The story referenced in this chapter comes from The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner. There's a reason I chose this novel—see if you can figure it out. There are a few lines of dialogue taken from the book, including the section where Martha reads aloud from the I-Spyder Book of Earth Creatures. There are also a few lines quoted from the beginning of The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier. And finally, the Doctor is right—there is a book called Frommer's 500 Places to See Before They Disappear.
Chapter 25: All Creatures Great and Small
For a week after they were nearly burnt to a crisp by a living sun, the TARDIS and her passengers managed to avoid trouble, visiting a series of peaceful planets and intergalactic bazaars. Then one morning, Martha overheard Rose tell the Doctor that she was ready to be legendary again. Even though she didn't know the private joke her friend was clearly referencing, she got the meaning. After that, they flitted in and out of trouble, mixing fun trips with true adventures. Martha was starting to really understand why Rose and the Doctor loved their life so much—having the entire universe at your fingertips was fun.
But it was also overwhelming. So when the Doctor turned to her a month later and said, "Your turn to pick, Martha! Where do you want to go—anywhere at all," she froze.
"Any place?" she asked, stalling for time.
He put his hands in his pockets and nodded. "Barring proximity to fixed points and unsafe events."
"Fixed…" She shook her head. "You know what, tell me later. Uh…" Martha stammered, aware that her mouth was hanging open a little. "Well…" She cast about frantically for some kind of place that she enjoyed going on holidays. "Oh! Let's go to the zoo."
The Doctor's smile disappeared and his expression seemed to close off. Martha blinked a few times, wondering if she was misreading him, but he seemed… disappointed. Not by her suggestion, but by her.
"Oh, why would you want to do that?" he asked finally. "Anywhere in time and space, and you want to go to the zoo? Come on!"
Martha tilted her head and looked at him. His eyes were hard—not like they got when he looked at their enemies, but still, not the same warm brown she was used to. Her gaze flicked over to Rose—the other woman was smiling apologetically, but there was something in her expression too, like she understood why the Doctor had reacted the way he had, and she agreed with him.
She drew in a breath. "I didn't mean to upset you," she said honestly.
The Doctor pulled a face. "Upset me?" Rose poked him in the ribs, and he sighed. "I don't like the thought of anything being in a cage," he said quietly.
As soon as he said it, Martha felt silly for not expecting he would feel that way. He traveled the universe and as far as she could tell, he never brought specimens home with him—if he were the type to like zoos, he would have collected at least a few things. She didn't even know if he'd ever had pets.
"Oh. Of course." She bit her lip, not quite ready to give up the idea of an alien zoo. "But there are plenty without cages these days—even in my time. Surely there's like, a nature preserve or something? Somewhere we could go where the animals are allowed to live in their natural habitat?"
The Doctor shook his head. "A cage is still a cage, even if it doesn't have bars." He picked up a feather and twirled it in his fingers.
Martha stared at it for a moment, then asked, "Seagull?"
He frowned and rubbed at his chin. "I don't know if I've heard of a place called Seagull."
She pointed at the feather.
"Oh! No, dodo."
And suddenly, Martha knew where she wanted to go. This was a time machine too, wasn't it? "That's where I want to go!" she exclaimed. "I want to see a dodo—in its natural habitat," she added quickly, before he could lecture her on zoos again.
"That's something we've never done, Doctor," Rose commented. "Gone back to see what the Earth was like before, I mean. We usually go back to visit people."
The Doctor stuck the feather in a tiny hole in the console and spun around, setting the coordinates. "You're right, we haven't. Maybe we could make a list of all the places to see before they disappear forever." He cocked his head. "Actually, I think that's a book."
"Why've you got that there?" Martha asked, pointing at the feather.
"What, that? Well, it's a dodo feather, isn't it? The TARDIS is using the DNA to track the best location to see a dodo." The ship landed, hard. "And here we are!"
oOoOoOoOo
"You know, we should have known this would happen," Rose said twelve long hours later, when they were sitting in the galley eating chicken tikka.
"This" was the TARDIS landing them not on Mauritius, but in a museum that took up a whole planet, a museum dedicated to preserving the last member of every species in the universe, kept in suspended animation. And a prime exhibit of the Museum of the Last Ones happened to be… a dodo.
Rose shook her head. "Whenever we let her pick the destination, something like this ends up happening."
"Oh, but think of all the creatures we saved today," the Doctor protested. "Dinosaurs, a black rhinoceros, and a sabre-toothed tiger… Three billion beings, sent back to their old lives—including Dorothea the Dodo."
He smiled, but the lines around his eyes were tense, and Rose took his hand under the table. All three billion beings, my Doctor, she told him, unable to forget the image of him, the last of the Time Lords, frozen in a moment of time and on display in a Perspex box. I would never have left you there.
He clung to her hand. Thank you.
Martha tore off a piece of naan, then put it back on her plate. "Can I ask…" She bit her lip, then nodded at Rose. "You knew, when the museum curator trapped the Doctor. And more than that, it hurt you."
Rose and the Doctor exchanged a wordless conversation, his expression apologetic, hers questioning. He nodded after a moment, and Rose sighed and looked back at Martha.
"We have a telepathic bond," she explained. "It lets us communicate over long distances."
Martha looked from Rose to the Doctor and back again. "What does that even mean, telepathic bond?"
Rose pursed her lips and thought for a moment before answering. "It means… we're connected, mentally, and we always will be."
"That's why you felt it when he was struck by lightning," Martha realised.
Rose cringed. "Yeah. That was not pleasant." She raised both hands and massaged tiny circles over her temples. "Anyway, it's not something that's meant to be tampered with. Ever."
The lightbulb went on. "But the Doctor was in suspended animation, so your bond felt funny."
She nodded. "Yeah. He was there, but he was just… stuck."
The Doctor leaned back in his chair and listened to Rose explain what it had felt like on her end.
"It's hard to explain, but usually I can feel his mind against mine, moving and shifting as he thinks, just like you'd feel someone's body moving if you were walking beside him."
"But I was stuck in one moment of time, and you were still moving," the Doctor said, catching what she was saying.
Rose reached for his hand over the table. "So, imagine you were holding hands with that person you were walking beside, and then suddenly they stopped moving, but you had to keep going. And you couldn't let go, either."
"You'd wrench your arm out of the socket," Martha said.
The Doctor tensed at the graphic description, but Rose couldn't deny that the parallel was accurate. "That's pretty much what it feels like."
It was the Doctor's turn to squeeze Rose's hand. She raised her eyebrows at his guilt-tinged apology. Not your fault, Doctor—unless you asked to be stuck in a cage.
When she put it that way, he couldn't really argue with her. He had been Eve's elusive One Cent Magenta, as sought after by the curator as the rare stamp was by philatelists. Being reminded of the loss of his people in such a harsh way certainly hadn't been his idea.
Rose's jaw set. "I'm glad we shut them down," she said fiercely. "Cages are bad enough, but to keep creatures locked up permanently like that… it's inhumane."
The Doctor painted a wide smile on his face. "But it was fantastic for Martha's tally," he said, pointing to the slim tablet sitting on the end of the table. "How many points do you have so far, Martha?"
Upon their arrival on what he'd thought was Mauritius, the Doctor had handed her The I-Spyder Book of Earth Creatures, a game for intergalactic travellers. Every creature that was ever native to Earth was listed, along with a point value. Once you reached nine million points, you could send in for a certificate.
Martha glanced down her list—the dodo, mountain gorilla, several dinosaurs, the rhino… "36,599," she said. "All that stuff we saw, and I haven't got near enough points. I think it's impossible."
The Doctor grinned mysteriously and held out his hand for the device. "Oh, I think there's one elusive specimen you might be able to track down." He selected a species and handed the game back to Martha.
She looked at the tablet and laughed. "You're kidding me."
"Nope!" He popped the p and felt some of Rose's concern wane at his genuine amusement. "If you'll read the description, you have to admit it was a logical assumption."
"What?" Rose asked. "What species—" She looked sharply at the Doctor. "Oh, you are joking."
"Read it out loud, Martha."
Martha cleared her throat and Rose and the Doctor both cracked up when she started reciting the text in an over-the-top imitation of nature programmes.
"'Time Lord (Dominus temporis) Location: Worldwide.
The Time Lord is a rare, bipedal, bicardial mammal. It frequently mingles with herds of Homo sapiens—"
Both Rose and Martha cried out in protest of the word herds, but after grumbling for a moment, Martha continued reading.
"—But can be distinguished from them by its unique physiology and distinctive fearless behaviour. It is between approximately 1.5 and 2 metres in height, and can have white, black, brown, or blond hair. It is most commonly found in Europe, especially the United Kingdom.
Addendum:
It has been suggested that the Time Lord is of non-terrestrial origin. However, sightings spanning several millennia indicate that, even if it did not originate on Earth, it should now be classified as an immigrant species.
I-Spyder points value: 8,963,400.'"
Martha paused, then groaned in dismay.
"What?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm still a point short. Just one lousy point!"
"Have you marked human off?" Rose asked, beating the Doctor to the punch.
Martha brightened and scrolled through the list. "Yes!" she crowed. "Two points—that gives me the rank of Arachnid First Class!" She looked hopefully at the Doctor. "I can send in for the certificate, can't I?"
He laughed. "I don't see why not. You did all the work to spot those species, even helped save them. If anyone deserves an I-Spy award, it's you."
She set the tablet down on the table. "I really love this," she said earnestly. "The travelling, solving mysteries, helping people…"
Rose smiled. "I can't imagine living life any other way," she admitted.
Martha leaned on the table, her chin resting in her hand. "So, Doctor…" she mused. "Are there any great mysteries of the universe that you've never tried to solve?"
His left eyebrow arched up to his hairline. "You realise how vast the universe is, don't you Martha? I'm not sure if I should appreciate the vote of confidence in my abilities, or be upset that you think I'm that old."
She rolled her eyes. "All right then, what's one unsolved mystery that intrigues you? Tell me a story, Doctor."
"Hmmm…" He pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth. "Well, there's the spaceship Brilliant," he said after a moment. "Famous passenger ship that just… disappeared. No one knows what happened to it."
"Not even you?" Martha asked.
He looked at her condescendingly. "That was what you asked for," he reminded her. "A mystery I haven't solved. Wouldn't be much of a mystery if I knew what had happened to it, would it?"
Rose poked him in the side. "Being rude again," she told him. "Tell us what people think happened to the Brilliant, instead of talking down to Martha."
"Thank you, Rose," Martha said.
"That's just the thing," he said slowly. "No one really knows. There are theories, of course," he added. "But each theory is more outrageous than the one before. The ship just vanished on its maiden voyage." The Doctor scratched at his neck. "Of course, the one thing people tend to forget is that it vanished on the eve of a huge galactic war. Suspicious timing, that is."
The Doctor was thankful when an alarm went off in the console room, interrupting the conversation. The fate of the Brilliant tantalised him, but he wasn't sure it was a good idea to investigate what had happened.
The trio jogged back to the console room and the Doctor swung the monitor around so he could read the TARDIS' message. "Oh, you have got to be joking," he muttered.
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Apparently one of the wormholes we opened this afternoon to send all the animals back where they came from crossed the migration path of the Red-Ridged Lizard from Lacerto."
"And… that's bad, I take it," Martha said.
The Doctor glanced up at her. "Very. The Red-Ridged Lizard migrates every five years back to their breeding ground. These are lizards twice the size of crocodiles, and during breeding season, they're extremely violent. There's a reason they call it the red hatching."
He waited for the TARDIS to finish calculating where the errant wormhole would take the lizard and groaned when the answer popped up on the display. "Oh come on, really?"
"Let me guess," Rose said drily. "London."
"Bang on, Rose," the Doctor said. "In… 2008. Just a few weeks before we met Martha, actually."
"Hold on." Martha held up a hand. "Are you telling me there was a giant red lizard roaming the streets of London six weeks ago?"
"Yep."
"How come I never heard about that, then? Heard about the Christmas star—I'm assuming that was you."
"Yeah, it was. And if you never heard about the lizard, it must mean we're successful in containing it and getting it back where it belongs." The Doctor leapt into action, setting the coordinates for London in March 2008. "All right, here we go!"
Martha and Rose headed for the door as soon as the TARDIS landed. "Ah-ah-ah," the Doctor said. "Where do you think you're going?"
Rose looked back at him. "London," she said. "Lizard? Migration? Remember?"
"Oh, I remember all right," the Doctor said grimly. "However, this is one situation we can't go into unarmed."
Martha's jaw dropped. "You're actually going to give us weapons?" she asked, not sure how she felt about that change.
"Bows and arrows with tranquilliser points," he confirmed. "I told you the lizard becomes violent during breeding season. The only way we'll neutralise it and get it back to the TARDIS is if we knock it out. Then we'll take it to the breeding planet, and hopefully everything will go back to how it should be."
Tranquillising the lizard was an option Martha could accept, and she waited with Rose while the Doctor ducked into the corridor.
"I know I have bows and arrows in a storage cupboard somewhere," he said, his voice muffled by distance and a door in between them. A few minutes later he crowed triumphantly and emerged with two bows and a quiver of arrows. "Martha, do you have any archery experience?"
"None," she said.
"All right then, you take the arrows." He tossed the quiver to her, slung one bow over his shoulders, and set the other aside. "Rose, you're in charge of tracking the lizard. Setting 44 on your sonic."
Rose nodded and withdrew the tool from her pocket. Once they were ready, the Doctor pushed open the door. "Either of you recognise where we are?" he asked.
Martha walked down the alley to the street and looked around, taking in the busy road and the familiar surroundings. "We're near Paddington Station," she said. "St. Mary's Hospital is just across the way there."
The Doctor beamed. "Excellent! We shouldn't have a problem getting a cab, so close to the station. Where exactly is the beastie, Rose?" he asked.
Rose stared at her sonic screwdriver for a moment, then pivoted slowly. "Five miles… to the southeast."
"Molto bene!" The Doctor bounced lightly on his toes, then jogged towards the front of the station where cabs were waiting. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"
oOoOoOoOo
The Doctor tossed the cabbie the fare, plus an extra tenner as thanks for not complaining about the weapons, then he slid out of the cab after Martha and Rose. He gazed up the hill for a moment before Rose tugged on his hand, pulling him in the opposite direction.
They'd barely gone five steps when a woman's voice calling their names stopped them. "Doctor! Rose!"
They spun around and looked at the blonde woman, who repeated his name one more time as she skidded to a halt in front of him and Rose. "Hello!" He scrutinised her appearance, trying to place her, but came up blank. "Sorry, bit of a rush. There's a sort of…" He glanced down the bottom of the hill to where Martha was waiting for them. "…Thing happening. Fairly important we stop it."
She stared at them with wide eyes, a blue folder clutched to her chest. "My God, it's you. It really is you. And Martha," she added, shifting her gaze to their friend, coming back up the hill. When none of them said anything in reply, she said, "Oh, you don't remember me, do you?"
"Look, sorry, we've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to us in quite the right order. Gets a bit confusing at times, but what can you do?" He smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
Comprehension lit her face. "Oh, my God, of course. You're a time traveller. It hasn't happened to you yet. None of it. It's still in your future."
A timer to the hatching ticked down in the back of the Doctor's mind, but he had a feeling this was important. "Rose, you and Martha go on ahead. I'll catch up in just a minute."
She nodded, having sensed the same thing.
After they took off down the street, the Doctor turned back to the stranger, who was shaking her head, chagrin on her face. "It was me. Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along." She held the folder out in front of her. "You got it all from me."
He looked down at the folder, then back up at her. "Got what?"
She nodded quickly and cleared her throat. "Okay, listen. One day you're going to get stuck in 1969."
The Doctor shrugged; sadly, that sounded exactly like something that would happen to him. She held the folder out, and he took it.
"Make sure you've got this with you. You're going to need it."
He held the folder in his hands for a moment, curiosity itching at him.
Doctor, are you coming? Rose asked before he could open it up and read through the contents on the spot.
He looked down the street; as much as he wanted to stay and find out more, he couldn't let them get too far ahead of him. Besides, it didn't do to learn too much about your own future. On my way, he promised.
"Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash," he said, jerking his head in the direction Rose and Martha had run off. "Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard."
"Okay." She nodded, and that calm acceptance definitely gave him the impression that they'd met. "No worries. On you go. See you around some day," she called after them as they ran down the street.
He spun back around to look at this stranger who'd apparently just given him a lifeline. "What was your name?"
"Sally Sparrow."
"Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow."
A scraggly-looking bloke came up beside Sally, and after looking at him appraisingly for a moment, she took his hand. From the way he looked at her, then down at their hand, it was an unexpected, but not unwelcome move.
"Goodbye, Doctor," she said, then turned and pulled the man into the shop behind them—Sparrow and Nightingale, Antiquarian Books and Rare DVDs.
Shoving the folder into his dimensionally transcendental pockets where it was immediately forgotten, the Doctor spun around and ran after Rose and Martha.