The Unnamed Doctor
I do not own Doctor Who.
Chapter 3: The Great Cataclysm
It was only now that Julian and Thuỷ realised that the TARDIS being bigger on the inside was actually quite an understatement! It was gigantic! It took them a maze of corridors just to find their own quarters where they had a shower. They also discovered an observatory, a swimming pool and a gigantic library while they were at it.
After they had relaxed for a while – Thuỷ taking a nap in her room while Julian spent his time strolling through the insane amounts of book shelves of the library where he found books that were published in the ancient past and those that wouldn't be published for, in some cases, a billion years! – the two of them found themselves fresh enough to join the Doctor in the control room for their next adventure in time and space.
The Time Lord pulled a lever and the TARDIS came to a halt. He beamed at Thuỷ like Father Christmas pulling out a very large present from his sack. Thuỷ glanced back with a big grin on her face.
"When are we?" she asked.
"Why don't we find out?" the Doctor whispered.
With a glee, the young woman stormed towards the doors and pulled them open only to let out a disgusted yelp as a furious rain rushed into the TARDIS. Swiping her glasses clean, Thuỷ turned to the Doctor and glared at him.
"Where have you taken us?"
"Oh, sorry, stupid me," the Doctor said rushing towards her pulling out his Sonic, "totally forgot the rain." He ran his device over the wet spots on Thuỷ and she dried up.
"That really is a magic wand, isn't it?" she observed still angry at him.
"Most sophisticated technology seems like magic," the Doctor simply commented, "but this is science beyond magic." He reached to the stand next to the doors and pulled out three umbrellas for them.
"We're in Hamburg, a hundred and one years in your future. It's February 6, 2119."
They stepped out into a cold day with a grey, almost black sky above them. It didn't look like anything familiar to the two humans though. Julian pulled out his smartphone and checked where they were.
"What the – ? According to this, we should be next to Dammtor Station. But this doesn't look like it," Julian said confused. They found themselves on the terrace of a building that had evidently not been built in their time. A bit to the left, they could see the old main building of Hamburg University but to their right, a massive dam seemed to hold off the waters of an enormous river that, according to the map on the smartphone, stretched all the way from the Rosengarten in the south to the Messehallen in the north.
Julian looked at Thuỷ who was equally shocked.
"So it does happen," Thuỷ breathed out. "All the warnings, all the data the scientists showed us, what they showed those bloody politicians…"
"How many people must be homeless now?" Julian wondered staring at the mighty waves that clashed against the dam just a few meters away.
"I mean, half of the city has been drowned! Not to mention the economy of it all: metro stations, hotels…the town hall…"
They looked at the Doctor who, while overlooking the scenery with a sad expression on his face, didn't really seem that shocked.
"Will it end?" Thuỷ asked him. It seemed the only thought she had left.
"Of course, it will end. Things always end," the Doctor said looking at her.
"Otherwise nothing would ever get started. Come on then," he said entering the building they had landed on.
"Let's explore this time."
Looking at each other, Julian and Thuỷ followed the Doctor down the stairs and onto the ground level.
"I thought it would be warmer," Julian said.
"Oh, it is warmer," the Doctor said, "the average world climate is 3°C higher than in your time. But of course there are good days and bad days. And the Gulf Stream has collapsed so Europe isn't really as warm in winter anymore as it used to be."
Now they could see that it seemed to be a new building for the Dammtor Station – only that the trains were now strictly riding above the ground. There were several small shops selling mostly food. But almost all of them sold either insects or noodles and occasionally rice dishes. No meat, no fruits.
They went to a shop near the exit of the station. First thing they noticed were the prices: they were all in D-Mark instead of Euros!
"What can I give ya?" the vendor asked them.
They chose a bit of everything and the Doctor took out something that looked like an ID card or something and held it before the man's nose.
"Oh, sure, um, of course, sir!"
Julian looked at the Doctor with a frown.
"Psychic paper," he whispered, "shows them whatever I want them to see. He's convinced that we paid the food."
Julian grinned.
They went out into the street and found that the rain was lesser now. On the streets were occasionally cars and Julian noticed the people behind the wheels.
"I would have thought we'd invented self-driving cars by now," he commented as a woman walked by.
"Oh really?" she said, "Where do you think we are, bloody USA?" She laughed at her own joke.
"University didn't change much," Thuỷ remarked.
Julian scoffed. "Don't judge a book by its cover. With everything that's going on in here, I don't think we can find something familiar anymore."
Thuỷ tilted her head. "Well, only one way to find out." She crossed the street. Julian and the Doctor followed her. As Julian followed Thuỷ to the building of the AAI Faculty, which was now enclosed in a wall, he couldn't believe the indications of what he had just experienced. From the looks of it, Germany had become the equivalent of a third-world country compared to the rest of the world in this time period.
As Thuỷ went down the foyer of the faculty, she noticed that not many students seemed to be here. And most of the students she did see were young men. She headed straight for the library. At the entrance, she noticed a series of pamphlets on the wall. In both Chinese and German, it said: The wonderful German-Chinese friendship! Tips from the New Silk Road
Thuỷ took one and put it inside her pocket. The layout of the library was still similar to what she knew but the computer on the information desk was different as the console with which students could search for information. Thuỷ, having a hunch, went to the console and looked up Cultural Revolution. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief as the response came saying that there were no entries under that keyword. Shaking her head, she typed in Tian'anmen Massacre, Kuomintang, Liu Xiaobo and Beijing Spring. Each search had no results. But when she typed in Xi Jinping, there were more than 500 results! Apparently, an entire section labelled The Great Leaders of the People's Republic of China was filled with works on Mao and Xi. Thuỷ didn't need to research any further. Already in her time, she had noticed media and politicians talking less and less about such things like human rights in relation to China. Word had it that Chinese officials had threatened to cut all economic relations to said countries if they were to continue bringing those things up. And now, a hundred years later, China's influence seemed to have increased to a level that required even universities to conform to the Party's politics. Thuỷ wondered whether there was still a superpower strong enough to compete with China. How was the United States doing?
"Thinking what I'm thinking?" Julian asked grimly as Thuỷ returned from the library. She nodded.
"I would like to know how the political situation is in this time," she murmured.
"Ah," the Doctor, who had been listening to the two of them, said, "I know just the place!"
When they got out of the TARDIS, they found themselves on the higher level of a tall building.
"Where are we?" Julian asked.
"Berlin!" the Doctor exclaimed. "This is where a very important party is being held. The perfect place to learn something about this era."
"And how will you get us inside?" Thuỷ asked sceptically. The Doctor merely winked at her. They approached a set of double doors in front of which two guards stood.
"Hi, sorry, we're a bit late," the Doctor said. "Here's our invitation."
And he held out his psychic paper and one of the guards nodded. The three of them entered an enormous room where dozens of guests were sitting or standing chatting. Thuỷ peeked into a small room to the right where a couple of people were sitting on sofas laughing and talking while the evening news was running on the telly.
"Good evening," the news anchor said.
"The situation on Mars has stabilised. The green inhabitants of our neighbouring planet have ceased any kind of resistance against the brave human troops defending the colony. The Martians have fallen in line with Earth laws since 2097 when Pope Alexandra I. has anointed the first Martian bishop.
In Caithness, Scotland, the first underwater mining facility has been completed. It is called The Drum. Work is expected to begin at the site within two weeks.
Lu Chunhua, President of the People's Republic of China, has announced that the New Silk Road has finally been completed.
Japan and Australia have decided to construct more refugee camps for people fleeing out of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. South America too is experiencing a large refugee problem. After having cut down 90% of the Amazon Rainforest, countries like Peru, Bolivia and Argentina are experiencing a massive migration invasion from Brazil which – along with several other African nations like Ghana, Chad or the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the aforementioned Asian countries – are considered death zones. As Federal Chancellor Markus Streibl has declared, this is not the a result of some climate change like the leftist-green forces have been preaching but a totally natural course of the weather cycles which return every thousand years. Humans are powerless against the forces of nature and it is a hopeless dream to think we could resist it.
And finally, in Kent, England, the Bio-Cellular Institute of Dungeness is working on a revolutionary technology, the so-called ganger Project."
Julian watched the screen, aghast. Not only had the worst case scenario actually occurred, it seemed that the government and the media were enforcing the opinion that the very thing which had caused this situation was a propaganda tool by the opposition! Shaking his head, Julian went back to the main room where most of the guests were mingling about.
"Care for a pear?" he heard someone asking on his left. He looked up and saw an older, fine-dressed gentleman offering him a plate of sliced green pear.
"You should try it while you're here!" the man said, "I just managed to actually acquire a few kilos, can you imagine?"
Frowning, Julian took the offered plate.
"What's so difficult with getting pear?" he asked.
"Boy, you've been living on the moon, haven't you?" the party guest replied, half shocked, half amused. "Fruits are a delicacy of the rich since the late 2050s! One kilo of pear costs about 4900 D-Marks!"
"Sorry," Julian said, "history is not my, er, thing. When did we re-introduce the D-Mark?"
"Well, from the day, we had the Dexit, in 2041, with the first coalition of the CDU and the AfD."
Julian nodded silently.
"Excuse me," he said as he spotted Thuỷ making her way towards him.
"Charming place," Julian said with a slight hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Hm," Thuỷ merely said looking around with disgust written in her face. Moments later, the Doctor was at their site.
"I'd like to leave," Thuỷ demanded.
"Already?" the Doctor wondered, "but we haven't even come to the best part!"
"The best –"
She looked at him with her mouth open.
"I don't even know where to begin! The only thing that's missing from the scenery here are replicants being killed."
In that moment, the whole room began to cheer in applause as a man came onto the stage at the other end of the room and a voice introduced him:
"Ladies and gentlemen! Please join me in welcoming our beloved host, Minister of the Homeland and National Culture, Bernd Goppel!"
Goppel looked rather unimpressive as he stood there waving to his guests. As the noise faded out, the minister adjusted his microphone and began his speech:
"Thank you, my friends! Here we are again. Thank you for coming here in such great numbers! I was bestowed the important task of ensuring that this country was to be restored to its former pride, a pride that we all felt and which, under many past regimes in the last century was forbidden to properly express! But we've worked hard and tonight, I can tell you, my friends, that we have finally re-established the German Leitkultur into this beautiful country again. Freed it from the invading forces that have flooded into Germany threatening to make it unrecognisable. But today, I say: no more! Under my guidance as Minister of the Homeland and of National Culture, I promise that there will be no social experiments anymore! The Gleichschaltung, the co-ordination of sex and gender and the early sexualisation of pupils is over! The pugnacity, wisdom and leadership of the man and the intuition, gentleness and devotion of the woman, that will now again be part of the curriculum. We'll put an end to the political indoctrination of teachers! Any student who notices a teacher trying that will have to report on that on a special website of the Ministry of the Homeland and National Culture. Furthermore, we will stop the flood of all those criminal refugees that still threaten our borders, be it chinks, coloured or greenies, they all will b –"
BANG!
As the sound of the gunshot echoed through the hall, people ducked and some screamed and Julian lifted his head again barely witnessing Goppel's body falling backwards to the ground. It all happened so fast that at first he wasn't able to process the emerging panic among the guests. He numbly noticed Thuỷ grabbing his arm while she herself was already holding the Doctor's hand as he led his companions through the crowd ready to leave it all behind now. They had seen enough. Half way through though, the Doctor was stopped dead in his tracks by the two guards now joined by a third. Towering over the Doctor, the first guard grabbed the Time Lord and violently put his arms behind his back. Julian felt himself being thrown to the ground. He could hear Thuỷ trying to defend herself as she too was being put on the floor, her glasses a few centimetres in front of her face. One of the guards picked it up and rammed it back into her face narrowly missing her right eye.
The three were shoved away into a small room which seemed to be designated for the cleaners.
"So," the first guard began after having checked them for weapons and only found their smartphones as well as the Doctor's screwdriver and psychic paper, "let's see: two men and a chink…"
Thuỷ glared at him.
"Are you one of those refugees fleeing from China, eh?"
"I'm not Chinese, you moron!" she shot back.
"Meh, whatever," the guard said, "y'all look the same anyway. But you weren't invited to the party. Which makes you the most likely suspects."
He looked down at them.
"Who are you?"
Before anyone could say another word, three muted gunshots could be heard and the guards sunk to the floor. Before the three prisoners stood a tall man dressed in a long black coat and wearing a hat and facemask.
Still shocked from what they were seeing, none of the three time travellers moved a muscle. The masked man turned away and slowly walked away as if he merely had waved away a nasty fly. After a few minutes, the Doctor moved again taking back his sonic and psychic paper.
"Time to get out of here," he said in a serious tone.
He began to stride back to the TARDIS. Julian and Thuỷ followed.
There was no sign of the masked man as they were coming around the corner. What they saw made them stop in their tracked however: There, around the TARDIS, five men had been posted to guard the blue box – and they were all lying on the floor in puddles of blood.
Carefully glancing around, the Doctor slowly moved towards his ship. The three were just at the door with the Doctor having put the key in the lock when they heard a gun clicking. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder as a gun was being pointed against his head.
"How did you get in here?" the man in the mask asked. His voice sounded hoarse, undefinable. "Because that," the man continued, "couldn't have been carried in here, there'd be no point, not at this altitude. It's not ordinary then. And you…you're not from here." He shifted his weight a little.
"The only question remains…are you instrumentality or impediment?"
Hurrying steps were echoing through the floor on which they found themselves. Using the assassin's short distraction, the Doctor quickly used his sonic to render the man's weapon inoperable.
"What the h–"
Without skipping a beat, the Doctor, Julian and Thuỷ slipped into the TARDIS.
"Hey! Wait!"
The Doctor ran up to the console and quickly flipped a lever. The TARDIS briefly shook like it usually did and with its signature Vworp Vworp Vworp it dematerialised.
"What the bloody hell?"
The three of them turned around. The assassin had entered the TARDIS as well and was still standing there as if he had been frozen.
"Oi!" the Doctor called out. He walked over to the man just as the TARDIS was landing.
"I'm nobody's Taxi Service, final stop, my friend, please exit."
The Doctor opened the door and put his hand on the man's back pushing him out of the TARDIS which, as far as Julian could see, had landed in a narrow alley. The doctor closed the door behind him and proceeded to push buttons and flip switches on the console.
"What are we doing now?" Thuỷ asked.
"We're moving on!" the Doctor declared, "Many exciting places ahead of us, well, I say ahead…"
"Why can't you just travel to the past and change it all?" Thuỷ continued. "You have a time machine; you could just change history wiping this dark future from existence!"
"It'd be difficult trying to change the politics of a whole world that's fucked up decades ago!" Julian pointed out.
"Why not?" Thuỷ retorted, "The Doctor managed to convince an alien species to flee instead of simply enslaving us. And that wasn't the only time: what about the Sycorax, the cubes, the Battle of Canary Wharf, the Zygons, all those threats to our world and the Doctor defeated them all! Tell me, Doctor, why did you save humanity from all those creatures?"
The Doctor looked down at the console, then glanced back up at her.
"Well, they're precious to me…"
"Obviously not precious enough…" Thuỷ challenged him, "Because you still allow millions of people die in pointless wars, you still allow for fundamentalist groups to spread terror in the world, how? How can you let your precious humans allow leaving their own world in such a mess?"
She had screamed, cried out the last words at the Time Lord, her face red with anger and her eyes wet with tears. The Doctor approached her gently grabbing her shoulders.
"Because, Thuỷ Đàm, I cannot be your babysitter. It can't always be up to me, your people, your planet. You must find your own way."
Julian looked up.
"Then why did you save my family?" he asked. "You saved my great-grandfather and his wife and children from Dachau. And you promised my dad to watch over me, I know you did."
Both Thuỷ and the Doctor were staring at him.
"You never told me that," Thuỷ said irritated.
"And I've never been to Dachau," the Doctor said slowly, "nor have I as of yet fulfilled Georg's promise, Julian. I'd kn– " He stopped mid-sentence. He stepped up facing Julian and put his hand on the young man's cheek.
"Never…EVER…tell me about my personal choices in my personal future, understood? I cannot know."
"If that's so…" Thuỷ wondered, "Then what is the point of you? Of all this?"
"Oh, Thuỷ, believe me, I know how you're feeling right now," the Doctor said in a tone more serious and sad than ever before. "You think your home is already lost, that this is how it all ends. I know what it means to really lose once home. I'm a Time Lord…but I'm the last of the Time Lords. My homeworld is gone, erased from existence, I can never, ever, go back."
He turned towards the TARDIS doors staring at them seeing something the two humans could not.
"That's why I help saving Earth. Because this is my home too. My second home. I've been here more than anywhere else in the whole universe. Live here for a while, With a nice yellow car. But you: you're just getting started, Thuỷ. And I'm gonna show it to go. The Golden Age of humanity."
He turned back to look at her reassuringly. And she nodded. Somehow, he had made her feeling relieved.
"But not now, not immediately," the Doctor announced, now again his usual childishly exciting self.
"First, we'll go somewhere else!"
"Where?" Julian asked.
"Laugona," the Doctor answered cryptically pulling a lever, "Castra Laugona."