IDChapter8
They wandered on like this, through the solar system, for several days. Each planet brought on reduced speed, maneuvering, and a good look. The analysis was sent back to Earth and Arianna got an excellent lesson in Physics, Chemistry, and Astronomy, plus whatever odd assortment of facts that Jon thought appropriate. Presently they had left the solar system behind and were past the asteroid belt where the Earth fleet was hiding, observing them. Ahead they could detect a comet, and Jon was scanning its tail for alien tech, it seemed a likely place for the Krillitanes to be hiding out in.
Rose sat back and drank it all in. Jon was the Doctor, more and more every day. He'd even taken to wearing his old suit again. While she missed the "Donna" in him, she came to realise that that part of him would never be lost, it was simply integrated into the whole of him, much like how the new Doctor, in that other universe, was the whole of his former selves - and then some, she was sure. Donna would love having that influence on the both of them.
She also took notice of the change in herself. She, too, was more like the Doctor. It was as if the more thime they spent together, the more things they did together, the more alike they became. She wondered about that often. She loved the changes, her increased ability to reason things out, to see patterns where previously she'd seen nothing but nonsense, and her ability to anticipate what was to come. She also hated them. They scared her. She thought back to that day that her mother had wondered aloud about what her daughter would become someday, and had said she feared she would not recognise her.
Was this what was happening to her? Was she losing herself?
She knew that if it were her Mum here saying these things to her, that she would admonish her and assure her that she was becoming her true self, or rather the best self she could ever become.
But was that truly so?
Jon also saw the changes that were happening to both of them, and also saw, thanks to his Time Lord brain, what direction they were heading. It filled him with both joy and trepidation. Joy that they seemed to be evolving, trepidation as to what was causing it, and therefore what might be controlling and using it. The one thing he feared above all else was that they would be used somehow for evil. This he could not allow, under any circumstances.
He thought of the Guardians, and wondered if they could be manipulating things, even in this univese. He supposed they were universally transcendent, and if that were true they definitely could be the culprits.
It could even be just the Bad Wolf. He grinned at his thought. Just the Bad Wolf? The Bad Wolf had annihilated the Daleks and made Jack immortal. Just the Bad Wolf, indeed!
"Hey you." He started a bit and looked over at Rose in the copilot seat. "Penny for your thoughts," she offered with a smile.
"I was just thinking about the Bad Wolf, and when it will make its next appearance."
"Wish I knew," Rose admitted, frowning a bit. "I'm torn between wishing I knew how to call it up, and hoping it never surfaces again."
Jon nodded, understanding. Rose now appreciated that that kind of power was not to be used lightly, if ever, and for that he was glad. She'd come a long way from that innocent young girl who had looked into the heart of the TARDIS, risking her very life to save him, not knowing what the consequences might be.
At just that moment, something changed around them.
"Jon, something's happening," Rose said, getting up from her seat even as he leaned forward and started scanning their surroundings with various instruments on the control panel in front of him.
"Yes, I feel it, too. The timelines are converging around us. Get Arianna in the lifepod, I'll be right behind you!"
Rose ran back towards the bunks, even as she heard Arianna calling for her. Her little girl must have sensed it too, she thought. She scooped Arianna up and ran to the hidden pod, depositing her in it.
"I'll be right back!" she promised, "You know what to do!"
Arianna nodded soberly and began strapping herself into her seat, as Rose ran back to see what was happening. The plan was that she and Jon would join their daughter in the pod, and the Krillitanes would find what appeared to be an empty ship. She ran into the cabin to find it empty.
"Jon?... JON!!!"
Not hearing an answer, she turned to run back to the pod, only to find herself face-to-face with three Krillitanes, and she felt something like an electric current envelop her before she passed out.