The Stolen Earth
The TARDIS materialized on the corner of a very normal, average, suburban street. The Doctor rushed out, the Professor behind him, holding out her blaster, ready for anything. Donna followed, only to see everything was fine.
"It's fine..." he breathed, "Everything's fine," he looked over at a milkman, trundling down the road, "Nothing's wrong, it's all fine!" he turned to the man, "Excuse me? What day is it?"
"Saturday," he replied.
"Saturday! Good!" he nodded to Donna, "Good, I like Saturdays."
"So...I just met Rose Tyler?" Donna asked.
"Yeah."
"But she's locked away in a parallel world."
"That's exactly the problem," the Professor agreed, putting her blaster away, her mind already racing at the implications of what that could mean, "If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the Universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything."
"But how?" the Doctor breathed before hurrying back into the TARDIS. He ran to the console, starting to set in controls while the Professor helped.
Donna cautiously approached him, "The thing is, Doctor...no matter what's happening, and I'm sure it's bad, I get that. But...Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"
He was silent a moment before nodding, "Yeah."
"Good is relative," the Professor remarked, not coldly, but as though stating a fact.
"Relative to what?" he frowned.
"How she's back," she replied, looking at him. His frown deepened, he could sense she had a suspicion about how Rose had returned, but she was hiding it from him. And the very vague emotions he could read off her told him it wasn't for any other reason than to get the facts right before telling him, whether for better or worse.
Donna opened her mouth to ask just what they were talking about when the TARDIS gave an almighty crash, sending them all to the floor, "What the hell was that?"
"It came from outside!" the Doctor shouted, picking himself up and running to the doors. The Professor pulled him back, giving him a hard look before peeking out quickly and then opening the doors wider to reveal the TARDIS floating in space, rocks around them.
"We're in space...how did that happen?" Donna asked, but then caught sight of the Doctor's alarmed look, "What did you do?"
The Professor looked around as the Doctor ran back, "We haven't moved," the Professor called to him, "We're fixed. We're in the same area exactly," he looked up at her, "The TARDIS is still in the same place, but the Earth is gone."
"But...if the Earth's been moved...they've lost the sun," Donna gasped fearfully, "What about my mum? And granddad? They're dead? Aren't they? Are they dead?"
The Doctor ran around the console, the Professor coming to help, as they tried to locate the wayward planet, "I don't know, Donna," he sighed, "I just don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know."
"That's my family. My whole world."
"In order to move a planet of that size," the Professor explained, "It must be contained within some sort of force field or atmospheric shell. They're fine. For now."
"For now?"
"There are no readings," the Professor turned her attention to the monitor, "Not even a trace."
"Not even a whisper," the Doctor agreed, "Oh, that is...fearsome technology."
"So, what do we do?" Donna's voice trembled.
"We've got to get help," he looked at the Professor.
"No," she shook her head, knowing who he was talking about, "I am still on probation with them!"
"From where?" Donna frowned.
"Donna..." he turned to her, "We're taking you to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight!" he pulled a lever and the TARDIS took off, shaking violently as it hurtled through space, the Doctor and Professor struggling to operate the controls.
"So, go on then, what is the Shadow Proclamation, anyway?" Donna called above the noise.
"Posh name for 'police.' Outer space police. Here we go!"
The ship gave a lurch, sending them to the floor once more, the Professor landing on top of the Doctor, "If I get arrested for breaking probation," she threatened him, "I'm telling them who was responsible for Nukeball being made illegal on their planet."
"You wouldn't!" he gaped at her, she gave him a look, "You would."
She pushed herself up and pulled him up with her. They turned and walked out of the doors, emerging cautiously with Donna as a group of Judoon immediately pointed their guns at them.
"Sco po tro no flow jo ko fo to to!"
"No bo ho so ko ro toe so," the Professor said as Donna stared at her, "We're seeking an audience with the Shadow Architect," she translated for her.
"Bo-ko-do-zo-go-bo-fo-po-jo," the Doctor added quickly.
"He asked them not to arrest any of us."
"Ma ho," the Doctor grinned as the Judoon lowered their guns.
~8~
A tall, albino woman stared at them skeptically, "Time Lords are the stuff of legend," the Shadow Architect replied, "They belong in the myths and whispers of the higher species. You cannot possibly exist."
"Yeah...more to the point, we've got a missing planet," the Doctor cut in.
"Then, you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole Universe is in outrage, Doctor, 24 worlds have been taken from the sky."
"How many?" he frowned.
"Which ones?" the Professor asked.
"Show us!" he ran over to the computer, putting on his glasses as the Architect joined them. He moved to type something in when the Professor slapped his hand away and typed it in herself.
"The locations range far and wide," the Architect told them, "They all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace."
"Callufrax Minor," the Professor read, "Jahoo, Shallacatop, Woman Wept, Clom…"
"Clom's gone?" the Doctor scoffed, "Who'd want Clom?"
"All different sizes. Some populated, others not…"
"But all unconnected," the Architect added.
"What about Pyrovillia?" Donna asked.
"Who is the female?" the Architect sneered.
"Donna. I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend, but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you," she turned to the said Time lords, "Way back when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing."
"Pyrovillia is cold case," one of the Judoon in the room replied, "Not relevant. "
"How do you mean, 'cold case?'"
"The planet Pyrovillia cannot be part of this, it disappeared over 2,000 years ago," the Architect replied.
"Yes, yes. Hang on. But there's the Adipose breeding planet too. Miss Foster said that was lost. But...that must've been a long time ago."
"That's it!" the Doctor grinned, "Donna, brilliant!"
The Professor nodded, "The planets have been taken out of time as well as space," she tampered with the computer.
"Put this into 3D."
She nodded and holograms of the planets appeared, "Adding Pyrovillia, Adipose 3, the Lost Moon of Poosh…"
The Doctor blinked, having almost forgotten about that, as he walked to stand amongst the planets which rearranged themselves.
"What did you do?" the Architect looked at her.
"The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern."
"Oh...look at that," the Doctor grinned, eyeing the planets appreciatively as the Professor joined him, studying their pattern with narrowed eyes.
"27 planets in perfect balance…"
"Come on, that is gorgeous!"
"Oi!" Donna snapped, "Don't get all spaceman and time-girl, what does it mean?"
"All the worlds fit together like pieces of an engine," the Professor looked around.
"It's like a power house," the Doctor agreed, "But what for?"
"Who could design such a thing?" the Architect asked.
"Someone tried to move the Earth once before. A long time ago..." he shook his head, "Can't be..."
~8~
The Doctor, the Professor, and the Shadow Architect stood by the computer, at a loss for what was going on. According to the Professor, that sequence of planets could be used for any number of energy beams or rays to be sent out. There was no way to narrow it down without first assessing the energy. And they couldn't do that till they found the planets.
Donna sat on the stairs, wiping away a tear and staring off into space when an albino servant held out a bowl before her, "You need sustenance. Take the water, it purifies."
"Thanks," Donna took it.
"There was something on your back."
"How did you know that?"
"You are something new."
"Not me," she shook her head and looked away, "I'm just a temp. Short hand, filing, a hundred words per minute. Fat lot of good that is now. I'm no use to anyone."
"I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Yeah. My whole planet's gone."
"I mean the loss that is yet to come," she whispered, "God save you."
Donna turned, watching the woman leave when the Doctor came over, "Donna, come on, think. Earth. There must've been some sort of warning. Was there anything happening back in your day, like...electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"
"Well, how should I know?" she snapped, before rubbing her forehead, "Um...no. I don't think so, no."
He sighed, "Oh, ok. Never mind."
"Although...there were the bees disappearing."
"The bees disappearing?" he asked sarcastically.
The Professor, however, perked up, "The BEES disappearing…"
"The bees disappearing!" they both shouted, before the Doctor spun around and pointed at her, "Tandocca!" they both realized, followed by a rather amusing, "I win!"
Donna nearly laughed at that, but then the Professor frowned, seeming at first confused by her words and reaction. She shook her head and got to typing, focusing on the monitor instead.
"How is that significant?" the Architect asked.
"On Earth," Donna explained, heading over to them, "We have these insects. Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals..."
"Or...they were going back home," the Doctor watched the Professor work, growing more excited.
"Back home where?"
"The planet Melissa Majoria," the Professor replied.
"Are you saying bees are aliens?"
"Don't be so daft," he waved her off, "Not all of them. But if the migrant bees felt something, some sort of danger, and escaped we can use the Tandocca Scale to find them!"
"The Tandocca Scale is a series of wavelengths used as carrier signals by migrant bees," the Professor continued, "Infinitely small, nearly undetectable if your not already looking for it."
"Nearly?" the Doctor scoffed, "It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahar..."
"Got it!" the Professor pointed at a light blue trail on the screen, "There! The transmat that moved that planets was using the same wavelength."
"We can follow the path!" he cheered, reaching out to hug her tightly. She was so brilliant!
"And find the Earth!" Donna called, already halfway to the TARDIS, "Well, stop talking and do it!"
"We are!" the Doctor and Professor ran after her, darting up to the console and getting the coordinates in, "We're a bit late," he remarked, "The signal's scattered, but it's a start!" the Professor locked on, getting a blip from the computer, and he rushed back to the doors, "We've got a blip! It's just a blip, but it's definitely a blip."
"Then according to the strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology," the Architect replied.
"Oh, really?" he frowned, taken aback, "What for?"
"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor! Right across the Universe! And you will lead us into battle!"
"Right. Yes. Course I will. Just go and...get you a key."
He sidled back into the TARDIS, shutting the door a moment before the Professor pulled a lever and they were off, leaving the Shadow Proclamation behind.
He ran up to the console, struggling to make it there as the TARDIS jolted, just reaching it when it stopped dead.
"It's stopped…" he breathed.
"What do you mean?" Donna looked around, "Is that good or bad? Where are we?"
"The Medusa Cascade," the Professor called from the monitor.
"Really?" the Doctor walked over to look at the screen before sighing, reminiscent, "I came here when I was just a kid," he told Donna, "Ninety years old. It was the center of a rift in time and space…" the Professor punched him hard in the arm, "Ow! What was that for?"
"Going without me," she gave him a hard look.
"I thought I apologized for that already," he grumbled.
"So...where are the 27 planets?" Donna asked, looking over their shoulders.
"Nowhere," the Professor stated, "The Tandocca trail stops dead."
The Doctor sighed and leaned back on a Y-beam, "End of the line."
Donna swallowed nervously, "So, what do we do? What do we do?" the Doctor was silent while the Professor eyed the screen as she typed something in, "Don't do this to me. No, don't. Don't do this to me. Not now. Tell me what we're going to do!" her voice shook with fear, "You never give up! Neither of you! Please!"
"The device you used…" the Professor began, "We were only 85/87 when we started working on it. Hardly my best work, no where near the scale of masterpiece worthy…" she turned the monitor a bit, revealing an angry red streak across the scan she'd run, "It left a scar," the Doctor blinked, "Stands to reason, the planets are inside it."
His eyes widened before he grinned, "You are brilliant!" he gave her a quick kiss before running around the console, both of them working on trying to break through the scar on the rift.
~8~
Martha's mobile rang in the middle of their third attempt at breaking through the scar.
"PHONE!" the Doctor shouted, running over to it, grabbing at another strand of hope, it was proving harder than they anticipated breaking through the scar, "Martha, is that you?" the phone beeped, "It's a signal…"
"Can we follow it?" Donna asked, hopeful.
"Oh, just watch us," he put his stethoscope to the phone and placed it on the monitor. He looked at the Professor who nodded.
"Got it!" she called, "Locking on!" she pulled another lever and the TARDIS shuddered, sending them falling all over the place, sparks flying from the console. A moment later it was up in flames, the TARDIS shaking violently.
"We're travelling through time!" the Doctor shouted over the noise as they grabbed on for dear life, "One second in the future! The phone call's pulling us through! THREE! TWO! ONE!"
They held on tight as the TARDIS hurtled through the scar and into a space beyond, the planets becoming visible on the monitor.
The fires died down and the TARDIS stopped shaking, the Doctor and Donna smiling as they realized they'd made it, even the corners of the Professor's mouth twitched up and stayed that way.
"The 27 planets!" Donna cried, delighted, "And there's the Earth! But why couldn't we see it?"
"The scar put the entire Medusa Cascade a second out of sync with the rest of the Universe," the Professor stated.
"Perfect hiding place," the Doctor agreed, "Tiny little pocket of time. But we found them!" there was a whirring sound and the screen blurred, "Oh, oh...what's that? Hold on, hold on..."
The Professor turned a knob, "It's a sub-wave network."
The image on screen cleared into a grid of webcams, revealing Jack and Torchwood, Martha and her mother, Sarah Jane and a boy, with the three of them in another box.
Jack laughed in relief before angrily snapping, "Where the hell have you been? Doctor, Professor, it's the Daleks!"
"Oh, he's a bit nice," the girl beside Jack eyed the Doctor, "I thought he'd be older."
"He's not that young," the man on the other side of Jack muttered.
"It's the Daleks!" Sarah Jane called, "They're taking people to their spaceship!"
Sarah Jane and Martha started to jabber over each other as the Doctor watched them fondly, so, so proud of them all. He glanced at the Professor who still had the smile on her face, small though it was.
"But it's not just Dalek Caan!" Martha added.
"Sarah Jane!" the Doctor beamed, "Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Aren't they brilliant?"
"Exceptionally," the Professor nodded.
Jack and Martha, the only two who had truly seen the new Professor, grinned broadly at her praise. It seemed travelling with Donna had done her good. They could tell by her posture, still 'at ease,' as well as other signs that she was still as closed off and militant, but there was a pinch of her old self coming back.
"Look at you all, you clever people!" he looked at them with a smile.
"That's Martha!" Donna grinned, "And who's…" she pointed at Jack, "...he?"
"Captain Jack. Don't!" he shook a finger at her warningly, "Just...don't."
"It's like...an outer space Facebook!"
"Everyone except Rose…" he sighed.
And the Professor's smile was gone.
She understood, really she did. She and the Doctor had talked, after Rose had gone, about his feelings for her, for the both of them. They'd talked even more so after the whole issue with the Family of Blood. She understood he loved Rose but that, according to him, he loved her more. He'd even suggested at one point that his time as John Smith had made him realize that he'd done what he had on Gallifrey once more, substituted someone else for the Professor. First it had been her cousin for her, and then Rose for her. She had to admit, her first incarnation had the same shade of blonde hair and a similar nose as Rose did, possibly even some other similar traits, few though they were. She had noticed that he mentioned Rose far less after dealing with the Family, treated Martha even more as a proper Companion, so she knew he was speaking the truth.
She had been the one to ask him about his true feelings for fear of the Bond. They had completed their Bonding and she had been terrified that he'd rushed into it to heal himself from Rose's departure, as a rebound of sorts. They'd almost gotten into a row about it. He'd been furious she could even believe herself second best to Rose, to anyone. Amidst his shouting, he had stressed that he loved her far longer than Rose and far more deeply than he could anyone else. The Bonding was a serious matter, it bound them together for all of time and space, in ways a human could never understand or achieve. Yes, he loved Rose, but it paled in comparison to his feelings for her.
She understood all that. And she loved him all the more for it. But there was always a nagging in the back of her mind that told her, had Rose stayed, had the girl never told the Doctor that she loved him before the gap closed…that he might have picked Rose. Rose had wormed her way into his hearts and just from the little time she'd travelled with Rose, she knew the girl was not going to let go of him that easily, if ever. She had truly been surprised that Rose had told the Doctor that she loved him instead of proclaiming her own love for him. But the more she thought on it, the more she started to feel like it was a rash decision on Rose's part, something she had done before truly considering it and knew that, with how deeply Rose felt she deserved the Doctor, she would come to regret that.
The screen turned to white noise, cutting off her thoughts.
"Ah…" the Doctor frowned.
"We've lost them!" Donna cried anxiously.
"No, no, no, no, no!" he turned a knob, "There's another signal coming through, there's someone else out there," he bashed the top of the monitor, "Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Your voice is different, and yet, its arrogance is unchanged," a deep voice called out. The Doctor and Professor froze as the image cleared to reveal none other than Davros, the creator of the Daleks, "Welcome...to my new Empire, Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, Lord and Creator of the Dalek Race."
"Doctor?" Donna called, gently, seeing them both freeze, the Professor in hatred and anger, the Doctor in fear.
"Have you nothing to say?" Davros asked.
"Doctor, it's alright," Donna tried to reassure him, "We're...we're in the TARDIS. We're safe."
"But you were destroyed…" he breathed, shaking his head at Davros, "In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship flying into the jaws of the Nightmare Child…"
"I set your ship to fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child," the Professor glared. The Doctor looked at her shocked, "That was my first mission, destroy the Dalek creator."
And it had been. Rassilon had implimented a required quest of sorts, a mission, for all Academics before the real training program, not the cover it had held of them creating strategies and running numbers, truly began. They were all sent out on missions, some to other planets, some to different battles, some behind enemy lines, all with something they were meant to do. That had been what truly lowered their original numbers of near 12,000 to the 5,000 that survived to the start of the program. They had been sent out with little preparation, almost no training at all, into situations there was little hope of surviving. It had been Rassilon's thought that those who did not succeed were not meant or fit for his elite program to mold the Academics into the soldiers he wished. She had made it only because of her past with the Doctor, the times they would sneak around the Academy and steal shuttles and other forms of transport for their adventures. She had survived the terror of the Dalek base only to be left to the hell of the Time Lord training facility.
"What?" the Doctor looked at her, clearly not having known that.
She turned to him, hard, "You may not have been able to destroy him before but I was not going to let that happen again," she turned to Davros, "I got into the ship, hacked the navigation, and set the coordinates."
"Ah," Davros grinned, "The Professor. I wondered when I'd meet the one responsible for killing so many of my children. The one who tried to kill me as well..."
The Doctor swallowed hard, "I tried to save you..."
"But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Caan himself."
"I flew into the wild and fire," Dalek Caan's panel lit up, revealing the mutated Dalek, seemingly wild and insane, "I danced and died a thousand times!"
"Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself."
"But that's impossible, the entire War is Time Locked!" the Professor shouted, growing very angry, and not entirely at Davros.
"And yet, he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine…a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"
"And you made a new race of Daleks," the Doctor grimaced.
"I gave myself to them. Quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body," he pulled open his leather suit to reveal a rotten, emaciated form, his ribs and heart visible, "New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now besides the Professor?"
"But that's all I need, isn't it? Like you said she's killed millions of your children by herself. And now she's got me. And after all this time...everything we saw, everything we lost...I have only one thing to say to you," he glared, "BYE!" and pulled a lever, cutting the transmission.
The Professor whirled around and punched one of the Y-beams, thoroughly bruising her hand and startling the Doctor and Donna in the process. While she had been closed off, she had never been that violent with such little warning...
"Professor?" Donna called, "You alright."
The Professor was breathing heavily, shaking in anger, her hands clenching into fists despite the pain in her knuckles, "The Time Lock is impenetrable," she ground out.
"How do you know?" Donna frowned, asking gently, not wanting to upset the woman any more than she clearly was.
She didn't answer and so the Doctor did, "It was her creation, 'The Moment.'"
~/~\~
"Theta!" someone shouted behind him. He looked over his shoulder from where he was sitting on a bench in the garden of the Academy, shaken from his sorrowful ponderings, to see the object of his thoughts rushing towards him, "Theta!"
He smiled, "Kata," he stood up, opening his arms and catching her as she leapt into them, spinning her around in a hug, laughing for the first time in what seemed like ages. She always could cheer him up from 'being all melancholy.' It was why he'd found himself heading to the Academy more and more often to visit her, things with Mayra had become unbearable...
"No!" she pulled away quickly, "No time for that!" she grabbed his hand, "Come on!" and half dragged him towards the forests at the edge of the garden.
"Where are we going?" he asked, starting to run with her, he could tell she was excited about something, she was practically buzzing and he couldn't wait to see what it was that had made her so.
"Just come on!" she pulled him more, leading him to a familiar path, towards where they'd often come to see the Pika flowers. She let go of his hand as they reached it and ran over to them.
"Kata we watched the flowers yesterday," he reminded her. He always made time to come see her when the Pika flowers bloomed, not about to give up that tradition no matter how often Mayra complained about how absurd and childish it was.
"I know that," she rolled her eyes at him, "That's not why we're here."
He laughed, "Alright then, why?"
She grinned widely, "I finished."
His eyes widened, "You finished it?"
She nodded, "I finished!"
He ran over to her, hugging her again, spinning her around, "That's wonderful!" he set her down, "I'm sure whatever it is will get you the title, no question about it."
"That's what I brought you here for," she replied shyly. She gently set the bag she'd worn over her shoulder down on the ground and opened it, pulling out a device.
"Kata is this..." his mouth dropped open as he eyed it. It seemed quite a bit like what he'd learned from Earth culture was the bottom of a blender. It was a base with a dial on it and a small metal bar on the top of it, not as sharp as a blender, but he could see it was meant to spin.
"I call it 'The Moment,'" she nodded, setting it down on the ground.
He shook his head, "But...but you're not meant to show anyone but the heads of the Academy it!"
Once an Academic finished their schooling they were expected to create something that embodied their education and present it to a board of Time Lords responsible for the Academy. Upon approval they would be allowed to graduate with the title of Academic. No one but the Academic and the board were meant to know what was created.
She laughed, "Really Theta? YOU are going to start worrying about the rules NOW?"
He blinked and couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face, "Oh alright then, what's it do?"
She was quiet a moment, a pink tint appearing on her cheeks, "Do you remember what you used to tell me about the Pika flowers?"
He frowned in thought, "That I'd stop them dying one day, just for you."
She smiled, "You've inspired me again Theta," she whispered before kneeling down. She set the dial on the machine to the left, what would be a low setting, and turned, plucking a flower from a low hanging branch beside her. She held the flower over the device and pressed a button in the middle of the dial.
A moment later the bar began to spin and she released the flower. It hovered there, caught by the current the bar was producing, until the current began to spin around the flower, creating a sphere around it. His eyes widened as, a few moments later, he saw the gentle movement of the flower that the current had created freeze in place.
"It's..."
"Frozen," she nodded, watching the flower, before looking up at him, "Locked in a moment in time."
"A...time lock?"
"I suppose it could be called that too," she stood, "I like 'The Moment' better."
He shook his head out of his shock, "Kata...that's amazing!"
She blushed a bit more at his praise before tapping the button, releasing the flower. She reached down and picked it up, fiddling with it in her hands as she looked at him, "For being so small, it's actually quite powerful," she remarked, eyeing the device, "It can lock an object as small as this," she held up the flower, "Or even as large as an entire planet," she nodded at the other end of the dial, the more powerful setting, "Forever. Undisturbed, once it's been surrounded and the current solidifies of course. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out, from any point in time, from any method of time travel."
A moment later, he started to laugh, "What?" she frowned at him.
"I always said I'd stop them dying for you," he smiled at her fondly, "And you've gone and beaten me to it."
She grinned as well, shrugging playfully, "You never could think as fast as me."
~/~\~
"What?" Donna asked, pulling him from his thoughts.
He nodded, "All Academics, in order to fully graduate with the title, had to either invent or create something at the end of their studies. Like…a carpenter creating a masterpiece to become a master. You could create a cure for something, form a new sort of mineral, invent some sort of machine. She made 'The Moment,' the first Time Lock," he sighed, "And I stole it from the Academy Archives to use on the planet. If anyone knows how it works it's her. I only knew the basics to get it in place."
"Maybe you set it wrong?"
"No," the Professor turned around, "The only way to get into the Time Lock, the only way to get out of it is if the walls of the Universe themselves are losing integrity or collapsing. On a planet wide scale, the currents the device creates literally pull the walls of the Universe around the planet for a more powerful lock, sealing it away," she shook her head, "It would have to be something colossally powerful to be able to do that."
"What has that power?" the Doctor frowned.
"Torchwood would have the resources to build something to that scale, but it would have had to be going on for years and, believe me, we would have noticed. And," her jaw tensed, "Jack would never risk doing something like that. Besides that, there are only a few other worlds in the Universe that could manage, but they are all aware of the dangers of rupturing the Universal walls and we still would have noticed."
He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "First things first," he turned to the console, "We need to get to Earth and figure out what's going on."
She nodded, moving to help him, now in control of herself once more.
~8~
The TARDIS appeared outside a church in the dark, the road abandoned, cars and litter scattered everywhere.
The trio stepped out of it and looked around, unsettled, "It's like a ghost town," Donna remarked.
"Sarah Jane said that they were taking the people," the Doctor muttered, "But what for?" he turned to Donna, "Think, Donna. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?"
"Just...the darkness is coming."
"Anything else?"
Donna caught sight of something over his shoulder, "Why don't you ask her yourself?"
He furrowed his brow before spotting her gaze and turned around, seeing Rose standing at the end of the road, a very large gun in her hands. She smiled at him and broke into a run as he just stared. He looked at the Professor, knowing how she felt about Rose, only to see her blank once more, her emotions even more sealed away than before.
"You missed her," she stated with a curt nod, not about to deny him greeting an old Companion, "Go."
He smiled at her, thankful, because he truly had missed Rose. She had done so much for him, helped heal him after the war, helped humanize him. And he would always be grateful. But he knew, while he loved her in a way, the pain of losing her had faded over the years, due in large part to the other blond girl before him with a much smaller gun.
He turned and ran off, sprinting towards Rose when something appeared in the shadows, "Exterminate!"
He turned around too late as a Dalek shot at him, the laser only skimming his chest, but damaging him enough. He fell to the ground in pain. The Professor, already running full speed down the road, fired at the Dalek as it turned to her. One powerful blast straight through the eyestalk…stopping it dead.
There was a crackle and Jack appeared in a flash of blue light, shooting the Dalek as well, blowing the top off it for good measure. Rose dumped her gun and knelt beside the Doctor as the Professor stood beside him, forcing herself to be sealed off not only in the face of Rose but her Bonded's possible death and regeneration, she had to keep a level head to be able to help him.
"I've got you," Rose cradled his head in her hands, "It missed you. Look!" she smiled at him, "It's me, Doctor."
He blinked at her, barely conscious, his vision hazed by the pain, and, instead of calling out for her, he called, "Professor?"
"It's Rose," the Professor told him, crouching down on the other side of him.
He looked at her for a moment, smiling at her as he held out a hand, she grasped it in her glove-clad hands and he turned his head to Rose, "Long time no see."
Rose forced a smile, playing off his actions for comfort in his pain and his words for confusion. She'd worked out that the Professor must have regenerated during the whole video conversation she had been peeking at. They were both blond now, it would be easy for him to mistake her for the Professor, "Yeah. Been busy, you know," he convulsed, "Don't die. Oh, my God, don't die. Oh, my God, don't die."
"He won't die," the Professor replied, "He'll regenerate."
"Same thing isn't it?" Rose looked at her harshly.
But this time, the Professor didn't back down.
"Not to everyone," she snapped right back, looking over to see Jack and Donna running up and stood, "Jack, get him into the TARDIS," she ordered Jack, taking control of the situation, "Donna, get the doors for him," Jack quickly knelt down and hefted the Doctor up to his feet, rushing him towards the box, "Rose, grab your gun and follow me. Come on!" she called to Rose who merely stared up at her, stunned, "We do not have time for this," she reached out and grabbed Rose's arm, nearly pulling her arm out of its socket as she hauled the woman to her feet. Rose shook her head and scrambled to get her gun, shocked at the way the Professor had held her own.
They ran back to the TARDIS, Jack setting the Doctor down on the grilling by the console as he twitched and moaned in pain. Rose ran to his side, cradling him, tears falling from her eyes.
"What…what do we do?" Donna asked, "There must be some medicine or something!"
"Just step back," the Professor told her, ushering her back, but Rose didn't move, "Rose!" she rounded on her, "Do as I say, get back!"
"I'm not gonna leave him!" she shouted.
The Professor just reached forward and grabbed her wrist, yanking her up and away from him, "I said get back."
Rose glared at her, pulling her arm away, "No! I came all this way! I'm not gonna let this happen!"
"You can't stop it," the Professor told her, though the emphasis of her words seemed lost to the girl. Rose moved to go to him but the Professor reached out and grabbed the shoulder of her jacket, pulling her back once more, in no mood to deal with Rose's attempts to stand next to the dangerous regeneration energy that was slowly overtaking the Doctor while also trying her very best not to punch the girl, "Rose, back then he was yours. But now he's mine, and YOU will do as I say! Get back!" she shoved her over to Jack who kept a hold on her.
The Doctor groaned, holding his hand out, seeing the glow of orange-gold around it, "It's starting…" his whole body started to glow.
"Here we go!" Jack breathed, pulling the girls back, save the Professor who was too near the console, "Good luck, Doctor!"
The Doctor strained to his feet, "I'm sorry. It's too late. I'm regenerating!"
He threw his head back, his arms out, the orange energy exploding from him...
A/N: A few semi-important notes/comments:
I remember watching this episode and really just wanting SOMEONE to shove Rose back and tell her to stop whining about the Doctor regenerating. She saw it once, she'd lived through his change, and if she really loved him and not that version of him, she wouldn't have cared that he was about to again. Her begging him not to really irritated me, as the Professor said, like SHE would have been able to stop it? Sorry, that just bothered me, and apparently the Professor too.
The 12,000 Academics, I picture the Academic program as being a VERY elite one to get into. At any given time I'd say there are 5,000 Academics in the Academy working towards earning their titles. If every Academic is there for 200 years, that means about 25 graduate every year and another 25 are accepted in. I mentioned the the Sontaran chapters that Rassilon had called in every Academic for the last 500 years, which means about 12,500 being called back. Not all of them would agree, many would refuse and meet their end, so there goes 500+ people off the top. And throwing 12,000 people all over a war zone with absolutely no preparation or warning or protection, I could see that lowering the numbers, especially where Daleks are concerned...
On another note, I remembered how that one Time Lady at Rassilon's council in the End of Time mentioned that the Doctor had possession of 'the Moment' and made it the device that the Professor created, essentially the first of the Time Locks, a device for trapping/locking things in a single moment in time. There'll be more about that during The End of Time chapters, of course, and just a bit more about it next chapter where we will see another side to the end of the Time War, another reason the Doctor did it. I'd made a comment about it at the end of The Shakespeare Code that will be explained more in the next chapter. Can you guess the second reason why he ended the war? Hmmm...
A lot of you have been commenting about wanting to see the Professor and Rose basically duke it out...all I can say is, as I was planning this story, that's exactly what I thought would happen too, exactly what I was planning would happen. But then...as I started writing and the characters took over, well...what I ended up writing wasn't what I expected would happen. As it turns out, it's not the Professor that Rose will have to worry about. What happens next is, I think, something that will impact Rose much more, much deeper, and much worse.
As for the promised hint about the next chapter (my longest chapter yet!)...it has something to do with my version of The Lazarus Experiment. Something from that will play out next chapter and that's all I'm saying...mu-wah-ha-ha-ha-ha...I feel as evil as Davros right now...
I would definitely be far more evil than him if I broke up the next chapter. There are points where, had I stopped the chapter there, the cliffhangers would have killed you. But don't worry, I wouldn't do that to you, I'm not stopping, we're going through the whole event. I'm fully expecting/hoping you scream NO! out loud at certain parts though ^-^
And, don't forget to vote on my profile for/against a wedding chapter if you haven't already :)