Footsteps in the Sand
Chapter 2
When he returned to the consol room he heard a deep gasp as Jack came back to life, the TARDIS didn't like that and juddered dangerously, the Doctor managed to keep his mug of tea from spilling.
"Here you are, Jack. Nice warm cuppa."
Jack tried to stutter something in return, but settled for just taking the tea. The ice had begun to melt from his hair now and was dripping off his nose. He gulped down the tea and a little colour began to flourish in his cheeks. His eyes were apparently their gooey selves again as they flicked nervously from the Doctor to the cup of tea to his own shaking hands.
"You shouldn't have come," Jack managed when he was almost fully defrosted.
"Oh," said the Doctor, a little concerned.
Jack barked an angry laugh.
"You come now, but not when we needed you - when the Earth needed you."
The Doctor didn't say anything. He'd been to the future earth and knew what had happened, but by then it was set, it was the dawn of human understanding of life beyond earth, an important moment, unalterable. And Jack's role was as set as the Doctor's sacrifice all those lifetimes ago: his planet for the universe…
"I couldn't," the Doctor muttered, the rest was left unsaid, but Jack understood. He had tried to track the Doctor after he had left Earth, months after he had sacrificed his grandson for the lives of millions of children across the world. And he knew what the galaxy whispered, he knew of the Time War and of Gallifrey's end.
Jack nodded, and clasped the Doctor's offered hand as he got up. He would try to forget, it was just a memory now.
"How long had you been there?" asked the Doctor, knowing it had been an act of repentance.
Jack looked at his watch.
"Just a cat-nap really, a dozen years." he replied, slightly shocked himself. He imagined Gwen's child would be almost 12, and with a stab in his gut he thought of how old Stephen would have been.
The Doctor was silent for a moment, then the TARDIS whirred in reminder.
"Oh yes," he said, grinning mischievously at Jack, his hands in his trouser pockets "How's the biggest party in the universe sound?"
Jack genuinely smiled. He looked down at his jacket, ripped where it had frozen to the rocks and sodden now the ice was melting.
The Doctor put his glasses on and inspected it.
"Yeah," he said thoughtfully, Jack thought he was going to sew it for a moment "I've got a few of them somewhere."
Jack smiled again.
"Your turn," Jack whispered through dry lips.
The Doctor barked a humourless laugh, emitting golden dust as energy again swept through his body, swelling into light as he dug his nails into the sand.
"They're all dead," the Doctor sighed as the energy again deserted him.
"They always die," replied Jack, the syllables falling heavy.
Energy shot out of the Doctor, brighter than any of the golden spasms so far. Jack shielded his eyes with his arm, he felt the energy burn him, and he sensed how dangerous the Doctor could be - while so bright.
A bright light shone on Jack and the Doctor as they walked into the room. Jack blinked and as his eyes adjusted saw the Doctor's silhouette turn round and grin at him.
"Welcome to the opening party of the 811th Universal Olympics," rang the Doctor as robotic voices chirped something to the same effect.
Jack's eyes grew wide and his face animated as he saw the sheer size of the room, decorated in intricate detail with gold, red, blue and purple. The walls were made entirely of glass, with huge drapes of rich hue bunched at intervals, they looked out to space on either side, with a magnificent view of a galaxy scattered out into the darkness - and the end of the room was not in sigh, like a hall of mirrors. Large round tables lined the windows on each side of the expansive room, seating about 20 each. Down the middle was a large red carpet that expanded into the distance, and as Jack watched, it moved the people at speed to where they were going, travelling both forwards and backwards on alternate sides.
And the people, they were all different shapes, sizes and colours - most with clearly distinctive evolutionary histories. Some walked gracefully, others crawled haphazardly, most were seated (on various ergonomic chair designs) and were dressed in what they must have considered as 'fine attire'; which generally, in the alien world, translated as shiny, or big.
"I've never heard of the Universal Olympics" said Jack clearly awestruck as the Doctor showed a robot assistant a legitimate invitation and some psychic paper.
"Quite exclusive in their species, humanoid generally doesn't do well against -" a creature apparently made entirely of muscle loomed over them and walked with surprisingly light feet towards the red carpet where he was zoomed off - "well against the rest of the universe."
Jack gave a fearful grin.
"They tried inviting an ostridge to the last one," continued the Doctor as he took a drink from a hovering serving tray, "didn't work out, but it came 4th."
Jack followed the Doctor onto the conveyer belt carpet. It pulled them forward at speed, the tables and people passed by in a blur and the windows became continuous, interrupted only by the flash of coloured curtains - it was like flying forwards in space during a coloured thunderstorm. Then it stopped, and shapes swam before his eyes.
"Here we are," chirped the Doctor as they left the expansive carpet and headed towards a large round table. Jack looked back along the carpet and noticed that the room wasn't just a long tunnel, but curved ever so slightly. Out of the window Jack could see the curve more clearly, the grey of the space ship spanned just out of sight and returned again.
"Does this place go full circle?" Jack asked.
The Doctor grinned.
"Brilliant, isn't it? Symbolism's a little obvious, but it's a nice design."
They seated themselves at a table with half the seats still vacant. Most of the occupants welcomed them enthusiastically. There was a blue couple with Medusa hair, a man who looked very human except for a large beak instead of a nose and beady eyes like a hawk, he cocked his head to the side and stared at Jack. On the other side there were three women whose hair was unnaturally suspended in curls above there head, they had vacant looks on their faces and shiny skin, they seemed to produce a gentle breeze around the table. Then there was a woman with two young children that appeared perfectly human but for their bright purple eyes and deep red hair.
"Hello," said the Doctor cheerfully shaking the hands of those around him.
Jack picked up the name plate in his own place while the Doctor learned everybody's name.
"Susan?" he asked doubtfully, when the Doctor finally sat down, "I don't think I look like a Susan."
The Doctor gave him a weak smile.
"They won't check, it's an automatic rota of invites, I was here a long time ago…lifetimes ago.
Jack put the name down again, sensing that Susan wouldn't be showing up. He glanced at the Doctor's, it read "Doctor Who".
"It was a rather confusing conversation," grinned the Doctor seeing Jack's interest.
Most the other tables in sight were filled by now, but others remained fairly empty - seats that had been filled all those years ago. A polite bell rang and those still standing took their seats in a hurry.
Then the music began.
A marching drum beat was struck by a procession of immensely muscular women, like the mythical Amazons except more fearsome that what Jack had ever imagined. Deep music accompanied the beat. They were twice as tall as an ordinary human, but maintained a proportioned humanoid shape. They would have interested Jack, but there eyes were stony cold, and they beat the drums so loudly that the sound enveloped the room.
DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM
The Doctor sat up straight and his eyes widened in fear. He had sensed something in the echoic silence between the drums. Dancers emerged from nowhere, slim and agile they danced to the beat.
DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM
"The drums," he whispered fearfully, Jack turned to look at him.
"The Master," Jack echoed the name that burned in the Doctor's mind.
The golden energy encompassed the Doctor, his body arched and rose into the air, leaving marks where his fingers had clawed at the red sand, where his converse had dug into the cool earth beneath, but all was swallowed in the light that now emitted from the Doctor's body. He couldn't scream, but he would have. When he'd turned into a human he had screamed, and this was worse, nature knows just where to poke and it seemed that every atom of his being was a victim. Then suddenly it stopped and he fell unfeelingly back to the red sand, and the golden energy washed away, taking with it the pain to glut on another death, or perhaps another birth.
The new Doctor opened his eyes afresh to an old universe.
To Be Continued...
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