Author's Note: I didn't think it was going to take a whole chapter to do this next bit, but as usual these characters had different plans for me. The tension is starting to build and if you haven't read She Burns to know what I'm talking about here then I recommend that you do, specifically chapters 29-30.
The universe marches on...
"What do you mean that we're not on Kataa Flo Ko? What planet are we on, Doctor?" Donna asked with more anger then she intended. Her arms were wrapped around her grandfather's shoulders as they both stood looking towards the doors of the Tardis, the faint dusty landscape on the other side could have been on any of a hundred different planets.
The Doctor shook his head, slamming the doors closed before he turned and ran back up the gangway and tried to throw the lever to send the Tardis back into the vortex. There was an angry sounding whine that echoed through the ship and Donna winced when she felt the cry of pain from the Tardis echo through her mind.
"I don't think the old girl can move just now, sweetheart. Maybe we should go out and see what this place is like? Give her a little time to rest before we try to move her again."
"Something's wrong with the planet we've landed on, and I'd prefer not to stay here longer than we need to just in case we can't escape afterwards." The Doctor looked from Donna to Wilf, his fingers clenched tightly around the lever on the control console that for the moment was completely useless. He could tell just by the reading on the screen that the planet was being buffeted with massive temporal eddies and just to step foot out of the Tardis might very well drive Donna to her knees and then her guarded secret would be out.
Donna looked up at the Doctor when she felt that thought flash through his mind, her gaze softening before she shook her head and stepped up to the control console in order to bring the Doctor's attention back to the immediate matter at hand. "Doctor, let's take Gramps down to the medical bay and scan him just to make sure that he's alright before you and I go out to take a better look around…"
"Oi! You two are not leaving me behind while you go exploring on an alien planet! I've waited my entire life for an experience like this, and a small little bump on my hip isn't going to stop me from coming with you!"
I can't risk the both of you, Donna. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him or to you out there just because of this damn prophecy. He continued quickly when he felt the thunderclouds start to gather in Donna's mind, Let me explore a little bit first before you two come out. You can check on him and make sure he's alright and then we'll all go out together.
Donna shook her head, bending down to open the little drawer that held the portable medical kit in place before she pulled it out and snapped the drawer closed before returning to her grandfather's side.
"Alright Doctor, out with it? What's got you so worried about this planet that we've landed on and why won't the Tardis leave?"
The Doctor growled at her when she asked him the questions verbally, he recognized the ploy for what it was and though he couldn't fault her reasoning, he also didn't want to lay out all the concerns verbally for her grandfather to dissect before he could figure out a way around them.
Donna felt his angry withdrawal from her mind and shook her head, before she opened the medical kit and pulled out a small tube of cream that would soothe any bruising that Wilf might have from his encounter with the railing.
Wilf looked to her with a soft smile, his hand reaching up to brush her cheek softly before he muttered, "Don't worry yourself too much, sweetheart. He'll figure it out and it'll be just fine."
Donna huffed as she threw a look over her shoulder towards the Doctor who was still standing by the control console with a frustrated scowl on his face. His eyes though were riveted on the display screen and she could feel faint flashes of information from him as he scanned everything he could find about the planet that they'd mistakenly landed on. It seemed the more he read, the more confused he became and finally with a growl of frustration, he turned the screen away.
"The planet we've landed on is named Bir Tochter and it's sometime in the seventh millennium though it's hard for the Tardis to get an exact read on the date through all the interference outside. It's in a binary star system and has a breathable atmosphere with temperatures that tend to the warm side. There seems to be something of a desert-like climate out there as well, though I'm not too sure if that is completely natural."
Wilf straightened up when he heard the Doctor's words, pushing Donna's hands away and hurrying over to the control console so he could look up at the monitor that was filled with circular shapes that seemed to dance across the screen in a strangely beautiful cadence. He was distracted momentarily by what had to be the Doctor's language before he turned to the Doctor and excitedly asked, "We're in the year 6000?"
The Doctor looked at Wilf and for the first time felt a soft smile break at the older human's obvious excitement at being on his first proper adventure in the Tardis. He tried to not let himself get carried away by Wilf's infectious excitement because he was worried about what was waiting on the other side of those doors, and the warning from the augers had him convinced that nothing good would come of stepping foot onto the planet's surface.
"Give or take a few centuries, Wilf. We're somewhere in the vicinity of the year 6000, yes."
"Oh ho, would you look at that! Donna, we're in the future!"
Donna smiled at her grandfather's excitement, her eyes though were trained on the Doctor and the concerned look in his eyes as he continued to glance from the doors back to the screen. "Doctor, what is it?"
Wilf paused his excited dance when he heard Donna's question, the unusual concern in her voice caused him to look immediately from his granddaughter to the Doctor.
The Doctor seemed to be arguing with himself, his gaze darting back to Donna before he took a deep breath and answered, "The planet is riddled with temporal anomalies, Donna, the kind that will make the ones in Cardiff feel miniscule."
Donna's eyes widened when she heard the Doctor's words, her mind darting back to the pain that she'd felt when she'd first arrived in Cardiff and the horror she'd seen as those events had moved towards their ultimate unfortunate conclusion.
"Maybe the Tardis can protect me like she did before, Doctor. I can't keep living in fear of my abilities, not if I'm going to have any kind of life with you."
Wilf pushed close to Donna, his aged eyes filled with concern when he heard the fear in Donna's voice and the concern in the Doctor's words. "Now just hold on a minute, what's going on here Doctor? What has this planet got to do with my Donna?"
Donna winced when she heard her grandfather's question, her eyes rising to the Doctor's and her mind pleading with him for some guidance but for once she knew that there was no way out of the unfortunate situation in which they found themselves.
"Donna can see time, Wilf."
The Doctor's words were like a thunderclap that echoed through the Tardis with a terrible sense of finality, even the soft thrum of the ship seemed to have faded into silence while they all waited to see how the older man reacted to the Doctor's revelation.
Wilf looked from Donna to the Doctor, his first reaction was that they were having a laugh with him and that he thought that this was hardly the time for a joke of any kind. But just as he was about to open his mouth to tell them off for being cheeky, he really took in their expressions and he suddenly knew that the Doctor was being completely honest.
"I'm sorry, Doctor, but what do you mean by she can see time?"
Donna pulled away from her grandfather and leaned against the railing around the control center, her arms crossing defensively over her chest before she murmured, "I can see disturbances in time, Gramps and have been able to see them since after the Doctor rescued me from the Master's ship. It's an ability that seemed to come from having his mind in mine for as long as I did."
Wilf just stood there dumbfounded, unable to completely comprehend what Donna was saying or what exactly this ability would entail, but they weren't finished. "This planet seems to be filled with temporal disturbances and there won't be any way for Donna to be able to filter out the sensations that…"
"I'm sure the Tardis can help me with some protection just like she did before for the funeral, Doctor. I'm not going to let you go out there alone with my grandfather when I may very well be able to see something that can possibly help you find some answers as to why we're here and why this planet is so important."
Wilf turned to Donna and toddled to her side, his hands taking hers and forcing her to uncross her arms so that he could hold hands with her before he whispered, "Maybe you should stay here, sweetheart. I don't want you to be hurt by whatever's out there, especially if there's no way for you to control it. I wish you'd told me about this earlier, but now's not the time to worry about that. Now's the time to take care of you and make sure that you're safe while the Doctor and I go out to see what's going on out there."
Donna looked down at her grandfather's sweet face, his eyes were shining with his concern and she could feel the fear and worry that was filling him at the thought of her going outside and coming to any kind of harm. She squeezed his hands tightly before she shook her head and pushed away from the rail, and made her way towards the door. "Thank you, Gramps but there's no way I'm staying behind while the two of you go out to see what's going on. If anything, his gob will get him in trouble with local authorities faster than you can say 'Jelly Baby'."
The Doctor was shaking his head, but as Donna looked at him ready to retort she suddenly felt the wave of fear that washed over him as he thought of all the possible things that could go wrong. Doctor, we swore we wouldn't live in fear of what was to come when we left Bellatrix. We swore that we would do what we did best and try to help as many people as possible, like we always have. Who knows what's going on outside those doors and if those people do need help? We can't just walk away from that just because we're worried about what might happen to us. Gramps wouldn't want to walk away either, not if he knew that people might be suffering.
The Doctor took a deep breath, Donna's words as always bringing light into the darkness of his thoughts and reminding him of all that they had done together and what was most important. He would never be able to walk away when there was the possibility of people dying, and if this truly was the planet that the augers had seen in their prophecy, then he had to see if there was something wrong that he could maybe help fix. Because according to the augers, it was his fault that they were suffering in the first place. It may well be time for him to face the terrible price that his sidestepping fate had incurred.
Donna smiled when she felt the resolution settle into his thoughts, her hand reaching out to grasp her grandfather's before she began to make her way to the Tardis doors. "Come on, Gramps, let's go see what this Bir Tochter has to offer."
Wilf was concerned about going outside the ship with Donna, though he knew his little general enough to know that she wouldn't be dissuaded and that it probably was best if they all stuck together while exploring this strange new world.
"Hold on a moment, Donna. I need to do something here."
Donna paused when she heard the Doctor's words, her head turning to catch his gaze just as he stepped close to her and raised his hands to the touch points on her face. She was proud of herself for barely flinching in response to the painful memory that flashed through her mind of the last time he had touched her face in this manner, and she could see the brief look of sorrow flash through his eyes before he completely immersed himself in her mind. He very carefully built several more layers of protection in her mind even as she felt the Tardis diving painfully deep, placing sizzling layers over the Doctor's that seemed to burn through her entire body for a brief moment before they faded away.
Donna blinked open her eyes, her gaze locked on the bottomless depths of the Doctor's dark, dark eyes as he stared beyond her body and into her very soul. The flicker of a thousand stars swirled through his gaze for a brief moment before he pulled back and looked down at her with a soft smile that was at one moment tender and the next intensely possessive.
"There. That's the best we can do in a short period of time, but it should at least help you a little bit out there."
Donna was loath to pull away from the Doctor, the intimacy in his gaze blocked out any observers that they had for the moment and made her want to just stay there pressed against him rather than venturing outside of the Tardis into who knew what sort of mess.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
Donna pulled away from the Doctor and looked to her grandfather, blinking her eyes a few times when the Tardis seemed to spin around her and she stumbled against the Doctor for a moment before her equilibrium returned. She remembered this exact feeling when the Tardis had placed that extra layer of protection over her mind before, and the wobbliness was gone in a flash but it seemed to worry her grandfather enough for him to suddenly reach out to try to steady her.
"Maybe you should stay here, sweetheart. I'm really worried about you now."
"It's alright, Gramps. The Doctor and the Tardis just did something that will hopefully help me be better able to handle the temporal disturbances outside."
Wilf looked to the Doctor, his breath catching when he realized. "Wait a minute, Doctor. You're one of them Time Lords, doesn't that mean that you can see these disturbances too? Won't you be in danger as well?"
The Doctor smiled at the concern in Wilf's voice, his hand reaching for Donna's as he led the way to the doors and carefully opened them to the dusty world beyond. "Yes, Wilf, I can feel time as well though not in the same way that Donna can. I'm also a thousand years old and have been trained for several centuries in how best to process and deal with temporal disturbances. My brain works in different ways too and I can compartmentalize any uncomfortable sensations into a pocket in my mind that allows me to continue to function without allowing debilitating pain to interfere too much."
Wilf looked at the Doctor with a look of wonder on his face, once more amazed that the skinny alien could look so much like them and yet be so different on so many different levels. He then looked out beyond the Tardis doors onto a landscape that didn't look too different from some places he'd seen pictured on earth, although the twin suns that were hanging in the lower half of the sky were definitely not found anywhere on his home planet. "You're sure it's safe for us out there, Doctor? We don't need our space suits or anything? We just step outside the doors and we're on a different planet?"
The Doctor laughed softly at Wilf's question, nodding in response even as he stepped outside of the doors and felt the warmth of the planet immediately envelop him. "Yes, Wilf, just like that."
He frowned though when he didn't feel any temporal distortions, his thoughts reaching out to the Tardis to ask her to narrow her temporal field so that Donna wouldn't be surprised by suddenly stepping out from the protection of the field when she wasn't expecting it. He gasped when he felt the field of the Tardis suddenly narrow down and the temporal energy from the planet suddenly began to burn against his skin.
Donna shuddered when she felt the searing burn against the Doctor's skin shiver through their bond before he was able to completely gain control of the sensation and shunt it off into that little corner of his mind that he didn't let affect him. His hands clenched momentarily before he looked to her and held out his hand for her to join him.
"Are you coming, Donna?"
Wilf stood next to his granddaughter, his hand reaching out to take hers when he felt the brief shiver race through her body. She was standing on the edge of the doorway, her eyes darting from the Doctor to the interior of the Tardis and back again. She didn't bother to hide her sudden trepidation, which was only heightened when she felt the sensations that were buffeting the Doctor as he stood on the other side of the Tardis doorway.
"Sweetheart? You don't have to come right now. You can let us take a look around before joining us."
Donna looked to her grandfather and shook her head, "No Gramps, I'm fine. I need to stop being afraid of this."
With that, she stepped off the Tardis and onto the surface of Bir Tochter. Her eyes widened when she felt her vision suddenly expand, and terrifying swirls of energy looped off in every direction. Her hands clenched into fists as she felt the waves of temporal energy suddenly press down on her from all sides, buffeting her mind and filling it with so much sensation that she suddenly felt herself swimming on the edge of a blackout.
FOCUS ON ME, DONNA!
The Doctor's voice slammed through the cacophony that had suddenly filled Donna's mind, his thoughts forced her to swim through the chaos and rise above the waves that were intent on drowning her. She could feel her grandfather pressing close to her as well, his hands trying to steady her when she had begun to falter and had looked like she was about to pass out.
Donna lifted her hand to her temple, using that simple motion to try to focus on the Doctor's thoughts that were helping guide her towards that innate comfort she had found when they'd been on Bellatrix Prime.
She took several deep breaths, letting her mind settle and open once more to the waves of energy around her before she looked up across the barren landscape around them. She blinked when she saw the swirls and lines of force ebbing and flowing in a chaotic dance that seemed to lead towards the mountains in the distance.
"I'm alright now, it was just overwhelming at first, but I think I've got control of it now."
Wilf looked like he was about ready to force her back into the Tardis, his concern for her was so plain that she winced when she felt how frightened he was for her safety. "I wish you'd have told me about this ability of yours sooner, sweetheart. This is really too much to ask of you now."
The Doctor wrapped his arm around Donna's shoulder, his gaze concerned as she huddled into him for a moment more before she resolutely stood firm and looked around them with her unique sight. "Donna, are you sure you're up to this? The Tardis can keep us in constant communication while we go into town to see what we can learn."
Donna shook her head, her eyes looking up at the Doctor before she smiled in reply, "Yeah, Spaceman, I'm sure. I can handle this. It just took me a moment to remember what I had practiced on…"
Donna's voice trailed off as she suddenly turned to look off toward the town that was actually a lot closer than it had first seemed when they'd first looked out of the Tardis doors.
"What is it, Donna?" The Doctor tried to follow Donna's gaze, but other than the eddies of time that brushed against him, he couldn't see anything that would have distracted her.
Wilf looked from Donna to the horizon, trying to see what she was looking at but she wasn't looking towards anything in particular and her gaze seemed to be moving in a sweep that moved from the distant horizon towards the town that lay in front of them. "Sweetheart, what are you seeing?"
Donna opened her mind to the Doctor and let him see the faint golden strand that had shimmered into existence for a brief moment. It had undulated across the landscape and led directly to the town in front of them before it flickered and was swallowed by the raging temporal eddies around them. He gasped when he felt her mind merge with his, the sudden snap of her vision overlaid with his in a brief rush of vertigo but there was no mistaking that golden thread.
"It's here, Doctor. Whatever that thing is that I've been seeing for months now, it's here on this planet, right now."
The Doctor took a deep breath, his gaze darting to Wilf's when he heard the older human's sudden gasp at Donna's words but there was no denying now that they had arrived at the planet in the auger's prophecy. A prophecy that seemed to be linked to whatever it was that Donna had been seeing ever since they had stepped foot on the Ood sphere all those long months ago.
"So it would seem, Donna. There's nothing to do about it now and you're right. You've got to come with us."
The Doctor resolutely closed the Tardis doors behind him, before he turned and without a backwards glance to make sure that they were following him, began to walk towards town.