6. Party Time!

Crystelle is very pleased having dealt with the Master. She is brimming over with excitement to tell the Doctor.

When she uses the pager to invite the Doctor, what will she put as the call reason? Party or The Master is dead?
She puts Party. It might not bring the Doctor, being so soon after her previous party, but he might be mystified.

What should she do with all of their clones? They can all be at the party! Maybe a surprise!

The party has started. The Doctor and Ommera arrive. All of Crystelle's clones are in one of the bedrooms waiting for the signal to emerge. All of Devyon's clones, now six of them, are in the other bedroom and will join in the party when Crystelle's clones emerge.

Crystelle takes the Doctor and Ommera through to her lounge / dinette where Devyon is sitting selecting music for the party for later on. Some music is playing already.

"I have so much to tell you," Crystelle says. "Do sit down. Devyon, could you get some drinks going?"

"It's not long since we were last here," the Doctor says. "So much to tell in such a short time?"
"I met the Master," Crystelle starts.
"Glad he didn't see you," the Doctor says. "He isn't very forgiving."
"We spaced him," Devyon says.
"What?" the Doctor exclaims. "You can't just walk up to the Master and throw him off a spaceship. He will escape! I'll guarantee that."
"Last we saw of him he was in a shroud headed for some sun or other," Devyon says.
"What sun? Surely you know what sun you were near?"

"We had better start nearer the beginning," Crystelle says. "That's the ending."
"Are you sure you want to carry on?" Ommera asks.
"I must tell the Doctor," Crystelle says.
"Then tell me everything," the Doctor says. He sits down and relaxes in one of the armchairs, to help Crystelle relax and tell him more. "How did you get to a sun you didn't know about?"

"We followed the Master," Devion says.
"How did you manage that?" The Doctor is focussing on an area that Crystelle didn't really want to focus on, not just yet, anyway.
"We used a Tardis," Crystelle says. "We rescued it from Gallifrey before the building collapsed on it."
"What?!" the Doctor is aghast. "You went and got your own Tardis?"
"It was going to be crushed and go to waste," Crystelle says. "I just extracted it in the nick of time."
"How did you manage that?" the Doctor asks.
"I asked your Tardis to do it," Crystelle says.

The Doctor can see plenty of things he must challenge Crystelle about, but he needs to hear the whole story first. "Ok," the Doctor says. He must allay any fears Crystelle might have just now, so that she can tell him everything. "What happened then?"

"I took some friends and we defeated the Cybermen," Crystelle says. This is one of her triumphs and she doesn't want to miss it out.
"What?!" The Doctor can't believe it.

Crystelle can't keep her clones cooped up in the bedroom for too long, so she decides to move straight on to telling the Doctor about the Master.

"Then I had an idea to bug the Master, so I took a few friends. You had mentioned where the Master was sending the crab spacecraft, so I went there and found him communicating with the crabs. I lured him into the Tardis when he was bitten by a crab and needed medical attention, but he died. He had asked to go to Alphon Three, but the trolley he was on drifted out of the Tardis towards the local sun. Here's an odd thing, we watched him drift away for ages, then he disappeared."
"Probably me rescuing him, when I get around to it," the Doctor says. "The Master is a Gallifreyan so I'm not going to let him die. Any more to share?" We saw this level of care from the Doctor in the TV episode Last of the Time Lords.

"Yes," Crystelle says. "The friends I took on my last trip were clones of me."
"Clones?" The Doctor is puzzled. "Of you?"
"Yes," Devyon says. "I accidentally wished for a cloning machine one day and one appeared in the Tardis. I made one clone of me and Crystelle made six of her. We've since made five more clones of me."

"Come and meet them," Crystelle says. She knocks twice on the wall. Her six identical clones walk in through the lounge door along with Devyon's clones. They've been practicing a dance routine that they now perform briefly.
"Very nice," the Doctor says. "Any more to share?"
"That's it!" Crystelle says. She feels triumphant, but she can't help feeling that the Doctor has been just listening carefully.

"Okay," the Doctor says. "You've done some amazing things. You've had good motives in even approaching these enemies. You've faced danger like I never would have thought you would. What happened there?"

Crystelle doesn't want to share about developing a regeneration tablet. At least, not yet! "I guess I got bored with my course," she says. This isn't true. She has always wanted to do the course she is doing.

This satisfies the Doctor for now, but he can tell that she isn't sharing everything.

"Now," the Doctor must share his thoughts. He wants to share the positive thoughts first. "You can tell me about the Cybermen shortly, but there are some issues with the kit. And how you feel that it is yours. Did you pay for the Cloning Machine?"

"Er, no," Crystelle admits. "It just appeared in the Tardis."
"So, you won't mind me sending it back?" the Doctor says. "These aren't cheap, you know. Someone will miss it."
"Oh, I hadn't thought about that," Crystelle says. "I'm sorry."
The Doctor gets up and goes over to Crystelle. She gets up. The Doctor hugs her. "I forgive you," he says. He rubs noses with her to show the completeness of his forgiveness.

Crystelle sobs. "I thought the Cloning Machine was all okay. But I can see now it wasn't."
"We had an awkward moment in a Being shop," Devyon says.
The Doctor thinks for a moment. "The Cloning Machine was from a Being shop... Maybe we returned it without the memory wipe in an earlier reality," he says. "So, we must wipe the memory in the Cloning machine before returning it or they will be able to trace you. It will certainly show them a picture of you."

Crystelle reaches out the Wanted poster from the Being store. "Oh, look!" she says. "The crime is blank… and our pictures are blank, too. Did that decision just change it?"
"Yes," the Doctor says thankfully.

"But then, what about the Tardis?" the Doctor says. "You didn't pay for that either. So, it isn't yours. Carrying around a burden of guilt all of your life isn't good for you. We must resolve that. Firstly, when did you use my Tardis to get it?"
"During the night after my last party while you were asleep," Crystelle says. "I asked your Tardis to rescue one Tardis from just before the roof fell in on the Tardis storeroom. You remember I said I'd love to go in the Tardis, and you said yes."
"Ah, I see. You took that as permission to go on a solo flight. And what a dangerous flight, too! So much danger!"

Crystelle sobs again. The Doctor embraces her and hugs her. She is clearly so repentant. He can see the love that she has for him, too.

"I forgive you for taking my Tardis to get this Tardis," the Doctor says. He rubs noses with her again. "Forgiveness is so important. And love overcomes all things. Your tears tell me you are ready and desperate for forgiveness. And I am totally ready to forgive." He smiles.

"Thank you, Doctor," Crystelle says. "You're absolutely right. I've done so many things wrong, whether I've overlooked them, like the Cloning Machine, or I've kidded myself that I was just rescuing a Tardis. Will the other Tardises be found and be useable?"

"Yes, they'll be found," the Doctor says. "When they are rebuilding Gallifrey. I doubt they'll miss one as the paperwork won't be easy to read by then… I'll tell you something." He whispers. "I stole my Tardis. Yes, I did." He nods. "So, I can't criticise." Then he grins. "You didn't expect that!"

"Wow," Crystelle says. This is quite a revelation to her, but she still expects the Doctor will tell her that her Tardis must be returned somehow.

"We can't return it to where you took it from as it was taken so immediately before the ceiling caved in on the storeroom it was in. So, I'll have to sneak it into the new Tardis storeroom after the Gallifrey re-build. I'm really sorry, but Tardises are only for Gallifreyans to use."

"Crystelle, you seem to have used it well," Ommera says. "Can we have a chat now?" Ommera takes Crystelle into the bedroom (as it's the only other room in the house with audio privacy). "Are you going to tell the Doctor about you know what?"

Crystelle knows she is referring to the development of her regeneration tablets. "Not just yet. There's plenty for today. I will tell him soon, though. Thank you for keeping my secret. Now, how are you getting on?"

THE END

What a long day! Crystelle needed much of that to be pointed out to her. Knowing she is forgiven is a massive weight off her shoulders. We often need forgiveness, and to forgive. Now is always the best time to forgive. Love overcomes everything.

It is so tempting to hold on to some of our sins! But ultimately all must come out.

The previous episode in this series is called "Crystelle Growth".

The next episode in this series is called "DalExDev".