CHOChapter6
Rose came to slowly, and stood up just in time to see the TARDIS dematerialise. She stared in disbelief. It couldn't be! She looked around. She was on a cold, familiar beach. Dårlig Ulv-Stranden. She heard Jon groan behind her, getting to his feet. She turned around to make sure he was alright, and saw Jack still sprawled in the sand a few meters beyond. Jon staggered over to her.
"Do you feel when we are?"
"Yeah."
They were just barely Industrial Revolution. No advanced technology. No hopes of escape. They would just have to sit things out for who-knows-how-long until someone rescued them, or an alien visit gave them a trip off-world to somewhere - anywhere - where they could develop time-travel technology, or until they ran into the Doctor again. They looked at in each other in despair as they heard Jack stir.
"Why?" Jon asked her.
"I don't know, Jon! One minute 'e's askin' me to open up to 'im, 'clear the air' 'e said, and we did, and next thing I know 'e's all angry and tellin' you I made a pass at 'im! And I didn't! I did kiss 'im, but I was comforting 'im over River, I wasn't tryin' anything, honest!" In her anxiety, Rose had slipped into her native London accent, and for a few moments, Jon was transported back in time to when he'd first met the teenage Rose. He grimaced at the bittersweet memory, and pulled her to him.
"Don't worry, I wasn't upset with you, I was upset with him. He should know better than to get this upset with you, it just doesn't make any sense," he sighed as he held her.
"Jon, he doesn't make any sense." Rose responded bitterly.
"Where the hell are we?" Jack muttered as he stumbled over to them. "This is either the stupidest dream I've ever had, or the very worst hangover ever, and I don't get hung-over."
Jon took out his sonic and scanned the area. "It appears to be real enough, we're in the alternate universe, Earth, Norway - why do we always seem to wind up in Norway?" He looked at Roser quizzically. She shrugged her shoulders.
"Probably because it's the last place I ever wanted to see again. Nothing good ever happens here."
"You've been here before?" asked Jack.
"Yeah, every time the Doctor wants to say goodbye to me, it's been here," Rose frowned. "But why would he do this? Jon and I have children, and you have a future in his universe, Jack, why strand us here and now?"
"When exactly are we?" Jack asked.
"1809. The Industrial Revolution is almost underway. It's an exciting time for Earth, but not a time I
want to be stuck in. The Gunboat War is going on, and the beach is not a particularly safe place to be." Jon rubbed his neck and frowned.
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait right here for five and a half hours to see if the Doctor comes to his senses and brings us back," Rose answered. "If not, then we need to figure out how we're going to spend the next nearly two hundred years until we can hitch a ride back in the TARDIS when we come here in 2004."
Jon frowned. "I really don't like that idea, I hate the idea of crossing time lines, but it is as good of a plan as any, I suppose. The TARDIS might cooperate and shield our presense from him. At any rate, if he doesn't come back for us, we'll have plenty of time to reconsider the plan."
"We'd better get comfortable, then." Jack sighed. The three walked up to the beach's rock-strewn border and found a flat boulder to sit on. "I don't supposed you've got any cushions in your pockets?"
"Why, as a matter of fact I just might!" Jon grinned. Fishing around in his coat pocket, he pulled out a plastic inflatable cushion. Popping the valve open, he blew it up and closed the valve, popping it back in. "M'Lady!" he graciously offered it to Rose, who smiled appreciatively as she accepted it and sat down.
"That's better!" she grinned. "Any snacks in there? Bottle of water maybe?"
After a couple of hours of waiting, suddenly birdsong filled the air, although looking about they couldn't find the birds. Their lids suddenly grew heavy, and they slumped over, sound asleep.
Amy stared at the Doctor in frustration. "Doctor, we can't just wait, we have to help them! Can't we just give them, oh, I dunno, a stimulant or something and wake them up? You've got to have something here that would work!"
"No, Amy, I can't do that. You see, because of the effect the pollen has on their brains, they wouldn't really wake up, they'd still be dreaming, except they'd be up, walking and running around and dreaming - "
"You mean like sleepwalking?" Rory interrupted.
"Precisely!" the Doctor punctuated his point with a finger to Rory's chest. Turning to Amy he continued, "Could you imagine the trouble they'd get into, running around like that? No telling what they might do. No, they'll have to work this out themselves. All we can do is watch and wait and keep them safe."
Rose, Jon, and Jack awoke inside Lourdes.
"I just had the worst nightmare," Rose groaned, rubbing her eyes and stretching. Then as she stood up, "How did I fall asleep on the floor?" she puzzled. "Weren't we just outside having s'mores?"
"Yeah, we were as a matter of fact." Jack's voice came from the other side of the console as he, too, got to his feet.
"I just had a dream that we were stranded again on Pete's World again, by none other than my brother," Jon admitted.
"That was my dream, too!" Rose exclaimed.
"Wait a minute, you two weren't by chance stranded in Norway with me, were you?" Jack was incredulous as Jon and Rose stared at him, realization dawning on all three.
"Well, it's about time you three figured something out!" a voice exclaimed out of nowhere. All three spun and looked in the direction of the voice. On the spiral staircase leading up to the wardrobe was a funny little man. He was dressed similarly to Jon, in a blue pinstripe suit and brown overcoat, but he also had a matching fedora on his head.
"Who are you!" Rose demanded, wondering silently how Lourdes could have let an intruder on board.
"You may refer to me as the Dream Lord," he said, doffing his hat with a flourish. "As you are lords of time - well, two of you are, anyway - I am the lord of dreams. I can make anything come true for you - your most cherished dream, or your worst nightmare. You just awoke from someone's nightmare. Whose, I wonder?" He winked at them and disappeared.
"Wait, I know him!" Jon started, "It isn't real, none of this has been. I know what's happening to us. We're dreaming, alright, but none of our dreams will actually come to pass, no matter what we do. The Dream Lord is a liar. The Doctor has encountered him before."
"So how do we get out of this?" Jack asked.
"We have to die. If we die, we defeat the pollen that was released when Amy threw the fireworks into the fire, and we go back to reality."
"But I can't die." Jack pointed out. "Am I going to be stuck in this state forever, then?"
"You can die, Jack, you just don't stay dead. You'll be fine."
"Are you sure about that, Jon?" They whirled to find the Dream Lord lounging against a strut, this time dressed in the uniform of a British marine.
"My brother and I shared memories, I saw everything that happened during his encounter with you, I know how to defeat you!" Jon shot back.
"And how do you know that wan't part of your dream?" the Dream Lord shot back. "How do you know for sure exactly when the dreams started, hmmm? Are you really willing to risk everyone's lives when you could be wrong?"
"The Doctor and his companions had to die twice to defeat you, so we'll just keep on dying until we get back to where we belong." Jon looked at Rose and she nodded her agreement almost imperceptibly as the song of birds filled the air.
They woke up on the beach again, surrounded by British marines with guns pointed at them.
"Don't move!" they were ordered by the marine's captain. They froze accordingly. The captain walked over to Jack. "You, stand up slowly, and don't try anything." Jack obligingly got to his feet as slowly and carefully as he could, and raised his hands, as did the others. At a gesture from the captain, one of the marines stepped up and frisked Jack, who couldn't resist giving a little whoop and a giggle as the marine checked his pants pockets. His hands were then tied behind his back. Each of them were searched in this manner until they stood together, hands secured behind them.
"Identify yourselves!" barked the captain.
"I'm the Doctor," began Jon.
"Doctor who?" insisted the captain.
"Dr. Jonathan Noble-Storm, not that that will help you much," Jon answered.
"Rose Tyler," supplied Rose.
"Captain Jack Harkness."
"You're an American," the captain observed. "What are you doing in Norway with two British citizens?"
"Spying." Jack stated matter-of-factly. "In fact, you should shoot the three of us right now."
"Jack!" Rose exclaimed incredulously.
"What? You heard what Jon said!" Jack shrugged. "I say we get it over with."
"I suppose," Jon said, gulping a bit, "he's right, we should just do it. Although I don't much fancy getting shot, it's as good a way to go as any, and we do have the means right here in front of us."
The captain shook his head in disbelief. "I don't know what kind of strangeness the three of you are up to, but you're going to the island to see Captain Selby. He can decide your fate." With that the marines marched them up the beach to a small barge with a single cannon. They were made to wade out and were helped onto the boat, and stood against the small cabin at gunpoint while the marines set out for an island off the coast which had a lighthouse.
'Anholt," observed Jon. "The Brits must have just captured it. This is a Danish gunboat we're on, 'spoils of war'."
"You know your ships," one of their guards commented. The voice sounded awfully familiar. It was the Dream Lord.
"I know my history," Jon corrected him. Their other guards looked at him strangely, but made no further comment. Suddenly they heard birdsong.