Chapter 3: From Russia with Love
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor looked at me and asked where I wanted to go next. 'You know where I want to go!' I replied. He looked at me questioningly. 'Paris!' I exclaimed with exasperation.
'Still?' He sounded surprised. 'Very well then. As soon as I fix the gyroscopic stabiliser, that is...'
'And how long will that take?'
'Hard to say. Of course, it'll take a man of my intelligence considerably less time that it would take somebody else. Why don't you explore whilst I get to work? Don't get lost, I've got better things to do with my time than to search for you'.
'Lost? How big is this place?'
'Infinite,' he said, ducking underneath the console, indicating that the conversation was over.
I walked through the same door that I had walked through the first time I had entered the TARDIS that had led to a bedroom. The bedroom was through the door to the right and it was there I went first. It was simply furnished and I got the impression that it wasn't the Doctor's room. It had an air of femininity to it and I guessed that it belonged to a former companion. I found a small wardrobe with bright coloured shorts and tops in, confirming my beliefs that it was a woman's room. I left and carried along the corridor, peeping through every door as I past them. There was a kitchen with futuristic looking devices inside, a large dining room with a mahogany table and marble fireplace, a massive bathroom with an Olympic-sized bathtub with clawed feet, and several bedrooms that all seemed to have belonged to who had left without warning. I walked deeper into the TARDIS down winding corridors and the rooms got increasingly more bizarre. A large swimming pool, several squash courts, a cricket green, what could only be described as a cloister room, and the largest library I'd ever laid eyes upon. The library held my interest the most. Most of the books were clearly not from Earth but there were also some I recognised. I chuckled as I saw H. G. Wells' "The Time Machine" wondering if he'd gotten his inspiration from the TARDIS. I reached out to peruse a book entitled "Famous Timelords of Gallifrey" when I felt a hand on my shoulder, causing me to gasp. I turned around to see the Doctor.
'It's fixed' he said smugly.
'Are you certain?' I asked.
'Certain? Of course I'm certain! Come, let me show you to your bedroom'. He took my hand and led me out of the library and deeper into the TARDIS. Presently we arrived at a door identical to all the others and the Doctor led me in. There was an ornate four poster bed in the centre of the room, and all of the furniture seemed something out of a fairytale. The walls were pastel pink, the furniture white, and the bedding, floral.
'It's lovely! Thank you'
'I thought you'd like it. I just made it'. He declared proudly.
'Made it? What do you mean?' I asked.
'Well I just used the Architectural Configuration System to create a new bedroom. It didn't take long'.
'You mean you can just create rooms like it's The Sims or something?'
'The Sims? What's that?'
'A computer game where you create a family and build them a house and develop them'.
'Humans really do come up with the strangest things. I've never been able to understand sporks'.
'Nor me'.
'But I can create and build rooms almost instantaneously in the TARDIS, yes. She's very impressive, isn't she?'
'I love the library. How do you have so many books?'
'I'm sure after 900 years you'd have that many books too'. He turned to leave the room and I followed.
'Nine...hundred years? You can't be that old!'
'Timelord,' he said simply. 'Now, Paris!' We crossed the console room and left the TARDIS.
The ground was covered in frost. 'It's freezing! I didn't think Paris could get this cold!' I looked up. 'I didn't think Paris had a life-sized model of the Winter Palace either!' I turned on the Doctor. 'We're in St. Petersburg!'
'That can't be right. I set the co-ordinates for Paris...' The Doctor scratched his head in confusion.
'Doctor, I've been to Paris several times. I think I'd know if that's where we were! Why are we in St. Petersburg?'
'Let's go back to the TARDIS and I'll check the instruments. Everything appeared to be working as normal...' He trailed off as he re-entered the TARDIS. I followed him, resigned that I'd never get to Paris.
'Clearly, you're not as skilled at fixing the gyroscopic stabiliser as you thought!' I huffed.
'It does seem to be slightly off. Still, may as well explore now that we are here, hmm?'
'Fine. But if we don't get to Paris after this, I'm stealing your cravat and feeding it to the first thing I see. Which could well be you...'
'Now, there's no need for that. I didn't bring us here on purpose you know!' He kept a hand on his cravat whilst defending himself. I just stalked off out of the TARDIS, knowing that he would follow.
'What year is it?' I asked once he had caught me up.
'I don't know. Let's head towards the Winter Palace and find out'. He put his arm around my shoulders and we began walking towards the spectacular palace that I'd read so much about. There was a crowd gathering there but I supposed they were just tourists. 'You're shivering,' the Doctor stated. He glanced at me. 'And no wonder. Good grief, Rosaline, you could have covered up a bit more!' He took off his coat and put it round me.
It was true, I was wearing a a thin pair of tights underneath a dress that stopped just below my knees and a thin cardigan. 'I dressed for Paris!' I said angrily. 'Not Russian Winter'. His coat was warm and I managed to stop shivering. I looked at him. I'd never properly seen his outfit before since he always wore his coat. But now I could see that he had a white shirt on with red check on the cuffs. He had a red check waistcoat, too, and the stupid red cravat with white polka dots. 'But you'll freeze now!'
He squeezed my shoulders. 'Don't worry about me. Temperature doesn't affect me as it does you'.
'You look like you got into a fight with a rainbow and lost. And so do I now!'
'Charming. There's nothing wrong with my outfit. You on the other hand...' He looked me up and down. 'Hm'.
'Hm what? There's nothing wrong with what I was wearing!'
'Look, let's ask that man what the date is'. The Doctor had an annoying habit of changing the subject to suit him. 'Excuse me, would you mind telling us the exact date?' he asked once we had reached the man.
He looked at us strangely, taking in our strange attire. '9th January 1905, of course'.
'Oh, you've got to be kidding me!' I replied. He looked at me strangely but said nothing. I turned to the Doctor. 'Doctor, we can't stay here!'
'Now hang on one moment, Rosaline. If we leave now we'll miss history in the making!' He steered me away from the man and towards the Winter Palace again.
'We'll miss history? You're unbelievable! We'll miss the beginnings of one of the biggest slaughters this planet has ever seen!' We reached the crowd that surrounded the palace. Tourists, I had thought. 'Doctor,' I took a deep breath to steady myself. 'If we stay we'll see many of these people injured or killed. I can't watch that'. He crouched slightly so that he was at my height and put his forehead against mine.
'History books exaggerate you know'. He sighed. 'Alright, we'll go. I shouldn't have led us here'. We turned to walk back towards the TARDIS when I heard the first shot. I let out a whimper and moved closer to the Doctor who took my hand but carried on walking. Another shot. Then another. All of a sudden, the air was rife with shots and screams yet still the crowd marched.
Suddenly, I heard a bullet whiz past my ear as I went flying to the ground. The Doctor had shouted my name before he pushed me out the way. 'I think you just saved my life!' I gasped.
'Come on, back to the TARDIS! It isn't safe here!' He pulled me up and dragged me along with him. All around me I could hear gunshots and panic, even through my heavily beating heart.
'Doctor I can't bear it! Please can't we do something!' I cried in despair. He kept walking.
'I'm afraid not. This moment is fixed in time. If we try to change anything there could be disastrous effects for the whole universe!'
'We can't just walk away. We must be able to help them somehow!'
'Walk away we must, Rosaline. I like it just as much as you do but we have no choice'. We were nearing the TARDIS.
'What's the point in time travel if we can't prevent things from happening?' I exclaimed.
The Doctor stopped walking and looked at me sternly. 'You must understand, there are some things we simply cannot change! I never walk away if I can help it, but when time is fixed I have no choice. It's most certainly undesirable but there we go. You can either accept what I'm saying...' his tone darkened, 'or go home'.
'I just don't understand why we can't change it'. I said tearfully.
'Of course you don't. You're only human'.
'How do you know if time is fixed or not?'
'I'm a Timelord. We can sense these things'. He wiped away a tear that was trailing down my cheek. 'We're not always going to see pleasant things, you know. There is much evil in the universe and you'll find that more often than not we'll witness it. Can you handle that?'
I chewed on my lip in thought. I couldn't go back home now. We'd only just begun and memories of the monotony of normal life were still fresh. But could I handle seeing so much death and destruction first hand? With death comes life. Yes we'd see the evil of the universe but we'd also see the good. And surely that would make up for the bad? I looked up at the Doctor to see him watching me. I nodded. 'I can'. He gave me a comforting squeeze and went to continue walking but stopped mid-step when he heard a groan from right behind us. We both turned around to see a young man covered in blood stumbling towards us.
'Help...me...' he weakly asked us before collapsing to the ground.
I looked at the Doctor. 'Is there nothing we can do?'
The Doctor crouched down beside the man and checked his pulse and the area of bleeding. 'He's been shot. He won't make it, even with our help. A major artery has been severed. I blinked back tears and joined the Doctor on the ground next to the dying man.
'God...save the...the Tsar! Ha' The man forced out.
'What's your name?' I asked him taking his hand in mine.
'Alexei Mirov' His voice was getting weaker.
'I'll stay with you, Alexei. I promise' I whispered. I felt the Doctor put his arm around me, giving me the strength to stay.
'We... the people... we have failed'.
I glanced at the Doctor who knew what I was thinking and nodded. 'No you haven't,' I said. 'Because of today, imperial Russia will end and a golden age will come. In 100 years, Russia will be one of the most powerful countries in the world. And all because of today!' Alexei looked at me and smiled. Then his eyes glassed over and he had gone. My tears fell onto his face. The Doctor closed Alexei's eyes for the final time and stood up but I stayed where I was. He put his hands under my arms and lifted, forcing me to stand. I turned around and sobbed into him, not caring if he minded or not. He just held me silently, allowing me to shed my tears. Eventually, my tears subsided and I let go of the Doctor. He produced a handkerchief from his trouser pocket and dabbed my eyes before giving it to me. 'I've never seen somebody die before. I've never even seen a dead body,' I admitted.
'It won't get any easier,' was all he said before leading me back to the TARDIS.
'You said we couldn't change anything here but you were wrong. We stopped a man from dying alone and upset. We made all the difference to Alexei'.
'The smallest acts of kindness are often the most important,' He said solemnly. Then his demeanor changed and I knew that the subject was to be abandoned. 'Now then, let's finally get to Paris, shall we?'
I suddenly felt exhausted and realised that it must have been several hours since I had woken up to go to Paris. It felt like a lifetime ago. 'Doctor, can't I go to bed first? I'm exhausted!'
'You don't need my permission for that, my dear. You know where your room is'.
I started to make for the door but paused. 'Do you have a bedroom? I didn't see it when I was exploring earlier'.
'Well you wouldn't have. I'm hardly going to have my private quarters on display for anybody and everybody to see, am I? Goodnight Rosaline'.
'Rosie. Everybody calls me Rosie. You saved my life, I think you've earned that right now'.
'Goodnight Rosie,' he said smiling slightly as he bent over the console. I left to find my bedroom and wondered why he was so secretive about his own. After what seemed an eternity and a million wrong doors, I found my own room and collapsed onto the bed. I lay there thinking about Alexei with silent tears streaming down my face until I eventually fell into a fitful slumber.