Chapter CV

Mira

She pushed the handle and, indeed, the door was unlocked again, opening to a huge room flooded by orange light through floor-deep glass panels which gave way to a view over a richly planted balcony. She looked around the room which was held in white with accents in orange, red and yellow, traced the organic shape of the furniture and wand panels and shelves with her eyes. It dawned on her which place the TARDIS had used as a blueprint.

"Nice," Jack said who was standing beside her. "Bit too much space age for me, but nice."

"Yeah, nice...," the Doctor, standing on her other side, said, sounding not quite convinced.

Nice, she thought and slightly shook her head as she stepped further into the room, down the three stairs to the main level, her steps silent on the thick, high-piled white carpeting. There were three levels in this room, all gently inwardly curved as if embracing the huge panorama windows. Yes, it was a lot of space age in here, and even more work. Not so much actual manual labour as most of the refurbishing had been done by robots, but almost all of the furniture had to be reproduced, and a lot of plans, pictures and blueprints had been lost in the Dolan attack on Earth. She had spent countless hours on research and finding designers and architects able to do exactly what she had imagined. Well, she might have also been a bit picky back then and thus made herself more work than necessary.

She stopped in front of the glass and hesitantly waved her hand. For a second nothing happened - well, it would have been too nice, she thought – but then the huge glass panels started to move, opening the way to the huge balcony. A breeze of fresh air hit her face – outside was the park where they had planted the psychic plant.

"How did she do that?" she whispered. "I mean, how could she know all this?"

"What is this place?" the Doctor asked.

"That's my old flat in Terrania City," she said. "You could see from here all over the city until Crest Spaceport."

"Looks quite expensive," Jack said.

She turned her head and found him on the couch in the conversation pit on the middle level of the room. He was right, all in all it hadn't been cheap – she had spent way too much money and time on this place in relation to the time she had actually spent living here.

"Had a lot of time to make money," she replied. "And a good financial advisor."

Indeed, she had gotten quite a few hints from Homer G. Adams, the financial master-mind of the Solar Empire. Not really a mutant, but definitely psychic in his sense for business and money.

She crossed the living room, went through the short hallway on the left and found the bathroom just as she remembered it. Even the jacuzzi was there, placed in front of large glass panels which formed the wall. Of course, had been mirrored from the outside to prevent someone flying by in an air-taxi to peer in.

On the other end of the bathroom a door led to her bedroom. The floor plan of each story had been circular so each room had a glass covered wall to the outside -just in here it was tinted and adjustable so it was dark at night. The bed stood on the wall to the bedroom, the opposite wall was a huge wardrobe with a door leading to a dressing room.

She stopped in front of the bed, nudged the mattress with her index finger and watched satisfied how waves spread over the surface.

"A waterbed?" she heard the Doctor's voice behind her.

"Yes!" she said, pulled back the bedspread, took his hand and pulled him down on the bed with her, rocking with the waves for a few more seconds. "Stop frowning! Waterbeds are cool. Well, technically it's not water in there – at least in the original one in my flat it was some sort of liquid polycarbocryl."

"It's warm," he replied, a slightly disgusted look on his face. "What's polycarbocryl?"

"Liquid, jelly plastic. And yes, of course it's warm. They need a heating. Round about thirty degrees, which is skin-temperature. Well, for a human, that is."

She looked up as she heard steps and then the sound of a door. Must be Jack leaving.

"So, why did she do that?" she asked, laying her head back down on the bed.

"She seems to like you."

"So she's not jealous? " she said, pulled he feet up and rolled on her side, snuggling up against him.

When he didn't reply she started to trace the curve of his neck with her nose and her lips. Just now she realised how much she had missed him that year down on Earth. She hadn't had time to think about it then, but now it came back with force. Touching his skin which, despite looking so human, smelled and felt so alien. She opened her eyes as he turned his head, looking directly into his face which was frozen with shock.

"Sorry," she murmured and pulled back her head. "I take it you're not in the mood then."

"For what?" he asked cautiously.

"Forget it," she said. "I guessed it would be a one of thing anyway. Never mind."

She tried to read in his eyes, trying to sense a grasp of what was going on in his mind right now. Then she realised what she hoped to find – a trace of the human he had been for a while, something which had lingered in his eyes, in his mind a year ago even after he had become himself again – ever so slightly, but it had been there. A remembrance of how it was to be human, but now it seemed to be gone. Whether he would have forgotten anyway by now or it was due to what he had been through – it didn't matter. And, though she didn't mind as she had loved him long before he experienced first hand how it felt to be human, she couldn't help to feel sadness, that something that had been a part of him, if only for a short time, was now lost.

Would it be like that when he had to regenerate? After meeting some of his previous regenerations she could tell that it was always him – and yet, at the same time, it wasn't. It was not just his face that changed. And even though she definitely was attracted to his current looks, she had the feeling that getting adjusted to a new face and body would be the easiest part. But what if he changed in a way she couldn't accept? How much of his personality would really stay the same? How much of him would be lost forever? And – would he still feel the same for her? Suddenly she had the feeling time was running through her hands like sand. Not just that his days were limited because he was – though long lived – mortal; a fact she had been brutally made aware of by the master ageing him rapidly. But how much time was left for her to spend with him in his current form? And what if she found a way home, would she have to leave him behind? Could she leave him behind? Would she really leave? Or would he follow her? Could he survive in another universe? The TARDIS couldn't, and she would never want for them to be separated. What-

Stop it.

His words floated through her mind – she hadn't been aware that he was listening – neither did she mind it now that she knew. Their eyes where still locked and their fingers intertwined. No need for trying to read in his eyes now – she could feel that he appreciated her thoughts and worries. She didn't promise something blindly she had no way of knowing yet; neither of them knew how things would work out in the future, how he would change. He pulled her hand closer and softly kissed the back of it.

You're really not very good at heeding your own advice. Stop worrying about the future, it will happen anyway.

"I know," she said softly and sat up. Her late husband had told her that, half a life-time ago. One of her life-times. He sat up as well, but didn't let go of her hand as she was about to get up and off the bed; instead he pulled her down again so they were sitting facing each other. A feeling of longing suddenly rushed over her which was quite similar to what she had been feeling when kissing his neck, and yet completely different. She felt his presence, his mind flowing towards her. It was not violent or overwhelming but almost gentle and hesitant, waiting for a sign of approval from her. She grabbed his hands tighter and closed her eyes – not a second later she felt his presence filling her mind, just as they had done it back then, in her old room, when she had wanted to talk to him. Just this time it was no fear about what to find, what to see in the other's mind – this time both of them knew where it was heading to, this time there were no secrets of past deeds they carefully had to hide.

But then, suddenly, she felt the same surge of fear again of being lost inside his mind, being torn apart and floating there, forgetting herself as it already felt so much closer and more intense then it had last time – but then he surrounded her, mingled with her mind until she couldn't tell anymore where she ended and he begun, touching her in ways she had never thought possible. What she felt was him. It would always be him, no matter how he looked like or which personality traits he might lose or gain in the future. A part of him would die, a thought that still left her feeling sad, but-

Stop it!

And any protest she might have thought of was immediately drowned in feelings so intense she couldn't even put them in thoughts – not to mention something as insufficient as words.


Doctor

"Where are we?" Mira asked as the sound of the engine had faded away and the only sound left in the console room was the TARDIS softly humming to herself.

"Don't know," he said with a wide grin, grabbed her hand with one and his coat with the other hand as he jumped to the door. "Let's have a look!"

He had set the coordinates to random after they had discussed for over half an hour where to go next. All he knew now was that they were on a planet as he threw the door open and, followed by Mira and Jack, and looked around. He was certain that no danger was awaiting them; the TARDIS would have warned him. But something must have brought her to this place just right here, right now.

"Ah," he said and breathed in the humid air, heavy with sweet smells and took a few steps. "Zesa III, third planet of the sun Zesa. Well, at least it will eventually get that name when humans will decide to settle here. In about three-thousand and fifty-six years from now on. Currently it doesn't have a name. What do you say? Do you want to name it?" He had asked Mira, but then got to impatient to wait for a reply, instead he continued striding through soft grass, "Nice place; right now, that is. Won't be that nice as soon as humans arrive. Lots of air pollution and waste." Mira let go of his hand and turned around, but he didn't mind. She was free to look around – as long as she didn't wander off. Indeed, it was nice here. Almost a bit like Earth, apart from the pink and yellow leafs covering the trees. Oh, and the orange grass. A tad too warm for his liking, but the TARDIS had landed in a shadowy place. Quite shadowy. Must be something big casting that shadow, he thought. "See, trees, grass, fresh air, mountains behind us- What is it Mira?" he asked as he felt her tugging his sleeve.

He looked at her but she wasn't replying, just staring open mouthed at something behind them. He turned to Jack and found him staring in the same direction.

"What?!" he said and stared at them in confusion, instead of just looking for himself.

"That's not your usual mountain," Jack said.

Finally, he turned around and his eyes grew wide. True, not quite a mountain, but definitely as huge as one. About half a mile away a giant, metal, sphere was resting on twelve enormous landing legs which were ending in huge dishes. They had pressed holes in the surrounding patches of trees and he wouldn't be surprised to find them sunken deep into the soil. Probably the ship was still supported by anti-gravitational fields – not that he doubted the strength of the landing legs – it was the soil that would be unstable, making the ship tip if one leg sunk in much deeper than the others – there was room for adjustment as they were telescopic, but better safe than sorry. Around it's equator ran an annular beading like a ring around a planet – just in this case it was connected to the hull, not free floating around it - with spaced openings on the underside, probably the main engines. The spaceship's diameter was just under five-thousand feet, give or take a few. He had no idea what it was made of – an alloy he had never seen before, shimmering blueish in the sunlight. Letters were painted on the hull, probably the ship's name, but it was a language neither he nor the TARDIS could translate. It wasn't a part of this universe, and yet, he had seen ships like this before – just not with his own eyes.

Just as he tried to identify some of the small objects flying alongside the hull, the air around the ship flickered for the fraction of a second, followed by a gale-force gust spreading from the landing place, reaching them a few moments later, ruffling the trees, still strong enough so he had to lean against it. Whoever was on board of this ship had activated their shields. But why? There was no-one around apart from them and the TARDIS. So what were they afraid of? And – how did they get here in the first place?

"What are they doing here?" Mira asked at this very moment, her voice hardly more than a whisper.

"Who are 'they'?" Jack asked whilst sorting his hair which had been ruffled by the wind. "I just hope they're on our side. That thing is enormous!"

"That's a ship from my universe," Mira replied, still in shock. "Imperial-Class, fifteen-hundred meter in diameter. The...," she looked at the ship with narrowed eyes, "HECATE."

"That's a good thing then?" Jack asked. "They must have been searching for you."

He watched as she slowly shook her head, the shock on her face being replaced by a hard, cold look.

"No, they're not. It's an old ship. Well, not actually old, but- See the hull? That's terkonit. It was replaced by a terkonit-ynkelonium alloy by the end of the thirty-fifth century. That new alloy has a slightly pink hue as ynkelonium is ruby-red. That was over five-hundred years ago. Guess it's even older though, judging by the shape of the emblem. It has slightly changed over time."

The emblem she was talking about was next to the letters which apparently translated to HECATE - an image of Earth with stylised sun-rays placed around it.

"And what now?" Jack asked. "Do we walk over and- knock?"

"No need for that," Mira replied. "They've just activated their shields. They know we're here."

He looked back and forth between the TARDIS and the mountain of terkonit – Imperial-Class, and no doubt a battle ship by the looks of it. The contrast between the looks of his ship and theirs couldn't be bigger. Of course, the TARDIS would win against the HECATE any day, but they couldn't know that from just looking at her. He was still not convinced they had seen them at all and then activated their shields because of them. "I had no idea that I look so intimidating," he said and brushed a leave off his coat which the dust had blown there.

"They simply have no idea what's going on," Mira said. "They've landed on a planet, meaning the ship's probably damaged to a level where repairs can easier be carried out here than in space. See all these things flying around it? That's repair-robots and ship's boats."

"And what's that?" he asked and pointed at a small object which approached them quickly.

It looked a bit like an overgrown tank complete with tracks – as well as stubby wings and an empennage – and it was flying towards them.

"That's a shift," Mira replied.

"A what?!"

"Shift. Bully came up with this name – at least so he told me. Because it can shift between flying, driving and swimming. Told you they've seen us."

The flying tank came down vertically about hundred feet away from the TARDIS, and two men in close fitting space-suits without helmets got out, weapons ready in their hands but not aiming at them.

"Just let me do the talking," Mira said. "Really, I mean it. Back in the days of the Solar Empire things were a bit... different."


NicoleR85, OneWhoReadsToMuch, bored411, koseta a, Arashi – IV of VI, time-twilight, E-man-dy-S: Thanks for leaving a review :-)

Lautaro94: I'm afraid he will stay for a while. Not alongside Donna though, but I've planned a few stories of my own before continuing with the next season.

Purplestan: I've already replied via PM, but probably someone else is interested in why I'm still doing this (admittedly annoying) thing: It has nothing to do with writing in 3rd person – I'm actually writing in subjective point of views of various characters (Could do the same in 1st person as well – you don't have to stick to just one pov there either). Nevertheless, pointing it out when changing POV is bad style and I only started it because I wasn't convinced I could make it clear enough when I started this story. In German yes, but not in English. And now I've started it so I rather stick with it than changing it mid-story. So that's why :-)