Chapter 1: A Star Wars Moment
He looked towards his companion and felt his hearts thump with sympathy. Sometimes he like his predecessor wondered why the girl even wandered the universe with him. Her resilience to loss was astounding. He knew she loved Mickey her reactions in their year and a half together proved that. She wasn't head over heels in love with him, but still he had been her bloke. Now it was nearly a month since he had left them to stay in an alternate universe never to be seen again. And it was his fault he felt that Mickey had even considered staying to fight the parallel world battle against the Cybermen.
He had accepted Mickey aboard in spite of Rose's unvoiced objections. Strangely it seemed she wasn't holding it against him. She had mourned Mickey like he was dead for a month since they had returned to their universe. He had subtly of course tried to cheer her back up, but she remained slightly affected almost more pale than usual. Without telling her and being very firm with his adventurous ship he had guided them from grand sight to grand sight after their visit with Jackie. It had been a nice time so far and the human girl had needed it. They had visited the grand avenues of the ancient age of planet Robisher, which he was glad because of the fantastic architecture he had been able to appreciate there. It had been almost Osirian. He had for the first time himself seen the multicoloured heaven of the Four Suns on C'mm'Da. They had rested as guests his old friend the Emperor of Y'trek in his nearly continent sized palace for a week and now they were literally walking amongst the clouds.
He looked at Rose, who stood there amongst the pinkish water vapour that swirled around the force field bridge between several of the free floating grand houses of Wqrrel, the prettiest city ever to be built in free flight. They had been here for a nearly a week. He had attended a conference by several higher races attempting to make a treaty to prevent an intergalactic war between the Q'ol and the Nods. It seemed to have succeeded although the final treaty would not be signed until the next day. Meanwhile Rose had enjoyed what could best be compared with a spa visit and frequent walks like this one strolling on an nearly invisible bridge amongst the clouds. He knew she had made a few new friends amongst them a Chtonian family.
She turned towards him just as the first indications of sunset gave the clouds a more reddish tinge. "This is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen," she said with watery eyes. "It is like a clip taken out of Star Wars," she continued and looked out at the clouds again.
He wondered if she was touched by the beauty or if it was thoughts of Mickey that was making her nearly cry. "What's wrong," he asked wanting to pry but not wanting to be callous.
She studied him for a moment then shook her head, "I appreciate what you've been doing these last weeks, but I'm alright. I'll miss 'im but it was his decision. Listen you don't need to keep picking safe places to go. I'm okay really. Mickey chose to come. He chose to leave. You don't have to wrap me in cotton and fear that I'll leave ya over this. I've grieved and I am done. Everything has its time and everything dies. And Mickey might as well be."
He heard the echo of those words in his mind for a while. She could not know how important those words were to him. They were a part of the Time Lord credo. They were essential to the understanding of the universe. Complete acceptance of entropy was a requirement for a sane life. And educated or not Rose understood this he could see it clearly in her eyes. He was happy she was sharing in his life giving him such hope for the human race.
She sniffled a little bit then grinned as always uncomfortable with too much emotion. That was another quality in her he liked not one to dwell much himself. He nodded then said, "You know Rose. I haven't really been picking safe locations for us to go to. I am fully capable of and happy with living a quiet life... every once in a while at least. Conferences such as this one are just as important as running around on Earth or Justica stopping some Slitheen scheme."
She laughed clearly not believing him and looked around at the clouds again, when there was a mighty explosion behind them. They both whipped around and saw the cloud of debris and smoke rising from a now burning conference centre. He noted that the explosion had been close to or even in the building's main reactor. Which could mean that systems might lose power. Systems such as a force field bridge over the planet far below. "Run," he yelled and headed towards the unharmed building in the distance. Rose needed no more incentive and set off after him.
The bridge flickered. For a moment they were pulled at by gravity then they were on solid ground again. The flickering would increase as the building they were heading for tried to compensate for the lack of help from the other side. "This is more like it," an out of breath Rose managed to gasp out between breaths. There was another flicker for a moment his leg flailed at the air then he was gently pressed up out of the floor by the force field, still he nearly made a leg breaking stop. Rose tumbled down as well.
They scrambled back up, he was limping while Rose seemed unhurt. Then he felt it. The slow tilt of the path. He turned and looked back towards the by now burning grand house. It had housed the conference and he feared this might mean the opening of hostilities by two higher races both which had access to weaponry that could spell the death of billions of the regular universe's inhabitants as the giants of the beyond struggled with each other. More immediate was his concern that as the anti-gravity generators were failing the other end of their bridge was slowly beginning its fall towards the planet below and could very well take them with it as their path either was cancelled or tilted to a smooth slope leading only down. At least they weren't more than maybe 50 meters from their goal. There was another short flicker then he felt a shudder through his feet.
The path abruptly tilted and he was suddenly running on a dew-wet roughened force field with 60 degree inclination. He slipped and next to him so did Rose. They slid on the force field towards the now burning wreckage of the falling house when he saw it. The path wasn't flickering beyond a few feet ahead of them. It had disappeared completely. The connection between the houses had broken. He felt a rush of air around them as the path righted itself but also propelled them up. Rose screamed then they were flying through the air. He concentrated trying to avoid getting caught in the wind and drift. Somewhere nearby he sensed and heard Rose screaming in surprise then he landed with a thump on the force field path again. As did Rose thankfully.
"Are you ok?" he asked and looked the more fragile human over. She sat for a moment then nodded apparently not able to decide with she should cry or laugh. After another few seconds she got up looking and acting no worse for wear.
"We have to find out what happened," he said and headed towards the house. They had to get to the central cluster where he had parked the TARDIS.
"I should have kept my mouth shut. Practically jinxed us right there," she thought as they ran through the clouds across nearly invisible bridges going from house to house until they reached the huge central cluster building practically an over-over-sized high rise hanging in mid air. It was also the place where the Doctor had parked the TARDIS along side hundreds of other outlandish space craft. They were in the 217th century according Earth reckoning and the Doctor had claimed he had needed to attend a conference.
At first she had thought it another excuse for a milk run to help her get over Mickey. It was sweet but she would need time not sights and experiences to get over what had happened to him. Of course she had not minded all that much seeing so many interesting things and she had also suffered from strange nightmares and headaches for over a month. At least it looked like she had some of the skill of the Doctor at attracting trouble. One sentence about getting bored with the quiet and wham suddenly she was in a life threatening situation. If she recalled correctly the Doctor had mentioned that the peace talks were rather important. An attack just couldn't mean anything good and if the hurry the Doctor was in was any indication this might be more trouble than the horrible event earlier had immediately indicated. All around them rescue vehicles were diving in the direction of the fallen great house and the traffic on the more stable solid material bridges was rampant.
They ran into a corridor. She saw several aliens of a type she had never seen before, but by now too polite and experienced a traveller to gawk at them, she lamented the opportunity not being to get to know any more of the people at the resort for now. At least the last week had offered her plenty of chances to further her horizons beyond anything she had time for before. A Chtonian family had been visiting and the spidery aliens, now even more peaceful than when she had encountered them in the 51st century, had been her dinner companions every evening while the Doctor had been in meetings giving her the first experience of interacting with aliens without the Doctor nearby to help. Meanwhile the Doctor had gotten to do what he did best and talk. The Doctor slowed and began walking briskly heading for a small bluish creature reminding her of the aliens she had encountered when they had visited the end of the Earth in the future some time.
"Doctor," the blue skinned humanoid greeted him, she was not really apart of the conference and so stopped a few steps away and caught her breath while listening as always as the Doctor spoke with one of his acquaintances.
"Representative Ekka, what happened, was the conference attacked?" she heard the Doctor ask, when she suddenly had a sense of deja-vu. Had something like this happened before and why did she feel afraid?
"Unknown however the Balhoon corporation have people looking at the wreckage. This is not why I interrupted your walk. There has been requests for information on your presence here Doctor," the blue alien explained almost fidgeting. She looked around something was very wrong. She felt, she knew it. Then she noticed it. The shadows cast through the massive panorama windows as the last sunlight of the day shone across the wall. Two figures one with tentacles around his jaw but both humanoid were moving rapidly along the outside of the building. Heading their way out of sight of the Doctor.
"Doctor," she yelled. He swirled around and saw the two shadows as well when there was a massive crash and the figures clad in futuristic armour which seemed to glow from within vaulted into the room. They were both brandishing alien weapons which also gave off ominous blue glows from their barrels.
"In here," the Doctor yelled and sprang into a side passage tearing his blue friend along. She ran over as there was a whining and a blue gob of flame passed by leaving a hot blur in the air. She kept running as several more shots were fired. She skidded to a stop next to the Doctor who was looking rather lost for words and even scarier ideas. She noticed for the first time that the side passage was no more than an alcove for a pretty but useless light sculpture.
"Any ideas," the Doctor noted.
"We should use that guy as a shield," she suggested feeling that the little blue guy had been able to see their attackers for a while before she had discovered them and hadn't warned them. Added to that it looked upset at being drawn into the alcove.
"What no! Lousy human barbarian," the blue figure protested. The Doctor gave her an appalled look.
"Listen, he saw them way before I did," she argued then noticed as the Doctor surely had as well that the shooting had stopped.
"Hello in there, we'll make you an offer. You step out and accept what is coming to you, Doctor and your companion get to stay here alive and intact instead of in an ashtray," one of the aliens said. The voice sounded wet and slimy probably coming from the tentacles silhouette she had seen earlier.
"What do you want me for?" the Doctor asked giving her a surprised look. She couldn't help lifting an eyebrow.
"You've got a rather substantial price on your head dead or alive," the voice replied again. She would've sworn it had moved closer.
"And what you only do dead? So you attacked a peaceful conference, killed hundreds just to get me," the Doctor asked his anger rising.
"What are you going on about, we're legitimate bounty hunters, mate, we haven't hurt anyone... yet," the alien replied.
"If I may ask, what am I accused of doing?" the Doctor asked clearly stalling for time. She thought that maybe he hoped for some sort of response from the security forces that were posted every where. The other people had vacated the hall after the bounty hunters had attacked. The little blue alien was edging away from the Doctor heading for the back end of the alcove looking at her and the Doctor like it was equally afraid of them and the bounty hunters.
"Heh, alright if nothing else then to pass the time," the voice replied, while the Doctor gestured for her to hide behind him and the alien after having once again looked around and failed to see any way out of the alcove. "You've been wanted for crimes against sentience for quite a while now, Mr. Time Lord. Several races banded together and had you tried in absence at the Nave but that was a few hundred years ago. Fast forward to now and your sensor image is still on a tiny posting in the intergalactic bounty hunter database. We were just the lucky ones to hear about you being here for the conference and take a swing at it. I must say, I'm a bit disappointed. I'd heard that you were supposed to be quite slippery." She noticed that the voice sounded really close.
"Sorry to disappoint," the Doctor replied and edged closer to the corner seemingly preparing to jump someone probably a bounty hunter who had edged closer while they talked. She considered doing the same but was unsure how to go about it.
There was a metallic noise as if something small landing on the floor. A small square metal object bounced off the opposite wall and landed in the alcove right at her feet.
"Rose, get down," the Doctor yelled and pushed her away. There was a great white flash then she saw only darkness as she lost consciousness.
She woke up in an empty alcove. The blue skinned alien was gone as was to her horror the Doctor. There was a burnt spot on the floor right next to the Doctor's coat. She felt nauseous but she staggered over to examine it. As she lifted it off the floor there was a clatter and the sonic screwdriver landed on the stone like floor. She stared at it for a moment then grabbed it back up. She checked her pockets. She still had her cell phone and the TARDIS key. She started to walk albeit a bit wobbly. She needed to find the Doctor. They couldn't have gone far. As she passed down the corridors towards the landing bays where all the ships had been parked she began meeting aliens again and to her horror she couldn't understand them. They were talking to each other, one or two who knew her nodded politely, but she couldn't understand them. The Doctor was unconscious or possibly gone, which like during the invasion of Earth meant the TARDIS no longer translated for her.
She entered the giant landing bay and quickly found the TARDIS standing like a dwarf between huge outlandish looking space craft looking like a little piece of Earth history. She ran up to it and unlocked it. She made sure to lock it after getting in. As she had expected there was no Doctor in sight. She walked up to the console checking to see if he had left some sort of message or hint to help her. His insistence on her not being able to pilot the TARDIS and unwillingness to teach her meant that she would not be able to track the bounty hunters if they left and maybe they already had. She was unable to speak with any of the aliens in the entire universe and if what she suspected was true neither could she talk to any humans due to the changes in their language over time.
For a moment she realized how utterly dependant she was on the Doctor, for a moment she felt utterly useless. Then she sighed, shook her head and started thinking. There had to be some way something she could do. She couldn't give up. There was no other way home except through the Doctor which meant she had to get him back.