In the TARDIS, Martha sat demurely while the Doctor and I flipped a few levers. He was in a good mood about our next travel destination.
"Just one trip. 'S'what I said. One trip, in the TARDIS, and then home. Although – I suppose we could – stretch the definition. Try one trip to the past, one trip to the future. How do you fancy that?" he asked her.
"No complaints from me!" she said thrilled.
"How about a different planet?" he asked her.
"Can we go to yours?" she asked and I watched his excitement ebb away from his eyes immediately and he turned away from her.
"Ahh, there's plenty of other places!" he told her.
"Come on, though! I mean, Planet of the Time Lords, that's got to be worth a look! What's it like?" she asked him.
"Well, it's beautiful, yeah." He agreed.
"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?" she asked and I laughed lightly.
"Suppose it is." He told her.
"Great big temples and cathedrals!" she said imagining the planet he was clearly avoiding talking about, but Martha was oblivious lost in her cheerful imagination.
"Yeah." He said.
"Lots of planets in the sky?" she asked.
"Not quite." I said with a sad smile on my face.
"The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever – slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow." The Doctor told her.
"Can we go there?" she asked him.
"Naah! Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home! Instead …" he began to dance around the main console, tweaking setting as he went with me fixing them if he made a mistake.
"This is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built." The Doctor told her throwing on his overcoat and leading us out of the TARDIS into a pouring rain shower. Martha scowled at him and hurriedly zipped up her jacket.
"Oh, that's nice! Time Lord version of dazzling." She said sarcastically.
"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover!" he told her and we all moved to another area. We dashed through a junk-ridden street, past what looked like giant dumpsters and old laundry swinging from a line.
"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me. On a Wednesday afternoon." Martha told him.
"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look." He went to a dead screen on the wall and used the sonic screwdriver to turn it on. Once static appeared the Doctor banged on the top of the screen and a woman flickered into view.
"– and the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." The woman said. The image on the screen shifted to reveal the gorgeous spired city of New New York on the coast of a large river with sleek flying vehicles zooming in the air.
"Oh, that's more like it! That's the New we had last time. This must be the lower levels. Down in the base of the tower, some sort of under-city." The Doctor said looking around slightly.
"You've brought me to the slums?" she asked smiling.
"Much more interesting! It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city." He told her.
"You'd enjoy anything." She said lovingly cause me to give her another glare.
"That's me. Oh, the rain's stopping! Better and better!" he said stepping out from under the awning we were under.
"When you say "last time", was that you two and Rose?" Martha asked slowly.
"No. It was just the two of us." I told her. "Rose was back home with my mum." A man suddenly flipped open the top of a large green box to reveal a street vender's cart. Many others do the same, appearing and shouting out their wares.
"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there? Happy! You want Happy!" the first one said.
"Customers! Customers! We've got customers!" a second one said.
"We're in business! Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read!" a third said.
"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!" the first called out to us again.
"Anger! Buy some Anger!" the second said.
"Get some Mellow, makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long!" the third said.
"Younger, them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?" the first asked.
"No, thanks." The Doctor said frowning at them.
"Are they selling drugs?" Martha asked.
"I think they're selling moods." He told her.
"Same thing, isn't it?" she asked him. Other, more bedragged-looking people walk into the alleyway behind us. These newcomers drew more cries from the pharmacists. A pale woman dressed in very dark clothes walks with intent toward the stalls.
"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!" the third vender called.
"Oy! Oy, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" the first called out.
"Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?" the third vender asked her.
"I want to buy Forget." The woman told her.
"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much you want forgetting?" the vender asked.
"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway." She said as though it explained everything.
"Oh, that's so sweet." The woman told her before reaching behind her into the stall and pulled out a small circular token before holding it out to the pale woman. "Try this. Forget Forty-three. That's twopence." The woman payed the pharmacist and turned away, the token still in her hand. Before she could do anything with it the Doctor stopped her.
"Sorry, but – hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?" he asked her.
"They drove off." She told him.
"My mum used to do that all the time." I told her.
"They might drive back." The Doctor said.
"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them." She told us.
"But they can't have gone far. You could find them." The Doctor told her. She just looked at him before looking down with a sigh before sticking the circular token to her neck.
"No, no – no, don't!" the Doctor tried stopping her but it was too late. Once the token was applied the woman's expression changes almost instantly. She seemed docile, serene; a bit out of it, but blissfully unaware of her surroundings.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked with a smile.
"Your parents. Your mother and father. They're on the motorway." He reminded her.
"Are they? That's nice." She asked. "I'm sorry. I won't keep you." We watched her go with a frown on our faces.
"So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals." Martha said. Suddenly, a man came up behind Martha and grabbed her around her neck and started dragging her off as a women stood in front of them pointing a gun at us. I pulled out my gun and pointed it at them as Martha screamed and struggled and they retreated.
"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all." The man told us.
"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, I can help. Both of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go!" the Doctor cried to them desperately trying to get her back.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry." The woman repeated her apology, almost crying, until the couple disappeared with Martha in their clutches slamming a large green door behind them. The Doctor bared his teeth in frustration and began to wrestle with the door.
"Move!" I told him before I shot the door handle and pulled the door open, running after the kidnappers. We dashed through a corridor before rushing out onto a fire escape to see a car rising into the air and taking off.
"Martha!" the Doctor yelled frantically as the vehicle sped off down the small alleyway and out of sight. We ran back to the venders and the Doctor pounded on the door of one of the now-closed stalls. If quickly flipped open to reveal the vender who sold Forget to the woman. Seeing us she grinned broadly and leaned towards us over the countertop.
"Thought you'd come back! Do you want some happy Happy?" she asked us.
"Those people – who were they? Where did they take her?" he asked ignoring her question.
"They've taken her to the motorway." One of the other venders said.
"Looked like carjackers to me." The woman in front of us said.
"I'd give up now, darling. You won't see her again." Another said.
"Used to be thriving in this place. You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end." The second one said.
"He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?" the Doctor asked them.
"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults." The vender told us.
"This motorway – how do I get there?" The Doctor asked them.
"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You can't miss it." She told us and we moved in that direction, not losing a second.
"Tell you what – how 'bout some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love!" she said trying to sell her wares. The Doctor grew angry and turned back to them.
"Word of advice, all of you. Cash up. Close down. And pack your bags." He told them.
"Why's that, then?" she asked us.
"Because as soon as we've found her, alive and well – and we will find her, alive and well – then we're coming back. And this street is closing. Tonight!" he told them.
"And how do you plan on forcing us out?" one of them asked. I pulled out my gun and shot the ground.
"That'd be my department." I told them before the two of us left for the motorway.
In a dilapidated corridor, near an old sign reading "MOTORWAY ACCESS," the sonic screwdriver buzzed in the dim light as the Doctor forced open a large door. The lock opened with a loud clang and we stepped through onto a platform. We coughed, now in an atmosphere filled with heavy smoke from the exhaust of several thousand cars, all hovering in the air in the most terrible traffic jam in the universe. Right in front of us, the door to one of the floating vehicles opens, and a large figure covered in protective gear leaned out.
"Hey! You daft little street strut! What are you doing, standing there? Either get out or get in! Come on!" the man called out to us. We jumped into the car as we coughed up a storm. "Did you ever see the like?"
"Here you go." the woman in the car handed the Doctor an oxygen mask, and he took it gratefully.
"Just standing there, breathing it in!" the man said as he pulled off his goggles, cap and scarf revealing he was a cat person. "There's this story says back in the old days, on Junction Forty-Seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet!"
"Oh, you're making it up." The woman said smiling at him as the man got into the front seat.
"A fifty-foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose." He told her.
"Stop it. That's disgusting." She told him.
"What? Did you never pick your nose?" he joked with her. The woman suddenly sat up straight and tapped the man on the arm.
"Bran, we're moving!" she told him.
"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." Bran said sitting in the driver's seat right. He pulled a lever on the console and we moved forward. We didn't go far though and after a couple seconds Bran drew the lever back. "Twenty yards! We're having a good day." The woman smiled and they both turned back to regard us. "And who might you be, sir? Very well-dressed for a hitchhiker."
"Thanks. Sorry, I'm the Doctor and this is my wife the Hunter." The Doctor said taking off the oxygen and handing it to me.
"Medical man and the misses! Ha-ha! My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie." He introduced.
"Nice to meet you." Valerie said.
"And that's the rest of the family behind you." Brannigan told us and we turned and the Doctor drew a curtain behind us, revealing a basket of adorable mewling kittens.
"Aww, that's nice. Hello." The Doctor said before reaching gently out to them and turned back to the proud parents with a tiny black cat in his hands.
"They're beautiful. How old are they?" I asked them.
"Just two months." Valerie told me.
"Poor little souls. They've never known the ground beneath their paws." Brannigan said and we looked at him confused. "Children of the motorway."
"What, they were born in here?" the Doctor asked.
"We couldn't stop. We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance." Valerie said.
"What? You've been driving for two months?" the Doctor asked them.
"Do I look like a teenager? We've been driving for twelve years now." Brannigan told us.
"What?" I asked not believing what I'd just heard.
"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds! Feels like yesterday." Brannigan said smiling at his wife.
"Feels like twelve years to me." Valerie told him.
"Ahh, sweetheart, but you're still lovely." Brannigan said tickling her making her giggle, their troubles forgotten.
"Twelve years?! How far did you come? Where did you start?" the Doctor asked him.
"Battery Park. It's five miles back." Brannigan told us.
"You travelled five miles in twelve years?" The Doctor asked in disbelief.
"I've heard of bad traffic jams but that's unbelievable." I said.
"I think they're a bit slow." Brannigan said to his wife as the Doctor reached behind him and putting the kitten back with its siblings.
"Where are you from?" she asked us.
"Never mind that, I've got to get out. Our friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. We should get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor said before pulling the door open next to him. The small area we'd been standing on was gone and he was met with a cloud of smoke.
"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by." Brannigan told us as the Doctor coughed and closed the door. "You're a passenger now, Sonny Jim!"
"When's the next lay-by?" The Doctor asked urgently.
"Oh … six months?" he guessed and the Doctor turned away angrily. He then pushed his way through the couples decorating and used his sonic screwdriver on the screen with the insignia of the New New York Police Department.
"I need to talk to the police." He said into the transmitter.
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." A computerized voice said as the words also appear typed on the screen.
"But you're the police!" he said to the voice.
"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." It repeated. The Doctor scrambled up to the front of the car to the rest of us.
"Is there anyone else? We once met the Duke of Manhattan; is there any way of getting through to him?" he asked them.
"We did?" I asked him.
"You were taken over by Cassandra." He reminded me.
"Ah yes, I remember now." I told him.
"Oh, now, ain't you lordly?" Brannigan said ignoring our quiet conversation.
"We've got to find our friend." He insisted.
"You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed." Valerie told us.
"Not the city then." I said.
"What about the other cars?" the Doctor asked then.
"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list. Now, let's see – who's nearby? Ahh! The Cassini sisters!" Brannigan said calling the sisters before holding up the transmitter. "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here."
"Get off the line, Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace." One of them told him.
"Oh, come on, now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" he asked her.
"You know full well we're not sisters. We're married." She told him.
"Oooh, stop that modern talk! I'm an old-fashioned cat." Brannigan said making Valerie laugh quietly. "Now, I've got hitchhikers here, calls himself the Doctor and herself the Hunter." He then handed the transmitter to the Doctor who grabbed it hurriedly.
"Hello. Sorry. We're looking for someone called Martha Jones. She's been carjacked. She's inside one of these vehicles, but we don't know which one." He explained to them.
"Wait a minute." Another voice said. "Could I ask, what entrance did they use?"
"Where were we?" the Doctor asked the pair in front of us.
"Pharmacy Town." Brannigan answered.
"Pharmacy Town, about twenty minutes ago." The Doctor said hopefully.
"Let's have a look. In the last half hour, fifty-three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction." She told us.
"Anything more specific?" he asked her.
"All in good time. Was she car-jacked by two people?" she asked us.
"Yes, she was, yeah." I said happily.
"There we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four six five diamond six." She told us with her voice filled with triumph.
"That's it! So how do we find them?" the Doctor asked her happily.
"Ah. Now, there I'm afraid I can't help." She told us.
"Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six." The Doctor said.
"Not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class." Brannigan told us.
"What if they're not in the fast lane?" I asked him.
"They are designated for the fast lane. We can't speak to them." He insisted and I growled in annoyance.
"You could try the police." One of the Cassini women
"They put me on hold." He told her.
"You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else." The other wife told us.
"Thank you." The Doctor said handing the transmitter back to Brannigan. "We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down."
"Not a million years." Brannigan refused.
"You've got more than three passengers!" the Doctor reminded him.
"I'm still not going." He insisted.
"She's alone, and she's lost. She doesn't belong on this planet, and it's all my fault. I'm asking you, Brannigan – take me down." The Doctor ordered him.
"That's a no. And that's final. I'm not risking the children down there." Valerie told us and we shared a confused look.
"What do you mean risk the children?" I asked her.
"We're not discussing it! The conversation is closed!" she insisted.
"So we keep on driving." The Doctor said.
"Yes, we do." Brannigan agreed.
"For how long?" the Doctor asked him.
"'Till the journey's end." Brannigan told us.
"And how long will that take?" I asked him. "Until you have multiple generations all cramped in this little car?" no one answered me as the Doctor reached over Brannigan to snatch the transmitter.
"Mrs. Cassini, this is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?" he asked them.
"Oh, we were amongst the first. It's been twenty-three years now." One of them told us.
"And in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?" he asked the women. Valerie and Brannigan looked disquieted that he was bringing this little fact to light.
"I'm not sure." One of the wives said.
"Look at your notes. Any police?" the Doctor asked them.
"Not as such." She said sounding upset.
"Or an ambulance? Rescue service? Anything official? Ever?" the Doctor asked them.
"I can't keep a note of everything." She told him.
"What if there's no one out there?" the Doctor asked before Brannigan reached up and angrily took the transmitter away from him.
"Stop it. The Cassinis were doing you a favor." Brannigan said putting the transmitter away.
"Someone's got to ask. 'Cause you might not talk about it, but it's there. In your eyes." The Doctor said and you could defiantly see it in their eyes. "What if the traffic jam never stops?"
"There's a whole city above us. The mighty city-state of New New York. They wouldn't just leave us." Brannigan insisted.
"In that case, where are they? Hmm? What if there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing? Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round, never stopping? Forever?" the Doctor asked the couple.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Valerie shouted at him just before the screen at the front of the car blared to life.
"This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation." The blonde on the screen said.
"You think you know us so well, Doctor. But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other." Brannigan said sharing a smile with Valerie.
"This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe."
"On a hill, far away Stood an old, rugged cross The emblem of suffering and shame And I love that old cross Where the dearest and best For a world of lost sinners was slain So I'll cherish the old, rugged cross, rugged cross Till my trophies at last I lay down, I lay down I will cling to the old, rugged cross, rugged cross And exchange it some day for a crown." The pair in front of us sang along with the rest of the motorway. I looked to the Doctor and nodded to the plan in his eyes.
"If you won't take us, we'll go down on our own." The Doctor told them as we scrambled to the middle of the car. The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and inspected the floor for a way down.
"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan asked us.
"Finding our own way. We usually do." The Doctor told him before pulling a floor in the bottom of the car open.
"Capsule open." The electronic voice said. Valerie and Brannigan looked at us in horror as we looked down at the hundreds of cars below us. One pulled up right under us and we prepared to jump down.
"Ready when you are." I told him.
"Here we go." The Doctor said before taking off his overcoat and throwing it to our hosts. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat."
"But you can't jump!" Valerie told us.
"If it's any consolation, Valerie, right now, I'm having kittens." The Doctor told her.
"You can't imagine the pain." I told him remembering when I gave birth to our children.
"This Martha – she must mean an awful lot to you." Brannigan told us.
"Hardly know her. We were was too busy showing off. And we lied to her. Couldn't help it, just lied." The Doctor said before looking up at them. "Bye then!" he jumped down first, landing on the top of the next car and I followed coughing from the fumes. The Doctor drew the sonic screwdriver across the top of the car we landed on opening the top door. We dropped into the car finding a man dressed in all white and looking very pale.
"Capsule open."
"Who the hell are you?" the man asked us.
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol. We're doing a survey. How are you enjoying your motorway?" the Doctor asked him as he turned to the floor and began to open the bottom door.
"Well, not very much. Junction Five's been closed for three years!" he told us.
"Thank you. Your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!" the Doctor told him as he opened the door and I leapt through to the next car still coughing. We used the excuse in the next car as well before grabbing a couple of handkerchief and handing me one and I tied it over my mouth to try and protect us from the fumes.
"Do you mind if we borrow these? Thank you very much." He said as we went down again into a car with two naked drivers, who look at us in utter shock.
"Oh! Don't mind us." The Doctor told them before we dropped into the next one, which was lit all in red, with a very large man in the front. The Doctor saluted him and we jumped through this car as well. And kept going down all the way to the bottom layer. In the last car we saw a businessman in pinstripes.
"Capsule open." We jumped down coughing hard.
"'Scuse me, is that legal?" the man asked us.
"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol." The Doctor said but he started coughing too hard to finish his spiel. "Whatever. Have you got any water?"
"Certainly. Never let it be said I've lost my manners." The man reached over to a water cooler and filled a cone-shaped clear plastic cup and handing it to the Doctor who handed it to me. I drained it immediately to before handing it back to the man who filled it once more.
"Is this the last layer?" I asked him.
"Ah, we're right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane." He told us.
"Can we drive down?" the Doctor asked once he caught his breath.
"I'm quite happy here." He said slightly nervous.
"There are three of us. We can go down and get to where ever you want to go faster." I said trying to convince him.
"I don't mind being here." He said looking out the front of his vehicle again.
"If you'll excuse me then." The Doctor said running to the door in the bottom of the car, using his sonic screwdriver to flip it open.
"You can't jump. It's a thousand feet down!" the man said
"No, I just want to look." He told him as he opened the panel. We stared down out into a thick, murky fog, dotted with tiny light. Faintly, from the distance, came a loud screeching roar. "What's that noise?"
"I try not to think about it." The man told us.
"I want to know what those light are." I told the Doctor staring down at them.
"We just need to see." The Doctor told him before running up to the screen in the front of the car and point his screwdriver at the display getting manic thinking of ideas. "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze." He pulled out some wiring from the front console until one of the wires snapped in his fingers. "That's it! Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a good look." The three of us then looked out from the bottom of the car as the fog cleared up.
"What are those shapes?" the man asked as huge snapping claws materialized in the fading smoke.
"They're alive." The Doctor said.
"What the hell are they?" the man asked. We watched as the fog cleared up to show large crabs under us making the lights we'd seen their eyes.
"They" now appear to be extremely large crabs. The lights are their eyes.
"Macra." The Doctor said shocked.
"I thought they all died out." I said remembering our lessons at the academy.
"Apparently not." The Doctor commented.
"What are Macra?" the man asked us.
"The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy. Gas. They fed off gas, the filthier the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food." The Doctor explained.
"They don't exactly look like empire-builders to me." The man said.
"That was billions of years ago." I told him.
"They must've devolved down the years and now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and our friend's down there." A clank at the top of the man's car made us all look up.
"Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness's sake!" the man said as feet dangled down and a woman dropped into the vehicle with us.
"We've invented a sport!" the Doctor said excitedly.
"Doctor, Hunter, you're a hard couple to find." The woman told us, gun in hand.
"No guns! I'm not having guns!" the man said pointing at the gun in her hand.
"I've had a gun on me this entire time." I said and he groaned.
"I only brought this in case of pirates." She told him before turning to us. "Doctor, Hunter, you've got to come with me."
"Do we know you?" the Doctor asked her.
"You haven't aged at all. Time has been less kind to me." She said looking down slightly.
"Novice Hame!" the Doctor embraced her grinning. "No, hold on, get off." He pushed her away angrily. "Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation."
"I've sought forgiveness, Doctor, for so many years, under his guidance. And if you come with me, I might finally be able to redeem myself." She told him.
"Who's guidance?" I asked her but the Doctor had another topic in mind.
"I'm not going anywhere. You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra! And if my friend's still alive, she's stuck down there!" the Doctor told her.
"You've got to come with me right now!" Novice Hame insisted.
"No, no, no, you're coming with us. We're going down there to get her." He told her
"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." She told him before tying our hands together and grabbing and pressing a button on the green-lit metal wristband she was wearing.
"Transport." She said.
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" he shouted at her and as we screamed she teleported us out of the car. I groaned before untying my wrist from the Doctor's and sitting up. I looked around us to see a large yet unkempt room. It was dusty, junk laying everywhere and streams of light were flooding in irregularly. "Oh! Rough teleport. Ow." The Doctor said as I helped him stand. "But you can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Martha."
"I only had the power for one trip." She told him.
"Then get some more! Where are we?" he asked as he took a good look around us.
"High above, in the over-city." She informed us.
"Good! 'Cause you can tell the Senate of New New York I'd like a word. They've got thousands of people trapped on the motorway! Millions!" he shouted at her.
"Where are we?" I asked. "What building?"
"The Senate. May the goddess Santori bless them." We looked up and sure enough, there were long rows of seats in a vast chamber. All of them containing skeletons. "They died. The city died."
"How long's it been like this?" he asked her.
"Twenty-four years." She answered as we started to walk towards a skeleton, lying on the ground. The Doctor knelt next to it disturbed by the sight.
"All of them? Everyone?" he asked her.
"What happened?" I asked.
"A new chemical. A new mood. They called it Bliss." He knelt next to him and reached down, picking up a small circular token just like the ones the venders were selling when we first arrived. On it was written BLISS. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished — even the virus, in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, Doctor. They were saved." They were both standing now.
"So the whole thing down there is running on automatic?" he asked her.
"There's not enough power to get them out. We did all we could to stop the system from choking." She told him.
"Who's "we"? How did you survive the outbreak?" I asked her.
"He protected me. And he has waited for you, these long years." She said brightly.
"Doctor. Hunter." A low grumbling voice spoke to us. The Doctor and I turned and dashed over to see the Face of Boe. We knelt in front of him so we could speak on the same level.
"The Face of Boe!" the Doctor said.
"I knew you would come." He told us.
"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse, as penance for my sins." Novice Hame told us.
"Old friend, what happened to you?" The Doctor asked him.
"Failing." He told us.
"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke. But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea." Novice Hame said.
"So he saved them." I said with a smile looking at the wires laying everywhere.
"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running." She explained.
"But there are planets out there. You could have called for help." The Doctor said.
"The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years." She said. The Doctor looked back to the Face of Boe before standing up.
"So the two of you stayed here — on your own, for all these years." He says.
"We had no choice." She said. The Doctor offered her a comfort with a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, you did." He told her.
"We always have a choice. You made the right one this time." I said with a smile on my face.
"Save them, Doctor. Save them." The Face of Boe said. The Doctor went over to a screen with his specs on.
"Car Four Six Five Diamond Six — it still registers! That's Martha. I knew she was good. Novice Hame, hold that in place. Hunter with me." The Doctor said. The Doctor handed me a thick tubing and ran along its length, jumping over a box of lights and buttons as I did what I needed to on my end. "Think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity beds."
"There isn't enough power." I called to him looking at a screen close to me.
"Ah, we've got power! You've got me! I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch." He reminded me and I gave him a look.
"With some maybe." I said with a smile on my face.
"Hame, every switch on that bank, up to maximum!" she did as she said as I checked all the wires. "I can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people." He banged his fist against the console and jumped up as I ran to him.
"So what are you going to do?" Novice Hame said.
"This!" he and I flipped a two-meter-long switch on the floor, and all the lights on the consoles go out.
"No, no no no no, no!" he knelt on the floor again, waving his sonic screwdriver at another set of controls.
"The transformers are blocked." He said.
"The signal can't get through." He said hitting the console next to me.
"Doctor … Hunter…" the Face of Boe said.
"Yeah, hold on, not now." The Doctor told him.
"I give you my last …" the Face of Boe let out a long, rasping breath, and every console switched back on. Everything was working. Everything was powered. The Doctor leapt up again, suddenly illuminated as I laughed.
"Hame, look after him! Don't you go dying on me, you big old face. You've got to see this." The Doctor told him as we flicked the huge switch again. "The open road."
"Hah!" we said together and the screens showed us the doors opening on the motorway.
"We did it!" I said excitedly as the Doctor went to a transmitter and did an open broadcast.
"Sorry, no Sally Calypso, she was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you, the whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast! We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oy! Car Four Six Five Diamond Six! Martha! Drive up! You've got access above! Now go!" we watched the proceeding from a viewscreen as people left the motorway. "You keep driving, Brannigan, all the way up! 'Cause it's here, just waiting for you." The Doctor said into the transmitter before grabbing my hand and dancing over to a window to look out at the over-city. "The city of New New York. And it's yours." I smiled at the truly gorgeous sight. Everywhere, cars were rising out of the under-city and flying around the abandoned skyscrapers. "And don't forget — I want that coat back."
"I reckon that's a fair bargain, sir." Brannigan laughed over the transmitter.
"And Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate." The Doctor told them.
"On my way!" Martha said happily.
"It's been quite a while since we saw you, Martha Jones." The Doctor told her.
"Doctor! Hunter!" Novice Hame called to us. We looked to them as we heard the case that enclosed him began to crack. We walked to him as the case shattered and knelt beside him.
"Doctor?" Martha called out.
"Over here." The Doctor called to her.
"Doctor!" she called out and we could hear her running to us. "What happened out there? What's that?" we turned to see her looking at us confused.
"It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry." The Doctor told her and she slowly approached us. "He's the one that saved you, not me."
"My lord gave his life to save the city." Novice Hame told her as she knelt next to Novice Hame, reverent. "And now he's dying."
"No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left." The Doctor said denying the fact once more.
"It's good to breathe the air once more." The Face of Boe said and I smiled at him.
"Who is he?" Martha asked us.
"We don't know." I told her.
"Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now." The Doctor told him.
"Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most." The Face of Boe reminded him.
"The legend says more." Novice Hame told us.
"Don't. There's no need for that." The Doctor told her.
"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to two travelers." Novice Hame said.
"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" the Doctor asked.
"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind — as you are the last two of yours, Doctor, Hunter." The Face of Boe told us. This was hitting us harder than we thought it would.
"That's why we have to survive. All of us. Don't go." The Doctor told him.
"This doesn't have to be the end of you. Don't leave us now big guy." I almost begged him.
"I must. But know this, Time Lord and Time Lady. You are not alone." He told us. We were astounded at his words. Tears were in my eyes as I stared uncomprehendingly at the Face of Boe as his eyes closed for the last time. Novice Hame began to sob and Martha was the first to stand followed by the Doctor who helped me up and pulled me into his side and put his arm around Martha's shoulders.
Back in the alley where Martha, the Doctor and I first met the pharmacists was now deserted.
"All closed down." The Doctor said.
"Happy?" Martha asked him.
"Happy happy." He said causing the two of us to laugh slightly. "New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs — cats in charge! Come on, time we were off." We began to stroll away back to the TARDIS trying to put the Face of Boe's words behind us.
"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" Martha asked and we stopped and turned to her. ""You're not alone.""
"I don't know." He told her.
"You've got me. Is that what he meant?" she asked stepping forward and smiling.
"I don't think so. Sorry." The Doctor told her shaking his head.
"Then what?" she asked.
"Doesn't matter. Back to the TARDIS, off we go." He told her but she grabbed a fallen chair next to her and pulled it up, sitting primly and folding her arms.
"You staying here now?" I asked her.
"'Till you talk to me properly, yes. He said "last two of your kind." What does that mean?" she asked us.
"It really doesn't matter." The Doctor told her.
"You don't talk." She said.
"He talks quite a lot." I corrected her.
"But you never say anything! Why not?" she asked us. Suddenly around us the sound of music was rising. "It's the city. They're singing."
"We lied to you, 'cause we liked it. We could pretend. Just for a bit, we could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky." The Doctor finally told her. "We're not just a Time Lord and a Time Lady. We're the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."
"What happened?" she asked us. I sighed and grabbed two chairs and sat them in front of her.
"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War." I told her. "Our people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. Everyone lost."
"They're all gone now. Our family, our friends, even that sky. Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song …" we told her the story of how our home died in his hands, our own hands never leaving each others.
NEXT TIME ON THE DOCTOR'S GIRL:
"It's the Statue of Liberty. I've always wanted to go to New York." Martha told us. "Hooverville Mystery Deepens."
"Arm yourselves! Come on!" he called out to them, getting them ready for the war they could never win.
"What do you mean creatures?" she asked us.
We all tried to find the squealing resonating around us.
"What the hell was was that?" he asked us.
"Doctor. Hunter." She called to us staring at something.
"Run!" he ordered but none of us complained as we complied.
"Hands in the air! And no funny business!" she ordered waving a gun at us.
"You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted at nothing.
"Where's Martha?" he asked her.
"Aah!" she screamed and we ran towards her.
"It's insane! It's inhuman!" Martha shouted at it.
The Doctor silenced her constant talking and pulled us back into a small area.
"They always survive while we lose everything."