Chapter 8
As the TARDIS disappeared from the surface of Ozeria, the Doctor had a dilemma. Where should he go? What should he do? As the last Time Lord in the entire universe, it took some of the joy out of the prospect. Before the Time War, he had made his peace with his people, even though there was always a bit of a finger to the nose as he gallivanted across space and time. Knowing they were at least occasionally watching had made the last 1000 years interesting. Now, though, he was alone. And by his own hand no less. It didn't make the prospect of the future or past very tempting. "So where should I go?" he asked out loud, not really expecting an answer but just wanting to end the silence.
A chirp came from the console, drawing his attention to the viewscreen.
"Hello... what's this?" He analyzed the data quickly. "Faster than light and a swarm to boot? That doesn't bode well for their destination. Anyone trying that hard to get somewhere probably isn't up to visiting for tea and sandwiches."
He continued to sort through the data stream. "No. Not Earth again. That planet doesn't seem to get any breaks. Of course, being in the middle of an intergalactic trade route probably doesn't help it much. Well, then. That settles it." He made a few adjustments to the console. "Back to Earth," he voiced although he knew the TARDIS could... and would... pick up his brainwaves. With a flick of a switch, the TARDIS jolted into the time vortex... and then stopped.
"No! No no no no no!" He kicked the console with his foot. "What do you think you're doing, getting us stuck in the middle of the vortex at a time like this?"
The lights went down, leaving the Doctor in the dark.
"Now, don't start. I know you can be a temperamental old thing but I'm seriously not in the mood to put up with one of your tantrums," he berated the darkness. Despite his statement, the lights continued to stay off. The Doctor pulled out his new sonic screwdriver and lit up the room with the blue light. Although there were shadows to the edges, he could see the console clearly.
During a walk around the console, he couldn't see any reason for the TARDIS to have suddenly gone dark. Obviously, the time ship was being more stubborn than ever. He sighed. "All right. I'm sorry. But don't expect me not to use percussive persuasion in the future. You do get stuck sometimes and I can't go readjusting you every time you are incapable of cooperating." He took a breath. "Besides, we're all we've got now, you and me. Just us. Are you really going to stay angry simply because I lost my temper?"
There was a light hum as if the ancient semi-living ship was considering the concept. Then, just as suddenly the lights came back up. However, it also remained stuck in the Vortex.
The Doctor grinned broadly as the room became bright once more. The grin, however, faded immediately as he saw that the ship hadn't moved an inch. "So, why are we stuck in the Time Vortex?" he questioned. A console door popped open. The Time Lord crouched down and looked through the open hatch. "What a mess. I thought I fixed that," he grumbled. "This is going to take a couple of days, you know. That swarm of objects is going to be long gone by the time we're done here."
There was yet another chirp. Looking at the screen, the Doctor saw that the TARDIS had extrapolated the vector and timeline. The course had clearly pointed to Earth, sometime in the year 2005, Humanian Era. London specifically, not that the city surprised him. If Earth got its share of shit, London seemed more often than not the bull's-eye.
"I should have known. My favorite planet and my favorite species. Typical," he grumbled. "Just keep an eye on that swarm while I see what I can do about this bioelectrical disaster." He lifted the grated floor and put it to the side to allow him better access to the console. "Knew it was a good idea," he told himself as he admired the floor for a moment before tucking himself into the crawlspace underneath, sonic screwdriver in hand and a tool set just under the grating to his left.
Fixing the TARDIS took a little longer than what he'd expected, but two days later they were on their way again. Dropping into a side alley downtown, he went out and looked around. "Downtown London," he commented before pocketing his key and leaving the TARDIS to seek whatever he'd seen earlier that week.
He'd been walking for a good half hour around about the area. With a sigh, he said aloud with exasperation, "Why is it when you're looking for an extraordinary thing that all you find is the ordinary?"
"You might want to look here, then, mate," a male voice stated from his left. "This shop's got some nice bangles. Certainly not like that cheap stuff in the department stores. I don't know what the world's coming to, all the plastic and cheap knock offs."
The Doctor blinked for a moment. "I wasn't exactly talking about merchandise. More of activity. Anything unusual happen in the last few days? Odd sightings in the sky?"
"Where have you been then?" the man questioned with a frown.
"Holiday," the Doctor replied as if that were the only answer to give. "Spent a lot of time in South America out of the loop."
The man huffed slightly. "Didn't miss much then. There was a swarm of meteorites a few months back. It was the talk of Great Britain for while. There were reports of them from Hadrian's Wall all the way to Land's End. Several of them came down in Cardiff where I live. I saw one of them." He chuckled. "Gwen got called out about some of the sightings. She's my girlfriend. Someone claiming we were being invaded or some such nonsense."
"A few months ago?" The Time Lord exclaimed, not paying attention to the man's comments about his girlfriend. "I must have got the flight wrong. I should have materialized shortly after they crashed, not months later." He turned to the man. "You say you saw them. What did they look like?"
"Well, that's the strange thing. Most of the real meteorites must have burned up 'cause nobody found anything like a meteorite. But someone decided to play a joke. You know, like those crop circles that are always popping up. Only this time, they made broken plastic balls and dropped them around. Bunch of rubbish if you ask me. People with too much time on their hands."
"Broken plastic balls? You didn't happen to see one of these balls intact, did you?" He glanced into the shop, feeling as if something were off. "Hold on... What was your name again?"
"No. The ball we found was broken just like the ones elsewhere," he answered. "Oh," the man put out his hand. "Rhys Williams. My company's having a meeting of all the satellite offices and my boss sent me to represent Cardiff. Harwood's Haulage is a big organization, you know. I'm just doing some shopping for my girl." He nodded to a green bracelet in the window. "I'm thinking that one would be nice."
"It's lovely," the Doctor commented, not really looking at the bracelet. "Did you notice anything odd about this shop, Rhys Williams?"
"Odd? Not really. Only that it has some things that Gwen would like." He finally made up his mind. "I'm going to get it for her. Her birthday is next week." He nodded to the Doctor to bid his farewell and walked into the shop, and rang the bell on at the counter. When no one came, he repeated the action.
"Nothing at all?" the Doctor questioned, ignoring the farewell and following the best lead he'd had that day into the shop. When after the second ring no one came to the counter, he said, "I'd say a shop without a keeper is very odd."
"Yeah, it is, isn't it. Leaving a place like this with all the fine antiques and no security." He tilted his head. "Maybe they've fallen in the back or something."
The Doctor wasn't even listening to Rhys as he moved around the counter, stepping through the black curtain that separated the front from the back. He stopped abruptly when he noticed a most unusual sight: a body lying on the floor, surrounded with shop dummies. "Okay... having a bit of deja vu at the moment," he murmured to himself.
Rhys followed him into the back, his eyes widening at the sight. "Oh, my god!" From the position of the body it was obvious the woman lying there was dead. "We should get the police."
The Doctor reached quickly into his leather jacket, producing a brown leather billfold and opening it so that Rhys could see it. "Detective John Smith, Scotland Yard," he told him. "I suggest, Mr. Williams, that you get the bracelet you wanted for your girlfriend and get out. Don't tell anyone what you've seen here. We already have suspects and we don't want them to get wind that we're onto them."
Rhys blinked a few times. "Scotland Yard. Yes, of course. Gwen's dealt with you blokes a few times in the past." He went out into the store and found the bracelet in question. Noting the price tag attached, he took out his wallet and pulled out the amount requested. He then walked back to the person he now knew as Detective John Smith. "Sir, will you see that this gets in the till? I'm not a thief."
"I didn't think that you were," the Doctor told him. He slowly turned towards him and looked at the money in Rhys' hands. "Don't worry. I'll explain everything. Just go."
Nodding, Rhys placed the money on the desk as asked, finishing their short acquaintance with a, "Right. I can't say it's been the best way to meet someone but you're all right, Detective Smith. Hope you find the person who did this." He then turned and walked out the door and back onto the streets of London.
The Doctor didn't acknowledge Rhys Williams' words, instead looking cautiously at the mannequins in the room. Raising his sonic screwdriver, he quickly moved through the settings to find the right one. Going to each mannequin, he first made sure that none of them were armed - he didn't think they were, based on the fact that the shopkeeper had been strangled - and then, using the sonic, removed one of the arms.
"Rudimentary control," the Doctor commented to himself as he examined the plastic arm in his hand. "Good sonic blast should disrupt the signal." Moving around the dummies, he made sure that each of them received his sonic's treatment, including the removed arm, before tossing the arm to the side and going out the back door, deliberately setting off the burglar alarm as he did so. He knew that soon, the real police would come to investigate and would find the poor woman in the back room and no signs of anything having been stolen.
Now knowing what his quarry was, the Time Lord marched back to the TARDIS. "Just have to isolate that frequency and find the transmitter. Can't have the Nestene Consciousness try to take over the Earth for a third time."
Isolating the signal didn't take long. The transmission was coming from the roof of a department store. Moving the TARDIS less than a block from his target, he updated himself on the layout of the store before grabbing a small explosive and headed out, barely noting the sun was just starting to set. No one seemed to notice him as he moved through the store and found the staircase. Taking two steps at a time, he went up to the roof, following the signal that his sonic was reading. There, on the rooftop, he found the transmitter in question and took great pains to ensure that an explosive was attached to the alien device. The explosion, he knew, would burn the whole building down which meant that he had to detonate the bomb after everyone had left the building, which would be after closing time.
He knew from his research that the department store's company policy required their security officer to assure in rounds that everyone was out of the building... except maintenance. Seeing a man dressed in the proper uniform was already starting the closing procedures, he realized he'd need to go to the basement and make sure the maintenance man was out of the building as well before he used his remote to set off the explosion. He got on service elevator and took it to the bottom level of the store. Looking carefully around as he stepped out, he frowned slightly at the lack of activity.
"You'd think the bloke would be about somewhere," he muttered as he walked around. He noticed a door ajar and went over to it, his curiosity getting the best of him. What he found made his hearts ache.
The man looked as if he were in his mid-forties or early fifties. His overalls and calloused fingertips told him he'd found the person he'd come down to save.
"I'm sorry," he told the deceased human whose foot had been keeping the door open. He carefully tucked the dead man into the room and then waited. He seriously doubted that anyone would come into the basement at this late an hour, something he was most grateful for. He'd already seen two deaths because of the Autons and their masters. He didn't want to see anymore and the only way to insure that was to wait until the security guard had emptied the upper floors completely... and to make sure that the guard didn't decide to visit the security office one last time before leaving himself. Neither did he want to become a premature casualty by coming face-to-face with the Autons. They may not be living creatures, being only shop dummies under the control of the Nestene Consciousness. But they did outnumber him and he really didn't like the odds. Better to wait until the store was empty and finish the job before hunting down the Consciousness.
As he hid in the shadows of that basement, he found himself, for the first time since before the war, totally still. He knew it must be such to keep the Autons at bay, but it was disconcerting. Nothing but silence filled his being, not even echoes he knew in his hearts should be there. Once again, the realization that he was alone in the universe nearly overwhelmed him. This time, however, it brought on a determination he hadn't felt the last time. No longer did he want to commit suicide and he knew his change of hearts had everything to do with the TARDIS sending him where he was most needed to help people, to make a difference in the universe as he had before the War. If he died doing so, so be it. But at least, as the Last of the Time Lords, he could spread the legacy of his people through the cosmos.
As he sat crouched in the silence, his mind exploded with pain, suddenly feeling as if he'd been hit by a steel beam. With the pain came another sensation, one that, given the circumstances, was completely impossible.
"Another Time Lord?" he questioned himself, knowing full well it couldn't be. "No. They're gone. All gone." Melancholy wrapped about him as he felt the unfeasible brush of recognition in his mind. 'I must want it so badly that my mind created it. Like feeling a limb after it's been amputated. Not that that has ever happened to me before. I'll just have to accept that I'm alone,' he thought to himself firmly. He may not like it, but it was his reality.
Almost as if to confirm his thoughts, the sensation vanished as if it had never been there. Shaking his head slightly to clear his mind of the remnants of the painful impression, he exhaled slowly. He had no idea where the pain and the odd feeling that he might not be alone had come from but he immediately put it down to his own depressed state of mind. Pulling himself together, he was about to emerge from his hiding place when he heard the familiar ping of the elevator's arrival. Quietly peeking through a crack in the door, he noticed a blonde teenage girl stepping out of the elevator. She looked both ways once she exited, as if looking for someone.
"Wilson?" she called out. She walked away from the Doctor's location, continuing to call for the person she sought. "Wilson, I got the lottery money. Wilson." She went up to a blue door and knocked on it. It was obvious that she expected an answer. "You there?" She tried the door, finding it locked. She paused a moment, talking at the door. "I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop. Wilson," she called one more time, more insistently. She turned towards the Doctor's position, seeming concerned about not receiving an answer, when a rattling sound came from behind her, causing her to turn towards it.
The Doctor's own concern mounted at the sound. Of all the stupid things to happen, it would be some pink and yellow girl coming down into a basement full of Autons. He already knew, without any doubts in his mind, that the girl was the only human being in the building. At least, the only one who was alive. He needed to get her out of the building quickly, preferably without her getting herself killed first.
Slipping out of his hiding place, he weaved through the maze that was the basement, finding his own way towards the sound in the hopes that he could beat the girl to it and prevent her from coming to harm. He'd just found the proper room, following the signal on his sonic screwdriver when he heard the girl's frightened voice just behind a set of double-doors. Quickly moving into the room, he saw the shop dummies raising their arms to attack the girl. Without even a second of hesitation, he grabbed her hand, causing her to quickly turn her head towards him.
"Run!" he ordered Rose Tyler, Hendrick's department store employee.
And they never stopped running.
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Well, there you go! The next story in the series is the start of the epic we've titled "Diverging Timelines". Keep an eye out for Book One. And please don't forget to review!
