The Centre

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"Oh, you know what I said before about time machines?" he said turning back to Donna. "Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it."

"But I thought we couldn't use the TARDIS to interfere?" Rose said.

"We're not interfering," he told her. "We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must have been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this!"

"You don't mean…"

"Rose, Donna – we're going further back than I've ever been before."

"Wow, end of the world and now the beginning. Aren't I lucky," Rose grinned. She turned to Donna to tell her about her first adventure with the Doctor and noticed that she had her back turned and her shoulders were shaking with silent tears.

Silently she took her in her arms and sat her down on the chair. All she did was hold her. She knew that there was nothing she could say. Nothing that would comfort her or reassure her that things would be okay. Donna had just had her heart broken. That took a while to heal and words didn't help.

So all she could do was hold her close and let her know that she wasn't alone.

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"We've arrived," the Doctor told them quietly. "Want to see?"

"I suppose," Donna said unenthusiastically.

"The scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best," he said walking over to the doors. Rose helped Donna stand up and then was right behind him. Gently he took her hand. "Come on," he said encouraging Donna to join them.

Slowly she made her way to the two of them, a resigned look on her face.

"No human's ever seen this," the doctor told them. "You'll be the first two."

"All I want to see is my bed," Donna said miserably.

"Rose Tyler, Donna Noble – welcome to the creation of the Earth."

He opened the doors and they looked out upon a spectacular sight. The darkness of space around them was lit up with colourful clouds of dust. Belts of rocks floated through the air.

"It's beautiful!" Rose gasped.

"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen," the Doctor replied.

Donna noticed with a sad smile that he hadn't been looking out at the new solar system, but rather at Rose as he said it. She wished that just once Lance would have looked at her the way the Doctor was looking at Rose now.

Quickly before Rose caught him looking, his eyes flicked out to space.

"We've gone back 4.6 billion years," he told them. "There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn," he pointed to the bright glowing ball in the middle of the colourful dust clouds.

"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.

"All around us… In the dust," he said quietly.

"Puts the wedding in perspective," she said. "Lance was right. We're just… tiny"

"No, but that's what you do. The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So we came out of all of this?" she asked.

"Isn't it brilliant?" Donna gave a weak smile.

They watches as a large rock drifted lazily past them.

"I think that's the Isle of Wight," she joked. Rose giggled.

"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get…"

"The Earth," Rose finished for him, a huge smile on her face.

"But the question is… what was that first rock?"

At that moment a huge star like rock emerged through the space clouds. The Doctor really did have a very uncanny sense of timing.

"Look," Rose said pointing it out.

"The Racnoss…" he breathed. He ran back to the console, turned one of the wheels and looked at the monitor.

"Hold on," he said. "The Racnoss are hiding from war! What's it doing?"

Suddenly the star shaped ship began to glow slightly as dust and rocks began to be sucked towards it like a tornado. Chucks of rock stuck to it like a magnet.

"Exactly what you said,' Donna exclaimed. The Doctor ran back to the door with them and looked out.

"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth… they became the centre of the Earth. The first rock."

At that moment the TARDIS gave a violent shudder, the Doctor just managed to cling to the rails, but Rose nearly fell out. At the last second Donna regained her footing and pulled her back inside.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Trouble," the Doctor replied slamming the doors. He ran back to the console and desperately tried to pilot it, but it was beyond his control. No matter what buttons he pushed and leavers he kicked up it wouldn't work.

"What the hell's it doing?" Donna yelled.

"That little trick of mine – particles pulling particles. It works in reverse. They're pulling us back!"

"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?"

"Backseat driver," he muttered in annoyance. "Oh! Wait a minute!" he bent down and pulled the extrapolator from somewhere under the console.

"The extrapolator!" Rose cried in surprise. "What are we going to do with that?"

"Well, it cant stop us, but it should give us a good bump! Now!" he cried whacking it with a mallet just as they materialised. They dematerialised and then materialized a second later. They jumped out to find themselves in the Torchwood base corridors.

"We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" he said.

The three of them began to run. They finally stopped when they came to the doorway that led up to the flood barrier.

"But what do we do?" Donna asked, scared and out of breath.

"I don't know," he said listening through a door with a stethoscope. "I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history."

"A really good history," Rose laughed.

"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles – but what for?"

"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. If Huon particles cease to exist, the Racnoss will stop," he explained.

Suddenly a robotic hand came from nowhere and covered Donna's mouth dragging her off. Just before Rose could get the Doctor's attention a hand came down over her mouth and she was taken away too.

"They've just been in hibernation for billions of years," the Doctor continued, not noticing the absence of his friends. "Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet." He turned around in concern to find the corridor completely empty. "Oh!" he groaned. "Rose?" he looked up and down the corridor. "Donna…? Rose!"

There was no answer and desperately he opened the door with the sonic… only to come face to face with a Robo-Form and its gun.

?...DW…?

"I bloody hate you!" Donna seethed at lance.

He, Donna and Rose were all strung up in the web, hanging just above the hole. If they fell, they would go right down to the centre of the Earth… and the Racnoss.

"Yeah, I think we've gone a bit beyond that now, Sweetheart," he replied tartly.

"My golden couple," the Empress chuckled below them. "Together at last – your awful wedded life. Tell me; do you want to be released?"

"Yes!" the three of them shouted.

"You're supposed to say 'I do'!" she cackled.

"Ha, no chance," Lance said.

"Say it!"

"I do," he said grudgingly in a sour tone. He looked at Donna as if this were all her fault.

"I do," Donna shouted looking way from him.

"Oh, what the hell… I do too," Rose grinned. She wasn't quite as scared as the other two because she had total faith in the Doctor. And she knew he was out there somewhere.

"I don't!" the Empress cackled evilly. "Activate the particles. Purge every last one!"

The three of them began to glow with the golden light.

"Ah… what's this?" she asked seeing Rose glow too. "Another catalyst. Excellent! Release!" she cried.

All the Huon particles shot from their bodies, and went straight down the hole.

"The secret heat unlocked. And they will waken from their sleep of Ages!"

"Who will? What's down there?" Donna asked fearfully.

"How thick are you?" Lance scoffed.

"My children, the long lost Racnoss. Now will be born to feast on flesh!"

"Oh, no they won't!" Rose cried fiercely.

The Empress looked back up at her and frowned. The particles that had been ripped from her body had not gone down with the rest of them. They swirled around her like a tornado, then in an instant they were sucked back into her body.

But now Rose was different. Her usual kindness was all but completely gone as she looked at her foe. She still glowed golden with the energy and so too did her eyes. She was the Bad Wolf.

"What are you?" the Empress demanded.

"I am the Bad Wolf," her voice had an eerie echo that seemed to come from nowhere. "I am a Goddess of time and space. The Vortex lives within me."

With a glow the web around her snapped. She slid down it like it were a fire pole and right before she reached the end and fell into the pit, she took a step – and materialized on the ground in front of the Empress. Behind her was the sound of chirping and scuttling spiders climbing up from the centre of the Earth, but she ignored it.

"I can see all you have done, all the worlds that have come to dust at your feet," Rose continued, her eyes still alight with the golden sparks. "And I can see all you will be and all you shall never be. You shall burn. Like a dying star – you shall burn."

Then the light faded from her and she gasped as the Bad Wolf released her.

"Burn shall we?" the Empress hissed in fury. "We shall see about that. Grab her!"

Two of the Robo-Forms detached themselves from the line and took a hold of her. As much as she struggled she couldn't break loose.

"The Web-Star shall come to me. And now, my babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web."

"Use her! Not me! Use her!" Lance cried in desperation.

"Oh, my funny little Lance! But you were quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve."

At her words the web around him loosened and he tumbled out, falling, screaming, down into the hole.

"Lance!" Donna cried despite herself.

"Harvest the humans. Reduce them to meat." Above them they heard the faint sounds of cashing, as if something was happening above them. "My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them! …So you may as well unmask, my clever little Doctor-man."

A Robo-Figure who was climbing the stairs stopped and cocked its head.

"Oh well. Nice try," the Doctor said removing the cloak and mask. "You okay, Rose?" he asked.

"I'm fine, just hanging out with some of our friends here," she called up to him. She was only lying a little bit. Physically she was fine, and the situation was fine. But inside she was still freaking out about what had just happened to her. She could remember all of it, the way her mind had widened. Being able to see all that is and was. It didn't hurt like the Doctor said it should have, but it still scared her. She had called herself a goddess!

The Doctor checked to see that Rose was relatively safe before looking up to Donna. "I've got you, Donna," he called. Then he aimed the sonic-screwdriver up at her.

The web around her began to snap.

"I'm gonna fall!" she cried.

"You're going to swing!" he corrected her. And just as he said, when the web snapped she swung down towards him. "I've got ya," he said, his arms open to catch her. But she swung lower than he anticipated and smacked into the wall below him with a dull thud. "…Oh… Sorry." He looked over the railing to see Donna splattered on her back.

"Thanks for nothing," she said.

"The Doctor-man amuses me," the Empress laughed.

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"Empress of the Racnoss - I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."

"These men are so funny."

"What is your answer?" he demanded.

"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline," she laughed again.

"Then what happens next is your own doing," he said quietly.

"I'll show you what happens next," she hissed. "At arms! Take aim!" All the Robo-Forms along the wall pointed their guns at him. "And-"

"Relax," he said.

At his command they all went limp; slumping over themselves like the clockwork repair droids they had faced once.

Rose pushed the two that had been holding her away and ran up the stairs to him, snagging Donna's hand on the way.

"What did you do?" Donna called up to him as they ran.

"Guess what I've got, Donna?" he grinned, pulling a remote control from his pockets. "Pockets!" he said cheekily.

"Very deep pockets," Rose smiled, reaching him.

"They're just bigger on the inside that's all," he grinned back.

"Robo-Forms are not necessary," the Empress said in annoyance. "My children will feast on the flesh of a Goddess and a Martian."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars," he told her calmly.

"Then where?"

"My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on. Gallifrey."

The Empress hisses and thrashed about. "They murdered the Racnoss!" she cried in fury.

"I warned you," he said softly. "You did this." He put his hand in his pocket again and bought out a handful of shiny red baubles.

"No! No, don't! No!" the Empress panicked.

Some of the baubles floated around the Empress and crashed at her feet surrounding her in flame. Others that he threw crashed into the walls and water came flooding through and swept down the hole like a drain.

"My children!" the grief stricken Empress wailed.

"Doctor," Rose whispered in horror. "Doctor, please stop. What are you doing?"

He looked up at her in surprise and the dark hateful light in his eyes left. He looked down at the Empress as if realising what he'd done. Suddenly, struggling through the torrent of water pouring down on them about eight dog-sized Racnoss clambered out of the hole. No more seemed to come.

"Go!" he called. "I'll spare you and your remaining children. Find a new planet and never come to this one again. Now run!" he turned to Rose and Donna. "Come on! Time I got us out."

The Empress pushed her way through the flames and scooped up her young. "Transport me!" she cried. Then in a flash of light, she and the baby Racnoss were gone.

"Oh, no!" Rose gasped. She turned on her heal and sprinted up the stairs. The Doctor and Donna right on her tail.

They emerged up into the night just as explosions went off. She ran to the edge of the barrier to see the star shape Racnoss ship blown to pieces and burn. Donna and the Doctor joined her, each standing on one side. The Doctor grabbed her hand sympathetically.

"Like a dying star, you shall burn," Donna said quietly.

"What's that?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, nothing," Rose told him. "Just something she said."

Donna looked at her questioningly and she gave the slightest shake of her head. The Doctor sighed heavily.

"She used up all her Huon energy," he said sadly. "It left her defenceless."

"There's just one problem," Donna said.

"What's that?"

"We've drained the Thames!" she laughed.

The three of them looked out over the near empty Thames. Boats were stranded, sounding their horns. The three of them suddenly burst into fits of laughter.