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The Caretaker – Part Three
The Doctor and Romana emerged from Coal Hill School, both wearing invisibility watches. "And we're off" the Doctor muttered, as they pulled out their sonics and headed off in search of the Skovox Blitzer. The Time Lords weren't the only ones in the school late; so was Danny; he had gotten rather suspicious of Mr Smith, seeing the man skulking around, and he wanted to know what was going on. As he moved down a deserted hallway, Danny spotted an odd piece of technology stuck underneath the fire alarm. He pulled it off.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Romana had tracked down the Blitzer to an abandoned storage building. "Home, sweet home" the Doctor murmured as they pushed the doors aside and moved in, using their sonics as torches. They glanced at each other and activated their invisibility watches; they could still see each other, since the light wave manipulation only worked on those who weren't wearing a bracelet.
Back at the school, Clara sneaked into the storeroom and stepped into the TARDIS. "Psst, guys? I've come to help, if you need it. Romana, Emily? Corsair? Are you guys invisible?" she questioned, before huffing, "I so have to confiscate that watch". She left the TARDIS in search of the wayward Time Quintet; moments after she'd gone, Danny arrived looking for Mr Smith. "Hello?" he called, knocking on the storeroom door. Clara heard him and came back. "Danny? What're you doing here?"
"I'm looking for Mr Smith. Have you seen him?"
"No, I…wait a minute. Where did you get that?" Clara asked, eyes widening as she saw one of the chronodyne generators in Danny's palm. "What, this? I found it stuck to a fire alarm in the school. And there's another one!" Danny spotted another generator in the hanging basket, blinking red. "Oh, that's not good. You've gotta put that back right now!" Clara told him urgently. Danny frowned in bewilderment. "Why? Do you know what these things are?" he questioned. Clara just grabbed the generator off him and ran off inside the school. "Clara? Wait! Clara!"
Romana and the Doctor, both invisible, snuck through the building in search of the Skovox Blitzer. "Come on, where are you?" Romana murmured, looking around warily. The Blitzer activated, and trundled out of its hiding place. It looked right at them, but didn't immediately try to destroy them, so the invisibility watches were working. "Gotcha" the Doctor grinned, "Let's dance!"
Clara hurried right to the nearest fire alarm and frantically pressed the generator to the underside of the red box, trying to make it stick there. "Oh, come on! Why won't you stay put?" she demanded in frustration. A completely bewildered Danny questioned, "Clara, what the hell is going on here? What are those things?"
Before Clara could answer, the Corsair appeared at the end of the hall. "Clara? What are you doing with…who took the generator off?" he asked, running up to them. "Never mind that, help me put it back on" Clara insisted. The Corsair whipped out his sonic and tried to weld the chronodyne generator onto the fire alarm, waving Clara and Danny aside. "It's no good; the whole system's been disrupted. We're gonna have to go to plan B" he sighed, getting up and hurrying off, taking the generator with him.
Clara rushed after him, as did Danny – he still wanted an explanation! Meanwhile, the Blitzer had followed the Doctor and Romana's footprints with its infrared scanner. "Nine – stop – query – rescan. Target reacquired. Success – success" it stated in a monotone. The Doctor glanced over at Romana and grinned at her; this was the life! She shook her head at him and ran faster.
They made it to the school, bursting through the doors. "Come on, come on, come on" the Doctor tempted the Blitzer to follow them, luring it right into their trap. "It's followed us without you telling it to, I don't think it's going to stop now" Romana insisted. The Blitzer trundled after them. "Nine – stop – parsing data – pursue".
"Definitely not going to stop".
"Target reacquired!"
Doctor, Romana, big problem. We've had to initiate Plan B the Corsair told them. Romana and the Doctor headed for the assembly hall; Plan B was for if one of the generators failed, all of them would have to be brought to the hall and put in a smaller circle to create a less powerful portal into the Time Vortex. When they reached the assembly hall, the Corsair, Flavia and Emily had already arranged the generators into the circle, but some of them were still flashing red. Clara and Danny stood off to the side, the former trying to reassure the latter
Danny stared in shock when the Doctor and Romana reappeared out of thin air, and hurried to help reactivate all the generators. "Danny, I can explain"- Clara began, but he rounded on her and asked, "Then why don't you? And you – I want a word with you!" he told the Doctor, but the Time Lord ignored him. The Skovox Blitzer entered, scanning them all. Danny's jaw dropped even further. "Range one point four nine - scan complete – problem – problem" the Blitzer stated.
The Doctor stepped forward, shielding Romana and Emily from its view. "Listen. We're unarmed. We're peaceful. Don't you understand? We, we know that you shouldn't be on this planet but we can help you with that. We"- the Blitzer wouldn't let him finish, powering up its weapon. "Problem – solution – destroy!"
Before it could fire however, Danny grabbed a nearby folded chair, ran up and threw said chair at the Blitzer. This of course, did nothing but make the alien robot switch targets from the Doctor to Danny himself. "Problem – solution – destroy!"
"No! Get away from me!"
The Corsair fired at the Skovox Blitzer, distracting it and making it switch targets again. It trundled closer to the generators as the Corsair backed up, dodging a blast from its gun. "Everyone grab onto something!" he yelled, and they all rushed to comply. The Doctor activated the now completely green circle of chronodyne generators, and a golden vortex appeared, sucking the Blitzer towards it; as well as the fallen chair.
They all held on for dear life; the Blitzer was dragged towards the vortex. "Temporal disrupt – Warning – warning - temporal failure" it announced. It's not going to be enough Romana realised, and the Doctor readied his sonic to shut the whole thing down as soon as the Blitzer was gone, and not a second sooner or later. "Warning system failure – Abort - Abort" the Blitzer cried, disappearing into the vortex. The Doctor shut it all down, and the vortex disappeared.
He helped Romana to her feet, and then rounded on Clara and Danny; well, mostly Danny. "It was you, who disrupted the generators, wasn't it PE? Oh, well done, brilliant work" he scoffed sarcastically, "What's this? A chronodyne generator? I'll just deactivate that, shall I? I've got a swimming certificate so that qualifies me to meddle with higher technology. Never mind that some people are actually trying to save the planet. Oh, no. There's only room in my head for cross-country and the offside rule".
"Doctor, he saved your life!" Clara reminded him; she thought Danny had been amazing. "With a chair" the Corsair quipped, "Seriously, you thought a chair would stop a weaponised robot?" he asked Danny incredulously. Danny shook his head in disbelief, unable to wrap his head around what he'd just seen. "What the – no. What? Did you see that thing? Tell me you saw that thing" he begged Clara, who nodded quickly. "I saw the thing, yeah. Doctor, are we safe? Is the planet safe? It's gone?" she inquired.
"It's gone for now" Romana explained, "but the generators weren't up to full power, because the connection between them all had been disrupted. You really shouldn't have moved one, Danny" she told him. Clara frowned and insisted, "But the chronodyne worked, it's gone". The Corsair, who'd been scanning with his sonic, announced, "Yeah, but not far enough. The vortex will open here again, but not in a billion years…more like three days".
"Three days. Three days to think of something new because now it knows what to expect. Now it has scanned us and it will kill us on sight, thanks to PE here" the Doctor glared at Danny. Romana put a hand on his shoulder and he forced himself to calm down a bit; he just hated idiotic pudding brains interfering when he was having to put his family at risk to save their planet.
Danny turned to Clara and demanded, "Clara, why are you talking to him like that? Why are you using words like chronodyne? Was that thing a space thing? Oh" his face fell, "Oh, my God, you're from space. You're a spacewoman. You said you were from Blackpool". The Corsair couldn't help but snigger at the misunderstanding, prompting Flavia to roll her eyes at him.
Clara panicked slightly. "It's a play!" she exclaimed, "For the summer fete". The others, especially Danny, stared at her in bewilderment. "It's a what?" the Doctor scoffed. Clara shot him a 'shut up now' glare. "Yes, it's a play. Definitely a play, we are rehearsing a play. Shh, shh, shh, shh. A surprise play. And, err, you see, the vortex thing is, is a lighting effect, very clever. And that thing is, is one of the kids…in fancy dress…really, really good fancy dress" she trailed off at the look on Danny's face.
"How stupid do you think I am?" he asked, sounding as hurt as he felt. The Doctor remarked, "I'm willing to put a number on it"; Romana shushed him. Danny continued, "I'm not a moron, Clara. I told you, I know when people are lying to me. Why won't you just tell me the truth?"
"Well of course you can tell if she's lying, anyone could" the Corsair remarked, "You really shouldn't lie, Clara. You're terrible at it" he told her bluntly. She rolled her eyes at that. "Right, I'm going to hypnotise him. I'm going to erase his memory" the Doctor decided, moving forwards. Romana reached out and tugged him back. "Doctor, you can't just erase the memories of everyone you please" Flavia insisted firmly.
"Of course I can. Tiny little brain, it'll only take a moment".
"She means you shouldn't erase his memory, dear" Romana explained calmly.
"Mum's right" Emily piped up; the Doctor frowned and asked her, "Whose side are you on? I let you borrow this watch to prank him!" He jerked a thumb at the Corsair. "I just mean, if he forgets what happened, what's to stop him messing the next plan up? Err, no offence" she added to Danny, who just nodded, still a bit too overwhelmed for her words to really register.
"I think you still owe Danny an explanation" Flavia reminded Clara. Danny looked at her, silently pleading with her to be honest with him for once. Clara took a deep breath and informed him, "No, we're not really rehearsing a play. That 'space thing' was an alien, a bad one. These guys, they're good aliens. They were trying to use these things", she picked up a chronodyne generator, "to send the Skovox Blitzer – that's what it's called – billions of years into the future".
"And it would have worked if you hadn't interfered" the Doctor interjected grumpily. Romana gave Danny an apologetic smile and pulled the Doctor aside to talk to him, whilst Clara continued to talk to Danny.
"I know you didn't mean to interfere, Danny" Clara said understandingly.
"Of course not, I just thought these generator things were dangerous, that they needed to be taken out of the school" Danny tried to explain to Clara.
"He couldn't have known what he was doing, Doctor" Romana pointed out reasonably.
"Well then he should have used his brain – the little bit of it that isn't full of PE rules" the Doctor protested.
"And that's good. Trying to save the Doctor from the Blitzer was good, really good" Clara nodded emphatically.
"Well, that doesn't sound patronising at all. You don't have to soften the blow, you know, I can accept it if I make a mistake" Danny asserted.
"Doctor, for the last time, he's a maths teacher, not a PE teacher" Romana patiently reminded her husband.
"PE teacher, maths teacher, whatever – he just better not do it again" the Doctor grumbled.
"Right, yeah. Just try not to do it again, okay?" Clara smiled at Danny.
"Yes, I'll try not to interfere with your alien friends plans again" Danny agreed, before inquiring, "Are they really aliens?"
Clara nodded as the Doctor and Romana came back over. Emily suggested that she show Danny the TARDIS; after all, nothing said 'alien' like a bigger on the inside time machine. "Good idea. You explain things to your fellow pudding brain, whilst we work out a way to stop the Blitzer when it comes back in three days" the Doctor told Clara. Danny blinked as the Time Lords words caught up with him. "That thing – the alien – it's coming back?" he asked worriedly.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Of course it's coming back, I just said that. Pay attention, sergeant" he admonished. Danny couldn't help but bristle a bit at the perceived slight. He insisted, "This is a school. We have to evacuate, call the Army".
"And that is the most dangerous thing right there" the Doctor retorted, before turning to Romana and asking, "Are you sure hypnotising's not on the menu?"
"Yes, Doctor".
"But we need to get help. This is an emergency" Danny maintained, and the Doctor's patience waned even further. He pointed at Clara, and then at Danny. "Look, take him away" he ordered Clara, "Shut him up, shut him down. Up or down, it doesn't matter to me. We've got a lot of work to do, again".
Clara felt guilty; she felt like it was her fault for not warning Danny about what might be going on, but then again, how was she to know he'd be here tonight? "Will you guys be okay?" she asked them. Romana smiled at her and replied, "Of course we will, Clara".
"Now run along" the Doctor added dismissively. Clara gently pulled Danny out of the room. "Come on, Danny. It's all right, it's… Come on, it's all fine. You'll be okay. Let's err, get those legs moving. Yep, that's it. This can all be explained and everything will be fine" she rambled rather patronisingly. She couldn't help it; she just seemed to treat him like he was a child when she saw him upset, or confused…it reminded her far too much of Rupert, of little Danny.
/
They went back to Danny's flat, in the end. Clara explained how she'd met the Time Quintet, and how both Romana and the Doctor had regenerated. When she was finished, they were standing by Danny's window, looking out at the city lights. "What do you think?" she asked him hesitantly, "Say something".
"So…there's a family of aliens. One of them used to look like Adrian, but then he turned into an old Scottish man, and every now and then, when I'm not looking, you run off with them. All the times I've seen you, and something was off, was because of them. That tan you had?"
"Desert planet – Erimos, I think it was called".
"Seaweed in your hair?"
"Visit to an underwater colony of Fish People".
"Oh, so there's Fish People as well, great. Clara, since you're being unusually honest, tell me – is it dangerous?"
"No"
"Really tired of the lying…"
"…Okay, yes. Sometimes, not always" Clara reassured him swiftly. Danny sighed and inquired, "Then why do you do it? Why do you fly away with them?"
"Because it's amazing" Clara admitted, "Because I see wonders…because they're my friends, Danny. They're incredible, once you get to know them".
"But you didn't give me a chance to. You kept them a secret from me, and by the sound of it, you kept me a secret from them as well".
"No, I didn't…Danny, I wanted to tell you about everything, but you told me – our rubbish first date, remember, you told me you didn't like weird things".
"I dislike being kept out of the loop even more. Clara, I just want to know who you are".
"You know who I am".
"When you're with them; when you're with these aliens" he reiterated. Clara bit her lip. The best way to show him what she was like around the Time Quintet would be for him to come on an adventure with them; but the Doctor wouldn't care for that at all. Then something occurred to Clara, and a plan began to form in her mind. "Okay…okay, come tomorrow, I'll show you who I am around them" she decided.
/
Danny watched as Clara sneaked out of the blue police box she told him was the alien's time machine. "Okay, I think we've just got time before parents' evening" she murmured to him, handing him one of the invisibility watches. "An invisibility watch? Not even a ring" he scoffed a bit; of course, the aliens would have an invisibility watch, and a time machine, and chronodyne generators, and who knew what else?
He put the watch on regardless. "Press the button on the side, you're invisible" Clara explained, "You'll see me with the Doctor, the other me. The 'exactly the same' other me. Okay?" she asked him. Danny nodded and pressed the button, disappearing before her eyes. Clara gave the empty space a thumbs up, and then went back inside the TARDIS.
The Time Lords were working on a contraption around a desk, whilst Emily sat off to the side, reading a book. The Corsair looked over when Clara came in and remarked, "I thought you said you had to get something". Clara shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "Oh, I decided it wasn't important. So what're you up to?"
"You haven't brought Dave with you, have you?" the Doctor inquired as he fiddled with the device they were building. "His name's Danny. And no, I haven't. I've err; I explained it all to him. He gets it. He took it really well" Clara confirmed, nodding. Romana eyed Clara closely. "That's…very good" she said slowly, picking up a synestic.
"Yeah, good. So, when the Blitzer comes back, are you going to catch him with that?"
"It'll be a long, fiddly job. Even with four of us it's going to take us at least twelve hours. Even longer if people keep talking to us, so do keep going" the Doctor said sarcastically. Clara glanced over her shoulder, wondering where Danny was, and asked, "Are you guys sure it's gonna come back on Thursday night? Cos you said the chronodyne is unstable".
The Corsair explained, "When it comes back, we'll be ready. You can tell your friend Danny that when you see him" he said pointedly. Clara apparently didn't notice. From over by the captain's chair, Emily asked, "Clara, is Danny your boyfriend?"
"No, no. We're just friends. Who told you he was my boyfriend?"
"My new friend, Courtney".
"Courtney Woods? Well, that explains a lot" Clara admitted wryly. The Doctor suddenly declared, "Interesting…"
"What is?"
"I'm bored. Let's go somewhere fun. What do you say? Do you want to see the Thames frozen over? Oh, those frost fairs" he smiled, looking at Romana, picturing the two of them waltzing on the ice. He moved around the console, flicking switches; Clara followed him, flicking them back again. "But you can't" she protested, "The Skovox thing"-
"It's a time machine. We can get back straightaway, like we always do. Just make sure you don't get yourself a tan or anything, or lose a limb" the Doctor advised, twisting a few knobs that actually did nothing but lower the heating a bit. It was getting rather warm in there.
"I don't think we should, not this time" Clara explained; the Doctor retorted by pointing out, "You've never said no before. Not even in the middle of dinner. Remember when you had to eat two meals in a row?"
"I just think, with the school in danger"- she began, but then Danny switched off the invisibility watch and reappeared, standing off to the side between her and the Doctor. "Danny, why are you..?"
Danny gestured to the Time Quintet and explained, "They already know I'm here. That's why he's talking like that. He's being clever". The Doctor nodded in confirmation, and reminded Clara, "We're Time Lords, we're telepathic, remember? The Corsair saw you take the watch; it wouldn't take a genius to figure out why".
"Oh ho, ho, Time Lord? Might have known" Danny said derisively. The Doctor turned to him and asked tensely, "Might have known what?"
"Well, the accents good" Danny acknowledged, "But you can always spot the aristocracy. It's in the, the attitude".
"Danny…" Clara said warningly, but he ignored her. "Now, Time Lords, do you salute those?" he asked. The Doctor glared at him and replied, "Definitely not".
"Ah. Sir!" Danny stood to attention and saluted, baiting the Doctor even more. "And you do not call me sir" the Time Lord added.
"As you wish, sir. Absolutely, sir".
"Danny, stop it" Romana demanded, just before the Doctor snapped, "And you can get out of our TARDIS!"
"Immediately, sir"
"You're really pushing your luck, mate" the Corsair remarked. Danny turned to Clara and told her, "One thing, Clara. I'm a soldier, guilty as charged. You see him?" Danny gestured to the Doctor, "He's an officer".
"I am not an officer!"
"I'm the one who carries you out of the fire. He's the one who"-
"Stop it!" Emily snapped suddenly, striding up to Danny, "stop picking on my dad!"
Danny's eyes widened as the teenage Time Lady marched right up to him, and took a step back as she invaded his personal space. "What? I wasn't"-
"Yes, you were! Just because he was rude to you – I told you, my dad's rude to everyone! It's just the way he is. It doesn't give you the right to…to insult him and push his buttons. How would you like it if someone came into your home and did that to you?" Emily asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow, copying her mother.
Danny didn't know what to say. He hadn't even considered that the Time Lords saw this box as their home, he…he had assumed it was just what they travelled in, not lived in. "Emily is right" Romana agreed with her daughter, "I always taught her that if someone mistreated her, she should never return the favour. It does no good at all. I'm sorry that no one taught you the same thing, Danny" she said, disappointment clear in her voice.
"Mr Pink, believe me, I know how frustrating the Doctor can be; but the way you were acting was nothing like the polite young man I first met" Flavia told him. Danny was feeling more and more wretched by the minute. "You really weren't being cool" the Corsair added, before holding his hand out. "Also, watch please". Danny silently removed the invisibility watch and passed it over.
The Doctor simply stated, "Out, now". Danny looked at Clara, hoping that she'd stand up for him; but she just looked down, torn between him and her other friends. Danny sighed, and walked out of the TARDIS. Moments later, Clara followed him, shamefaced.