Doesn't Remind Me of Anything
Chapter Five: Changing Tactics
Thanks for your reviews of the last chapter(s) Sepik and Cassy. Cassy- thanks for wishing me luck, hope your examsare a successas well.Six exams down and 8 to go!
I have taken into consideration what you said and would like to apologise for the hastiness of the last chapter. Hopefully I have made up for that in this chapter smiles hopefully
Enjoy! Please read and review!
The Robot's surrounded Rose's cage all gazing at her inquisitively, one walked up to her and kicked her in the stomach. They all continued to stare as her body moved backwards but her head didn't move: she remained unconscious.
'Is she dead?' one robot asked another. It paused to think and looked outside the window seeing the Sucrose starting to get nearer and screeching louder, it knew she was dieing but very, very slowly.
'Not yet… but soon' they all stared as tiny little particles started to float away from her and up into the air. The robots guarding Luca were witnessing a similar event. His body lay there but no movement came from him, his cells were decaying but it was almost as though he wasn't really there.
The Doctor's harsh gaze stared down Luca's hologram as Luca stared back.
'Why do they want you, why do they want Rose?' the Doctor commanded, his voice strong and controlling, he needed to know what was going on. Luca seemed to heave a sigh.
'I am dying. They are sucking energy out of me to feed their ship.' The Doctor frowned at him,
'Their ship… is dying. It's broken?' the Doctor asked Luca whilst trying to piece this all together in his brain.
'Yes' Luca's reply came. The Doctor still seemed confused.
'But why do they need you? Your energy isn't enough to feed their ship and most of your energy is going to the Sucrose.' Luca sighed again, as though he were a teacher having to answer numerous questions, that to him, all the answers seemed perfectly obvious.
'They don't need my energy – they need my brain'
'They need your brain to power the ship… that means that the humans underneath… the blood. They've been searching for the perfect human to complete their ship…' The Doctors' voice trailed off, his immense brain power was consuming all this information – piecing it together, until he could only reach one conclusion. Luca looked up at him with the sorrow of the world in his eyes knowing what the Doctor had realised.
'The perfect human, they've found them haven't they?' The Doctor demanded to Luca, lines of anger setting in around his mouth, creasing his face.
'Yes' came Lucas' simple yet truthful reply. The Doctor stopped pacing and gazed at the wall, his body tensed and his eyes disturbed.
'It's Rose isn't it. It's Rose they need' the words escaped his mouth desperate, pleading for them not to be true. Luca seemed to wince at the Doctors' pain, feeling as though it was his fault somehow. He looked at the Doctor.
'Yes' was his reply; the single word carried the weight of the entire world on it.
'But they can't, they can't take Rose'
'I'm afraid they already have. The Sucrose swarm closer and the stench of death is increasing. They watch over us waiting for any movement. I can see into her cage from here and she has only awakened once – they attacked her and now she lies sleeping. I can see the particles float away from her, her life is slowly draining, what can I do to help Doctor?' Luca asked after he gently told him the facts.
The Doctor closed his eyes and paced the floor. He started to form a plan, it was a plan that would require timing and precision but he knew he could rely on Luca. Luca and the Doctor discussed the technicalities of the plan – one in particular, but they made a decision. The Doctor looked into the intelligence of Lucas' eyes and knew that he could trust him with his life, and Roses' life. Lucas' image started to flicker and robots came into view from behind him, tiny particles started floating up and the robots lifted a pole. Luca nodded at the Doctor who returned the sign with understanding.
'When the time is right…' the weak words escaped from Lucas' mouth before his image flickered away. They were the words that were fading away, the word of a dying creature.
'Doctor, I will do all I can to help her for you' Luca had promised, only his voice remaining, obviously moved by the torrents of emotions that tore through the man who stood in front of him. That's all he was – a man – however superior he seemed, however much knowledge he consumed and however often he saved the world didn't change that fact. He may be a Time Lord but underneath he was simply a man, with a mans' emotions and a mans' heart, it was at times like that this fact tore away at the Doctor.
The Doctor cursed himself; he cursed himself for allowing harm to come to Rose, for not knowing how to save and for loving her. It was the love for her that tore his soul apart every time she was endangered, the love that wouldn't allow him to give up – the love that consumed his mind making it impossible for him to think. Yet he knew that without her love, he was nothing – merely another being floating in time and space, barely existing. Yes, he thought, it was his love for her that gave him meaning. And because of that he could not breathe as he pictured Rose's innocent face – this fuelled him to find her.
Lucas' mind had returned to his body, and he slowly opened his eyes. Every movement drained him, he couldn't bear to live except for the promise that he made to the Doctor – if he was going to die up here, then he was going to do something good in the process. He stayed still and closed his eyes pretending to be unconscious so he could revitalise his strength. He looked at Rose on the screen that was projected into the central control room that was in front of his cage, he watched the robots continue their attack on her as he saw them come to do the same to him. He closed his eyes knowing not to fight them – he needed to save his strength, every last once of it.
If Luca could reach me from the ship, then I can reach the ship from here, the Doctor decided.But to do this he would need the Tardis – in this room, well that was simple he would have to return to the Tardis then send it to this room and then use the weakness in the signal to propel the Tardis into the ship. Yep, the Doctor thought, easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. He knew it wouldn't be really, but this is what he prided himself in – his ability to achieve the impossible. Yeah, he thought, that sums me up. With a smile on his face he set off across the hills in search of the Tardis with Stavishm following loyally behind.
The robots had fitted a drain into Roses' arm where they regularly took blood to be tested. Luca had awakened and watched sadly at the young innocent blonde girl lying on the floor, he wanted to help her so badly – but knew he couldn't make his move yet – not until the time was right. So until that moment came there was nothing Luca could do but sit back and watch the life slowly drain from Rose Tyler.
When the Doctor finally reached the Tardis he was hot and sweaty from trekking over the hills under the beating suns. He wiped his face on his sleeve, he had his jacket and coat lying over one arm as he slowly opened the Tardis doors – his arms aching. He entered to find the humming had disappeared and the lights had stopped shinning, he threw his jackets down on the floor and jogged up to the control system. He hit all the buttons willing something to work so he could move the Tardis, he used the Sonic Screwdriver on the controls but not even that could cause the machine to start. He knew the problem wasn't the controls but inside the Tardis, so he searched the Tardis for any clues. When he finally explored the engine room trying to find out what was causing these problems –he noticed a small red chip stopping the wires from connecting. The Doctor recognised the chip, it was called a de-harmoniser – he also knew that they took hours to disassemble and restart the system. The problem was that he didn't have hours, Rose was in serious danger and he knew that. He could leave the Tardis, it was only a virus, he could fix this later – after he had saved Rose, well it wasn't as though he had a choice. But he did have to figure out where the de-harmoniser had come from, why some one would want to prevent the Tardis from working. The Doctor had so many questions that needed answering but he didn't have the time or energy to answer them all. Deciding on his priorities the Doctor turned and ran back towards the underground cavern knowing it would take him longer to get back than it had taken him to get here. He had left his jackets in the Tardis which lightened his load but the suns were still strong and beat down on his neck. He could feel his skin starting to burn as he slowed his pace, he was puffing for breath now and he couldn't move his legs any faster. He stopped and leant forward leaning on his legs, he face was red and sweat was dripping off of him staining his clothes. His feet were blistered from running and his hands were blistered from trying to open the cavern. He could feel his hearts pounding in his chest and his blood hurtled around his veins causing him to feel dizzy. He lay down on the hillside knowing he wouldn't be any use to Rose in this state.
'Only for a minute' he called to Stavishm who ran along beside him seeming to never tire 'We'll only rest for a minute' he told him as he closed his eyes and imagined large waterfalls of springs of cold fresh water. Stavishm watched his master sleeping in the grass and didn't know what to do. He knew it would be rude if he awakened him because he needed to rest, he also knew that Rose needed help. An hour later the Doctor awakened by Stavishm poking him, he slowly roused himself from his mirage of cold water to remember what he was meant to be doing. He looked up at Stavishm
'How long was I out for?' he asked him
'Around an hour' he replied. The Doctor shook his head, angry with himself for napping when Rose was in such critical danger. He pulled himself to his feet ignoring the pain that lanced him with each step; he increased his pace to a brisk jog as he set back towards the cavern.
Before he finally reached the cavern the suns had lowered making the last part of journey easier and more tolerable. Upon reaching the cavern the Doctor collapsed onto the floor totally exhausted from his strenuous activity, he allowed himself to rest for a moment then he stood and started staring at the area in the wall which he had lent on that had triggered Luca to come to them. He knew there was a link between the ship and this cave; he just had to figure out what it was. However hard he thought he kept drawing up blanks, his mind and body thoroughly exhausted. Stavishm watched the Doctor impatiently for he knew the answer. He also knew it was not his place to instruct his master, and that's what was restraining him, even if Rose was in danger. After watching the Doctor fiddle with bits and bobs for minutes, Stavishm finally found the courage to speak up.
'Master, if you will forgive me for being so bold, but I had an idea' Stavishm quietly told the Doctor. The Doctor's face lit up and he gave Stavishm a half smile
'Please, any idea's better than no idea'
'I noticed that there was a lose connection in the teleport. By using some sort of wave displacer we ourselves could become part of the hologram and send ourselves up to the mother ship' The Doctors' eyes widened and Stavishm stepped back in horror fearing he had over stepped his boundary as the Doctor approached him. The Doctor raised his hand and Stavishm flinched in reply, but instead of hitting him – as Stavishm had thought – he patted him on the back.
'Genius! Genius!' The Doctor exclaimed as he started back towards the wall. Sitting on his knees the Doctor pulled out the Sonic Screwdriver and twiddled with the settings for several minutes working frantically before he shouted out
'A-ha!' The Doctor held the Sonic Screwdriver to the wall and watched as the teleport opened once again – this time empty. The Doctor grinned up at Stavishm disbelieving how easy this had been – and how he couldn't figure it out, he put it down to dehydration, yeah that must be it, the Doctor reassured himself. It had certainly been ages since he had last had a drink, yep that must be it.
'We've done it! Alright on the count of three we will both jump into that and hopefully we should be taken up there' The Doctor smiled reassuring at Stavishms' startled expression. The Doctor knew in his hearts that this might not work, that they may be taken somewhere else in time or even destroyed, but he also knew this was his only chance at getting Rose back – and no matter what the risks were he was going to get her back.
'Three' the Doctor called out excitedly
'Two' came out the cautious reply from Stavishm
'One!' The Doctor and Stavishm both jumped into the vortex. They were in the hologram for barely a split second before they arrived on the ship. Laying on the floor the Doctor looked up and grinned to the Robots that surrounded him. The robot that had named itself Amanda made her way to the Doctor.
'Doctor' her voice was filled with disdain and disgust. 'How nice of you to join us, you're just in time'. The Doctor followed her gaze to a screen; in the middle of the screen was an image of Rose lying on the floor inside a cage. She was pale and he could see the faint contours of a pool of blood surrounding her head. His body froze and his eyes became dangerous. He now understood the apprehension in Lucas' eyes when he asked of Roses' health, she looked terrible, more than terrible – critical, he understood instantly how deadly and crucial this moment was. He spoke very slowly and very clearly to Amanda but not once taking his eyes off of Rose.
'You will listen to me; you will listen to me because I am the Doctor. You may not know me and you may not fear me – yet. I am the oncoming storm, and you will feel the wrath of my rage if you do not leave this planet and give Rose back to me' the Doctor glared at Amanda, his eyes were dark and dangerous and his voice reflected this, all the tiredness had evaporated as he saw how close to death Rose seemed to be.
Amanda laughed in his face.
'We cannot return the girl. She is valuable to our research. We must use her and her supplies', Amanda replied – her voice emotionless.
'Why?' the Doctor yelled at her.
'For her blood' was the simple answer, the simple answer that answered a million questions. They needed her blood because of the power it contained, because of the traces left behind by the Tardis. Her blood wasn't human – it was tainted.
The Doctor was infuriated; his voice was as strong as the voice of any God as he raged towards the robots.
'So you tested on hundreds of thousands of humans – innocent human searching for the right blood? Just so that your ship could work? What ever happened to just calling out mechanics? This is murder, torture, a brutal butchering of one of the most magnificent races to have existed in the universe. And you - you can just carelessly murder them to fuel your ship!'
'Not to fuel, but to control' came the robotic reply. The Doctor was stunned speechless by the disgusting morals installed in these creatures' brains.
'We need not murder any more. We have found what we were looking for', the Doctor sharply looked up at them knowing they meant Rose.
'Over my dead body' he vowed with the weight of the vow felt on each word.
'That can be arranged' they replied, as all the robots turned to look at the Doctor, their arms raised and poised ready to shoot.
The Doctor looked at the hundreds of robots and then up at the image of Rose on the screen and knew there was nothing he could do; there was no non-violent way out of this. He turned to Lucas' cage and nodded. Luca understood the signal, the plan they had discussed earlier was being set into motion. This is what Luca had been saving his strength for; this was how he was going to leave his mark on this world, he meet the intense gaze of the Doctors' eyes and nodded back. He threw his head back and let out a roar as a blinding light struck the ship knocking everyone to the floor with a deafening wail.
Chapter Six: The robots remained on the floor all of them - except for one, this robot was twice the height of the others and instead of being made entirely of metal it was built of metal and human remains. Its' face was half metal that joined onto twisted flesh, he had one eye remaining and a handful of hairs scattered over its' scalp. The Doctor glared at this monster, his eyes dark and dangerous. His voice emitted the coldest vibes of hell
'Get out of my way' the Doctor commanded
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