The Fires of Pompeii- Part 2

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In the Hypocaust Donna, the Doctor and I walk down the Hypocaust.

"You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you." Donna said.

"This way."

"Where are we going now?"

"Into the volcano."

"No way." Donna said, shocked. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She shot me a look of gratitude.

"Yes, way. Appian way."

"But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?" Donna asked. I looked down, remembering what happens.

"Still part of history."

"But I'm history to you. You saved me in 2008. You saved us all. Why is that different?" Donna asked.

"Some things are fixed, some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed." I said. "Trying to change a fixed point in time would be bad. Very bad. Like the entire universe erasing bad."

"How do you know which is which?"

"Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left." The Doctor said.

"How many people died?"

"Stop it."

"Doctor, how many people died?" Donna asked.

"Twenty thousand."

"Is that what you can see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's all right, do you?" Something roars. "They know we're here. Come on."

The Doctor, Donna and I arrive at a large space populated by Pyroviles deep in the volcano.

"It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain."

"There's tons of them." Donna breathed.

"What's that thing?" The Doctor asked. He uses a monocular to look at some distant construct.

"Oh, you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky fall's on its way." Donna told the Doctor.

"That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?" The Doctor thought out loud.

"But why do they need a volcano? Maybe it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?"

"Oh, it's worse than that." The Doctor said while looking at me. I looked down and stared at my shoes.

"How could it be worse? Doctor, it's getting closer. Lucius is on a ridge at the other side of the cavern.

"Heathens defile us. They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods." Lucius says.

"Come on." The Doctor said.

"We can't go in." Donna said.

"Well, we can't go back."

"Crush them. Burn them." A Pyrovile rears up in front of them, so the Doctor extinguishes it with his water pistol. They run to the escape pod.

"There is nowhere to run, Doctor, daughter of London and New York.

"Now then, Lucius. My lords Pyrovillian, don't get yourselves in a lather. In a lava? No? No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?" The Doctor asked as we backed up.

"My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. An almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilisation."

"But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?" Donna asked.

"The Heaven of Pyrovillia is gone."

"What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?"

"It was taken. Pyrovillia is lost. But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise."

"Yeah, I should warn you, it's seventy percent water out there." The Doctor said.

"Water can boil. And everything will burn, Doctor."

"Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Donna, Susan." The Doctor, Donna and I go into the escape pod, which contains the circuit boards. The Doctor closes the doors with his screwdriver.

"You have them, my lords."

Inside the escape pod Donna asked "Could we be any more trapped?" The Pyroviles breathe fire at the escape pod. "Little bit hot."

"The energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete, they can convert millions."

"But can't you change it with these controls?"

"Of course I can, but don't you see? That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano. Vesuvius is never going to erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're going to use it to take over the world."

"But you can change it back?"

"I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes. But, that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world."

"Oh, my God." Donna said. I looked down at the Doctor's glare on me.

"If Pompeii is destroyed then it's not just history, it's me. I make it happen."

"Doctor, the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up."

"Vesuvius explodes with the force of twenty four nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it. Certainly not us."

"Never mind us."

"Push this lever and it's over. Twenty thousand people." The Doctor has his hands on the stone lever. I put my hands on the Doctors, still not looking at him. Donna puts her hands on mine, they look at each other, then we pushed.

The pod has landed. The Doctor, Donna and I get out.

"It was an escape pod." The Doctor stated. We ran as the avalanche of ash rolls down the mountain towards us. The eruption blocks out the sunlight.

The ash is falling on the town. "Don't. Don't go to the beach. Don't go to the beach, go to the hills. Listen to me. Don't go to the beach, it's not safe. Listen to me." Donna said, tears streaming down her face. I made sure my face had no emotion.

I saw a little boy crying. "Come here." Donna said.

"Give him to me." A woman said. The woman picks up the boy and runs off.

"Come on." The Doctor said.

In Caecilius home, Caecilius and his family are cowering in a corner.

"Gods save us, Doctor." Caecilius said. The Doctor goes to the Tardis. I follow.

"No! Doctor, you can't. Doctor!" The Tardis engines start up and she runs inside and slams the door.

"You can't just leave them!"

"Don't you think I've done enough? History's back in place and everyone dies."

"You've got to go back. Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back. It's not fair."

"No, it's not."

"But your own planet. It burned."

"That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I can't."

"Just someone. Please. Not the whole town. Just save someone."

The Doctor looked at me and I nodded my head, up and down to say yes, this does happen. The Doctor worked at the controls as I walked off to my room with Donna staring after me.

I was laying on my bed in a curled up ball thinking about the people whose deaths I had caused. That just made me think back to the deaths that happened during the year that never was. It was my fault. I let it happen.

I heard a knock at the door. Who is it? I asked the Tardis.

The Doctor. The Tardis replied.

No. I can't face him right now. Tell him to go away.

You have to talk to him some time. The Tardis told me. I heard the Doctor's foot steps retreat away.

I sighed and responded, I'm a very good procrastinator.