A/N: I've done some minor editing to chapters 1-5.
Chapter Two: The End of Everything, and the Start of Something
With a smile I ran to the TARDIS and opened the doors to find that the Doctor was stood there waiting for me just as he promised. "Ready?"
"Ready." I smiled brightly.
"Then off we go." He said pulling down the leaver which caused the console column to begin moving up and down.
"Right then, Annamae Tyler – you tell me, where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time. What's it going to be?" He asked, hopping round the console and pressing buttons.
"Time? You said space." I asked him with a frown, leaning against the console which was humming brightly in my mind. It seemed the TARDIS was delighted that the Doctor had found a companion and approved of me despite my weirdness, because I had no doubt, she could feel how different I was.
"Didn't I mention? She travels in time as well." The Doctor said brightly. He had never had a companion that had joined him without knowing that the TARDIS travelled in time as well as space – beyond those which had accidentally stumbled on the TARDIS and then decided to stay after they saw the wonders. It seemed that this woman was just full of surprises. She had joined because she wanted to see the wonders of the universe, and not the wonders of time. "So, what's it going to be?"
"Right, in that case, forward." I answered. We could try the past later but right now forwards in time seems more appropriate since this was the start of a new future for me.
"How far?" he demanded tapping a few buttons.
"Ten thousand years." I answered. Something distant and new.
The Doctor span a ball thing on the console as the engine lurches for a few seconds before stopping. "Step outside, it's the year 3205. The New Roman Empire." He told me.
"Seriously. They name it the New Roman Empire. Have humans lost the ability to be original?" I asked him.
He laughed at that. "You're right that's a bit boring, do you want to go further?"
"Absolutely!" I said in excitement with a big, bright smile. I haven't had so much fun in years and they had only just begun.
"Then I know exactly where to go." He rolls the ball thing again before pumping a lever furiously. "Hold on!"
I grabbed onto the console as the TARDIS hurtles through time. With a pinging noise, the TARDIS lurched to a stop sending us both tumbling to the ground.
"Where are we?" I asked, bouncing lightly on my feet in excitement. The Doctor just gestured to the doors.
Slowly stepping outside the doors, I found myself in a metal room. The Doctor followed directly behind me and with his sonic screwdriver, opened the shutters of an enormous window. Together we travelled down the stairs of what appeared to be an observation deck and found ourselves looking down on planet Earth.
"You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying. Like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take the time to imagine the impossible. Maybe you survive. This is the year five point five/apple/twenty-six. Five billion years in your future. This is the day…hold on…" he looks at his watch, "This is the day the sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world."
"Shuttles 5 and 6 now docking. Guests are reminded that platform 1 forbids the use of weapons, teleportation and religion. Earth death is scheduled for 15:39, followed by drinks in the Manchester Suite."
I pulled a face at the fact that religion was band. How can you forbid religion when religion is any belief held by a sentient creature?
"By guests, I'm imagining what humans would call aliens, yes?" I asked calmly, looping arms with the Doctor's. I was comparing the idea of aliens to magical creatures and beings, which made it easier for my mind to accept the wide diversity that I had no doubt existed.
"Yes! Very good, Annamae!" he nods his head excitedly.
I look around the spaceship, thinking. "They're gathering to watch the Earth burn?" I asked looking up at him a bit (cursing my short height). "For fun?"
"Yes and yes." The Doctor answered as he started to open another door using his screwdriver. The door opened to another large observation gallery. "Mind you, it's the great and the good, by which I mean the rich." He told me, resting his hand on mine which was still resting on his arm.
"The sun expanding though, that takes hundreds of years." I said looking up to him, choosing to ignore the feelings of safety and comfort that the Doctor was provoking in the way he was holding me. No one had had this impact on me before and I wasn't prepared to look into why that was yet. Especially since they had only met the day before (laterally although lineally it was billions of years ago).
"Millions. But the planet's now property of the National Trust. They've been keeping it preserved. See down there?" he points out the window at the tiny glints of light orbiting the Earth, "Gravity satellite. That's holding back the sun."
"The planet looks the same." I peered out the window, "The continents were supposed to have shifted long ago."
"They did. And the trust shifted them back. That's classic Earth. But now the money's run out, nature takes over."
I took a step closer to the window looking down on the planet that I called home. "They should have let nature take over years ago; everything has it's time and everything dies. How long has it got?"
I missed the Doctor's sad, but understanding, look since I was so focused on the planet below. This was the first time I had ever seen the earth from space and it was sad to know that humans continued interfering in the natural cause of events.
"About half an hour." The Doctor said after looking down at his watch, promising himself that he would find out why she sounded like he did when thinking back on what he had done. "And then the planet gets roasted."
"It's empty, isn't it? The humans and animals have all left right?" I asked sharply, as much as I believed the Earth should have died in its own time, I did not want the people (most likely poor or unskilled labourers if they couldn't afford the journey off planet to start a new life) to die because the bureaucrats didn't want to keep the sun at bay.
"Yes, a long time ago." The Doctor reassured me.
We stood in silence, looking down on the planet of both our second homes. Showing the Earth the respect it deserves.
Then a tall blue man hurried towards us. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh! That's nice, thanks." I shook my head at the Doctor's sarcasm.
"But how did you get in? This is a maximum hospitality zone. The guests have disembarked! They're on their way any second now!" the Doctor starts digging in his pockets making me move my arm away.
"That's me, I'm a guest, look! I've got an invitation!" he flashes a small leather wallet at the blue man. "Look, there you see? It's fine, see? The Doctor plus one. I'm the Doctor, this is Anna Tyler. She's my plus one. That all right?"
I shot the Doctor a confused look when he called me Anna, since we'd first met, he has always called me by my whole name. Most people shortened my name but the Doctor and my father, Pete, were the only two people who didn't. Why would he suddenly decided to have my name shortened?
"Well… obviously." The Doctor grins at the blue man's answer. "Apologies, etcetera. If you're on board, we'd better start. Enjoy."
The Doctor nods at him. After the blue man walks off, the Doctor showed me the card he had flashed at the man. Taking it out of his hands, I looked at it curiously.
"The paper's slightly psychic. Shows them whatever I want them to see. Saves a lot of time. See?"
I shook my head and handed it back to him. "It's blank, Doctor. There is nothing on that piece of paper." I told him.
He looks at me with a bright, proud smile on his face. "That just means you're too smart to be fooled by it, Annamae."
I blinked, confused. He was back to using my full name again. So, was shorting my name just something he did because he was talking with someone else? Did he noticed that Mickey and Rose didn't use my full name and figured that I preferred being addressed by Anna, but he preferred Annamae and so he compromised?
The blue man was now speaking through a microphone at the other end of the suite. "We have in attendance, the Doctor and Anna Tyler. Thank you! All staff to their positions." He clapped his hands and a lot of little blue people start scurrying around. "Hurry now! Thank you, as quick as we can! Come along, come along!"
"Are they the same species?" I asked the Doctor curiously, noting some similarities between the physical appearances of the two species.
"Cousin Species." The Doctor replied. "They split about four thousand years back."
Once it appeared all the little blue people were at their stations the host spoke again. "And now, might I introduce the next honoured guest, representing the forest of Cheem, we have trees. Namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."
The named Trees walked through the doors. They were a mixture of brown and earth green, their hair formed from branches and they moved with a bopping gate, which was because of the roots they had for feet. Of the three, only the first one – presumable Jabe – was female which was indicated by their style of dress.
"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you can keep the room circulating thank you. Next from the Solicitors Jolco and Jolco, the Moxx of Balhoon…"
The Doctor smiles cheerily down at Annamae watching as her face displayed first wonder before slowly changing to bewilderment and bemusement as more aliens were introduced.
"…And now, from the Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme."
"This is just an event to promote their companies; not witness the earth's final minutes in honour of its history." I mutter, realising that these people had important (moneyed) titles and connecting it to what the Doctor had said earlier about it being 'the great and the good, by which he meant the rich'.
"The inventors of hyposlip travel systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you!" the blue host-man said as even more entered. The list of guests was getting longer and longer.
Jabe approached the Doctor. On either side of her, her companions were holding plant trays with little shoots in them. It was obvious that she was the leader and the other two acted as something like body guards.
"The Gift of Peace." She takes a cutting and hands it to the Doctor. "I bring you a cutting of my Grandfather."
"Thank you!" he gives it to me. "Yes, gifts…erm…" he clears his throat and starts feeling his jacket for something, finding nothing, what he says next shocked me quite a bit. "I give you in return air from my lungs." He blew gently onto Jabe's face, who closes her eyes briefly.
"How intimate." She whispered softly.
Seriously they were flirting? They had barely shared twenty words with each other. By gods this man moves quickly. Was it something to do with his looks or his smell? It wasn't his words or personality since the people he interacted with and who developed a crush on him didn't have the chance to hear him – like with Jabe. He barely said ten words.
"There's more where that came from." The Doctor replied flirtatiously.
"Sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Bo." I shook my head slightly as a huge head in an equally large jar is wheeled through the doors. As he passes us, two things happen: he winks at me as though he knows me, and my magic reached out and gave him what I referred to as a hug. The last people my magic had instantly done that too was Rose and Pete. Which means that this Face of Bo becomes someone important to me – someone I can rely on.
"The Moxx of Balhoon." I turned to the Doctor to see that the blue man on a hover thing had approached them while I was distracted.
"My felicitations on this historical happenstance. I give you the gift of bodily saliva." He then spat accurately above my left eye.
"Thank you very much." The Doctor laughs. I roll my eye and got the hanky I always carried out of my pocket and whipped the spit away. I had been covered in far worse than alien spit (and this was only including the last 25 years of my new existence).
Next the Adherents of the Repeated Meme approached us. "Ah! The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. I bring you air from my lungs." The Doctor said letting out a very large breath over all of them.
"A gift of peace in all good faith." He held out a large silver egg, which the Doctor took, threw it up into the air, caught it and then handed it to me. I was about to take it when I felt the horrible feeling it was letting off. It had been a long time since I had been near an item that was forged only with the intention of malevolence. I had thought I had lost the ability to feel 'intentions' from objects when I was reborn. Apparently, that wasn't the case and I was just lucky enough to have not come across an object with strong enough intentions. With a quite hiss of horrification I pulled my hand back. The Doctor frowned down at me in concern but said nothing as he switched the ball back to his other hand and lightly twirled it while he tried to identify what had made me react so violently.
"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Trees and Multi-forms. Consider the Earth below. In the memory of the dying world, we call forth the Last Human"
The sliding doors opened and what looked like a vertical trampoline made of human skin was wheeled through. It had crystal blue eyes and a mouth that's wearing red lipstick so as to define it. I raised an eyebrow and my eyes widened slightly. Of all the aliens that have come into this room today, this was the most alien of them all. Not because it was a different species but because it had stripped its shape down to a thin piece of skin and a brain.
"That's not human. That's a moveable, talking trampoline!" I whispered to the Doctor. He looked down at me in amusement.
"The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen."
"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference! Look how thin I am."
The Doctor laughs silently but heartily with the woman.
"I didn't think it could actually talk. It doesn't have any vocal cords." I whispered to him making him laugh more.
"Thin and dainty! I don't look a day over two thousand. Moisturize me, moisturize me." One of the two men in white body suits who wheeled her was holding a canister, which he sprayed onto Cassandra. "Truly, I am The Last Human."
"Did she really capitalise that?" I asked the Doctor incredulously. I hadn't realised that an identifying piece of information needed to be capitalised outside of pieces of fiction.
"My father was a Texan. My mother was from the Artic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in the soil. I have come to honour them and…" she sniffs, "say goodbye. Oh, no tears." One off her bodyguards wipes her eyes despite the fact that she has no tear ducts and, so therefore, cannot cry. "No tears. I'm sorry. But behold! I bring gifts. From Earth itself – the last remaining ostrich egg." one of the staff came in and displayed the egg to the room. "Legend say it had a wingspan of 50 feet and blew fire from its nostrils."
"Or was that my third husband?" she asked making the Doctor laugh again. "Who knows? Oh don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines!" she laughs and mumbles to herself for a few seconds. Behind her, a large jukebox is wheeled into the room. "And here, another rarity. According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composer."
"Ooh we become such idiots." I muttered horrified. "And who was keeping track of the archives – don't they have pictures with their information packs?"
The Doctor shot me a smirk, obviously finding amusement from my horror at what I was hearing and seeing in Cassandra. Or maybe he was just amused at me pointing out the errors in our record keeping.
"Play on!" called Cassandra and one of the staff press a button. Music started playing through the speakers, Tainted Love by Soft Cell if I'm not mistaken.
"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in 30 minutes." The steward told us.
I could feel the lost, overwhelmed expression on my face. Of all the things I've seen and done in my life I have never been so alone. Not since my first few years of life (both times). My eyes widened slightly when I felt my memories pushing past the barriers I had in place to separate my current life from my past life. I didn't think, I just walked out of the room and to another part of the station.
Finding one of the windows I looked down onto the earth. Shifting through all those memories and locking them away once again while allowing my eyes to become unfocused. This was a type of meditative state I used that allowed me to remain aware of my surroundings and yet I could still access my mind instead of the deep meditation I used to use which completely cut my mind from my body while I focused.
Just as I got the last of my memories locked away, I heard someone behind me. Turning I saw one of the staff members coming into the corridor – the first clearly female staff member I had seen so far.
"Sorry, am I allowed to be here?" I inquired. I wasn't sure if the passengers were restricted to only their rooms and the hospitality areas.
The employee looked around uneasily. "You have to give us permission to talk."
"You have permission to talk for as long as you're in my presence. And you never have to ask me that again." I told her softly. There was a reason I led the House Elves to their freedom – I detested all things that resemble slavery. A worker being needed to be given permission to talk comes a bit too close to slavery for me – particularly if they had been asked a direct question to begin with. The assumption there is that they should answer.
"Thank you! And, no you're not in the way. Guest are allowed anywhere."
She went to a panel in the wall and entered a code. I watched her, leaning against the wall by the window.
"What's your name?" I asked her.
"Raffalo." She answered.
"Tell me to go away if I'm distracting you, but what are you doing?" I asked softly, choosing to continue the conversation so as to distract myself from my thoughts. Having only just locked them away again meant that they were more likely to break through my barriers and disrupt my thought process and emotions if I let them. I was always aware of those memories, and what they contained, but by sectioning them off with my barriers the emotional pain couldn't impact my day-to-day life.
"I don't mind miss. I'm just carrying out some maintenance. There's a tiny glitch in the Face of Bo suite. There must be something blocking the system – he's not getting any hot water."
"Where are you from?" I asked.
"Crespallion." She answered as she tapped some things on a tablet type device.
"And where's that? I was never any good at remembering these things."
"Crespallion's part of the Jaggit Brocade, affiliated to the Scarlet Junction, Convex 56. And where are you from, Miss?" she seemed to remember herself, "If you don't mind me asking."
"No, no I don't mind you asking. I'm one of the descendants of Earth. It has been such a long time since I've been home that I have forgotten. I'm travelling, running you could say." I said looking back down on the planet Earth. Raffalo's name appeared suddenly in my head and I let a soft sigh. Sometimes I could save someone who appeared on my list, and sometimes I couldn't. Instinct told me which was which, and to stop it was to court disaster.
"Anyway, don't let me keep you. Good luck with it!" I began to walk away, lightly brushing my hand across Raffalo's shoulder, claiming her soul as collected. I didn't need the physical contact to do so, but it was more personal and comforting for the soul if I physically acknowledged them instead of mentally.
"Thank you, Miss. And -" I turned around, to see her hesitantly looking up at me. "Thank you for the permission. Not many people are that considerate."
"You're welcome."
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"Earth Death in 25 minutes. Earth Death in 25 minutes."
I was sitting on the steps of one of the observation decks, looking out the window. The tree clipping was next to me, leaning towards the sun so as to soak up as much light as it could. It appeared to have not been under real light in a while.
"Annamae? Are you there?" the Doctor called as he walked by the door.
"Here." I acknowledged him.
He comes into the room and sits next to me. "What do you think?"
"It's amazing, Doctor. Absolutely amazing." I answered. There was a short pause. "But some of my memories, there not very good and looking down on Earth, being told that Cassandra is the last human – that … that piece of skin, is all that's left. It just reminded me of how alone I am. And how alone I have been before - in my past. Sometimes that burden of remembering gets to me." I looked to him, my eyes so much older than they should be. He looked back and I could see that his eyes reflected the same feelings of loneliness and lose as mine.
I looked back to Earth, my hands resting in my lap and my back straight; it was my defensive posture. When I learnt what it meant to be last Lady of House Potter and House Black I had learnt what I needed to know in order to get respect with just my presence and it helped when I was holding meetings with the mundanes during the uneasy act of piece because it allowed me to move quickly and it reminded them of the same pose the Queen and those of a similar rank used. When I moved into this world and this body, I trained it so that it was in the same condition that my first body had been in with the same 'muscle memories' that I had before but this time my body wasn't damaged from severe long-term abuse and malnutrition and I knew that my 'defensive posture' was more authoritative, commanding and confident then it had ever been as a result.
"There are multiple dimensions, multiple worlds." I began, grateful that the Doctor was a time travelling alien and would at least have a basic understanding of the concept of alternative worlds even if there is a possibility that he had never visited any. This was the first time I had ever attempted to explain my past to someone, and since he had basic knowledge of the theory of time travel (and quite possible alternative dimensional travelling) it would be easier.
"In my first world the humans were two different 'species'. Magicals and mundanes. My people they were so arrogant. I fought to end the war. But it got out of hand, and the only way to end it was to pay a prize far too high." A single tear rolled down my cheek.
I hadn't talked about this with anyone, and it had been twenty-five long, guilt ridden years. It was survivor's guilt to a whole new level because as far as I knew I was the only surviving magician from my first world. I knew that my theory was sound, the magical beasts and creatures would have survived the ritual but I didn't know if the children would as well. And even if the children did survive, I was leaving them orphans – despite the fact that the mundane-born I had gotten sanctuary for had agreed that it was the best cause of action and put in place contingency plans for who will be looking after the children with their death. Despite that knowledge of the likelihood of them being looked after, it didn't change that burden. Some days I don't know which I would prefer – them all being dead or just the children surviving.
I felt a large hand take hold of both mine, startling me. I looked to the Doctor to see that he was looking at me with a soft and sad expression. There was no pity for what he must know I had done, only understanding and sympathy and I was grateful for that. If he had expressed pity I would have closed up and said nothing despite knowing that I needed someone to hear and understand me especially now I was seeing such new diversity and about to see the end of my planet.
"What was the price, Annamae?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper in the large observation room they were in. It was like if he spoke any louder, he would break the sanctity of the moment.
"They're all dead: all my people. I am the only survivor. My people's lives for the life of every mundane and magical creature and being on Earth. I was taken, returned to my beginning cellular state and allowed to live my life on this Earth. But my people where so few in number in comparison and I would have rather killed my people then seen the death of all the species on my planet." I muttered choosing not to mention the chance that the children had of surviving.
"Surely you would have died with your people?" he asked, keeping eye contact with me showing me that he wasn't disgusted or angry with the decision that I had made.
"It was part of the sacrificial magic. I drained my magic to the point of near death so that the magical race could be removed. However, I did not have time to tweak the spell so that it will take my life as well. The ritual circle saved my life and then, in compensation for the crime I committed, Lady Magic decided to send me through dimensions to live with that guilt."
We sat in silence, holding hands as we just stared at each other. I could see that he understood my pain. He had felt something so very similar to what I have been through. And it was so very recent for him, he drowned in the guilt and pain after the impossible decision he had made.
"They all speak English, why?" I asked after a long moment. I've had enough of my depressing thoughts for one day.
"It's a gift of the TARDIS. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain – translates."
I nodded my head in thought, grateful that the Doctor had choose to answer instead of pushing me for information. "Does that include humming?" The humming had stopped when we left the room with the TARDIS.
"Humming?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah, I started to hear humming when you told me the name of the TARDIS. And I can only hear it when I'm close to her."
He just kept on looking at me in shock. "That's never happened that fast." I tilted my head questioningly, encouraging him to explain what he meant. "The TARDIS, is a telepathic being which means she can communicate and rarely does she talk to my companions. Although talk may be a bit of a stretch since she can't use actual words, more like impressions. The few times she has accepted my companions enough to talk with them, it took several months of travel and she only did so in an emergency."
"I'm just a special case then, yeah?" I teased with a small grin, lightening the mood.
"Oh, there's no doubt about that." He smiled
"Doctor," I whispered softly after a long beat of silence where we both just enjoyed being near someone else, "where are you from?"
"I'm from everywhere." He answered. I didn't look away, I just kept staring into those so very old eyes hoping that he would open up to me. "This is who I am, right here, right now, alright?" he violently stood up. His voice getting louder – sounding like he was shouting after having been talking so quietly for so long. "All that counts is here and now, and this is me!"
I slowly stood and approached him. He had crossed his arms over his chest in a very defensive manor. It seemed the Doctor got angry when he was trying to protect his emotions. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. I wanted to offer him a comforting hug, but I figured that he probably wouldn't appreciate it right now.
"You don't have to tell me." I whispered. "Your past is something that made you who you are today and if you don't want to share those experiences you don't have to. But I would like you to know, that when you're ready, I am here to listen. To understand." I said softly. He smiled at me thankfully, and apologetically for his outburst. "Besides I won't be able to get home without you. Can't call a taxi, can I?" I smirked at him.
He laughed lightly at that, allowing the tension to drain from him. He took the phone I had pulled from my pocket from me. "Bit high tech for your time don't you think?" he observed as he flipped it round.
"I fiddled." I answered. I had taken the Manhattan and Freeform phone and combined it with the technology from my home world and my own knowledge to make a more advanced and discreet phone.
"With a little bit of jiggery pokery…" he said taking the back off.
"Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?" I asked smiling.
"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery, what about you?"
I giggled a bit, finding this complete change in conversation and attitude amusing. "Nah never made it that far, I came first in bomdigity and failed hullabaloo." I answered.
The Doctor fits in a new battery which he had sonic'd and hands it back to me. "There you go."
I took it and looked at him uncertainly. He nods encouragingly. I got mum's number onto the screen and put the phone to my ear. It rang.
{Hello?} A voice said down the other line. A voice I knew well.
{Hello, mum.} I said hesitantly because the last time we had talked she denied every word I had said. Although I loved the women, our relationship was rocky especially when she was unintentionally putting her daughters down in order to keep them close.
{What's this? The little adventurer calling home. Given up have you?} She asked, her voice mocking.
{Mum I didn't call so that you can insult me. You've never understood me, my choices and my life. I called to make sure you and Rose were alright. Next time I'll just call Rose or Mickey. But mum I'd like you to remember something.} I stepped closer to the glass and placed my hand on it. {I'm my own person. I have spent most my life, and all of Rose's, looking after the two of you but I have always wanted to go out and see the world. And now I have been given that opportunity and I don't plan on stopping because you're upset.} I hung up then.
"Not quite the cheery conversation I was expecting." The Doctor said slightly hesitantly from behind me.
"My mother always had a problem with me, ever since dad brought me home," I answered pocketing my phone. Before anything else could be said the ship shuddered beneath our feet.
"That's not supposed to happen…" the Doctor said rather pleased and curious.
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The guests are completely oblivious to the commotion, chatting to each other. The Moxx of Balhoon was talking to the Face of Bo. We stepped together into the hospitality zone, the Doctor heading straight for the control panel.
"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." The Doctor started fiddling with the control panel, bringing up information on the station. Jabe approaches us. "What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines – they pitched up 30 hertz, is that doggy or what?"
"It is the sound of metal, it doesn't make any sense to me." Jabe admitted, not at all bothered that that the Doctor immediately asked her a question before greeting her.
"Where's the engine room?" the Doctor asked her.
"I don't know… but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest's suite, I could show you. And…" she gestures at me, "your wife."
"She's not my wife." I looked at the Doctor out the corner of my eye noticing the slight hitch in his voice on the word. He wasn't denying the term defensively but he obviously had some kind of connection to it. It was almost the same reaction I had whenever I met a Theodore who preferred the name Teddy. Fortunately, it was an uncommon abbreviation and most of my old friend's didn't have common British names.
"Partner?"
"No." I answered easily. Jade looked to me, taking in the dark wash jeans, the black long-sleeved shirt and black leather jacket.
"Concubine?"
"Ok, before you insult me further," I put a hand up to stop Jabe from guessing any other connections before she got to 'hired companion'. "I'm just going to go over there and talk with Cassandra and maybe the Face of Bo." I started to walk towards Cassandra. I turned around to face the Doctor, "You don't get into any trouble." I ordered him.
"Don't start any fights." He countered before turning to Jabe. "I'm all yours." He said offering his arm.
Earth Death in 15 minutes. Earth Death in 15 minutes.
Cassandra was stood by the window looking down on the planet. She saw my reflection in the window and started talking. "Soon, the sun will blossom into a red giant, and my home will die. That's where I used to live, when I was a little boy." I looked over to her with a raised eyebrow, well that was unexpected. "Down there. Mummy and Daddy had a little house built into the side of the Los Angeles Crevice." She sighed. "I had such fun."
"What happened to the others?" I asked.
"They say Mankind has touched every star in the sky."
I understood now. The human race always had the uncanny ability to survive the most daunting of disasters. This far in the future, they would have developed space flight, and from there I was sure nothing could stop them. And with the proof of alien life, it would have encouraged them to keep exploring – to keep surviving. And I was right, the human race survived passed this poor excuse of a human being that reminded me far more of an alien then any of the actual aliens I had met so far.
"You aren't the last human. Just the last pure Earth born human." But even then, she wasn't. I would forever be the last human; I was still classed as human despite the accelerated healing and possible inability to die (which I hadn't confirmed in this body, nor did I want to any time soon).
"Yes. The others…mingled." She said in disgust.
"I'm sure there are pure humans in colonies somewhere." I countered.
"Yes, they call themselves 'New Humans' and 'Proto-humans' and 'Digi-humans' even 'Human-ish' but you know what I call them?" she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Mongrels."
"Cassandra, do you really still consider yourself pure? You've stripped yourself down to a piece of skin, eyes and a brain. Now I'm going to admit that you have beautiful eyes but you are just a flat piece of skin. Human kind is not their physical form it's our minds. Our imagination and ability for compassion and love. It's our shared history, a shared culture. You have lost that in your attempt to preserve yourself."
"What do you know, you're just a silly little girl." Cassandra sneered at me.
"A lot more than you think Cassandra because I am human and so where all my ancestors." With that said I walked off before I could say anything else to incriminate myself.
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I sat in front of the Face of Bo's tank. We stared at one another for a good few minutes before I felt a slight pressure on my mind shields and a loud chuckling sounded in my head. It wasn't intrusive, the mind was just hovering at my shields, enough so that I could hear what they wanted but not enough that they could hear anything I didn't want them too.
"What the hell is it with the psych shite? Why does everyone try and get inside my head?" I demanded and his chuckles got louder. "Why are you laughing? I can just throw you out."
"Even now you're still as feisty as ever, Gracious-May." A deep and rumbling voice sounded in my head as opposed to the chuckling.
"You know both my name and its meaning. How? This is the first time we've met." I stared at him. "Unless…" my eyes darted across his eyes. "Unless you've met me in my future and your past."
"You're right. And I have lost count of the number of times we have met." He replied and I had the odd feeling that he was smirking at me.
"It has been far too long since I mentally communicated with someone. I am going to have to get back into that habit, aren't I?" I mentally muttered. "Anyway, you're important to me, aren't you? It's just that my magic, it reacts to very few people." I said memorizing every line of his face. Every part of his life support systems. I didn't register that I was talking about my magic with this stranger, like I knew he was already aware of it.
"You were always the smarter one between the two off us." He said in a tone that said he was smirking at me.
"And you were the muscle?" I sassed at him.
"Yes, I was actually. I was taller and stronger than you." He sassed right back.
"Yes, but I bet I was faster and able to beat your ass." I taunted. I looked to the door to see that the Doctor and the Jabe weren't back yet.
I got up to go and find him but the Face of Bo stopped me. "Gracious-May," he called, "there will come a time in your future when you must force the Doctor to save me. Will you promise me that? Will you promise to save me?"
"I will do everything in my power to save you, my friend. But why would the Doctor not save you, he is a good man and so are you?" I asked.
"When you meet me again, it will be in my true form. The form I held for far more years than I have held this one. I didn't… won't… make a good impression on you or the Doctor. But you have the heart, the ability and the mind to forgive and give second chances. That's what I ask for, a second chance, my Gracious-May."
I laid a hand on his glass in an affectionate gesture. "I don't know you yet, I don't know the man you were or the man you will become to me. What I do know is that you will be a close friend of mine one day and so I promise you, Face of Bo, you will have a second chance." I vowed solemnly. "And I promise to save your sorry ass from whatever trouble you get into." I added with a smirk, allowing the seriousness to fade.
"Once a smart ass, always a smart ass. I'll hold you to that promise, Gracious-May." I nodded and patted his tank a couple of times.
"See you later, Big Head." I said moving away from him.
"Till later, pipsqueak." I chuckled at that and waved a hand over my shoulder.
I was walking alone down one of the many corridors when the Adherents of the Repeated Meme came from the other way. I smiled lightly at them, but the first one goes ashough to strike me. I ducked and kicked my leg out. The thing went down and my eyes widened at the pain that was caused by doing so.
Okay, robots.
The Repeated Meme were robots. After a brief struggle one of them grabbed me by the neck and threw me against the wall and I landed on the ground where I fell unconscious.
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I came to with a grown of pain. Dame, I had broken my ankle (probably when I kicked the robot) and I had a concussion (most likely from hitting the wall). The concussion would be healed in under five minutes but the ankle would take longer – up to half an hour considering I didn't give myself time to rest after the whole plastic invading Earth, glass shards in my back thing. The sound of 'Toxic' playing through the stations speakers was also not doing my head any good.
"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending."
I sat up completely in alarm. The sun filter in my room had been programmed to descend. With a great amount of difficulty, I pulled myself up and to the door. I knocked frantically on the door.
"DOCTOR! Let me out! DOCTOR!" I yelled. Looking around I noticed that there was a panel on the door. Still shouting for help I tried hacking the panel.
"Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending.
The machine was too advanced. I didn't have the time to hack it without prior knowledge of the system. The sun filter had already lowered by a considerable amount. I could no longer remain standing up right.
"Anyone in there?" the Doctor's voice sounded through the door.
"I'm in here and someone's lowering the sun filter. I can't open the door." I shouted.
"Oh, well, it would be you." He said sarcastically.
"Shut up and just open the door." I said back, frustrated with this situation already. The sun lowered to such a point that I had to crouch on the ground. "If it gets any lower the door's going to be fused shut."
"Sun filter rising…sun filter descending."
"DOCTOR!" I shouted moving to the steps and sending out a variation of protego shield which was quiet magically draining and not something everyone could do because it was designed to stop physical objects, magic and radiation. This was going to hurt – a lot.
"The computers getting clever!" the Doctor murmured.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRR" I screamed as the sun rays hit my shield. A physical shield strong enough to withhold something like the sun came with several draw backs. The first was the energy cost – only someone with a large magical core could hold the shield for more than five seconds. With a full magical core, I could hold the shield (under-assault) for about ten minutes.
The second draw back was the physical pressure exerted on the body. If it was a strong spell or arrow it would be like taking a punch. The strongest thing I had shielded against before this was Fiendfyre and that had been like trying to hold back a building that had fallen on me. This was worse.
"Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."
I breathed out and lowered my shield once the sun had reached half way. With great difficulty I pulled myself up and staggered to the doors.
"The whole thing's jammed. I can't open the doors." The Doctor's voice sounded from the other side with a note of despair.
Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before turning on the spot. Apparating behind the Doctor by concentrating on the feeling of his person as opposed to focusing on an image of a place. I would have done so before but the radiation emitted from the sun stops wizards and witches from apparating because they have to effectively disperse themselves across space and with that many unstable atoms in the air it wouldn't have been pretty had I tried.
"I said my people were magical, I can teleport." I fell against the wall, breathing heavily and blinking rapidly as my vision swam for a few seconds. Perhaps I should have waited a bit longer before trying to Apparate from the room – the strain from shielding from the heat and the radiation hadn't done me any good. If I had waited longer, then it would have given the atmosphere in the room time to stabilize, making it easier for me to Apparate out. The fact that it wasn't a means of transportation I used very often anymore, and I was blind Apparating to a person, I wasn't remotely surprised about how terrible it made me feel.
"Annamae, are you okay?" The Doctor asked, laying a hand on my waist and shoulder so as to stop me from falling over. Rather unexpectedly it also offered a means to ground me as well as offering physical support.
"The sun is very hard to shield from. Remind me to never get locked in a room without a sun field again." I tried to joke, but it came out weak as my vision swam ones more.
I closed my eyes and looked into my magical levels to assess how much longer I could keep going before I crashed. I hadn't strained myself this much since entering this world, despite my continued training and relatively dangerous consultations. My magic reserves were lower than quarter but I had worked with lower when I was fighting. Shielding shouldn't have drained me that much, but I suppose the sun was a completely different kettle of fish and I was slightly out of practise. With the knowledge that I would be okay for a little while longer, I sent a burst of magic into my body to help speed up the healing process and flush out any radiation damage I had suffered since my shield wouldn't have protected me from everything.
Opening my eyes after only having them closed for a second, I offered the Doctor a reassuring smile. "I should be okay for a couple of hours." I reassured him.
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"Earth Death in 5 minutes."
We walked into the hospitality room once again, the Doctor with one arm around my waist to keep me stable since my stability wasn't quite right at the minute with the damage I had taken. He wasn't going to risk his companion getting anymore hurt just because he wasn't willing to offer an arm.
"The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of platform one." Jabe said looking at her little computer device.
"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." Cassandra said in a slightly shrill voice.
It seemed she knew more about the defence implemented on these things then she should. More than Jabe did and she had been on quite a few space stations. The Doctor took the deactivated spider from Jabe's hand. I looked at the silver spider recognising the feeling as that from the silver ball, I knew that thing was evil (and not just because of my natural dislike of silver due to my friendship with werewolves).
"Summon the Steward!" the Moxx of Balhoon cried.
"I'm afraid the steward is dead." Jabe said. That would explain why the headache was lingering despite the fact that the concussion was gone; however now that I had acknowledged his death his soul was claimed. There was a general gasp of shock at the news.
"Who killed him?" the Moxx of Balhoon asked.
"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Bo! He invited us." The Face of Bo shakes his head in denial, it seemed he didn't talk telepathically with many. I made to move away from the Doctor but pain shot through from my ankle and the Doctor tightened his grip to stop me from falling. "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!" Cassandra screeched.
"Leave him alone, he organised this event out of respect for the long-gone inhabitants of that planet. Out of respect for the history that has been lost." I snapped at her, allowing the Doctor to pull me back. "He cares unlike you… you bitchy Trampoline." I sneered a sneer worthy of professor Snape. I felt the Doctor's chest rumble in amusement for a second before he turned serious.
"Easy way of finding out. Someone brought a little pet on board." The Doctor shows them the spider. "Let's send him back to master." He places the spider down on the floor, after letting me go first and then again wrapped his arm around my waist when I swayed slightly. The spider scuttles along to Cassandra and looks up at her. Cassandra looked shifty for a moment, but the spider moved on to the Adherents of Repeated Meme (who were three members down, much to my pride).
"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra's voice screeched again.
"There're robots." I breathed in the Doctor's ear.
"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it…" one of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme tries to strike him, but he caught its arm and ripped it off. I blinked at the superior strength the Doctor just casually displayed by pulling the robots arm off using only one of his arms. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are. An idea." He rips a wire out of the arm and all of the Adherents of the Repeated Meme crumpled into a bundle of black cloaks. Everyone gasps. Cassandra and I roll our eyes at the actions of the peanut gallery. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo!" he nudges the spider with his foot. "Go home!" the spider ambles over to Cassandra.
"I bet you were the school swot who never got kissed." The Doctor and I raised our eyebrows. "At arms!" the two medical personnel/bodyguards with canisters on either side of her raised their canisters.
"What are you going to do, moisturize me?" the Doctor said mockingly.
"With acid." she deepened. "Oh, too late anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face." She fluttered her eyelashes.
The Doctor pushed me behind his back just a bit but he had to be careful encase I fell over. Luckily my ankle was mostly healed – only a strain left. My natural healing factor was extremely fast, combined with the surge of magic I had sent through my body and the increasing adrenaline in my system and I was healing at an exceptional rate.
"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" the Doctor sneered at her. I raised my head in realization.
"Oh, Doctor it's not stupid at all. Brilliant almost, but you got all high and mighty a bit too soon, Trampoline. You hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with yourself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." I said in disgust. She looked at me in surprise. "Just like you, Cassandra, I'm more than just a pretty face. Five billion years and it still comes down to money."
"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am The Last Human, Doctor. Me. Not all those little freaks out there and especially not your freaky little kid." I narrowed my eyes at that. I never did get over my first childhood.
"Arrest her!" the Moxx of Balhoon cried. Apparently the only one capable of speech.
"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." Cassandra said.
"Earth Death in 3 minutes."
"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? 'Burn, baby, burn.'" Cassandra said smugly.
"Then you'll burn with us!" Jabe said strongly.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but… I'm such a naught thing. Spiders – activate."
There were a series of explosions around the ship. I stumbled a bit, my balance still not having fully returned to me, falling backwards before the Doctor caught me and pulled me into his side again having kept his footing despite the unexpectedness of the explosions.
"Force field gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband." She giggles. "Oh, shame on me. Buh-bye, darlings! Buh-bye, my darlings…" she and her bodyguard's/medics teleported out.
"Heat levels rising."
"Reset the computer!" the Moxx whined.
"Only the Steward would know how." Jabe replied.
"No, we can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch. Jabe, come on." Immediately on completing that sentence Jabe's name started to appear on my list but it wasn't as defined as the other names which meant that I could save her without tearing time apart.
"No," I said. The Doctor and Jabe looked to me. "Jabe, you stay here and keep the others calm, see if you can find some water or something to cool everyone down. Maybe a way of blocking the light from the windows. I'll go with the Doctor."
Jabe nodded and the Doctor allowed me to come with him. He grabbed my hand as opposed to keeping his arm around my waist once he was sure I could move on my own despite the fact that I was running with a slight limp. We ran through the maintenance corridor and into the ventilation chamber.
"Okay, that's an impressive cooling system." I said looking up at the very large and fast rotating fans. The hotter it got the faster the fans turned trying to keep the temperature down.
"Oh. And guess where the switch is." The Doctor's sarcasm wasn't very welcoming at the moment. The switch was located on the other side of the enormous fans.
"Who the hell designed that?" I demanded. That switch was the failsafe override, why was it on the other side of the really big fans that most people wouldn't be able to get past? With my magic so depleted attempting to apparated would likely end in me falling unconscious instead of being able to pull the leaver.
"Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising."
The Doctor ran over to a lever on the wall and pulls it down but as soon as the Doctor lets go of it, the fans start to speed up again. As the Doctor looks hopelessly at the fans, I pulled down the lever. Holding it there by putting my weight through it.
"You can't, the heat's going to vent through this place." The Doctor said to me, I saw the concern in his eyes.
"I know." I nodded to him.
"Annamae, you're human. That bars made of metal; it's going to conduct the heat. It'd be like…"
I chuckled at him shaking my head and cutting him off. "Doctor, you don't know everything about me. I have an accelerated healing factor and my magic will offer me some protection, but when that fails the most severe injury I will sustain is burns, and perhaps blisters, to my hands which can be healed without leaving a scar. Now stop wasting time."
He hesitated a moment before grinning at me and running back to the fans.
"Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising."
The Doctor dodged the first fan and ran underneath it. He looked anxiously up at the next one. The Doctor was still standing before the second fan. He looks back at me, I'm now sweating and breathing heavily. The localised shield charm I had cast on my hands protecting my skin for the moment but that didn't mean the oppressive heat being vented through the room wasn't starting to get to me, nor that I couldn't feel the heat coming from the metal bar I was holding.
"Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical."
The Doctor dodges under the second fan. As the Doctor stands before the third fan I start shaking violently. My hands were burning, I wasn't able to stop the chocked scream as my knees gave up on me and I collapsed. I could smell my burning flesh as the shield charm failed because I didn't have the capacity to hold it. The Doctor looks back, shock and worry shinning in his eyes having heard the scream I had cut off. I look up at him, my whole body shaking from the pain, but I lock eyes with him. The leaver had risen slightly when I fell but I pulled it back down completely.
"Planet explodes in 10…9…"
The Doctor closes his eyes. All grows quiet.
"8…7…6…5…4…"
The Doctor, still with his eyes closed, steps calmly through the fan. When at the other side, he opens his eyes and dashes to the switch, pulling it down.
"Raise shields!" he yelled to the ceiling.
The Doctor walks back through the fans. I was slumped forward, head bowed and breathing heavily. The burns on my hands were fixing them to the leaver, so the Doctor had to carefully peal my hands away. Without the support from the leaver though, my entire body slumped against the Doctor as my magic surged to my hands in an attempt to heal the damage. But my magic reserves were low and the damage severe, it would take time.
"Annamae." The Doctor, "Come on, talk with me." He gentle turned me in his arms so I was facing him.
"That's going to hurt. My magic's drained, my healing factors being pushed to its limits, it's going to take a while to heal." I explained to the Doctor, gritting my teeth in pain while also trying to maintain my consciousness.
"I've got some paste in the TARDIS. 51st century. It should help repair the damage and limit the pain." The Doctor said concern creasing his brow.
"We need to deal with Cassandra first." I reminded him.
"Right, best get going then." The Doctor smiled, lifting me up with deceptive ease and walking from the room.
"It's been eighteen years since someone last carried me." I told the Doctor softly, resting my head on his shoulder and forcing myself to stay awake that little bit longer.
We entered the room where the aliens were standing around, injured. From what I could feel, only two people were dead in addition to Raffalo and the Steward. The Doctor set me down, leaning back against the wall before he walked briskly over to Jabe. He kept glancing at me as he talked to her and her companions, getting information on what had happened while he had been raising the shields.
"You all right?" I asked as he placed his arm around my waist so that I could walk by his side.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one – teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two – this feed must be hidden nearby." As he talked, he had moved closer to the ostrich egg, which he grabs and breaks. A small silver device falls out that I grabbed between my arms with a wince of pain before it hit the ground. "Idea number three – if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twisted the feed. Cassandra appeared before us, apparently in the middle of gloating.
"Ah, you should have seen their little alien faces…" She noticed her new surroundings and fell silent. "Oh."
"The Last Human." The Doctor bit out.
"So… you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join the…er… the human club." She said flustered. I rolled my eyes.
"People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them." The Doctor said angrily to her.
"That depends on your definition of 'people'. And that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court then, Doctor! And watch me smile and cry and flutter…"
"And creak?" I interrupted her.
"And what?" she asked shocked. I seemed to be making people do that a lot recently.
"Creak. You're creaking." The Doctor said smugly. Cassandra's skin was tightening. Her eyes were becoming bloodshot and she was getting whiter and whiter.
"What? Ah! Ah! Oh, sweet heavens! Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!" she was panicking as her skin became covered in red blotches.
"You raised the temperature." I told her, deadly serious.
"Have pity! Moisturize me!" she said absolutely terrified. Pathetic really that someone could be so afraid of death when they can do absolutely nothing for themselves.
"Help her." Jabe said shaken by what she was witnessing.
"Everything has it's time and everything dies." The Doctor and I intoned together repeating what I had first said about the Earth when we arrived.
"I'm…too…young!" Cassandra said just before she explodes.
The Doctor looked completely cold and not remotely fazed, the same could be said for me. That was until my legs buckled under me, the magical drain and pain suddenly catching up with me. The Doctor caught me before I hit the ground and swung me back up into his arms. I was barely conscious as he carried me out of the room.
"Trust him, Gracious-May. And trust in yourself." The Face of Boe's voice floated through my mind.
"My body will heal quicker if I sleep." I whispered to the Doctor.
"Then sleep, I'll keep you safe." He promised.
"Thank you." I breathed before allowing my consciousness to fade into darkness.
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"Shuttles 4 and 6 departing. This unit now closing down for maintenance."
The Manchester Suite was now completely empty apart from me. My body was fully healed, the Doctor having put some paste on my hands while I was unconscious, and my magic levels restored to a more normal level. I was stood at the window staring at the rocks that had once been Earth. I knew my shields were down, and for the first time in a long-time, emotions were showing on my face completely unchecked. My Earth would have been destroyed like this, but before it's time, had I not stepped in. But even then, I don't know if the ritual worked. If the magicals were taken out and the world saved.
I didn't turn around when I heard the Doctor moving into the room. He had been watching me for a few minutes but I didn't care. He came to stand beside me, his hand on my shoulder.
"The end of the Earth. No one saw her go. She will spread across space and maybe get pulled into the formation of a new planet or star or crash into another planet and destroy it. I don't know, nor will I ever know. But what I can't get over is that my old Earth might be like this. Broken down and destroyed but long before its time. All that history, all those years gone." A tear slides down my face. I wasn't even sure which planet I was talking about with that last sentence but I knew it applied to both, if my planet hadn't survived and the ritual failed.
"Come with me." He holds out his hand to me. I take it and we walk away together.
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He took us back to the year 2005, in a crowded London high street. I looked around at them all, the Doctor standing at my side. It was odd, looking around at all these people going about their daily lives oblivious to anything else. Sometimes humans seemed more alien to me than anything else.
"You think it'll last forever. People, and cars and concrete. But it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." We both look at the sky. After a moment he speaks again: "my planet's gone." He said softly. Neither of us look away from the clouded blue sky above us. "It's dead. It burned like Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time."
"What happened?" I asked softly, but I had already guessed the answer to my question.
"There was a war. It was called the Great Time War. And we lost." He confessed. I reached over and grabbed his hand. He looked down at me and stared into my eyes. "I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own because there's no one else."
"Then we'll be the last of our kinds together." I smiled softly at him, never breaking eye contact.
"You've seen how dangerous it is. Do you want to go home?" he asked me.
"I'm not afraid of danger, Doctor. My whole life has been full of one form of danger or another. These past few years that danger has been dulled, barely there but that doesn't mean I can't handle it." I smiled at him.
"Well then, it seems we'll be facing danger together. The last of our species standing together against the universe."
I laughed at how dramatic he sounded before allowing him to drag me back to the TARDIS for a nice calming cup of tea before their next adventure.