The Starwhale

"Why all the glasses?" the Doctor asked the Queen once he, Romana, Amy, Rory and Mandy had followed her back to her State Apartment. Doing it once to discover that Starship UK did not have an Engine, he could understand...but to do it over and over?

"To remind me every single day that my Government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what," Liz 10 replied.

"So...a Queen who acts like a Gunslinger and goes undercover to investigate her own Kingdom?" Romana surmised. The Time Lady also couldn't help but notice another niggle about the Queen – by rewinding the image with her Temporal sense, she found that there was almost no change going back 200 years. What was going on?

"Secrets are being kept from me," Liz answered. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this – my entire reign." A lot longer than that, Your Majesty, Romana thought privately. "And you've achieved more in one afternoon!" She gestured to the Time Lords and their two companions.

"So how old were you when you came to the Throne?" the Doctor questioned her.

"Forty. Why?" Liz asked them, a little bewildered.

"So she's fifty?" Rory asked.

"No way!" Amy laughed.

"Yeah, they slowed my body clock," the Queen replied. "Keeps me looking like the stamps."

"And you always wear a porcelain mask in public?" Romana asked her.

"Undercover's not easy when you're me, or a President of an entire planet," Liz inclined her head to the Time Lady. "The autographs...the bunting..."

"Air-balanced porcelain," the elder Time Lord cut in. "Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face."

"Yeah? So what?"

"Oh, Liz...so everything..."

Before anyone could contribute further to the topic of discussion, they were interrupted by a group of hooded men entering the room.

"What are you doing? How dare you come in here?" the Queen demanded of them.

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK," the man told her. "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" was the reply – the result of which was for the man's head to turn in a clockwork manner...to reveal the face of a Scowler.

"They're Smilers?" Rory asked the pair of Time Lords with a whisper.

"I think they're Scowlers right now, Rory," Romana told him. "Half-Scowler..."

"…Half-Human," the Doctor completed the sentence.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your Queen," Liz snapped furiously. "On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, Ma'am," the Scowler supplied.

"I am the highest authority," the Queen growled. Romana couldn't help but shake her head imperceptibly. Authority could be usurped...and the Time Lady's authority as President of Gallifrey had been. The Time Lords had once gone behind her back to resurrect the Master, in spite of the fact that he had once tried to destroy Gallifrey. After he ran away, they tried resurrecting someone far worse...a resurrection that left a trail of horrific destruction across the Universe...only halted by the intervention of the Doctor's wartime incarnation.

"Yes, Ma'am – you will go now, Ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am," the Scowler answered. So saying, Liz, Mandy, Amy, Rory, Romana and the Doctor were herded out of the State Apartment...

*DW* the Dungeon... *DW*

...And led to a grimy Dungeon in the Tower of London...one outfitted with Electrodes sending bolts of energy into brain tissue. The thought of it made Romana sick to the very core.

"Doctor, Romana, where are we?" Amy asked them, no small deal of trepidation in her voice. The place looks like a Torture Chamber, she thought grimly.

"The Lowest Deck of Starship UK," Romana replied tautly. Inwardly she was absolutely enraged at the sight before her. "The Dungeon." The Doctor did not fail to notice the pure, unbridled contempt broadcasting from her mind. Just then, a man stepped forward to greet the Queen of Starship UK.

"Ma'am," he said, bowing humbly.

"Hawthorne!" Liz gasped, horrified. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do!" The now-identified Hawthorne did not reply.

"There're children down here?" the Doctor asked him. "What's that all about?"

"Protesters and Citizens of limited value are fed to the beast," Hawthorne told the group. "For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're lucky."

The Time Lady amongst them would have made a comment under the circumstances of her past adventures with the Doctor. But right now, she didn't trust herself to speak – the rage, contempt and heartsbreak inside her was almost uncontrollable.

"Yeah, look at us!" the Doctor cried nonchalantly. "Torture Chamber of the Tower of London – lucky, lucky, lucky. Except...it's not a Torture Chamber, is it? Well...except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." Everyone took a glance at the Electrodes.

"What's that?" Liz asked, dread in her voice.

"Like I said...it depends on your angle," the Doctor began explaining – his fiancé couldn't trust herself to join in this time. "It's either the exposed pain centre of Big Fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly..."

"Or?"

"Or it's the Gas Pedal, the Accelerator...Starship UK's Go Faster Button," he finished. By this time, he could feel Romana reining in her emotions just enough to speak.

"Think about it," she spoke, her voice devoid of emotion. "The Spaceship that could never fly? No vibration on Deck?"

"This poor, trapped, terrified creature?" her fiancé continued. "It's not infesting you...it's not invading...it's what you have instead of an Engine. And this place," he gestured to the Dungeon surrounding him, "down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day...just to keep it moving." He turned to Romana, who promptly took up the slack.

"Creatures the size of a Star Nation can communicate on Frequencies above the range of Human hearing," she explained, extending her Sonic Screwdriver, "and this is the sound no-one should want or have to hear," and activated it. At once, agonised screaming filled the room, making everyone clutch their ears in terrible pain.

"Romana, stop!" Rory shouted with hands clutching his ears. She did so, managing to acknowledge that this was not his sin. She was still angry with Amy, however – she had likely been shown this and pressed a Forget Button. The pieces of the Jigsaw were falling into place.

"Who did this?" Liz 10 demanded.

"We act on instructions from the highest authority," Hawthorne told her.

"I am the highest authority," Liz reminded him vehemently. "The creature will be released...now." None of the men made a move to obey her orders. "I said now!" There was still no sign of movement.

And then it hit home for Romana. Liz 10 had ordered them to trap the creature 200 years ago...and then pressed the Forget Button – because she couldn't live with the sin. A small part of her argued that at least she was trying to get them to release the poor creature...unlike Lady Adrasta of Chloris, who had tried to blackmail Romana into ordering K-9 Mark II to kill the Tythonian Ambassador, Erato, once she had discovered the uses of the TARDIS. But that doubt was crushed by the dominant rage.

It doesn't matter...actions speak louder than words, and she chose the Forget Button, she thought bitterly. The Doctor once told Romana that he thought Sarah Jane Smith was the Best of Humanity...but these people put Humanity to shame.

"Is anyone listening to me?!" Liz snapped.

"Liz..." the Doctor spoke up at this point. The Queen turned to face him. "Your mask..."

"What about my mask?" she demanded in frustration.

"Look at it," he told her. "It's old...at least 200 years old, I'd say."

"It is 200 years old, Doctor," corrected Romana. "200 years precisely. An antique made 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to her face. They've slowed your body clock a lot more than you thought they had, Liz. You're closer to my age – if my age is actually 300." The Time Lady shrugged. She had been a participant of the Time War for longer than she could remember – for all she knew she could be closer to 1000. She had hoped to leave all the pain and rage the War had inflicted upon her behind...but she doubted her soul would ever be free. "And before you say that it's been ten years...think long and hard. What device on Starship UK would make you forget?" This question was gestured more at the Time Lords' companions than anyone else.

"A Forget Button!" Rory sprang to it. "She pressed the Forget Button twenty times in 200 years..." he trailed off. The Doctor led Liz to a Console...upon which lay two buttons – one marked 'Forget', the other, 'Abdicate'. The Queen could only look on in horror before she turned to Hawthorne.

"What have you done?"

"Only what you have ordered," he replied, his tone resigned. "We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." Once he had said this, the Screen lit up to show a recording of Liz 10. By now, Romana had come around to watch.

"If you are watching this..." she began, before laughing hollowly, knowing how ridiculous that sounded. "If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower of London." The Screen then showed a Whale-esque creature – a Starwhale, as Romana recognised from her Xenobiology classes. "The creature you are looking at...is called a Starwhale. Once, there were hundreds of them." The Time Lady watching this felt a tear slide at the implication of the recording's words. "They lived in the depths of Space and, according to legend, guided the early Space Travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind...and what we have done to it breaks my heart." It had broken both of Romana's as well – she and the Doctor had condemned their own race to Hell so that other races, Humanity included, might live on...and this was what they did with that life?! "The Earth was burning...our Sun had turned on us, and every other Nation had fled to the Skies. Our children screamed as the Skies grew hotter...and then it came, like a miracle…the Last of the Starwhales. We trapped it...we built our Ship around it...and we rode on its back to safety." The Liz 10 on the recording paused, knowing her next words would reveal the enormity of the decision before the real Liz. "If you wish our voyage to continue...then you must press the Forget Button. Be again the Heart of the Nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Starwhale will be released...and our Ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

The recording ended, leaving everyone to stare in blank shock. Now Romana was absolutely seething with rage...and she could feel exactly the same thing from the Doctor.

"Oh...my God," Rory could only say, horrified at the thought of this being part of Humanity's future. "Is this what we become? Is this what we still are?" The second question was an amendment of the first – he knew that the Era he was from was fraught with brutalities and savageries.

"I voted for this!" Amy gasped, absolutely horrified at the thought of what she must have done. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew that if we stayed here, we'd be faced with an impossible choice; Humanity or the alien," the Doctor told her, every effort being made to rein in his contempt. "You took it upon yourself to save us from that." Finally, his control was beginning to break. "That was wrong – you don't ever decide what we need to know!"

Romana couldn't bring herself to be truly angry with Amy anymore – this whole setup on Starship UK had not been her sin to apologise for. But she was disappointed – their travelling companion should not have decided what was important for them to know. The Time Lady therefore had an idea to persuade the Doctor to put her on Probation...so if she bungled anything up again, she would be sent back.

Agreed, the Doctor cut into her thoughts telepathically, but only because you asked that of me. His fiancé managed a weak, near-imperceptible smile.

"I don't even remember doing it!" Amy protested.

"Neither did Liz every time she pressed the Forget Button, Amy," Romana told her. "You're not painting a good picture for yourself." The disappointment in the Time Lady's voice was far more effective than shouting – she could tell that the former Kissogram was listening.

"I'm sorry!" Amy cried, tears now in her eyes. How could I have bungled it so badly?! She thought, well and truly ashamed of herself.

"Actions speak louder than words," Romana coldly snapped. "This," she gestured to the room around them, "isn't your sin...but pressing that Forget Button in the Voting Booth is."

"You're on Probation," the Doctor informed her, his voice even colder than Romana's. "And only because she asked me not to send you home." He made his way to the Electrodes.

"And the only reason I did that was because I doubt Rory would want to continue travelling if you weren't doing the same," the Time Lady told her. "I know you're only Human…but. Don't. Blow it. And count yourself lucky – until recently, the Doctor was a no-second-chances man." Amy nodded, taking in every single word. She then turned her attention to the Doctor.

"What's he going to do?" she asked Romana, her voice frantic. But it was the Doctor who gave the answer...and he was none too pleased about it.

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive Electrical charge through the Starwhale's brain. Should knock out its higher functions, and leave it a vegetable. The Ship will still fly, but the Whale won't feel it."

"You're gonna kill it?!" Rory could only say, shocked by the implication of the enormity of such a course of action. As a Trainee Doctor, he'd had to learn about the Hippocratic Oath...and if the Time Lord had chosen his name for the reason Rory thought he had...he was about to break his Hippocratic Oath. If this was what travel with these two was always like, he wasn't sure he wanted to continue.

"Three options, Rory," the Doctor replied, wracked with growing frustration and rage. "One – I let the Starwhale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two – I kill everyone on this Ship. Three – I murder a beautiful, innocent creature, as painlessly as I can...and then I find a new name for myself, because I won't be the Doctor anymore."

"Mercy-killing..."

"Exactly!"

"There must be something we can do, some other way," Liz spoke up again by this point. But this was the absolute worst thing to say.

"For Heaven's sake just…SHUT…UP!" Romana screamed furiously at the Queen, along with everyone in her employ. "SHUT YOUR MOUTHS AND KEEP THEM SHUT…YOU STUPID APES! YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO US TODAY!" She broke down into tears as she leant against a pillar and slumped to the floor. Why couldn't she just leave the rage and pain behind? Had the Time War truly turned her – in some regards, she was still a child when she'd become Lady President of Gallifrey – into a raging creature, shouting and screaming at the Universe for what she thought were its many unacceptable, unforgivable outrages?

The Doctor found himself desperately wanting to help her. He wanted to tell her that she wasn't alone in what she'd just done...that there had been a time in his life when he'd done more or less the same thing. Back when this was happening to him, there had been no one who could truly understand. Romana at least had him...and already, they were helping each other move on. But he couldn't do that right now – he had to put the Starwhale out of its misery...so he fixed a stare on the one companion of theirs who had not bungled anything up thus far – Rory. The Time Lord gave him a nod...and the Nurse perceived it correctly, walking over to Romana to give her a shoulder to cry on...

"I'm sorry, Rory," she whispered, tears flowing. "I just got so angry..."

"Don't worry about it," Rory waved her off. "If this is what Humanity does, I'm not even sure being Human is all it's cracked up to be..."

*DW* later... *DW*

By now, the Doctor was preparing to induce the Electric charge that would render the Starwhale brain-dead. While that was happening, children were walking in.

"Timmy!" Mandy Tanner called over to one of them, evidently recognising the now-identified Timmy. "You made it, you're OK!" But this was merely faced with a blank expression from Timmy. "It's me, Mandy." A brief moment later, one of the Starwhale's tentacles burst through the grating...and tapped her on the shoulder. Mandy turned...and stroked it. This behaviour baffled Romana...but the next actions of Amelia Pond would prove to be crucial...

"Doctor, stop!" she called over to him. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" She grabbed Liz 10's hand and brought it over to the Console. Romana's mind was fraught with horror. She might despise the people in Liz 10's employ for what they did to the Starwhale, but the other Humans on the Ship shouldn't have to die for their crimes! "Sorry, Your Majesty...I'm going to need a hand."

"NOOO!" screamed the Doctor and Romana simultaneously. But too late – Amy slammed Liz's hand onto the Abdicate Button. A mere moment later, there was a bellowing roar – the Starwhale had been relieved of its agony. But Starship UK did not disintegrate as expected...but simply jolted and jostled.

"Amy, what have you done?" the older Time Lord demanded.

"Nothing at all – am I right?" Amy replied, her questioned directed at Hawthorne and the Winders.

"We've increased speed!" Hawthorne cried, bewildered by this turn of events.

"Well, you've stopped torturing the Pilot…gotta help," Amy rhetorically answered.

"It's still here!" Liz gasped in shock. "I don't understand..."

"The Starwhale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago," the Kissogram explained to everyone present. "It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it – that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry." Her gaze turned to the two Time Lords present, especially the Doctor – if listening well to their conversations had told her anything, the Doctor was the elder Time Lord. "What if you were really old...and really kind...and alone? Your whole race dead? No future? What couldn't you do then? If you were that old...and that kind...and the very last of your kind...you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

Romana was ashamed. In her rage, she had pretty much branded every Human in the Dungeon as a stupid ape...and Amy had just taken the initiative and shattered all of that. The Time Lady found that the rage she had held none too long ago was fading into regret...

*DW* an Observation Deck... *DW*

How could we have been so foolish as to overlook all of those details? Romana asked her fiancé as they stargazed.

We were angry, the Doctor replied. Simple as that – anger can get in the way of our perceptions at times. Cold anger you can use – but hot anger uses you. Just then, Amy and Rory came up to stand beside them.

"We've got news from Her Majesty," Rory told them. "Amy?"

"She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK," she informed the Time Lords with a smile. She handed them the porcelain mask Liz 10 had worn.

"Amy..." the Doctor sighed. "You could have killed everyone on this Ship."

"You could have killed a Starwhale," Amy countered.

"And you saved it," the elder Time Lord conceded. "I know, I know..."

"But while we're glad that you saved everyone, Amy..." Romana began, "...the fact remains that you couldn't have known how it would react. Until recently, there was another of our kind still alive...and he was a psychotic criminal mastermind."

"But a psychotic person wouldn't be able to work with children very well," Rory pointed up in Amy's defence. "They'd have a hard time faking it. And sure...maybe it could have gone mad. But to still be able to save children...after 200 years of non-stop torture?"

"Point taken, Rory," she conceded – she couldn't argue with that logic. "Shall we take Amy off Probation, Doctor?"

"Can't argue with that," the Doctor grinned a grin that could rival that of his 4th incarnation. Amy pulled him into an embrace.

"Hey," she whispered.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Gotcha!" They both started laughing.

Romana found herself smirking. Sure, Amy had made the mistake of withholding crucial information from them...but she'd quickly cleaned up her mistake, and the mistakes made by Liz 10 and the Winders and Smilers. She turned to Rory, who was managing a weak smile.

"Don't worry, Rory," she told him. "You've got your partner, I've got mine. Amy turned away when the Doctor was changing in that Hospital, remember?" His smile became a bit more pronounced. Her mind went back to the moments when she had been heartsbroken at finding out what had happened to the Starwhale...and then to the moments on the Vinvocci Ship with Wilfred Mott.

I would have been proud if he'd been my dad, you know, the Doctor told her, evidently having picked up on her thoughts. I still would be...

"I'd be proud, you know," Romana told both Humans.

"Of what?" Rory asked.

"If the two of you were my parents," she replied, smiling as a tear of relieved happiness trailed down her left cheek. She pulled them both into a tight hug and beckoned the Doctor to join them. The older Time Lord did so. "Gotcha!" she whispered to all of them – at which they began to burst out laughing in relief and euphoria...

*DW* the Marketplace... *DW*

All in all, this wasn't a bad first trip for Amy and Rory...at least as far as proving that they were up to the job of being a member of the TARDIS Crew was concerned. They had solved the mystery...and everybody had lived. It was no small consolation that there were such bright spots in Time and Space...and it was an even greater consolation that the Doctor seemed to be part of at least half of them.

"Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy asked the pair of Time Lords. "Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For every waking – and sleeping – moment," Romana replied. "Who knows? For all we know, there could be a novel about what happened here today...if Elizabeth X feels up to it."

"Guys...can I ask something?" Rory piped up. They all turned their heads to him. "When we arrived...the Doctor said we never interfere...and Romana clearly didn't believe him. Why?"

"Rory...have you ever run away or held back from something because you were scared...or not ready...or just because?"

"Yeah," Rory replied uncertainly, thinking back to the times when he'd held back from asking Amy out. He'd only been able to once Mels had brought it to light. "Why? Have you?"

"He has indeed, Rory," Romana answered for her fiancé. "A long time ago. And so have I..." The Time Lady thought back to her last moments with the 4th Doctor...she had been terrified of going back to Gallifrey, so she'd chosen to remain in an alternate Universe.

"What happened?" Rory asked them.

"You're looking at it," Romana gestured to herself and the Doctor. Before anyone could say anything more on the matter – if anyone had been planning to do so – there was the sound of the TARDIS Phone ringing from within. "Come on – let's go." So saying, everyone headed into the TARDIS, with the pair of Time Lords making for the Console.

"People phone you?" Amy asked them, moving to follow them with Rory.

"It does look like a Phone Box, Amy," Rory merely stated, shrugging his shoulders. "It may as well act like one."

"Shall we answer it, then? 'Cos it looks like the Doctor and Romana are a little busy." He nodded, watching Amy take up the Phone. "Hello?" she asked. A few moments passed before she spoke again. "Sorry, who?" More silence. "No seriously, who?" Yet more silence passed...then Amy spoke to the other TARDIS Occupants. "Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister – you two get about, don't you?"

"He does, Amy – he's been travelling a lot longer than I have," Romana told her. "Which Prime Minister?" Amy passed on the question to the currently unidentified Prime Minister on the Phone. A few moments later, she got a reply.

"The British one."

"Which British one?" the Doctor asked her. This question too was forwarded to the British Prime Minister. The reply that came was a shock to everyone...though it was more of a surprise than a shock for the Doctor.

"Winston Churchill for you," Amy told him, passing the Phone over to the elder Time Lord.

"Sorry...did you say...Winston Churchill?" Rory asked her. "As in…the Winston Churchill?" But everyone was focused on the Doctor's conversation with Churchill.

"Hello, dear! What's up?" he asked brightly. The reply, however, was very grave – and Romana could tell this using telepathy to experience what was going on in her fiancé's mind.

"Tricky situation, Doctor," Churchill informed him. "Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you."

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister – we're on our way." So saying, the Doctor hung up the Phone and activated the Dematerialisation Circuit, setting the Space-time Co-ordinates for Earth, the United Kingdom, London...the Second World War, 1941 AD...

*DW*

In bed above, we're deep asleep...while greater love lies further deep. This dream must end; this world must know...we all depend on the Beast Below...


A/N: Hello, viewers & reviewers. Just thought I'd slip in a friendly author's note to say hi...and to say that I hope you enjoyed reading. I'm gonna be honest - I am REALLY looking forward to writing the next instalment in this fic. But like I said; hope you enjoyed THIS chapter...and have a great Summer! Much appreciation to anyone who leaves a review...but for those who don't review by default, merely reading it is fine, too. :)