2007, Earth, London.
"What is that thing?" Jackie demanded, standing just behind The Doctor. The group was staring up at a sphere floating in the room.
"We've got no idea," Yvonne replied looking up at the sphere that was the object of everyone's attention.
"What's wrong with it?" Jackie asked, looking at The Doctor for an answer, he was staring at the sphere in confusion.
"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?" Rajesh wondered, his voice almost excited.
"I dunno," Jackie shrugged, "It feels weird."
"The Sphere has that effect on everyone," Yvonne told the group, she watched as The Doctor got closer to the ship, standing right below it, "Makes you want to run and hide, Like it's forbidden."
"We've tried analyzing it, using every device imaginable," Rajesh told them, he glanced at The Doctor who was now wearing 3D glasses, "But according to our instruments, the Sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing. It doesn't age. No heat, no radiation and has no atomic mass."
"But I can see it," Jackie protested
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Rajesh said, removing his glasses, "It upsets people because it gives off nothing. It is absent."
"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne asked
The Doctor felt an odd connection to the ship, he wasn't sure why. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know why. It was dangerous, he knew that much and it was enough. He ignored the tug coming from the ship and turned to face the group, his eyes wide.
"This is a Void Ship," The Doctor told them, thinking back to when he had first heard the theory, he felt a twinge at the thought of the time war but ignored it, the Void Ship was a much more pressing issue.
"And what is that?" Yvonne demanded
"Well, it's impossible, for starters," He told them, turning to look back at the group, "I always thought it was just a theory, but It's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space. Travelling through the Void."
"And what's the Void?" Rajesh asked The Doctor sat down on the steps leading up to the Void Ship.
"The space between dimensions," The Doctor resisted to roll his eyes at their confused looks, "There are all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions, billions of parallel universes, all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in between. Containing absolutely nothing. Can you imagine that? Nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down. No life. No time. Without end.
My people called it the Void, the Eternals called it the Howling. But some people call it Hell."
"But someone built the Sphere, what for?" Rajesh asked, distracting The Doctor from his thoughts of just before the end of the war, "Why go there?"
"To explore. To escape?" He offered, "You could sit inside it and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang the end of the universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation."
"You see, we were right," Yvonne gloated, proud of herself and her team, "There is something inside it."
"Oh, yes," The Doctor agreed, not wanting to eve know exactly what it was inside the ship.
"So how do we get in there?" Rajesh asked.
"We don't," The Doctor said, using the rails of the steps to stand up and propel himself forward, away from Rajesh, Yvonne, and the ship. "We send it back into hell. How did it get here in the first place?"
"The Sphere came through, into this world," Yvonne informed the Time Lord, "and the ghosts followed in its wake."
"Show me," The Doctor demanded.
The Void Ship
She wasn't sure what it was but something in the atmosphere of the ship shifted. A minute change in the permeating hate that distracted the time lady from her mind. She didn't know how long she had been there but a glance at the watch that she wore on her wrist told her that at least to her body it had only been mere minutes. Cerese dreaded to think about how much time had passed elsewhere.
The shift that had gotten her attention had also gotten the Daleks attention. She shivered as she watched them shift as a unit, all millions of them, to look at the same spot. When four of them disappeared Cerese let out a curse. The ship had been created so that nothing could get out from the inside unless she let them out.
Outside was a different story, all that needed to happen was a time traveler needed to touch the sphere. She had made it with the intention that only a time lord (or lady) could release the contents of the prison. If just any old person could release it then the entirety of the universe would be endangered.
"Did the void ship leave the void space?" Cerese wondered aloud before shifting in her seat and spinning the chair to monitor the controls. She had planned for the void ship to be the place where she and the orphans she had taken care of would live if the need arose. She had built a small house inside the void ship, one that the darkness could not penetrate.
Now even thinking about the orphans caused pain in her hearts. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking at the readings. She slid a switch and turned a knob and a screen raised from a panel to her left which showed what looked like a lab space with several humans standing in it.
"No, no, no, no, no," Cerese groaned, typing furiously at the keyboard, "they can't get out here, not now, not on earth."
She slammed her head on the keyboard and let out a groan, "you had one fucking job Cerese, one job."
She could hear the call of the Daleks to exterminate and let out an even deeper sigh before making a decision. She could either stay in the sphere where she was safe or she could go get rid of the Daleks before they cause irreparable damage.
Cerese grabbed the gun from under the table, typed in a code, and stepped out of the house, she watched as it shrunk into a cube and then stored that cube in her pocket. As soon as that was done she waited as the sphere continued to open, even though the Daleks were gone, to reveal the Genesis Ark.
When she had been put in the ship by the council she had not known that they would be placing the genesis ark in the ship as well. She had tried many times to convince them to destroy it. But instead, they had wanted to keep all the Daleks they possible could in one central location.
Cerese had spent years trying to convince them that it was a terrible idea. But no one would listen to the time lady that had spent years in solitary confinement for treason. They had needed everyone who could fight fighting and Cerese had refused. That was what had originally gotten her placed there. She had refused an order of the council. She had lost anyway. They got what they wanted and Cerese had gotten nothing.
"Daleks!" A blond human yelled. Cerese could see her but she wasn't visible from her position behind the Daleks and the genesis ark, "You're called Daleks. I know your name. Think about it - how can I know that? A human, who knows about the Daleks and the Time War? If you want to know how then keep us alive. That's all I'm asking. Me and my friends."
"Yeah, Daleks, Time War - me too," A black male added.
"Yeah, and me," another man, this one also with dark skin.
"You will be necessary," The Dalek assured and Cerese had to wonder why three humans would have knowledge of the time war. The Time Lords had been adamant that the humans never find out. They were much too primitive.
"Report!" A Dalek demanded, "What is the status of the Genesis Ark?"
"Status - hibernation," Another Dalek reported.
"Commence awakening," The first Dalek replied, "The Genesis Ark must be protected above all else."
"But Daleks," the first male said, "you said they were all dead."
Cerese could barely hear his whispers but his words caused her to gasp. Her hope for the last three hundred years of her life was for the Daleks to die. She absolutely hated the man who had created the race. She hated the destruction that they had caused, the death toll was too large for her to even consider.
"Never mind that, what the hell's a Genesis Ark?" the blond wondered and Cerese had to bite her tongue to keep from responding.
"Which of you is least important?" A Dalek asked and Cerese was both surprised and proud to hear the blonde's response.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked harshly.
"Which of you is least important?" The Dalek repeated.
"No, we don't work like that, none of us," The blonde reiterated.
"Designate the least important!" The Dalek shouted and Cerese couldn't help her flinch.
"This is my responsibility," the second man said, much to the horror of the first two humans,
"No, don't!" the blonde protested and Cerese could feel herself nodding in agreement.
"I represent the Torchwood Institute. Anything you need, you come through me," the man said bravely, "Leave these two alone."
"You will kneel," the apparent leader of the Daleks demanded.
"What for?" The man asked and Cerese felt herself slowly standing.
"Kneel!" the Dalek yelled and this time the man complied, "The Daleks need information about current Earth history."
"I can give you a certain amount of intelligence, but nothing that compromises homeland security."
"Speech is not necessary," The Dalek assured, "We will extract brainwaves."
Cerese couldn't help herself. She was not about to watch an innocent man die because she had lost an argument nearly two hundred years ago.
"Don't," the man pleaded.
"I'd listen to him if I were you," Cerese said loudly from her place behind the genesis ark. She grinned when the Daleks swiveled to look at her. Cerese alway was one to hide her fear behind a smile.
"Who are you, we do not take orders from humans," The Dalek demanded of her.
"You may want to check that again, you salt shaker," Cerese taunted, smirking now as the Dalek scanned her.
"You are a Time Lord, that is impossible," The Dalek rolled closer and Cerese held up a hand.
"I am the only one here with the ability to help you," Cerese pointed out, "if you kill any of them, or me, then you will lose your chance for world domination."
"How are you still alive?" A Dalek asked and Cerese grinned while walking around the genesis ark and helping the man stand. She ignored the confused and suspicious looks of the humans, keeping her attention on the Daleks.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She taunted before suddenly losing her grin. She raised her gun which was one that was invented for the sole purpose of piercing Dalek armor. "Now be good Daleks and back the fuck up."
She watched in satisfaction as the Daleks backed away from the group. Cerese turned to the group before hearing a Dalek roll forward. She turned to face the Dalek, raising her gun as she went.
"This thing will easily pierce your carbon shield, killing you instantly," Cerese reminded the Dalek, who stopped moving as soon as she had turned. She turned back to the humans with a smile, "anyways, hello!"
"You're a time lady?" The blonde asked, looking at Cerese in confusion and a little bit of what she thought was jealousy.
"Last I checked, yeah," Cerese answered honestly. She was a little shocked that this human female knew so much about the Daleks and seemed to know about her own species too.
"First the Daleks and now time lords," The first man said with a raised eyebrow, "what the hell is happening."
Cerese gestured back to the Daleks, "This right here is an invasion. I was also a prisoner in there, though my crime was saving lives, not destroying them."
She turned to glare at the Daleks, "Let the humans go."
"We need them for information," one of the Daleks protested and Cerese turned her glare on them.
"Then fucking find it somewhere else," She ordered before turning back to the humans, "sorry 'bout that."
"You said you were a prisoner?" The blonde asked hesitantly, "why were you with the Daleks?"
Cerese chuckled darkly but ignored her question, not noticing how her lack of response made the humans even more uneasy. She instead stalked past them to the door only to slam it as soon as she saw the silver man on the other side.
"First Daleks and now cybermen," She groaned, "I just wanted to fucking spend the rest of my days keeping myself company but no, the sphere had to leave the fucking void."
"What are you going on about?" The blonde demanded and Cerese closed her eyes to get control of her breathing and her temper. Her nerves were shot and she wasn't sure how much more she was going to be able to take before she did something stupid.
"Long story, maybe we can talk over tea some time?" She said harshly, not particularly caring that she may have offended the other woman.
Normally she had a patience that rivaled that of mother nature's but this was not her normal. She was thinking frantically, trying to figure out how the fuck she was going to save Earth. They didn't know this but her gun only had one shot left and then it would be useless.
She did not like being the only thing standing between the Daleks and yet another massacre.
And then there were the Cybermen. She closed her eyes as she felt tears welling and took a deep breath, muttering to herself under her breath.
"Pull yourself together Cerese, you're not a child anymore, you've faced worse than Daleks."
She must have missed something because when she opened her eyes there were only three Daleks in the room. The humans looked freaked out and the Daleks were now scanning the room, evidently looking for a source of information.
"Well," Cerese started, shifting her grip on the weapon, "I guess I didn't say you couldn't leave the room."
"Who the hell are you?" The blonde demanded turning on the time lady. Cerese had heard voices like hers before, children who thought the world owes them something.
"I'm Cer-" she paused, as much as she didn't care for her Academy name this human had not earned the right to know her childhood name. She let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead before responding, "I'm the Timekeeper."
"Bit pretentious, that," the blonde responded and Cerese flinched away, memories from a lifetime ago resurfacing with no warning.
"It's really not," she responded petulantly before shaking her head, "my name is also not important. We are in the middle of a double invasion and I am not the enemy. It would do you good to get a little perspective."
"You do not fear us," one of the Daleks said, drawing everyone's attention.
"Why would I fear a pepper pot?" Cerese asked tauntingly, "why would I fear a creature that needed to destroy my entire race because they were afraid."
"Daleks do not know fear," The Dalek screeched and Cerese couldn't help the chuckle that came out.
"Then how do you know I am not afraid if you yourself have not felt fear?" She was bullshitting them, she could feel the tremor in her hands but chose to ignore it.
"Daleks are not afraid." one of the Daleks argued
"Oh please, do you know what hate is?" Cerese chuckled, "It's ignorance and fear. Which is what you all are. You are ignorant and afraid, therefore you hate."
"Final stage of awakening!" the first Dalek called before the other could respond, they all moved closer to Rose, singling her out, "Your handprint will open the Ark."
"Well, tough, cos I'm not doing it," Rose argued, crossing her arms in front of her
"Obey, or the male will die!" A Dalek called, pointing his blaster at Rose's friend.
"I can't let 'em," Rose said, shaking her head at the man after sharing a look.
"Rose," he implored, "don't!"
"Place your hand upon the casket," the Dalek ordered Rose, ushering her forward.
"All right!" Rose snapped, annoyed with the Dalek, "You're gonna kill us anyway, so what the hell. If you escaped the Time War, don't you want to know what happened?"
Cerese frowned, watching Rose closely. She wasn't sure she could trust the human woman who seemed to know so much about her people.
"Place your hand-" the Dalek started, only to be interrupted by Rose
"What happened to the Emperor?" Rose said, taunting the Daleks with her knowledge.
"The Emperor survived?" The Daleks questioned.
"Until he met ME," Rose said, taunting the metal creatures "Cos if these are gonna be my last words, then you're gonna listen! I met the Emperor. And I took the Time Vortex and poured it into his head and turned him into dust. D'you get that? The God of all Daleks and I destroyed him!"
"You will be EXTERMINATED!"
"Oh, I don't know about that," A voice said behind Rose, causing the human to spin around. Cerese watched in wonder as the Dalek's backed away from the door in fear. She turned to find out what about that voice had scared them and was surprised to see someone she thought she'd never see again.
"Impossible," the man in front of her muttered as he too stopped in awe. He seemed hesitant to do anything more, "they told us you'd died."
"Obviously they lied," Cerese said with a grin, getting over her shock, "glad to see ya, Doctor."
"How are you alive?" The Doctor asked, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
"Long story, some other time, perhaps?" Cerese suggested, pointing over her shoulder at the group that was watching them with various mix of expression.
"Oh! Right." The Doctor said turning to greet his other companions. "How are you?"
"Oh!" Rose said, obviously glad to see The Doctor. Cerese couldn't help but wonder at the relationship between the two. She could see the look that Rose was giving The Doctor and it made her smile. "Same old, you know."
"Good," The Doctor grinned before turning to Rose's friend, kissing him on the forehead "And Micketty-Mick-Mickey! Nice to see you."
"And you, boss," Mickey greeted
"Social interaction will cease," One of the Daleks demanded, gaining everyone's attention.
"How did you survive the Time War?"
"By fighting…" The Doctor replied darkly, "on the front line. I was there at the Fall of Arcadia. Someday, I might even come to terms with that. But you lot ran away!"
"We had to survive," The Dalek defended.
"The last four Daleks in existence," The Doctor taunted, "So what's so special about you?"
"Doctor, they've got names," Mickey informed the Time Lord, "I mean, Daleks don't have names, do they? But one of them said they-"
"I am Dalek Thay," one of the gold Dalek's introduced himself.
"Dalek Sec," the black Dalek introduced.
"Dalek Jast."
"Dalek Caan."
"So THAT'S it! At last!" The Doctor said gleefully, making Cerese jump, "The Cult of Skaro.
I thought you were just a legend."
"Who are they?" Rose asked.
"A secret order of Daleks," The Doctor explained, glaring at the Daleks, "above and beyond the Emperor himself. Their job was to imagine. Think as the enemy thinks. Even dare to have names, all to find new ways of killing."
"But that thing," Rose gestured to the Genesis Ark, "they said it was yours - I mean, Time Lords, they built it. What does it do?"
"I don't know," The Doctor shrugged, "Never seen it before."
"But it's Time Lord," Mickey reminded.
"Both sides had secrets," The Doctor said with a shrug, glancing at Cerese who was watching the Daleks intently.
"The Genesis Ark," Cerese said suddenly, turning to look at The Doctor and his companions. She may as well explain what was inevitably going to happen. If they knew what was coming there might be some way for them to prepare for it. "A Dalek prison commissioned by the Arcalian council in order to capture and detain the Empirical Fleet. I tried to convince them to destroy it once all the Daleks had been captured, but as you can see I obviously failed."
"You built it?" The Doctor asked both awed and shocked by this.
"I had no choice." Cerese eyed The Doctor closely, begging him to understand, "either I built the Genesis Ark or I spent three hundred years in solitary confinement. I couldn't do that to my family. Thirty years was long enough"
"So you condemned your own species?" Rose snapped, causing Cerese to flinch violently.
"Rose," The Doctor chided before walking over to Cerese and pulling her into a tight embrace.
We'll talk later, The Doctor promised, gently running a hand down Cerese's back, there is much to discuss.
Thank you, Cerese nodded before pulling away from the embrace.
"They said one touch from a time traveler will wake it up," Rose said, clearly not happy with the current interaction.
"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do - touch," The Doctor grinned at Cerese. Pride shining in his eyes at her clever thinking. "Sealed inside your casing, not feeling anything ever From birth to death, locked inside a cold, metal cage, completely alone. That explains your voice. No wonder you scream."
"The Doctor will open the Ark!" Dalek Thay demanded.
"Oh," The Doctor exclaimed, "The Doctor will not!"
"You have no way of resisting!" Dalek Sec reminded.
"Well, you got me there, although," The Doctor concurred before pulling out what looked to be a sonic device, "there is always this."
"A sonic probe?" Dalek Sec questioned.
"That's "screwdriver"," The Doctor corrected, winking at Rose.
"It is harmless," The Dalek assessed
"Oh, yes," The Doctor agreed, "Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it! Doesn't kill, wound, maim, but I'll tell you what it DOES do." He paused for dramatic effect before pointing the sonic at the door, "It is very good at opening doors."
In walked two of the cybermen as well as a few more humans. Cerese quickly assessed the situation herself, seeing as there were multiple and only her and The Doctor to protect the humans she wasn't sure what they were going to do. Already she had to pull the scientist out of the way to prevent him from being caught in the crossfire.
"Delete. Delete. Delete." The Cybermen chanted as they shot at the Daleks.
"Alert!" The Daleks said, "Casing impaired! Casing impaired!"
"Rose, get out!" The Doctor ordered before grabbing Cerese and pulling her after him. She barely had time to grab the scientist, not wanting to leave him behind.
"Insufficient fire power! Insufficient firepower!" The Daleks chanted.
"Daleks will be deleted. Delete. Delete." The cybermen continued, still firing.
"Mickey!" The Doctor called to his companion's friend, "Come on!"
Cerese looked back in time to see Mickey stumble into the Genesis Ark. She was grateful that he had, considering the Daleks would have had to blow up the sun to get it to open otherwise. They would have had no chance of survival then.
"Adapt to weaponry!" The Daleks called as they started attacking again at a higher pace, "Fire power restored!"
"Come on!" The Doctor urged, wanting to get the rest of the humans out of the area,
"Cybermen primary target!" The Daleks informed.
"Jake, protect the stairwell!" The Doctor ordered as he led everyone up the stairs and out of immediate danger.
"The rest of you, come on!" The Doctor commanded.
"Cybermen have been exterminated," The Daleks declared, "Daleks are supreme. The Genesis Ark is primed. The Ark needs area of 30 square miles."
"Move!" The Doctor urged once again, clearly worried about the last of the group who were now falling behind.
"Genesis Ark mobile."
"I just fell," Mickey said, panicking now, "I didn't mean in."
"Don't worry," Cerese assured the human, "the only other way they could have opened it was to blow up the sun, you've just saved us."
"Now run!" The Doctor commanded, and everyone broke out into a sprint.
They made it up three flights of stairs before they ran into yet another human. Cerese would have urged them along at the delay but she noticed the resemblance between the woman and Rose. She was currently cowering on the ground in front of a cyberman.
"Oh!"
"You will be upgraded," The cyberman said.
"No, but you can't, please!" the woman begged as one of the other humans in the group raised a gun and shot the cyberman dead.
"Pete?!" The woman said disbelief painted on her face.
"Hello, Jacks," The older balding man greeted.
"I said there were ghosts, but that's not fair," Jackie complained, "Why him?"
"I'm not a ghost," Pete assured.
"But you're dead," Jackie informed the man, "You died 20 years ago, Pete."
"It's Pete from a different universe," The Doctor explained, "There are parallel worlds, Jackie. Every single decision we make creates a parallel existence, a different dimension where-"
"Oh, you can shut up," Jackie snapped before turning her attention back to Pete, "you look old."
"You don't."
"How can you be standing there?" Jackie questioned
"Just got lucky," Pete shrugged, "Lived my life. But you were left on your own. You didn't marry again, or."
"There was never anyone else," Jackie assured, tears running down her face, "Look at me. I never left that flat. Did nothing with myself."
"You brought HER up," Pete said, gesturing to Rose, "Rose Tyler. That's not bad."
"Yeah," Jackie nodded.
"In my world it worked," Pete explained, " All those daft little plans of mine, it worked. Made me rich."
"I don't care about that," Jackie assured before asking, "How rich?"
"Very," Pete told her.
"I don't care about that," Jackie repeated, "How very?"
"Thing is, though, Jacks, you're not my wife," Pete said, as though he was trying to convince himself, "I'm sorry, but you're not. I mean, we both. You know, it's just sort of." He couldn't resist it anymore and opened his arms wide before running to Jackie, the two meeting in an embrace. "Oh, come here."
"This way!" The Doctor yelled as the sounds of both invading species got closer to them, "Come on, please."
"What are they doing?" Rose questioned as they watched a Dalek elevate into the air, "Why do they need to get outside?"
"Time Lord science," The Doctor ground out, "What Time Lord science? What is it?"
He turned to Cerese who was towards the back of the group. He knew that she would have the answers but upon seeing her pale face he realized that she was in no shape to give up any information that she may have had.
"We've got to see what it's doing," The Doctor said, "We've got to go back up. Come on! All of you. top floor!"
"That's forty-five floors up! Believe me, I've done them all," Jackie informed them.
"We could always take the lift," Jake said, popping out of the lift behind them.
