A/N) Three parts to this one... Hopefully this is quite a different take on the broadcast version. I would like to thank reddwarfaddict for providing me with one of Donna's lines in this chapter. you'll know it when you see it ;)
Chapter Eight: The Doctor's Daughter (part one)
Sparks flew from the console as the Doctor fought for control: the TARDIS still spinning in the vortex, sending its passengers falling to the floor hard. Rose scrambled to her knees, holding onto the grating for dear life. Over the sounds of bangs and the Doctor's frantic shouts of worry, she could hear Martha and Donna yelling for their lives. The TARDIS was out of control, heading towards a destination that neither of them could fathom out.
"The controls aren't working! I can't pull us out of this spin!" he shouted to them. He reached out and twisted a knob but more sparks flew, burning his hand and he leapt back, falling to the floor. His eyes found his hand in the jar which he had retrieved from Jack's possession so long ago... "Why are you bubbling so madly?" he said almost to himself.
Shrieks filled the air, more sparks erupting from the console and then... silence; the shaking stopped. The TARDIS had grounded to a halt.
"What the hell happened?" gasped Martha, sitting up from the grating, where she had been thrown to as the time ship had made that final lurch.
"I really don't know," replied the Doctor, his voice unsure. "But my hand is bubbling."
"That's your hand?" asked Donna, shock erupting across her face.
"Yes."
"Okay... you aliens are just plain weird, that's all I'm sayin'!" said Donna.
"That's always the best policy to take," said Rose, flexing her arms to make sure she hadn't injured them during the course of their erratic flight. "You're not going out there, are you?"
The Doctor was beside the TARDIS doors, both hands ready to pull them open. "We've been brought here for a reason... nothing can hijack the TARDIS like that. I don't think we should leave until we've found out why."
Martha crossed her arms. "I'd like to get back to Tom," she said.
"You will!" protested the Doctor. "Just let me have a look outside!"
All three of his companions exchanged glances. They wouldn't be able to stop him, even if they tried. The Doctor lived for adventure. Rose sighed. "Well, we are here, aren't we? We may as well see what is in store for us."
The Doctor grinned at them, grabbed his coat and ran out the door. Shrugging, the three companions followed him.
"GET DOWN!"
Rose ducked instinctively, throwing herself flat on her front, dust flying up into the air as she slammed down hard on the rocky ground. She fought against the impulsive to cough. Bullets sprayed where she had just been standing, hitting the side of the TARDIS but not denting or scratching the wooden box. Beside her Martha was curled up, her hands over her head in a protective bubble, with Donna laid flat out on her back, her chest pumping up and down quickly.
The bullets stopped and Rose risked a glance up. The Doctor had landed the TARDIS in the middle of a battle: humans and fish-things fighting each other, gradually cutting down their lines. They were in a tunnel, various pieces of machinery scattered across the floor, wedged into the muddy earth. If they could get to the shelter of one of the protruding machinery then they might stand a chance of surviving this. The two armies had resumed firing at one another but as Rose made her way forward, Martha and Donna moving slowly behind her, she was on the look-out for the Doctor. The bullets still sprayed over-head, but neither of them was targets. Caught in the middle of the battle, all they could do was get behind shelter as quickly as possible.
Where was he? She couldn't even see him amongst the sounds of battle. A human soldier fell to the ground, blood pouring from a wound in the centre of their chest. The fish-things, behind her, cheered in jubilation. What the hell was going on here? As she crawled behind a large metallic box, away from the battle, she caught sight of the Doctor, hidden amongst the human fighters, tied up and gagged, struggling against their hold on him. Three of them were rushing him away from the battle, towards a small cavern to the left. Another, similar opening was on the fish-things side. But then her attention was taken away from the Doctor as Donna yelled from behind her.
"GET OFF ME YOU FREAKY ALIEN FISH! I'LL PUT YOU IN BATTER, I SWEAR!"
She turned to see the ginger-haired woman being grabbed by the fish-things. Despite Donna furiously pulling, the aliens continued to haul her back towards their line of soldiers. Rose bit her lip – what could she do? They were stuck in the middle of a battle with one of their companions taken by one side and another the other side. She turned to Martha who had crawled behind the debris she had chosen as cover. She could see Donna kicking and screaming as she was pulled further back.
"What can we do?" hissed Rose.
"They're breaking off," whispered Martha, taking a risk by peering over the edge of their shelter. She grabbed Rose's arm. "You follow the Doctor, I'll follow Donna."
"But...but..."
"No buts!" shouted Martha. "We can't let either of them out of our sight. Besides," she reached into her pocket and pulled out her mobile phone. "Mobile phone, remember? I have universal roaming still... I should be able to keep in contact with you."
Rose couldn't help but grin. "Brilliant. Okay, we'll do it." She pulled Martha into a hug. "Good luck."
"You too," smiled Martha, before she scooted away, towards the line of retreating fish-things.
The intense battle they had landed in was dying off, retreats were in progress. Rose scooted across the barren area, slipping behind machinery and abandoned drives as she headed towards the exit the Doctor had been herded through. She bypassed the last line of defence that the Doctor's captors had put up, running towards the hole in the wall. In the distance she could see Martha doing exactly the same. She grinned. Just like old times.
She slipped through and found herself in a corridor. It was barely lit and rocks littered the floor suggesting hasty construction. She heard the sounds of voices and walked quietly to the nearest room. She peered around the door and looked inside.
The Doctor was standing in the middle of the room, one of the soldiers were pointing a gun at him. Around him the rest of his escort was busy turning on some sort of machine which stood to the side of the room. It had two doors that when activated would slide open, and a bright light shone from the closed doors – a bluish tint in them. It was almost like an elevator the way it had been built into the wall, however whatever it was; it was most certainly not what Rose thought it looked like. Normally she would go rushing in but they were not harming him yet...best to find out what she could by waiting.
"Alright," one cocked his gun towards the Doctor, "we're gonna untie you, but if you move we won't hesitate to hurt you! Understand?"
The Doctor nodded through his gag. Rose bit her lip, watching her best friend be untied and the gag taken out of his mouth. "So, what's going on here?" he asked, spritely. Two of the guards grabbed his upper arms and pushed him forward. "Hey, careful! I'm delicate, you know!"
"You've got clean hands," said one of the soldiers, holding up one of his dirty palms. "We can use you."
"What for?"
"You'll see," replied the soldier.
The Doctor was led towards a big round machine which was attached to the bluish glowing device on the wall. Rose leaned forward, keeping her breathing low, watching.
She saw one of the guards lift up the Doctor's right hand and force it into the machine. Whirring noises erupted from the device and the Doctor yelled in pain. Rose had to force herself to stay still and not rush in and help him. Finally, after a few more bouts of pain, the Doctor's arm was released from the machine and he fell back, stumbling on his feet. From her vantage point she could see blood dripping from the Doctor's palm.
"What on earth did you just do?" asked the Doctor, as the larger machine opened its double doors and from amongst the smoke billowing out of the machine, out-stepped a young woman, with long blonde hair tied back, startling blue eyes and wearing immaculate make-up.
"Oh, no, please tell me you just didn't give me a daughter!?!" moaned the Doctor, as he stared at the young woman, eyes wide.
One of the soldiers stepped forward holding a gun and held it out to the young woman. "Arm yourself."
The woman handled the gun naturally, like all the knowledge of how to use one had been programmed into her during her quick – and rather impossible – creation.
Suddenly, from behind her, Rose heard the sound of a gun cocking her way. She swallowed and looked over her shoulder. The rest of the combatants on the field of battle and finally made their retreat and she had been silly enough to hide outside the doors that no doubt they would have gone in without a moment's hesitation if she hadn't planted herself outside it. "Erm, hello?"
"Stand up," said the male soldier, his voice hard and scornful.
Rose got to her feet, already understanding that escape was fruitless. The soldier grabbed hold of her arm and pushed her through the door where the Doctor, his 'daughter' and the other soldiers stood.
"Look here Cline, we've got another one for ya!"
"Hey, get off me! No way am I having my hand stuck inside that machine!" protested Rose. She was pushed forwards and nearly stumbled, but the Doctor caught her, gathering her into his arms. "Hi."
The Doctor smiled. "Knew you'd find me."
"Didn't do a very good job of rescuing you, did I?" she teased, despite the seriousness of their predicament. She nodded towards the blonde woman who was staring at them. "Is that really your daughter?"
"Technically," he replied.
Cline turned towards the woman. "Are you primed to take orders, ready to fight?"
"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation 5000 soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready!"
"Wow," whispered Rose. "Soldier. Like a computer programme if all that knowledge was zapped into her."
The Doctor was shaking his head. "She's impossible!"
"I'm right here, dad," said the woman. "I'm alive. I came from you. It's not impossible, just illogical."
Rose giggled, slapping the Doctor on his back. "Oh, she's definitely your daughter!"
"No, no, what I mean is that reproduction from a single organism is practically impossible. You being here mean's you've broken the laws of physics! Taking a sample of diploid cells and splitting them into haploids and then recombining them in a different arrangement and grow, very quickly is impossible to all intents and purposes."
"And yet I'm here," said the woman.
The Doctor was rubbing his hands through his hair very rapidly, making it even more untidier then it already was. "Ok, maybe it is quite easily achievable, but it is just insane for you to be here that quickly."
"Alright!" interrupted Cline, brandishing his gun at the Doctor. "No more chatter from you! We can create hundreds of soldiers from you two alone."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Really? What if we don't want sons and daughters?"
"You have to. It is compulsory law around here," replied Cline.
"Right... despite the fact that we just landed here by mistake, we automatically have to be 'processed'?" asked the Doctor, his voice barely shaking with anger.
"It doesn't matter how you got here or why," repeated Cline, "it is compulsory. Everyone has to take part. I'm sorry, but you have no choice in this."
The Doctor was about to reply when another soldier came running into the room. "Sir! The Hath are coming!"
"Everyone get out of here now!" shouted Cline. "You," he pointed to another soldier, "look after the new soldier, and make sure these two don't try to run off! We can present them as prizes to General Cobb! Everyone else, stand and fight!"
The Doctor, Rose and the woman were herded away out of the room. Twisting his head around in the gloomy corridor, the Doctor could see the Hath advancing, bullets spraying through the tunnel, hitting soldiers as they fought against their attackers. Two soldiers fell, not screaming as death took them. Dimly they heard Cline yelling that they had to blow the corridor and that a detonator was needed.
A Hath broke through the crowd of soldiers and aimed its gun right at Rose. The Doctor pushed himself in front of her, shielding her from the bullets, but none came his way. Instead the woman had leapt to the rescue, lashing out and kicking the Hath's weapon from its fingers. She bent down and picked up an abandoned detonator; the Doctor seeing what she was about to do yelled for her to not to do it, but his daughter ignored his yell and pressed the button.
"EVERYONE OUT!!" yelled Cline, breaking into a run and herding the rest of the survivors and the prisoners deeper into the corridor and round a corner before an earth-shattering blast reached their ears.
"NO!" shouted the Doctor, pulling away from the soldiers and rushing around the corner. Dust was still settling and he coughed, but even through the darkness that occupied the corridor, he could tell that they were now trapped with possibly no way out. He was cut completely off from the TARDIS and Martha and Donna, wherever they were. The corridor had been blocked by the falling ceiling. Small rocks dribbled down from the highest point, but he could see no way he would be able to return to the main tunnel to collect the TARDIS.
They were stuck.
"You sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?!" yelled the Doctor suddenly, whirling round to piece the young woman with a glare.
She did not tremble, but stood resolute in front of the man that they had used to create her. "They were trying to kill us."
"Two of my companions are on the other side of that rubble. You could have even killed them by doing that!" he yelled, spit flying.
"Collateral damage," replied the woman, stubbornly. "At least you've still got her, he lost four men in this fight. I'd say you came out ahead."
The Doctor continued to glare, but Rose stepped in front of him, facing the woman, her own blazing with anger. Her face was red. "My best friend is out there. Her name is Martha Jones. My other friend is Donna Noble. Taken by these Hath. Now, you can let us go find them, or you kill us because neither of us will become your puppets to create more soldiers from!"
Click of a gun. Rose turned to see Cline pointing it at her. She sighed.
"You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you two. No guns, no marks," he briefly showed them the back of one of his hands which were littered with scars of X and Y's, "no fight in you... I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move!"
Martha had been lucky so far: she had avoided detection by the retreating Hath fighters. She had thrown herself into a gap in one of the corridors and let them pass her by. Once she had been sure that no more were heading her way she crawled out of the small space and followed them as a brisk jog, ensuring that her feet did not make a sound on the floor. She had lost track of Donna long ago due to having to hide, but she had a good idea of the general direction her friend's captors had taken.
She prayed that Rose was having better luck then her.
They were ushered through the corridors of what appeared to be an underground base. Neither Rose or the Doctor had seen any light of any sort since they had arrived on-world, suggesting that they were deep under the earth. The woman walked in front of them, not speaking to them. Rose didn't know what to think about the Doctor's new found parenthood. She couldn't blame him for what had happened but he was doing his absolute best to say that he disapproved of her, but considered his attitude to guns, it did not surprise her.
Rose moved up quickly and started to walk beside the woman. "My name's Rose, what's yours?"
The woman shrugged. "Don't know. It hasn't been assigned to me."
"Oh." Rose could not imagine what it was like to not know your name. How could one refer to her? "Well, okay then, what do you know?"
"How to fight," stated the woman.
"Oh."
"The machine must embed military history and tactics but no name. She's a generated anomaly," said the Doctor, who was walking behind them, a sullen expression on his face, and his hands thrust into his coat pockets.
"There you go! Your father just named you!"
"He did?" asked the woman.
"I did?" said the Doctor simultaneously.
"Yes!" laughed Rose. "Don't you see?"
The Doctor shook his head looking utterly confused.
"Generated anomaly?" probed Rose, looking at the Doctor with a serene look on her face.
"I really have no idea how that can mean I just named her," pointed out the Time Lord.
"Jenny?" said Rose. "As in Jenny-rated?"
"Oh... I see."
"Good, got there in the end!" grinned Rose. "So," she cocked her head towards the young soldier. "What do you think? Jenny?"
The woman seemed to think about it for a second before turned to Rose, her face brightening into a huge smile. "Jenny. Yeah, I like that, Jenny."
"You mentioned years ago that you were once a dad," said Rose, "why can't you be more involved in this process? You have experience, you have wisdom with children, why can't you bring that to the fore now?"
The Doctor was silent, a mournful look on his face. Finally he said, "Rose, all my children died a long time ago. I out-lived them. It's hard to generate love or even feelings for something that was created by using stolen tissue sample. This is not natural! Jenny is just someone who has my DNA! I didn't create her willingly, I was forced into it! Why don't you try and extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident?"
"Because it didn't happen to me, it happened to you," said Rose quietly. "Whether you like it or not, Jenny is your daughter."
"Well, if I could have done something about it, I would have made sure she hadn't been created in the first place. And this wouldn't have occurred if the TARDIS had brought us here!" yelled the Doctor in frustration. He clenched his fists at his sides.
Rose could tell that his mind was still suffering from everything that had happened to him. He found it difficult to accept someone who could be just like him and who could potentially harm him whether physically or emotionally. Rose grimaced. Her actions from the time she had chosen him over her mother up until wanting to kill the Master had been emotional torture for him, one that he wasn't keen to repeat so soon. She wondered what would happen to Jenny if they managed to get out of the situation they had found themselves in. She hoped the Doctor would not abandon her but find a way to accept her in his heart.
They had been bought to a large room, which had been located just off from the main corridor, and down part of a tunnel before they had emerged. To Rose it looked like a theatre.
"So, I was never told exactly where we are," said the Doctor as he looked around, noting that soldiers were milling throughout the room, some of which were sticking their hands into one of the processing machines, therefore lending their DNA to create more soldiers. One by one, the army of humans was growing. "What planet is this?"
"Messaline," said Cline, "well, what is left of it."
"Oh."
"Years and years of war have made us live this life," said Jenny sadly.
Rose caught the Doctor looking at his daughter, noting that he had perked up at the dismalness in her voice. Perhaps Jenny was more like him then he realised? She made a note of that and filed it away for later.
A tall, much older man, with greying hair, intense green eyes and stained teeth approached them, Cline at his side, who had obviously just reported to him.
"General Cobb, I presume?" asked the Doctor, standing straight and tall and eyeing the General with displeasure.
"Your blue-box appeared in the middle of battle, I'm told, and you and your friends stumbled out of it. You were lucky you were not shot on sight. Tell me, where are you from?"
"Oh, here and there. I don't really have a home," explained the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor and this is Rose."
"And this is Jenny," said Rose, on behalf of the new soldier.
"Another soldier, excellent!" praised Cobb. "I hope you are committed to the fight, to the very end."
"She might be, but I'm not," commented the Doctor, looking around the room they were in. It was quite dull but there was an air of people being fed-up. It was clear from the atmosphere that these people were clearly fed up of fighting. "I need to find my two friends. We got separated."
"Impossible. All movement is regulated. We are at war."
"Yes, I noticed. With the Hath. But tell me, why exactly?"
Martha had tracked the Hath to their base where she found Donna being tended to by her captors. She was standing in the centre of their base, which was filled with electronic equipment, a weary expression on her face as several hundred Hath crowded around her.
"Oi! Don't touch the hair!" shouted Donna as one moved its hand to pet her head. She looked around, trying to find a way out of the group of Hath, but instead she spotted Martha peering round the entrance and signalling that she should not give her away.
"How do I get Donna out of there?" mused Martha. She frowned, and fiddled with her phone before decided to retreat back up the corridor where she hoped she would be a safe distance from discovery, where she could safely make a call to Rose's phone. Her friend's phone was not connected to the Universal Roaming Network, but she hoped that her phone could still reach Rose's considering it did have that connection.
She sat in a small space, in the section of a wall that was big enough for a small human to crawl into. Martha had been lucky as there had been several such places along her route to the Hath camp. This place was falling apart. Hasty construction methods had not bode well for the tunnels and corridors that had been built.
Finding Rose's number, she dialled it.
"What's that noise?" demanded General Cobb as Rose's phone went off. The General had already explained to the Doctor that the ancient halls that they now stood in had been carved from the earth and their ancestors had dreamt of a new beginning where a colony of human and Hath could work and live together. According to Cobb, the dream had died, broken along with Hath promises, stating that they had wanted it all for themselves, but the early human pioneers had fought back. All the machines that had been used to produce colonists had been converted to soldiers and so had begun the battle for survival.
"That's my phone," said Rose, pulling it out of her pocket and showing it to Cobb. "Hold on. Hello?"
"Rose! Thank god I managed to reach you!"
"Martha!"
"That's Martha on the other line?" asked the Doctor, a grin starting to spread across his face.
Rose nodded. "Where are you?" She listened to what Martha had to say and then told her that if any opportunity arose to get Donna out of there. When she had ended the call the Doctor looked expectantly at her. "Martha has found Donna. She's safe in the Hath camp. She's staying hidden but I told her if a situation arose, then she would have to get Donna out of there."
"Good," breathed the Doctor. "You did well."
"Thanks, I think," replied Rose. She turned back to General Cobb. "Sorry about that? You were saying?" She looked up at the windows that decorated the hall. "Why build everything underground?"
"The surface is too dangerous," said Cline. "Everybody knows that."
"Well, I didn't!" replied Rose. "But anyway, why build windows in the first place?"
Silence. No one had an answer for that.
"How long has this war gone on for?" questioned the Doctor.
"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead."
"Fighting all this time?" said Rose, incredulously.
"We have to," spoke up Jenny, sadly. "Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance, it is all we know: how to fight and how to die."
To be continued...
Please let me know what you think! Part two coming soon in the next few days!
the-writer1988