Fear Before Courage
Here's the final chapter. The Doctor's first conversation with Rosita references a previous story of mine (A Shadow Coming). However, that's the only reference to the story and it's inconsequential, so nothing will be lost by not reading A Shadow Coming.
Chapter 10: Welcome to Atlantis
The Doctor, Lucas, Amy, and Rory visited Victorian London in the spring at Lucas' request. His paternal grandmother was fond of the period and was constantly talking about it whenever Lucas and Liam visited.
The Doctor and Lucas walked around together, giving Rory and Amy some personal time.
"Doctor," they heard someone call. It was Rosita. "You must love this place."
The Doctor smiled. "Lucas here wanted to visit. Lucas, this is Rosita."
"Nice to meet you, Rosita. The Doctor's told me a little about your last trip together."
"I wish my mood wasn't so grim after Revis was defeated. I should have taken you to more places. Better places." The Doctor looked at Rosita intently. "Interested?"
The Doctor knew from Rosita's facial expression that she wasn't going to refuse.
…
The Doctor and his four companions visited the memorials on Poverss dedicated to the agate monarchs, Perrin Capital University on Hygert where a troupe of dancers used their shadows for show, the singing waterfalls that the Doctor had shown Martha before on Chebott, the Yellow Museum in Lagaria which housed the ruby statues by the Lattler Giants, and a public zoo in Jetchma in which butterflies from Earth were kept and evolved into a different form. Next, the group arrived in an enclosed space. They heard water outside.
"We're on a ship on Earth, in the past," the Doctor realized.
Amy looked at Rory.
"I'll try not to die this time," Rory said.
"We're not moving," the Doctor said. He ascended to the deck, with his companions following him.
"It looks like everyone's over there," Lucas pointed out.
The group saw two dozen Europeans conversing with humanoid aliens. The aliens had long silver hair and wore robes adorned with complicated designs. Standing with them were humans with darker skin, simpler clothes, and long black hair.
"What year is this, Doctor?" Rosita finally asked.
"Based on . . . everything? I'm guessing 1,581 BC and this is Atlantis; or rather, it will be called Atlantis. Right now, everyone calls it Apchel."
"You told me about Atlantis," Lucas commented. "You told me about Kronos and the Master on Thera."
"That's another place. By the time Plato wrote about Atlantis, the myths about Thera and Apchel had merged."
By then, the Doctor and his companions were on the beach and approaching the group already there.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. This is Lucas, Rosita, Rory, and Amy."
"Are you with Nikanor?"
"No, we came from somewhere else."
"I am Captain Alketas. What are you doing here?"
"We're just traveling. Our ship was damaged and we barely made it ashore."
"You are all dry," Alketas noted.
"We've been lying around for a while to recover. So . . . you're expecting Nikanor? Where's he coming from?"
"Athenae. My men have set up a place to rest while we are here. We can give you refuge. Where are you from?"
"Maryland."
"I don't know that place."
"It's very small, not far from Parnassus."
"Then you may set home with us tomorrow. However, you must gather some food and water for yourselves to reduce the burden to us."
"We can do that," the Doctor responded. "As a matter of fact, we can do that right now. Lucas, stay and . . . do whatever."
Lucas nodded, knowing that the Doctor wanted a set of eyes on what's going on.
The Doctor, Amy, Rosita, and Rory walked around a forest.
"More aliens in our past, Doctor?" Rory said.
"Yeah. We'll see what they're up to."
"What are they?" asked Rosita.
"I don't know."
The four wandered around trying to locate any belongings of the aliens to help the Doctor learn more. Amy and Rosita suddenly stopped moving and stared forward. Rory, noticing, stopped in concern and then saw two aliens. He stood still as a precaution. The Doctor also witnessed the change and the aliens. One had a green sash around his left arm.
"You're using mind control to stop their movements," the Doctor commented loudly. He stepped back quickly and was soon behind his companions, looking like he was retreating.
"That is perceptive of you," an alien answered. "You are not human."
"No. What species are you?"
"We are Mulldens. We have not heard of Maryland before. Your planet?"
"Yes," the Doctor answered. "What are you doing here?"
The Mulldens did not answer.
"I can help."
The Mulldens still did not answer.
"Your mind control is strong?"
"Yes," a Mullden replied.
"It must involve some effort. Perhaps all it takes to stop it is a blow to your heads."
The Mulldens pulled out weapons. "You will not have that opportunity."
"No, but maybe a human whose brainwaves are different from other humans might, if you don't take that into account."
The Mulldens didn't know what was happening when Rory knocked them both down with a couple swings of a heavy stick.
Rory exhaled in exasperation. "A partial ghost is one thing, Doctor . . . " Rory began until he saw Amy wavering. He ran over to her. "Easy, Amy."
"Doctor, what do you think they're doing here?" Rory asked.
"I don't know yet," the Doctor responded while checking the Mulldens.
Back on the beach, the Mulldens and the humans in their company had separated from the European visitors. Lucas stayed with the visitors and helped them load boxes into the ship.
"You're traders?" Lucas asked Alketas.
"Yes. We buy our goods in Athenae and then come here. We sell most of our new goods in Athenae before returning home."
"Does Nikanor do the same thing as you?"
"Yes, but he lives in Athenae."
Lucas saw Rosita signaling to him. "Excuse me," he said before running into the forest. He rejoined the Doctor, Amy, and Rory.
"Won't they be looking for these two?" Amy was asking.
"We'll try to finish before then."
"What's going on?" Lucas asked.
"Whatever those Mulldens are up to, it's not good," the Doctor answered. "They have mind control, but they can't take on everyone from that ship and the humans here."
"You think the people here are already under their control?" Rosita asked.
"I know it, based on the way they were standing there. The Mulldens can't take control of the shipmates, otherwise they would have already. Based on your and Amy's experience, they shouldn't have been able to take control of all the residents here. They must have something that amplifies their power to control one group of people."
"Lucas, have you become friendly with anyone from the ship?" the Doctor asked.
"Yeah, Alketas."
"Good. Lucas and Rosita, you two go back to the visitors and tell them what's happening. We'll need their help. Stay hidden from the Mulldens. Amy, Rory, and I will find the amplification device."
"Can I have your psychic paper?" Lucas asked.
The Doctor, Amy, and Rory attempted to backtrack the two Mulldens' path, hoping to find something useful. They eventually found a ship. Two Mulldens stood near it.
"Rory, the last two didn't know that their mind control didn't work on you."
"I understand, Doctor," Rory said before heading towards the two Mulldens. As soon as the Mulldens saw him, Rory stopped, then suddenly took steps to his right before stopping again. Noticing a metallic rod on the ground, Rory fell, making sure it was within reach. As expected, the Mulldens walked over to Rory, thinking there was something wrong. They were surprised when Rory leapt up with the rod in his hands and starting attacking the two. The Doctor and Amy joined the fray and the two Mulldens were soon immobilized. The Doctor ran into the ship and checked the controls.
Meanwhile, Lucas and Rosita noticed a Mullden on the beach and snuck around it to board Alketas' ship.
"Alketas, how many of your people are off the ship?" Lucas asked.
"Only a few."
"Okay. The Doctor lied about who we are," Lucas said holding up the psychic paper. "We were sent to investigate the transactions here. There is suspicion that the goods taken back to Athenae have intentionally been contaminated with a disease."
"We have heard no reports of illness," Alketas countered.
"Only a few people in Athenae were sick when we left, but many will become sick soon and die. The disease acts slowly, that is why it took time to identify the traders as the source. The ones with long silver hair are responsible. We cannot permit them to continue."
"What should we do?"
"You should gather your men and prepare to fight for our home."
Rosita saw something in the horizon. "And get them on our side," she added.
Alketas saw what Rosita noticed. "Nikanor has arrived."
Back at the Mullden ship, Rory was standing guard.
"The mind control amplifier isn't here," the Doctor said. "I can still manipulate it. These ships are connected." The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the ship, resulting in numerous sparks.
"Doctor?" Rory cried from outside.
"It's all right, Rory. It worked. Their mind control capabilities are limited now."
"But their weapons aren't," Rory said.
"I know that, Rory." The Doctor then realized the implication of Rory's statement. He quickly went outside and saw nine Mulldens pointing their weapons. Two Mulldens advanced and pulled out the Doctor and Amy.
"Who are you?" a Mullden asked.
"We're representatives of the Corydaan government. We have been sent to evaluate this planet to update our records and to initiate contact with all sentient life forms."
"Why have you meddled with our technology?"
"Your mind control was interfering with our goals."
"And your presence is interfering with ours," the Mullden said.
"We'll just be on our way, then."
"I will not permit that."
"We need to get back to the emperor's son."
"The other boy?"
"Yes."
"We'll all go there."
"Other?" Rory questioned.
"Lucas is older than you."
Back on the beach, Nikanor and his men were unloading their ship while Rosita and Alketas pretended to help. In actuality, they were discussing the problem with the Mulldens. Meanwhile, Lucas opened the boxes already loaded onto Alketas' ship to examine the contents but found nothing suspicious. Four Mulldens were on the beach.
Eventually, Lucas and Rosita had all the traders on their side.
"Paaghol," a Mullden said to another. "We have lost contact with Eurack and Golpeine."
"Was one wearing a green sash on his arm?" Rosita asked.
"That was Eurack," Paaghol responded.
"I saw them lying down in the forest there. Follow me," Rosita said.
Rosita led the two toward the forest. A group of traders attacked them from behind, drawing the attention of the other two Mulldens. Those two ran towards the commotion, only to be attacked from behind as well.
At that time, however, the rest of the Mulldens appeared with the native residents, the Doctor, Rory, and Amy. Without prompting, the traders attacked. Able to escape in the process, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to inhibit the Mullden's weapons to an extent. However, several traders still fell.
Amy and Rory moved away from the fight and saw the native residents.
"You have full control now, don't you?" Amy said. "You can help us!"
The native residents did not move. Rory and Amy then realized that they had not been doing much at all since they first saw them. They had merely walked around.
"Maybe they've been under control for too long," Rory hypothesized.
Eventually, the traders defeated the Mulldens and the Doctor investigated the boxes that Lucas checked as well as another group that was presumably going to be loaded into Nikanor's ship. Lucas and Rosita accompanied him.
"These are just natural products indigenous to this area," the Doctor commented. "Perhaps this was legitimate." The Doctor continued looking around.
"What about the boxes?" Rosita asked.
"Lucas and I checked all of them."
"I mean the boxes themselves, the wood."
The Doctor looked at a lid and scanned it. He then broke the lid and found a few filaments running through it.
"What are those?" Lucas asked.
"I've seen these used once in the Time War. They intensify fire and energy power exponentially."
Lucas and Rosita tore apart other lids and other parts of boxes and found many filaments.
"When you say exponentially . . ." Lucas said.
The Doctor ran out to Alketas. "Alketas, how many trips have there been between Athenae and the aliens?"
"I believe Nikanor was going to be the fourteenth."
"So, twelve sets of boxes in Greece now," the Doctor said. He ran to a Mullden spaceship. Lucas, Rosita, Rory, and Amy joined him as he went through the ship's computers.
"The first boat to Athens contained an explosive device. It's small; it would have caused a third degree burn and some temporary hearing problems. With the average number of boxes on ships, fourteen ships, and the number of filaments we saw, that small explosion would have obliterated Athens and some of the surrounding areas. Why did the Mulldens want to destroy Athens?"
The Doctor ran to Nikanor, who was conveniently standing near Alketas "Do either of you know how many more trips between here and Athenae were planned?"
"We would have wanted to trade for as long as we could," Nikanor said.
"I heard, though, that there would be some changes soon."
"How soon?"
"They said their current supplies could only accommodate four more ships."
The Doctor then ran to the TARDIS with his companions following. "Assume there won't be any more filaments after the fourth ship. Based on how frequently ships come and go and their velocity, that fourth ship would arrive in Athens . . . at this time," the Doctor said, pointing to a screen. He then looked at another screen. "There's a ship near Uranus now. It's not a Mullden ship. At its current velocity, it would reach Athens shortly after the fourth ship."
"Can the TARDIS take into account Earth's rotation and determine how close that ship would be to Athens if it doesn't change its path?" Lucas asked.
"Of course, and the ship would land at the edge of the Nile."
"That's very close," Rory said. "Maybe they are headed for Athens and the Mulldens want to destroy them."
The Doctor left the ship and went to see the Mulldens. "You have nothing to lose by telling us who you are trying to kill."
"The Pyamks," one of them finally said.
"I know the Pyamks very well. You are at war with them?"
"They are planning to colonize this planet. The fleet coming is the first and most important of the colonization force. If the fleet and its destination get destroyed, they'll give up."
"And then you'll colonize?"
"That is very likely."
The Doctor sighed. "This wouldn't be the first time this happened on Earth."
The Doctor then went back to the TARDIS and initiated contact with first the Shadow Proclamation and then the Pyamks. "Hello, there. You should know that what you are about to do violates the Shadow Proclamation. I'd suggest you turn around, unless you want to discuss this matter further with the Shadow Proclamation. They are on the way here to remove all the Mulldens."
The Doctor saw the ship change course and away from Earth so he joined his companions. They watched as the Judoon came and took the Mulldens and their ships away.
"The bomb and the filaments were all hidden in boxes. The boxes will be thrown away and the bomb will never activate," the Doctor said. "Athenae will be safe. The bomb will eventually crumble apart in time. It's not meant to last long."
"Doctor, why would the aliens use such a weak device or do all this from another place?" Rosita asked.
"Everything needed to be very low key. Otherwise, the Pyamks could have detected it all from space and the Mulldens' plans would have fallen apart."
"Doctor, what about the natives?" Amy asked.
"They'll be fine, but they need a lot of time and a lot of isolation from others."
"That's not going to happen with all this trading going on," Rory pointed out.
"I have an idea," the Doctor responded.
The Doctor and his companions helped load Nikanor's ship, much to his pleasure because he did not have to give anything in return. Alketas' and Nikanor's ships then departed in unison, leaving the natives alone.
The Doctor and his companions then boarded the TARDIS and the Doctor went alone into a room that housed a machine. He sat down in front of the machine and placed his head on a slanted surface. After around twenty minutes, he emerged from the room.
"I used the filaments to increase my telepathic abilities and altered the traders' memories. They think that their trips failed. They think that the beach is a specific distance away from Greece, and I altered it so that they think it's much closer so when they reached that distance and found nothing, they assumed that the land disappeared."
The TARDIS then dematerialized.
"What about Greece?" Amy asked. "Won't they have different information?"
"We're going there now. We're taking the boxes so there won't be evidence of trade and the additional filaments will help me."
The Doctor then repeated the same procedure to alter everyone's knowledge of distance to the beach. The process took much longer and the Doctor finally emerged from the room.
"Everything's good now. The Mulldens are gone, the Pyamks won't come, Apchel will become Atlantis, and everyone will leave the natives alone so they can fully recover."
"They'll be isolated?" Lucas asked.
"Yeah, evidence of Mycenaean Greece will eventually fade. Europe won't come again for another 3,300 or so years. Even then, Ponce de León is going to face a lot of resistance."
Lucas' eyes widened.
"They're . . . Native Americans?"
"Yeah, did I not mention that?"
"Doctor, where were we?" Rory asked.
"Well, you know the place better as Florida."
…
The Doctor and his companions continued traveling. They went to Louria to see dimetrodons that fell through a rift from Earth, Jopla to see the ice caverns, and Urie-Lacendo to see the rolling ferns.
The TARDIS then took Rosita home.
"Perhaps we'll meet again, Rosita."
"I wouldn't mind, Doctor. Goodbye."
The Doctor saw that Lucas was outside the TARDIS, too.
"It's time for you to go, too, isn't it?"
"Yeah, Doctor." Lucas exhaled. "Doctor, it took some time for me to realize why I wanted to travel with you at all when we met again."
The Doctor nodded. "Some people on Earth would call it the Stockholm Syndrome, but I know you better than that. The thing is, Lucas, you already proved to me and to yourself that you could get past everything I did to you."
"When?"
"When you continued, got on with your life in Maryland after I dropped you off the first time. You proved it again when you adapted and got productive after finding yourself on GR Magellan 9. You already faced your fears and conquered them."
Lucas smiled slightly, not knowing how else to react.
"Shall I take you home now?"
"There's something I'd like to do first, but I need to borrow something of yours or Rory's."
Later, Lucas swam in the TARDIS' swimming pool. He lost count of the laps he swam, not that he minded. He was content going back and forth. Finally, the Doctor took him home and Rory bid farewell to Amy and Rory.
"I wouldn't be opposed to running into you again," Lucas told the Doctor outside the TARDIS.
"Maybe we will see each other again." The Doctor smiled and pulled Lucas into a long hug. "Goodbye, my courageous friend."
END
Thanks a lot for reading. Feel free to leave a review. I do wonder about areas in which I could use some improvement. Also, here's a timeline for Lucas, just FYI. It has his future, too, just because I like being complete. If I ever revisit Lucas in another story, the information about his future likely wouldn't be spoilers or anything like that.
1982-1993 - Born and raised in Pennsylvania
1993-2000 - Middle and high school in Maryland
2000-2004 - Undergraduate studies in physics
2004-2005 - Master's studies in teaching
2005-2009 - Teaching high school science
2009-2014 - Doctoral studies in physics
2014-2017 - Junior scientific advisor at UNIT, NYC
2017-2061 - Physics professor