Doctor Who – The War Doctor: The Prisoner Of Forever
By Jeff Walker
The TARDIS spun wildly in the vortex as it quickly veered left and right to avoid a massive energy blast directed in its path. The next volley of laser fire quickly struck the small spinning blue police box and caused a massive explosion off of its tough shell.
Deep inside the battle weary Time lord vehicle, The Doctor tried to maintain balance near his console that sparked and blazed from the aftermath. The perforated walled interior was full of scorch marks, dangling wires and cracked rounded glass that adorned it. Trying his best to keep the machine running, the Doctor fiddled with the various switches and leavers in a feverish manner.
"Confounded you devils!" He cursed aloud, "Haven't you had enough of trying to kill me!"
He darted around the octagonal console trying to keep up with the many ringing alarms warning him of malfunctions and fires. The salt and pepper haired man continued with frantically trying to out maneuver the attackers and used his own breath in effort to put out a flame that shot out in front of him. He had aged considerable since the time of his regeneration, one that he still considers 'unnatural' - a lifetime ago and with many battles now under his belt.
His face had matured and was starting to grow facial hair, a more relaxed look then what he usually accustomed too, but with so much going on in this Time War – there was little concern about appearances anymore.
"I'm not going to shake them this time, old girl." He said gazing at the center column rapidly moving up and down with sparking energy beams, "They're just too stubborn and damn well annoying the hell out of me. Firing inside the time-space vortex?" he suddenly scoffed, "That's the last resort of desperation. Killing themselves and me or anyone else traveling inside of it – typical, absolutely bloody typical of them."
Just as he managed to put out the fire with his small red cloth from his tattered -brown leather jacket, another major blast shook the TARDIS violently and caused the man to fall to the floor on his back in agony. The column flared brightly and a flash of fire rose up through it; the console sparked all around and the lights inside the battle worn room flickered with loss of power.
Launching out of the swirling Vortex, the TARDIS materialized onto a desolate world in the far reaches of space. The sound of its usual wheezing was labored and warped as it quickly appeared on the red rocky surface. As it came to a rest, the blue box smoldered and hissed as the rough landing damaged the outer shell. It was now mottled with burn marks and cracks on the blue wooden-like surface.
The sound of the other ship approaching was much more graceful and pulsating. As the shadow of it overpassing the Time Lord vehicle it caused the ground to quake and the dust to stir up around it. The mysterious alien vessel then landed a few feet away and powered down.
The Doctor began to awaken inside; the pain from falling caused him to wince and soon realized what had happened as he looked around; the whole place was dark with only a few emergency lights giving it some illumination of the console and doorway. The frail man rose up from the floor and clasped onto the metal railing near by to give himself a boost upward. In a daze he could see the TARDIS was non-functional, he grumbled in frustration from the sight of the devastation.
The console was smoldering and out of power as he tried any switch or lever that wasn't nearly badly burned. But it was all in vain. Bitterly he pounded the console with his right fist.
"Blast!" He grumbled. "Were in for it now, eh, old thing? So many battles, so many close shaves – until now it seems. Well, if they want me, they can have me. I'm tired of all this. No more – no more of any of this."
The War Doctor patted down his leathery coat and dusted off his pants. With a quick indrawn breath, he stood up erect and made his way towards the exiting door to his craft. As he came close to it, the unshaven aged man rested his forehead onto it and closed his eyes wearily. But they soon opened with great shock as the all too familiar digitized voice called out to him in that familiar evil tone.
"Doc-tor! Doc-tor! You will come out and face us!"
Slowly, the aged Time Lord opened up the door and was faced with a several, silvery-gold looking pepper-potted Daleks. The menacing creatures quickly aimed their arm blasters at him and glared down with their singular protruding eyepieces.
"Face us, Doc-tor! Face us and prepare for your extermination!"
The Doctor stepped out sheepishly from his TARDIS and gave a slight cough from all the smoke billowing out of his craft. Instead of trembling with fear at the sight of so many Daleks poised to destroy him, the man simply smiled and gave a laugh.
"Is this it? Is this all you've got to take me on? The might of the Dalek Empire and they send only a few Daleks to challenge me? Talk about low budget! HA!"
"Silence!" The main Dalek shouted bitterly. "We are a task force sent from our main ship to exterminate you! Daleks! Prepare for extermination! Prepare! Prepare!"
All of the Daleks switched on their weapons; the surge of power could be seen building inside of them as they were on the cusp of activating.
"So you're going to end me here and now?" The Doctor scoffed, "They'll never believe you. The Time Lords that is – I mean, to simply say, 'he's dead' isn't going to make them end the war now is it? No. You put The Master on trail and had the whole galaxy witness his end – but for me? A mere blast of energy and it's done? Pitiful. Why not think outside the box…as it were, why not do something different? An alternative to this simple self gratification."
"Negative!" The creature uttered in contempt, "For you there is no alternative but utter obliteration! The Daleks will reign supreme over all life, the Time Lords will be eradicated and we shall become the new lords of time and space!"
"Spare me the usual megalomania banter. So you think you can do better?" The aged man scoffed, "I very much doubt you lot could. If only you could imagine the scope of what that means, but – no, not creatures with a single-minded goal of utter perfection. What ever that is."
"Daleks are perfection, Doctor." A voice booms out loud over them all, "And once we have purified this universe of all non-Dalek kind, we will be masters of all time and space."
"And the puppet master speaks." The aged man smiled, "I am addressing the Emperor or some other high ranking commander? You lot all sound the same to be honest."
"I am the Time Strategist Dalek." It growled in contempt, "I manipulated you to this planet and forced you to land here."
"Oh? Really? Rather then outright destroy me?" The Time lord quipped, "How un-Dalek of you. Could it be you've learned some small scrap of humanity after all? Hm? No. I suppose it would be too much to think that of you. So what is it to be then, eh? Talking me to death, is it?"
For someone that was clearly about to die, the Doctor seemed overly calm and rather chipper. The Daleks kept their eyestalks on him as he continued while walking about them.
"No, Doctor." The Dalek Strategist answered coldly, "Exterminating you would turn you into a martyr, and the galaxy would unify against us and delay our plans further. No – this I must not happen. It has been decided. You are to be our prisoner - forever! No longer able to meddle in our plans, you shall be our guarantee and a means to end the Time lords once and for all. Your capsule will be immobilized and you will be trapped here indefinitely in a planetary time lock!"
"What?" He smirked as he stopped back in front of his Tardis, "No extermination? How interesting. So you're afraid then, is that it? Of little ol' me? Mercy from a Dalek - very interesting indeed."
"Mercy?" The creature mocked, "There is no such word in our vocabulary! It is a weakness that will be destroyed and the Daleks will be the superior beings forever! Daleks conquer and destroy!"
"Daleks conquer and destroy!" They all shout in unison over and over.
"Then why the reprieve?" The Doctor questioned with a glare, "You've got me and now you want me to live? Make up your minds!"
"Live?" The Dalek voice echoed back, "You shall not live. We will go and remake the universe in our image; destroying all time lines, all the universe and begin the Dalek Empire as it was meant to be. Perfection! And when we are done, when all life has become Dalek – then, only then – we shall return to show you who is truly the masters of time and space, and then you shall – DIE!"
"No." The aging man uttered, "Your tampering with things you know nothing about! Masters of time and space? You won't be able to control yourselves. I warn you, Daleks – this will end badly for you."
"We shall see, Doctor! We shall see. When we return, you're death will be assured."
Backing away from the somber Time Lord, the Daleks slowly retreated backwards their vessel. The Doctor stood helpless as he watched them. The saucer-like ship quickly flew up into sky, the aged man winced and looked up to the stars above; All those worlds, all those lives and he just terminated them all. Now there was nothing to stop them. Nothing at all.
"What have I done?" He said in a quivered breath, " What have I done?"