Etched in History
A Novel Experience
By the time that the trio reached the girl's flat, she was walking on her own, talking with them about mundane things, like the weather and the situation of traffic in London. It was Martha's idea, just to keep her talking, and get her much more relaxed before the time travellers started asking questions again about her collapse. A key slipped into the door, but they found it already open, the smell of pizza wafting out of the place to meet them. Despite herself, the girl smiled, inviting the pair of them in.
"Rynne, is that you?" a voice called from the living room. "You're late again! Where have ya been?"
Leaving both the Doctor and Martha to close the main door behind them, Rynne went to give her flatmate a hug. "Oh, you know what I'm like, Dina. Just stayed behind talking with the Professor."
"Mmm." Dina wasn't really paying that much attention, happy enough with the two boxes of pizza in front of her as a soap played away on the television. Rynne couldn't stand programmes like that: they were hardly an escape from reality, and few characters ever experienced anything good in their lives, so what was the point. Dina did, however, crack her head around to see two extra people in their flat. "New friends? I'm Dina. Talk to me when this is over, help yourself to pizza."
Rolling her eyes now, Rynne yawned, taking a slice for herself. "Go ahead, both of you. She won't move from there 'til about seven. I just need to go sort my bag out." With that, she left their presence to escape to her room. The Doctor began to say something important to Martha, but a definite "Shh!" from the woman lazing on the sofa told the pair that no more speech would be permitted. Each taking some pepperoni pizza, they then followed Rynne to her room, finding her looking through some notes.
"Doctor... doctor, doctor, doctor..." The words were obviously just meant for herself as she rifled through handfuls of hand-written pages, all obviously in her own hand. The frown showed deep concentration, and she was only disturbed from her search as the Doctor cleared his throat loudly, leaning on the doorframe to her room. Looking up, she gave up, at least for the moment, and motioned for them to enter. "Come in, it's not very roomy, but I'm a student, so I'm not about to complain."
Obliging, Martha smiled, sitting on the bed where Rynne was standing in front of her desk, whilst the Doctor walked a few paces into the fairly smallish room. Soft blues covered the room, with posters and pictures pinned up on the walls, all holding strange lines and symbols, a artistic design. "Are you an artist? This stuff's really good," Martha began, trying to start a conversation.
"No, you're a philosophy student, aren't you, Rynne?" A smug grin graced the Doctor's features. "And aspiring writer. Well, we'd love to see something, we're huge fans!" The facts that had been troubling the Doctor finally clicked into place. It was when Dina downstairs had called the girl they had saved 'Rynne' that he had made the connection, giving everything a new spin on things. "Martha, may I present to you Miss Maurynna de Lirmot, one of the greatest philosophers and poets of your time!"
"How do you -?" She stopped. "Greatest poets? I'm not a poet, I'm a writer!" As the Doctor looked completely off-balance, Martha couldn't help but let out a little giggle. "What is this? Oh, I knew there was something strange about you from the moment I saw you. Is this just a practical joke? Did Dina look through my notes and do this on purpose? Very funny!" A darkness entered her gaze as her voice snapped at the pair before her. "Just because I write unusual things, it doesn't mean I've lost my grip of reality... I knew someone'd put you up to it!"
The mirth in Martha's eyes left just as quickly as it had come. "Joke? What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean... dressed as my characters, even using the same names for them: I'm not an idiot! And as soon as I get my apology, you can both leave."
The Doctor moved closer towards her. "We're not a joke. Maybe it's a coincidence... but that's not important now." He decided that while it would be interesting to see what she had written, the mystery of her on/off illness was the primary target, as it were. "What happened to you earlier?" He paused at her cynicism. "If you tell us, we might be able to help."
Sighing, she gave up. "Okay, I'll play along for now, Doctor." The name was spoken as if it was just another elaborate part of the plan to deceive her, but Rynne would tell them what was going on: it wasn't as if she or anyone else understood it, anyway. "I don't know what's wrong. Every so often, I get these pains in my chest, and I can't breathe. It feels as if my heart just stops beating - maybe it does - and then everything's okay again. It's only been the past couple of years, or so, and the doctors can't find anything wrong with me."
Martha decided to give some of her training a go. "It isn't a form of heart disease, or lung malformation?"
"No. Everything's fine. The only thing in there apart from ordinary organs and tissue is that my heart is slightly a little too far to the left. That's probably just it, but no tests ever say why that makes me black out for a while every so often." She paused again. "Why are you asking me this? It isn't as if either of you can do anything about it." Rynne's tone became much more suspicious: perhaps this was all part of a scheme for other students to nose into her private life. Then again, she said she was going to play along for now, didn't she? If they said anything to anything, she could just call them liars. Their word against hers... the facts could then just look as if they were vicious rumours, and not worth anything. That way, she could slip out of people's minds easily enough, which was more important. She could keep all of these bits and pieces until she published her first works, and then get out an injunction so no one could reveal any personal information about her unless authorised first. Rynne was a clever one, after all.
The Doctor wasn't convinced. Oh, he believed what Rynne said, but how come she wasn't a poet? He had never heard of her being anything but: Maurynna de Lirmot, with her poetry published post hum- Oh. That probably made more sense. The Time Lord had been so excited to find out where she spent her time at University so he and Martha could meet up with her that he forgot her fame came much after her death, when literally hundreds of poems were found scattered around her home. Actually, it probably wouldn't be too long before she went missing... how awful it was to remember something so macabre when standing in her presence. The fact that she had such a turn earlier, though, opened up a new possibility for where she went: perhaps a walk, then a stumble into the Thames? How easy would it be to be washed out somewhere, body lost until it was unrecognisable?
Snapping himself from those thoughts, he smiled. "Of course. My mistake... I just, ah, thought I'd read something of yours. A piece of writing, yes... very good, mind you. Very good." He suddenly noticed the stack of papers a little more. "And what would those be?"
"My masterpiece." Rynne became much more open and proud: she had worked so long on it, and it was near completion. If only she could pull together those last chapters... "It's all about a being I call the Doctor. Travelling in Time and space, losing all of his own kind, he has to battle biological machines - the Darlks - along the timeline, always managing to save the human race from extermination. His companions come and go - what?"
Rynne had to stop when she saw the faces of the two other people in the room. Both just stood, unbelievably silent, the Doctor awfully pale. That manuscript, if what Rynne said was true, was the Doctor's life...