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Amy was hanging out of the TARDIS in space with the Doctor holding her foot.
"It really is a spaceship I'm in space, how am I breathing in space?" asked a shocked Amy
"Harry altered the space bubble around the TARDIS to extend outwards so you can breath… Hold on is that a space ship below us?" With that the Doctor made his way over to the other two who were also bringing it up on the screens around them. There was a massive city ship traveling through space.
"DOCTOR!" screamed Amy as she held on to the roof, he quicky ran and brought her back in
"Look a spaceship right under us a full city ship moving through space…want to check it out?"
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All four of them were looking around but the three timelords looked around with a bit of a frown. Amy hadn't realised it yet but she was still in her nightly but that wasn't the problem no something was seriously wrong with this spaceship, the Doctor found a restaurant and grabbed a glass of water off the table and placed it on the floor the other two looked at it as well for over a minute before the Doctor put it back.
"Now some rules we travel through time but we only look we don't get involved we only observe never interfere."
"Okay, why?"
"We are timelords the last of our kind, we are privileged to see time but we don't interfere with it only ensure the fixed points stay that way."
"You're that last?"
"The three of us, from a civilisation older than the earth and we are all that is left hence our careful steps."
They moved along watching everything as they did including the dolls in the cages, there was a little girl sat on a bench crying her eyes out but in silence the people just going past.
"Don't you find that strange?" asked the Doctor
"What?" asked Amy.
"A child crying out yet not making any sound, a child crying out yet no one notices it, like it's normal like it shouldn't be talked about like it is a secret, I wonder what that is?" Spoke the Doctor then purposely bumped into the girl it took four tires before he manged what he wanted. By then the girl had run off.
"Amy you follow the girl." Spoke the Master
"Where did she go?"
"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh….This fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her. Took me four goes. Ask her about those things - the smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere."
"But they're just things." Spoke Amy not understanding
"They're clean. Everything else here is battered and filthy - look at this place. But no-one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Ask Mandy, 'Why are people scared of the things in the booths'?" spoke the Master
"No. Hang on - what do I do? I don't know what I'm doing here, and I'm not even dressed!"
"It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose? Ha-ha, gotcha! Meet us back here in half an hour."
"What are you three going to do?"
"What we always do. Stay out of trouble. Badly." He leapt over the bench ready to lead the other two away
"So is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere in the affairs of other people or planets, unless there's children crying?" she had got up and faced the three timelords. The two older ones looked at Harry then back at her.
"YES" they said together and turned to leave
Amy followed the girl and found out she knew the Doctor had taken her ID but didn't want Amy to investigate a no entry sign and Amy couldn't resist she had to look. It was like a hole had been punched through the floor down into something. Suddenly Amy found herself being dragged into another room by cloaked men and sat at a booth there were three buttons remember, forget or protest.
Amy sat in the booth and watched the video fly past by the end she was crying, she hit forget and suddenly there was a message playing for her from her.
"Amy we have deleted the information we found out, we need to get the others back to their time machine and leave they can't investigate this you must get them to leave Amy before they find out the truth."
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The other timelords hadn't been idle either they had found their way to the engine rooms all listening to the walls, there were glasses on the floor all sitting half full no movement in them whatsoever.
"The impossible truth in a glass of water. Not many people see it. But you do, don't you, Doctor?"
"What? Who are you? Hold on, you know me?"
"Keep your voice down. They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass." The woman whispered to him
"Who says I see anything?"
"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it, then came straight here to the engine room. Why?"
"No engine vibration on deck. Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it. The water would move. So...we thought we would take a look. It doesn't make sense. These power couplings, they're not connected. Look - they're dummies, see? and behind this wall, nothing. It's hollow. If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..." spoke the Master
"No engines…..The impossible truth, Doctor. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly."
"Who are you? You go around in a red cloak and a white mask, and you don't know what is going on, who are you?"
"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot... I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was.
The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"
"Who are you to know that?" demanded the Doctor
"I'm Liz ten I'm the bloody queen and there is a rot and secret at the heart of my empire I want it stopped. Will you help?" asked the woman removing her mask.
"Of course we will the Doctor and Master will have this sorted in no time, now though we need to find our new companion she really is new to us!" spoke up Harry
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When they eventually found her she was just coming out of the voting box
"Yeah, your basic memory wipe job. Must have erased about 20 minutes." Spoke the Doctor after inspecting it
"But why would I choose to forget?" asked Amy not mentioning the message she had seen and remembered.
"Cos everyone does. Everyone chooses the 'forget' button." The girl Mandy that Amy had been sent to find answered when Amy was grabbed so was she.
"Did you?" asked the Master gently to her
"I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years..."
"And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned. Democracy in action." Continued the Doctor
"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?" Asked the girl to the Doctor
"Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me, for any of us three."
"It played for me." Spoke Amy
"The difference being the computer doesn't accept us as human." Spoke the Master
"Why not? You look human enough!" spoke Amy confused, yes, she knew they weren't human, but they looked it
"No, you look Time Lord. We came first." Spoke the Master to her
"Once there were others, a whole civilisation on the most beautiful planet in this universe but there aren't... Just us now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, and you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Cos this is what I do - every time, every day, every second. This…Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." Spoke the Doctor with sadness
"Doctor are you sure we should do that?"
"Yes Harry, by royal mandate we are bringing this government down!" spoke the Doctor while looking at the Master for support he got an annoyed look but a head nod of agreement in the end.
The Doctor ushered them all into the booth and pressed protest and they fell through the floor right into goo all three timelords and Amy.
"Where are we, I can feel the underneath it feels smooth soft organic!" spoke up Amy while moving around.
"Oh this is…hold yourself Amy and go oomph."
"Oomph"
"We're twenty miles down laterally that means we've entered the underbelly of the city it's alive were stood on a tongue."
"WHAT?"
"Hold it together we can get out it's just going to take a few minutes for us to get out."
"NO Amy stay still…..to late you've started it!" spoke Harry looking at the other two unimpressed
"What?" she demanded
"Were in a mouth on a tongue and you are moving around you've set off the gag reflex!" spoke the Doctor while pointing his screwdriver with the Master at the tongue and pointing them in opposite directions.
"What does that mean?" Amy next demanded off the timelords
"It means were going to be ejected like we need but it's NOT going to be a dignified exit that's for sure!" spoke the Master still annoyed he also knew what was coming.
That was when it happened, they went flying backwards and ejected into a side ejection tube covered from head to toe in goo and sick.
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"God it stinks in here!" spoke up Amy
"That's not the pipe Amy it's us we are covered in sick….Oh what's this?" explained Harry then looked forwards towards a door.
"One door, one door switch, one condition. We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot." As the Doctor was explaining two faces from within the booths trued on and showed their angry face.
"Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there? (the faces span to show mad) No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works? (the faces span again to show anger) Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?" demanded the Doctor next
Suddenly the boxes they were in opened and they moved towards the four, they were blasted apart from behind them, there in her get up was the queen and the little girl. She shook Amy's hand the only one she hadn't met.
"How did you find us?" demanded the Master getting a suspicion in his head.
"I tagged you earlier I've been listening in nice escape by the way….Eurgh! Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick. You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave…..So, what's the big fella doing here?
"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it." Spoke the Master in annoyance at her ignorance
"No I haven't, never voted never chose to forget can't do I'm the queen I don't get a vote only my citizens do and they are all choosing to forget! Now come on we need to move there is a way out up ahead we need to move before those clankers reform" spoke the queen Liz ten.
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They ended up in her opulent bedroom it was covered in half filled glasses on the floor
"It's so I remember always that my government is hiding something from me they are keeping it a secret and I want to know what it is!" spoke the queen.
"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"
"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this - my entire reign - and you've achieved more in one afternoon."
"How old were you when you came to the throne?" the Doctor asked as he paced with the mask in his hand.
"40. Why?"
"What, you're 50 now? No way!" spoke up Amy
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."
"And you always wear this in public?"
"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."
"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face."
"Yeah. So what?"
"Oh, Liz. So everything." Spoke the Doctor with sadness. Suddenly men burst into the room and formed up around them all.
"What is going on here?" demanded the queen
"We are acting on the highest orders of the land Your Majesty." Spoke one of the men
"I am the highest authority!" she argued back
"Ma'am, you penetrated the lower levels you need to come with us know this is a Royal order that has been laid down by all Royals." He explained
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All five of them accompanied the others to another chamber in what they called the tower of London.
"You dare to bring ME to the tower? On whom's authority do you do this? I demand an answer you have sworn fealty to me!"
"ma'am please remain calm"
"The lowest point of Starship UK. The dungeon" spoke the Doctor while swinging around with his arms out
"Ma'am." Spoke a man respectfully to her.
"Hawthorne! So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."
"There are children down here. What's all that about?" demanded the Master
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."
"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle!" Spoke the Doctor while looking over a railing with the Queen and the Master, there was an electric current shooting into it
"What's that?" demanded the Queen
"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly...
"Or?" demanded the Queen
"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button."
"I don't understand." Spoke the Queen totally confused
"Don't you? Try, go on. The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature - this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading - it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving…Tell you what. Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." The Doctor had pulled at a tube that had burst through like Amy had already seen letting them hear the noise of the whale calling out in agony
"Stop it. Who did this?"
"We act on instructions from the highest authority."
"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now….I said now!...Is anyone listening to me?"
"Liz. Your mask." Spoke up the Doctor
"What about my mask?"
"Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say." Spoke the Master
"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"
"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign." Announced the Doctor to her
"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years."
"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again, always leading you...here." spoke the Doctor leading her into a booth the buttons read "forget" and "abdicate"
"What have you done?" demanded the queen of Hawthorn
"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." He turned on the screens and the one in the booth the Doctor had led her to.
"If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. 'And what we have done to it' breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the "forget" button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."
"I voted for this. Why would I do that?" asked Amy to the Doctor
"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know. What any of us need to know you will never again make that decision for us you're going back home after this." spoke the Doctor with disgust at the humans.
"I don't even remember doing it." Amy tried to defend herself
"You did it. That's what counts." He returned to her
"I'm... I'm sorry".
"Oh, I don't care. When we're done here, you're going home. As I said" spoke the Doctor in true annoyance
"Why? Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"
"Yeah. I know. You're only human."
"What are you doing?" gently asked the Queen
"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it.
"That'll be like killing it" spoke Amy shocked.
"Look, three options. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor anymore."
"There must be something we can do, some other way." Begged the Queen
"Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to us today, you have no right to talk to us. There are three of us left in all creation, our civilisation is older than your earth and we are all that is left and this is a one of a kind animal and I'm going to have to kill it, or kill this part of humanity off! So all of you be silent, you don't get to speak, you don't deserve to!" he walked away and grabbed both Harry's and the Masters hands for strength, Harry was running through every alternate timeline trying to see if there was another way but he couldn't see one.
"Doctor, stop. Whatever you're doing, stop it now! Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand." Spoke Amy to the Doctor while grabbing the queen by her hand
"Amy, no! No!" shouted the Doctor, Amy forced the queen's hand down on the button forcing her to abdicate. The whale bellowed and the whole ship Shook, causing havoc on every level.
"Amy, what have you done?" Demanded the Master
"Nothing at all. Am I right?"
"We've INCREASED speed." Spoke up Hawthorn shocked
"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help."
"It's still here? I don't understand." Spoke the Queen
"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it - that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry…What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your race...You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry." Spoke Amy explaining it gently to the Doctor and Master making up for her earlier mistake and explaining her reasoning. Pointing to the little girl who was still with them.
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"From Her Majesty. She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK." Explained Amy to the three as she handed the Doctor the Queen's mask
"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship." Spoke the Doctor
"You could have killed a Star Whale." She rebutted
"And you saved it. I know, I know." Agreed the Doctor
"Amazing, though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery... and loneliness. And it just made it kind."
"But you couldn't have known how it would react. You can't see time and its permutations even Harry was looking for a way out and was still searching"
"YOU THREE couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and one of the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" She hugged him and gave Harry a gentle smile which he returned.
"Shouldn't we say goodbye? Won't they wonder where we went?" She asked as she saw them walking to the TARDIS.
"For the rest of their lives. Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow." Spoke the Doctor in a better mood now.
"Sorry, what?" asked Amy confused
"It's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. We skip the little ones." Harry explained as he let the Doctor enter first then him his dad and then Amy as always Harry in the middle of them.
"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning... Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just... Just because you could?" asked Amy to the Doctor while the other two were working around the control unit checking different readings, they were actually checking everything would go alright for the whale and the UK now.
"Once...a long time ago." He eventually answers turning to her.
"What happened?" asked Amy gently
"Hello!" he replied while waving at her making her understand. A phone began to ring.
"Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you. No. Hang on, is that a phone ringing?"
"We live in a phone box we often get phone calls son answer it will you please" answered the Master to her
"Hello?" asked Harry and listened before covering the mouthpiece
"Pere it's for you it's the Prime Minister!"
"Which one?" asked the Doctor back
"Sorry who exactly are you and which Prime Minister are you please?... Oh right Sir just hold on a minute I'll put him on for you"
"He says it's Winston Churchill Pere perhaps you should talk to him!"
"Oh good old Winston now what does he want?" asked the Doctor taking the phone off Harry.
After a short conversation the Doctor was asking Harry to input a time date and co-ordinates but not set them off so they would get there when they needed to go. First though he wanted rest and to talk to Koschei on their own. Harry took pity on Amy and showed her to a room and how to use the showers in there and then to the main wardrobe so she could get an outfit for herself. Once she was clean and dressed, she was also rearing to go. As if today hadn't been enough of an adventure. They met up for food in the kitchen and then the three of them gave her a short tour of the TARDIS just the main parts and how to work her bathroom they explained how she could customise the room for herself and left her to get some rest.
Their meeting with Winston would happen tomorrow once they had all had breakfast.