The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 70
A/N: Here's the beginning of what we've all been waiting for! The return of Captain Jack, the beginnings of the Master and the first chapter of the first episode of the first season finale that I plan on covering!
Warnings: Sexual Content, Language, Dark Themes etc.
Utopia: The Promised Land
The TARDIS materialised in Cardiff in front of the water tower in Roald Dahl Pass. The Doctor was standing at the console, tipping over a lever, while Rhea and Martha watched with bemusement.
"Cardiff." The Doctor said, finally.
Martha frowned. "Cardiff?"
"Ah, but the thing about Cardiff is that it's built on a rift in time and space – just like California and the San Andreas Fault." Rhea nodded. "The rift bleeds energy. Every now and then, I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."
"So, it's a stopover." Rhea said, knowingly.
The Doctor grinned and leaned down, kissing her sweetly on her hair. "Exactly." He said, proudly.
"Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple years ago. Was that you?" Martha asked, curiously.
"Spoilers." Rhea sang, enjoying the way the Doctor's face twisted with irritation and discomfort. "Oh, don't look at me like that. You're the one that insists that I call it out whenever I haven't done something you're about to talk about." She said, pointedly. She leaned back in her chair and cross her arms over her chest, pleased. "You have no one to blame but yourself."
"I've created a monster." The Doctor muttered under his breath.
Martha snickered.
"What? I have. When I first met her, she always had the upper hand because she knew my future, but then as I got older, I started meeting younger Rheas, who had no idea what was going on, and I could finally one-up her. And now, she's done enough of my future that she can get back to her usual know-it-all tricks." The Doctor grumbled.
Rhea grinned and walked over to the Doctor. Her hand reached up and curved around his chin, her fingers pressing against his slim cheekbone and her thumb sliding across the groove above his jawbone. She shook his head, softly, from side to side, a beaming smile on her pretty face.
"Oh, don't pout, honey. It's not an attractive look on your face." She paused. "Actually, it is. But stop complaining." She chided, gently. "You'll get plenty of chances to give me that stupid 'spoilers' routine and be an absolute smartass in your future, believe me." She said, dryly.
The Doctor looked thoughtful for a moment and nodded, as if pleased by the offer Rhea had given him, an action that made Rhea roll her eyes at his predictability.
God, how are we supposed to survive in a relationship together if we're both major control freaks?
"So, let me get this straight," Martha cleared her throat and leaned in closer. "From what I can tell about this wickedly strange relationship the two of you have got going on… Rhea wears the pants in this relationship." She joked.
A sly smile slid onto Rhea's red-painted lips. "Haven't you seen me? I always wear the pants." She purred, lowly.
The Doctor, simply, rolled his eyes, as if too many people had made this very joke and he had just gotten sick of it.
"That earthquake. It was a long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." The Doctor explained, quickly, to Martha, sending Rhea a meaningful look that told Rhea that it must have been a previous regeneration of the Doctor's. He shoved down a lever. "Finito. All powered up."
The Doctor paled as he took a glance at the TARDIS monitor, seeing a familiar-looking man in long, navy trench coat running up to them. The Doctor rushed around the console, much to Rhea's confusion, and pressed down the lever for dematerialisation of the TARDIS. Suddenly, the console erupted with sparks and the Doctor, Rhea and Martha were thrown to the floor with equal screams of shock.
Martha's fingers gripping at the console, desperately trying to find some purchase as the TARDIS rocked from side to side. "What's that?" She asked, helplessly.
"We're accelerating into the future." The Doctor said, hurriedly.
Rhea used her grip on the console to push herself towards the monitor. She gasped when she saw the figures written on the screen. "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion." She looked up at the Doctor with wide, green eyes. "What the fuck?"
"The year 100 trillion. That's impossible!" The Doctor breathed.
"Obviously not, if we're heading there right now." Rhea snapped.
"Why is it impossible? What happens then?" Martha wheezed.
"We're going to the end of the universe." The Doctor said, grimly.
The TARDIS finally landed with a thud and the Doctor, Rhea and Martha looked up, hesitantly, from where they had buried themselves. The Doctor looked at Rhea and Martha with bemusement.
"Well, we've landed." The Doctor muttered.
"Quick question, what's out there?" Rhea asked, quickly, shooting the closed TARDIS doors a nervous look, her hand sliding to stroke the gun tucked in the back of her jeans.
"I don't know." The Doctor shook his head.
Both Martha and Rhea visibly paused and exchanged a look of disbelief.
"Say that again. That's rare." Martha said, pointedly.
The Doctor sighed. "Not even the Time Lords came this far." He looked at Rhea, earnestly. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really… go."
The Doctor, Rhea and Martha exchanged beaming grins and all three rushed towards the doors at the same time.
They stepped out onto what looked like an incredibly bleak landscape. The ground was covered in gravel, the sky dark and devoid of stars and absolutely no life whatsoever for miles into the distance. It looked like some strange version of a post-apocalyptic film.
Martha, at the front, followed by the Doctor and Rhea bringing up the rear, saw a handsome man in a blue trench coat, lying unconscious on the ground.
"Oh, my God!" Martha shrieked, tapping the Doctor's arm before rushing over. "Can't get a pulse. Hold on, you've got that medical kit thing." She ran into the TARDIS, pushing past the Doctor and Rhea.
The Doctor placed his hands against the doorframe of the TARDIS. He looked down at her, his face more serious than she had seen in awhile, his arms conveniently at the height of her eyes so that she couldn't see out of the TARDIS.
"Okay, you're going to see something and you're going to find something out and because you haven't done it yet, you're going to get very angry at me. Now, I'm going to preclude this conversation by telling you that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry and I will spend as long as you want me to on the couch." The Doctor paused. "Just not too long because that couch in our room doesn't have lumbar support and my back starts to ache after sleeping on it for longer than a couple of days and come to think of it, you insisted on that couch even though there were better ones, so now it makes me think that you wanted me to suffer on that couch." He looked down at her, betrayed.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Of course I did it on purpose. Sleeping on the couch is a punishment, honey, not a reward. If it were a reward, men would want to sleep on the couch every day." She said, slowly.
Rhea ducked underneath the Doctor's arms and proceeded out of the TARDIS. She bit her lip and she felt goosebumps form on her face when she caught sight of whom exactly was lying, back first, right outside the TARDIS. Her eyes widened and she dug her teeth into her lower lip. Before she knew it, she was hurtling towards him, her gold studded heels scraping against the rocks that lined the ground, until she had fallen beside his unconscious body, her khaki jeans scraping painfully against the sharp rocks, the zipper at the bottom of the skinny jeans digging into her skin almost to the point of drawing blood.
"Jack."
Rhea ran her hands through her hair and pulled the long, black locks off to one side and over her right shoulder. She ran her hands over Jack's face and chest, careful not to actually touch him too hard, lest he have some sort of spinal injury that would only worsen if she moved him. She dipped her head down and pressed her ear against his breastbone. The absolute silence, no pulse and no heartbeat, sent her mind into a frenzy, the cotton material of her black t-shirt, with the words 'Better Loved Than Lost' emblazoned across the chest, sticking uncomfortably against her skin.
Rhea turned back to the Doctor, her concern blazing on her face. "He's not breathing, Doctor. He has no pulse and no heartbeat. But he can't be dead. There's no way. He just can't be." She whispered, desperately, feeling her hands start to shake as they hovered right above Jack's body.
The Doctor sauntered over, a picture of calm, after a moment. He looked down at the body of his old friend, mournfully. "Hello, again. Oh, I'm sorry." He said, apologetically.
Rhea rounded on him, her eyes suddenly spitting fury. "You're sorry?" She spat, her fists clenching at her side. "You're fucking sorry?!" She snarled. "This man is our friend, Doctor. You should remember that. I know you have this nasty habit of completely disregarding everything your previous regenerations did, but this is Jack. He's our friend, Doctor, and he saved our lives. This is beyond cold, to stand above his corpse and say that you're only you're sorry." She hissed out.
Just then, Martha rushed out of the TARDIS. "Here we go. Out of the way." She shoved past the Doctor and landed on the other side of Jack's body. "It's a bit odd, though. Not very hundred trillion, that coat's more like World War II." She mused.
"That's because it is." Rhea said, bluntly.
Martha looked up at Rhea, bemused.
"I think he came with us." The Doctor said, grimly.
Martha frowned in confusion. "How d'you mean? From Earth?"
The Doctor nodded. "Must've been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS all the way through the vortex. Well, that very him." He murmured.
Martha's eyes widened as they shifted from an upset Rhea to a stoic Doctor. "What? Do you know him?" She asked, disbelievingly.
The Doctor nodded. "Friend of ours. Used to travel with us." He paused. "Back in the old days."
Rhea snorted. "Maybe for you," She said, harshly. "But I was just with him a couple of months ago." She said, coldly.
The Doctor almost flinched at the blatant anger that coloured Rhea's voice.
Martha shifted. "But he's… I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat." Her hand reached over Jack's corpse to take Rhea's clammy ones in her one. When she did, however, Rhea snatched it back almost immediately, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of anyone touching her. She looked at Martha, apologetically, hoping that the other girl wouldn't take it the other way. Martha looked straight back at her, her eyes understanding. "There's nothing. He's dead." She said, slowly.
Rhea's eyes widened and she reeled back in shock, the sensitive skin of the palm of her hands sliced by the rocks of the ground as she scuttled away from the dead man who suddenly came back to life with a gasp, grabbing onto Martha and Rhea as he did so, the former screaming in utter shock and terror.
"Oh, well, so much for me." Martha muttered under her breath. Jack's eyes were wide and wild so much that they shifted from side to side at rapid speed. "It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you now."
"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" Jack stroked his thumb against the light dip in Martha's chin.
"Martha Jones." Martha replied with a shy smile.
"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."
"Oh, don't start!" The Doctor groaned, rolling his eyes.
"I was just saying hello." Jack protested.
"Oh, please, with you, 'hello' is never 'hello'." The Doctor said, dryly.
"I don't mind." Martha said, sheepishly.
"Would someone mind explaining to me what the hell is going on?" Rhea shrieked, her eyes wide and furious.
"Rhea, I-" Jack began.
"Oh, don't 'Rhea' me, you jackass. You just came back to life." She hissed, baring her teeth in a snarl. "You died and you came back to life! You had no heartbeat and no pulse and then your eyes just snapped open like that brunette moron from The Vampire Diaries." She shrieked. "Do you realise how this may be freaking me out just a little?" She snarled.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Well, it's good to see you too, Rhea." He said, sarcastically.
Rhea sighed and leaned down to help a sore Jack to his feet, feeling him wrap his strong arms around her waist and lift her up against her body in a thick hug that made her feel all warm inside. She wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him as tightly as she possibly could (which had her wondering since when did I become so touchy-feely and not liking her sudden demonstrative nature all that much either). Her arms tightened around him and she kissed him, gently, on the cheek.
"I've missed you, Jack." Rhea said, softly, this piece of vulnerable emotion for Jack and Jack only.
"I've missed you too, beautiful." Jack kissed the side of her head, affectionately, watching from his position opposite to the Doctor as his eyes tightened with jealousy, feeling a petty sense of pride at being able to draw that emotion from him after everything that the Time Lord had done to him.
Rhea finally tore herself from Jack's arms and she steadied him on his feet, her hand curling around his muscled bicep. The Doctor and Jack stared at each other, coldly, the Doctor still bearing some of his earlier jealousy.
"Doctor." Jack said, slowly.
"Captain." The Doctor replied in much of the same tone.
"Be nice, boys." Rhea said, slowly. "I don't wanna have to put you both in timeout." She purred. "Although, I quite like the idea of a punishment." She waggled her eyebrows.
Jack winked, deliberately at her. "If it's a spanking from you, anytime, beautiful." He said, seductively.
The Doctor's reply was nothing more than a low growl that promised something disastrous if Jack kept flirting with Rhea.
Jack cleared his throat. "Good to see you." He murmured.
"And you. Same as ever… although… have you had work done?" The Doctor said, snidely.
Jack turned furious. "You can talk!" He said, pointedly.
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"
Jack shrugged. "The police box kinda gives it away." He pointed out. "I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me." He scowled.
"Wait, you did what?" Rhea snapped, shooting the Doctor a furious look.
"Did I?" The Doctor blinked. "Busy life. Moving on." He shrugged.
Rhea made to open her mouth and tear into him for his callous words, when Martha tapped her, furiously, on the arm, asking her silently to remain quiet.
"Just gotta ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler."
Rhea paled.
The Doctor cursed under his breath and moved closer to Jack so that he could murmur in his ear without Rhea hearing what he said. "She's alive, Jack."
"You're kidding?!" Jack breathed.
"Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey! And her mother!" The Doctor said, cheerfully, making sure his voice was low enough that Rhea wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.
"Oh, yes!" Jack crowned and threw his arms around the Doctor, both of them laughing as Rhea gazed at them, fondly.
Rhea turned around to see an unfathomably disgruntled expression on Martha's face.
"Good old Rose." Martha said, softly, slightly hurt.
Rhea clucked her tongue and placed a warm hand on Martha' shoulder, squeezing it in comfort.
Jack, Rhea and Martha were walking down a gravelly path in the middle of nowhere, the Doctor leading the unlikely bunch, his hands shoved into his coat pockets.
"So, there I was, stranded in the year 200100, ankle-deep in Dalek dust, and they go off without me. But I had this." Jack tapped the device on his wrist, much like a vintage watch. "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. They're not the only one who can time travel." He said, smugly.
The Doctor snorted. "Oh, excuse me. That is not time travel. It's like I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."
Martha laughed. "Boys and their toys."
Rhea snorted. "More like boys and their preoccupation with size." She waggled her eyebrows, meaningfully.
Jack grimaced at Rhea's comment. "All right, so I bounced. I thought '21st century, best place to find the Doctor', except that I got it a little wrong. I arrived in 1869 and this thing burnt out so it was useless." He shook his wrist.
"Told you." The Doctor said, smugly.
"I had to live through the entire 20th century waiting for a version of you two that would coincide with me." Jack muttered.
"That makes you more than a hundred years old." Martha said, stunned.
"And looking good, don't-cha think?" Jack chuckled.
"Are you kidding me," Rhea snorted. "It's like your fucking photoshopped." She muttered. "Seriously, how do you look like that? You're all chiselled and-" She waved a hand in his general direction.
"I have a very intricate moisturising routine." Jack joked.
The Doctor looked over his shoulder to shoot Rhea a glare, which she promptly ignored and chose to roll her eyes at. She wouldn't be sleeping with him if she wanted Jack. She would've just picked the handsome Captain up, brought him to her bed, licked all over him, sunk her teeth into him a couple of times, done unspeakable things to him, and kicked him to the curb with a dazed smile on his face.
Memories like that brought a mournful smile to her lips.
But she wanted the Doctor. She was surprised that she wasn't over him yet. Since her divorce, there had been a few men who had caught her eye, but all she had to do was steal him away from a night of average, somewhat satisfying sex. But the Doctor was different. She had fucked him in two separate bodies and she was nowhere close to being done with him. She still wanted him with that all-encompassing desire that had burned in her belly the first time she had seen her bow-tie boy's lanky form right outside her door. But she preferred this system, if she were being honest. At least this way, she could settle her unwavering thirst for him whenever she wanted.
"So, I went to the time rift, based myself there, 'cause I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until, finally, I get a signal on this thing detecting you and here we are." Jack said, finally.
"But the thing is, how come you two left him behind, Doctor? Rhea?" Martha asked, confused.
Rhea grimaced. "Don't ask me, I haven't done it yet."
"Don't worry, beautiful, I don't blame you." Jack said, pointedly, winking at Rhea.
The Doctor shrugged. "I was busy." He said, simply.
"Is that what happens, though? Seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?"
"Yes." Rhea nodded and curled her hand around the Doctor's bicep when she saw him glare at her.
Jack snorted. "Not if you're blonde." He said, cattily.
Rhea groaned. "Oh, come on, Jack. Have you ever known me to care about things like that?" She said, sharply.
"Oh, she was blonde? Oh, what a surprise?" Martha said, sarcastically, fury flashing in her dark eyes.
"You two!" The Doctor rounded on them, furiously. "We're at the end of the universe. All right? We're at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy…" He looked away, searching for the word he wanted. "Blogging! Come on."
Rhea rushed up to his irritated form and patted him once on the back. "Come on, you can't blame them." She said, pointedly. "You abandoned one of them in favour of Rose and you've made it clear to the other one that she's never going to be as good as Rose." She leaned in, resting her head on his bicep as they walked. "There's only so far they're going to be sympathetic, honey. They'll lash out if they feel like you're doing them an injustice and I don't blame Martha in the slightest." She said, simply.
The Doctor looked down at her, his mouth turned down at the corners. "Do you think I'm that kind of person?" He asked, worriedly.
Rhea pursed her lips. "I think… you miss Rose. I think you miss her a lot and I think you want to make Martha Rose and I think you get disappointed when it's so obvious that they're nothing alike. I think you have a tendency to look past people and that's not fair. I liked Rose, you know I did. Maybe I didn't know her as well as you did, but I liked her. But you can't do this to Martha. You have to know that. She deserves better, Doctor. She deserves better than you treating her like she's second best, because she isn't. She's pretty cool herself and you wouldn't have asked her to come with us if you didn't think so." She murmured. "So, think it through. Think about Rose and Martha and about what you want… and make a decision and let me know what you decide."
The Doctor and Rhea walked over to the edge of a canyon that looked like it once held a city of some sort.
Martha frowned, coming up behind them. "Is that a city?" She asked, stunned.
"A city or a hive. Or a nest. Or a conglomeration. Looks like it was grown. But look there. That's like pathways, roads… Must have been some sort of life. Long ago." The Doctor mused.
Rhea frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "What do you think killed it?"
"Time. Just time." The Doctor said, simply. "Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone. This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."
"Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine?" Rhea said, sarcastically.
"It must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack murmured, coming to stand beside them.
"Well, Rhea, Martha and I, maybe. Not so sure about you, Jack." The Doctor looked, knowingly, at Jack, much to Rhea's confusion.
"What about the people? Does no one survive?" Martha wondered.
"I suppose we have to hope. Life will find a way." The Doctor murmured.
Rhea paused. "Please don't tell me you just quoted Jurassic Park." She muttered.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're the one who likes those movies."
"Yes, but I don't quote them in real life," Rhea shot back.
"Well, he's not doing too bad." Jack commented, pointing to a young man who was running along one of the pathways at the bottom of the cavern, with a bunch of people hot on his heels.
"Yeah, something doesn't tell me that's a friendly game of tag." Rhea muttered.
"Yeah, I think it's more of a hunt? Come on!" The Doctor shouted, pulling Rhea along down the edge of the cavern, much to her dismay.
The young man ran along the pathway as the strange beasts chased after him. The Doctor, Rhea, Martha and Jack ran along a roadway opposite to him, finally meeting up with him
"Oh, I've missed this!" Jack laughed.
"Really, 'cause I haven't!" Rhea snapped, as she was dragged down the length of the cavern.
When they reached the young man, Jack took a hold of him.
"I've got you." Jack said, reassuringly.
"We've gotta run! They're coming! They're coming!" The man shouted.
Jack passed the young man over to the Doctor and then pulled out his revolver, aiming it at the band of people who were hot on their heels.
"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor shouted, warningly.
"He's such a killjoy." Jack muttered to Rhea, putting his revolver away.
Rhea laughed out loud, tipping her head back and exposing the long, lean line of her throat. "You're telling me." She patted him on the arm. "Come on, honey, I'll show you how it's done."
She raised her blaster and narrowed her eyes, firing it without missing a second beat, the energy dissipating as it the blast rose through the atmosphere.
"What the hell are they?" Martha yelped.
"There's more of them. We've got to keep going." The young man insisted.
"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's just over there." The Doctor looked back the way they came to see more of the tribe heading straight for them. "Or maybe not." He said, lamely.
"We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe." The man explained.
The Doctor turned to Rhea, Jack and Martha. "Silo?" He offered.
"Silo." Rhea nodded.
"Silo." Jack agreed.
"Silo for me." Martha approved.
The five ran to the silo, followed by the tribe of post-apocalyptic wanderers. They finally arrived to a gated community, surrounded by watchtowers and guards.
"It's the Futurekind! Open the gate!" The young man shouted, banging his fists on the wire fence.
"Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!" The guard yelled.
The young man turned to the Doctor, Rhea, Martha and Jack. "Show them your teeth." He ordered.
The Doctor, Rhea, Martha, Jack and the young man bared their teeth at the guards in wide smiles.
"Human! Let 'em in! Let 'em in!" The guard shouted.
The guards opened the gate and the five ran inside.
"Close! Close! Close!" The guard ordered.
The guard fired his gun at the ground in front of the Futurekind.
"Humans. Humani. Make feast." The man at the forefront of the Futurekind hissed.
"Go back to where you came from. I said go back! Go back!" The guard aimed his gun, threateningly, at him.
"Oh, don't tell him to put down his gun." Jack muttered.
"The Doctor's a notorious hypocrite. I'd have thought you'd have learnt that by now." Rhea whispered.
"He's not my responsibility." The Doctor said, tersely.
"And I am?" Jack scoffed. "That makes a change."
"He makes a good point." Rhea shrugged. "You don't get to abandon him like almost 200,000 years in the future and think that you can tell him what to do. It doesn't work like that." She said, sharply.
"Kind watch you. Kind hungry." The chieftain growled, signalling the others, and they backed away.
Rhea turned to the guard and gave him a winning smile that showed the brightness of her teeth. "Thanks for that."
"Right. Let's get you inside." The guard muttered.
"My name is Padrafet Shafekane. Please, tell me, can you take me to Utopia?" The young man asked the guard, hurriedly.
"Oh, yes, sir. Yes, I can."
The guard led them into a large tunnel carved into a mountain, which Rhea assumed was the silo.
The Doctor, Rhea, Martha, Jack and Padrafet were standing with one of the lieutenants.
"It's a box, a big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The Doctor muttered, furiously, to the lieutenant.
"I'm sorry," Padrafet interjected. "But my family were heading for the silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafekane. My brother is Beltone."
"The computers are down but you can check the paperwork. Creet!" A little boy of about ten years old stuck his head around the corner. "Passenger needs help."
The boy nodded and looked at Padrafet. "Right. What d'you need?"
Padrafet walked over to Creet and looked down at the clipboard clutched in his hands.
"A blue box, you said." The lieutenant said, looking once more at the Doctor.
"Big, tall, wooden. Says 'Police'." The Doctor said, lamely.
"Something tells me that in this day and age, it'd be kinda hard to miss it." Rhea muttered.
"We're driving out for a last water collection. I'll see what I can do." The lieutenant offered.
The Doctor nodded. "Thank you."
Creet looked at Padrafet. "Come on." He urged.
Martha frowned and approached the little boy. "Sorry, but how old are you?"
"Old enough to work." Creet replied. "This way."
All of them followed Creet through a corridor lined with people camping out.
"Kistane Shafekane. Kistane Shafekane. Kistane and Beltone Shafekane? Looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafekane." Creet called out.
"The Shafekanes anyone?" Padrafet offered.
"Anyone? Kistane and Beltone Shefkane? Anyone know the Shefkane family? Anyone called Shafekane?"
"It's like a refugee camp." Martha muttered.
"Stinking." Jack commented, passing by a rather large man who stared. "Ooh, sorry. No offence." He winced.
"Don't you see that?" The Doctor cried out, ecstatically. "The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, much better than a million years evolving into clouds of gas. And then another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans." He said, proudly.
Rhea blinked. "You are such a dork." She shook her head.
The Doctor held a hand to his heart. "That hurts my feelings, lovely."
Rhea scoffed and they walked on.
"Kistane Shafekane."
"End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word! Indomitable! Ha!" The Doctor crowed.
"Is there a Kistane Shafekane?"
A woman stood up. "That's me." She gasped when she caught sight of Padrafet.
"Mother?"
"Oh, my God." Kistane breathed.
"Beltone?" Padrafet ran to embrace his family.
Rhea's mouth quirked upwards. "I guess it's not all bad news." She murmured.
As Jack walked down the corridor, a good-looking man passed him by.
"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack grinned, shaking the man's hand. "And who are you?"
Rhea threw her hands up in the air. "Seriously, do you ever stop?" She asked, incredulously. "I swear to God, you're like a freaking rabbit. And I thought I was bad." She muttered.
"You are bad," The Doctor said, while examining a door and using his sonic screwdriver to try and open it.
Rhea narrowed her eyes. "I don't see you complaining." She countered, haughtily.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Mind giving me a hand with this?" Jack reluctantly let go of the man's hand and he, Rhea and Martha joined the Doctor at the door. "It's half deadlocked. See if you can overwrite the code." Jack set to work on hacking the keypad, while the Doctor continued to use his sonic screwdriver. "Let's find out where we are." The door slid open and Rhea caught the Doctor by the scruff of his coat before the Doctor could fall into the silo, she and Jack both helping the Doctor gain purchase on the ledge.
"Gotcha." Rhea sighed.
"Thanks." The Doctor said, lamely.
"How did you cope without me?" Jack sighed.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes, Jack, I've finally seen the light. I now know that there is no way that I can live without you." She said, sarcastically.
"Now that is what I call a rocket." Martha muttered, staring up at the massive spaceship.
"They're not refugees, they're passengers." Rhea mused.
"He said they were going to Utopia." Martha said, pointedly.
Rhea snorted. "Yeah, 'cause it's not like anything's ever gone wrong with searching for 'the perfect place'." She muttered under her breath.
"Do you recognize those engines?" The Doctor asked, looking at Jack.
"Nope. Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though." Jack commented.
Rhea blew at the curls that floated in front of her face through the side of her mouth.
"Boiling." The Doctor agreed and they all stepped back and Jack closed the door. "But if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?"
An old man with grey hair, wearing a white shirt with billowy sleeves and a dark brown waistcoat, a bow-tie around his neck, ran up to them, his eyes falling onto Jack and Rhea.
"The doctors?" He offered.
"That's us." The Doctor raised his hand a little, gesturing to himself and Rhea.
The old man took the Doctor's and Rhea's hands and led them away. "Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good."
The Doctor looked back at Martha and Jack. "It's good, apparently."
Finally, the five of them entered a makeshift laboratory where a blue-skinned alien greeted them.
"Chan—welcome—tho."
The old man gestured to the device that sat in the middle of the room. "This is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's part of the…"
Rhea stepped inside.
"Chan—welcome—tho."
"And over here is the footprint impellor system. If you know anything about endtime gravity…"
"Hello. Who are you?" Rhea asked, slowly.
"Chan—Chantho—tho."
"But we can't get it to harmonize!" The old man exclaimed.
"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack gave the alien a winning smile, winking at her.
"Stop it." The Doctor said, warningly.
"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack protested.
"No." Rhea said, finally.
"Chan—I do not protest—tho."
"Maybe later, Blue." Jack winked at her. "So, what have we got here?"
Martha followed Jack, her eyes firmly on the backpack he was carrying, a sound coming from it irritating her.
"And all this feeds into the rocket?" Rhea gestured to everything in the laboratory.
"Yeah, except without a stable footprint, we'll never achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?" The old man looked at the Doctor and Rhea, hopefully.
"Well, um, basically… sort of… not a clue." The Doctor admitted, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
The old man's face fell. "Nothing?"
"Sorry." Rhea said, slowly. "I'm actually a psychologist." She explained, lightly.
"And I'm not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry." The Doctor shrugged.
The old man's shoulders slumped in dejection. "No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help."
In a sitting area off to one side of the laboratory, Martha was examining Jack's bag and she pulled out a bubbling container with a hand lodged in a suspension inside it.
"Oh, my God." Martha breathed, setting the hand on the table, and the others came over. "You've got a hand. A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag."
Rhea cocked her head. "You know this is taking hand fetishism to a whole new level." She looked at Jack and crossed her arms over her chest. "Do we need to talk, Jack? Because there are no office hours for my friends." She said, teasingly.
"That's-that's my hand!" The Doctor said, stunned.
"Please repeat that for me." Rhea spun around and fixed him with an intent, disbelieving gaze.
Jack shrugged. "I said I had a Doctor detector."
"Chan—is this a tradition amongst your people—tho?" Chantho asked, worriedly.
"Not where I come from." Rhea snapped. "What the hell do you mean that's your hand? You have both of your hands, Doctor, God knows I know that better than anyone." She said, slyly.
"Long story. I lost my hand Christmas Day. In a swordfight." The Doctor explained, quickly, not wanting to give Rhea too many details when she hadn't covered that adventure yet.
Martha stared at him, incredulously. "What? And you grew another hand?" She asked in disbelief.
"Um, yeah. Yeah I did. Yeah. Hello." He waved the fingers of his regenerated hand at her.
The old man frowned at the Doctor. "Might I ask what species are you?"
The Doctor sniffed. "Time Lord. Last of." There was a pause where the old man nor Chantho reacted to his declaration. His brow furrowed. "Heard of them? Legend or anything? Not even a myth?" The pause turned awkward and the Doctor's face. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."
Rhea patted him on the shoulder, her skin tingling where his hand came up to cover hers. She dipped her head down and kissed him on the top of his head, swiftly. "Something tells me that you need plenty more 'humbling'." She snickered.
"Chan—It is said that I am the last of my species too—tho."
The Doctor frowned, looking at the alien. "Sorry, what was your name?"
"My assistant and good friend, Chantho. A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge." The old man explained.
"That city outside, that was yours?" Rhea asked.
Chantho nodded. "Chan—the conglomeration died—tho."
The Doctor's eyes lit up. "Conglomeration! That's what I said!" He exclaimed.
Jack rolled his eyes. "You're supposed to say sorry." He said, pointedly.
The Doctor's eyes widened and he masked his face into an appropriate expression of mourning. "Oh, yes, sorry."
"Chan—most grateful—tho."
Martha's lips parted. "You grew another hand?" She muttered, stunned, her mind not processing that simple fact easily.
The Doctor waved his fingers at her again. "Hello again." He sighed, seeing her disbelief. "It's fine. Look. Really, it's me." He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers before shaking Martha's hand, dramatically.
Martha laughed, nervously. "All this time and you're still full of surprises." She shook her head.
The Doctor clicked his tongue and winked at her.
"Chan—you are most unusual—tho."
"Well…" The Doctor drawled, shrugging.
"He makes up for it in other ways." Rhea purred, her nails digging into his shoulder.
"You have to tell me some of those stories." Jack said, pointedly.
"Name the time and place and we'll totally have a kiki." Rhea smirked.
"A kiki? What's that?" Martha frowned.
"Oh, I'm going to have so much fun with you." Rhea waggled her eyebrows.
Jack cleared his throat. "So, what about those things outside? The Beastie Boys. What are they?"
"We call them the Futurekind. Which is a myth in itself, but, uh, it is feared they are what we will become. Unless we reach Utopia." The old man explained.
"And Utopia is…" The Doctor trailed off.
"Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?" The old man said, incredulously.
The Doctor shrugged. "Bit of a hermit."
The old man eyed Rhea, Martha and Jack. "A hermit with a wife and friends?"
"Hey!" Rhea protested. "I am not his wife."
"See, the more you keep saying that, the less I believe it's true." Jack joked.
"Shut up." Rhea grumbled, deliberately looking away.
"Hermits United. We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun… for a hermit." The Doctor cleared his throat, realising that no one was buying his story. "So, um, Utopia?"
The professor crooked his finger and led them to a computer that showed a navigational chart with a blinking red dot.
"The call came from across the stars over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originated from that point." He explained.
"Where is that?" The Doctor asked, curiously.
"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness. Out towards the wildlands and the dark matter reefs. Calling us in. The last of the humans. Scattered across the night." The professor said, grimly.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What do you think's out there?"
"I don't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind… to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now, perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?" The professor looked at all of them, intently.
The Doctor nodded. "Oh, yes. And the signal keeps modulating, so, it's not automatic. There's a good sign. Someone's out there. And that's…" His eyes narrowed at the screen. "Ooh, that's a navigation matrix, isn't it? So you can fly without stars to guide you." The Doctor paused, noticing that the professor wasn't completely there with them. "Professor? Professor?"
The professor blinked, breaking out of his haze. "I-Right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave. Thank you." He walked away from them, seemingly having excused them.
"You all right?" The Doctor asked, worriedly.
"Yes. I'm fine! And busy!" The professor said, sharply.
"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it? This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working." The Doctor said, knowingly.
The professor sighed. "We'll find a way!" He said, determinedly.
"You're stuck on this planet." Rhea's eyes dawned with realisation. "And something tells me you haven't told them, have you?" She said, slowly. "All those people out there, they still think they're gonna fly."
"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." The professor said, slowly.
The Doctor cracked a sad smile. "Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor…" He slid his coat off and Jack took it as he passed. "Um, what was it?"
"Yana." The professor replied.
"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost." He cleared his throat and Rhea ducked her head, hiding a fond smile at the Doctor's antics. "So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" He picked up the circuit and used the sonic screwdriver on it before switching it on, giving the device power.
"Chan—it's working—tho!" Chantho said, stunned.
Professor Yana blinked and swallowed hard in absolute bemusement. "But how did you do that?" He breathed.
"Oh, we've been chatting away. I forgot to tell you, I'm brilliant."
The Doctor gave him a wide, toothy grin.
A/N: So, I hope you guys liked the chapter! I hope you guys liked the way the Doctor and Rhea act around each other. It's that flirting, teasing thing that they have that makes their relationship really interesting, because then they have those really serious moments in their relationship that blow minds.
This chapter was mainly about establishing the kind of relationship Rhea will have with Jack and Martha and how that'll play out when the Master comes for them. The Doctor really trusts Rhea's opinion and I think it's interesting how he defers to her in some situations.
Of course, I wonder what kind of relationship the Master will have with Rhea ;)
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to drop me a line if you wanna say something!
Reviews:
NicoleR85: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
ImsebastianstanButter: Thanks!
grapejuice101: I hope you liked my choice of episode!
st0rmpilot: I'm so glad you're enjoying Rhea! And yes, I will be doing The Doctor's Daughter, but I want to wait a little while longer before doing it, if only to have her and the Doctor in a different place in their relationship when it happens. And I'm super excited for the 13th Doctor. A woman Doctor is someone I've been waiting for. I mean, Jodie Whitaker is super hot and I can't wait to write stuff between her and Rhea.
deathb4beauty: Flustered 11 is one of my favourite things to write, expect a lot of it in the future!
LookAliveSunshine03: Smut must be due where it is due, and 11 needed some time with Rhea too. The 13th Doctor will definitely show up in my story, especially since I've already outed Rhea as bisexual (or I suppose, pansexual). I can't wait to write scenes between her and Rhea, I imagine it'll be really fun.
Nerd4StageAndScreen: Thank you so much!