CHAPTER 22
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PLANET OF DEATH PART 2
While he still had time to do it during the period between earthquakes, the Doctor continued to use the TARDIS' sensors to gain more information about what was happening to the planet. He hoped that it would tell him when the next quake would be and how long it would last, and more importantly he wanted to find out how much longer that they had left before the whole planet exploded. Rose meanwhile had suddenly sat down on the floor with her eyes closed as her body started to lightly glow with Vortex energy. It almost looked like to the others as if she were meditating.
"What is she doing?" Polly asked the Doctor as she became filled with curiosity.
"She's gone into a trance like state in order to expand her mind and her senses. She's trying to use Bad Wolf to try to make contact with the creature inside of the planet. We're going to see if we can make it understand what it's doing to the people above it. It probably won't work since its mind may not be properly developed yet, but we have to try everything that we can while we still have time," the Doctor said.
"Since when does Rose meditate? I couldn't even get her to do Yoga," Shareen asked in amusement.
"She doesn't like to meditate either, but we're both willing to try anything at the moment. I still remember when we learned about meditation under Master K'anpo back on Gallifrey when we young. He taught all of my friends how to expand their minds and increase their mental abilities. Not that Rose really needed any help. She was always very intelligent. Do you know that she was the Valedictorian of our graduating class?" the Doctor said with a fond smile on his face.
"Yeah, Rose always did well in school. She probably would have graduated at the top of her class on Earth too if it wasn't for that idiot Jimmy Stone talking her into dropping out of school," Shareen said with a frown.
"That reminds me. I might just pay him a visit. If we ever get out of this that is," the Doctor said with a dark look on his face.
"Good luck finding him. He disappeared a few years ago. He just dropped off the face of the planet it seemed like. I always did wonder what happened to him," Shareen said.
As she sat on the floor, Rose smiled briefly but said nothing.
"Not this again. I don't want to hear yet another story about how Rose sent that creep to . . ." Mikaela started to say and then stopped as she realized that everyone but Rose and Gwyneth was looking at her like they had no idea what she was talking about.
She had stopped herself because she realized that they really did have no idea what she was talking about and smiled sheepishly at them as she said, "Spoilers. You'll hear more about that from Rose in the future, Fez Boy."
The Doctor smiled at Mikaela's new nickname for him in amusement even as the TARDIS began to beep to signal him that it had found out something. He looked at the readings and sighed as he realized what they meant.
"We only have less than a few hours left before the planet explodes," the Doctor said in a somber voice.
"So I'm assuming that we won't have long then until the next quake?" Charley asked as she made sure that she was grabbing onto her seat tightly.
The Doctor nodded as he said, "It should be . . ."
He was interrupted by another massive earthquake just as bad as the first one. Luckily it only lasted for a few seconds. It was still bad enough to knock everyone but the already prepared Charley flat on their backs even in that short amount of time however.
"Thanks a lot for the heads up," Shareen said grumpily as she got back to her feet.
"I was going to say something but it seems that I was off in my calculations of when it would be by a minute or two," the Doctor admitted.
"Naw, you think so?" Mikaela said sarcastically.
"Maybe you should move the TARDIS out of here until you come up with a plan on how to stop this. You won't have much time to think if this keeps up," Polly suggested.
The Doctor looked at her sadly as he said, "I don't have much time period but you're right. I hate to leave though. I feel almost like I'm abandoning them somehow."
"It's not like you're actually leaving, Doctor, but I know how you feel. It's necessary though. You're not going to be able to come up with any kind of a plan like this," Polly said.
"I've already come up with something actually. I've been working it all out in my head while we've been standing here talking. I'm still not sure if it'll actually work or not. Plus it may just possibly be extremely dangerous to all of us," the Doctor said.
"Why am I not surprised? When is one of your plans not extremely dangerous?" Polly said with a grin.
"Oi!" the Doctor protested even though he secretly knew that she was right.
Polly knew what was really bothering him so she cut to the chase and said, "I know that you're worried about losing us, but we all knew the risks when we agreed to come along with you, Doctor. If you've got an idea in mind, just go ahead and do it. Don't worry about us."
Mikaela smiled as she saw Polly talking to the Doctor. Maybe it was because she was one of his earliest companions and therefore one of his oldest friends or because she was actually much older and therefore more mature than she looked but as long as she had known her Polly was one of the few people who could and would give the Doctor advice. He usually listened to her too because she was almost always right.
"That's right, Fez Meister. Just do it already," Mikaela said encouragingly.
"Fez Meister! Ooh, I like that! Just call me the Fez Meister. No, wait a minute. Don't! The Doctor is still cooler," the Doctor said.
"Focus, Doctor. We've got a planet to save, remember?" Charley said because she knew that he was still stalling.
"Just give me a few more minutes to think of something else. Besides that, Rose hasn't come to yet. She might still come up with a way to contact the alien inside the planet," the Doctor said hesitantly.
He went to the console and started to turn several knobs and dials on it as he slowly adjusted the controls so that he could make the TARDIS hover a few feet off of the ground. This way he would have time to think without being thrown about by the quakes and still be on the planet more or less so he didn't feel like he was abandoning the people there. He thought that it was a good compromise more or less.
"He's afraid of losing more of us like he lost Clara," Charley whispered to the others.
"Yeah, probably. Of course it may also be that whatever he's got planned is so crazy that even he doesn't want to do it," Shareen whispered back.
Mikaela shuddered as she said, "If it even scares him, I don't even want to know what it is. Whatever it is must really be bad."
As the Doctor and Rose's companions suddenly went quiet at that thought and Gwyneth watched all of this with a grim look on her face, Rose was still busy trying to reach out to the creature deep inside of Façade VII. So far it hadn't responded back to her though.
After hearing that the Doctor had a crazy (and very dangerous) plan in mind in case she failed, she decided that she had finally had enough. She turned into her energy form and immediately teleported out of the TARDIS and straight into the planet's core.
I really wish that you wouldn't do things like that. The Doctor said to her telepathically through their link with each another.
Well, you're not ready to carry out your plan just yet so I had to do something. You're hesitating because you're still not over losing Clara yet. Rose replied as she slowly moved through the core looking for the large egg in the middle of it.
It's not that. I just don't think that my plan will work, and I don't want to get us all killed trying it. I really need to think of something else. The Doctor answered.
Well, you'd better think fast, yeah? I just found the egg and it looks like it's almost ready to pop. Rose said as she now allowed the Doctor to see what she was seeing through their link.
Rose was now face to face with an egg the size of a continent. She could see that there were cracks all over it already, and they were all steadily growing larger and wider by the moment. Several pieces of the egg had already fallen away, and Rose could catch brief glimpses of what was inside the egg through these holes. She couldn't make out much but she knew that whatever it was it was covered in scales and green.
Doctor, this isn't going to be good. I don't think that whatever's in here is going to be able to be reasoned with. I'm not picking up any intelligent thoughts coming from it whatsoever. Sorry. Rose said apologetically.
If I may be so bold, Miss Rose, I think that's because you're not capable of understanding the kind of thoughts that the creature is broadcasting. It's thinking on a much more basic animalistic level than what you're used to. The unmistakable telepathic voice of Smitty, the dinosaur who lived on the TARDIS, suddenly replied as he broke into their conversation.
You can understand it? Rose asked not at all surprised that Smitty was telepathic since he had been genetically enhanced by the Silurians, many of whom were themselves telepaths.
Its instincts are much more primitive and simplistic than my own, but I can get the basic gist of what it's thinking, yes. It has no idea that there is anyone in danger above it. In fact, it has no idea that it even is inside of a planet at all. All it knows is that it wants to be free. That and it is very curious about who or what that you are. It's afraid that you want to hurt it before it can escape the shell, and that's making it only want to escape it even faster. Smitty answered.
Oh, well that's just great then. I've just made things even worse. Can you communicate to it and tell it that it's safe? Rose asked in alarm.
I can try. I think that I can speak its language such as it is. Smitty replied as suddenly animalistic noises and impulses went through Rose's mind that she couldn't even comprehend as a language much less make any sense out of.
The creature in the egg began to answer back with a series of growls and hisses that Rose hoped were friendly. She guessed that Smitty had gotten the message through to him as the creature suddenly stopped struggling immediately afterwards.
It take quite a bit of explaining but he finally understands now that there are innocent beings above him that he's endangering and that you're here to protect them so he's stopped trying to get out of the shell. He doesn't want to kill anyone but he also doesn't want to be trapped down here forever. He's asking me if we can help him. Smitty finally replied.
Thanks, Smitty. Tell him that I have a plan but it could be very risky for all of us. The Doctor broke in.
I know what you have planned, Doctor, and it's the only thing that will work. Nothing else will save everyone and not hurt the creature at the same time. If anything happens to the TARDIS as a result of it, I'll be ready. Rose reassured him.
Rose could feel the Doctor worrying through the link because he knew that this was extremely risky. If he did this wrong, he could blow up the TARDIS and possibly the entire planet not to mention all of them.
Alright, I'm bringing the TARDIS in there with you. The Doctor finally replied hesitantly.
He immediately dematerialized the TARDIS, and a moment later it materialized right next to Rose. As it hovered there in front of her, she quickly grabbed the handle on its door with one hand while she touched the egg with the other.
Now, Doctor! Rose shouted.
The Doctor then dematerialized the TARDIS, and the egg and Rose started to dematerialize along with it. The TARDIS immediately started to protest at carrying something so enormous along with it into the Vortex as the console began to spark and smoke all over it.
"Come on, Old Girl. You can do it. Just take us into the Vortex. That's all I ask," the Doctor said as he gently rubbed the console.
The TARDIS started to shake violently now even worse than it had during the earthquakes, and everyone was suddenly being thrown about like ping pong balls inside of it. The Doctor immediately shut off the gravity inside the ship so that no one got killed or seriously injured.
As the Doctor held onto the console in the now weightless Console Room, he was almost certain that he could literally feel the TARDIS' agony in his mind as the ship struggled to do as he requested. He knew that at any moment now that all of this could prove to be simply too much for the Old Girl, and she could suddenly explode taking everyone inside along with her.
Luckily for everyone though, the TARDIS somehow made it and brought the egg and Rose along with it. They were briefly in the Vortex, and then they were in deep space far away from Façade VII.
The Doctor spun around the Console Room with joy as he said, "That's a girl! You did it, Sexy! You did it!"
That was when the console caught on fire all over it, and the Doctor had to quickly put the gravity back on so that he could rush to grab a fire extinguisher. The poor Old Girl had pretty much blown out all of her systems saving the planet he realized, but at least they were all still alive.
Rose reentered the TARDIS and reassumed her normal form as she said with concern, "Is everyone alright?"
Everyone nodded as Polly said, "We all seem to be. I had a near miss with the wall though. If the Doctor hadn't shut off the gravity when he did, it wouldn't have been pretty."
"The same thing almost happened to me. I nearly had a bashed in skull," Charley said but with a small smile on her face to show that she was alright.
"They're all alright but poor old Sexy has definitely seen better days. It's going to take her a long time to recover from this one. What about the egg?" the Doctor asked Rose.
"You know it really bothers me sometimes that the ship is the one that you call Sexy. I'd really hate to think that I should be jealous of Idris," Rose said as she teased him.
"Stop it, Rose. You know that you're easily the most beautiful sight that I've ever seen in this or any other universe bar none even the TARDIS. I still call her Sexy because I've always called her that. She expects it. She'd be hurt if I suddenly stopped," the Doctor said grinning mischievously.
"Uh huh," Rose said with a skeptical expression on her face.
The Doctor looked worried at first until she broke out into one of her massive smiles and gave him a tender kiss. Then he immediately calmed down as he returned her kiss.
Shareen cleared her throat loudly as she said, "Hey! What about the egg? Did whatever's inside of it make it or what?"
The Doctor and Rose immediately pulled apart from their kiss and looked at her with blank expressions on their faces for a moment before Rose finally said, "Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's fine. It made it through with flying colors. Now it's finally ready to be born. I could see it bursting open when I came back in here."
"Really? I'm just dying to see what was inside it. Let's take a look," Mikaela said as she opened the TARDIS doors.
They all gathered at the entrance to watch as the egg finally burst open completely, and a large reptilian creature appeared out of it that was the size of a small moon. They all gasped in recognition because it had large wings, a massive tail, and a huge mouth full of teeth that made it look just like . . . a dragon.
"Doctor, is that really a dragon?" Polly asked in amazement.
"Yeah, it is! It's a space dragon. Where do you think that the legends of dragons came from on Earth? One or two of them must have stopped by on your planet for a visit from time to time as they traveled through space. That is beyond cool! I have my own baby dragon just like I always wanted!" the Doctor said in an excited voice as he jumped up and down with joy.
"No! You can't keep it, Doctor. It almost killed the TARDIS just bringing it along on a short hop," Rose said immediately.
"I know but we could teach George where Gallifrey is and he could join us there. I'm sure the Time Lords won't mind if I keep him as a pet. They'll all be so jealous of me for having my own space dragon that they'll want him for themselves anyway," the Doctor said with a huge grin on his face.
"No! You're not keeping him and that's final!" Rose said firmly.
"But Rose!" the Doctor whined like a child.
"Come on, girls. This might take a while because it looks like the TARDIS is going to take forever to fix itself. How about we grab ourselves something to eat while Rose puts her foot down?" Polly said with a grin as she led the other companions out of the Console Room and down the corridors behind it.
In the back of this long procession, Gwyneth silently cried with joy. She knew that things had turned out this way originally, but time was always in flux. She was so worried that they were all going to die, and that made her almost tell the Doctor to listen to himself when he had doubts. Almost. She was so glad that she didn't though because an entire planet would have been destroyed if he hadn't gone through with his plan.
"Hey, Gwyneth! Are you okay?" Mikaela asked as she fell back from the rest of the group to join her.
"Yes, I'm alright. I'm just happy that it all worked out well. I knew what he had planned and how dangerous it could have been," Gwyneth explained.
Mikaela nodded in appreciation of this as she said, "I feel the same way all of the time. It's terrible knowing the future and being afraid that whatever terrible situation that you know is coming up might suddenly change and become worse especially because you're not supposed to even be there in the first place."
"You are supposed to be here though, Mikaela. You always were. You're here for more than just to put a temporary stop to the Symmetry. You'll find out the rest of the reason why you've been brought back soon enough I promise, and then you'll finally get to go home," Gwyneth said.
"I will?" Mikaela asked hopefully.
"Yes, I promise. Now go enjoy yourself while you still can," Gwyneth said.
Mikaela rolled her eyes as she said, "Again?"
"I'm afraid so. We have a few hours yet before anything happens though," Gwyneth reassured her.
"Thanks for letting me know. I won't tell the others," Mikaela promised as she gave her friend a kiss on the cheek and joined the others as they made their way to the cafeteria.
Gwyneth sighed in relief even as she prepared for the next new challenge coming their way. It was good friends like Mikaela that made even a life of knowing almost everything that was to come worth it. They were why in the end no matter how much pain or misery that her gift brought her she was always thankful for it because it had brought wonderful people like them into her life.
If only there wasn't even more danger still on the way. The saga of the space dragon wasn't over with yet. Not by a long shot.
Next: As the TARDIS drifts helplessly in space while repairing itself and George the dragon flies alongside her, the Doctor is finally 'convinced' by Rose to find the animal a place to live besides Gallifrey. That's going to be easier said than done though when one of the Doctor's old enemies, Sil, appears to capture the dragon and sell it on the black market since space dragons are so rare that they're practically priceless. Can the Doctor, Rose, and their companions keep the animal safe until they can find him a home? Maybe a certain wayward child of the Doctor and Rose's can lend them a hand.
