Chapter Twenty-Two: The Reality Bomb
"Activate the holding cells," said Davros. Spotlights came down on Donna, Cassie, and the Doctor. "Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained."
"Still scared of me, then?" The Doctor gave the wheelchaired psychopath a classic snarky look - one that would make Donna proud.
"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long."
"No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?" He kept looking at Davros with contempt.
"We have an arrangement," Davros explained.
"No, no, no, no, no. No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!"
"So very full of fire, is he not." Davros turned to Cassie. "And to think you opened a hole in the fabric of reality, just to find him."
"Leave my daughter alone," the Doctor said with ice in his voice.
"She is mine to do as I please," said Davros.
"I'm not anyone's," Cassie retorted. "But if that were true, and I am 'yours,' how come I'm alive? Alpha could've killed me at any point."
"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek-"
"Oh, so that's what Alpha's called," Cassie interjected. "Supreme Dalek… Yeah, I like Alpha better… Sorry. You were saying?"
Davros glared at the fifteen-year-old Time Lady "Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan."
"So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames." Caan laughed maniacally.
"Caan saw time," Davros explained. "Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you."
"This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time."
"Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Rose? Why did the Tardis door close? Tell me!" The Doctor glared at Dalek Caan with anger.
"Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion. Show your child. Show them your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too."
"I have seen. At the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed," said Caan.
"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked.
"We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins."
"Testing of what?"
"The Reality Bomb." Davros gave an evil grin.
"And what the hell is that?" Donna asked.
"Electrical energy, Miss Noble. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter.
"The twenty seven planets," the Doctor whispered. "They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength-"
"-Across the entire universe," Davros finished. "Never stopping, never faltering, never fading. People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"
"Just my luck," said Jack. "I climb through two miles of ventilation shafts, chasing life signs, and who do I find? Mickey Mouse."
"You can talk, Captain Cheesecake." They paused for a moment, and then burst out laughing, pulling each other into a tight hug."
"Good to see you," said Jack. "And that's Beefcake."
Mickey rolled his eyes. "And that's enough hugging." He pushed Jack aside.
"We meet at last, Miss Smith," Jack said with a salute.
"There is something we can do," said Sarah Jane. "You've got to understand. I have a son down there on Earth. He's only fourteen years old. I've brought this." She held up a sparkly gem on a chain. "It was given to me by a Verron Soothsayer. He said, 'this is for the end of days.'"
Jack took the gem from Sarah Jane. "Is that a Warp Star?" Sarah Jane nodded.
"Going to tell me what a Warp Star is?" asked Mickey.
"A warpfold conjugation trapped in a carbonised shell," Jack explained. "It's an explosion, Mickey. An explosion waiting to happen."
"This is Osterhagen Station Five. Are you receiving, Station One?" A Chinese woman's face popped up on the screen.
"I've got you," said Martha. "That makes three of us, and three is all we need."
"My name is Anna Zhou, what's yours?"
"Martha Jones." She turned to the other screen. "What about you, Station Four? You never said."
Station Four, a man from Liberia, replied with, "I don't want my name on this, given what we're about to do."
"So what happens now?" Anna asked. "Do we do it?
"No. Not yet," Martha replied.
"UNIT instructions say, once three Osterhagen Stations are online-"
"-Yeah, but I've got a higher authority, way above UNIT. And there's one more thing the Doctor would do."
"Incoming transmission," a Dalek announced. "Origin Planet Earth."
"Display!" Alpha replied.
Martha popped up on a screen. "This is Martha Jones, representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, on behalf of the human race."
"Send transmission to the Vault," Alpha commanded. "Continue to monitor."
"This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?"
"Put me through," said the Doctor.
"I've got the Osterhagen Key," Martha declared. Leave this planet and its people alone or I'll use it."
"Osterhagen what?" Donna asked, while Cassie asked, "What's an Osterhagen Key?" and the Doctor gave Martha a confused look.
"There's a chain of twenty five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."
"What?" the Doctor exclaimed. "Who invented that? Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose. Martha, are you insane?"
"The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option." Martha gave the Doctor a saddened look.
"That's never an option," Cassie said with a glare.
"Don't argue with me, Cassie! Because it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty-six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"
"Second transmission, internal," said a Dalek.
"Display," Alpha said again.
"Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls. Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off." He held up the sparkling Warp Star, now attached to a whole bunch of wires.
"Mickey!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Captain, what are you doing?"
"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe," Jack explained. "I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up.
"You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?" The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, quite perplexed by all of the explosions being planned by his friends.
"From me," said Sarah Jane.
"Impossible," Davros exclaimed. "That face. After all these years.
"Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"
"Oh, this is meant to be," Davros whispered. "The circle of Time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."
"And I've learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star… it gets opened." Sarah Jane stood tall and proud as she faced the Daleks.
"I'll do it," said Jack. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."
"And the prophecy unfolds," Davros grinned. "The Doctor's soul is revealed. See him. See the heart of him. The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this. Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network."
"Who was that?" the Doctor asked.
"Harriet Jones," Cassie sighed. "She gave her life to get you here."
"How many more?" Davros asked. "Just think. How many have died in your name? The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself."
"Enough," said Alpha. "Engage defence zero five."
"It's the Crucible or the Earth," Martha declared.
"Transmat engaged," said a Dalek.
"No!" Martha dropped the key as the transmat took her to the Vault.
"Damn it!" Jack shouted.
The Doctor turned to see Martha, Sarah Jane, Mickey, and Jack. "Don't move, all of you. Stay still." He touched the forcefield to show them all that they were trapped."
"Guard them!" Davros commanded. "On your knees, all of you. Surrender!"
"Do as he says," the Doctor sighed.
"The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!"
"Activate planetary alignment field," said Alpha. "Universal reality detonation in two hundred rels."
"You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just stop!" Tears formed in the Doctor's eyes as he watched the reality bomb activate.
Davros laughed maniacally. "Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!"
"Detonation in twenty rels. Nineteen." Alpha began to count down.
"Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, humans. Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and the end of the universe has come." Davros laughed maniacally once again.
"It's the end of the world as we know it," Cassie whispered….
Hey y'alls! Here's chapter 22! Holy cannoli, this is going quickly!
As always: Love and Ducks to Rachel and Jubilee. Hugs to my reviewers. And special thanks to Eleonora, Noe, Hanul, and Kizzie.
Love,
Ofelia xxxx
