Doctor Who

The Children of Gallifrey

Episode Three

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"So where are we?" Graham asked, as the three of them stood around in the TARDIS.

"That's a difficult question to answer," the Doctor replied. "We're... we'll, we're nowhere."

"What do you mean nowhere?" Ryan asked.

"There is no space out there. There's no matter. There's nothing."

"There can't just be nothing," said Graham.

"There is when the Nowhere Child walks about."

"The what?" asked Ryan.

"A being with control over all of matter. If the Timeless Child can control time, and the Soulless Child can control life..."

"Then how do we stop it?" Graham asked.

"How do you stop nothing?" the Doctor countered. "The TARDIS' shields are currently holding, but we can't even go outside."

"How did we even get here then?" Ryan asked. "How did we arrive into nowhere?"

"I had the TARDIS jump between recent destinations," the Doctor replied. "This is currently the home-world of the Stenza. Or would be, if it still existed. And Cissism. And Mercer."

"This nothingness has destroyed all those planets?" Graham said in shock.

"More that it's just destroyed the entire galaxy," the Doctor replied. "It's spreading fast. Won't be long before it consumes Earth itself."

"Then what do we do?" Ryan said desperately. "Can we go outside?"

"There is no 'outside'," the Doctor said. "There's not even the void between universes. I don't think you're grasping at what 'nothing' truly is."

"So what do we do?" Graham asked hopelessly.

"I'm trying to hone on to the last bit of energy in this galaxy," the Doctor replied. "If we're lucky, that's where the child will be."

"And if we're not?"

"Then we're going to be stuck nowhere for the rest of time," the Doctor replied glumly. "Trapped in the TARDIS... forever."

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Ryan and Graham sat in the control room, restlessly trying to keep quiet. It had been hours since the Doctor had said anything to either of them, instead being solely focused on her TARDIS. This was nothing new, she'd often gotten absorbed in her work, but this...

"Do you think we're ever going to go back home?" Ryan asked.

"Of course," Graham said enthusiastically. "You can trust that the Doctor will get us back to Sheffield in no time."

"What about the children though?" Ryan asked, touching the softly cube around his neck.

"I'm sure she'll figure out a way of separating us from them," Graham said with a forced cheerfulness.

"You don't have to keep lying to me."

"Is it that obvious?"

A silence fell between the two, each trying to figure out the words that they wanted to say.

"If the Doctor can't free us," began Ryan, before pausing.

"Go on," Graham said encouragingly.

"If the Doctor can't free us," Ryan repeated, "and we're stuck in that alternate universe... I'm glad you'd be there for me."

"But of course son. While I have faith in the Doc, don't get me wrong... I couldn't bear you being abandoned again. I thought that if you were destined to end up in some sort of alternate universe then I might as well join you."

"Thanks granddad." Ryan smiled warmly at Graham, who returned it.

"Not that it matters though," Graham said. "The Doctor will figure something out. She hasn't let us down yet."

"Not that we remember," said Ryan, a tinge of bitterness to his voice.

"Got it!" the Doctor said eagerly, as she climbed down from the central pillar.

"What's the plan?" asked Ryan.

"I'm going to jettison a fourth of the TARDIS," the Doctor said excitedly.

"I'm sorry," began Graham.

"Don't worry, it's nothing important, that third pool was my least favourite anyway."

"But you're getting rid of a quarter of the TARDIS."

"Turning the mass into energy should propel us into the centre of this."

"Should?" asked Ryan.

"Either that or we blow up," the Doctor said with a shrug. "But we've got a thirteen percent chance."

"Of exploding?"

"Of this working. But thirteen has always been my lucky number. Hold on!" The Doctor grabbed a lever and pulled. The TARDIS suddenly lurched sideways, everyone grabbing onto the scenery to keep their balance. There was a screeching sound, as if the TARDIS herself was in pain.

"I know, I know," the Doctor said, as the console room shook like an over-loaded washing machine. "This must be like tearing an arm off, but I have to."

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Graham began, before the shaking suddenly stopped. The TARDIS righted itself, going back to a gentle hum of standard procedures.

"Are we there?" Ryan asked.

"I hope so," the Doctor said, checking her instruments, before freezing.

"Doctor?" Graham asked cautiously.

"I've made a terrible mistake," the Doctor said. Before she could say more Ryan suddenly found the column he was supporting himself give way, as if it was just a ghost of its former self.

"Doctor," he began, as the console room slowly started to evaporate around them, flaking away into pieces of dust.

"I know," the Doctor said urgently, as she tried to press buttons on the console, her hands going through them half the time.

"What's happening?" Graham asked, as he stumbled when the step he was on disappeared.

"The massive power surges shorted out the shields," the Doctor said. "And there's nothing stopping the anti-matter from ripping apart everything in here."

"Shouldn't there be some sort of explosion then?" Graham asked, half-remembering a documentary he'd seen about it.

"You're right," the Doctor said. "We should have been annihilated in an instance... Show yourself!"

"What?" said Graham.

"Not you," said the Doctor. "The child. The only reason we're not dead yet is because it's slowly tearing us apart. It probably thinks we're some sort of toy or plaything."

"Hello," said a small, nervous voice. The three travellers turned to see a small child standing in the doorway, awkwardly shifting.

"Stop what you're doing to my TARDIS," the Doctor demanded.

"I don't know how," the child admitted. "I don't like that this happens when I'm around. I don't want to hurt people."

"You have to do something," the Doctor said. "You're going to kill us."

"It's out of my control. I couldn't stop this any more then you could stop breathing."

"Get into this cube then," the Doctor said, holding up the cube around her neck.

"No," the child replied. "I don't want to be trapped again."

"I'm not mucking around. Get in this cube."

"No."

"Do it or else."

"Or else what?"

"You don't want to make me mad. No one survives for long when I'm mad against them."

"Doc," warned Graham, but the Doctor ignored him. Instead she pointed her screwdriver at the console.

"If you don't stop I turn off the anti-matter generator shields and flood this console room," she said. "Massive explosion. Not even you are capable of withstanding such a blast. Now get into my cube."

"You wouldn't," said the child.

"Wouldn't I?"

"You'd kill your friends."

"We're dead anyway. This way will be quicker. Now get into the cube."

"Shan't."

"Get into the cube you little-"

"Doctor!" Ryan said.

"What?"

"This... this isn't you Doctor. You're not like this. You're better than this."

"I don't have a choice Ryan. I either capture this thing, or I kill it. Those are the only two options."

"There must be another way," Graham asked.

"If we had time I'd find one. But in a few minutes there isn't going to be anything left of any of us. At least this way there'd only be one child left."

"But-"

"This isn't a debate. This isn't a discussion. The fact is that it's either us or them. These abominations don't deserve to live. I made a mistake of letting them live before. I need to rectify that."

"You're going to kill them?" Ryan asked in shock.

"I was always going to kill them. You've seen how powerful they are."

"You said you were going to put them in their own little universe?"

"That was a lie Ryan. I was going to destroy them once and for all."

"That's not what the Doctor does," said Graham.

"No, this is exactly what the Doctor does. The Doctor sometimes has to make the tough choice, do the immoral thing, if it's for the greater good. I can't sacrifice an entire universe for a bunch of monsters."

"They're just children."

"Not any more!"

"I won't let you do this," Ryan said, as he moved closer to the Doctor. "I won't let you kill this kid."

"It's us or them."

"No, Doc," Graham said. "It's just us. We have to decide what's right and what's wrong. Killing children, no matter how you justify it... it's wrong."

"Don't make me fight you off," the Doctor said reluctantly, hand still on screwdriver.

"You won't do that," Ryan said.

"Because that's not what the Doc does," added Graham, as the two of them stood next to the Doctor, holding out their hands. The Doctor looked at the two of them, two stupid humans who thought that being good was more important the entire universe.

But then again what was the point of saving a universe if it meant being a monster? She'd made a promise when she took her name, and if it was going to kill her, so be it.

Slowly she moved away from the console, putting the screwdriver back in her pocket.

"Thank you," she said. "But I don't know what we're going to do."

"Maybe I can help," said a voice. The three looked to see a ball of light leave the TARDIS, morphing into the shape of a woman all too familiar to the Doctor.

"Idris?" the Doctor said in shock.

"Who?"

"The TARDIS once inhabited her body, long story." She turned to the golden figure in front of her. "I thought you were gone forever."

"Oh my silly thief," Idris said with a smile. "I can never leave you."

"I'm sorry what's happening," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. What I jettisoned."

"Don't worry," Idris said with a smile. "It was my least favourite pool." The Doctor smiled back at her wife, glad that she was here at this last moment.

"Little one," Idris said, the glowing form slowly moving over towards the Nowhere Child. "Look at me."

The child squinted up at the glowing figure in front of it.

"You want infinity?" Idris asked. "You want to be able to live in comfort? To be able to spread out your essence and never have to worry about hurting anyone?"

The child nodded eagerly.

"Come here then," Idris said, holding out her arms. The child ran into the waiting hug, a golden glow enveloping the both of them until they were gone. All that remained was a single cube, glowing in the darkness.

The lights of the ship turned back on, the hum resumed, and everything felt a lot more solid than it had before.

"Doctor," began Ryan.

"She sacrificed herself," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS, she brought the Nowhere Child into herself, to contain it. She did what you two did."

"Is that any shock?" asked Graham. "Of course we're going to do what we can to help others. It's what we do."

"I know, but..." the Doctor trailed off, going back to looking at the console. "Space has returned to normal, and we have some time before the Nowhere Child threatens to overwhelm the TARDIS. She may be infinite, but the Nowhere Child isn't aware of just how powerful it is."

"So what's left to do?" asked Ryan.

"We capture the Nightmare Child," the Doctor said. "Then we work out how to get these children out of you lot and somewhere else."

"Are you going to kill them?" Graham asked in concern.

"No," the Doctor said. "No, you're right, killing isn't what I do. I can try to trap them. But we still need to deal with the last child."

"Let's go get it then," said Ryan.

"I'm glad you're here," the Doctor said reassuringly. "But..."

"But?"

"The Nightmare Child is on Earth. And given how long its been there, I don't know how much of Earth is going to be left at this point. No matter what we do, I don't think it's ever going to be able to be put back together ever again."