"So what about those things outside?" Jack asked, turning the conversation back on track. "The Beastie Boys. What are they?"
The professor sighed. "We call them the Futurekind," he explained, "which is a myth in itself, but it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia."
"And Utopia is?" the Doctor prompted.
The professor look at him in surprise. "Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?"
The Time Lord shrugged, trying to pass it off with, "Bit of a hermit."
The old man raised an eyebrow, looking at the Doctor's companions. "A hermit with friends?" he asked pointedly.
"Hermits United," the Doctor clarified, winning an amused grin from Molly and an eye roll from Sherlock. "We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit. So, er, Utopia?"
The professor was still looking at him oddly, but he went over to a monitor and turned it on, showing them some sort of blip of light. "The call came from across the stars, over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originating from that point."
The Doctor looked at the screen, narrowing his eyes as he focused on the point. "Where is that?"
The professor sighed. "Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the humans scattered across the night."
The Time Lord turned curiously to Yana, asking, "What do you think's out there?" He liked this human; he was brilliant, and he was working so hard to save his fellow humans. That was what he loved about the human race, their compassion, and their refusal to ever stop hoping.
"We can't know," the old man said with a shrug. "A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not." He turned back to the Doctor with a smile that was half sad, half hopeful. "But it's worth a look, don't you think?"
The Doctor grinned. "Oh, yes," he agreed cheerfully. He didn't notice the old man stiffening, his gaze becoming unfocused, as he leaned in towards the monitor. "And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix. So you can fly without stars to guide you." When the professor didn't answer, he turned to look at him with a frown. The old man had a distant look in his eyes, wearing a slightly worried expression. "Professor?"
He had to call his name several times before the professor finally responded, shaking off his strange mood. "I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk. There's work to do." He turned back to his equipment, ignoring the Doctor and his companions. "Now if you could leave, thank you."
The Doctor frowned. "You all right?" he asked with concern.
"Yes, I'm fine. And busy," the professor added pointedly.
"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?" the Doctor asked gently. "This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."
The professor shrugged. "We'll find a way," he told the Doctor. It sounded more like a dull mantra than anything with any real hope behind it.
"You're stuck on this planet," the Doctor stated quietly. Yana sighed, not denying it. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly."
The old man's shoulders sagged, tiredness gleaming in his eyes. In a weary tone, he told the Doctor, "Well, it's better to let them live in hope."
The Doctor felt a rush of admiration for the old man. "Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor er, what was it?"
"Yana," the professor supplied.
"Professor Yana." He'd been looking at Yana's work for a while, and even as they'd been talking, his Time Lord brain had been whirring away to figure it out. "This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" He stood, connected a few cables, and soniced them. Power surged through the machine, winning a grin of triumph from the Doctor.
Yana and Chantho gaped at the machine, staring at the Doctor in wonder. "Chan it's working tho!" Chantho laughed in relief.
"But how did you do that?" Yana asked, looking like he hardly dared to believe it.
The Time Lord leaned casually against the machine, grinning brilliantly. "Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you. I'm brilliant."
SCENEBREAK
As everyone in the silo prepared for the rocket's departure, Molly offered to help with getting people loaded. As she helped, she ran into the kid Creet from earlier. She stopped him as he was passing by. "Hey there Creet, you getting ready to board?"
The boy nodded with a short, "Yes, miss."
Molly felt a pang of sympathy for the boy, so young and made to work in a place so devoid of hope. "Are you traveling with anyone? Friends, family?"
Creet shook his head. "No, miss."
The matter-of-fact way he said it was painful to hear. "Well, see if you can find someone, will you?" she asked with a slight smile. "It can get lonely out there, and there's nothing worse than traveling alone."
For the first time, the kid smiled. "I will, miss," he promised.
Molly smiled back, telling the boy, "Go on, get to your seat. I'm gonna go back and help the professor. Good luck, Creet."
"You too, miss Hooper," the kid said sincerely. With a last grin, he turned and headed towards the rocket.
SCENEBREAK
The companion ran into Chantho, and the two went back to Yana's lab, where the Doctor, Sherlock, and Jack were hooking up cables to the machine that led out of the TARDIS. Apparently, the guard's water scouting mission had led them to find the blue box, and they'd dropped it off a few minutes ago.
Molly grinned with relief. "Thank god they found her." She turned to the Doctor, who was fiddling with Yana's machine. "Let's try not to lose the TARDIS again anytime soon, alright?"
He chuckled. "That's a promise."
The companion groaned. "Aw, don't say that, now you've jinxed it." The Time Lord just laughed.
Chantho had gone straight from Molly's side to Yana. "Chan Professor, are you all right tho?" The old man was staring at the TARDIS with a very queer expression, one that was knowing, eager, terrified, and confused at once. Molly felt a shiver at the look in his eyes. She wasn't sure what it was, but something was clearly wrong.
The professor groaned, leaning against a seat and holding a hand to his head, but he waved off Chantho's concern impatiently. "Yes, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just get on with it." Chantho hesitated, clearly not convinced, but after a moment turned and went back to help Jack and the Doctor.
Jack turned to Molly. "Connect those circuits into the spar, same as that last lot. But quicker."
Molly nodded. "Got it."
She set to work, listening as the Doctor went to Yana's side. "You don't have to keep working," he told the professor gently. "We can handle it."
"It's just a headache," the professor told him dismissively. "It's just, just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head."
The Doctor frowned. "What sort of noise?"
Yana's gaze became unfocused again, his eyes half-closing, as though he was listening to something no one else could hear. "It's the sound of drums," he said quietly. "More and more, as though it's getting closer."
Molly blinked in surprise. That didn't sound good. The Doctor seemed to share this sentiment, for he asked, "When did it start?"
Yana shrugged, still trying to pass it off as nothing. "Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour." He got back to his feet, chuckling. "Still, no rest for the wicked." He returned to work, though the Doctor still seemed to be worried about him.
Chantho came to work beside Molly. She felt bad for the Malmooth and about Sherlock's earlier treatment of her. "Sorry about earlier," she said quietly.
The Malmooth smiled. "Chan it's fine tho," she assured Molly. She looked up at the Doctor, who was arguing with Jack about something, while Sherlock looked on with impatience. "Chan how did you meet your friends tho?"
Molly chuckled as she thought about it. "Well, I just met Jack a few hours ago actually, he's an old friend of the Doctor's," she explained. "I met the Doctor a year ago, at the hospital where I used to work. It was... interesting, to say the least. I introduced him to Sherlock, who I met around four years ago, at the same hospital."
"Chan you're a doctor tho?" Chantho asked with interest.
Molly nodded. "Sort of. I'm a pathologist, or I was anyway. How about you? How long have you been with the professor?"
At the mention of Yana, Chantho smiled shyly, risking a quick glance at him. "Chan seventeen years tho," she told Molly.
Molly could tell that Chantho really liked Yana. "Seems like you're good friends," she said with a smile.
Chantho nodded. "Chan I adore him tho," she admitted softly.
"Have you told him?" the companion asked.
The Malmooth shook her head shyly. "Chan I don't think he even notices tho."
Molly nodded sadly. "I know how that feels," she said sadly. She stole a quick glance at Sherlock, who was working beside Yana.
What was it going to be like, traveling with the man she liked so much, but who never noticed her?
SCENEBREAK
When everything was ready, Yana began speaking to the captain over the intercom, which seemed to be a bit flaky, the screen occasionally going blank. Molly came up to Yana. "I've finished over there, anything else I can help with?"
"Yes, if you could." He pointed at one of the buttons on the monitor. "Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes."
Molly nodded. "Got it." She positioned herself by the key, pressing it. The captain's face zapped back onto the screen.
"Are you still there?" the captain asked Yana.
The professor nodded. "Ah, present and correct. Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here."
On the monitor, they were able to watch as a man entered a chamber, clothed in protective gear. Molly didn't entirely know what his job was, but apparently they needed to reach something inside that chamber to get the rocket started. "He's inside," the captain told them. "And good luck to him."
"Captain, keep the dials below the red," the professor told him.
The Doctor pointed at the monitor, where the man wore the protective gear. "Where is that room?" he asked curiously.
"It's underneath the rocket," Yana told him. "Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
The Time Lord's brow furrowed. "Stet? Never heard of it."
Yana shook his head. "You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here." They all watched anxiously as the man on the monitor worked. For a while, it seemed like it was going to work, that the couplings would be fixed in time. Then an alarm started blaring.
Chantho's eyes widened. "Chan we're losing power tho!"
"Radiation's rising!" The Doctor soniced a few controls, but nothing seemed to be working.
"The chamber's going to flood," Yana breathed.
On the monitor, they could hear the captain ordering the man out of the chamber. Meanwhile, Jack hurried over to some disconnected cables. "We can jump start the override," he told the Doctor. He went to connect the cables.
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Don't! It's going to flare!" he warned, but it was too late. Electricity flared from the cables, surging through Jack. Molly watched in horror as he dropped to the ground, dead, actually dead this time.
When she finally tore her gaze from Jack, she saw that the man on the monitor had been disintegrated by the stet radiation. She felt a flare of panic. So much had gone wrong in the last few moments, and now thousands of lives depended on them getting this rocket to work. What were they going to do?
Molly hurried down to Jack's side, checking for a heartbeat, even though she knew it was too late. She turned back to the Doctor. "He's dead," she said softly.
Once again, the Doctor seemed unaffected, but Yana looked sadly at Jack's body. "Oh, I'm so sorry," he said softly. He almost reminded her of the Doctor when he said that.
The Doctor turned to Yana, looking thoughtful. He gestured to the monitor and asked, "The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?"
Yana nodded dejectedly. "Without the couplings, the engines will never start. It was all for nothing."
The Time Lord shrugged. "Oh, I don't know." He looked down at Jack with a queer expression, no remorse evident in his eyes. Molly suppressed another shudder. How could a man who blamed himself for absolutely everything look at a fallen friend so coldly? The Doctor turned back to Yana and said, "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"
Yana looked baffled by the question, but nodded. "Yes."
"Well..."
Suddenly, Jack's body jerked, his eyes snapping open as he tried desperately to draw air into his lungs. Molly, who'd had her hands on his chest, looking for a pulse, jerked back in surprise, letting out a scream. She'd been certain this time that he was dead! How was this possible?
The Doctor grinned at everyone's reactions to Jack's return. "I think I've got just the man," he quipped.
SCENEBREAK
Jack and the Doctor went down to the chamber, the Doctor to make sure nothing was sabotaged this time. Molly and Sherlock were left watching them on the monitor, helping keep the radiation levels steady. They were working with Chantho and Yana, who had listened with interest as she'd explained the TARDIS and how they used her to time travel. Now, everyone was off working, or listening to Jack and the Doctor on the monitor. Molly watched as the Doctor and Jack conversed, finally explaining Jack's apparent immortality. It had been a year since she'd known the Doctor, and he still seemed so lost, so in pain whenever he talked about Rose.
She was so caught up in their conversation, it was several moments before she noticed Yana staring at the TARDIS. He had that same enraptured expression as before as he looked at the blue box. It was unnerving.
Molly left Sherlock to the work and headed over to Yana. "What's wrong?" she asked warily.
"Chan Professor, what is it tho?" Chantho asked anxiously.
Yana stared wide-eyed at the TARDIS, that same strange mix of emotions on his face, more intense than before. Eagerness, terror, and that hint of recognition. "Time travel," he breathed. "They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked." He pulled out a watch from his pocket, turning it over in his hand. "Time and time and time again. Always running out on me."
Molly hadn't heard the last part. All she could do was stare at the watch in utter shock. It was an old fob watch, fairly large, with an intricate, circular inscription on the face. Molly's hand went automatically to her shoulder, where for three months in Civil War America she'd carried the satchel that held the Doctor's identical fob watch. She no longer had the satchel, but the Doctor had miniaturized the watch as a birthday present, and now was the size of her thumb, hanging around her neck on a chain. She fingered it lightly, knowing without looking that it was nearly identical to Yana's.
In as even a tone as she could manage, she asked Yana, "Where did you get that watch?" Sherlock looked up from the monitor at her tone, turning to her with his sharp gaze. She knew he could tell something was up, but she wasn't giving any explanations at the moment. Not when she wasn't even sure what was going on.
Yana shrugged, barely glancing at it. Because of the perception filter, her brain told her, but she forced herself not to jump to conclusions. "Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me. I was found with it."
Molly frowned. "Found with it? What do you mean?" She tried to keep the urgency from her tone. If she was right about what this watch meant, then that changed everything.
"An orphan in the storm," Yana breathed. He hardly seemed to know what he was saying anymore. He was too caught up in the TARDIS. "I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this."
One more question. One more question, then she'd know. "Have you ever opened it?"
"Why would I?" the professor breathed. "It's broken."
She was right.
Her thoughts exploded into fragments, running together in their urgency.TimeLordYanaisTimeLordtheDoctor'snothelasttelltheDoctorhavetotelltheDoctorlethimtellYananotalonenotthelasthedoesn'thavetobealone.
As calmly as she could, she told Yana, "Listen, I'm going to see if the Doctor needs help. Sherlock, with me." The detective raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue as she led him out of the room.
The moment they were out of earshot, Sherlock stated, "You recognized the watch."
Molly nodded distractedly. "Yeah, not now, Sherlock, we need to get to the Doctor." She led him through the hallways until they were able to reach the room where the Doctor and Jack were working, rushing around, flipping up switches. The Doctor turned to Molly and Sherlock as they entered. "Ah, nearly there," he told them. "The footprint, it's a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It'll take the both of us to keep it stable - "
Molly interrupted his ranting. "Doctor, Yana has a watch, a fob watch, like this one, your watch!" She held up the watch on the chain. The Doctor froze, staring at the miniature watch in horror. "It's the same watch, almost same writing."
The Doctor stared at the watch with something that mixed horror and hope. "Don't be ridiculous," he breathed.
Sherlock's gaze flicked from the Doctor to Molly. "You think Yana is a Time Lord," he realized.
Jack paused, turning to him in surprise. "But that's impossible, there aren't any other Time Lords," he reminded Sherlock.
Molly ignored them and told the Doctor, "It's the same one, I'm sure of it."
The Doctor shook his head slightly. "It can't be."
An alarm blared overhead. Sherlock and Jack hurried to the controls, working to keep the radiation steady. Jack asked, "You really think Yana could be a Time Lord?"
Molly nodded. "You might not be the last anymore, Doctor." He didn't respond, looking as zoned out as Yana had seemed earlier. Gently, she prompted, "That's good, isn't it?"
The Doctor snapped out of it slightly. "Yes, it is. Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah. But they died, the Time Lords. All of them. They died."
"Not if he was human, he could've survived," Molly argued.
The Time Lord turned suddenly to Molly, tone suddenly urgent. "What did he say, Molly? What did he say?"
Molly shrugged helplessly. "Not much. I think there's a perception filter on the watch, like yours, he couldn't really seem to see it."
"What about now?" the Doctor asked urgently. "Can he see it now?"
Molly had a sinking feeling in her chest. She'd thought the survival of another Time Lord would be a good thing, but not if the Doctor was reacting this way. "I think so, yeah," she told him weakly.
"If he escaped the Time War," Jack pointed out, "then it's the perfect place to hide. The end of the universe."
Molly suddenly remembered something from earlier, one of her earliest travels with the Doctor. "Remember what the Face of Boe said? 'You are not alone.'"
The Doctor froze at the words, as did Sherlock. The two geniuses locked glances. "You think - ?" Sherlock started.
"Yeah," the Time Lord confirmed. He went off to the monitor to check that the rocket had taken off. As he did, Molly turned to Sherlock. "What is it?" she asked urgently.
"You are not alone," the detective repeated. "YANA – You Are Not Alone."
Molly felt her blood freeze. "It wasn't a promise," she breathed. "It was a warning. We have to get to Yana now!"
SCENEBREAK
After getting through the locked door to the control room and running to avoid the Futurekind that had gotten inside, they were finally able to reach Yana's lab. The door to the lab was locked when they got there. The Doctor pounded on the door, more frantic now. "Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in!" When no response came, he turned to Jack. "Jack, get the door open now!" As the captain tried to pry the door open, the Doctor continued to try and get it open. "Professor! Professor, where are you?! Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch."
As the Doctor begged, devilish screeches sounded from down the hallway. Molly froze. "The Futurekind!" The tribespeople had followed them, and were closing in. Jack finally managed to get the door open, and everyone rushed into the room.
The scene that greeted them was chaotic. Chantho was on the ground, dead, and Yana was standing inside the TARDIS doorframe, clutching his side, clearly injured. The Doctor raced towards the TARDIS, but Yana slammed the door in his face. The Doctor banged on the door, shouting, "Let me in. Let me in! I'm begging you. Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in! "
Molly went to help Chantho, but a quick check confirmed she was dead. Jack and Sherlock were working to keep the door closed while the Futurekind tried to get in.
Suddenly, a golden light began to glow from inside the TARDIS, gleaming from the windows. The Futurekind were working harder to open the door; Jack and Sherlock were struggling to keep it shut. "Doctor! You'd better think of something!" Jack shouted.
The glow faded, replaced by a sharp laugh from inside. A new voice sounded from inside, cruelly casual. "Now then, Doctor - ooo, new voice. Hello, hello." His voice oscillated in a Moriarty-esque way. Molly felt something inside screeching against how wrong it sounded.
The voice continued, "Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think."
The Doctor was properly panicked now. He was staring at the TARDIS with wide, terrified eyes, pain heavy in his voice. "I'm asking you really properly. Just stop. Just think!"
The new voice paused, then sounded again, more firmly. "Use my name."
The Doctor blinked helplessly at the TARDIS. "Master," he breathed. "I'm sorry."
"Tough!" the voice, the Master, cried.
The TARDIS began dematerializing, and the Futurekind had nearly broken through the door. "I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Jack cried.
The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the TARDIS as it vanished. The TARDIS was gone, and the Futurekind were nearly through the door. Molly could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage as the door gave way...
TO BE CONTINUED
EDIT: Edited, cause I realized Molly shouldn't recognize Saxon - she's been away for a year, she wouldn't've been around for elections.
Yeah, sorry if the end seems rushed, I wanted to get the chapter done. Have I mentioned how sorry I always end up feeling for Yana? Poor guy didn't have any choice in the matter, and he was willing to sacrifice himself to save the human race. :(
I'll start on Sound of the Drums tomorrow.
Sorry if there's a lack of Sherlock in this chapter, I fit him in where I could. There should be more of him next episode, though.
BloodLily16: Yes, very exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time. I just hope Moffat picks the right person to play Twelve.