"So Clara, where do you want to go? Or when? Give yourself a moment to think, I'm offering the universe to you on a silver platter," I said. Clara walked around the console, thinking about all the possibilites. She snapped her fingers.
"Ancient Egypt, now show me what you got, Doctor," Clara said eagerly.
"Ancient Egypt, here we come!"
"Oh brother," Student said.
After flipping the necessary switches and typing in the necessary commands in the console, the TARDIS shook violently, and then landed. "Welcome to Egypt!"
We walked out of the TARDIS. A perfect landing; we landed right in town. Townsfolk and merchants bustled around us. "No need for the dramatic introduction. It's just Egypt," Student said.
"No need for- DO YOU REALIZE WHERE WE ARE?! EGYPT! Even more importantly, I chose this specific date because Queen Cleopatra dies today. Thought you might want to meet her before she, you know, died," I said.
"We're gonna meet Cleopatra?! She's like, my favorite historical leader!" Clara said.
"I figured," I said. "To the palace!"
We walked to the palace, and when we arrived, we realized it wouldn't be as easy as we thought.
"So how do you plan to get us in?" Student asked.
"Easy," I walked up to the guards, "Hello good sirs, I'm The Doctor, this is The Student and Clara. I have business with the queen concerning Marc Antony."
"Oh you can hush with the excuses sweetie," a voice in the palace said. "Guards, let them in."
"I know that voice," Student said. "MOMMY!"
"Mom!" I shouted.
"Mom?" Clara asked.
"Little secret, her, our mom, River Song, pretended to be Cleopatra for a while, and we haven't seen her in a while," I explained.
"So where's the real Cleopatra?" Clara asked.
"I don't know," I said. "So mom, how have you been?"
"It's nice being treated like a queen," Mom said. "How have my favorite boys been? I see you've made a friend."
"Mom, this is Clara. Clara, this is River Song," I said.
"Nice to meet you Ms. Song," Clara said.
"Oh, call me Cleo. That's the name I go by here," Mom explained.
"Okay, Cleo."
"I'm glad you boys came. You haven't heard of the Zumierians, have you?"
"Zumierians, the weird blue things that are always trying to create rips in the fabric of time and bring about the end of time itself? Yes," Student said.
"Yes, them. They might have found a way to do it. They discovered that if the pyramids have their machinery installed on the tip, they can triangulate the time energy, and create the rip they've been looking for. If they aren't stopped, the Earth, and the Universe, will be destroyed," Mom explained.
"So what do we do?" Clara asked.
"Their devices are already in place, and they have security locks that even a sonic can't open. You'll have to travel to their base and stop them personally. You can track their location with this." She handed me a potato with a motherboard, a bunch of wires and a tricycle bell taped on.
"How do I use it?" I asked.
"You just spin in a circle until it dings, then keep going that way until you find their base. Now off you three, the real Cleopatra is going to return soon, and she heard of Marc Antony's death, so she won't be in a good mood," Mom said.
We walked through the desert, following the dings, until eventually we came upon an oasis.
I took a sip of the water. "Hmm…"
"What is it?" Clara asked.
"Oh I'm just dehydrated. But maybe… Student, function 1904 on the sonic," I said.
We pointed our sonic screwdrivers at the oasis, and the water drained away and a steel hatch opened up. "I think we found the base," Student said.
"Yes, we should be careful. After all, we're dealing with some powerful aliens here," I said.
"But you killed a Dalek, and you said that they were horrid," Clara said.
"They are, but there are a lot of bad aliens out there," I said. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Student?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Let's go."
We descended into the base, and the stairs led directly to the control room, which was lined with consoles around the edges, and had a large hole in the middle that seemed to be bottomless. No one was around. "Well, that solves the 'find the control room' problem," I said.
"No kidding. Now, how can we destroy this entire base before the zumierians get back and make sure that they won't be able to rebuild everything?" Student asked as we studied their consoles. Each console was deadlocked, our sonics had no effect.
"You can't," said a raspy voice. They were here the whole time, just waiting for us. They knew we were coming. Zumierians looked much like humans, but blue, and with red eyes. They surrounded us, and one stepped forward. "Everything is in place; the devices have been set and programmed, the console just needs to hear me give the voice command, and the tear will be created. As the last of the zumierians, we shall succeed!"
"Now you listen to me," Student said angrily, getting right up in the alien's face. "You aren't going to say that code, you aren't going to create a tear in the fabric of time, and you DEFINITELY aren't destroying the Universe! Or so help me, I will kill every last member of your race!"
"I'm supposed to be scared of a tiny human?" The creature asked.
"No. Not human. TIME LORD," Student said.
"But… the time lords are dead!" the creature shouted.
"Yeah, but one survived," I explained. "The Doctor."
They shuddered at the sound of his name. "THE DOCTOR IS DEAD!"
Almost in sync, The Student and I said, "He lives on through us. We are the last of the time lords. We carry on their legacy. And we carry the legacy of our father. He passed it down to us, and we must do everything in our power to keep the universe safe. So we CANNOT allow you to do this." The Student got out his newest invention, a glove that has the power to create seismic waves when hit into the ground, or blasts a person back when punched by the wearer, and put it on. "Leave this planet, or face our judgment."
"You cannot stop us. It's too late. ZEIMENTI!" He shouted. The consoles activated, and a tear in time began to form, right before our eyes. It was like a blinding light, swirling in a vortex.
"NO!" Student yelled. He punched into the ground, knocking the zumierians to their feet. He grabbed each one, and threw them down the hole, one by one. I could hear their screams eventually fade away, the hole was so deep that even sound could not escape. The zumierians could never be a threat again. But the tear was created. It was too late.
"Student…" I started.
"No, they haven't won. There has to be a way to undo the tear. The consoles-"
"The wave destroyed them. There's no way to undo what they've done," I said.
"What if we could create a disturbance, something that would cause the tear to repair itself?" Clara asked.
"Well, theoretically, a disturbance could close the tear, the only problem is… someone would have to sacrifice their own life. Whoever went through the tear would be taken through all of time and space, from beginning to end, from one edge of the universe to the next. There's no telling where they'd end up, whether they would survive or not or… if their existence as a total would be completely erased. I have no idea what would happen to them," I said. "But it would work."
"That's all I need to know," Clara said.
"Clara… Please… Don't…" I stammered. I couldn't let her do this. I wasn't going to let her sacrifice herself. If anyone, it should be me. It was my duty as a Time Lord.
"I'm sorry," she said as she threw me her necklace. "We'll meet again. Don't forget me." She jumped and disappeared into the light.
"No!" The tear closed. Clara Davids was gone. "I should've gone! Not her! She was young! She had so much to do! And now she's gone!"
Student came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder. "It'll be ok. You said she might end up somewhere else in the universe, maybe Mom might know. We should go back to the palace."
I wiped the tears from my eyes. "You're right. We can't give up hope. She's alive out there somewhere, and we need to find her."
We walked back to the palace, and the guards recognized us and let us in. "Mom? Are you here?" Student called. The throne was empty. Then a bright light appeared above the throne, and Clara materialized on the throne, dressed in all Egyptian clothing, clothing to fit a queen. Clara WAS Cleopatra. I knew I had recognized her; the paintings of Cleopatra were almost identical to Clara.
"Clara? Is it really you?" I asked.
She opened her eyes. "What year is it…" she said. She looked down at her clothes, and a look of realization came over her. "What are you doing in my palace?! GUARDS!" The room filled with large men. "SEIZE THEM!" She yelled.
"Clara it's me! The Doctor!" I yelled as The Student and I were grabbed by the guards.
"I think I would remember you two, I've never seen any people like you two," she said. Her eyes seemed clouded.
"Please Clara!" I yelled.
"EXECUTE THEM!" The guards drew their weapons.
"WAIT!" I threw the necklace to Clara.
"STOP!" The guards lowered their weapons. "Where did you get this?" She asked.
"You gave it to me, and you said 'don't forget me.' Put it on. Maybe you'll remember," I said.
She reluctantly put it on, and her eyes cleared. She broke into tears and said, "Leave them in peace." She ran to her chambers, and we followed her. She was on her balcony, and Student and I slowly walked out to see her.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Everything came back… and I mean EVERYTHING… the pain… the fighting… Marc…" she ran over to us and hugged Student, then she hugged me. "Thank you for finding me." I held her closely, and I cried, I was so happy she was alive. She dried her tears. "Let's go," she said. We walked out of the palace, and I saw Mom wink at me. She'd take care of dealing with the absence of the queen.
When we got back to the TARDIS, Clara went immediately to her room, and cried into her pillow for a long time. After about thirty minutes, I went into her room and sat down on her bed. She was still crying. I rested my hand on her back, and kissed her head. I wanted her to know there was someone there to comfort her if she needed it. "If you need anything, just let me know."
I started to get up when I heard her ask, "Can you stay here with me?"
"Of course. I'll always be here for you."