Thanks for sticking with me on this one. You all know the journey always has a rough start. This one is just starting to get interesting. The love is so good, you guys make me write more! Hope you are having as much fun as i am...things are gettting pretty heavy now
The room she materialized into was nothing like she had ever imagined. The room was lit in green haze that was in stark contrast to the brightly lit room she had been shot from. Martha looked around at the sparse room, and realized that no one else had followed her in. She was alone.
She immediately began to search the walls next to her to find a control for reversing the transport; it was not the first time she had wished for her own sonic screwdriver. It was an impossible dream to find the right sequence of buttons, but Martha still gave it all she had.
In the far recesses of the room, a buzzing began that set her nerves on edge, and made her sick to her stomach. The buzzing began to form words. "We have found one," the voice said.
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He couldn't help the adrenaline rush he felt at the onslaught of trouble, some have said he fed off of it. A bitter supper of tragedy and death, he always thought. But, he did eel alive when he ran. Horribly alive.
The screams were coming from the structures in the distance. The Doctor followed the beacon like a ship in tow. His feet skidded to a stop in front of the house where the screams seemed to be emitting. Further evidenced he was in the right place was offered in the form of three people running t=from the building. So, of course her ran inside.
The scene in front of him was of utter chaos. A mother held a child in her arms, a child no more than three or four years old if he had to guess. It didn't matter, the little one wouldn't be having any more birthdays. "Can I...?" He asked, hands out in front of hi. The woman holding the child eyed him with all of the pent up wrath of a caged panther.
She moved the child away from his reach and glared at him. "No, no," he insisted. "I'm the Doctor." he tried to reassure the grieving mother. "I just want to see if I can help."
The mother glared at the Doctor, but turned to offer the limp child to him. "Please," he asked as he lay the child on the floor in front of him. "Please contact senior Hyox at the Municipal Labs." he gave her the contact information, then brought his sonic out.
"Oh," he muttered to himself as the small device scanned the child's body. "Oh, that is not right. Not good either." He looked at his watch and found the time was still too soon. "Damn."
The Mother had returned to his side, "They are on their way, they will be here soon."
He looked at her then, despite her yellow skin and oddly ovular face, she could have been Martha. It was the calm strength in the face of absolute terror that impressed him. He wanted to console her. He wanted to tell her he could fix this, this world he could save. He wanted to take her with him, show her enough of the Universe to make her forget her pain. "I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry." he offered instead.
The tears from the woman next to fired his insistence to finish this, to confirm what he had already feared was causing the deaths on Zybtha. "When they get here, " he asked, rising, "Don;t mention my name."
She nodded, tears still falling in sheets."We didn't all want this." she insisted. "I know who you are Doctor, I know why you are here. We all do." The woman wiped tears from her eyes before going on. "This is too much of a sacrifice for something that not all of us want. I was happy with the way things were, happy to have my life mapped out. It meant few surprises. This." she hugged the body of her son to her. "This si too much of a surprise. This is too much of a sacrifice."
"I understand." And for the first time in a long time, he did understand, for that mother cradled her son, but he pictured Martha holding Adric. It was too much of a sacrifice, and they all should have known better. What he was witnessing was one of the most unnatural occurrences in all of the universe, but here, on this planet of planned lives and predestined fates, it was an abomination on the most sacred level.
"Make it stop, Doctor. Please. " she continued to stroke the face of the child in her arms. "Make them go before anyone else feels what I do."
He nodded, and found his own way out the way he had come. He left in a hurry, knowing he had to stop an invasion, find Martha, and get them both the hell off this rock. If they were lucky, if he was as clever as he protested, it would be in that particular order.
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"Found? She asked, straining to see toward the back of the room. "Found what, exactly?" While Martha Jones had always been a curious person, a trait which lead her to both medicine and her current position as the Doctor's second banana, she however had no curiosity regarding the beings in the back of the green lit room. In fact, she had no desire whatsoever to figure out what they were. The buzzing was bad enough, but the fact that there was something oddly familiar about it all sent shivers through her that were too much to bear.
She had begun making her way against the wall, back toward the transport pad that had sent her here. The buzzing sound grew closer, and Martha fought to keep the panic of that knowledge from clouding her intellect. She took two steps toward the metal plate, her hand had accidentally struck the emergency button.
"We have gone through great lengths to get to the one."
"Ones," the other buzzy voice corrected.
"That's not proper English." Martha insisted. "Ones shouldn't be plural." It was only after she had opened her mouth that she realized she had spent far too much time around the Doctor, she was starting to sound like him.
The two voices trilled their opinion of her knowledge of the English Language. "You silly git/ Come close." it insisted.
"I'm fine, thanks." Martha said.
"You make us come there to you, and its going to hurt." the second voice warned.
"Yeah," Martha nodded, "I am pretty sure it will. What, are you anyway?" she asked."Come close, child," the first voice announced sweetly. "Come here and we will tell you."
"You are going to make all of our dreams come true." the other voice sang. Martha was sure there was only two of them in that room, but she knew there was no telling how many there were all told. She had the TARDIS key on a chain around her neck. Even if they did not want her, they wanted that ship. She knew that wthout knowing exactly what they were. She had not yet seen them, but could hear their voices. That familiarity was at the edges of her consciousness and drove her crazy.
But, even without knowing, the TARDIS was Adric's home, and the Doctor's, anything that may take that away took away her son's future, and could very well take away her son. The realization of that terrified her more than anything that these creatures may do to her, or the Doctor.
Martha shook her head. "No thanks, I think I have seen the way this movie ends. " she placed her hand over the button she prayed was the emergency recall. Even if it flushed her atoms over trillions of miles of space, it would be a far better experience than what the buzzy things had planned.
Whatever was to come of her, she would not be the vessel to destroy them, to destroy him. In some recess of her mind, she felt her love for him, a feeling she had corded away and filed under 'never.' So much under that bridge, too much to allow to flow into a river for fear it would over run into a torrent of emotions that Martha could not deal with. And, now, as she faced the terror of an unknown assailant, she wondered if she would ever have that chance.
Martha took a deep breath, sent a silent prayer across the universe as she hit the button under her palm. For the second time that day, she thought of her son and hoped he never forgot her.
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"Where is she?" The Doctor insisted as he burst into the labs. He had run all the way back to the tree, had pushed his way through the hordes of workers on their way home, fought the opposite direction to fet back to the labs. He didn't give a single whit about the tests or cultures that were cooing in the labs. He knew those would not amount to a hill of Larva; there was no result that was going to find what he now believed was brewing on Zybtha
The Zybtharan he had directed his question to was one of the young scientists that shared the lab space with them. They worked toward the same goal, and often ate together. This Zybtharan was used to the Doctor's sometimes brusque manner. His question was fired off in his usual rapid fire manner, but his eyes. It was his eyes that scared the young scientist. "She's not here?" the young woman asked.
The Doctor considered the young woman's words. "Is that an answer? Or, did you ask me a question." the Doctor moved closer to the young woman. "Because, if you ere clever, you would answer in a way as to not give away to me what you know. If that is the case, your answer is suitably mystifying."
"I'm sorry?" the woman asked.
"Yes, I suppose you are. I suppose you are very sorry. But why?" The Doctor searched te room, noted there were no open longs, no new experiments set out. It was as if there was nothing to do. Which, didn't set right because he knew there had been a new death. By all rights, they should be rushing around in a panic. There should be fifteen scientists in here jockeying for position. But, there was only a low level scientist. Why?
"Doctor..." the young woman was scared, the Doctor could tell she was frightened, and he did not care, because what was going on here, had every right to cause real fear.
"Where is my wife?" he asked again.
"Wife?" She moved away from him, scooted in her rolling chair in the opposite direction of the irate man. Theirs was a culture not familiar with strangers on their planet, so to have an irate alien in front of you, it was more than she could bear. " haven't seen here, I thought, I thought she would be with you."
But, he waved her away and strolled out to the dark high hallways. If he was right, and he usually was, no matter how often he wanted to be wrong. If he was right, this time, his wife was in as much danger as he. They had to get off this planet and get somewhere safe. Somewhere they would not find them this time.
He found Hyox trying to avoid him. It was outside one of the outdoor canteens where they often found tea and breakfast. The tall spindly man was recognizable to the Doctor by his evasive activity. The Doctor approached him with a painted on smile and a dubious glare. "Hyox, the man I wanted to se."
"Doctor, I hear you were out for a stroll earlier. Met some of our locals."
"And found a new victim, which is where I thought you would be right now. Or, at the very least filling out some of that paperwork you are always going on about." It was true, the man went on about his security job ad nauseum. Martha would listen with pretended care, but the Doctor always gave him a shoulder of indifference.
Hyox, who was no fool, could tell the way the wind was starting to blow. "Well, day off, ad all that." he smiled, showing the Doctor his nearly emptied cup of tea.
"Day off, really?" the Doctor frowned. "Funny you should be here, underground on your day off. All that fresh air and sunshine. I thought the whole point of having all your work under here was to have that vast beautiful planet as a playground on days like this. Not, to be stuck inside under the surface. What's the fun in that? I remember when I was-"
"Doctor," Hyox asked exasperated. "Does this story have a point?"
"Yes, yes it does." the Doctor nodded, "Where is Dr. Jones?"
"Well, she should be in the labs, I mean, that is what you are all here for isn't it?"
"Don't" the doctor warned. The storm raging across his features should have served as a warning to the man in front of him. Should have, but it did not. Secretly, Hyox's flippant behavior solidified the Doctor's belief as to the true nature of Martha's disappearance, and the reasons for the deaths on this planet. "Don;'t play games with me. Not now, not about her."
Hyox's long spindly arms folded into a pretzel know in front of him. The workers behind him were smart enough to at least take a few steps backwards. But, Hyox was a fool, at least he though he was righteous. "Doctor, go back to the labs. I am sure she will show up. Soon."
"Of that, I have no doubt. However, she won't show up the same person I came here with, will she?" the Doctor asked.
Hyox ignored his question, pushed past the angry humanoid and scoffed loudly. The Doctor seethed. HE wanted to get of this planet, let what was coming have it. It had become apparent to him that they were now in league with whatever was here.
He ran past the group of security workers and made his way toward the relay station. It was the center of communications for the planet and monitored the coming and goings of off world transport. The planet did not accept off worlders, but it did rely heavily on an import export trade. The Doctor tried to access the information with the help of his sonic, realizing onl then that he was twenty minutes from having all of the information in the TARDIS. He did not want to go back to the TARDIS without Martha, but he could not rsk being out on his own for too long. It was only a matter of time before they got him too.
He stood in the middle of the massive hallway, hands in hair. For the first time in his travels, he didn't want to decide He had never felt this close to someone where the possibility of losing them was interfering with his ability to make a rational decision. He hated this feeling, and vowed he would do something about it for the next time. Perhaps duck taping her to the jump seat, or locking her in the kitchen. Sure, that would work, and he could get his next five regenerations all in one day. If there was to be a next time, he would be more careful with her. He would do whatever it took to make sue she did not take any unnecessary risks.
As he stood, a voice came from his elbow. The unusually small Joygen was at his side and speaking to him. "Sorry?" he asked with a shake of his head, "what?"
"I didn't...it wasn't meant to be like this." Joygen admitted.
He placed his hands on each of her shoulders. "What, Joygen."
The young woman was in near tears. "I liked your Martha. I really did. She was..." the woman sniffed loudly. "They told me I had to do it, that she had to go and it was her turn. That, if I didn't, I was choosing that other world to my own. I didn't want her to get taken there."
The Doctor wanted to comfort he girl, but it bothered him that she was referring to Martha in the past tense. When you travel in time, you notice things like that, the tense of how a person speaks tells volumes about the nature of a situation. "Joygen, whatever it is, I cannot make it better without knowing what it going on. I need you to speak to me. I need you to tell me where is Martha. And, while you're at it, what the hell is going on around here?" He knew the answer to one, he merely wanted some sort of confirmation. but desperately needed the answer to the other question.
"About ten hours ago, we took her to them. " Joygen nodded, speaking stronger than she had before. "But she got away somehow. The First King is frantic, no one knows where she went. We have been checking every single trans-pad on the planet for her. " Joygen began to wring her hands, and could not meet the Doctor's eyes. "I didn't know she was your wife."
"Yeah, well, neither does she." He wished, when people started confessing,that they would spill all the details at once, instead of piecemeal. It would make things go so much faster. "Took her where?"
The young scientist shook her head and lead the Doctor to to the same room where they had taken Martha earlier in the day. She stood aside him as he checked the logs of the transporter that Martha had used. "So, Joy. Can I call you Joy? I had a very good friend once named Joy. She was a lot like you. Sad nd confused." He talked to put her at ease, it often worked, both ways. "Joy, tell me about the real reason that your people have been dying."
"They aren't compatible. " it was a near whisper, but the Doctor heard it clearly nonetheless.
"Compatible with whom?" he asked. He was searching for her file, for the signature left by Martha's last transport. His scans showed that she had indeed used this pad to be transported to the other side of the planet, only to use it again fifteen minutes later. Only, she never coalesced anywhere back on the planet. So, where was she?
Joygen seemed unwilling to answer. "They came a while ago, not too long before you got here. That was when the deaths started. They said it was necessary, it was supposed to be a merger. A marriage of two cultures into a better one. They promised us to extend our predestined life cycles."
"You should always be wary of anyone who promises so much for what seems like nothing in return." he slammed his hand against the trans-pad and swore. His outburst scared the young woman, she ran out of the room. He turned to follow her, but by the time he got to the massive outside hallways, she was gone.
The Doctor made the toughest decision he had ever had to make. He left the underground and headed for the TARDIS. He could not help looking over his shoulder every few minutes, he wondered why he was not being followed. Then he wondered if thee was a contingent of soldiers waiting for him out side of his ship. Or, was he being followed? Martha had a key, but no one could get into that ship with out a key. But, if they did manage to get her key, if they did get in...
He hurried his pace, broke into a near run. The only way he was going to be able to maybe find Martha was inside of that ship. If it had been taken, he would lose everything.
The TARDIS was surrounded when he got there. So many yellow creatures formed a circle around it, that the blue of the TARDIS was nearly obstructed. "Oh," he smiled as he skidded to a stop in front of the band of Zybtharans. "Hallo. Fancy meeting the lot of you out here. Its a bonny day for a walk, innit?" he smiled affably enough, but his mind raced to figure out a solution to the situation. They could take him, take the TARDIS. In that moment he vowed to make his key isomorophic, if he got out of this one.
That 'if' was looming pretty large as the Doctor surveyed the situation.
Hyox stood in front of the doors, he wielded a weapon that looked to the Doctor like something he had once seen at a back room Dragon Poker game. It wasn't the kind of thing one carried around to aggrevat. This weapon was for killing, and nothing else. "You will relinquish your key to this vehicle and step aside Doctor." he commanded.
"Or what?" the Doctor asked, still smiling.
The soldiers looked at each other as if they were the ones confused in the situation. "Or?" Hyox asked. "What do you think?"
"I know that if you strip away everything someone holds dear, you leave them in a very dangerous position." The Doctor's mouth was still curved into a smile, but it now matched the dangerous look in his eyes. "And that is a very dangerous place for you to be standing."
"The man who abhors violence?" Hyox laughed.
"Wouldn't be laughing if I were you." The Doctor warned.
Hyox laughed again. "And what would you be doing then?" Hyox laughed.