Journey Amongst the Stars
By Lumendea
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Doctor Dances: Child's Room
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.
…
The patients were almost within touching distance, their hands extending towards Jack, Rose, and the Doctor. Rose summoned her sword and turned to inspect the wall. There had to a place that she could cut through. There wasn't much time, but maybe-
"Go to your room," the Doctor said sternly. It was an unfamiliar tone, unnatural to him, and the words were unexpected. "Go to your room," the Doctor repeated. "I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!"
Rose spun around, barely remembering to release her sword, so she didn't hurt Jack or the Doctor. The patients were hanging the heads in shame. The Doctor was pointing dramatically into the distance, and though she couldn't see his face, she could imagine the stern expression. For a moment, nothing happened. Then to her great surprise, the patients began to shuffle away. Rose opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
"I'm glad that worked," the Doctor said, relief clear in his voice. "Those would have been terrible last words."
Rose couldn't help it; a soft laugh escaped her. Jack chuckled weakly, still appearing more than a little shocked at what had just happened. Even the Doctor seemed to need a moment to catch his breath. Rose took a deep breath and held it for a moment. The Doctor stepped away from the wall and glanced one more time towards the door.
They followed the patients back into the war cautiously and watched from the doorway as they all sat back down on their beds and laid out. It was as if they'd never marched at them. Moving over to one of the patients, Rose sank down onto her knees beside the bed and looked at the poor thing. Judging from the clothing, it was a female nurse. Probably someone who had been trying to help only to be overtaken by this plague. Even this close, she couldn't see clearly that it was breathing. The gas mask grew out of her skin in a terrible parody of the protective device, and it was utterly unmoving. There was just nothing, and yet they could all stand and move like some sort of hive mind.
Jack slumped into the office chair and put his feet up on the desk. He was recovering his cool, but Rose knew him well enough to see the lines of tension around his eyes. Still, it was nothing compared to the storm brewing in the Doctor.
"How was your con supposed to work?" the Doctor asked Jack.
"Simple enough, really," Jack said. "Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent upfront, oops!" Jack gestured with his hands and smiled. "A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for; never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con."
"Yeah. Perfect." There was a dangerous note in the Doctor's voice, and Rose couldn't help the way of disappointment in Jack that washed over her.
"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." Jack started to laugh, but the sound was forced.
Rose did flinch now, and the Doctor glared at Jack. Swallowing, Rose pushed away the horrible memory of pulling that lever at Pompeii. Jacki's smile fell away as she looked at him.
"Don't talk about Pompeii," Rose said softly. "We were there… it wasn't what you think it was."
"I- I'm sorry," Jack said. His charming exterior melted away for an instant, letting Rose see the deep worry in his eyes. Strangely, his regret over her pain made her feel better.
"Take a look around the room," the Doctor snapped. He touched Rose's hand gently even as he glared at Jack. "This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did."
"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty!" Jack insisted.
"Rose." The Doctor started moving.
"What's the plan?" she asked, falling into step beside him.
"We're going upstairs."
"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one," Jack said. There was a note of desperation in his voice. She didn't know if he wanted to be believed or wanted it to be true more. "I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."
"I'll tell you what's happening." The Doctor turned in the doorway to face Jack. "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day."
A siren sounded in the distance, ringing across the city. "What's that?" Rose asked.
"The all clear," Jack answered.
"I wish," the Doctor scoffed.
Jack gave Rose a look. She could see the questions churning in his mind and gave him a tiny nod. She heard him on the stairs behind her and the Doctor. A sense of rightness began to settle in place. He wasn't bolting. That was a good sign and made her feel a lot better about the situation.
"Rose? Doctor?" Jack called.
The Doctor was ahead of Rose now and leaned over the railing of the stairs to look at Jack.
"Have you got a blaster?" the Doctor asked.
"Sure!" Jack grinned and charged up the stairs after her and the Doctor.
The Doctor moved towards a heavy metal door, the sort that didn't look like it should be opened. Rose was certain that they were going to open it. Jack came up beside her and the Doctor, appearing more comfortable now that he was being asked to contribute.
"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt," the Doctor explained. "This was where they were taken."
"What happened?" Rose asked.
"Let's find out," the Doctor said to her. Then he glanced at Jack and gestured at the door. "Get it open."
Rose shifted closer to the Doctor. "What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" She asked softly.
"Nothing." The Doctor had crossed his arms and was waiting for Jack.
With a small smile, Jack pulled out a blaster and fired at the lock. To Rose's surprise, it cut a square hole in the door. It was much faster than her sword. If she'd know about that earlier when the patients had been coming, she would have used that as an escape tool.
"Sonic blaster, fifty-first century," the Doctor said. He was eyeing Jack's blaster with a small smirk. "Weapon Factories of Villengard?"
"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked with a hint of surprise.
"Once."
Rose heard something in that answer and wondered just what had happened.
"Well, they're gone now, destroyed," Jack said. There was her answer. "The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot."
"Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now." The Doctor smiled at Rose, and she almost laughed. "I like bananas. Bananas are good." That did draw a chuckled out of her while Jack struggled with confusion.
They stepped into the room, and Rose's good humour evaporated. It was a fairly small space filled with filing cabinets and electronic equipment with an observation room that looked into a smaller room that had a simple bed. Everything was wrecked. The machine had been torn up and lay in bits across the floor. Files were scattered, and some of the cabinets hung open. Worst was the smashed observation window. It painted a picture that Rose didn't like.
"What do you think?" the Doctor asked.
It was Jack that answered. "Something got out of here."
"Yeah. And?"
"Something powerful. Angry."
Rose walked forward and looked into the smaller room. There were crayon drawings that were clearly from a child scattered on the floor. They showed a figure with long hair that Rose assumed was the mummy. There was also a discarded teddy bear which made Rose grimace. All along the lower half of the walls were more drawings of the child and the woman.
"It was a child," Rose said.
The Doctor and Jack came up behind her to look in. "A child? I suppose this explains Mummy."
"But how could a child do all this?" Rose gestured around the room. Jack walked into the small room to join her, looking around with wide eyes.
The Doctor moved something behind her, and Rose turned to investigate. He was standing right in front of the broken observation window. He hit a button, and a recording began to play. Rose glanced nervously at Jack, who looked just as uncomfortable.
"Do you know where you are?" a male asked.
"Doctor Constantine," the Doctor said softly. "He was looking after them."
"Are you my mummy?" the child asked.
"Are you aware of what's around you?" Doctor Constantine asked. "Can you see?"
"Are you my mummy?"
"What do you want? Do you know-"
"I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"
"Doctor, I've heard this voice before," Rose said softly. She moved closer to the Doctor, unable to ignore the chill working its way up her spine.
"Me too."
"Mummy?"
"Always are you my mummy," Rose observed. "He's asking like he truly doesn't know."
"Mummy?"
"How could he not know?" Rose asked. She wasn't expecting an answer.
"Are you there, mummy? Mummy?"
"Can you sense it?" the Doctor asked. He joined them in the child's room, pacing around the edge with agitation filling his face.
"Sense what?" Jack asked.
"Coming out of the walls," the Doctor pressed. He looked towards Rose, who frowned. She didn't feel anything. "Can you feel it?"
"Mummy?" the child's voice called.
"Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?"
"Doctor, this isn't the time to insult species," Rose said. "I don't sense anything. Should I-"
"No, don't lower your shields," the Doctor ordered. "And I'm thinking. I'll insult if I want."
Rolling her eyes, Rose smiled a little at Jack. "He insults species when he's stressed. When he cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than."
"I'm not sure to respond to that," Jack said.
"There are these children living rough round the bomb sites," the Doctor said. He stopped in front of the broken window to look at Rose and Jack. "They come out during air-raids looking for food."
"Mummy, please?" the child asked.
"And one of them was near the crash site," Rose said. "And it caused a physical change."
"It was a med-ship. It was harmless," Jack insisted.
"Yes, you keep saying harmless," the Doctor scoffed. Then he turned to Rose. "Yes, they were physically changed. They were altered by something. Whatever it was, it was intense and sudden. The doctor treating them changed in moments. His flesh formed the gas mask." The Doctor shuddered.
"So not just a genetic change, but something that forced to be fast," Rose said. "How? Killing the old cells off to force new ones to be created with the new DNA?"
The Doctor's frown intensified, and Rose worried she'd gotten it a bit wrong. Her interest in genetics was limited. Mostly to wondering how her future children were even possible. But she knew enough to know that new DNA didn't take hold that fast normally.
"I'm here!" A chipper child's voice said.
Then Rose heard a strange whirring and slapping sound. It tugged at her memory, something from when she was small at her grandfather's house. The Doctor's expression was shifting rapidly, fear and confusion taking over once again.
"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful," the Doctor said. "It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room."
"Doctor?" Rose's ears were focusing on the strange noise.
"I'm here. Can't you see me?"
"What's that noise?"
"End of the tape," the Doctor said softly "It ran out about thirty seconds ago."
"I'm here now. Can't you see me?" the child's voice asked.
Rose knew what it all meant. Her brain put it together, and she could see the dread on the Doctor's face, but she didn't want to react. That would make it real.
"I sent it to its room. This is it's room."
The Doctor spun around, revealing the small figure behind him. Rose tensed, sucking in an alarmed breath. It was the little boy from the roof. She was suddenly very grateful that the balloon had gone sailing off. It hadn't, and he had touched her-
"Are you my mummy?" the child seemed to be looking right at her. "Mummy?"
She wanted to answer the child, to tell it that she wasn't his mother, but then what would it do. The Doctor moved back closer to her, standing protectively in front of her. Jack suddenly moved beside her.
"Okay, on my signal make for the door," Jack ordered.
"Mummy?"
Jack pulled out his blaster and aimed it over the Doctor's shoulder. It was a banana and Rose almost cursed. She caught a smile appearing on the Doctor's face, but thankfully he didn't glory in his small victory. The Doctor pulled Jack's blaster from his belt and aimed at the wall. With a whirl, there was suddenly a large square hole in the wall.
"Go now!" the Doctor shouted. Rose leapt through the hole. "Don't drop the banana!"
"Why not?" Jack asked, following Rose through the hole.
"Good source of potassium!"
"Give me that!" Jack grabbed back his blaster.
The child had walked into his room and was approaching the opening in the wall. "Mummy. I want my mummy."
Using his blaster, Jack repaired the hole in the wall, making it as if it had never happened. Breathing out, Jack smiled and held up the blaster. "Digital rewind," he explained. "Nice switch." He tossed the banana back to the Doctor.
"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate."
"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard, and you did that?"
"Bananas are good," the Doctor answered with a smile.
But there was no time to bask in their escape. The wall in front of them began to crack. Rose shouted a warning, and the Doctor grabbed her hand. They ran to the right, following the hallways towards another door around a corner. But the doorway opened, and patients began to march through chanting their call for Mummy.
"Come on!" The Doctor spun them around, and Jack took the lead going the other direction.
More patients were coming from that way. They skidded to a stop back where they'd started. The crack was growing as the child fought his way through. They were pinned down.