Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Sorry, but it's the truth. :(
A/N: For those of you who are worried, the whump isn't over yet! *grins evilly* Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter, which were much appreciated, and I'd love to hear from you again when you finish reading!
Summary: Martha and the Doctor travel to 1559, where they meet up with alien pirates. These vicious pirates have only one goal in mind, which happens to involve the deaths of hundreds. Can the Doctor stop them, when he's not doing so well himself? DoctorWhump.
Chapter Nine
The chains securing Sir David's arms above his head finally snapped, and he staggered several steps as he tried to get his balance back. Steadying himself, he stood firm and turned to the queen. "Are you well, Your Majesty?" he asked with much concern.
"Of course I'm not, Sir David, don't be absurd," she snapped, grandly smoothing a tangle of hair back from her face. "We are being held captive by men from the stars, and our only source of help is from him." She gestured sharply towards the Doctor with one hand, frowning in a very unqueenly manner.
"Blimey, you're determined not to like me," the Doctor said, raising both eyebrows. He turned to Martha and James, the latter who was still staring at him with a slightly dazed expression. "All right, we've got to find a way out of the ship."
"Can't we just find the TARDIS and use it to return, er, Her Majesty and Sir David to their proper time?" Martha asked, blushing when she purposely didn't mention taking James back. This didn't escape the Doctor's notice, though he didn't comment.
"No time. We need to stop the Voyagers before they can get their paws on the Warp Diamond." The Doctor strode over to what looked to Martha like the control panel for the ship, and did something clever with his sonic screwdriver. Schematics of the entire ship popped up on a large screen, and the Doctor musingly touched a few keys as he intently studied the map.
"Warp Diamond? What are you on about?" Martha wanted to know, brow furrowing with confusion.
The Doctor made a slight sound of frustration, not turning round to face her. "A long time ago, the Time Lords created a gem that could be attached to a time warp device, and it could apparently bend reality around it, changing the universe to however the person who owned it wanted it to be changed. Never heard of it, myself. But Oohberăn swears up and down that the thing exists."
As though sensing Martha's look of puzzlement at the unfamiliar name, he quickly clarified. "Oohberăn. Lead lizard bloke of the Voyagers. Anyway, the Time Lords sent the Diamond back in time to keep it safe from our nasty little bunch of space pirates, locking the period of history against their very DNA signatures. Made Oohberăn and his mates pretty mad that they weren't going to be able to get their sought-after treasure, until they got the brilliant idea to assimilate human beings and temporarily change their DNA codings."
Martha's eyes widened as she finally understood what he meant. "Assimilation? That's what the Plasmavore was doing on the moon!" she realized, exchanging a glance with James. Her friend looked dazed and confused, blinking as he tried to absorb the Doctor's puzzling words. "All those human remains we found, James! The ones that the scouts were, um…" She swallowed hard before continuing. "The Voyagers were sucking them up into themselves!"
James frowned. "Miss Martha, this is insane," he said frankly.
"Right you are, Jamie boy!" the Doctor exclaimed brightly. "Ah-ha! Here we go! Molto bene!"
"What did you do?" Martha rushed to his side and peered down at the controls, though she had no idea what any of them meant. They were unbelievably alien, and naturally they were made of metal, just like everything else around them.
"I've opened a door down the corridor over there." The Doctor gestured with his sonic screwdriver in the general direction of the doorway that Martha and James had only just entered through minutes earlier. "Now we can get out of the ship and stop Oohberăn and his mates from destroying the universe and recreating it in their image. I tried to explain to him how boring that would be, but he didn't exactly listen. And since neither of us would look good as a lizard, what do you say we get out there and give them a piece of our minds?"
Martha, still thinking of the poor humans that had been assimilated, laughed nervously. "Just not literally, right? Like you did with the Plasmavore, letting her drink your blood? I don't much fancy getting turned into mush today, thanks."
"Nah, of course not. Why would we do a daft thing like that?" The Doctor paused, the expression that meant he was really thinking about something coming to his face. "Well, I say we wouldn't do something like that…"
"Doctor! I'm not going to let those aliens assimilate you!" Martha knew that CPR wouldn't repair the damage those lizard blokes were capable of doing to a body.
The Doctor gave her a hard look, glancing over at James before flipping his screwdriver once and slipping it back into his pocket. "Let's not go on about that right now, eh? Come on, Martha. Oh, and you too, Jamie boy." He started for the corridor, Martha on his heels and James rushing to catch up.
"Halt!" Queen Elizabeth suddenly shouted, her commanding voice ringing out behind them.
The Doctor halted, rolling his eyes heavenward, then turned back round to face her. "What now? You just interrupted me when I was walking out to save the human race. I hate it when people do that."
The queen ignored his words, more than likely saving them up in her memory for later. She was always looking for excuses to behead him, after all. "You cannot expect me to stay in this infernal place alone. You must immediately escort me back to safety," she demanded, planting both hands firmly on her hips.
"Her Majesty is correct," Sir David announced, nodding grimly.
"Blimey, you're both dimwitted," the Doctor said irritably. He wasn't in the best of moods, especially since he was still so weak from being knocked out. "Have you been listening to a word I've just said? No? We're in another time period, I can't just pop out the back door and return you to Buckingham Palace. And I'm a bit busy at the moment." He turned round on his heel again and strode out into the corridor.
Queen Elizabeth made a sound of rage, expression turning absolutely thunderous.
Martha shrugged apologetically at the queen and her guard, then followed the Time Lord. James hurried after her, still looking slightly dazed with the strange situation. "Sorry, James. This is probably a bit much for you, yeah?"
"I don't see how things can get much worse," he admitted as he stayed close to her side. "Giant lizards and savage beasts, as well as Her Majesty threatening execution. I've already experienced more than enough excitement and adventure for a lifetime."
Thinking of the fact that they were about to step outside into a different time than the one they had just left, Martha raised her eyebrows. "Um…right," she said, not bothering to confuse him even more than he already was. It was best just to let him see for himself.
"All right, here we go. This is the one," the Doctor said to no one in particular, turning his screwdriver on a blank expanse of wall. Martha waited for a few seconds, listening to the irritating buzzing noise, and was just about to ask him if he thought he might have a concussion, when the wall slid away to reveal an open doorway.
James muttered something unintelligible under his breath, sounding dazed.
Martha gripped the doorway and pushed past the Doctor, slowly stepping out of the ship. She spared its outer wall a momentary glance, seeing that it was absolutely massive, and made of shining metal, then turned her attention back to the situation at hand. She was standing in the middle of an open field, leafy trees lining its edges. Far in the distance, a stone castle sat solidly atop a hill. The sky above was unbelievably blue, full of white clouds and not a single trace of pollution.
James staggered through the opening. He turned in a slow circle and stared wordlessly at the huge field that didn't even come close to resembling the busy town he had left behind.
"Ha! Molto bene!" The Doctor grinned brightly, glancing around as he followed Martha and tucked his sonic screwdriver away again. "The Middle Ages; around the seventh century, I'd say. Brilliant, this is. One of my favorite–" He broke off and stumbled, clutching his side while bending over and trying to breathe normally.
Martha's eyes widened, and she momentarily forgot where they were. "Doctor? Doctor, are you alright?" she cried, rushing over to him.
"Fine," he managed to grunt through gritted teeth, wincing as he slowly straightened back up. "Just feeling a bit, you know, blah. Had a giant pipe fall on me and all." It was painfully obvious that he was only trying to keep her from worrying about him. The grimace twisting his boyish features thoroughly explained how he was really feeling.
"You're not fine," she said severely, briefly toying with the idea of whacking him upside the head for his stupidity, but worrying that it might cause him to pass out. "I think you should go back inside and try to find the TARDIS. James and I will take care of stopping these Voyagers, yeah? All we need to do is get to the Warp Diamond before they do, then we can leave."
"It's too dangerous, Martha," the Doctor told her, grimace slipping off his face like it had never even been there. "Besides, I am fine. Don't forget that I'm the Doctor, and I probably know when I'm not feeling well enough to stop aliens from destroying the planet. And now isn't one of those times," he added quickly, almost as though he were trying to convince himself.
Martha planted both hands on her hips, and the Doctor was alarmingly reminded of Francine Jones. "Fine, then. If you pass out, then it's your own bloody fault!" she said angrily.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, like this was the biggest inconvenience he had ever experienced. "Blimey. Alright, if we're done with all the dramatics, ready to go find the Warp Diamond before the Voyagers do?"
"What on God's green Earth…? Where are we?" Queen Elizabeth had somehow come out of the spaceship without any of them noticing, faithful Sir David right on her heels. She stared incredulously at the spaceship she had just exited, then at her new surroundings. "I demand that you return me to England immediately!"
The Doctor awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "We are in England, Your Majesty," he said with exaggerated respect. "Just…not exactly the right time period. Sorry."
"Cease such nonsense and take us back immediately!" Sir David looked like he wanted to draw his sword and execute the Doctor on the spot, then realized that the Voyagers had taken it.
"As soon as we're done saving the entire reality, if that's all right with you," the Doctor muttered insolently, rubbing his side when he didn't think that Martha was looking. He then turned his back on them and looked towards Martha and James. "Okay, I set the sonic screwdriver to pick up the Warp Diamond's energy traces while I was locating the door out of there. Very good at multitasking, that's me." As he talked, the Doctor pulled out the said screwdriver and twisted its end to the right. He then held it towards the distant castle that sat atop the hill. "Ah-ha! There we go! Brilliant."
"So I'm assuming it's going to be hidden in town somewhere?" Martha guessed, letting her arms fall back to her sides.
"Right you are. You're a star, Martha Jones." The Doctor grinned at her, then started off across the field at a brisk walk. "Come on, then!" he called nonchalantly after his shoulder.
"I demand that you halt immediately!" The queen gathered up her skirts and raced off after the Doctor. Sir David jogged along beside her, looking murderous. "I want an explanation as to what's happening, and I want it now!"
"Only if you can keep up, Your Majesty! Haven't got time to stand round and talk at the moment!" he called cheekily back to her.
Martha started following them at a slower pace, and James walked beside her. She shot him a look from the corner of her eye, biting her lip. "How're you doing, James?" she asked with barely suppressed concern. That would be just what she needed, James having a panic attack and collapsing to the ground while she and the Doctor were trying to talk to the Voyagers.
James smiled shyly at her. "This is brilliant, Miss Martha. Mad, but brilliant."
Martha grinned with pride, feeling like he was her protégé; much like she was to the Doctor. "I know. It took me a bit to get used to all this, but it's amazing. I wouldn't trade it for anything."
He hesitated. "Is it true…what he said? Your friend, I mean. About…different time periods?"
"Yes, it's true," she answered gently. "That means we're in the past. Before either of us have even been born."
James looked awed. "I still don't understand how any of this is possible, but it's still brilliant," he told her grimly.
Martha laughed. "Yeah, I know. I bet you never thought you'd ever be accompanying the queen of England in the past, tracking down alien creatures."
"No, Miss Martha, I never did." He paused for a few seconds, apparently thinking. "What you've told me about this being the past…" he said carefully. "Does that mean you could travel into the future, see things that haven't even happened yet?" When she nodded her consent, he continued, "Were you born in the future, Miss Martha? If you don't mind me asking." He blushed darkly.
"Yes, James. I was born in 1984." She smiled when she saw his dazed expression, glancing momentarily ahead to make sure that they were keeping up with the Doctor.
"19…84? That's…I can't…amazing," he stuttered, shaking his head dizzily.
"You'll get used to it. After you've traveled in the TARDIS for a bit." Martha grinned at him, then reached out and took his hand. "Come on; let's catch up with the Doctor. The queen is more than likely giving him an earful, and he'll probably need our help."
She and James jogged forward to catch up.
Please review! :D And if it's not too much trouble, could you check out a couple new one shots of mine in your spare time? They're called Before the Song Ends and A New Man. Neither of them have many new reviews yet, and I would love to hear from all of you!
