Donna snuggled deeper into her coat. Vairë seemed barely aware of how cold it was. Though, the woman had also been able to ignore the heat inside Vesuvius back in Pompeii. At least they’d been able to rescue a few people from the destruction that was coming. Far too many had died for Donna’s liking even if it was a “fixed event in time and space” as Vairë had said sorrowfully. The blonde was deeply grieved for the loss of life – Donna wasn’t stupid enough to think her companion unaffected – but the reason behind it all, the loss of the planet Pyrovillia, staggered Vairë even more.
For now, though, it seemed that the blonde had another mystery to ponder. She was trying to find the source of the strange, haunting melody that rang through her mind. Donna didn’t seem to hear it so Vairë was guessing that it was some form of telepathic communication. The dying Ood Delta 50 had said something about a circle that must be broken. Up ahead, the two women spied a building that looked human in origin. A rocket had just taken off a few moments ago. Vairë had tried not to bristle when Donna compared the TARDIS, unfavorably, to the rocket. “Ferrari indeed,” she snorted to herself in Galliterran.
The two of them trotted up easily, Vairë making use of her psychic paper to get through the guards and join the rest of the tour group. If this was the Ood’s home planet, then she might have a chance at stopping this horrifying trafficking in sentient creatures. Not that it would last, she reminded herself. The Ood were considered a slave race for quite a while.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ood Sphere,” a smartly dressed woman was saying. “And isn’t it bracing? Here are your information packs, with vouchers, 3D tickets and a map of the complex. My name’s Solana, Head of Marketing. I’m sure we’ve all spoken on the vidfone. Now, if you’d like to follow me.”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry. Late. Don’t mind us. Hello,” Vairë grinned. “The guards let us through.”
“And you would be?” Solana asked as she checked her roster.
“Vairë Carter and Donna Noble.”
“Representing the Noble Corporation PLC Limited, Intergalactic,” Donna added quickly.
“Must have fallen off my list. My apologies. Won’t happen again. Now then, Miss Carter, Miss Noble, here are your information packs, vouchers inside. Now if you’d like to come with me, the Executive Suites are nice and warm.”
Alarms began blaring in the distance. Vairë glanced around, trying to figure out exactly where they were coming from and determine whether or not she’d be able to convince Solana to let them see that part of the complex. She doubted very much that it was part of the standard tour but maybe she and Donna could convince them to extend the tour a bit.
“Oh, what’s that? That sounds like an alarm,” Vairë said, her eyebrows raised in interest.
“Oh, it’s just a siren for the end of the work shift. Now then, this way, quick as you can,” Solana explained quickly as she led the group into the Executive Suite to show off the merchandise. Donna and Vairë followed and tried to pretend to be impressed. Donna found herself somewhat revolted by the sheer alienness of the Ood while Vairë felt sorrow. Back on the sanctuary base on that impossible planet, Danny had called the Ood a “basic slave race” and said that they were “stupid.” Vairë hated the thought of any race being enslaved or considered stupid. After all, what were humans other than jumped-up hairless apes still dragging around the baggage from their earliest forays into the savannahs? And how could humans, after all their wars for freedom, after all their political bickering over equal rights for all, how could they turn around and enslave another race of sentient beings and treat them as an underclass?
“I swear, history repeats itself. First as a tragedy and then as a farce,” she muttered in Galliterran. Donna looked at her quizzically and Vairë waved her off. They entered the Executive Suite where three Ood stood on display. Solana continued her marketing spiel.
“As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve, and we keep them in facilities of the highest standard. Here at the Double O, that’s Ood Operations, we like to think of the Ood as our trusted friends. We keep the Ood healthy, safe, and educated. We don’t just breed the Ood. We make them better. Because at heart, what is an Ood, but a reflection of us? If your Ood is happy, then you’ll be happy, too. I’d now like to point out a new innovation from Ood Operations,” she said, moving up to the first Ood on display. “We’ve introduced a variety package with the Ood translator ball. You can now have the standard setting. How are you today, Ood?”
“I’m perfectly well, thank you,” the Ood said in the normal, mid-range masculine voice that Vairë was familiar with.
“Or perhaps after a stressful day, a little something for the gentlemen. And how are you, Ood?” Solana asked, turning to the second Ood.
“All the better for seeing you,” the Ood said, its communicator speaking with a woman’s low-pitched, husky voice.
“And the comedy classic option. Ood, you dropped something,” Solana finished with a smile.
“D’oh!” the Ood’s communication sphere said in a perfect imitation of Homer Simpson. The customers laughed appreciatively.
“All that for only five additional credits,” Solana said, concluding the presentation. “The details are in your brochures. Now, there’s plenty more food and drink, so don’t hold back.”
The guests began mingling and mixing through the room, studying the information and the specimens put up on offer. Other Ood milled about, bringing refreshment to those who wanted it. Vairë waited until she was certain that Solana was gone before stepping away from the crowd and pretending to study the information in her packet. She instead focused on communicating with the TARDIS, getting all the information she could about this planet at this point in history. She fingered the earring she wore. She no longer needed it — her bond with her sister was strong enough that only a distance of several AU or years could make communication lag so bad that it would be impossible — but she wore it out of comfort regardless.
“I know where and when we are,” she said softly to Donna. She’d told the TARDIS to pick a random place and time for this trip since her attempt to take Donna to Rome had landed them in Pompeii on Volcano Day. “We’re on the Ood Sphere, close to the Sense Sphere planet in the year 4126. We’re right smack in the middle of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire.
“4126?” Donna said in wonder. “It’s 4126. I’m in 4126.”
“Freaky, isn’t it?” Vairë grinned.
“What’s the Earth like now?” Donna asked. Vairë’s brow furrowed in thought as she tried to remember her Terran history. No need to consult with her sister when she just needed to remember the answer.
“Oh, it’s a bit full now,” she answered. “The Empire, though, stretches out across three galaxies.” Vairë continued, moving over to the lectern Solana had used and putting information up on a large screen to show Donna. The spread of humanity across the systems appeared in bright colors. Even if Vairë herself was no longer human, strictly speaking, she was still proud of what her parent race had accomplished.
“It’s weird,” Donna sighed. “I mean, it’s brilliant but, back home, the papers and the telly all keep saying that we haven’t got long to live. Global warming, flooding, all the bees disappearing.”
“Yeah. That thing with the bees is odd,” Vairë muttered. It was probably something that had happened after she quit living on Earth.
“But look at us,” Donna laughed. “We’re everywhere. Is that good or bad, though? Are we like explorers? Or more like a virus?”
Vairë squinted at Donna and then grinned. She liked the red head. Donna, like Martha, could see past the obvious and get to the heart of things very quickly. She wondered if the temp from Chiswick would fare well as a Galliterran. There were ways that Donna could become Galliterran – though she’d never be one who could regenerate. More like an advanced human with a greatly prolonged lifespan. Not half-TARDIS like Vairë, though. Koschei, Vairë, and the TARDISes had all agreed that such a thing shouldn’t be done lightly. “What are those red dots?” Donna asked, pulling Vairë from her train of thought.
“Ood distribution centers.”
“Across three galaxies? Don’t the Ood get a say in this?” Donna bristled. She walked over to one of the creatures and tapped it on the arm gently. “Sorry, but…Hello there. Tell me, are you all like this?”
“I do not understand, Miss,” the Ood replied.
“Why do you say Miss?” Donna said angrily, “Do I look single?”
“Back to the point,” Vairë sighed.
“Yeah, what I mean is, are there any free Ood? Are there Ood running wild somewhere like wildebeests?”
“All Ood are born to serve. Otherwise, we would die,” the Ood replied.
“But you can’t have started like that. Before humans, what were you like?”
“The circle,” the Ood said softly.
“What do you mean? What circle?” Vairë asked.
“The circle,” he repeated. “The circle is…”
“Ladies and gentlemen. All Ood to hospitality stations, please,” Solana said loudly, getting the crowd’s attention once more to introduce the next speaker.
“I’ve had enough of the schmoozing,” Vairë whispered to Donna. “D’you fancy going off the beaten track?” she held up a rough map of the complex.
“Rough guide to the Ood Sphere?” Donna asked with a grin.
“Yep,” Vairë said, popping the “p” as she and Donna ducked out for the next part of their adventure.
~*~*~*~
Vairë darted through the warehouse, dodging the claw trying to kill her and looking for Donna. The woman had been right behind her when the sirens started blaring. True, Donna wasn’t as used to the “running” bit of adventures as Vairë was – a year of running with the Doctor had taught the London native the importance of being in top shape. Years of living rough with Koschei while they built the foundations of Galliterran society had honed that even further to the point of where she had a body that most runners would kill for. Granted, Donna was also still in shock from seeing that the Ood weren’t servants – they were slaves. Vairë herself was sick over that. After all these years, had humanity learned nothing? And why weren’t the Ood fighting back? Granted, maybe they were. Maybe this song of theirs was their way of fighting. If only she could figure out what this circle business was all about, Vairë hoped she could set the Ood free.
Still, the Ood wouldn’t all go free immediately. Any revolt to free them would have to spread across three galaxies. Not to mention that in a few centuries’ time, she would encounter still-enslaved Ood on an impossible planet.
“It all has to start somewhere,” she muttered as she tried to figure out where Donna was. “Here’s as good a place as any. Donna!” she said loudly, no longer caring if she got them caught. She had to save Donna. “Donna, where are you?”
The claw was still chasing her. Vairë tried every trick she knew, even flipping off the sides of the containers, to elude it. She crashed into some large metal barrels and flipped over onto her back. The claw stopped just over her. Two guards grabbed her arms, hauled her to her feet, and then held her arms behind her back. They dragged the blonde through the warehouse. As they passed one of the containers, she could hear Donna pounding on the doors and calling to be let out.
“If you don’t do what she says, you’re really in trouble. Not from me, from her,” Vairë warned. Donna could be rather…feisty when she got riled up. The guards let Donna out of the container and she ran to embrace Vairë. “There we are now,” Vairë grinned. “Safe and sound.”
“Never mind about me. What about them?” Donna asked as the Ood, their eyes blazing red with anger, began killing the guards. The guards opened fire and Vairë grabbed Donna’s hand and pulled her along as she and Solana, who had appeared with the last of the guards, began to run.
~*~*~*~
“I didn’t need the map,” Vairë snarled. “I should have just listened! Donna, can’t you hear it? It’s so…so…”
“Vairë, what is it?”
“The song,” Vairë said, tears trickling down her cheeks. “God in Heaven, can’t you hear it? They’re singing, Donna. They’re singing and it’s breaking my heart to hear it! God, why are they singing? Why don’t they fight? Why don’t they fight? WHY?!” Vairë sobbed as she walked through the complex.
“What is it?” Donna whispered, terrified.
“Can’t you hear it? It’s so sad. So…God in Heaven preserve us…it’s so…so…It’s the song of captivity.”
“Let me hear it,” Donna said softly. Vairë turned to regard the human woman and then nodded. She lifted her hands and placed them on Donna’s temples.
“Open your mind to it, Donna. Hear the music. Hear them sing. Captive. Enslaved. But they are not defeated!” Vairë howled, her voice a mix of triumph, anger, and unmitigated sorrow. “They are not defeated!”
Tears flowed freely down both women’s faces. They walked further in and saw Ood huddled together, frightened. “They look different to the others,” Donna whispered.
“That’s because they’re natural born Ood, unprocessed,” Vairë explained. “Before they’re adapted to slavery. Unspoilt. That’s their song.”
“And you’ve been hearing it the whole time?” Donna asked.
“Yes,” Vairë sighed. “I have.”
“How can you stand it?”
“How could I live without it? What is life without pain? How can you know joy without sorrow? Love without heartache? The web of a life is not painted in pastels, Donna Noble, daughter of Terra. If you want to paint true beauty, sometimes…you have to use dark colors. But this,” she sighed, gesturing to the Ood in the cage. “This is completely unnecessary. Do we never learn? Did our earlier forays with slavery, with taking Africans from home and family and forcing them to work the fields, did it teach us nothing? Is this our lot in life? To enslave, to hurt, to terrorize innocent species? Is this what humanity amounts to? Slave owners and whip-holders? Is there nothing of beauty in us?” she screamed. “Do we never learn?” Vairë took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. The Ood were holding something. “What are you holding? Show me. Friend. Vairë, Donna. Friend. Let me see. Look at me. Let me see. That’s it. That’s it, go on. Go on,” she whispered. She used her sonic to open the cage. Behind her, she could hear the others trying to break through the lock she’d melted.
“They’re breaking in,” Donna growled.
“Let them,” Vairë snarled angrily. “Let me see,” she encouraged the Ood. One of them crept closer and held his hands up, uncovering the object in them. It was a brain. “It’s a brain. A hind brain,” Vairë explained to Donna. “The Ood are born with a secondary brain. Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn’t be Donna any more. You’d be like an Ood. A processed Ood.”
“So the company cuts off their brains?” Donna spat. “Like a lobotomy. I spent all that time looking for you, Vairë, because I thought it was so wonderful out here. I want to go home.”
Just then, the others broke through the external door. Vairë heard the guards report that they had been found in the cage with the Ood.
“What you going to do, then?” the blonde snarled. “Arrest me? Lock me up? Throw me in a cage? Well, you’re too late. Ha!”
The guards opened the cage and dragged Vairë and Donna out, ignoring the Ood entirely. As the two women were being dragged away, Vairë began singing. It wasn’t the Ood’s song but she prayed that they would recognize that it came from the same place, the same situation. Long ago, humans had practiced outright slavery. In the modern era, sweatshops had replaced the peculiar institution but it amounted to the same thing. The Galliterran woman wanted the Ood to know that she understood. That she wanted to free them. And that they all sprang from a common tradition and that she would not stand idly by. So opening her mind further, she raised her voice and joined them in their song.
~*~*~*~
Vairë and Donna, still hearing the song of the Ood, were dragged into the offices of Ood Operations. The owner, a balding man in his middle years named Mr. Halpen, regarded them with distaste. His Ood slave, a large “sigma” sign on his chest, stood in the background.
“Why don’t you just come out and say it? FOTO activists,” Halpen spat.
“If that’s what Friends Of The Ood are trying to prove, then yes,” Vairë snarled.
“The Ood were nothing without us, just animals roaming around on the ice.”
“That’s because you can’t hear them.”
“They welcomed it. It’s not as if they put up a fight,” Halpen scoffed.
“You idiot!” Donna roared. “They’re born with their brains in their hands. Don’t you see, that makes them peaceful. They’ve got to be, because a creature like that would have to trust anyone it meets.” Vairë nodded in approval and Donna grinned. Even if the blonde was younger than her, it felt good to have her approval.
“The system’s worked for two hundred years. All we’ve got is a rogue batch. But the infection is about to be sterilized. Mister Kess. How do we stand?”
“Canisters primed, sir,” a voice over the radio said. “As soon as the core heats up, the gas is released. Give it two hundred marks and counting.”
“You’re going to gas them?” Vairë asked in disbelief.
“Kill the livestock. The classic foot and mouth solution from the olden days. Still works,” Halpen explained as if it were the most logical thing. Vairë stared at him, unable to believe that anyone could be that thick. Couldn’t he see what he was doing? Couldn’t he see that no one, not even the Ood – especially not the Ood! – deserved this? Or would he continue on, justifying himself as whites had once justified themselves, citing the Bible to comfort themselves as they enslaved Africans. Just as whites had once believed that Africans were soulless heathens bearing the Mark of Cain and needed the white man to save them, did Halpen believe that the Ood were soulless creatures, needing humanity to define themselves? To be civilized? It made her stomach turn. Vairë swallowed hard, trying not to throw up. The Ood were more than livestock! Their song, their haunting song…it was the song of sentience. Of sapience. Of beings yearning to live free. How could humans have forgotten that? How could humans, of all species, enslave other beings?
Then the alarms started blazing. “The hell?” Halpen asked. He and Dr. Ryder ducked outside. Vairë could hear the report of gunshots blazing through the open door. “Change of plan,” he said as he walked back into the room.
“There are no reports of trouble off-world, sir. It’s still contained to the Ood Sphere,” Dr. Ryder reported.
“Then we’ve got a public duty to stop it before it spreads,” Halpen sighed.
“What’s happening?” Vairë demanded.
“Everything you wanted,” Halpen growled. “No doubt there’ll be a full police investigation once this place has been sterilized, so I can’t risk a bullet to the head. I’ll leave you to the mercies of the Ood.”
“But Mister Halpen, there’s something else, isn’t there? Something we haven’t seen,” Vairë argued.
“What do you mean?” Donna asked.
“A creature couldn’t survive with a separate forebrain and hind brain, they’d be at war with themselves,” Vairë explained. “There’s got to be something else, a third element, am I right?”
“And again, so clever,” Halpen sneered.
“But it’s got to be connected to the red eye. What is it?”
“It won’t exist for very much longer. Enjoy your Ood,” Halpen spat as he and the others strode out of the room.
“Come on,” Vairë muttered to Donna as the two of them began trying to free themselves from their restraints.
“Well, do something. You’re the one with all the tricks. You must have met Houdini!” Donna growled.
“These are really good handcuffs,” Vairë groaned as she tried to find a weakness in their restraints.
“Oh well, I’m glad of that. I mean, at least we’ve got quality,” Donna quipped.
Several Ood, their eyes red and angry, entered the room and began to stare down at Vairë and Donna.
“Vairë, Donna, friends,” Vairë shouted, hoping to keep the Ood from killing them with their translator spheres.
“The circle must be broken,” Donna shouted.
“Vairë, Donna, friends.”
“The circle must be broken!”
“Vairë, Donna, friends.”
“The circle must be broken!”
“Vairë, Donna, friends!”
“The circle must be broken!”
The Ood paused, their spheres just a touch away from Vairë and Donna.
“Vairë, Donna, friends,” the Ood said, their eyes no longer red.
“Yes. That’s us. Friends. Oh, yes,” the two women said together.
~*~*~*~
“Funny thing, the subconscious,” Vairë muttered. Halpen stood in front of her, his shaking hand holding a gun pointed towards her. “Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red-eye as revenge. Came out in the rabid Ood as anger. And then, there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma. How’s the hair loss, Mr. Halpen?”
“What have you done?” Halpen demanded of Ood Sigma. Sigma had led Vairë and Donna to the underground complex where they’d found the Ood’s shared mind imprisoned in a dampening field – the circle that must be broken.
“Oh, they’ve been preparing you for a very long time. And now you’re standing next to the Ood Brain. Mr. Halpen, can you hear it? Listen…” Vairë sighed. The song of the Ood seemed to swell in her mind. It was beautiful. It was sorrowful. It was filled with pain and longing and hope.
“What have you…? I’m…not…!” Halpen gagged. The skin on the top of his head split and fell away. Tentacles came out of his mouth as he choked. The Ood had been feeding him a concoction that had been altering his biology for a long time. No longer human, Halpen had become one of the very creatures he’d tortured and enslaved. He coughed and his hindbrain fell into his hands. He was one of them now. Halpen was an Ood.
“They… They turned him into an Ood?!” Donna gasped.
“Yep,” Vairë replied.
“He’s an Ood,” Donna repeated.
“I noticed.”
“He has become Oodkind. And we will take care of him,” Ood Sigma said calmly.
“It’s weird, being with you, I can’t tell what’s right and what’s wrong anymore,” Donna muttered softly, still in shock over the transformation.
“It’s better that way. People who know for certain tend to be like Mr. Halpen,” Vairë replied. Then the detonators set up to destroy the Ood brain began beeping wildly. Vairë reached over and twisted one of them, shutting them all down. “That’s better,” she muttered. “And now… Sigma, would you allow me the honor?” she asked, indicating the controls that generated the dampening field.
“It is yours, Weaver. Mother of the Multitude. Sister of the Ood,” Sigma said happily.
“Oh, yes!” Vairë exulted as she turned off the dampening field. “Stifled for two hundred years, but not anymore. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing!” The Ood’s song of sorrow and captivity changed, becoming one of triumph, celebration, and freedom. Vairë let the tears of joy flow down her cheeks. It was the most magnificent thing she had ever heard.
“I can hear it,” Donna laughed. “I can hear it!”
Joining hands with Sigma and Donna, Vairë led them out of the complex, headed towards the TARDIS. She hummed and sang along with the Ood, hearing Donna join in the song. It was fitting. The Ood were free. Free at last.
~*~*~*~
“The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies, everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home,” Vairë said happily. Several Ood, along with Ood Sigma, were gathered around. They were standing in front of the TARDIS. Vairë thought she had never been so happy before in her life. She had freed the Ood from their slavery. True, it would take time for it to be known but the Ood were free to live their lives and sing their beautiful song once more.
“We thank you, Weaver, Donna. Friends of Oodkind. And what of you now, will you stay? There is room in the song for you,” Ood Sigma offered. Vairë sniffed and blinked back tears. Next to her home on Galliterra, there was no place she’d rather be than here with the Ood and their beautiful, wondrous song. But, she had a duty to the cosmos. To the time lines. She had to find the Doctor eventually. So many duties pressing against her. She shook her head, her long blonde hair blowing gently in the breeze.
“Oh, I’ve… I’ve sort of got a song of my own, thanks,” she whispered.
“I think your long solo must end soon,” Ood Sigma said enigmatically.
“Meaning?” Vairë asked, curious.
“It must be joined with others. Mother of the Multitude. Golden Crowned Lady of Righteous Battle. Peacegiver. Savior. Liberator. So many titles for one person. But we will always know you as the Sister of Oodkind. Your long solo must end. Other voices will join with yours, singing a new song. Opening new chapters in your life. You’ve been alone for so long, Mother of Many, Bad Wolf, Daughter of Terra, Lady of the Lonely Isle.”
“Yeah,” Vairë muttered, not knowing what the Ood was driving at. “Erm, what about you?” she asked Donna. “You still want to go home?”
“No, definitely not,” Donna said, shaking her head.
“Then, we’ll be off,” Vairë nodded politely to the Ood.
“Take this song with you,” Ood Sigma said as the Ood lifted their hands and the song of triumph filled the air.
“We will,” Donna said gently.
“Always,” Vairë promised. Glancing at Donna, she reached a decision she hadn’t known she was making.
“And know this, Weaver of Time, Donna. You will never be forgotten. Our children will sing of the Weaver and Donna, and our children’s children. And the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever,” Ood Sigma said, his tone one of a benediction. Vairë bowed and Donna waved and then the two women entered the TARDIS and headed off to their next destination, the Oods’ song singing them onwards.