The Doctor's Daughters
I wake up in a bed. The last thing I remember is getting shot by a Cyberman while with The Doctor and Meaghan. Where are they now? How long have I been here? I look around and all I see is a television in front of me and a bathroom to my left. There is a window to my right. I try to lift myself out of the bed to get a look but as soon as I move I feel a terrible pain shoot through my body. Grimacing, I push myself up. Sitting on the edge of the bed I breathe heavily. Slowly I stand up and make my way to the window, stumbling every few steps, and having to stop to regain my balance.
I finally make it to the window and what I see next astounds me. Flying cars. Everywhere. I almost fell over due to shock. I couldn't have been out long enough for this to happen! I go into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror. I'm pale. Really pale. I've gotten really weak too. This isn't good. I put my hand on my head and realize there is an electronic bracelet taking my pulse on my wrist. I start to walk back out to the bedroom but I can feel myself slipping away. I fall down and stay awake long enough to hear a siren go off coming from my bracelet.
I wake up and I'm back in my bed. A nurse is next to my bed checking a screen. I can't see her face due to her big white hat being in the way.
"Wher-" I can't finish the question. My voice trails off.
"Don't try to talk, dear. Save your energy. You really were hurt bad weren't you? Well, traveling with The Doctor…" She trailed off. There was a slight purr to her voice.
I have so many questions but I can't speak. I'm so tired. There is an IV in my arm. I think she's giving me a sedative. I can't keep my eyes open. So tired…
I wake up with a start. The nurse is in my room checking the screen again. I need to know where I am. I need to know where Meaghan is.
"Where am I?" It comes out slowly at first.
"Oh! You're awake! Hello dear. You're in the hospital. Its alright. Don't be afraid. Now that you're all rested we can talk." The nurse replies in that smooth purring voice. She turns to face me.
"You're… You're a cat!" I stammer, highly surprised.
"Yes, Darby. I am indeed a cat. The very best nurse in this hospital. The Doctor made sure you were taken care of. Don't worry. It is the year 5,000,200,159 on New Earth. We are in New New York. The Doctor left you here because we have state of the art technology. He even made sure you got a private room! We almost couldn't save you but he brought you here just in time. Now just stay in bed." She said in her calming voice.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked wearily.
"Oh… About four weeks." She said casually as if four weeks wasn't a long time whatsoever.
"What!? No! I have to go!" I try to get up but she stops me and injects another sedative through my IV.
I wake up to people talking outside my room.
"Doctor she must rest longer." The nurse insisted.
"Matron I'm more than positive I can take care of her. I just needed you to keep her here until she woke up. She'll be safe in the TARDIS. Besides, I'm taking her back to the orphanage. It's my fault she's hurt so I will make sure she's safe." The Doctor replies.
"Alright Doctor. But I'm just warning you that she is still very weak. Just be careful with her for now."
"Like I said, I'm only taking her back to the orphanage. She'll be safe there. Now, I'm going to go talk to her."
The Doctor walks into my room. I can see he can tell that I'm still frail. He walks over and touches my hand.
"Darby, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Doctor. Where's Meaghan? I need to see her." I start to get up and he helps me stand. "I can't walk very well."
"That's alright. We'll get a hoverchair." He walks out and comes back in with a hovering chair with two handles in the back.
He helps me sit down and pushes me out to the main desk. Once he checks me out, we go outside to the TARDIS. We go in and he closes the door. I look around. I haven't seen the inside yet. It's HUGE on the inside!
"Uh… Doctor…"
"Yes Darby?"
"It's… Uh… bigger on the inside…"
"Yes I was wondering if you'd notice. Ok we are here." He says.
Suddenly, there is a frantic knock on the door.
"Looks like your friend heard us." The Doctor remarks with a smile.
"Doctor!" I hear Meaghan shout on the other side of the door. "Let me in!"
The Doctor pushes me over to the door and yells to Meaghan. "Stand back!" And opens the door.
I raise my hands above my head to block the bright sunlight.
"Darby!"
"Okay, you guys. I'm going to have to take the hoverchair back with me. So let's get Darby inside before anyone notices."
We go around the orphanage to enter through the back so no one will see the hoverchair. Right after we closed the back door, we heard voices coming down the hall.
"So you're telling me that you have no idea where that girl went?"
It is the social services.
"It sounds bad, I know, but she vanished. Meaghan says that she just went to her friends house but I don't think so."
That's the carer.
"Doctor… we need to get to the room Meaghan and I share. It's upstairs. I'm assuming this can't go up stairs." I say.
"I can carry you Darby." Meaghan replies.
Meaghan picks me up out of the hoverchair and begins to climb the stairs. The Doctor hides the hoverchair behind the stairs then follows us up. Meaghan lays me on my bed in our small room. The Doctor turns to her.
"Meaghan, you need to look after her. Bring her food, help her get around. Basically, just make sure she stays in bed unless she really needs to get up. I know you'll take care of her. I can't stay here. I will come back soon, though, to check up on her. I promise. I need to go now. Goodbye Meaghan. Darby."
"Goodbye Doctor. We'll miss you." We say to him in unison.
"Right… That still freaks me out…" He gives us a sad smile and leaves.
The Doctor has been gone for five months now. I've healed. I still haven't gained my strength back but I was never that strong to begin with. I can walk fine now but Meaghan still babies me. I keep telling her I'm fine but I think she's afraid I'll get hurt again. I also think the carer told her to keep her eye on me. Meaghan pulls out Sorry! and suggests playing. We both love Sorry! so of course we play.
Halfway through the game we hear something. Its a strange wheezing groaning noise. I have never heard it before but Meaghan gets excited so I just go along with it. She tells me to follow her so I do. She runs straight to the backyard of the orphanage and there, leaning against that blue box, is The Doctor.
"Doctor!" We scream together and go running towards him.
"Hello girls! All better Darby?"
"I'm fine! Don't fuss!" I joke.
He holds the door to his TARDIS open and waves his hand towards the inside in a "come in" gesture. We both excitedly run into the TARDIS and sit in the chairs near the console.
"Would you like to go somewhere?" He asks us.
"Of course! But we need to be back soon. We can't be gone too long or else the carer might be worried again." Meaghan replies.
"And tomorrow is adoption day!" We both say excitedly.
He nods and runs around the console excitedly. He flips levers and pushes buttons and reads something on a screen. He seems to know exactly what he's doing. He looks like a child on Christmas. Like he's just gotten something he's always wanted and now he's sharing it with friends.
"Ok! We are on the planet Antario. Home to the Antarians. Would you like to see?" He says excitedly.
"Yes!" We say together.
The Doctor gestures for us to open the door and when we do we see pink. Pink grass, pink trees, even pink people! We run outside overwhelmed by excitement. Even the people are pink!
"Wow!" We both say, astounded.
"Welcome to the pink planet! That's what other planets refer to it as." The Doctor remarks with a huge smile spreading across his face.
We walk around for a little bit when we hear a scream. Meaghan and I don't know what to think of it but The Doctor reacts immediately. He grabs our hands and runs towards the scream until we reach a small pink house. The Doctor rushes inside and we find a small girl sitting in the corner shaking.
"Hello. I'm The Doctor." He says softly, "What's your name?"
"Rhian…" She replies, not looking at us.
"Hello Rhian. Are you alright?" He says trying to comfort her.
As The Doctor talks to the girl, I look around the small house. There is broken glass everywhere on the ground and a broken chair in the corner.
"He came and took my dad." Rhian says in a very small and sad voice.
"Who did?" The Doctor asks "Who took your dad?"
"The… Drude…" Rhian says in a very scared voice.
"What's the Drude Rhian?"
"On earth the Drude is a German malevolent spirit. Here it might not be just a fairytale." Meaghan and I tell him in unison.
"I keep forgetting to figure out why you two keep doing that…" The Doctor says with a sigh. "Where's your mum Rhian?"
"She was taken to the Drude three years ago and never came back."
"Oh… Ok… Right. Now, can you tell us which way it went after it took your dad?"
"I didn't see which way but i know where it lives. Everyone here does."
"Excellent! Alright. Lead the way Rhian!"
We started our walk to the home of the Drude. As we walk we keep seeing these pink dragons flying overhead. They are about the size of birds and they seem harmless. The Doctor is scanning everything with his Sonic Screwdriver.
"Here it is Doctor." Rhian tells us.
"The home of the Drude is in this cave?" Meaghan and I ask together.
"Yes." Rhian confirms, "Be careful if you go in there."
"Would you like to stay out here Rhian?" asks The Doctor
Rhian nods. The Doctor leads the way in and Meaghan and I follow. We walk in to the dark, damp cave and look around. The Doctor is rapidly scanning everything in the cave. We keep hearing scary sounds from every direction. I'm terrified and I'm pretty sure Meaghan is too. I don't know what is making the noise but I'm pretty sure it isn't good. The Doctor doesn't seem phased at all.
"D- Doctor?" I say, trembling.
"Yes Darby? What's wrong?" He responds.
"I might be… Just a tiny little bit… Terrified…"
"Really? Of what?"
"The… The cave…"
"Oh there's nothing to be afraid of. Those are just sounds."
"Alright…"
We carry on walking through the cave, stopping every once and a while to wait for The Doctor as he scans something. Finally, we see some light. We walk through the cave to a large room. There are large metal doors lined on the walls. About fifty to each wall. We walk in and The Doctor immediately starts scanning each door.
"It seems that there are people behind these doors…" The Doctor states while scanning the next door.
"Why aren't they trying to escape?" Meaghan and I ask.
"They seem to be sedated… Let's open one."
"WHAT!?" We yell together.
"Well how else are we supposed to see what its like in there?"
Meaghan and I are both still scared but we don't protest anymore. The Doctor points his Sonic at the panel next to one of the doors. The panel turns green and opens. The Doctor looks at us then opens the door slowly.
Inside there is a man, maybe in his forties, fast asleep. The Doctor looks for a way to wake him up and notices a tube coming out of his arm. He disconnects it and the man instantly wakes up.
"Ah hello! I'm the Doctor and these young ladies are Meaghan and Darby!" The Doctor tells him.
"You've got to get me out of here before the next cycle starts!" The man says.
"Before the next what?" Meaghan and I say together.
"Cycle! The next nightmare cycle! Please! Get us out of here!" The man almost yells in a panic.
"Alright we will, but first, what is your name sir?" The Doctor asks him.
"Alyan!"
"Ah, alright. Hello Alyan. Nice to meet you. What brought you here, exactly?"
"The Drude! It plagues us all, taking family members to this place so it can feast on their nightmares!"
Suddenly a low growl came from the ceiling of the room.
"It's coming to kill us all!" Aryan shouts.
We all look up to see a creature eight feet tall hanging off the roof. It looked at us with black holes where its eyes should be. Its skin is blood red and it had no mouth. The "Drude" is wearing a black cloth that looked like a cocoon around its body. It wriggles around for about a minute when the cloth cocoon turns into a kind of toga. He climbs down from the ceiling and begins advancing towards us.
"It's not a Drude… Drudes don't exist. This is a Vishklar." The Doctor informs us, "And it is an awful long way from home. What are you doing in this cave? Your kind prowl around at night to feed off of nightmares. You aren't supposed to be kidnapping people to feed yourself!"
"Doctor what do you mean it feeds off nightmares?" Meaghan and I ask.
"They are from the Seretti dimension. They go to different worlds and find sleeping people who are having nightmares and feed off of the fear that is created there. They are completely harmless. Only this one seems to have developed his own system… It seems he's been kidnapping people, making them sleep in these pods, and then creating nightmares in all of their heads so he can feed off of their fear. But now we have a problem because I can't let this go on. Now, you can either let these people go and survive the proper way for your species, or I'm going to have to shut you down. Your choice."
The Vishklar responds with a snarl. He begins advancing towards us growling.
"Alright. I gave you a choice and you made the wrong one." The Doctor says.
The Doctor takes out his Sonic and points it at the main control panel. All of the doors fling open and all the sedatives stop. All of the people wake up immediately and begin to panic.
"Darby, Meaghan, get everyone out of the cave. Now!" The Doctor commands.
We do as told and help everyone get out of the large cave, leading them through the long tunnel to the entrance. We hear an explosion behind us and the Doctor's voice telling us to keep running and don't look back. We exit the cave and right after us comes the Doctor. He grabs Rhian and tells everyone to keep running after him. A few seconds later we stop and turn around to see fire spewing out of the cave entrance. The Doctor puts Rhian down and she runs to a man and woman who we assume are her parents.
"Ok, lets get you two home. The adoption day is tomorrow right? I'll just drop you off then." The Doctor says.
He grabs our hands and leads us to the TARDIS. We are sad it has to be over but we need to go home. We walk into the TARDIS and sit in the chairs near the console. The Doctor runs around flipping the switches and pressing the buttons.
"I'm going to miss this… I wish it would have lasted longer…" Meaghan says.
"Me too…" I agree.
The Doctor gives us a smile. His eyes don't seem sad… They seem… Glad. Is he happy we are leaving? I can't help but wonder.
"Here you are!" He remarks happily.
We hug him tight. We don't want to leave. He seems so lonely. He needs people to travel with.
We go to our room to get ready for adoption day when the carer comes up.
"Girls! You have someone wanting to adopt you! He seems like a nice young man! Although his outfit is a little strange."
We both squealed in excitement. We had an adopter! Someone actually wanted us! It had been a while since we had even had an interview. Although the man had never even met us so it is a little odd that he wishes to adopt us. We pack our things and hurry downstairs after putting on our best clothes.
"Girls, this is the nice man who wants to adopt you! His name is John Smith." The carer said with delight.
The man turned around and smiled. Standing there was no stranger. It wasn't by chance that he wanted to adopt them.
The man standing in the carer's office is The Doctor.