Chapter L
Doctor's POV
He had headed back to the console room shortly after Mira had practically fled from the observatory. Now he was fiddling around with some cables and stuff underneath the console, trying to make any sense out of the whole situation. Her behaviour, his behaviour – even though he hadn't done anything. She had suddenly looked all scared and then almost ran away, even forgetting her shoes.
Of course he had noticed the difference – Rose was gone. And even though they had been alone in the TARDIS before, Rose had always been on his mind, her presence had lingered in the old time capsule. Now she was gone, for good. He didn't feel as sad as he thought he was supposed to. He missed her, but at the same time he knew she was safe, with her parents and Mickey. And he still couldn't forgive her, not even now. He could basically understand why she had acted like she did, but it would always stand between them.
He wondered if Mira had forgiven him by know, for what he had done and said on Kroptor. Now that he knew how hard it could be to forgive – not even speaking about forgetting. Was it because of this she was on a distance to him now? But she had kissed him, hadn't she? Did it really mean nothing to her? Well, not that he was that much into all that human-kissing-thing, but- Well, he had liked it and he wouldn't have anything against repeating it. At least not with her. Oh, and there were other things, but even though she was psychic, she was still only human, and he had no idea if it would work out at all. Surely, their minds hat touched for a short moment, but that hadn't been more than skin deep. But even if it wasn't working, or if she wouldn't want it, he could just sit there and look her in the eyes, knowing that she was here – here with him. Just being close to her, and maybe some day she would stop building that wall around her, letting him even closer. If she really was feeling the same. But maybe he should just drop the whole thing, because it was pointless anyway. And, apart from that, she would leave him anyway, as soon there was a chance of getting home for her. Not that he expected that one would come up, but one could never know.
"Ow!"
He had gotten zapped on some wires. Again. They weren't even blank. So...
"What now?" he whined and accusingly looked around. But there was nothing but silence, not even mischievousness from the TARDIS.
"I might say, you know exactly what that was for," he suddenly heard a dry voice from above. "At least we say that where I come from - originally, I mean - when someone gets slapped seemingly out of nowhere without any obvious reason. Well, if they get slapped by someone they know at least."
He looked up, and Mira was sitting on the floor, looking down on him. Suddenly he had some sort of deja vu.
"Anyway. Are you hurt?" she continued, no sounding rather concerned.
He watched her and saw that she was still wearing the same clothes, and she had gotten her shoes. Only her hair was braided now. How long had it been? Little more than an hour, so she most likely hadn't been sleeping, unlike she had told him.
"Nah. Just had my fingers where they shouldn't be," he said, got up and closed the floor. She got up as well, and he turned to the console, but watching her out of the corner of his eye. She was acting rather normal, wasn't she?
"So, where'd want to got? Somewhere, but not Earth? A planet?" he continued as he started the engines. "Just switch on the randomiser. Oh, haven't used that one for... too long. Anyway. So, planet? Atmosphere? Not Earth? Here we go! Let's have a nice walk on some lovely, peaceful planet. Well, at least I hope it'll be peaceful."
"Could please not say such things?" she asked him as she hold on to the hand-bars as the TARDIS shook and swayed.
"Ah. Won't be that bad," he replied, knowing exactly that the chances for that were rather low.
A few moments later they materialised and he switched off the engines. A quick look to the scales told him that they were indeed on some planet with a breathable atmosphere. But rather high levels of radiation. Could be from a war. Or a natural source, what he would have preferred. He searched in his pockets for a moment and produced some pills and handed one to Mira.
"Here, take that."
"What's that?"
"Anti-Radiation-Pills."
"Such a shame. Would have hoped for some LSD. Why? Is there radiation? How much? Where does it come from?" she asked as she looked at the pill.
"Not that much. As long as you take that, your fine. Will be enough for a few days. I had some once that only lasted for some hours. Don't know where it's from. Why do you want LSD?"
"Why not? And as for the radiation: Then do an analysis. It'll show if it's artificial radiation or from some natural source."
"Oh come on! Takes all the fun out of it!"
"Fun? Stumbling into the ruins of some nuclear war? We really have to talk about your sense of humour and your understanding of fun," she said and suddenly he felt slightly guilty. No. Of course it wasn't fun, but that wasn't what he had meant. But before he could explain himself any further she had turned around and headed for the door.
Mira's POV
Mira opened the door slowly, but instead of a devastated world she looked into a blue sky, sunlight and- Well. It wasn't exactly green fields, more a quay, but definitely nothing that looked like a nuclear war had taken place. Or it had been ages ago. But then the radiation should have ceased by now. Or maybe it had been on other parts of the planet, and radiation had been carried here with little dust particles by the winds.
"Doesn't look too bad, does it?" she heard the Doctor right behind her.
"No, indeed not," she replied, still having the bitter taste of the pill on her tongue. "Almost looks like Earth," she added as she walked away from the TARDIS, trying to keep her balance on the uneven rocks and stones beneath her feet. As she noticed that the Doctor wasn't following her, she turned around. He was still standing in the door and looked a bit confused. "What is it?"
"Hm? Ah, nothing. Just had something like a deja vu. Seems familiar."
"You've been here before?"
"Maybe..." he said and caught up with her.
"Or maybe it's just because it's a planet like million others in the universe. Let alone on Earth are countless places looking exactly like that one."
"Oi, it's not Earth! You said you don't want to go to Earth again! The sun has a different colour, it's slightly more reddish, the composition of the atmosphere-"
"I know, it's not Earth!" she said, but he was seemingly unimpressed and went on rambling about chemical differences. Hadn't he said he won't run an analysis? For that he knew an awful lot about the planet. By now they were walking along higher rocks, smaller trees, and suddenly she spotted some ruins.
"Doctor!"
"And the gravitation is slightly higher than on Earth, and-"
"Doctor!"
"What?"
"Ruins. There. And-" she stood still for a moment, "We're not alone here."
"No? Great, company!" he said and smiled.
"Maybe we should leave," she said. Something here was odd. Very odd. She continued to follow the Doctor, who obviously wasn't in for leaving. They were just walking through some narrow corridor with stone walls to their left and right, as an explosion shook the ground. Rocks came falling down and instinctively she jumped backwards. The Doctor on the other hand ran forwards, and the next moment she saw rocks coming down where they had just stood a second ago. As soon as everything was quiet again and she was about to shout for him in the hope he wasn't buried, she heard a shout from the other side, "MIRA!"
"It's okay, I'm fine. And you?" she yelled back.
"Fine!" she heard and something else she couldn't quite understand through all the stone. It was something about climbing and stability.
"Don't climb!" she yelled, because in her opinion it was everything but stable.
"What?"
"Don't climb, it's not stable!" she yelled again.. Apart from that, it was high. "I'll look for another way around!"
"What? Maybe there's another way!" she heard from the other side.
Yeah, fine. He probably haven't understood her, but he was going to do the same thing. She went back the way they came from and as soon as she left the small corridor and reached the quay again, she headed to the right. There weren't that much large rocks, so maybe there was a way around. She hadn't come far as she spotted to figures who were hastening across the field of stones. Mira ducked behind some rocks and observed them. They looked human, but they weren't. It was a man and a woman. She was blond and dressed in a light-pink coat with a ridiculous long white scarf. The man had a similar coat in brown, masses of brown, curly hair and an equally long scarf. His was striped in red, yellow, brown and green shades. What were they doing here? Suddenly, something exploded repeatedly left and right of that weird couple and they started to run towards one of the ruins. Was someone shooting at hem? But who?
A few minutes after they had vanished into the ruin, the explosions stopped and the woman came running out of the ruin again – alone. Mira looked around once more, but there was no sign of the Doctor. Well, one of them would find a way around the blockage, sooner or later. But where was the man? What was he doing in that building? And the woman seemed to be in a hurry and oddly distressed. Mira decided to have a look for herself, and as soon as the woman in pink was out of sight, she approached the ruined building. As she came closer, she got more carefully, listening for steps or any other signs that someone was coming. Even though the two didn't seem to be hostile, one could never be too careful. Above all, she had only seen them from a distance. Close enough to tell they weren't human, but that was basically it. Yet, the man seemed strangely familiar, even though she was certain she had never seen his face before.
Suddenly, she heard the man inside laughing, followed by, "He got it wrong on the first line! Ts. Why didn't he ask someone who saw it happen?"
What the hell?
Fine, he was obviously talking to himself. But about what? She got closer and pressed herself against the wall close to the entrance, still carefully listening, not only with her ears. Suddenly, something was bleeping. "Must remember to give Romana hers," he said.
Was that the name of the woman dressed in pink?
"The conditions existing on the planet Magla make it incapable of supporting any life form."
That almost sounded like he was reading from a book. But why? Why were they hopping around on that planet as if they were making holidays, dressed like... Well. Tourists? People from Earth? Dressed in matching clothes? People who went for a walk on a Sunday afternoon? Then she looked down at herself. She wasn't dressed any different.
Suddenly he laughed again, but this time it was somehow weary and disrespectful.
"He obviously doesn't realise the planet Magla is an eight-thousand mile wide amoeba that's grown a crusty shell," he said and then, quietly, "He does know."
She tried it again, but she still couldn't get any emotions from him, even though she was definitely close enough. Weird. Almost as it was with the Doctor. Must be this dammed universe, she thought.
Then her curiosity got the better of her. She peered around the corner and into the room. After her eyes had adjusted to the dim light, she saw the man lying on the floor, buried by a massive stone column. Strangely enough, he seemed to be quite comfortable, lying on his back, reading a book.
"You know it's not very polite to linger in the doorway?" he suddenly said without taking his eyes from the book. "Say, have you ever been on Magla?"
"Uhm.. No?" she replied, slightly stunned.
"That's a shame. Are you by any chance from Menxia VI?"
"No," she said and eyed him carefully. Where the hell was he from?
"Well, that's a shame again. If so, you could have easily lifted that column. But then, you don't have green fur, hm? But they could have lost it by now. Haven't been there for quite a while."
Oh my god.
Suddenly it hit her. Now she saw it. She had seen it all the time, but she had refused to believe it. No. She hadn't even thought about it. The Doctor had always said he was the last. So she hadn't thought that maybe there were others like him. They had been walking around right in front of her eyes, and she hadn't realised it. So there were others. There was no way she could be wrong. It was just as with the Doctor. The same weird aura surrounding him, the way she felt his presence and yet didn't feel it at the same time, nor any of his emotions.
No way.
And yet, here he was. Question was, why hadn't the Doctor felt it? He had said his whole people were linked to each other. And even if not, at least here on this planet he should have gotten it.
"No, no green fur," she said slowly and finally approached him. He still seemed somehow familiar, but probably just because he was from Gallifrey as well. There was something wrong, seriously wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it now. She took a closer look at him. He looked a bit older than the Doctor, but suddenly she was sure that he actually was younger. A lot younger. "Are you injured?" she asked eventually.
"No, I'm fine. Just can't lift that rock, obviously. Oh, and I'm the Doctor. Who are you?"
"What?!"
She felt like he had slapped her right in the face. The Doctor? Great. Were they all called the same?
"Oh, alright. Strange name, but then again... Heard weirder names before."
"You're kidding me, aren't you?"
"What? Why? You said your name's wha-"
"No! My name's not what! Dammit!"
"Fine, no need for swearing, hm? Why would I be kidding?" He said and looked at her all innocent out of big, blue eyes.
"I- Because-"
Shut it.
She bit her tongue. Sometimes, if one didn't know what was going on, it was best to keep one's mouth shut. Why the hell was he here? Did he survive the war? Did he even know what had happened? As familiar as he seemed to be, there was something essentially different about him. But what?
"I don't know. Maybe you like it? Anyway. My name's Mira. So, I-" She was about to ask if Romana had gone to look for help, but suddenly she felt a presence behind her. "There's someone behind me?" she whispered.
He nodded and put the book away. Slowly she turned around and faced three white-dressed, humanoid individuals. They had tanned skin and their silver hair was braided into countless little braids, framing their aristocratic faces. Involuntarily they reminded her a bit of Egyptian Pharaohs in old movies. Well, the weapons they were aiming at her not so much.
"Good evening," the man who stated to be the Doctor said, seemingly unimpressed. "You'll forgive me if I don't rise. It's..." he continued and chuckled.
And there I thought it couldn't get any worse.
So much for having a peaceful walk on some lovely planet.
...
Not much later they were in some sort of space ship. The people – three of them – had lifted the column seemingly effortless. The room they were now in appeared to be some sort of control centre. It had a clean, white look, some control panels were along the walls and a lounge was in the middle of the room. It reminded her a bit of the control rooms of the Empire ships, centuries ago. She watched how the strange man – Timelord - tried to fiddle with some of the consoles, but stopped as soon as he earned a deadly glance from one of the crew members. She was still more or less openly staring at him. She was certain she had never met him before – how could she – but still, he reminded her of someone. There was something in his movements, the way he was glancing around, that seemed awkwardly familiar. Before she could think about that any more, she spotted some of the weapons the strangers were carrying hanging on the wall. As she was still thinking, she heard a quiet whisper next to her ear, "Don't."
She turned her head and looked directly into the face of the man who called himself the Doctor. Well, he had leaned down to her, for he was over six foot tall. Maybe Doctor was indeed some sort of title, not a name her Doctor was carrying?
"Don't worry, I won't do something stupid," she said.
He walked away again, and as though nothing had happened he said, "I must say how grateful I am to you charming people." But no one reacted, they all continued with their tasks. "I repeat how grateful I am to you charming people," he repeated himself, a little louder this time, still strolling across the room. "You lifted that column off me as though it were a matchstick. I can't think for the life of me where you keep your muscles. "
"It is an essential qualification that all crew members are in peak condition." one of the crew eventually said. It must be the commanding officer.
"Oh, I see, yes. Part of their training, is it? Well, excuse me. Well, I told you a little bit about myself. What about you? What's this planet called, by the way?" the Doctor asked.
"You don't know?" the officer replied.
"No, I had a little trouble with my direction equipment."
"A total lack of navigation, as for me," Mira couldn't resist to say. Randomiser. Seriously? Landing somewhere, some time, just like that? Should be prohibited.
"How so?" the Doctor asked her.
"Never mind..."
"You made a forced landing?" the officer wanted to know.
"Well, yes, something of the sort," the Doctor said.
"Not a world one would visit from choice," the officer replied.
"No," Mira and the Doctor said almost at once.
"The planet is listed in our star catalogue as D5 Gamma Z Alpha"
"Well, that's not much help. See, I'm terribly old-fashioned, I prefer names," the Doctor said.
"I believe the planet is called Skaro."
"Skaro? Good god!"
Her head flung around to the Doctor as she heard the tone in his voice. He seemed genuinely shocked. Skaro? She had never heard of it before.
"You know it?" the officer asked.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked instead of answering.
"The nature of our mission is secret. You'll understand, I'm sure."
"No, I don't understand. Why are you here on Skaro?" the Doctor insisted.
"What's it with Skaro?" Mira asked, but the Doctor just stared at her.
Sorry that there wasn't an update for so long. I planned to have this chapter done last weekend, with the removal done (at least half of it, safely arrived in Scotland over a week ago) but there was just so much to do here. So sorry for that, and I'll try to update more regularly from now on.
I've decided to do a classic episode with the 4th Doctor and Romana (as you may have noticed by now).
Xayatha, Falling Right Side-Up, bored411, 10th Squad 3rd Seat: Thanks for leaving a review :)
