Chapter 13
John held Sarah close, weeping silently. The same thought kept going through his mind. 'She can't die...she can't die...she can't die.' He heard the Doctor and Martha talking in low voices, sounding like they were down a long tunnel. He could feel the TARDIS shivering and bumping under him. He didn't care. He could only think about felt the movement of the TARDIS settle, and heard the TARDIS door open. Everything was in a blur and nothing was registering with him. Nor did he want it to.
Suddenly, the TARDIS gave a huge bump, throwing John into the air. He sat up and looked around. The Doctor and Martha were nowhere in sight. The TARDIS door had swung shut, and it was flying itself, from the look of it. John watched as the cylinder in the control panel whooshed up and down. But it wasn't going in the familiar, smooth up and down motion. In fact, it looked as if it were completely out of control!
John raced up the stairs to the console. "What's wrong, old girl?" He muttered as he tried to get it back under control. But without the Doctor whispering instructions in his ear, he was struggling. But what he remembered, which was basically everything, he put to use.
Suddenly, a consciousness slammed into his mind. He heard the Doctor's voice echo around in his head, like it had done so many times already. "John! Put the shields down!"
The Doctor and Martha had almost reached the building when the aliens first noticed them. A Sontaran fired his weapon at them, as they ducked behind a building. "I've always wondered why I never liked them..." The Doctor murmured. "Can you get us inside?" He asked Martha.
Martha was already feeling along the wall. Her hand found what she was looking for and a square popped away from the wall. Martha flashed her access card across it and a door slid open where the Doctor was leaning, sending him tumbling to the floor.
"Oh, that's clever." He said as he picked himself up. As Martha leapt through, the door slid shut, just after the Sontaran came into view. Martha pulled the Doctor through the total blackness.
"Come on." She whispered. "This is one of the training facilities, but nobody will be here. Not very defendable. UNIT must have seen them coming. They monitor all of England for this kind of disaster. They would have housed up in the barracks."
She opened a door and shoved the Doctor into what appeared to be a small closet. She squeezed herself in alongside him.
"Are we hiding?" The Doctor asked, doubt obvious in his tone.
"No." Martha said as the door swung shut. "Just wait."
Suddenly, the Doctor gave a startled yelp as he felt the floor drop out from underneath him. "An elevator! UNIT's been getting better and better!"
Martha laughed. "All of the buildings are connected to each other by an underground map of tunnels. Every time someone joins UNIT, they're made to spend a whole day in here, doing nothing but memorize the tunnels. Funny, cause they aren't all that big."
By now they had reached the bottom, and the door slid open in front of them. Martha led the Doctor into a tunnel, sparsely lit by occasional overhead lights, dim and flickering. One turn right...another right...one left...then another right. A Dead end. Martha turned to the wall on her left and pushed a small button. A door slid open just like the one they had exited from. Martha and the Doctor crowded in again and the door shut behind them. They waited for the familiar sensation of moving up, but it didn't come. They waited 10 seconds...20...35...50...a minute.
"Something's wrong." Martha muttered. "Can you open the door with your screwdriver?"
The Doctor tried but it refused to budge. The Doctor gave a whistle. "A frequency-modulated acoustic lock. Very well done, UNIT."
"Can you open it?"
"Technically, no. But I have once before. Still don't know how. Let me see..."
Suddenly, a voice filled the small room. "Life forms in the barracks elevator, please identify yourselves."
Martha lifted her head. "Martha Jones, UNIT operative, and...the Doctor."
She looked at the Doctor, and he gave a shrug.
They waited another minute. The air was beginning to feel hot and stuffy. Martha was getting a cramp in her neck. Then, finally, "Prepare for ascension." The feeling came as a relief as the elevator shot slowed, then stopped completely. The door in front slid open and the Doctor stumbled out, then froze. Martha, who had tumbled out after him, plowed into his back, sending them both sprawling to the floor. They looked up. Into the barrels of two guns.
"Who are you?" One of the men asked.
Martha sprang to her feet, accidentally shoving the Doctor's face into the floor again as she did. "Didn't I already say?" She asked. She shoved her ID card into the man's face.
The men lowered their guns. "Ms. Jones. I'm sorry. But when you have an army of aliens pounding at your door, you can't be too careful."
Martha nodded. "Apology accepted. Now, where is General Mosley?"
"This way ma'am."
After waiting a moment to allow the Doctor to pick himself gingerly off the floor, the sentries led them out of the hall and into the barracks control room. Men and women rushed about, some taking places at monitors, some managing the sentry guns outside, some rushing out the door and into the hallway. As they entered, the Doctor and Martha spotted the general on a balcony, barking out orders to the entire room. Martha led the Doctor up the stairs and around to the general. He turned, and a smile lit his face as he saw them.
"Ah, Ms. Jones. I was hoping you would turn up." He said as he shook her hand. "And I see you've brought our runaway friend. Well done."
"Oh, I'm a runaway now, am I..." The Doctor muttered under his breath.
"What do you need done, sir?" Martha asked the general.
"I need you to take a squadron to the main entrance. The invaders are trying to force it open."
Martha nodded. She leaned over the railing and shouted down at the workers "Squadron Two! Arm yourselves and report to the main entrance!"
A small group of about thirty detached themselves from the general hubbub of the room, grabbed weapons from the stacks on the wall, and filed out the door. Martha followed after acquiring a rather large blaster. Halfway out the door, she noticed with surprise that the Doctor was following her.
"You're coming?" She asked.
He nodded. "I need to get to the voids."
"Why?"
He shook his head. "I'll let John explain when he gets back."
Martha nodded, but she didn't miss the fact that he left the explaining to someone else, though she didn't know why.
"I'll be by the elevator until they break in. Which building is closest to the voids?"
"The Cafeteria. Once you get to the tunnels, take one right, then pass one branch, then a left. The dead end should be there. Take my card. You'll be able to open the door with it."
The Doctor nodded. They had reached the main hall now, where they had to separate. The Doctor turned to her. "Martha...well done." He said. Martha thought she noticed a tear in his eye. Then he turned and strode down the hall.
Martha stood for a moment, lost in thought. Then she shook herself. whatever it was, he would tell her when he thought she should know. That was something she had learned about him. He had secrets, but if he thought you needed to know, he would tell you. As she joined her squadron at the door, she had a startling thought. 'What if...no. He wouldn't give up that easily.'
The door was already dented and bent when she arrived. "Defensive positions!" She yelled. "Let's give them a fight they'll remember!"
As the door caved some more, Martha sent a silent thought to the Doctor. "We're counting on you."
The Doctor peeked around the closet door. The hall was empty. Apparently, the aliens were only interested in UNIT's army, if it could even be called that. 100 men and women. He had seen at least twice that come through the voids just while he and Martha were standing there. He shook his head. They didn't stand a chance. "But that" he reminded himself, "is why I'm doing this."
He crept to the window and looked through. The aliens stood all around the barracks. Two Sontarans were managing a large machine in front of the entrance. The Doctor watched as a long, thick pole sprang from it horizontally and smashed into the door, making it buckle and groan. He chuckled. Even the most creative and advanced species of the universe still got their ideas from ancient humans. Once...twice...three times he watched it smash the door. On the third stroke, it finally gave. The doors tumbled back, bent and smashed beyond repair. The aliens poured through as bolts of light began to fly. The Doctor stood and went to the door. He opened it slowly and waited until the majority of aliens were inside, and the ones that were waiting had their attention fully devoted to the barracks and the battle raging he ran for it. Straight toward the voids, the fastest he had ever run in his life. As he reached them, he slowed. 'What kind of a fool runs straight toward Death?' And he answered himself. 'I do'. With that, he dove into the closest void.
What he found inside, he would never be able to describe to anyone. The closest he could ever get to it would be to say that he was looking at all of time and space at the same time. Every second in history, every world in existence, every person who ever lived. He was overwhelmed by it for a moment, then forced himself back to his task. He searched for what seemed like an eternity, striving with every fiber of his being. Suddenly, he slammed into it. But he couldn't get in! Then he almost laughed. He pressed against the brighter of the two consciousness's and mentally shouted, "John! Put the shields down!"