Chapter 4 - For your own Protection Part 2
It was an endless black void, he was certain of it, the void where all things ceased to exist. Which meant there was no space, there was no time, there was no Doctor. Well now that was just ridiculous. Of course he existed. He was having conscious, if slightly existential, thoughts, which of course meant that he existed, and if he existed then so did everything else. In a moment the blackness seemed to resolve into an open hillside, one he knew well, it was his favorite place to hide and think when he was a child back on Gallifrey. But that was impossible, even if he could in theory return to Gallifrey, this hill, these surroundings would never be the same again. The Last Great Time War had seen to that. No, he could not really be in this time and place. Which meant, he could place himself anywhere if he chose. With a devilish grin, the Doctor thought hard and found himself sitting comfortably in the large study in his TARDIS.
"That's more like it. If one is to have a telepathic conversation, it's best to be comfortable. Ah, Vicar Coggins, Inspector Butterman, I thought you might be joining me. Care for some tea?" The Doctor waved his hand at a low table near him and a large silver tea service with delicate china cups appeared. The pair looked at the Doctor unspeaking, their eyes now glowing with a faint silver light. "I suppose introductions would normally be in order, at least in polite society, but I think we've already gone way past that haven't we?" the Doctor said pausing to take a sip of tea. "Have some, it is a truly excellent blend, made it myself during my last trip to the Ming Dynasty in China. No? Well, you can't say I didn't attempt to be a good host, but you are right we probably should get down to business shouldn't we? I take it, you are the means by which the Vicar and Inspector were contacted before all of this 'dome' business?" the Doctor asked, acting as though he didn't really care about the answer in the slightest. "Of course you are, how else could a level 42 quarantine containment field be activated on a Level Five planet? In clear violation of Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation I might add. The only way for non-terrestrial beings of that world to activate such a thing is to give the local inhabitants the means to do it themselves,"
"We did not give them the means," The pair said in unison with a stilted voice.
"Interesting," The Doctor muttered as he considered his options. If these beings had not given humans the means to create the dome, they clearly had had contact with them, and had managed to get around galactic observers to erect the dome in the first place. The Doctor's mind raced and calculated like a machine as he looked at every possibility he could come up with, but was jarred from his thoughts as the world shook around him. "Hold that thought, I'll be back to discuss this later," The Doctor said seriously, and then he opened his eyes to find himself flat on his back, in an old ramshackle shed.
"You're awake!" Luke said excitedly as the Doctor moved to sit up.
"Oh thank God," Jett said dropping down to the Doctor's side. "What happened to you? I thought you were dead!"
"Oh come now Jett, when I die there will be no question about it. No, I was just having a bit of a telepathic conversations with some very helpful beings, well I gather it was supposed to be a trap really, but one intended for primitive apes , at least those with a strong enough psychic presence, from interfering, which of course was no match for my own massive intellect and psychic abilities."
"Or your ego," Jett muttered as the Doctor worked his way to his feet.
"But never mind that now, what's happening here?" the Doctor looked around frowning as he noticed that it was getting dark extremely quickly. "I could not have been unconscious for that long." Without waiting for explanations the Doctor pulled out a handkerchief covered the egg, picked it up and pocketed it. He strode boldly out of the shed aimed directly for one of the dome's closer points. "Will they never learn?" The Doctor moaned as airplanes flew overhead dropping explosives on the near transparent dome, leaving large black scorch marks all along its surface. He looked dead ahead at a mass of military vehicles directly on the other side of the once transparent barrier, glaring fiercely. "That's enough of that nonsense," the Doctor proclaimed pulling out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the dome. A small circle of white light appeared along the surface of the dome and began to flash a message in Morse code.
"CEASE FIRE STOP CONTACT KATE STEWART UNIT STOP REPEAT STOP CEASE FIRE STOP CONTACT KATE STEWART UNIT STOP REPEAT…"
"Doctor?" Sam asked looking completely confused. "How did you do that?"
"The surface of a level 42 quarantine containment field is easy enough to manipulate with sonic wave patterns so that those within the quarantine can make contact with the outside world, often enough to transmit a warning to keep others away. I just modified it to transmit a message of my own. Help should be on its way soon enough. But that's not the most pressing question before us."
"What is the question then Doctor?" Jett asked somewhat concerned with the intensity written on the Doctor's young features.
"The dome is just a side effect of a greater problem-"
"What's the root problem?" Luke said almost to himself. The Doctor clapped him heartily on the back.
"EXACTLY! The question isn't 'what is the dome?' we already know that, well I already knew that and now you know that. The question is, why is it here in the first place. And really, the name tells us what to look for-"
"The name?" Sam looked at Jett not following the Doctor's logic at all.
"Level 42 Quarantine Containment Field, what does a quarantine do? Come on pudding brains put it together," The Doctor said impatiently as he began to pace back and forth.
"Contains a sickness?" Jett asked finally catching on to the Doctor's meaning.
"Or a contagion of some kind," Luke supplemented.
"So you're saying that there is some alien contagion or sickness here in Newton Haven? And these aliens activated the dome for our protection?" Sam asked looking pale.
"I doubt very much if it's for your protection. The level 42 containment field is the last ditch effort to contain a problem, and always results in a purge of the affected areas by incineration-"
"They're going to burn us out?!" Sam shouted in a panic.
"They think they are, but they weren't counting on one thing when they put their little plan in motion,"
"What's that?" Jett asked having a feeling that he already knew the answer.
"Me." The Doctor said simply. "Right, we need to find whatever this alien contagion or sickness or whatever it is, is. To do that we need to look at the chief players in our little drama, who are?" The Doctor looked at Sam, whose mirror image face was frowning deep in concentration.
"Butterball, I mean Inspector Butterman, for certain. He's been acting batty for ages now, and come to think of it, so had the Vicar before he died...but a copper and a priest?" Sam answered looking at a total loss for words.
"I'm, certain there's more to it than that. Regardless, we need to find evidence of what these two have been doing, and quickly. I'd say we don't have more than a couple of hours before the aliens behind this go ahead with their final option, and wipe out everything beneath the dome. Right, Jett, you and Sam check out the rectory house, Luke and I will look into the Inspector's cottage." Jett frowned but held his tongue for the moment.
"Jett, you have a sonic, which can scan for alien substances. Sam knows he's way around better than the rest of us, you'll be as safe as houses," the Doctor clapped his hands together turning to the others. "Right, we meet back at the petrol station in one hour. To compare what we've discovered," without waiting for a response the Doctor hooked his arm around Luke and pulled him in the direction of the Police Station.
Jett frowned at the Doctor's back feeling as though he had just been tossed to the wayside.
"Is he always like that?" Sam asked somewhat bewildered.
"Or worse," Jett growled closing his eyes for a moment. "He's a bit like any other genius really, his mind is so busy with other things that he forgets the small things like social politeness or other people's feelings," he heaved a sigh before turning to Sam, "Come on, the faster we do this, the sooner we can meet back up with the others," Sam put an arm around Jett's waist and guided the other boy towards the church and the Vicar's home.
It took a few minutes to reach the small cottage with a tidy front garden, Sam searched the area before motioning for Jett to join him in the back near a small basement window.
"This is the only window that's unlocked, ready?" Jett nodded as he and Sam helped each other through the small opening, they landed on a sturdy table with the sound of crunching glass. "You alright?" Sam asked in the dim gloom. Jett nodded looking around in disgust.
"What is this place?" he asked searching for a light switch.
"It almost looks like a...drug lab of some sort?" Sam answered as illumination filled the small filthy space.
"Maybe we shouldn't move around too much, this place just doesn't look sanitary at all. Here, I'll use my sonic to see what I can find," Jett pulled out the device thinking, "scan for extra-terrestrial substances," the screwdriver hummed a whirred, a blue light flashing from the tip as he waved it around the room. Jett followed the device like a divining rod until he found a sealed glass container. "This must be it," Jett said not sure what to do.
"We should take it with us. Hang on a sec," Sam picked his way through the room and up into the house. He came back down minutes later with a large crisp, and clean linen cloth. He carefully wrapped the glass container in the cloth, then slipped it into his pocket. "It's got to be too dangerous to go back out the way we came in, especially with this thing," he lightly patted his pocket. "Let's just use the back door,"
Jett couldn't agree more. Within moments the left the horrors of the basement behind, creeping through the house as silent as shadows. They reached the back door easy enough, but as they opened the door they were greeted by and unwelcome figure,
"Oh my, we are in trouble aren't we?"
"Doctor?" Luke asked quietly as they made their way to the police station.
"Hmm?" Came the response as the Doctor fiddled with his screwdriver.
"Do you think Sanje made it...?"
The Doctor stopped, putting his hands on Luke's shoulders and turning the boy to face him. "We will find out what happened to your friend, I promise-"
"Probably sooner than you think," came a new voice with a sharp Indian accent. "Inside, both of you. Now!"
Luke stared in disbelief at the young man holding what appeared to be a weapon in their direction. "Sanje? But how?"
"Never mind that now Archetype, into the station and be quick about it!" Luke's face fell as he allowed the Doctor to guide him inside the police station.
They walked in to find Sam and Jett sitting handcuffed to a bench with Inspector Butterman and his son standing over them looking grim and menacing.
"Well, that was kind of you to bring us all together like this," the Doctor quipped planting himself in the Inspector's chair looking completely relaxed. "Oh and I must thank you for bringing the final pieces together for me as well, I must say this whole thing is certainly a master stroke of genius."
"Oh really? And you would know this how? You aren't really the Doctor now are you? You are just the pale imitation of a clone grown in a tank with delusions of grandeur-" Sanje snapped derisively.
"Yes yes blah blah blah, you always did say the nicest things to me Rani, but that ego of yours, it always did rival that of the Master,"
"Oh please his ego was always greater that his actual intelligence...perhaps you are cleverer than I gave you credit for boy. Yes, I am indeed the Rani," Sanje answered eyeing the Doctor carefully.
"Let me guess the Time Lords brought you back to help with the War, and as the final days arrived you ran. You took everything you could carry and you ran."
"You wouldn't know child! You weren't there!" Sanje, who was really the renegade Time Lord scientific genius known as the Rani, shot back harshly.
"Oh but I was. I was very much there, and very much involved. I may not have called myself the 'Doctor' but I was there even at the very end." The Doctor answered in an almost lazy tone.
"As I said child you are just a tank grown clone with thoughts above his station and breeding. You are NOT the Doctor." the Rani declared, with eyes blazing and nostrils flaring.
"Think what you will Rani. But let's take a look at the matter at hand shall we? You have been performing illegal experiments on this world again, mind you it did take me a moment to recognize the marks on the good inspector's neck, but once I did, the puzzle pieces fell into place rather quickly."
"Oh do tell me more, you pretentious little brat," the Rani said mockingly as he held his weapon in the direction of the three other boys, in an effort to prevent them from attempting anything stupid or heroic.
"Oh I will. You chose this village because the officials were corrupt, as is painfully obvious from the booming illegal drug trade, which my companions were able to confirm with an inspection of the rectory house. Good on you Jett and Sam. You persuaded the good Inspector and the pious Vicar, that you had a better more cost effective and more addictive drug for them to sell, Lantaurian Corsite. A substance extracted in much the same way you extracted neuro-chemicals on your previous visit to this world, which also acts as a psychic ability enhancer. What I can't figure out is why." The Doctor sat forward in his chair eyeing the Rani carefully. "Any experiments you've done here, did nothing to enhance your research, there's no logic reason for it at all. Did the Time War really effect you that badly?"
"You weren't there! You didn't see the true horrors, it wasn't just the Daleks they were fighting, though they were bad enough. No, with them came the full might of the Deathsmiths of Goth, the Nightmare Child, the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties and the Could've Been King with his Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres! So don't even pretend-" the Rani shouted going nearly purple in the face with indignant fury.
"ENOUGH!" The Doctor barked standing to his full height glaring at the Rani with an intensity that made Jett shudder in fear. "Don't even try." The Doctor's voice was calm and level, but colder than the void of space. "I. Was. There. I held the Moment in my hands. I made the final decision, and I was the one who brought that insanity to an end."
"You did NOT!" the Rani snapped his eyes bugging out with rage.
"You don't believe me? We there is one way to find out for sure, isn't there? Mind-bending."
"Don't be ridiculous child, the power of my mind would turn you into a quivering pile of goo. While it would give me a certain degree of satisfaction, it would be ultimately pointless. The Doctor is dead. You are just a pretender and imitation of the only foe worthy enough to even to attempt to match wits with the likes of THE RANI!"
The Doctor picked up a pair of metal circlets from the desk, apparently some part of one of the Rani's experiments, used his screwdriver on both of them and tossed one to the Rani.
"A bit primitive, almost as primitive as that which I used on Karn against Morbius, but they should be sufficient for our needs. Unless of course you are frightened that you will lose to this weak imitation of your old friend and rival-"
"I am afraid of nothing child." The Rani examined the circlet satisfied the Doctor had not tampered with it, place it upon his head like a crown. "En garde,"
The Doctor nodded placing his own circlet on his head, his eyes boring levelly into the Rani's without saying a word. A moment later what appeared to be a holographic image of Rani masquerading as Sanje appeared between them, followed by that of the Doctor standing cool, collected and unphased. The Rani grinned evilly as his hologram simmered into the form of a proud domineering woman holding a scientific instrument looking haughty and in charge.
"Is that all Rani?" The Doctor said without even blinking. "You do need to get out more. Here try this on for size," A moment later the Doctor's hologram flickered and was replaced by an old man in a long blue coat with gold trim. Jett instantly recognized him as the one who had come out of the TARDIS with his Doctor when they first met. Jett sat stunned for a moment before the Doctor's hologram flickered again shimmering and taking shapes at a pace that his mind could barely keep up with until it resolved upon another older man in a long black coat with short gray hair and a fierce expression on his face. "You see Rani, I have a full 5,000 years of life and experience to draw upon. I would be best if you were to concede the game, and accept that I am indeed The Doctor, the one and only. I'll even go easy on you, let you voluntarily clean up this mess you've created to my satisfaction, and take you somewhere safe where you can experiment to your heart's content and no one will ever get hurt. Otherwise...we carry this out to the very end...even deathlock if we must."
"Never!" The Rani growled, sweat beading up on his forehead, his eyes screwed up in concentration as his holographic avatar grew in size and clarity.
The Doctor sighed as his own shifted shape into a younger man with a long purple coat and bow tie, then shifted into a tall skinny man in a brown pinstripe suit, then into a fierce looking man in a black leather jacket. The Rani began to tremble but still he stood, his avatar dimming and shrinking under the weight of the Doctor's combined avatars. The Doctor's hologram shifted to an old man in a brown leather jacket with a sonic screwdriver inserted into a bandoleer across his chest and a scraggly white goatee, then again to a younger man smartly dressed and looking more like Lord Byron than anything in his soft green velvet frock coat and cravat. The Doctor took a deep breath calling forth more of his incarnations, a short man in a pork pie hat with a jumper patterned in question marks, an arrogant man with curly blonde hair and a gaudy red patchwork coat, an unassuming blonde man in a cricketer's uniform. Another tall curly haired man with a toothy smile and an absurdly long scarf draped about his neck, a proud man in a cape and crushed velvet smoking jacket, a short man in ill-fitting clothes with a shaggy bowl haircut and his bow tie hanging askew barely under his collar, lastly an old man in a black frock coat with long white hair and a strong proud expression appeared. The Rani dropped to the floor unconscious, as though the pure weight of the Doctor's 5,000 years of life seemed to crush him. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver in the direction of Sam and Jett, their handcuffs sprang free. The he pulled out the egg shaped device thought hard for a moment, then Inspector Butterman and his son slumped to the floor like puppets with their strings cut.
"Cybernetic implants, along with chemical alteration, how very crude Rani." The Doctor gestured for Luke to join Sam and Jett out of harm's way. "I want there to be no doubt about this," The Doctor said coolly removing the circlet from his head, kneeling down beside the Rani. "I. Am. The Doctor."
The Rani stirred moaning feebly. Jett wrapped an arm around Luke's waist pulling the shocked boy in close. The Rani looked up at him with a maniacal gleam in his eyes. "You may be the Doctor after all, but I will always win. Goodbye Doctor," The Rani pulled back his sleeve revealing a strange looking bracelet on his wrist. He slapped it with his other hand, which was followed by a distinctive grinding, groaning, wheezing sound.
"NOOOO!" the Doctor shouted running to where the Rani had been.
"What was that?" Sam asked looking terrified.
"A vortex manipulator?" Jett offered uncertainly.
"No." The Doctor said coldly as he picked up the circlets and hurled them at the wall, grimly satisfied with the explosion of metal and sparks. "It was a Time Ring. Time Lord technology. But we don't have time for that. The only way he could have gone was for the dome to be gone as well, which means the troops will be storming in through that door in 3...2...1..."
The doors to the police station exploded inward as a squad of heavily armed soldiers burst through machine guns poised and ready to fire.
"STAND DOWN!" The Doctor barked getting into the face of the lead soldier, shouting over the man's shoulder. "KATE LETHBRIDGE-STEWART! I told you, SCIENCE LEADS! Get these tin soldiers out of my face!"
"Sorry Doctor, but we couldn't be sure," answered a husky female voice. "I see you've had a bit of work done…"
"Yes yes very funny and clever as always Kate. Why don't you have your thugs take those two away, they were under an alien influence and not entirely acting under their own will. Any cybernetic implants have been shorted out and will remain inert, they will most likely have a major chemical imbalance of some form or another, that's easily rectified with supplements," the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, cranking it up to full power for a long moment, resulting in sparks and smoke billowing from all over the village,. "Oh and all of the alien tech is now completely useless, so don't even bother."
"Doctor! Must you?!" Kate said exasperated.
"Of course I had to Kate. You know the dangers of alien technology and human stupidity, now that's enough of that nonsense. Boys, it's time we were off-"
"Is that it Doctor?" Kate asked looking tired. "The dome is gone, and that's it? Why was it here? Are we in danger? Doctor?!"
The Doctor spun back around on his heel to face her. "I suppose saying 'I'll explain later' won't work? Didn't think so. Right here it is in a nutshell. The renegade Time Lord known as the Rani was performing scientific experiments upon member of the population, specifically the police force and at least one member of the clergy, he's dead now. These experiments utilized a pre-existing drug trafficking infrastructure, which you will find significant evidence of at the rectory house. The experiments were still early stages, so it is difficult to say what exactly her-his goals were, but the dome was used to ensure non-interference from outsiders, mainly being me. Are you keeping up? Writing all of this down?" Kate rolled her eyes at the Doctor and gestured for him to continue.
"Right, well, his plan would have worked had it not been for one small factor, Luke. I have Luke's DNA and any traces of residual artron radiation from him, already programmed into the TARDIS sensors and databanks, which is why we were dragged here Jett, the old girl knew one of our friends was in danger and she took over bringing us here." Jett nodded still holding onto a very heart broken Luke as the Doctor continued. "Anyway, he used the dome not only to keep me out and his test subjects in, it was a security measure as well. Should any of the test subjects get out of hand he could easily wipe them out with a thought, being psychically linked to the dome interface controls.-"
"Which is why you distracted San-him, with that mind-bending thing, to weaken and break his control over the dome." Luke said, a hint of admiration in his voice.
"Exactly! Well, not entirely, but close enough. The mind-bending did break his contact with the interface, which released the dome controls to evaluate the area and determine whether there was in fact a contagion risk. You don't think I just made the dome send out a code for help do you? I inserted a hidden program to be activated once the link was broken, and there you have it bye bye dome. Satisfied?"
"Not nearly, but I suppose it will have to do," Kate murmured from tapping away at her tablet.
"But why did you send us the rectory house?" Sam asked looking uncomfortable.
"Because I needed you to find what you've got hidden in your pocket. It's a psychic enhancing neuro-chemical, it's what helped the Rani keep in contact with the dome interface. No matter how much bravado he put forward, I seriously doubt his regeneration was quite done cooking, or if it was, I'm not certain his psychic link was all that stable. It does happens from time to time, especially when the regeneration happens under deplorable conditions. Now, if you would be so kind?" the Doctor held out his hand and Sam grudgingly handed over the container. The Doctor tisked quietly as he dead lock sealed the container and stashed it in his own pocket. "Very crude indeed."
"Doctor, what about the people of Newton Haven? Will they be alright?" Jett asked looking at the deep worry lines on Sam's face.
"Hmm? Oh yes, they'll recover from the Rani's interference quite easily, as I said proper supplements and they'll be right as rain."
"But what about their actions?" Sam said looking over at the two unconscious policemen being wheeled out of the station on a gurney.
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about that. Humans are capable of truly terrible things when under the kind of strain the dome presented. I'm very sorry, but even I can do nothing about human nature..." the Doctor said sadly. "They will just have to learn to cope, and some will have to pay the price for what they have done..."
"I guessed as much," Sam answered softly, tears welling in his eyes for a moment, before he stood straighter and cleared his throat. "These people are my friends and neighbors. If anyone is going to help them get back on the right track it's me. Thank you Doctor." Sam shook the Doctor's hand before giving Jett a tight hug whispering in his ear, "He needs you. You keep him on the right track, don't forget that," Jett nodded mutely as Sam gave his shoulder a final squeeze before following some UNIT soldiers out the door.
"I think that's everything for now Doctor, we can still reach you?" Kate asked eying the three boys warily.
"Of course you can. You have the number? Of course you do. But I must ask you to really try to remember what I've told you, science must always lead Kate. Always."
"I'll try to remember Doctor." she turned to the other boys, "Gentlemen. You're in good hands here. But do try to stay out of trouble. Oh and Luke, UNIT can inform your mother of the situation if you'd like, unless of course you have other plans?"
"Can I get back to you on that?" Luke asked blushing slightly. Kate nodded as she marched back out of the station.
"Well, that's that. What do you say Luke?" the Doctor asked draping an arm around both Luke and Jett's shoulders, guiding them out the smashed in front door of the police station.
"Say to what Doctor?" Luke asked uncertainly as he shot Jett a perplexed look.
"He means to ask, whether you would like to travel with us or not. Personally, I could use all the help I can get keeping this one in line. Has he told you about the time he convinced me to rocket sled down from the top of Olympus Mons...in nothing but an atmospheric bubble?"
Luke gave the pair a quizzical look before the Doctor answered indignantly,
"It's the only way to get the full effect, suits just get in the way,"
"Have I mentioned he seems to have a thing against wearing clothes?" Jett commented winking at Luke. The other boy blushed deeply, the Doctor seemingly oblivious to the whole exchange.
"Well what do you think Lukey m'boy? Wanna tread in your mother's footsteps? We have all of space and time before us...we can always get you back home so that no time had passed at all..." the Doctor asked unlocking the TARDIS door.
Luke looked thoughtful for a moment studying the Doctor and Jett as they watched him expectantly. He grinned up at them, "Let's go see the universe!"