One of the Time Lords grabbed him, and Charlie was pulled into a dimly lit room.
Charlie took a moment to get his breath back, leaning heavily against a wall. He tried to get the vivid image of the dying Commander out of his mind; his body withering into a decaying corpse, as his life was drained from him.
Finding his feet again, he eventually opened his eyes to the room the Time Lords had fled to, and found his breath summarily taken away again.
It should not have taken him by surprise, but they were standing inside a cathedral. Immense Gothic arches towered above them and seemed to vanish into space; it looked as though the roof was open to the elements.
Charlie could see the battle raging between the starships above him. It was surely impossible to have the ship open to space. It must have been a projection, or a screen – and an ultra-realistic one at that.
There was a console in the middle of the chamber, where the altar should have been, surrounded by concentric arcs of flashing control panels, instead of pews.
Charlie was astounded. But this was a Time Lord spaceship: bigger on the inside.
He inched closer to the console, manned by a lady in resplendent robes and a golden skull-cap. She commanded the soldiers to take up positions around the console.
Hovering above the console was an augmented reality map, pinpointing the positions of the Time Lords' and Daleks' ships.
The lady waved her hand, and the map focused in on the battle.
The cathedral looked to be some kind of war room.
"What of Commander Thoram?" the lady asked.
One of the soldiers quickly responded. "He expended his life energy to destroy one of the Daleks. His death gave us time to escape."
"Then it is unlikely his mind will have been uploaded," the lady reasoned. "That is a shame. Thoram was an excellent strategist."
Charlie stood awkwardly, trying to keep out of the way, as the Time Lords discussed tactics. He didn't understand half of what they were saying. Perhaps there weren't the words in the English language to properly equate with what they were saying. Or perhaps they really were using ridiculous terms like 'power boosted relays'.
From what he could gather, they were fighting a battle in four dimensions – time, as well as space. They were planning events which had already happened, and responding to future developments. But even their insight into the future gave them little advantage over the Daleks' power. There was very little they could do as more Time Lord ships blinked out of existence.
Despite the Time Lords' awareness of moments in the battle taking place in the past and the future, there was one factor that they couldn't foresee: the Doctor. His movements were unpredictable and irrational.
Charlie smiled, to himself. Yeah, that sounded like him.
It was strange listening to the other Time Lords talk about him. They spoke with such distain, especially the lady, who seemed to hate him.
However, unless he was mistaken, the subordinate soldiers regarded him with more respect, like they secretly revered him. To them, the Doctor was their only hope of surviving this war.
Despite this – and Charlie found this a little unsettling – they were all scared of him. They were scared of what only he was mad enough to accomplish. They were scared of what he was prepared to do to save them – with total disregard of his own safety. They were scared of what he was capable of.
And because they were unable to deduce what the Doctor was planning, none of them saw it coming.
There was a bright white flash in the vision of space above them.
"What was that?" one of the Time Lords asked.
They watched in surprise as a beam of light surged from one of the Time Lord ships, and struck the centre of the Dalek fleet. Explosions rippled through the hulls of the Dalek ships, causing a chain reaction that tore through their attack fleet.
On the holographic map in front of them, every single Dalek saucer blinked, and vanished.
"Dear god…" the lady uttered.
The shockwave blasted them, and the entire cathedral shuddered.
Charlie gaped up at the ceiling, as the debris from the destroyed saucers sailed in all directions.
He couldn't believe it.
The Doctor had done that?
The Doctor had always claimed to be a man of peace. He'd never so much as carry a gun, let alone use one. He always showed compassion, and mercy – even to his enemies. And yet Charlie had just witnessed him destroy all those creatures.
"Be careful," Ricard warned him. "You thought you knew him, didn't you?"
Goosebumps erupted over his skin. Ricard unnerved him, so Charlie avoided his gaze. But the strange Time Lord was right. He thought he had known him. He thought he had the Doctor figured out.
But like all people, there was more going on inside his head. The Doctor wasn't just the eccentric old man he presented to the universe. Still, Charlie had never expected this.
He strode up to the table, and pushed into a gap between two soldiers.
"The Doctor's on this ship, right?"
The lady hadn't questioned his presence, as though she hadn't even noticed him. Even now, she barely glanced at him.
"Yes," one of the soldiers answered him.
"Then the TARDIS is here," Charlie deduced. "Where is it?"
The Time Lord shrugged.
"Tell me where it is," Charlie demanded.
He wasn't nearly as confident as he pretended to be. The Time Lords were treating him like a lesser being. He didn't care how advanced or 'superior' the Time Lords were. He still needed to save the Doctor.
The Time Lord flicked the map into a schematic of the ship. He pointed to a glowing red point in the bowels of the ship.
"The Doctor's TARDIS is there. It's the only unregistered capsule on board."
Charlie nodded, and broke away from the console.
Ricard stopped him before he could leave the chamber.
"You don't want to go down there," he warned.
"Why?"
"You might not like what you find."
"I don't like any of this!" Charlie argued.
"The Doctor has fears far darker than these, and so do you."
Charlie frowned. Ricard's foreboding words weren't promising. He seemed to have a surprising amount of knowledge for a memory.
"What are you planning to do?" Ricard demanded.
Charlie ignored him, breaking his grip and making for the door. Ricard was one step ahead of him, and stopped him again.
"What are you planning to do?" he asked again, more forcefully.
"I have to save the Doctor!" Charlie shouted at him.
He tried to get past again, but Ricard was blocking his way out.
"Get out of my way!"
Ricard hissed at him, and Charlie leapt back in surprise.
"No!" Ricard shrieked, in a sinister, ethereal voice. "Let him die!"
Fury boiled in Charlie's blood, and he made no effort to restrain it. He grabbed Ricard's robes, and roughly shoved him aside.
"I will not let him die. I have to save him!"
He bolted for the door. He didn't know if Ricard was chasing after him; he didn't look behind him. But he wasn't taking any chances. He needed to get back to the TARDIS.
