A Matter Of Honour.
Disclaimer.
Doctor Who, it's associated characters, locations etc. belong to the BBC. I have no connection to the BBC or the production of Doctor Who what-so-ever. I have not nor do I expect to receive any payment for this story. I'm just an imaginative fan of an incredible show.
Part 1.
"Doctor?"
"Rose?" Said The Doctor as he opened eyes that refused to blink for a time. The word had been said instinctively, it was her voice that had called his name. But Rose wasn't there anymore. She was lost to him, alive but on the other side of the Void. After the battle at Canary Wharf, Rose had been taken to an Alternate Dimension by that dimension's version of her Father. Officially listed as 'Dead' in this dimension, she may as well be dead as there was no way for him to ever see her again as to do so would open the Void and cause two dimensions to merge into one, releasing the trapped Daleks and Cybermen that were being held in the void. The risks were bad enough, but the consequences were unthinkable.
He leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling of the TARDIS high above him, a puzzled look causing his mouth to open as his eyes focused on nothing. Had he just been dreaming? He hadn't been asleep, surely? And yet, either he 'had' been dreaming or he really had heard Rose's voice.
"Good morning." Said a voice he knew to be all too real.
"Morning." He replied with a smile as he turned and saw Martha enter the control room. "Sleep well?" He asked in the strong southern accent that this regeneration seemed to carry with it.
"Yes thanks." Replied Martha as she strolled over, pulling her long raven hair into a bunch as she walked. She was wearing her favourite jeans and a red leather jacket with a black top underneath and her black boots made a clopping sound on the metal floor. She looked at The Doctor who was reclining in a chair with his feet up on the console and wearing his brown pinstripe suit and white baseball sneakers, as usual. "Don't you ever wear anything else?"
"Why, what's wrong with these?" Replied The Doctor with a frown as he looked down at his clothes.
"I'd imagine they'd start to get a bit pongy after a while." Said Martha, wrinkling her nose.
"Who says they're the same clothes?" Asked The Doctor.
"You mean you have a wardrobe full of the same clothes?" Replied Martha in a disbelieving tone of voice.
"Why not, Einstein did and look how clever he was."
"Wait, you've met Einstein?"
"Yeah. Well, I say 'met'. He was having a bit of trouble with his Theory of Relativity so I kind of gave him a nudge in the right direction. Changed a few of his sums on his blackboard, that sort of thing."
"And he never noticed that his maths had been changed?" Asked a sceptical Martha.
"Never mentioned it if he did." Replied The Doctor with a cheeky grin. "Must've been concentrating on something else at the time, ay?"
Martha laughed. "Half the time I'd swear you were making these things up just to impress me."
"Is it working?" Said The Doctor, his face splitting into a grin.
"Not with me." Said Martha as she looked down at the console in front of her. "Louis Pasteur, now that would be impressive."
The Doctor lifted his feet, swung them over and then stood up, all in one fluid motion. "You could meet him yourself if you like." He said as he looked down at the console in front of him and turned a small dial. He smiled as he heard Martha say "Really?" in an almost awed voice. "Why not?" He asked.
"Doctor?" Said Rose.
The Doctor looked up, all trace of humour gone from his face. He looked at Rose, standing on the opposite side of the console from him. She was just as he remembered her. Her long blonde hair framing her face and cascading down over her shoulders, her almond shaped eyes with their arched eyebrows gazing intently at him.
"Doctor? What is it?" Asked Martha, a little unnerved by the way The Doctor was staring at her.
The Doctor's stern gaze softened a little as he looked at Martha. "Do you believe in ghosts?" He asked.
"No." Replied Martha.
"No," said The Doctor thoughtfully, "neither do I."
A look of concern crossed Martha's face. "Doctor, what is it, what's happened?"
The Doctor looked at Martha with a wide eyed expression. "I'm not sure exactly. Either I've just witnessed a trans-dimensional cross phase incursion or been subject to a psycho-kinetic transference of bio-electric impulses with auditory and illusory properties."
Martha thought for a moment. "You saw a Ghost!" It was more a statement than a question.
The Doctor puffed his cheeks out. "Yes."
"And you couldn't just say 'I saw a Ghost'?" Said Martha with a frown.
"Well, technically, 'I saw a Ghost' isn't accurate. For a start, she isn't…!" The Doctor suddenly stopped talking and stared at Martha, his expression slowly turning to one of horror and pain. "Oh no. No, no, no, no, no."
Martha had seen many expressions on the Doctor's face during the short time she had known him. But the look on his face now, filled with such anguish and unbearable sadness, almost made her heart break. "Who was it? Who did you see?" When The Doctor didn't reply, her suspicions were affirmed. "It was Rose, wasn't it?"
The Doctor simply nodded.
"Maybe we should go to her, make sure? It might be…!"
"We can't!" Said The Doctor in a flat tone, not allowing her to finish her sentence.
"Why not? This is a time machine."
"I've told you, I can't interfere with the normal passage of time. Not without good reason. 'No matter'..," he said before Martha could speak her objection, "… no matter how much I personally may want to. Besides, the rift is closed. There's no way to get to her dimension. Not anymore."
"But what if she isn't dead? What if she needs your, our, help?"
"We can't!" Replied The Doctor with emphasis.
"How do you know? What makes you so sure?"
"I'm a Time Lord, I know."
"And you can't be wrong?" Asked Martha. "There can't be some little thing, somewhere in the whole Universe, that would allow it that you might not know about?"
The Doctor stared at her for a moment, never blinking. "Nope." He said suddenly. "No, I…!" He left the sentence unfinished.
".. Don't think so?" Said Martha, finishing the sentence for him.
"I'm a Time Lord, I'd know." A frown crossed The Doctor's brow and he chewed on a finger nail.
"Doctor, forgive me for saying so, but you're the last of your kind, the last Time Lord. Just because the Time Lords have gone doesn't mean that the Universe has to stand still. I'm sorry for being so blunt about it, but surely there are others who could have continued where the Time Lords left off. And, if so, then maybe there is a way and you just don't know about it."
The Doctor thought for a moment, his face a mask of contemplation, his eyes staring at nothing. Yet Martha had the feeling that he was seeing across the Universe, his mind spanning entire Galaxies as he tried to remember all the people he had met, all the different races throughout time and space that he had ever come into contact with. Martha almost started when The Doctor suddenly dived forward and started throwing switches and turning dials on the TARDIS' console. She had seen him like this before and always marvelled at the energy that radiated from him when he was like this. But this time was different. The energy coming from him wasn't born of his joy at travelling the Universe through time and space. This time the energy came from a sense of urgency that she had never seen from him. Rose was in trouble and he was going to save her. Martha felt a pang of jealousy and couldn't help but wonder if The Doctor would have the same sense of urgency if it were she that was in trouble and not Rose.
She stepped back as The Doctor rushed around to her side of the console. He suddenly spun around and put his hands on both sides of her face and stared intently into her eyes. "Thank you, Martha Jones. Feel free to give me a kick in the pants 'every' time I give up without a fight." With that, he spun around back to the console.
"Ok." Said a stunned Martha. "Erm, where are we going?"
"To see an old friend, one I won't meet for, oooh, five million years or so."
The journey in the TARDIS didn't take very long. Once the TARDIS' engines had wound down, The Doctor, dressed in a full environment suit that he 'happened' to have neglected to hand back when he had used it to talk with the empty shell of The Beast before his prison planet was sent hurtling into a Black Hole, stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. He stepped aside as Martha, wearing a similar environment suit to his, stepped out behind him.
"Where are we?" Asked Martha as she peered into the thick mist that shrouded their surroundings.
"We're on a planet that no Human Being has ever set foot on before, nor will again." Said The Doctor solemnly. "This is the oldest inhabited planet in the entire universe. Some even say that life originated on this very planet, that it spread across the universe from this single point in space."
"It's a bit murky isn't it?"
The Doctor turned and looked at Martha, no mean feat in an environment suit as he discovered, his face a mask of incredulity. "That's brilliant! I tell you something that is so mind-blowing, something so amazing that it defies comprehension, and you comment on the weather. Sheer brilliance."
Martha watched The Doctor shaking his head inside his helmet, a bemused look on her face. "Ok." She said, elongating the 'k'. "So what are we doing here? And who's this friend of yours that you haven't met yet?"
"Well, if I know him like I probably will do, he should be along anytime now." With that, the Doctor turned and began walking slowly into the mist, stopping every now and again to look at some plant or rock that had materialised out of the mist.
A deep voice that seemed to talk very slowly suddenly spoke, its words seeming to surround the pair of travellers as though being spoken from all sides at the same time. "Doctor, I bid you welcome to my home."
Startled, Martha began turning this way and that, searching for the owner of the voice in the thick greenish grey mist. Then she noticed a shadow on the ground that seemed to move. She looked up and saw a large globe with small tentacle-like protuberances around one side silently gliding through the mist and slowly descending towards them. Then she saw a huge face on the globe which now looked for all the world like a disembodied head.
When The Doctor spoke, his voice sounded almost jubilant. "Hello!" He said, his face showing genuine happiness at seeing the strange creature.
The Face Of Bo floated gently down and stopped just above the ground, his small tentacles wafting gently to and fro. "It has been too long, Doctor." He said in a deep and almost hypnotic voice. "And Martha Jones, it is an honour to meet you once again Miss Jones."
"The honour is mine, I assure you." Replied Martha hesitantly, not quite knowing what to say.
The Face Of Bo closed his eyes and seemed to tip forwards and Martha felt that he had just bowed to her. "I bid you both welcome to my home. How may I be of service?"
Now it was The Doctor's turn to speak hesitantly and he stepped forward in front of The Face Of Bo. "I'm sorry, for calling unannounced. Erm, I have a problem and I need your help."
"She is out of my sight." Said The Face Of Bo. "The one you seek to aid is beyond The Void and is lost to you."
"Yes, I know." Replied The Doctor. "On Gallifrey, we had many ways of crossing The Void, but all were lost in The Time War and, now, I know of no way of crossing The Void after I closed the rift in London. At least, I know of no way that won't annihilate everything in two dimensions. The thing is, I really need to get across The Void."
"We… need to get across this Void.. thing." Said Martha, emphasising the word 'We'.
"We..," said The Doctor, casting a furtive glance at Martha as he spoke, "were wondering if you knew of anything that might help us get across. Something that may have been built after The Time War perhaps?"
"You, Doctor, should know the danger inherent in what you are proposing."
"Yes, I do." Replied The Doctor as he gazed at The Face Of Bo.
"Is your quest worth what you are risking?"
"Yes, and more besides."
"Will you risk everything you hold most dear to achieve your goal?" Asked The Face Of Bo, his voice taking on an ominous tone.
The Doctor frowned and then looked at Martha. He didn't speak for a moment and, when he did, his voice had softened perceptively. "Not everything, no."
"That is what I wished to hear, Doctor." Said The Face Of Bo. "Your sense of honour will sustain you in times to come. Hold it and hold it dear, Doctor."
"Then there is something?"
"You must seek the enemy who is your friend, the one who leads those created to ensnare you. In their Lair will you find what you seek. Now, your time here grows short and you must make haste to your TARDIS. We will meet again Doctor. Miss Jones, you have a difficult decision to make in times to come. Rest assured, you will know what to choose. We too, shall meet again. Until that happy day."
With that, the Face Of Bo gently floated up and faded into the mist above their heads. The Doctor checked the gauge on his environment suit and saw that his oxygen supply was getting low. He chuckled to himself. "Make haste indeed." He said as he looked up into the mist.
"What did he mean by 'I'll know what to choose'?" Asked Martha.
"I don't know. Probably that you'll know what to choose when the time comes." Replied The Doctor.
"But how will I know?" Asked Martha, stumbling to keep up with the Doctor as they headed back to the TARDIS.
"Well I don't know, do I. You should have asked him."
Martha almost stopped in surprise. "I could've done that? Just asked him?"
"Of course."
"Wish I'd known that before." Said Martha. "Where are we going now?"
"To the last place in the Universe I would have thought to look for a device for crossing The Void and to see a friendly enemy of mine."
End Of Part One.