New Earth, yay! I always knew I wanted to do a farce with this one, but now watching it again and reading the episode's transcript, I understood how sad it could be as well, given certain factors. And I'm not just talking about Cassandra's story, which is sad sometimes, but the other stories as well. Well, here's the start of the story.
An Ending Has A Start
"The hills are alive with the sound of music," Sherlock and John sang as they danced and raced down the apple grass hill on New Earth with the Doctor and Rose laughing at them before they joined in.
After a while, they whooped for joy and collapsed onto the grass, staring up at the cars flying overhead. Sherlock lifted his head, chewing on a bit of grass that did taste like apples like the Doctor had said, as he and the others stared at New New York. "Marvelous trip." He said.
John laughed. "You say that now, but we've only just got here. The trouble hasn't started yet. It usually begins after an hour or two."
"Of course, but this could be a quiet trip." Sherlock said, glancing at John. "We've had a few of those."
"A few, yes, but...well, I suspect that it will be a little more adventurous than that." John said, turning to Sherlock. "The Doctor had some reason for coming here. He was looking at something on his psychic paper while we were traveling. He seemed concerned, too."
"Hmm, well, I suppose we'll find out which one of us is right." Sherlock said, looking at John. "Care to make a wager?"
"Shut up, no, not right now." John said.
Just then, John spotted a glint of something metallic in the grass and he shivered, remembering how they used to watch where they stepped back in Afghanistan. "Sherlock, don't move. There's something over there." He pointed.
However, as Sherlock looked up, it darted away before they could get a glimpse of it. But they had seen that blur of movement, indicating something was there. "It's small. A rat or creature of some kind?" Sherlock said.
"No, metallic, like a robot." John said.
The Doctor and Rose had gotten up, and noticed what was going on. "A robot?" The Doctor asked as they approached. "Which direction?"
John pointed it out and the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver there. Sparks flew up a few feet away and they rushed over and gathered around one of the spider robots.
"Cassandra used those to infiltrate and sabotage Platform One." Rose said, recognizing it. "Do you suppose she's still here?"
"That would cause us some trouble." John said, gloating a little.
"Fine, we've got trouble, with a capital T that rhymes with E and stands for New Earth." Sherlock said. "But that sort of device, Doctor, it's not custom-made or self-designed, right?"
"No, there are several companies that made spider robots like this one." The Doctor pointed out a logo as he examined it. "See?"
"So it could be someone else. Cassandra was destroyed." Rose said, relaxing a little.
"Maybe. But let's keep on our guard." The Doctor fished out his sonic penlight device and tossed it at Sherlock. "Here you go, bug zapper."
Sherlock sighed, looking at it. "I would rather...never mind." He said, noticing the look on the Doctor's face.
The Doctor got up, pocketing the spider, and shared with them the note he had received and why they were here. They went down to the hospital, talking amongst themselves as they entered the lobby, a very fancy, well-designed place.
"Do you think Cassandra could have sent the note?" Rose asked, worried.
"Why are you so concerned?" Sherlock asked, sniffling.
"She did nearly kill me and John, remember?" Rose said.
"Oh, right. I nearly blocked that out." Sherlock inhaled and shuddered. "That would have been terrible." He sneezed.
"Bless you. Think you need to see a doctor?" John asked. "I could give you a check-up or you can seek a second opinion here."
"No, thank you, it's just allergies, I suppose. I'm not allergic to much, just…cats." Sherlock sniffled as a cat-nurse walked by, staring at him. "Oh, great, that's just perfect."
John, the Doctor, and Rose laughed as Sherlock wiped his nose. "It's not that funny. I'm going to be miserable here."
"Right, sorry, we don't want you to be miserable." The Doctor fished around in his pockets, checked the content, and tossed a sealed pill pouch at Sherlock. "Here's an allergy tablet, supposed to work wonders."
"It's for humans, right?" Sherlock asked, checking the pill.
"Yeah, I usually make sure I keep some medicine for humans, just in case." The Doctor said.
"Thanks." Sherlock said, unsealing the pouch and swallowing the pill.
John grimaced. "Better be careful with that, just in case."
Yet John couldn't help glancing the lobby in awe. He had never seen such a place before even with all of the hospitals he had been to, and he was excited and interested to find out more about the state of hospitals and medicine in the future.
"You know, a hospital might be the perfect place for Cassandra, if she had survived. She loved her plastic surgery, remember? And if she needed to stitch herself together again after being..." John hesitated.
"Blown up?" Sherlock grinned, feeling better already.
"Enough." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "I don't want to...never mind. We'll find out soon enough."
Then he started prattling on about a shop and Sherlock realized the Doctor didn't want to discuss what had happened to Cassandra, for he had destroyed her, in a sense, bringing her back to the station without anyone to attend her. Sherlock pondered this problem, wondering how Cassandra could have survived such an explosion, as the Doctor wandered onto the lift and John rushed in after him to catch up and ask a question.
Suddenly the lift doors were closing behind John before Rose and Sherlock could react. "Sherlock!" John cried.
Sherlock turned around and rushed over along with Rose, but it was too late.
"Left behind again!" Sherlock grimaced, banging the lift doors. "Just like the Gamestation."
"Don't worry, it's not that bad." Rose said. "There's another lift. We'll just be behind them."
"Okay, fine. But something bad always happens when we get separated like this." Sherlock said as he followed her into the lift.
"I'll admit there's a tendency towards that, but not always." Rose said.
John grimaced, turning around to face the Doctor. "I should have made sure he and Rose kept up with us. He's going to be mad, again."
"Ah, it'll be all right. You'll have a laugh with him about it afterwards." The Doctor grinned. "By the way, better stand over here. Disinfectant spray comes out of that wall behind you."
"Disinfectant spray?" John said, moving to the middle of the lift.
"You'll see." The Doctor said.
"Disinfection." Sherlock scoffed as he and Rose stood in the lift. "What kind of-" And then he coughed as it sprayed right into his mouth. "Blagh, oh this tastes nasty!"
"It's all in my hair." Rose said.
"Mine too." Sherlock grimaced, trying to wipe it out of his tousled hair.
"Oh, this is ingenious." John said as he and the Doctor were sprayed. "Covers up any outside contaminant to prevent infection."
"Yep. Also has a nice minty smell." The Doctor said, sniffing the air.
Sherlock grimaced. "Smells as horrid as it tastes."
"You said it. I'm never going to be able to wash this off." Rose added.
"Say, are we moving down instead of up?" Sherlock asked.
"Why, what's wrong?" Rose asked.
"I think Ward 26 would be on the 26th floor, not 26th subbasement." Sherlock frowned. "I think we've been diverted."
"You've got to be kidding me." Rose slapped the wall, looking for buttons, and kept repeating Ward 26, but they still went down.
"Just stay calm, Rose, we'll get out of this." Sherlock said, getting out the bug zapper and attempting to work on the lift controls. "We've got to."
"It's not the sonic screwdriver." Rose said, annoyed.
"I know it isn't. I just wish he would give me one. He's always so...controlling, for lack of a better word." Sherlock grunted.
"You said it. Always so certain of himself and what we can do." Rose sighed as she got out her mobile and tried calling the Doctor and John. "I wish he would give us more leeway."
"How is it going with you two?" Sherlock asked, glancing at Rose.
"It's not going anywhere, for lack of a better term." Rose groaned as she wasn't able to reach the Doctor or John. "I thought this phone had super-service, or something like that, able to call home across time and space."
"I think it's blocked." Sherlock said, checking his own mobile reception. "Sometimes it doesn't work if there is a super buffer blocking any sort of reception."
"That doesn't bode well." Rose said. "I wish it would advance between me and the Doctor, just like it did with you and John. But, well, at least we have fun."
"That's true, but not the same." Sherlock said as Rose nodded.
"So, how have things been going along with you and Rose?" John asked the Doctor, curious after a few minutes of silence between them.
"Ah, it's not something I want to discuss right now." The Doctor said, shaking his head. "Early days, I suppose, and don't want to rush into anything in case..." The Doctor grimaced, thinking. "Don't want to think about it."
"Okay, all right, just wanted to know." John said, shaking his head.
"Fair enough. Sorry if I bit your head off." The Doctor said as he and John reached Ward 26.
"It's fine." John sighed.
The Doctor reminded John of Sherlock sometimes, the way he wanted to avoid discussions about their feelings or anything that might trouble them. Admittedly the Doctor was a long-living alien being, whose personality changed as many times as he regenerated and had experienced centuries of pain and pleasure with other people before he even met Rose.
The nature of his relationship with people like Rose was probably fraught with disaster and regret, and John knew or guessed that this relationship, if it could be called that, with Rose would end in its own time. Just like John and Sherlock would eventually part with the Doctor in their own way.
John didn't know exactly what was the problem or issue with Sherlock, though Sherlock might have insisted it was his sociopathic tendencies.
Down below, the lift that Sherlock and Rose were on stopped and the doors slid open, revealing a dark, distressed, dismal corridor strewn with rubble. They hesitated a moment, not wanting to get off, as Sherlock checked the controls and cursed.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked, turning to him.
"The circuits are fried. None of the buttons work. We're not getting out of here this way. Have to find the stairs." Sherlock said, staring out into the corridor.
"Okay, just have to be careful." Rose said as they gingerly stepped out of the lift and were immediately confronted by a strange tattooed figure.
"Hello, the humans are clean?" The man asked, smiling.
"Uh, I guess we are." Sherlock said, gripping the bug zapper tightly. "Where are the stairs?"
"This way, Rose Tyler and Sherlock Holmes." The man said, running off.
"All right, we definitely need to find the stairs. Cassandra's down here." Sherlock said.
He zapped the closest lights, hoping to blind the stranger, and then he and Rose ran off in the opposite direction. The stranger briefly cringed at the flash of exploding lights, but then he calmed down and followed after the pair as the lift doors closed.
"You're not getting out that way." The man said in a sing-song voice. "It's blocked."
Indeed, Rose and Sherlock did find the way barred, a dead-end wall and all the other doors sealed without a lock that Sherlock could pick at. There was no way out, as they couldn't even call the lift back or pry open the lift doors, except for the way the stranger offered them, one bright, shining doorway in the distance.
Rose and Sherlock cursed and screamed, shouting for help and tried to call the Doctor and John again. But they were trapped down there and no one was coming to save them. They roamed the hallway, but pent-up and helpless to do anything else, they slowly approached the opening.
Rose now carried a piece of metal she had found and Sherlock held tightly onto the sonic penlight. "We're getting out of here, do you understand me?" Sherlock told the stranger. "We'll see Cassandra and maybe talk to her, but we're getting out."
"All right, if that's what you want. My mistress is this way." The stranger said, leading them on.
As they entered the room, a decayed home film was playing with a beautiful human woman on the screen at a party. Sherlock recognized the voice as Cassandra's and even the woman's skin looked like her, though she was fully flesh, blood, and bone here on screen.
"You really are a nostalgic type. Maybe too much so." Sherlock said, looking at the footage and then glancing back at the rubbery trampoline woman in the far corner, watching the screen.
"I got bored waiting for you two to come here. What took so long?" Cassandra asked, glancing at her assistant.
"Forgive me, mistress. They were expecting an ambush and they tried to escape." The assistant said.
"That's right, and we're leaving as soon as we can." Sherlock said, holding up the sonic penlight as Rose hoisted her bar. "Show us the way out."
"Oh, grant me the opportunity of at least a short audience to speak to you and plead my case." Cassandra said.
"We can make trouble for you." Sherlock threatened.
"Like you've always made trouble for me." Cassandra growled. "Chip!"
Chip threw a lever and energy beams shot out, trapping Rose and Sherlock in place. "What's happening? Let us go!" Rose shouted.
Sherlock tried to press and turn on his sonic penlight in the hope that it might disrupt the beam, but he couldn't even move a muscle, despite his struggles. Chip watched and stared at Sherlock, fascinated by his appearance.
"Mistress?" Chip asked, turning to Cassandra. "Could you…would you?"
"What?" Cassandra asked, staring at Chip and then at Sherlock. "Oh, right. Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. Set it up, Chip, you can give it a go."
"Oh, goody!" Chip laughed, unnerving Sherlock as he fiddled with the controls.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
As she and Cassandra started having a conversation, with Chip pitching in, Sherlock kept glancing at Chip, nervously wondering what he was up to. The clone laughed and sang to himself at times, pausing to examine Sherlock as he adjusted and finagled the controls.
"All set, mistress!" Chip called out.
"Good. Light it up!" Cassandra shouted.
The psychograft activated and both Chip and Cassandra cried out with glee as the light beamed out, blinding Rose and Sherlock. Then a burst of energy emanated from Chip and Cassandra, soaring across the room towards Sherlock and Rose. And everything shut down after a moment with Sherlock, Rose, and Chip collapsing onto the floor.
Meanwhile, upstairs, the Doctor and John followed one of the cat nurses around Ward 26, looking around for any patient that they might recognize or who might recognize them in turn. But so far they hadn't come across anyone who had invited them here and neither Sherlock nor Rose had made an appearance.
John was worried, wondering what was taking them so long to reach or find them. He tried to call and text Sherlock and Rose once or twice, but he wasn't able to contact them, nor did he receive any messages in turn.
"Communication devices are not permitted in the ward." Sister Jatt said when she caught John looking at his mobile. "It interferes with our devices and disrupts the healing process."
"Oh, don't mind him." The Doctor said, stepping in between Sister Jatt and John. "The phone's completely safe and foolproof. It's shielded well enough not to cause any problems with your signals. And your devices are far more advanced than his, so there shouldn't be a compatibility problem."
"Nevertheless, we ask him to turn off his device until further notice, or keep it at a low vibrate or volume so as not to disturb patients." Sister Jatt said.
"Will do." John told her, a little annoyed.
He might have done the same to other hospital guests and patients in the past, reminding them to turn off their phones in certain areas. But he might have treated them gentler as well and not so blunt, telling them where they could go and call their friends and loved ones without disturbing anyone.
Surely Sister Jatt could have done the same, if she understood how important such things might be to patients, caregivers, family members and their guests? In any case, the Doctor kept asking the nurse about a shop then, perhaps hoping to distract her from John's phone as John looked around, intrigued by the level of care and treatments available here.
John asked a few questions, though the Doctor reminded him to avoid using such future knowledge in his own 21st century practice. John nodded and agreed, though he wished that he could just borrow one of the cures and treatments freely available here.
Now more than ever, John was aware of the temptation that Adam had faced on his one trip to Satellite Five, and wished that he could, just for one instance, disrupt the laws of time travel to gain future knowledge. But the Doctor was here, watching him, the last and ultimate authority on time travel as a Time Lord.
And so John had to ignore and divert his impulses, no matter how strong they might be, or face the Time Lord's wrath and lose his privilege. So he kept going back to his mobile and checking to see if Rose or Sherlock had contacted them.
"Nothing. What is the matter with them? Where are they?" John asked.
"Patience, John. Everything will be all right." The Doctor tried to assure him.
"Easy for you to say." John scoffed. "You've got more lives than a cat. Sherlock, Rose, and I only have one."
The Doctor blanched, a little hurt and offended as he tried to speak to John, yet could barely get any words out. John realized how cruel and callous he sounded, and might have thought of apologizing for bringing that fact up, but he couldn't.
It was true, no matter what the Doctor might think or how painfully aware of it he was. They weren't Time Lords and they couldn't regenerate like he could if things went terribly wrong. They were trapped in their own bodies, their own time periods, and their own lives without any escape or possibility of renewal open to them.
Dwelling on such thoughts, John was annoyed when the Duke of Manhattan's assistant kept hounding them while the Doctor insisted the Duke wouldn't survive Petrifold Regression, despite Sister Jatt's assurance otherwise. John frowned, thinking the Doctor had lousy bedside manner, when suddenly both he and the Doctor spotted the patient they had come to see.
"The Face of Boe? What is he doing here?" John gasped, staring at the alien head in the vat. "He was on Platform One with us, just like…Cassandra."
John turned to the Doctor. "Do you suppose he has anything to do with Cassandra being here?"
The Doctor shook his head, staring at the Face of Boe with a strange expression. "No, I don't think it's entirely more than a strange coincidence. Unless he knew what she was doing here."
"How could he know that without some foreknowledge?" John asked.
"Exactly right." The Doctor said as he and John approached the Face of Boe with a word to Sister Jatt to look for Sherlock and Rose.
"Do you think Rose and Sherlock are looking for Cassandra?" John asked the Doctor.
"I hope not, though that might explain…we'll see in a moment." The Doctor said as he and John spoke to Novice Hame about the Face of Boe.
She told them that Boe was dying of old age after thousands, maybe even millions of years of existence. And as the Doctor kindly spoke to the Face of Boe, reintroducing himself as if to an old friend, suddenly John knew without a doubt who the Face of Boe was.
"Is that Jack?" John said, gasping as the Doctor sadly turned to him. "You knew as soon as you walked in here and saw him, right?"
"I'm afraid so. He was frozen in time, a fixed point in time and space, near immortal. But even that wore off and began to fade as his body deteriorated, and well…you see the result before you." The Doctor gestured.
John gaped at the slumbering Face of Boe, his old friend, Captain Jack Harkness. "I remember when we were on Platform One how the Face of Boe spoke to me and Sherlock, like he knew us. I didn't know then who Jack was, but…god, I can't believe this."
John turned to the Doctor, glumly staring at Jack, too. "Is this how it ends for him? Stuck here in this hospital, billions of years later after our sun burns up the Earth with all of the other humans dead?"
"Technically he wasn't from Earth, but…I suppose this is it for him." The Doctor sighed.
"What a life." John murmured to himself.
They both stood there, silently reflecting on what they had just learned as Novice Hame sat there, monitoring the Face of Boe's support system. The Doctor went to fetch some water for them, perhaps to get away for a moment, and after he had returned, they spoke to Novice Hame and asked after her circumstances and the Face of Boe's, not quite ready to call him Jack.
John mulled over this latest development, depressed at the thought of seeing Jack die here and now, so far into the future in such a lonely, decayed state. Suddenly John realized that this was the Doctor's fate, too.
That no matter how many lives he lived, how many times he regenerated, one day he might end up in a hospital like this one, light-years away from the remnants of his home planet in another time and place. What would that be like for the Doctor, last of the Time Lords, to say good-night without…would there be anyone there for him, like there was someone here for Boe, or Captain Jack?
The Doctor, last of the Time Lords, without a name of his own, and perhaps without a friend of his own there at the end.
Trying to dismiss such sad thoughts, John quickly checked his phone again, hiding his tears as Novice Hame went on about the legends and stories that surrounded Boe.
"The lonely god? Seriously?" John asked, staring at the Doctor, certain that was a reference to the last Time Lord. "That's a bit…haughty, the god part."
"Never mind that. It's just a myth." The Doctor said, shifting in his seat, uncomfortable at being called that. He certainly didn't think of himself that way, no matter what sort of knowledge or abilities he had.
"No, it's what he said, the lonely god." Novice Hame pointed at the Face of Boe. "Or stud-muffin, I believe, is the other term he used."
John laughed. "He still likes you, Doctor."
"Shut up." The Doctor blushed and then started laughing as well, quietly to stop himself from weeping. Then they sighed and laid back, waiting and thinking to themselves.
Meanwhile, down below, Chip-Sherlock rose up, gasping as he examined his new self. "Is this me, mistress? Is this who I am now?" He flexed his hand through his hair, pulling at the curls.
Cassandra-Rose also gasped, excited as she examined her new appendages, and then was shocked as she ran to the mirror to realize that she was more lower-class. Still, she liked her new body shape.
"Of course it is." Cassandra-Rose sighed, looking over Chip-Sherlock. "I have to admit, he has certain advantages over your old form, but I still liked that pattern."
Chip-Sherlock stared down at his former self and shook his head. "No, mistress. This new me is better, I think. He has a mind, a strange mind I can't possibly comprehend, but given time, perhaps I will. He is certainly stronger and louder than my old self, and quite different in many ways."
"Well, just as long as you remember who you are and that you have the advantage over him now, for all the smarts that he had." Cassandra-Rose said.
"Yes, mistress." Chip-Sherlock nodded, gazing reflectively and regretfully over his old form. Then he decided to store his old self in a safer place, not wanting to leave his former self lying on the floor. He dragged him off, and then mourned the loss of his mistress's former skin and brain-meat, along with Cassandra-Rose.
"Well, there is no going back for me now, just like there should be no going back for you." Cassandra-Rose told Chip-Sherlock.
"Yes, of course, mistress. I understand that now." Chip-Sherlock sighed, a little worried and concerned as to what his new self would be like.
He understood some things about his new self that he hadn't known before, like there was a Sir John whom Master Sherlock adored, and there was the Doctor, and Rose, Lestrade, and Mycroft, and Molly, and so many other people and things that this Sherlock knew of.
Admittedly Chip had admired Sherlock's body and wanted to try the switch alongside his mistress, so that he might continue serving her in a new form. But he hadn't realized how complicated this whole thing would be. It absolutely confused and bewildered him, almost exhausting, but at least this new body and mind could take the strain.
"Oh, mistress?" Chip-Sherlock said, remembering. "Should I take down the reception buffer now?"
"What? Oh, yes, I suppose so." Cassandra-Rose said.
Chip-Sherlock took down the barrier, and suddenly their mobile phones were ringing off the hook, with text alerts coming in. Chip-Sherlock checked his phone along with mistress Cassandra-Rose, and he started to panic.
"Oh, dear mistress, what should I do? What should I say? It's Sir John calling Master Sherlock."
"Just act like Master Sherlock for a little while longer. We have got to keep up this pretense and find out as much as we can about this place before we can take off from here in our new bodies. Hopefully we might even get a trip on that TARDIS of theirs. That would really give us an advantage." Cassandra-Rose smiled.
"Of course, mistress. A brilliant plan." Chip-Sherlock said.
He attempted to recall as much as he could about Master Sherlock's behavior from their brief encounter and access as much as Master Sherlock's memories as he possibly could. Finally satisfied with what he knew, Chip-Sherlock answered the phone.
"Hello, John, how are you?" Chip-Sherlock said, catching himself before he said 'Sir John'.
"Oh, Sherlock, thank god you finally answered! What happened to you and Rose? What took you so long to answer? Did you see Cassandra or anything like that?" John said.
Cassandra-Rose was talking to the Doctor in a cringe-worthy way, which made Chip-Sherlock wince. "Try talking to him more naturally, mistress." Chip-Sherlock whispered to Cassandra-Rose, covering up his phone. "He might suspect something is wrong otherwise. You sound a lot like her."
"Thanks, Chip, I think." Cassandra-Rose whispered back to Chip-Sherlock, surprised by his confident behavior.
"You're welcome, mistress." Chip-Sherlock smiled back at her.
"Hello, Sherlock?" John said on the other side, not hearing anything louder than a whisper.
"No, John, we didn't see Cassandra or anything like that. We got lost for a while, though, the lift was diverted. Listen, we'll come back upstairs in a bit. I think the lift is no longer broken. And I think we should have another look around here, all of us together, investigating. Something is amiss here, I think." Chip-Sherlock said.
"All right, sounds good. See you in a bit." John said, hanging up his mobile.
The Doctor also hung up his phone, frowning to himself. "Did you talk to Rose, too?" John said.
"Yeah, I did. And she sounded funny for a minute and then she didn't react at all when I told her about the Face of Boe and Captain Jack. It was like she didn't even know him."
"Yeah, that is weird." John said, a little worried. "Sherlock sounded fine enough, though. He didn't sound strange, though he was…a little stiff and I think he was talking to someone else for a minute there. Maybe Rose?"
"Yeah, she was whispering something, too." The Doctor said. "We better keep a close eye on them when they come."
"Yeah, just to be safe." John said, hoping nothing was wrong with their friends and lovers.