"The Mistaken M. Jones"
24. Come About
Above the Asteroid, in the year 4524
For a beat, none of them said anything. The Doctor's decision, on its own, was harmless. But then once it was considered in full, there were problems.
"We can't just leave," Mercedes was the first to speak, pulling her arm and the cuff nearer to herself, protectively, and it set the others in motion.
"There's no time," the Doctor told her.
"You made it go faster that other time, make it go slower," she offered.
"It won't do it. It only goes forward, it always goes…"
"Then take it off," she held it to him now.
"Can't, see?" he gave a quick wave of his sonic over the cuff, and when she looked, she found that there was a row of dots just on the edge. Six dots, the three on the left blank, the two on the right lit, and the one in the middle blinking. It only lasted a few seconds, and then they disappeared again. "The jumps will run their course. Then, and only then, will it release."
"Fine, then leave me over there, I can hide for another day. Just go and help them," she insisted.
"Mercedes…" he started, but now Clara joined her.
"If we just leave, and we come back in five years, what happens to them, Doctor?" she asked, and he stared at her, breathing out. "Because that's what we'll have to do, won't we? We go after her, we come back, but not now, in five years. How many of them will die in that time?"
"And if I let her go back, and I don't get her back?" the Doctor countered. "The only reason she's here is because they mistook her for one of my friends. She is my responsibility, and I'm not abandoning her."
"Doctor?" They turned at Merit's call. "I have an idea."
"I've told you, there's no halting the cycle…" the Doctor frowned, waving Mercedes' wrist about.
"No, I mean you're right about letting the time run out. And we will get her, just like you said."
"What about Lenton?" Mercedes asked him. "You love him, what if he…" Somehow, she still wanted to be able to believe that they could save him.
"I know what I'm doing," Merit insisted.
"No… you don't… Doctor, you can't," now it was Annabel who jumped in. "She's dying down there. If we wait five years, it'll be too late, she won't make it that long! This might be the last chance I get to talk to her, after all this time…" she cried. She might have gone down on her knees, with how desperate she was becoming.
"Oh no…" Mercedes breathed. It had been bothering her ever since she'd met Annabel, looking at her, she couldn't help but think she reminded her of someone, and now it all came to her. The encounter had been short, all things considered, but it had not been without leaving an impression of some kind. "Savelyn… That's who your sister is, isn't she?" Annabel turned to her.
"How did you know?"
"I-I met her. The first time I ended up back there. I met her, the day she got on the ship to come here. They were going to send me, too, so we were together for a few hours. She… she was so nice," her voice faltered, remembering how that would mean the girl she'd met was now sick and possibly dying. "Let me go, save her, save Lenton, save all of them," she begged. She couldn't believe she was saying this, knowing what it could mean, but she would rather have to figure out some way to hide for a day, than to know that her life had been put ahead of so many other people. She knew what she had to do. "If you come after me, you won't find me. I'll hide, so you'll just be wasting your time," she stared the Doctor down. He paced away, turned back to her.
"You stop that now, you know I can't…"
"There's one thing I know," she breathed, holding up the cuff. 0:00:08. 0:00:07. 0:00:06. "Goodbye, Doctor. Merit, Annabel, Clara…" 0:00:02. 0:00:01. 0:00:00. And she was gone.
The Doctor hurried to the controls, but Clara slipped in between.
"What are you doing?" she asked him.
"What do you think I'm doing?" he picked her up by the shoulders to move her aside, but she bore down, refusing to be moved.
"This is not like you," she stared him down. "You would let them die?"
"Who said anything about letting them die?" he stared right back. "Merit, tell me," he pointed to the former prisoner without turning away from Clara.
"Well…" he sounded momentarily nervous, now that they were looking to him for an answer.
"You'll have to do better than that," the Doctor muttered.
"So we go after her, fine. Then let's just bring the asteroid with us." The Doctor turned to Merit. Clara stared at him, too, as did Annabel.
When the Doctor stepped back, the smile on his face made it seem like he'd been waiting for this. Clara looked at him with some choice words just begging to be spoken. He'd been waiting, so he knew.
"Asteroid just disappeared, didn't it?" she nodded to him.
"It did," he beamed. "Never knew why, one of those mysteries of life I just knew I had to be involved in somehow," he threw his hands out before nodding to the controls, requesting for her to get out of the way. She squinted at him, indicating she was not impressed, and she moved.
One year hence, the sixteens would gather on Earth, because they must, because it was the rule. But the ship would not come for them. And when a ship would be sent out to investigate, they would discover the truth of it: the ship had not come, because the asteroid was gone. They would carry on searching, but without result. No more children would be bound for the asteroid, not again.
TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)