Chapter LXIV

Mira's POV

"So," she heard the Doctor say. He was on the console, obviously setting course to somewhere – Earth most likely, that much she was able to tell by know from his movements and the buttons he was pressing. Some, actually: most of his actions still remained a mystery to her, even though she had the sneaking suspicion that not everything he was doing with the console was necessary; probably just a ritual to keep him busy – some people were checking the oxygen levels every ten minutes, or recalibrating the frequencies of the radio, switching electronics from one circuit to another in redundant systems, stuff like that, to keep their fingers busy. "I guess it's time to get you back home. Heard you have to learn for your exams, sorting out the things in your family?"

Martha turned her head to him, and she could clearly feel the disappointment and the nagging feeling of rejection from her. Well, he had said it would only be this one trip, but still. She clearly had hoped he would think again about that, but it didn't look like it right now. Why was he doing that? Martha was a nice girl – okay, she had a crush on him, but had he noticed that? And it had taken him quite a while to come to a decision with Rose regarding that topic. Anyway, she only knew one thing: She couldn't stay alone with him in the TARDIS with no one to hide behind. No one who she could use as a distraction when the conversation threatened to become too personal.

Bitch. Selfish bitch.

She herself, not Martha. She almost couldn't believe that she was thinking about using Martha merely as a distraction. But, on the other hand, she had always been honest with herself and her motivations, even with the most nastiest ones. (Not that it had ever prevented her from rushing deliberately to her doom) Yes, it was nasty and unfair, and yet she most likely would try to keep Martha here anyway. Not that Martha really was on the losing side. She would see things hardly any human of her time would ever see. Yes, she had a crush on the Doctor, but she certainly would have a lot more crushes on other people who weren't interested in her. That's life. She was sure Martha could handle it, she seemed a lot more mature than Rose.

"Well, we have been to the past. And on the Moon," she said before Martha could protest. "But what about the future before we go back to Earth? Or another planet? I wanted to go to another planet anyway, before we- Before Skaro."

She locked eyes with him and got the feeling that this was one of the rare moments where she could actually read his face. He was about to say no, to come up with some excuse, she was almost certain about that. And again it almost drove her crazy that she had so no idea what was going on in his head, just like the first night in that Inn. Why had he not only laid his arms round her, but stroked her like that? It would be so much easier if he would just ignore her. And why the hell was she thinking about his fingers touching the inner sides of her forearm just now?

"Uh, well-" he started.

"No complains from me," Martha hurried to say. "As you said, it's a time machine. I won't lose any time for my exams, will I?"

"Uhm, no, but-"

"Well, let's have some breakfast and talk about it then, hm? At least I'm definitely in for a coffee," she said and saw Martha nodding eagerly.

"Definitely coffee," Martha agreed.


Martha's POV

She followed Mira down a flight of stairs and through a lot of corridors. At least it seemed to her that they were walking for quite a while, but she had to admit that she had lost orientation pretty fast. That ship must be huge.

It was a surprise for her that Mira sided with her. Was it her who had parted with him? Why was she so keen that she stayed here? Not that she had any complaints, but there must be more behind it. She looked back, but the Doctor wasn't following them. Maybe now it was a perfect time to ask a few things?

But, as they finally reached the kitchen, she completely forgot for a moment what she wanted to ask. The kitchen was huge. And it looked surprisingly human. She wasn't sure what she had expected – maybe something more Star Trek like, a replicator for example. Certainly not something that looked right out of any home in Britain, with fridge, hob, oven, water kettle, toaster, coffee machine, and a big dining table with comfortable chairs. It almost made her forget that she was on a space ship – wouldn't it be for those weird, round things that covered the walls even here. And of course, the slight humming that filled the air. Was it coming from the engines?

"Oh well, I just wished she wouldn't rearrange things so often," Mira murmured as she opened multiple cupboards.

Well, she would hopefully find the coffee, Martha thought and opened the fridge, only to see that it was well filled with jam, cheese, butter, eggs, milk, and everything else needed for a breakfast.

"Ouch!" she suddenly heard behind her, followed by something in a foreign language she couldn't understand. Well, there was no need for understanding the words, for the tone didn't leave much room for interpretation. She flung around only to see Mira rub her head and pick up the can with the coffee from the floor.

"Did you hurt yourself?" she asked and added as Mira shook her head, "Happens to me sometimes as well. You stuff them, slam the doors shut and the next time you get buried by all the stuff."

"It didn't fell, it was thrown!" Mira said, shooting the cupboard a deadly glance.

"Well, I didn't throw it, and I doubt you have a stowaway in your cupboard-", she tried to joke, but just at that moment she could see with her own eyes how the pack with the filters came flying out of the cupboard as well. Just this time Mira managed to duck out of the way.

"Fine, stop it. I got it!" Mira yelled, looking around as if talking to the walls.

"What-" she started, but got interrupted.

"What's going on here?" the Doctor asked as he entered the room. Well, so much for questioning Mira without him. But right now, she was still trying to get her head around that flying pack of coffee-filters.

"Your ship is throwing things at me!" Mira said accusingly, arms crossed.

"Really? Did she? Can't imagine why she'd do that," he said as innocent as possible, walked past her and filled the kettle.

"Okey," she said slowly, putting the butter on the table. Maybe it really was time for some answers. "Who is she?"

She watched Mira and the Doctor turn to each other for a moment, then he said, "The TARDIS. My... Ship. She sometimes does things like that." He looked at her out of huge, dark eyes, and for a moment she couldn't really be annoyed by that non-answer she got from him. The ship was throwing stuff? Sure.

Little later they were sitting on the table, having breakfast. The Doctor was actually going through the food – and he seemed to have some sweet tooth - as if there were no tomorrow, whilst Mira was only stirring a cup of coffee. She looked tired, Martha thought, but not just the sort tiredness caused by a lack of sleep. She worked in a hospital, and she had definitely seen that sort of tiredness before.

"So," she started after a while, "Then it was magic in the end? Or, how you called it, psychic stuff? So that actually exists? Like teleportation, mind reading and all that?"


Doctor's POV

He was watching Mira stirring her coffee. She didn't look good at all, and even though she tried to keep it together he could see that she was slowly but surely losing it. Maybe she was still partially in denial, but he could see silent desperation sneaking into her every movement and gesture. Seeing her like this was absolutely frightening to him; more than all screaming and crying ever could be. At first he hadn't been too sure about his observations, but it were moments like this - when she was basically doing nothing. Then he could clearly see it. She was giving up on herself, and she seemed to be determined to not let anyone – let alone him – help her.

"At least where I come from it all exists," he heard her replying to Martha's question.

"Oh, yes, another thing I wanted to ask, where are you from? My future? But another universe?" Martha asked.

"Yes," Mira replied, "There actually are countless parallel – or not so parallel in my case – universes. In mine the history of humanity took a very different turn, probably not long before you were born."

"What year then? I mean, what year is it now in your universe?"

"4197 A.D.," Mira said shortly.

He braced himself for the bunch of questions about parallel universes that certainly were about to follow, knowing Martha a little by now, but she just nodded and grabbed another slice of toast. Well, probably it was for the best to not dig deeper into that topic.

"And... You are psychic?" Martha asked eventually, breaking the silence that had fallen over the kitchen during the last minutes.

"You could say so," Mira said and poured herself another coffee.

He casually pushed the fruit-bowl in her direction. She couldn't live of coffee alone; but she ignored him.

"But," Martha continued when it became obvious that Mira wouldn't explain it any further, "You can't read my mind. Or do I have to be careful what to think?"

He could hear that she was trying to make it sound lightly, like joking, but she wasn't. There was a strain to her voice, reminding him once more that humans weren't a telepathic race, and how foreign and outright frightening the concept of having someone in their mind was for them. Understandable, as they simply didn't know how to deal with it, how to keep things to themselves, shielding parts of their little minds.

Mira simply shook her head and put some sugar in her coffee.

"So what's it then?" Martha asked, seemingly relieved. "Teleportation? Moving things with only your mind? Setting things on fire?"

Her eyes rested on Mira, who had lifted her head now, looking back at Martha instead of observing her coffee.

"Well," Mira finally said, just as he had decided to change the topic, "I can't read your mind, nor lift stuff or teleport. But I can sense the emotions of other people. Just like you can sometimes do that from looking into someone's face. But I don't have to do that. I don't even have to be in the same room. I just feel what people around me feel."


Mira's POV

Here we go again.

She couldn't quite remember the last time she had to explain herself like that – even more so to other humans. At home, in her universe, people usually just knew her. Sometimes better, sometimes they had only vaguely heard about her or her father, but her name did have some impact there – always. Same for psychic abilities. The history of humanity, the Solar Empire, and even – to an extend - recent history was connected to the the Mutant Corps she had been a part of for so long. To Martha – just like Rose and all the rest of humanity – it all meant nothing. In that respect, it was even worse this time than the last time she had lost everyone and basically her whole life at once. At least back then she had still shared the same universe, parts of the same history with the people – humanity – when It, the combined mental essence of a whole species, had taken her to the future. Not so this time. She was alone in a strange universe, with no common ground. Sure, there was Earth, but apart from that? Nothing. Even back then it had sometimes felt as if speaking a completely different language. All the references people tend to make in their sentences, comparisons, common knowledge – all that had changed over the centuries. And now it was not only centuries separating her from the other humans, it was a whole universe.

She focused on the young woman sitting next to her, to net get too lost in these thoughts, whilst gently rubbing the bump the can with the coffee had left on the back of her head. Yeah, she could very well imagine why the TARDIS was throwing things at her. Meanwhile, Martha went through all states of realisation – one didn't need to be an empath to see that. At first she was shocked, and then she obviously recalled all the moments they had spent together. Finally she blushed.

Yeah, you have a crush on him. Got that.

"It's no big deal, Martha," she said reassuringly. "As said, it's not like I could read your mind."

No, but it's just a matter of the right questions to ask and interpreting your emotional response, than it's almost as good as mind reading.

"I'm quite good at ignoring it, most of the times. So no need to worry," she added, still purposefully ignoring the fruit-bowl the Doctor had pushed in her direction. She just didn't have any appetite right now.

She just hoped that Martha wouldn't go into anything else right now. She was incredibly tired of explaining it, and suddenly felt a rush of sympathy towards the Doctor for having to explain everything – TARDIS, Psychic Paper, Sonic Screwdriver – over and over again.

"Uh, wow. You know, we have parapsychologists dealing with that stuff, but no one actually takes them seriously," Martha said finally, nervously brushing crumbs from the table on her plate.

"Yeah, we had them as well at some point," she said and tried to smile. "So, another planet then, hm?" she tried to change the topic before Martha had a chance to ask more questions, and looked over to the Doctor.

"Yeah," he said and jumped up suddenly, making her and Martha startle, "New day, new planet. Come on then."

She hurried to get up as well and follow him, as she heard from Martha behind her, "What about the dishes?"

"Ah, later."

They caught up with him in the console room where he was running around the console.

"So, where to then?" he asked.

"Can we go to your planet?" Martha asked, making her flinch.

Basically it was an absolute obvious question. He was alien, and they were about to go to a different planet, so why not his?

"Ah, there's plenty of other places," he replied, trying to keep up the good mood he was hiding behind so often.

"Come on, though," Martha didn't let go of it, "I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?"

"Well, it's beautiful, yeah," he replied, and she wondered if Martha too could hear the sadness in his voice.

Probably not, as she asked, "Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?"

"I suppose it is."

"Great big temples and cathedrals!"

"Yeah," he confirmed shortly.

"Lots of planets in the sky?" Martha asked, still absolutely unaware of how painful this topic was for him.

"The sky's a burnt orange," he said after a moment of consideration, "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."

She had to think about the reddish grass in the gardens. So it was something from his homeworld. Her next thought was about Terrania. She would probably never see it again herself. Never see its white towers gleaming red in the setting sun at dawn; or the endless stream of gliders in the air between the buildings and spires, their metal hulls reflecting the sun, looking like rivers of liquid silver from afar, running through the air. But at least in her case she knew that Earth still existed, and so did Terrania.

"Can we go there?" Martha asked once more.

"Nah," he said, his voice almost cracking, trying to wipe away every nostalgic thought he – and she – were having. "Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. Instead, this is much better." He began to set a course. "Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth," he continued and stopped for a moment in his tracks to look Martha in the eyes. "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 York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

New Earth? Why, for all planets, New Earth? Great.


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