It had been a long couple of days. Martha had called from earth and he had returned to help U.N.I.T once again. He had almost sacrificed himself to save Earth from the Sontaran's, but instead, yet again, someone else had died. He was now back on the Tardis alone with Kiam as he waited for Donna to return from visiting her mom and grandfather. He had taken Kiam down to the Medibay and was running a scan on him. It worried him that Kiam still didn't talk.
He had tried to ignore it, but Kiam was a year and a half now. He should have at least started to make noises, but except for happy gurgling and crying, he didn't use his mouth to communicate. He tried to be patient, knowing Kiam had come along way from the struggling newborn he had been. But as time passed he was being to wonder if even though Kiam looked like him, he was not a timelord. He looked at the results on the screen. He breathed a sigh of relief to see that his vocal cords were completely developed. He turned his focus to his next concern.
"So you are a quiet little Timelord," He said, seeing the DNA scan showed the extra helix, that meant he was a Timelord as well as human. "That's okay, Daddy does enough talking for the two of us." Feeling better he picked Kiam up off the medical bay and carried him to to the control room. He knew he should have done the scans months ago but his hearts couldn't bare the thought that something might be wrong with Kiam.
The door to the Tardis opens and he smiles as Donna walks in, followed by Martha.
"How were they?" Martha was asking Donna.
"Oh, same old stuff. They're fine. So, you going to come with us? We're not exactly short of space."
"Oh, I have missed all this, but, you know. I'm good here, back at home. And I'm better for having been away. Besides, someone needs me. Never mind the universe, I've got a great big world of my own now."
The door slams shut on its own and the Tardis dematerializes. Throwing him to the ground. "What, What," He says crawling up to look at the screen.
"Doctor, don't you dare!" Martha yells at him.
"No, no, no. I didn't touch anything. We're in flight. It's not me."
"Where are we going?" Donna asked.
"I don't know. It's out of control!" He replied confused.
"Doctor, just listen to me. You take me home. Take me home right now!" Martha yelled at him.
-DW-
He was hanging on to the console one handed and trying to keep Kiam steady with the other.
"What the hell's it doing?" Donna yelled at him.
"The control's not working." He replied as he gets thrown towards the jar with his hand in it. " I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."
"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You telling me it's yours?" Donna said appalled.
"It got cut off. He grew a new one." Martha answered.
"You are completely impossible."
"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely." He smiled at her as the Tardis finally lands. Still holding Kiam's hand he rushes out the doors and what looks like a junk yard. "Why would the Tardis bring us here, then?"
"Oh, I love this bit."
"I thought you wanted to go home."
"I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get." Martha replied.
"Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons." A voice came from
behind them. He turns to see three men pointing rifles at them. "What is with people and guns," He thought to himself as he released Kiam's hand and gently pushed him behind him. He raised his hands.
"We're unarmed. Look, no weapons. Never any weapons. We're safe."
"Look at their hands. They're clean." One of the men said.
"All right, process them. Him first."
Two of the soldiers walk over and take his arms, leading him away.
"Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?" He ask the soldiers. He looks over his shoulder at Kiam, "Kiam go to Donna."
"What's going on?" Martha asks.
He is taken over to a machine and his right arm is pushed into it. He feels something inside grab his hand. Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure." He feels a blade starting to scrape his skin and he cries out in pain.
"What are you doing to him? Leave him alone." Donna yells.
"Everyone gets processed." The man who is obviously their leader says.
"It's taken a tissue sample." He feels the blade start to cut again, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." He pauses. "And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?" His hand is finally released and he pulls it out of the machine quickly.
"Are you all right?"
He looks at the cut on the back of his hand. He goes even colder as he remembers the little boy with the gas mask. The cut is identical to the one that was on his hand. "What on earth? That's just.." He starts to explain to the others but stops as a metal door opens and a skinny blonde woman steps out.
"Arm yourself." The leader says handing her a rifle.
"Where did she come from?" Martha ask.
"From me." He responds.
"From you?. How? Who is she?" Donna demands an answer.
He stands silent as he watches her cock the rifle. "Well, she's, well, she's my daughter." he finally says.
"Hello, Dad." She says.
"You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?" The leader asks her.
"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready." He watches her head over to a barricade.
"Did you say daughter?" Donna ask.
"Mmm. Technically." He responds still processing the information.
"Technically how?" Martha ask him.
"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently."
"Something's coming." she called out. He turns and sees shadows coming towards them on the wall. As they get close they start firing and the soldiers start firing back.
He grabs Kiam and takes cover shielding Kiam with his body again. He looks to his side and is happy to see Martha and Donna taking cover too.
"We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator." The leader calls.
"I'm not detonating anything." He responds. He passes Kiam to Donna and heads over to help a wounded soldier. He sees one of the creatures grab Martha and his daughter fighting another one. She gets loose and grabs the detonator.
"Martha! No. Don't." He calls out as she hits the button. A tone sounds and everyone runs away from it as there is an explosion and the roof caves in.
"You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?" He ask her.
"They were trying to kill us."
"But they've got my friend." He says angry.
"Collateral damage. At least you've still got her and him. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead."
"Her name's Martha. And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone. Have you got that, GI Jane?" Donna seethed.
"I'm going to find her."
"You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you two. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move." The leader says and he has no choice but to listen.
He had taken Kiam's hand again and was walking behind Donna and his new Daughter.
"I'm Donna. What's you name?" She asked.
"Don't know. It's not been assigned."
"Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?"
"How to fight."
"Nothing else?" Donna asked confused.
"The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly." He says, still trying to get his head wrapped around it.
"Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny."
"Jenny. Yeah, I like that. Jenny."
"What do you think, Dad?" Donna called back at him.
"Good as anything, I suppose." He answers indifferently.
They enter a large room with a domed roof. He sees more cloning chambers.
"So, where are we? What planet's this?"
"Messaline. Well, what's left of it." The leader responds.
"It's like a town or a city underground. But why?"
A Man walks up to them "General Cobb, I presume."
"Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone three generations back, before we lost contact. Is that where you came from?"
"Eastern zone, that's us, yeah. I'm The Doctor, this is Kiam and that is Donna."
"And I'm Jenny."
"Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking. We're committed to the fight, to the very end."
"Well, that's all right. I can't stay, anyway. I've got to go and find my friend."
"That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war"
"Yes, I noticed. With the Hath. But tell me, because we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that. So who exactly are the Hath?"
"Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning. A colony where human and Hath would work and live together."
"So what happened?"
"The dream died. Broken, along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists, and began this battle for survival."
"There's nothing but earth outside, why's that? Why build everything underground?" Donna asked.
"The surface is too dangerous."
"Well, then why build windows in the first place? And what does this mean?" She points to the numbers 601707, written on a plaque.
"The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meaning's lost in time."
"How long's this war gone on for?"
"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead."
"What, fighting all this time?"
"Because we must." Jenny answered and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight, and how to die."