AN/ Hello again :) I am back with the next instalment of this series, with many more to come. I'm finding that editing as I go along actually helps to improve the quality of my writing, rather than having to read through it a million times to spell check everything. Saying that, if there are a few errors, please feel free to let me know and I will correct them.
Don't have much more to say, as I am writing this very early in the morning to get it finished and uploaded. Also I noticed a mistake with my first chapter where I spelled Riana's Middle name as Cekila, it is meant to be Cekina. I hope I am getting her character across right. She is hard to get balance without making her too extreme. I want to portray the fact that unlike most Human companions, Riana is an alien, in every way. So she really doesn't understand many of the pop culture references the Doctor and other companions make at times. I kind of find her reactions amusing at times as she can be completely oblivious and look at things with fairly different eyes.
Also- wow this authors note is becoming long- with regards to the Doctor and her romance it will be a gradual build, but she won't be oblivious to the signs. She will just mostly be in denial for a while. As she encounters different Doctor's she sort of works out their personality idiosyncrasies, so for example, 11 is much more awkward, 12 grumpy, 10 bipolar/sexy etc. and learns to relate to them accordingly.
That's all for now, otherwise we'll be here to christmas.
jd009
Chapter 3: The Next Doctor- The Worth of a Woman
Doctor Smith, I mean just the Doctor (Grandfather there were too many Doctor's now), and I followed closely behind the other Doctor. As we walked I couldn't help but notice the many difference on this planet compared to Tiaanamat. Before all the running we had only briefly wandered into the market place, but it wasn't enough time to really look around. Even now we were in a rush to get to a place where apparently, a man had been murdered, or so the Doctor had told me. From what I could see these humans appeared rather primitive compared to the people of the Seven Worlds, however the Doctor did state we were in a different time, so maybe this was in the past for them. I was unsure exactly what we would find as their technology couldn't be anywhere near the level needed to accurately identify a suspect.
We eventually reached a house that was much grander than those surrounding it. Where the normal person who would not want to get caught breaking and entering would use a side or back entrance the Doctor simply walked up to the front door.
"What are you doing?" I hissed, trying to keep a look out for anyone coming towards us, but the Doctor instead pulled out a thin silver handled tool with a blue crystal like end. He pointed it at the door and it made a whirring noise before the lock clicked open of its own accord.
"Shh, stop being so obvious, come on." He whispered back as he went inside. I followed him with one last parting glance over my shoulder. I shut the door behind us and looked around to see an extensive front entrance. My low-heeled brown boots made soft clicking noises on the tiles as I walked. My floor length doubled layered skirt of my dress swished as I walked up to where the Doctor was determinedly striding forwards.
"What was that device you used to unlock the door?" I asked curiosity evident in my voice. He smirked as he turned towards me.
"Sonic screwdriver, rather nifty tool to have in any situation. Can do 101 different things and most importantly, if one were trying to unlawfully break into a dead man's house, is great for unlocking locked doors." He replied. I only shook my head at his response, which I was beginning to think was typical of this man.
"Handy" I muttered "wish I had one when I'd needed it back all those times I was trying to sneak out of my house, or catch Reen in his double dealing. Or cheating." The Doctor only raised one eyebrow before striding confidently forward through the house to go to a back door where a rattling sound could be heard coming from the other side. The Doctor raised a finger to his mouth before abruptly opening the door, to reveal the other Doctor kneeling on the ground.
"Hello." My Doctor said. The other Doctor looked completely surprised at the sight of us, quickly coming to stand up and face us.
"Hi, seems we here to here to help you break into this house." I said smiling awkwardly as I half heartily raised my hand in a greeting. The Doctor didn't seem to be to thrilled with me revealing that though as he shot me a look to be quiet and let him do the talking.
"How did you get in?" the other Doctor asked. My Doctor sort of scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner as he tried to think of an excuse.
"Front door" I replied promptly jerking my thumb behind me to roughly the direction we had come from. "Apparently, he is good at doors. Also many other things as well, or so he tells me." The Doctor cut me off quickly.
"Yes, yes. Anyway. Um, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?" He asked an intense concentration on his face. The other Doctor looked at the tool in slight confusion, as to what the Doctor could be implying.
"Yeah, I'd be lost without it."
"But, that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?" The Doctor asked in astonishment. I raised a brow at how worked up he was getting over a tool. Sure, if was a bit primitive, but what did you expect of the era. The other Doctor didn't really see what the problem was as he tapped it against the wood of the door frame.
"Well, er, it makes a noise. That's sonic, isn't it? Now, since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view." With that he lead the way inside the house pushing past us as he went by. The Doctor closed the back door behind him.
I was sitting in a comfortable armchair by the fireplace in the library. The two Doctors were busy nosing about a dead man's possessions to take much notice of my position. The other Doctor was rummaging around in a desk draw, that I assume held some sort of clue to his investigation.
The Doctor walked over to him.
"This investigation of yours, what's it about?" he asked as he lent against the side of an armchair. I leaned forward as I listened intently. Here was the crux of the matter, why the Doctor was so interested in this man.
"It started with a murder." The other Doctor replied.
"Oh, good. I mean bad, but whose?" my Doctor responded excitedly. I made a sound of disapproval at his enthusiasm for a what he believed was a 'good' murder. He looked appropriately abashed at his countenance.
"Mr Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death." The other Doctor had stopped rummaging and had turned to face us.
"The Cybermen?" I guessed a horrible suspicion in my voice.
"It's hard to say, his body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders. Then abductions. Children…stolen away in silence." The other Doctor continued. He looked away as if in a trance so deeply involved in the memories. I again felt sympathy for the man who had lost so much. If I was proficiently trained in psychometry I might be able to bring some of his memories back. But I had always preferred my gifts of telekinetic control over reading and imprinting memories and feelings in objects and people.
"So, whose house is this?" The Doctor asked, although I was pretty sure he already knew the answer to that question and only stated it to keep the man talking. All the same we both listened intently to the other Doctor's answer. The other Doctor moved to a book rack as he browsed the tomes in the case.
"The latest murder. The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild. Found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution." He replied absently as he focused again looking for clues. I stood up from the chair I was in coming closer to the Doctor.
"But who was he, was he important?" I asked, getting into the pakki of things as we became more involved with the case. The Doctor turned to me in slight surprise but smiled in pride at my initiative.
"You both ask a lot of questions." The other Doctor said evasively. The Doctor wasn't deterred as he smoothly replied "We're your companions." I suppose in this instance we sort of were, even if it was only in a superficial or temporary role. Eventually the other Doctor reluctantly answered us.
"The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities."
"Children again. But why would the Cybermen want him dead? And what's his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?" The Doctor questioned thoughtfully, trying to see the connections between the two deaths. I for one was Akhatenly stumped. Still anything to do with children was a sore point for me, something I had always felt very strongly about. I never agreed with an individual who would use one less mature or wise in the way of the universe for their own gain. A child had the right to their innocence and happiness and nothing should ever take that away from them. To hear of such tragedy made me angry.
"It's funny, I seem to be telling you everything. As though you engendered some sort of... trust. You seem familiar, Mr Smith. I know your face. But how? And you, Miss Tahlay, there is something at the edge of my mind…something I can't quite remember, something so precious and dear and its' lost in fire." He said as though struggling with an enormous weight upon his shoulders. He gazed forlornly at the ground as though in mental agony. I felt terrible sympathy for this poor man. But how did he even know us, we had never met him. Or at least I had never.
The Doctor came closer examining the other Doctor under a careful scrutiny. "I wonder. I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch." He said in almost reverence. I didn't understand the significance of that statement and said so.
"Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch. Do you mind?" When the Doctor leaned forward to take the strange device from the other man I gasped in slight surprise. I had seen such a device before. Although not for a long time and I couldn't quite place exactly where I had last seen it. Still the fact that such an obviously primitive device was present on this planet should have been a clue. I should have realised sooner…
NO! I wouldn't go there. I wasn't going to put myself through that again. It had taken me nearly a decade to get over it and I still wasn't completely at terms with what had happened. So, with as much determination and mental power as I possessed I shut all line of that train of thought down and focused on the here and now where the Doctor seemed as though he was about to reveal another should-be-impossibility.
"It's said that if it's opened..." As he said this he opened the watch and I felt my heart beating hard and a slight burn from my locket. An echo of thousands of voices seemed to float around my head. Only instead of something dramatic as I was expecting the watch broke and the inside of it fell out. "Oh. Maybe not." He said in disappointment and in some confusion. Why he was so worked up over an old time keeping device I will never understand.
"It's more for decoration" The other Doctor stated with bafflement as the Doctor's behaviour.
"Yeah. Anyway, alien infiltration." My Doctor said abruptly changing the subject at the obvious turn the conversation had taken. He suddenly took a step back from the other man to walk around the room. I gave the other Doctor a shrug at his unusual behaviour as if to say 'No idea what he's on'. Before turning to focus my attention once again on the bizarre man.
"Look for anything different, possibly metal. Anything that doesn't seem to belong, perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine. It could even seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world. Shh! What's that noise?" The other Doctor said as he was instructing us to look around the house.
Meanwhile my Doctor had pulled out his 'sonic screwdriver and was casually waving it about the air as if searching for something. I gave him bemused look while trying to understand what exactly such an action equalled. At the other Doctor's inquiry, he abruptly put the tool back into his coat pocket and pretended to whistle.
"Oh, it's just me... whistling. I wonder what's in here, though. Ah. Different and metal, you were right. They are infostamps. I mean, at a guess. Um, if I were you, I'd say they worked something like this." The Doctor said as he pulled out a small cylindrical device that was very obviously made of metal. He then proceeded to project a sort of streamavid onto one of the walls. I gasped in awe at the site. There were so many foreign images that revolved around what was obviously the history of this world and its people.
"That's a history vid." I breathed softly. The Doctor smiled at me in pride again.
"Very good Riana. Your right, well mostly right in the fact that this indeed a history lesson of a fashion. See? Compressed information. Tons of it. That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disk, a Cyberdisk. But why would the Cybermen need something so simple?" He trailed off an obvious question in his tone. For someone as smart as I guessed the Doctor to be, him not knowing was probably not a great thing. In fact, it spoke of obvious zeem'al to come; something I was intimately familiar with. Being a causer of it often enough.
"I take it that it's not a good thing, if something as advanced as what I'm guessing the Cybermen are, are reverting to fairly primitive mode of acquiring information? My guess would be they're acting out of desperation. Which in my experiences is never a good thing, as people are more likely to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals-even murder innocent people and take children." I said with horror.
The Doctor nodded seemingly agreeing with my statement. However, it was his next assessment that chilled my blood.
"In my experience, if the cybermen are desperate, then there really is no reasoning with them, they are emotionless machines. They will do whatever they deem to be necessary to achieve their goals of victory at whatever cost and many times it had been thousands." He said with much sadness in his voice. I could only look on in horror.
"Your telling me one day I will live through that?" I whispered. He saw my expression and his face softened. Taking my hand in his he brought it to his mouth again as a form of reassurance.
"Spoilers, Riana. You know I can't say anymore. But I promise you, of I'm here that means we lived through it." Was all he said in reply, dropping my hand in favour of focusing on the distraught man behind us, hunched over an armchair.
"Are you alright? The Cybermen, they've gotta be wireless. Unless... they're in the wrong century, they haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves." He said trying to reassure the man. I don't think it was helping though as the other Doctor looked even worse than before.
I came over as well and knelt next to the man on the chair, taking his sweaty hand in mine, trying to provide support in whatever way possible.
"I'm fine" the other Doctor said, trying to brush us off. But the Doctor was not one to be easily fooled.
"No, what is it? What's wrong?" He persisted in asking.
"I've seen one of these before. I was holding... this device, the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated." (Again, with that word) "The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self. And you were there. Who are you? And you, the woman with the impossible hair wreathed in fire, burning…yet so alive?" He confessed murmuring softly.
I didn't understand how he could recognise me? What did he mean by seeing me surrounded by fire and not dead? Also, what exactly was regeneration and how did it apply to the Doctor? So many questions, enough to make my mind work in overdrive.
The Doctor glanced sharply at me as he saw me withdraw into myself before turning back to distressed man. "A friend. I swear. Both of us are, as for the woman, don't worry about her, it's not important right now. I promise." He said intently staring into the man's eyes to convey his promise. I felt my breath catch as he said the last bit about the woman. If it was in apprehension or disappointment at his denial I couldn't tell.
"Then I beg you, John. Help me." The other Doctor pleaded.
"Ah. Two words I never refuse." He stood as he began to walk away from the both of us. "But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house. It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS... Your TARDIS. Hold on, I just need to do a final check. Won't take a tick. There's one more thing I cannot figure. If this rooms got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping." As he said this he pulled one of the doors open to see what looked like a metal man, with the same faceplate as the cyber creature from before. I gasped and nearly shrieked when the metal man raised its arm and screamed out "DELETE!"
"OK. I think we should run." The Doctor shouted as he slammed the door shut in the man's face before he turned back to us and grabbed my hand as we all sprinted out of the library.
We had barely fled the room when another of the metal men blocked our way. I was beginning to suspect these were the sinister Cybermen I had heard so much about. The Doctor quickly shouted for us to flee up the stairs. The other Doctor, had already run up them, but I noticed the Doctor hesitating when he didn't follow us immediately up.
"What are you doing! Get up here before you're killed you tookihal man!" I shouted at him. He had grabbed a strange looking device from a barrel by the stairs. He pointed it at the Cybermen and he groaned in annoyance.
"Of course it's an umbrella." However, his annoyance soon turned to triumphant as he spied a deadly looking sword. He pulled it off the wall he brandished it like an expert. I could literally only stare in disbelief at the gall of this man.
"I'm a dab hand with a cutlass. You don't want to come near me when I've got one of these. This is your last warning. No? OK, this is really your last warning! OK, I give up." He said as he attempted to block their blows. I finally got sick of his procrastination, I wasn't letting him die on me when he was going to take me away from here. So I easily created a telekinetic field around both Cybermen and shahked them. It didn't seem to have much of an effect as they still continued to move up the stairs towards us.
The Cybermen both cried out 'Delete' as they advanced on us. The Doctor while blocking blows was questioning them. "Listen to me properly! Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851, I can help! I'm the only person in the world who can help you! Listen to me!"
The Cybermen of course didn't listen and attacked the Doctor. I was getting desperate at this point. I ran back towards the both of them. I grabbed the Doctor and pulled him behind me.
"Eat this tin can!" With that statement, I telekinetically threw them. Both metal men were blown backwards by the force down the stairs. I knew it wouldn't stop them for long, so I hauled the Doctor up with me. As I glanced back the Cybermen had already regained their footing and were quickly coming back.
"I'm The Doctor and this is Riana. You need us. Check your memory banks, our names are The Doctor and the Azure Queen. Leave this man alone! The Doctor is me!" He yelled at the attacking metal men. I thought he was completely, Grandfather damn all out of his mind. What the heck did he mean that I was known to the Cybermen?
But I didn't have long to ponder it as I had been pulled down by one of the Cybermen. The Doctor was still not faring any better, still shouting at the metal men.
"The Doctor, remember and Riana? I'm The Doctor and she's Riana! You need us alive! You need The Doctor and the Azure Queen, and that's us!" He was desperate I could tell as finally his feet were kicked out from under him by one of the Cybermen.
"Doctor, for Grandfather's sake, SHUTUP! They're not listening and you're not helping." I screamed at him. Terrified of what would happen now. Maybe this was it for me. Maybe this was where I died, afraid and alone, away from everyone I knew. I definitely wasn't ok with that.
The other Doctor had reached up and grabbed one of the infostamps and had turned it around to face the Cyberman over the Doctor. With a furious cry, he let out a blast of energy overloading the Cyberman's head. I at the same time used a massive telekinetic blast to throw the Cyberman off me and crush its head into the ground where it landed.
We were all breathing hard from out near death experience and I for one was not eager to repeat it anymore today. The Doctor came over and helped me up. He smiled kindly at me.
"That was a very brave thing you just did then Riana, a telekinetic wave to crush its head, genius. Any you," He turned back to the other Doctor "Infostamp with a cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety, zap! Only the Doctor would think of that." He laughed in a pleased way at both of our successes. But the other Doctor didn't look any better. He was pale and sweating slightly as though he had been electrocuted himself. The Doctor approached him and attempted to soothe the obviously traumatised man.
"I did that... last time. You told them you were The Doctor. Why did you do that?" He asked bewildered by the Doctor's actions.
"Come here, you'll be OK. Let me just check." As the Doctor said this he pulled out a strange listening device with a long tail. He placed one end in his ears and another against the man's chest where his heart should sit. "Oh, I was just protecting you" he replied.
"You're trying to take away the only thing I've got, like they did. They stole something, something so precious. But I can't remember. What happened to me? What did they do?" The other Doctor asked, his voiced filled with a terrible grief and an almost emptiness.
The Doctor placed his hands on the other Doctor's shoulders in a reassuring gesture. "We'll find out. You, Riana and I, together. We promise to help you." The Doctor said solemnly. I could only determinedly grit my teeth and silently nod in agreement with the Doctor's vow.
I was standing in a snowy deserted field filled with stones sticking up out of the ground. They had writing visible on them. Somehow I was able to make out what each stone said, even though I knew I shouldn't be able to read the language. Each had a different name on them and a date. Two dates I realised, a date of birth and a date of death.
Everything was silent except for a small intimate gathering around a grave that had been dug deep into the frozen earth. A man with white and black robes was reading our of a book. One I assumed had some religious significance. All gathered around were men, all of varying ages and appearances, old and young alike. Yet all of them had something in common; they were all filthy rich and cared little for hard manual labour.
Suddenly out of the swirling snow walked a woman. She wore a vivid shade of crimson, in the fashion of a gown that was popular for this time. Her hair was coal black and elegantly tied up into a bun at the nape of her neck. Earrings hung from her lobes and her eyes sparkled with a malicious intent. She bore a crimson umbrella to keep the snow off her.
"Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy, to take unto Himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes and dust to dust, in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working..." The holy man stopped speaking only just noticing her presence.
The woman didn't even blink at his pause, telling him to continue with the ceremony.
"Madam, I must protest!" The holy man said.
"Whatever for?" she replied flippantly.
"A lady at the graveside is debatable enough, but... your apparel..." the holy man said uncomfortably. This seemed to annoy the woman as she came closer. A tight tone heard in her voice warning him to be careful about what he said next.
"Is it too exciting?" she playfully said, an undercurrent of steel to her reply. One of the other men spoke up outrage heard in his voice.
"You're disgracing the ceremony, dressed like a harlot."
"Oh, and you should know, Mr Cole." She replied. The man, Mr Cole paled at the mention of his name.
"How do you know my name?" he said flustered. The woman's gaze pierced his own as she angrily replied. "You've walked past me so many times, all you good men of charity, never once asking my name."
"It's Miss Hartigan, isn't it?" Another man spoke up, slightly older this time with white hair visible under his tall hat.
"Oh, you noticed. I saw you looking, you cheeky boy." She flirtatiously said. The older man looked slightly embarrassed at having been caught out. The holy man again asked for her identity.
"Matron of the St Joseph Workhouse, your humble servant. Oh, I've watched you all. Visiting. Smiling. Bestowing your beneficence upon the poor while I scrubbed down their filthy beds." She said with some disgust. The holy man again insisted that she leave. She ignored him in favour of speaking to them all.
"But that's why the late Reverend Fairchild had to die. To gather you all in one place. Where better than a funeral? 'Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live'. Although I've got some friends who might disagree with that. Would you like to meet them? Hark! I can hear them now." She said with a spiteful glee. Over the silence of the astonishment of the men gathered around the gravesite, the thunderous footsteps of nearly 50 Cybermen could be heard. The men turned around to glance in horror at the metal nightmares.
"Mr Cole, Mr Scoones, Mr Fetch, Mr Milligan, stay where you are. You're needed. The rest of you are disposable. Sorry." She said as she started to walk towards the approaching creatures. Those men looked on confusedly at her request. The holy man even asking what sort of men those creatures were.
"Cybermen." She said. The metal man began to electrocute those standing around the graveside. Panic began as all of them tried to escape to save themselves. The woman only watching on with satisfaction.
"I repeat, Mr Cole, Mr Scoones, Mr Fetch, Mr Milligan. Stay."
"You monstrous witch!" Mr Cole called. "Merry Christmas, to you too." She replied.
"But why are we spared? What do you need us for?" The white-haired man asked fearfully.
"Your children. It's funny, now I think of it, but in all these years not one of you has asked my first name. It's Mercy."
My name was being called and I was being shaken. I blinked as I slowly came back unto myself. I focused on the Doctor who stood in front of met attempting to see if I was all right. We were outside and it was night time. We stood in an alley, that was deserted at this time of night.
"How did we get here?" I asked confusedly. Both Doctor's looked at me in concern.
"You walked with us, you just only now stopped. As if in a deep slumber. Mr Smith only just pulled you out of it." The other Doctor replied. I gazed at the Doctor in fear, what was happening to me. However, it wasn't his reply that made me shake, it was the burning around my neck from the locket. It was glowing a soft red colour. It was also still hot as though it had been even hotter but just a moment ago.
"Riana, it's ok. You're alright. Just breathe and remember whatever you saw you can't tell me. It was the power of the locket, one of the many abilities it gives you." The Doctor said trying to reassure me. It wasn't helping though. What had the locket done?
"All those men. I saw them all die, killed by that woman in red. She said her name was Mercy. I couldn't do anything. I just stood there watching. Why?" I whispered brokenly. The Doctor pulled me into his arms as held me tightly.
"It's ok. It will pass. Don't think about it. Just focus on my voice Riana. Don't say anymore…just breathe." He whispered in my ear. I let out a choked sob, trying to regain my mind after seeing what I had. I still noticed how the Doctor wasn't saying if what I experienced was fake. Eventually I calmed down enough to step back and hastily wipe my eyes. My hair was a mess, hanging horribly tangled around my face. My dress was dirty and covered in sleet and soot from being chased around so much. My shoes were scuffed from my normal delivery work on Tiaanamat. I was slightly cold from the dampness of the air although the adrenalin being pumped around my body was doing wonders for keeping me warm and alert.
If what I saw was real, that meant that Mercy Hartigan was working with the Cybermen and she was responsible for all the deaths and abductions of all those children. I had to tell the Doctor what I knew. Screw not telling him what I saw, it was important, people lives were at stake.
"Doctor there is something you need to know-" I started to say, but suddenly, the franticly relieved voice of Rosita calling out 'Doctor', stopped me. The others turned to see the dark skinned woman rush over and throw herself into the other Doctor's arms, much to his embarrassment.
"I thought you were dead!" she cried happily. The other Doctor petted he back awkwardly.
"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum." He said trying to distance himself from the frantic girl. I was slightly amused at the sight. It was good for the other Doctor to be reminded of how much this girl had done for him and that others still cared about him. The poor Silku was lonely enough. Rosita reluctantly let go of him and stepped back.
"You've been gone for so long. He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic." She said in some irritation. Although I sensed that she was being affectionate in her teasing.
"What about the TARDIS?" The other Doctor asked, an urgency in his voice. Again, with the same ship name. If the Doctor had a ship called the TARDIS and the other Doctor had one also called the TARDIS, did that mean they were the same person? Not to mention they had the same name, otherwise it was shaping up to be a massive coincidence.
"Oh, she's ready. Come on." Rosita said excitedly as she grabbed his arm and pulled him along. The Doctor offered his hand and I didn't even think about it this time when I automatically responded.
"I'm looking forward to this" he said winking at me.
We walked for some time before we came upon a strange set of buildings. They were made of wood and the a particularly strong odour wafted from the door. I scrunched up my noise and made a gagging sound.
"That is even worse than an Ooska who hasn't been bathed in over a month and has been rolling around in a trash compacter." I complained. The Doctor chuckled at my facial expression.
"What your smelling is from an animal known as a horse. They're the ones that pulled the carriage earlier. They are very heavily used as a method of transport in this time as the diesel engine has yet to be invented. This is a stable where they keep them." He replied.
"Well I think they reek, these horses." I muttered, just as we entered the building.
There were clothes and cases scattered about the place. An armchair in one corner and although it was obvious that there were stalls made for these horses there were none inside. The Doctor looked around in surprise at finding the building so lived in.
"You were right though, Rosita. The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen." The other Doctor said as he washed his hands in a basin. I was more astonished to find actual candles that lit the inside of the building any form of electric light. It was just so…. primitive.
"So you live here?" the Doctor asked with some incredulity. I didn't see anything wrong with the surroundings, wasn't it normal for the time period?
"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." The other Doctor replied. I frowned in thought. Wasn't the Doctor's ship the TARDIS, where he dwelled. It was massive I remembered, seeing all those corridors and different rooms. Not to mention that ominous room I had first awoken in. The Doctor also appeared concerned.
"What it is? You keep looking like you expect something of him, yet the more he says, the more it doesn't add up in your mind. What are you looking for?" I asked him quietly.
"So many things. It doesn't make sense. He has everything, yet nothing at all. He should be more like me, yet he isn't. Whatever happened that night changed him and I have to figure it out." He said. I couldn't help that he hadn't actually answered the question. I snorted in irritation.
"Couldn't you for once be straight with me. This whole day has been insane." I said furiously back. But the Doctor continued on like he hadn't heard me.
"And where's the TARDIS now?" The Doctor asked. "In the yard." The other Doctor replied.
"What's all this luggage?" I asked, taking a hint from how the Doctor had been looking around earlier. The other Doctor seemed surprised at my questioning but answered me anyway.
"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered. Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. He faced the Cybermen with a cutlass and she used some sort of magic on them, the like of which I've never seen before. I'm not ashamed to say, they was braver than I." He said somewhat despondently.
"Even the girl?" Rosita asked.
"Hey!" I cried out indignantly.
"Yes even the blue haired woman." The other Doctor replied. I crossed my arms in annoyance. "The blue-haired woman has a name and its Riana." I said.
"Right again, my apologies milady Riana." He said trying to sooth my temper.
The Doctor had taken out his sonic screwdriver again and was scanning the room with it while the other Doctor's back was turned. Rosita gave the Doctor a strange look. He pressed his finger to his lips to signal for her to remain quiet.
"He was quite brilliant. Are you whistling again?" The other Doctor said as he turned around to stare at the Doctor. The Doctor quickly spun around hiding the device as he did so. I smirked, he could be unbelievable unsubtle at times.
"Yes. Yes, I am, yeah. Yeah." He said in a rush. I snorted. I wandered over to one of the cases and opened it looking through the belongings inside. Rosita made an annoyed noise when she spotted what I was doing.
"That's another man's property." She said with great disapproval. I shrugged figuring if the man was already dead then it was open slather. The Doctor came up to where I was and joined me in looking.
"You see it yet?" he said. I looked at him closely trying to work out exactly what he was trying to tell me.
"I'm not sure, but you're right, something doesn't make sense. Not that an of this really does anyway. I suppose it's the kind of day I'm having. I know the Cybermen are stuck here in this…1851, I think you said. They don't have much power and yet they have all those history devices lying around. Then there are all the disappearing children. Children don't just disappear without someone noticing, unless no one notices them. Which to me sounds like those who are disappearing are all the unwanted, expendable to say bluntly. Yet what is the missing connection between the murders? What if the connection was the children? What if the men being killed were done so to lure certain others together in one place at one time, what do you think would happen then? I still admit I don't see the connection between the Doctor and all this stuff though" I theorised. The Doctor looked extremely impressed with my deductive reasoning. I am ashamed to admit my heart was beating furiously in my chest and my cheeks were warm when he smiled at me like that.
"Very good. Now shall I explain?" He said quietly, placing a quick kiss on my forehead before turning back to face the others in the room.
"How did you two meet?" he asked Rosita suddenly.
"He saved my life. Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this...creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was gonna die. And then, there he was. The Doctor. Can you help him, sir? He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror." She said sadly as though she wished she could repay him for all his good deeds.
I had a new sudden understanding of why Rosita did what the other Doctor asked of her so easily. She cared about the wellbeing of the man. Saw the greatness in him and was drawn to him without true explanation. Sort of like me and the Doctor.
"Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams." The other Doctor abruptly interrupted. The Doctor turned back and continued to rummage through the trunk before pulling out a familiar infostamp.
"Yeah. Oh, now, look. Jackson Lake had an infostamp."
"But how is that significant?" I asked still not quite seeing how the death of Jackson Lake was important to the disappearance and the murders.
"Doctor, the answer to all this is in your TARDIS. Could I see it?" He asked a great anticipatory smile on his face. The other Doctor suddenly perked up and offered his arm to me.
"Mr Smith, Miss Tahlay, it would be my honour." With that he lead us out of the stables to a courtyard where a man stood occupied with something. Looking up I spotted an impressive looking air device. It was a bit primitive but non the less astonishing to look at.
"By the light of Akhaten." I breathed. The Doctor looked less impressed beside me though as though someone just spat on his shoe. I nudged him.
"Its impressive, isn't it. Bit primitive, but for the age and people, it would take a genius to create something like this." I said with fascination. The Doctor only grimaced slightly before turning back to the 'supposed' TARDIS. I still didn't understand exactly why he was disappointed. Sure it wasn't like his own ship but it was still melu.
"There she is! My transport through time and space. The TARDIS." The other Doctor exclaimed proudly.
"You've got a balloon." The Doctor stated, popping the last word slightly.
"Bit less sophisticated than yours, I think Doctor." I said amusement coloring my tone. "Oi." He said in warning to me.
"TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S. It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. D'you see?" The other Doctor said, not paying attention to our conversation.
"Well, I do now. I like it. Good TARDIS. Brilliant. Nice one. And it's inflated by gas, yeah?" The Doctor said as he walked around inspecting the balloon. I followed closely behind curious myself to the workings of the device.
"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks, I pay them a modest fee. Good work, Jed." The other Doctor replied. Jed, the man who had been standing in the courtyard with us nodded in approval and said he was glad to be of service. The other Doctor handed him some notes of paper, which I suspected were a form of currency around here. I wondered the value of the Precious within them?
"You've got quite a bit of money." The Doctor commented innocently. I wondered what money was, guessing it must be the name of the currency around here.
"Oh, you get nothing for nothing. How's that ripped panel, Jed?" The other Doctor asked.
"All repaired, should work a treat. You never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above." Jed said as he looked up into the sky.
"Well, not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon." The other Doctor brushed off the inquiry, trying to play it casually. I wondered though. Why had he built this device if he would never fly?
The Doctor exclaimed in surprise when he mentioned that he had never left, demanding to know why he had never been up into the sky. The other Doctor didn't answer, instead it was Rosita. She said that the Doctor dreamed of it but never actually followed through. I felt sad for the man, something terrible must be tethering him to this place on the cold snow covered ground. If I had the choice, I would choose to travel and never touch the ground again. Away from obligation and terror and people who thought you were so much less than you knew you were capable of being… I let my thoughts trail off as I brought myself back to the present moment.
"I can depart, in the TARDIS, once London is safe. And finally, when I'm up there... Think of it, John, Riana. The time and the space." The other Doctor replied.
"The perfect escape. Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?" The Doctor swiftly asked him. The other Doctor looked terribly burdened in that moment. Part of him yearned to never know, to simply escape it all and never look back. But too much of him needed to know just who and what he was running from. I too had to know, what could make a man that brilliant lose his mind?
"With every moment." He said quietly.
"Then do you want me to tell you? 'Cos I think I've worked it out now. How you became The Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?" The Doctor inquired seriously. The other Doctor could only nod.
We all sat in front of the fire, listening intently as the Doctor told his tale, his alluring voice ensnaring us like yics in a dandren's web.
"The story begins with the Cybermen. A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought and they were beaten, and they were sent into a howling wilderness called The Void, locked inside forevermore. But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside The Void perished. But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you." The Doctor said.
"I fought them, I know that. But what happened? There was a woman, a woman caught in fire yet not burning. She did something… so terrible… but I can't make out her face." The other Doctor stated softly.
My Doctor looked at the ground a great sadness upon his face. Caught deep in a painful memory. He abruptly looked up to meet my blue eyes, before he tore his eyes away and continued.
"She is not important. At the same time, another man came to London. Mr Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp." The Doctor said as he held up the device. I could feel my pulse start to race as I leaned forward like the others to hear the end to this tale.
"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him." The other Doctor stated as if he was wondering why this man was so important to the story.
"You said no body was ever found. And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them. I told you the answer was in the fob watch. Can I see?" The Doctor held out his hand for the other Doctor to pass the achingly familiar device over. I shivered upon seeing the thing, although unlike last time I didn't hear any voices.
The Doctor flipped the watch over to show the alien letters of J.L, which somehow, I could read. ""J.L." The watch is Jackson Lake's." he said quietly. Suddenly it all made sense to me, the missing link I couldn't identify before. But Rosita beat me to the punch in stating the conclusion I had come to.
"Jackson Lake is... you, sir?" she asked with some incredulity.
"But I'm The Doctor." He said trying to cling to a fantasy, which in his mind was of a fantastical man or alien who travelled the stars and was a hero. A being that made legends. Something which I only realised meant that the man sitting beside me, also called the Doctor WAS that impossible man. The one whom I had berated and teased and yelled at all this time. I flushed with slight embarrassment at my own naivety.
"You became The Doctor because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man. The Cybermen's database. Stolen from the Daleks inside The Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about The Doctor." As he said this he pointed the infostamp at the wall and a series of images began to be shown. All different faces, all different ages, yet they were all called the Doctor. I counted them 8,9…10. I gasped when I saw his face. The Doctor's face. He was on there, the Cybermen's greatest enemy was him.
The other Doct- no sorry Jackson Lake, gasped and said in complete puzzlement, "That's you."
"Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen. The one and the only. You see? The infostamp must have backfired, streamed all that information about me right inside your head." He explained pointing the device at Jackson to demonstrate how it had happened.
"But what about the other woman, the one caught in fire? She can't have been in there." Jackson questioned. The Doctor looked angry for a second before brushing it off.
"That is another story. She has somewhat of a history with me. My guess is that her presence was so powerful it imprinted into the Cybermen's database records of me and that psychometric energy soaked it. When you got blasted with that information you absorbed some of the remnant of her energy. Believe me she can be hard to forget. Anyway she isn't relevant to your situation though." The Doctor casually stated although I was sure this woman was anything but. I think in some ways I would like to meet her.
"I'm nothing but a lie, then." Jackson stated brokenly, clasping his head in his hands despondently.
"No, no, no, no, no. Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery. Saving Rosita. Defending London town. Hmm? And the invention, building a TARDIS. That's all you." The Doctor said excitedly, even I had to admit to the brilliance of this human.
"And what else? Tell me what else?" Demanded of the Doctor. I had immeasurable sympathy for the poor man, who had lost so much, in such a short time.
"I'm sorry Jackson" I said as I tried to offer what comfort I could by gently laying a hand on his shoulder. "So sorry, but that's an awful lot of luggage for one man to have all to himself." I half whispered, afraid to make the man even more damaged then he already was.
"'Cos an infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state. Where the mind just runs away, because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much." The Doctor instead finished for me. Jackson looked devastated and broken. The truth of his situation was beginning to dawn on him and I only had pity.
A bell sounded in the distance. "Midnight. Christmas Day." Rosita whispered, great sadness in her voice, for her friends' loss.
"I remember... Oh, my God... Caroline. They killed my wife. They killed her." He began to cry. Rosita leaned forward and comforted the grieving man. Tears appeared in my own eyes, this was never how I imagined my day going. I had imagined boring, maybe stressful, being yelled at by mother, shoved around in the market place, not this hovercoaster of a ride of emotions.
The Doctor found another infostamp and it began to beep. I stood up and looked at what he was doing. I could hear more of the sounds coming from another trunk nearby. We both made way towards it to find a whole belt of the device inside.
"You found a whole cache of infostamps." The Doctor said in surprise.
"But what does that mean, the noise?" Rosita asked, having too heard the noise.
"Activation. A call to arms. The Cybermen are moving!" The Doctor abruptly shouted as he ran out of the room leaving the three of us behind. I sighed. I guess it fell to the two females in the room to help the grief-stricken man. Rosita was already crouched beside him looking between where he sat, my face and the door where the Doctor had run out of.
"I swear that man has no common sense. And I only just met him! I mean leave an inconsolable man by himself after he has just had all that he has ever known torn out from under him. Him and I will be having words, rest assured." I promised anger lacing my voice at the Doctor's idiocy.
"Thank you for what you are trying to do, both of you. Rosita I know I haven't always been fair to you. Not given you enough credit that you deserve for pulling me out of the fire, more times than I can count. You too Miss Riana, for today. And although we have only known each other a short time, I see a spark in you that could equal any man's wit and intelligence and is more than enough to keep the Doctor on his toes. So I ask of you both, for the sake of this city and the thousands of people that dwell within it, help the Doctor. I learnt that much about him. There should be someone at his side. Now go. Go!" He said urgently.
Rosita stood up and turned to me for guidance. It felt strange to be in charge for once, I was so used to people ignoring my opinion. Everyone except for my Father I mean.
"Are you sure, Jackson?" I asked he nodded and without hesitation, Rosita and I ran after the Doctor.
I would come back, if I survived this terrible night from the pits of Vespin. I would come back and make sure he was alright, so he wouldn't be lonely in his grief, like I had been in mine.
Rosita and I found the Doctor watching as a long line of dirty children walked down the street. They looked terrified and were utterly silent. I felt my locket burn in response to my anger and felt the Doctor take my hand.
"What is it? What's happening? That's Mr Cole. He's Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers." Rosita said, pointing towards a man in a tall hat with white hair. I gasped, it was exactly the same man I had seen in my vision. The one where the crimson dressed woman had killed everyone.
"I guess we now know where all the children are disappearing to. Doctor I was trying to tell you before, that man, I've seen him before. In my vision, with that women who killed everyone. She left him alive with several others, said she needed them for their children." I said in horror. The Doctor turned to me sharply at my revelation.
"If that is the case we have to stop this. All those children are in terrible danger. Riana, remember what I said before, you can't tell me what happens in your visions, only as an absolute last resort." He implored of me. I nodded assuming it was another of those rules of his'.
"Oh, nothing as holy as that." He said in reply to Rosita's question. "Can you hear me? Hello? No? Mr Cole, you seem to have something in your ear. Now, this might hurt a bit, but if I can just..." As he attempted to pull out the alien devices from the man's ears the Doctor spotted one of the Cyber creatures from before. "They're on guard. Can't risk a fight. Not with the children." He said reluctantly pulling us both back from the children and into the shadows. I gritted my teeth in anger as we had to let them pass.
I felt the Doctor's warm hands covering my clenched fists as I realised I was generating a blue field around my hands. "Easy" he murmured into my ear. Slowly I relaxed.
"But where are they going?" Rosita asked in a horrified voice. I was about to tell her I didn't know when Jed, the man from the courtyard walked up to us.
"All need a good whipping, if you ask me. There's tons of 'em. I've just seen another lot coming from the Ingleby Workhouse down Broadback Lane." He said obnoxiously. I felt like shahking him in the face, or maybe just kicking him in the nuts for his insensitivity and boorish opinion.
"Where's that?" the Doctor asked Rosita, completely ignoring the other man.
"This way!" she shouted in reply as she took off running down the snow covered streets. The Doctor and I following closely behind. We ran a fair way through the city of London before we stopped abruptly because of another group of children.
"There's dozens of 'em!" Rosita said in disgust.
"But what for?" the Doctor pondered.
"Maybe they need them for something. Remember I said before, the only children who go missing that no one cares about are those that are considered expendable." I reminded him. He suddenly turned around and pulled me to him. I barely had enough time to register the fact that he had just smashed his lips to mine, before he had pulled away. I stood there stunned at the action. Sure, I had been kissed before, but never quite like that. While my mouth opened, and closed like a shahked idiot, the Doctor turned back to Rosita.
"Sorry shouldn't have done that, yet." He said off handily to me.
"Yet?" I said as my voice went up an octave.
"That's the door to the sluice. All the sewage runs through there, straight into the Thames." Rosita said as we watched more children enter the door.
"Yeah, that's too well guarded. We'll have to find another way in." the Doctor said annoyance evident in his voice. We turned around to head back when before us appeared two Cybermen. I got ready to throw them but stopped when a woman appeared. It took me a moment to recognise who she was. It was Mercy Hartigan. However, the Doctor and Rosita didn't know that.
"Whoa! That's cheating, sneaking up! Did you have your legs on silent?" The Doctor said in a playful banter. I nudged him to tell him to shut up. Talking hadn't done us any good before.
"So... what do we have here?" Miss Hartigan asked casually. The Doctor tensed as he thought she was in danger.
"Just walk towards me, slowly. Don't let them touch you." The Doctor pleaded. I tried to speak but he cut me off again before I could. The woman looked terribly amused at the Doctor's antics.
"Oh, but they wouldn't hurt me, my fine boys. They are my knights in shining armour. Quite literally." She said mockingly. I growled at her. "And what an interesting find we have made this night."
"You absolute grahikki! You murdered all those people at the gravesite, for no real reason." I yelled out, no longer able to old my tongue. The Doctor looked at me startled at this piece of news, but didn't deign to comment.
"Even if they've converted you, that's not a Cyber speech pattern. You've still got free will. Step away..." The Doctor tried again, believing there was still some shred of decency in her character left.
"There's been no conversion, sir. No-one's ever been able to change my mind. The Cybermen offered me the one thing I wanted - liberation." She said with a wicked smile on her face. I didn't feel like punching her, I was going to.
"Who are you?" Rosita asked. The woman turned to her sharply. "You can be quiet. I doubt he paid you to talk. More importantly, who are you, sir, With such intimate knowledge of my companions?" She said as she completely dismissed Rosita.
I could tell Rosita was furious and so was I. I was absolutely over people putting us down or categorising us because of our gender.
"Her name is Mercy Hartigan." I supplied. Both the Doctor, Rosita and Miss Haritgan turned to stare at me incredulously.
"How can you possibly know that. I should think I would know an easy woman's face when I saw one." She bitched at me. I was going to kill her. I felt my face go red. Did she seriously just suggest I was a prostitute? I started forward a blue field flaring around me, but the Doctor grabbed my arms before I could do any real damage.
"Let me at her, right now! She's dead." I growled. Miss Hartigan looked on with interest at the display of my skill.
"How intriguing a woman with an unusual power. Perhaps you must be studied?" she said as though I was a specimen in a lab. "Perhaps you are one of these creatures they speak of that comes from another world?"
"I'll show you study, bitch." I muttered.
"I'm The Doctor and this Riana Tahlay." He said indicating myself and him.
"Incorrect. You do not correspond to our image of The Doctor. Incorrect, records show the name Riana Tahlay corresponds to the woman known as the Azure Queen. Image unavailable." The monotone voice of one of the Cybermen responded.
I was stunned, they had records of me and what did it mean by the Azure Queen?
"Yeah, that's cos your database got corrupted. Oh, look, look, look! Check this! The Doctor's infostamp. Plug it in. Go on, download." The Doctor said as he threw the device at the Cyberman. "The core has been damaged. This infostamp would damage Cyberunits." The Cyberman responded. I gaped at the Doctor's clever plan.
"Oh well, nice try." The Doctor cheekily said, winking at both Rosita and I.
The Cyberman repaired the device and inserted it into its chest piece. "Core repaired. Download. You are The Doctor." It stated as it suddenly raised its arm into a position to shoot.
"You will be Deleted." It said. The Doctor suddenly stammered as he tried to buy us some time. "Oh, but let me die happy! Tell me - what d'you need those children for?" he asked.
"What are children ever needed for? They're a workforce." Miss Hartigan replied flippantly. I cried out in horror, all those innocent silku!
"Yes but what for?" The Doctor asked again.
"Very soon now, the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down, in worship." She said triumphantly. I felt like being sick.
"And it's all been timed for Christmas Day. Was that your idea Miss Haritgan?" the questioned.
"Yes, it's the perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man." She replied. Was she only doing this because she was sick of men? How insane could you be, a woman created her own worth. She didn't let alien metal robots tell her what to do. And sure as hell didn't let ordinary men either.
"The birth of what?" The Doctor asked again.
"A birth, and a death. Namely, yours. Thank you, Doctor. I'm glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them." She ordered.
I had expected to die but a beam of light shot out from behind the Cybermen and caused them to collapse. From behind it came a determined Jackson Lakes.
"At your service, Doctor, Miss Tahlay." He said as he bowed slightly. I laughed in relieved delight. The Doctor though while happy to see him, grabbed both Rosita and I's hands and told us to run. However, Rosita walked back over to where Miss Hartigan stood.
"One last thing, this is for both me and Riana, and all the women out there you give a bad name to." With that she punched the woman in the face making her topple over into her cyber creatures. I laughed at the gall of Rosita and completely agreed with her action. The Doctor however, didn't.
A we ran away I heard the last of Miss Hartigan's words echo down the street.
"Get off me. I said, get off! Tell your masters, we're not waiting till dawn. The CyberKing will rise... tonight!" She screamed.
Next Chapter: The Next Doctor- The Cybermen Rise!
Akheet Word List
Pakki – Rhythm or tempo of something.
Zeem'al – Akheet term meaning divine trouble or literally translated as 'trouble worth the gods'.
Tookihal – Strange or crazy to the extreme. Beyond what is considered normal.
Silku – equivalent term of a soul.
Ooska – An animal that is found on Tiaanamat. Often kept as a pet it is the equivalent of a dog.
Melu – An expression largely used to describe the feeling of delight one get when encountering something unexpected or astonishing.
Yic- A flying insect.
Grahikki – This does not have an exact translation in English. It is a highly offensive term, like a swearword used by those in the Seven Sytems. Often to describe someone of revolting nature or questionable character who had committed a repugnant act.