DOCTOR WHO -
AFTERLIFE
Rose Tyler opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of the TARDIS which was swaying and humming beneath her – the time machine was in motion. Rose managed to sit up and look around. The Doctor was standing nearby, bent over the console, studying the monitor screen.
There was no sign of Mickey, or Jackie or even the chain attached to the console. Jack didn't seem to be around, either. She placed a hand to her forehead, confused. 'What happened?' she asked, looking up at the Doctor.
He glanced down at her, slightly puzzled. 'Don't you remember?'
Rose tried to concentrate past the ringing in her ears. 'It's like... there was this singing.'
The Doctor was smiling happily. 'That's right, I sang a song and the Daleks ran away!'
She smiled at the joke, and went back to trying to remember recent events. There were Daleks, more than one, she remembered that. And things were so bad, the Doctor had sent her away. 'I was at home,' she began. 'No,' she corrected herself. 'I was in the TARDIS. Then there was this light and...' Rose shook her head. 'I can't remember anything else.'
The Doctor was wondering exactly how to explain their recent adventure – not to mention Jack's death – to Rose when a strange, but coldly familiar sensation suddenly swelled up through him. He looked down at his hands, resting on the console panel. A hot, boiling orange energy was briefly visible surging through his flesh.
The smile faded off the Doctor's face. He hadn't been quick enough after all. He had to stop this, or at least pause it for him to explain to Rose. He narrowed his eyes and concentrated.
The strange glow building up under his skin throbbed brightly for the briefest of moments and then vanished, leaving a nasty stinging ache in his body. The Doctor winced, and turned to look down at his companion sadly. 'Rose Tyler,' he said at last. 'I was gonna take you to many places. Barcelona! Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place, they've got dogs with no noses! Imagine how many times a day you end up saying that joke and it's still funny!'
Rose frowned. 'Then... why can't we go there?' she asked, confused.
'Maybe you will,' said the Doctor with a philosophical shrug of his aching shoulders. 'And maybe I will. But not like this.'
Rose gave her friend a bemused smile and got to her feet. 'You're not make sense,' she told him.
'I might never make sense again,' the Doctor replied cheerfully. 'I might have two heads – or no head. Imagine me, with no head! And don't say it would be an improvement,' he told her before she could open her mouth. A look of sadness, perhaps even of fear, appeared on his face. 'But it's a bit dodgy, this process,' he confessed quietly. 'You never know what you're gonna get.'
Rose was about to demand to know what this process was when suddenly the Doctor cried out in pain, staggering backwards into one of the support pillars. For a moment orange energy seemed to surge up under the skin of his face and hands. The orange light seemed to grow brighter for a moment, then was suddenly diffusing. 'What was that?' she asked, stepping forward.
'Stand back!' the Doctor growled in pain as the last of the glow vanished. His face was screwed up in concentration, as if holding something back by will-power alone. 'Oh,' he sighed apprehensively, 'it's gonna be a big one.'
Rose was starting to feel afraid. 'Doctor, tell me what's going on!' she shouted.
The Doctor's eyes were still tightly shut. 'I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex,' he hissed through gritted teeth. He opened his eyes and assumed a reproving voice. 'And no one's meant to do that! Every cell in my body is dying,' he said quietly and more seriously than she'd ever heard him be before.
Rose stared at him in horror. She was terrified of losing the Doctor again the moment she'd found him, and this time there seemed to be nothing she could do and Jack wasn't around to help. 'But can't you do something?'
'Yeah, I'm doing it now,' the Doctor assured her before visibly shuddering in pain. 'Ouch. Time Lords have got this little trick. Sort of way of cheating death. Except,' he sighed, and this time the pain on his face was not physical. 'Except it means I'm going to change. And I'm not going to see you again. Not like this, not with this daft old face,' he added quickly with a weak smile.
Rose swallowed. She had been willing to give up everything for the Doctor, and he her. But now it was all for nothing. He was dying in front of her, like her father had, and this time she couldn't even be with him, or hold his hand.
'Before I go...'
'Don't say that!' Rose urged, as if refusing to admit the situation might somehow stop it. The Doctor had never surrendered to the inevitable before, and she wasn't about to let him do it now.
'Rose,' the Doctor said calmly, 'before I go I just want to tell you...' He shook his head, as if unable to put his feelings into words. 'You were fantastic,' he said at last with simple joy. 'Absolutely fantastic!' A look of sudden realization crossed his face. 'And you know what?' he gasped.
Rose leant forward eagerly.
The Doctor grinned at her. 'So was I!'
Rose smiled, despite herself.
Suddenly, the Doctor's head arched back, every muscle tensing. He convulsed, his arms splayed out as the strange orange glow returned to his exposed skin. But this time the Doctor was not trying to hold it back. The glowing energy burned brightly before exploding out of the Time Lord's flesh in all directions. Was it steam, or lava, that was funneling out of the neck of the Doctor's jumper and out the sleeves of his leather jacket?
The heat radiating from the Doctor's body slammed into Rose, and she staggered back, unable to do anything else but watch the energy streaming from her friend. She peered through the fountain of energy pouring up from where the Doctor's head used to be as the orange light turned an incandescent white.
Suddenly, it was all over.
The energy streamed away, fading and dispersing. The Doctor swayed on his feet, his head lurching forward to look down at Rose again. But it wasn't the Doctor Rose knew – the leather jacket, pullover and trousers were unchanged, but it was a different man wearing them.
He shook his head, blinking as the lights in the control room returned to normal. When he spoke, his voice was soft, laced with a Cockney accent unlike the old Doctor's rough Northern tones. 'Right then, there we are,' he muttered, sounding slightly dazed. 'Hello!' the newcomer said to Rose brightly, before wincing. 'Oh, new teeth,' he muttered to himself. 'That's weird. Okay, so where was I? Oh, that's right...'
The stranger turned to look back at Rose and grinned a feral grin.
'Barcelona!'
The newcomer spun and began to operate controls on the console with surprising ease. He peered into the monitor screen as he murmured, '6 p.m. Tuesday, October, 5006.' He twisted a dial on the console and the time rotor began to rise and fall with renewed energy, the lights in the walls brightening.
'On the way to Barcelona!' said the stranger cheerfully, turning to face her. 'Now then, what do I look like?' Before Rose could have answered, he held out a hand to forestall her. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't tell me! Let's see!' He glanced down at his body as if seeing for the first time. 'Two legs, two arms, two hands, slight weakness in the dorsal tubicle,' he added with a frown, massaging his right wrist. His hands crept to his head. 'Hair!' he exclaimed, overjoyed. 'I'm not bald! Ooh, big hair!' His hands moved down his face. 'Sideburns? I've got sideburns! Ooh, really bad skin...' He patted his stomach. 'Little bit thinner, that's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it.'
The stranger suddenly froze and stared at Rose with a shocked expression.
'I have got a mole,' he said at length. 'I can feel it between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right,' he confided quickly. 'I love the mole.' He smiled cheekily and turned his full attention to Rose once again. 'Go on then,' he grinned, 'tell me, what do you think?'
Rose was still gripping the coral pillar by the exit ramp and did not move. 'Who are you?' she whispered cautiously.
The stranger was slightly taken aback. 'I'm the Doctor,' he replied, as if it were obvious.
Rose shook her head, trying to find the power to speak. 'No, where... what... ?' she croaked. 'Where's the Doctor? What have you done to him?'
The stranger looked upset. 'You saw me,' he said, pointing over his shoulder to the corner of the control room where she'd last seen the Doctor. 'I changed. Right in front of you.'
Rose remembered the blaze of light. 'I saw you sort of explode,' she admitted. 'And then you replaced him like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something.' It struck her that, despite appearances, maybe the stranger wasn't a changed Doctor, but some imposter.
She left the pillar and advanced towards the man in the Doctor's clothes. 'You're not fooling me!' she snapped, shoving him in the chest. The stranger rocked on his heels but managed to keep his balance. 'I've seen all sorts of things,' she told him, remembering the other times beings had changed their forms in front of her eyes. 'Nanogenes, the Gelth, Slitheen... Oh my God, are you Slitheen?' she asked, horrified.
The newcomer's eyes darted around as if seeing anyone else she could be addressing, and when it became obvious that it was him she was addressing, he spoke, choosing his words with care. 'I'm not a Slitheen,' he said firmly.
Rose narrowed her eyes. 'Send him back,' she ordered.
The man did not move.
'I'm warning you,' she snarled. 'Send the Doctor back right now!'
The stranger held out his hands placatingly. 'Rose, it's me! It's – honestly, it's me! I was dying,' he continued gently. 'To save my own life, I changed my body. Every single cell. But it's still me.'
Rose swallowed. 'Can't be!' she insisted. She was horrified of never seeing the Doctor again, of being stuck with a new man she didn't sign up with. If he had only acted the same as before, she might had been able to cope. The thought that maybe the Doctor was dead made her stomach sick.
'Then how could I remember this?' said the maybe-Doctor, stepping forward. 'The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies, oh, such a long time ago,' he whispered with a wistful expression. 'I took your hand,' he said, slipping his cool palm around hers the way the Doctor always did. 'I said one word. Just one word, I said. Run.'
And he had. Rose remembered the madcap chase through Henricks, chased by dummies that the Doctor once told her were 'Autons'. No one else had been there but her and the Doctor. No one but him could know that.
It was true. It was all true.
'Doctor?' Rose gasped, suddenly feeling something shatter in her head.
'Hello!' crooned the stranger, this New Doctor, happily. Suddenly, he let go of her hand and was dashing around the console, boots clattering on the grilled floor. 'And we never stopped, did we?' he cried happily. 'All across the universe, running, running, running, and that one time we had to hop! Do you remember?'
Rose didn't remember that at all. But she couldn't remember anything after the TARDIS console opened in front of her. All she could do was watch the New Doctor as he began to bounce on one leg, the other tucked behind him. 'Hopping for our lives?' he prompted her hopefully. 'Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?' He realized that Rose was just staring at him and the enthusiasm seemed to drain out of him. 'Hop?' he offered meekly. 'With the... No?'
Abruptly embarrassed, the New Doctor let his leg unfold once more.
'Can you change back?' asked Rose softly.
'Do you want me to?' the New Doctor asked cautiously.
Rose forced herself to ignore his visible disappointment. 'Yes.'
'Oh!' the New Doctor replied, obviously not expecting that.
'Can you?' Rose urged.
'No,' the New Doctor admitted. 'Do you want to leave?' he asked meekly.
Rose's eyes widened. She'd never thought that the Doctor – even this new one – would not want to travel with her. 'Do you want me to leave?' she asked, horrified.
'No,' the New Doctor replied quickly. 'But, your choice. If you want to go home.' He turned back to the console and began operating the controls. There was none of the frantic joy he'd had moments before. 'Cancel Barcelona,' he announced. 'Change to: London, the Powell estate, er, let's say 24th December.' He glanced up at his companion. 'Consider it a Christmas present.'
For the second time in as many minutes, the TARDIS's flight path changed. Its spinning flight through the butterfly hues of the Time Vortex ended abruptly, freezing the police box for a moment, before it suddenly hurtled in another direction, to the Earth of 2006.
The sudden change of direction, coupled with the stress of its recent exertions, was beginning to take its toll on the time machine. Its delicately-balanced systems were no longer in their chaotic harmony, and the pressure was becoming too much for the TARDIS to compensate.
Unless the occupants were very careful, they would be in for a shock.
Rose watched the New Doctor step back from the console, the time rotor pistoning faster than before. The distant grinding of the engines sounded louder and slightly strained. 'I'm going home?' she asked gently, trying to keep up with events.
The New Doctor stood back from the console, folding his arms. For a moment he looked just like the Old Doctor, brooding over his time machine's control panel. 'Up to you,' he said simply. 'Back to your mum?' he offered. 'It's all waiting – fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast.' He broke off in realization. 'No, it's Christmas! Turkey... Although, having met your mother nut loaf may be more appropriate,' he confided to her dryly.
He was close. And his feelings for Jackie Tyler were as constant as his leather jacket. Rose realized the New Doctor was studying her intently. 'Is that a smile?' he asked suspiciously.
The question and the way the Time Lord had asked it practically forced her to smirk. 'No,' she said softly, trying to keep her expression neutral.
'That was a smile,' said the New Doctor confidently.
'No, it wasn't,' Rose insisted, biting her lips to stop her laughing.
'You smiled!' the New Doctor was grinning.
'No, I didn't!'
The New Doctor's expression suddenly soured, as if he was suddenly bored with this game. 'Ah, come on,' he complained. 'All I did was change, I didn't—' He broke off as a spasm ran through him and he doubled over. At that moment, a vibration rippled through the control room, shaking the loose cables around the console. The wheezing and groaning of the engines intensified and the vibration faded. The Doctor's new face was twisted in confusion as he straightened up again.
'What?' asked Rose, moving closer.
'I said, I didn't—' Another spasm cut him off, his limbs jerking wildly as a gagging noise ran through him. The TARDIS shook around them once more. 'Uh, oh!' the New Doctor gasped, expression bleak.
'Are you all right?' Rose asked.
The New Doctor tried to reply, and suddenly it looked like he was going to throw up. But it was not vomit that emerged from his mouth but light – golden-orange light. The light coiled and spun like a ring of cigar smoke as it wafted through the air, losing definition and fading away.
Rose eyed the energy as it finally vanished. 'What's that?' she demanded.
The New Doctor did not look at all well. 'The change is going a bit wrong,' he confessed before choking again. This spasm was so intense it left him on his knees before the console, gasping for breath. The TARDIS was trembling around them with renewed violence.
Rose suddenly felt very alone, with the Doctor and the TARDIS suddenly coming apart at the seams. Where was Jack? He couldn't be in the time machine with them, or the jolts would brought him running to the control room. Had they left him behind somewhere? Had he wanted to stay somewhere?
'Maybe we should go back?' Rose suggested, crouching down beside the New Doctor. 'Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do!'
The New Doctor shook his head, his voice strained as if speaking was an immense effort. 'Nah, he's busy!' the Time Lord insisted feverishly, managing to get to his feet before doubling over again. 'He's got plenty to do, rebuilding the Earth...'
Rose frowned. It was the first thing the New Doctor had said that didn't sound completely convincing, as if he didn't believe it himself. Before she could ask, the New Doctor was peering across at the coral edge of the circular console, in particular a small switch directly in front of him.
'Haven't used this one in years,' he rasped in surprise, and reached out to flick the control.
The malevolent shudder trembling the TARDIS around them suddenly became far more violent, tossing the time machine back and forth and hurling the New Doctor and Rose against the hard surface of the controls. Suddenly, the Time Lord was reaching out and adjusting controls, but the lurching simply became more violent.
'What are you doing?' Rose shouted over the spluttering of the engines.
'Getting a bit of speed!' the New Doctor, all trace of fatigue gone. 'Yeah, that's it! Oh, my beautiful ship, come on, faster, faster! Thatta girl! Come on, let's open up those engines!' he was shouting, moving around the console and moving more controls to maximum. 'We'll break the Time Limit!' he screamed happily.
'Stop it!' Rose snapped.
'Oh, don't be so dull!' the New Doctor snapped back at her. 'Let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that Vortex!' the Time Lord crowed, slashing his hand upwards in a karate-style gesture of rebellion. Suddenly a look of pure tear appeared on his face. 'The regeneration's going wrong,' he said in a quieter, scared voice. 'I can't help myself!' He let out a groan and slumped against the green glassy-surface of the console. 'My head hurts!' he moaned.
Rose got a curious flash of déjà vu at that.
Suddenly, the New Doctor was straightening up, grinning insanely, his eyes wide and gleaming. 'Faster! You can do it!' he roared, and snapped another set of controls to their limit. A distant whining of power became audible, getting louder and louder.
Suddenly a strange noise, like church bells began to ring around the control room. But the noise was strange, distorted, and Rose felt scared – especially when it was joined by what sounded like an old-fashioned fire alarm. 'What's that?' Rose demanded.
The New Doctor joined her and overloaded yet another control. 'We're going to crash land!' he explained, deliriously happily. A burst of shrill laughter emerged from his throat, being lost under the bell chimes and the pained rumbling of the engines.
'Do something!' Rose urged.
The New Doctor was dashing around the panels, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. 'Too late,' he called back. 'It's out of control!' He was laughing again. 'Oh I love it!' he shouted, jumping for joy. 'Hot dog!'
Rose realized her grip on the console was starting to loosen as the chamber vibrated like a tuning fork. The wheezing and groaning of the engines was now a roaring scream of agony. 'You're going to kill us!' she shouted at the New Doctor.
The New Doctor didn't seem to hear her. 'Hold on tight, here we go!' he was shouting as the time rotor blurred with the speed of its movement. The engine noise was twisting and become the grating pulsation of landing, but too fast, too loud.
The stranger who had replaced the Doctor was laughing like a madman.
'Christmas Eve!'
A sudden, shocking jolt rippled through the framework of the console room and Rose was flung away from the console. Luckily some of the railing that partially circled the control deck were lined with rubber foam, so she was not injured as she slammed against them. The New Doctor was laughing even louder. 'Whoops!' he exclaimed, twisting a fresh set of controls.
Instantly, there was another jolt, this time from the opposite direction. Gritting her teeth, Rose was able to hang on to the rough railings behind her and stop herself being propelled back into the console. The New Doctor wasn't so lucky and slammed straight into one of the pillars, winding him. The engine noises were finally, agonizingly, reaching their usual oscillating drone.
Another jolt.
Rose's fingertips finally came free and she landed heavily on the grating she'd been lying on only minutes earlier. Digging her fingertips through the metallic lattice, she found herself peering at the mechanisms below she'd never really looked at before. There was a sickly electrical flickering and sparks were belching out from circuit boards.
There was one, final shuddering jolt and the engine noises rattled into silence and the room was still at last. Even the threadbare humming of the control room was gone. Rose lay where she was, suddenly too tired and exhausted to do anything else. A wave of near-despair washed over her as the memory of the Doctor changing filled her mind, unwanted and unbidden.
Dimly she was aware of the New Doctor staggering down the ramp in the direction of the white-painted exit doors. He wrenched the nearest open and peered out, leaning against the other to support his weight. He hadn't even as much as glanced at the controls – not that that would do him any good, as most of them were now inoperable. But the fact remains he might have stepped out into hard vacuum, and it was incredibly fortunate he was even able to breathe, let along survive.
She could hear his dazed voice – the mania had faded if not disappeared. 'Here we are, then,' he exclaimed over his shoulder. 'London! Earth! The Solar System! We did it!' Unsteadily he staggered through the doorway and the panel creaked shut, leaving Rose behind.
For a moment she wanted to just lie where she was, fall asleep and wake up again to find everything was all right and normal. But she couldn't risk letting the Doctor, new or old, wander into traffic. With effort, she forced her numb fingers to release the grated flooring and stiffly got to her feet. Numb patches on her arms and legs were becoming bruises.
Distantly, she could make out the Doctor was still talking. 'Jackie! Blimey!'
That was some consolation at least. She was back home. Her mother and boyfriend were probably worried sick about her, having spent a month wondering what had happened after wrenching open the TARDIS console.
'No, no, no, no, hold on,' the Doctor's muffled voice continued. 'Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on... Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush... Oh!' he shouted in sudden alarm.
Worried, Rose hobbled down the ramp towards the doors as his voice continued brightly – and slightly out of breath. 'I know! Merry Christmas!'
Rose let out a relieved sigh. Then, summoning her resolve, she pulled open the door and stepped out of the gloomy, silent TARDIS and all the madness contained therein.
She stepped out into the plaza of the Powell Estate, decked out with tinsel and lights. Steam wafted from scorch marks on patches of walls, each one higher than the last. A post van sat in the middle of the street, smoke pouring from the engine and a horrified-looking driver stumbling off out of view, shaking his head. The TARDIS stood on the corner, surrounded by two overturned metal bins whose contents were scattered across the corner.
Before her stood Mickey Smith and Jackie Tyler, the former in his mechanic's overalls and a beanie. They were crouched over the body of the New Doctor, who lay sprawled on the cold pavement in his oversized outfit. His eyes were closed and he didn't seem to be breathing.
'What happened? Is he alright?' asked Rose, concerned despite herself.
Mickey shook his head, glancing down at the unconscious figure before him. 'I don't know,' he admitted. 'He just keeled over! But who is he? Where's the Doctor?'
Rose suddenly wished she had the option of lying. 'That's him,' she said at last, steeling herself. 'Right in front of you. That's the Doctor.'
Her mother looked up at her, eyes wide – afraid and confused. 'What d'you mean, "that's the Doctor"?' she asked in a daze. 'Doctor who?' she demanded, but instantly winced as if regretting the foolishness of her question.
There was only one Doctor Rose was interested in.
But it wasn't the one lying on the ground before her, so still he could be mistaken for dead...
BASED ON SCRIPTS BY RUSSELL T DAVIS