DOCTOR WHO: THE FINAL STOP
Chapter 7
With the Doctor threatening the Langhorn, Flick and Julian couldn't be sure whether the Doctor would seriously fulfil out his deed. Rory however was more certain in his own mind. He knew the Doctor was using this as a ploy against the Langhorn like it had used the Landrossos Crystals against them. If the the Doctor continued to threaten as much as he did, the Langhorn would give in and therefore 'talk things over' as the Doctor wanted to. So, Rory wasn't worried at all. Well he was, but he didn't want to show it and nor did he want to return to Amy to say a Gruffalo-like creature had killed the Doctor because he'd took it that bit too far.
"Mr. Langhorn, I would appreciate an answer..." said the Doctor impatiently. The Langhorn just looked on at him with a face which showed a lack of trust, but the threat of death was too severe to ignore. So, the Langhorn put its gun back in its utility belt and gave in.
"Let's talk..." gruffed the Langhorn.
"Your leaders, rulers...who are they?" asked the Doctor as he 'officially' began the talks with the Langhorn.
"I dare not speak of their name...because I know you will fear them greatly..." came the answer. The Doctor didn't look too impressed. He folded his arms and tutted like a disapproving Teacher, one which with the Tweed Jacket reminded Rory of his old Chemistry Teacher Mr. Oaken. He was a very impatient man and Rory never liked him at all. Mr. Oaken never liked him back, but Rory remembered proving him wrong about his 'apparent' lack of knowledge when he passed the Chemistry Exam and that moment has remained with him ever since. He could prove people wrong, except now wasn't his moment. It was the Doctor's. Looking on, he just let the talks continue.
"No names spread fear like the Oncoming Storm..." pointed out the Doctor. "I am the Doctor, the greatest power you will have faced yet. Your bosses don't compare, Mr. Langhorn. You listen to me and we will sort this out for the best, I promise!" The Langhorn just looked up forlornly at the Doctor.
"You have to understand that this is a part of my biology. I can't stop what I do!" it then protested.
"I doubt that..." cut in Flick. "5, 000 people is the number that UN.I.T estimate vanished over the years on the Underground without explanation. They must all be yours. 5,000 people, 5,000 families affected in one way or another. I hope you understand the severity of what you did."
"I do not deny that..." said the Langhorn. "...but they were not random attacks. They were carefully chosen..."
"How so?" asked Rory. "There's no correlation anywhere...it was random from what I understand."
"It was not! The correlation was simple. The weak and the poor..." gruffed the Langhorn. "...were just some of those selected. Those who wished to escape welcomed me when they saw me. They did not run, they did not scream. They welcomed me. They embraced me." The Doctor just looked on surprised. He could tell that the Langhorn wasn't lying and that was what was puzzling him, why would innocent people just accept their fate like that?
"But you took children?" spouted Julian. "Children don't wish to die..."
"You have no idea of the damage they had suffered before I stored them elsewhere..." said the Langhorn. "I saved them from a life full of torment. If you knew what they had suffered, you would have done the same in my position."
"Like hell I would!" then came the distant, thunderous Glaswegian voice belonging to Derek who now had a rifle at hand. No-one knew where he'd got it from, but it was presumed to be from his office. Flick and Julian immediately tried to calm him down.
"Mr. Roughly, don't be daft...do not fire..." said Flick. "This beast is not going to harm anymore!"
"Do as she says!" ordered Julian. "Put the rifle down!"
"That thing took my Daughter!" seethed Derek as he cocked the rifle. "2 years old...she didn't deserve what happened to her. She'd have been 14 this year!"
"She wanted to leave this life..." pleaded the Langhorn. "I could sense it. Like I could with everyone else."
"He's right Derek..." agreed the Doctor. "Put the gun down...we can't bring her back, we can't bring anyone back."
"Well what was the use in you then?" shouted Derek angrily as he then fired his rifle at the ceiling of the station. Ceiling tiles fell down and dust came with that too. The Doctor simply couldn't reply as the emotion of understanding what the Langhorn had done made him fully aware of his actions once more. He then looked at Rory and saw the issue of taking people with him onboard the TARDIS.
"I take people out of their times..." he said to himself as then looked at Rory once more.
"But you do it for good, for adventure..." said Rory. "That Langhorn does it for dinner..."
"I do it to survive!" retorted the Langhorn. "You ignore what is meant to happen to yourselves...life is not about travelling the stars...its about survival! You live in your own time period. You do not venture into others!"
"I can only agree..." said the Doctor. "Although I don't really have a time period of my own, hence why I travel amongst the stars and across time itself..."
"But we aspire..." pleaded Rory sensing what the Doctor was suggesting. "Without that, we don't better ourselves. We just get stuck in a rut. I could have stayed a Nurse, a respected Nurse but look at me now, I've travelled across the stars. That Torqui Soldier made a statue of me for my bravery that time! A statue in my honour! A statue for me, Rory Williams! I can't believe it at times with how shy I am! Travelling out there in the stars, Doctor...don't say that's not an aspiration of every 8 year old boy that lurks in the heart of every adult man. It is! So don't deny people of that opportunity!"
"You're a good man Rory, but the Langhorn is right. Perhaps this is it. No more company with me. The life I'm accustomed to. The Doctor travelling alone, as it should be." replied the Doctor. Rory couldn't believe the Doctor was seriously talking to him like this, especially considering Amy wasn't here. She wouldn't want to stop travelling with the Doctor, not ever. The Doctor then looked over as the Langhorn got up from the talks, picked up a device from its utility belt and transported away saying one last thing on its way.
"I never meant to hurt society, I only meant to survive...can't a being do that, Doctor?"
"Where's it gone..." asked Flick.
"Home..." said the Doctor. "Rebelling against its leaders. It may die but it saw the torment it caused here and you could tell it was ashamed of itself. The Langhorn is done here. For good" he added furiously as he pulled against his hair in anger. Rory came to his side to calm him down but the Doctor wasn't pleased at all. He pushed Rory away before pulling at his hair once more.
"You can't win every time Doctor..." said Rory.
"Oh, I've won Rory..." corrected the Doctor. "I've just condemned that Langhorn to death, that's all..."
"But you've saved the lives of many humans as a result!" said Flick angrily. "I think the Human Race is more important here..."
"Ofcourse..." sneered the Doctor doubtfully. "Humans go missing all the time. Why do you think me and Rory didn't really see the point in coming here at first? It was nothing out of the ordinary, Colonel. The Langhorn was fulfilling a duty, and now its going to die! Happy with that?"
"I'll take this outcome, whether its right or wrong Doctor..." replied Flick returning to her more normal authoritarian commanding tone. "Humanity is very key, Doctor, so don't take the moral high ground over me!" The Doctor could only force a fake smile before saying:
"Come along Rory, to the TARDIS." as he began to make his way. Flick and Julian were most bemused.
"You can't just leave, Doctor!" said Julian. "What happens next? Is the Underground safe? Are we safe?"
"Its time for you to sort that out..." replied the Doctor. "Now, I'm going to do what I was originally going to do a little while ago..." he said as he began to push the TARDIS door open.
"And what was that, Doctor?" asked Flick. She couldn't believe how much the Doctor's persona had changed in mere moments and this was changing her whole perception of him. His face yet again told the story. Minutes earlier, he was everyone's mate, but now he could be so many people's enemy – the change was unbelievable. She now understood why so many were wary of him.
"Leave..." finished the Doctor as he and Rory then boarded the TARDIS. Within moments of boarding, the whirr of the TARDIS began to roar and erupt and soon it vanished from view. Things were not over yet, but relations were at an all-time low.