Chapter 13: Prometheus Unbound
"Guards." They were all staring up at the sky, open-mouthed. Chronotis cleared his throat, and again said, "Guards." Finally, one by one, they became aware that he was addressing them. They gazed at him in confusion. "Guards, I command you to return to Gallifrey at once. Await my orders there." They looked at one another; then shuffled off without a word.
Hera-kleos was staring at the sky as well. He said, hoarsely, "I did not intend--"
"Of course you didn't," said the Doctor. "You were just trying to save an innocent life."
"For which I am most obliged," said Chronotis, nodding graciously at the Thal. "Well, time to go home, I think."
"What's going to happen to you, Professor?" asked Rose. "Won't the guards say anything? Won't people wonder what happened to Nequamlupus?"
Chronotis smiled mysteriously. "I think it's quite likely the whole affair will blow over, and everyone will simply forget all about it." The Doctor shot him a look, but said nothing.
"I hope you're right," said Rose, sounding unconvinced. "Thank you so much for helping us." She made a little jump, and floated up to kiss Chronotis' cheek. He patted her shoulder as she drifted down.
"My dear, it was the least I could do. Goodbye." Chronotis waved at them, then disappeared through a pair of wooden doors set into a nearby wall.
"And thank you, too," said Rose to Hera-kleos. "If you hadn't shown up when you did--"
"How is it that you showed up when you did?" interjected the Doctor. "I am very curious."
The Thal stood tall and intoned, "The great Telvar built the machines that travel through time. We Thals protect our timeline. We watch Gallifrey. We follow the TARDISes. I followed the old man's TARDIS here."
Rose shook her head in wonder. "So it was just a lucky chance--a lucky chance that you got here when you did!"
"No," said Hera-kleos. "It was fate. I owed a life-debt to one of you, and service to the other. Now both are repaid, and I am free." He hoisted the cabinet, the life-sign lights still blinking green, upon his shoulder and headed towards his cylindrical black timeship.
"Wait--where are you going with that?" asked the Doctor. "Aren't you going to put it back downstairs?"
"No," said Here-kleos. "She is my woman now." He stepped inside the ship. A moment later, it vanished.
"Poor woman," said the Doctor, gazing after them. "Imagine waking up to that."
"Wouldn't be so bad," said Rose. The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. She shrugged. "I'm just saying...it's got to be better than being frozen forever. Anyway, maybe she's some horrible criminal. Perhaps we should be feeling sorry for him."
They went back to the TARDIS. Before going inside, the Doctor leaned against it for a moment and shut his eyes.
"You all right?" asked Rose.
"It's nothing, just…this was such a dismal failure," sighed the Doctor, fumbling for his key. "I put you and Chronotis in great danger, and for what purpose?" He turned the lock and went inside. "I didn't stop Jack, I didn't stop the Big Rip--"
"We stopped Jack," said Rose, following him.
The Doctor turned abruptly and gaped at her. "You…you what?"
"We stopped Jack. Me and Chronotis. You made me promise to do it, remember?"
"Rose! Whatever would I do without you?" The Doctor threw his arms about her and spun her around. Then he dashed off to the console. "Time to get out of here. Let's go and have a look at the bright, new future!"
It took Rose several seconds to catch her breath. She watched him bounce about the TARDIS, eyes bright, ringlets flying. She decided not to tell him what had happened to Jack; it seemed a shame to spoil the Doctor's delight. However, she couldn't resist asking the question that had been slowly burning in her mind. "Doctor," she asked, shyly, "who is Susan?"
"Er...why do you ask?" he replied, sounding startled.
"I accidently tripped a button on the console; it played some kind of emergency message to Susan." She shrugged. "Maybe you don't know her..."
"Susan is my granddaughter."
"Your granddaughter?"
"That really, really takes me back." The Doctor was smiling fondly, his eyes far away. "I'd forgotten I even made that recording. I think I gave her some rubbishy advice...don't panic, be optimistic--"
"I don't understand," said Rose, suddenly. "On the Restaurant at the End of the Multiverse, I actually met that Doctor, the one in the recording. He was nothing like you, nothing! When I asked him for help getting off the Restaurant, he told me to put myself out the nearest air lock!"
"Possibly he was joking," said the Doctor, uncomfortably. He pulled out his pocket watch and wound the chain about his fingers. "You've got to understand; when I was younger, I had all the usual...ah...prejudices of my people. But then I came to travel with Susan...and her friends, and then..." He stuffed the watch back into his waistcoat. "Suffice it to say, I'm not that man anymore. Rose? What's the matter?"
Rose was staring, wide-eyed and stricken. "I thought he was your future, not your past! That's why I left the Restaurant with you…I was afraid something would make you turn into that man, that horrible old man. I thought I could--I don't know--keep it from happening." She shook her head. "I'm an idiot."
"I am...touched, Rose, that you would be so motivated," said the Doctor, quietly. "But you regret your decision."
Rose looked away. "I…no, I don't regret it--"
"But you made it for the wrong reason. We can go back."
"Back?"
"To the Restaurant. We are following a linear timeline forward at the moment. If we've succeeded in our task, and restored this universe's future, we should be able to continue all the way there. It might be possible, this time, to successfully meet your Doctor. Would you like that?"
Rose had kept her promise to this Doctor. And then, single-mindedly, she had sought to rescue him. Would she leave him, now that she had found him? But still she ached for her other Doctor; the memory of that beach and his unsaid words seared her soul as if it were yesterday.
She swallowed hard. "I want to..." She glanced from side to side distractedly. She clutched at her hair. She sighed--a ragged, exhausted sigh that almost sounded like a sob. She looked into his eyes. "I...I want..."
The ellipsis hung in the air.
"A cup of tea? Me too. I'll go and put the kettle on."
Next story: "The Emerald City"
