Chapter 5
In the crawlspace, the Doctor's hand tightened on that captured carbine as the guard gave the grate a last shake… then stepped away to rejoin his companion…
The guards moved off down the corridor… paying close attention to the sensing device one of them held.
The Doctor reacted, puzzled, to the fading footsteps of the Sontarans in the tunnel. He turned to Demetral and whispers. "Their sensors should have picked us up…"
Demetral picked up a lantern from the top of a nearby crate, activated it, and played its beam across the rock. As they moved a short way down the crawlspace to a jumble of oddly shaped crates and freight containers… "They can't… I heard them say there's something in these rocks…"
"Heavy metals?"
Demetral nodded. "Right…" Demetral started shoving a large crate aside to reveal a dark entryway. The Doctor moved to help him. Then Demetral lit their way with the lantern as the Doctor followed him through the entryway into another section of crawlspace. The Doctor and Demetral moved through the narrow crawlspace.
"When you escaped last time… how'd you manage it?"
"I acted like I was sick… when the Sontarans took me to the infirmary, I ran away." Demetral paused, faced the Doctor. "I was lucky… I found this place the same day."
The Doctor nodded appreciatively as they moved on to a secret room, where Demetral activated a light cell, bathing the room in a soft glow.
"…The Sontarans forgot all about this storeroom when they rebuilt the tunnels."
The boy crossed to a pile of crates stacked in a corner of the cluttered room… started searching through them. "After I got away last time…" Demetral produced a folded piece of synthetic cloth. "…I mapped out all their tunnels." He laid the cloth out across a crate… to reveal a rough map of the base. As Demetral pointed things out…"Supply depot, communications, living quarters… and the shuttle bay."
The Doctor was instantly intrigued. "How many guards at the shuttle bay?"
"Only two or three."
The Doctor thought about it, and shook his head. "Stealing a shuttle would get us nowhere… too easy for the Sontarans to track one of their own ships." He pointed at the map. "But we could break into communications. Send a message to the TARDIS."
Demetral looked doubtful. Shook his head. "We can't do that… The transmitter is on a voice-activated security system!"
"Do you know whose voice it accepts?"
"Only Ambassador Stike."
The Doctor reacted. "Who?"
"Stike."
"Ambassador Stike."
Demetral looked up at him, suddenly aware of the man's stunned reaction. The Doctor just stared at him. "Stike is a Sontaran Group Marshal. The only time he was called 'Ambassador' was in their Holodeck fantasy. How would you know about that?"
"You… you told me about it."
The Doctor shook his head. "No I didn't. Who are you? What's your part in all this?'
They reacted to a sudden explosion and the sounds of the approaching Sontarans. Demetral turned to the Doctor and shouted a warning… "They've found us!"
"But you said their sensors didn't work in this tunnel."
"They must have fixed them. We've got to go!" He grabbed at the Doctor, but he wouldn't budge.
"And where will we go, Demetral?"
"To the shuttle bay! There's still time."
"No… I've had enough."
And they both reacted as Stike and two guards stepped into the room. "Doctor… surrender your weapon…"
And as the three Sontarans raised their weapons… the Doctor dropped his carbine and casually lifted his arms, palms up. "No more games. No more fantasies. I'm not going to play anymore." Then the Doctor made eye contact with Demetral. There was a last sad moment between them. And the boy relaxed… he knew the game had finally and truly ended. Then…
The Sontarans suddenly shimmered away. The entire room also disappeared… to reveal the immense cavern where the story began. The Doctor and Demetral were left alone in the huge room. The Doctor stared at the boy, shocked. "It was never the Sontarans… it was you all along, wasn't it?"
Demetral hung his head.
In the Control Room of the real TARDIS, Nita and Ace were at the console, huddled over a monitor.
"There's no question about it, Nita. It's his phone signal."
Nita acknowledged this with a nod. She called the Doctor's mobile phone.
After a beat, "Nita? I'm here."
The general relief at the sound of the Doctor's voice was obvious.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes… What about you and Ace?"
"We came back an hour ago… we're fine. But we lost you. Where have you been? What is going on out there?"
"I'm not sure, Nita."
Nita raised an eyebrow.
"But I think I'm about to find out… stand by." The Doctor muted his phone and faced the boy, who was sad but calm. "What should I call you? Demetral… Chris?"
Demetral said sadly, "It doesn't matter."
The Doctor crossed to the wall, listening to a faint humming beyond.
"This room… it's more than just a Holodeck, isn't it?"
"Much more. The neural scanners read my mind… give me anything I want. Just like they tried to give you everything you wanted."
The Doctor was furious… and for good reason. "What I wanted? You probed the TARDIS… lured us here… so you could play games with me. I didn't want any of that… you did. Why?"
The boy looked older, sadder, less the child. "My world was invaded… my people… killed. My mother brought me here… so our enemies would never find me."
The Doctor reacted… tone changing. "But they found her, didn't they?"
Demetral nodded – the memory, distant as it was, still painful. "She knew they would never stop looking for her… So she made sure I would be safe…" He touched his forehead, then gestured at the surrounding walls as… there were brief shimmers here and there as the various components of Demetral's scanners 'uncloaked' and revealed themselves. "She left the scanners to protect me… and to give me everything I wanted."
The Doctor reacted to the youngster's pain. He knew what it was like to a be a lonely little boy. "Everything… then why kidnap me?"
After a pause, "I wanted you to stay. It's been so long… I just wanted somebody… real. I… thought you would be happy… I'm sorry."
The Doctor was gentle… but insistent. "I have to return to my ship. Come with me. You don't have to stay here anymore… you don't have be alone anymore…"
The boy hesitated. A long beat as he considered. Then… the figure of the boy shimmered… and for the first time, the Doctor saw him in his true, alien form. "My real name is Rivesh."
The Doctor smiled, held out his hand, and said… "To me, you'll always be Chris."
The alien took the Doctor's hand. There was a silent and special moment between them… then the Doctor unmuted his phone. "There are two of us coming to the TARDIS now…"
The went into the TARDIS. The Doctor took her into the vortex.
The end.