AN: Sorry about the tremendous wait, summer and all. My internet connection has been hell and there are no USB sticks to be found. Please R&R. Enjoy! Next chapter within a week I hope.

There was the sound of pressure release and than a shuddering propulsion as the Phalos re-entered hyperspace. It rocked the party backwards, so that everyone toppled on the Doctor instead of Rory. Painful though it was, when they had sorted themselves out again, the Doctor and the child shared a joyful glance.

"We're at the front of the ship."

"How do you know?" was Amy's question. As the Doctor suspected, River explained with pride.

"To propel a ship forwards, the hyperdrive engines are always fitted to the back of the ship. When these engines react, they throw the ship forwards, sending all of its contents in the opposite direction. Since we propelled backwards we're facing the same direction as the ship is."

"And how do you know that we're not just facing the front of the ship?"

The Doctor knocked on the wall. "Because, if we were in the middle of the ship, this noise would have echoed more. The sound of the knock was lost to both the exterior wall and the vacuum of what's outside this ship." He stopped to observe Rory and Amy's expression. "Well, that and I sonicked it."

"Oh, yeah. You sonicked it. So… what does that mean? Where are we going now?"

"It means –Amelia Pond –that we need only get to the floor that Mr. Argent is on. He's important, he'll be near the front"

"Elevator?" She asked, folding her arms and shifting her weight to her other foot.

"Precisely."

The intercom system crackled again, they heard the shuffle of feet and a loud gunshot once again rang throughout the ship. The Doctor cringed.

Searching for the fabled elevator they went. The passing time gnawed at the Doctor as he turned corner after corner looking for this elevator, conscious to never wander too far from the starboard section of the Phalos. He couldn't help worrying about the hundreds of sentient lives unknowingly depending on him to save them from their own trafficking. A lot of lives seemed to depend on him. He was the Doctor, it came with the territory, but he was acutely aware that so many depended on his actions. The old step on a bug and change the future forever scenario. Crackle. Shuffle. Bang. Silence. Crackle. He prayed that he could find that elevator soon. Game or not, these people needed him.

Goodness, River was pretty. She seemed to get more beautiful every time he saw her. In the heat of the chase, he stole her gaze. Those hazel eyes. He wasn't deceived when he admitted that he loved those hazel eyes. They were enraptured in their secret moment above that little girl's head. She blew him a kiss. He caught it and stored it in his hearts.

With only fifty minutes left, there had been four more gunshots since the initial one, and the Doctor was beginning to get twitchy. It must have shown, for River had cooed at him "Calm down my love, we've made it through worse than this before."

He nodded. Amy picked up on his nerves as well. She spun to the child. "Got any idea where this elevator thing might be?" The child looked at her, appeared to contemplate, and then pulled out a book from underneath the blue sweater Amy had let her borrow. It was a dark red diary. She opened it quickly, away from the Doctor and River, flipped, read, quickly shut, and shoved back into her sweater. "Left" She pointed. They obeyed her directions which eventually led to a wall with a crystal symbol system similar to the one with the periodic table, except this was a different puzzle.

"Where'd you get that?" The Doctor stepped in to her, dangerously close. He did not like the fact that she had just read from his future; from a diary, no less.

"Spoilers." She responded. The Doctor glared, but River took him by the arm and gently redirected his attention to the puzzle at hand.

Neither the child, nor the Doctor could solve this one, it appeared. So Amy stepped in.

"What's it say, Doctor?"

"…Then, methought, the air grew denser… perfumed by an unseen…censer…" He ran his hand through his hair.

"—Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor!"

He looked at her inquisitorially. "Type it in," she directed. He did so by rearranging the crystals and the wall seemed to dissolve in front of their eyes to reveal an elevator much like he, River and the child had encountered down on MI9. Amy and Rory high-fived behind him.

"Edgar Allan Poe's: The Raven. I do read in my spare time, you know." said she.

"Brilliant Pond; always so very clever."

They entered the elevator and travelled up to one of the middle floors. The seventh out of eighteen floors was not much more spectacular than the last few they had been on, but it bore a slight bit more semblance of luxury. Follow the luxury; that was River's Sherlock like deductive reasoning. The luxury continued to manifest around what could be assumed as a central point and the party began to get more and more worried about the elusive passing time. The quality of the ship seemed to get progressively better or at least cleaner for the most part as they followed and made assumptions about where next to go. Eventually, to their delight, they witnessed a Degas hung on the wall. The Doctor preferred the John Busema that followed fifty feet later–that was until it warranted a comment from River about handsome men in spandex. She smiled over the Doctor's shoulder at Amy.

Overhead, the Doctor once again heard the voice of Adamas Argent. Doctor, I'm getting bored. You're at the thirty minute mark, and my overall profit has increased by 2 percent, the value is determined by the quantity. So, without further ado… another gun shot rang. I hope you're enjoying yourself, Doctor, because our game is almost done.

With ten minutes remaining, the group was beside themselves with anxiety. The Doctor knew they were close, so close that he could almost taste it. He estimated that there were at most approximately three corridors between themselves and the maniacal Adamas Argent, and like every proper genius, it was that last piece of the puzzle that was driving him crazy.

"Which one?" He asked, as they turned a bend and observed a set of doors parallel to each other, but each of significant importance.

"Left," offered Rory. The Doctor sonicked the left door open. Bad decision. "Halt, trespasser!" bellowed the diamond plated guardsman filling the doorway. "You are intruding on my quarters. For such actions, you will be penalized. Rory threw a look of pure exasperation his wife's way, as if to say 'really?'

"Doctor, we don't have time for this, now." Amy denoted.

"I know,"

The Man advanced and cocked a lepton gun very similar to the one River had found on the asteroid. "Shall I destroy you with this gun, or shall we fight with honour?"

"Well… seeing as I'd prefer not to die right now, I think we'll just turn around and leave." Retorted Rory.

"That is not an option." The semi-transparent figure in all of his armour was as much of a menace as he was an inconvenience. The child stepped forwards, giving the Doctor a small panic attack, and River, he assumed, a sizeable heart attack. "No –" he pulled the girl back to his side. "I'm all for nobility, but I'd prefer not to make a martyr out of you."The Sontaran looked around impatiently. "Well, someone fight me, because I'm getting bored." River drew her gun.

"I've got a deflector shield, Madame; it would be wiser not to shoot."

"Doctor…" Whined Amy.

"I know, Pond." There were six minutes left before they reached the trading post, according to Mr. Argent's calculation. There were six minutes to find him and stop him. The man was just wasting their time. If only they could land a well aimed blow to the back of his neck. He ran his hand through his hair, thinking. Amy was breathing down his neck, just as antsy as himself. Rory glanced at the Doctor and then at his wife.

"Catch me if you can!" he chided, up starting and bolting down the hallway. The surprised simple man stood there for a split second, but when he realized that Rory was going to play with him, he cheerfully chased after, shouting banter to Rory about how his running style resembled that of a derelict Orearan's.

The remaining group took full advantage, spinning around to the other door and opening … a broom closet. Undeterred, they turned back from whence they came and followed the trail of luxury left behind for the thieving scoundrel. In the style of a true genius' ship, the hallways began to branch more often and at stranger angles. At clearly the heart of the luxury, the Doctor, Amy, River, and the child were left opening every door they could find. They were thankful that they had found no more Sontarans; however, there also appeared to be no Mr. Argent either. Just to infuriate them, so it seemed, the man had initiated a countdown. "T-minus 59, 58, 57, 56, 55…" rung over the PA system.

At "T-minus 34" the Doctor body checked himself into another cookie-cutter door that swung wide to a brightly lit room. "Amy," he called. She, River and the child flocked to his side. Together they entered. Sat at a mahogany desk with an electronic cigar, was the one and only Adamas Argent, hands folded atop and an expectant air radiating from his every pore.

"Doctor," said he. "I expected I'd be seeing you soon enough. I had almost thought you wouldn't have made it; that would have been a pity." He reached up to his ear and ordered into his telecom that the countdown be turned off. He then leaned back calculatingly. "So, the race is done, but here we are. How, my dearest Doctor, are you going to stop me?"

The Doctor fixed his bowtie. "It's all in my head."

"I think you're bluffing. I think you came all this way with not a single idea about how to save your precious jewel people." Mr. Argent turned to River. "You could shoot me with that lovely squareness gun, but I think you know that it will only prove futile." The Doctor stood still, not letting his bluff show. His wife was strong, she could take this man. The thing was that he was afraid she would. He still couldn't justify taking a human life, even if that human life was trafficking thousands of others. "She's clever, this one…" the diamond thief commented about the child. "I saw her work her way past the hexadecimal periodic table puzzle. No one has guessed that before. Definitely your child. But, I don't think she's got a one-up on me quite yet. And you," he gazed towards Amy, looking her up and down. "Well done on the Poe… but good luck… you're going to need it."

"You're wrong," countered the Doctor. "Notice we're missing someone?"

"Quite," Mr. Argent tapped his fingers against the desk and took a drag of the electronic cigar. He watched the Doctor expectantly, blew out and commented. "…continue?"

"He's currently helping your diamond people off the ship. Remember the mate you had in his own quarters on this ship? He's got a homing device on him. Rory sent word to others. We've got friends of our own on the way. They're bringing their ship with a whole armada of different races. We will liberate these people, Adamas. And we will free the opal people, the garnet people, and all of the other people you and your company have captured for personal profit."

"You're bluffing. And even if you were not, how would you plan to execute such an elaborate plan? My ship is immense and can escape any known human vessel in hyperspace; you and you're human friend are unarmed."

"Wrong again. I've got a screwdriver."

Mr. Argent scoffed. "Pardon me, but you have a what?" The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and smiled, feeling River smiling gleefully beside him. At the press of a button and the flick of the wrist, the Doctor sonicked a frequency on which all the technology surrounding Mr. Argent exploded in a series of sparks. The jewel thief jumped slightly.

"Good. So, unless you're planning on being annihilated in front of your peers by a series of your opponent's men, I'd step down and let these people free."

Mr. Adamas put his cigar down, pushed away from his desk and stood up. He walked around the side of the desk and stood in front of the Doctor. He had about two inches on the Doctor. It would have been an intimidating stance had the Doctor not been so self assured. "I invited you to play a game with me, not to threaten myself, my crew and destroy my equipment. So, if you've got any civility in you, you will cease. Or I will have you thrown in the brig, without your screwdriver, squareness gun, or any other such paraphernalia you may possess. Now, if you will excuse me, we have arrived at the trading post and I have business to conduct."

Amy broke their triangle formation and came to stand vehemently beside her Time Lord. "No. You said you wanted to play a game, so let's play." The jewel thief surveyed her up and down. Intrigued by either her proposal or feminine form (the Doctor couldn't tell), he asked her to continue.

"It's a card game. It's like poker, but not quite. For every ten points, one party has to give the other something of significant value or perform an action of value." She folded her arms. "The rules are quite simple: One card in every thirteen is lethal. This random card is chosen by rolling two dice with the values ace through king and the other die with all of the suits. A mediator will say if the bad card has been played, and if it has, the person who played it will lose all of the points they have gained. One in every fifty-two cards is worth two hundred fifty points. This card is also chosen by a set of dice. To gain five points, you need to have a set of four cards with a value of one to nine in your hands that would equal ten in using the four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and addition. If you can't play and have to discard and pick up a card, it counts as a move. Shall we play?"

Adamas leaned in close to her and sensing Amy's hand readying to slap him, backed off. He smiled. "It sounds splendid. Maybe I'll ask Mr. Akai and Ms. Michezo to join us, if your family care to join us."

River nodded. "Of course we do. Let's play a game."

"Marvelous!" The business man clapped, ordered something to a guard over the telecom and in a split second Rory was transported onto the deck.

"—where you came from?" Was the interrupted sentence he was in the middle of uttering to what the party would assume was a diamond person. He was crouched on his knees, hand out as if he was placing his hand on the shoulder of a child even smaller than their own little mystery. "Uhmmm, hi…" he offered.

"Hello Rory. We're playing a game, now." explained the Doctor.

"Ah… what game?"

"Tens."

He pulled in beside the child. "You playing?" She looked from River to the Doctor then nodded. Mr. Argent made a remark about how he loved parties and then called in a guard. He gave the man an order and two minutes later a man and woman stepped in with an air of extreme superiority.

"Mr. Akai, Ms. Michezo, meet the Doctor, his wife, their child, Amy and Rory –the trouble makers who want to play cards."

Mr. Akai stood approximately four inches taller than Mr. Argent. Like Adamas, he had gems running all throughout his body. The most major difference was that he was garnet. Ms. Michezo was a black woman with long hair weaved through with opal extensions. Like her two male business partners, the gem was laced throughout her body. One of Mr. Akai's guards had brought a pack of cards. The child was asked to procure the strange dice from a replicator in the adjacent room.

When she returned, Mr. Argent had them all transported to a room with a billiard table and set up a series of chairs. All sat around the table, he started to shuffle and deal.

"We need a mediator," pointed out Mr. Akai.

"You." Ms. Michezo pointed to the child. "You will judge fairly or you will be killed. Do I make myself clear?" The child nodded and Ms. Michezo's henchman stepped up, placing a gun to the child's temple. The Doctor's hearts spasmed as he looked from the child to River. The little girl nodded, slightly easing the Doctor's anxiety.

All seated, Adamas Argent began to shuffle. At his nod, the child shook the four times dice, looked nodded back to him. He dealt each individual four cards. When he had dealt to the entire table, the Doctor looked at his cards. He had an ace of spades, three of clubs, eight of clubs, and jack of diamonds. He couldn't play. As per the left of the dealer rule, Mr. Akai went. He placed down a seven of diamonds, than a four of hearts, an eight of spades, and a two of hearts. "Seven multiplied by four is twenty-eight. Subtract eight is twenty, divide by two is ten." The child marked him down for five points. Ms. Michezo was next. She surveyed the table and then looked at her cards. She discarded one of her cards face-down and picked up another card from the face-down pick up pile.

Rory was next. He looked at his card, played a nine of spades, a three of hearts, a two of clubs and a six of diamonds. "Nine plus six is fifteen. Fifteen minus two is thirteen. Thirteen minus three is ten." The child looked at the dice and put him down for five points. Amy couldn't play. The Doctor couldn't play. River played a nine of diamonds, an ace of clubs, a four of diamonds, and a five of hearts. "Five times four is twenty. Subtract one is nineteen. Subtract nine is ten." The child went to mark her down, but instead said "Sorry, four of diamonds is lethal," and didn't mark River down for any points. She rolled the dice again and it was Mr. Argent's turn. He played a seven of hearts, a six of diamonds, a five of clubs and a two of spades. The child called the lethal card on him and he received no points.

They continued like this for another half round before Amy played a six of hearts, three of diamonds, eight of hearts, and seven of spades. "Six plus three is nine. Nine plus eight is seventeen. Seventeen subtract seven is ten." The child had announced that both a lethal card and the bonus card were played, but since the bonus card was played later, the bonus was collected.

Mr. Akai jumped up. "I don't believe you!" He shouted indignantly. The guard's gun went back towards the child's head and River jumped up with her gun to the guard. The child passed her notes about the four lethal cards and the one bonus card over to the crimson boss. Accepting, but not satiated, he reluctantly sat back down. Amy collected all of the cards, shuffled and re-dealt. The little girl stayed the mediator, despite Mr. Akai's grumbling, shook the dice once more, and reset the five special cards.

Amy, with two hundred and fifty points asked for one hundred of the jewel people to be liberated. Mr. Argent and Mr. Akai with ten points bargained four jewel people back to them, as they established the rule that every ten points was worth four jewel people. The scores and earnings were kept by a blue holographic screen that newly appeared in the middle of the table. In another eight turns, Ms. Michezo won the jackpot, Rory, the Doctor and Mr. Argent had lost all of their points.

In order for the Doctor and his companions to win all of the jewel people or the jewel thieves to keep their merchandise and take from the Doctor's crew, each side needed seven thousand fifty points. At the end of the half hour, the points were four thousand two hundred fifty to two thousand seven hundred fifty to the good guys. Ms. Michezo was beginning to get anxious. "This is a ridiculous game, Adamas. I have business to attend to in this quadrant. I ought to take my ship and leave."

"I concur." Mr. Akai stood up, turned around and flipped his crimson coat behind him. "I fold."

The Doctor, indignant, slapped his cards against the table. "This is the freedom of living creatures we are bartering for, here. You are not at liberty to just stand up and leave!" Mr. Akai stared condescending daggers his way.

"Please, Iaru, Awara, sit down. Indulge me, please, play the game with me; you're both geniuses and I know you love taking risks. Continue to play with us, please." Ms. Michezo glared around the table, and after a stare down with Mr. Argent, she relaxed her grip on the chair she was about to use to push herself up. Mr. Akai came and sat down twenty seconds later. "We'll play your stupid game, but the only thing we're indulging is your love for competition."

"But Adamas, if Iaru and I are to continue playing," Ms. Michezo looked from Mr. Argent to Rory to the child, "we need to higher the stakes. There is only to be one lethal card in the deck, so the balance doesn't tip so often. Each group of ten warrants fifty points instead of five. The jackpot will be worth one thousand points. And if we win, we sell you." She pointed to River, to the Doctor, to Amy, to Rory, to the child.

Adamas nodded, "I can deal with that. You are going to deal with that, capiche?" He stared each of the Doctor's group with such conviction that the Doctor was forced to nod. The child recollected the cards, earning a condescending scoff from Mr. Akai and a nose upturned in disgust from Ms. Michezo. She shuffled, doing the toss, the bridge, and some other alien form of shuffling. Without looking, she re-dealt the cards face down, four to each person. She tossed the set of dice once and memorized the lethal card. She rolled the dice once more for the jackpot.

River played. She placed down a three of clubs, five of diamonds, four of spades and two of spades. "Three and five make eight. Eight and four makes twelve. Twelve minus two is eight." The child marked her down and the scoreboard donned her fifty points. Mr. Argent played, gaining himself fifty points. Mr. Akai couldn't play. Ms. Michezo played the jackpot driving their points one thousand points up. Rory played and won fifty points. Come Amy's turn to play, she stared at her cards, rearranged them thrice, and after two minutes she passed. The Doctor looked at his cards. He could play: the five of hearts by the two of diamonds made ten. Ten plus ace of clubs is eleven, subtract ace of hearts is ten. But more than that, the deck had been played almost through to the end. Since the jackpot had already been called, one of the cards he held in his hand had to be the lethal card. The risks were too high to lose all of his points now that they were so easily obtained and so rarely lost. To lose his points would tip the balance of power dramatically. He may have been one in four against three, but his team was not nearly as strong as their opponents; they and the lives aboard the Phalos and other two ships depended on him. He looked down to survey his cards once more, and then looked up to see Mr. Argent staring expectantly and glibly from across him. He didn't want to lie; the gun pointed at the little girl was assurance of that, but he also couldn't afford to tell the truth.

"I'm stuck." He announced. In fairness, he was stuck on which decision would prove less detrimental.

"Surely, with your clever brain you can make something of those numbers" goaded Mr. Akai. Mr. Argent leaned back, waiting to watch the scene unfurl.

The Doctor analyzed the different expressions around the room. "If I must play, I will lose all of my points –one of the cards I hold in my hand will kill. But if I can't play, my turn is skipped and no points are either gained or lost."

"But you can play, Doctor. I can read it on you. The numbers, they float in your head and coalesce like two hydrogen molecules. The only way you couldn't play is if you have a king, queen or a jack. I now hold a jack of clubs in my hands from when I last picked up, Ms. Michezo couldn't play and she has her way with numbers; she must have a royal card, but with the vehemence that she denied her turn, she most likely had two, or three even –but three isn't likely. The one with the red hair, she doesn't have a way with numbers, but she doesn't have a royal card. It took her too long to decide. That leaves nine left. Initially, I would have assumed you didn't have a king, queen or jack. You stared at your cards too long, but you're cleverer than that. Much too clever –this is your, what is it, poker face? But I see, that last look you stole –yes that one there –to that child of yours betrays it. You can play, but you know that you must have the lethal card. Since it hasn't been otherwise stated, you must play, Doctor. But I like you; I'll make you a bet. You will choose one of the cards in your hand and place it face up on the table away from the other cards. This is the card that you expect to be lethal. If you guess right, you your team will win all of my points. If you guess wrong, you and a player on your team will both lose all of your points. It's your decision. Play all four cards and lose all of your points, or half of your profit on one card. I'm waiting." Adamas lit a cigar and puffed confidently.

River reached across the child to squeeze the Doctor's hand. He was going to risk it. He ran his hand along his hand and stopped at the two of diamonds. He began to lift it to place on the table, but stopped; it felt wrong. He closed his eyes, secretly willing the child to pick up on his telepathic brainwaves, but she, for all of her intellect, was oblivious. He looked at the five of hearts. Five was an even number, too easy. He decided on the ace of clubs. Slowly and calculatingly he placed it on the table, only revealing its face when he removed its hand. The Time Lord swallowed and looked over to the miniature River. She looked back at him, and a look of genuine remorse spread across her face before it vanished to the ever present deadness.

"Amy; I choose Amy…" spoke the Doctor, defeated. He watched the scoreboard as his and her points disappeared. The statistics now stood three thousand eight hundred to nine hundred the jewel thieves. The Doctor sighed. River played, earned them fifty points. Mr. Argent couldn't go. Mr. Akai earned fifty points. The child collected the cards, reshuffled, re-rolled the dice, and re-dealt. The pattern continued like this until it seemed the teams were finally balanced. Then Ms. Michezo hit below the belt.

"One of these cards is lethal." She looked around and stared daggers at everyone. She then placed the nine of spades. "It's this one." The child blinked and nodded. She looked at the scoreboard, but instead of choosing the person on his team with the least amount of points, he went for the one with the most points. River Song. "Now, one of these cards is also the jackpot; we've went through the entire deck without a lethal card and a jackpot card. I assume I can't play two cards at the same time, now that I guessed my murder weapon, but the gods are on my side. The jackpot was lethal. Now, I want my thousand points."

"Rory, she can't do that. Doctor!" Amy looked desperately to and fro. Rory, about to validate her statement stopped when Mr. Akai nodded to the guard at the child's head. River cried out, the guard cocked his gun, Mr. Akai nodded again –and Rory launched himself in the way, successfully knocking her assailant over. But the weapon had been fired.

Amy watched in absolute horror as the child and Rory fell to the ground. Roooooryyyyy! She remembered hearing screaming coming from her mouth but she could not recall the physical action of opening her mouth and letting forth the scream. She got down on her hands and knees. Instantly she was by his side. Rory? Rory! Rory, don't be dead. Rory! She sat there, desperately turning clutching her husband's shirt. Her insides shattered, she didn't remember crying, but the tears seemed to fall from her face regardless of what she could do.

She remembered then, seeing, if not feeling the hands of her daughter saying Mother, he's alright. He'll live. There was such a conviction in those words, but it was then she heard the second scream. Not from her. The ringing in her ears not quite cleared, she remembered coming to terms with the fact that Rory was okay, but Melody was in panicking about the small body next to her.

The child had maintained a large blast from whatever sort of alien gun the guard had carried on her side. It didn't look fatal, but in the eyes of the new mother, it would. Melody? She laid her hand upon her daughter's shoulder blade. The yellow flames had already started to emanate from the Time Lady's hands. She put the blazing medicine to the little girl's waist. She saw a light flash and assumed that the bosses must have left. She saw the Doctor at one point had slid down to take her place. He pulled River away from the child, told her stop it, River! You're wasting your regeneration energy! She fought him, but when he managed to pull her off, Amy remembered seeing the same flame coming from the child's side. River's crying ceased when she saw the little girl was regenerating.

Then the noise started once again. At the sound of yet another gunshot the ringing started again. Alright you lot. You'll be joining the gems. Fetch a pretty penny, you will. Footsteps seemed to flood the room along with a myriad of guards. A pair of military-grade space boots stepped around their group. Oi! Barked the voice to her left. Time Lords! The bosses will be rich! We won't have to live off the gems ever again! Come with us! The guards flocked their group, prying off the Doctor first, than herself, then River, Rory, and finally the child.

Don`t touch her! cried River. Put your gun away, stupid woman! The sonic screwdriver went off: don`t call my wife stupid! Another gunshot went off. That is on stun. Don`t make me put it to kill. Now move.