AUTHOR'S NOTE
Here is this week's installment. I hope you are safe and well during these difficult times.
Chapter 26
Earth, London, England, Clara's flat, 2 September 2014
Clara shouted her way out of a nightmare. When she got her breathing under control she got up and rinsed her face with cool water.
The nightmare was already fading. In the dream, the Doctor was in terrible danger, but now that she was awake, she couldn't remember why. She kept trying to reach him, but obstacles kept getting in her way.
She had the sense that he was in a hopeless battle and losing miserably. She felt powerless, as if all the light was going out of the world and all she could do was watch. A deep sense of doom lingered even now that she was awake.
"One too many Wednesday afternoon adventures, Clara. Seriously. Get a grip."
This time the Doctor interrupted her school day because he wanted her to join him on a mission inside a living Dalek that had somehow turned good. It was intense. Several lives were lost. And it was messy inside a Dalek. After a wash and a wardrobe change, the Doctor returned her to Coal Hill to finish the school day, followed by a drink with Danny, the new maths teacher.
She was still getting used to this newer version of the Doctor. The inconsistencies in his personality perplexed her. One minute he was harsh and judgmental, and the next jubilant at the possibility of eliciting wonder from a member of the evilest species in the universe. If you looked up mercurial in the dictionary you would most likely see his stern face, grey hair, and grumpy eyebrows. Clara didn't always respond well to some of his more abrupt turns. Maybe he was still trying to figure out who he was.
Yesterday he did something new. Before whisking her away to the command ship Aristotle, of the Combined Galactic Resistance where they had a date with a good Dalek, he asked her if he was a good man.
She didn't respond right away because she needed to process the question, but in the end, she gave him the most honest answer she could. The fact that he asked in the first place melted her heart a little. Well, a lot. As frustrating and irritating as this version of the Doctor could be, Clara had already grown quite fond of him.
She wandered into the kitchen and put on the kettle. It was 3:45, but she didn't think she could get back to sleep. Even after her tea and doing a few chores she still felt the residual sense of doom.
"Oh all right then," she muttered aloud, and found her mobile on the charger. She rang the Doctor's number and got no answer.
Earth, London, Royal London Hospital, 10 January 2026
In the depths of slumber, Kate Stewart dreamed.
It started out as her zombie dream. While patrolling at night, Kate heard a sound and went to investigate, only to discover Osgood had been turned into a zombie and was feeding on Dr. Li.
But then it changed. The background morphed from Royal London Hospital to UNIT HQ under the Tower of London, before the nuclear war, before UNIT was defunded. Osgood was there - the regular Osgood, not zombie Osgood. Jax was there. Many others, the names of which had already grown hazy.
They were in the middle of a world-threatening crisis. Invoking the internationally agreed-upon incursion protocols, she activated the Doctor's status as president of Earth.
She tried to raise him on the TARDIS phone and the special Doctor channel they had established years ago. She got no answer. Then she called Clara Oswald, his last known companion. Oswald answered. When Kate asked her if she'd seen him recently, she replied that the Doctor was dead.
Kate felt powerful grief in the dream, and tremendous fear of what their future on Earth might look like without the Doctor. And in the curious way of dreams, the scene faded back to Royal London Hospital. Kate patrolled the lower ward with a torch and found all the patients had been slaughtered.
Kate was shaken awake by Osgood.
"Are you alright? You were calling out in your sleep."
"Yes," Kate sat up and took a few shaky breaths. "Just a nightmare. Sorry to wake you."
Sagacity, The Universal Collaborative for Temporal Insight, Collaborative Enforcement
Hanar burst through the doors of the Collaborative Enforcement council chambers.
"You need to stop this proceeding at once!"
But what he saw in the chambers fetched him up sharply.
The enforcement arm of the Collaborative was comprised of three officers: Romana and representatives of other member species. He saw Romana at the center of the panelists bench, with a Hath seated to her right and a human on her left. Hanar recognized the human right away.
Beckman.
"That's not like you, Hanar, bursting in like this. You've come in at an inopportune time. Whatever it is, can it wait?"
"My apologies, Romana, and the rest of the esteemed panel. It is an urgent matter that requires Romana's attention but may only take a few moments. Could you possibly spare her?"
At the same time, he communicated his true message to Romana telepathically. The preceptor did a good job of managing her non-verbal reaction. She sighed and stood.
"We will take a brief recess before we move to discussing the final verdict. Gentlemen, please don't leave the immediate area."
Beckman and the Hath looked at each other and then stood as Romana made her way to Hanar.
"How can you be sure Beckman is involved in the timeline disruption?"
Romana and Hanar hastened to the laboratory where Erdith was monitoring the timeline audit. They had reviewed the Doctor's timeline corrections and discovered significant new corruption. After confirming that the Doctor and Peter were not the cause, they quickly discovered that Beckman was the source. Something had gone wrong.
"That's a bit difficult to explain. You won't be pleased to hear this, but –"
"You and the other students decided to take matters into your own hands and fix the timeline errors."
"Well, yes, and – "
"And you think the Doctor is innocent, so you want me to stop the proceedings."
They reached the lab. Hanar paused to answer before opening the door.
"We know the Doctor is innocent. We've been monitoring both timelines. Beckman is the cause of the initial disruption. We have much to show you, but I urge you to have Beckman detained immediately."
Romana appeared to consider it seriously. As usual, Hanar could not sense her thoughts or mood. After a prolonged pause, she proceeded into the lab and immediately contacted security. Hanar could feel Erdith's relief along with his own as the preceptor instructed security to locate and hold Beckman.
After ending the communication, Romana joined them at the console.
"You better be right. Either way you both have a lot of explaining to do."
Earth, London, England, Coal Hill School, 1 September 2014
The Doctor breathed in as deeply as he could, centering himself. He placed one hand on his bloody chest and the other on the haft of the knife that protruded from it.
"One, two, three…"
On three he pulled as hard as he could. The pain was all-consuming. The knife slowly slid out and clattered to the floor. The Doctor shifted his focus to staunching the heavy bleeding.
And then suddenly he found himself on the floor grating next to the console in the loaner TARDIS.
"Whew – that was close!" Peter exclaimed with a relieved smile.
The Doctor felt his chest. No knife wound. No blood.
"Wait, what happened? I was – "
"Don't you remember? You were in the school checking on Mr. and Mrs. Pink – that is Miss Oswald and Mr. Pink, but you got ambushed by Beckman. He took your wristwatch and stabbed you."
The Doctor did remember, but it had a hazy dream-link quality. He checked his right wrist, and, sure enough, the time travel device was gone.
"You rescued me? But how?"
"I was watching the nanocam and saw what happened. Turns out that Erdith also saw it from the Collaborative. She did this cool 3-D video call thing and gave me the coordinates. Are you okay?"
"I think so,"
Peter helped the Doctor up. Once on his feet, the Doctor made his way a little unsteadily to the console to check on the communication from Erdith.
"Because you don't look so good."
"I'm fine. Did Erdith say anything else?"
"Well, were supposed to go to Sagacity next. She said she sent the coordinates to the TARDIS."
Sure enough, the coordinates were already programmed. The Doctor pulled the dematerialization lever, and they were on their way.