Now dressed into a bright red tank top, black skinny jeans with zips down the leg, red converse and my black jacket, I was back in the console room. Just in time to hear Martha's soft knock at the door. The Doctor deliberately ignored me as I smirked at him before heading down towards the door and opening it. Martha practically jumped on me as she embraced me into a tight hug.
"Erm, hello." I managed to choke out, "Can't really breathe."
"Sorry." Martha said finally letting go of me. She then turned around to The Doctor, who was still pretending to ignore us as he mucked around with the console. She glared at him with her arms crossed, "Now, you have some explaining to do."
The Doctor rolled his eyes slightly, "Here we go." He then looked up from the console to look at me, "I still can't believe you told her."
"Well I had to talk to someone about it! You try keeping the fact that your best friend is an alien and that you travel through time and space in a police box a secret from everyone around you for 3 months." I said, "Then try finding someone who was completely unreachable because they were stuck 1969 without ranting to someone about how much of an idiot they are."
"I said I'm sorry. Stop ganging up on me." The Doctor whined, "It's all you've done for ages. I come back after been stuck in a flat on Earth for two weeks, are you were still ganging up on me just like you were on the autocue."
I folded my arms and glared at him, "Well, you've given me plenty of reasons to."
The Doctor went to answer back, but was quickly interrupted by Martha, who walked into the space between me and him, "All right you two. Stop fighting. You sound like an old married couple."
"We're not married!" Both me and The Doctor said in unison, looking at each other with disgusted faces. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Martha again, "Why are you in Cardiff anyway?" I asked as we headed up towards the console.
"Visiting a cousin." Martha replied as she walked slowly around the console, "I'm surprised you even managed to get him to come here." She added, smirking slightly.
"Didn't have much choice. We had to come here for other reasons anyway." The Doctor interrupted as he carried on pressing buttons.
"Why?" Martha asked, "Cardiff's nothing special."
"It's built on a rift in time and space." The Doctor explained, "Just like California on the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy, and use it as fuel."
"So it's basically a pit stop?" Martha asked.
The Doctor shrugged, "Basically. It won't take long and then we'll be off." He said, "Unless you want to come, on another trip?" he asked.
Martha grinned, "Well I'm not turning that down!" She said, "Just get me home before dinner, my cousin will kill me if I'm not there."
The Doctor smirked, "I'll try my best." He said as he pressed some more buttons, "Engines are open, should only take about twenty seconds." He paused for a second raising an eyebrow, "The rifts been active." He simply shrugged as he carried on pressing buttons as the TARDIS soaked up the rift energy.
"Wait a minute." Martha spoke up, "They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?" she asked.
"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen." The Doctor mumbled.
"Should never have taken her out on that date." I said. The Doctor glared at me, "Well you shouldn't have! I was sitting there, practically on the edge of my sofa, saying "don't take her." And what do you do? You take her. And what happens? Cardiff nearly gets destroyed."
Martha raised an eyebrow at us, "You took an alien on a date, and because of that Cardiff had an earthquake?" she asked.
"It's a long story." The Doctor said brushing it off, "It was a long time ago. Life times. I was a different man back then." He said as he walked around the console.
"Big ears." I said between coughs as I followed him around the console.
"Shut up." The Doctor said, glaring at me. He turned his attention back to the console, yet again pressing even more buttons, "Finito. All powered up." he brought the screen around to look at it and that's when I saw him. I remembered that World War Two trench coat from Torchwood, I'd recognise it anywhere. Captain Jack Harkness was running, right towards us actually. I couldn't help but grin slightly at the sight of him. He was my favourite male companion, although Mickey was brilliant too. He was probably, aside from The Doctor of course, my favourite character from series one. My grin, however, disappeared almost as quickly as it had come when I saw The Doctor pull a leaver and felt us start to take off.
"What are you doing?!" I almost shouted.
"We're all powered up. So off we go." The Doctor said, "The open road."
"But you can't just leave—"
I was interrupted as the TARDIS jolted, throwing all of us down onto the console floor. I landed right on top of The Doctor and we stared at each other awkwardly as sparks flew from the console in all directions, only just narrowly missing each of us. Quickly apologising I picked myself up off, of him allowing him to get up off of the floor. He went to grab the screen, but another set or sparks fell down and he took cover. Once they had disappeared, he grabbed hold of the screen adjusting it so that we could all see. We all watched as the Galifrayen writing changed, and then changed again at a fast rate.
"We're accelerating into the future." The Doctor said, "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion. What?!" He cried, "The year 100 trillion? That's impossible!"
"Why what happens then?" I asked.
The Doctor continued to stare at the screen, completely confused at the whole situation, "We're going to the end of the universe."
XOXO
After what seemed ages clinging onto the edge of the console for dear life, the TARDIS stopped with a thud and all the commotion stopped and the three of us were finally able to stand on our own two feet properly.
"Well, we've landed." The Doctor said, stating the complete obvious. I just simply ignored him. The commotion was over now, and I was still mad at him for leaving Jack like that when he knew he was there.
"So, what's out there?" Martha asked.
"I don't know."
"Say that again." Martha said, teasing slightly, "That's rare."
"Not even the Time Lords came this far." The Doctor said, making the smile on Martha's face quickly fade away, "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go." He looked at us both seriously, but I refused to look at him and just stared at the ground, only just slightly looking up at him. It didn't take long before his look of seriousness was replaced with a wide and enthusiastic grin. He grabbed his trench coat and the two of them raced to the door, The Doctor dragging me along with him outside.
"Why are you so grumpy?" he asked.
I finally looked up at him, glaring at him, "Because you left him there."
"Kat—"
"No." I said, stopping him from giving me whatever rubbish and pathetic excuse he had ready for me, "You left him there. You have no idea how long he's waited for you."
"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked raising his eyebrow at me.
"Oh my God!" Martha suddenly cried out. She whacked The Doctor in the arm before sprinting off. My eyes followed in the direction she was sprinting to, to see a body. I quickly followed her, and found more rage boil up inside me when I saw that it was Jack. I knelt down beside him and took hold of his hand, while Martha knelt down next to him on the other side checking his pulse, "I can't get a pulse." She said, "Hold on, you've got that medical kit thing."
She got back onto her feet and ran into the TARDIS, while I continued to sit by his side. I knew he would come back, I had watched Torchwood although I had missed the last two episodes. I knew that he couldn't die no matter what. But it still didn't make me any less mad that the reason he was here lying dead on the floor in the first place was because of The Doctor. The Doctor walked up towards us, looking down and Jack's body with absolutely no expression on his face. He was just, hard.
"Hello again," he said, "Oh, I'm sorry."
"Damn right you should be." I growled at him as I continued to glare at him.
"Here we go." Martha said, barging out of the TARDIS doors with a load of medical equipment in her arms, "Get out of the way." She said as she pushed The Doctor to the side. She knelt back down to Jack's side again as she started to fumble around with the equipment, "It's a bit odd, though, not very 100 trillion. That coat's more like World War II."
"It's because it is." I mumbled under my breath, although I'm sure Martha didn't hear me.
"I think he came with us." The Doctor said, still not showing a single bit of emotion. I looked up at him again slightly when I heard his voice, still glaring.
"How do you mean?" Martha asked, "From Earth?"
"Must have been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS." He said as he looked back towards blue box, "All the way through the vortex. Well, that's very him."
"He wouldn't have had to cling to the outside of it, if you hadn't tried to run away!" I growled again.
"What? Do you know him?" Martha asked as she took of the stethoscope and looked between me and The Doctor.
"Friend of mine." The Doctor answered, "Used to travel with me. Back in the old days."
"Friend." I scoffed, "You bloody left him there! You knew he was there and you left! What sort of a friend is that?!"
"There's not heartbeat. There's nothing." Martha said, looking up at The Doctor sympathetically, "I'm sorry. He's dead."
I counted down in my head until finally, Jack gasped loudly for breath, reaching out and grabbing hold of Martha as he did so. Martha screamed slightly as she looked down at Jack with a slight hint of shock on her face.
"So much for me." she said looking up at The Doctor, "It's all right, just breathe deep. I've got you."
Gaining back his breath, Jack calmed down slightly and looked up at Martha who still had hold of him. He looked at her flirtatiously as he introduced himself as he normally did, "Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" he said as he caressed her cheek slightly.
"Martha Jones." She replied smiling.
"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."
"Oh don't start!" The Doctor cried.
"He's only saying hello!" I said rolling my eyes at him. Realizing what I had just said, I looked back down at Jack, whose gaze had now adverted to me. He had an eyebrow raised but he still had that flirtatious look on him.
"And who are you?" he asked again.
"Jack—" The Doctor began in a very warning tone. I turned around and shot him a glare which shut him up immediately, before turning back around to Jack.
"I'm Katherine. Katherine Stewart."
"Nice to meet you, Katherine Stewart." He said with a wink.
"Nice to meet you too, Captain Jack Harkness." I said, also flirtatiously, which surprised me. I was flirting back, I hadn't even really meant to. Damn that Captain Jack for being so bloody charming.
Both me and Martha grabbed hold of Jack to support him as he made an attempt to stand up. After he found his balance we both let go, allowing him to sand on his own. We both backed away slowly as Jack looked at The Doctor with the same hard expression that The Doctor himself has right now.
"Doctor." He said.
"Captain."
"Good to see you."
"And you. Same as ever." The Doctor said. He frowned slightly as he examined the man that was in front of him, "Although, have you had work done?" he asked.
"You can talk!" Jack said, glaring at him slightly.
The Doctor frowned at him slightly, not quite understanding what he meant. After a couple of seconds the realization finally hit him, "Oh, yes, the face. Regeneration." He said causing Martha to look at him with a puzzled expression, "How did you know this was me?"
"The police box kind of gives it away." Jack answered, "I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."
"Did I? Busy life. Moving on." The Doctor said, the emotionless expression back on his face again.
"Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf." Jack began, "I was the list of the dead… It said Rose Tyler."
"Oh! No! Sorry!" The Doctor said, the hard expression fading away, "She's alive."
"You're kidding!"
"Parallel world, safe and sound." The Doctor said with a massive grin, "And Mickey. And her mother."
"Oh yes!" Jack exclaimed with an equally massive grin on his face too. I smiled as Jack ran over to The Doctor and pulled him into a tight hug, which I was surprised that he returned to say the least.
"Good old Rose." I heard Martha mumble from beside me.
XOXO
"So there I was," Jack began to explain to us what happened, even though I knew most of it already, as the four of us walked down a small rocky hill, trying to find out where the hell we actually were. Me and The Doctor were in front while Martha and Jack walked behind us, "Stranded in the year 200100, ankle-deep in Dalek dust, and he does off without me. But I had this," he said, tapping the vortex manipulator strapped to his wrist; "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel." He said pointing to The Doctor.
The Doctor scoffed from beside me, "Excuse me, that is not time travel." He said, pointing to the vortex manipulator, "It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."
I tried to stifle a laugh as a mental image of Jack on a child's space hopper flashed up into my mind. The Doctor looked down at my with a raised eyebrow, "Mental images." I said, and The Doctor nodded in understanding as he began to smirk.
"Boys and their toys." Martha teased.
"All right, so I bounced." Jack said, not even bothering to argue, "I thought "21st century, the best place to find the Doctor." Except I got it a little wrong, arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless."
"Told you." The Doctor said.
Both me and Jack turned to look at him in disbelief, "I had to live through the entire 20th century waiting for a version of you," Jack said pointing to The Doctor, "That would coincide with me." he added pointing to him.
"But that makes you more than 100 years old." Martha said.
"And looking good don't you think?" Jack said flashing her a grin, "So, I went to the time rift, based myself there, 'cause I knew you'd come back to refuel." He said to The Doctor, "Until finally, I get a signal on this detecting you." he said, gesturing to the huge rucksack he has on his back, "And here we are."
"But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?" Martha asked.
The Doctor shrugged, "I was busy."
"Is that what happens though? Seriously?" Martha asked, "Are you going to get bored of Kathy one day, and just disappear?"
"Not if she dyes her hair blonde." Jack commented and I felt The Doctor tense up beside me.
"Oh, so she was blonde! What a surprise!" Martha said sarcastically, knowing that Jack had been talking about Rose.
"You two!" The Doctor snapped, stopping to turn around to look at the pair of them, "We're at the end of the universe, right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy…blogging!" He stopped and then spoke up again in a quieter tone as he walked off, "Come on."
I sighed as I watched The Doctor storm off, not even waiting for us to catch up, "You've made him grumpy." I said turning to Jack and Martha, "Good work."
XOXO
We carried on walking until we came to the edge. Right in front of us was some sort of city that had been deserted. The buildings, roads and pathways, completely carved out of the rock.
"Is that city?" Martha asked.
The Doctor nodded, "City or a hive, or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Like it was grown. But look, there," he said pointing down to the city, "That's like pathways or roads. There must've been some sort of life. Long ago."
"What killed it?" I asked, frowning.
"Time." The Doctor answered quietly, "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilisations have gone. This isn't just night." He said, pointing up and looking at the sky, "All the stars have burnt up and faded away into nothing."
"They must have an atmospheric shell." Jack said, "We should be frozen to death."
"Well, Kat, Martha and I, maybe." The Doctor said, looking down from the sky and back to Jack, "Not so sure about you, Jack."
"What about the people?" I asked, still staring down at the city in awe, "Does not one survive at all?"
"I suppose we have to hope, life will find a way." The Doctor replied in a quiet voice.
"Well he's not doing too bad." Jack commented, pointing towards a man who was running along the pathways. I raised my eyebrow slightly as a group of people that looked like some sort of mob came into view, chasing the man.
"Is it me or does that look like a hunt?" The Doctor said, "Come on!"
We ran back towards the way we came, going down another hill. Trying to get to the poor man that was still currently running for his life before the mob could get him.
"Oh, I've missed this!" Jack said laughing slightly as we continued to run.
Finally we were with the man. Jack grabbed hold of him as he came towards us, "I've got you."
"We've got to run." The man said fearfully, as The Doctor took hold of him, "They're coming!"
As the mob of creatures came closer towards us, Jack pulled out his revolver aiming it at the group.
"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor yelled.
Jack kept his revolver aimed at the group for a couple of seconds, before he pointed it into the sky, shooting a couple of times stopping the creatures in their tracks. They looked human enough, but they had what I guessed where tattoos covering their body, and they're teeth were definitely not human either.
"What the hell are they?" Martha asked.
"There's more of them. We've got keep going." The man said.
"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe." The Doctor told him, "It's not far. It's over there." He looked up at the hill that we had just came down from only to see that even more of the creatures, racing down towards us, "Or maybe not."
"We're close to the silo." The man told him, "If we get to the silo, then we're safe."
"Silo?!" The Doctor asked turning to look at me, Martha and Jack.
"Silo." Jack said.
"Silo for me." Martha said, raising her hand. The three of them then turned to me.
"Silo all the way." I said, as we all began running, the mob of creatures close on our tail.
As we got closer in the direction of the silo, a large search light was pointed in our direction. And the five of us practically threw ourselves at the gate that was between us and the silo.
"It's the future kind! They're coming!" The man shouted, "Open the gate!"
"Show me your teeth!" the guard behind the gate yelled at us.
"Show them your teeth." The man told us, as he turned back to the guard, baring his teeth. Me, The Doctor, Martha and Jack quickly following his example as we nervously waited for them to let us in, the creatures getting closer every second.
"Human! Let them in! Let them in!" The guard shouted. A few more other guards opened the gate, and the five of us piled through it as quick as we possibly could, "Close! Close!" The guard shouted once we were all in, and they quickly closed it, trying to lock it. But the creatures were too close now, so the guard left it open slightly, pointing his gun through as he shot at the ground, making them back away.
"Humans." One of the creatures, which I guessed was the leader of the group hissed, "Humani. Make feast."
"Go back to where you came from." The guard said, almost as if it was a warning. But none of the creatures budged, "I said go back! Back!" he said, aiming his gun towards the leader.
"Oh, don't tell him to put his gun down." Jack muttered.
"He's not my responsibility," The Doctor said turning to look at Jack.
"And I am?" Jack scoffed, "That makes a change."
I rolled my eyes at the pair of them, "This really isn't the time to start an argument."
"Kind want you." The leader spoke up again, pointing at us, "Kind hungry." With a shout the group of them started to retreat and the guard lowered his gun and the others began to close the gate.
"Thanks for that." The Doctor said.
"Right, let's get you inside." The guard said as he began to walk, leading us away from the gate.
"My name is Padra Fet Shafe Cane." The man said, "Tell me, just tell me. Can you take me to Utopia?" he asked the guard.
"Oh, yes, sir. Yes, I can."
XOXO
"It's like a box." The Doctor said, trying to explain what the TARDIS looked like to a man called Atillo, who was the head of the base. He had tried explaining at least five times already, but it was incredibly hard given that everyone else was trying to talk over him, "A big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there."
"I'm sorry," Padra said, a little louder than The Doctor, "But my family were heading for the silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone."
"All the computers are down, but you can check the paperwork." Atillo said, "Creet!" He said called out and a small boy, of around eight or nine, no older than 10 years old popped his head round the corner, "Passenger needs help."
Creet stepped out from around the corner with a clipboard in his hand, "Right, what do you need?" he asked in if I wasn't mistaken, was a Scottish accent. Padra walked over to the young boy as he started to look through the list of the names on the clipboard.
"A blue box, you said?" Atillo asked turning round to look at The Doctor.
"Big, tall, wooden, says "Police"."
"We're driving out for the last water collection. I'll see what I can do." Atillo told him.
"Thank you." The Doctor said relieved.
"Try not to get any scratches on it. You won't hear the end of it from him if you do." I said to Atillo, "The ship's practically his baby." Atillo smirked slightly before walking off.
"Come on." Creet said, leading Padra away.
"Sorry, but how old are you?" Martha asked as the four of us began to follow them.
"Old enough to work." Creet simply replied, "This way." We followed him as he lead us through corridor after corridor full of people camping out on the sides, "Kistane Shafe Cane." He called out, "Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane. I'm looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane."
"The Shafe Canes, anyone?" Padra also called out.
"Anyone? Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane." Creet continued to call out, "Anyone know the Shafe Cane family? Anyone called Shafe Cane?"
"It's like a refugee camp." Martha said as we continued to walk along the corridor.
"It's stinking." Jack commented, a little too loudly, gaining a man's attention as he gave Jack a filthy look, "Oh, sorry. No offence. Not you."
"Don't you see, though?" The Doctor said excitedly, "The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental human. End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable, that's the word!" The Doctor said, looking down at me happily, "Indomitable! Ha!"
"Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?" Creet called out again.
"That's me." A woman at the very end of the corridor said as she stood up. She gasped when she caught sight of Padra.
"Mother!"
"Oh, my God. Padra!" She cried as her son ran towards her embracing her into a tight hug.
"It's not all bad news." Martha said smiled as she watched the reunion. I also gave a small smile, but quickly walked away to join the Doctor over at some sort of door. While I was happy for Padra, watching him being reunited with his mother had made me sad rather than happy. It was just another reminder that I had lost my mother too. And unlike Padra, it was very, very unlikely that I was even going to see her ever again.
"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack said flirtatiously as he shook hands with a young handsome looking man that had been passing him by, "And who are you?"
I saw The Doctor roll his eyes from beside me, "Stop it." he warned as he continued to try and sonic open the door, "Give us a hand with this." Jack sighed as he reluctantly left the man and joined me and The Doctor over by the door along with Martha, "It's half deadlocked. See if you can overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are." The Doctor moved the sonic to the door as Jack began to hack into the code. Eventually the door opened and the Doctor went to walk outside only to almost fall into the Silo. Both me and Jack quickly grabbed hold of him by his trench coat, pulling him back up before he actually fell.
"Gotcha." Jack said assuring him.
"Thanks." The Doctor said.
"How did you cope without me?" Jack said jokingly.
"He had me." I said smirking.
"Yup." The Doctor said, popping the 'p' as he looked out into the silo, "Would have been stuck in 1969 if she hadn't brought me back." I saw Jack raise his eyebrows back, he never questioned it.
"Now that is what I call a rocket." Martha exclaimed as she looked up at the giant rocket that was in front of us.
"They're not refugees, they're passengers." The Doctor said barely above a whisper.
"He said they were going to Utopia." I pointed out.
"The perfect place. 100 trillion years and it's the same old dream." The Doctor said, "Do you recognise those engines?" he asked Jack.
"Nope," Jack replied, "Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though."
The Doctor nodded in agreement, "Boiling."
The four of us backed away from the door, and Jack hacked into the codes again to close it, and The Doctor put his sonic screwdriver away.
"But if the universe is coming to end, then what does Utopia mean?" I asked curiously.
We were interrupted as a small, elderly man in a waistcoat and what looked to me as an 1800's style top approached us. He looked at the Doctor, then to Jack, and then the Doctor again before finally settling on Jack.
"The Doctor?" he asked.
"That's me." The Doctor said putting his hand up as Jack pointed to him.
"Good!" The man exclaimed. He grabbed hold of The Doctor's arm as he dragged him down the corridor excitedly. Me and Martha and Jack following behind them smirking slightly as the Doctor tried to keep up with him, "Good! Good! Good, good, good. Good!"
The Doctor quickly turned back around to look at the three of us, grinning, "It's good apparently!"
XOXO
The man continued to drag The Doctor along for the next couple of minutes, down even more corridors until finally he led him through a door and into a room. I walked in a couple of seconds later, Martha and Jack along with me. The room seemed to be some sort of lab, with bits of equipment strewn all over the place. The man, who was obviously a professor of some sort, was now leading the Doctor around the lab, showing him all sorts of bits of equipment, explaining to him what they were while the Doctor just looked at him, slightly confused.
"Chan – Welcome – Tho," a voice said. I turned around to see a blue, human sized insect standing right before me.
"Hello," I smiled, "Who are you?"
"Chan – Chantho – Tho," she replied.
"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack greeted flirtatiously.
"Stop it." The Doctor shouted over in a warning tone.
"Oh, leave him alone." I said rolling my eyes, "He's only having some fun." He said, winking slightly at Jack.
"Yeah," Jack said, "Can't I say hello to anyone?"
"Chan – I do not protest – Tho." Chantho said.
Jack turned back around to her, "Maybe later, blue." He said winking at her, "So what have we got here?"
I frowned when I heard a weird bubbling noise coming from Jack's backpack as he walked past us. Turning to Martha, I saw that she was also sharing the same expression. Out of curiosity, I grabbed Martha's hand, pulling her along as I followed Jack further into the lab. Jack dumped the bag into a small seating area as he passed by it before going to join The Doctor and the man. Me and Martha stayed beside the bag, trying to get it open to see what the noise was coming from, while I listened to The Doctor and the man's conversation at the same time.
"And all this feeds into the rocket?" The Doctor asked.
"Yes, except without a stable Footprint, we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonise the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it." Now The Doctor rambles a lot about things I don't understand. But this guy, I really couldn't understand what he was talking about. Maybe it was the fact that I was trying to help Martha open the bag at the same time. "What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?" the professor asked.
"Well, um, basically… sort of… not a clue." The Doctor confessed.
"Nothing?"
"I'm not from round these parts. I've never seen a system like it." The Doctor told him, "Sorry."
"No, no, I'm sorry." The professor said dejectedly, "It's my fault. There's been so little help."
Finally, without making a single noise, or drawing any attention, me and Martha finally managed to get Jack's bag open. Peering inside, Martha's eyes widened as we both looked at a hand sitting in some bubbling liquid, in a jar.
"Oh, my God!" Martha cried as she pulled the jar out of the rucksack.
I frowned slightly. I remember this hand; I had seen it before in Torchwood. But why did he bring it with him? What was so special about it? After all, it is just a hand. Special or not, I wasn't going to find out without asking was I? So I spun around to look at Jack, who was now in the sitting area with us. I frowned at him, "Why did you—"
"You've got a hand." Martha said to Jack, interrupting me, "A hand in a jar." She added as The Doctor and the other two started to walk over, "A hand, in jar, in your bag."
"That… that's my hand!" the Doctor exclaimed, looking up at Jack with wide eyes.
"I said I had a Doctor detector." Jack shrugged, saying it as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
My eyed widened slightly as my brain connected all the dots, it finally made sense now, "So that's what the hand was for." Everyone's gazes suddenly adverted to me, and I realized what I had just done, "I said that aloud didn't I?" I asked The Doctor.
"First that thing you said earlier, and now this," The Doctor said, "How do you know so much about him?" he asked.
"Hate you break it to you, Doctor, but you're not the only one with a TV show." I said looking at Jack slightly.
"Jack." The Doctor scoffed, "Jack has a TV show." He smirked. But as soon as he saw my facial expression, the smirk faded away, "Oh, my God, you're being serious."
"Can one of you two tell me, what the hell you are talking about?" Jack asked.
"It's a long story." The Doctor said as both me and him looked at the man and Chantho, "Which we shall tell you later."
Chantho frowned, "Chan – is this a tradition amongst your people – tho?" she asked gesturing to the hand.
"Not on my street!" Martha cried as she turned to The Doctor, "What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them."
"Long story." The Doctor said.
"Basically," I began, "He lost his hand on Christmas day. He was in a sword fight."
"What, and he just grew another hand?" Martha asked sarcastically.
I nodded, "Basically, yeah."
Martha's face fell as she turned to look at the Doctor, "Hello." He said. He waved at her with the hand that he had re-grown, wiggling his fingers as he did so. He grinned the whole time, clearly finding amusement over how freaked out Martha was. I couldn't help myself by giggle slightly.
"Might I ask, what species are you?" the professor asked.
"Time Lord." The Doctor answered, "Last of." Chantho and the man just stared at him with a complete blank expression, "Heard of them Legend of anything? Not even a myth? Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."
"Chan – it is said that I am the last of my species too – tho."
"Sorry what was your name?" The Doctor asked, having missed it earlier.
"My assistant and good friend, Chantho." The professor said, "A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassiro, before we took refuge."
"The city outside that was yours?" The Doctor asked.
Chantho nodded, "Chan – the conglomeration died – tho."
"Conglomeration!" The Doctor cried happily now that he knew he was right, "That's what I said!" Jack gave me a look. I nodded as I whacked The Doctor in the arm, "Ow!"
"You're supposed to say sorry." Jack said.
"Oh, yes," The Doctor said, leaning forward in his chair to look at Chantho, "Sorry." He said deeply.
"Chan – most grateful – tho."
"You grew another hand?" Martha said disbelievingly as she stared down at the jar as we all turned to look at her.
The Doctor waved his hand, wiggling his fingers, again, "Hello again." Martha shot him a look and he got up from his chair, "It's fine. Look, really, it's me." he held out his hand to her, wiggling his fingers. Martha slowly took it and they shook hands.
Martha laughed nervously as she looked up at him, "You're always full of whacky surprises." The Doctor winked at her, clicking his tongue.
"Chan- you're more unusual – tho." Chantho laughed.
"Well…" The Doctor said with a smug grin.
"So what about those things outside?" Jack asked, "The Beastie Boys?"
"Yeah, what are they?" I asked.
"We call them the Futurekind." The professor answered, "Which is a myth in itself, but it's feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia."
"And Utopia is…?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh, every human knows of Utopia." The professor said, "Where have you been?" he asked.
The Doctor shrugged, "Bit of a hermit."
"A hermit… with friends?" the professor asked confused. The Doctor just looked blank, as if he couldn't think of anything for a cover up.
"Hermits United." I blurted out quickly.
The Doctor looked down at me smiling, catching on, "Yeah, we meet up every 10 years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun… for a hermit." I looked down at the floor, trying not to show that it was taking everything in me to stop myself from laughing, "So, Utopia?"
The professor waved his finger, gesturing for us to follow him. We all followed him over to a computer. It was showing some sort of map, and on the map was a blinking, red dot. Which I guessed was where they wanted to go, Utopia.
"The call came from across the stars. Over and over again." The professor explained, "'Come to Utopia.' Originating from that point." He pointed to the red dot on the screen.
"Where is that?" The Doctor asked.
"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness. Out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter Reefs. Calling us in." the professor said, "The last of the humans scattered across the night."
"What do you think is out there?"
"We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven. The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they've found it. Perhaps not." The professor said, "But it's worth a look, don't you think?"
"Oh, yes." The Doctor said, grinning enthusiastically, "And the signal keeps modulating so it's not on automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's a navigation matrix, isn't it? So you can fly without the stars to guide you." Both me and The Doctor turned to look at the professor when there was no reply from him. He had his eyes closed tightly and he was breathing extremely heavily. Something in my gut was telling me that something was seriously wrong, "Professor? Professor?" the Doctor said, concerned, "Professor!"
The professor's eyes suddenly opened and it seemed he had completely snapped out of it, "I… Right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you."
"Are you all right?" I asked, frowning.
"Yes, I'm fine." He answered, "And busy."
"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" The Doctor asked, "This Footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."
"We'll find a way!"
"You're stuck on this planet." He stated, "And you haven't told them, have you? Those people out there. They still think they're going to fly."
"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." the professor said.
"Quite right too." The Doctor said trying to pick up the mood, "And I must say, Professor… " he walked past me and Jack, taking of his trench coat at them same time, chucking it to Jack, "Um, what was it?"
"Yana." The professor answered.
"Professor Yana," The Doctor said coming to stand in front of him, "This new science is well beyond me. But all the same a boost reversal circuit, in any timeframe, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So I wonder what would happen if I did… this." He picked up the circuit, taking out his sonic screwdriver to give it a bit of power and flipped it. Suddenly everything turned on and sirens went off.
"Chan – it's working – tho!" Chantho cried happily.
"But how did you do that?" Professor Yana asked shocked.
"Oh, we've been chatting away. I forgot to tell you, I'm brilliant." The Doctor grinned.
XOXO
We all quickly started to work flat out as we began to prepare everything so that it was ready for launch. Me, Martha and Chantho pretty much just done everything that The Doctor, Jack and Professor Yana asked us to do. Right now Chantho and Martha had been sent out to go collected some items that we needed. The Doctor was standing on one side of a large clear circuit board with Professor Yana standing on the other side as they connected everything together. And Jack was doing his work. I just watched, helping any of them out when I needed to.
"Katherine!" I heard Jack call, "A little help over here, please?"
I nodded, walking over to the corner of the room that Jack was working in, bending down to that I was level with him, "What do you need me to do?"
"Nothing. Just want to ask some questions." Here we go.
"Fire away."
"Earlier, when you and Martha found the hand." I nodded, "You knew about it. And then you and The Doctor started going on about something about a TV show. What were you talking about?"
"The Doctor said we'd tell you later." I said, getting ready to stand up. But Jack placed a firm hand on my shoulder, keeping me from moving.
"You're not doing anything, so you might as well tell me now."
I sighed, "Okay, long story short. You know that the Doctor said Rose was in a parallel world?" Jack nodded as he continued working, "Well I'm from one too." He looked up at me wide eyed, "Not the same one. A different one."
"And how does this fit in with you knowing about the hand?" Jack asked.
"Slow down, Captain." I said slightly flirtatiously as I smirked at him, "I was getting to that." Jack smirked as he began working again, handing me things to hold every now and then as I continued to explain, "So you know that there's always something different in a parallel universe?" Jack nodded again, "Well the difference in the universe that I'm from, is that all this is a TV show."
Jack dropped the object in his hand, turning to stare at me, completely gobsmacked, "A TV show?" he asked.
I nodded, "It's called Doctor Who, it pretty much follows the Doctor's life. You were in it for a while in series one, but well… you died." I said the last bit quietly, like it was such a bad thing to say and Jack smirked at me, "You have a TV show now too. It follows your life in Cardiff." I watched as Jack's face darkened slightly, "That's how I knew about the hand."
"So you know that I…"
"That you work for Torchwood?" Jack nodded again, "Well you're head of it actually, aren't you. But, yeah, I know."
"Have you told him?" he asked gesturing to The Doctor who was still working on the circuit board with Professor Yana. Currently telling him how brilliant he was.
"If I had told him, I think he would have punched you in the face the moment he saw you." Jack nodded in agreement, laughing slightly, "So, no, I haven't. It's not my place to say, it's up to you to tell him, if you want to."
Jack gave me a thankful look as we just stood there in silence for a while. Until Jack began to smirk, lightening up the mood, "So which shows better? Mine or his?" he asked as he looked over at the Doctor.
I shot him a playful glare, "I hate you for asking me this Harkness, you mean man."
Jack laughed, "Fine then. Easier question." He then gave me a flirty look, "Do I look as good in real life and I do on the TV?"
Trust Jack Harkness to ask that question. I looked at him up and down with the same flirty look, "I would say that you look even better."
I heard someone cough from behind us. Jack looked up and gave a frustrated side. I turned my head around to see the Doctor standing right in front of me. Some when while me and Jack had been talking he had come over, completely unnoticed. It made me wonder how long he had been standing there, what he had heard. Judging by the annoyed look on his face, but the fact that he hadn't punched Jack yet, he hadn't been there long, but long enough.
"Kat, can I have a word?" he asked.
I sighed. Here we go. "Sure." I stood up and followed The Doctor as he led me to the other end of the room. Well out of earshot of Jack. The Doctor then turned around to look at me again, the annoyed expression still on his face.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, "Jack Harkness. Really?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"You do know what I mean. You were flirting with him right in the open." He said.
I sighed, "Calm down. It was just a bit of fun. That's all."
"What about Ryan?"
I looked up at him in shock. Did he really just bring Ryan up over something so completely petty? I found myself finding it incredibly hard to contain the anger that was rising up inside me. The Doctor's face softened slightly as I began to glare at him.
"Don't you dare bring him up like that." I hissed at him.
"Kat I'm—"
"No. Don't even bother."
I pushed past him, walking past Professor Yana and Jack without even giving them a single look as I stormed out the room. The Doctor didn't follow me, and thank God he didn't. I might have just punched him if he did. I continued to storm up the corridor, not even bothering to look where I was going when I bumped straight into Martha and Chantho.
"Hey, where are you—" she stopped as she saw the foul look on my face and sighed, "What happened?"
"Ask the Doctor." I spat and carried on walking.
XOXO
3rd Person POV
Martha walked back into the lab followed by Chantho. She placed her share of the equipment down onto a table before storming over to the Doctor, who was now back at the circuit board, almost like nothing had ever happened.
"What the hell have you done and done now?" Martha practically growled.
The Doctor turned to look at her, "She told you?"
"No. She was storming down the corridor and from what I've gathered, you've gone and done something." Martha said, "What did you do?"
"I made a mistake." He sighed, "Her and Jack were flirting and I brought up Ryan and—"
"You did what?!" Martha shouted, "How could you even do that? You were getting all worked up because me and Jack were talking about Rose, and then you go and do the same to her!"
"I know." The Doctor said in a quitter tone, "And I feel bad, I really do."
"Go after her."
"She needs her own space, Martha." The Doctor said as he began to start working on the circuit board again.
"What she needs is for you to apologise." Martha snapped.
"I tried! She didn't want to hear it." The Doctor said in defence, "She can be so stubborn." He mumbled.
"Just like you sometimes." Martha said and The Doctor turned to look at her. She let out a deep sigh, "Look I'm going to get her. You're going apologise and she's going to forgive you, and you're going to go back to acting like siblings and bickering other stupid things. Okay?" she asked, the Doctor just stared at her and nodded, "Right, I'll go get her. Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."
XOXO
Katherine's POV
I continued to walk through the corridors of the silo, watching as the people who had once lined them were now carrying all their belongings in their arms as they all filed in, one by one into the rocket. All their moods seemed to have lightened up as they now had smiles upon their faces, and I also felt my mood lighten slightly too. I kept walking until I bumped into another yet another familiar face. I smiled as I looked down at the small, blonde, curly haired boy.
"Hey… Creet? Right?" I asked.
"That's right, miss."
"Who are with you then, Creet?" I asked, "You got family?"
"No, miss. There's just me." he answered.
I couldn't help but feel my heart break for him. I know what it was like not to have a family now, even if I did have the Doctor. But this boy, he was so young, 10 years old at the most. And he was here all on his one, and the way he said it, like he had accepted it, like it was normal. I looked at him sympathetically, "Well good luck sweetheart. What do you think it's going to be like in Utopia?"
"My mum used to say the skies were made of diamonds." He said, his eyes twinkling slightly as he thought about it.
"Good for her." I said smiling, "Go on then, better go and get your seat."
Creet smiled at me before walking off with all the other passenger. I turned around, watching as he walked through the door leading to the rocket, smiling, when I heard someone shout my name. I looked up to see Martha running towards me, barging through the mass of people.
"There you are!" She said as she finally reached me, "Did you really have to run off this far?"
I sighed, "I'm not going back there."
"You have to face him sometime, you know?"
"Yes, sometime." I said, "But not right now."
Martha let out a frustrated sigh, "You two are so bloody stubborn. Katherine Stewart, if don't go to the lab right now, I'm going to have to drag you there."
I shrugged, "Drag me then."
The one thing I hadn't thought about was the fact that Martha would actually drag me. I thought it was some sort of empty threat, but it hadn't been. She grabbed hold of my wrist as she tried to drag me back down the corridor as I pulled back the other way. We were both the same strength, so neither of us had moved an inch. But she had a tight grip on my wrist that hurt like a bitch on a stick, even more when I tried pulling back. I sighed as I stopped pulling.
"All right!" I said and Martha let go of my hand, "I'll go willingly."
XOXO
The doors to the lab slid open. Martha stepped inside before I followed, still reluctant about the whole thing. The first thing that caught my eyes was at the TARDIS was here, placed at the very back on the lab, wires coming out of the doors connected to bits of equipment in the room.
"Oh, am I glad to see that thing!" Martha cried as she saw it.
"It's not a thing!" Me and The Doctor said together in unison. My head snapped to look at the Time Lord who was standing in front of me awkwardly, looking down at his scuffed converses.
"Martha," Jack said, "Go help Chantho. Connect the circuits into the spar, same as the last lot. But quicker."
"Yes, sir," Martha said sarcastically as she headed over to the spot where Chantho was working, "I'll leave you two to it."
Both me and the Doctor continued to stand there awkwardly, giving each other weird glances when we thought the other one of us wasn't looking. Neither of us wanted to speak first if we didn't have to, but one of us would have to eventually. It's not like he had forever. We were at the end of the universe after all.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor finally blurted out, continuing to look at his shoes, "I shouldn't have brought him up."
I looked up at him, "It's all right."
"No it's not."
"Yes, it is." I sighed, "I guess you were right, you always are. I just don't think I really wanted to hear it, you know?" The Doctor said nothing, except from nod slightly and carried on looking at the floor, "Oi." He finally looked up, and I outstretched my arms, "Come here."
The Doctor smiled as he picked up to hug me again. I looked over to Martha who smiled as she looked over at the two of us. My gaze then adverted to Professor Yana. He was sitting down in a chair in front of us, his eyes scrunched up shut again like they had been earlier, as if he was in some sort of pain. I pulled out of hug and rushed over to him, bending down to his level and taking hold of his hands making his eyes snap open as he looked down at me.
"Are you all right?" I asked, concerned.
"I'm fine." He said, although it wasn't very convincing.
"You don't have to keep working." The Doctor said gently, "We can handle it."
"It's just a headache." He said, "Just this noise inside my head. A constant noise inside my head."
"What sort of noise?" I asked
"It's the sound of drums." He answered, "More and more, as though it's getting closer."
"When did it start?" The Doctor asked.
"I've had it all my life. Every waking hour." He took in a deep breath, "Still, no rest for the wicked." The Doctor smiled as him as he lifted himself up out of the chair as he got back to work.
"Oi!" Jack's voice boomed. My head and the Doctor's snapped round to where Jack was working, "Kitty, come lend me a hand."
I sighed as I stood up. Hold on, "Kitty?" I asked with a frown.
"What? The Doctor and Martha are allowed to give you nicknames and I can't?" Jack said, placing a hand to his heart in mock hurt, "And I thought we had something."
The Doctor rolled his eyes and I laughed, "No it's not that it's just… someone's called me that before…" I drifted off as I tried to remember, but the memories just wouldn't seem to come back.
The Doctor looked at me confused, "Who's called you that before?" he asked.
I shrugged, "Can't remember. It doesn't matter." I then turned to the Captain as I began to walk towards him, "Anyway, what do you need?"
"Hold that down." Jack ordered as he pointed to a small button. I rolled my eyes as I pressed the button and held it down, "So the Doctor told me about Ryan." Jack, I looked up at him as he looked down at me with a serious look on his face, "I'm sorry."
I nodded, "Yeah." I said, giving him a weak smile. It had been a while now since everything had happened. It was easier to go from day to day without thinking about it, without the pain anymore. But whenever it was brought up, it would just bring everything back. I just had to flirt with Jack didn't I? And the Doctor had to open his back fat gob about it. But then I guess the conversation would have come up sooner or later, it always did.
Jack took hold of my hand, taking it off of the button, "The Doctor told me you disappeared right in front of him. Does he know?" Jack asked.
I sighed, looking up at him, "Do we have to talk about this?"
"No, no, sorry."
"Professor." Atillo's voice came over the intercom. I turned around to see Professor Yana sitting in front of a screen. Atillo muttered something before speaking up properly again, "Professor, are you getting me?"
"I'm here! We're ready." Professor said, "Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch." The screen faded out again, "Save us, this equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!"
"Anything I can do?" I asked heading over towards Professor Yana, while Chantho started working with Jack on the next job, "Jack doesn't need my help anymore."
"Yes, if you could." Professor Yana said. He got up of the seat, giving it to me. I sat down as he instructed me on what to do, "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes." He said, showing me where the reboot key was on the keyboard.
"Sure. Got it. Just don't ask me to do shorthand." I joked making the professor laugh slightly.
I pressed the reboot key and Atillo's face reappeared on the screen, "Are you still there?"
"Ah, present and correct." Yana said, "Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."
The screen changed, and now showed an image of a red room where the couplings where. Me and Professor Yana watched as a man in some sort of white protection suit walked in, "He's inside. And good luck to him." Atillo said.
Professor Yana walked over towards Jack and Chantho, "Captain, keep the levels below the red." Jack nodded, as both him and Chantho started to get to work.
"Where is that room?" The Doctor asked, placing his specs back on.
"It's underneath the rocket." Yana answered, "Fix the couplings and the Footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet? Never heard of it." He said as him and Yana joined me around the computer.
"You wouldn't want to." Yana told him. It was obvious enough given that the man inside the chamber had a safety suit on, "But it's safe enough if we can hold the radiation back from here." I sat there and the Doctor and the professor stood there in silence as we watched the man work on the couplings. After some hard work, he finally fixed one of them when suddenly an alarm blared through the lab, "It's rising, 0.2." he turned to Jack, "Keep it level."
"Yes sir." Jack replied. The alarm stopped as the man moved over to the second coupling. He fixed the second one when suddenly, a different alarm went off, this time with a slight rumbling.
"Chan – we're losing power – tho." Chantho cried. Jack put a hand on her shoulder as we all looked around.
"Radiations rising." The Doctor called.
Jack turned round, trying to keep the radiation level, "We've lost control!" he shouted.
"The chambers going to flood!" Yana said panicking as both him and the Doctor went back to the circuit board that they had been working on earlier.
"Jack!" The Doctor shouted, "Override the vents!"
Me and Martha watched completely helpless. I turned back around to the computer screen, the man was still inside, ignoring the alarms and Atillo's orders to get out as he continued to try and get all the couplings in place. I turned back around to see Jack grab hold of two lives cables. My eyes widened as I look at him.
"What are you doing?!"
"We can jump start the override." He said.
"Don't! It's going to flare!" The Doctor cried. But he was too late. Jack pressed the two cables together, screaming out in pain and the power flowed through him, before falling. I rushed over to him, only just catching him in time before he fell onto the floor.
"I've got him." Martha said as she also rushed over.
"Chan – don't touch the cables – tho." Chantho said, picking up the live cable pushing it out of the way. Yana walked over to us, complete sadness on his face. The Doctor followed, not even fazed by the whole thing. While I understood why, I still thought it was cold. Sure, he was going to come back. But he had just died right in front of us, immortal or not, it should have still brought a shock. It did to me.
"Oh, I'm so sorry." Yana said to Jack's currently, dead, body.
"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" The Doctor asked, casually, as if there wasn't a dead body lying on the floor.
"Without the couplings, the engines will never start." Yana said, "It was all for nothing!"
"Oh, I don't know." The Doctor said as he walked towards me and Martha. Not finding pulse from Jack, Martha started giving mouth to mouth on him. I pushed her away.
"It's not going to help." I said, "Just leave him."
"You've got to let me try." Martha protested as the Doctor dragged her gently up off of the floor and away from Jack, while I stayed by his side.
"Come on, come on, just listen to me. Kat's right. Now leave him alone." He said, "Strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Well…" Just at that moment, Jack gasped for breath from beside me, making Martha, Professor Yana and Chantho stare at him in shock. I looked down at him smiling, while the Doctor took his glasses off, both of us not even finding the fact that Jack came back to life strange at all, "I think I've got just the man." The Doctor finished as he turned to look at Jack.
"Was someone kissing me?" Jack asked as he looked around the room.
XOXO
The new plan was all fairly simple. The Doctor and Jack had headed down to the bottom on the silo, to the chamber to send Atillo away. Jack was then going to go in and fix the couplings together and then, there would be lift off. Me, Martha, Chantho and Professor Yana all stood around to the computer as I tried to get the picture to come back up.
I shook my head, "We lost the picture when that thing flared up." I called into the comm, "Doctor, are you there?"
"Receiving, yeah. He's inside."
"And still alive?" Martha asked, still trying to take in the fact that Jack couldn't die.
"Oh yes."
"But he should evaporate." Yana said surprised, also still trying to take it in, "What sort of a man is he?"
"Only just met him." Martha answered, "The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are."
I shrugged, "In a way I was actually."
"He travels in time?" Yana asked.
"Don't ask us to explain it," Martha said, "That's a TARDIS, that box thing." She said pointing to the TARDIS behind us, "The sports car of time travel, he says." I smirked at that comment. Martha looked around to see Yana's bewildered expression, "You think that's crazy, you haven't heard about Kat." He looked at her confused, "She's from a different universe, where all of this is a TV show. She knows everything about the Doctor, pretty much his whole life story, while he only knows so much about her."
"That's supposed to be my story that I tell everyone to make them gobsmacked."
"Sorry." Martha said.
I rolled my eyes as I turned back to the screen, listening in to Jack and the Doctor's conversation.
"When did you realize?" The Doctor asked. Obviously talking to Jack about his immortality.
"Earth, 1892." Jack answered, "Got in a fight on Ellis Island, a man shot me through the heart. And then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War I, World War II. Poison, starvation, a stray javelin."
I winced slightly. A kid in my PE class back at college on my Earth had got hit by a stray javelin. I had been right beside him the whole time, it hadn't been pretty. I'm not that much of a squeamish person, but I threw up because there was so much blood. Luckily the ambulance had got there in time and it hadn't hit any major arteries and the survived.
"In the end, I got the message." Jack carried on, "I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew."
"That's why I left you behind." The Doctor said, "It's not easy, even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong."
"Thanks." Jack said sarcastically.
"You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe, just to get rid of you."
"So what you're saying is you're uh," The sound of a coupling fixing together came down the comms, "Prejudiced?" Jack finished.
"I never thought of it like that?"
"Shame on you." Jack said before his tone became more serious, "Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks, death by extermination. Then I came back to life. What happened?" he asked.
"Rose." The Doctor answered simply.
"I thought you sent her back home."
"She came back." The Doctor said, "Opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex itself."
"What does that mean exactly?" Jack asked.
"No one's ever meant to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god, a vengeful god. But she was human." The images of Rose in front of the TARDIS on the game station, glowing and golden came into my mind. Jack coming back to life, "Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life. But she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."
"Do you think she could change me back?" Jack asked.
"I took the power out of her." The Doctor said, "She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
"I went back to her estate." Jack admitted, "Back in the 90's, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello, timelines and all that."
"Do you want to die?" The Doctor asked, completely out of the blue.
"Oh, this one's a little stuck." Jack said, obviously trying to change the subject. But the Doctor wasn't having any of it.
"Jack."
"I thought I did." Jack finally answered, "I don't know. But this lot, you see them out here surviving and that's fantastic."
"You might be out there somewhere." The Doctor said as another coupling fixed together.
"I could go meet myself." Jack said, sounding very happy at that idea.
"Well…" The Doctor began, "It's the only man you're ever going to be happy with." I couldn't help but laugh at that bit.
"This new regeneration." Jack said, "It's kind of cheeky."
"I never understand half the things he's saying." Martha said turning from the computer screen to me.
"I do." I said simply.
Martha rolled her eyes, "You would."
I shrugged, "Well," Martha laughed. I looked past Martha to Professor Yana, who leaning heavily against the table, tears streaming down his face. My concern was growing even more for the man, "What's wrong?" I asked as me and Martha rushed over to him.
"Chan – Professor, what is it – tho?" Chantho asked, also worried.
"Time travel." Professor Yana said in a shaky voice as even more tears streamed down his face, "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked." He pulled out an old fob watch from his pocket that looked very familiar. I stared at it; my eyes completely fixed on it, completely horrified, "Time and time and time again, always running out on me."
"Can I have a look at that?" I asked, my voice slightly shaky.
"Oh, it's only an old relic." Yana said, "Like me." he laughed sadly.
"Where did you get it?" I asked.
"Hmm? I was found with it." he said, looking into thin air.
"What do you mean?"
"An orphan in the storm," He explained, "I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned. With only this."
"Have you opened it?" I asked. I was pretty sure he hadn't. But I had to make sure.
"Why would I? It's broken."
"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" Martha asked with a raised eyebrow as she looked between me and the professor, completely confused. I ignored her as I continued to stare at the watch, growing even more uneasy as the time went by.
"It's stuck." He said, "It's old, it's not meant to be. I don't know." He started at nothing with the watch still held out. Cautiously, I reached my hand out, turning to watch over to see its front. It was decorated with Galifrayan markings. I felt sick to the stomach and the blood drained from my face and I backed away. Professor turned to look at me curiously, "Does it matter?"
"No." I said nervously, "It's… nothing. It's… Listen, everything's fine up there. I'm going to see if the Doctor needs me." I said as I rushed towards the lab exit. I pressed the button, and the doors slid open and I began to peg it. I heard footsteps as Martha followed me.
"What the hell was that?"
"Something that I have no idea what to think of." I answered.
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"It means, I don't know if it's good or bad."
XOXO
I finally reached the bottom of the ship. Turning one last corner, I ran straight into the Doctor, who obviously hadn't seen the panicky expression that I had one my face, or Martha's utterly confused one.
"Ah, nearly there." He said, "The Footprint, it's a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It's going to take both of us to keep it stable." A beeping noise came from one of the controls and The Doctor rushed over pressing some buttons. I rushed over too, pressing a button and the beeping stopped.
"Doctor, it's the Professor." I said, "He's got this watch, he's got a fob watch. It's the same as yours, same writing on it, same everything."
The Doctor froze as he turned to look at me, "Don't be ridiculous." He said in a low and quite voice.
"I asked him. He said he's had it his whole life."
"So he's got the same watch," Jack called naively.
"Yeah, what's so important about this watch?" Martha asked, just as naive as Jack.
"But it's not a watch." I argued, "It's this… chameleon thing."
"No, no, no, it's this thing… This device, it rewrites my biology," the Doctor said, "It changes a Time Lord into a human.
"And it's the same watch!" I pressed.
"It can't be." He practically growled as his head snapped round to look at me. Another alarm went off at another panel and the Doctor rushed over to fix it, pressing more buttons.
"That means he could be a Time Lord." Jack said, "You might not be the last one."
"Jack, keep it level!" The Doctor shouted.
"But that's brilliant isn't it?" Martha asked.
"Yes, it is. Of course it is." The Doctor said, "Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them, they died."
"Not if he was human." Jack countered.
"What did he say, Kat?" his face totally alarmed, "What did he say?!" he screamed, running right up to me. I took a step back at his sudden outburst, stuttering as I tried to get the words out.
"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it." I said, "Like the perception filter you have on it."
"What about now? Can he see it now?" he asked. I looked at him regretfully as I nodded.
The countdown until lift off started as Jack ran towards us.
"If he escaped the Time War, then it's the perfect place to hide." He said, "The end of the universe."
"Remember what the Face of Boe said." Martha said to me and the Doctor, "His dying words. He said—" She was cut off as the Doctor pressed a button, launching the rocket. The control room filled with a blinding white light as the rocket took off. I felt the Doctor freeze beside me as he stared at the screen, I turned to look at it, and I made the connection.
You are not alone. That's what the Face of Boe had said. You, I thought as I looked at the 'Y' blinking on the screen. Are, A. Not, N. Alone, A. You are not alone. Y-A-N-A. Oh shit.
The Doctor, who had obviously also made the connection, rushed over to the phone, calling the rocket, "Lieutenant, have you done it? Did you get velocity?" No response, "Have you done it? Lieutenant, have you done it?"
"Affirmative. We'll see you in Utopia."
"Good luck." He said as he placed the phone down. And with that he sprinted down towards the lab, with me Martha and Jack not far behind him when suddenly, the door closed in our faces. The Doctor, pulled out his sonic screwdriver and Jack started to hack around with the codes.
"Get it open." The Doctor muttered desperately, "Get it open!"
XOXO
Finally, after a few moments of the Doctor yelling, the sonic screwdriver and Jack's hacking skills, the door opened. Not wasting another moment the four of us sprinted down the corridor. But as we ran, we came face to face with the future kind. I was starting to feel sick to the stomach now; everything was telling me that the professor has opened the watch. How else would the future kind have got in? It was only us, Chantho and him now. And if my bets were on anyone, they would be on him. We quickly turned around as we bolted back down the corridor.
"This way!" Jack yelled, as he turned a corner. The rest of us followed him without questioning. Finally we reached the lab, and the Future Kind were no longer hot on our tail. We ran to the door, but it was locked.
"Professor!" the Doctor shouted. He peered through the window as he began to pound on the door with his fist, "Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack get the door open, now!" he pounded against the door again as he tried to use his sonic to open it as Jack messed with the codes again. I turned around in fright to hear the yells of the Future Kind getting nearer and nearer. If we didn't get into the lab soon, we would be dead meat, literally, "Professor! Professor, where are you? Chantho, Chantho are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch."
"Hurry!" Martha screamed as she pressed us all against the door as the Future Kind got even closer.
"Open the door!" The Doctor cried, "Open the door, please! I am begging you, Professor! Please listen to me! Just open the door, please!"
Suddenly, the sound of a gun shot came from the lab. Giving up on the codes, not wanting to waste any more time, and not wanting to be a main course for some hungry humanoids, Jack grabbed hold of his revolver from his coat pocket and using it as a bat, smashed the controls. It works in the films, and it had worked this time. The door opened and the Doctor rushed through, me following behind him. We both stopped dead when we caught sight of the professor, standing beside the TARDIS.
He was injured, he was the one that was shot, and he was dying. But he wasn't the professor anymore, I could tell that. His eyes. They were so much more darker, more sinister, he had opened the watch. He was a Time Lord, and he was going to regenerate. Before either of us could stop him, he backed into the TARDIS, slamming the door shut. The Doctor grabbed his key out of his pocket, trying to unlock the door. But the Time Lord, whichever one it was, had locked it from the inside, making the key useless. The Doctor yet again whipped out his sonic screwdriver in an attempt to unlock it, but that didn't work either.
"Let me in!" The Doctor screamed as he pounded on the doors, "Let me in!"
"She's dead." Martha said quietly from beside Chantho's body and I felt my heart sink slightly.
"I've broken the lock." Jack said, "Both of you give me a hand." Martha rushed over to him to help. I reluctantly left the Doctor's side, going to help too as the Doctor carried on yelling at the Time Lord behind the TARDIS doors.
"I'm begging you! Everything's changed!" The Doctor shouted, "It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!"
A ear-piercing scream came from inside the TARDIS. I turned my head around to see a golden light flooding through the TARDIS windows. Whoever it was in there was regenerating.
The Future Kind eventually got to the door, and me, Martha and Jack began the struggle to keep them from coming in, which was hard given that the door wasn't fully closed, "Doctor, you'd better think of something!" Jack shouted as the golden light from the TARDIS faded away, along with the screams.
A 'ding' noise filled the room and the TARDIS speakers came on. And then a voice came over, a voice that definitely wasn't the professor's, "Now the, Doctor. Oh, new voice!" the voice, a man said excitedly as he tried his new voice out in different pitches, "Hello. Hello. Hello." He stopped, getting back to his point, "Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you work out a way to stop me? I don't think!" That was just brilliant, it wasn't a good Time Lord. But then it wouldn't be would it? Nothing was ever that easy.
"Hold on, I know that voice!" Martha said.
"I'm asking you, really, properly, just stop, just think." The Doctor begged.
"Use my name." the voice said.
"Master." The Doctor said quietly, but loud enough that I could hear and I froze. It just had to be him didn't it?, "I'm sorry."
"Tough!" he shouted. There was some noise as he started using the controls.
"We can't hold them much longer, Doctor!" Jack shouted.
The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver to the TARDIS, I had no idea what he was doing, but it earned a reaction from the Master.
"Oh no you don't." he growled, "End of the universe. Have fun. Bye-bye. Oh and Katherine," I snapped my head around at the mention of my name, "I hope to see you soon… if you survive." Then the speakers went off.
"Doctor stop him!" Martha yelled.
But it was too late. The Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver as we all looked desperately as the dematerializing TARDIS.
Authors Note: Bamn, chapter 11 done :} Sorry if there are some typos in there. I did proof read, but it is 3am and I've been terribly sleep deprived this week. Anyway, I'll try and get a chapter up sometime this week, because I go back to school of Thursday and with three science tests and an English controlled assessment, I don't know how much time I'll have to write…D:
And, Doctor Who season 7 is tomorrow… well actually tonight for me… like I said it's 3am. But yeah, I'm really excited XD I was watching the One Show earlier tonight, and Karen Gillan was on it, and apparently on hers and Arthur's leaving party, they all ended up at John Barrowman's flat… Sneaky Jack ;) haha.