"The Mistaken M. Jones"

15. What Is Known

Earth, in the year 4519

At this time in her adventures with the Doctor, Rose Tyler still had no idea in the least that, should her Time Lord friend find himself on death's door, he might have the option to look it in the face and say 'no thanks,' run away, and become a brand new person. It was not meant for her to know it just yet, for before the young girl could tell her tale, Rose would notice Merit was in need of assistance and offer to help him, which would take them both out of the room while Mercedes spoke.

"A message," the Doctor looked at her. "And who gave it to you?" he asked. Mercedes hesitated. Here she'd thought she was finally starting to get a grip on this place she'd been brought to, and now here she was, standing in front of a man she had never seen in her life and being brought to the realization that he was the same man she had met briefly before ending up on this adventure… but with a new face. "Well go on, then," the Doctor encouraged her. "A message isn't much of a message if the messenger doesn't deliver. Where is it?"

"It's… here," she pointed to her head with a trembling finger. "I think. The man, he put it there… Said his name was the Doctor, too, but he didn't look…" The Doctor's face changed, understanding, more than she did. Because if he didn't remember meeting her before, then in all likelihood that meant…

"Right, hold still, this won't hurt," he told her, moving to stand before her. He put his hands on either side of his face, just like the other man had done. She wanted to just look at his face, to try and see what was going on in there while he experienced this message, but in two seconds she felt compelled to close her eyes, too, and she did. When he let go, she looked back up at him. He was still staring at her, thinking. "So, this other man… He wasn't ginger, was he? I've been thinking I might go for that, next regeneration," he nodded to himself.

"Ginger?" Mercedes was lost.

"Right, never mind that, we have more important things to deal with."

"So he really was you?" she blinked, stunned.

"A future me. It's a long story, and as I've said, we don't have much time," he reached for her arm and looked at the clock. She looked, too. In all her haste, she'd almost forgotten it, and what would no doubt happen when it ran out again. 0:09:20. 0:09:19. 0:09:18... "Do you know though, he might have met you first, but now here we are, and I'm the past, so…"

"He knew!" Mercedes blurted out. "He knew he would meet me, and I'd end up here!"

"Thus, the message," the Doctor nodded. He left out the part about how the message also pointed out that this future self of his still had no recollection as to how this all ended, which could mean Mercedes Jones would later cross paths with him once more. The objective then was clear: find out as much as possible, keep the girl safe… "What's been happening here? Those men…"

"Merit has a friend," Mercedes quickly answered, going to the picture she'd seen, hours ago for her, years ago for the violet haired man. "His name is Lenton, he left for… he called it 'his years…'"

"Right, the asteroid," the Doctor nodded.

"He was supposed to be back already, five years ago, but he's not," Mercedes continued, glad to finally have something substantial to share. "I think there's more who haven't come back. And then those guys, they came because Lenton sent a message for Merit, and they're being really weird about it."

"Really… weird," the Doctor repeated the words slowly, as though they amused him.

"Something else, too," Mercedes said. To her, it felt like it might have been nothing, but then it also felt like any detail, even seemingly insignificant, might be important. First she started by telling him how she'd ended up here, the man in the park, the cuff. He knew this, thanks to his future self's message. "But the first two times I ended up here, ten years ago, five years ago, it didn't look like it does now. It looks kind of… sad, now," she told him.

"It does, doesn't it?" he looked at her, sort of impressed.

"It's been more than five years." They turned to see Merit had returned, Rose with him. "You just had to know where to look. But in the last few years, the changes have been more overt," he agreed. "When boys and girls reached sixteen, the year when their years were set by law to begin, they would go, gladly, unless they were like me and had anything that would have disqualify them. They went, they did their years, they came back, and that was all."

"What changed?" Rose asked.

"The last group that returned was ten years ago today. The year after that, the sixteens went, yes, but no twenty-ones returned, nor the year after that, nor the year after, again, and again. And no one will tell us why. They'll say the work demanded that the workers be kept, and for a few years this held, but only for so long, and after that people started asking more questions. And if our questions become too… persistent… Even five years ago, the sixteens were starting to show apprehension, but they went. Then the year after that, that's when they started resisting, to the point where guards had to be sent, to collect them and get them on the ship."

"That's why the streets are empty," Mercedes guessed, and Merit nodded. "Why do they think Lenton has been contacting you?"

"You'd have to ask them," Merit insisted, though there was a flicker in his eyes like, even though he had not been in contact with his orange-haired friend, he would have wished very much for it to be true.

"A lot of fuss for one message," Rose turned to the Doctor, and he nodded.

"Then let's make sure the messenger delivers."

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)