Day of the Trinity
By Michael Weyer
The soldiers had their weapons raised as the Doctor waved his screwdriver about. "I'll handle this," the Master intoned, flexing his hands before hurling one out, palm up. He paused in place as absolutely nothing happened. Frowning, he tried again, flexing his hand outward.
"Just what on Earth are you doing, stretching at them?" the War Doctor asked.
The Master frowned as he looked at his hand. "It's…gone. The energy…It must have been drained in the rift…"
"Performance issues?" the Rani dryly asked.
The War Doctor glanced to the other Doctor. "Well, what happens next?'
"I have no idea."
The War Doctor stared. "How can you forget this?!"
"Oi, not my fault, you obviously weren't remembering it well!"
"Silence!" the head of the soldiers called out. "I would have the woman who has bewitched the Queen."
"That would be her," the Master said, pointing to the Rani. He shrugged at her gape. "Are you seriously going to act surprised at me handing you over?"
"I think there's more than one of them now." Everyone started at the soft female voice that echoed from the portal.
"There's a precedent for that," another woman's voice, stronger and older, followed.
"What is that?" the leader of the soldiers said. "What witchcraft is this?"
"Ah, yes," the Doctor said. "Now that you mention it, this is witchcraft. Yes, witchy witchcraft." He looked up to the portal. "Hello! Hello there! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?"
"Why am I the witch?" the voice said, sounding insulted.
"Clara?" the Doctor called out. "Clara, hi, can you be a dear and mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"
"Right. What he said."
The Doctor coughed and spoke softer. "Tiny bit more colour."
"Ah, right." The voice tried to speak with some authority. "Prattling mortals, off your pop or I'll…turn you into frogs!"
As the soldiers backed up, the Master smirked at the Rani. "I love this period. Superstition just enhances the already amazing gullibility level of the human race." She had to give a nod of agreement at that.
"Doctor, what's going on?"
"Oh, just a…little…timey-wimey thing."
"Timey what?" The War Doctor stared at his future self. "Timey-wimey?"
The Master leaned in. "If you want to know where he gets that from…"
At that moment, a regal woman entered the clearing. "The Queen!" the soldiers gasped as they immediately fell to their knees. She looked to the Time Lords with a smile. "You don't seem to be kneeling. How tremendously brave of you."
"What happened to the other one?" the Rani demanded.
"Indisposed." The woman smirked. "Long live the Queen." The soldiers took up the cry. "Arrest them," she ordered. "Take them to the Tower."
The Rani stepped forward to point. "That is not the Queen of England! That is an alien imposter!"
"And you can take it from her because she's really checked," the Master dryly said.
"Shut. Up." The Rani bit out.
"Venom sacs under the tongue…"
"Stop it!"
"Wait, the Tower?" the Doctor asked, moving forward, waving his hands and checking his watch. "Love the Tower! Breakfast at eight, please and will there be wi-fi?"
"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" the War Doctor demanded.
"Yes," the Doctor said, waving, then clapping his hands together. "No." He turned to the soldiers as he hiked a thumb toward his companions. "I demand to be locked in the tower immediately with my co-conspirators, David Bowie, Extensions and Granddad."
"Granddad?!" the War Doctor snapped.
"They're not extensions!" the Rani put in.
The War Doctor looked at her hair with a snort. "Yes they are!"
"Silence!" the Queen snapped. "The Tower is not to be taken lightly." She made a gesture. "Take them!"
As the soldiers gripped her arms, the Rani glared at the others. "I hate you. Both of you. It's very important you realize that."
"Used to it," the Doctor noted as they were dragged off.
The Master looked about the large cell they were in. "Hmmm…I've been in much worse."
"Color me shocked," the Rani intoned as she peeled off her top coat and set it aside. She looked to the War Doctor scanning the door with his sonic screwdriver. "It won't work, too primitive."
"No problem, I'll simply ring up for a better quality of door."
"Right," the Master said. "So, Queen of England a Zygon, all of us together but how and why?" He glanced to the War Doctor. "Especially you."
A movement caught his eye and the elder man looked to see Romana sitting next to him, putting a finger to her lips. Given how no one else reacted, he realized only he could see her and decided to keep quiet. He shrugged as he looked to the door. "In theory, I can trigger an isolated shift among the molecules and the door should disintegrate…"
"You'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance down to a sub-atomic level," the Rani said in exasperation. "Your sonic would take centuries. Mine could break it down faster."
"Where is it?"
The Rani looked away. "I…might have left it in my purse. In my TARDIS."
The Master chuckled from his seat nearby. "All that genius and you always miss the obvious bits. Some things never change."
The Rani glared at him. "At least I still have my original body."
"Ah, but this is a new and improved model, plenty of regenerations left," the Master smirked. "Part of a…gift the Time Lords gave me upon my resurrection."
"Yes, they were so kind toward you," the Doctor dryly noted. "Especially Rassilon."
A frown came to the Rani's face. "How do you mean?"
The Doctor glanced toward his other self. "Spoilers."
The Rani looked toward the Doctor. "Just what are you doing?"
"Leaving myself a note," he replied.
"Ah, more 'timey-wimey' antics," the War Doctor said. "You're all grown up, must you act like children?" He saw the three look off and sighed. "The way you all look at me…what is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than 'dread.'"
"Let's just say the last time each of us saw you, it wasn't pleasant," the Master said.
"It must be really recent for you," the other Doctor stated.
"Recent?"
"The Time War. The day you killed them all."
"You mean the day you killed them all," the Rani corrected.
"Same thing," the Doctor replied with a shrug as he turned back to the wall.
The image of Romana moved closer. "It's all history to them," she stated. "All decided. They think it's all set and written down. They don't know that you still have time to make the right choice."
The old man just sat, musing over her words. "Ask them," she pressed. "You came all this way to find out. So do it."
"Did you ever count?" he finally blurted.
"Count what?" the Doctor said.
"How many children were on Gallifrey that day?"
The Doctor paused for a moment before continuing. "I have absolutely no idea." He could feel the eyes of others on him, both the Master and the Rani now quite interested in this.
"How old are you?" the War Doctor asked. "I get the feeling you're at least one regeneration after me."
"I don't know, I lose track," the Doctor shrugged. "Twelve hundred and something, I think. Unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am."
"Four hundred years older than me," the other Doctor noted. "You're going to tell me that in all that time, you never counted? Not even once?"
The Doctor whirled on him, his eyes hard. "Tell me…what would be the point?"
"Two point four seven billion." The Rani's voice was flat but her eyes flashed a bit as she recited the number.
The War Doctor raised his eyebrows. "You counted!"
The Rani tried to brush it aside. "I've always had a mind for numbers, you know that. It just…came to me." She looked to the Doctor. "But you never counted? After all that?"
The Master rose to his feet, moving toward the man in the bow tie, his face a mix of wonder and anger. "Is that all it takes, Doctor? Just four hundred years? That's all the time it takes to forget something like that?"
"I moved on," the Doctor retorted.
"You moved on?" The Master let out a short laugh without mirth. "You? The man who clings to the past and friendships and that miserable little planet for so long. You somehow, in just four centuries, moved on from what you did?"
The Doctor moved forward, his face tight in anger. "You are going to lecture me on this? I gave up counting how many lives you destroyed centuries ago. I've seen the trail of death and destruction you've left in your wake so don't you dare, don't you dare get on me about forgetting what I did."
"You're not me," the Master spat. "I did what I did because I had to…" He cut himself off. "No, let's be honest, because I wanted to. Yes, Rassilon's manipulations drove me on…"
"So you're using him as an excuse?"
"Excuses are for the weak. No, I still made my choices and my actions and maybe I have a flash of regret time to time but I can still live with what I've done. You…" He shook his head. "You just ignore it, just pack it up and pretend it never happened? What the hell happened to make you this way?"
"You contributed," the Doctor intoned. "Or shall I mention that year of Hell you put me through?"
The Master leaned in. "Yes, I put you through Hell. And how did you respond? You forgave me. You tried to save me. That's who you are, Doctor, as much as I loathe it. Not this."
"He's right." The two glanced to the Rani as she stood up. "Why else would you choose that name for yourself? The man who makes people better. Sanctimonious but it also fit. You always try to find another way, always." She glanced over to the War Doctor. "Yet somehow, you came to the conclusion that one grand wiping out of our entire race was the best way to go. That's not you, Doctor. That's not the man I respected, even if hated. The man who adores life so much that he'd give up his own to save one human. I much prefer that to a man who decides mass genocide is the only method left."
"Last resort," he grunted.
The Rani looked at him with something akin to sadness. "You always said that a last resort was no resort at all." It was obvious it wasn't just the older Doctor she was talking to.
The man in the bow tie glared at her, then to his other self. "You think I didn't try to find another way? Any other way? There wasn't time, not even for us. The Daleks were attacking, Rassilon was pushing his Final Sanction. I didn't act, the effects on the universe…" He shook his head. "I made a decision. Sacrifice for the greater good and I lived with it."
The War Doctor had little clue what was going on as he gathered much of the talk between his future self and the Master had to do with events yet to come. Yet the way the other man, younger and yet so much older, was reacting was quite troubling. And the fact the Master and the Rani felt the same was bothering him even more.
The Master cocked his head. "So this is how it starts," he softly intoned. "This is where the path finally leads. Deep down, I never thought it could happen but here it is."
"What?" the Doctor asked in an off-hand voice as he went back to his carving.
"You're turning into…him."
The Doctor froze in place. "Don't you dare," he hissed, all humor vanished from his demeanor.
"It's the truth," The Master pressed. "The coldness, the willingness to look past your actions, to cling to life, put yourself first." He smiled. "This is how you become the Valeyard."
The War Doctor stiffened visibly at the mention of the name. For her part, the Rani was confused. "Who?"
The Master's eyes remained on the Doctor as he answered her. "There's evil in everyone. Even him. The Valeyard was an amalgamation of all the darkest parts of the Doctor's nature. Sometime between his twelfth and final regenerations." He looked the Doctor over. "Which I do believe is where you're close to being now. He tried to destroy the Doctor and steal his remaining lives before vanishing." He smirked. "But it seems he's ready to make a comeback."
"I'm not him," the Doctor denied. "I'm nothing like either of you."
"Doctor…When you chose to sacrifice your own planet for what you termed a greater good…You took one major step toward both of us," the Rani stated.
"I don't know you," the War Doctor announced. "Any of you. And especially not you." He nodded to his older self.
"He's you," Romana put in. "He's what you become if you destroy Gallifrey. There's two more between him and you and they carry their own burdens. The one right after you chooses to run and try to ignore what he did. The other carries the pain every day and it shapes what he does." She made a sad smile. "That's what you become; the one who rejects; the one who regrets; and the one who forgets."
The old man looked at his other self, so young and yet so much older. To be overwhelmed with the guilt of what he did was bad enough. But that he could get to the point of getting over such a horror…that frightened him. And nothing more than the idea of becoming the Valeyard. He could never accept that was truly some sort of future version of himself but he knew…he knew deep down he was certainly capable of it. But this was confirming that he may become something even worse.
"The Moment is coming," Romana continued. "I'm already here but it's up to you. It has to be your decision. Do you let it all continue? Be as they think it must be?"
The War Doctor was playing with his sonic screwdriver. "No. No, I won't." If this was what he was to become, he'd much rather take a different path.
"You have the tools to change it," Romana said. "Both of you."
He glanced at her, confused at her smile. Then, as so often in the past, he realized what she was saying and chuckled. That laugh cut through the tension of the other tree as they looked at him. "Something funny?" the Rani asked.
"It just struck me…this must be what I'm like when I'm alone."
"You're worse, trust me," the Master sniffed.
"Four hundred years…"
"What?" the other Doctor asked.
The War Doctor held up the screwdriver. "At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they? Same software, different case."
"Yeah, so?" The Doctor didn't seem to understand but the Rani straightened as she did. "So," she began. "It would take centuries for that screwdriver to calculate how to take out the door…" She watched the War Doctor stand up and run the screwdriver over the doorway, the device beeping as it did. "A scan constantly working as a subroutine in the software…"
A loud beep came from the other Doctor's screwdriver as he held it up, his eyes lighting up. "Calculation complete," he grinned.
The Master lifted his own eyebrow. "Not bad. My past selves and I rarely have such cooperation."
"A shocker," the Rani noted.
"Well, that's what makes us special," the Doctor chuckled. "Four centuries in four seconds! We put our minds together, we are incredibly clever."
At that moment, the door burst open as a young woman with dark hair, blouse and skirt raced in. She stopped and stared at them in confusion, which they returned. "Right, that's more his age," the Master noted.
"How did you do that?" the Doctor asked, pointing at the door.
The girl shrugged. "It wasn't locked."
"Right." The Doctor could take solace in how he wasn't the only one embarrassed right now. "Oh, this is Clara, by the way. Clara, that's my past self, despite the fact he's older, you remember him." She gave a wave as the Doctor motioned to the others. "This is the Rani and this is the Master, yes, both Time Lords, used to be schoolmates, they've tried to kill me at least a dozen times each."
"Know how that goes," Clara said. "Hold a mo. Four of you, together and none of you thought to check the door?" She waved to it to emphasize her point.
"It should have been locked," the War Doctor defended them all.
"Why wasn't it?" the Rani mused.
"Because I wanted to see what you did," came the voice of Queen Elizabeth as she stepped into the room. "I understand you're rather fond of this planet."
"He is," the Rani said, hiking a thumb at the Doctor. "Personally, I don't much give a damn." The Master gave an assenting nod.
The Queen smiled. "I wish to show you what will happen to it." She turned on her heel and marched away. After a few glances, the Time Lords fell in after her, honest curiosity driving them on. They were soon moving into the lower parts of the Tower, a larger chamber filled with various alien devices. A few Zygons were moving about, looking with interest at the arrivals but busy. What got their attention was a large framed object on the wall that showed a flat landscape. "The Zygons lost their own home world," Elizabeth was saying. "It burnt in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required."
"So they want this one," Clara realized.
"Not yet," came the reply. "It's far too primitive. Zygons are used to a certain level of…comfort."
The Master snorted. "Yes, they are. Never did like those beasts, always have to be right. They're not warriors or conquerors, they're squatters."
One Zygon frowned as he saw the group. "Commander, why are these creatures here?"
Elizabeth's tone was cold. "Because I say they should be. It is time you too were translated. I believe you will find it fascinating."
The Zygon nodded as he moved to a nearby glass cube and put his hands on it. In a flash of light, he vanished and at the same moment, the framed object nearby showed his image. "That's him!" Clara gasped. "That's the Zygon in the picture now!"
"It's not a picture," the War Doctor explained. "It's a stasis cube. Time Lord art, moments frozen in time, bigger than a simple painting inside but could be deployed as…"
"Suspended animation," the Rani noted, her face a mix of wonder and respect. "They pop into the pictures, wait a few centuries for Earth to be good enough for them and then out they come, take the appearance of some top humans and set things up."
"As I said, nothing but squatters," the Master intoned.
"Hang on," Clara said. "Why are you telling us your entire plan?"
"Because she's not the Zygon," the Rani stated. "She's the real Elizabeth. Am I right?"
The woman smiled. "You are the bright one, my dear. Yes, I am. I managed to kill my double in the forest." She reached into her dress to pull out a knife. "I am accustomed to taking precautions. These creatures never even considered that I survived rather than their commander." She sniffed. "Such arrogance is typical of their kind."
"Zygons?" Clara asked.
"Men."
The Rani laughed at that, Clara smiled and the Master and the Doctors seemed annoyed. "You actually killed a Zygon?" the Doctor pressed.
"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman," the Queen began. "But at the time, so did the Zygon." She brought herself up. "I gather the future of my kingdom is at stake."
"Actually, by 2013, it's not that much…" the Master started but the Doctor cut him off with a wave.
"I need my TARDIS," the Rani stated.
"It is already procured for you." The Queen smiled. "But first…" She leaned in for a kiss. "You must promise to return to me."
"I really don't…"
"Rani," the Doctor hissed. "When Queen Elizabeth I tells you to promise something, I'd recommend you listening."
She frowned and shrugged. "Fine, fine, I'll come back."
"Excellent," the Queen smiled. "I shall hold you to it." The smile tightened. "Or else you shall understand my wrath."
Clara shook her head. "Seriously, seen so many movies, none of them get her so scary."
The Rani's TARDIS was far different than the Doctor's own. The outside was in the shape of a large cabinet that opened into a mostly dark grey room with circular posts about the walls. Much of it was clinical and yet some aspects of a personality, a steel circular model above the main rotors, shelves of various ingredients and devices on the walls and other bits Clara was sure she didn't want to know more about.
"Right," the Doctor began. "Set for the future, the National Gallery, the Zygons are underneath it."
"No, UNIT HQ," Clara intoned. "They followed us there to something called the Black Archive."
Four cold stares answered her.
"Okay…so you've heard of that, then."
"It was among what I discovered as Saxon," the Master said. "A secret room of information designed to keep a Time Lord out."
"I did work for them in the 1980's," the Rani said. She saw the Doctor's look and shrugged. "It was a consulting job, needed some information from UNIT and helped to get some technology I required."
"Blast," the Doctor hissed, rubbing his temple. "Zygons in control is one thing but if the actual UNIT soldiers get out, it can be worse."
"How?" Clara asked.
"The fail-safe," the Master intoned. "The one they think we don't know about. Thermo-nuclear device under the Archive, prepared to wipe London off the map if used."
"If we had my TARDIS, I could use the Space-Time Telegraph to try and talk to Stewart," the Doctor stated.
"Who?"
"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart."
"As in…"
"His daughter."
The Master let out a whistle. "If she's anything like the old man then, London is history."
The Rani was clicking some switches. "Don't worry, Doctor, I can get you to your TARDIS in time to escape the explosion…"
"I need to get in there."
The Rani sighed. "I knew you were going to say that. You just have to do it, don't you? You have to risk yourself to save a few million humans."
The Doctor moved toward her, face set. "You're going to do it, Rani. You know you want to as well."
"Do I?"
The Doctor just stared at her as she looked away. "Oh, get it done already," the Master said. "We both know how insufferable he is when he's like this and he'll get his way in the end anyhow." He shrugged. "Besides, London's not too bad a town, hate to see my favorite lunch spot wiped out."
The Rani threw up her hands. "Even if I agree, how can we do it? You know the Tower is now TARDS-proof."
"How?" Clara asked.
"Alien technology added to human stupidity, it can work wonders."
"We don't need to land…" the War Doctor mused.
The Rani pointed to him. "See, he agrees with me!"
"Actually, no." The War Doctor moved forward to place a small cube onto the TARDIS console. The other three Time Lords stared at her before all shared smiles.
The Master glanced to the Rani. "Have any male clothes on board?"
"I'm always prepared."
The Master smirked as they both moved off. "Where are you going?" the Doctor called out.
"Style, Doctor. Unlike you, we enjoy style."
"Bow tie! Fez!"
The War Doctor rolled his eyes, wondering when he'd find an incarnation with some clothes sense again.
The mood in the Archive was tight as the two sides of doppelgangers faced off against each other. The back and forth between the two versions of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart over canceling or continuing the countdown had ended in a stalemate. Neither one was going to back down, the real Kate making it clear the sacrifice of London was worth it to end the Zygon threat and the Zygon version determined to call what he/she/it thought was a bluff.
Osgood knew it wasn't. She knew Kate was going to go ahead and kill millions if she had to. She sucked in breath, wishing she had her inhaler, whispering a prayer she hadn't used in years for help. A prayer that somehow, some way, that man she'd admired so long could do something, anything to save this planet again…
A smashing sound rocked the entire room as the painting on the wall flashed and a massive black robotic form crashed through the glass. It flew outward to land by a nearby cabinet, a wind from nowhere howling. All eyes turned to the painting as if by magic, a quartet of figures exited. One was an elderly man with grey beard in dusty and used clothing. The second a young man in a suit and bow tie. The third had bright blond hair, clad in a stylish black suit with matching coat and a smirk. The final one was a woman with lush black hair flowing down, wearing sensible dark blue pants, a matching vest and coat of her own. They marched forward in perfect unison to stop before the stunned humans and Zygons as a young woman pulled herself out of the painting's frame.
"Hello," the old man began.
"I'm the Doctor," the other said.
"I'm the Master."
"I'm the Rani."
"I'm Clara," the girl stepping out of the painting announced. "Unlike them, I don't feel the need to add an article to my name to sound more important."
Despite the four glares she got, she kept her smirk up.
Again, all comments welcomed.