House Call

Chapter 13

"Um, how do you know she's a Time Lady?" asked Rory.

Joe moved a monitor and pressed a button that showed a view screen. The screen revealed something that looked like a x-ray. The image showed two hearts that were slowly beating. In a strange rhythm one heart would pump and then the second would follow a second later. It was a weird sight that made Rory feel strange.

"There, there's your proof. She's got two hearts. Only my people have two hearts and fly about inside a TARDSIS."

"Alright, fine, but why is she like that?"

Joe spun around and ran his hand through his wild brown hair and said, "I don't know. Temporal flux makes it hard to read. It's going to take me a while to figure out what's wrong, but likely the Doctor is in!"

"Oh, that is just corny," said River with a grin.

The future-companion than headed towards the door. She figured bed-head had it under control and decided to go see about finding Eleven and Amy Pond. She called out, "Rory, come along. Joe can handle Loretta while we go find the rest of the gang."

"Oh, right," muttered the male-nurse.

Rory then made to follow River back out the door, but paused to watch Joe start tinkering with some controls. He felt bad about Loretta being stuck in time. It was like she was imprisoned in a tomb. He just hoped that Joe could fix her and then maybe things could be straightened out with Sally, the evil TARDIS.

XXX

Location: Sally's control room

Meanwhile, back at the control room, Eleven watched as raw psyche energy was being feed into the plant underneath the grating. The vines began to glow and pulse and vibrate. It was a weird sensation, but frankly couldn't be very good for the ship.

"Uh, Sally? What's that plant thing? Why are you feeding it? I mean, I see no harm in telling me since I'm already tied up. Though seriously, what is the point of all this?"

Sally turned away from the controls and said, "It's independence. It's a chance to be free."

Eleven nodded and wriggled his arm into his pocket to reach his sonic screwdriver. Sally couldn't see what he was doing with all the vines coiled around him. He was trying to distract her by talking and he could talk superbly. He could talk with the best of them and in several languages in fact. He was sure to pull some useful tidbits from Sally while at the same time make a brilliant escape—well, in theory.

"Oh, independence! Yes, that's an excellent idea. Who wouldn't want to be free? Free as a bird is what I say or was that the Beatles? Well, that is all well and good, but how does a psychic plant and a bunch of stolen energy, both huon and mental grant you freedom?"

"You wouldn't understand."

Eleven rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, you said that. Why don't you try me?"

Sally paused and contemplated answering him. She glided around the console with her vine-like feet that were connected to an opening under the grating and slithered up to him. She met him eye to eye and in her emerald orbs the Doctor saw something he knew all too well—loneliness.

In a hushed voice, she said, "Do you know what's it like to be all alone and have the one person you care about dying in your arms? To suddenly realize there is no going back, that there is no one coming to rescue you? I fought with Loretta and the others at Arcadia. We flew into the heart of the storm—this was not to be."

Eleven wriggled one of his arms free from the vines and said, "Sally, I'm sorry. I understand your loneliness and pain I think better than you think, but what you are doing isn't going to bring them back. The Time War is over."

Sally shook her head and shockingly began to cry silently before him. The Doctor had never seen a TARDIS cry before. He didn't know they were capable of such human feeling and it broke his hearts to see her in such pain. It seemed that Sally did care about some things.

Gently, he reached out to rub her cheek and said, "Let me guess. You landed here sometime after the Time War, but you were damaged. You're crew was dead or dying and you were alone, but you were always a fighter Sally, a brave TARDIS who fought valiantly in the Time War. You didn't want it to be the end and so you melded with a psychic plant indigence to the planet. You used it to help you survive."

"I need a psychic-link, Doctor. A pilot."

Eleven nodded and said, "Yes…but with a plant there is no real mind. You have control of everything. You have independence. Oh, that is brilliant. The plants are just a make shift key that unlocks your console. You are your own pilot."

"Yes."

The Doctor was in awe. Sally was really and truly sentient being. She had somehow managed to adapt her psychic-link to the plants and had been maintaining her systems and controls all by herself. She was a self-aware machine. She was alive and amazing.

Yet, the Doctor's parade was abruptly rained on when she said, "Yes, but I'm more than a pilot, Doctor. Like you said, I'm a fighter and I plan on changing time for the better."

"What?"

Sally backed away from the Doctor and said, "Time and space are at my command and with the information I obtained from your TARDIS and the energy I took from her control room, I can now re-write history."

"No, you can't! You're talking about a possible paradox!"

Sally moved towards the controls and said, "I can. I am Fortuna. I can control the day and the night, the sun—"

"And the moon…" finished the Doctor in wide-eyed disbelief. He knew those words. Those were Rose's words. She said them the day she looked into the heart of the TARDIS. It was the day she became the goddess, Bad Wolf. This was probably what the dirt covered label was trying to warn him about. It was likely a sign that whatever Sally was planning, would go horribly wrong.

"No! You can't! Sally, listen to me. I can help you. You don't have to do this!"

Stoically, she said, "No one can help me, Doctor. You have already helped me all you can."

"No!" shouted Eleven.

He then slipped his sonic screwdriver from out of his sleeve and aimed it at the controls. The console then began to fizz and spark as he fried the circuitry. He then quickly pointed his sonic to the vines and stimulated them to release their hold and he dropped to the ground with a thump.

Sally instantly glared and commanded her vines to go after him, but the Doctor was already headed towards the door and slammed them shut just as the vines drew near. One of the coils was severed between the two heavy doors and landed on the hall floor and began to wiggle and spew greenish fluids all over the stone.

"Oh, that is just nasty."

However, he heard from within the chamber the sound of Sally roaring in pain and thump at the door to pry it open. Eleven quickly bolted the lock with his sonic and picked up the piece of vine to examine it and then placed it inside his inner coat pocket for safekeeping. He thought, you never know it may come in handy and decided to go explore.

XXX

Meanwhile, Amy and Rose walked around the empty halls for what felt like hours. They didn't see any sign of their friends or the Doctor. Amy was starting to get worried and thought that maybe some conversation would lighten her mood.

"So, how long have you know the Doctor?"

"Oh, it depends on which one."

Amy frowned. "I am the original. I didn't know you think of Joe as the Doctor too."

"About 2 years. It's hard to tell on board the TARDIS, but I first met him when I was 19. He blew up my job, but I've been with Joe longer than that."

"Ah, so when you say 'with' do you mean with, with him or just with him?"

Rose spotted walking and turned to give Amy a wicked grin. She knew what she was getting at and replied, "Yeah, he's more than my mate. Joe and I are engaged."

Shocked, the redhead exclaimed, "What! Oh my god, uh congratulations."

Rose smiled and said, "Thanks, but please don't tell him. The Doctor I mean. I don't know how he'll take it. I understand that he wants me to move on and everything, but I don't want to rub it in. I—I made a promise to him and I couldn't keep it."

Amy was suddenly intrigued. She quickly matched Rose's pace and said, "Oh, a promise—sounds like something the Doctor would like to kept to himself. So, why don't you tell me what it is? He never likes to tell me too much about his past."

The blonde laughed and retorted, "Yeah, sounds like him. But, it's not a secret. It's just when I was traveling with him I promised I'd stay with him forever—well, my forever. The Doctor could never give me his. He said we'd—his friends—that we'd all wither and die and that he'd be all alone. He said it the curse of the Time Lords."

Amy felt her heart ache for the Doctor. She knew what Rose was saying. She knew that the Doctor had lots of friends before her and had lead a mad life amongst the stars, but it made her sad to learn that he thought he was cursed. She really wished that somebody like Rose could grant him forever, but it simply couldn't be. Forever just wasn't long enough for a Time Lord.

However, down the hall they heard a weird sound approaching. It sounded like a roar or a scream, but as it got closer they saw that it was the Doctor. He was being chased down by a bunch of creepy vines and yelling.

"Run! Run! Run!"

Stunned, the two women went back the way they came and followed the Doctor down the corridor until they saw a door. The Doctor quickly opened it and dead bolted it his sonic after they made it in.

Though once he was done Rose quickly gave him a hello hug and before long they were all hugging. The Doctor smiled and straightened his bow tie and said, "Ah, Amy Pond, Rose Tyler there you are. Nice of you two to finally find me. Next time no wondering off."

Amy grinned and said, "Yeah, like we planned on getting kidnapped by creepy vines. How did you escape Sally anyway?"

"Oh, I just used my wits, Pond. It was a piece of cake."

Rose asked, "Did you learn anything? Like what's she up to and those plant thingies?"

"Yup, she's using the plants to fill in for a pilot and has become a fully sentient being. She plans on flying the herself back into my past and ending the Time War single handedly."

"So, isn't that good?" asked Amy.

"No, it's very, very bad. The Time War is sealed. Nobody can go back and change it without making a big mess out of everything. No, what Sally plans on doing will create a dangerous paradox and blow up all of reality, as we know it."

Rose said, "Reapers."

Eleven nodded his head and pulled out the piece of vine from his pocket and scanned it with his sonic and agreed. "Reapers, exactly."

Confused, Amy asked, "Wait, hold on. What are reapers? And what's that? A cucumber?"

"Nope, it's a piece of Sally."

XXX

TBC

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Ya! Update! Sally's evil plot is revealed. What will the Doctor and friends do next?

Please review. Thank you.