Title: Transcendence

Author: Lady Rheena

Rating: T (some violence and non-kiddie friendly stuff)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Evidently. No money. Don't sue. Please.

Notes: I am primarily a TNS Who fan and won't try to convince anyone otherwise. Any muff-ups I therefore make with TOS continuity can just be considered part of the AU definition. The Antecedent Series was written midway through TNS season two, and begins just after the events of Tooth and Claw.

Transcendence

Part 3

The memory-wiped personnel proved strangely docile and with all the casualties that the Loyalists- who insisted on maintaining that name despite the Doctor's loud and frequent protests- had sustained being rendered moot by the final action of the old Tardis that left nearly a thousand active personnel on the base. Out of fifty thousand inhabitants this wasn't exactly overwhelming but once most of the 'reclaimed' men and women had been placed in harmless coldsleep tanks, suspended animation until they could be safely attended to, the situation wasn't entirely impossible. Rose, Freyja, Jack and the Doctor worked along with everyone else although the extraordinary stories of the Doctor's brief transit into godhood and Freyja's so-called ascendance often left them with more boggling bystanders than co-workers. The Doctor seemed back to his old self, taking the celebrity status in his stride with a wry remark or a cocky retort, but Freyja deferred to him far more often than she accepted any accolades herself.

'It's odd,' Jack said on the fifth day. 'I got one of those bods down on Maintenance to make a check, and we're missing a timeship.'

'Missing?' The Doctor took the plastic printout sheet from him and scowled at it. 'Whose?'

'Five-five-two-seven,' Freyja said, reading over his shoulder which- now- she was just tall enough to do. 'That's Asha's ship.'

'Medical reports no tabs on her whereabouts,' Jack added. 'I had someone check. We've got a complete census of all inactive personnel, including former Director Katharyn, but no Traveller Asha. So I guess the inevitable conclusion is our favourite little Judas skipped base.'

'She can't have,' the Doctor insisted. 'Her memory should have been cleared along with all the others.'

'And yet!'

'Well…' he sighed. 'She can't do much harm on her own. As long as she doesn't shoot me again. I don't like being shot. It stings like anything, and this is the only decent suit I've got so I can't really go having holes shot in it. Last time was lucky, of course.' He flashed Freyja a cheeky smile and gave her a nudge. 'Eh?'

'I don't like her being out there still, Doctor. She's still clever, and that makes her still dangerous.'

'Are you implying I'm not smarter than her?'

'She outwitted you once.'

'Ah, but now I shall be doubly on my guard.'

'Don't worry,' Rose added with a grin. 'I'll keep an eye on him.'

'We-ell…' Freyja didn't sound so sure but the Doctor dismissed the notion, passing the printout back to Jack.

'So, that's that, then.'

'Oh, one last thing.' Jack folded his arms. 'Rose- hologram Rose- asked to see you.'

'Good. I need to speak to her.'

'I'll go check my Tardis,' Freyja said to him. 'She's still nattering away with yours nineteen to the dozen, or the telepathic equivalent of nineteen to the dozen. I've had to replace half the fuses in the transducer already, she keeps burning them out so fast.'

'Right…are you sure you don't want to-'

'I've spoken to her already,' she said carefully. 'It's you she wants.' Then she was gone.

Holo-Rose was standing in the middle of the still-wrecked museum looking wistfully at the empty plinth. One of the first things Freyja's overexcited young Tardis had done once installed in its shell was to shift spatially to sit next to the Doctor's, presumably to facilitate what he'd told Rose was an almost continuous stream of telepathic communication between the pair. The hologram turned, however, and waved as they entered.

'Hullo you.'

'Hullo you.' The Doctor stuck his hands into his coat pockets and regarded her silently for a moment. 'You know what I'm going to ask.'

'I have a feeling.'

'You know. Don't you? You know why it was her. You know why, of all the humans on this base, it was Freyja who managed the big kaboom a billion years too early.'

Holo-Rose smiled sadly.

'I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself.'

'Nuh-uh. No more riddles.' He poked her on the nose, ignoring the fact that his finger went right through her head. 'Out with it.'

'I looked into the Tardis. And the Tardis looked into me. And even you, Doctor, for all your bag of tricks, couldn't undo that. You took the time vortex out of my mind but it still left a mark. A mark that got inherited, passed on to my children.'

'Children?' Rose exclaimed. 'I…I really had kids?'

'I did. You might.'

'That's absurd!' Jack said. 'Even if Freyja's a direct descendent of your direct descendent who interbred with that human subspecies on New Earth, the chances-'

'A genetic marker,' holo-Rose interrupted.'The vortex altered me at a fundamental level. A single gene, maybe two, survived even through all those tens of billions of years of evolution and change. Just one little scrap of DNA. She was the first since me to travel in time, to enter the vortex again. And then she met you, Doctor, and she met the Tardis.'

'And it triggered the gene,' the Doctor finished. 'Accelerated the evolutionary process…jumped her ahead of all the others.'

'She was touched by the Tardis before she even met you.'

'My god,' Rose said, thunderstruck. 'You mean she's actually my…great-great-great-great-great…something…granddaughter?'

'Biologically.' The hologram's tone turned dry. 'But since from history's point of view thus far you've never given birth, kiddo, don't play on the fact.'

'Well well.' The Doctor gave an odd little laugh. 'After all that, the Tyler will out, eh? No wonder I had a feeling I'd met her before! In a sense I had.' He gave Rose a fond look.

'So it seems.'

'Not just another stupid ape after all!'

'I should think not!' Then the light-hearted air left the hologram entirely. 'But I want one last thing from you, Doctor.'

'Name it,' he said without hesitation.

'The Torchwood Institute stole my mind and imprisoned it here, Doctor. I've had a pompous trampoline woman crammed in my head, but here I really feel trapped.' She lifted her gaze to his appealingly. 'Please…let me go. I'm brittle with too much time.'

'Kill you?' Rose gasped.

'I'm already dead! I've been dead for billions of years, but I can't let go!' The hologram's voice turned bitter. 'Please, Doctor. If you ever cared about me…do this last thing.'

He gazed at her steadily for a long moment and then reached up to touch what would have been her cheeks. Semi-transparent tears were falling from her eyes.

'They stole your mind and still left you able to cry,' he murmured. 'I've seen some cruelty in my time, but…'

'It would have been worse if I couldn't. PLEASE, Doctor…' she sniffed and then, in the manner of someone quoting, recited, 'I beg a boon beyond the chair of the power most high…

'Let me sleep, let me rest, let me die,' he finished, smiling distantly. 'Chessis Brastheen.'

'One of his best. Freyja told me that one. She's got quite a head for poetry.'

'Thank you, Rose.' He moved to the panel and took out the sonic screwdriver, glancing meaningfully at Jack and Rose. Jack took the cue first and stepped forwards.

'Well, uh…' he set his lips into a thin line '…never thought I'd see this day, Rose, hologram or not. I guess…thanks. It's been a blast. You're a helluva girl. Hologram. Gah, what am I saying? You're a hell of a woman!'

'Thanks, Jack. You take care of all the boys and girls for me, eh?'

'Will do.' He glanced at Rose and she swallowed hard, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

'Dunno what to say, really. I mean…'

'Look after that daft lummock over there for me, will you?'

'Yeah, 'course I will.' Rose took a breath. 'And…thanks.'

'You're thanking me?'

'Well…even after…everything that's happened, you know…the Tardis, the Daleks, Slitheen…everything…' she groped for the words '…I still never really knew what I could do. But now…I think I do.'

The hologram smiled.

'And don't you forget it, Rose Tyler.'

'All set,' the Doctor said quietly. 'You ready?'

'Far too ready!' She turned to face him and smiled- a real smile, this time, pure happiness devoid entirely of regret or sadness. 'Goodbye, my Doctor.'

'Goodbye,' he whispered, and flipped a switch. The image died without a sound. 'Goodbye…Rose Tyler.'

Rose realised she was crying and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

'Whoa.' Jack pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes also looked damp. 'That…whoa. What was that quotation, Doc?'

'Chessis Brastheen,' the Doctor said. 'Rexicoricophalvitorian poet.'

'They have poets on Rexicoricophalvitorious?' Rose asked.

'Oh, yeah. Good ones, too. Bit depressing, some of it, but then most poetry tends to be depressing one way or another.' He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared at his shoes for a moment, then suddenly brightened. 'What did she mean about you taking care of the boys and girls, Jack?'

'Oh, that.' Jack looked slightly embarrassed, which had to be a universal first. 'Uh…well the Centre, since they don't want to call it the Institute any more, kinda needs a new Director and when they asked me I figured it'd be a change…you know, just for a while, see how it goes…'

'No way!' Rose hugged him. 'Director Jack Harkness! Nice promotion!'

'Yeah, well…' he gave the Doctor a mock-glare '…you know, my life was a lot easier until I met you and caught a conscience.'

'More fun this way though.' The Doctor grinned at him. 'Still, we'd better be off, eh Rose? So much universe, so little time…'

'Your ship's on pad five, sir,' Jack said with an exaggerated salute and a wink. 'Well, they both are.'

'Oh-er, proper landing pads and everything…I could get used to this VIP treatment…' he rattled on in a similar fashion all the way down. Rose was half-afraid the Travellers would have organised some kind of flag-parade sendoff, so she was relieved to see only Cal, Nat and Will loitering near the largest of the base's ship platforms.

'You might consider a paint job,' Will said to the Doctor, indicating the two identical Tardises sitting side by side. 'They'll get mixed up otherwise.'

'Or you could just fix that damned chameleon circuit,' Jack pointed out.

'Get stuffed,' the Doctor said amiably. 'Nothing wrong with it. Twins!' As if on cue, there was a loud buzzing noise and one of the boxes abruptly morphed into an unremarkable metal crate. Freyja came out and spread her arms with a laugh. She was no longer wearing her Traveller's uniform and resembled nothing so much as a female equivalent of the Doctor in a tailored women's suit of soft beige with an overcoat that came to her knees.

'There! Fixed it!'

'Show off,' he shot back with a grin. 'How is she?'

'Raring to go! And I must admit, so am I.'

'You're off too?' Cal sounded disappointed.

'Oh yes. All sorts of things I want to see…places only a Tardis can take me!' She hugged each of them in turn. 'I'll stop in now and then, make sure Jack hasn't got you all killed.'

'Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence,' Jack complained.

'Well, perhaps we'll see you around sometime,' the Doctor said.

'I imagine so. Only two Tardises in the universe; we're bound to run into each other occasionally…Doctor.' Then she cocked her head on one side and a slow smile spread over her face.

'What?' Rose asked, looking from her to the Doctor and back. 'Wha-' then realisation dawned '-oh my god. You know, don't you!'

'Know what?' Jack said.

'His name!' Rose could barely contain herself. 'You know his name!'

'That's not all I know.' Freyja turned her smile on the Doctor. 'But I'll never tell.'

'What?' Rose couldn't believe that. 'Oh, come on! At least give us a clue! Is it short? Long? English? Really really alien with lots of zeds and exes? What?'

'It-' Freyja's smile became a wicked grin '-it suits him.'

The Doctor grinned back at her.

'Thank you,' she added, turning serious. 'For…everything.'

'You're thanking me now…'

'Perhaps. But I think I'm ready. If I weren't…I wouldn't be.'

'Then thank you,' he added. 'For everything.'

She smiled again and then stretched up to kiss him softly on the cheek before turning to Rose.

'And thank you, honoured ancestress!'

'You-' Rose boggled at her '-you know?'

'She told me. I think…I needed to know. Before I went and got a cheek like…well, like someone we both know.'

Rose laughed.

'He's not that bad. You get used to it.'

'I'm standing right here,' the Doctor said pointedly, but they both ignored him.

'Off to wonders and monsters, then.' Freyja made a silly face.

'He's worth the monsters,' Rose said sincerely.

'I know that. But then so are you.' That made her laugh again and they hugged tightly before Freyja turned away back to her Tardis, entering and shutting the door behind her without further comment. The whooshing noise was the same, and it gradually faded away until the blue police box was alone on the pad. Rose sighed and looked at the Doctor. His eyes were closed and a very faint smile teased the corners of his mouth.

'What?' she asked.

'I can feel her.' He opened his eyes and beamed at her, his eyes sparkling with a new energy. 'Infinity and eternity, but I can still feel her out there.'

'Hmm. Not so lonely and forlorn any more, eh?' she asked, hanging onto his arm with a grin.

'Nope!' He chuckled. 'New new new Doctor.'

'What's your name?'

'I'm not telling you.'

'Aw, come on…'

'No!'

'Pleeeeeeeease…'

He shook her off his arm and turned to Jack.

'Anyway, we'd better get going. You've got a new planet to colonise, Director Jack. And whose bright idea was that?' he added deliberately to Will, Cal and Nat. They all pointed at each other. 'Oh, god. Never mind, forget I asked. Come on Rose, let's get going.'

'One minute, Doc,' Jack said. 'There's this one thing I gotta do.'

'There is?' the Doctor said quizzically.

'Yup. This-' and before anyone could do anything about it Jack had flung his arms around the Doctor, dipped him expertly backwards and was kissing him like something from the finale of a musical. Rose clapped a hand over her mouth and didn't know where to look. Nat and the others roared with laughter.

'Right,' the Doctor said, slightly dazed, when Jack finally let go of him. 'Ahem.' He absently reached up to smooth his hair. 'Right. Well. Bye then.'

'Hey, Rose, c'mere-' she got a firm kiss on the lips although, to her mild disappointment, no dip. 'You come visiting once we're organised, huh?'

'We will!' she called, jogging to catch the Doctor up as he strode towards the Tardis.

'Hmm,' he gave her a mischievous look, apparently unperturbed by an impromptu snog from Jack Harkness. 'Now, where do you fancy? I'm in a pre-revolutionary Europe sort of mood…'

Somewhere in the Promar sector a deserted planet slowly filled with a people apart from Time, headed by a crook who had become a leader.

Somewhere at the dawn of the universe a single Tardis floated, ready to watch the best fireworks display in all history.

Somewhere in the swirling mists of the time vortex the last Time Lord laughed freely for the first time in a thousand years, no longer alone in the endless night.

And somewhere on the edge of space a single timeship of the lost Institute lurked with its lone pilot, forever alone.


A/N: I currently consider this the final story in the Antecedent series. Perhaps in the future I'll write more. Perhaps not. Just so's people know not to hold their breath for another chapter. Hope you enjoyed them. :) LR