Of Recollections & Resolve
Once the TARDIS had archived the Space-time Co-ordinates for Ariva Lykos, the Doctor and Romana had set her at full pelt towards Earth in 2009 and begun to get dressed. To make it a bit easier, the Time Lady had switched on the Stabilisers to allow them to multitask. While this was happening, she took the chance to get the Doctor to fill her in on exactly how dire the situation was.
"Doctor..." she began. "I thought History recorded that Sutekh had been destroyed by 740 Osirans 7,000 Earth years ago...around 5100 BCE."
"So did I...until the TARDIS was driven off course on its way back to UNIT HQ, landing me and Sarah Jane in 1911," answered the Doctor, before deciding to slip in a quip; "One of my favourite years, actually." This earned a whack on the shoulder from Romana. "I was somewhere around 750."
"Are you sure you weren't 753?" She just had to slide in an age jab.
"Oi!" the older Time Lord weakly protested...but Romana just smiled a cheeky Cheshire Cat grin. "Whatever...what does it matter anyway?" he mumbled.
"You were saying?" she pressed him for more of the details.
"So...Sarah and I did arrive at UNIT HQ...but years before UNIT even existed," he continued. "Back then, it was a Priory under the ownership of one Professor Marcus Scarman...who was on an Archaeological Expedition to Saqqara in Egypt." He paused for a moment to take a breath – he had plenty of Time to recount the story. By this point, there was no trace of care-free spirit in the Doctor – his tone had become perfectly grim. Given the horror stories of what Sutekh could do and had done, it was completely called for. "He opened the Eye of Horus...and entered it."
"And Sutekh...despite being imprisoned...still had the power to kill Scarman?" Romana needed only one guess to realise what had happened.
Her fellow Time Lord nodded. "And then reanimate the corpse." She grimaced at this – she could already tell that she was not going to like this one little bit. But the information could prove crucial to stopping Sutekh. "Between that moment in Time and when I actually arrived at the Priory...Scarman's Servant turned out to be working with the Service Robots – which looked like Mummies."
"Why am I not surprised?" the Time Lady asked, with a faint, amused sarcasm in her voice. "The whole of Egyptology was based on the Osiran culture." She paused. "So...how do you fit into this, Doctor?"
"Well...first I tried transmitting a jamming signal from a nearby Lodge using a device devised by Scarman's brother, Laurence...along with a Slave Relay contained in the Egyptian Servant's ring," the Doctor replied, keeping his voice devoid of emotion. Romana couldn't find fault in the idea – it did appear to be rather sound...and perhaps one of the few plans the Doctor actually had. "They invented the Radio Telescope forty years early...though they called it a Marconiscope." He allowed himself a small smile at the genius of the Scarman brothers...even if it could have altered the Timestream. However, this smile soon faded. "It didn't work – Laurence just couldn't accept that Marcus was already dead..." He trailed off, his mind going back to that point in his 4th life...
*DW* Earth, near the Scarman Priory...1911... *DW*
The Marconiscope was now a useless piece of scrap metal, thanks to Laurence Scarman's interference. In spite of the Doctor telling him it was too late to save Marcus, the fool had gone and given the Mummies the chance to destroy what could have been his only opportunity to stop Sutekh from breaking free from the Eye of Horus!
"Are you alright?" Four asked him.
"Yes...I think so-" but he was cut off.
"You don't deserve to be! You nearly got us all killed!" Four snapped in his fury. He wasn't sure what to be angrier about – that he had endangered his companion...or that he'd inadvertently given the Mummies the chance to destroy the device.
"I'm sorry!" Laurence tried to apologise.
"What's worse...you've probably wrecked what was my only chance of stopping Sutekh!"
"Look, forgive me, Doctor...I was thinking of my brother-" the man tried again...to be once again brutally cut off.
"LISTEN!" Four seethed, absolutely fed up with the man's idiocy. "What's walking about out there is no longer your brother! IT IS SIMPLY AN ANIMATED HUMAN CADAVER! Animated by Sutekh – do you understand?!" Laurence nodded, but Four didn't stop. "And if Sutekh succeeds in freeing himself, the consequences will be incalculable. STAY HERE!"
*DW* TARDIS...Time Vortex...Present Time... *DW*
Romana gasped in shock. "He sabotaged the Marconiscope?"
"Yep – he tried to stop Sarah from using it to break Sutekh's mental hold over Marcus' cadaver," the Doctor confirmed. "Soon enough, the Mummies ended up destroying it. With that idea out of the window, Sarah and I had to use Gelignite to blow up the Osiran War Missile projected at the Pyramid of Mars." He smirked slightly. "Sutekh managed to contain the explosion with his mind...until I broke his concentration. That was an experience I hope never to repeat." He grimaced as he recalled those torturous moments in Sutekh's Tomb...
*DW* Sutekh's Tomb, Saqqara...1911... *DW*
As the Doctor entered the underground Chamber, he caught sight of the loathsome creature that could destroy all if released. "Sutekh...Last of the Osirans," he whispered. Not once in all his travels had he imagined that he'd actually meet this thing.
Almost at once, Sutekh caught sight of him. But once he focused his attention on the Doctor...his mental suppression over the exothermic reaction caused by the exploding Gelignite broke...and the War Missile exploded, hopefully taking with it any chance of Sutekh's escape. Not a few moments later, the Doctor screamed as his body was wracked by excruciating agony. And for a while...it seemed like that would be the end of him...
"No...you will not die yet," Sutekh decided, releasing the Time Lord from his agony...for the moment. "Identify yourself."
"Just destroy me, Sutekh," the Doctor replied. There was nothing he could realistically do to escape...short of Sutekh willing it to be so. "Nothing else now is left within your power."
"Identify yourself," the Last Osiran repeated, this time with more menace than the first. "It is within my power to choose the manner of your death." So saying, Sutekh began torturing him again. "I can, if I choose, keep you alive for centuries, wracked by the most excruciating pain. Since your interference has condemned me forever to remain a prisoner in the Eye of Horus...it would be a fitting end – you would make an amusing diversion." By now, the Doctor was then released from his agony once again. "Identify yourself...plaything of Sutekh."
"I'm a Traveller," the Doctor answered.
"From...where?" Sutekh pressed further for elaboration.
"Gallifrey...in the Constellation of Kasterborous..."
"Names mean nothing – what is the Binary Location from Galactic Zero Centre?" the Osiran demanded.
"10-0-11-0-0 by 0-2," the Doctor finally gave the answer.
"I know the planet," Sutekh recalled. "Data Retrieval." The nearby Computer began its work. Once it was over, the creature turned to face the Time Lord once again. "So...you are a Time Lord?"
"I renounced the society of Time Lords – now I'm simply a Traveller."
"In Time and Space?" the Osiran asked. When the Doctor did not reply immediately, Sutekh tortured him some more. "Time...and Space?"
"YES! YES!" the Doctor screamed, wishing for it to stop – the agony was unbearable. Not a moment too soon...it did.
"Approach closer," the Osiran commanded him. The Time Lord did so, no small amount of dread filling his soul. "What are you called, Time Lord?"
"Doctor," he whispered, still struggling to muster his voice – the agony Sutekh had inflicted upon him not a few moments earlier was still making his nervous system twitch.
"I offer you an alliance, Doctor. Serve me truly...and an Empire can be yours," Sutekh presented his ultimatum.
But the thought was absolutely repulsive to the Doctor – and absolutely laughable at the same time. "Serve you, Sutekh?" he sneered. "Your name is abominated in every civilised world...whether that name be Set, Satan, Sodos-"
"Serve me, Doctor," the loathsome being repeated...this time with more force.
"Never!" No sooner had he said this than Sutekh had once again begun to wrack his body in agony using his will...and he began howling.
"You pit your puny will against mine?" Sutekh laughed...a laugh which spoke volumes of his sadistic, psychopathic nature. "Kneel!"
"NO!" the Time Lord roared, struggling to maintain control over his mind and hold onto the grains of defiance. He would not kneel before this absolute abomination of the known Universe!
"Kneel before the might of Sutekh!" the Osiran just continued laughing, overpowering the Doctor's mind in no Time at all. The Time Lord began kneeling, puppet under the will of the puppet-master. "In my presence...you are an Ant...a Termite. Abase yourself, you grovelling insect!"
*DW* TARDIS...Time Vortex...Present Time... *DW*
"It doesn't take too much imagination to see why," Romana replied with a sickened grimace, revolted – no, repulsed beyond belief – by Sutekh's sadistic actions. The Doctor had allowed her to see into his mind...and she'd had to stop herself from crying out in horror every time she'd seen him being wracked by the agony the twisted Osiran had inflicted upon him. "What happened then?"
"Then Sutekh realised that Sarah and I travelled together in the TARDIS," her fellow Time Lord recalled. "He lifted the TARDIS Key right out of my pocket and sent it to Scarman and the Mummies via Tunnel-Mail." He laughed – however hollowly – though the joke didn't quite register with the Time Lady. "A...Time-Space Tunnel," he tried explaining...in spite of explanation being the sure-fire way to kill a joke. Nevertheless, she gave a small smile as she shook her head in amusement. "I told him that it would be impossible for Scarman to control the TARDIS...on the basis that the Controls were Isomorphic."
Romana could only stare at that. "And he believed you? In spite of the fact that you knew that the Old Girl's Controls are not Isomorphic, but respond to whomever they choose?" He nodded. "You must be a better liar than I thought."
"Or Sutekh had a false sense of security," her lover answered...again with no air of playful exaggerative arrogance in his tone. And Romana could see why. If Sutekh really had begun to gather his power again...then the situation was deadly serious. Daleks...Nimons...Sontarans...all of them were small fry compared to Sutekh at full power. "Either way, he put me under his will so that Scarman could reach the Pyramid of Mars and carry out his order to destroy the Power Source of the Eye of Horus." He paused for a moment. "What they didn't count on was my respiratory bypass when a Mummy tried to choke me right after we arrived. After a race against Time to stop the Power Source from being destroyed – which Sarah and I lost, mind you – we rushed back to the TARDIS...as we still had the Time Factor to on our side."
"Of course...the Mean Time it takes for Radio Waves to travel from Mars to Earth!" the Time Lady realised, beginning to form an idea as to how he had stopped Sutekh from escaping. "The Eye of Horus was still functioning approximately two minutes after the Power Source was taken out!"
"Exactly!" the Doctor confirmed. "Once I got back I removed the Time Control from the TARDIS..."
"And connected it to the Time-Space Tunnel?" He nodded, confirming Romana's hypothesis as to the methods the Doctor used to thwart Sutekh. His mind drifted back to that moment...and hers with it...
*DW* Scarman Priory...1911... *DW*
As Sutekh was preparing to exit the Threshold of the Time-Space Tunnel, the Doctor activated the TARDIS Time Control. As a result, the Osiran could not leave the Tunnel...not that it would stop him trying.
"Who dares to interfere?!" snarled Sutekh.
"You're caught in a Temporal trap, Sutekh," the Doctor smirked. Now I've got him...the bastard isn't going to be getting away anytime soon!
"Time Lord!" the Osiran hissed angrily. "I shall destroy you...I shall destroy you!"
"How long do Osirans live, Sutekh?" he asked in a feigned tone of innocence – he knew exactly what was going to happen to the loathsome abhorrence.
And if the next words were anything to go by...Sutekh did as well. "Release me!" he demanded.
"Never! You're caught in the corridor of Eternity!"
"RELEASE ME, INSECT – OR I SHALL DESTROY THE COSMOS!" Sutekh howled, enraged at the Time Lord's meddling, still unable to reach the Exit Threshold.
The Doctor was torn threefold. Part of him felt like laughing – there wasn't much Sutekh could do trapped in a Time-Space Tunnel. Another part fully recognised that he was about to commit genocide...with the final part accepting that Sutekh was too dangerous to live. "You're a thousand years beyond the 20th Century now, Sutekh – go on for another ten thousand!"
"I'll spare the planet Earth...I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU AS A PLAYTHING! RELEASE ME!" the Last Osiran tried pleading. Now he was subsuming into the background of the Time-Space Tunnel.
"No, Sutekh – the Time of the Osirans is long past," was all the Doctor could say.
"NOOOO!" Sutekh gave one final death scream before fading away completely...
*DW* Present Time... *DW*
"So you moved the Exit Threshold of the Time-Space Tunnel into the Far Future?" Romana surmised. "No wonder that Sutekh could never have reached the end – you effectively aged him to death."
"Which should have been the end of the bastard," the Doctor soured furiously. "But I forgot my own advice to Sarah Jane. 'Never underestimate Sutekh – he thinks of everything.' If I had to guess...I'd say I only destroyed his body. The mind must still be out there...and I was so sure!" He kicked the TARDIS Console...and stubbed his foot as a result.
"You're scared, aren't you?" his lover asked him as she placed her arms around him. It wasn't an accusation...but rather a statement of fact.
"Terrified," he confessed shakily as he struggled both to speak and to look into her eyes. He had forgotten how to be strong for family, probably due to the fact that he had not travelled with any family member in a long stretch of Time – that was, if he had ever known how. But regardless...here he was, unable to confess, in words, to Romana – the woman who was now closer to him than any Wedding could have brought them – why he was absolutely terrified.
But as her next words indicated...it seemed he hadn't needed to. "For me and Jonathan?" she guessed.
He nodded. "For you and Jonathan...for Sarah Jane and her friends...for Torchwood and UNIT...for anyone whose bright, shining lives Sutekh would deem worthless and decide to destroy or turn into a living Hell," he told her, his voice gathering its resolve once again. Tears were now in his eyes as he turned to her. "I've lost so much, Romana," he whispered. "Every time a friend leaves...whether they find someone else...or something beckons them away...or they forget me...they've all broken my hearts. Quite frankly...it's a miracle that so many of them survive the danger and the pain..."
"Ssshh," Romana whispered, pulling him into a tighter embrace. "I know, Doctor. I saw you when I left you around a century ago in my life...I saw your eyes. In all the Time you've been travelling...you've craved a constant. You've had the Old Girl...but you've never been able to connect with her on a fully interactive level...and that's what you've really needed." The TARDIS gave a burble...as though acknowledging this as true. She paused. "It's also in front of you at this very moment. I'm here...and it would take something truly impossible to make me leave for anything short of death..."
"Thank you," he whispered. How could I have gotten so lucky as to have Romanadvoratrelundar – this wonderful Time Lady – in my lives...actually promising forever? He thought to himself, mind still uncomprehending.
Because this Time Lady remembers that you brought her to life...and wants you in her life, Theta, she replied with a smile. "Now then," she switched to verbal, "why don't we get back to flying the TARDIS on Manual, as we no longer have to busy ourselves getting dressed?"
Indeed, the Doctor was now back in his brown pinstriped suit and white Converse trainers...while Romana had gone for the frock coat, waistcoat & trousers combo she'd once put on just before they'd had their run in with the Nimons. The older Time Lord couldn't help but notice the way that the clothes hugged her form...needless to say, he had to shake himself out of that train of thought before he could even begin to entertain the idea of ravishing her again...
"Don't worry – I plan on having my wicked way with you later," she teased him as the TARDIS finally landed on Earth once again...and once again in 2009. "Now then...shall we go and bring our friends up to speed?" she asked her blushing lover as she gestured to the Door...