Disclaimer: Same as the previous chapters.
Author's Note: I've taken certain liberties with the TARDIS, but it is alternate universe. And perhaps the TARDIS does have the power to do what I've described it as doing. Anyway, there's only one more chapter left. I'm also planning a few Doctor Who one-shots, having been inspired by the new specials. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
The Doctor raced around the TARDIS, checking certain controls and trying to think of a way out of this mess. If he knew the Daleks (and he knew them quite well), he would have next to no time to save Rose. He dared not tell Mickey what he was thinking.
He thought she was already dead.
Still, the fire in Mickey's eyes as he asked if there was anything he could do to help spurred the Doctor on. This young man was in love with her and he was willing to entrust both their lives to a strange man who offered hope. For a moment it amazed the Doctor, until he realized that he was feeling something like his old feelings towards humans and he immediately squashed the sentiment.
To Mickey, he said, "Be patient."
Mickey stood near the controls of the TARDIS and watched the Doctor at work.
"There has to be something, anything that can get rid of them," the Doctor murmured, checking the various screens and switches at the control panel. "I can't blow them up—I haven't got weapons. The sonic screwdriver doesn't work against them. By the time I get to Torchwood it'll be too late."
From the side, Mickey asked, "What's Torchwood?"
"Something you shouldn't know about," the Doctor replied, still moving quickly. "The Daleks are powerful. I can't fit them all in the TARDIS and blast them into space—then they'd still be alive! Not that the TARDIS works at the moment…"
"Then why are you trying to use it to save Rose, if it doesn't work?" Mickey asked, clenching his teeth in frustration.
The Doctor paused in his search long enough to send the other man a glare. "The TARDIS worked before!" he snapped. "It's the only thing I've got at the moment. If you have any better ideas, please enlighten me."
That kept Mickey's mouth shut.
The Doctor was silent as well as he paused at the main screen on the controls. He sighed and leaned forward, navigating through a few areas and trying to see what, if anything, could be done. He couldn't leave the planet and he couldn't kill the Daleks. So he could…
"Please, please," the Doctor whispered. "Just do something!"
A page different from any the Doctor had seen previously appeared on screen. There were many words, but only one phrase stood out in the Doctor's field of vision:
Open the Void.
"Oh…" the Doctor whispered in awe. "This…I didn't even know the TARDIS could do this."
"What?" Mickey asked, coming over to look.
"This could be…" the Doctor read on and paused, because quite suddenly the paragraphs in front of him were the most interesting thing in the world.
Before him lay the answer to his problems. The page stated that the TARDIS could do one of two things. First, it could open a rift into the Void. The Doctor knew what this meant—anything that had travelled through the void would get sucked into it and, once the Void was sealed off, would disappear forever. The Daleks had travelled through it, he knew that, because when he last met the Daleks they mentioned going through the Void to survive the Time War. He himself had never done it as there was nothing in the Void, and passing through the Void meant going into a parallel world, which something he had always been strongly advised against doing by other Time Lords.
Those other Time Lords no longer existed. The second option would give the TARDIS the power to travel through the Void into a parallel universe.
The TARDIS only had enough power for one of the two options. Another attempt would have to wait days, even weeks while the TARDIS recharged, if it survived the attempt.
It was untested. Risky. The TARDIS wasn't even working properly. If it could not travel, how could it open the Void?
The Doctor straightened abruptly. He had looked for an escape for so long and here was the greatest escape, right in front of him. He could go to a parallel universe where no one had ever heard of him. No one.
He would be a huge disappointment to the human race if he did this. Not only to them, but to the universe.
He would disappoint Rose and Mickey. Rose would die.
She's probably already dead.
"Doctor?"
The Doctor turned towards Mickey. Did he really care about these humans? He knew he shouldn't. He didn't want to. Yet something had compelled him to consider helping the humans again. It had to do with Rose more than Mickey, but Mickey had certainly helped.
"Rose is likely dead by now," he told the young man.
"I don't think so," Mickey said. Then, "What are you thinking? Are you thinking of not rescuing her?"
The Doctor held up a hand to silence him. "What if she's dead? Let's say Rose is dead right now, that there's no hope of saving her. Would you still have me try to get rid of the Daleks? Would it matter to you?"
"Of course it would," Mickey said. "Those things could destroy the world! You know how to get rid of them, so why aren't you doing it?"
The Doctor saw the raw honesty in Mickey's eyes and sighed. That strange feeling of amazement at the human race was starting to creep into his heart and this time he didn't stop it. He would need every bit of it to fuel his will-power if he was going to go through with his plan and get rid of his one chance for escape.
He might never get that chance again.
Vaguely, he remembered how disappointed Rose had seemed when he turned out to be different from her dreams. He had no idea what the dreams meant, or what they had showed her, but the mention of them made him wonder what kind of man he might have been.
Well, he thought, I suppose I'm about to find out.
Throwing a final glance Mickey's way, the Doctor began to program the TARDIS. As the controls fired up and the TARDIS began to shake he could hear Mickey shouting, but the young man's yells fell on deaf ears. The Doctor was completely absorbed in his task. He had no time to waste if there was even the slightest hope that Rose would live.
He gasped as it occurred to him that he wanted to her to live more than anything.
"Hopefully," the Doctor said as he jerked back a lever to complete the process, "your girlfriend won't suffer for her bravery in facing the Daleks."
Mickey's hopefulness was palpable. The TARDIS jerked wildly, sending both the Doctor and Mickey to the floor.
"Is it working?" Mickey yelled over the noise.
"Yes!"
They were jarred around for the better part of five minutes and neither dared move nor go outside. Sparks flew from the central controls and a miniature fire had sprung up near the Doctor's foot. Mickey looked alarmed but the Doctor was not, having seen such things happen before when the TARDIS was doing something particularly powerful.
"What's it doing?" Mickey asked.
"It's opening up a rift into the Void," the Doctor shouted. "That's the space between different universes. The Daleks have travelled in the Void so they'll get sucked in and then it'll close off."
Mickey nodded and then yelled, "There are other universes?"
"Of course! Some version of you is probably in quite a few of them."
While Mickey was absorbing this new information the TARDIS stopped moving and making any sort of noise and a strange, heavy silence fell over the area.
"They should be gone," the Doctor said. "The opening to the Void has closed."
"So what do we do now?"
The Doctor strode over to the door and swung it open. "We have a look, of course."
The walk to the park near Rose's house was long and completely silent. The Doctor had much on his mind. He wondered how long it would take the TARDIS to be functional again, if it did in fact decide to work and take him somewhere. He wondered at his willingness to help the humans. It had been so easy to revert back to his former ways that he wondered whether he was ever really meant to stay aloof in the first place. He wondered why it was his lot in life to suffer while trying to save others. He wondered why he couldn't be a normal Time Lord that didn't interfere.
He wondered if Rose Tyler was still alive.
His chest felt progressively tighter the closer they got to the site where the Daleks had landed. Mickey was leading, as the Doctor hadn't actually been there. He, too, seemed extremely nervous, almost to the point of being hesitant.
The Doctor was afraid of seeing a body.
As they came into the park they did come across a body. Mickey gasped, but the Doctor gripped his arm and bent down so as to see who it was. Straightening, he murmured, "It's not Rose."
Mickey breathed a sigh of relief and the Doctor turned around, knowing they weren't in the clear quite yet. All signs of the Daleks were gone, but they still hadn't found—
"Mickey? Mickey, is that you?"
Both men turned so fast that it was almost painful. Running towards them, blonde hair flying, was Rose Tyler, alive and whole and safe.
The Doctor's breath caught and Mickey ran to his girlfriend and embraced her, crying, "Rose! I'm so glad to see you! I wasn't sure if you…"
"No," Rose cried, "I'm alive! I-I can't believe it. I'm alive."
The two broke apart. Both had tears in their eyes. Rose raised hers to stare at the Doctor.
"You saved me," she whispered.
"It wasn't just you," the Doctor said, shrugging. "The whole world was at stake. You just made me aware."
"You said you would never help us," Rose insisted. "You didn't want to."
"I couldn't be responsible for your death."
"I know why you didn't want to save us, though," Rose said. "The Daleks showed me."
The Doctor stiffened. "What did they show you?"
"How…how the girl, your companion, betrayed you and let them kill you."
"Oh." The Doctor sighed.
"So, what now?" Mickey asked. He looked around and laughed. "This is strange. The world almost ended. You," he gestured to Rose, "almost died. What are we supposed to do?"
"I'm exhausted," Rose said. "We should just go to my mum's house and sleep and figure this out tomorrow."
The Doctor glanced up at the sky and started to back away. "You two have fun, then. I'll just be going…"
"Oh, no you don't," Rose said, grabbing the Doctor's arm and pulling him forward. "You saved my life! Now you're going to meet my mum!"
The Doctor reflected that he must be really tired, because he didn't even bother to argue.