Two Brilliant Minds

Mixed emotions flowed through Luke as the bolted door opened to reveal a very alive River, yet a very scary scene. He was relieved the Reavers hadn't killed her, but the mess before him made his stomach clench. From the look on the other's faces, they too were experiencing relief and horror. What is she? Crept into his mind and he immediately regretted it. River was a human being just like him and shouldn't be thought of any different. Granted she was mentally damaged, but it wasn't her fault and he shouldn't treat her like she was a monster. He knew monsters. He fought monsters on a daily basis.
However, he couldn't fight the queasiness he still felt when he looked at her. He knew for certain the blood that covered her was not her own and she had mercilessly killed all those things. It was a frightening thought to know that such a kind, yet unstable girl could become a killer in a split second. Did the Alliance do this to her? Purposely screw up her brain so she could become a weapon? Luke was beginning to understand a little bit more about why Simon risked everything for his sister.
Luke's eyes went from River to Simon and found that he marveled at the young man even more now. Not only did he save her, but never once did Simon look afraid of his sister. Even now, when she was covered in blood and armed, he cautiously approached her but no fear shown from his eyes. Simon could move freely to his sister's side and touch her, while he and everyone else stood back frozen and unsure. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "We should go before someone comes." He looked back at his mum, "We don't want to the Alliance to cause trouble for Mr. Smith or get caught by the British police."
That snapped Sarah Jane out of her fear and replied, "Yes, let's get to the car fast." Everyone nodded in agreement and quickly left the red room behind. This time instead of taking shifts, everyone crammed into the car, with River sitting slouched on Simon's lap. They made it back to Sarah Jane's without any incidents. "In quickly, before someone sees us." Sarah Jane ushered everyone in only to hear shouts coming from the attic.
"It's a good thing no one heard them from outside. They'd wonder why you have a plethora of strange looking police in your attic." Clyde snickered. Luke and Rani looked at Clyde with surprise. "What? I do know some vocabulary words." He defended his intelligence.
"Never doubted that." Rani smiled.
"Yeah, yeah." Clyde muttered.
"Enough chatting, let's go meet these Alliance fellows." Sarah Jane said as she headed to the stairs.
"I'm going to take River to our house, I don't think I want her to meet them again." Simon replied.
"That won't be a good idea with both of you covered in blood. River can take a shower here and we'll make sure to keep you two out of sight." She turned to the kids. "Luke and Rani, if Simon doesn't mind, go to their house and get them clean clothes. Is that okay with you?" She looked to Simon.
"That's fine. Try not to mess anything up please." Simon handed Rani his keys.
"We won't." Rani smiled and headed out the door with Luke.
"What about me?" Clyde asked.
"You are going to help me." Sarah Jane replied. "Simon you know where the shower is. You may take one too if you wish."
"You are too kind, Sarah Jane." -Simon
"Think nothing of it, but we need to talk after the Alliance is taken care of." Simon nodded. Sarah Jane and Clyde headed to the attic, while Simon and River went to the bathroom.
"I don't want to meet them again." River commented once they approached the bathroom door.
"You won't. Sarah Jane will make sure of it. I'll make sure of it, Mei-mei." -Simon
River nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. She turned on the water and looked at herself in the mirror. She cocked her head at her reflection and finally understood the fear that emanated from her friends. She wiped some blood from her cheek and looked down at her hand. It didn't do much since she was covered in the red crusty liquid, and then she made a face. She felt gross and on the brink of losing it again. She held on to her sane mind and hurried to strip off her soiled clothes so she could slip into the shower.
Once under the warm water, she tilted her head forward to watch the pink water disappear down the drain. It was a relief to finally be rid of the evidence that proved that she wasn't just crazy but dangerous. The images of recent events played in her head and she tried valiantly to fight them away, but found it impossible. She was missing her filter after all. What pained her most wasn't killing the Reavers (that was pure self defense), it was seeing the faces of her friends stare at her with fear; finally realizing what she was capable of. "It is nothing more than water, plasma, minerals, and red blood cells, yet take some away and death is possible. Humans are so fragile." After a moment she tilted her head up and proceeded to wash away the grime she accumulated from the fight.
There was a knock on the door as River was washing her hair. "It's just me, Rani. Your clothes are on the loo." Then she quietly shut the door and left. River finished her shower and stepped out. A fresh towel was on the corner of the sink and just as Rani said, a fresh flower patterned dress was waiting for her on the toilet. She wrapped the towel around her body and was confused by what was missing.
"I would think she would be too afraid to touch the blood soaked clothing." River muttered to herself and proceeded to dress and brush her hair. She stepped out into the hallway to find it vacant. She listened and followed the train of thoughts. She quietly crept up to the attic and peered through the crack of the door. Sarah Jane, Clyde, Rani, and Luke were having a tension filled discussion with the Alliance soldiers. As the quiet shouting pursued, she caught Luke's eye and silently beckoned him to her. He whispered to Sarah Jane and walked towards her. She stood off to the side, and up against the wall.
"What is it?" He asked in a hushed voice.
"They are lying, they plan on taking us back no matter what." She replied, and then she started crumbling to the floor.
"River!" Luke knelt in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't let them take me, I don't want to go back." She quietly cried as her arms went up defensively.
"We won't let that happen." Luke tried to sooth.
"They do things, they hurt people." She started mumbling incoherently.
"It's going to be okay." -Luke
"What's up?" Clyde asked as he exited the attic.
"Do not trust the words of those men, they wish to incapacitate you and take us away. They do not care if they have to kill you in order to reach their goal. Their sole purpose is to bring Simon and me back to the Federation." River looked desperately at Clyde.
"You sure?" Usually Clyde would make some joke to ease the tension in the air, however the way the girl looked at him made joking around seem inappropriate.
"Yes, Don't let them free." She ducked her head into her hands and continued to cower.
"You better talk to mum." Luke looked up at his best friend.
"Will do, mate. Make sure she doesn't cry out." Clyde winked and walked back into the attic and ushered Sarah Jane aside.
"River, let go downstairs, away from the men." Luke suggested as he tried to stand her up. River hesitated a second with a look to the door. She weighed the options before her and let Luke guide her downstairs.
"You alright?" Simon asked when he saw the two teenagers enter the kitchen.
"I'm fine." River mumbled and perched herself on a chair.
"You sure?" River gave him her usually 'you're-seriously-asking-me-this' face and he conceded. "If you say so. I'm going to shower, is that okay?"
"I can stay with her, mum, Rani, and Clyde can take care of everything. If they need me or River, they know where to find us." Luke replied.
"Okay, Thank you." Simon retreated upstairs to take a much deserved shower.
~Next Day~
Sarah Jane paced the attic trying to think of what to do. "Sarah Jane, may I make a suggestion?" Mr. Smith asked.
"Go ahead, Mr. Smith." She replied, facing the super computer.
"Why don't you send them back to their world? Luke, Rani, Clyde, and on occasion River have worked on the space craft."
"Is it operational?"
"I believe it is. You may want to speak to Luke first."
"Thank you, Mr. Smith. Please watch after our guests." Sarah Jane headed downstairs to where her son was having breakfast. "Hello, Luke."
"Morning, mum." Luke greeting, taking a drink of orange juice.
"I heard you have been working on the space craft the Tam's arrived in."
Luke almost choked on his drink. "Where'd you hear that?"
"Mr. Smith."
"Oh, well yes we have been working on it in case the Tam's wish to leave. It's fascinating to work on it, it's close to the technology we have here yet it's so much more." Luke's eyes lit up at the thought of working on the craft.
"Is it working?"
"Well," Luke thought for a mere second, "It should be. River and I worked on the engine and the computer system. Why?"
"Mr. Smith suggested sending the soldiers back in it. Do you think it could make it?"
" If they have enough power, we can at least get them past our universe and hopefully into another. Maybe farther if we are lucky, however the chances of that are quite slim since the craft isn't 100% fixed."
"Let's try it anyway, we need to get them out of here. What should we do about their memories though? They know where Earth is now."
"I wiped the computers memory banks of Earth's location, even the Milky Way System. However, I'm not quite sure how to erase their memories of what has transpired here. The only... people I know who can do that were the Men in Black and the last one was depleted of power last we saw him."
"Hmm, I'll talk to Mr. Smith about what to do regarding their memories, you prepare the shuttle and make any final fixes to it."
"Yes, mum." Luke kissed Sarah Jane on the cheek and left.
The rest of the day was spent preparing the ship and men for their journey off their planet. Luke, Clyde, Rani, and River did their best to direct the ship, via autopilot, to where the soldiers belonged, while Sarah Jane and Mr. Smith worked with the men. 7pm that night, the ship was launched. The group on the ground assumed everything went fine due to no fireworks appearing in the sky and Mr. Smith not alerting them that spaceship debris was falling to from the ground.
~2 Months Later~
"So how are you liking regular school, River?" Rani asked as she, Clyde, Luke, and River walked to school.
"Interesting, watching people mill around and try to answer the simplest questions but failing fascinates me. How they can't understand quantum physics baffles me." She replied honestly.
"You've got competition Luke for smartest person in the class... no make that school." Clyde teased and patted Luke's shoulder.
"Actually, I'm enjoying having River being at school. It enables me to have a conversation about things I normally would lose people with. No offense." Luke looked at his friends apologetically.
"It's cool, we're kind of glad you have someone to talk about high level math and science things with." Clyde reassured. They approached the school and went to their respected classes. The day went by uneventful, as in no aliens tried to take over the world or such non-sense.
On the way home, River split off from the group and entered the house she shared with Simon. "I'm home." She called as she placed her school bag on the ground.
"In here." Simon called from the living room.
"You have a date tonight." She stated as she watched her brother straighten his tie.
"And why do you say that?"
"You know why."
"Indulge me."
"Well, first off you are dressing up even though you don't have work today. You are wearing cologne. And it's a whisper on your mind." She cocked her head and asked, "Why don't you want me to know?"
"I wanted to tell you on my own, and I'm not sure if she even likes me like that." Her replied, finally looking at her.
"What's her name?" River asked as she approached her brother to fix his tie.
"Her name is Kaylee Frye, she's-"
"The mechanic you run into at the coffee shop." She stepped back, approving of his appearance. "When is your date?"
"Six."
She looked to the clock; 2 hours. "Okay." River scowled.
"What's wrong?"
River looked up, for the first time in a while she was unsure of how to say something. "The school thinks I should apply to college early." She started picking at her shirt.
Simon stood sunned for a moment. "Really?" River nodded her head yes. Simon shouldn't have been surprise, she was brilliant after all. "Do you want to go? Do you think you can... handle it?"
"I don't know. It would be far less boring than going to high school, the only person remotely on my level of intelligence is Luke but my social skills aren't great and... I don't know how I would do. I am well aware that my mental state fluctuated from being relatively sane to erratic to hopelessly incapable of doing anything. I don't know if I could handle going away to school even though I would like to try it." The Tam's talked about River's options until around 5:45pm, when Simon had to get ready to pick up Kaylee.
"We can talk more about, you have time to think about it correct?"
"Yes. I would also like to talk to Luke, it was also suggested to him."
"Okay, no need to rush." Simon kissed River on the head and left for his first date in years. River sat back thinking until the doorbell rang. She got up and opened the door.
"We just received a mayday from a space craft that's about to crash on Earth. Ready to go investigate it?" Clyde grinned. River looked Clyde and Rani and then at Luke who grinned at her and she smiled back, for the first time in a long time River felt content with her life and actually felt like a normal teenager.