Here it is. We know that Martha has a big part to play! Let's see what's ahead.
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VI
HONESTY HOUR
The Doctor and Martha both sit in the back of this hovering car, which has been slowly hovering away on a dark road. The trio remains seated in silence. Martha looks confused, the Doctor looks curious. The man in the driving seat pulls a big lever next to the steering wheel closing the door behind them. Outside the rain falls violently. The sound of it is similar to someone throwing rocks at the windows of the car.
Both the Doctor and Martha are dripping wet and freezing cold. Although Martha is clearly annoyed by the rain and cold, the Doctor isn't even bothered by the rain, he keeps his attention on the driver who keeps his attention on the road ahead. The man driving the hover car, has is head covered by shadows and the only light is the headlights showing the path in front of them.
After a long silence, Martha risks a question
"Where are we?" From the Doctor she receives only silence, he keeps looking at the driver's head. "Doctor?"
He raises one finger to Marta's lips, silencing her.
"Excuse me, but where are we?" The Doctor asks, repeating Martha's question.
The man in front raises one hand, flicking a button above his head illuminating the vehicle with this soft orange glow coming from above. The driver has long dark red hair coming down his shoulders, all braided with small tokens attached to them. Martha easily recognized a small bird, a flower and, what appeared to be, an apple.
"Caleb 23, My Lord." The man answers.
Martha looks at the Doctor confused and asks. "Did he just call you "my lord"?
"Shush, Martha." The Doctor approaches the front seat. He places his elbows on the leather seat looking at the man's profile. "Caleb 23. I thought you lot were eradicated."
"Not at all, my Lord." The man says, gently turning the steering wheel to the left. "We are just very good at playing dead."
"The TARDIS didn't see you."
"No. But we saw you."
"If the Queen finds out you lot are alive."
"She won't. Not without us seeing her first." The man answers with confidence, continuing his driving.
"How will you manage that?" The Doctor asks.
Constantine doesn't answer at first, he kept looking at the dark road.
"The Colonel will explain everything to you."
The Doctor sits back, looking at the driver's head. The inside of the car was roomier than expected. It had leather seats, velvet floor, and dark windows. The dashboard was full of flickering lights, buttons and had a big red lever which Constantine maneuvers on occasion for speed. Martha looks out the window, hoping to see something, but besides the prickling rain, there is only darkness. The only sight in front of them is the road ahead, illuminated by the car's front lights. There is no way of telling how fast they were going, in fact, the car moves in such gentle manner, that it looks as if they were not moving at all.
The Doctor takes a glimpse at Martha, who keeps looking out the window and tries again with the driver.
"How is she?"
Constantine remains silent for a few minutes, managing the stirring wheel. Finally, sighs and speaks.
"I don't know how she was the last time you saw her, my Lord, but her state has worsened."
"I can't tell how long I've been away. Time works differently here."
"Three days, my Lord."
"Days?" The Doctor replies in astonishment. Of course. Time, in this little corner of the galaxy, went by a bit faster. One hour on Earth could be 3 days in Caleb 23. The Doctor scratched his long bushy hair. "What is "worse"?
"She was bad before. Now, she can't even get out of bed"
"Is she being taken care of?"
"She has a maid with her." Constantine answers. "We are not familiar with Angyiolnight medicine, nor do we know the anatomy of their people. There's not much we can do."
The driver takes his eyes off the road and looks back at the Doctor.
"Can't you help?"
The Doctor does not give him an answer, instead, he leans back in his seat. He is worried. If suddenly the Princess were to die, all of this would have been in vain and there would no stopping the Queen. If she was relentless now, even knowing the Princess was alive and is the true heir, imagine if there was no Princess. They need to move very fast and make sure that Martha knew about it all.
"Can you tell me, where I am?" Martha asks, breaking the Doctor free from his thoughts.
"Caleb 23, didn't you hear the man?"
"Are we under arrest?"
"No." The Doctor frowns "Why would we bet?"
"Well, look at the size of this car and the way it's built. Clearly, it's either a police vehicle or military. Hence, my question."
"We are not under arrest, Martha." The Doctor replies. He quickly looks at Constantine for confirmation and the driver does so with a quick nod.
"Then what is happening?" The Doctor loses himself in his thoughts not bothering to give Martha an honest answer, so the companion looks at the driverç. She reaches forward and stares at his profile. "How did you know we were coming?"
"Satellites, my Lady," Constantine replies, turning the car left. "We are in constant vigilance."
The Doctor opens a window and takes out his sonic screwdriver pointing at the sky. He then observed it quietly.
"Your satellites are down, Constantine. How did you we were coming?"
Constantine looks at the review mirror, his eyes meeting, Martha's then the Doctors.
"The new Queen's arm stretches to a very long distance. When she attacked, she destroyed all our satellites, we managed to connect the old ones. Older technology, but equally effective. They are not up there, but based at the castle."
"What about the one hiding in the dark side of your moon?"
"We are trying to reconnect it," Constantine replies. "We are trying hard."
"She caught it?"
"It got destroyed in the attack. One of our casualties"
A Shadow Satellite is a technique used in UNIT in the protection of the Earth. Shadow satellites are placed in the dark side of the moon, usually are of an older technology, which makes it a lot harder to hack and ever harder to detect.
Martha looks at the Doctor for answers, but instead, he shrugs. "What can the new Queen do?" Martha asks. Constantine remains silent without adding nothing to the conversation for quite some time. "Everything around you was once green and beautiful. We were allies with Angyiolnight since they didn't have an army. In Angyiolnight everything is resolved through dialogue and communication, in Caleb 23 we live for war. The time for communication and dialogue is over, the galaxies are no longer safe with the Daleks surrounding us so, and we made an alliance: we would protect Angyiolnight, send our men to their planet and protect them, and they would give shelter and feed our own people. This agreement has been going for years… until she came along."
'The new Queen dissolved our agreement and demanded our full surrender, she wanted us to be her slaves. We said no. Hours later, we were surrounded by Daleks. As it turned out the new Queen made a deal with the Daleks, they would give her protection and she would allow them to use force whenever necessary… or not.
They came down on us with death. We only had time to retreat to our underground facilities and protect ourselves, while waiting to be over. When we came out of a shelter, everything we knew had turned to dust and ashes. Many were dead. So, we fight in the shadows, we allied with the Agyiolnithian Resistance and keep fighting as much as we can." The Driver looks at Martha "When the Doctor came, he told us about you and how you could help."
Suddenly the Doctor looks at Martha.
"Martha, you were right…"
"About what?"
"There is much more to tell you, but I can't quite share it with you. Not right now at least." Martha looks at the Doctor without saying a word. "Will you trust me?"
Martha sees in the Doctor's eyes, something that she hadn't seen in a while. Something big, something dangerous lays ahead and only the Doctor knew. She swallows hard trying to dissolve the knot in her throat, but she is worried. Her thoughts went to Tish and James. Silently she prays that they're safe and invisible.
Behind them the TARDIS is being pulled gently, it hovers inches above ground never minding the heavy rain. The landscape does not change from the time they're hovering, the rain keeps pouring around them and the darkness remains constant.
"We're here," Constantine announces.
Without realizing the car begins to come closer to the ground. In front of them rose a big castle, like the ones you would see in epic movies. With thick walls and four towers so high, one would feel vertigo just by looking at them. Separating the castle from the car, was a big iron gate with four guards in front.
Constantine slows the car down after one of the guards signaled him to do so. The man dresses all in black with a modern gun strapped to his chest, approaches the vehicle and knocks on the window. Constantine lowers the window down, never mind the rain.
"Is this them?" The man asks, looking at the two passengers in the back seat. Constantine nods. "Okay."
The guard signals the closest tower and the iron gates immediately open. The big iron doors move slowly inward, trembling with their own weight and shrieking due to the rust. The car floats easily into the premises of the castle. A spotlight, coming from the closest tower, is directly aimed at the car following every move. They are being closely watched. When the doors are open, the light comes out and the car hovers in.
Martha looks around seeing men walking dressed in black, with serious faces and guns on their belts. A group of them jogs past the hovering car, without even taking a second look. Further away was another small group where the men were cleaning guns. Martha looks over her shoulder and sees a group of men pushing the doors close, leaving the cold rain outside.
Constantine pushes buttons and turns off lights, suddenly the hovering car is gently landing on the ground along with the TARDIS.
"Welcome to the castle." Constantine presses a button and the doors open. The Doctor comes out of the car with a jump and Martha does the same. Constantine joins them showing his true form: he is a very tall man, with broad shoulder and a strong chest. "I'm sorry, I cannot stay, but you must stay here the Colonel will want to see you."
"Thank you for your wonderful service, Constantine. Probably the best driver I've ever had." The Doctor touches Constantine's shoulder and he looks at the Doctor's hand with a raised eyebrow. The Doctor gently removes his hand. "Not used to touching other people then…"
"Quite, sir. We keep our touching at a minimum."
"That's weird," Martha says. "How can you not touch anyone? Are you afraid of catching a virus or something?"
Constantine looks at Martha with attention. His eyes go from her head to the top of her toes
"It's far too complicated for a human. Especially a female one." He says with a monotone voice.
Martha raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms.
"Well, that's pretty funny coming from a ginger whose afraid of being touched!" They stare at each other fiercely.
"Martha, please…" The Doctor says. "Not everyone acts like humans do."
"Constantine!" A powerful voice echoes through the stone atrium and immediately everyone is saluting, even the men that were just passing by. A tall man with no hair, but a head full of tattoos and a piercing right between the bridges of his nose, comes towards them. Around the duo, all men resembled statues mimicking the same position: right hand to the heart, a fist raised in the air and eyes on the floor. "At ease!"
As soon as the order came out, all of the men resume their former positions.
"Constantine, your work is done." The man orders at the drive. Constantine gives a short nod and disappears into the crowd. "You must be the Doctor. I am the Colonel, but you can call me Shark."
"Hello, Shark." The Doctor acknowledges. "This is Martha Jones."
Colonel Shark looked at Martha Jones and nods
"It's a pleasure to have you join our fight."
"To do what, exactly?" Martha asks. "I know I'm part of this, but what is my role."
"The most important of them all," Shark says.
The Doctors steps in front of the Colonel.
"Colonel Shark, please. Allow me to explain the situation to my companion in due time, for now, I only wish to see the Princess."
Martha taps the Doctor's shoulder and, when he turns around, she says: "You can't keep me in the dark forever, you know!"
"Martha, we are on a schedule here. I will tell you, I promise you, but right now, I need to see the Princess." The Doctor approaches the Colonel, putting his arm around the military man and guiding him away from Martha "Colonel, can you take me to the Princess?"
"Doctor, remove your arm." The duo stops walking and the Doctor slowly removes his arms from the Colone's shoulder. "Now, do follow me. Both of you"
The Colonel, the Doctor, and Martha, alongside two armed guards, made their way deeper into the castle. As they walked men would salute the Colonel and he would nod at all of them as he passed. "Since her arrival, the Princess health has declined severely. She is with her is a maid, who tries to keep the situation contained, but there's not much we can do. The worst part is, we have a way of helping…"
"What way?" Martha asks, walking next to the Doctor.
"A special plant that grows deep in the our valleys up north. It would definitely help until we have a better solution," The group stops in front of the elevators, waiting for it come.
"Can't you get it?"
"We sent a small team this afternoon," The Colonel explains.
"Thank you, Colonel Shark," The Doctor affirms
"Don't thank me," the Colonel replies with a stern look "We are very fond of this Princess, but allowing this team to leave was a very difficult move on our part. We've lost a lot of manpower, we need all the help we can get, as the Queen can attack us at any time," The elevator door opened up with a familiar "ding" and the Colonel, followed by Martha, The Doctor and the two armed guards, enter. " Besides, after the attack, everything was burned to ash, so the chances of that same plant remaining intact on the outside, are low."
As the elevator approaches the assigned level, they fall into silence once more, digesting the information they had received just a few seconds ago. As soon as they arrive, the guards come out, so did Martha, the Doctor, and the Colonel. Martha holds the Doctor's arm, delaying for a few seconds and inquired:
"What's wrong with her?"
"The Princess was born healthy, but since the new Queen arrived she fell hill. Perhaps, she was poisoned, but we haven't been able to find the poison, so we are hoping for the best. She's been surviving with the help of her chemists, who keep the disease managed, but with the stress of the death of her parents all the running away only made her worse."
They arrive at a long corridor, where a woman waits for them.
"The maid will help you." The Colonel says. "I must return to my affairs. I want to discuss a plan of action as soon as possible, Doctor."
"Of course." The Doctor agrees. Without another word, the Colonel left with his men and duo approaches the woman waiting for them at the end of the hall. "I'm the Doctor, this is Martha Jones."
She nods "I know. Come with me." The woman wears a long beige dress with a hood covering her head but allowing her dark blue hair to fall down her right shoulder. Her eyes are the color purple and her lips are painted red, resembling a heart. Her skin was so white it almost resembled milk. "I'm Elga."
"How did you get here?" The Doctor asks, walking behind her.
"I followed her Majesty. You're not the only one with time traveling devices, Doctor." The woman stops in front of double doors and pushes them. The bedroom is warm and dark. It's decorated in warm colors like red and orange, in contrast with the coldness of the castle." Your Majesty…"
The maid approaches the big bed, where a young lady is lying. A heavy sigh echoes the room, while the maid whispers into the Princess's ear. Then, she looks at the Doctor and beckons him to come closer. The Time Lord approaches the bed, softly grabbing the Princess's hand.
Martha remains by the door, she can't see the Princess, but she felt that she needed to stay put.
"Hello, Buma." The Doctor says in a soft voice.
Doctor. You came." Her voice was husky and low.
"Yes, I did. I promised you. I didn't come alone, though. I have Martha with me." The Doctor looks over his shoulder and calls Martha "Come closer. "
Martha steps away from the door, coming closer to the bed. Staring at her was a young lady, no more than twenty years old, with baby blue curly hair, one green eye, and one blue. She looks frail, pale and sick, but she was beautiful. Almost like an angel.
"Martha Jones." The Princess calls in a whisper, grabbing the human's hand.
"Hello, "Martha greets, holding her hand "Your Majesty…"
The Princess smiles, the Doctor turns to Martha.
"You can call her Buma." The Doctor says with a smile. He then kisses the hand of the young Princess. "Come now, Buma, you must leave this bed. I'm here, so is Martha and now we can talk."
"Have you told her, yet?" The Princess wonders. The Doctor makes a funny face.
"Whatever he has to tell me, he hasn't told me yet." Martha cuts in. "He's been keeping something big for me and won't tell me what it is. Can you talk to him?"
The Doctor gives her an offended look. "Martha, no ones like a tattletale!"
"You lied to her?" The Princess asks in a faint voice. The Doctor kisses her hand once more.
"I didn't lie, Buma." The Doctor argues gently. "I just… well, didn't tell her everything."
The Princess looks at the Doctor.
"I only had one rule: no lies," Buma is not angry, when she talks to the Doctor, just shows a soft pale smile. "I'm done with lies. I don't like them."
"And I said, that your rule went against my personal rule: The Doctor always lies. "
Martha looks at the Doctor, then goes ahead and punches him in the arm. The Princess sighs again heavily, closing her eyes for a second. When she opens her eyes, they are blood shot red and her hands have gone cold.
The maid comes to the other side of the bed and touches her forehead.
"The Princess needs her sleep." The nurse tucks Buma in. "Follow me, we've arranged for a room for you to stay for the night."
But before they leave, Buma grabs Martha's hand hard and looks her in the eye.
"With you lies the key to the safety of my people. Please, help us."
Not knowing exactly what to say, the young companion smiles and says: "I will."
Down the hall, the maid opens the doors to another room for the Doctor and Martha to stay for the night.
" I hope you don't mind sharing a bedroom."
"We've shared a bed." The Doctor says. Martha walks right into the room and sits on the bed, arms crossed in silence. "Okay, thank you, Elga." The maid leaves the room quietly.
The Doctor claps his hands and walks to the window. "Oh look, we have a privileged view!" The Doctor put his hand out and it comes back wet. "It's still raining."
"Doctor…"
"Yes?"
Martha gently pats the bed.
"Come here"
The Doctor looks confused. He steps away from the window, cleaning his hand on his pants. He seats down next to Martha and she looks at him.
"James and I have this game, whenever I find out that he's done or broke something, I sit him down and say "Honesty Hour" That means that during that hour he has to come clean and answer truthfully when confronted. "
"I'm not a child."
"Some people need to be treated like children."
"I'm not even human."
"That makes you extra special then. You can't keep me in the dark forever. First, you wanted to drag me out of my house, of my planet. Now that we're here, you wanted to see the Princess, we did that, already. We're sharing a bedroom now and you need to tell me why I'm here! Why do I have the feeling that there's something bigger here."
After a long pause, the Doctor finally comes clean:
"When I gave you name it wasn't as random. It was arranged." He explains. "I knew that the Queen was going to make that cards, move and I needed to get to you before she did."
"Why would she get me?"
"Because of something you know. Something that happened to you when you were back at UNIT."
Martha looks puzzled. She looks into the Doctor's eyes, trying to find answers.
"I don't…"
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't. I have no idea what you're talking about."
The Doctor leans forward. Sometimes, he just hated having to tell every single detail about a plan. Humans... Why aren't they more intuitive and have bigger brains and are... well, smarter?
"The Queen wants power. The absolute power of everything. The only way she can get that is something that happens to be on our planet. To be more specific, at UNIT headquarters." Martha keeps a very puzzled look. "You know what I'm talking about!"
"Actually, no."
"What do you mean!? Martha, the meteor..." Martha keeps looking at the Doctor with a completely blank stare now. "It fell from the sky..."
"Well, that's where meteors come from. I really don't know..."
The Doctor cups Martha's head. His hands are warm and his fingers long, almost grasping her entire head.
"You really don't know..." He comes so close that Martha can easily smell the soap off his body. "There's a blank... "
"A blank?"
"Can you remember what you did the night the meteor fell?"
"Doctor..." Martha shakes off the Doctor's hands. "What meteor? What are you talking about?!"
The Doctor seats back, looking at Martha. This was going to be a lot more complicated that he had ever imagined. He gets up and starts pacing around the room. Back and forth. Back and forth.
Again, again and one more time. Till he stops mid pacing.
"What do you remember from your first year at UNIT?"
Martha thinks for a second and a smile shows on her face.
"Well… I was promoted. The General really liked my performance as a Dr. And he believed that I had a promising career... " The Doctor starts pacing again. "There was nothing special. I mean, we had our usual share of problems and aliens, but nothing as big as before."
Martha looks at the Doctor and he keeps pacing.
"Well, there was some new investigation at Area 51 and I was there with the General... "
"No, not that! No one cares about that!" The Doctor said roughly. Noticing he had startled Martha, he took his seat again next to her companion. "What happened that year? To you."
"Mickey and I were dating for a while and he proposed to me. We got married in the spring." The Doctor looks at Martha's eyes. "The book! Ah! The first book of the saga "The Year That Never Was" came out..."
"No, no, no..."The Doctor says pointing at Martha. "You and Mickey got married that year. Why?"
Martha snorts
"Because he loved me, Doctor."
"No, not that. I mean, he loved you, of course, he did. " The Doctor says. "Why did you get married?"
Martha sighs heavily.
"I was pregnant. Mickey was a romantic idiot and he thought that the best for the baby was for us to get married and settle down." Martha shows a sweet smile remembering. "Such a romantic idiot..."
"How did you find out that you were pregnant?"
"Erm... A Dr. Told me. "
"A Dr.? "
"Yes. Funny story, actually. I woke up at the hospital and Mickey was there next to me with the Dr. And he told us. " Martha shows a smile. The Doctor remains very serious. There is something in Martha's eyes like she can't understand what had happened to her.
"Why were you in the hospital? "
"Oh! "Martha takes an extra second to think. "I was in an accident. An explosion... " She shakes her head very quickly and blinks very fast. "Sorry, I meant car accident. "
The Doctor slowly reaches for her head, pressing the palms of his hands to the sides of her face.
"Which was it? Explosion or car accident? "
Martha's head is all fog now. She remembers very well, being in a car going down the road and an animal passing right in front of her so fast, that her only instinct was to turn the wheel and by doing so she hit a tree. She remembers it perfectly. The fire, the heat, people screaming and a clear voice saying that everything would be just fine. She remembers wearing her white coat, pushing a door a and touching something cold. After that, it was just light and heat.
"Martha," The Doctor pushes her off her memories. His eyes were glowing. "That's not what happened. "
"What do you mean?"
"You were never in a car accident. "or said. "Someone has stolen your memory. "