The Ticking of Time Rose

Season 4 Farscape

Season 4 Doctor Who

Just before the end of Journey's End of Doctor Who, and before the Mini series of Farscape.

The Doctor looked at Rose and the duplicate. "Well, you can either stay in the parallel world with your Mum and Dad, or I can take you somewhere else. But you have to make a choice in the next five minutes." He said. Rose looked to the duplicate doctor. This duplicate was going to take getting used to, but she knew that two doctors couldn't exist in the same plane. She also knew she wasn't done traveling the universe, and wanted to be with the Doctor. "Mind you, if you still want to travel, it has to be in this universe. I can just project you to somewhere else for the time being so long as it's not in the original world." The Doctor explained.

The duplicate doctor looked to Rose and grabbed her hand, "I'll follow you wherever you go, if you'll have me." He said with a smile. She nodded her head. "How will we travel then? If we don't have a duplicate Tardis." She asked.

The Doctor smiled, that's his Rose there. Smart young woman, always thinking ahead. "I have many friends out there, even in the parallel universe. I'm sure one of them would be more than happy for more assistance on their trips." He answered. Rose nodded and smiled at the duplicate. "Shall we then?" she asked. He nodded and looked to his original self. "Moya? Think they're ready?" he asked with a grin. The Doctor grinned, "Oh yea, they're ready." And with that they boarded the Tardis for the final time, saying their goodbyes before they left to Rose's family.

The Doctor began dialing and configuring their next destination in this universe. Moya was a Leviathan, a living ship like the Tardis, but without the Time Vortex. Pilot was a good friend of his in both worlds, and he knew he could trust Pilot to keep these two safe for him in this alternate realm. "Hello Pilot, yes good to see you. Any who, I have a favor to ask. I know you are busy but could you add two new passengers?" he asked.

Rose looked at the screen and saw a bizarre creature she'd never seen before. Apparently the Doctor had seen it, and trusted it, so she decided to trust him as well. He had an almost oval face but pointed, and grey with big eyes, and tentacles for arms. He seemed very interesting to her. The being called Pilot responded in a language that Rose didn't understand. She hoped the Doctor would be able to translate, and help her understand the language once they arrived. The Doctor grinned at the response and soon the Tardis was off.

"Doctor, I didn't understand a single thing that Pilot said. Why is that? I thought that the Tardis could translate all the languages?" she asked. The Doctor shook his head, "Not in this part of the universe. Believe it or not, there are some languages that even I don't know and I've been around for about nine hundred years, give or take." He explained. Her eyebrows raised a bit at that, "If you don't understand their languages, how did you understand Pilot's?" as the Tardis maneuvered across the universe.

The Doctor sighed as the Tardis came to a stop, "It's a long story but I know Pilot and his people. They're traveler's like me. I met them a few centuries ago and learned their language the same way anyone learns a language. They have microbes that they can put into your flesh to help translate other languages that the Tardis and I may not know." He explained.

The duplicate Doctor stood next to Rose as they prepared to exit the Tardis. "He's right, there are other ways to acquire the languages. It stings for a moment, but afterwards you can understand other languages that the microbes know." And with that they stepped out onto the docking bay of the Leviathan.

Rose looked around and was in awe of the ship. It was even bigger than the Doctor's which was saying something. She could feel the vibrations of the ship as the pulses communicated to the corridors and the atmosphere of the ship itself. This ship was definitely alive. She was just about to say how impressive it was when a hand reached out to grab hold of her and prevented her from speaking.

The Doctors looked up and glared at the opponent. He was dressed all in black and had a grey almost rat-like face with humanoid features. "Who are you and how did you come to be on this ship?" he said in a commanding tone. "Scorpious, they are our guests. Let them go." Pilot said over the comms. The 1812 DRD came up to Rose and the duplicate Doctor and gave them the microbe shots. Once the injection took effect, they were able to understand what was going on. "Pilot, we were not informed of any arrivals. We have a Peacekeeper armada chasing us at the moment and do not need anymore surprises or have you forgotten that bit of information!?" Scorpious yelled.

A man came running down the hall with a pulse pistol and pointed it at Scorpious, "Scorpy… let the nice woman go. Pilot say's they're guests, they're guests. And he did tell us, just not you." He looked at the Doctors and Rose, "Sorry about that. Name's John Crichton…. that's Scorpious or Scorpy, whichever you feel up to callin him. What's your names?" he asked.

Scorpious released Rose and hissed as he backed up against the corridor, leaving Crichton to defend the ship if need be. "I'm The Doctor, this is my duplicate Doctor, and my good friend Rose. I called in a favor, and unfortunately I must go now." He explained. John looked at him with a confused look, "Doctor Who?" he asked lowering his pulse pistol. The Doctors grinned, "Never gets old does it?" the duplicate asked. The Doctor shook his head, "No, never. We're the Doctor, just the Doctor. Wellll I'm the original, he's the duplicate, long story. Time Traveler's, I'm from parallel world and they need a place to stay." He answered.

John had seen enough in the last four years to just go with the flow at this point. "Right, okay, so you're not staying. Well I'll show you guys around then. Nice meeting you Doctor." He said. The Doctor looked at Rose and the duplicate. "From here, I have to leave you. I've stayed too long as it is. The rift will become dangerous if I stay any longer." He said. Rose had tears down her cheeks. She didn't know how to respond, she just walked up to him and hugged him. "Don't be alone… don't ever be alone." She whispered. The Doctor nodded and hugged her, wishing he could kiss her. He nodded to the Duplicate, and headed back to the Tardis, not looking back.

Rose just watched in awe with the Duplicate as the Tardis, her HOME, disappeared for the final time. She'd never go back to the original world with the Doctor anymore. She'd most likely never see her family again, unless this ship was able to take her there. The duplicate Doctor looked at her with a sad smile, "We'll be alright… these are mostly sentient beings that respect others." He said, trying to not sound too condescending.

It was right then and there that Rose fell to the ground…. shaking uncontrollably. The Doctor duplicate knelt down and embraced her as she cried. John kind of stood off to the side, not sure what to make of the new scene before him. These two were definitely not part of this universe, that much was obvious. Just made it more interesting since Pilot seemed to trust them. If Pilot trusted them though, then he'd trust them. Pilot was a wise being, and was the pilot of Moya… so best to respect his wishes if you wanted to stay aboard.

"Anything I can do?" he asked cautiously. The Doctor looked up and shook his head. "She needs time to adjust… we've been through a lot recently. Wellll she has, according to the shared memories of my original self." He explained. He tried to be delicate, but when he mentioned his original self, Rose burst into tears again and trembled in his arms. He sighed and placed his head to hers, "I'm sorry Rose. Even a Time Lord has his limits." He said as she continued to sob. "S'okay… I … I know he, you both… just wanted to keep me safe." She sniffled.

After a few more minutes of calming down, they both stood back up. She kept her hand in his, wrapped tightly as if afraid he'd be wiped away from her too. He wasn't the original, she knew that, but he had the memories of the original… and the emotions. He even said so on the beach when she asked him what he would have said to her the last time they were in the parallel universe. He whispered that he'd loved her. Deep down she always knew it, but wanted so desperately to hear those words.

Once John saw that it was okay to approach them, he smiled softly. "Look, I get it… suddenly sucked into a world you're unfamiliar with. I'm not Sebacean… I'm human, like, well I'm guessing you." He said towards Rose. She nodded, "I'm human… um…" she was still confused about the Doctor's duplicate… she definitely needed to find a better name than duplicate for him. He smiled, "Yup, I'm human now. One heart, not two like before. Going to be strange that, one heart. How do you humans live with just one heart?" he asked with a grin. John smiled at that. He was used to aliens having various organs, sometimes multiples.

Rose looked around the docking bay, "So this is the docking bay. Where are the main sections of the ship? The control rooms?" she asked. John grinned, "This way, 1812, thanks for the assistance… go on up to the control room." John ordered. The Doctor followed close to Rose and John as they made their way up to the main tiers of the ship that led to the control room. "We'll need to get a set of comms for you two so you can communicate with the rest of the crew. Speaking of, D'Argo is the captain of the ship, you'll see him in a minute. Don't be afraid, he's a nice guy." He said. Rose arched her eyebrow at that and looked at the Doctor who just shrugged.

She sighed, "So I can't just call you duplicate… well I could but that might hurt your feelings. Um… would it be okay if I continued to call you Doctor?" she said and grimaced a little. It still hurt to call him the Doctor but calling him John now would confuse her too since that was the name he went by as a human on occasion. Now that there was another John, that would just be extra confusion that she really didn't need at the moment. He nodded, "Whatever you're comfortable with Rose. I'm yours." He said with a grin.

"Alright Doctor, let's explore Moya." She said with a grin. She was going to be happy. She had to be, she still had a part of the original Doctor with her and she would hold on to him forever. He smiled that goofy smile of his as they reached the main control room of Moya. Two other crew members were nearby the control panels. One they assumed was D'Argo, the fearsome looking warrior. "John, are these the two new passengers?" he asked. John nodded his head, "Yup, D'Argo, this is Rose and the Doctor. Rose, Doctor, this is D'Argo. Captain Luxan of Moya. Over there's Aeryn Sun, former Peacekeeper." He said with a smile. Rose noticed that when he introduced them to Aeryn, John's face lit up. She supposed those two were an item.