"Doctor, why don't you pick where we go this time? It's your turn." Lucy chided him. Although they rarely ended up where they'd intended to go in the first place. The Doctor frowned for a moment and said, "Nah, why don't we just make it random? I always say it's more fun that way."
"Well, if you insist, then."
"I do." And he grinned, so Lucy couldn't help herself and she grinned right back. She watched the Doctor set the controls, pushing buttons and pulling levers at random. A jolt shook the cabin and they faltered, laughing all the while.
They were even laughing as they walked out the doors of the ship. When they looked round themselves, however, all sounds of mirth ceased. Lucy's mouth hung open and the Doctor frowned, looking grim. Lucy could tell they were on a battlefield, and the colours each army wore seemed familiar. They had gone back in time, no question about that. The armies were using bayonets, cannons, rifles. The smell of gunpowder choked the air and something more foul. A cloying, sickly sweet yet rusty smell that Lucy would not forget; blood. Shouts could barely be heard above the endless firing of guns. Lucy and the Doctor were standing atop a hill, looking down at the carnage.
A lull seemed to come to the fighting. The soldiers were looking up at the sky, laying down their arms in wonder. Lucy and the Doctor looked up as well. Oblong discs were descending. Oblong discs with circular lights affixed to the bottom. There were about six in all. Legs were extending from the bottoms of these objects, three legs that had previously been stored unseen. They landed on the battlefield and everyone seemed to be listening to the hum of the engines winding down. While these events were close to commonplace for Lucy, she was sure this was nothing short of some fresh nightmare for the soldiers.
Doors opened on each ship and a stair descended, like an escalator. One being from each ship emerged at the top of these stairs, and they walked down. Once they arrived on the ground, Lucy could see that they wore clothes like form fitting grey jumpsuits. Their skin was a dusty, almost marbled grey, fingers and toes slightly elongated, but otherwise, almost completely human-looking. They all had dark grey fuzz on top of their heads and their eyes were astonishingly blue. Their mouths were all grim set and they looked with somehow bored disdain at the soldiers. They seemed not to see the two weathered travelers at all.
"Doctor, what is this? Where are we, and who are they?"
"This is the American Civil War, Lucy. The battle of Gettysburg, 3rd July, 1863. And the UFO's have landed."
"But, but, there were no UFO's at Gettysburg! Were there?"
"Sometimes, thing's change, I dunno, it's hard to explain. But they're here now. And we're going to find out why."
The aliens approached the nearest soldiers. Lucy identified a private, a colonel and two leftenants; the former two, members of the Union army, the latter, members of the Confederacy. The alien in the middle spoke. "We have been watching you for a long time. Your war has given us the tools we need to fly back home. We have scoured the galaxies for weapons such as yours that can fuel our long flight back to the third moon of Fal." Lucy wondered what weapons they could be talking about. Cannons and bayonets? Why not go only a few years into Earth's future and harness the power of the atomic bomb? She shuddered to think about it, but if they needed advanced weapons, this was hardly the place to come. From what scant little she knew about the American Civil War, they didn't even have proper medical equipment.
The soldiers all seemed to share her thoughts, as they looked down at their arms, muddied and rusted, some, bloodied and all but spent, others. One leftetnant offered his rifle to the alien in the middle, perhaps just wishing them to go away.
The alien held up his hand again, "No, soldier, you misunderstand us. We do not want your physical arms; no these by far benefit us only when in your hands. For we need your rage. We need your codes of honour and your allegiances. This is a bloody war indeed, one fought brother against brother. The people of Fal thrive on bloodshed and hatred. We will use the rage that courses through your veins to guide our way back home." The aliens all around him looked like they were approximating smiles. Were the soldiers supposed to be happy about all this? Lucy wasn't sure how she felt. Maybe, if the soldiers saw that the people of Fal needed rage, they could stop the fight. The battle of Gettysburg could never happen!
"I know what you're thinking, Lucy. But this is another one of those things that has to happen. This was a deciding battle of this war. And yes, I know, thousands of people lost their lives here. But it would mean even more lost if it had never occurred." Lucy only nodded, wondering how the armies would react.
One rebel spoke up. "And who the hell are you to tell us all this? Say we don't fight today?" But the alien in the middle was prepared for this question.
"Never fear, my pets. Once we leave, your memories will be wiped and the bloodshed will continue." They ignored the soldiers' shouts of protest and disbelief. The six representatives got back into their respective ships and flew off without so much as a backward glance. Everyone watched them ascend into the sky. As soon as they were out of sight, the armies all looked round themselves and engaged in combat once more.
"I hate this!" Lucy screeched, still unheard over the noise of the battle. The Doctor looked at her, not surprised in the least.
"I hate war! It's all pointless. It's a bunch of people just killing each other because they can't agree. Brother fighting brother, just like they said! How can you stand this, Doctor?" Her eyes were brimming and she thought maybe her voice would go hoarse before the day was out.
The Doctor stayed where he was and said, "I can't, Lucy. But what are we going to do? I told you, this day has to happen. The battle has already been going on for days. But, this war isn't pointless, Lucy. It's one of the bloodiest battles in the bloodiest war, yes, but it's fought for many reasons. The Civil War is the test of what America could do, of how they could first leave a sovereign nation and then stay together despite their hardships. And I know you don't want to hear about any of that now. Now, originally, the people of Fal had nothing to do with this, but they're gone now and we should get out too. You don't have to stay here if you don't want to."
"But now, you see, Doctor. I've got to help." And then the Doctor smiled at her, amid all the chaos and death. He walked over to her, arms wide and held her close. "And that's what I love about you, Lucy Blake." He said softly. Lucy sighed and pulled away from him.
The armies were separating now and the Union in their blue were coming up the hill. The Rebels in their grey were retreating far down the hill. Now Lucy was confused. She'd made all that fuss and they were done fighting? Just like that?
"Doctor, what's going on? I thought you said this was the bloodiest battle of the war. Not that I'm complaining, mind, but it just seems a bit…not that bloody."
The Doctor shook his head, looking sadder than ever. "No, Lucy, something's about to happen. They'll all rest for a short time and then, under the orders of General Robert E. Lee, against the advice of General Longstreet, General Pickett will lead a charge up this very hill against General Meade's men." Lucy found this all very confusing. Too many names to keep straight. In the meantime, she wanted to do something productive and useful. She spotted her opportunity not ten meters away. There was a lone boy in grey lying on the ground. She did not hesitate and started walking toward him. As she got closer, she could make out the bullet wound in his abdomen. His left hand, streaked with blood, was resting on top of his chest, which was barely rising and falling and his right was at his side. She heard his ragged breath as she knelt down to him.
He turned his face to her and Lucy thought he was beautiful. Pale skin with darkish hair and eyes that were probably grey-green. Even mud and blood stained as he was; there was something magnificent about him.
"I've died at last," he said, "I must have because there's an angel come to take me to my Lord." Lucy smiled softly at him and said,
"What's your name? I'm Lucy and I'm not an angel. But I am here to help." The solider looked disappointed. Did he really want so to die? She knew she didn't need to ask him that.
"I'm Elijah Bruin, m'am."
"Is there anything I can do for you, Elijah?"
"Here, give him this." said an unknown voice above Lucy's head. She looked up and saw a man in a blue uniform handing her a canteen. She looked confused for a moment, and then at the Doctor, who stood, only one meter away from her. He nodded and Lucy held up the dying boy's head and gave him a drink from the canteen. When he had finished and she had set his head gently on her lap, she looked up at the Union soldier.
"I don't understand. You're on different sides. Why would you want to help him?"
"He's human, m'am. He's fighting for something he believes in, just like I am. I can't think of anything nobler than that."
"How about not fighting in the first place?" was Lucy's response. The Union soldier did not answer her, but knelt down beside her and rested his hand on the dying man's shoulder. Lucy could feel the Doctor's eyes on the top of her head and she looked up at him. Her eyes were filling with tears and she absently stroked Elijah's cheek. The Union soldier was speaking to him.
"What company are you, man? Where was your first shot fired?" Lucy thought these might be commonly asked questions.
Elijah was struggling to speak and didn't look like he'd last long. When he did speak, a small trickle of blood started from the corner of his mouth. "Bull Run. Virginia, s-seventh…"
"Ssh, don't try to talk." Lucy said, trying to sound like a soothing mother. She cast a somewhat reproachful glance at the Union soldier. She could think of better questions than, "What company are you from?"
"Elijah, listen, just, just…here, just squeeze my hand if it hurts." She offered him her hand, somewhat frantically and his right hand reached up and took hers. He gave her one feeble tug and then let go. His eyelids were fluttering and Lucy knew he was not long for this world. She felt the Doctor's hand on her own shoulder and knew that he was imploring her to leave. To not watch the rest of this battle. But she looked up at him and shook her head, finally letting the tears fall that she had fought so hard to keep barricaded inside her. And when she looked back down at the man whose head she held in her lap, she saw that he had died. She was horrified for one brief moment; his blank eyes that could no longer see staring at her. Silently, she closed them and wiped at her own tears. Ever so softly, like the echo of a ghost, she heard singing. "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on." It was the Union soldier. "Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on." His deep baritone voice could not have been more perfect this day. The Union soldier motioned for Lucy to stand. She did, setting Elijah's head carefully upon the ground. Lucy herself retreated into the comforting arm of the Doctor. The two of them stood, watching from the relative protection of a tree Lucy couldn't identify, as the Union soldier picked Elijah up and walked with him in his arms to Rebel lines. Lucy thought surely that he would die, be killed, blamed for Elijah's death. But as he walked resolutely toward his enemies, Lucy thought that maybe for this moment, they weren't enemies after all. In fact, the Rebels seemed almost to salute him as he carried their comrade to them. An officer strode forward and took Elijah from the Yankee. The Yank then offered a salute, standing erect, bayonet at his side. The officer nodded and all the Rebels let the Yankee leave, back up the hill. As he passed by them, he dipped his hat to Lucy and the Doctor, both of whom nodded solemnly.
Several other Yankees had watched this whole exchange and were looking at the two out-of-place travelers with wonder. They did not remember the people of Fal. Their battle would go on, maybe not fueled by rage and hatred but instead by respect and honour. Maybe. Lucy heard the readying of cannons and the loading of rifles. Pickett's charge, as the Doctor had explained it to her, was about to begin.
And there, in the dying day, came the swell of bodies, all yelling, shouting their pride. The Rebel army was pressing towards the Union, but the Union was ready. The Confederates were outnumbered. The one Yank's respect for the Confederacy was being eclipsed by gunshot and cannon fire. Lucy found herself with tears afresh and thought she even saw one sparkling in the Doctor's eye. The Rebels never made it up the hill. Even after almost all of them were dead, the Union fired on. While the shots were still raging on, so that he would not be heard, save by Lucy, the Doctor uttered a speech that had not yet been crafted.
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers' brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here, to the unfinished work which they have thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us- that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth."
Lucy wiped a tear from here eye. The sheer power of that speech. And Lincoln thought that no one would remember it? Lucy turned to the Doctor and said, "I think we can go now."
As they walked back to the T.A.R.D.I.S., Lucy asked to hear more about President Lincoln.
"He was the first American president to initiate the national holiday of Thanksgiving. He was also the first president to not only hold an election in the midst of a civil war, but win said election. Furthermore, he was the first American president to be assassinated. I was in the theatre that day, you know. The British comedy Our American Cousin was playing and I was in the front row. Much too far away to do anything about Mr. Lincoln. He was very humble. People often mistake his words, not in the Gettysburg address, but at other times. He said he would do anything to preserve the nation. Not that he supported slavery, quite the opposite. But he said that if the end of slavery or the continuation of it would preserve the Union, he would do it. 'A house divided against its self cannot stand.' Great man, Mr. Lincoln. The thing about the Civil War is that it really was the test, the proof of the Revolutionary War against Britain. America had already made history by succeeding in their revolution. Now they had to prove that their government, their ideals, could actually work."
"I understand it all, Doctor. But when you're out here, actually on the battlefields, it's different. You see the people who are actually fighting and dying for what they believe. What just happened on that field was a great symbol, yes. But it's also just men, boys even, killing each other. The Union wouldn't stop firing. But then you get those few glorious moments like that Yank taking Elijah back to his company. How do they do this?" Instead of answering her, the Doctor gave her a look which she took to mean,
"Now you get it. These questions and all wars in fact, are far too ambiguous." She nodded without his saying a word and they were back inside the T.A.R.D.I.S.
The Doctor had seen a lot today. Lucy had been moved by the power of the war and so had he. He'd watched as she cradled a dying man, comforting him in his last moments. She hated war, but she understood it. She'd hoped for a better outcome, but knew that what was better for those individual soldiers was not better for the whole. And at the same time, she grieved for those individual soldiers. From the window of his beloved ship, the Doctor could see six far off points of light falling from the sky. He'd wager it was the ships of the people of Fal. They had counted on merciless bloodshed to fuel them. Had one soldier's act of kindness prevented their going home? Perhaps, but not likely. Maybe, they'd misinterpreted this was altogether. He thought that more likely. The people of Fal had thought that, to kill one's own neighbours and family must mean hatred. But these people were good men. And that was all that mattered. Lucy was sitting on the railing, smiling a bit wistfully. Her storm blue eyes were filled with so many things. What secrets, what unknown potential lurked inside her? Perhaps that was the same thought she had when looking into his eyes. How he loved her. He tried not to think of it, but did so constantly.
And as for her survival? These abilities that so many people hinted at but never stated flat out? Lucy had told him some of what the Life Matter had thought telepathically to her. But not all, he thought. Maybe this change she mentioned wouldn't be so bad. But maybe it meant the end of her life. He was fairly certain that the end of her life would be nothing short of a complete catastrophe.
He could feel her eyes on him, wondering where they'd go next. "I almost forgot, Lucy. I was supposed to show you the Medusa Cascade. Do you fancy a trip there now?"
Lucy positively squealed with delight and bounced gracefully from the railing to the controls where he stood. She placed her hand on top of his and they smiled at each other as he whisked them away.