Chapter 5 – Muriel Rasmussen
"Miriam?" Richard was nearly knocked over when she collided into him. He could tell by the worried look on her face that she hadn't found the Doctor. He glanced past her to see a dishevelled looking woman, tears streaking down her face. It was clear something more had occurred.
He felt Miriam bury herself into his chest, and instinctively he wrapped his arms around her. "What is it? What's happened?"
"They're gone, Richard! They were taken!"
In response, the woman behind Miriam burst into tears and cried, "They've got my Rose and that… that… Doctor's useless!"
This must be Jackie Tyler, Richard thought. Seeing how distraught the woman was, he held out an arm to her.
Without hesitation, Jackie accepted his comfort.
Richard glanced at his brother, who was watching the trio with a worried expression. He shook his head, as though answering Thomas' silent question. The Doctor wasn't coming. They didn't have any answers. There was little hope.
Moments later, Jackie pulled away from the embrace. "Phone!" She looked up at Richard, a wild look in her eyes. "Do you have a phone. I'll call her. I can try to call her." Even before he could answer, she began to frantically look around her.
"TINA!" Jackie rushed away towards a short woman with bright yellow-blond hair. She was standing motionless on the edge of the building. This didn't seem to deter the older woman. "Phone! Do you have your phone?"
Of course, Tina didn't answer. Jackie's eyes widened as she realised why. This shock lasted only a moment before she began rummaging around inside Tina's dressing gown pockets.
She let out a cry when she couldn't find Tina's phone.
"Jackie!" Richard called out to her.
Jackie whipped around to face the man. He was holding up his cell phone. She rushed over and grabbed it from him. "Why didn't you say so!" She yelled as she began to dial, pressing the buttons with force.
Richard was wise enough not to reply.
Richard and Miriam watched the woman closely as she pressed the phone to her ear and then began pacing as she waited for her daughter to answer. With each passing moment, Jackie's face grew more and more pale. Miriam felt her chest tighten when Jackie slammed the lid of the phone down and then opened it to dial once more. Jackie repeated this process two more times before she looked to Miriam.
"She's not answering," Jackie told her with a hollow tone. "She's not… she's not picking up." Tears began to fall once more.
Miriam approached slowly and embraced the older woman. Jackie didn't respond to Miriam's attempt to comfort her. Then, just as she was going to pull away, Jackie latched onto her. "Rose… they've gone off before… but this was different." Jackie pulled back to look at the younger woman. "She… usually, answers. She usually…" Miriam was sure Jackie was about to break down once more; however, the woman's grief was interrupted by screams, mingled with cries of relief.
The people who'd been lined up along the edge of the roof stepped back.
Jackie's eyes widened when she realised what this might mean. "Rose!" She looked to Miriam. "The Doctor!" Without any further word, Jackie took off towards the stairs.
Miriam ran after her; however, she was pulled back by an older woman who looked vaguely familiar to her. Her eyes widened when she realised it was Mrs Harlow, an older looking Mrs Harlow.
"Miriam!" The woman looked up at her with wide eyes. "It's you!"
Miriam's body seemed to have frozen in place. She couldn't respond.
"Alastair! Alastair!" Mrs Harlow called out, not moving her eyes from the young woman. "Alive! Look! Your Miriam's alive!"
Miriam's eyes widened, and her breathing stopped. She slowly turned to see Alastair Theodore Harlow the third rushing in their direction. When he reached his mother, Theo looked to the woman who was in her grasp.
Seconds after he turned to look at her, the cheating bastard pulled Miriam to him and then kissed her soundly. She was glad she didn't scream; it was clear he was trying to deepen the kiss. Instead, she wrenched away from him and gave him a resounding slap.
Theo stumbled backwards, his eyes wide as he raised his hand to his face as though to verify the pain was real. "Wha… What?" He stuttered, shocked at her violent reaction to his kiss.
Mrs Harlow screamed upon witnessing Miriam's violence towards her son.
As soon as she saw the man, Miriam saw red and completely forgot that this Alastair Theodore Harlow the third was not her Theo. She was unable to separate the fact that the man before her wasn't the one who'd had something for the red headed bimbo from the hotel.
"Good Lord!" Richard rushed to stand between the shocked Theo, pale Mrs Harlow, and angry Miriam.
"What the hell?" Theo dropped his hand from his face, it had already become red, and would no doubt eventually form into a handprint.
"It's not what… She's not…" Richard began to explain.
Mrs Harlow pushed through, her initial shock had worn off, and she was in a rush to defend her son.
"She's not Miriam," Richard finished and then held out his arm to stop the angry Mr Harlow.
"What?" Theo voiced his confusion once more. "What the hell?" It was his turn to become angry.
Eva pushed her way through and stepped in front of Theo. "Sister! She's Miriam's sister!"
Miriam fought not to react. Sister?
"Twins," Richard added. "She's Miriam's twin." He glanced briefly at Miriam and then named her, "Muriel."
Both Mrs Harlow and Theo narrowed their brows, clearly not believing them. Nobody'd ever mentioned Miriam having a twin.
"Yeah?" Theo snapped. "Well… where've you been all this time then? Just suddenly appearing out of nowhere."
"Bristol. I've been in school in Bristol. I just found out about her, about having a sister… just last year." Miriam defended herself. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Anyway, I just traced her to London. We were actually born in-"
"Yeah," Theo cut her off, "Greece. I know."
Miriam nodded slowly. Apparently, this world's Miriam had been born in Greece as well.
The two were locked in an examination of each other. Theo was trying to see if he could see some sort of difference, any difference between his Miriam and this so-called Muriel. At the same time, Muriel was studying him to see whether or not this universe's Theo deserved the slap she'd given him. She supposed there was no way of telling. She'd been oblivious to Theo's, the Theo from her universe, cheating ways. She supposed it was possible that this bloke wasn't an ass. She'd already determined that this world wasn't as parallel to her own as she'd imagined.
With that thought, her anger seemed to dissipate, and the winding tension in her shoulders relaxed. She let out a sigh and then told him, "Look… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for slapping you, but you gave me a bit of a shock."
He just looked at her.
"I'm… I…" She let out another sigh and held out her hand to him, "Muriel Rasmussen."
He looked down at her hand as though he was afraid to take it.
She studied the changing of expression on the familiar face and began to feel slightly guilty. This Theo hadn't cheated on her, and she couldn't blame him for something his counterpart had done in some other universe. It was obvious from the man's transformation from anger and suspicion to a look of genuine sadness that he was beginning to realise that she just might be telling the truth.
He took her hand. "Alistair Harlow."
Alastair? With that one word, Muriel knew that this Theo was not the man who she'd found naked in that hotel room with another woman.
"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time," the Doctor declared. "And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this." The Doctor looked directly at a grey looking Sycorax who was seated atop a dais. "It is defended."
The elder Sycorax nodded gravely. They would honour the agreement.
Pleased that this was finalised the Doctor turned cheerfully to his party, a bounce in his step. "That's that then!"
Rose couldn't help but laugh, pleased with the outcome and the reassurance that the man before her was her Doctor. There was no question about it now.
"Oh yeah!" Mickey cheered from his place next to Rose. "That's right. It is defended!"
Harriet let out a sigh of relief, while Alex dictated something into his headset.
"Shall we then?" The Doctor gestured to the Tardis, gave Rose a bright smile, and then held out his hand to her.
Rose gave another laugh, placed her hand in his, and they hurried towards the Tardis. Despite the fact it had only been two days, it felt like ages since she'd run with the Doctor.
Mickey rolled his eyes and began to follow behind; however, before he reached the Tardis, the Sycorax activated their transport beam to return the group to Earth.
The last thing Mickey Smith saw before he was blinded by the white light, was an explosion of blue and green sparks and then he heard the sound of doors slamming closed, followed by a struggling Tardis engine.
Upon reappearing in an alleyway, just off Bloxom Road, Mickey was horrified to see that the Tardis was nowhere to be seen.
"Rose!" He whipped around frantically. "Doctor!" He called out.
"Where'd they go?" Harriet questioned as she looked around for the Doctor and Rose. "What happened?"
"I saw an explosion! There was an explosion!" Mickey cried.
Alex nodded. He had seen the sparks as well.
"ROSE!" Mickey called once more.
"Did they kill them? Are they dead?" Harriet asked. "What happened?"
"No!" Mickey shouted. "They couldn't be. I heard the Tardis! I heard the engine starting up!" He looked to Harriet Jones. "There was the explosion… but…"
They all looked up as the sound of engines filled the air and the ship high above began to turn. Would it really leave? Would they fulfil their promise? Was Rose and the Doctor still on board the ship?
Mickey Smith turned to the Prime Minister. "Maybe they-" but before he could say anymore, five green laser beams shot up into the sky, firing at the retreating Sycorax ship.
His breath caught in his throat. "What?" He forced the air from his lungs and then turned sharply towards the Prime Minister. His brow narrowed as he watched her whisper something to her aid. It was obvious she wasn't surprised that the ship had been shot down.
"You…" Mickey's voice was nearly a whisper. "You…" His voice rose. He didn't want to believe it. What had she done?
Harriet Jones shifted uneasily upon making eye contact with the young man.
Mickey paled. "Rose… the Tardis…" He choked. "You shot it down! YOU!"
"I had to." Harriet Jones told him, trying to convince herself she'd done the right thing. "You heard him. You heard the Doctor. They would have told others, told them of our planet, of the riches. The Doctor can't always defend us."
"Yeah!" Mickey shouted. "Because you blew him up!"
"They were gone!" Harriet shifted once more. She hoped they were gone.
"You don't know that!" He glared down at the Prime Minister with so much anger that he felt as though he might combust. "You good as killed them!" He accused. "You might have killed Rose! Killed the Doctor!" Mickey shook his head. This hadn't really happened. This couldn't have happened. "They were leaving!" he shouted at her. "They made an agreement with the Doctor!"
"The Doctor doesn't speak for the Earth!" Harriet retorted.
"That was Murder!" Mickey moved closer.
Harriet backed up, a look of fear on her face. "It was defence." Her voice sounded weak.
"They were leaving! That wasn't defence!"
In response, Harriet stepped back once more, nearly tripping over an uneven bit of concrete. She glanced briefly at Alex who looked uncomfortable. It was clear by his expression that he wasn't sure the Prime Minister had done what was best for their country, for their world.
"You're so concerned about who they'd tell, about them telling others." Mickey cornered the older woman against a rubbish bin. "You of all people know that there is more out there… they already know of us! You were there! The Slitheen. Do you think they don't know?" he gestured towards the sky.
Harriet Jones looked like she might faint.
"You know what you've just told them? Told the universe? We're MONSTERS. We LIE! We're MURDERERS! Shoot first, and no questions later because you've destroyed them… you murdered them!"
He glanced at Alex. "That's what you got!" He told the aid. "That's who you work for!" With that, Mickey stomped away, unable to look at the traitor anymore.
Rose groaned from her place on the floor as the Tardis continued to shake violently. Her momentary disorientation ended when part of the Tardis console exploded. She watched with wide eyes as the Doctor scrambled to his feet and threw himself towards the console.
"NO! NO! NO!" he cried as he rushed around the Tardis trying to stop the disaster that was occurring.
Rose's heart felt like it had fallen into her stomach and her body felt like a lead weight as she heard the sound that usually made her heart race full of happiness, groan in agony. Something was wrong with the Tardis, very, very wrong.
She shot off the floor upon hearing the Doctor yell out in pain. Her eyes widened as she watched him dance around in a circle holding his hand. She was relieved when he began shaking it and appeared to be okay. This relief lasted only moments when a shower of green sparks shot out not far from her, just under the grating between her and the console. Her eyes widened, and she rushed towards where a fire extinguisher was hanging off the wall. Just before reaching the extinguisher, the Tardis shook violently once more, but this time Rose was able to stand her ground and continue on, pulling the extinguisher off the wall.
It wasn't long before Rose and the Doctor had the fire under control.
"We'll that wasn't so bad." The Doctor dropped the fire extinguisher at his feet and then let out a sigh of relief.
He should have known better by now than to say something like that. Just as he relaxed, the Tardis gave one last shake and then dropped, like an elevator that had broken free.
They both screamed.
The Doctor groaned and rolled onto his side to look for Rose. He let out a relieved sigh upon seeing her trying to sit up. He followed, and they let out a simultaneous groan.
"What was that?" Rose looked to the alien across from her.
"It was a combination of the transport beam and the sparking from when the tea fell into the circuits under the grating. There was also the mess from my regeneration. The Tardis wasn't ready for travel."
"Obviously." Rose pulled herself up using one of the pillars. "Where are we?" She asked as she tried to smooth her hair out of her face.
The Doctor wobbled slightly as he walked towards the monitor. He frowned. "Don't know. Monitor's broken." He turned to her. "Only one way to find out." He nodded towards the doors. Rose couldn't help but notice that his usual excitement seemed dampened; however, there was still the sense of adventure glittering in his eyes. She supposed this was some relief. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but it was the first time in a long while that her anticipation as to what she might find through those doors felt more like dread than excitement. She supposed knowing that it was possible they'd be stranded for a while tainted her usual sense of adventure.
She stood back and let the Doctor be the one to take a first look at where they'd landed. When he didn't move from his place in the doorway of the Tardis, she moved forward to stand beside him. She couldn't breathe, and it wasn't just the frozen air blowing across the icy landscape before her. This was bad, really, really bad. There, not fifty meters away, was a herd of woolly mammoth.
"Rose, welcome to the future grounds of the Powell Estate, London, England. Only 32,006 years until the first Christmas."