Chapter 9 – Hollow Victory
Inside the control room for the time machine, The Doctor crouched down next to the computer bank. Her sonic screwdriver was clenched between her teeth as she fiddled with some wires connecting the computers together. Will stood in a dark corner of the room with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his boiler suit. The Time Lady had banished him to the corner almost the moment they had stepped into the room. Officially he was on guard duty but unofficially, The Doctor refused to accept help from the fraudulent scientist.
Occasionally the Time Lady would sneak a look at the man but every time she did, she could feel her temper bubbling away under the surface. This man had been abusing his position as a teacher to pass off ideas as his own. What made it worse was that the man was actually highly intelligent, in theory he didn't need to cheat his way to success. To her taking a short cut to success was extremely dangerous. Any competent scientist could see the potential problems with his experiment and had he done the research himself, he would've been able to fix this problem. His attempts to contain the Time Shadows had nearly destroyed the delicate systems. Fortunately there was enough for her to salvage in order to engineer a solution.
Despite her heavy workload, The Doctor was keeping some of her attention on Jenny's progress. It had been a risk, sending her off to round up the Shadows together with Orson and Olga. Jenny was clearly lacking in confidence but from the memories The Doctor had been able to see, she had some experience in leading people successfully. As the older Time Lady knew well, the best thing to do after regeneration was to get right back in the thick of things. At least Jenny wasn't suffering was any post regeneration psychosis that had affected her in the past.
The Doctor's attention was temporarily distracted by a loud tapping noise coming from the corner of the room. The Time Lady glanced up and noticed Will slapped his hands rhythmically against his thighs. She grumbled under her breath trying to block the noise out, instead she attempted to focus on rewiring the time machine's controls. Only a few more seconds passed before the Time Lady could tolerate the sound no longer, "Are you trying to deliberately annoy me", The Doctor snapped without looking up from her work.
"Sorry Doctor", he apologised, "I didn't realise it was annoying you".
"Right now your very existence is annoying me so kindly stand there and don't make a sound", the Time Lady shook her head and continued with her wiring job.
For a few seconds Will didn't know how to respond to The Doctor, instead he chose to thrust his hands deeply into his pockets. The university professor seethed at the alien woman's comments, questioning her right to judge him so harshly. He wasn't claiming to be an innocent person, he knew everything he had done was wrong but he had his reasons. Finding some courage even he didn't know he possessed, he called out, "You don't understand what it was like Doctor, the pressure everyone put me under".
The Time Lady ignored him for a moment as she used the sonic screwdriver to activate some parts, "Talking counts as making noise William", she stated, "don't make me tell you again".
The only sound that filled the room after that dismissive comment was the high pitch whirr of the sonic screwdriver. Ignoring her dismissal, Will continued, "I was a teenage wunderkind, lauded by the scientific community". He shuffled nervously on the point, "Then the ideas dried up and everywhere I went, people kept asking me what my next project was".
"So that's when you hit on the bright idea of stealing the dreams of your students", The Doctor interrupted, "you'll have to forgive me for not shedding a tear William". The Time Lady stood up and brushed some dust off her purple jacket, deliberately keeping her gaze away from Will. "Answer me this", she continued, "do you even remember the names of the students you stole from?" There was no immediately answer from Will and The Doctor briefly glanced at the ceiling, "Yeah, that's what I thought", she said, her voice dripping with venom.
The Time Lady pointed her sonic screwdriver at the computer banks and they burst into life with a loud whirring noise. The previously dark room was now illuminated with unnatural light from several monitors. The Doctor allowed herself a little smile at the work she had put in to getting the systems back online but then her senses were overwhelmed by a ripple through the very fabric of space and time. The fixed point was beginning to shift and it was heading in this direction. They would have to dispose of the Time Shadows and quickly.
The Doctor closed her eyes and reached out to Jenny just as the young Time Lady called out for some assistance. The Doctor felt that she was in the main hangar near the time machine platform. She reached outwards with her mind to reassure her daughter, "And you will get it", she said, referring to the assistance that Jenny required. "Telepathic link, it's a Time Lady thing", The Doctor added with a lighter tone. "Just hold on for a few more minutes, Will and I have nearly fixed the interface". The raven haired woman had to snort at that thought, Will hadn't done anything other than annoy her.
She spun around and cast her eyes at the monitors, the main interface was online so all she had to do was activate the start up sequence. Her fingers were a blur as she activated the machine, the click of her keystrokes bouncing off the walls of the room. The Doctor hit the enter key and she heard a gentle hum coming from the main hangar, the machine had been activated. "You really want to make up for your past mistakes William", the Time Lady said, finally making eye contact with the man. He nodded slowly in response, "In 60 seconds the sequence will finish and all you need to do is push the start button to gain access to the time vortex".
"That's it", Will frowned, "the process was much longer before".
"Well it's amazing what you can do if you actually know what you're doing", she replied snidely. The Time Lady pointed her sonic screwdriver at the man, "Don't even think about running away, if you do then you'll wish you'd never been born". She took a step towards the ruined blast screen that used to shield the room from the hangar, "And you're looking at one of the few people who can make that wish come true, don't forget that".
She stepped onto the broken glass that used to be in the blast screen, the material crunched underneath her feet with every step. The Time Lady jumped through the gap and immediately felt the icy presence of the Time Shadows. As she sprinted towards the raised platform, The Doctor wondered if she had been a little harsh on Will. Unlike some other frauds she had met in the past, he did seem genuinely remorseful for his actions. Nevertheless what he had done was completely immoral and had ruined the lives of several of his students. His actions had also indirectly led to these events, the deaths of two people and the near destruction of a fixed point.
Shaking off her doubts The Doctor quickly spotted the two Time Shadows closing in on Jenny and the others. Without breaking her stride, she grasped the younger Time Lady by the arm and dragged her towards the raised platform, "Quickly, this way", she shouted. Jenny's cried out in pain as her arm was nearly wrenched out its socket by the older Time Lady. Orson and Olga quickly followed the two Time Lady's and climbed up the steps onto the platform.
The moment the group stepped onto the platform, they could feel the hairs on the back of their necks standing on end. They could feel the heat coming off the glass floor underneath them and it was rising, "You got the machine working?" Orson asked The Doctor.
"Was there any doubt?" she smiled, drawing an eye roll from the younger Time Lady. The Time Shadows were screeching loudly as they nervously approached the platform. Their heads tilted to one side as they inspected the device with suspicion.
"What's the plan Doctor?" Jenny whispered, her eyes never moving from the approaching Time Shadows.
The older Time Lady gave her a small smile, "You tell me Jenny, this is just as much my idea as yours". Jenny glanced around at the two glass plates, biting her lips nervously, "Not to rush you Jenny but we only have thirty seconds until this machine fires up".
"No pressure then", Jenny slapped the older Time Lady on the arm. "Clearly you want the time machine to activate so we're here as bait to lure the Shadows into the machine". The Doctor gave her a small nod and waived her hand, asking her to continue, "You've set the co-ordinates to zap the Time Shadows to a place where they can't hurt anyone", she added.
"Couldn't have put it better myself", The Doctor beamed, "I've set the time co-ordinates for the end of the universe. Within a few seconds the Shadows will be burned out of existence by the end of time itself".
"That's a good plan Doctor but what if they don't follow us on the platform in the next twenty seconds", Olga snapped.
Orson stood protectively in front of the blonde haired woman, "I don't think that's going to be a problem", he stated. The Time Shadows were nearly at the top of the platform and were about to cross on the glass plates. The two Time Lady's and Olga slowly backed away as Orson tried his best to shield them from the Shadows, "You three step off the other side", he whispered, "I'll keep them occupied for a few seconds".
"You're attempt at chivalry really isn't necessary Colonel", The Doctor said shortly, "we're all perfectly capable of looking after ourselves".
"And I know that", Orson replied, "but you said it yourself, these things respond best to their original template", he patted himself on the chest, "I'm the best person to keep them busy".
The Doctor was reluctant to leave Orson behind with the Time Shadow but she could feel the time energy building. It would only be a matter of seconds until the machine fully accessed the vortex and would be activated, "Fine but you better jump off the moment those Shadows step onto the platform", the Time Lady pointed her finger at the Colonel.
Olga was the first one to step off the other side, closely followed by Jenny and then The Doctor. The Time Shadows were moving too slowly for the Time Lady's liking, that wouldn't give Colonel Pink much time to make his escape. The time energy was at its peak and the lights underneath the glass plates were glowing brightly. Even the non time sensitive Olga could feel the static electricity in the air from the time machine, "Come on Colonel, step off", the blonde whispered to herself.
"Careful Comrade, you almost sounded like you cared", The Doctor tried to joke but even she was worried that Orson hadn't stepped down yet. The Time Shadows had finally stepped onto the platform but the Colonel was still standing in the middle of the plates, "Now would be a good time to move", The Doctor called out but Orson didn't move an inch, "Colonel Pink, don't make me come up and get you", she barked.
Orson turned around, his cheeks had a few damp track marks where some tears had fallen, "I'm not getting shifted to another prison just for my personal preference". He took a deep breath and stood up a little straighter, "I'm sorry everyone but this is my decision". Before anyone could approach the platform, there was a blinding light which forced the trio to quickly shield their eyes. When the light cleared the platform was empty, Colonel Pink was trapped at the end of the universe with the two Time Shadows.
"Orson", Olga whispered quietly as she approached the platform, "Orson you selfish bastard", she roared. She sunk to her knees and began to cry, her body shook with each wave of grief that passed through her body. She never got the chance to tell him that she actually liked him and now she wouldn't get the chance. Olga was so overcome with grief that she didn't even realise that she had overridden her emotional inhibitor.
Feeling uncomfortable watching the outpouring of emotion from the blonde haired woman, Jenny took a couple of steps until she was at The Doctor's side, "He planned that all along didn't he?" she said with a small voice.
"I expect so Jenny", the older Time Lady replied, her voice sounding hollow and empty. The Doctor glanced at the time machine which was slowly powering down. Orson was just another person that she had failed to save, another notch in her mental negative column. She added Michel and the permanently incapacitated Kat to that list and let out a deep sigh, "Maybe Clara was right", she muttered, "maybe I am a danger to the universe".
Jenny watched on helplessly as The Doctor wondered off towards the control room. Her shoulders were hunched and she had the shuffle of a broken woman, like the weight of the universe was bearing down on her. The staff of FSEC had been virtually eliminated, out of the original six only two were still alive and one of them was a spy. Unsure what to do next Jenny stood rooted to the spot and wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. They had gotten rid of the Time Shadows, technically they had won. So why did it feel like they had lost?
