The entire Jones family, and Donna Noble, have gathered in the hotel basement, and are prepared to defend the TARDIS! And by extension, the Doctor. The current plan is for Leo to keep the Doctor contained in Martha's hotel room, until Martha and Donna (and the others?) can think of a way to vanquish the alien foe. But he's going to need a somewhat benign sort of weapon, in order exert any authority... a cricket bat, perhaps?
TWENTY-ONE
As it turned out, neither Donna nor Martha was that certain of where the sport equipment was stored in the TARDIS. The inner labyrinth had proven unnavigable, it was tempting to think, by design.
Clive, Leo, Francine and Tish checked around the storage area in the basement of the hotel, just to make sure there was nothing they could use as a blunt weapon against the Doctor. Or, rather, against the alien currently occupying the Doctor's body. Unfortunately, though, the main area only had furniture.
"Anything?" asked Francine, as Tish waded through the back of the caged-in area that housed gardening tools. They'd been hoping the TARDIS was obscuring something useful.
"Well, some shovels, power tools, and clippers," Tish called out. "So, unless we want to kill him…"
"Damn," Francine sighed. "And all that's on this side are those planters – too heavy to move – and… seeds and dirt."
They had earlier inspected a large panel of plastic drawers, and discovered that all 36 compartments were home to flower and plant seeds, and some soil samples.
"Wait, here's some weed killer," Tish said. "In a big, giant spray container. Think that would work?"
Martha stepped out of the TARDIS just then, with an empty expression on her face.
"No luck?" her mother asked.
"I swear, the layout in there changes every time I try to find something," Martha answered. "Donna wanted to keep searching…"
This business had been going on for about a half-hour when the door between the storage room and the basement corridor opened. The Joneses were across the room now, and could only see the silhouette of the man who had opened the door.
But his height, build, and hair were unmistakable.
Martha approached him, pushing aside the different pieces of furniture in her way. "Hello, Doctor," she chirped. "I see you wriggled free of our clever ensnarement."
"Yes, I did. It was not difficult."
"No, indeed. So… how are you? Are you good?" she asked, in an ironic, cheerful voice.
"I'm fine. You know me, Martha. I am the Doctor."
"Oh, sweetheart," Martha sighed. "Aren't we a bit past that, now?"
There was a long silence while the Doctor's very foreign eyes penetrated hers. Then, he said, "I'm not interested in you. I'm interested only in this body, and that TARDIS." And with that, he began to walk forward toward the Police Box.
Martha hopped into his path. "Seriously? Were you not there, the last time you tried to get in and got knocked out and tied up? Do you really think we're going to let you anywhere near that box, mate? I mean, before, it was just me and Donna, but now, there's six of us. And my dad here, he's a plucky fighter. Well you wouldn't know this, but he only looks well-ordered and suburban."
"Thanks, love," Clive said, not sure which part of this statement to take as a compliment… if any.
Again, the thing in the Doctor's body seemed to contemplate her.
Martha sighed, after a time, and asked, "What is it you want, exactly? I mean, I know, the Doctor knows all about Time and Space, and flying the TARDIS, the soul of the cosmos, the fire, the ice, the rage, et cetera, et cetera. But what do you want that for? If the Doctor can be believed, all that stuff is a burden. That kind of prescience, that kind of power… it's got to be more trouble than it's worth."
And this was not the first time Martha had had that thought.
The alien narrowed the Doctor's eyes and scrutinised Martha even more closely. "Humans," it spat contemptuously.
"Yeah, what about us?"
"You will see," it said. And as it spoke exceedingly slowly over the next ten seconds or so, its voice changed. It no longer sounded like the Doctor, but more like a masked transmission, like the deep voice of a kidnapper making his ransom call. "As you cede to the needs of your betters, you will see."
A chill ran down Martha's spine, and suddenly she felt acutely on-alert. This thing talking to her, it was real, it was right in front of her, and it knew all about her and her family.
Thankfully, it did not know everything about her relationship with the Doctor… the most "traumatic" bit of that saga was inaccessible just now, to the malevolent alien. She hoped this meant he could not use it against her, nor blurt it out in front of her parents.
All of these thoughts ran through her mind in less than a second, and nothing showed on her face. In response to the alien's super-creepy declaration, she asked, "See what?"
Martha had seen time after time in her travels with the Doctor, if you can get the bad guy talking, you not only learn their plans, but it buys you time to hatch a plan of your own. Hopefully.
"See your fate," it told her. "See your folly. Your insignificance. You will see your true place in the grand scheme, and the Aftokra Galaxy will rise."
"Okay, here we go," she said under her breath, channeling the Doctor just a bit. "This is good, keep talking, I'm learning."
"Sol 3 is one of the biggest jokes of the cosmos," it said in its creepy, gravelly voice.
"Sol 3," Martha said. "Okay, with you there. That's the designation for planet Earth… amongst whom?"
"The Galactic Council," the thing said, with contempt. "They would have the rest of us deprived, in foolish deference to the Doctor and his even more foolish claim that Sol 3 contains intelligent life."
"So, I take it you disagree with that policy."
"It is of no consequence whether or not I agree, in truth. What is of consequence is our space fleet."
"And that means what to us Sol 3-lings?" Martha asked. "And what's it got to do with the fact that you're committing history's most insane identity theft?"
Martha was acutely aware that at this point in the dialogue, the Doctor would most likely have already made the connection between the Epidromeas' space fleet and what it has to do with "Sol 3," and why, oh why, they would want his body, knowledge and transport.
The alien studied her, then suddenly, it squeezed its eyes shut and seem to wince, as if in pain.
"What's that, then?" she asked it. "Are you all right, mate?"
"I'm fine."
"If you've got a migraine or something, you'd better tell me," she said. "I'll not have you damaging that body you're in, or that brain. We need the Doctor back intact."
It laughed. "Oh, Martha Jones," it said, in its evil, cartoon-villain way. "The Doctor is never coming back."
"Okay, if you say so," she said. "So, what harm could it do, then, to tell me? What's going on with your space fleet, and what are you doing on Earth? I mean, your evil, evil plans… what could we do about them, eh? Six humans armed with, what, weed killer? Really."
The thing shook the Doctor's head, and crossed his arms. "Level four brains, for sure."
Then, again it winced, this time much more noticeably. It shut its eyes tight once again, then seemed to shake off whatever came over it.
Not one detail of this escaped Martha's notice, of course.
Donna gave up searching for the equipment storage unit shortly after Martha did, but it took her a lot longer to find her way back to the console room. When she and Martha had been skulking about the corridors together, and Martha had suggested that the layout changes according to the TARDIS' whim, Donna had dismissed the idea.
Now, she wasn't so sure.
After a half-hour, and much cursing, she wandered back into the TARDIS' main control area, shouting "About bloody time! You know, of all days for you to muck about with me…"
She made a straight line for the door, expecting to step into the hotel's storage space and announce to the Jones family that a cricket bat was, unfortunately, not to be found in the TARDIS.
Instead, as got close to the door, she heard a voice, and stopped short. It was a voice of incredibly low-pitch, and sounded a bit like the scrambled recording of a witness to a crime, who wanted to remain anonymous on TV.
She had the horrible feeling that the voice was that of the alien, who was now speaking eerily through the Doctor. A peek through the doors, as she opened them just a smidge, confirmed this for her. The Doctor's body, suit, hair, shoes and face, with a bone-chilling electronic voice coming out of it… she shuddered.
And she listened as Martha had a brief conversation with it. She noticed Martha's very Doctor-like tactics, and smiled. That's it, get the alien talking…
When the Epidromeas claimed that the Doctor was never coming back, Martha very smartly asked, "What harm could it do, then, to tell me? What's going on with your space fleet, and what are you doing on Earth? I mean, your evil, evil plans… what could we do about them, eh? Six humans armed with, what, weed killer? Really."
This reminded Donna of something she'd forgotten about in the last hour since the last time they'd had a standoff with the Doctor. She'd had an idea then, of how, possibly to keep him from getting into the TARDIS…
And then the alien said to Martha, "Level four brains, for sure."
And this reminded Donna of something she'd heard way back on that first night when she'd re-found the Doctor, in the Adipose plant…
Martha was trying to work out the Epidromeas' plan, and what it had to do with "Sol 3," and it had called her a "level four."
The wheels were turning now… she still didn't know how it was all connected, but…
Suddenly, seemingly without warning, there was a scuffle outside. She heard metal chairs clanging to the floor, grunts from men, cries from women.
She chanced to open the door a smidge and saw Clive trying to pull the alien-Doctor off of Leo, who was lying on his back. The thing stood up and turned its attention to Clive, who took two or three blows to the jaw. Donna winced, reckoning that Clive could little afford to take another beating so soon after his barroom brawl the other night.
"Oi! Spaceman!" Donna cried out, throwing the door fully open.
The Doctor's eyes became fixed on her, the alien inside seeming to suddenly remember that the TARDIS was its primary objective.
She left the door halfway ajar, and ran up the ramp.
"Donna! What the hell are you doing?" Martha shouted.
The thing left Clive alone, and ran for the TARDIS.
Donna stumbled to the console, and punched the blue button that put up the hard shell, and turned the chrome dial all the way back to the left, covering only the TARDIS itself.
But it was too late. The thing had got inside, just before the barrier went up… but so had Martha.
They slammed the door behind them as the lights went out, and the TARDIS powered down to conserve energy.
The console room was completely dark, except for a small green flicker coming from the Time Rotor, and some sparkly points of light between the gadgets on the console.
And for a few moments, the only sounds were Martha's parents pounding on the door outside.
"Martha! What the hell are you thinking?" her mother's voice asked, penetrating the dark.
"Come out, sweetheart! You too, Donna! Get away from that thing!" called Clive.
They could hear Tish and Leo on the background, yelling similar things.
Martha gave the door one big thump from the inside with the side of her fist, and the din died down. "Stop yelling! Please!" she begged them. "Let us handle this! Just stand by, in case we need you."
"Martha…" her mum protested.
"Mum, we can't let it have the TARDIS! Do you know what kind of damage it could do? He's got all of the Doctor's power now, and none of his compassion, all right? You've seen what happens when a Time Lord goes rogue, so just trust me!"
Martha heard her mother groan, "Oh, God," outside. It was the sound of fear, and it hurt her to hear. But she could no more leave the TARDIS now than she could have left the Earth to rot under the Master's thumb.
But for now, all was silent, in and around the TARDIS.
The Doctor's silhouette circled the console, and Donna and Martha could faintly see him sauntering, hands in pockets. If they didn't know better, they would have just assumed it was him, the Time Lord himself, admiring the TARDIS controls as he often does, being cool, as he often is. But, seeing such a familiar sight, and knowing that such an unfamiliar mind and soul lay inside… it was chilling.
"It's all right, Old Girl," the thing said to the TARDIS, as his hand reached out to touch the edge of the console. The creepy alien voice had gone, and the Epidromeas was now using the Doctor's vocal cords again. "I know you're feeling strained. It's that clever, clever Donna, thinks she can fool me by punching one little button… making me think you've powered down somehow. But she seems to have forgotten that, like Martha just said, I have the Doctor's memories and knowledge…"
"Damn it," Donna breathed.
"…and I know exactly how to make you go," he finished.
Through the darkness, the two women could see the thing grab its head, yet again, and stop moving, presumably to manage pain.
"What's wrong with it?" Donna whispered to Martha.
"I don't know, he's been doing that since he came downstairs," Martha answered, concern in her voice. "If that thing does any damage to the Doctor's brain…" She trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence. In fact, she had no idea what she would do if the Doctor's body and mind didn't come back as they were.
They both sighed in the dark, as the alien shook off the pain and continued to move about the console.
"Now, hold on," Donna said, making her way up the ramp. Martha followed. "Think about what you're doing, mate."
"I've thought about it. And I like it," he answered.
"Do you really think you can get away with this?" she asked, clearly stalling for time. "Think about all the checks and balances in the universe… things that keep you in check, and have always kept the Doctor himself from going off the rails."
"Like what? The Galactic Council? The Shadow Proclamation?"
"As for example," Donna said.
The thing laughed, with it's deep non-Doctor voice. "Fools."
"So you've said," Martha sighed. "But as merely primitive humans, we don't know what that means."
"Wait! I do!" Donna said, standing up very straight.
Martha and the alien both looked at her with surprise. "You do?"
"Earth is a level-five planet," Donna said. "It's protected by Galactic Law."
"Currently, yes," said the thing, again, using the Doctor's voice.
"I'm guessing, since you've just told Martha that she has level-four brains and made a bunch of noise about how everyone's stupid to think that humans qualify as intelligent life, that a planet's 'level' designation is something to do with the intelligence-level of its primary species."
The Epidromeas crossed the Doctor's arms over his chest, and frowned. Though, no-one said anything in response.
"If a level-five planet is protected by Galactic Law," Martha said. "Does that mean, a level-four planet is not?"
"That's kind of what I'm thinking," Donna answered, with a bit of mischief in her voice. "I know for a fact that seeding a level-five planet is against Galactic Law. Using, literally, human resources for another planet's gain, that is. So what other resources are illegal to take from us, eh?"
"Maybe… something that helps out your space fleet?" Martha suggested. "Something from which you can manufacture fuel, maybe?"
The alien narrowed his eyes, and looked at both of them with contempt. Its expression was barely visible in the extremely low light, but they saw it.
"Ooh, we've got him," Donna said, with awe in her voice. "And we didn't even need the Doctor!"
Martha smiled. "You said that the Powers that Be in the universe, they keep the Earth's level-five distinction in deference to the Doctor. So, I think you're planning to use the Doctor's influence to get Earth reduced to level-four status, so you and the rest of the Epidromeas Crew can strip mine, or something. Decimate our planet of its… what? Fossil fuels? Water, maybe? Animal life? Oxygen? I don't know… what does your space fleet require to run? Well, the Doctor would know."
The two women gazed across the darkness at the Doctor's tall form, both wondering if the Doctor was actually anywhere inside it. It gazed back for a long few moments, then said, in a very Doctor-like manner, "Well, it doesn't matter. Just because you know what I'm going to do, it doesn't mean you can stop me."
"So, what're you gonna do? Just pick up the phone and call the Galactic Council and just ask them to change the status of Sol 3?" Martha asked.
"Course not," the Doctor's voice said. "I'm going to have to go to HQ and file a motion, then sit through a few days of hearings. But the way that Council, and the Shadow Proclamation, toady after the Doctor, I'm sure I'll be able to convince them. Just gotta go through the right channels."
"Well, we're not leaving the TARDIS, mate," Donna said. "So you're going to have to tie us up, if you want us not to interfere."
The thing laughed, again, with the creepy alien voice. "I don't need you to leave the TARDIS, ladies. I can dematerialise this thing, without you in it. Did you really think you could stop me with this stupid blue button? And/or by sticking with me? Come on!"
With that, the alien turned toward the console and punched the blue button, which, rightfully, should have made the lights come back on, and the controls power up.
But it didn't.
He punched it again.
The TARDIS interior remained dark.
The alien winced audibly, and doubled over forwards, grabbing the Doctor's head. This time, it gave a painful cry.
"Oh, no," Donna groaned, sarcastically. "The TARDIS has locked you out. And now you've got a migraine. Pity."
Aww, poor evil alien. What say you? ;-) Leave me a review, and thanks so much for reading!