Chapter 8
The Doctor knew what he was doing as he went back to the Tardis and closed the door.
His mind had been made up when he had caught the look of anger in her eyes, that look that said Ace wanted no more to do with him...
She blamed him for so much.
He had lost so much, too – and he was not the only one:
Devon was dead, Laura would soon finish work to find her lover and his Tardis gone, and Ace...as for her, life had changed forever in the most terrible way.
Even though he loved her and it wounded him to have seen her sharing her love with another man, he had wished there had been a cure for Devon because anything had be better than seeing Ace's heart shattered by grief...
It was over, it was all over and he had lost Ace.
Everyone had lost.
And then as he looked at the Tardis controls, he keyed in a new set of co ordinates, and the Tardis vanished from the Earth colony planet, racing through space and time to a brand new destination...
As the Tardis slowed to a halt and floated gently in orbit, he drew in a deep breath and thought about time and how the weight of responsibility a Time Lord carried was often too great to bear.
Time was a powerful thing to control, and he had certainly taken control this time...
They were back at the start.
No, before the start...they were close to Earth, and had arrived ten minutes earlier than before.
Yes, they had arrived, because he had spun time backwards, erasing the other time line.
As she walked into the console room he felt a lump in his throat and he struggled to hold back from weeping.
"Where are we going, Professor?" asked Ace, and he turned and looked at her, saw her bright eyes and her warm smile and she was looking at him the way she used to because nothing had gone wrong yet, and he was going to make sure it never did...
"For now, nowhere," he said, "We wait..."
"For what?"
A huge silver Cyber ship loomed up close to Earth.
"For that to happen," he said darkly, and worked quickly to use the scanning equipment and then threw a lever and pressed some buttons.
"The Cyberfleet are about the send down an army to attack a research base. I have to stop them. I've just locked on to their ship's main energy supply and as it's being used to power up the teleport machine, I'm going to scramble their regulatory power flow and switch the divert back into the main core of their ship."
And he slowly turned a dial.
The ship on the screen shuddered, and then exploded, Ace gave a gasp and covered her eyes against the white hot glare as it burned like a supernova, and then space was dark once more, save the sparkle of tiny stars.
She looked at the Doctor in surprise.
"Professor, you blew it up!"
"Yes I did," he replied as he opened a channel and prepared to make a call to Earth, "Now I have to inform UNIT, I need immediate clearance to go down there and remove the source of the trouble – they were after an alien power core that's being held by a research centre, I have to return it to the planet of origin before more hostile species come searching for it."
"You just stopped an invasion!" Ace exclaimed, "Wicked!"
He briefly smiled as he opened up the communications channel.
"I saved a great deal more than that, Ace," he muttered, and then the call was answered and he quickly explained the situation, and as he spoke he was already plotting co ordinates for landing.
As they landed on Earth inside the research facility, he thought of how things would have worked out in the other time line...he and Ace would not have arrived after the disaster, because he had destroyed the ship and stopped the invasion.
There would be no deaths at the research facility...
Job done. The other time line was erased.
As he stepped out of the Tardis and into the corridor, the chief scientist was waiting to greet him, along with head of security.
"The Doctor!" exclaimed the scientist, "So nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you. I'm Professor Devon Travis."
And the Doctor shook his hand, and Ace smiled at him, and he glanced at her, briefly smiled and then turned his attention back to the Doctor.
"I understand you need to return the power core. That's fine by us because the booby traps that protect it are highly dangerous. I hope you know how to disarm them."
The Doctor smiled and held up his sonic screwdriver.
"I hope you have a spare radiation suit," he replied.
"I certainly do," Devon told him, "Come this way..."
And as they walked up the corridor Ace followed, looking around in interest as she wondered what the power core would look like.
"I've sealed off this lower section until the core is removed and safely contained," said Laura Smith, head of security.
The Doctor glanced at her but avoided her gaze as he thought of what he had chosen to give up, his own happiness at a the price of setting everything else right...or had he? Because ever since he had spun time backwards and Ace had greeted him with that smile he loved so dearly, the deep pain in his hearts had vanished...
"Thank you," he said to Laura, "I'm sure we can take it from here."
"I'll be guarding the main door," she said, and she walked away, and his hearts briefly ached, but then he heard Ace say how wicked it was down here in the research area, and just the sound of her voice warmed him to his ancient soul.
An hour later Ace watched through safety glass as the Doctor destroyed the power lines that linked to the nuclear device.
As the last wire severed, the radioactive seal disintegrated.
And then she watched as he and Professor Travis removed the glowing core, locked it in a secure container and then placed it in a sealed unit inside an equally protected locked case.
Then the two men left the chamber, the doors closed and they stood there as a jet of mist engulfed them, removing every trace of the alien radiation from their protective suits.
Two locked doors later they removed the suits, and then the Doctor and Devon stepped out of the chamber.
The Doctor put away his sonic screwdriver and shook hands with the man who, in another lifetime, had died to save the world.
"Thank you for your help, Professor," he said, "The remains of the alien technology is now safe to explore and take apart – but make sure it's thoroughly decontaminated first."
"I've already arranged for that," Devon replied, "I'm looking forward to taking that equipment apart. We were too afraid to try too much before, because of the explosive device, and of course the radioactive seal."
"And it's all deactivated now," the Doctor told him as he took the case from him, "And with the power core removed from this planet, there's no risk of alien invasion. I have to take this core now, it's like a beacon that any ship could pick up on far out in space."
And they headed back up the corridor towards the Tardis.
"It's been a pleasure to meet you, Doctor," Devon said, and shook his hand, "And you Miss McShane -"
"Professor Travis?"
He turned from Ace to see Laura approaching, leading a woman down the corridor to meet him.
"I'm sorry but she says it urgent -"
"That's fine," the Professor said in a weary voice, and he turned back to the Doctor, who recognised the woman beside Laura wearing dark sunglasses as Faith, the Professor's girlfriend.
"Sorry Doctor – this is personal stuff...again, it's been nice to meet you."
"Likewise," he replied thoughtfully, noticing the spark of anger in Devon's eyes as Laura walked away, leaving him alone with Faith, who walked up to him and said nothing, giving off an air of hostility.
He had thought there was more, and now he had worked it out...yes, there had been much more, more than Devon, dying in the other time line, had ever told Ace...
"Come on Ace," the Doctor said, "Let's get back to the Tardis."
And she walked beside him, but on hearing raised voices, stopped and looked back:
"Why did you come here?" Devon fumed, and Faith took off her glasses revealing a black eye.
"What's the matter, scared your colleagues will find out? I told you I wanted answers, why did you do this to me? Did you hit your wife too, is that why she left you?"
Devon lowered his voice as he stepped closer, glaring at her.
"I'll do it again if you get me started! Go home!"
The Doctor and Ace had reached the Tardis.
He had opened the door but Ace was still standing there staring in disbelief as Devon continued to quarrel aggressively with Faith.
"What a scum bag!" she said, "I can't just stand here and let him treat her like that -"
"No, let it go, we have to this time," he said, grabbing her by the sleeve and pulling her into the Tardis.
The doors closed and he went over to the console, locked the power core beneath it and hit the controls, instantly transporting them back into deep space.
Ace was staring at him as the Tardis floated in the peaceful, star punctured darkness.
"I really wanted to give him a piece of my mind! Why did you stop me?"
The Doctor gave heavy sigh.
"Because I have to take the power core back to its planet of manufacture. And we need to keep out of Devon Travis's life, just this once, believe me when I say we can't alter anything, we've already changed enough."
His remark left her feeling confused.
"But all we did was remove the power core."
"Yes," he replied thoughtfully, "And under other circumstances, who knows what could have happened? If we hadn't stopped the Cyber attack, Devon might have been the one to stop the theft of the power core. He could have saved the world from the nuclear countdown when they tripped the alarm, he could have smashed the radioactive seal and removed the core, killing himself in the process. In another life, he could have saved the world."
And Ace laughed as she shook her head.
"That wife beating scum bag? No way, Professor!"
And as he looked into her eyes he felt a huge wave of relief.
Everything was restored, back the way it was before.
He would miss Laura and the memories of the other time line, and all they had shared would always be locked away in his hearts, but the one he needed most was here, and still wanted to share his life, and he could definitely live with that conclusion...
"I'm going to set a course for Xethea, return the power core and then take you on a nice trip around the galaxies and hopefully avoid further trouble for a while. I think it's time we took a holiday."
She smiled and her eyes lit up and he wanted to tell her he loved her, the words played out so easily in his head but remained stuck in his throat, and he guessed they always would...
"That sounds ace!" she exclaimed, and then she left the console room with a smile on her face.
The Doctor stood alone, leaning against the console as he fixed his gaze on the view of space and stars as the Tardis gently moved through time.
He thought of Laura and how he would never hold her again, and then he thought of Ace and guessed he still had her but only in the way he had always had her in his life – she still didn't know he loved her, and most likely never would...
He had stopped the deaths at the base, stopped Devon from being poisoned, stopped everything and changed the time line.
It had turned out for the best, but even then, it was a hollow victory.
It felt like checkmate all round:
Ace and Devon would never fall in love – although it looked as if Ace had actually had a lucky escape on that...
And he would never know Laura.
And they were back here in the Tardis, him and Ace, with him nursing his secret love for her and never daring to voice it aloud.
The only good thing to come out of it all was the Cyberman attack had been stopped before it started.
No one had died.
No one had lost.
But this time, nobody won, either...
End.