The Beast Below Pt. 2
I wake up to the sound of Amy coughing and spitting something out. I let out a groan as I sit up.
"There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and, yes, you are covered in sick."
"Where are we?" I ask after getting my bearings.
"Overspill pipe, at a guess."
"Oh, God, it stinks!" Amy exclaims.
"That's not the pipe." I say sniffing myself.
"Oh. Whoo!" Amy exclaims after smelling herself. "Can we get out?"
"One door, one door switch, one condition. We forget everything we saw. Look familiar?" The Doctor says pointing to one of the smiling things in the booth. "That's the carrot. Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" He asks the machine. It turns the head to a snarling face. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down it's throat. Is that how it works?" The head turns again to show an even more frightening face. "Oh, stop it! I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting. And what are you fellows going to about it? Stick out your tongues? Huh?" The booth opens and the Smiley starts walking towards us.
"Doctor?" Amy says as she puts an arm in front of me and pushes me back against the wall. Suddenly the door next to us opens to reveal Liz 10 and the little girl. Liz pulls out a gun and shoots the Smiley.
"Look who it is. You look a lot better without your mask." The Doctor states.
"You must be Amy. Liz. Liz 10." She says as she introduces herself to my sister.
"Hi." Amy says timidly.
"Lovely hair, Amy." Amy tries to put her hand through her hair. "Shame about the sick. You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave."
"How did you find us?" I ask.
"Stuck my gizmo on you. Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"
"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it." The Doctor states matter of factly.
"No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject."
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?" The Doctor questions.
"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot…" I giggle and the Doctor gives her a face. 'I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was."
"Your family?" I ask. Before an answer can be given, the Smiley starts to repair itself.
"They're repairing! Doesn't take them long. Let's move." We go along in silence for a while before she speaks up again. "The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"
"Liz 10?" The Doctor asks.
"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X and down! I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule."
"There's a high-speed Vator through there." The Doctor says pointing at a box. He opens it and there are these little vine looking things.
"Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?" Liz asks the Doctor. Amy speaks up.
"Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through. Like a root."
"Exactly like a root. It's all one creature-the same one we were inside-reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."
"What? Like an infestation? Someone's helping it. Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving." Liz starts walking away. Amy and I start to follow but look back at the Doctor.
"Doctor?" Amy asks.
"Oh, Amy, Jaz. We should never have come here." He says before following Liz and Mandy.
DWDWDWDWDW
We arrive in Liz's quarters and the first thing I notice are all the glasses of water.
"Why all the glasses?" I ask her.
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what."
"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom." The Doctor states.
"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this-my entire reign-and you've achieved more in one afternoon." She sounds a little dejected at this.
"How old were you when you came to the throne?" I ask a little curious.
"40. Why?"
"What, you're 50 now? No way!" Amy voices her disbelief.
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps." Liz says this with a smirk.
"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor asks indicating the mask.
"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."
"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face."
"Yeah. So what?" The mask already looks old. There is no way she is only 50.
"Oh, Liz. So everything." Our conversation is cut short when a couple men burst through the doors.
"What are doing? How dare you come in here?" Liz demands.
"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now."
"Why would I do that?" At this, their heads turn and they become Smilers.
"How can they be Smilers?" I ask somewhat afraid.
"Half Smiler, half human."
"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your Queen. On whose authority is this done?"
"The highest authority, ma'am."
"I am the highest authority."
"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, ma'am."
"Where?"
"The tower, ma'am." Amy and I look at each other as we are led out the door and towards the tower.
DWDWDWDWDW
"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asks after we reach our destination. It looks like something straight out of the Renaissance.
"The lowest point of the Starship UK. The dungeon."
"Ma'am." A man turns around from the control booth.
"Hawthorne! So this is where you hid yourself away. You've got some explaining to do."
"There's children down here. What's all that about?" I ask this Hawthorne guy.
"Protestors and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."
"Yeah, look at us." Amy says indignantly motioning to her wonderful look.
"Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle."
"What's that?" I ask pointing at what looks like a brain being electrocuted.
"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain center of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly…"
"Or?" Liz questions.
"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator, Starship UK's go-faster button."
"I don't understand." Liz says dismayed.
"Don't you? Try, go on. The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature-this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading-it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving. Tell you what." The Doctor goes over to a hatch and opens it. The tentacle like things come out again. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." The Doctor points his sonic and a terrible shrieking is heard. Amy and I immediately cover our ears.
"Stop it." Liz cries as she too is covering her ears. "Who did this?" She directs to Hawthorne.
'We act on instructions from the highest authority.'
"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now." No one moves. "I said now! Is anyone listening to me?" The Doctor steps forward.
"Liz. Your mask."
"What about my mask?"
"Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say."
"Yeah, it's an antique, so?"
"An antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign."
"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years." Liz can't seem to grasp that she is older than she realizes.
"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again, always leading you…here."
"What have you done?" She questions Hawthorne.
"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." A screen clicks on and a video starts playing.
"If you are watching this…If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind." I chance a glance at the Doctor.
"And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it. We built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the "forget" button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."
For a few moments no one speaks, and then Amy comments, "I voted for this? Why would I do that?"
"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."
"I don't even remember doing it." The Amy cries.
"You did it. That's what counts." I can tell the Doctor is not happy with her.
"I'm…I'm sorry." She says dejectedly.
"Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're both going home."
"Why? Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"
"Yeah. I know. You're only human." Amy stands shocked. I put a hand on her arm trying to get her to calm down. The Doctor goes over to the controls.
"What are you doing?" I ask afraid I know what he is about to do.
"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."
"That'll be like killing it." Amy says.
"Look, three options. One-I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two-I kill everyone on this ship. Three-I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor anymore."
"There must be something we can do, some other way." Liz exclaims.
"Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!"
DWDWDWDWDW
Amy, Mandy, and I are sitting on the floor watching the Doctor work. We see some children walk in and Mandy runs up to one of them.
"Timmy! You made it, you're OK!" The boy looks at her with a blank expression. "It's me, Mandy." Behind her the tentacles come out. I get ready to run to their aid when I notice that the tentacles are being nice to the children. My mind starts flashing back.
Come on, use your eyes. Notice everything. Notice everything." The Doctor is telling Amy.
"Our children screamed. It came, like a miracle." Liz says in the video.
"It won't eat the children." Hawthorne told us.
"Children screamed. Then it came. It's the last of its kind."
"Just me now."
"The last of its kind."
"Is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere with the affairs of other peoples or planets…"
"Children screamed."
"…unless there's children crying?"
"Yes."
I look at Amy. She has realized it too.
"Doctor, stop. Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" I say trying to get him to stop.
"Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand." Amy takes Liz's hand and presses the 'abdicate' button and the machine shuts down.
"Amy, no! No! Amy, what have you done?" The Doctor asks. The ship shakes and lurches forward sending us all clinging onto anything to keep us upright.
"Nothing at all. Am I right?" I ask Hawthorne.
"We've increased speed." He states simply.
"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help." Amy says.
"It's still here? I don't understand." Liz says.
"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it-that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry." I start saying. Amy continues for me.
"What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry." She says the last bit while looking at the Doctor.
DWDWDWDWDW
The Doctor is standing by the windows as Amy and I walk in. I stand back as she goes up to him.
"From Her Majesty." She says presenting him with the mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."
"Amy, you and Jaz could have killed everyone on this ship."
"You could have killed a Star Whale."
"And you saved it. I know, I know."
"Amazing, though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness and it just made it kind." I say as I finally join in on the conversation.
"But you couldn't have known how it would react."
"You couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" Amy says as she pulls the Doctor into a hug. "Hey."
"What?" the Doctor questions.
"Gotcha," Amy says while giggling.
"Ha!" The Doctor laughs as he puts an arm around me and brings me into the hug. "Gotcha."
DWDWDWDWDW
We find ourselves headed back to the TARDIS.
"Shouldn't we say goodbye? Won't they wonder where we went?" Amy asks.
"For the rest of their lives. Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow." The Doctor says as he opens the doors to the TARDIS.
"Sorry, what?" Amy asks.
"It's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones." I laugh at the irony.
"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning…" Amy begins. I pause and give Amy a quizzical look. Is she really going to tell him? "Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just…just because you could?"
"Once…a long time ago." The Doctor replies thoughtfully.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Hello!" He says motioning to himself.
"Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you." Before Amy goes on, we hear a ringing coming from the TARDIS. "No. Hang on, is that a phone ringing? People phone you?"
"Well, it's a phone box." He says as we enter. "Would you mind?" Amy picks up the phone.
"Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously. Who?" I wait for her to say anything. "Says he's Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"
"Which Prime Minister?" The Doctor asks.
"Uh, which Prime Minister?" Amy turns after receiving the answer. "The British one."
"Which British one?" I ask. There have been a few over the years.
"Which British one?" Amy turns with complete shock on her face. "Winston Churchill for you." She says she hands the phone to the Doctor.
"Oh! Hello, dear. What's up? Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister." He pauses as he looks up to us before continuing. "We're on our way."