Sorry about the cliffhanger! In light of the release of the new Doctor tomorrow (I still don't know whether to be nervous or excited, or both) I finally finished this chapter, which I realized could only have one ending, I give you...
Chapter 4: Running Away
I woke gasping and coughing back into consciousness not long after I had passed out. The first sight I laid my eyes on was the Doctor standing at my feet, his hand extended toward me.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, fine, thanks," I replied weakly, taking his hand and allowing him to pull me to my feet.
I saw the alien machine hadn't been moved or destroyed, it just sat there, but it clearly wasn't a threat anymore. My head felt like it was about to burst it was throbbing so hard and I still felt weak physically and mentally as I walked around the roof.
"What was that?" I asked, my voice still soft and weak.
"That was a test run," the Doctor said scanning the machine with the sonic screwdriver again.
"So, we were right, they can drain the oxygen from the atmosphere, they can kill everyone on this planet," I said fearfully.
"Yes, they can, it will take longer to effect the whole planet, but it's still possible."
"How can we stop them?" I asked. "Can't you use that sonic screwdriver...thing...to destroy that machine."
"This isn't the only machine, this was just a test, the full-scale machine is on their ship, if we can get to the transmitter location on this ship then we can stop them."
"You mean we have to go back up into that spaceship? Are you serious?" I asked.
"Of course I'm being serious! And you don't have to come," the Doctor said.
"Not a chance, I'm not missing this, they tried to kill me twice, I want to help in what ever way I can."
I followed the Doctor back down the stairs and out of the building to the street. It was there I saw a handful of people who were also gasping and coughing, just getting up of the street, like I had, clearly the force field had reached further than I had thought. The Doctor and I walked back to the TARDIS with less haste than before but still hurriedly, time was of the essence since we didn't know when the aliens might strike. Even knowing what to expect didn't take the shock away when I entered the TARDIS once more. This time I stood beside the Doctor at the console, which is what I took the main center structure to be. I watched in amazement as he turned dials, flipped switches, and pulled down levers, making the TARDIS shudder and make the noise, which I now found oddly calming. I didn't, by any means, want to go back up into that horrible spaceship, but if it meant the fate of the human race I could spare my peace-of-mind for a while.
"Okay, so what aren't you telling me because those aliens, why would they just fly over to Earth to destroy life here? There's got to be a reason, right, a plan?" I asked the Doctor as the TARDIS shook about.
"That's very good, to point that out, but I don't know why, not yet. I will, though, you just wait," the Doctor said pulling to the side another lever on the console.
The TARDIS jerked again and a few seconds later stopped moving once more. I started to prepare myself mentally for what might come even though I knew nothing could possibly prepare me for what we were about to do. Again, something I couldn't being to explain told me to trust the Doctor, he seemed to know what he was doing, yet, he also didn't.
"Are you sure you want to come, because, you could stay in here and be -almost- perfectly safe," the Doctor said turning to face me.
"And leave you alone? No, I'm coming, thanks for the concern though," I said giving him my most confident grin, though my confidence was wavering inside.
"Alright, then, on we go," the Doctor said starting to walk to the doors.
I sighed, still unsure if what I was doing was the right thing, I knew it was the right thing, but I was unsure to whether we would be able to stop what was already in motion. My mind buzzing with these thoughts, I made the walk down the red-tiled ramp to the Police Box doors where the Doctor stood waiting for me. I nodded, giving him one last signal that I wasn't about to change my mind and together we pushed the doors open, uncertain of what might await us beyond their protection.
We stood outside the TARDIS doors my hand lacing nervously into the Doctor's, who seemed much calmer than I did. At any second I expected those horrible aliens to jump out of the darkness at us , taking us prisoner or worse, killing us, but a minute passed by without either incident.
"Fantastic, they must've not heard us, come on," the Doctor said starting to walk toward a looming archway at the other end of the room.
"Do you at least know where you're going this time?" I asked jokingly, trying to take my anxiety down some.
"I always know where I'm going," the Doctor replied as if I had offended him.
A gave a small, amused chuckled, following him down the hallway leading out of the archway. Walking kept me silent at first, walking and the fear of being discovered by the Baetas. However, I was built on curiosity, my whole life I had been asking why or how something was done always wanting to hear a proper answer from the unfortunate souls who had incurred my interrogations. Now that I only had questions for the Doctor, my nature was being upset because he clearly liked to avoid proper answers. When the end of one corridor just led to the beginning of another I started to take awareness to the sheer size of the ship, it was massive. Normally I would have felt guilty about the constant inquiry I had already started and was about to continue, but now I didn't feel guilty because it was pretty clear, by the way he answered my questions, the Doctor was used to this.
"What happened to the people at the diner?" I asked.
"Oh, didn't you wonder why I was on the spaceship the first time anyways? They're all safe and sound, right back where they came from, they won't remember a thing of it," the Doctor said.
"Then what do they want, the...Baetas?" I said, still weary of the ridiculous words coming our of my mouth. "Why attack Earth?"
"I'm still working on that, could be a number of reasons; war, famine, their planet could be dying or becoming inhabitable for the species, or they could just hate green and blue planets," the Doctor said.
I smiled at his joke, afraid to bring the decibel level up any higher than the hushed voices between us.
"Don't laugh, I've had that happen before!" the Doctor said in a joking tone, making me smile even more.
"I have!" the Doctor argued.
"Trust me, I believe you, I guess I just don't understand aliens," I said. "Hold on. Does the air seem a bit thinner in here or is it just me?"
"Does it?"
"Yes, can't you tell?"
The Doctor didn't answer me and instead looked around the corridor we were walking through. All of a sudden his expression changed as if he'd been hit in the face with an idea.
"Fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly. "You don't even realize how brilliant you are!"
I stood looking at him with the same confused expression I had gotten far too familiar with.
"...Thanks, but what exactly did I do this time that was brilliant?"
"Terraforming! They're terraforming," the Doctor said in an excited outburst.
Once again I was lost and a bit confused on how I kept coming up with these "brilliant" notions if I didn't even know what they meant. My confusion must have been apparent because the Doctor looked at me as if he was shocked I didn't know what it was.
"You humans must know what terraforming is... no? And just when I thought I might be able to save you-"
"Hey!" I exclaimed in offense.
"Terraforming is a very serious thing, Zoey, it means they are trying to change the biological factors of your planet to fit one that will suit their own. If that means less oxygen in the air..."
"That means every human dies," I ominously finished his thought.
We walked again in tension-filled silence, the corridor stretching further and further with each minute that passed.
"Well, we must be getting closer to the center of the ship, then," I said, trying to change the subject. "Because of the air."
"That's very good of you to notice that," the Doctor said.
"Another compliment? You haven't insulted the human race for...over two minutes, that's good of you, Doctor," I teased.
"I'm not trying to insult humans, I'm just surprised you don't know these things, they're very important."
"Fine, whatever you want to call it-" I started.
Suddenly, the faint source of light in the corridor shut off, throwing the two of us into pitch-black darkness. I turned around, not even realizing the length I had strayed in front of the Doctor, now I didn't know where he was. I moved to the right, trying to find the curved wall of the corridor, something to help gage how far I moved back down the corridor.
"Doctor!?" I called out in a low voice.
"Zoey, don't move, stay right where you are," I heard his voice close to me in the darkness.
"Did you do that?" I asked, standing still.
"Of course I didn't! Did you touch something?"
"I surely didn't do it-Oh my God, if you didn't do it, and I didn't do it...we're in trouble."
The darkness was far from silent, for now I could hear a growl coming from far off and the clanking of metal like I had heard before.
"Doctor..." I whispered. "Where are you?"
"Don't panic, just stay there, I'm right behind you," he said, his voice right behind me making me jump.
"Can you use the sonic screwdriver to turn the lights back on?" I asked.
"Yes, but the noise will draw attention to us, that's the last thing we need."
"Then what can we-"
I stopped mid-sentence, letting out an instinctive scream as something grabbed my leg from in front of me, pulling me into the darkness.
"Doctor!" I screamed as I was dragged across the cold, stone-like floor.
I threw my hands out in front of me as I was dragged legs-first down the corridor, franticly trying to grab onto anything that could stop me, but the floor was flawlessly flat and slick.
"Zoey!" I heard the Doctor call, but his voice was dishearteningly far off.
Even though I couldn't see what was pulling me down the corridor I knew it had to be one of the aliens. The corridor got colder as I was pulled along, my fears were temporarily quelled when my head hit something hard alongside the wall, knocking me unconscious.
I woke with a start only to find myself once again restrained to a liquid-like, rock wall, this time with only one arm cuffed to the wall. I soon realized it was because the lack of oxygen had significantly weakened me already. I scanned the room, seeing the three Baetas -more than likely the same from before- all converging around a center control panel that was lit with the same green light. My head was still foggy, but I was soon able to focus and hear their horrible hissing noises, except something was different.
"Five minutessss until the devicce is ready, our empire will reign sssupreme oncce more!" the smallest of the three creatures hissed.
I was completely dumbfounded how I was hearing English when all they did before was hiss and spit out unrecognizable words.
"Do not be ssso arrogant, there isss ssstill time for missstake if we are not cautiousss," the largest one hissed.
"'Missstake'? We cannot afford to think sssuch thoughtsss, thisss planet will be oursss, what can thessse fumbling creaturesss do to ssstop uss?" the last of the three hissed.
I watched as they pressed buttons on the control panel, a screen crackling to life on one of the walls. I stood up so I could get a better view of the screen and as I did so, the chain on my wrist clinked, drawing the aliens' attention to me. I stopped cold as their six harsh, green eyes fell on me.
"What isss thisss one here for?" the middle one said.
"Ssshe wasss found wandering about the ssship, sssearching, sssneaking, ssspying. Now ssshe will watch her planet die and ssshe will die with it," the smallest one said.
I looked at the screen, which showed central London with a massive, black cloud crawling across the sky. I could hear thunder rumbling outside the ship, some of the bigger claps rocking the ship. I coughed, my body getting weaker with the lack of oxygen in the room.
"Ssshe wasss not alone, find the other one!" the smallest one hissed.
The smallest one and the other one left the room, exiting through a corridor and leaving the largest one with me.
"Your speaking in English now, but you weren't earlier, how?" I asked it.
"I would not burden my tongue with the filth language of yoursss, I only ssspeak Baeatic!" it hissed harshly.
"No, you're speaking English, I can understand you!" I cried out, scared at what was going on.
"It's the TARDIS, it translates for you," I heard from behind me.
I turned my head to see the Doctor being restrained by the other two Baetas. They pulled him along past me while the third spoke.
"Thisss planet will be oursss sssoon, Doctor, we have heard many ssstories about you, but you will not be able to ssstop us like the othersss," the largest said.
As the other two pulled the Doctor past me he slipped something into my unrestrained hand.
"Just point and think about what you want," he whispered very quietly.
I looked down in my hand, discreetly, as they pulled him away; in my hand was the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.
At first I had no idea why he had given me the contraption I hadn't a clue how to apply to this situation, then I remembered it had gotten me out of similar restraints before. I looked back up, trying not to give any hint that he had handed me something, for it could be the death of both of us. The two Baetas forced the Doctor to his knees, still restraining him from moving any more. Thunder clapped again, shaking the ship in the air and making me worry about the world below, all unaware that what seemed like a normal storm would bring their deaths.
"Why'd you pick this planet? There are millions of barren moons, uninhabited plants, for you to terraform, places where you don't have to take six billion lives before you can live on them!" the Doctor said, his voice clearly angry.
"Our planet isss dying, Doctor, Earth isss the closssessst match to our home planet," the largest of the three said.
"It doesn't have to be a close match! Not with the level of terraforming device you have, so what's you're real purpose, then?" the Doctor said angrily.
"You are right, our Elder onesss foresssaw the dessstruction of our home planet at the cossst of the Time War, you ssshould know more than enough about that! They foresssaw that cccenturiesss later while out planet'sss racccesss were rebuilding, the humansss would come from Earth and enssslave usss! On our own planet! We ssset out to find a new planet to live on before the dessstruction wasss too great, and ssso we came upon Earth, our future enemy. We thought it would be a great honor to our people if we ssshould kill our enemiesss and take the land they call home for our ssspeciesss to live on asss recompense for their future enssslavement of our race!" the largest said.
"Go back to your planet, you will find it is not dying, not anymore. The Time War ended, I know that for sure, your planet is right where you left it. Use your terraforming device to rebuild your own planet," the Doctor said, his voice becoming grim.
I noticed how his expression saddened as the largest Baeta had been speaking, at the mention of this "Time War." I pushed all further thought aside, for I had now sunk to the floor from the weakness of my body, and turned myself to shield the aliens view of my restrained arm. I moved my other arm slowly, pointing the sonic screwdriver at the shackle on my wrist, sliding my finger against the face of the object as I had seen the Doctor do. The end lit up blue and a low buzzing noise issued from it, seconds later I heard the unlocking of the shackle on my wrist and it fell from my arm.
"You do not underssstand, the damage to our planet isss not able to be fixed by a sssimple terraforming deviccce! The Time War causssed it almossst unrepairable damage, you alone ssshould know this, Time Lord! It wasss becaussse your raccce wasss ssso carelesss with the power they posssesssed that the war ssstarted at all!" the smallest one cut in.
"Enough of thisss!" the largest one exclaimed. "You can not halt the processs now! Planet Earth'sss inhabitantsss will die for what they plan to do with our raccce! And if you insssissst on jussstifying their deedsss, you ssshall die with them!"
The expression on the Doctor's face turned almost heartbreaking as the Baetas discussed the "Time War" further. I was confused at what they had called him, though...Time Lord. I again let my thoughts fall to the wayside as the smallest of the Baetas drew out a knife-like object. I quickly caught to Doctor's eye, winking at him and he nodded slightly back in reply.
"You can't do this!" I yelled weakly at the aliens, my strength all but gone.
"Oh, yesss, we can, and we are, jussst watch!" two of them hissed together.
"No, really, you can't," I argued.
"And why do you inssst ssso?" the smallest one asked.
"Because of him," I said nodding to the Doctor. "Catch!"
I tossed the sonic screwdriver back to its owner, who caught it flawlessly without the two aliens holding him any longer. He stood up and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the main panel, making it release a deafeningly shrill buzz that made the aliens howl in pain. The main panel burst into a flare of flames and sparks after a few seconds of the buzzing, the clouds on the screen retreating in unison with its destruction.
I ran to the Doctor's side with the little of my strength I could muster while the aliens were still immobilized from the sound, I could now see clearly the anger clouding his face as he looked at the aliens.
"Now, go find a moon or barren planet to make your new home on, I will allow you only that, but if you don't like that offer I can take down your entire ship and all of you with it. I'm usually not one for seconds chances, not with lot like you, so you better realize how lucky this option is. What do you say?" the Doctor said, his anger seeping through in his voice as harsh sarcasm.
"We would never take your mercccy, not in all of time itssself!" the smallest one howled.
"That's all I needed to hear," the Doctor said darkly, taking my hand.
He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the panel again, a button clicking on the main control. I saw a red countdown appear on the screen seconds after.
"Time to get you out of here," he said to me.
I was far too weak to argue with him the morality of leaving the aliens there, so I let him put my arm around his shoulders and walk me back down the corridor. We reached the TARDIS in minutes, faster than when we had left it earlier, was never more happy to see that Police Box.
"I took a shortcut," the Doctor said opening the TARDIS doors.
As soon as we were back inside I felt myself rapidly returning to normal now that I had enough oxygen again. However, I remained as silent as before, I didn't want to think about what the Doctor had just done, even if the aliens had deserved it. I watched the Doctor maneuver the controls on the TARDIS, the room shifting as the TARDIS started to move again. When it stopped, I stepped outside the TARDIS, the Doctor following me.
"I guess this is good-bye," I said turning to face him.
"It doesn't have to be," he replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you could...come with me, I mean, if you want to. You did just save my life," the Doctor said.
"Yeah, and the whole planet," I said with a laugh.
"You helped," he teased.
"Well, if that's how you're going to treat me...No, I'm just joking, I would more than happily come with you, are you mad!? My life is bordering on boring, to travel with you, there's no words! I mean, if it's always like what just happened up there."
"Sometimes it is, but I don't like boring, so that's a promise: no boring, not ever," the Doctor said.
"Good, now where can that little blue box go?"
"Everywhere, anywhere you could possibly think of in all of time and space the TARDIS can go," the Doctor said proudly.
I smiled, "So, what changed? You were insulting humans not too long ago, what makes you want to bring one with you?"
"I said before, you're smarter than most humans, you're far more pleasant to be around, and like you said before, I am alone, I've started to feel alone and I don't like it."
"Are you sure?" I said, my body about to spill over with absolute bliss.
"Positive," the Doctor said with a smile.
Without a second thought, my face beaming with joy, I ran back to the Police Box, pushed open the doors and ran inside, marveling the inside with a new light in my eyes. The Doctor came in shortly after, continuing on up to the main console with a smile also on his face.
"Welcome to the TARDIS, Zoey Belle, the brilliant girl," the Doctor said.
"Thank you, glad to be aboard," I said with a slight tease in my voice.
I felt like I was running away, running away from my own life as it was supposed to be, but it was the most joyous of running I had ever done and I didn't care. I stood there, not knowing what the future would hold for me, not even when, or if for that matter, I would ever return home to my normal life. Again I told myself I didn't care I just wanted to enjoy my time with the Doctor, that was it, enjoy my time being a "brilliant girl" and loving every second of it, no matter where this little blue box might take us.
Oh, isn't this every whovian's dream? Sorry about the wait, guys, hope it was worth it! Hope you enjoyed and hopefully the next chapter will come a little sooner, I don't know though because unfortunately school is about to start up in a couple weeks, and hopefully I get a week or so without massive amounts of homework every night, but I doubt it...I will try my very hardest to finish chapter 5 before this happens! As always, thanks for reading!