You alright Doctor?”
The Doctor held the mug in his well manicured hands and frowned, “Actually… no.”
Rose hesitated, the Doctor was always alright, even when he was threatened by certain painful death he was alright, but this was just some music on a cold hell hole of a planet which had some lovely art work.
“You see, Rose, that shouldn’t have happened. That’s not the way it works. They’re supposed to sing off key for an hour or so, deafen half the neighbourhood, set off a few fire works and that’s the end of the show,” he drank the tea slowly and grimaced, “You’re right, just like your mum’s.”
“Well at least your sense of humour is coming back…” Rose breathed a sigh of relief, “So what is going on out there? People don’t just fall into ice. It was like they melted into it. And not one of them cried out, it was like they couldn’t speak.”
“Oh they cried out Rose,” the Doctor said in a quiet far-away voice, “I could hear them. Screaming in their minds, and projecting it out to anyone who knew how to listen.”
“You could hear them?”
He nodded, “And they weren’t doing that by choice. Something was making them go to that place… and we’re going to find out why!”
Suddenly he was a whirl of action again pacing around the room, thinking aloud, and pushing buttons on the consol, “Some kind of psychic field perhaps, drawing them in, or hypnosis… yes hypnosis is good, that would fit in. It has something to do with the change in the song, the voices have changed… we need to take a look at what’s going on in that building, have a word with the owners,” he paused and looked at Rose with renewed energy, “What did you see out there? And why didn’t you get sucked in?”
“I’m not complaining!” she retorted, “I’m not sure what it was, people just seem to fall over then vanish into the ice like they were sucked into sinking sand.”
He considered, “Sinking ice… that’s different. It would take huge amounts of power to do something like that, melting isn’t too hard it’s the immediate refreeze that would cause the drain, some giant refrigeration unit,” he whirled about in his own personal tornado gathering Rose up in the momentum, “Oh yes! Come on Rose, get your coat on, we have work to do!”
“Where are we going Doctor?” Rose barely had chance to pick up her jacket before he was ushering her out of the door.
“Back to the opera house. The performance is over, time for us to do a little snooping around.”
A broad grin spread across her face, “You’re loving this aren’t you?”
“The best adventures turn up in the most unexpected places,” he winked and stepped back out into the snow.