14. The Woman and Girl Who Walked The Earth
She was just arrives at home after playing some time with other kids near their house, ready to greet her parents when she heard her mother and father's voice.
"Listen... not long ago, the High Council was talking about her..." Father speaked.
She look over the window. Inside, she can see her father's sitting beside her mother on a couch he bought after she was born. Both look serious than usual.
"...they will do that? Just because she was born?"
"They're in delusion, Leela. Delusion over their fear."
"Over a myth." Mother huffed. "They scare of our daughter for a simple myth."
A myth? What myth?
"That's not an ordinary myth. Like I told you before, the Hybrid is a very old story, more older than Zagreus or Pandorica or anything else. A combination of two races that, one day, will stand over Gallifrey as it burns. They though Zeta is the person who'll do that."
Mother shook her head. "Andred, she's just four. How could a four years old girl capable of doing that?"
"They personally don't care," Father informed, covers his eyes with a hand. "They just want to prevent that future from ever happening."
"Just because Zeta was born as both Time Lord and Human, that doesn't justify their intention. Even my people of Sevateem will never do such a thing towards their children."
She shook her head, doesn't understand what they're saying. So, she decides to steps in. "Mother? Father?" She called.
"Zeta?" Father soon approaches her. "Hey, my sweet girl. How was your day?"
"Great! Some kids taugh me how to make a flower bucket from a leftover grass!" She shared to them, before she asking them, "Father, Mother... What did you mean by that? About myth and Hybrid and me?"
Father and Mother just glances at each other. Mother simply smiles. "Oh, it's nothing, Zeta. Don't worry about it."
"It sounds worrying."
"That's because it's our job to worry, not you." Mother gently lead her into the kitchen. "Tell you what? You should help me to cook. I'm sure your father would love to know that you cook our dinner tonight."
She nods, beaming. "Okay, Mother."
Tory slowly open her eyes as Martha shaking her body. "Wake up," Martha said. "We're almost there."
The girl nods, putting her black jacket as the boat they're riding in reaching to a shore. It was already midnight, as far as Tory can tell. She's still sleepy, so she can't really tell how much time has passed since they're keep moving from one place to another.
"Come on," Martha called. "You can sleep later." She and Tory step outside the boat and strides up the beach, approaching a man around 20s, holding a lamp similiar like the boat had before. "What's your name, then?"
"Tom Milligan," he replied. "No need to ask who you are, the famous Martha Jones and Tory Smith. How long since you two were last in Britain?"
"365 days," Tory answered, precisely a year.
"It's been a long year," Martha admitted as three of them walk up the beach.
"So what's the plan?" Tom asked.
"This Professor Docherty. We need to see her," Martha informed. "Can you get me there?"
"She works in a repair shed, Nuclear Plant 7. I can get you inside," Tom mentioned. "What's all this for? What's so important about her?"
"Sorry, the more you know, the more you're at risk," Tory muttered, holding her jack tighter as she feels colder.
"There's a lot of people depending on you two. You're a bit of a legend."
Martha lend Tory some water she supplied before. The girl nods in thanks as Martha asking, "What does the legend say?"
"That you two sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you're the only two person to get out of Japan alive. 'Martha Jones and Tory Smith', they say. 'They're gonna save the world.' Bit late for that.
The girls notice a truck nearby. "How come you can drive?" Tory inquired. "Don't you get stopped?"
"Medical staff. Used to be in paediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel so I can help out at the labour camps," Tom shared.
"Great. I'm travelling with a doctor," Martha murmured as they get into the truck. Tory sits near the door, looking tired.
"Story goes, that you two are the only two person on Earth who can kill him. That you two, and you two alone, can kill the Master stone dead."
"Let's just drive," Tory suggested, doesn't want to discuss this matter any longer.
Tom glances over Martha. The woman didn't say anything, just gently put Tory in a much better position to sleep. The man immediately turns on his truck and lead them to Professor Docherty's location.
She steps inside her father's room. "Father, can you read me a bedtime story?"
Father looks at her with a small smile as he closes his book and carrying her into her bedroom. "Of course, dear." Right after putting her into her bed, Father takes her bedtime book and looking over each pages. "Which one I should read this time?"
"What about this one?" She suggested, pointing at an illustration of a giant box with some symbols over it.
"You sure want me to read this one?" Father asked again. "I don't think you're ready."
"I'm ready!"
"Don't blame me if you starts to cry."
"I'm ready!"
Father chuckles. "Alright, alright. If you insist." He sits next to her as he begin the story. "Once upon a time, there was a goblin. Some said a trickster. Others claimed a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, that soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.
"No one knows exactly why the being ever want to do that. Some people though it wanted to rule over the entire universe. Some people considered it wants nothing but a total destruction. Whatever that is, the entire cosmos believed the creature is indeed dangerous to stay wandering. So, they devised a plan.
"A group called the Alliance step in. The Alliance was made from various species across the galaxy who shared a same goal: stopped the being from roaming. In order to made it happen, they landed a trap. They made a hidden box named Pandorica, in order to locked the being forever. Because they knew the being will tempted to fall into such a trap.
"To this day, nobody ever know what happened to the being, or the whereabout of Pandorica. It remains hidden. But the day shall come, the day Pandorica will shows itself, and the world shall step into a deep slumber."
"Is that true?" She asked, looking innocent.
He giggles, amuse. "No, Zeta. It's just a bedtime story. That doesn't mean it's real."
"Do you think it's true?"
Father looks lost as he grips the book. "I don't know, my dear. I truly don't."
"Do you want to be true?"
Father gently put her back to sleep. "Goodnight, Zeta," he said as he left the room, not even answering her question.
In a rocky valley, there is a monumental stature of the Master carved in rock. Tom, Martha, and Tory walks near there. "All over the Earth, those things. He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore," Martha muttered.
"Best to keep down. Here we go," Tom said as they peer over rocks. "The entire south coast of England... converted into shipyards. They bring in slave labour every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for the metal. Building a fleet out of scrap."
"You should see Russia. That's Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait. There's 100,000 rockets ready for war."
"War? With who?"
"The rest of the universe," Tory revealed, looking around, nervous.
"We've been out there, Tom," Martha added. 'In space. Before all this happened. And... there's a thousand different civilizations all around us with no idea of what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all."
Tom stares at them. "You've been in space?"
"Problem with that?"
"No. No, just uh... Wow. Anything else I should know?"
"We've met Shakespeare."
Two Toclafane come up behind them. Tom turns and faces them, while Martha and Tory stay still.
"Identify, little man," the first Toclafane ordered.
"I... I've got a license. Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad. I'm allowed to travel," Tom introduced, holds up his licence. "I was just checking f..."
"Soon the rockets will fly and everyone will need medicine," the second Toclafane interjected. "You'll be so busy."
They laugh and fly away. Tom looks at Martha and Tory, confused. "But, they didn't see you."
Martha and Tory takes out their TARDIS key. "How do you think we travelled the world?"
Soon, they walk back to the truck.
"'Cause the Master set up Archangel, that mobile network, 15 satellites around the planet, but really it's transmitting a low-level psychic field," Martha noted. "That's how everyone got hypnotised into thinking he was Harold Saxon."
"Saxon. Feels like years ago," Tom muttered.
"But they key's tuned in to the same frequency. Makes us sort of... not invisible, just unnoticeable."
"But I can see you. The both of you."
"That's because you wanted to," Tory added.
Tom chuckles. "Yeah, I suppose I did."
"Is there a Mrs Milligan?" Martha asked.
"No. No. What about you?"
'There used to be someone. A long time ago," she shrugged. To be fair, she doesn't feel like that to the Doctor. Because now, her feelings for him is just like close friend. Plus, her main priority is to make sure Tory, someone's who Martha consider as best friend, safe and sound. "Come on. We've got to find this Docherty woman."
"We'll have to wait until the next work shift," Tom mentioned as Martha and Tory get inside the truck. "What time is it now?"
"Nearly 3:00." Martha glances at Tory. "We'll be there, okay?"
Tory nods as she and Martha hold each other hand for assuring each other.
Because this nightmare will be over.
It was quiet. Too quiet, in fact.
She stood there, watching people comes and leaves. Some of them are adults she barely even know. To be fair, she barely left outside her neighborhood. Unless she came with her mother for hunting with some Shoobogan she knows.
She look at her mother. She rarely ever see her crying at home. To see her crying here, with his father's tomb stand not far from her position... is such a bizzare experience she had witness.
She didn't know what happen exactly. She only knows some people who wore a similiar uniform her father often used came to their house and inform her and her mother that Andred was dead for taking a dangerous mission. She saw her mother cried over this news. She just stood there, cannot comprehend the harsh truth, even while witnessing the funeral.
She just... cannot handle it.
Tom cuts a hole in a chain-link fence large enough for three of them to squeeze through. Then, they run across an open area of the compound before reaching their destination. Professor Docherty, an older woman, is hitting an old monitor when they find her. "Professor Docherty?" Tom called
"Busy," she replied.
"They, uh, they sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones and Tory Smith."
"They can be the Queens of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy."
"Televisions don't work anymore," Tory mentioned.
"Oh, God, I miss Countdown. Hasn't been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural of Des? Desii? Deseen? But we've been told there's gonna be a transmission." She bangs the monitor. "From the man himself." Then, some static appears onscreen. "There!"
A grainy black and white shot of the Master appears. "My people. Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of two child, walking the Earth, giving you hope." The Master walks to stand beside the Doctor. "But I ask you... how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted, little apes. What if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All 900 years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?" He uses screwdriver on him again. "Older and older and older."
"Nonono!" Tory yelled in panic as she watches the Doctor writhes in agony.
"Down you go, Doctor."
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" She demanded, hugging herself, with the Doctor falls to the floor, barely able to control herself from releasing her power at Professor Docherty's workplace.
"Down, down, down you go." He stops and there is silence. "Doctor." He bends down to see the Doctor's clothes lying on the floor, empty. Up by the neck, a large domed head peers out with huge, blinking eyes. The Master walks back to the camera. "Received and understood, Miss Jones and Miss Smith?"
With that, he ends the transmission.
"I'm sorry," Tom apologized sadly.
Martha immediately hugging Tory, gently brushing her caramel hair. "The Doctor's still alive, Tory," she reassured her. "He's still alive. He'll be okay."
"Yeah," Tory agreed, still crying, knowing her words to be true. But it still hurt to see him like that.
After calm down, the four of them begin their discussion.
"Obviously the Archangel Network would seem to be... the Master's greatest weakness. 15 satellites all around Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared," Docherty shared.
"We could just take them out," Tom suggested.
"We could. 15 ground-to-air missiles. You got any on you?" She counterred. "Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."
"They're not called Toclafane," Martha mentioned.
"That's a name the Master made up," Tory told them.
"Then what are they, then?" The older woman asked.
"That's why we came to find you. Know your enemy. We've got this." Martha pulls out a computer CD. "No one's been able to look at a sphere close up. They can't even be damaged. Except once. The lightening strike in South Africa brought one of them down. Just by chance. I've got the readings on this."
Docherty puts the disc into the computer. She bangs it a few times before it works. "Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates."
"So is that why you travelled the world? To find a disc?" Tom wondered.
"No. Just got lucky," Martha admitted.
"I heard stories that you two walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon," Docherty addressed. "There! A current of 58.5 kilo amperes transferred charge of 510 megajoules precisely."
"Can you recreate that?" Tory asked her.
"I think so. Easily, yes."
"All right then, Dr Milligan," Martha called. "We're gonna get us a sphere."
Tom is outside the plant, gun in hand, waiting. He fires three times then takes off running, a sphere following. Martha and Tory are watching for him while Docherty makes the final preparations.
"He's coming!" Martha announced.
"You ready?!" Tory inquired.
"You do your job, I'll do mine!" Docherty simply stated.
"Now!" Tom shouted.
Docherty turns on the power and the sphere is caught in an electrical field. It drops to the ground. The three approach, Tom has his gun aimed at it.
"That's only half the job," the older woman said. "Let's find out what's inside."
Inside, Docherty is working on opening the sphere. "There's some sort of magnetic clamp. Hold on, I'll just trip the..." The clamp opens and Docherty opens the sides like petals. "Oh my God!"
Martha, Tory, and Tom peer inside. There is a wizened human head attached to machinery. Lights come on and it opens its eyes. They jump back, startled.
"It's alive," Docherty realized.
"Martha. Martha Jones," it called.
"It knows you," Tom noticed.
"Sweet, kind Martha Jones. You helped us to fly."
"What do you mean?" Martha asked.
"You led us to salvation."
"Who are you?"
"The skies are made of diamonds."
"No." Martha backs away. "You can't be him."
"Martha?" Tory called, confused.
"We share each other's memories. You sent him to Utopia."
The mention of Utopia makes Tory trembles. "No..."
"Oh my God!" Martha cried.
"What's it talking about? What's it mean?" Tom asked.
"What are they?" Docherty demanded.
"Martha, Tory, tell us. What are they?"
"They're us," Martha answered. "They're humans."
"The human race from the future," Tory added, shaking.
"We'd sort of worked it out with the paradox machine, because the Doctor said, on the day before the Master came to power, he said, 'When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed, Which is right here, right now'," Martha reported to them. "The Master had the TARDIS, this time machine, but the only other place he could go was the end of the universe, so he found Utopia. The Utopia Project was the last hope. Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."
"There was no solution, no diamonds. Just the dark and the cold," it announced. "But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home."
"But that's a paradox," Docherty remarked. "If you're the future of the human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist."
"And that's the paradox machine," Tory revealed, cannot bear to see inside the sphere. She had a long suspicious of why the Master cannibalized the TARDIS, using the poor old girl as a paradox machine. But she never want to believe that to be truth. It's too much for her to think about it. "That's what the Master did. By using the TARDIS so the past and the future can collide with each other."
"But what about us?" Tom asked. "We're the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?"
"Because it's fun!" It replied with a maniac laughs.
Tom shoots the head, causing Tory to gasped in fear as she takes some steps back. Seems lately, everytime she heard someone or something with loud voice, she'll flinches and get scared overtime.
"I'm sorry," Tom immediately apologized, hearing some accounts of how often Tory get scared over violance and loud noises.
The girl didn't say anything as they stood in Dotcherty's living quarters. "I think it's time we had the truth, Miss Jones. The legend says you and Miss Smith travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us, is it true?"
Martha looks at Tory one last time. The girl nods, telling Martha that it's okay to reveal it. "Just before we escaped, the Doctor told me... The Doctor and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years. And they've been watched." She takes a case from her pack. "There's UNIT and Torchwood, all studying Time Lords in secret. And they made this. The ultimate defence. Opens the case to reveal a special gun."
"All you need to do is get close. I can shoot the Master dead with this," Tom said, shows his gun.
"Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much," Docherty told him, not wanting him to scared the young girl again.
"Point is, it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord. They can regenerate. Literally bring themselves back to life," Martha continued.
"Ah, the Master's immortal. Wonderful," Docherty grumbled.
"Except for this." Martha picks up gun. "4 chemicals, slotted into the gun, inject him... kills a Time Lord permanently."
"4 chemicals? You've only got 3," Tom realized.
"Still need the last one 'cause the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world. And we found them. San Diego, Beijing, Budapest, and London."
"Then where is it?"
"There's an old UNIT base, north London. Tory found the access codes. Tom, you've got to get us there."
Soon, Tom, Tory, and Martha take their leave. "We can't go across London in the dark. It's full of wild dogs; we'd get eaten alive. We can wait till the morning, then go with the medical convoy," Tom advised.
"You can spend the night here, if you like," Docherty suggested.
"No, we can get halfway, stay at the slave quarters in Bexley," Tom disagreed, then shakes her hand. "Professor, thank you."
"Good luck," the older woman said.
"Thanks." Martha kisses Docherty on the cheek while Tory smiles sadly at her.
"Martha, Tory... could you do it? Could you actually kill him?" She suddenly asked them.
"Got no choice."
"You might be many things, but you two don't look like a killer to me."
The girls don't say any words as they left.
Martha, Tory, and Tom creep down a dark street of row houses. They sneak past the guards and up to one of the houses. Tom knocks on a door. "Let me in. It's Milligan."
The door opens and he, Tory, and Martha rush in. The house is crowded with people, barely room to move.
"Did you bring food?" A woman asked.
"Couldn't get any. And I'm starving," Tom mentioned.
"All we've got is water."
"I'm sorry," Martha apologized.
"It's cheaper than building barracks. Pack them in, 100 in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning," Tom remarked.
"Are you Martha Jones and Tory Smith?" A boy asked them.
"Yeah, that's us," Martha replied.
"Can you do it? Can you kill him? They said you two can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please tell us you can do it."
"Who is the Master?" The woman asked.
Soon, everyone starts talking at once before Tom stops them. "Come on, just leave them alone. They're exhausted."
"No, it's all right," Martha assured Tom. "They want us to talk and we will."
And so, the girls retelling their story to them. Martha is sitting on the staircase surrounded by everyone in the house while Tory sits next to Martha, head bending to Martha's shoulder as she's trying to be awake. "We travelled across the world. From the ruins of New York, to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere we went, we saw people just like you, living as slaves," Martha told them. "But if Martha Jones and Tory Smith became a legend, then that's wrong because our names aren't important. There's someone else. The man who sent us out there. The man who told us to walk the Earth."
"His name is the Doctor," Tory shared. "He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But me and Martha... we've seen him. We know him. We care for him. And we know what he can do."
The woman who greeted them at the door pushes her way forward. "It's him! It's him! Oh my God, it's him! It's the Master! He's here!"
Martha and Tory soon stand up.
"But he never comes to Earth! He never walks upon the ground!" The boy mentioned.
"Hide them!"
"Use this!" Tom suggested, throwing a blanket over them.
"He walks among us, out lord and master," the boy whispered in far.
"Martha. Martha Jo-hones. Tory Smiiith. I can see you! Out you come, little girls. Come and meet your master," he called them. "Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions! I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself... what would the Doctor do?"
Martha and Tory nods, ready for this. They removes their TARDIS key and shakes off the cover. Everyone looks in their direction. Martha and Tory stand by Tom at the door and put their hand on the gun. He slowly stands. With a little smile for everyone inside, Martha and Tory open the door and steps out.
"Oh, yes!" The Master claps in amusement. "Oh, very well done! Good girls! He trained you both well." Martha and Tory walks into the street. But the Master ordered them. "Bag. Give me your bag. No, stay there. Just throw it."
Martha takes off her pack and throws it onto the ground. The Master fires his laser at it, destroying everything inside. "And now, good companions, your work is done." He holds out laser.
"No!" Tom yelled. The Master shoots Tom instead and he falls to the ground. Martha and Tory can only glare as the Master chuckles.
"But you... when you two die, the Doctor should be witness, hm?" The Master inhales deeply, not caring how tenses the young girl looks and how protective Martha becomes. "Almost dawn. And planet Earth marches to war."
Inside the Valiant, Martha and Tory are escourt with two guard, one holding at each other. They walk forward together. To one side, they see Martha's family and to the other side is Jack. At the base of the stairs to her right is the Doctor in his cage. Tory and Martha smile softly. Jack moves to go to them but stops when his guard motioned with his gun.
"Your teleport device. In case your thought I'd forgotten," he ordered them. Martha reaches into a pocket in her pants and throws him the vortex manipulator. "And now... kneel." Martha and Tory complied. "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. 200.000 ships set to burn across the universe." He goes to comm.. "Are we ready?"
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!"
"3 minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down! I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready? There are billions of spheres waiting above the Earth."
"We will fly and blaze and slice! We will fly and blaze and slice!" It cheered.
"At 0, to mark this day, the two child, Martha Jones and Tory Smith, will die. Ha, my first and my second blood. Ha, any last words? No?" He looks at the Doctor. "Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. This two are useless!" Then, he looks at Martha and Tory back-to-back. "Bow your head. And so it falls to me, the Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords! From this day forward..."
Martha chuckles, while Tory simply smiles, knowing they're win.
"What? What's so funny?" The Master demanded.
"A gun?" She asked.
"What about it?"
"A gun in 4 parts?"
"Yes, and I destroyed it."
"A gun in 4 parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"
"What do you mean?"
'As if I would ask them to kill," the Doctor muttered.
"Oh, well, it doesn't matter," the Master stated. "I've got them exactly where I want them."
"But we knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son," Martha remarked.
"That's why I came to find you. Know your enemy."
"We told her about the gun, so she'd get us here. At the right time."
"Oh, but you're still gonna die!"
"Don't you wanna know what we were doing? Travelling the world?"
"Tell me."
"We told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. We did just what the Doctor said. We went across the continents all on our own. And everywhere we went, we found the people, and we told them our story. We told them about the Doctor. And we told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
"Faith and hope? Is that all?" He snarled.
"No, 'cause we gave them an instruction. Just as the Doctor said. We told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time..."
"Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon?! Prayer?!"
"Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment... but with 15 satellites!"
"The Archangel Network," Jack addressed.
"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time," Tory agreed, closing her eyes. "And that word... is Doctor."
"Stop it. No, no, no, no, you don't!" The Master yelled.
"Doctor," Jack whispered.
"Doctor," Francine mumbled.
"Stop this right now!" The Master shouted. "Stop it!"
"Doctor," Lucy muttered.
"Doctor," Martha said.
Tory open her eyes as the Doctor has broken from the cage and is now an old man. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."
"I order you to stop!" The Master yelped.
The Doctor returns to his normal self. "The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking." Martha and Jack laugh. The Master is shocked. Using the telepathic field, the Doctor levitates. Tory actually find any of this quite amuse. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now when they can do this."
Tory smiles as Martha runs to her family and hugs Francine. Tish hugs them both.
"No!" He fires laser at the Doctor but the field deflects it.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Then I'll kill them!" He aims laser at Martha and her family but the Doctor throws it across the room telekinetically.
Unarmed, the Master panics. "You can't do this! You can't do... It's not fair!"
"And you know what happens now."
"No!" The Doctor floats to the Master who backs away down the stairs. "No!" He denied as he grovels. "No! No!"
"You wouldn't listen."
"No!"
"Because you know what I'm going to say."
"No!" He curls into foetal position. The Doctor lands, walks over to the whimpering Master and wraps his arms about him.
"I forgive you."
"My children!" The Master yelled.
"Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox!" The spheres shouted.
"Jack! The paradox machine!" Tory reminded him.
Jack nods. "You men! With me! You stay here!"
The Master pulls out the manipulator and activates it. "No!" The Doctor cried as he puts his hands on it and they both disappear. Alarms sound at the nearby shipyard.
"We've all 6 billion spheres heading straight for us!" Martha called on the bridge.
Martha, Tory, and Tish watch on the bridge as the spheres get closer.
Not long after, the Doctor and the Master come back. The ship rocks as the paradox is destroyed and both Martha and Tory are thrown back only to be caught by the Doctor who smiles. "Everyone down! Time is reversing!" He told them, falls to the floor, lies face-to-face with Martha and Tory before laughs.
After some time passed, he and Tory stand and check controls. "The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. 2 minutes past 8:00 in the morning."
He turns on comm.. "This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!"
"You see? Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."
"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.
"Trapped at the end of the universe."
"But I remember it," Francine recalled.
"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know," Tory informed.
The Doctor sees Clive. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones! We haven't actually met."
The Master makes a break for it but is stopped by Jack as he returns. "Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party." He cuffs the Master's hands behind his back. "So, what do we do with this one?"
"We kill him," Clive said.
"We execute him," Tish added.
"No, that's not the solution," the Doctor disagreed.
Tory flinches as Francine aims a gun at the Master. "Oh, I think so. 'Cause all those... things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."
"Go on! Do it!" The Master gloated her.
"Francine, you're better than him." The Doctor reaches out and takes her hand. She drops the gun and he takes her in a hug. Martha then takes her.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" The Master asked.
"You're my responsibility from now on."
"Yeah, but you can't trust him," Jack added.
"No," the Doctor agreed, knowing the Master's responsibility over Tory's death. 'The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."
"You mean you're just gonna... keep me?" The Master eyeing him.
"Hmm. If that's what I have to do." He looks to Tory. "It's time to change. Maybe we've been wandering for too long. Now I'll have someone to care for."
A gunshot rings out and the Master staggers backwards. Lucy is holding the gun. Jack takes the gun from Lucy as the Doctor and Tory run to the Master. "There you go. I've got you. I've got you," he assured him, lowering him gently to the floor.
"Always the women," the Master commented.
"We didn't see her," Tory admitted. Truly, she didn't know.
"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"
"You're not dying, don't be stupid," the Doctor disagreed. "It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."
"No."
"One little bullet. Come on."
"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."
"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please! Please! Just regenerate! Come on!"
"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you two?"
"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons? Remember the Axons? And the Daleks? We're the only three left, there's no one else. Regenerate!"
"How about that? I win," the Master muttered. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"
And with that, he died.
The Doctor holds the Master close, rocking back and forth as he cries. He screams in despair and loss as the others simply look on. Tory simply stay near him, holding his shoulder, as that's the only comfort the girl can gives to him.
Despite this man's action for killing her, despite his horrible's action for all human for entire year... she knows the Master is a very important person for the Doctor. So much, even after all these years.
Back in Cardiff, the Doctor, Martha, Tory, and jack are standing at the rails by the Pierhead Building looked out over the bay. Tory changes her clothes as soon as she can. Right now, she wearing a cobalt blue parka above maroon polo shirt, adding tan trousers below with brown uggs shoes. When the Doctor asked her why she choose those outfit that looks more like people wears during winter, she just shrugged, just enjoying her type of outfit.
"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you," Martha mentioned.
"Good," the Doctor relief.
"Back to work," Jack said, ready to leave.
"I really don't mind, though. Come with me."
"I had plenty of time to think that past year, the Year That Never Was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility."
"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that." He shakes Jack's hand but grabbing his vortex manipulator.
"Hey, I need that!" Jack argued.
"I can't have you walking around with a time-travelling teleport," the Doctor said, uses hi sonic screwdriver. "You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologise."
"And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"
"Nothing we can do," Tory remarked.
"You're an impossible thing, Jack," the Doctor added.
Jack laughs. "Been called that before." He starts to leave then turns back and salutes. "Sir. Ma'am." He turns to leave again and stops. "But I keep wondering... what about aging? 'Cause I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"
"I really don't know."
Jack chuckles. "Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid back on the Boeshane Pennisula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. They Face of Boe they called me."
The Doctor and Martha are stunned by that revelation, while Tory just smirked, knowing that because Jack told her that story and how Face of Boe speaked to her in New New York.
"Hmm, I'll see you." With that Jack, runs across the Plas towards the water tower.
"Can't be," Martha muttered.
"No, definitely not. No," the Doctor said otherwise. Martha laughs. "No." But soon enough, he also laughs.
Tory didn't laugh, just sighs sadly, remembering Face of Boe's sacrifice and his death.
The Doctor and Tory watch the Jones family from outside as they lean against the TARDIS. It seems not only they manage to turns everything's back to normal, they also make Francine and Clive's relationship back to normal. Clearly the way those couple hugging each other indicating their relationship
They soon enter the TARDIS. Tory observes the canister containing the Doctor's hand rests on the floor by the console. After they resolve the situation, Jack gave them the Doctor's hand, since the hand is belongs to him. Yet weirdly enough, she feels that hand might be in need for the future.
Martha enters the TARDIS and the Doctor peers around the central column. "Right then! Off we go! The open road! There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look? Or... back in time. We could... I don't know, Charles II? Henry VIII? I know! What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie! I bet she's brilliant!"
"Doctor," Tory quietly told him. He soon realizes Martha isn't smiling and immediately sobers.
"Okay," he muttered.
"I just can't," Martha informed.
"Yeah."
"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."
"Of course not." He smiles sadly."
"Thank you, Martha, truly," Tory said as she and Martha hugging each other before Martha and the Doctor hugging as well.
"Martha Jones, you saved the world," the Doctor remarked.
"Yes, I did," Martha agreed, steps back, looking at the Time Lord "Take care of each other, okay?"
"We will," Tory promised.
"You better be." Martha pointed her finger at her before smirked and left.
"Right then," the Doctor said, pulls a lever on the console. But then, alarms blare loudly and the TARDIS spins. "Ah, stop it! What was all that about, eh? Eh?" He pats the console. "What's your problem?"
"Ouch," Tory murmured, trying to stand up. But suddenly she frowned when she notices another man also inside the TARDIS. An older man, wearing a white-creamy clothes (his jacket, jeans, and even his vest). She spots a white collar with question marks logo at his clothes.
The girl immediately recognized him as the Doctor. Well, the 5th Doctor, to be exact.
"Right, just settle down now," he announced. They bump into each other as they work their ways around the console. "So sorry."
Then, they stare at each other, as if just realizing each other presence. "What?" The Doctor, well, 10th Doctor asked.
"What?" This time, the 5th Doctor asked.
"What!" And now, they asked in unison.
"Oh goodness," Tory deadpanned by the situation.
Note: Tory certainly acts more quiet and sensitive, isn't she? Scared of loud noises, prone to cried more, less talking, barely even smiles. And seems forgiving with the Master, the man who's responsible for her death. A contrast to her first incarnation. We'll see more how much Tory acts at Voyage of the Damned and Series 4 alongside Donna.
Speaking of that, I'm going to put Voyage of the Damned into next parts. So Histories 3 will starts with Partners in Crime. Just so you all know.
The Time Lord Oracle: I'm glad you though like that. I think it's nessecary to bring that point up. Martha unknowingly sparks the idea at Yana to open the watch and she went panic, not think clearly of her actions and the Doctor blindly deposed Harriet out of rage, not even consider the mistake he made for the future, changing the course of human race, which is what happen at these three-part stories. After all, that's the reason Tory got mad at the Doctor back at Christmas Invasion and now the Doctor pays the hard punishment of his harsh action.