Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
Mummy on the Orient Express – Part Four
"I'm sorry" Gus commented, "I know that must have been distressing for you. But if you are disobedient again, I will decompress another area containing less valuable passengers" he warned. Danny glared furiously at the nearest monocle icon. "Less valuable passengers? Who do you think you are?" he demanded. There was no reply, but Danny's words sparked a thought for the Doctor. "How does it choose?" he asked aloud.
Perkins sarcastically remarked, "Well, I'm assuming qualifications". The Doctor shook his head and explained, "No, no, no, not the computer, the Foretold. How does it choose who to kill? We've assumed it's random. What if it's not? I want full histories on all the victims" he ordered the room at large, "Medical, social, personal".
"Well done" the computer praised. The Time Lords and humans alike were less than appreciative. "Don't mention it" the Doctor responded, and then Romana added, "No really, don't".
A little later, they had found histories of the passengers, and Perkins was searching through a tablet computer Quell, Danny and the Time Lords looked over his shoulders. "Doesn't seem to be any pattern" he remarked, "Their travel history, interests, health - It's all over the shop… Health?" he wondered.
"Health?" the Doctor repeated, "Are you sure? Mrs Pitt, the first victim. She was over a hundred years old, the frailest passenger on board" he pointed out. Perkins wasn't convinced. "Oh but the next to go, the chef, was young and fit. It's random" he insisted. Then Quell revealed something unexpected. "The chef was ill".
They all stared at him. "You could have mentioned that a tad sooner" the Corsair pointed out. Quell elucidated, "He had a rare blood disorder. Not contagious, but we kept it quiet".
"Because he worked with food" the Doctor realised, before asking, "The next one, the guard?"
"He wasn't ill as such, but he did have synthetic lungs implanted last year" Quell revealed. Perkins scrolled down through the info on the tablet and found the records about the most recent victim. "Professor Moorhouse. It seems he was physically fine but suffering from…here we are, regular panic attacks after a car crash last year" he explained.
Flavia worked out, "So it's targeting the weakest first; somehow sensing the illness or issue and picking us off…systematically, for lack of a better word" she grimaced. Still, if the Foretold really was targeting specific people, that meant that it wasn't a mindless killer…it could possibly be reasoned with, but she had no idea how they could do that.
"And this is good" the Doctor insisted, "Because it means we can work out who is next. I want the medical records of everybody alive who is still on board. If anyone's had as much as a cold, I want to know about it" he ordered Perkins. The engineer nodded in agreement, and went back to searching through the data. Quell looked rather nervous, and asked the Time Lords, "You really think it can sense psychological issues?"
Romana nodded and inquired, "Is there something we should know?"
"When your husband said I'd lost the stomach for a fight…I wasn't wounded in battle as such, but…my unit was bombed. I was the sole survivor. Not a scratch on me but… post-traumatic stress, nightmares…still can't sleep without pills" he admitted. Danny felt his heart go out to the poor man; he knew exactly what it was like to lie awake night after night feeling guilty, regretful and afraid…for the first time, Danny feared that this 'Foretold', or whatever was causing the deaths, would come after him next. When had he started believing in invisible mummies?
The Doctor was not quite as sympathetic. "Which means that you are probably next" he pointed out, "Which is good to know"; this comment made both Quell and Danny stare at him in disbelief. Quell protested, "Well, not for me".
"Well, of course not for you, because you're going to die. But I mean for us, from a research point of view" the Doctor explained as if it should be obvious. You might want to try being a little more tactful, dear Romana informed him privately. The poor captain was none too impressed either. "You know, for a doctor, your bedside manner leaves"-
Whatever Quell wanted to say was cut off by the ominous sight of the lights flickering. "Well, there's goes our head start. Perkins, start the clock" the Doctor instructed. The engineer pressed the stopwatch button, and Quell paled slightly as he saw the Foretold appear at the other end of the carriage. "Quick, start describing it" the Corsair advised.
"Almost feels out of focus. Gives me a headache just looking at it" Quell responded, pulling out his service pistol. The Doctor protested, "Oh no, no, no, no. That didn't work before". Quell ignored him. "What kind of soldier would I be, dying with bullets in my gun?" he demanded, shooting at the Foretold but only succeeding in shattering a flask.
Perkins called out, "Fifty seconds".
"Someone shut that man up! For the record, it didn't even flinch" Quell informed them, but that didn't help much – they already knew the mummy couldn't be stopped by weapons. "Where is it now?" the Doctor asked quickly. Quell replied, "Approximately twenty feet in front of me and closing".
Perkins warned, "Forty seconds". He felt Quell deserved to know how much time he had left, even if it was distressing to hear. The Doctor moved in front of Quell, between him and the Foretold. "Am I close?" he inquired, as the mummy reached its hand right through his head and moved through him.
"It's passing right through you, like a ghost" Quell explained. Romana grabbed a scanner and held it up, following where the mummy ought to be. "It isn't a hologram" she announced. This was even worse; a hologram they could work with, but the Foretold was something unknown, and they weren't discovering enough about it to work out how to stop it. She hated that they couldn't save the victims, but how could they do anything when they didn't even know what was really attacking them in the first place?
The Doctor asked Quell, "If you move, will it follow?"
"Do you want me to move? Because I can certainly do that" Quell agreed. Romana instructed, "Back away as quick as you can, but keep looking at it". Quell did as he was told, but then the mummy disappeared in a flash. For a moment Quell was relieved, but then he sensed something behind him. "It's teleported away… It's behind me" he realised when he turned around. Perkins called out, "Twenty seconds".
The Foretold bore down on Quell. "I think this is it. Still, suppose it's not a bad way to go. Blood pumping, enemy at the gates and all that; and thank you, Doctor, for waking me up. It's reaching for me. Hands on my head…"
"Zero"
"Ah!"
As the captain's body collapsed to the floor, the Doctor's brain and mouth were in overdrive. "Teleporter, that means tech. Then sixty six seconds to do what?" he wondered. "Sixty six seconds - that seems very, very specific, too specific for organic. So, what, more tech? What? A countdown clock? Something charging?"
Danny had had enough. "What is wrong with you?" he burst out, rounding on the Doctor, "Someone just died, can we not have a moment?!"
"No" the Doctor replied bluntly, facing Danny squarely. "We can't mourn. People who are being attacked do not have time to mourn – you of all people should understand that" he insisted, turning away unconcernedly from Danny's furious glare and addressing the room at large. "Everybody, what takes sixty six seconds to charge up or to change state? Anyone? Am I surrounded by idiots? If only I could see this thing" he complained.
"Don't say that" Romana protested. He gave her an apologetic look and replied, "Sorry, dear; but you know it's true. One minute with me and this thing, it would be over".
"You know, Doctor, I can't tell if you're a genius or just incredibly arrogant" Perkins remarked; Danny couldn't say he disagreed. Flavia sighed and explained, "He's actually both".
"She's not wrong" the Doctor admitted, before focusing back on the task at hand. "Ancient tech… This thing has been around for centuries. How?" he wondered, looking to see if anyone had a theory. Romana considered it and suggested, "It's possible that the attacks are what it uses to keep going – by draining energy from other people".
The Doctor was so impressed by this theory that he tried to give her a kiss - he'd been waiting for an excuse to do so for ages. "We don't know if it's true yet" Romana pointed out, putting a finger to his lips. Then she used the scanner on the train captain's corpse. "I'm running a deep tissue scan…according to the equipment, he's been drained of almost all his cellular energy…the heart attack that kills the victims must be just a side effect of the energy being abruptly depleted" she explained.
See, you were right. Can I have my kiss now?
Focus, Theta
"Oh, it's not just a mummy, it's a vampire… metaphorically speaking" Perkins realised. The Doctor nodded, and then questioned, "But why take sixty six seconds to drain us? Why not just pounce?"
They all thought about it, but it was Perkins who hit on the answer first. "Phase" he said, "Moving energy out of phase. That takes about a minute, doesn't it?"
"That's why only the victims can see it" the Doctor inferred, "It takes them out of phase so it can drain their energy. You, sir, are a genius! This explains everything!" he cheered… "Apart from what it is and how it's doing it. Sorry, I jumped the gun there with the 'you're a genius, this explains everything' remark".
Perkins looked up from the tablet in his hands. "I think we know the next victim" he said solemnly, handing the tablet over to the Doctor so he could see for himself.
"Ah, of course…That makes perfect sense".
/
The Doctor and Romana discussed the situation quietly, before asking Gus to release the lock mechanism on the storage room. The computer agreed and gave the Doctor permission to phone Emily and explain what was going on. "The Foretold is targeting the weakest passengers, and that includes emotional weakness. Maisie Pitt is the next victim; all the simulations we've run confirm it. Her bad day, her bereavement, her little breakdown puts her squarely in its crosshairs".
"So what? You want me and Clara to bring Maisie to her death? Dad, you can't make me do that".
"Emily, there is no other way. We need to gather data on this creature to work out how to stop it".
"No, dad, I mean you really can't make me. You might not care if Clara doesn't trust you, but I do".
"What gave you the idea I don't...look, never mind that. You need to do as you're told, young lady".
"You and mum always told me to do what was right. How can letting someone who hasn't done anything wrong get killed ever be right?"
"Emily, we don't have time to argue. The Foretold could attack Maisie at any moment, and if it happens in there, she will die for nothing".
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
I have one idea, Emily. Just one, and it must be secret
"…But what do I tell Maisie and Clara?"
"Whatever it takes, Emily. Lie to them if you have to, just bring Maisie here. The door will open" the Doctor told Emily. She hung up, and heard Maisie inquire, "What's he saying?"
Emily bit her lip, looking down, struggling with herself. She could lie to Maisie and Clara…but she'd already betrayed Clara's trust once, and she didn't want to do that again. Emily took a deep breath and looked up at the two humans. She would tell them the truth, but just…reword it. "My dad says...you're next, Maisie, but he has an idea that might save you".
/
Romana stood beside the Doctor as they waited for Emily, Clara and Maisie to arrive. She was feeling torn between relief that their daughter would be with them, and fear that if the Doctor's plan didn't work both her husband and an innocent woman would die. "I don't plan on getting killed" the Doctor murmured quietly, sensing her thoughts through their bond. Romana sighed and leaned against him, as he put an arm around her. "I know, but I wish you weren't doing this".
"Everything will work out. Trust me".
"I hope you're right" Romana replied, before looking over as the door opened and Emily stepped in, followed by Clara and Maisie. Romana hurried over and hugged Emily; Danny did the same for Clara, before abruptly letting her go and clearing his throat awkwardly. Maisie smiled politely at the Doctor and shook his hand. "Hello again" she greeted.
"Nice to meet you" the Doctor replied distractedly. He looked around for the scanner, and nodded his thanks to the Corsair when the other Time Lord held it out to him. Clara informed Romana, "We passed the TARDIS on the way here; thought about getting inside, hiding, pulling the levers and hoping for the best. But we couldn't even get in. There was a force-field around it".
"It's probably Gus trying to block our escape route" the Doctor remarked as he scanned the rather bemused Maisie. Clara frowned at this statement. "But how does he even know what it is? Cos if he knows what it is, then he knows what you guys are" she pointed out.
"Well, he has tried to entice us here before" the Doctor admitted offhandedly, "Free tickets, mysterious summons, he even phoned the TARDIS number. Do you know how difficult a number"-
"You knew" Clara cut in, staring at the Time Lords accusingly, "You all knew this was no relaxing break. You knew this was dangerous".
"We didn't know for certain it would be dangerous, Clara" Romana tried to reassure her. Unfortunately the Doctor ruined that attempt by blatantly confessing, "I rather hoped it would be, though" – Romana wasn't the only one who face-palmed at that. Clara glared at him. "Okay, this, see, this is why I'm leaving you guys; because you lied. You lied to me, again, you lied to Danny, and now you've made Emily lie as well. You've turned her into your accomplice" she accused.
Emily protested, "I wasn't lying, Clara, I promise!" Before she could elaborate, Maisie confusedly asked, "Lie about what?"
Then her gaze fell on the mummy as the lights flickered, and she pointed fearfully at it. "Do we start the clock?" asked Perkins, holding the stopwatch poised. "Not yet" the Doctor replied as he stepped in front of Maisie, blocking her view of the mummy. He flashed the scanner in her face and told her, "Focus. Focus. Focus! All of that is your grief, your trauma, your resentment. And now…" He pressed the scanner to the side of his head and zapped himself, "It's mine".
"It's gone!" Maisie gasped when the mummy disappeared. "No. No, it's not. Not for me. Cos now it thinks I'm you" the Doctor corrected, tossing the scanner to Romana and telling Perkins, "Start the clock". Then he addressed the mummy itself as he backed away down the length of the carriage. "Hello" he greeted as it reached out for him, "I'm so pleased to finally see you. I'm the Doctor and I will be your victim this evening. Are you my mummy? But you can't hurt me until my time is up. I think. So are there magic words? Is there a way to stop you in your tracks?"
The Doctor remarked to Maisie, "Oh, you really didn't like your gran, did you?" Then he looked at the mummy, really looked hard. "There's something visible under the bandages; by the way, you weren't being paranoid. She really did poison your pony" he informed Maisie.
"Oh!"
"Markings like the ones on the scroll" the Doctor deduced, before saying to Maisie, "Oh, and your father. Sorry".
"What?"-
The Doctor cut her question off. "A tattered piece of cloth attached to a length of wood that you will kill for" he thought aloud, before Perkins informed him he had thirty seconds left. "That doesn't sound like a scroll. That sounds like a flag! And if that sounds like a flag, if this is a flag" he gestured to the ancient cloth mounted on the wall, "that means that you are a soldier, wounded in a forgotten war thousands of years ago. But they've worked on you, haven't they, son? They've filled you full of kit. State of the art phase camouflage, personal teleporter".
"Ten seconds!"
"And all that tech inside you, it just won't let you die, will it?" the Doctor asked the Foretold even as it reached for him. "It won't let the war end. It just won't let you stop until the war is over. We surrender!" he declared…and breathed a sigh of relief when the Foretold stopped, its hands mere inches away from his head. "Zero" said Perkins, as the mummy became visible.
Maisie gasped, "I can see it again!" The Foretold lowered its arms and stepped back from the Doctor. "It's okay, I think we all can" Clara assured her. Perkins asked if he should start the clock again. "No" said the Doctor, as the Foretold saluted him. "The clock has stopped. You're relieved, soldier" he told the mummy, and it finally disintegrated into dust.
"Phew. He's not the only one" Perkins remarked as he wiped his brow. The Doctor crouched down and picked a small piece of blue tech with wires protruding from it from the remains of the Foretold. "So, wait, that was the Foretold? That little box?" asked Danny. He felt a bit better about that, strangely enough; an augmented person he could accept, a mythical immortal mummy, not so much.
"This is what the Foretold was fighting" the Doctor explained without really explaining anything, as he usually did. Hesitantly, Clara spoke up. "Listen, what I said"-
"Save it" the Doctor instructed, "We're not out of the woods yet. Well, Gus, I think we solved your little puzzle. Ancient soldier being driven by malfunctioning tech" he addressed the psychopathic computer. Gus replied, "Thank you so much for your efforts. They are greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, survivors of this exercise are not required" he informed them.
"Ah, well, there's a shocker" the Doctor remarked sarcastically as he sonicked the tech he'd taken from the Foretold's remains. The humans clutched at their throats, gasping; the Time Lords quickly got to work cobbling together a teleport. "Air will now be removed from the entire train. We hope you have enjoyed your journey on the Orient Express" Gus stated.
Clara managed to ask the Time Quintet, "I take it you know a way out?"
"My enemy's enemy is my friend. Especially when he has a built in teleporter" the Doctor replied. People were starting to pass out from the lack of air, including Perkins and Maisie. "Use it then!" Danny choked out, before collapsing. "Danny!" Clara gasped, dropping to her knees beside him.
"Couple of minutes" the Doctor said distractedly, "Max. We'll give you a shout".
/
Danny and Clara woke up side by side, lying on a plaid blanket atop a flat rock on a beach of some kind. Danny stared up at the pink sky, and then looked to where the Doctor was scratching interlocking circles and numbers in the sand with a stick. "I hope you're remembering those calculations as you go" Romana told him, before looking over at the waking humans and smiling. "Hello, sleepy heads".
"Weren't we just on a train?" Clara asked, dazed. The Corsair waved a hand dismissively and informed her and Danny, "Oh, we got off ages ago. We managed to boost the teleporter enough to beam everyone on the train into the TARDIS, then we came the nearest inhabited planet here to drop them all off".
The Doctor dropped his stick and walked over. "We tried hacking Gus from the TARDIS, to find out who set this all up. He really didn't like that. Set off some fail-safe thing, blew up the train" he explained with a shrug. A small smile appeared on Clara's face as she looked between the Time Lords. "So everybody lived" she commented, and the Doctor rolled his eyes. "No, we just saved you two and let everyone else suffocate" he said sarcastically, "All that was just our cover story".
Flavia sighed and remarked, "It's a shame really. Without the secret laboratory and killer mummy it was really a lovely train to ride on…we're sorry this 'apology trip' took such a bad turn, Clara".
"Definitely" Romana agreed, "We shouldn't have used this trip as an opportunity – no, an excuse – to investigate a mystery" she admitted regretfully. The trip should have been about making their mistake up to Clara, not testing her capacity to forgive them even further. "We really wouldn't blame you if you stopped travelling with us" the Corsair added.
"We'd miss you, though" Emily finished quietly. Clara gave the girl a hesitant smile. "I'm sorry I accused you of lying" she apologised; Emily smiled in return. "It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't help you on the moon" she replied.
"Apology accepted…and Doctor, I'm sorry I doubted you" Clara told the Doctor. He stared at her sombrely and declared, "You were right to. In fact I doubted myself. I didn't know if I could save her" he explained, "Just like we couldn't save Quell, or Moorhouse. There was a good chance that she'd die too. At which point, I would have just moved onto the next, and the next, until I beat it. Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose".
/
Emily took it upon herself to give Perkins a short tour of the TARDIS. He came back up from examining the workings beneath the Time Rotor, and commented, "Err, it's err, quite a vehicle you have here. I won't pretend to understand half of it. Having said that, I did notice you've got a couple of drive stacks need replacing".
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you did, did you?"
"Yeah" Perkins nodded, "You should get someone in. And a job like that takes forever".
"Really? Well, I suppose, whoever I did get in, it might just be easier to have them stay on board for a while. I don't suppose you'd know of anyone?" the Doctor asked, hintingly. Perkins appeared to be considering the offer, but then he shook his head. "No. Sorry, Doctor, but I don't think I do. That job could err, change a man".
"Yes, it does" the Doctor agreed, "frequently". He held a hand out and Perkins shook it. "Well, we won't keep you. Goodbye, Perkins. Good to meet you".
"You too, all of you; and good luck" the engineer replied, shaking Romana's hand and tipping his cap to the others, including Clara and Danny who were standing off to the side. "Right, I suppose the two of you will want dropping off at home, won't you?" the Doctor assumed, moving to put in the co-ordinates for Clara's flat. Everyone, even Clara, was surprised when Danny spoke up. "You don't want to go, do you?" he asked Clara.
She stared at him. "Why would you say that?"
"Come on, Clara, it's obvious. You thought something might be going on and you went to investigate – I don't think you ever really wanted to give this up".
"So I was a bit curious. It doesn't mean anything. Besides, what about him lying to us?" Clara questioned, gesturing to the Doctor. Danny glanced at him, and tried to word his next sentence carefully. "No, that was bad…but maybe that's just another reason to stay. You can do what you do best – be a teacher".
Romana interjected, "She's an excellent teacher…you could come with us, Danny. I've wanted to invite my own companion aboard for a while now" she confessed. Danny shook his head. "Err, thanks, but no thanks. I don't think the life of a time traveller is the one for me" he explained, before turning back to Clara. "I think you really do want to go with them, so just go for it" he told her. She thought about it, and then finally smiled. "Okay. To hell with the last hurrah, let's keep going".
"You're staying, really?" Emily asked eagerly, "Yes!"
Clara chuckled. "Yeah, I'm staying. So long as you lot never pull another stunt like on the moon, we'll be good" she decided; then she and Danny held onto the railings as the Doctor sent the TARDIS into the Vortex. "Right, we'll drop Maths – err, Danny – off at home and then, you know I mentioned that planet made entirely of shrubs? We'll go there during flowering season" the Doctor decided. After all, our 'romantic getaway' got a bit spoilt, didn't it? He added to Romana, who smiled.