Dancing With The Devil (Leela, Nobody)

[Leela]

Location – Gallifrey, The Capitol, Mertha Lab 1

Technician Syamondaralith rubbed at his eyes, and spent a few minutes blinking at the information that was currently displayed, and then rubbed at his eyes again, until the information went from being a blur, to looking like readable words once again.

Not very surprising, he mused to himself, as he reached into the left sleeve of his robes, to scratch at his wrist.

“Technician Syamond, you really ought to get some rest.”

The voice of one of the assistants spoke behind him, startling him so badly that he actually jumped, very undignified for a Time Lord of his standing. He turned to face the young Time Lady that was standing behind him, and inclined his head in greeting. “Good evening, Lady Tresani. I apologize for the manner of my greeting. I am afraid I was not expecting anyone to be around at this time.”

“Morning, Technician Syamond.”

“Hmmm?”

“It's morning, and you have been working at that mainframe access point for four and a half spans now, without so much as a meal break. I really cannot say I'm surprised that you're getting jumpy and distracted.”

“It can't have been that long, can it?” On further reflection, it did feel like it, though.

Reaching past him, she tapped the screen, erasing a set of random number that he must have input, during a moment of unawareness. The light flashed green over his skin, as he watched them scroll back.

22.32, 31.5…

“I do have to get this finished, though. The Coordinator of The CIA expects this report on his desk within the next,” his fingers flicked, as he worked it out, “Two spans. Well, two and a half, to be precise.”

“If you do not get some rest, then I shall be forced to take action. I will lock you out of that system.”

“Orders are orders.”

Her face softened. She really was quite pretty, when she wasn't scowling like that. Then she spoke with a sigh. “Please, have something to eat, and a nap. Even just twenty microspans and you'll feel a lot better. I'll even wake you.”

He was wavering.

“Please. No-one will destroy or damage the planets that are essential to the Fontrax Stratagem while you rest.”

“Well… I suppose you're right.”

Location – Somewhere Between Gallifrey And the Fontrax System

Leela was restless, confined to the small console room as an assistant flew her out to the Fontrax System.

Closed in. It wasn't right to be closed in like this, kept away from the sky and the moon and sun. She felt confined, even when she knew that it was only the chill of space on the other side of these walls, stars flashing past like pinpricks of distant fire on a cool winter night; beautiful to look at, but doing nothing to make the watcher warm.

She paced and circled, and wanted to climb the walls.

She didn't like the way that the assistant was looking at her either, the same way that so many Time Lords still looked at aliens on Gallifrey, even after all that she had done to prove herself, after walking the Axis with Narvin and Romana and Brax, after helping through so many hard time.

It was not that the contempt was gone. It was just that others had learned to hide it better. She coud still smell it, though. The way that her nose was these days, the assistant may as well have been wearing a sign that said it.

“We're almost there, Temporary Agent Leela.”

“Good. I can not stand the sight of these walls for much longer. This TARDIS has nothing that the Doctors' had. It lacks colour. It lacks life.”

“I am sorry about that. It's just that it was the only one available on short notice, which wouldn't be easily detected.”

She tiled her head, listening to the words. That much was true, at least.

The Fontrax system. She was being sent there, because planets were being destroyed.

According to the information gathered from the Seers, if the destruction of the next planet that seemed to be in the path of destruction went ahead, then the consequences could be very, very dire indeed.

As the assistant prepared the TARDIS for landing, Leela checked that she had everything she might need for this.

[Deleted]

45... 45.... 45...

Nobody No-One could sniff out his name from across the universe, and halfway across the lifespan of the universe as well. Once he smelled his name uttered by a pair of careless TIme Lords (his cousin species, might he mention), he was off careening through alphabets and under space and time until he managed to bring himself to a nice, space place. As soon as he scanned the local dialect and the information that flickered around his CORDIS interior, his sharp eyes gathered all the data he needed to learn about this system.

Whatever this system was, it was important. At least to the Time Lords. So, with that in mind, he twisted his back and let out a human-like popping sound as he stretched. He then relayed a message to the other local Word Lord that he was dancing with. He knew she wouldn't be able to get the message on time, because he knew she tended to cause her own chaos, and sometimes they did need to do things alone, so he'd just write a little note letting her know he's gonna be doing something before he met up with her.

"Let's take a break from bounty hunting," His lips then thinned into a smile, "By damaging a few planets."

Teleporting out of his CORDIS, his body enveloped with words that swirled around him, his body morphed into his current avatar, a sharply dressed British man with a bowler's hat, an umbrella, and a sharply dressed tuxedo with tails (Hey, in his defense 1920's fashion was the height of human success and he was going to spread that particular word). He twirled his umbrella, looking around as he took in the sights of the busy, technologically advanced streets.

"Who wants a ride into hell?" He called out, and he slammed his umbrella into the ground, and he broke an entire tectonic plate in three pieces, shifting pieces a good ten meters higher or lower than they should be. All in the span of one second. Tsumanis broke up, earthquakes up to magnitude 9 happened, volcanos erupted. Loss of life might be in the billions if the planet was heavily populated.

All hell broke loose geologically right then and there.

So there's one planet damaged as Nobody twirled his umbrella, holding it over his shoulder as he smiled at the buildings collapsing and breaking up. He loved that sound...

[Leela]

The TARDIS was still in flight and almost to her destination, when the alarm bells started to scream out across the console, the com-system flaring to life with hundreds upon hundreds of panicked voices calling out for help all at once.

"It's a drush volcano..."

"...huge wave, coming straight for..."

"... Goddess, help me!"

The messages were coming through so fast, that it was next to impossible for even Leela's sharp ears to pick out where one ended, and another began. The one thing that was certain, was that whatever was going on was far from a good thing.

The shocked expression on the face of the pilot wasn't going to do them any good, either. Time to try and make some sense out of the madness.

"Pilot, can you let me see what is going on down there? Is it still safe to land?"

With a few brushes of controls, the pilot paused the re-materialization and pulled up a view-screen, then activated it so that they could see what was happening. The sight made Leela's breath catch in her throat.

She'd seen people die before her, in the past. She'd even caused it. She'd seen a Gallifrey, torn apart by war and then devastated by the zombies that had been created by Pandora's virus. But she had never seen destruction and devastation on a level like this, before.

She'd been to the planet Mialan before, visited it's capital city on business for the Time Lords. It was a beautiful place, with huge buildings stretching up for the sky as though yearning for freedom, massive parks through the city and hundreds upon hundreds of trees lining the streets.

Was. Had been.

Now, it was nothing but a waste-ground of rubble, with the voices of the dead and dying blending with the wind that tore through the once-beautiful place.

The pilot had fallen completely silent, staring at the screen in front of them. It was Leela who finally broke that silence, with a breath of a whisper.

"What happened here? Nobody has this sort of power, to tear a planet open, like a predator would smash open the shell of a hunted animal."

[Deleted]

The screams and cried of mercy filled the air as volcanic ash and debris collapsed around him, and the debris just so happened to land just near him as he strolled up a large overturned pillar as large steel beams fell to the ground. Blood spattered as an unfortunate victim happened to be crushed by the falling slabs as Nobody paused on top of a large mountain of debris, using his umbrella to give him height as he jumped up and stood over the wasteland that was now the capital city. He could feel the mantle of the terrestrial planet rumbling as a result of his overpowered explosion.

Silicon and ash swirled around him, but the air never intook into his body, hunting at his avatar-like body. Then he could sense something. The words that gave him power. The words that gave him the ability to create this much destructive potential.

"Nobody has this sort of power, to tear a planet open, like a predator would smash open the shell of a hunted animal," The hum of a female voice, at least in its description, entered his body and he balled up his fist, his coat trailing behind him.

"This will be the eruption of a century, and it's not even a caldera!" Nobody threw his fist back, and slammed it into the debris, cracking the ground and upwelling explosive magma from the ground, hot dense liquid rock pouring up in pillars as they paused in the air before gravity overtook and rained down as pumice and glass. Anybody within a forty five mile radius of this attack would surely be dead, and further out their fates would be left unknown.

Nobody stood carefully on his safe pillar of rock as he opened up his umbrella, watching his molten handiwork.

[Leela]

With deft fingers, and a confidence bred of experience, the pilot slipped the TARDIS a little more out of sync with the current time-phase, for the sake of safety even as a new explosion ripped through from the crust of the planet, tearing it open and sending chunks of molten rocks tearing through the air only moments after she spoke. It was almost as though she'd caused it, the words of shock acting as a trigger.

Even the usually-blank face of the pilot had cracked, letting the shock that he felt show clearly, and proving that there was an actual person tucked under all the training and regulations. 

Leela stood, transfixed, as the ground cracked and shook again, more viscous, burning lava spreading out across the once-fertile lands that had surrounded the main city. 

"This is impossible," her voice was almost a whisper, as the intense heat caused trees to burst into flame all around, and altering the oxygen-rich atmosphere, also spreading toxic gasses through the atmosphere. Anyone that wasn't killed outright would be dead within the week, and on this planet, a week was only four days long. 

"Isn't there anything that you can do?" Tears for all the faceless dead streamed down Leela's cheeks. Such a loss of life was almost unimaginable.

"Can't order a retrospective evacuation. All of the planets here are in a fixed-point field; -that's why we used it. And this TARDIS isn't big enough to evacuate everyone that's still left alive, after that. As well as that, it will take even the fastest TARDIS that we have twelve standard days to get out here. With the rate that these readouts say the gasses released by the eruption are spreading..." He trailed off.

"You mean that we cannot save anyone." She turned away, so that the pilot wouldn't see any more of her moment of weakness, and dried her eyes. 

"I'm sorry. Best thing we can do, is work out what in Rassilon's Name is going on in this system, and try to stop it from happening again."

Leela's lips pressed together into a thin line, as she studied the screens before her, collecting herself, as the pilot spoke again.

"We should move on. Nobody could have survived that."

At that moment, her eyes lit on a hint of movement; -a man, standing, stranded on a pillar in the middle of the field of lava. "There!" She pointed at the screen, an emphatic stabbing motion. "There is one person that has survived, and if there is one, there might be more!"

The pilot looked at where she was pointing, and bit back a sigh. He knew that there was no point in arguing, though, otherwise the rest of the trip would become impossible. Besides, there was nothing in the protocol book for this. "Hold on tight. This could get rough."

Then the pilot leaned over the voice amplifier, to speak to the man on the rock. "Don't move! We're coming in to rescue you!"

[Deleted]

The growing destruction could be reflected in Nobody's eyes as he twirled the umbrella in his grasp. He could still feel the words of his name reflecting in his body, but his ears caught the pained screaming and sudden quiet of those who suffocated and buried in the debris. He knew he would survive this. He was a Word Lord, after all, and someone had said that, he could feel it resonating with him and his CORDIS... which he needed to move, and the fact that a machine seemed to be floating around him, he realized just what it was.

A TARDIS. Of course, he would meet a cousin forty five times removed from this universe. He looked up and then realized that he needed to act the part of a scared individual. How did survivors act? Oh right...

He hunched over as the TARDIS got closer, and he held his umbrella out as he glanced over at the other, acting alarmed and frightened as he waited for the TARDIS to get closer. In the back of his mind he felt his CORDIS switch over to the TARDIS manual in the machine and he had to hide his glee as he glanced over, pretending his ashen face was in shock.

It was easy to mimic the thousand years stare of a victim as he crouched and waited for the TARDIS to get over to his area. Honestly, he could teleport, but they would quickly suspect who he was.

[Leela]

Confident in his actions, the pilot finished materializing the TARDIS, and punched in the commands to expand the atmospheric shell beyond the outer limits of the TARDIS herself, so that he and Leela weren't either burned or suffocated, by the extreme atmosphere that was now master of the planet before them. 

It didn't even occur to Leela, to question  what this one man was doing alive, at the heart of the destruction where even the bacteria had been killed in that one devastating blow. All that she saw was a chance to save one little piece of this world, before they had to retreat.

"Maybe this man can tell us what triggered the explosion. There is no way that that was natural."

Leela studied the huddling figure on the screen, in the moments before the door was opened. For a moment, something just didn't seem right. The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end, and adrenaline was racing through her, even through she was safe inside the TARDIS.

But of course, nothing was right about this situation. 

Then, as suddenly as it had hit her, the moment passed, as the door of the TARDIS opened, to let the man board. 

Stepping back from the door, she gave him the room that he needed to join them.

"Hurry up!" the pilot almost snapped, as he wrestled to keep the TARDIS steady, as the winds outside tore are her. 

"Do not mind him," Leela offered, giving the man a little calm emotional platform to try and climb up onto, after seeing everything that he had even known destroyed, in a single moment.

"I am Leela, of the Sevateem, and this is Tempsento Mortfinos, of Gallifrey. And you are safe, now." 

[Deleted]

Nobody hadn't even thought of the slight issue of the fact that he shouldn't even be alive right then, but he could already tell that the woman was relieved to see him alive. Which would be her undoing later but whatever he wasn't going to worry about details. He glanced over to her, a very brief spark in between the two of them as he gleaned over her details, her Story. This was a unique woman. She was smart, but not in the book smart sense.

She was sharp, like the knife he noticed she had on her. That was pressing. The Time Lord on the other hand would be easy to fool. They're usually pretty self absorbed. So, with the act of his eyes shining in pain and his body covered in smoke (though his nice suit was in one piece, he dropped the umbrella and looked around.

"I am Leela, of the Sevateem, and this is Tempsento Mortfinos, of Gallifrey. And you are safe, now."

"I'm safe," He repeated. So he got their names. Leela, and Tempsento. He then looked back at them, "My name is Outis. I-I don't know what happened. Something just... exploded, there was fire everywhere and people crushed under debris. It happened twice. How bad is it?"

[Leela]

Even with the atmospheric shell of the TARDIS extended, it still took Tempsento longer than he would have liked, to wrestle the door closed again, and restore their semblance of calm, as the TARDIS twisted in the air, high above the rivers of lava, that even now were flowing across the land, where beautiful, clear waters had once welled up, to give life to the lands and people.

Leela didn't waste the time, using it to study the man for signs of injury, that might snatch this small victory away from them, once more. 

"I'm safe," [Nobody] repeated. So he got their names. Leela, and Tempsento. He then looked back at them, "My name is Outis. I-I don't know what happened. Something just... exploded, there was fire everywhere and people crushed under debris. It happened twice. How bad is it?"

Tempsento opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut short by Leela, raising a hand. "You Time Lords have no sense of tact. If you want to do something useful, then get him a blanket, while I talk to him. I can see by the look in his eyes, that he is in shock."

"But..." 

"Do not argue with me." Again, Leela cut him short, her words cutting through the air, like the flick of a whip, towards her intended target. "You and I are working together, it is true, but do not forget that Narvin told you to listen to me, before we left." 

The Time Lord heaved a sigh, muttering to himself, even as he turned to do as he had been bid, and Leela rested a gentle hand on the shoulder of the man before her. For a few moments a silence that was almost as thick as the ash outside settled over them. 

"I am sorry, Outis. It is... It is not good. You are the only person from here that we are able to save. You will be protected, for as long as you need it, but we can not save the rest of your people."

As Tempsento came back with a blanket, Leela wrapped it around his shoulders, and tore the corner off of it, to moisten, so that she could clear some of the grime off of Outis's face. She couldn't quite put her finger on the reason, but her instincts were still telling her that something was very wrong.

[Deleted]

"You Time Lords have no sense of tact. If you want to do something useful, then get him a blanket, while I talk to him. I can see by the look in his eyes, that he is in shock." Nobody heard Leela speak up and finally he was getting a semblance of what is going on. Thankfully his acting was pretty good. All he had to do was stare blankly at a wall to mimic shock as he paid very close attention to the peripheral vision of his mind and still stay sharp in hearing.

"But..."

"Do not argue with me." She interrupted the Time Lord, idly surprising him, "You and I are working together, it is true, but do not forget that Narvin told you to listen to me, before we left."

So Leela was the one really in charge of this whole operation. That much he got, but as soon as he took the blanket he wrapped his around him, not really feeling the texture of it (he couldn't) as Leela applied... something to his face. Was she wiping grime off of him? That was.. strange. That was something a mother would do to a child.

And well... he never had a mother. Just a father. There was an idle flicker in his eyes, a sense of deep welling subconscious hate towards the man who authored him, and realized that he really did miss something out on life. If being a Word Lord was really life. Man... the matter universe was weird.

"I am sorry, Outis. It is... It is not good. You are the only person from here that we are able to save. You will be protected, for as long as you need it, but we can not save the rest of your people."

Leela's comment snapped him back to reality and he remembered he was supposed to be shellshocked. He focused back on his Leela, his face blank, reflecting someone who just lost absolutely everything and had no idea what to do.

"You know, I had a life. I was going to be really important, you know? I may have been a bit of an intelligent rebel, but I did look forward to what was laid down in front of me. Now it's all cast away. Just like... the debris cast up in the explosion. Now I'm alone, in this world, and I can't go back, now can I?"

Nobody suddenly realized he wasn't even sure if he was just acting or if his subconscious opened up his mouth. How did this woman do it? She seemed to belt out some sort of strange subconsciousness Nobody buried so long ago with her words and personality alone. That primal instinct matter creatures always had. The need for home, family, a safe place...

Nobody had no safe place, no home... certainly no father. Did he NEED it? Finally, he pushed back into his acting.

"What do I do now? Who did it?"

[Leela]

"You know, I had a life. I was going to be really important, you know? I may have been a bit of an intelligent rebel, but I did look forward to what was laid down in front of me. Now it's all cast away. Just like... the debris cast up in the explosion. Now I'm alone, in this world, and I can't go back, now can I?"

Leela listened to Outis's words, letting him speak as she cleaned the ash and grime from his face, giving him time to process, and the gift of silent company as he did so. 

She understood well, that people needed time with their own thoughts, after a shock, as much as they needed support and comfort. Uncalled for, yet there and as sharp as ever, were the memories of wandering the twisted catacombs with only K9 at her side, the darkness and the silence, aside from the humming of K-9's motor, the only sounds that she wanted to hear. That she could stand to hear. 

As soon as the memories came, she banished them to focus on the present, and the man before her. 

"No, you cannot go back. You are not alone, though. For now, we are here. Then, when we are done with our mission, we can take you back with us, to Gallifrey. That is where we come from, and you would be welcome there. The people are not always easy to live with, but there is much that you could offer." 

Finally done with cleaning the grime from off of his face, Leela tucked the cloth into her leather pouch, to dispose of later, and simply rested a hand on Outis's shoulder, a gesture of comfort that she'd had a lot of experience with, before Gallifrey. The Sevateem hadn't been intelligent, in the same way that a Time Lord was smart, but they did not flinch from contact, like so many on the planet that she new called 'home' did, either. 

"And I am sure that you would also find much to do, there."

"Leela," Tempsento spoke, from where he was studying the TARDIS readouts with an air that could only really be called 'intensity,' "I really don't think that's..."

"You are right," Leela cut him off, sharply, "You do not think. Not in the same way that I do. A person needs hope and something to live for, in the same way that you and I need oxygen, to breath."

"What do I do now? Who did it?"

"What you do now, is sing the songs, and tell the stories of your people. Keep the memory of them alive in your heart, and it will never die. As long as something is remembered, and spoken of, then it is still alive. It still exists."

Leela finally lifted her hand from his shoulder. "What do you mean 'who?' Surely no-one alone would have the power to do this."

"He's right, though, Leela," Tempsento spoke again. "There's no way that this was natural."

[Deleted]

"No, you cannot go back. You are not alone, though. For now, we are here. Then, when we are done with our mission, we can take you back with us, to Gallifrey. That is where we come from, and you would be welcome there. The people are not always easy to live with, but there is much that you could offer."

Those words were oddly poetic and wise. Despite being a matter creature who would die eventually in the blink of an eye, she knew a whole lot. He couldn't go back to his old home, in the Hand of All. He was trapped here. But Leela of the Sevateen was right. He'd found ways to feel welcome. He met Omega, and Zagreus, and especially Pretty Poison, who he felt more welcome in this world than he could ever dream about... if the Word Lord could dream.

"And I am sure that you would also find much to do, there."

Empathy... that was the word he was looking for. Empathy. Homo Sapiens had a whole lot of it. Might explain why he picked a human body to show as an avatar in this dimension. It let him in so much closer...

"Leela," Tempsento spoke up, annoying Nobody, "I really don't think that's..."

"You are right," Leela cut off the Time Lord, almost enjoyably so, "You do not think. Not in the same way that I do. A person needs hope and something to live for, in the same way that you and I need oxygen, to breath."

Yes well.. I don't need oxygen like you do. How easy would it be to cut off the oxygen and let you struggle?

"What you do now, is sing the songs, and tell the stories of your people. Keep the memory of them alive in your heart, and it will never die. As long as something is remembered, and spoken of, then it is still alive. It still exists."

"I like that.. that sentiment," Nobody murmured, almost honestly. It reflected his peoples' stories and powers, "It's like even if a story ends, it can still be told... for eons. It's never truly dead. That's... reassuring, to be honest."

He almost respected this woman. The power this woman's words had. They gave hope and comfort even to an ageless entity like him, despite the fact he knew his fate was worth than death itself. She had no idea, though.. did she? He wasn't going to let her know. Not right now, at least. Maybe a test would be good, before he was taken to Gallifrey. His eyes flickered over as they started discussing their options.

"What do you mean 'who?' Surely no-one alone would have the power to do this." She said the words again, unconsciously. She didn't realize this, but his name did have a meaning, the one he gave her, and the one he had been given to himself when he was authored. Nobody. He had the power. He could do it again.

"He's right, though, Leela," Tempsento spoke up, "There's no way that this was natural."

"No, there's someone-something- that can do this," Nobody spoke up, his voice cold and quiet, "I know about it.. in old records of the Lexicom. A beast who has the power to control language itself. A monster who can, with the utterance of a few words, and with the right word choices, take out entire planets... hell even entire galaxies! It leaves a wake of rage and suffering from its own banishment and instils fear when one knows who they are and utters its name by accident."

[Leela]

"No, there's someone-something- that can do this," Nobody spoke up, his voice cold and quiet, "I know about it.. in old records of the Lexicom. A beast who has the power to control language itself. A monster who can, with the utterance of a few words, and with the right word choices, take out entire planets... hell even entire galaxies! It leaves a wake of rage and suffering from its own banishment and instils fear when one knows who they are and utters its name by accident."

Leela listened to his words closely, letting them stir fragments of memory.

Tempsento moved back towards the control console of the TARDIS, fingers once again flying over the controls of the ship, muscle memory at work as much as knowledge, and instinct. He had been given an Alpha rank in piloting skills when he'd graduated from the Academy, and since then, he took every chance that he was given, in order to show off. Even a moment like this, could be turned into a demonstration of his skill. 

"External temperatures rising. The seismic instability readings are off the charts, too."

A shudder spread through the TARDIS, as the engine engaged, once again. 

"Sorry, we have to take off right now. I was wrong. It's not going to take days, before all life is wiped out on this planet, or even hours." 

Another few strokes of the controls, and an image came up on the view screen once again, this time of the planet, hanging in space from some distance. From this distance, the continental shift was visible, as the seas dissolved, and the toxic gases spread like storm-fronts, visible from space. Hundreds upon hundreds of stress-cracks spread across the planet surface, furrows that went down to the core itself, and then it almost seemed to still for another moment - the calm before the storm. 

The damage was already done. The next eruption, more powerful than any that had gone before it, sent shards of the planet spinning off into space, as the atmospheric pull was already disrupted. 

Fragmented, and dead, the planet began to drift from the orbit that it had had held for so many millions of years.

Finally, Leela tore her gaze away from the spectacle on the screen, and back to the man that was with them. "I am sorry, that you had to see that. Tempsento is still young. He has a lot to learn about the ways of people's hearts."

Finally, leaving his side, Leela began to pace, the motions of a hunter and a warrior, who was devoid of prey to hunt, or an enemy to challenge. 

"A being that finds its' power in words, you say?" A flicker, of a thoughtful frown across her face. "I remember the stories that my... that Andred used to tell me. Once, he spoke of a race called the Carionites. Are these the beings that you mean? Is a Carionite Queen behind this?"

Tempsento was already in motion, again. 

"Right. I'm scanning for any sign of where to go next." 

[Deleted]

"External temperatures rising. The seismic instability readings are off the charts, too."

He listened to the VWORP VWORP of the Tardis as it started to dematerialize, and he flickered his blue eyes over to Leela and the other Time Lord. He knew what was going to happen. His eyes flickered over to the screen.

"Sorry, we have to take off right now. I was wrong. It's not going to take days, before all life is wiped out on this planet, or even hours."

The Word Lord didn't even comment on it. He knew how TARDISes worked, much like his own CORDIS which he knew was safely stashed away in case they did pick up on what he did or might do. Hell, maybe not damage the entire planets here but if he could ride his way to Gallifrey he could cause some real trouble for his distant cousins.

His eyes never left the screen. It was mesmerizing and fascinating all at the same time. Something so large, with so much history and story capable of being destroyed in that short amount of time. It was almost awestruck in the way that his powers could do such a thing. Nobody No-One's eyes went distant as he watched the scattered earth start encircling and moving out. Eventually they would encircle another planet...

"I am sorry, that you had to see that. Tempsento is still young. He has a lot to learn about the ways of people's hearts." Leela's comment snapped him out of his trance and he focused back, looking over to the young woman. Oh if only she knew.

"A lack of empathy and tact..." He muttered quietly, before closing his eyes again, trying to remain as in character to a shell shocked man as he could, "Carrionite?"

Ugh, the carrionite. He forgot about those. Nobody could only make a face at that comment, remembering what they were like. Cruel, heartless, they have no finesse with their work.

"Probably not... Carrionite... in the records they usually are petty. Witches. They don't play with power like this. Well... they used to, from what I recall. However being a species that is so few and far between they would know better than to mess with any power at this level."

[Leela]

Leaving Tempsento to his controls, and his planning for now, Leela sunk into a crouch, and reached out, to take both of Outis's hands in her own, in a gesture that she remembered her own mother doing for her, so long ago. 

"We go on. We always go on."

Her voice was soft, and soothing, the tone adapted for comfort as much as everything else was, in this moment. 

Even as they moved away from the danger, though, twisting and spinning through the Vortex, her heart was beating fast as though she were some delicate prey animal, being stalked by a deadly predator.

Something was close. 

Something was wrong. So, so wrong. 

Her hands had tightened around Outis's, almost without her realizing it, as she focused on not letting him see or hear any trace of her worry. 

"I am sorry to ask this of you so soon, Outis, but anything that you can tell us about this beast - anything at all, might be useful to us. We need to try and work out where it is going to strike next, how it will strike, and we need to get ahead of it, and work out a way to stop it."

Tempsento's voice spoke again, a background sound that she barely registered. 

"I'm not picking anything up over the scanners. I'm going to take her to the next planet in the chain, to see if there's anything going on that isn't registering."