Upside Down
Rating: PG (ffn's K+)
Disclaimer: I have no rights whatsoever to Doctor Who.
Summary: This probably isn't how the Time War began, but the only one who knows for sure isn't talking. Utter heresy. 'Suddenly he realized he understood the human phrase "the world turned upside down" for the first time in any of his lives.'
Notes: I watched Genesis of the Daleks, and something troubled me. You know how everyone always says "Oh, he had a chance to destroy the Daleks and he didn't do it"? There's a validity to that, I realize; certainly he thought he had a chance to destroy the Daleks, and didn't do it. That's important. But there's one vitally important fact left out; in reality, he didn't have a chance to destroy the Daleks. He blows up that room later; it only buys them a thousand years. Even if he had blown it up before, there'd have still been Davros and the current generation of Daleks to get through. Unless I'm missing something blindingly obvious, they were pretty much doomed the second Davros flipped that switch to give the Daleks autonomy-- and maybe even before.
Which begs the question: why the hell did the Time Lords send him then, when it was too late to accomplish anything? Did they just not do any research whatsoever?
Or... could it possibly be that... Four Daleks materialize in the room, all yelling "DO NOT BLASPHEME!"
Uh... I'll just let the fic say the rest.
(-)
Suddenly the floor was the ceiling, the ceiling the floor, the sun inside-out, the light darkness, the darkness-- well-- still darkness, really-- and he realized he understood the human phrase "the world turned upside down" for the first time in any of his lives.
"You cannot be telling me this," he said, as his centre of balance shouted nonsense to him, as his memory threw bits and pieces of all-too-relevant flotsam to the shores of his mind, as the voices in his head spouted nonstop, desperate tangents about why this wasn't possible and he had clearly gone insane.
"Actually, I believe we are." A smug smile. "There's no need to worry. We have altered them-- tamed them. They will be our soldiers, our police force, protecting the flow of time from attacks and intrusions. They are no longer dangerous, and under our complete control."
His head shook involuntarily out of the sheer stupidity of it-- it wasn't possible, they couldn't possibly be such fools--
He meant to tell them that, but he was pretty sure it started out as a scream and ended up that way as well. He refilled his lungs and launched into what was pretty much another scream, except he managed words this time, a chant of mostly Gallifreyan curses. Eloquent, it was; you fools who shall be damned ninety-six times for your folly that shall go down in the eyes of God as the most ludicrous cock-up in the history of all universes--
"The first thing they did!" he cried. "The very first thing they did. Destroyed their creator. I watched it. He'd thought he could control them. He'd thought they'd obey. He thought they were what he wanted them to be, and they murdered him. It's the same thing they've been doing every holiest of holy things you've debased and thrown into filth time they've ever done anything SINCE then! THEY CANNOT BE CONTROLLED! YOU HAVE MURDERED US ALL!"
"They can be controlled. We have altered their very DNA. They owe their continued existence to us."
"You idiots, I'VE altered their DNA all sorts of--" The third sentence sank in, and the world reeled around him again, making him dizzy, making him sick. Another thing he'd never understood. What a fool he'd been.
"All those times I've thwarted them," he said. "All those times I've wiped them out of history. And I never could understand how they always kept coming back. I just put it down to their being Daleks. Tell me I am wrong. Tell me you were not such fools as that."
"Well, the Daleks didn't need a lot of rescuing. They're very resourceful. But a few times-- that annoying little revolution you managed to stage-- that required fixing, yes. And that time those other meddling fools tried to send you to destroy them-- that was a difficult one."
"How did you stop that, then?" he asked, voice faint-- though maybe he already knew.
"We altered their TARDIS's computer so that they would bring you to Skaros too late to prevent Davros creating them. Too late to possibly commit that hideous attempted genocide of yours. We had to make sure they'd grow into what they were destined to become. Don't you see? Yes, they hate, but it's because they fear. They're destined to learn to transcend that. They're destined to grow."
Oh, a seductive concept, always-- but still one flaw. "Under your tutelage?"
"Perhaps. You could say that."
"The Daleks are servants to no one. They will exterminate us all." A strange, distant feeling, precarious, that might vanish any second. He wasn't sure if that would be a good thing.
"They will police the time-stream."
"They are waiting for you to give them the technology. They will use it to destroy all other life in the universe."
"We have probed their minds. We have altered their genetic material. They are ours, now, and they will work only for good."
And oh, God, another song he'd heard too many times before. "And... who defines 'good'?"
"The natural state of the timeline."
"Who says what the state of the timeline should be?"
"We do."
"And if anyone disagrees?"
"There will be a bureau set up. People will be free to suggest changes."
"Suggest." Another, more troubling phrase he'd heard before-- "And by 'people', you don't by any chance mean 'Time Lords'?"
"Who else? We shall be the only race capable of time travel."
"...So you're going to alter the timeline to make sure no other race ever discovers the secrets of time travel."
"You see, that's the problem. No other race ever has. Oh, they've discovered the mechanics of it, and done the timestream near-irreprable harm in the process. But no one else has ever discovered its secrets. We are the guardians of Time, Doctor. We must live up to the titles we've taken and assume the responsibilities that were always meant to be our burden."
It no longer mattered whether the Daleks were loyal or not, he realized. That didn't even matter anymore. Even if the Daleks were completely under their control... this could not be allowed.
But time-travel does cause such messes--
"And if one of these alien time-travellers tries to stop you? By, say, erasing the Daleks from history or some similar desperation?"
"The Daleks cannot be erased from history. We have linked our soldiers with the Eye of Harmony. To destroy the Dalek race, they would have to destroy Gallifrey itself... And that is completely and utterly impossible."
"You fools," he said, in wonder. "You complete and utter madmen. And I thought I was losing my mind. So many times! I've thought I was slowly losing my mind, bit by bit, and I was wrong about madness. It isn't wild, it isn't screaming, it isn't obvious. It's calm, and reasonable, and saying stupid, stupid things like they're completely and utterly rational. I should've learned that. Any idiot could've learned that by now. That's why I spend so much time on Earth, you know; they figure out universal truths in their short days that some Time Lords never manage. More wisdom in some of their pop songs than your heads."
They gave him a pitying look, like he was insane; maybe he was, maybe he'd been driven there at last, because he knew what he had to do."We are confiscating your TARDIS. We are also putting you in quarantine for six months. By that time, the timeline will have been restored, and you'll see it's better. And even if you don't, there will be nothing you can do about it. Goodbye, Doctor."
Ah, but there would be something he could do about it, he knew. Something almost as hideous as what they'd done. Nearly as hideous as what they were planning.
Visitors were allowed in the quarantine ward. There were several sections of the government that had no idea that this was going on. Not enough to stop it-- but maybe enough to start an insurrection, a civil war across time itself. Maybe they'd be able to stop the conspirators-- but he doubted it. They'd have protected against that.
Romana was still here, though; Romana would understand. The Daleks had to be destroyed. The conspirators had to be stopped.
And they'd foolishly made sure that there was only one way to do that.
You think I won't? You know nothing of responsibility.
Gallifrey and the Daleks had declared a Time War, a systematic destruction of every other species to discover the means of travelling through time. (Though they wouldn't call it that. They'd never call it that. Alteration; prevention. Collateral damage. Any other name, but it wouldn't change the truth.) Said species would fight them, but it wouldn't be enough. They'd never surrender.
Gallifrey and the Daleks would burn together, whether they were still allies in the end or not.
Oh, you fools know nothing of responsibility. You know nothing about burdens. Our planet for the freedom of the rest of the universe...
...And I would press that button.
Dizzy from the nauseating way the world caved in on itself around him, the Doctor threw up in the graciously provided facilities of his quarrantine room.
On the screen in the wall, the Time Lords were serenely declaring war.
(-)