Authors Note's: This third part has been longer in coming than I had intended. Most of it was written some time ago but I ran into difficulties writing a very violent scene which occurs towards the end of this part. I would like to publicly thank TimeAsunderQ for helping me to write that scene of violence in a more realistic manner. Some of that paragraph is her work and I'm very happy to credit it as such. Please read and review.
Daughters Of The State (Part 3)
(Part 3)The loss of the TARDIS seemed to be affecting the Doctor very deeply and hadn't said so much as a word since leaving the bathroom. Aristha, considering the extent of her own problems, was feeling both irritated and nervous at her companion's selfish introspection. More for her own benefit than for his she had decided to try to jolly him up a bit - or at the very least she wanted to get him talking to her again. She needed to know what he was thinking. What was his plan now? After all, this strange man was her only hope of getting out of this mess alive - and even that precarious hope depended upon her believing everything that he had so far told her.
"Come on Doctor," she tried. "Look, I've lost my memory, my whole identity even. I don't know my own real name or where I come from. All you've lost is some silly little box… I mean let's try and keep this in perspective shall we?"
The Doctor stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at her. The expression on his face was a potent mixture of anger and astonishment. Couldn't this silly young girl see how important the TARDIS was?
"Silly little box. Silly little box? Silly little box!," he bellowed.
Upon seeing Aristha's alarmed expression he held up his hands in a placatory gesture and his expression softened as his mouth curled into something very close to a smile. He put one arm around Aristha's shoulders and tapped her affectionately on the nose with forefinger of his free hand.
"That silly little box, as you so inaccurately describe it, was our only means of escape from this… this void. But you're right Aristha. Your needs are more pressing. Besides, it would be very wrong of me to take you away from here before getting your memory restored. We need to confront the Eternals. All we can do now is wait for them to come and get us," he disentangled himself from her and carried on along the corridor. "Let's wait in comfort, shall we?"
Puecia smiled ironically. The Doctor's TARDIS would indeed have been a fine prize to capture. As soon as she had realised that she held a Time Lord within her grasp she had probed deep into his mind to try to discover the location of the vessel. As a very recent memory in the Doctor's mind, the information concerning its whereabouts had been very easy to come by even at such a distance. Yet a search of the bathroom had proven to be fruitless. The TARDIS had already gone. Puecia was puzzled but not overly concerned. So she didn't have the TARDIS. Did that really matter? The most important thing was that the Doctor didn't have it either. So long as there was no escape for the Doctor she could prolong this game indefinitely. She considered whether to give the order to have the Doctor and Aristha brought to her. Not yet, she decided. Let him carry on talking to the girl - there was plenty of 'time'. In this timeless void there was as much of that particular commodity as she chose to grant the situation.
The Doctor and Aristha were back in the sitting room. Aristha sat cross-legged on the floor fiddling with her shoe laces whilst the Doctor wore grooves in the plush carpet as he paced back and forth considering his rapidly narrowing field of options.
"There'll be here for me soon," stated Aristha in a matter of fact tone. "It's getting very close to midday."
"Hmm? Time doesn't mean anything here. We're somewhere outside of time, we're trapped in the endless wastes of Eternity. To all intents and purposes it's whatever time the eternals choose it to be."
Aristha got up and walked over to the ornate antique clock perched above the equally ornate fireplace.
"Hey Doctor! It's now four hours earlier than it was when I woke up!"
The Doctor nodded.
"Yes. That tells us that the Eternals are in no great hurry. My appearance here has disrupted their plans. Right now they're probably deciding how best to integrate me into whatever delights they have planned for you."
"Dinner?"
"No, certainly not dinner. Even the Eternals can't hypnotise someone into doing something so fundamentally against their nature as eating their fellow humans. Your so called family is made up of two different groups. Some of them will be like you - humans snatched out of their rightful time and place and brought here to amuse the Eternals. The other faction is the Eternals themselves - and they don't need to eat. The question is who is who? Which of your family are Eternals and which are humans? I'll not know that until I meet them. I'm rather banking on the humans being in the majority. When they take us to them I want you to help me to break the hypnosis - as I did with you. Perhaps you'll know some of them from your real life"
Aristha smiled. Just knowing that there was a plan - however wild - gave her something solid to pin her hopes to.
"So what shall we do while we're waiting?"
The Doctor just shrugged.
"Why don't you just switch on the goggle box?"
Nyiha had not had a good night. She had cried herself into a shallow, fitful, sleep. It was a torment of nightmares and all of them featured her sinking her teeth into the living flesh of her dearest sister, Aristha. Nyiha understood the importance of tradition but there were limits. What she and rest of her family were now obliged to do was both evil and impossible. As the morning's first light had cascaded through her window, Nyiha had awoken with a start and resolved that today she would take a stand and Aristha would be saved. Nobody, not her mother or even Sajika could compel her to harm Aristha. She had been very heartened to discover that the remainder of her sisters had independently reached the same conclusion and it was a very confident and resolute Nyiha who led the delegation to Sajika's room.
Sajika, sat at the head of a long table on the far side of the room, received her sisters with a warm smile.
"My sisters, my most dear to my heart," she began formally as family etiquette demanded of her. "How may I be of service unto you?"
Nyiha, though the youngest, spoke for the whole group.
"My sister, my most dear to my heart. It is a simple matter that we bring before you. We are, none of us, willing to partake in the harming of our dear sister Aristha. Furthermore we are entirely resolved to bring this whole grotesque custom to an immediate end. Your help would be most appreciated - though not essential." Nyiha spoke the last three words through gritted teeth. Sajika may be the new Mother Of The State but surely she must be feeling the same emotions as the rest of the sisters? Would she really be willing to let Aristha die such a terrible death? Nyiha was far from sure that she was getting through though. Sajika's expression was now strangely impassive.
Sajika gestured for her sisters to be seated around her table. When the last girl had taken her place, Sajika produced a small wooden box from under her chair and carefully placed it on the table. She removed the lid from the box and instantly the whole room was bathed in a soft magenta glow which seemed to emit from a depth far deeper than that of the box from which it emanated. The light separated out into five distinct beams. Each sister, with the exception of Sajika herself, felt the warmth of one of those beams on her cheeks and fell into an immediate trance.
Satisfied that all of the girls were under the influence, Sajika got to her feet to issue new commands and implant new false memories. When she had finished, the Eternal snapped the box closed and sat down to wait for the girls to come out of their trances. It might take a few moments.
Puecia entered the room through a secret door in the back wall.
"You've been successful?"
Sajika cast a scornful glance towards the inert girls.
"I could hardly fail now, could I? These primitive ephemeral creatures are so easy to manipulate. Slow of mind but nimble of claw," she grinned slyly. "Yes, they'll all awaken with no memory of ever being told that they have to eat that ridiculous Aristha girl. I've done my part. What about you Puecia? Is their new snack ready to join us yet."
Puecia shook her head.
"Not quite. I thought I'd let him enjoy the pre-dinner entertainment first."
The Doctor had been delighted that see Aristha turn on the television set in response to his suggestion. The earth girl still retained some knowledge of her planet's slang terms. That was a good sign. Who knows what else might be lurking just beneath the surface waiting to be teased out. The more that he was able to get her to remember the more she would probably remember on her own. At least that was the theory. The Doctor was under no illusions as to how difficult a task it might turn out to be unless he could persuade the Eternals to lift their hypnosis. While Aristha remembered almost nothing she would must likely remain relatively calm and composed but once little pieces of information started to pop back into her brain it was highly likely that her frustration at not being able to remember more would increase. Come to think of it, perhaps he ought to be doing a little digging around in his own mind right now?
Aristha turned from the television to see a blank faced Doctor staring out somewhere into the middle distance.
"What are you doing?"
The Doctor started slightly at her intrusion .
"What I was trying to do, with a singular lack of success, was search for my TARDIS. On the last occasion that the Eternals confiscated my TARDIS they hid it deep inside my own mind. I was just reaching into myself to see if I could find it. Well, if it is there then it's out of my reach. It probably isn't there though. I don't think they'd use the same trick twice."
A sudden thought occurred to him. He reached deep into an inside pocket of his coat and produced a small metallic object with a long loop of chain attached to it. He handed it to Aristha.
"That is the spare key to my TARDIS. We might get separated and, if we do, you might stumble upon the TARDIS before I do. If you find it please get inside, lock the doors behind you, and wait for me. You'll be safe in there.
The Doctor smiled as Aristha tucked the key away into the back pocket of her jeans. Another human reflex action. There were good grounds to hope for the best.
"Now, what is it that you were watching on that mind numbing contraption?" The Doctor indicated the television set.
"Oh, it's a special news programme about the Transition. That cute looking man on the left - he's Heval Yuinjo. He's my favourite newsreader. I had such an enormous crush on him when I was a kid…" Her voiced tailed off sadly as she realized what she was saying. "No, I didn't did I? I've never even seen him before in my life have I?"
The Doctor shook his head sympathetically. He could almost feel the poor girl's anguish as yet another small part of her imagined life was stripped away from her.
"It's going to get easier. I promise you. Let's watch anyway. We might learn something useful."
They did. Or at least the Doctor did. It was straight away obvious to him that the Heval Yuinjo was one of the Eternals. The cool impassive, emotionless expression and the dull lifeless eyes gave him away. The Eternals were almost totally devoid of emotions. Only in the presence of ephemeral beings can they ever really come fully to life. Without the mental stimulation of an ephemeral mind they are as nothing.
The Doctor settled back to watch the show.
Facing directly into the camera, Heval introduced his next studio guest.
"Well, isn't it every man's dream to fall madly in love with a Daughter Of The State? Only on Transition Day can those wildest dreams come true. For later on today the palace doors will open and five - yes folks, I said five - beautiful girls will walk out. And they're just dying to meet ordinary men like you and I. I'm joined here in our studio by our relationships advisor, Anric Ukvlin, who's going to give us his top ten tips on how to seduce royalty."
The camera panned across to show an elderly, fat, dumpy, ugly, grey-haired little man who looked to have all the charisma of a sack of potatoes - but only half of the charm.
"So Anric," continued the off-screen voice of Heval. "How would you go about getting one of those lovely royal girls into your bed chamber?"
If the clock in the sitting room was any true indication, it was just over an hour after the conclusion of the television show when the guards arrived to collect the Doctor and Aristha. The Doctor had spent much of the hour trying to impress upon Aristha the very subtle physical signs which she might be able to use to identify an Eternal. He had used Heval and Anric as examples of an Eternal and a human respectively and Aristha, though a keen student, had not found it an easy lesson. Her main source of discomfort had been the need to run all the members of her family through her mind to try to judge who was what. She eventually concluded that her mother was certainly an Eternal and she suspected the same to be true of all of her fathers and brothers. Her sisters were probably all human though. The Doctor, upon receiving her verdicts, had seemed to be very disappointed. Aristha didn't think that it was her perceptive skills that he was disappointed in - indeed he had gone out of his way to congratulate her on them. No, it was the fact that the Eternals were almost certainly in a large majority within the family which was giving the Time Lord pause for thought.
The guards, also Eternals, had marched the two of them out of the residence and through an underground passageway which terminated below the official palace of the Family Of The State. Once within the palace they had been taken to Puecia's office where the wily false matriarch was sat waiting for them.
"So, you know the truth?" This was addressed to Aristha rather than the Doctor.
"No," glowered Aristha. "I don't know the truth, I know all of the lies though. What gives you the right to remove all of my memories? You've stolen my whole life, you malignant old hag."
The Doctor put a steadying hand on Aristha's shoulder. The implication of the gesture was clear to her. Don't get over excited - Puecia will only enjoy your anger and prolong the torment. Aristha gave him an almost imperceptible nod of understanding and the Doctor remove his hand.
Puecia was indeed enjoying the spectacle.
"Such spirit. But alas, I'm sorry to say that your presence at the dinner table is no longer required. I can't risk you giving the game away to the other girls now can I? No. The Doctor is to take your place. My girls are hungry to meet you Doctor."
The Doctor spoke up for the first time in the interview.
"I might very well be tempted to give the game away myself. I'm hardly just going to sit back and let myself be eaten up like Red Riding Hood's grandmother am I? Not that any of those girls are going to harm me. The game's up Puecia. Even you Eternals can not hypnotise a person into doing something so utterly against their own nature. I'm going to go gladly into that dining room and I'm going to undo your little party tricks. It's time that they knew the truth. I persuaded Aristha - you know that I can persuade the others too."
Puecia's smile grew broader and broader.
"We shall see."
She issued instructions to the guards to have Aristha taken to an observation room so that she could watch the events unfold on a monitor screen far away from the other girls. The Doctor gave Aristha an encouraging wink as she was escorted past him.
"Now Doctor," said Puecia. "Shall we dine?"
The Eternal linked her arm through the Doctor's and together they walked the short distance to the state banqueting hall.
The guards locked Aristha inside the observation room and left. There was little that she could do other than sit down in the only chair and watch the events unfold. The monitor screen gave her a clear view of the entire hall. The rest of her family were already present at the banqueting table when Puecia and the Doctor, still arm in arm, made their entrance. Sajika, of course, was seated at the head of the table in the most elaborate chair. Aristha's sisters were lined up along the left hand side of the table - presumably awaiting permission to be seated, likewise her fathers and brothers along the right hand side of the table. All heads turned as Puecia and the Doctor strode in. They were both looking supremely confident, thought Aristha.
"Well Doctor? Now is your big moment. I'll introduce you as the main course and then you can have your right of reply. Does that sound fair?"
"Too fair, by your standards. So be it. I'll play along with this charade for a moment or two longer. Go on then, be my warm-up act Puecia."
Puecia stepped up to stand alongside Sajika's chair, so that she was in view of the entire family.
"My daughters, my sons, my husbands, my most dear to my heart. You all know now of our tradition. The transition from one Mother Of The State to the next is a time of great celebration and hope. The only price we must pay to ensure the continuing prosperity of our nation is the death of a stranger. This is the Doctor. Today we must eat this stranger and with his sacrifice we shall grow stronger."
She stepped back. The Doctor took this as his cue to begin. Know your audience - that's the key to any performance, he reflected. His tactics were clear in his mind. Since entering the hall he had been carefully scanning the faces of all of the family. Aristha had been almost totally correct in her assessment. The males were all Eternals and the females, with the exceptions of Puecia and Sajika were humans. So the Doctor decided to aim his talk squarely at the girls lined up along the left of the table.
"Ladies, what I am about to tell you is going to come as a great shock to you but I ask that you hear me out. I need you to concentrate very hard and touch your..." His voiced trailed off as he heard the slamming of the huge wooden door behind him. Swinging around he saw that Puecia, Sajika and all of the males had left the room. He was alone with the five girls, none of whom seemed to be concentrating upon his words. This was going to be more difficult than he had expected.
Aristha silently willed him to succeed. She turned around as the door to the observation room opened and the Grand Usher walked in.
"So you wish to know the truth do you? Here, allow me to show you."
The Grand Usher flicked a switch on the console which housed the monitor.
"There. You'll be able to see the truth as we do now."
Aristha looked back at the screen and immediately wished that she hadn't. The Doctor was being backed slowly into a corner by the five girls. Except there were no longer girls at all. Gone were the fancy dresses, the shining hair and the manicured finger nails. In their place were ragged garments of dirty cloth, unkempt grey fur and razor-sharp claws. But it was the faces which shocked the most. They were not the faces of human girls but the faces of ferocious wolf-like creatures. Wolves wearing clothes and walking on their hind legs! Wolves with intelligence? What were these creatures? Aristha shouted out a warning to the Doctor but of course it was no use, he could not hear her.
When the wolves were ready to move in for the kill they advanced in pack formation and took the Doctor completely by surprise with their speed. A sense of dread welled up inside the Doctor as he realized that he had badly underestimated the Eternals. Whatever these creatures might be, they were certainly far from being ordinary human girls. The Doctor had no time to reflect further upon his misjudgement as the "girls" drew closer. Two things were clear to him; these creatures were lethal and he stood no chance of influencing them.
The "girls" crowded the Doctor until they had him totally at their mercy. When the first blow came, a sharply clawed paw slashed through the skin of the Doctor's face. He reeled as his body informed his brain of the intense physical pain and he felt a trail of his own warm blood run down his cheek. The Doctor instinctively raised his hand to his face to inspect the damage; to his horror he discovered that his left eye was seriously damaged. He shook his head to try to clear his vision but his sight was clouded red. Even that was fading as his eye went blind. The Doctor swallowed heavily and blinked, wincing at the pain.
By the time he became aware that another of the creatures was moving in on his blind side it was far too late to take any defensive action. The Doctor had no chance to fend off her attack and he totally underestimated the force of the next blow. With an anguished wail born of both pain and frustration, the Doctor was felled to the ground. He made a desperate attempt to lift himself but his limbs failed him as his strength ebbed away. Their victim now rendered completely helpless, the wolves began the gruesome end to their macabre game. With a blood-curdling cry of victory they held down the whimpering Time Lord and began to feast.
Up in the observation room, it was all too much for poor Aristha. She vomited violently all over the monitor screen as one of the wolf girls took a satisfying bite out of the Doctor's neck and the Time Lord thrashed violently one last time as a pool of blood started to form on the floor beneath him. Aristha was, luckily, also spared the grotesque sight of one of the wolves tearing open her friend's chest in pursuit of one of his, still just about beating, hearts.
Everything had happened with such terrifying speed. By the time that Aristha had managed to pull herself together, just five minutes later, it was all over. She grimaced as she wiped her own vomit away from the monitor screen, fighting the powerful urge to add to it, and mentally steeled herself to take another look at the carnage. She shocked beyond terror to see that all that was left of the Doctor was a hideously contorted skeleton with just a few pieces of red flesh and scraps of colourful clothes hanging off of it. None of the flesh stayed hanging there for long though. Within another minute the wolf girls had finished their main course and turned their attention to lapping up the pools of blood off the floor and licking playfully at the blood stains upon each other's clothing.
Aristha stood trembling as she was violently sick again. When she next looked up it was to see the Grand Usher and Puecia standing over her, both of them were laughing hysterically.
"Something is bothering you, I see," cackled the former Mother Of The State. "Oh yes, I remember now, the Doctor owed you some money didn't he?"
Still laughing dementedly, Puecia held up the £10 note which she had secretly removed from the Doctor's pocket on their way to the banqueting hall.
"Spend it wisely my dear! If you ever get to see your own planet again, that is."
With her last remaining fragment of resolve totally broken, Aristha collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor and wept.
END OF PART 3
(to be concluded very soon)
Author's Note: The fourth and final part should be up here very soon. Please watch this space.