"So your awake then" he looked down at the where the voice had come from. There regarding him with her soft brown eyes was Rose. She was curled up at the bottom of his bed.
"Yeah, well I think so" he still wasn't sure he was.
"Good" Rose got up from the bed and walked to sit beside him. "Then I can do this" his head recoiled as she slapped him hard across the face…..yep….he was awake.
"Don't you ever do that to me again! First you send me away like some toy! Then do all this reg..regen.."
"Regenerating?"
"Yeah, that!"
"Well it's not like I had a bloody choice in the matter!..Wait….how did you know what it was?" he exclaimed as his brain caught up with his mouth
"What?"
"Regenerating"
"Oh Jack told me, and don't think your getting off the hook Mr- I'm-so-impressive-alien-git" The Doctor ran that sentence through his head…ookay.
"Wait, what do you mean Jack told you…..?"
"He's here… JACK!" Rose shouted down the hallway. There came a reply of rushing feet. Then Jack was standing in the doorway
"Hello handsome. So you didn't need a prince to wake you with a fair kiss" he began to make sucking sounds and puckering his lips. Which was cut off as the Doctor threw a pillow at his face.
"Glad to see your normal" the Doctor commented dryly.
"What happened Doc? One minute I was dead, then alive. Then I see the TARDIS disappear. And to top it off a great big gold dragon comes and drags me back to the TARDIS through a time vortex." Jack said without taking a breath.
"A gold dragon? Damn. I thought I was seeing things. Traitorous bastard!" the Doctor scowled, shocking Jack and Rose with his anger. He tried to get up, but still felt a bit shaky.
"Doctor.
What was that? What happened? How did I get back here after you sent me
home?" Rose asked, looking deep into his eyes, not letting him look
away. He sighed; he would have to tell them. Because she would remember
sooner or later anyway.
He told them of how Rose had come back as
the Bad wolf, told them of her glory and song as she destroyed the
Daleks and brought life back to Jack. Which Jack hugged and kissed Rose
for. Then that he was Regenerating.
They in turn told him of what
happened after, of the Gold Dragon, of it engulfing him, so he didn't
change. Saving him. Carrying him to his room. Of being bound. And of
saving Jack. All the way through this Rose watched the Doctors blue
eyes. Every time they spoke of the Gold Dragon, hate flashed across the
blue. Bringing the cold storm to his gaze.
"Good, if he is bound it will be easy to find the traitor!" he then walked from his room, strong strides to the console room. Then he programmed the TARDIS to find the Dragon. She held off at first, but the mental anger the Doctor directed to the ship would broke no argument.
"But Doctor, he saved us. Me twice. Why do you hate him?" Rose asked, keeping the console between them. His eyes flashed anger at remembered memory.
"That
thing you saw was called a Guardian. The Chosen Guardian in fact, when
Gallifrey was in trouble they were supposed to come, swore they would
in Rassilon's name and by their lives. We called. They never came. If
they had Gallifrey would never have burned. That One! Needs to answer
for what he's done. Don't be fooled by his little helping hands. He is
a traitor, a coward. Nothing more" The Doctor was in full anger, darker
than the Daleks.
Yes he hated the Daleks, but they were doing
only what was in their nature, they could be nothing else. But the
Guardian, he was once friend. And that was what hurt the most.
"Where are we going Doc?" Jack asked, coming to stand beside Rose, squeezing her hand in comfort.
"To find him." he jammed the controls, flicking switches to make his precious craft go faster.
"This guardian was your friend wasn't he?" The Doctors head shot up at Jacks comment. "Thought so."
"Yes, he was..once. His name was Galen. He swore to come if ever we called, as did his people. He also swore to help us…me if I ever needed it. No matter what the cost. But he never came. Do you have any idea what its like? Seeing one defence after another fall before the Daleks. And the children clinging to the false dream that the Guardians will come, they will save us. And see that dream shatter as fire consumes your world? We would have won if they had answered." The Doctor sat in the chair beside the console, form bent, head in hands. Rose slowly approached him, slipping her arm round his shoulders to hug him.
"Before the end Gallifrey declared the Guardians traitors. That they must answer before Gallifreyian law"
"But how do you know the Guardians weren't destroyed before the Dalek's came to your home world?" Rose inquired softly, kneeling down so she could see his eyes.
"We sent a scout. They were hiding behind the very shield we had given them, safe and sound. We could have no shield on our world. For at the centre of the Guardians home world was a crystal with infinite power. It was the only thing that could sustain a shield of that strength, nothing could penetrate it" he sat, looking into the central column as it rose and fell, feeling old memories wash over him once more. He thought all the guardians dead. He had gone to the place where their planet had once been after Gallifrey burned, but it was just empty space. Nothing. Perhaps the shield had collapsed into itself. Destroying the planet. He had taken some satisfaction from that thought. But now, to know one lived. He had to face him. Had to answer for his crime.
8888888888888888888888888888888888888888
They stepped out of the TARDIS, the planet around them looking like the
Scottish highlands. There in the centre of a cobbled clearing was a
dead tree, the bark black. But something shined in its trunk. Rose
walked over to see a metal hoop sticking out from the trunk. The inside
ring of the hoop was shiny and smooth, as if well worn. Further back
was some more buildings. They looked to be made of the local stone,
smoke rising from the chimneys. In the distance on a hill looked to be
a larger house. Maybe a manor of some kind.
Back behind the tree
was a cliff side, and like a gaping wound there was a dark cave
imbedded in it. It looked like the maw of some great beast. The sound
of dripping waters as it dropped from the cave ceiling audible even
here. Leading out from the cave looked to be a train track, this
disappeared in the distance, even as they watched they saw a train,
empty carriages behind enter the cave at great speed.
"Auto trains, um-manned. Seems to be some sort of mining operation here Doc" Jack commented quietly.
"So where do we look?" Rose asked, taking the Doctors hand in hers. Something didn't feel right.
"Go
and ask at the mine I guess. Ask the foreman" The Doctor started toward
the cave mouth, Rose sticking close to his side. Jack took his place on
the other side of Rose, so she was sandwiched between them safely.
They had made it halfway to the cave when an alarm rang out, the high
pitch digital tone did nothing to mask the sound of approaching feet.
Out came guards, bodies covered with protective clothing, bulletproof
jackets. In their hands they carried daunting looking energy weapons.
It wasn't long before they were surrounded, guns levelled at them.
They held up their hands in surrender. The Doctor and Jack standing now
in front of Rose as the guards parted to let another man approach.
"What do we have here?" said the new arrival, his form looking well muscled. Almost like a club bouncer. In his hand was an electro whip; at his waist was a radio, some energy cuffs. He had a large scar over his right eye. Face dimpled and scared from many fights.
"Some intruders Warden." One of the guards replied. The Warden walked toward the Doctor.
"Who sent you? Are you part of New Earth Mining? Trying to see how we produce so much?"
"No one sent us, were just got lost. Produce what?" The Doctor asked, smiling the whole time.
"Don't act stupid. Take them to the Master. He will no doubt want to question them" The Doctors blood ran cold at the mansion of "The Master" it couldn't be could it?
They were put in a caged truck, which headed to the manor in the distance. They had been chained so they couldn't move to far.
"Why is it always a gun in the face welcome? Why never a "here have a cup of tea" welcome?" Rose groused, trying to twist her wrists from the tight metal cuffs.
"Just lucky I guess" Jack commented, then swore as they went over a bump and he hit his head.
"More like welcome courtesy of the Doctor"
"Hey! I resent that!" The Doctor pouted at rose in mock hurt.
"You
can resent it all you like. Doesn't make it not true…oh sod it, they
are too tight" Rose huffed, giving up as her wrists became sore from
the twisting.
They looked as the house came closer, they could see
now it was a richly carved manor. The silk curtains and gold trims
sparkling in the dull sunlight. It looked like and old-fashioned
Victorian design. As if it had been plucked to old earth and placed
here. Led through the carpeted entranceway, past human female slaves.
Their eyes showing their fear as they bowed at the Wardens passing.
Eventually on maid came up to them, curtsied and began to speak.
"The Master is not to be disturbed right now sir." Her voice fearful.
"I don't care, tell him now!" she scurried through some large oak doors, giving a glimpse of what looked to be a study beyond. They heard the Maids relaying the message. Then a cry and the loud crack of flesh hitting flesh. Finally the door opened to reveal a well-dressed gentleman. But his face showed him to be alien. Tentacle white braids, black lips. And sharp teeth. The Warden bowed before the alien.
"You had better have a good reason for this Dumah!"
"Forgive me master. But we found these intruders in the courtyard, near the Sultarrvec's tree" The Doctor's head looked to Dumah. Sultarrvec? That was a very old dialect, thought to be dead among the universe. The TARDIS hadn't translated it, but the Doctor remembered one of his teachers mentioning it. It was a great beast with no remorse. A Destroyer of worlds. That's what its name meant. He turned back top the situation at hand as this "Master" walked towards Rose.
"Well this is a pretty little thing" he moved Rose's face from side to side, but she wrenched her chin from his grasp, his sharp nails cutting her flesh in small scratch marks. "And strong willed too. Who sent you?"
"No one, as I told your friend here. We got lost"
"I find that hard to believe. You don't just land on Danoktor 5. You trying to find out how yield so much Cordritum?" the voice, slick almost trance like.
"Cordritum? That's the raw ore that makes up Cordritum Scordite, the most powerful engine cell."
"Hum, so you're not totally ignorant then? Well no matter. Dumah take them to the mines, if they are here to see how we produce so much….let them see if first hand." With that, the Master walked from the room back into the study, two maids went in, and came out dragging the dead body of the maid before. Rose gasped hands going to her mouth. Dumah laughed.
"Boss really is in a bad mood today. Oh well….he might replace her with you my dear, that is if you don't get sent to the Sultarrvec first" he began to laugh as he dragged them out by their chains. They were loaded back into the truck, and heading towards the dark hole that was the mine….
TBC
KITG: there you go, yet another chapter for you..