A Day In The Life (Eleven/Emilie)

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It appeared that his future self hadn't read his mind exactly. The younger Doctor would have preferred negotiating with the Sea Devils after they had already begun the process of sinking the city again. If the Sea Devils had refused to negotiate with them, then it would have been a simple matter of tinkering around with their machinery to ensure that they could never raise their city from the water again and a little more tinkering around and they could have created an unbreakable force field to ensure that none of the Sea Devils raised their head above the water again.

Still, though, the Doctors had the upper hand as the Sea Devils appeared none too happy with them being so close to their computer. "You can learn to coexist peacefully with humans," he added, "Over seventy percent of this planet is water, and that seventy percent humans can't inhabit." Well, accounting for islands and oil rigs scattered throughout the planet, it would be somewhat less than seventy percent but the point still stood. The Sea Devils had plenty of space they could call their own without having to worry about humans taking it from them.

It was all rather simple really but the Doctor could see that the Sea Devils still looked somewhat concerned. It was as if they wouldn't be satisfied with anything but the whole planet at their hands, which was very ridiculous. If this Doctor couldn't make them see reason, then hopefully his older self, who had dealt with these creatures before, could say something that would change their minds.

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It seemed like they were looking to make up their minds. However, the fact that the Doctors had the upper hand anyway was truly helpful. That was where the divide between the younger and the older Doctors were. They both looked for peace.

Sometimes though, with the right push, when the Eleventh Doctor was backed into a corner, he would take the easy route. He nodded toward the younger Doctor and said, "As my younger self said, there's more world for you to inhabit than the humans can."

Jamie looked to Zoe and said, "He's faster on tha punch. I kinda like that? What d'ya think happens that changed our Doctor so much?" The Highlander was no fool, he had a good idea of just how much older The Doctor could be. If everything The Doctor said was true, of course.

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Everyone's focus was elsewhere, so Emilie decided to do what she did best.

Wander off.

Backing up carefully, she faded without much notice. Emilie hadn't forgotten what the Doctor had said about the island having been in a time lock. That would imply no time had passed for the inhabitants or the space inside the lock since... before? after? the island had sunk.

And an island like this had no doubt been sunk intentionally. With the most extensive type of life support imaginable. But if that button the Doctors had found sunk the island as they thought...

What actually powered the time lock? And why had it broken to begin with?


Zoe simply shrugged, not wanting to say out loud to Jamie of all people that there was something she didn't know.

"Time, I expect. Who knows what he's been through. I think we can trust him though, don't you, Jamie?"

As reluctant as she had been initially, the more time Zoe had to observe this new man, the more similarities she could see.

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The Sea Devils in the room were considering the Doctors offer. They gave each other a few looks and nods as they designated one of them to be their spokesperson. "Humans would never agree to coexist peacefully with us," he said, putting up front an issue the younger Doctor knew was one that needed to be thought about carefully. Humans were very stubborn creatures who wanted all of Earth to belong to no one but them.

But the Doctor still had some faith in humans' ability to get along with another intelligent race living side by side with them. "You won't know until you try," the Doctor said, "Some of their world leaders are at least open-minded enough to consider your proposal." The Doctor didn't even want to begin thinking about what would happen if Earth's leaders shrugged the Sea Devils off. It was a war the humans possibly couldn't win, with the Sea Devils being able to take refuge in the deepest places on the planet--places where no human technology that could destroy them would be able to reach.

The Sea Devil looked towards his fellow creatures before speaking again. "Very well. We will talk to the human leaders and listen to what they have to say." The Doctor noted the doubt on the other Sea Devils' faces but the decision had been made. It was wonderful to run into other aliens who knew how to be reasonable when they needed to be.

"Splendid!" the Doctor exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He would share the news with the others. He made his way out of the room and back into the corridor. There were Jamie and Zoe right where they had left them. But..."Where's Emilie?" he asked the two of them.

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When The Doctor, his Doctor rather, not the younger one in the funny getup, asked where Emilie was, Jamie looked around, "Wha'dya mean Doctor, Emilie is," the Highlander stopped when he didn't notice Emilie anywhere, "Not here."

He looked to Zoe and said, "Well, look what ya did Zoe. Ya let her run off!" He tried to pass his half of the blame onto his fellow companion. There was no chance Zoe would let it slide, and The Doctor wasn't going to buy it either, but it had been worth a shot.

"Well, we'd better go find her, Emilie could get herself into an awful lot of trouble," The Eleventh spoke up, taking charge of the situation, "Zoe, you and Jamie go down the hall to the right, and I'll go with me to the left." He looked to the Sea Devils' leader who said, "We will not harm her. I will send the word around that you are friends of our people."

The younger looking Doctor turned to his other self and smiled, "Excellent. Shall we Doctor?"

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Emilie couldn’t explain, even to herself, why she felt drawn to the prison. She had wanted to stay there before and was determined to return to it now.

For some reason, it just seemed important.

While the Sea Devils themselves seemed to be fairly above board (they certainly made it no secret if you were on their bad side, and Emilie could appreciate that), there were too many pieces to this puzzle that did not make sense to her.

Apparently her – instinct?- thought a missing piece could be found near their abandoned cell. She came to a stop in front of it before closing her eyes and listening intently.

What was she missing?

Whispers.

A sound that was almost like running water, if the ground was not so water laden as to be sodden and full of patches of standing water.

There was someone else here! And this time, Emilie knew it was not just guards.

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"I let her? Oh..."

Zoe harrumphed her displeasure before the Doctor came up with a plan that had Zoe at least keeping her displeasure to herself.

"Oh, alright then."

She didn't want Emilie coming to any harm after all.

"Come on then, Jamie. You ought to be good for something!"

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The Doctor knew that Jamie was lying. It was rather obvious but he didn't have time to scold his companion right now. "I will deal with you later," he told the Highlander. He wouldn't tolerate his friends lying to him, nor having the courage to accept the blame for things they had (or hadn't) done correctly. Everyone made mistakes, even the Doctor, and it was an important test of character whether or not the mistake-maker had it in them to take the blame.

He listened to his older self split them up into pairs. The younger Doctor would have preferred going with Jamie but he was sure Zoe was quite capable of keeping him out of trouble and that her and her painstakingly logical brain had just as good a chance of finding Emilie as the two Doctors did working together.

"Be careful!" he shouted out to his companions as they started making their way down their chosen direction. The Sea Devil leader had said no harm would come to them but all of the Sea Devils hear might not agree with their leader's more diplomatic way of running their community. Some spoiled egg or eggs in the group might try and kidnap Jamie and Zoe to get the leader to listen to them.

There wasn't much the Doctor could do about it, though, as his companions soon disappeared from sight. "After me, Doctor," he said, gesturing for the older him to proceed down the corridor first.

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The older Doctor smiled and looked back to his former companions, "Jamie, keep an eye on Zoe. Zoe, make sure Jamie doesn't hurt anyone. Look out for each other." He spoke briefly, knowing that with his younger appearance, they probably didn't take him as seriously as they did 'their" Doctor.

"After me, Doctor."

"Wonderful, I forgot how polite I was!" He sauntered after his younger self before saying, "Take it easy on the boy. I'm sure he didn't mean anything serious. We'll find Emilie, she's quite capable." More than what he said, he really meant to tell his younger regeneration to enjoy his time with his friends while he could. The War Games approached him every day.

~~~

Meanwhile, Jamie and Zoe headed in the opposite direction. The Highlander was looking around boldly, willing to drop anything that came at them like a bad habit, "Ye be careful Zoe. I don't want anything harmin' ye. An' I don't trust tha Sea Devil as far as I could throw 'em."

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Emilie decided within a matter of moments that while hanging about trying to make out all of the whispers might be the smartest thing to do, it was by no means the most efficient. Especially when the sound was distorted so. So she chose the direct route, peeking in to the cell that seemed to be the source of the speech.

There were two Sea Devils gathered around a strange device, both rather old, Emilie thought. Although there was not really any way to tell. Other than they had similar coloring to the current leader.

'Now I know I've really lost it.' one said. 'I seem to be hallucinating.'

'How do you mean?'

'My eyes keep telling me there is a hairless ape out there.'

'Covered in a bright red cloth?'

'Well, yes. How did you know?'

'You're not insane. The time lock broke, remember? That's why you were so keen on us returning to the service.'

"Excuse me," Emilie cut in. "I hate to interrupt, but, do you know why the time lock broke?"

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Zoe nodded her understanding to the younger Doctor.

"Don't worry," she assured them both. "I won't let him do anything rash," she promised before racing after the Highlander.

"Ye be careful Zoe. I don't want anything harmin' ye. An' I don't trust tha Sea Devil as far as I could throw 'em."

"Oh, Jamie. They seem perfectly nice now. Let's not borrow trouble. We have to find Emilie!"