Chapter 7: The Doctor's Daughters

Donna found herself hanging from the railings, battling against the turbulence as the Tardis hurled itself back and forth.

"What the hell's it doing?"

She was almost glad to see Martha doing the same thing - at least she wasn't the only one struggling with the wild movements. The Doctor and Eris were getting hold of every control within their reach (and still not talking to each other while this was happening), looking surprisingly stable as the floor beneath them pitched.

"The controls aren't working. I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."

The hand bubbling in it's liquid filled jar under the console had certainly started to froth more voraciously. Donna stared at him.

"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You telling me it's yours?"

"Well."

Martha managed a shrug. "It got cut off. He grew a new one."

"You are completely impossible."

"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely."

Eris whacked the console with all her might, and the whole thing shuddered and sparked before settling into stillness. Without even a word of thanks, the Doctor ran outside to investigate. When she saw the looks her friends were giving her, she sighed.

"Don't. He's a stubborn old fool, and you know it. It doesn't matter that we've already argued over this, he'll be like this for a while. Let it be for now. I can handle things."

And she led them outside, closing the doors behind her.

They came out into what looked like a junk yard - one that had been crammed beneath a railway bridge. The Doctor was wandering around with his hands in his pockets, talking to himself.

"Why would the Tardis bring us here, then?"

Martha couldn't keep the grin off her face. "Oh, I love this bit."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to go home."

"I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get."

"Like you swallowed a hamster?"

The moment was ruined by the appearance of a trio of soldiers, weapons raised and aimed right at them.

"Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons."

He held both hands up high. "We're unarmed. Look, no weapons. Never any weapons. We're safe."

One of the soldiers approached them, looking closely. "Look at their hands. They're clean."

"All right, process them. Him first."

The other two soldiers grabbed the Doctor by the arms, hauling him towards a large cylindrical machine.

"Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?"

The women followed, not liking where this was going. Eris gave the man who'd given the order a rough shove.

"Leave him alone, what's he done to you?"

Martha and Donna clustered around him as he was secured.

"What's going on?"

"Leave him alone!"

His entire right arm had vanished inside the machine, and he had braced himself against it.

"Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure. Argh!"

Whatever was happening, it was clearly painful.

Eris tried again. "What are you doing to him?"

The soldier shrugged. "Everyone gets processed."

He was trying - and failing - to get the machine to release him.

"It's taken a tissue sample. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?"

It let go with a hiss and he stumbled back, into Martha's waiting arms.

"Are you all right?"

Other than a clean looking graze on the back of his hand, there was nothing wrong with him. But his attention was entirely focused on a pod attached to the wall. It had been almost invisible at first, a case of glass and metal waiting in the dark, but now it was filled with steam and lit from within by a sickly green light.

"What on earth? That's just…"

He trailed off as the doors opened, revealing a petite young woman. She was slim, dressed in light combat gear, and had a sleek blonde ponytail trailing down her back. The first soldier handed her a weapon.

"Arm yourself."

As she took it in her hands and examined it - already visibly familiar with the armaments - Martha looked up at the Doctor. The look on his face was unreadable.

"Where did she come from?"

"From me."

Donna looked between them. "From you?. How? Who is she?"

From her slight distance, Eris was reading the woman's body language. Her mannerisms were obviously full of military instinct, but there was something else about her. A gleam in the eye. Tension across the shoulders. A slight bounce on the balls of her feet.

"Oh, come on you lot. Think about it. What did that machine take from him? And what happens when you use someone's genes to create a new person?"

He stammered, vaguely acknowledging her words but still very much in shock.

"Well, she's, well, she's my daughter."

The blonde grinned at the little quartet in front of her.

"Hello, Dad."

The soldier gestured towards a makeshift barricade.

"You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?"

"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready."

As she moved off, Donna rounded on the Time Lord.

"Did you say daughter?"

"Mmm. Technically."

Martha frowned. "Technically how?"

"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently."

Eris moved to put a hand on his shoulder - and the others saw the flash of hurt in her eyes as he shrugged it off. "Her genetics are entirely from him. It's the same kind of process as cloning, but with a few extra steps to create some genetic variation."

"She doesn't even look like him, though. How do they create that much variation?"

"Well." She shrugged. "On humans, there's probably a much closer resemblance. But the Doctor's had ten different faces, so there's far more genetic potential to choose from. That girl…" She managed the smallest of smiles. "She looks so much like his fifth face."

As the others obviously clamoured with questions, they were interrupted by the woman's shout.

"Something's coming!"

Shadows danced on the tunnel wall, growing closer by the moment until the figures came into view - and quickly started firing. The soldier swore. "It's the Hath!"

"Get down!"

These so-called 'Hath' were humanoid, but had purplish skin and large fish-like eyes. They wore what looked like breathing masks - glass tubes filled with some sort of green fluid that bubbled constantly.

"We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator."

The Doctor glared at the boy. "I'm not detonating anything."

He and Martha moved to help a couple of wounded human soldiers, darting out of the way as the blonde woman took on one of the Hath with her bare hands. Successfully fighting it off, she grabbed the detonator - in the same moment, Martha was grabbed by the Hath. The soldier bellowed from across the tunnel.

"Blow the thing! Blow the thing!"

Eris shoved her way forwards, almost at the barricade.

"No, don't!"

But it was too late. She slammed her hand down on the button, and a klaxon sounded. They all ducked for shelter, seconds before a colossal boom resounded, bringing down the roof of the tunnel. As the dust settled, the Doctor got to his feet and rounded on the girl that had come from the machine.

"You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?"

"They were trying to kill us."

"But they've got my friend."

She shrugged. "Collateral damage. At least you've still got these two. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead."

Donna narrowed her eyes. "Her name's Martha. And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone. Have you got that, GI Jane?"

Sifting through the resources the soldiers had abandoned, Eris grabbed a short shovel.

"I'm going to find her. If I have to dig through that concrete myself, then I will."

The young man scoffed, raising his weapon to aim between them. "You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move."

On the other side of the blockage, Martha stirred. She made a quick assessment of herself - some bruising here and there, and a slightly sticky patch on the side of her head that she suspected was blood. Spotting the stone near her shoulder, she assumed that was the culprit. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be getting any worse, and she didn't feel dizzy, so it couldn't be that serious. A bubbling noise caught her attention, and she turned to her left. It was one of the Hath, hunched over and breathing heavily. She shuffled over.

"Hold on, I've got you. Is it your arm, yeah?"

It produced nothing but a series of bubbling sounds.

"Is that a yes? Let me examine it. Keep still. Still, yeah? No move."

It nodded - well, it was a start at least.

"Half fish, half human? How am I supposed to know? Is that a shoulder? Feels like a shoulder. I think it's dislocated."

Footsteps behind her made her look up - it was a group of Hath, and they all had their weapons raised.

"I'm trying to help him. I am a doctor and he is my patient, and I'm not leaving him." Spurred on by the confidence in her own voice, she placed her hands on the Hath's shoulder. "Now, this is going to hurt. One, two, three."

And with a sharp tug, she pulled the joint back into place. Her patient cringed back, and its companions raised their weapons. But it launched into a long set of bubbling, and the others relaxed. Clearly, it was explaining what had just happened. She got to her feet, brushed the gravel from her hands, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Now, then. I'm Doctor Martha Jones. Who the hell are you?"

The soldier leading them through the tunnels had introduced himself as Cline, and then promptly refused to answer any of their questions. So, while the Doctor continued to try and pester him into talking, Donna and Eris got to know the new girl.

"I'm Donna. What's your name?"

She shrugged. "Don't know. It's not been assigned."

"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?"

"How to fight."

"Nothing else?"

Eris tilted her head to one side, thinking. "The machine probably inputs military tactics and history as a priority. It must be too simple to construct a full identity, name and all."

Just ahead of them, the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"She's a generated anomaly. That's all."

Donna rolled the words around in her mouth. "Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny."

She thought for a second. "Jenny. Yeah, I like that. Jenny."

"What do you think, Dad?"

He seemed unbothered. "Good as anything, I suppose."

Eris shot a look at his back - and Donna was surprised his jacket didn't catch fire.

"Well, I think you look like a Jenny. It suits you."

Not about to let him get off that easily, Donna moved to walk level with him.

"Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?"

"They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I call natural parenting."

"Rubbish. My friend Nerys fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her."

"You can't extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident."

"Er, Child Support Agency can."

"Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?"

Jenny punched him in the arm. "I'm not a monkey. Or a child."

"Right, I-"

Eris cut him off.

"Hasn't stopped you parenting me though, has it? What makes Jenny so different?"

He didn't have an answer for that.

Eventually he was saved from the awkwardness as Cline led them into a large room with a slightly domed roof. It was dimly lit by a red glow, and the walls were lined with more of the cloning pods.

"So, where are we? What planet's this?"

"Messaline. Well, what's left of it."

A string of announcements was being read over the tannoy. "Six six three seventy five deceased. Generation six six seven one, extinct. Generation six six seven two, forty six deceased. Generation six six eight zero, fourteen deceased. Generation six…"

Looking around, Donna felt a flash of recognition. Most of the room was taken up with rows of seats, all facing a raised platform at one end of the room.

"But this is a theatre."

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon."

"It's like a town or a city underground. But why?"

A man approached them, and the Doctor offered a hand. He was middle aged, with a neatly trimmed beard and cold glint in his eyes.

"General Cobb, I presume."

He ignored the gesture. "Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone three generations back, before we lost contact. Is that where you came from?"

"Eastern zone, that's us, yeah. Yeah. I'm the Doctor, this is Eris and Donna."

"And I'm Jenny." She gave a little wave, and Eris stifled a grin.

"Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking. We're committed to the fight, to the very end."

"Well, that's all right. I can't stay, anyway. I've got to go and find my friend."

Cobb shook his head. "That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war."

Hands in her pockets, Eris leant against the back of the nearest chair. "Yes, I noticed. With the Hath. But do tell us, please, because we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that, terribly hard to keep up with the latest news. So who exactly are the Hath?"

"Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning. A colony where human and Hath would work and live together."

"So what happened?"

"The dream died. Broken, along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists, and began this battle for survival."

Looking up at the walls, Donna noticed a couple of things that bothered her immensely.

"There's nothing but earth outside, why's that? Why build everything underground?"

"The surface is too dangerous."

"Well, then why build windows in the first place? And what does this mean?" She pointed up at the shiny plaque on the wall - it held a string of numbers.

"The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meaning's lost in time."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "How long's this war gone on for?"

"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead."

"What, fighting all this time?"

Jenny replied like the answer was obvious. "Because we must. Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight, and how to die."

Eris shot her a sad glance.
"Doesn't it hurt? That the only thing in your memories is a history of pain and violence?"

"Yes. Which is why every generation fights their hardest. It's what we're programmed to do."

"But doesn't it make you want to try another way?"

She didn't reply. Neither were aware of the menacing looks Cobb was giving them.

The Doctor, meanwhile, had had his attention caught by a holographic three dimensional map.

"Does this show the entire city, including the Hath zones?"

Cobb nodded. "Yes. Why?"

"Well, it'll help us find Martha."

Cline scoffed. "We've more important things to do. The progenation machines are powered down for the night shift, but soon as they're active, we could breed a whole platoon from you three."

Eris pulled a face. "Nice try, but no thanks. You don't want more versions of me running around. Really."

Donna agreed. "I'm not having sons and daughters by some great big flipping machine." She glanced at Jenny. "Sorry, no offence, but you're not. Well, I mean, you're not real."

Her jaw dropped in anger. "You're no better than him. I have a body, I have a mind, I have independent thought. How am I not real? What makes you better than me?"

Cobb looked impressed. "Well said, soldier. We need more like you, if ever we're to find the Source."

This piqued the Doctor's interest. "Ooo, the Source. What's that, then? What's a Source? I like a Source. What is it?"

"The Breath of Life."

"And that would be?"

Cline started to recite the story. "In the beginning, the great one breathed life into the universe. And then she looked at what she'd done, and she sighed."

In synchrony, Eris and Jenny grinned. "She. I like that."

The Doctor ignored them for the moment. "Right. So it's a creation myth."

Cobb shook his head. "It's not myth. It's real. That sigh. From the beginning of time it was caught and kept as the Source. It was lost when the war started. But it's here, somewhere. Whoever holds the Source controls the destiny of the planet."

As he tapped the map, it buzzed, and the Doctor had an idea.

"Ah! I thought so. There's a suppressed layer of information in this map. If I can just…" And with a quick flash of the sonic, another set of tunnels and chambers came into view.

"See? A whole complex of tunnels hidden from sight."

Cobb's eyes lit up. "That must be the lost temple. The Source will be inside. You've shown us the way. And look, we're closer than the Hath. It's ours. Tell them to prepare to move out. We'll progenate new soldiers on the morning shift, then we march. Once we reach the Temple, peace will be restored at long last."

"Er, call me old-fashioned, but if you really wanted peace, couldn't you just stop fighting?"

"Only when we have the Source. It'll give us the power to erase every stinking Hath from the face of this planet."

Eris squared up to the man. "Woah, woah, woah. Hang on, hang on. A second ago it was peace in our time. Now you're talking about genocide."

"For us, that means the same thing."

"Then your dictionaries need a serious bit of correction, mate."

The Doctor moved to stand between them.

"When you do get some more accurate sources, look up genocide. You'll see a little picture of me there, and the caption will read, over my dead body."

The General scoffed. "And you're the one who showed us the path to victory. But you can consider the irony from your prison cell. Cline, at arms."

Donna raised her hands automatically. "Oi, oi, oi. All right. Cool the beans, Rambo."

"Take them. I won't have them spreading treason. And if you try anything, Doctor, I'll see that your woman dies first."

"No, we're - we're not a couple."

Donna groaned - why did this keep happening?

"I am not his woman."

Cline pointed with his weapon. "Come on. This way."

The Doctor jabbed a warning finger at the soldier. "I'm going to stop you, Cobb. You need to know that."

"I have an army and the Breath of God on my side, Doctor. What'll you have?"

"This." He tapped his temple. "And some very good friends."

"Lock them up and guard them."

Cline shot a sideways look at Jenny. "What about the new soldier?"

He paused for a moment. "Can't trust her. She's from pacifist stock. Take them all."

And he ignored her protests as she, along with the others, was taken to a cell.

Donna rested against the bars, staring up at another of the silver plaques on the wall.

"More numbers. They've got to mean something."

The Doctor hummed, not really paying attention.

"Makes as much sense as the Breath of Life story."

Jenny pulled a face. "You mean that's not true?"

"No, it's a myth. Isn't it, Doctor?"

"Yes, but there could still be something real in that temple. Something that's become a myth. A piece of technology, a weapon."

"So the Source could be a weapon and we've just given directions to Captain Nutjob?"

"Oh, yes."

"Not good, is it?"

"That's why we need to get out of here, find Martha and stop Cobb from slaughtering the Hath." Jenny's widening grin made him falter. "What - what are you… what are you - what are you staring at?"

"You keep insisting you're not a soldier, but look at you, drawing up strategies like a proper general."

"No, no. I'm trying to stop the fighting."

"Isn't every soldier?"

"Well, I suppose, but that's, that's. Technically, I haven't got time for this. Donna, give me your phone. Time for an upgrade."

"And now you've got a weapon."

"It's not a weapon."

"But you're using it to fight back. I'm going to learn so much from you. You are such a soldier."

"Oh, come on you two, back me up on this. Come on?"

Donna snorted. "Oh, you are speechless. I'm loving this. You keep on, Jenny."

Sitting cross legged on the floor, Eris smirked.

"Nah, don't think I will thanks.I'm rather enjoying this."

In the Hath camp, Martha was sat alone, contemplating what had just happened. She had been standing with the Hath army, trying her best to communicate but struggling with the language barrier - turns out the Tardis didn't really seem to consider liquidy babbling to be a tongue worth translating - when a new set of tunnels had suddenly appeared on the map. They had all got very excited, and had marched off, leaving her behind. So now she sat there, trying to come up with another plan. That was, until her phone rang.

"Doctor?"

"Martha, you're alive!"

"Doctor! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. Are you all right?"

"I'm with Eris and Donna. We're fine. What about you?"

She could hear Eris pipe up in the background. "And Jenny. She's fine too."

"Yes, all right. And, and Jenny. That's the woman from the machine. The soldier. My daughter, except she isn't, she's not… she's… Anyway. where are you?"

Martha sighed. "I'm in the Hath camp. I'm okay, but something's going on. The Hath are all marching off to some place that's appeared on this map thing."

"Oh, that was me. If both armies are heading that way, there's going to be a bloodbath."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Just stay where you are."

"If you're safe there, don't move, do you hear?"

"But I can help."

The call ended abruptly.

"Doctor? Doctor."

She groaned, smacking the phone against her forehead. Now what was she meant to do?

Eris raised an eyebrow. "You know she's not going to sit there and wait for us, don't you? She's hardly new to this. You've corrupted her too well." He didn't respond, and she rolled her eyes.

"Still giving me the cold shoulder? Fine, I see how it is."

He rounded on her. "I still haven't forgiven you for that stunt you pulled at the academy."

"Oh, I'm well aware." The atmosphere in the cell was turning frosty, and she could see Donna trying to quietly explain things to a rather confused Jenny. "But I did what I had to do. I knew I could use the sonic to delay the detonation by just a fraction of a second, long enough to get out. By the way you were talking, you didn't have any kind of backup plan in place. You would've died up there. I wasn't about to let that happen."

"You were at just as much risk of dying up there as I would have been!"

"I really wasn't."

"Oh, what, so you know the entire extent of your immortality now, is that it? You discovered that colossal secret all by yourself and didn't tell me, huh?"

Donna blinked at her friends, just as confused now as the blonde next to her.

"Hang on, Eris is immortal?"

"Not now, Donna."

Eris was red in the face, clearly holding back the majority of her fury.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare try and use that against me. Ok, so maybe I would've been in some trouble up there. But I had a plan to get out. If you'd gone up there, what's to say Luke wouldn't have tried to be a hero and rewired the teleport? He's clever enough to have done it, would you have been able to live with his death on your conscience?"

He didn't answer, the gravity of her words setting in. She continued.

"I ensured that I was the only person who could get up there, and that I had a perfectly good chance of escaping. Had I not been able to do either, I wouldn't have interfered with your plan. I was doing everything I could to keep everyone else in the room alive. Isn't that usually what you try to do?"

He fumbled for a moment, struggling to pull a sentence together, and she turned to stare through the bars.

"Cobb's talking to his men. We'd better pay attention."

The General had clambered up onto the stage.

"The doors that have been closed will be open to us now. The door to the Temple, to the Source, and to victory. Come the dawn cycle, we march."

There were cheers, and mixed cries of,

"To war!"

"To victory!"

Eris shook her head. "They're getting ready to move out. We have to get past that guard."

Jenny stood up. "I can deal with him."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, no, no. You're not going anywhere."

"What?"

"You belong here with them."

Donna groaned. "Oh, not this again. She belongs with us. With you. She's your daughter."

"She's a soldier. She came out of that machine."

"Oh yes, I know that bit. Listen, have you got that stethoscope? Give it to me. Come on."

As she took the instrument, Jenny frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"It's all right. Just hold still."

He watched as Eris moved to stand a little nearer, linking her hand with the other girl's. He could see her fingers slide to the pulse point.

"It's okay, I promise. Donna's just checking something."

The ginger listened to both sides of the blonde's chest, and turned to face him, triumphant.

"Come here. Listen, and then tell me where she belongs."

And so he did. The bell rested against her chest, once on the right and once on the left, and he heard it. Two separate organs beating in unison.

"Two hearts."

"Exactly."

Jenny looked between the three of them. "What's going on?"

"Does that mean she's a… what do you call a female Time Lord?"

"What's a Time Lord?"

The Doctor sighed. "It's who I am. It's where I'm from."

"And I'm from you."

"You're an echo, that's all. A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, a shared history, a shared suffering. Only it's gone now, all of it. Gone forever."

"What happened?"

"There was a war."

"Like this one?"

"Bigger. Much bigger."

"And you fought, and killed?"

"Yes."

"Then how are we different?" She turned to Eris, holding both her hands. "You're his daughter, aren't you? So doesn't that make us the same? Doesn't that mean we all share those things?"

She shook her head sadly.

"It's not that easy. We're not actually related. He just took me in, looked after me. If anything, you and he are more alike than he and I will ever be."

The Hath that Martha had helped - now complete with a bandage wrapping his shoulder - had sidled over to join her where she fiddled with the mechanism that projected the map. She tapped her phone.

"I need to charge it up. I need power. Do you understand?"

He tapped at the map itself, and it rotated to display itself in three dimensions. The circular space that had been referred to as the Temple was now shown as a very long cylinder with a pointed roof.

"There's even more? In 3D. Oh, you're a clever Hath. So this is where everybody's headed? But look, those tunnels sort of zig-zag. If I went up and over the surface in a straight line, I'd get there first."

He bubbled indignantly.

"Why not?"

A few more taps, and he pulled up a set of graphs.

"Are these readings for the surface? Well, it doesn't look too bad. Nitrogen and oxygen about eighty twenty. That's fine. Ozone levels are high, and some big radiation spikes. But as long as I'm not out there too long."

A warning bubble.

"I have to find my friends."

A rather defeated sounding bubble.

She grinned. "Come on, then."

It had taken them less than ten minutes to quietly formulate a plan. Jenny initiated phase one, peeping through the gaps in the bars and batting her eyelashes.

"Hey. Cline."

He looked over his shoulder.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm on duty."

"I know. Guarding me. So, does that mean I'm dangerous, or that I need protecting?"

Now he turned fully, the beginning of a smile on his face. "Protecting from what?"

"Oh, I don't know. Men like you?"

She reached out and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him in and kissing him forcefully. He melted against the action, steadying himself against the bars - and flinched back as she slipped her hand into his holster and jabbed his own gun into his ribs.

"Keep quiet and open the door."

Donna smirked at the Doctor, who stood there slightly shell-shocked.

"I'd like to see you try that."

They filed out silently, making their way towards the closest flight of stairs. A guard, his back to them, blocked their exit.

He gestured to the stairwell. "That's the way out." Jenny raised the pistol, and he smacked it downwards. "Don't you dare."

Donna ran her hands through her hair and straightened a few wrinkles in her shirt.

"Let me distract this one. I have picked up a few womanly wiles over the years."

He raised an eyebrow. "Let's save your wiles for later. In case of emergency."

Rummaging briefly in his coat pockets, he pulled out a palm-sized clockwork mouse and set it on the floor. It trundled over and ground to a halt behind the guard, who turned to look at it. He bent to pick it up, and Jenny chopped the junction between his neck and shoulder, sending him dropping to the floor like a lead balloon. The Doctor shook his head.

"I was going to distract him, not clobber him."

Eris rolled her eyes and ducked to check the man's pockets.

"Well, it worked, didn't it? Stop complaining. Now, they'll all have been given a copy of the new map. Let's hope he kept his on him."

It took her almost half an hour, but Martha managed to find a set of steps going upwards, topped by a hatch. She grinned, heading up it to fiddle with the latch. Her Hath friend stood at the bottom, glancing nervously over his shoulder as she threw it open. He could hear the wind up above, feel the cold seeping into the air. She started to climb through, but turned to look down to him.

"You can stay down here and live your whole life in the shadows, or come with me and stand in the open air. Feel the wind on your face. What's it going to be?" He was visibly conflicted. "It's up to you. But nothing's going to stop me."

Hauling herself to her feet, she tugged her jacket around her as the wind hit her. It was almost freezing and pitch dark, but the fact that she was outside felt beautiful. High above the horizon, three moons shone brightly. The sound of loose stones crunching made her turn, in time to see her friend getting to his feet in the new atmosphere.

"I knew you couldn't resist it."

He bubbled - and given that she'd spent just enough time with him to pick up some of the vocabulary, she knew exactly what was being said.

"Er, language. Come on."

They had been following the map for a while now, stopping every now and then to check their bearings.

"Wait. This is it. The hidden tunnel. There must be a control panel."

Donna frowned up at the wall above him.

"It's another one of those numbers. They're everywhere."

"The original builders must have left them. Some old cataloguing system."

"You got a pen? Bit of paper?"

Eris fumbled with the inside of her shoe for a moment, before producing a square of paper. She pulled a pen from her jacket, and passed the two items over.

"Sure. What do you see?"

"Right, look, have you noticed? The numbers are counting down. This one ends in one four. The prison cell said one six."

"Interesting. Most systems are a bit more complex than that when it comes to cataloguing."

Jenny looked at the three of them, incredulous.

"Always thinking, all of you. Who are you people?"

He glanced back at her. "I told you. I'm the Doctor."

"The Doctor. That's it?"

Donna rolled her eyes. "That's all he ever says."

"So, you don't have a name either? Are you an anomaly, too?"

"No."

She scoffed. "Oh, come off it. You're the most anomalous bloke I've ever met."

He ignored her as he gained access to the control panel. "Here it is."

Jenny continued. "And Time Lords. What are they for, exactly?"

"For? They're not, they're not for anything."

"So what do you do?"

Eris raised an eyebrow. "He travels through time and space being a stubborn old git and drags the rest of us along with him. Honestly, he's hardly changed at all over all this time."

Donna had a slightly different perspective on things.

"He saves planets, rescues civilisations, defeats terrible creatures. And runs a lot. Seriously, there's an outrageous amount of running involved."

He got the door open. "Got it!"

In the near distance, they could hear Cobb shout. "Squad five, with me!"

"Now, what were you saying about running?"

They made a break for it down the passageway, stopping just before they collided with an array of criss-crossed laser beams. Donna raised an eyebrow.

"That's not mood lighting, is it?"

He tossed the clockwork mouse into the field, where it swiftly disintegrated.

"No, I didn't think so."

"It's an arming device."

As he turned to work on the fuse box, Eris took a step closer.

"I wonder what it would do to skin."

"What? Don't-"

But she'd already rolled up her sleeve and dashed her right arm through the first beam, gritting her teeth as it carved into her skin. It left a deep welt in her flesh, blackened around the edges. The Doctor grabbed her shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Being sure. No use comparing a little bundle of cogs and gears to actual muscle and bone, is there? Besides, no harm done. It's already healing."

Indeed it was. The straight mark was healing over, forming a thick pink scar before smoothing and flattening into healthy skin again. He glared at her, turning back to the fuses. She groaned.

"Oh come on. Don't you trust that I know what I'm doing by now?"

He didn't answer, and Donna spotted another set of numbers - she was incredibly grateful for the distraction.

"There's more of these. Always eight numbers, counting down the closer we get."

The lasers switched off. "Right, here we go."

She dashed through the space, making it through to the other end without much difficulty. But the others hung back for a moment, having heard voices growing closer.

Jenny sighed. "It's the General." She grabbed a nearby gun, setting herself up to cover the space. The Doctor frowned.

"Where are you going?"

"I can hold them up."

"No, we don't need any more dead."

"But it's them or us."

"It doesn't mean you have to kill them."

"I'm trying to save your lives."

He took her wrists in his hands. "Listen to me. The killing. After a while, it infects you. And once it does, you're never rid of it."

She shook her head. "We don't have a choice."

"We always have a choice."

"I'm sorry."

Eris put herself between them.

"We don't have time to argue, they're right behind us. Go. I'll keep her safe. I promise."

The first of the soldiers rounded the corner.

"There they are. At arms. Fire!"

With no other choice, the Doctor ran, joining Donna on the other side of the corridor as Jenny started shooting.

"I told you. Nothing but a soldier."

Donna shook her head. "She's trying to help."

Eris pulled her down behind the barrier, and they could see the two of them talking quickly.

"Come on, run!"

But General Cobb had appeared at the end of the corridor.

"You're a child of the machine. You're on my side. Join us. Join us in the war against the Hath. It's in your blood, girl. Don't deny it."

Jenny got to her feet slowly, carefully, leaving her gun in Eris' hands.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. My blood is theirs, not yours. It calls for adventure, not destruction. I will not stand with you."

The soldiers raised their weapons, and Eris took aim. She fired at the point they'd spotted in the roof, and it crashed down in front of them. Panels of metal obstructed the corridor and steam filled the space, coming from a split in a thick pipe.

The Doctor called out to them both.

"Come on. You've done it, now let's move."

They broke into a run, skidding to a halt as the lasers flared back into life. He groaned.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. The circuit's looped back."

Donna looked up at him. "Zap it back again."

"The controls are back there."

The sounds of the soldiers breaking through the makeshift barricade got louder.

"Wait- Just… There isn't… I can't."

Eris scoffed. "Come on, now. Can't isn't in your usual vocabulary. Meaning, it isn't in ours."

Jenny grinned, linking her hand with the brunette's. "Well then, dear sister. Let's show father dearest how it's done."

And then, with a three-pace run-up, the two entered the laser field. The Doctor and Donna watched, jaws on the floor, as the duo somersaulted their way through the corridor, hands and feet hitting the floor in perfect synchrony as they progressed. They came out the other side, standing upright, and high-fived each other before being swept up in a hug by the tall Time Lord. Donna still couldn't believe what she'd just seen.

"No way. But that was impossible."

"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely. Brilliant! You were brilliant. Both of you, just brilliant."

Jenny grinned.

"I didn't kill him. General Cobb, I could have killed him but I didn't. You were right. I had a choice."

He looked down at Eris and squeezed her a tiny bit tighter.

"I'm so proud of you both."

She knew what he meant, that a truce was coming to pass, and she patted his back fondly.

Cobb broke through the barrier on the other side, and Eris pulled Donna and Jenny around the corner with her.

"At arms."

The Doctor, listening to them widening the gap, pointed a warning finger at the soldier.

"I warned you, Cobb. If the Source is a weapon, I'm going to make sure you never use it."

"One of us is going to die today. And it won't be me."

A hail of bullets flew through the laser field and he ducked around the corner, feeling the heat of their trails on his arms as he ran for it.

That had been incredibly close.

The planet's surface was rough, and they'd been walking far slower than Martha would have liked. But they struggled on, feet slipping and sliding against the damp surface every now and again. They reached a ridge, and her foot gave way entirely, sending her crashing down a slope and into a freezing sludge. The Hath, bubbling in alarm, started downwards towards her. She could feel herself being sucked deeper into the mire, and true fear rose in her chest.

"Help me! I'm sinking. I'm sinking. Help me, please, help me. Help me. I'm sinking. I'm sinking!"

The thick liquid was almost up to her neck when the Hath, unable to reach her from the waterline, jumped in beside her with a huge splash. She could feel his hands fumbling for her waist in the water, and then his strong grip as he pushed her up to solid ground. Her knees made contact, and she found that the slurping fluid released her. She swung herself up and turned, heart stopping at the sight of the Hath succumbing to the bog.

"Oh no!"

She reached out a hand, desperate to pull him to safety, but the lower part of his head was slipping below the surface. There was a panicked bubbling, and then the sound of glass shattering, and then he vanished from view altogether.

She scrambled higher up the slope, her tears burning her cheeks as her sodden clothes clung to her freezing skin.

"No…"

Satisfied that it would take the General and his men a good while to get past the lasers, the group had slowed to a walk. The Doctor walked slightly ahead of the women, listening in as Jenny asked a thousand questions.

"So, you travel together, but you're not together?"

Donna mock-gagged. "What? No. No. No way. No, no, we're friends, that's all. I mean, we're not even the same species. There's probably laws against it."

"And what's it like, the travelling?"

"Oh, never a dull moment. It can be terrifying, brilliant and funny, sometimes all at the same time. I've seen some amazing things though. Whole new worlds."

"Oh, I'd love to see new worlds."

"You will. Won't she, Doctor?"

He glanced over his shoulder. "Hmm?"

"Do you think Jenny will see any new worlds?"

He stopped, turning to face them properly. "I suppose so."

She looked at the glint in his eyes.

"You mean… You mean you'll take me with you?"

Eris punched her playfully in the shoulder. "Oh, he doesn't get a choice. If he even thinks about going anywhere without you, I'll make him regret it for the rest of his lives."

He shrugged. "Well I was gonna say - we can't leave you here, can we?"

Jenny grinned, throwing her arms around him.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. Come on, let's get a move on."

And she grabbed Eris' hand again, dragging her along the corridor as they broke into a run.

"Careful, there might be traps."

They disappeared around the corner and he sighed, face falling into a slight frown.

Donna rolled her eyes at him.

"Kids. They never listen. Oh, I know that look. I see it a lot around our way. Blokes with pushchairs and frowns. You've got dad-shock."

"Dad-shock?"

"Sudden unexpected fatherhood. Take a bit of getting used to. Although given you've been playing the role of Dad a while anyway, I'm surprised it's hit you this hard."

"No, it's not that."

"Well, what is it then? Having Jenny in the Tardis, is that it? What's she going to do, cramp your style? Corrupt Eris so they both start trashing the place? Host raves while you're not in? Like you've got a sports car and she's going to turn it into a people-carrier."

"Donna, I've been a father before. I had my own kids, long ago."

She stopped. "As in… with someone?"

"I lost all that a long time ago, along with everything else."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me? You talk all the time, but you don't say anything."

"I know. I'm just… When I look at her now, I can see them. The hole they left, all the pain that filled it. I just don't know if I can face that every day. With Eris it's not so bad, you see - she's not really mine. We both know that. She's similar enough that we get on like a house on fire but different enough that it doesn't feel real. It's like one big game, a fairytale. Jenny feels too much like home, and…" He gulped, hating the lump that had settled in his throat. "And it hurts. Oh, Donna, it burns."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "It won't stay like that. She'll help you. We both will."

"But when they died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now."

"I tell you something, Doctor. Something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong."

There was gunfire behind them and footsteps ahead as the girls reappeared. Jenny was grinning.

"They've blasted through the beams. Time to run again. Love the running. Yeah?"

He plastered a smile on his face. "Love the running."

And they set off - but they didn't get far before hitting a dead end. Donna sighed.

"We're trapped. Why is it, with you, that we always end up trapped?"

He grabbed the sonic. "Can't be. This must be the Temple. This is a door."

The numbers above it caught Eris' eye, and she tapped Donna.

"Look. Another set. Can you see a pattern yet?"

"I'm not sure yet. But we're down to one two now. These can't be a cataloguing system." The Doctor and Jenny were arguing over the door and the increasing proximity of the soldiers, but she tuned them out. "They're too similar. Too familiar."

"Now! Got it."

The door slid open and they hurried through, Donna pausing outside for a fraction of a second to take one last look at the panel. Jenny looked at her, impatient.

"They're coming. Close the door."

As the Doctor locked the door behind the four of them, she grinned.

"Oh, that was close."

Eris nodded. "No fun otherwise."

Donna looked around the new space they were in, something nagging at her mind.

"It's not what I'd call a temple. It looks more like-"

He agreed. "Fusion drive transport. It's a spaceship."

"What, the original one? The one the first colonists arrived in?"

"Well, it could be, but the power cells would have run down after all that time. This one's still powered-up and functioning. Come on."

They had only made it up a single flight of stairs before seeing a door being cut through. Jenny groaned.

"It's the Hath. That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out."

But the Doctor was more interested in the computer they had appeared next to.

"Look, look, look, look, look. Ship's log." Information streamed onto the screen, and he started to read aloud. "First wave of Human/Hath co-colonisation of planet Messaline. Core subterranean deployment successful. Online and active. Phase one initiated. Construction drones deployed. Construction of sections 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3C & 3D complete. Phase one in progress. Construction drones active. Construction of sections 1C, 1D, 2C, 2D, 3A & 3C complete."

"So it is the original ship."

Donna frowned. "So what happened?"

"Phase one, construction. They used robot drones to build the city."

"But does it mention the war?"

He scrolled through the information, eyes flicking over details about the colonisation and sickness among the crew.

"Final entry. Mission commander dead. Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and humans have divided into factions. That must be it. A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other. Start using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war."

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Two armies who are now both outside."

Above the screen was another, smaller display, and Donna felt that nagging feeling in her brain again.

"Look at that."

He shrugged. "It's like the numbers in the tunnels."

But she shook her head, things falling into place.

"No, no, no, no. But listen, I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers. It's staring us in the face."

Eris grinned. "Oh, Donna, you're incredible. What is it?"

"It's the date. Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America."

He took a closer look at it, and shouted. "Oh! It's the New Byzantine Calendar."

"The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built."

"Yes. Oh, good work, Donna."

"Yeah. But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was sixty twelve zero seven seventeen. Well, look at the date today."

"Zero seven twenty four. No."

Eris' jaw dropped. "Surely not."

Jenny frowned at them.

"What does it mean?"

"Seven days."

Donna nodded. "That's it. Seven days."

"Just seven days."

She still didn't understand. "What do you mean, seven days?"

The Doctor spelled it out. "Seven days since war broke out."

Donna tapped the screen triumphantly. "This war started seven days ago. Just a week. A week!"

Jenny shook her head. "They said years."

"No, they said generations. And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines…"

The Doctor continued. "They could have twenty generations in a day. Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Oh, Donna, you're a genius."

Eris put an arm around her friend. "I've been saying so all along."

Jenny looked around. "But all the buildings, the encampments. They're in ruins. How…"

"No, they're not ruined. They're just empty. Waiting to be populated."

The Doctor ran a hand over his face.

"Oh, they've mythologised their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Come on."

"Doctor? Doctor!"

At the sound of their friend's voice they turned sharply, following the echo until she came into view. He pulled her into a hug.

"Martha! Oh, I should have known you wouldn't stay away from the excitement."

Donna looked her up and down, slightly concerned by the way she was shivering and the dirt clinging to her clothes.

"Oh, you're filthy. What happened?"

"I, er, took the surface route." Her face fell, and Eris reached out to hug her tight.

Distantly, they could hear Cobb.

"Positions."

Jenny tensed. "That's the General. We haven't got much time."

Donna pulled a face. "We don't even know what we're looking for."

Martha wrinkled her nose, breathing deeply. "Is it me, or can you smell flowers?"

Ignoring the growing sounds of the soldiers outside, the Doctor tilted his head back and breathed in deeply.

"Yes. Bougainvillea. I say we follow our nose."

And he dragged them in the direction of the scent.

Three doors later, they had reached the heart of the craft. What had once probably been an open cargo space was now crowded with vegetation, plants blooming from every seam in the walls and floor. The Doctor grinned.

"Oh, yes. Yes. Isn't this brilliant?"

In the centre of the room was a glowing glass sphere sat atop a pedestal. It was about the size of a beach ball, and was wired to a nearby control panel. Donna reached out a hand, skimming the glass - it was warm.

"Is that the Source?"

Jenny couldn't take her eyes off it. "It's beautiful."

Martha glanced over the panel. "What's it for?"

He flicked at a few of the buttons. "Terraforming. It's a third generation terraforming device."

"So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?"

"Because that's what it does. All this, only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state. Producing all this must help keep it stable before they finally-"

The soldiers and the Hath burst into the room from opposite sides, cutting off all the exits. All had weapons raised, and the Doctor lifted the Source from it's podium.

"Stop! Hold your fire!"

Cobb sneered. "What is this, some kind of trap?"

"You said you wanted this war over."

"I want this war won."

"You can't win. No one can. You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on. This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable. Look around you. It's not for killing, it's bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing." He lifted it above his head. "I'm the Doctor, and I declare this war is over."

It smashed against the floor, allowing the multicoloured holographic gases within to flow upwards, perfusing through the air. On both sides, the soldiers watched, laying down their weapons as an aura of overwhelming peace blanketed the room, filtering to every space that the light of the Source touched.

Jenny looked up. "What's happening?"

"The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process."

"What does that mean?"

Eris grinned softly. "It means a new world."

The next few seconds felt like an eternity. Jenny turned her head at just the right moment, saw Cobb raise his gun and pull the trigger. She saw him aim at the Doctor's chest, and took two steps forward.

"No!"

She felt pain and heat sear through her ribs, and something hot and wet coating her fingers as she pressed her hand to her side. Faintly, she could hear panic in the voices of the others.

The Doctor caught her, bringing her gently to the ground.

"Jenny? Jenny. Talk to me, Jenny."

Martha and Eris knelt beside her, Eris dropping her head to Jenny's ear to murmur encouragement while Martha assessed her quickly. Donna almost didn't want to hear the answer to her question.

"Is she going to be all right?"

Martha shook her head.

She managed to open her eyes again, staring up into the air above.

"A new world. It's beautiful."

He cradled her closer, feeling Eris' hand clamp down so the three of them were connected.

"Jenny, be strong now. You need to hold on, do you hear me? We've got things to do, the three of us, hey? Hey? We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose."

She was clearly struggling. "That sounds good."

"You're my daughter, and we've only just got started. You're going to be great. You're going to be more than great. You're going to be amazing. You hear me? Jenny?"

But her eyes had slid shut, and her chest was still.

"Two hearts. Two hearts. She's like me. If we wait. If we just wait."

Martha shook her head, a hand already rubbing the spot between Eris' shoulders as she shook.

"There's no sign, Doctor. There is no regeneration. She's like you, but maybe not enough."

"No. Too much. That's the truth of it. She was too much like me."

He shifted, settling her body on the floor and pressing a kiss to her forehead, before storming over to Cobb. The man was on his knees, held there by his furious soldiers. Not a single one of them had agreed with his action. The pistol he had used was on the floor, and he picked it up, pointing it at Cobb's forehead.

He stood there for an interminable time. Then, he flicked the safety on, before tossing the weapon to one side.

"I never would. Have you got that? I never would." He turned to look at both armies, voice trembling with rage. "When you start this new world, this world of Human and Hath, remember that. Make the foundation of this society a man who never would!"

Cline and one of the Hath officers had taken Jenny's body to a small private room and laid her on a bed. Sunlight was beginning to stream through the stained glass windows.

Martha managed a sad smile. "It's happening. The terraforming."

Donna nodded. "Build a city, nice and safe underground, strip away the top soil and there it is. And what about Jenny?" She glanced back at the Doctor and Eris where they stood, either side of the door, jaws clenched and staring at points on the wall opposite. They were far more alike than they realised, she thought.

Cline sighed. "Let us give her a proper ceremony. I think it'd help us. Please."

He nodded - but didn't say a word. He didn't think he could.

The Doctor leant heavily against the console, staring at Eris' back. She had situated herself on one of the upper gantries, very obviously pretending to fix something that wasn't broken. Of course, she was hurting. But the fact he'd just lost one child and was being given the cold shoulder by the other was almost too much for his hearts to bear. He was very glad for Donna and Martha's presence - without them there, the tension would be intolerable.

"Jenny was the reason for the Tardis bringing us here. It just got here too soon, which then created Jenny in the first place. Paradox. An endless paradox." He turned to look at Martha.

"Time to go home?"

She nodded - but not without a concerned glance upwards at her friend first.

"Yeah. Home."

For once, his piloting had been perfectly smooth, and they were soon parked on Martha's street. The three of them walked out together. Eris had come down to hug Martha, but had retreated back to her perch the moment her dad had taken a step towards her.

Donna rested a hand on Martha's shoulder.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, positive. I can't do this any more. You'll be the same one day."

"Not me. Never. How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm going to travel with those wonderful people for ever."

"Good luck."

"And you."

Donna went back to the ship, and the two walked on alone.

He glanced down at her. "We're making a habit of this."

She laughed. "Yeah. And you'd think it'd get easier." They stopped outside her home, and she offered up a sad smile. "All those things you've been ready to die for. I thought for a moment there you'd finally found something worth living for."

"Oh there's always something worth living for, Martha."

He pulled her in for a hug, and Martha could've sworn she felt something wet at her collar.

"Bye, Doctor."

"Goodbye. Doctor Jones."

She watched as he walked back to the Tardis, slipping through the doors. She ran her thumb over her engagement ring, smiled, and opened her own front door.

Things were as they should be.

Cline and one of the Hath had been fussing over Jenny's body for the last hour or so. She looked so peaceful lying there - you could easily make the mistake of believing she was just asleep. In the end, they had decided to stick with something simple. They placed a single white pillow beneath her head, and draped a thin white sheet over her body, leaving only her face exposed. As they had turned to discuss what her funeral shroud should look like, they missed the fine cloud of golden energy that drifted from her now open mouth. They certainly didn't miss her sitting bolt upright with a gasp.

"Hello, boys."

They turned, jaws practically on the floor - less literally in the case of the Hath, seeing as their species didn't have an anatomical jaw. She was alive!

"Jenny?"

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got to her feet, stretching a little before setting off down the corridor.

Cline grabbed her arm. "What're you doing? Come back."

"Sorry. Can't stop. What you going to do - tell my dad?"

And she was off again, slipping into the shuttle and closing the door before he could reach her.

He switched the comms system on. "But where are you going?"

"Oh, I've got the whole universe."

She strapped herself in, frowning slightly as something rustled in her pocket. It was a square of folded paper with a message.

I really hope I'm right, and you're heading off for an adventure now, not laying cold on a slab.

I'm going to miss you - but maybe we'll bump into each other again one day.

The universe is a small place, really.

Fly fast, run faster.

Love, Eris.

Feeling tears build in the corners of her eyes, she tucked the note away safe and sound once again, and adjusted the controls.

"There's planets to save, civilisations to rescue, creatures to defeat - and an awful lot of running to do. I've got to start somewhere! Catch you later lads…"

And with the press of one final button she was off.

The men on the ground watched her leave, the trail of the exhaust fading by the second.

They didn't have a clue where she would end up next - but then again, she probably didn't know that either.

They just hoped she was heading out for an incredible adventure.

Just like the ones her family had been on their entire lives.

AN: Hello, dear friends!

I absolutely adored writing this chapter - even though some bits were super emotional - so I hope you've loved reading it!

Catch you next time...

Love,

Azzie xx