"He saves planets, rescues civilizations, defeats terrible creatures. And runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."
She flew. For the first time in her life, she flew. No, she didn't just fly, she soared. Out and beyond the atmosphere of the planet, into the indefinite blackness of space. So much and so far and so… confusing.
She clicked a few controls and giggled. Freedom felt so exhilarating. She didn't know where to go first. She had only been alive for two days...
"Jenny," she breathed, smiled. "Jenny." It was her name. A name that Donna had given her. She still couldn't really figure out Donna and her relationship with her Dad...but if she were to have a mother...
An alert sounded in her module. Instantly the ship decelerated. "That's not right," Jenny puzzled. She had been ingrained with detailed military knowledge and histories, including how to fly a starcraft like this one, "What does an alert mean?" she thought it over and looked around her. "What alert could depower a starcraft?"
And then she saw it: A ship, an immense ship, growing larger just above her.
"Magnificent," she said, admiring the detailed construction of the vessel.
A noise. A noise like a lock clamping down. And then her tiny ship spun rapidly towards the behemoth above her in space.
It was terrifying and at the same time amazing! It was her first adventure! The first adventure for Jenny, the Daughter of the Doctor.
"What do you suppose it is, boy?" Tamor Barks pondered to his boy apprentice, clicking his tongue.
"If it's a pirate, we've turned the tables on him!" Bengee Huck chuckled, pushing a few buttons.
"Perhaps," Tamor mumbled to himself. "But bringing a pirate vessel into our landing bay might be just what he wants us to do."
The small craft had popped up quickly on their radar. They had wondered if it was a pirate since it had quite a few guns on it, but it didn't turn for an attack. It just floated there dead in space. Still, they had used their tractor beam to disable it and then had tried hailing it, but there was no response. It was probably just interstellar garbage they could salvage for parts. Still, best to be safe about the whole situation. "Ben, my boy, you stay here. I'll take a look at it, but if anything dangerous starts happening, you eject everything in the landing bay, understood?"
"Understood," the boy nodded. "Wait, but you will be in the landing bay?"
"Everything, Ben."
The small boy hesitated, then nodded. "Understood."
Tamor grabbed a laser rifle and headed for the bay.
Jenny let the beam drag her inside the large ship. The closer she came, the more fascinated she was by the intricate construction of the vessel. It looked old, very old, centuries old, and yet it looked so beautiful. Odd calligraphic markings and artwork highlighted various sections of the ship's underbelly. They looked almost like they told a story but she couldn't crane her neck fast enough to catch it all. Two small doors in the bottom of the ship opened and her craft was pulled inside where it hovered for a moment before the doors beneath her shut. Her ship lifelessly crashed down onto the bay floor.
"Smaller on the inside," she pondered, looking around her at the crowded bay. It looked almost like a dump for garbage. So much decrepit looking junk sat around her. Was that all this ship was then? Did it just collect garbage? She supposed that would be convenient to have a ship to collect space garbage, and might explain its large size, but then why had it picked her up then? Her ship JUST fit inside it all. She tapped her canopy and it opened. Sitting up, she scanned her surroundings, saw no one, and gave a shrug before hopping out.
"This is a curious place," she said, scratching her chin. "I assume there is an adventure lurking around here somewhere."
"What sort of an adventure?"
Jenny turned and saw a rifle pointed at her face. The person holding it looked to be a very old skinny man. The hair on his head was the whitest of whites and he had a stubbly gray beard. His arms were extremely thin and he was even shaking a little. His dark blue eyes seemed to blink a bit too quickly too. Was he allergic to space garbage? Or nervous? Or...
"Is that rifle too heavy for you?" Jenny asked.
"No, I… NO! Put your hands up!" he ordered.
Jenny obeyed. "Are your arms sore?" she asked.
"My arms are perfectly fine," he grumbled. "Fine enough to shoot you through with a million holes!"
"That rifle only holds five laser shots," Jenny said. "It's an older model FTR Assault...they have a terrible problem of locking up though. If I were you, I'd check the ammunition slot because water gets into the grooves there. Rusts it. Lasers don't like water at all."
"SHUT up," the man wiped the sweat from his brow. "Are you alone? Anyone else in that ship?"
"Does it look like anyone else is in that ship?" Jenny bit her lip. He was an odd fellow. His clothing looked to be nothing but sandals and an overly large gray tunic with lots of writing on it. "What's your name?"
"I'll ask the questions here, girl," the man swallowed. "What's your name?"
"Jenny."
"Jenny, okay, well, what are you doing floating around space? Are you a pirate?"
"A pirate?" Jenny laughed. "No, I am just looking for a good adventure. You wouldn't happen to have any adventures lying around here, would you?" She spotted something curious against one wall, lowered her hands, and laughed. "That looks like a Tardis!"
"A Tard-what?"
"I didn't know they came in different colors," Jenny ran over to it, kicked it once.
"Hey!" the old man lowered his rifle and raced over beside her. He shooed her away from the red box. "Did anyone ever teach you manners, lady? If I were your father..."
"If you were my father, you'd be flying around the universe in something like this...a Tardis!"
The old man paused, stared at her, swallowed once, and scratched his chin.
Jenny stared back at him. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?"
"You said your father owned an old Earth telephone booth and flew around in it?"
"No. I said he flew around in a Tardis, like this one."
"That is an earth telephone booth. Don't you know anything?"
Jenny frowned. She opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her. She tapped around the inside of the box. It was dark. No light even. She felt around the walls and found something like a removable lever. She picked it up and then pressed what felt like buttons...
A knock sounded from outside the door. "Get OUT of there!"
Jenny opened the door. "It must be broken," she told him.
"You must be broken," the old man sighed.
"Is she dangerous, Tamor?"
The old man, Tamor it must be, slapped a hand to his forehead. "Ben, what did I TELL YOU!"
"Ben?" Jenny jumped out of the booth and beamed a smile at the little boy standing on top of the staircase. He was tiny. Brown hair falling around his head, bright blue eyes, but an equally as gray smaller tunic. "Hello!" she waved at the boy.
"Hello!" Ben waved back.
"Will you...stop! Both of you!" the old man grumbled. "Stop all this waving business, girl-"
"Jenny."
"JENNY! Stop this, Jenny, and tell me exactly why you were floating around space in that modified Owl."
"Owl?" Jenny glanced to her ship. "Oh...OWL! Outerspace War Lander! That's clever."
"C'mon, Tamor, she doesn't LOOK dangerous to me."
Jenny raced up the stairs to the boy. "Oh, I AM dangerous. Very dangerous. About as dangerous as they come," she giggled. The boy laughed. She liked him. She decided right away that she liked Ben. But the old man, Tamor...she wasn't sure what to make of him just yet.
"Let's keep her," Ben grinned at Tamor. "Are you hungry, Jenny? We were just about to eat lunch."
"I'm famished!" Jenny replied.
"Oh, I give up," Tamor sighed. He put his rifle in a cabinet, rubbed his forehead, and gave a huge moan. He then followed Jenny up the stairs. "C'mon, you. The both of you get to the kitchen. Right on you are hungry," Tamor grumbled. "Free-loader..."
Tamor led the way. Jenny walked beside Ben as they exited the hangar bay and went down an alabaster hallway. It looked like something that belonged underground from the smooth stone surface of it, definitely out of place in a spaceship. On the walls were paintings, beautiful paintings of various scenery and creatures. They turned down another hall that was all ebony with paintings of stars and planets. Then, the last hallway looked like a shiny green with murals of trees and forests painted from end to end.
"Why all the colors and paintings?" Jenny asked.
"We don't know," Ben shrugged. "Lost to time, really. We're just the librarians."
"BEN!" Tamor shouted.
"C'mon, Tamor, we have to tell her, she's harmless!"
"Tell me what?" Jenny asked.
"We're collectors of knowledge," Ben smiled.
"What sorts of knowledge?"
"All sorts," Ben shrugged. "We go throughout the universe collecting knowledge and storing it in this ship."
"What for?"
"For posterity," Ben said with a firm nod.
"Posterity," Jenny mumbled to herself. "Does anyone ever visit you?"
"Nope."
"Family?"
"I left my family," Ben said. "I left them to become Tamor's apprentice."
"More like my headache," Tamor grunted. "Get yourselves a seat at the table."
They had just entered a small crowded kitchen. The walls were lined with strange appliances, but in the middle of the room was a simple wooden table with four chairs.
"Four chairs," Jenny pointed. "For two people?"
"It came that way," Ben said. "We couldn't break up the set."
Tamor took a bowl and then splatted some white looking stuff into it. He dropped the bowl in front of Jenny and then handed her a spoon. "Eat up your mush, girl."
"Mush. What is it?" she asked herself. Jenny gave a hesitant taste. Very bland, but her stomach was growling so she dug right in!
Tamor handed Ben a bowl and then sat down across from them. "So how did you get yourself into an OWL?"
"I stole it from the planet where I was born," Jenny nodded.
"Stole it? Ah, so you ARE a pirate," Tamor chuckled as he ate some mush.
"Which planet?" Ben asked her.
"I don't remember the name," Jenny said.
"How old are you?"
"Um..." Jenny thought for a moment. "One week."
Tamor dropped his spoon. Ben's mouth was wide.
"One week?" Ben asked her.
"Yes, give or take a day," Jenny thought it over. "It's hard to keep count."
"What sort of creature are you?" Ben questioned, his mouth still wide. Tamor was just glaring at her quietly.
"I'm...a time lord," Jenny said.
"TIME LORD!" Tamor jumped out of his chair and nearly fell to the floor. "Is it true?"
"But we thought the time lords were dead or gone or something," Ben said. "How did you survive?"
"Well...I didn't...I mean...my father...he's the Doctor."
"DOCTOR!" Tamor screamed. He rushed up to her. "Where is he? Do you know where he is? You must tell us, girl! We have been searching for him for ages!"
"I'm sorry, I don't know where is," Jenny shrugged. "Sorry."
"Oh bogs gardens!" Tamor grumbled.
"We promised that lady," Ben murmured.
"What lady?" Jenny asked.
"River. Her name was River," Ben said. "She said she was friends with the Doctor."
"There's a problem with a library, the greatest library," Tamor sighed. "The greatest library in the universe. We escaped by the skin of our teeth."
"We met River at a military base and told her about it," Ben explained. "She mentioned that the Doctor could save it."
"I could save it," Jenny suggested.
"No time to go back," Tamor stood up from the table and collected the bowls. "We're always moving forward on this ship."
Jenny had wanted to meet this River. If she knew her Dad that very much interested her, but who was she to argue with her hosts? "So then where are we moving forward to?"
"A moon," Ben said. "It's a data hub. We need to upload from there."
"Data hub," Jenny clapped her hands. "Sounds like fun. I'll join you."
"Of course you will," Tamor rolled his eyes. "I'd much prefer it if you climbed back into that OWL and flew away to wherever you were heading!"
"Stop it, Tamor!" Ben replied. "It's been a long time since we had a guest. Let's enjoy it!"
"Guest," Tamor dismissed. "Well, do what you like, Ben. But you two stay out of my way for the next day. I need to fix the fuel compartment and get our map situated correctly."
"Excellent," Ben laughed.
"Excellent," Jenny mimicked.
Ben grabbed her by the hand. "C'mon, Jenny, I have so much to show you!"
"And this is our library," Ben opened the door and showed Jenny a small empty room. Well, empty except for a small table with a computer on it.
"Where are the books?" Jenny asked.
"Books? What are books?" Ben shook his head. He sat down at the lone computer and tapped away on the keyboard.
"Processing..." the computer said.
"That is your library then?" Jenny knelt down and looked at the computer monitor. Lots of words, lots of languages, very confusing... "So why do you need such a BIG ship to hold just one tiny computer?"
"There's more to the ship than this," Ben scoffed.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Ben nodded.
"Like what?"
"Like...stuff," Ben mumbled. "Tamor won't let me see it. Well, I saw some of it. Just collections of stuff."
"Like the red Tardis?" Jenny asked.
"Like the red telephone booth." Ben clarified.
"Very peculiar if you ask me. Living your WHOLE life on a ship and not even seeing most of it? I'd go exploring if I were you!"
"Not allowed," Ben dismissed her. He then tapped a few more keys and instantly a small window shot out from the side of the machine. "Here you go," he nodded, handing the window to Jenny.
It fit very snugly in her hand but didn't look very useful.
"Tap the screen," Ben instructed her.
Jenny poked at the screen and it snapped to life.
"Hello," the screen said. "I am a portable data module for the Excess 583. A PDM for short."
"Excess?" Jenny asked. "What's Excess?"
"The library," Ben explained. "Well, our library. The ship. It's all called Excess."
"Interesting."
"Ask it anything and it will provide you with the answers. It's wired into our mainframe. You can access it within five star systems give or take a few..."
"Amazing," Jenny thought for a moment. "Tell me about the Doctor..."
"Doctor Who?" the PDM said.
"My father," Jenny shook her head. "Is it broken?"
"No," Ben frowned. "Unfortunately the Doctor doesn't show up in our library. It's almost as if he was erased somehow. Tamor swears he was in there at one point but then he just can't remember where or when or how."
"Strange," Jenny bit her lip. She put the PDM drive in her pocket. "So, what else do you have to show me?"
ALERT ALERT ALERT
"Oh no," Ben grabbed Jenny's hand. "Come on!"
They ran down hallways, each one's floor was flashing red, until they arrived at the cockpit. Tamor was frantically keying information into the system.
"They won't get it!" Tamor screamed, tapping furiously. "I swear they won't get it!"
"Who?" Jenny asked him, looking up and seeing a lone starship hovering in the distance ahead of them. "Who are they?"
"Titans," Ben gasped. "How did they find us?"
"What's a Titan?" Jenny demanded.
"Ancient race," Tamor barked. "Terrible race."
"They acquire knowledge," Ben clarified.
"Not just acquire," Tamor yelled. "They usurp it! They conquer it! They claim it and wipe it out of existence so that only THEY have it."
"So they're like you?" Jenny said. "They are building a library? I don't see how they can be that dangerous..."
"Not dangerous?" Tamor shook his head, stammered some syllables, but then dived back into his keyboard, trying to redirect his ship, plot a new location. "I have no time for an ignorant..."
"With infinite knowledge comes infinite power," Ben said. "They made themselves immortal once."
"They live forever?"
"Well, almost forever," Tamor commented.
"They fought a war with the Daleks," Ben said. "Nearly wiped the Titans out into extinction, but a handful of them remain."
"A handful that pursues their goal with a vengeance." Tamor added.
"Hold on, hold on...what's a Dalek?" Jenny asked. Instantly the PDM in her pocket beeped. She took it out and saw a small picture of a robot. A weird looking one with a tube at its nose and two bar hands jutting out from its sides. "They lost a war to this?" Jenny laughed, showing them the PDM.
Tamor glanced over for a moment. "Yes," he swallowed. "Put that away. It gives me the creeps."
"EXCESS, PREPARE TO BE ACQUIRED!"
They all froze.
"Can we outrun them?" Ben asked.
"No," Tamor shook his head. "Their ship is the fastest in the universe."
"Ah, knowledge creates speed too," Jenny smirked. "How about letting me have a go at them?"
"You?" they both said at once.
"Yes, me!" Jenny threw up her hands. "Did I not mention that I am a Time Lord! I am THE Time Lord's daughter and I have been searching for adventures and...well, THEY are it!"
Jenny turned and ran back down the hallways.
"Wait!" Ben yelled at her.
"Let her go," Tamor grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Maybe she can buy us some time whatever that lunatic girl has in mind."
Jenny jumped into her ship. "Open the doors," she said into the comm.
"I hope you know what you are doing," Ben's voice replied.
"I never know what I am doing until I do it," Jenny giggled. "So, no, I don't know what I am doing, but please open the doors anyway."
The doors opened and the ship descended out into space. Jenny tapped a few keys and brought the engines back online.
"Here we go!" she laughed. Her ship accelerated towards the Titan craft.
When she got within firing range, the Titan unleashed a furious barrage of laser fire.
With her military programming shifting into high gear, Jenny dodged every blast.
"Surrender," the Titan craft hailed her. It sounded like a woman's voice, older, scratchy. "Prepare to be acquired."
"I am a Time Lord programmed with all the military know-how of an entire race," Jenny grinned. "I am the one doing the acquiring."
Jenny pushed on the throttle and dodged another few shots. Then with a quick succession of clicks on her joystick, she sent five laser bolts directly into the Titan ship's engines.
The Titan quaked, rotated...
The Titan hailed her again.
This time, Jenny switched the comm to visual. She instantly saw the torso of an orange-skinned humanoid creature with black zebra stripes. Two ram's horns jutted out from right above the creature's ears.
"I am Grand Inquisitor Wrad," the creature said. "Did I hear you correctly? Did you say you were a Time Lord?"
"Yes," Jenny nodded. "Daughter of the greatest Time Lord who ever lived!"
"Daughter?"
"Of the Doctor," Jenny cleared her throat. "And you are threatening two friends of mine. I just disabled your engines. It might take you a week to repair them, but if you don't promise to leave my friends alone, I might send a few shots into your life support system."
Wrad smiled. "Excellent," she hissed. "Bring her onboard!"
"What?" Jenny gasped.
The Titan's engines somehow sparked back to life and a huge blue beam shot out at her ship.
"Oh no. That's not supposed to happen," Jenny slammed her hands down on the controls. "Not again."
All the power extinguished in her ship as it was pulled inside the Titan craft.
"Jenny!" Ben yelled at her through the comm.
"Don't worry, Ben," Jenny replied. "I've got things totally under control. You and Tamor try to get away."
"We won't leave you..."
But Ben's voice cut off as her comm died.
"She said she was a Time Lord," Wrad explained.
"The Time Lords are gone!" Traff grumbled, his furry mane turning a bright shade of red.
"Have you forgotten the Doctor?" Wrad smiled. "The Predator of the Daleks?"
"He is dead," Traff sighed. "The Daleks..."
"He is NOT dead," Wrad continued, pressing a few numbers on the keypad beside the hangar bay doors. "We have to at least meet this so-called daughter."
The doors slammed open with a hiss. The OWL sat in front of them with the canopy wide open.
"Where is she?" Traff growled.
"She couldn't have escaped," Wrad said. "Search the hangar. She could be anywhere!"
"Gee, you are smart," Jenny said as she flew down from the ceiling above them.
With a swift kick, she knocked Traff to the floor and then spun round on Wrad.
Wrad raised her laser sword. "Stop!" she commanded. "You have been acquired, daughter of the Doctor. You are our possession."
"I am nobody's possession!" Jenny did a somersault over Wrad, then grabbed the Titan's hand and twisted until the sword dropped from her claw.
"Brilliant," Traff mumbled from the floor.
Jenny picked up the sword and pointed it at both Titans. "So, NOW, let's try this again: would both of you like to explain why you are picking on my friends?"
"She IS brilliant," Wrad replied to Traff, ignoring Jenny. "I told you we needed to acquire her. She might be exactly what we have been looking-"
"EXCUSE ME! Girl with a laser sword here," Jenny took a deep breath. "Thank you. Now, tell me WHY you are harassing my friends and also WHY I shouldn't turn you both into pin-cushions?"
"My apologies, Time Lord," Wrad bowed. "We had no idea that you were a guest of the Excess. The ship belongs to us."
"BELONGS to you?"
"We must acquire its knowledge."
"Why?" Jenny asked. "Don't you have enough knowledge of your own?"
"You can never have enough knowledge," Traff commented. "We are Titans. Since the beginning of time itself we have been collectors of knowledge. We used to rule the universe with such knowledge in peace before the other ignorant races learned the theories of space flight and time manipulation."
"Hold on," Jenny pointed at them both with her sword. "Where are the others? If you are so big and powerful then where are the other Titans?"
Wrad looked down, shrugged.
"We are the last," Traff finally said. The green fur ruffled on his chest as he inhaled and exhaled deeply. He played with his now purple mane. "Our civilization is nearly extinct, but it seems that good graces has brought us a shining star."
"A brilliant herald of the future," Wradd agreed.
"A beautiful angel!" Traff added.
"What?" Jenny asked.
"You," Wrad smiled. "You will save us! You will help us defeat the Hunters."
"You will save us from the Daleks!" Traff bellowed. "You will save the Titans and allow us to..."
Wrad abruptly grabbed Traff's clawed hand. "Progenate," she finished.
Jenny raised her eyebrows, glancing from Wrad to Traff.
She then laughed.
Wrad and Traff looked at each other and shrugged.
"I really don't understand how those armored tripods are the cause of so much mischief but..." Jenny hopped once in place and nodded her head. "I'll do it! Dad said he saved civilizations and no matter how vile you were in the past, you ARE a civilization in need of saving. But only on ONE condition...well, TWO conditions..."
"What?" Wrad asked.
"ONE, you leave my friends alone and let them sail on into space and never threaten to harm them again," Jenny said.
"But, the ship is ours..." Wrad began.
"I haven't even got to point two yet and you are already disagreeing?"
"Go on," Traff mumbled.
"TWO...you turn over a new leaf! You become kinder, gentler Titans. Not ones that ACQUIRE but ones that SHARE..."
"That is not the Titan way," Wrad said.
"Well, from where I am standing there are only two of you left so I am pretty sure you did something wrong and it's time to start a new way with your future... progenation...if you want to survive," Jenny clapped her hands. "And THOSE are my conditions. Take it or leave it, do you want your Time Lord or not?"
Wrad and Traff conferred with each other for a moment. Wrad argued; Traff whispered. Then Wrad turned back to Jenny. "How do we know you will keep your word and destroy the Hunters?"
"STOP them," Jenny corrected the Titan. "I will stop them. No need to destroy if they can be stopped. Do we have a deal?"
Wrad shook his head at Traff but then they both shrugged and said in unison: "Deal."
"EXCELLENT!" Jenny shrieked. "Oooooo, I am so excited. Jenny taking on the Hunters! Dad, wherever you are, your daughter is taking it up a notch! This is going to be the most amazing adventure ever!"
