A/N: Okay, this authors note is to let my reader know that the beginning of this story shares some similarities with 'The Mad Man, The Witch and The Blue Box' by Crazhetalia. I would highly recommend that story if you like Doctor Who stories with adventures and elements of crossovers. Crazhetalia and I have been in communication, and are aware of the similarities of the beginning of our stories. We are both making attempts to not continuing our stories with similarities – which I am achieving by not reading passed chapter 6 of Crazhetalia's story. Despite how good their story is, I do not want to accidently influence my own writing by reading where they take their story.
By the time that you have reached this point in the story, there should hopefully be more than a few noticeable differences, which will continue to get bigger as am diverting off my original notes. There will be more Captain Jack, and I'm currently rewatching Jodie's episodes to see if I want to change anything else before I actually write chapter Twenty-Eight.
A/N: I'd like all my readers to know that the writing of the end of this chapter was a right headache. I really struggled with the interactions between the Companion and Annamae and the Doctor. I'm hoping to get more Companion/Annamae interaction in the next chapters before I get to Amy and Rory who I love writing about so it's not jarring.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Lost with old friendsWhen the darkness of being forceful apparated and port-keyed through time and space past, I found myself lying on cold hard ground, surrounded by a smog that smelt like pheromones. Familiar pheromones.
I couldn't make out the memory of why the pheromones were so familiar because I could feel death. All around me, billions were dying right across the world – beings who were mostly of humanoid origin.
"What…" I lifted my upper body off the ground and looked around. I was in a room covered in smog which was originating from a very familiar head: the Face of Boe. And hovering over my body was a very familiar cat-nurse. "What's happening?"
"A virus," Jack answered solemnly. "A virus spreading across the upper city, killing billions. We've sealed off the under-city, they are safe, but the virus is spreading to quickly to stop."
"Where are we?" I stood with the help of Novice Hame.
"A privet room in the hospital." Novice Hame explained.
"New Earth." Jack answered the actual question I'd meant to ask.
"Anything we can do to stop people landing and dying?" I stumbled closer to Jack.
"The last act of the Senate was to quarantine the planet for a hundred years. I've been ease dropping." Jack directed my attention to the radio and screens along the wall.
"Still protecting the humans," I smiled sadly. "Still the same old captain. Ahhh…"
"Where are you hurt?" Novice Hame moved forward as I slumped to the floor, leaning heavily against Jack's tank.
"It's the deaths… so many of them." I groaned. "I can feel them all."
"You can feel them?" Novice Hame breathed in horror.
"Anna, where were you? Before you appeared here, where were you?" Jack questioned, trying to distract me.
"Earth, 2021. London Olympics." I answered, leaning my head back against his tank. "Do you remember them?"
"Yes, I remember. I was watching." Jack chuckled. "Did you get to see the games?"
"Didn't get… the chance. Missing children from… a small street, got… side tracked. I'm sure the Doctor… will take me back to see… it, one day." I smiled sadly even as I breathed heavily through the explanation.
"Does he know where you are?" Jack questioned.
"No, but he will find me." My eyes drifted to the door. "The deaths have stopped. Only those below… on and below the motorway… survived."
"How many?" Novice Hame questioned, deciding not to question my knowledge or how I had it. "How many survived?"
"I'm not… strong enough to scan… that far, I can tell in a few days… When I've recovered… Emergency transport through time… and space without warning… followed by a near plant extinction event… You know, Captain do… you think I could take a nap on you?" I questioned. I may not be able to tell Novice Hame how many survived, but I could tell her how many died and their names. A number which would haunt me as much as the number of my own people haunted me.
"Anywhere, anytime, any when." Jack said gentle, sending a feeling of understanding along with his words. He knew what I hadn't said.
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When I woke from my healing sleep, I silently left Jack under the care of Novice Hame and ventured out into the city of New New York.
There were several fires burning from where cars had crashed, and machines left on unattended. The virus had devastated the population so fast that they hadn't had the chance to safeguard against such things or land their cars. Lights were still on in buildings, and bodies had dropped across the city as people went about their daily lives.
Stopping at a school, I crouched at the side of a child's body – Jimmy, his name was whispered to me as I focused on him. All of them dead, because of the foolishness of adults.
Leaving them be for a moment, I left the city and looked for the small hill that the Doctor had landed us on when we first came to this planet. It was still there, still just as beautiful and breath taking as it had been however long ago it had been since we had been here.
Reaching the top of the hill where we had rested, I went to one knee and placed my hand flat on the earth. My magic was still recovering, but the influx from the night before had faded, and I could focus on the magic of the world once more. Before, when I wasn't Annamae Tyler, I had been known to boost my own substantial magical reserves with the reserves of the planet. Now that my external manipulation of magic wasn't as strong, I was going to need that pull for what I was planning.
Once I could feel the life of the planet, I used both my magic and the new control that I had discovered through the ancient language. In the three weeks that the Doctor and I had spent secluded within the TARDIs, we'd discovered that using that ancient language my magic had so desperately wanted to learn gave me control over internal and external magic that didn't strain my body to the same extent. It still strained my body, but at a forty percent mark down compared to what I had been before.
I pulled the soil out until it loomed eight feet high. Then, I began shaping it with magic, thoughts and words. I'd seen so many monuments to the fallen in my time, the majority of them to the soldiers, but this wasn't for soldiers or those who had willingly and knowingly placed their life on the line. This was to the innocent who had just been caught up in the stupid decisions of those above them.
I chose the iconic image of a mother, soft and kind around the face, but her body stood strong and protective. The face wasn't supermodel beautiful, but it was still beautiful because of how kind and loving it was – all mothers were beautiful because of this. From the mothers back, two wings grew: the left wing was black and the right wing was white. The right to symbolise purity and innocents, and the left for the power, elegance and sophistication of life, and to put into form the sadness and anger such loss should always and forever invoke.
In the women's left arm, she carried a baby boy who was no older than five. The boy had a single tear falling from his face and he carried a single rose. Stood on the women's right, was a girl only a few years older than the boy. The woman's hand rested protectively on the girls back, and the girl was smiling brightly out at the world while hugging a teddy to her chest.
Into each of the feathers on the women's wings, a name was carved: the name of every single being who had died in New New York and it's attached hospital. Around the base of the statue, I carved the words: Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure, you are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure.
With the monument made, I went back into the city and started collecting the bodies. One by one, I took the body up to the monument and used my magic to cremate it. I collected urns from a mortuary – although I had to duplicate many of them and carve permeance runes – to place each of the ashes into. The urns I then embedded into the ground, and created a small memory square with name, date of birth and date of death. By the time that all the bodies in New New York and it's attached hospital had been cleared, the squares of reflective stones covered the whole hill.
With these bodies dealt with, I turned off every system that was using power except for what was keeping the vents open for the motorway. I was going to need to speak with Jack about how to reopen the motorway so that the undercity could come up.
Instead of finding Jack in his hospital room where I expected him to be, I instead found him in the control room of the senate building.
"What happened?" I questioned, noting that Jack was hooked up to the machines.
"When the undercity was sealed, they did it at the same time as the emergency quarantine and the system couldn't handle it. It's fried, and we can't open the doors. I'm using my life force just to keep the systems open enough that the motorway is still running." Jack explained.
"So, they're trapped down there?" I questioned, crouching next to Jack and frowning as I felt his life force flowing out of him in a steady stream.
"We need to check the system and maintenance, find out what fried." Jack explained.
"Okay, okay. I'll start with the vent system so the people on the motorway don't suffocate on the poisoned air, then we can look into fixing the system." I sighed, wavering between respecting the dead and helping the living.
"It can wait until you've respected the dead," Jack instructed, knowing me well enough to know what it was I was conflicted about. "The motorway is designed to be off system for a month. You have time."
"Novice Hame, could you run a check on the system to make sure of that? If I need to work on them sooner, I will." I requested, making plans to head out to the next city.
I would focus first on the seventeen cities that populated this planet before going to the small towns and villages. Despite being the approximate same size as earth, the humans had learnt by now not to expand as they had done in my time. They had the designated city sites, which wouldn't increase any further, as well as villages and towns which were there for the production of food. They didn't encroach too much on the land: limited deforestation and cutting into farm land. Instead, to incorporate their ever-expanding population, they'd built the under city which was literally underneath the ground.
"Yes, I can do that." Novice Hame agreed even as her eyes shinned in confusion.
"Annamae, before you leave, you should stop and eat. You are still recovering." Jack instructed sternly.
"Of course," I conceded. My healing sleep may have helped, but he was right I shouldn't be using my magic on such a scale without feeding my body energy.
Novice Hame went to a cupboard which seemed to have been hastily set up and she pulled out a plate of food. "I'll work on getting something a little more suitable moved into here so we won't be living off sandwiches. Of course, we're going to have to be heading out to figure out how we're going to be getting our food once we get through the stocks that I can collect." Novice Hame fretted as she handed the plate over.
"We'll figure it out," I promised. I'd been in war when food was limited and supply chains cut, I was used to figuring food out in worse conditions than this. The farms would still be growing, the animals still grazing and there was currently a lot of long-lasting food on shelves that wasn't going to be eaten by anyone. Of course, there was also the technical advancements made in this era which could make finding food easier if I started those machines back up.
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It took seventeen days to honour all of the dead. Overlooking all seventeen cities, and at a point between every four large towns or villages, there was a statue with the names of the dead written on the wings of the woman and an inscription along the base of the statue. The inscription was the only thing that I changed, and yet it always conveyed the same meaning about the loss of innocents.
As I passed through each location, I made sure to shut everything except the solar factories down. The solar factories had their power directed to either storage generators (including the generators which were originally connected to non-solar factories), the motorway systems or the senate building. I also used a temporary magical ward system to ensure that farm animals didn't over bread or over eat, set up warning systems on the harvests so I'd know when I needed to collect, and also carved preservation runes on all storage sheds I came across so fresh food wouldn't be wasted. Depending on how long it took to get the under city up, there was going to be a lot of excess food available.
Once I knew that New Earth was stable and not likely to blow up or catch fire or fall into a natural disaster for one reason or another, I turned my attention to trying to sort out the system that had been fried. The basic maintenance was within my ability, but a lot of the detailed technical parts I needed to be talked through by Jack. When he wasn't able to explain it, I headed to the library or the archives to research it and look up blue-prints.
Slowly, with only Novice Hame and Jack for company the years went by as I fixed one system after another. But, without humanity to use the systems, every time I fixed one problem another one appeared. It would take a mind like the Doctors to get it sorted enough to open the doors – a deadlocked systems which required four different protocols to unlock. The best I could do and maintain was keeping the vents open and monitoring the cars coming onto the motorway.
As we passed into our second decade, Jack's life force started flickering and fading. I didn't tell Novice Hame, but I did tell Jack that his long life was finally coming to an end. I couldn't give him an exact date, but an estimation of less than five years meant that they were now on a deadline to get the humans out of the undercity. At the minute Jack's lifeforce was stopping the power from the generators (which I'd redirected to keep them going) from blowing all the systems and requiring me to replace them.
"Why do you not age?" Novice Hame asked one day as they sat down to eat. "We have known each other for many years now, and yet there has been not a touch of time upon your face."
"You call Boe the last of his kind," I chose to answer her question even if I did not give her the complete truth. "In a way, this is not true. Boe's long life, and my own are from the same place."
"So mysterious," Novice Hame sighed. "Will you ever tell me anything personal? You know so much about me."
"Some things are best left unsaid and unknown. Boe and I, we have lived such lives… I can tell you so many stories but they are stories of times distant and far, not of me."
I had told Novice Hames about some of the travels the Doctor and I had been on in the past, including the death of the original Earth, but I had to be careful to not mention things of the future. There was also the fact that many of those stories included personal information which I'd edit out of the stories since speaking of them brought a pain in my heart – especially when I thought of Rose and my mother. I wasn't sure what had happened to them, but I did know when the Doctor found me again, he would be without my sister.
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I was resting when I felt it – the feeling of home.
"He's here," I jerked upright while announcing loudly enough to startled Novice Hame.
"Whose here?" she questioned, confused.
"The Doctor, he's come." I explained, getting up and moving to the work station.
When we'd realised that we needed the Doctor in order to fix the mess that was the emergency door release to the motorway, I'd started making a teleport bracelet. If the Doctor appeared in the undercity, as I could feel that he had done, I couldn't Apparate straight to him using blind-person-focused Apparation because the led and gold mix in the soil would throw me off and I'd run the risk of appearing in a wall. The mineral mix was the reason why I hadn't just apparated down, and then started making group portkeys up to the surface.
"Is it ready?" Novice Hame questioned.
"Nearly," I answered determinedly, picking up my screwdriver.
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Stepping out onto the motorway, The Doctor was immediately coughing from the clinging exhaust fumes. The exhaust fumes coming from the backed-up cars was clogging on this level, but it seemed to be thinner the lower down and he could hear the vibration of the vents working down below. Unfortunately, the fumes seemed to be rising despite being heavier than oxygen so the vents weren't as effective as they could be.
Suddenly one of the cars moved forward slightly and stopped in front of the lay-by and the door opened to reveal a male cat with his face mostly obscured with goggles and a white scarf and helmet. He was also wearing a WW2 flying jacket.
"Hey!" the cat man shouted. "You daft little street strut. What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!"
Coughing, the Doctor chose to take his chance and followed the cat-man into his car. He had to be on the motorway to find Martha anyway. He was not losing somebody else, not again!
"Did you ever see the like?" the cat-man questioned the dark-haired women who was stood waiting for them in the car.
"Here you go." The woman passed the Doctor a cup of water to help him with his coughing.
"Just standing there, breathing it in," the cat man removed his scarf and goggles to reveal more of his face. "There's this story, says back in the old days, on Junction forty-seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet."
"Oh, you're making it up." the woman giggled disbelieving.
"A fifty-foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose." The cat-man joked.
"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting."
The Doctor watched their by-play in disbelief, trying to control his anger so he didn't take it out on these innocent people. Annamae would not be happy with him if they met up and she learnt that he'd gotten upset with people who were just trying to help.
"What, did you never pick your nose?" he teased.
"Bran, we're moving." The woman suddenly warned urgently.
"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." he jumped into his chair and jerked the car forward, but they didn't go very far before coming to a stop.
"Twenty yards. We're having a good day." Bran cheered before turning to finally address the Doctor. "And who might you be, sir? Very well-dressed for a hitchhiker."
"Thanks." The Doctor toasted him slightly with the cup before he put it in the 'used' section next to the water recycler. "Sorry, I'm the Doctor."
"Medical Man!" Bran cheered. "My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."
"Nice to meet you," Valerie smiled genially.
"And that's the rest of the family behind you." Brannigan pointed.
Confused, the Doctor turned and pulled back the curtain to reveal a small basket of cats.
"Ah, that's nice." He picked one of them up. "Hello." Smiling he looked back over at Brannigan and Valerie. "How old are they?"
"Just two months."
"Poor little souls." Brannigan frowned. "They've never known the ground beneath their paws. Children of the motorway."
"What, they were born in here?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"We couldn't stop. We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance." Valerie shrugged.
"What, you've been driving for two months?" his confusion was not lightened by her explanation.
"Do I look like a teenager?" Brannigan laughed. "We've been driving for twelve years now."
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor put the kitten he was holding back in its basket.
"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds. Feels like yesterday."
"Feels like twelve years to me." Valerie was not as optimistic as her husband.
"Ah, sweetheart, but you're still lovely to me."
The Doctor interrupted their kissing. "Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?" The undercity was not big enough for anyone to be travelling twelve years and still have not reached their destination.
"Battery Park. It's five miles back."
"You travelled five miles in twelve years?" The Doctor questioned in disbelief.
"I think he's a bit slow." Brannigan said to his wife.
"Where are you from?" Valerie asked.
"Never mind that." The Doctor waved away the very long complicated question. "I've got to get out. My friends in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. I should get back to the Tardis." The Doctor opened the door only to find that they'd moved past the platform that led back into the undercity.
"You're too late for that." Brannigan said gentle. "We've passed the lay-by. You're a passenger now, Sonny Jim."
"When's the next lay-by?" he demanded.
"Oh, six months?" Brannigan looked to his wife in question.
The Doctor stared at them in horror for a moment, before he pulled out his sonic-screwdriver and moved to the car's computer. Once he was into the communication system, he picked up the microphone.
"I need to talk to the police."
"Thank you for your call you are being redirected." The automated voice said.
"Police, how my I help you today?" a female voice questioned.
"My friend, she's been kidnapped. I need help finding her." The Doctor said urgently.
"And what is your name, sir?" the voice questioned.
"Doctor, it's the Doctor."
"Doctor!" the voice questioned surprised before getting hold of themselves. "Please hold!"
The Doctor barely had a moment to contemplate what was happening before another voice came over the radio.
"Doctor, what car are you in?" Annamae Tyler, that beautiful women questioned.
"That doesn't matter, Anna. Martha, the woman I've been travelling with has been taken. I don't know where she is." The Doctor had so many questions, so many things he needed to say.
"When did the car who took Martha join the motorway? Which entrance? I have a few car spotters who can help identify the car ID and then I can find them on the system." Annamae questioned, getting down to business.
"Entrance?" The Doctor questioned Brannigan.
"Pharmacy Town."
"Pharmacy Town," The Doctor repeated to make sure Annamae heard.
"Hold on, let me patch in the Cassini sisters, they're my local car spotters in your area."
"Why aren't you contacting the police?" Brannigan questioned, confused.
"Because I only have agents in the motorway, not qualified officers. With the motorway closed off, there is a limit to what I can do." Annamae answered distractedly as the computer flashed with the number 3-1-7-a-1.
"Hello?" the voice of an old woman answered.
"Madam's Cassini, this is Anna. I need you to check your records for a car which joined the Motorway at Pharmacy. We have some kidnappers." Annamae filled them in before greetings could be exchanged which was a relief since the Doctor saw Brannigan open his mouth to say something.
"Let's have a look," May Cassini hummed.
"Just my luck," Alice Cassini cut into the waiting silence. "To marry a car-spotter."
"In the last half-hour, fifty-three new cars joined the Pharmacy Town junction." May reported.
"Anything more specific?" the Doctor questioned hopefully.
"All in good time." May asked for patience. "Was she car-jacked by two people?"
"Yes, she was, yeah." The Doctor quickly confirmed.
"There we are." May said in success. "Just one of those cars was destined for the last lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is 4-6-5diamond-6."
"4-6-5-diamond-six," Annamae repeated to confirm. "Yes, I've got it. They've asked for permission to go into the fast lane and the computer automatically granted it five minutes ago."
"Can you patch them through?" The Doctor asked.
"No, not without blowing the system" Annamae said apologetically. "I can bring up the profile of whoever registered that car…. Hmmm, Milo and Cheen, Cheen is pregnant and they don't have any violence on their record. Seems like they just wanted the quick root so their child would make it to the upper city before they started school."
"Do you have anyone you can send down to get her?" The Doctor demanded.
"No… cars don't last long in the fast lane. I've tried to close it off but the system is full of vires and so permission is granted. I'm going to try and unlock their steering wheel and give them permission to go up into the bottom lane. That's the best I can do. Doctor, I'm sending someone to get you. I need you up here. I need to sign off before power gets drained. See you soon, my love." Annamae signed off before the Doctor could say anything.
"Good luck, Doctor." the Cassini's signed off as well.
"So, you know the police lady?" Brannigan questioned with a smile.
"Yes," The Doctor moved away from the computer with a frown. "She disappeared a while ago, when her life was threatened. I've not seen her in five months, nine days and eighteen hours."
"So how is she going to send someone to get you?" Valerie questioned.
"I don't know."
They were interrupted by the computer beeping.
"This is Annamae, and it's that time again, a reminder that you are not alone and we are waiting for you." What was obviously a recording of Annamae to the backdrop of the New Atlantic showed on the screen. "For those of you still on the roads, please drive safe and know that soon you will see the bright sky. Drive safe."
The message ended and the screen started showing images from the land above and voices started singing: Annamae with a choir background.
"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame,"
The image of a series of different statues: a mother angel, a boy and a girl were shown after a church built in the style of old 16th century earth. Despite seeing familiar backgrounds in the images, the Doctor didn't recognise the statues from his previous visits to New Earth.
"And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinner was slain.
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross)
Till my trophies at last I lay down."
The Doctor looked up as he heard the sound of voices coming from the motorway and not just the recording which was playing the same twenty-three images over and over again.
"I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown.
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true
It's shame and reproach gladly bear
Then he'll call me some day to my home far away
Where his glory forever I'll share."
And I'll cherish the old rugged cross (rugged cross)
Till my trophies at last I lay down
And I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown."
"I need to go down," The Doctor announced when the song was over and the computer switched off completely. Crouching on the floor, he cleared some fabric from the floor to reveal the emergency escape hatch.
"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan got up to question the Doctor.
"Finding my own way. I usually do." he soniced the floor allowing him to open the car.
"Capsule open," the automised computer which monitors the system announced.
"Here we go," the Doctor announced as he saw a car stopped under them. Considering what he was about to do, the Doctor shrugged off his coat and passed it to Valerie. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat."
"But you can't jump." Valerie protested.
"If it's any consolation, Valerie, right now I'm having kittens." The Doctor swung his legs out of the car but was stopped from jumping by Brannigan.
"This Martha, she must mean an awful lot to you."
"Hardly know her." He admitted. "I was too busy showing off. And I lied to her. Couldn't help it, just lied. Bye then." Not waiting for a reply, he dropped onto the car below.
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"How are you going to unlock the steering wheel?" Novice Hame questioned. "You know that is an automated system to stop crashes."
"I'll figure something out. Now please," Annamae picked up the teleport bracelet and gave it to Novice Hame. "Go get him. He'll be on the bottom line of cars."
"But he didn't phone from the bottom line." Novice Hame said confused.
"He's the Doctor, he's not going to stay put." Annamae laughed slightly. "Now go, the systems are failing and we don't have much time."
"Anna," Jack's old and sad voice sounded after Novice Hame teleported away.
"I know brother," Annamae turned to the computers and got to work on checking the output feeds from Jack to the systems which she had managed to setup and feed through just the senate building instead of the multiple buildings that they had been set up in before. "We're running out of time. I can feel it too."
"You will see me again," Jack promised, "when I am younger and he is different. You never broke your promise."
"Spoilers," Annamae cautioned him, even as she appreciated the reassurance that this day would not be their last. Jack chuckled in response to my caution.
"The yellow line is fraying," Jack noticed something which she hadn't, getting them refocused.
"Damn," Annamae swore softly when she checked it over. It needed to be replaced if it was going to take the feed of power that would soon be going through it. She hadn't managed to get the systems working at full, nor had she managed to get the doors open, but she'd got the process started. The benefit of Jack's centuries of experience and engineering mind being fed into Annamae's own understanding and research but without the instinct and knowing the Doctor has.
Annamae had just replaced the yellow wire when Novice Hame returned with the Doctor.
"Doctor, in here!" Annamae called through, interrupting the Doctor's complaining about the rough teleport.
"Annamae," He ran through the room and caught her up into a tight hug.
"Hello Doctor," Annamae held back just as tightly.
He broke the hug when something occurred to him. "Did you know there was Macra in the motorway?"
"Macra?" Annamae repeated in horrified understanding. "I knew we lost all cars that went into the fast lane, that was why I was trying to stop them from going down, but I didn't know why…"
"Why hasn't the motorway been opened? And where are all the people?" the Doctor looked around, noting the general signs of disrepair and the things I hadn't been able to fix up.
"The entire population is dead; I've been doing what I can to keep the basic systems of the motorway open like the vents. We've gotten close to opening the system, but every time I try something fries or blows up. We need you." Annamae explained.
"All of them died?" The Doctor repeated. "What happened?" he started looking around, examining the systems and what we'd been doing over the years.
"A new chemical." Novice Hame started the explanation. "A new mood. They called it Bliss. Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished. Even the virus, in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved."
"How did you survive?"
"An old friend," Annamae showed the Doctor around some of the monitor banks which had been hiding Jack.
"The Face of Boe!" he explained happily.
"He protected me, and he has waited for you, these long years." Novice Hame explained. "Annamae and Boe have both waited for you for twenty-four years."
"We knew you would come." Jack told the Doctor.
"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sin." Novice Hame explained.
"Old friend, what happened to you?" The Doctor frowned as he considered how tired Jack was and all the wires that were connected to him.
"Failing," Jack explained in one word.
"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke. But with only Annamae to try and maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea." Novice Hame continued the explanation.
"So, he saved them." The Doctor followed the line which was connecting Jack's lifeforce to the power grid to make up the difference.
"The Face of Boe asked Annamae to wire him into the mainframe when all but one of the powerplants failed. He's giving his life force just to keep things running."
"But there are planets out there. You could have called for help." The Doctor pointed out confused.
"The Senate declared New Earth unsafe, creating an automatic quarantine that has lasted one hundred years." Annamae explained. "And my phone was left in the TARDIS so I couldn't reach anyone either."
"So, the three of you have been alone for all these years." The Doctor looked between them.
"We had no choice." Novice Hame shook her head.
"Yes, you did." The Doctor counted.
"Save them, Doctor. Save them." Jack asked.
"They'd been waiting long enough," The Doctor suddenly burst into action, running between monitors, pulling out and swopping wires while he typed at the computer.
"Doctor, I've not been able to get the car Martha is in into the bottom line and she's dropped off the computer but I've not got the destroyed signal – they've simple turned their car off." Annamae reported softly as she danced with the Doctor between the wires and computer banks. She took her cues from both experience with these systems also from the Doctor's body language – the way his body turned, his arms twitched and his eyes danced. "But I've got an alert set up for when they come back online."
"We need to hook up through the entire electrical grid," the Doctor called over his shoulder. "We can't afford to blow up the system you've reduced it down to."
"I did that fifteen years ago, not sure if my maintenance is going to be enough." Annamae called back even as she got to work doing as he said. He was right, we try to throw the system back into actions using only the one satellite power station it would blow up and we would be left with no power for several hours until she could set up the next power station.
"You knew the systems would be needed, I'm confident that you would have checked on them periodically and occasionally set them running for an indetermined amount of time."
"Rotating each one for an hour, feeding through the electrical grid to turn the lights on for a little while. Did it every six months." Annamae admitted with a frown. Unfortunately, that was only a small amount of power for a short time instead of the vast amount of power the Doctor was preparing to send into the electrical grid.
"Then they'll hold up long enough." The Doctor determined, shooting a smile over his shoulder with a wink.
"Doctor, car 465-diamond-6 is registering." Annamae called when she spotted the blip on the screen by her.
"Ha, I knew she was good." He cheered before spinning to point at the nun. "Novice Hame, hold that in place."
He span on the spot, running his hand through his fair. "Think, think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electrical grid."
"Residual energy will definitely blow the system," Annamae warned.
"There isn't enough power," Novice Hame also cautioned.
"Oh, you've got power. You've got me. Didn't they tell you, I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch. Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum. I can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people." The Doctor explained what Annamae had known since she'd begun trying to sustain the power stations and all the homes. The reason why she'd got the system working to contact the people in the cars and the under city to get them in provisional jobs and undergoing training – she was preparing them to take up their job roles immediately on reaching the upper-city.
"So, what are you going to do?" Hame questioned.
"This!" the Doctor dramatically threw a big switch, but all that succeeded in doing was turning the light out. He ran to the computer bank and started rapidly tapping buttons. "No, no, no. The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through."
"Captain…" Annamae turned to her close friend, regret and grief written across her face.
"It's alright, Gracious-May," Boe assured. "Doctor…"
"Yeah, hold on, not now." The Doctor said absently as he tried to work out the problem. Annamae abandoned her work at the computers and dropped to her knees in front of Jake.
"I give you my last." Boe breathed out heavily in pain as he channelled the majority of his life force into the cable that was already hooking him into the grid and computer bank.
"Hame, look after him." the Doctor called as Jack's tank began cracking. "Don't you go dying on me, you big old face. You've got to see this. The open road. Ha!"
Annamae used her magic to shield from the water and glass that came from the breaking of the Boe's tank, before shifting so her knees were under him as she gentle rested her hand on his skin with a sad smile.
"I've got you," Annamae whispered softly, ignoring the Doctor speaking with Brannigan and his new companion. Jack was her companion, her friend and someone she loved like a true brother. She would see him again, she knew that, but that didn't make holding him and feeling him while he died any easier. "I've got you."
"Doctor!" It was Hame who called the Doctor's attention to them with her distressed voice.
He was quick to run over and drop to his knees at Annamae's side. A quick glance between Boe's systems and Annamae's tear-stained face had his face falling immediately.
"No," he whispered.
"There's nothing we can do for him." Annamae's voice wobbled slightly as she admitted this.
"My time is coming," Boe used telepathy instead of words even though he was now out of the tank and speaking would be easier for him then it had been surrounded by the liquid.
"No, don't say that. You've got plenty of life left." the Doctor tried to say positively. "You thought you were dying the last time I was here as well."
"That was forty-eight years ago," Annamae sad softly, sadly. "And he's been giving life energy to help keep the under-city alive."
Annamae started gentle guiding her hand over what appeared to be Boe's forehead, just above his eyes. Jack closed his eyes and let out a sigh of pleasure at the feeling, causing Annamae to let out a sad laugh.
"Doctor!" a woman's voice came from the large room where the senate used to meet.
"Over here." The Doctor called in turn, not taking his eyes of Boe's form.
"Doctor!" Martha's relieved and happy voiced dropped to worried and scared very quickly as she spotted the disaster their little room had become. "What happened in here? What's that?"
"It's the Face of Boe." The Doctor answered softly. "It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me."
"My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying." Hame sobbed.
"Saving millions of lives, he won't regret that." Annamae said softly.
"It's good to breathe the air once more." Boe's spoke the words this time. He had no reason to disagree with Annamae's words because they were true. He had died so many times for the human race, but this time it would be his final death and he didn't regret that in the least. He got to spend twenty-four years with his sister before the end, twenty-four happy years with someone he loved – he never thought he'd get that.
"Who is he?" Martha looked between the Doctor's down turned face and Boe.
"I don't even know," the Doctor admitted. He knew that Annamae knew who Boe was, but she couldn't tell him yet. What he did know was that whoever he was, he was very important to her and he knew him. "Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."
"Everything has its time." Boe quoted him with no remorse. "You know that, old friend, better than most."
"Legend says more." Hame reminded them.
"Don't." the Doctor tried to stop her, but she forged on.
"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller."
"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" The Doctor joked.
"I have seen so much." Boe breathed sadly. "Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor. Annamae."
"That's why we have to survive. All of us. Don't go." The Doctor pleaded, fighting the tears.
"I must. But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone." Boe breathed out for the final time and allowed his eyes to closed.
Annamae sobbed and turned into the Doctor's chest. He automatically pulled her close even as he bowed his head in sorrow.
"I'm so sorry, my love." He whispered softly. "I'm so very sorry."
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I wasn't able to let go of the Doctor even as we headed into the under-city where the TARDIs was kept. I'd managed to stop my tears, knowing that Jack wouldn't want me crying for him for long. Jack was the first person that I'd lost since my father that I'd allowed myself to get close to. Logically, I knew that I would see Jack again, but I will always remember Jack's last moments and I wouldn't be able to show him that pain and grief when I met him. With the doctor, with the complicated man, would be the only time that I would be able to show this grief and be understood without being questioned.
As we got closer to the TARDIS, I felt her reaching out to me with the feeling of welcoming and home. I took a deep breath, calming my emotions and bringing myself back under control, allowing the happy emotions and memories to come forward to replace the sadness.
"You certainly pick the happy places to park in, don't you?" I lifted my head from the Doctor's chest in order to look around. The TARDIs was at the edge of what looked like a rundown fixed market placed.
"They've all gone top sized." The Doctor tightened the grip he had around my shoulders comfortingly. "And, I may have gotten angry at the prospect of people selling moods."
"You ordered them to close down?" I raised a challenging eyebrow.
"I'd just seen a young woman use forget and then Martha was kidnapped…" he smiled sheepishly.
"I shouldn't leave you alone." I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder.
"Is that what he meant?" Martha suddenly broke her silence to ask from behind them.
The Doctor and I turned to look at her, confused.
"The Face of Boe, when he said you're not alone." Martha explained.
"I don't know." The Doctor admitted.
"You've got us. Is that what he meant?"
"I don't think so. Sorry."
"Then, what?" Martha frowned, her eyes dancing to me confused. She obviously had questions about who I was, and what my relation to the Doctor was, but she was holding herself back.
"Doesn't matter. Back to the Tardis, off we go." The Doctor tried to say flippantly, obviously uncomfortable with offering the implied personal information. I wasn't surprised, she was asking about the loss of his people which was a very sensitive subject for him even if it was easier for The Doctor to think about in this body compared to the last.
Unsatisfied, Martha grabbed one of the fallen chairs and straightened it before sitting down with her arms and legged crossed.
"Doctor, what have you told her?" I intervened, speaking gentle.
He sighed, eyes closing briefly. In the silence that following, the voices of the city above floated down to them as they began to sing.
"I lied," the Doctor admitted, grabbing a chair for himself. Before I could grab a chair of my own, he pulled me down onto his lab and wrapped his arm around my waist in a hug, needing the comfort.
"I told you that I was a Time Lord, but I'm more than that. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong, there is no one else."
"Then, who is Anna?" Martha frowned.
"I'm the Doctor's companion. I travelled with him alongside my sister, Rose Tyler. I'm human." I answered that questioned for him.
"What happened?" Martha asked, looking to the Doctor to make it clear she was asking about his people and not why I'd been separated from him.
"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time war. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even the sky." The Doctor sighed in grief.
"The mountains would shine as the second sun rose in the south," I whispered softly, resting my forehead so that I had skin contact with the Doctor and was able to show him the images that he'd shared with me. "The leaves on the trees were silver but when the light caught them every morning…"
"It looked like the forest was on fire. And when autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song." The Doctor picked back up, this time sharing more memories and images with me – beyond that which his words were saying. I saw images of a farm house at the edge of a beautiful red meadow which led to a low manor home. Then the elegant and flowing corridors of his Academy leading to the library which he'd built the library in his TARDIS in image of; the small shed where he used to sleep at night instead of being with the other orphaned boys.
"Gallifrey was beautiful before it was destroyed in the Final Battle of the Time War." The Doctor finished.
"But, if your people could travel in time and space, then is it not possible that someone else survived?" Martha frowned, confused.
"The High Council of Gallifrey recalled all Time Lords before the Final Battle. That was why I was home at the time." The Doctor shrugged, pulling his emotions back out of sight of his companion's reach and sight. "So, is that enough for you?"