5. Jammed
In the TARDIS, Martha sits demurely while the Doctor flips a few levers. He's in a good mood. "Just one trip. 'S'what I said. One trip, in the TARDIS, and then home," he rambled. "Although, I suppose we could, stretch the definition. Try one trip to the past, one trip to the future. How do you fancy that?"
"No complaints from me!" Martha replied.
"Me too," Tory agreed.
"How about a different planet?" He asked.
"Can we go to yours?" Martha suggested.
The Doctor's excitement almost lost immediately. He turns away from her. Tory looks away from them. She's not blaming Martha for not knowing. Neither of them ever tried to explain to her. It's too painful to mention their home planet. Especially knowing what the Doctor had done to Gallifrey... that's too much to think about.
"Ahh, there's plenty of other places!" He insisted.
"Come on, though! I mean, Planet of the Time Lords, that's got to be worth a look! What's it like?"
"It's beautiful," Tory admitted, gazing distantly.
"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"
The Time Lady rocked back and forth. "You can say that."
"Great big temples and cathedrals!"
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, but Tory knows he's doesn't want to talk about Gallifrey.
"Lots of planets in the sky?" Martha asked, still oblivious.
"The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever, slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow."
"Can we go there?"
"Naah! Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home! Instead..." He begins to dance around the main console, tweaking settings as he goes. "This is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."
The Doctor throws on his overcoat, and leads them out of the TARDIS into a pouring rain shower.
"Oh, that's nice! Time Lord version of dazzling," Martha murmured.
"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover!" He cheered.
It's still raining in the slummy portion of the city where Martha, Tory, and the Doctor have ended up. They dash through a junk-ridden street, past what look like giant dumpsters and old laundry swinging from a line.
"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me," Martha conceded. "On a Wednesday afternoon."
"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look." He goes over to a dead screen on the wall, using his sonic screwdriver. Once static appears, the Doctor bangs on the top of the screen himself, and a woman flickers into view.
"..and the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." The image on the screen shifts to reveal the New New York above ground, a gorgeous spired city on the coast of a large river, with sleek flying vehicles zooming in the air.
"Oh, that's more like it!" The Doctor chimmed. "That's the New we had last time. This must be the lower levels. Down in the base of the tower, some sort of under-city."
"You've brought me to the slums?" She asked, sounds irritating with a smile.
"Much more interesting! It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."
"You'd enjoy anything."
"That, he does," Tory addressed with a smirk.
"Oh, the rain's stopping! Better and better!" He remarked.
"When you say last time, was that you two and Rose?" Martha slowly asked.
"Um, not exactly," he alluded, looks nervous as he's threads a hand through his hair. "Just me and Rose."
Tory sighs, made a steeple of her fingers. She feels bad over being angry at him, despite all circumstance that caused it. She's still have some mixed feelings over that. She's trying her best to push that bad perspective and trying to connect with the Doctor.
Martha just staring them curiously, knowing there's must be something bad happen between the Time Lords that made them unable to see at each other eyes now. She may knows them not long ago, but she knows how close these two are. The fact the Doctor didn't bring Tory to travel with Rose... it must be very bad.
A man suddenly flips open the top of the large green boxes to reveal a street vendor's cart. Around the trio, many others do the same, appearing and shouting out their wares.
"Oh! You should have said," the first man said. "How long you been there? Happy! You want Happy!"
A woman shouted. "Customers! Customers! We've got customers!"
"We're in business!" Another woman said. "Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read!"
"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!"
"Anger! Buy some Anger!"
"Get some Mellow, makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long!"
"Younger, them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"
"No, thanks," he declined, frowning.
"Are they selling drugs?" Martha asked.
"I think they're selling moods."
"Same thing, isn't it?"
More bedragged-looking people walk into the alleyway behind the trio. These newcomers draw more cries from the pharmacists. A pale woman dressed in very dark clothes walks with intent toward the stalls.
"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!" The other woman cajoled.
"Oy! Oy, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" The first man coaxed.
"Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?"
"I want to buy Forget," a pale woman answered.
"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much you want forgetting?"
"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway."
"Oh, that's so sweet." She reaches behind her into the stall, pulls out a small circular token, and holds it out to the pale woman. "Forget Forty-three. That's two pence."
The pale woman pays the pharmacist and turns away, the token still in her hand. Before she can do anything with it, the Doctor stops her. "Sorry, but, hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?"
"They drove off."
"They might drive back," Tory imparted.
"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."
"But they can't have gone far. You could find them," the Doctor intoned.
The pale woman just looks at him, then looks down with a sigh. She sticks the circular token to her neck.
"No, no, no, don't!"
But too late. Once the token has been applied, the pale woman's expression changes almost instantly. She seems docile, serene, and a bit out of it, but blithely unaware of her surroundings. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" She asked him.
"Your parents. Your mother and father. They're on the motorway."
"Are they? That's nice."
Martha makes a disbelieving face, and looks to the Time Lords. The Doctor looks disturbed, but not surprised, while Tory looks uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry. I won't keep you." They watch her go with frowns on their faces, the Doctor pensive, Martha upset and a little scornful, and Tory just gazed sorrow.
"So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals," Martha ventured as two figures spring out from behind her, carrying guns and dressed in dark clothing. A man grabs her from behind, throwing an arm around her neck and dragging her off, as a woman stands in front of them pointing her gun at the Time Lords.
Martha screams and struggles, but they're quick, they retreat, taking Martha with them.
"Martha!" Tory yelped in panic, ready to use her power, but the woman seems to know her intention and proceed aim her gun at her left heart. She intend to use her power againts her, but the Doctor stops her.
"We don't know how far they will harm you," the Doctor warned her in Gallifreyan.
"But Martha..."
"I know, Historian. I know. But things could get into danger."
"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry," the man apologized. "We just need three, that's all."
"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go!" He screamed. "Whatever you want, we can help. Three of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go!"
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry," the woman repeated, almost crying, until the couple have disappeared with Martha in their clutches, slamming a large green door behind them.
The Doctor bares his teeth in frustration and begins to wrestle with the door before Tory stops him and using her gravity strength to open the door, then they running after the kidnappers.
Just as they rushes out onto the fire escape, a futuristic-metal car rises into the air and the engines power up.
"Martha!" The Time Lords yelled, frantic.
They decide to return back in the alleyway, where they met the pharmacists.
The Doctor pounds on the door of one of the now-closed stalls. It flips up quickly, behind it is the other woman. Seeing him, she grins broadly and leans toward him over the countertop. "Thought you'd come back! Do you want some happy Happy?"
"Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?" He gushed.
The first man, emerging as well, replied. "They've taken her to the motorway."
"Looked like carjackers to me," the other woman said.
"I'd give up now, darling. You won't see her again," the first woman said.
"Used to be thriving in this place," the fist man recalled. "You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end."
"He kept on saying three, we need three," Tory fretted. "What did he mean, three?"
"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults," the other woman said.
"This motorway, how do we get there?" The Doctor inquired.
"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You can't miss it."
The duo strides off in the direction she indicates, not losing a second.
"Tell you what, how 'bout some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love!" She suggested.
At this, the Doctor turns back. "Word of advice, all of you. Cash up. Close down. And pack your bags."
"Why's that, then?"
"Because as soon as we've found her, alive and well...and we will find her, alive and well, then we're coming back. And this street is closing. Tonight!" He declared.
The pharmacists glance at each other, apprehensive. But the Time Lords don't care about that as they're stride running to find Martha.
The Doctor using his sonic to open the door. The lock opens with a loud clang and they step through onto a platform. They cough, now in an atmosphere of heavy smoke from several thousand cars, all hovering in the air in the most terrible traffic jam Tory had ever seen in her whole life.
Right in front of them, the door to one of the floating vehicles opens, and a large figure covered in protective gear, leans out. "Hey! You two daft little street strut! What are you doing, standing there? Either get out or get in! Come on!"
Coughing fit to burst, the Doctor hold Tory's wrist as they jump through the open door into the car.
"Did you ever see the like?" The figure asked as a dark-haired woman in the car, hands them two oxygen mask.
"Here you go," she said.
The Doctor nods gratefully and helps Tory first before he do it by himself.
"Just standing there, breathing it in!" He commented, pulls off his goggles, cap, and scarf, revealing himself as a humanoid-cat that Tory used to see from books illustration. "There's this story says back in the old days, on Junction Forty-Seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet!"
"Oh, you're making it up," the dark-hair woman replied.
He now heads to the front of the car, getting in the driver's seat. "A fifty-foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose."
"Stop it. That's disgusting."
"What? Did you never pick your nose?"
The dark-hair woman suddenly sits up straight and taps him on the arm. "Bran, we're moving!"
"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." He pulls a lever on the console, and the engines in the back of the car spew out smoke. As they go forward, the other cars move into place around them; horns beep in every corner. They don't go far, though, and after a couple of seconds, he draws the lever back. "Twenty yards! We're having a good day."
She smiles, and both of them now turn back to regard the Time Lords. The Doctor just standing behind them and pulling off his oxygen mask while Tory keep putting her oxygen mask.
"And who might you two be, sir and miss?" He asked. "Very well-dressed for a hitchhiker."
"Thanks. Sorry, I'm the Doctor. This is the Historian."
"Medical man and history teacher! Ha-ha! My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."
"Nice to meet you," Valerie greeted.
"And that's the rest of the family behind you," he gestured.
The duo turn and draw a curtain behind them, revealing a basket of cute little kittens.
"Aww, that's nice. Hello," the Doctor said as he and Tory reach gently out to them, before they turn back to Brannigan and Valerie. Now, there's a tiny black cat in The Doctor's hands while Tory gently holding a white kitten. "How old are they?"
"Just two months," Valerie answered.
"Poor little souls. They've never known the ground beneath their paws," Brannigan articulated. "Children of the motorway."
Tory gazed the couple, shocked, while pulling off her oxygen mask. "They were born in here?"
"We couldn't stop. We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island," Valerie admitted. "Thought we'd take a chance."
"What? You've been driving for two months?" The Doctor asked.
"Do I look like a teenager?" Brannigan asked back. "We've been driving for 12 years now."
"I'm sorry?"
"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds! Feels like yesterday."
"Feels like 12 years to me," Valerie added.
"Ah, sweetheart, but you're still lovely." He tickles her, and she giggles, their troubles forgotten.
"12 years?!" He echoed. "How far did you come? Where did you start?"
"Battery Park. It's five miles back," Brannigan replied.
"You travelled five miles... in 12 years?!" Tory gawped as the kitten sitting right above her head, ready to get sleep.
"I think they're a bit slow," Brannigan concluded.
The Doctor reaches behind him and puts the kitten back with its fellows. He also helps with the white kitten that already fall asleep.
"Where are you from?" Valerie asked.
"Never mind that, I've got to get out. My friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. I should get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor declared, pulls open the door next to him, only to meet a large cloud of smoke.
"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by," Brannigan noted as the Doctor coughs and closes the door again. "You're a passenger now, Sonny Jim!"
"When's the next lay-by?" He asked.
"Oh... six months?" He reckoned.
The Time Lords staring at each other, clearly not happy.
The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver in front of a screen with the insignia of the New New York Police Department. The Doctor is reflected in the screen, holding a vocal transmitter. "I need to talk to the police."
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold."
As these words are spoken, they also appear typed on the screen: Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold...
"But you're the police!" He insisted.
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold."
The Doctor scrambles up to the front of the car where Brannigan and Valerie are still sitting. "Is there anyone else? I once met the Duke of Manhattan. Is there any way of getting through to him?"
"Oh, now, ain't you lordly?" Brannigan mused.
"I've got to find my friend."
"You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed," Valerie made known.
"What about the other cars?" Tory suggested.
"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list. Now, let's see, who's nearby? Ahh! The Cassini sisters!" Brannigan holds up his transmitter and talked. "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here."
"Get off the line, Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace," the woman teased.
"Oh, come on, now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"
"You know full well we're not sisters. We're married."
"Oooh, stop that modern talk! I'm an old-fashioned cat. Now, I've got two hitchhiker here, call themself the Doctor and the Historian."
He hands the transmitter over to the Doctor, who grabs it. "Hello. Sorry. I'm looking for someone called Martha Jones. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles, but I don't know which one."
"Wait a minute," another woman replied. "Could I ask, what entrance did they use?"
"Where were we?" Tory asked Brannigan.
"Pharmacy Town."
"Pharmacy Town, about twenty minutes ago," the Doctor replied.
"Let's have a look."
"Just my luck, to marry a car-spotter," the first Cassini.
"In the last half hour, fifty-three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction."
"Anything more specific?" The Doctor asked.
"All in good time. Was she car-jacked by two people?"
"Yes, she was, yeah."
"There we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four six five diamond six."
'That's it! So how do we find them?"
"Ah. Now, there I'm afraid I can't help."
"Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six," Tory added to Brannigan.
"Not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class."
"You could try the police."
"They put me on hold," the Doctor mentioned.
"You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else," the first Cassini remarked.
"Thank you," he said before hands Brannigan back the transmitter. "We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down."
"Not a million years," Brannigan disagreed.
"You've got four passengers!"
"I'm still not going."
"She's alone, and she's lost. She doesn't belong on this planet, and it's all my fault..."
Our fault, Tory added him. Because I'm not good enough to saved Martha. I didn't use my power, yet I should be.
The Doctor holds her hand. "I'm asking you, Brannigan, take me down," he pleaded.
"That's a no. And that's final," Valerie affirmed. "I'm not risking the children down there."
"Why not? What happens down there?" Tory inquired.
"We're not discussing it! The conversation is closed!"
"So we keep on driving," the Doctor noted.
"Yes, we do," Brannigan agreed.
"For how long?"
"'Till the journey's end."
Tory rolled her eyes. She will not just sit here and do nothing! Not when Martha still out there by two strangers. She will not lost Martha, just like they have losing Rose. So, she pulled the vocal transmitter from Brannigan forcefully and contacting the Cassini's couple. "Mrs. Cassini, this is the Historian. If you don't mind, how long have you been driving on the motorway?"
"Oh, we were amongst the first. It's been 23 years now, dear," the first Cassini answered.
"And in those 23 years... have you ever seen a police car?"
Valerie and Brannigan look at her, shock that she's bringing this to light.
"I'm not sure," the second Cassini said.
"Look at your notes," the Doctor urged beside Tory. "Any police?"
"Not as such."
"Or an ambulance? Rescue service? Anything official? Ever?"
"I can't keep a note of everything." With that, the trasmit ended.
"What if there's no one out there?" The Doctor pondered.
Brannigan reaches up and angrily takes the transmitter away from Tory. "Stop it. The Cassinis were doing you a favor," he hissed.
"Someone's got to ask. 'Cause you might not talk about it, but it's there. In your eyes," he noted. "What if the traffic jam never stops?"
"There's a whole city above us. The mighty city-state of New New York. They wouldn't just leave us."
"If that's the case, where are they?" Tory inquired. "What if there's no help coming?"
"What if there's nothing?" The Doctor added. "Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round, never stopping? Forever?"
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Valerie bellowed.
The screen at the front of the car blares into life. It's showing the woman earlier. "This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation."
"You think you know us so well, Doctor, Historian. But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other," Brannigan averred.
"This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe."
Valerie and Brannigan start to sing of a hymn. Tory is not an expert of music, like her teacher at the Academy, the Singer. But she knows how often he'd sang different song everyday. And despite never hearing this hymn before, Tory can tell this song is fill with hope and peace.
After the couple finished, the Doctor claimed. "If you won't take us, we'll go down on my own." He scrambles to the middle of the car, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and inspecting the floor.
Brannigan and Valerie turn, shocked. "What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan demanded.
"Finding my own way," he said as he's scanning it. "I usually do."
"Capsule open."
A door in the floor of the car opens, revealing the hundreds of cars below them. One pulls up right underneath the opening, and the Time Lords prepare themself to jump down.
"Here we go." He takes off his overcoat and puts it at Tory's. Since Tory's still shorter than him, the jacket just make her body smaller. "Hold tight with this. Might need it."
"But you can't jump!" Valerie insisted.
"If it's any consolation, Valerie, right now, I'm having kittens."
"This Martha, she must mean an awful lot to you," Brannigan concluded.
"She is," Tory agreed. "And we will not let her in any danger. Not again."
"Bye then!" The Doctor said, holding Tory's waist as they jump down, landing on top of the next car and coughing from the fumes. The Doctor draws the sonic screwdriver across the top of the car he's just landed on, opening its top door.
He drops into the car, finding a man dressed all in white and looking very pale.
"Capsule open."
"Who the hell are you?" The man demanded.
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol. I'm doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?" He chatted as Tory turns to the floor, opening the bottom door using her power.
"Well, not very much. Junction Five's been closed for three years!"
"Capsule open."
"Thank you. Your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!"
He and Tory, still holding each other hands, leap through the bottom of that car, continuing down into the next one. He's still coughing, the fumes are intense, while Tory used his overcoat as a mask to cover her nose. The sonic screwdriver is quickly opening the door of the top car. They enter it.
The Doctor looks up at two very startled Asian girls in the front after he opens the door below the car. "Thank you for your cooperation. Your comments have been noted." Tory just mouthing 'sorry' as he picks up a purple handkerchief and starts to tie it over his mouth to stop him coughing. "Do you mind if I borrow this? Not my colour, more into hers actually, but thank you very much."
Down again. And this time, the car has two very naked drivers, who look at him in utter shock.
"Capsule open."
"Oh my goodness," Tory muttered, cover her eyes using the Doctor's overcoat. She might known and okay about flirting, but not to the extend of seeing people naked.
"Oh! Don't mind us," he assured them, urging Tory to jump first before he did into the next one, which is lit all in red, with a very large man in the front.
"Capsule open."
The Doctor salutes him and they jump through this car as well.
A businessman in pinstripes leans against his steering wheel, staring out at the gridlock.
"Capsule open."
Behind him, the Doctor and Tory jump down. The businessman whirls to face him. "'Scuse me, is that legal?"
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol," the Doctor enunciated, coughing too hard to finish his spiel. "Whatever. Have you got any water?"
"Certainly. Never let it be said I've lost my manners." He reaches over to a water cooler, filling two cone-shaped clear plastic cup and handing it to the Doctor and Tory.
The Doctor drains it immediately while Tory drink it slowly. "Is this the last layer?"
"Ah, we're right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane."
"Can we drive down?"
"No! It's dangerous down there!" He disagreed.
The Doctor runs over to the door in the bottom of the car, using his sonic screwdriver to flip it open.
"You can't jump. It's a thousand feet down!"
"No, we just want to look," Tory elaborated as the Doctor stares out into a thick, murky fog, dotted with tiny lights. Faintly, from the distance, comes a screeching roar. "What's that noise?"
"I try not to think about it."
"What are those lights? What's down there?" The Doctor asked as he coughs again, waving a hand in front of his face to sweep away the smoke. "I just need to see." He runs up to the screen in the front of the car and points the sonic screwdriver at the display. "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze."
Not long after, he's playing with the wiring of the front console, helped by the sonic screwdriver. One of the wires snaps in his fingers.
"That's it! Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a good look."
They stare out from the bottom of the car.
"What are those shapes?" The business man asked.
As they speak, huge snapping claws materialize in the fading smoke.
"They're alive," the Doctor realized dreadful.
"What the hell are they?"
Tory can see some extremely large crabs and the lights in their eyes.
"Macra," the Time Lords said at once.
"Macra?"
"The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy. They fed off gas, the filthier the better," Tory explained, remember read the Macra from one of many books she read.
"They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food," the Doctor added, knowing that from his experiences during his second incarnation with his companions Jamie, Polly, and Ben.
"They don't exactly look like empire-builders to me," the business man claimed.
"Well, that was billions of years ago. Billions. They must've devolved down the years and now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and my friend's down there."
There's a noise at the top of the businessman's car. They look up.
"Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness's sake!" The business man remarked.
And then, a humanoid-cat like Brannigan drops into the vehicle like the duo did before.
"I've invented a sport!" He cheered.
"No, you're not," Tory disagreed.
"Doctor, you're a hard man to find," she denoted.
The businessman points at Novice Hame's gun, still in her hand. "No guns! I'm not having guns!"
"I only brought this in case of pirates," she insisted. "Doctor, Historian, you've got to come with me."
"Do I know you?" Tory asked.
"No," she said to her before looking at the Doctor. "You haven't aged at all. Time has been less kind to me."
"Novice Hame!" He embraces her, grinning, before let go. "No, hold on, get off. Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation."
"I've sought forgiveness, Doctor, for so many years, under his guidance. And if you come with me alongside your sister, I might finally be able to redeem myself."
"I'm not going anywhere. And neither does Historian," he insisted. "You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra! And if my friend's still alive, she's stuck down there!"
"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." She takes his wrist, and presses a button on the green-lit metal wristband she's wearing. "Transport."
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" He warned her.
But it's too late. As he screams, three of them vanish in a haze of white light and soon transport into a large yet unkempt room with many dusty and junk everywhere. There's the streams of sunlight flooding in irregularly.
The Doctor, Tory, and Novice Hame are picking themselves up off the floor.
"Oh! Rough teleport," he grumbled. "Ow. But you can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Martha."
"I only had the power for one trip," Novice Hame remarked.
"Then get some more!" He insisted, looking around.
"Where are we?" Tory asked.
"High above, in the over-city."
"Good! 'Cause you can tell the Senate of New New York I'd like a word," the Doctor exhorted. "They've got thousands of people trapped on the motorway! Millions!"
"But you're inside the Senate, right now. May the goddess Santori bless them."
They look up, and sure enough, there are long rows of seats in a vast chamber. All of them contain skeletons.
"They died," Novice Hame informed. "The city died."
"How long's it been like this?" He asked.
"24 years."
They walk towards a skeleton, lying on the ground, and the Doctor kneels next to it. His anger is forgotten, he is now profoundly disturbed. Tory just holds his left shoulder, feels morbid.
"All of them? Everyone?" He asked.
Tory gazed at Novice Hame. "What happened?"
"A new chemical. A new mood. They called it Bliss." She kneels next to him and reaches down, picking up a small circular token just like the ones the vendors were selling when the they first arrived. However, this one reads 'BLISS'. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished, even the virus, in the end. It killed the world in 7 minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved."
They're both standing now, struck by the urgency of the situation. "So the whole thing down there is running on automatic?" He asked.
"There's not enough power to get them out. We did all we could to stop the system from choking."
"We?" Tory echoed.
"How did you survive?" The Doctor keep asking.
"He protected me. And he has waited for you two, these long years," she imparted.
Not far off, a low, grumbling voice speaks. "Doctor. Tory."
The Doctor turns and dashes over to the Face of Boe, kneeling in front of it. Tory and Novice Hame follow.
"The Face of Boe!" He greeted.
"I knew you two would come."
"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse, as penance for my sins," Novice Hame explained.
"Old friend, what happened to you?" He asked.
"Failing."
"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke. But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea," she continued.
"So he saved them," Tory asserted.
"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running."
"But there are planets out there. You could have called for help," the Doctor coaxed.
"The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years."
The Doctor looks back at the Face of Boe, concerned, and then gets up. "So the two of you stayed here, on your own, for all these years."
"We had no choice," Novice Hame sadly said.
The Doctor reaches out to her, touches her shoulder. Tory also follows.
"Yes, you did," he told her.
"Save them, Doctor, Tory," the Face of Boe begged. "Save them."
Tory is staring into a screen, spotting a car. "Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, it still registers! That's Martha!" She exclaimed.
"Novice Hame, hold that in place," the Doctor told her as he jumps back from the screen and hands her a piece of thick tubing. Once she's got it, he runs along its length, jumping over a box of lights and buttons. "Think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity beds."
"There isn't enough power," Novice Hame mentioned.
The Doctor reaches a far wall with two screens, lots of wiring, and even more buttons. "Ah, you've got power! You've got me! I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch." He turns around and points to her, yelling, getting more excited all the time. "Hame, every switch on that bank, up to maximum!" The Doctor is rotating a knob in a console on the floor, aiming the sonic screwdriver at it as well. "I can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people." He bangs his fist against the console and jumps up.
"So what are you going to do?"
"This!" He flips a two-metre-long switch on the floor, and all the lights on the consoles go out. "No, no no no no, no!" The Doctor, kneeling on the floor again, is waving his sonic screwdriver at another set of controls. "The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through."
The Face of Boe suddenly speaks. "Doctor..."
"Yeah, hold on, not now."
"I give you my last..." He lets out a long, rasping breath, and every console switches back on. Everything is working and powered.
The Doctor leaps up again, suddenly illuminated. "Hame, look after him! Don't you go dying on me, you big old face. You've got to see this." He flicks the huge switch again. Novice Hame is busily turning a wheel next to the Face of Boe. "The open road. Hah!"
Tory looks at the monitor as the gate above opens up. "We did it!" She beamed.
He takes a nearby mic and starts the broadcast. "Sorry, no Sally Calypso, she was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oy! Car Four Six Five Diamond Six! Martha! Drive up! You've got access above! Now go!"
They watching the proceedings from a viewscreen in the Senate room. Novice Hame continues to twirl a wheel next to the Face of Boe.
"You keep driving, Brannigan, all the way up! 'Cause it's here, just waiting for you." He dances over to a window to look out at the over-city. "The city of New New York. And it's yours." He takes his overcoat from Tory. "I need this back, thank you."
The girl just rolled her eyes.
"And Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate," he continued.
"On my way!" Martha replied.
"It's been quite a while since we saw you, Martha Jones."
"Doctor! Historian!" Novice Hame leans desperately over the Face of Boe, as the case that encloses him begins to crack. The duo look to them, their face falling as the glass shatters and the Face of Boe get out from it.
"Doctor? Tory?" Martha called.
"Over here, Martha," Tory replied.
"Doctor! Tory!" She runs to them. "What happened out there? ... What's that?"
"It's the Face of Boe," the Doctor responded. "It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry." Martha approaches the Face of Boe. "He's the one that saved you, not me."
"My lord gave his life to save the city," Novice Hame remarked as Martha kneels next to Novice Hame, reverent. "And now he's dying."
"Please. Don't say that," Tory implored.
"Not old Boe. Plenty of life left," he agreed.
"It's good to breathe the air once more," the Face of Boe admitted.
"Who is he?" Martha asked.
"I don't even know," the Doctor shared. "Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."
"Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most."
"The legend says more," Novice Hame added.
"Don't. There's no need for that."
Tory hold his hand, knowing this will be hard to witness. "It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller," Tory recalled from old stories.
"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?"
"I have seen so much," the Face of Boe spoke. "Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you two are the last of yours."
"That's why we have to survive," he insisted, looking so broken. "Three of us. Don't go."
"I must. But know this, Time Lords. You are not alone."
And with the Face of Boe closed his eyes as he let out his final breath. Novice Hame let her tears fall from her eyes. Tory helps him stand up with Martha as they stood there.
Back in the alley before, the trio saunter through again. It's deserted.
"All closed down," he noted.
"Happy?" Martha asked.
"Happy happy."
Martha laughs softly. The Doctor inspects one of the empty booths. "New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs, cats in charge! Come on, time we were off."
He and Tory begin to stroll away, but Martha stays put. "But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" The Doctor stops and turns around. "'You're not alone.'"
"I don't know."
Martha steps toward them, smiling. "You've got me. Is that what he meant?"
The Doctor shakes his head, "I don't think so. Sorry."
"Then what?"
"Doesn't matter. Back to the TARDIS, off we go."
As the Doctor turns away and heads off again, Martha grabs a fallen chair next to her and pulls it up, sitting primly and folding her arms. Tory eyeing Martha as the Doctor turns around again. "All right, you staying?"
"'Till you two talk to me properly, yes. He said," she gazed at him and Tory, "'last of your kind.' What does that mean?"
"It really doesn't matter," he insisted.
"You two don't talk. You never say! Why not?" Martha wondered.
Around them, the sound of music is rising. It's the new New New York citizens, singing another hymn.
"It's the city," Tory noticed.
"They're singing," Martha realized.
The Doctor looks at Martha. He feels like he's talking back to Tory during Game Station and after ecounter her again while reunite with Sarah Jane. "I lied to you, 'cause I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky," he replied.
Tory jiggled her foot, looks down.
"Me and Historian... we're not just a Time Lord. We're the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."
Martha shakes her head slightly. "What happened?"
The Doctor stands for a moment, and then grabs his own chair so he can sit across from her. Tory grabs another one and puts it beside him before sit down. The singing continues behind them.
"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War," he began. "Our people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. Our family, our friends, even that sky." He gazed at Tory with immense guilt.
I might not forgive you for destroying Gallifrey, but that doesn't mean I don't care for you, Tory whispered using telepathic.
He smiled for that. She's care for him, despite still stubborn about forgiving him. "Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet," he continued. "The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song..."
While he's recalling what's Gallifrey used to be, Tory leaned againts his shoulder, closing her eyes while listening to his story.
Note: This episode becomes SO much relevan today with the whole virus that unable us to do our activity together. Kinda spooky, in a away.
Tory might seems cruel, not forgiving the doctor about Gallifrey, even after travelling with him. But remember, it's not easy to forgive someone right away. It took a lot of process and time to do that. Tory's still young, not to mention, she's stubborn. She needs time to able to understand and capable of forgiving the Doctor.
Some of you might notice how I change some dialogue when Rose mention. I kinda feel bad at Martha for being number 2, so I removed it. Plus, I wanna Martha to know a bit with Tory's outburst with Ten during Christmas Invasion, in a way, giving her some idea how there's some tension left between the Time Lords.