The Doctor raced back into the Tardis and veered it abruptly into the cargo bay of the enormous Beabluxian police vessel. Ilrusik greeted him at the security gates that guarded the evidence compartments. With him was Captain Illuma of the Beabluxian Security Guard. "Meeka atrusix, Doctor," she barked courteously as the Time Lord advanced. "Very pleased to meet you. I understand... some gratitude is in order. You and your companions... when the stars all went out - wasn't it you all that brought them back into the sky?"
The Doctor winced. "Yes, yes... I did that. Well, we did that. Me and Donna and..."
He stopped. Yes, he had done that, with the help of the Doctor Donna and Jack and Sarah Jane and Martha and Mickey and Jackie and.. Rose...and... himself... his other self... and then he lost them all.
"Bit of an adventure there, then", he continued with a trace of false bravado. " All turned out well in the end. We were brilliant. Ah, don't thank me, it's all part of the job, you might say. Now, what have you to show me?"
"But how did you..."
"Really, Captain, I'd rather focus on the present right now. Is this Captain Irodin's ship?"
It was. The hull was weathered, covered with acid stains and dark, red patches of rust. When they walked inside, the interior stank of corruption and chemicals. In the center of the command hull was a Beabluxian internment sphere containing the body of a very old reptile in the tattered remains of a military uniform. What exterior scales remained to him had gone from vibrant indigo to lifeless, metallic silver and in his right claw he still clutched the knob of what appeared to be a walking stick.
Somebody had given this ancient man a cane to use as he became too weak and feeble to stand on his own.
The Doctor scanned the body with his sonic screwdriver. No bite marks, no broken bones, not even a bruise. The Captain appeared not to have sustained any injuries or trauma of any kind... except aging. He showed no signs of malnourishment, asphyxiation, illness, or any other evidence of having tried to survive on an inhospitable planet that could not sustain life in any form. He was just a healthy man who had apparently died of extreme old age... two months after he disappeared in the prime of life.
Beabluxians tended to live to be about two hundred years old.
"How old was Captain Irodin when he disappeared?"
"About 75. He volunteered to patrol the sector after his mate left him for another man. He told us that he wanted to get away from the planet for awhile and have some time for his thoughts."
"Sure, it's always smart to assign one-man patrol missions to people suffering from depression."
"Look, Irodin was one of the finest captains in our fleet. He'd patrolled that quadrant dozens of times, knew it like the back of his claw. We didn't have any reason to believe that he'd suddenly get the urge
to follow strange voices into a deadly ball of ooze. He said the work would do him good, help him keep his mind off his troubles. We... we believed him, thought he'd be the best possible man for the job. It's not often that a Captain volunteers for a routine patrol mission like this." Ilrusik turned on the monitor for the Captain's log.
"Here's the last transmission we received from him, just before he vanished."
The Doctor listened.
"Captain's log Beablox Date 501.3. Now in orbit around the black planet Admiral Irubinox pointed out to me earlier. I'm not registering any life forms at all... there's no air, no food, no potable water, nothing but that odd ooze that seems to undulate in a regular daily pattern. The planet crust appears to be pure obsidian, with a vast network of cracks and fissures that go hundreds of miles inside the planet surface. God knows what's under that. The ooze covers the whole planet during the day, but it recedes like a tide at night and dribbles of it seep into the fissures. I can't tell what the ooze is made of; I've never seen biochemical components of this kind before anywhere.
There can't be anything living there, can there?
But I think I'm getting a message. It's like a voice. Can you hear it? No? Possibly the ship's audio sensors can't pick it up. Here's a transcript: Welcome, traveler. Welcome to my domain. If you are lonely, find comfort, if you are weary, find rest. If you are heartsick, find your solace in my world. I offer you Elusia."
The Doctor clutched at his hair.
The transcript continued. "I'm going to go a bit closer to investigate the messages. It's hard to explain but... I don't think the thing that's sending them is dangerous. She's very... very gentle, very soothing.
Very welcoming. I think I'll be all right. In fact... I think... I think... Comfort. Rest. Solace. I think I might just be happy there at last.
Yes. I am coming to Elusia."
The transmission ended.
The Doctor breathed in with a gasp. "And that's it? You never saw or heard from him again?"
"Nope," said Illuma grimly. "Not until his rusted ship appeared in orbit around our planet. We thought he'd suffered some kind of an accident and then steered himself home, but we found everything inside rotting and rusted, including him." She grunted. "The Thing... whatever it was... left us a nice little note." Illuma pulled a bit of parchment out of the dead captain's flight jacket pockets.
"I give you back the cherished traveler who came to me. He served me long and well, and I wish to honor his memory by returning him to his people. Grieve for him not; he found what he sought, and I gave him everything he longed for and deserved."
"He served her – it - long and well?" frowned the Doctor.
"He was dead in two months. God only knows what she did to make him grow old so fast."
The Doctor closed his eyes. Poor bastard, aged terribly and forced to serve the monster that destroyed him. The Master aged the Doctor, once. aged him his full 900 years, and stuck him in a cage. If it hadn't
been for Martha...
Martha was gone now. She loved him enough to walk the earth for him, but he drove her away with his indifference, and now he was alone. Served him right, he supposed. ACK! Keep your mind on the present, Doctor!
"Has anybody else tried to probe the mysteries of Elusia?"
Captain Illuma nodded. "Davidium sent in two scientists, Calidriuo..."
"Yes, and Melacepia" continued the Doctor. "Yes, I heard about them. They never heard anything at all? Of course they didn't. They were together, and they were happy. This thing only entices sad, lonely men. Men who have lost everything."
The Doctor stood very still for a moment. Then he said aloud, "I think I'm going to investigate Elusia myself. Find out what this THING is and keep her from killing any more men."
Captain Illuma looked alarmed. "But you can't Doctor! Look what it did to.."
"I'm a Time Lord. One regeneration for a Time Lord can last hundreds of years, and this body has only been around for six. If anybody can survive her artificial aging process, it's me. I've had worse things
happen. I'll be fine... just as long as she doesn't KNOCK four times. Big old planet made of obsidian and ooze. What has she got to knock WITH?"
"What?"
"Oh, nothing." The Doctor looked back at the captain's log.
"If you are lonely, find comfort, if you are weary, find rest. If you are heartsick, find your solace in my world. I offer you Elusia."
He remembered the sweet voice in his own head, with words as soft as a kiss, promising him warmth and peace and sanctuary from the grief of his losses and the constant mockery of the prophecy that haunted him and hunted him everywhere he went. Comfort. Rest. Solace.
Blimey.
She only called out to sad, lonely men. Well, that was him, all right. If he had to die, and the Ood said that he did... there were worse ways to go, perhaps. Nobody would miss him if he was gone. There was
no Gallifrey for her to send his body to. And at least he wouldn't become... stop thinking about that!
And if he saved these other lives instead... of dying... well, wasn't that what he was supposed to do? Wasn't he the Doctor?
The Doctor was quite prepared to fly off immediately, but Captain Illuma insisted that they prepare for this mission a bit first. They loaded him down with extra provisions ("But you don't understand!
I have a TARDIS! She takes care of everything for me!") and flanked his progress with security vessels on either side - which slowed him down considerably.
"No arguments, Doctor,: snapped Illuma in a voice that suggested she was unaccustomed to being crossed. "TODAY you are going to fly a normal, physical course in real time like everybody else. I want you out of there alive if we can possibly manage it. We are going to have two sentry vehicles
with multiple staff keeping an eye on you. If you disappear, we will be flying right behind you to see what took you, where it took you, how it took you and to try and form a rescue plan. I don't CARE what magical stuff your little box can do, you are just too important to the universe for us to let you get away."
The Doctor straightened his tie and perked up a bit at that. It was nice to know that somebody still cared, even if they were only grateful strangers. And it was true; even if the mysterious voice took him,
it wouldn't attack a vessel that had more than one person on it, so there would be witnesses who could figure out what was really going on.
They headed back - to the Doctor's thinking, almost unbearably slowly - towards the black planet.
After a torturously long three hours in space, the Tardis picked up Elusia again on her radar. First it was a glittering dot, and then a marble, and then...
And then he heard the voice beginning to crawl in his head as it had before. It cooed like a mother's tender lullaby, and as it slithered into his mind he could only think of gentle things. He remembered lying on the apple grass of New Earth with Rose, chattering joyfully about New New York and enjoying her playful giggles as she finally began to accept his new face. She told him that she loved traveling with him.
He did not tell her that he loved her. He wanted to, but the words just never seemed to come out of his mouth. He loved her. He always had, ever since they first met in that basement infested with autons. He remembered... he remembered... and the voice was speaking to him.
"Welcome back, traveler. I am so happy to see you again. I was worried that I had lost you, and I am so glad that you have returned. Come, enter my domain. I can tell that you are lonely."
"Yes," replied the Doctor quietly, willing himself to allow the voice inside his brain. For all those men out there who had been abducted, he would do this...
"Afraid? You are afraid? Why are you afraid of me, Doctor?"
DOCTOR?! How did she.. it... know that word and associate it with him? This wasn't just a routine, mass-market hypnotism! It was getting very personal!
"Shhhh... Doctor. The man who is always running. You need run no more. The reports of men dying... they are lies. I console. I revive. I give love and hope to the lost. And you are lost right now, Doctor, but I can heal you. You are lonely but I will give you comfort, you are weary but with me you will find rest. You are heartsick, but I will ease your anguish. Welcome to Elusia."
Consolation. Comfort. Rest. Yes.
His body felt lighter than it had in months, and as his head leaned back against the Tardis wall he felt as if he were floating in a warm and gentle sea that enveloped him like an embrace. Hell, dying
here might be better than wandering on alone, weeping into Rose's pillow every night and mourning what he'd lost as he waited for somebody to knock.
Captain Illuma's voice registered on the Tardis audio circuits. "OK, Doctor, you are about a hundred meters from the planet's surface now. Take care with your descent, because you are about to run into the..."
SLOOOOOOOOP! The Tardis crashed into the acidic blob that settled over the surface of the planet, and as he floated in his dream-like state of contentment he was vaguely aware that the Tardis was beginning to sink.
"Doctor, Doctor! It's got your ship! We're losing you!"
"Doesn't matter." He murmured. "I've been lost for a long time. I guess somebody finally found me."
"Doctor, Doctor!" bellowed Illuma frantically. "Can you read me? Can you tell us what's happening? Can you see what's pulling you down? Can you answer me? Crap! I knew this was a bad idea - Ilrusik, divert energy to the tractor beam. We are pulling him out of there!"
"Ah, my dearest" cooed the voice. "You brought friends? They are interfering with our joyful communion. Hold a moment. I can fix that."
AAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIII!
A moment later the command chambers of both Beabloxian ships were inundated with an ear-splitting banshee cry that shook the walls, flung the staff violently to the floor and shattered their instruments. It lasted only a few seconds, and then there was complete silence.
Captain Illuma raised her head. "I think... I think we've had some kind of malfunction." She staggered gingerly to her feet. "Ilrusik, are you there?"
"Aye, Captain." He was huddled in the fetal position, but clearly conscious. "Do you know what happened, Captain?"
"No." She struggled to the broken command console. "It's dead."
"What caused that?"
Illuma struggled to remember. "I... I have no idea."
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Why are we here?"
"I... I... um. I... don't remember, deputy."
"Neither do I."
As the disoriented crew began to revive and struggle to their feet, Illuma took stock of their condition. Nobody on the crew was actually injured, but the navigation circuits seemed to have malfunctioned;
try as they may, nobody on the staff could make the ship go anywhere but back towards the repair bays on Beablox - 4. For that matter, nobody could think of a more pressing destination. What were they doing out here in the first place?
"Ilrusik, take us home. Maybe somebody back there can tell us what we are supposed to be doing."
"Aye, Captain."
As the two crippled sentry vessels limped back towards their home moon, the forgotten Tardis disappeared into the ooze. The Doctor, lulled into a blissful stupor as he sank, did not even notice that they had abandoned him.