Chapter LXV
Doctor's POV
He had noticed Mira's face as he had said they were heading to New Earth. Not too long ago she had told him in very clearly what she was thinking about that whole New-Earth-thing. But maybe she just had to see it for herself. Humanity in this universe was different from the one in hers, but that didn't necessarily need to be a bad thing.
Apart from that, New Earth was a rather beautiful planet, for human standards. Nice weather, great cities -
Oh well, talking about the weather...
He had just opened the door of the TARDIS, stepped out, Mira and Martha following him and was almost instantly completely wet. It wasn't raining, it was pouring.
"Oh, that's nice. Time Lord version of dazzling," Martha said, whilst he could only hear an annoyed groan from Mira.
"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone. Come on, let's get under cover!" He replied, trying to sound cheerfully.
Well, it was only rain, nothing that would stop them. He looked around; It all seemed a bit run-down to him, what Mira instantly confirmed.
"So, that's new Earth then? Same old run-down and shabby cheep districts, I might say," he heard her say next to him as they were walking through some small alleyways, looking out for shelter. He looked at her, and she was already dripping. Rain was streaming over her face and her hair, that was still put into a simple braid, was soaking wet. Well, she obviously had already decided to not like it.
"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me, on a Wednesday afternoon," Martha said.
"Hold on, hold on," he said as they reached some small monitor mounted on a metal door. "Let's have a look."
After a few seconds he got it working with his sonic screwdriver, supported by slamming his fist at it several times. He took a step back to have a better view. A woman was announcing something, probably it was a news-channel.
"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey express-way."
Now they could see a picture of Manhattan with flying cars.
"Oh, that's more like it," he said. "That's the view we had last time. This must be the lower levels, down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city."
"Well, at least they have gliders here now," Mira said.
"Gliders? Those flying-" he replied, but got interrupted by Martha.
"You've brought me to the slums?" she asked, disbelievingly.
"Much more interesting," he replied with a shrug. "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city."
"Yeah, if you're in for drugs, crime, fights, and-" Mira said but suddenly stopped as he softly nudged her in the side with his elbow.
"Don't be so negative!" he said.
"Oh, but you'd enjoy anything," Martha throw in before Mira could say anything.
"That's me," he replied. "Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better."
"Yeah, now that we're already drenched...," Mira mumbled under her breath.
"When you say last time, was that the two of you?" Martha asked.
"Er, well... No. It was with Rose actually. Shortly before I met Mira," he said. It seemed like an eternity ago now, a whole different time. He was still figuring out his new regeneration, everything with Rose had been fine, and-
That's not true and you know it.
Well, at least he could see it now, and yes, maybe, most likely, he had known it back then. He had searched for something in Rose she could never give him.
"So you're taking all your female friends to the same planets?" Martha asked, and he noticed the undertone in her voice very well.
"What's wrong with that?" he asked innocently. No need to go down that road now. After all, it was Mira's doing that Martha was still here.
"Nothing. Just ever heard the word rebound?" Martha said casually, looking the other way.
Mira's POV
She hated this planet from the moment she had set foot on it. The rain didn't make it any better, neither did the cheerfulness the Doctor tried to fake (Well, she was at least almost certain he was faking it this time), nor Martha's attempts to flirt with him. (Even though that was exactly why she wanted Martha with them) For her New Earth was not a new beginning but treachery. There was only one Earth, and nothing could ever replace it. What was left of a people who had forgotten where they came from? Forgotten all their past? And that was exactly what would happen. And even though the Doctor might be right that everything ended, that everything had its time, she just couldn't get her head around it. She herself had just lost her entire past, her history – for the second time now. Right now it didn't matter that it was all still there, just in another universe. For her it was as good as destroyed, and with it every one remembering it; everyone but her, making it all feel like some sort of story, a fairytale.
The sudden fear of forgetting it all, of forgetting the people she had left behind and having nothing to remind her struck her. What if? What if she would ever forget? What if she had to stay here for the next hundred, two-hundred years or more, slowly forgetting faces, people, and finally her own life? She drew a deep breath and tried to brush that thought – which felt as irrational and overwhelming like an oncoming panic-attack – aside.
Maybe it really was a blessing that humans had a relatively short live expectancy. It would only take two or three generations, and no one would cry a tear after Earth any more. It clearly was her standing out, bringing it to her mind involuntarily how much she has grown apart from the rest of her species.
Suddenly, the front of one of the little shacks flew open.
"Oh! You should have said," a woman who stuck out her head yelled, "How long you been there? Happy. You want Happy."
As if he had given some sort of signal, more and more hatches flew open.
"Customers. Customers! We've got customers!"
"We're in business. Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read."
"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!"
"Anger. Buy some Anger!"
"Get some Mellow. Makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long."
"Don't go to them," the first man said now, "They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"
"No, thanks," the Doctor said, and she could hear a slight anger in his voice.
"Are they selling drugs?" Martha asked now.
"Guess what," she said, because it was more than obvious.
"I think they're selling moods," the Doctor said.
"Well, same difference," she replied dryly.
Now, as if they had been waiting for it, more people were coming, all dressed quite poorly.
"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!" one of the dealers said.
"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" the woman who had opened her shop first didn't give up. "Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?" she said to a young woman.
"I want to buy Forget," the woman replied quietly.
Now Mira could clearly feel the sadness coming from that young woman, the kind of inconsolable, grief-stricken sadness that came from losing someone dear.
"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?" the dealer asked.
"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway," the woman replied.
She had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but to the dealer it seemed quite obvious.
"Oh, that's a swine. Try this. Forget Forty three. That's two credits," the dealer said and handed her a little patch.
"Sorry, but hold on a minute," the Doctor said and hurried over to the young woman. "What happened to your parents?"
"They drove off."
"Yeah, but they might drive back," he said.
"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them," the woman replied sadly.
What was she talking about? Was motorway some sort of euphemism when someone died?
"But they can't have gone far," the Doctor didn't give up. "You could find them. No. No, no, don't!"
But he was too late. The woman had already stuck the patch she just bought to her neck. It was amazing how fast her mood changed. She really seemed to forget all her pain and loss.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked, now completely oblivious.
"Your parents. Your mother and father," the Doctor tried to remind her, "They're on the motorway."
"Are they? That's nice. I'm sorry, I won't keep you," she said lightly and walked away.
"So that's the human race five billion years in the future," Martha said and looked after her. "Off their heads on chemicals."
Suddenly, two people were coming out of the steam that filled the alleyway, right behind Martha. "Martha, look out!" she yelled. She had noticed the two people – a young man and a young woman – some moments ago, but she hadn't paid attention to them. They were no different from the other people, all somehow nervous and after their drugs, moods or whatever the dealers were selling here.
Until now, as the man grabbed Martha from behind, whilst the woman was pointing a gun at her and the Doctor. But there was something not quite right. They were nervous, quite understandable in their situation, for they didn't look like professionals – but that was not it. Were they bluffing? The woman was too afraid for someone wielding a gun, much too afraid.
Probably it wasn't a real gun, or not loaded – anyway, there was a good chance she was faster than they, not only due to her centuries of experience.
"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all," the man said, almost as if apologising.
That was enough. She leaped forward – at least she tried, but before she could even make one single step she felt the Doctor holding her back on her upper arm and pulling her behind his back with a force that made her shoulder ache, leaving her no chance to free herself.
"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, I can help. All of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go," the Doctor now yelled at the man.
"Leave me, it's a bluff! They're bluffing!" she yelled and tried to get past the Doctor, but he stood in front of her like a rock, still pushing her behind him and no matter how hard she pushed back, he didn't move an inch.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry," the woman now yelled, and the next words that were exchanged got drowned in the chaos that suddenly broke loose as all the dealers closed their hatches and everyone was yelling over each other. Not a second later they turned, the gun still pointing at the Doctor and dragged Martha through a door that slammed shut behind them.
"That was a bluff!" she yelled again, as the Doctor finally let go of her and hurried over to the door, trying to open it.
"Oh, was it?" he replied, hardly suppressed anger in his voice.
"Yes. If you wouldn't have stopped me, they wouldn't have got away!"
"So, you fancy being shot to prove your theory then?" he turned around and glanced at her for a moment with such an angry look that it made her flinch, before the door finally opened and he ran through it.
"Damn it! You can trust me that I certainly won't jump in front of a loaded gun and people ready to use it!" she yelled and ran after him, but he didn't seem to listen; he just stood on a balcony and watched a glider take off – it reminded her on the old Volkswagen Camper that had been around back in her days. Without doubt, Martha was on board. Without giving her so much as a glance, the Doctor spun around and returned to the alleyway with the shops and hammered at one of the now closed hatches.
"Thought you'd come back. Do you want some happy Happy?" the dealer asked with a smile after opening the hatch again.
"Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?" the Doctor hissed at him.
"They've taken her to the motorway," the woman who had sold the forget-patch said after opening her hatch as well.
"Looked like car-jackers to me," the man confirmed.
"I'd give up now, darling. You won't see her again," another of the dealers said.
"Used to be thriving, this place. You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end."
"He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?" the Doctor asked.
"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults."
"This motorway. How do I get there?" the Doctor asked.
"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You canna miss it. Tell you what. How about some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love."
Oh oh.
That had definitely been the wrong thing to say for the dealer. As the Doctor turned around to face him again, she caught a glimpse of the look in his eyes. The only other time she had seen fury like that in them had been on Kroptor, when he had blamed the loss of the TARDIS on her. Well, most likely she was the target of his anger again right now; if it wasn't for her, then Martha wouldn't have been here. On the other hand, it had clearly been his doing to keep her from dealing with the two kids (and to her, they were nothing more than that – two kids playing with some sort of gun, hardly twenty years old, obviously totally inexperienced, and essentially not mean-spirited)
"Word of advice, all of you. Cash up, close down and pack your bags," he yelled at them.
"Why's that, then?" the dealer asked.
"Because as soon as I've found her, alive and well. And I will find her alive and well. Then I'm coming back, and this street is closing tonight!"
With that said, he hurried off, not looking back at her once, leaving her no other choice than to follow him.
Doctor's POV
"Stop!" he heard Mira yelling behind his back, but he didn't care.
Martha was in danger, and it was his fault, because he had listened to Mira, for reasons he could not explain. If it was for him, she would have been back home on Earth, in safety. But no, Mira had had to insist. After all she had told him about keeping Rose on the TARDIS, endangering her life and it being his responsibility if something happens to her. How could she do that now?
As he had reached the end of the alley, he unlocked a small metal door. He was about to go through it, as he felt Miras hand on his arm.
"What?" he spun around and glanced at her.
"What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? Really? Well, for a start, following Martha? Trying to find her?"
"Find her? On a motorway? How? Spread your arms and fly after the glider? Hijack another glider?" she asked, and slowly the calmness he heard a moment before was leaving her voice, being replaced by anger, not unlike the one he was feeling.
"If I have to!"
"Great. So, that's your plan then?" she replied, sarcasm tripping from her every word.
"Yeah, that's my plan. Do you have a better one? May I remember that it was your idea to keep her around?" he said, yelling the last sentence in her face.
"Oh, so we're playing blame-game now? Great. And you kept me from dealing with those teens, who-"
"They had a gun!"
"Yeah, oh my God, a gun. How often did I tell you know that I have a certain amount of knowledge of the human nature, and above that, I can tell if someone's having it in them to actually shoot and kill? Don't make me responsible for your bloody trust issues!"
"What?! Now it's my fault?" he yelled back and finally opened the door, still with his back to it.
Trust issues? Seriously? Coming from her, of all people.
What make her think he wasn't trusting her? There had been a slight chance that she was wrong and he didn't want her to be shot, what was wrong with that?
"It doesn't matter now whose fault it is!" she yelled. "I fucking know that it was me who wanted to have her with us, you can believe that, but-" She suddenly stopped and looked past him, her eyes growing wide. "Holy shit," she whispered, making him spun around. "The mother of all traffic jams."
She was right, even through his anger he could see it. There were cars, cars, and more cars. Behind and above each other, rows and rows and rows, it seemed to go on for ever. It looked more like some sort of tunnel, and he couldn't quite see how high it went because of all the fog.
"I can't believe they're still flying with combustion engines?" Mira said, her voice already rough from the fumes.
"Well, they obviously do," he said, his anger rising again, and ran forwards to the edge of the little platform.
"You still believe we can find her?" Mira asked before starting to cough.
Even he was beginning to feel the effects of all that poisonous fumes as he replied, "That's the only chance we have."
"That's not a chance, that's madness. There's something going fundamentally wrong here, can't you see that?"
Well, she might have had a point here; but the cars didn't seem to move at all. So maybe the one with Martha was still nearby.
"Well, I take my chances here, if you don't mind. Someone has to correct your mistake," he said before he could stop himself. But why stopping himself at all? He was right, and she most likely knew it.
"Yeah, good luck with that," he heard her saying behind him, suddenly sounding quite hurt. "Do what you must, I'm certainly not becoming part of this madness."
"What?" he yelled whilst coughing and turned around as he heard her receding footsteps.
"That's pointless," she yelled back, coughing herself and pointing at the cars.
"You're not leaving!"
"Oh, but I am," she said without turning around.
He wanted to insist that she stayed, but it was drowned in a fit of coughing. Then, the door of the nearest car opened and he heard someone yelling in an Irish accent, "Hey! You daft little street struts. What are you doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!"
"Get out it is for me!" was the last thing he heard from Mira before she closed the door to the alleyway from the outside.
She had really left. Left without turning around or even listening to him. What was she thinking? Did she really believe she could do anything on her own out there? For a second he thought about getting after her, but then he heard the guy yell again, "Come on, make up your mind, will you?" and, after another moment of hesitation, he jumped into the car.
As soon as he was in, a dark haired woman gave him an oxygen mask and he gladly breathed in the pure air.
"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." the guy with the Irish accent said, and he could see now that it was a cat.
Here we go again...
He gave back the oxygen mask and took a quick look around. It was quite stuffed in the car, maybe they were on their way to holidays.
"Oh, you're making it up," the woman said.
"A fifty foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose."
"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting."
"What, did you never pick your nose?" the guy said indignant.
"Bran, we're moving," the woman suddenly said.
"Right. I'm there. I'm on it," Bran confirmed.
He could feel the vehicle make a jump forward, then they stopped again.
"Twenty yards," Bran said, "We're having a good day. And who might you be, sir? Very well-dressed for a hitch-hiker."
"Thanks. Sorry, I'm the Doctor," he replied, still wondering about the twenty yard.
"Medical man! My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."
"Nice to meet you," Valerie said with a smile.
"And that's the rest of the family behind you."
He turned around, drew back a curtain and saw a litter of kittens in a basket. Instantly, his anger ceased and he took out one of them to gently tickle it.
"Ah, that's nice," he said with a smile. "Hello. How old are they?"
"Just two months," Valerie said.
"Poor little souls," Bran added, "They've never known the ground beneath their paws. Children of the motorway."
"What, they were born in here?" he asked, taken aback.
"We couldn't stop," Valerie said. "We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance."
"What, you've been driving for two months?" he asked in utter disbelief. What was going on here?
"Do I look like a teenager?" Bran asked. "We've been driving for twelve years now."
"I'm sorry?" he asked. That couldn't be true. He was getting something wrong.
Yeah! Started out as newly-weds. Feels like yesterday."
"Feels like twelve years to me," Valerie said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Ah, sweetheart, but you're still love me."
"Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?" he asked them, now somehow at his wit's end.
"Battery Park," Bran said. "It's five miles back."
"You travelled five miles in twelve years?"
"I think he's a bit slow," Bran said to Valerie.
"Where are you from?" Valerie asked him now.
"Never mind that," he replied in slow realisation. "I've got to get out. My friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage. I should get back to the TARDIS."
"You're too late for that," Bran said, "We've passed the lay-by. You're a passenger now, Sonny Jim."
"When's the next lay-by?"
"Oh, six months?" Bran answered, and slowly but surely it dawned on him that Mira might have been right. There was something really fundamentally wrong here. Like the kick-one-directly-in-the-face sort of wrong. And now he was stuck in this mother of all traffic jams, just as she had said it.
Mira's POV
She had walked through the dirty, steamy alleyways for a while now, trying to figure out where to go and what to do next. Not that she had much of a plan herself, but everything was better than being stuck in that tunnel with all the cars. She only knew she had to go up somehow. She had no idea why, but the solution to everything that was wrong here would be there, in the upper parts of the city.
She had felt all along that something was odd here. She had only thought herself save, because she had come here, to New Earth, with the Doctor and the TARDIS, lulling her in a dangerous feeling of false security. And as for that, she had not paid attention to her surroundings. A big, bloody mistake. She should have noticed it before, that strange feeling of emptiness, untypical for such a big city. In fact, it had only felt right crowed and full of people in front of that motorway. But right now, above her head, it was just empty. If she had been on her guard, just like every time when setting foot on a foreign planet, she would have noticed it. But she didn't. Instead she had been pissed about coming here, annoyed by Martha flirting with him, and now Martha had been kidnapped because of her. Because she had only been here because of her in the first place.
The Doctor was rightfully angry at her, even though this anger was everything but productive right now.
And, to be honest, a part of her had feared him, if only for a moment. For that moment when she had first seen the anger in his eyes, making her flinch, and it had only been a hint of an anger that probably could destroy whole galaxies when fully unleashed.
Now a feeling of being stupid and foolish was gnawing on her, plus a deep, primeval fear of being left – left by him because of her stupid behaviour. With everyone else she would have been able to tell if they would turn away from her for what she had done, or if they were just angry out of the moment. But not with him. She couldn't tell and she had let him get close enough to hurt her like that in the first place. Hurt her by hating her right now and making her dreading he would leave her.
Great. Things I don't need.
She just kicked a can that was lying on the street out of her way as she felt something in her mind – a nagging, ever so soft, like a single hair brushing over skin. She thought for a moment she could even hear her name, quiet and distant, like a voice carried by the wind, making her stop in her tracks.
For a moment she stood absolutely still, trying to figure out if she really had heard something or if her mind was playing her tricks.
As it didn't happen again, she continued her way. What to do next? Back to the TARDIS? Well, she still had the key, but she had no idea how to operate her scanners. She had mental contact with her, but she could not just ask her to do something. That was not how it was working.
Mira..
She stopped dead again. This time it had been louder and clearer, yet still faint. But clear enough to be sure. Someone was trying to contact her – it just felt like Gucky trying to submit her a message when she was down on a planet and he on a space ship in orbit. But who was it now? The Doctor? She closed her eyes after looking around and making sure no one was near, and tried to concentrate on the faint message, opening her mind to whoever wanted to contact her, just like she had done it so often for centuries.
Finally you have come. I have waited for so long...
This time it was a lot stronger, even though the sender was probably still far away or just a weak telepath himself, but she was supporting him now with her own psychic energy.
Who are you?
She was sure by know that it wasn't the Doctor, not only because of what he (or she?) said – it felt differently.
An old friend, he replied.
Oh, yeah? That's strange, because I have only one friend here I can think of – and you're not him.
A friend? Well, whoever that was didn't feel hostile, but it was better to be careful now.
She could hear – or, more likely, feel – him chuckling.
Have we met?, she asked.
Well, not yet. I have met you before, but you're meeting me the first time. That's the fun in time travel, isn't it?
Who are you?, she tried it again. He seemed to know more about herself than she liked.
Oh, that's so you. Always on guard, always wary, he answered, and she could feel a slight sadness. It was not a purely telepathic contact due to her own abilities being mixed with it.
I'm sorry, I can't tell you more now. But you will understand when the time is right. Where is the Doctor?, he asked.
Well, she answered, he... he wanted to follow a different approach, so...
She would certainly not tell him where the Doctor was right now. Not without knowing more about this strange being.
Again a chuckling in her mind. Oh, the two of you. Pigheaded, one worse than the other. Come on now. I need you. Both of you. I give you directions how you can get to me and then tell me where he is. Can you do that for me?
She hesitated for a moment. Was it a trap? It had to be. But, then again, she had felt him in her mind, and of course, not even telepathy was absolutely honest, but combined with empathy she could be pretty sure it was no trap.
Finally, she decided to give it a try, not entirely but also because she was running out of options. Apart from that, it had struck her curiosity. He obviously knew the Doctor, as he knew her name. So she would most likely meet him at some point in her future, which had been in his past from his perspective.
Fine. Tell me where to go.
NeoMulder, Julia N SnowMiko, 10th Squad 3rd Seat, AxidentlGoddess, bored411, babypanda468: Thanks for reading and reviewing :-)
