This chapter contains descriptions of slave practices.
The Time Travelling family were back in the TARDIS, in mid flight flying through the Vortex to get to their destination. They were going straight to Washington DC to sort the trouble out with the Fire-Bird, before forcing the President to end the slavery once and for all.
"How exactly are we going to do this?" Amy questioned both Doctors, her arms folded as she leaned against the railing. "Because by all accounts this Trump is just as bad as his grandfather in a parallel universe."
The full Time Lord Doctor furrowed his brows at the ginger Scot as he twisted a dial on the Console. "We'll do what we always do." He replied and turned his attention to the Monitor.
"I.E, make it up as we go along." Rose commented from where she sat on the jumpseat. "But 98% of the time we manage to get away with it and bring down an oppressive dictator in the process."
The Doctor smiled, feeling proud of his bond-mate.
An annoyed grunt came from Jaime, who shook her head. "I dinnae think persuadin' him tae change his nasty little ways is goin' tae work on him," she growled out. "He's too much like his grand-dad. Not tae mention he's too far gone." There was a range of emotions washing off from the other travellers.
"What do you mean?" Rory asked her, puzzled.
The Scots-girl took a deep breath as she leaned against the coral strut. "Younger me, before she scarpered, put a strong compulsion on him tae have anyone matchin' yer description arrested and enslaved…" she grimaced when she felt waves of shock and hurt. "…as apparent danger tae the Presidents life."
"What?!" Both Doctors exclaimed at the same time.
"Why? Did she really hate us that much?" The Doctor questioned, his brown eyes wide and full of hurt.
Rose slipped off the jumpseat and put a comforting arm around the Doctor, while Jaime further grimaced and looked away.
"And he wasnae a nasty bastard at all. He was strong willed with a Mind of his own, determined tae end the practice of slavery once and for all. Until I came along and changed all tha'. Too much Mind Control broke his brain and now he's jus' a rantin' moron like his parallel grand-dad. And the way everythin' is, they're goin' tae need a revolution tae take down tha' current government." She said.
There was a tense silence around the Console Room as Jaime's words sunk in. Then it was J.D who broke the silence. "Fine, then we'll best not do anything that'll have the authorities coming after us." He said.
But Amy still wasn't convinced despite her shock over Jaime's fessing up about what her younger self did. "That's just it though," she spoke up again. "There'll be no tourist industry, presumably. Because who the hell wants to take a holiday in a country full of slaves. We'll stick out like sore thumbs."
There was another tense silence from the Time Travellers.
"There's the activists," Jaime said. "They always find some way into the country. Then there's the U.N. Despite numerous attempts tae bankrupt it, or even close it down, it's still goin'. They've got the best human rights charities in tha' buildin' workin' at their hardest, despite bein' under threat of slavery themselves. Must be where they got my picture from." She muttered thoughtfully.
There were waves of surprise from J.D, Alexia, The Doctor and Jenny.
"What were you doing in the U.N building?" The Doctor asked, sounding like he was dreading hearing the answer.
Jaime sighed at the waves of emotions coming from her dad. "Nothin' nefarious like yer thinkin'," she answered his thoughts. "There was an important U.N meetin' with all the Nation Members. It didnae end very well. Jus' resulted in mass arguments from all the countries opposed to slavery. It was chaos and tempers flared…" She trailed off and thought back to that hectic meeting.
Yes, she had been quite surprised by the level of anger and hate towards one man. To a point she had accidentally lowered her shields in a moment of vulnerability. That'll have been when her photo was taken. Her thoughts were interrupted by the thud of the TARDIS landing at their destination. Nerves suddenly got the best of her as she stared at the closed doors. On the other side of them was her past and it was giving her some serious bad feelings.
Sensing her turmoil, J.D pulled her into a protective embrace. "It's going to be okay. We'll have all this sorted with two shakes do a lambs tail."
The Scots-girl laughed, amused over his enthusiasm. "Thanks!" She replied and kissed him. "I love you."
J.D smiled happily at her response.
"Right," The Doctor spoke up, shrugging his coat on. "Due to possible danger there'll be no splitting up into groups. We stick together at all times."
There was a round of agreement from the other travellers, well except for Amy. "But wouldn't that make us more noticeable?" She asked. "There's eight of us here. A large group of people walking together would surely causes a ruckus?" The ginger Scot suggested.
But Alexia shook her head. "Not at all. We've got three powerful women to protect us." She gave her daughter, Rose and Jenny a smile and there was pride on their expressions after she said this.
There was a grateful look from The Doctor before he turned and moved towards the door. "Right, then. Allons-y." He uttered, opened the door and exited the Time Ship. He was followed shortly by his fellow travellers.
Outside, The Doctor raised his brows at the giant Teddy Bear statue the TARDIS had parked next too.
"Woah!" Rose uttered when she saw the sculpture of the bear. "What's that all about?" She wondered out loud.
"Maybe someone liked their toy bear so much they had to turn it into a statue." Jenny suggested. It was big enough to be sat on by several people.
The Doctor looked around at their surroundings. There were green leafed trees all over the place and a pond a couple of feet away. A pathway to his left led away from the area and a couple of steps led away to another part of the park. He could tell it was evening and the sun had yet to set.
"This isnae Constitution Gardens," he heard Jaime speak up and he looked over to see her scowling. "I know every inch of it. And neither are we in Washington D.C."
"What?" The Doctors, Rose, Jenny and Alexia all exclaimed at the same time.
"There must be a perfect explanation as to why the TARDIS landed us in the wrong State." The Doctor stated as they walked through whatever park this was called.
Because it was evening, going on late, there didn't appear to be many people about even though there was an hour of daylight left. It was bright and balmy and barely a cloud in the sky. It didn't look right. The American sky always had that fake look to it no matter the Universe. The Time Travelling family came across a wooden bridge over a lake and a waterfall.
"If we're not in Washington D.C, then where the hell are we?" Alexia questioned.
'Good thinking'. The Doctor thought to himself. They stopped halfway over and The Doctor turned to the group. "I've no idea," he replied. "Maybe Rose, Jaime or Jenny can figure that out!" He added, looking at the three All-Powerfuls. Well, maybe not Jaime. She was leaning on the fencing of the bridge looking out towards the lake. He could sense she was distracted.
"Oh, let me do it!" Jenny spoke, also sensing the same thing. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her surroundings. The name of the park came to her quite quickly and she opened her eyes with a grin. "That didn't take long. It's called Lakeside Park and it's in…"
"My word…what a pretty pair you make!" A woman, who was either in her sixties or seventies interrupted them, her accent twanging away. She was an unassuming grey haired lady with glasses and a nice smile. But her clothing was positively antebellum era. "Twins are you?" She was looking at The Doctor and J.D.
"Uhh, yeah. Something like that." The Time Lord replied, wondering where this woman had even come from. He could tell that everyone was on alert considering the possible danger they were likely to be in.
"Good Lord!" The woman's smile became unnecessary feral and her eyes lit up. "You're British. Ain't your accent just darling!" She uttered, giving the twin Doctors a once over or several.
The Doctor found it awkward while J.D felt like she was stripping him with her eyes.
"If you were mine I wouldn't let you out of my sight even for a mere second." The woman continued.
Rose stared at the woman in disbelief as she felt bouts of appreciation and urgency coming from her. Quite frankly this woman was giving her the creeps. So she moved closer to The Doctor and linked arms with him.
The woman ignored this as she continued her excited chatter. "You're just the perfect pair that I need. Do you show well? You must do, with you both being a well proportioned height. Heavens to Betsy, you'd be the envy of the neighbourhood."
Jaime was scowling at the woman angrily, fists clenched so hard her knuckles were white.
Now things were truly turning bizarre and it was completely puzzling The Doctor. He could sense that Rose and his brother were disturbed, Jenny was shocked and there was a growing disgust from Jaime. "Excuse me!" He spoke up in a bid to halt the woman's excited chatter. "Sorry," he said with a strained smile as he rubbed the back of his head once he'd gotten the woman's attention. "We've just arrived here and we've been exploring this wonderful park. But I'm struggling to understand what exactly you're talking about."
The woman stared at him before giving the entire group a quick once over, though it looked more like she was sizing them up. Her smile now went from feral to sadistic making The Doctor shudder. Seeing the same thing, Rose moved even closer to her bond-mate and held him tighter.
"Dear Lord, you are precious," she droned out followed by a laugh. "Where are my manners! Are you all British?" She didn't give them a time to answer. "Would you care to join me at home for Evening Tea?" She turned her hungry expression back to The Doctor and J.D. "Then we can discuss those lovely attributes of a perfect pair you are. I just know…"
Having heard enough, a pissed off Jaime moved towards her, grabbed and lifted her up with Super-Strength, and then pinged her off into the sky.
Amy laughed at the way the woman's scream faded as she disappeared from view. "Well, that's one way to travel in Space!" She commented.
Rory just shook his head.
"Wow!" Is all a shocked Alexia could utter.
"You didn't need to do that!" The Doctor admonished Jaime in disbelief. His brother stayed silent for the moment, too shocked to say anything.
The Scots-girl turned on The Doctor with an angry scowl on her face. "Ye dumb naive bastard!" Jaime spat out, ignoring the shocked expressions from Rose, J.D, Jenny and Alexia. "Didnae ye see wha' she was doin'? She was sizin' the both of ye up tae be Pony Slaves!" She shook her head and turned away in disgust, feeling waves of shock and horror washing over her. "Tha's thing 'bout Texas," she revealed. "'Specially Dallas is tha' they like tae go tha' wee bit further with their slave laws."
"So we're in Texas? Dallas, Texas?" J.D questioned. He received a brief nod after Jaime turned back towards the group. He could sense that she was still angry.
"Why would the TARDIS take us here to Texas instead of Washington?" The Doctor wondered out loud. He frowned at Jaime, still shocked and hurt over her words. "I know you're angry, young Lady, but there was no need to be insulting. I may not know many human concepts and idioms, but the idea of humans enslaving their own is not one of them."
Suitably admonished, Jaime's face blushed pink before letting out a sigh. "Sorry," she apologised. "But there's a very good reason why we're in Texas instead of Washington…" she took in a deep breath and blew it out again, feeling less angry but remained disgusted. "…the laws here in Texas are positively draconian. It's not nearly as bad in the other Southern States, but Texas is a special case. An abortion leads to Life Savery, even if it's done in a Pro Abortion State, and sent to a Breeding Farm. Even if a woman loses a baby through no fault of her own she'd still be enslaved and sent to the farm. Then there's the LGBT crackdown. Anyone caught bein' gay, lesbian and bisexual are sent tae forced conversion therapy and if tha' doesnae work they get sold at the slave auctions tae international markets like tae some Arabic countries or even Chinese labour. As for those who are transgender, they get it a lot worse than anybody else."
Jaime turned away to look at the Lake, the fish causing ripples on the water when they'd catch the flies and the pond skaters.
"They get sold tae the brothels and used as a thing for people to vent their frustrations out on. Even a tiny misdemeanour is a cause for a sentence of slavery." Jaime turned back to her fellow Time Travellers. "This State is literally a hotbed of human misery. It's Red and it's been tha' way for Centuries. If ever a Revolution was needed it should be in this State and especially this city."
Looking at her fellow Time Travellers, Jaime not only felt their emotions but saw their shocked and horrified expressions once they'd learned the true extent of the United States's Slavery Laws.
"This is just madness," J.D uttered. "Absolute madness." He couldn't believe what he'd just heard but he knew it was actually happening.
The Doctor nodded his head, feeling he had to agree with his brother. If things were that bad then something certainly had to be done about it. "Blimey!" He exclaimed and folded his arms. "What do you suggest we do?" He questioned his adopted daughter. "After all it was you and your 'bad persona' who put this country in the mess it is now."
There were a few annoyed exclamations from J.D, Jenny, and Alexia, while Jaime's face blushed even further.
Despite the arguments that had just broken out she completely understood what The Doctor was doing here. She had caused this human misery, she was being held to account, so it was herself who had to sort it all out. And she had a good idea on how to do that. Now all she had to do was stop her family from arguing so much.
"HUSH!" The Scots-girl roared at her fellow Time Travellers, grimacing when a group of ducks took off, disturbed by her shout.
But at least it had stopped them from arguing.
"I have an idea. There are several anti-slavery groups dotted across the country…wha's left of 'em…but I know there's one definitely in this city. Only it's an underground group and likely hard tae find."
They had been listening to her and now they were looking at her.
"Okay. How do you propose to find this underground group?" Rose questioned her.
Jaime smiled grimly and ran a hand through her hair. "Instincts mostly," she replied. "Ever since arrivin' here I've got this feelin', an urge tuggin' at me…somethin' close by. Maybe inside the park…" she looked away with a frown, apparently distracted.
"Are you sure?" Alexia asked her daughter.
"Aye", Jaime replied with a nod. "It's only gotten stronger in the last few minutes. As if it's callin'…"
"Then why don't you lead the way." The Doctor suggested.
Without saying a word, Jaime took off across the bridge and the surprised group of Time Travellers hurried after her.