Another talking chapter. But plenty of action in the next one, which will be from Martha's point of view. See, I realized that not covering the plot's resolution was okay once...but it's kind of disappointing in this arc. So for full narrative satisfaction, I improvised a new chapter. And then I wanted it to not be a carbon copy, so it mutated...and then mutated some more...and now it's pretty long. My characters have reached that point where they spontaneously develop free will. I no longer claim responsibility for their actions.
Disclaimer: Not mine, Doctor Who is.
Chapter 25: The Letter Opened
April focused on wrapping up the man's arm, rhythmically winding the bandage tight around the large gash. She wasn't a nurse or a doctor, but she'd learnt enough first aid to help out. "You're going to be fine," she said. "Might have a scar, though. I'm not a doctor and I don't know what scars and doesn't. But you'll be fine."
"Thank you," he said. "Shouldn't you be helping the others? I'm not dying from this. And some people are badly injured."
"I'm not qualified for that," April said. She finished up just in time to see Martha come over.
"Frank?" Martha asked as the patient left.
"Hmm?" Frank said. His chin rested on the palm of his hand as he stared into the fire, mourning Solomon's death.
"That Mister Diagoras," Martha said. "He was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?"
"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere."
"But where, though?" Martha asked. "What sort of things?"
"You name it," Frank said. "We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best."
"What kind of building work?" Tallulah asked.
"Mainly building that," Frank answered, pointing over his shoulder to the Empire State Building.
"The Doctor gave me this," Martha said, sitting down and holding out the psychic paper. April turned around to listen to their conversation. She could see Harriet coming over and taking a seat as well. "It can get us into buildings and things."
"Why'd we want to get in there?" Frank asked. "It's not even finished yet."
"I don't know, yet," Martha said. "But I'm sure that it's involved in their plans, so it's our best bet. We'll have to go and see if it's where the Doctor wanted us to go. Or…I will, at least. You can come too, if you'd like."
"'course I'll come," Tallulah said. "Those monsters took my Laszlo—I'd do anything to give 'em what they deserve."
"I'll go too," Frank said, raising his hand slightly. "We gotta defend our world, haven't we?" Martha looked over at April and Harriet.
"We'll stay here. Right?" Harriet asked April pointedly.
She's going to think I'm a coward.
Excuse me if I don't want to mess things up for a thirteenth time. April thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah," April said. "In case the Daleks come back. Those monsters aren't—don't seem like the type to follow their deals. We can help defend Hooverville if they attack again. Seeing as we know some things about Daleks." It was a weak excuse, but Martha seemed to accept it.
"Good idea," she said. "Come on." She turned to Tallulah and Frank. "Let's go." The trio walked off, towards the Empire State Building.
"You didn't argue," Harriet said. She sounded surprised.
"I didn't want to mess things up. If I stay here…everyone will be fine. Except the Dalek-Humans, but…well…it could be worse." A lot worse. As in, everyone dies, worse. Universe ends, worse. "Besides, I don't want to get killed."
April realized that the memories were fading, like a half-forgotten dream. Still there, but not as vivid as before. She knew what happened, and could recall the memories if she thought about them, yet they didn't burn behind her eyes. Part of April was upset about the lack of clarity that came with it, but mostly she was just relieved. If she had to remember everything, every little detail, she didn't think she could stay sane.
"You're not alright," Harriet said quietly. "Something happened when you fell."
"What?" April said. Come on, act. You can lie. "Oh, that. No, Tallulah pushed into me."
"April, I can see the tear tracts on your face." The fire continued to crackle, not knowing that close by the fate of the world was being decided.
"I was being attacked by Daleks," she pointed out. "I got scared, okay? They're freaking Daleks." Harriet seemed to accept it.
"I'm scared of them too," Harriet admitted. She giggled. "I'm afraid of oversized pepperpots."
"They're Space Nazis with enough fire power to blow up the Earth. Anyone who isn't afraid of them's an idiot."
"I thought they were silly, before…all of this. The Oversized Pepperpots, the Day of the Oversized Pepperpots…the, I don't know, Revelation of the Oversized Pepperpots." Harriet giggled again. April didn't. "But, I mean, how awesome is this? We're in the Whoniverse. We're fighting Daleks."
"It's scary."
"Yep! And awesome. But New New York was beautiful! Once we got into the overcity, that is. And we actually get to meet the Doctor. And Martha Jones. We've traveled in the TARDIS. Helped save the world. Yeah, people have tried to kill us, but this is still absolutely amazing. Whovians…well, if they exist…would kill for this."
"Yeah," April said. "And we might get killed for this ourselves." How could Harriet be so happy, so excited about this? Everywhere they went, they messed things up. Nearly died. Almost destroyed the world. Did destroy the world twelve times.
"That envelope," Harriet said.
"What?" April asked.
"The envelope that we're supposed to read. I put mine on the TARDIS. Where's yours?"
"I put it in my pocket," April said, pulling it out of her blue hoodie. Miraculously, it was still there, though covered in dirt and wet at one of the corners. She pulled it out, squinting at it in the firelight. "Is it safe to read, do you think?" She asked Harriet.
"I don't see why not," Harriet said. "The instructions were 'don't show the Doctor' or something like that."
"I mean," April said, "what if it's that sleeping thing that Madame Vastra put on the paper she sent to Clara? You know, the virtual conference. Or it could be worse. What if it's poison? That's what I'd do, if I wanted to kill someone here."
"But Jeremy really did seem to be telling the truth—yes, I know it's weird, but, as the Doctor would say, the Doctor Who universe is real, get a little perspective. Anyway, he did use 'spoilers'."
"Lucky guess?" April said. "Or he's actually from the same universe as us and seen it too?"
"Jeremy Rice, seen Doctor Who?" Harriet said in disbelief. "Seriously, try a bit more plausible of an argument." She shook her head. "Jeremy Rice, avid viewer of a geeky British TV show."
"Maybe his mom made him watch it? She did read some sort of Doctor Who book as mystery reader, but I don't think she realized what it was. But yeah, fine, you've got a point," April conceded. "But what if that's not Jeremy Rice? I mean, apparently he's British in this universe, but he shows up talking in an American accent."
"That's definitely Jeremy Rice, April," Harriet said. "Same mannerisms, same voice, same everything. He's not an android or anything."
"He's British in this universe, and he talked in an American accent," April repeated.
Harriet sighed, rolling her eyes. "We were wrong, okay? We thought it was Mrs. Rice, and it wasn't. Fairly common name, and there's more than one person in the world with it. What if she just happens to look like his mom, April? We're getting all worked up about this over nothing. For whatever reason, we end up recruiting Jeremy Rice, and get him to deliver a message back in time for us."
"Maybe," April said. "Well, here it goes." She opened the letter, ripping the white paper envelope. Slowly, she pulled out a sheet of lined paper. It looked as if it had been torn from a notebook.
"That's your handwriting, isn't it?" Harriet asked.
April nodded. "Definitely. Well, ninety-nine percent certain. I could always have been forced to write it, though, whatever it is." Carefully, April took off her glasses and folded them in her lap so that she could read the message. When she spoke, she used a whisper, though she wasn't exactly certain why.
April Rose Storm & Harriet Jane Taylor,
This is a stable time loop. Don't die, because then the universe might explode.
Memorize and destroy. Harriet, make sure no one finds the other letter, and don't read it until after 6. You know what I mean.
You're going to be in a lot of danger, so you'll have to try to stay out of trouble.
435964
xj?q1-4iLo!-68(9z
Martha Jones's phone number is 07700 900461
PS: Thomas the Train danced to the electric violin on seventy-sixth avenue.
"What?" Harriet said. "Well, the stable time loop thing I get. Destroy this, okay, but it's gonna be difficult to memorize it. What's that random stuff about Thomas the Train."
"That's a code to tell myself that yes, I wrote this and no, I wasn't forced to. But what's the rest of it?"
"Gibberish," Harriet said. "Random numbers, random letters and numbers, and Martha's phone number."
April stared at the message for a moment. "Seven, twelve, twenty-one, thirty-one…Added together, the numbers make thirty-one. Multiplied, they're… …twelve, sixty, um, twenty-four…times nine would be one eighty and thirty-six to get two sixteen. Times that sixty is one thousand two hundred times ten so that's twelve thousand plus ten times sixty is six hundred and six times sixty is three hundred sixty so twelve thousand nine hundred sixty."
"What?" Harriet asked, staring at April.
"Oh, I forgot the number," April said, thinking. "Right. Twelve thousand nine hundred sixty. Significant?" She asked.
Harriet shook her head. "No…"
"Yeah, I can't think of anything either. Is…thirty-one significant at all?"
"Not that I'm aware of."
"It's prime," April said. "Um…other than that, I don't know what it would mean. Six numbers. Hmm. You know, that second one…it looks like secure passwords."
"Oh!" Harriet said. "Like those ones that websites generate and tell you to use. I never take them; who can remember those things?"
"Us, apparently. We've got to memorize this."
"How do we do that?" Harriet asked.
"No clue," April said. She turned her head to the side to look at the fire. "The first one starts with four. Forty-three, fifty-nine, sixty-four. Four five six."
"The four five six?" Harriet said. "We'll be facing those creatures from Torchwood?"
"Probably just a coincidence," April said. "But it can help us remember. Four five six. Three nine four, that's complete nonsense. I mean…three times four equals twelve minus three is nine but that's not obvious enough to help us remember. Minus one plus four minus two. Or minus one plus two plus four minus three minus two. That actually makes some sense, I guess, if you look deeply at it. Subtract one then two. Then four, three, and back to two." She closed her eyes. "Four three five…eight, was it? Then six four." She looked.
"Nine," Harriet corrected.
"Four three five nine six four. Right. 435964. 435964. 435964. Got it."
"Well, what about me?"
"You're good at memorizing," April told her. "How do you memorize lines for your plays?"
"They make sense," Harriet said. "They're a conversation or song, not just random numbers."
"Well…sing them or something, I don't know," April said. "Forty-three, fifty-nine, sixty-four. First comes four, it ends with four, to find the rest, sing some more. Then is three which is half of six, go from both sides to complete the list. Five and nine are next, my friend, with a difference of four like those on the end."
"I can't sing that," Harriet told her. "It's stupid."
"At least it rhymed, sort of?" April said. "I guess I learned a lot from the Carrionites. 'Six' and 'list'." She shook her head. "Emphasis on the 'sort of'."
"Well…how do we get the next one?" Harriet asked.
"I don't…xj. Xander Jade? Question one—for Ida. Lo! Dash six ate parenthesis nine's asleep."
"That…makes even less sense than the actual thing," Harriet said, raising her eyebrows.
April looked at the letter, and closed her eyes. "Xander Jade? Question…oh, I can't do this." Opening her eyes back up, April read over the page once more. "Your middle name's Jane?" She asked. "I can't believe I never knew that."
"Yeah," Harriet said. "And yours is Rose. Like, Rose Tyler, Rose."
"Sarah Jane Smith." April wrinkled her nose. "I'm not Rose Tyler."
"There's nothing wrong with Rose Tyler!" Harriet protested. "She's my favorite companion. Then Amy. You know that."
"Just…I'm not anything like her, you know?" April said. "Anyway…when's the Doctor getting back?"
"I don't know," Harriet said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"We keep ignoring everything," April said suddenly. "Like, we get a clue, discuss it for a little, and then forget about it. We need to think more about what's going on. Like, we've got vital clues about the future. Somehow, we recruit Jeremy Rice. We also send messages backwards in time to ourselves. And yet we don't even try to think about the circumstances that made this happen." April shrugged. "Just something to think—"
"Dalek!" Someone screamed. April's eyes widened immediately and she jumped to her feet. Harriet was already a few feet away, staring in horror as a Dalek swooped in from the sky, its metal casing gleaming in the starlight.