Terminal Orbit
From the author:
Please note:
Set after Survival, as their adventures continue together.
And yes, the Seventh Doctor and Ace are paired romantically in this fic, also the Master's character is very dark, so consider this to be slightly AU ~Aline Riva.
Summary
While visiting a planet that is set to become a brand new earth colony, Ace reflects on her time spent with the Doctor and the realization dawns on her that while a Timelord will live on for many regenerations, she will not - and she begins to think about the true depth of her feelings for the man she calls Professor. But when she attempts to show him how she feels, her happiness is short-lived - a combination of bad timing, rain and a spider bite put an end to what was becoming the start of a romantic stay on a beautiful planet.
Then the Tardis picks up a distress signal from Cassandra-Aurora-1000, a mobile hospital station bound for earth for a refit before travelling back to the newly populated planet, the Doctor decides to board the vessel and investigate. It seems the ship is plagued with malfunctions that cannot be explained, and when it is revealed that the vital refit, necessary to maintain a contract with the colony planet, is being financed by a mysterious company in exchange for transport of a precious artifact in the cargo hold, the Doctor becomes suspicious.
But before he and Ace can investigate further, the Doctor falls ill and is shocked to learn he has been poisoned with a manufactured toxin that mimics unrefined spectrox – the cause of the death of his fifth regeneration, and previously only encountered on Androzani. As the staff on board the ship work to counteract the poison, the Doctor fights to live long enough to reveal the identity of his poisoner in the hope that the culprit also has knowledge of an antidote.
Then the Doctor's condition worsens and Ace finds she is facing her worst fear, a fear she never thought possible – that her Professor could die before her, because the poison is spreading and even attacking his ability to regenerate…
With the Doctor in critical condition Ace is forced to take matters into her own baseball bat-wielding hands, but she soon finds she may be no match for the enemy behind his illness when she finds that enemy is the Master, who is determined to ensure the Doctor's death before continuing to Earth where the terrible secret in the cargo hold will be unleashed, and cause the destruction of earth's population…
Rated T: Some adult situations and subjects, some violence.
Disclaimer: I own nothing this is a work of fan fiction.
Chapter 1
The sky was blue and the sun shone down warming through new leaves and in the distance, if the new houses were not so sleek and the taller buildings such a shining combination of glass and metal, Ace would have thought she was on earth.
But nowhere on earth seemed as unspoiled as this.
Everything felt brand new, and it was…
EdenEarth was to be a new colony, already the main settlement had a population of twenty thousand and that population would soon be expanded by another quarter of a million when more colonists arrived…
"How long did it take to make this place look like earth?" she asked as they walked together across a lush green field, leaving the Tardis behind them where it had landed amongst dense woodland.
"Three hundred years," the Doctor replied, "And one century from now this world will be thriving. There will be factories and shops and even more houses…it's going to be much like earth, but it's clean, nothing's spoiled here."
"Will it last?"
As she glanced at him he caught a darkening in her eyes as if clouds had just covered them over. He didn't doubt Ace was thinking of all the hostility they had encountered in the four years they had travelled together, and he understood why she held those concerns.
"This planet is far from earth, and far from its coming troubles. It's going to be a peaceful place for centuries. I can't say it will never be exposed to war because that's the way the galaxies are made - there's always an adversary out there somewhere, and it's just a question of when…but for now, it's a peaceful planet."
Ace frowned.
"What happens here?"
The Doctor gave a sigh.
"Cybermen. But it's a very long way off, and they do not win."
"Because you intervene?"
"One of me does, I'm not sure which one though."
And the Doctor continued to walk towards the gate that led out into a paved street area. When Ace followed him out, he closed the gate behind them and turned to her with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
"What?" she asked.
He knew her too well - and she knew it, too.
"What are you carrying in that rucksack?"
"Essentials."
He arched an eyebrow and folded his arms as he continued to give her that look.
"Okay," she admitted, "You said we had rooms booked at the Eden Palace for one night…so I packed a change of clothes, my hair dryer –"
"Nitro nine?"
His eyes were filled with suspicion.
"NO! And I only brought my bat with me out of habit." Ace knew she was blushing, partly because the man she called Professor knew her too well, and also because she hated lying to him.
"Okay," she admitted, "I brought it with me because…because…oh I don't know, Professor, I just expect trouble!"
"There won't be any trouble here. Keep that bat out of sight at all times, please."
She smiled.
"I wouldn't want to ruin our time here."
He returned her smile.
"Good girl," he said, and playfully touched the tip of her nose.
Then he raised his closed umbrella and pointed it forward, turning the tip in a spiral.
"This way," he told her, "It's a short cut to the hotel."
As the Doctor and Ace walked on down a tree-lined street passing shops with empty storefronts, they talked about the planet. Ace asked questions and the Doctor answered, telling her of history that was yet to be written.
And a gloved hand set a metal box down beneath the shade of the trees and then activated a switch.
The box opened and a shiny metallic spider ran out.
He worked the controls quickly, turning his gaze towards the path and the spider that scurried along towards the Doctor and his companion. Then he watched as the spider caught up and began to climb up into the folds of his closed umbrella.
He hit an activation switch and smiled as his eyes glittered darkly.
"Oh, you won't get out of this alive, Doctor," said the Master darkly, "You'll live long enough to see my plan unfold…and then…"
He trailed off for a moment, watching as they walked towards the entrance to the hotel, and he laughed softly, struggling to stay quiet as the rush of victory hit him like a high as he pictured the outcome.
"And then earth is mine, you meddling bastard!" he hissed, and then he laughed again, his shoulders shaking as merriment danced in his eyes as he pictured the Doctor taking his last breath.
"This is the end for you," he said in a low voice, and then he turned back to the shade of the trees and began to walk away, shadows swallowing his black clad form as he made his way back to his own Tardis.
Ace waited in the wide reception area while the Doctor collected the keys to their rooms. She looked up at the wide ceiling and then to windows decorated with stained glass, the sunlight shone through in a rainbow of colour and she smiled, recalling all he had said about not needing to use her baseball bat this time…
"Ace!"
She turned around.
The Doctor briefly held up a set of keys and smiled, and she hurried over to the lift to join him.
"I think we will enjoy our stay here," he said to her, and the lift doors opened and they stepped inside.
As the doors closed again, he spoke aloud: "Floor nine, please."
And then the lift began to ascend.
"I think you're right," Ace replied, "This is a beautiful place – and this hotel…everything is brand new! This whole word smells brand new."
"That's because it's yet to be polluted," he replied.
The lift was still climbing.
"I'll pay another visit here a few centuries from now and there will be a war going on," he said sadly, "But you won't have to worry about that. The war happens long after your lifetime. You will be dust and carried only in my memories, while I carry on alone, regeneration after regeneration. That's the worst thing about being a Timelord – I'll out live everyone. Even you."
Ace felt a jolt and it was nothing to do with the lift coming to a stop at their floor.
She drew in a slow breath, not wanting to think about the day she died and he moved on, never aging, changing one body for another while hers turned to dust, as he had so eloquently put it.
"I may only have one lifetime Professor," she said quietly, "But if we can take out memories with us when we die, I'll be taking you with me."
There was a brief, startled look in his eyes and then it was gone.
"Come on," he said, "Let's see what our room is like…"
And he stepped out of the lift and she followed him down a corridor covered with a soft pale carpet.
"Room?" she echoed, "Don't you mean rooms?"
He stopped at a door marked 116, and turned a key in the lock.
"No," he replied, pushing the door open, "I booked as the Doctor and companion – I think they took it to mean companion as in, more than friend…"
Ace stepped into the room and her jaw briefly dropped.
"I think you're right," she said, taking in the sight of the wide four poster bed that had been scattered with rose petals. The bed was decorated with a sheer lace canopy and the nets at the window were heavy and brilliant white, as the breeze blew in it carried the scent of the roses that were set in vases around the room.
"This looks like a honeymoon suite."
He glanced over at a big, soft sofa by the window.
"You can take the bed. I don't mind the sofa."
Ace fell silent.
She couldn't look at the Professor, because of the thoughts that had rushed through her mind as she looked at that rose covered bed. It wasn't just the bed that was to blame for conjuring romantic images in her mind about the man who had been her travelling companion for four years, it was also what he had said, he had managed to shatter her hopes and break her heart with one statement, and he knew nothing about it.
Ace knew her heart was racing, partly out of fear and partly out of panic as she wondered if now would be the best time to raise the subject of exactly what they had come to mean to each other over the years.
The Doctor had taken off his hat and coat and hung then up in the wardrobe, closed the door and then he left his umbrella on the bed.
Ace placed her rucksack on the floor and turned to speak to him, but the Doctor had walked over to the balcony and opened the doors.
Cool, sweet air came into the room and once again Ace thought how everything here was brand new.
And now seemed like a good time to take a deep breath and say what had been on her mind and in her heart for a long while.
"Professor…"
He said nothing in reply as she joined him on the balcony. He was looking out over lush green fields and towards a flawless beach far in the distance, where azure water rolled to shore on calm tide.
"Professor?" she said again.
"What is it, Ace?"
He sounded far away as his gaze stayed fixed on the horizon.
Ace drew in that much-needed deep breath. And her thoughts swirled as her nerves jangled. The situation would have been much easier to handle if a Dalek had suddenly burst into the room screeching EXTERMINATE, because she had a bat, and she knew how to handle a Dalek with a bat, but she didn't know how to find the words that had been stuck in her heart for so long, and were now stuck in her throat…
He just didn't know.
Her Professor was standing there on the balcony admiring the view, and he didn't know.
He had no clue about the need and the ache she nursed in her heart.
Telling him had always been a scary thought, because it would be a deciding moment.
It was final.
He might take her in his arms and tell her he felt the same way.
Or he could reject her, and crush all hope at the same time.
Telling him was definitely scary...
Ace stepped closer to the balcony and stood beside him.
"Everything feels different here. I mean it's okay, living in the Tardis – but there's always something happening somewhere and then we get dragged into situations and suddenly there's no time."
He slowly turned his head and looked at her with curiosity burning in his eyes.
"Time? Time for what?"
"Like you said, I'll be dust one day. And you will carry on. I'll die before you."
He saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes and instantly wanted to banish it.
"Oh Ace, I was only comparing humans to Timelords! You have many years of life to look forward to, don't think beyond that."
"And what about you?" she asked him.
Her eyes had locked with his. He was looking at her like he knew something was up, and she knew there was no backing out now.
This was it, the moment of truth…
"What about me?" he asked quietly.
"Will you miss me when I'm dead?"
Her words had cut him to the bone.
He turned back to the view beyond the balcony as he drew in a slow breath.
"Of course I will, you silly human! Don't talk like that, it's not something I want to think about – and we are here to relax, not to think about sad times and things we can't change."
Then he looked at her again.
"It's lonely, being a Timelord…"
And as he continued to speak, the robotic spider crawled out of folded umbrella and scuttled across the bed. But the Doctor was still speaking on the balcony, and Ace was listening.
"I've known so many friends, companions, lovers… I have this weakness for seeking the company of humans and I pay for it every single time when I'm reminded of their fragile mortality. It's not the same for me, Ace – I can live for years in a single regeneration. And when death does come, it simply means change, not the end. That's why my life is lonely."
She frowned.
"Are you saying you're sorry we ever met?"
The sparkle returned to his eyes and he smiled
"Of course not!" he said warmly, "I wouldn't be without you, I lo… I mean, like you very much. I care about you. I thought you knew that."
She smiled and her heart raced as she felt sure he had almost let a secret slip. Maybe he was the same, hiding his feelings away for fear of all the reasons she feared – perhaps human and Timelord were not so different when it came to affairs of the heart…
"You said lovers…human lovers?"
"A few were human, yes."
He looked right into her eyes and she felt caught there.
"Why do you ask?"
She hesitated and he knew why, he saw the look in her eyes, sensed her fear as it reflected in her eyes and she struggled to find the words to convey her feelings. It was a look he had seen many times before in his many lives, and it was never easy to deal with.
"Because…"
Those words were getting stuck again. Ace took in a deep breath.
"You're not just a friend to me. I've known you four years. I've changed in that time; I've seen the galaxy with you. And I've come to realise how much I love you. And it breaks my heart to think one day I'll be dust and you will just go on without me. I want to make the most of now, my life is one lifetime but yours is many. Do you understand what I'm trying to say, Professor?"
He gave a sigh.
"You and me, together? As in, together united by more than friendship, together in every way we possibly can be? It's a nice idea, but I've been there before. And like I said, one day you will be gone and I will be left alone. I know I sound selfish but it's a big heartache for me – I've paid the price many times for falling in love with a human. It's not very practical, too. You have one life and I have many and can't give you a spare one."
Ace felt confused.
"But I'm happy to have this one life, Professor, I just want to spend it with you!"
"And you do."
"But I want more. I can't help the way I feel."
She blinked away tears that were starting to sting at her eyes as he looked out towards the distant coast and tried not to think about much except not crying in front of the Professor.
"Sorry, I should have thought before I opened my big mouth. I won't mention it again."
He put his hands on her shoulder, and as she stood there in a short denim skirt and a top that hung off her shoulders, she gave a sigh, feeling his warm hands brush gently against her exposed shoulders.
"It's not that I don't love you," he said softly, "I do, that's why I don't want to get myself hurt. I'll be the one that's left behind. I'll outlive you and that would not be fair on me, because if my heart broke for you, it would never go back together, not like it was before. You mean too much to me."
She was still looking ahead. He knew she was fighting back her tears and he knew she would not cry in front of him, because he knew Ace.
But as he stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, he thought on all she had said.
Her words had made his twin hearts sing with joy, but he felt obligated to remind her of the downside of such a situation before he so considered what he wanted to do about it:
He had grown to love Ace long ago.
The Doctor had come to think of her as a part of his life as dear to him as the Tardis was.
He could not imagine a future without her in it, and he had never told her that…
Suddenly he wished he had kept his thoughts on her human mortality to himself instead of voicing them aloud, now Ace had thought too deeply about the subject and brought much more to the surface, she had raised feelings in both of them that he wished she had left alone. Some emotions, like dogs, were meant to be left to lie and sleep…
But it was too late now.
His hands were still on her shoulders.
"I never want to hurt you in any way, Ace," he said gently, "It has never been my intention to cause you sadness, not for a single moment. You mean far too much for me to –"
"Professor, it's okay. Forget I said it."
She had sounded tense as she forced back her true emotions and continued to focus on water that rolled to shore far off in the distance beyond the lush green fields.
The Doctor drew in a breath and let it out slowly and she felt that breath across the back of her shoulder and she ached more, but she didn't dare to think about how it would have felt to have his lips brush against her flesh, soft as butterfly wings as he gave her the gentlest of kisses, because it would not happen and if she carried on wishing, she knew she may as well spend the rest of her life sticking pins in the back of her hand, because the pain would be similar to the sharp ache that lingered in her heart like it had decided to live there forever, and sod her opinion on the matter…
His hands remained on her shoulders.
"I can't," he said, "I can't forget it because you've said it now. You thought it before, and you kept it inside. I did the same. But you've done it now, you've said it, you've set it free and neither of us can stuff that genie back into the bottle."
Ace froze, feeling his breath on her shoulder again. She wondered why his voice had lowered, why his hands where still on her shoulders, and why he had not stepped back the minute he had turned her down.
She didn't want to feel a spark of hope in her heart, because that hope was false…
Or was it?
"I'm not sure what you're trying to say," Ace told him, and she turned her head and met his gaze and saw him standing there smiling at her.
"I'm saying, it's not a good idea because of the difference in our life spans," he replied, "But I never did like the idea of a little thing like my ability to regenerate to stand in the way of love."
Ace continued to look at him. He had a sparkle in his eyes and she was struggling to work him out.
He had said no, and now he was looking at her as if no meant yes…
"I'm lost…"
He turned around, stepping in front of her, and then he placed his hand back on her shoulders as their eyes met.
"I was only saying I can live many lives and you only have one. That's all. I didn't say I didn't love you, and I didn't say we couldn't be together."
Ace started to smile.
Hope was rising in her heart and doing so with courage now, because she knew she could finally dare to dream.
"I think you did say we couldn't be together – and then you changed your mind."
She was looking into his eyes, searching for an answer.
"Why did you change your mind, Professor?"
"Because I love you," he said softly, "That's why. I've tried to ignore it, wish it away, close my eyes to it…but nothing works. I can't switch off those emotions because they are real. Love is something worth respecting, not casting aside - I could never deny its existence! It makes life worth living, it's the one positive emotion that binds together all living things capable of feeling. Its precious."
Then he leaned closer, hesitated for a moment, and then he finally kissed her. It was a brief kiss that lasted seconds and as she closed her eyes, she swiftly opened them again as thunder rumbled across the sky and rain began to fall, hitting her shoulders and soaking through her clothing.
She had been so intent on focusing on her conversation with the Doctor that she had failed to notice the dark storm clouds rolling over, and now as the rain fell, he grabbed her by the hand and they ran from the balcony to the shelter of their room.
As the sound of the rain was shut out as the Doctor closed the balcony doors, Ace pushed her wet hair off her face.
"I can't believe the way that weather changed so fast!"
She sat down on the bed and he went into the bathroom and came out again and handed her a towel.
Ace began to dry her hair, and she was still talking about the rapid change in the weather.
"That was nuts, Professor! One second it was blue skies, the next it was coming down like a monsoon!"
The Doctor sat beside her.
"I may have miscalculated the seasons here…we may not be quite in early summer. It's more likely the Tardis actually landed in the rainy season."
Ace finished drying her hair and she laughed as she looked at the Doctor.
"You brought us here in the rainy season…so I guess it means we'll be stuck in this hotel until the rain stops!"
"I'm sorry Ace –"
"Don't be," she said softly, "Now I have an excuse to keep you in this room, have you all to myself…"
She had loosened his paisley tie, and then as she slid it off and paused to kiss his cheek, she placed her hand on his shoulder, but he put his own over it and held it in a gentle grasp as he looked into her eyes.
"I've lived for centuries," he reminded her, "I'm in no rush, Ace. Let's not ruin this. Let's take it nice and slow."
She nodded.
"Of course," she replied, "That makes perfect sense, why would you be in a hurry? You're a Timelord."
"And I'd very much like to be a warm and comfortable Timelord," he told her, taking off his damp question mark jumper and then kicking off his shoes, "Lie down with me, let's cuddle."
Ace lay on her side and looked into his eyes as she realized she was seeing a whole new side to the Professor.
She had tried to imagine what he was like as a lover, but he had never talked about that side of his life, or let her get close enough to find out – until now. She had not expected him to put his arm around her and pull her close, then lay there simply enjoying her closeness as he ran his hand over her hair and she rested with her head on his shoulder.
"I could lay like this all day long," he told her, and she smiled as she looked into his eyes.
"If that's what you want to do, I'm happy to do it," she told him.
And he leaned in and gave her another gentle kiss.
And the robotic spider scuttled across the pillow, ran up the Doctor's shoulder and sank a small needle into the back of his neck, delivering the poison just as the Master had planned.
The Doctor gave a gasp and sat up, reaching around to the sharp pain that had cut into him unexpectedly.
"Something just bit me!" he exclaimed, grabbing at the wound again as the bite began to burn and throb.
And Ace caught sight of something small and shiny scuttling away. She jumped off the bed and drew her baseball bat from her rucksack, and then she held the bat in both hands as she set her sights on the silver creature that scuttled for the door, vowing to pulverize whatever was responsible for biting the Professor…