A Town Called Mercy- Part 1
It had been about a year since Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Amelia had forgiven me and in return, I had started telling her about my time in the fifty first century, when Jack had met me for the first time. Lia was now sixteen.
Jack had gone into town to sell some of our crop and to make business deals, leaving Amelia and I at our Farm, "Honey, the Carter's are coming over at one. Make sure to clean your room." I called up the stairs to Lia.
"They aren't going to be in my room, why do I have to clean it?" Lia yelled back.
I sighed, "You know very well that Arthur and Megan will be in your room eventually. Just clean-" I trailed off as I heard the Tardis sound, "Come on!" I groaned as Lia ran down stairs, cleaning her room forgotten.
"The Doctor's here?" Amelia asked as the Tardis sound grew louder.
"Jack's not going to like this." I said and called Jack on my cell phone that I still had from Earth.
"Susan, what's wrong?" Jack immediately answered.
"The Doctor's here." I said, "He probably wants us to go on a trip, I'll try to get back before the Carter's come at one."
"Alright, just be careful." Jack said, "I'm just about make an important business deal. I'll see you later. Love you."
"Love you too." I said as Lia made a disgusted look on her face. I hung up and put my cell phone in my pocket and stuck my tongue out at Amelia, who laughed and we both made our way outside to the Tardis.
"Where's Jack?" The Doctor asked once we were inside the Tardis.
"In town making a business deal." I replied, "He said we can come as long as we get back by twelve, the Carters are coming over at one."
"I'm taking Amy and Rory to see the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico, do you want to join us?"
Lia looked at me and I nodded, "Sure!" Lia said, excitedly, "I've always wanted to visit Earth."
The Tardis landed and Amy, Rory, Lia, The Doctor and I filed out of the Tardis into what I knew to be The Old West in America, and not Mexico. The Doctor parked the Tardis just outside of Mercy and the entrance to Main Street. In front of a wooden frame with a cattle skull on it, a Keep Out sign and the residents count recently changed from 80 to 81. Surrounding the town is a circle of lumps of wood.
"Mercy. Eighty one residents." The Doctor said, more to himself than us.
"Look at this. It's a load of stones and lumps of wood. What is it?" Lia asked, squatting down to inspect it.
"A load of stones and lumps of wood." The Doctor replied taking out and sonicing it.
Lia stood up, "Mum, I want a sonic."
"The sign does say Keep Out." Rory said.
"Lia, no, not until you are older." The Doctor responded for me, "I see Keep Out signs as suggestions more than actual orders, like Dry Clean only." The Doctor says to Rory. We step over the load of stones and lumps of wood that circle the town and head down the street, towards the Grand Central Bank. The residents watch silently. An electric street lamp outside the Post Office sparks.
"Well, that's not right." I remarked, staring up at the electrical street lamp.
"It's a street lamp." Rory said, still not understanding.
I turned to Rory, "An electric street lamp about ten years too early."
Rory shook his head, "It's only a few years out."
"That's what you said when you left your phone charger in Henry the Eighth's en-suite." The Doctor fired back.
"Doctor, er-" Amy said and trailed off, watching the towns folk give us aggressive stares from inside the buildings.
"Anachronistic electricity, Keep Out signs, aggressive stares. Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?" The Doctor asked.
"Doctor." Amy chastised. The Doctor starts chewing on a toothpick and walks on, ignoring Amy.
We walked until we saw the sign for a Saloon, "No." I said to The Doctor, "Please, don't do what I think you are about to do."
The Doctor stopped, turned around and looked at me, "We're in the old west, what do you think I'm going to do?" Completely ignoring Amy's and mine protests, The Doctor walks into the Saloon.
The piano playing and the conversations stop dead when walked in. I grimaced.
"Tea. But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in." The Doctor said after he had sat at the bar and leaned his elbow against the bar table.
"What're you doing here, son?" The bartender asked.
"Son? You can stay." The Doctor replied.
An African American in a natty black suit speaks. He is the Preacher, "Sir, might I inquire who you is?"
"Of course. I'm the Doctor. This is-" Everyone stands up once The Doctor said 'Doctor', "No need to stand. You see that? Manners. Oh, thank you." A man in a top hat starts measuring the Doctor. "But I don't need a new suit."
"I'm the undertaker, sir." The man in the top hat says and Lia gasped.
A younger man in a brown suit and bowler hat steps forward. I'm guessing at the character name. It might be Dockery instead, "I got a question. Is you an alien?"
The Doctor stuttered, "Well, er, bit personal. It's all relative, isn't it? I mean, I think you're the aliens, but in this context, yes. Yes, I suppose I am."
After that confession, The Doctor is hoisted up and carried outside of the Saloon, Amy, Rory, Lia and I running after the crowd, "Guys!" The Doctor yelled.
Two men go for Amy and Rory, grabbing them and another goes for Lia, "Lia! No!" I yelled, rushing forward, but two men have to hold me back from rushing at the young man holding Lia. The man looked to be in his late teens, early twenties.
"Doctor! Put him down!" Amy yelled.
"Don't think we won't kill you." The bartender said, pointing a gun at Amy.
"Leave him alone!" Rory shouted, angrily.
"Rory, everything is completely under control. Guys, guys, guys." The Doctor said as we made our way to the edge of town and the crowd throws The Doctor out of town, literally, "Ow." When he turns around, they all point their revolvers at him. The Gunslinger suddenly appears in the distance.
"He's coming. Oh God, he's coming." The Preacher says, a pale tint to the color of his face.
"Preacher, say something." A man says, while pointing a pistol at The Doctor.
The Preacher starts a prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." The Doctor turns around to see the Cyborg approaching by dimension jumps. The Doctor looks shocked, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done."
A mustachioed man fires a shot in the air, "You, bow tie. Get back across that line." The man says, as the Doctor had backed up, back in the town boundaries. He pulls back his coat to reveal a six pointed metal star with the word Marshal on it, "Now."
The Doctor swallows steps slowly over the rocks and wood, and the Cyborg stops then vanishes.
"Isaac, he said he was a doctor. An alien doctor." The man with the pistol said.
"Is that a reason to hand him to his death?" Isaac asked.
"Isaac, it could be him."
"You know it ain't." Isaac walks back down the street, nodding to Amy, Lia and I, "Ma'am's."
"Just letting him go like that? Be seeing you, boy." The man with a pistol said. The young man lets go of Lia and the two men holding me do the same and everyone walks home, throwing glances back at us.
A little while later, we are in the Marshal's Office, "What was that outside?" Lia asked the Isaac. The Doctor was peeking through the blinds, looking outside as the town's residents went about their business. Amy and Rory were standing near each other while Lia had her back against the railing separating the office from the square corner jail cell. I stood off to the side, next to the door handle, leaning up against the wall, my arms crossed.
"The Gunslinger. Showed up three weeks back. We've been prisoners ever since. See that border line stretching round the town? Woke up one morning, there it was. Nothing gets past it, in or out. No supply wagons, no reinforcements. Pretty soon the whole town's going to starve to death." Isaac responded to Lia.
"But he let us in." Rory said.
Isaac sighed and sat down, running his right hand through his hair, "You ain't carrying any food. Just three more mouths to feed. We'll all die even sooner now."
"What happens if someone crosses the line?" The Doctor asked. Isaac throws the Doctor a Stetson with a neat hole in it, "Ah, well, he wasn't a very good shot, then."
"He was aiming for the hat." Isaac remarked.
"He shoots people's hats?" The Doctor asked, confused.
Lia sighed, "It was a warning shot." Everyone looked at her, "What? Besides riding, I like to shoot on my free time."
"Ah, no, yes. I see. Hmm." The Doctor said, staring at the hat with the hole.
"What does he want? Has he issued some kind of demand?" I asked.
"Says he wants us to give him the alien doctor." Isaac said.
"But that's you." Amy said, looking at The Doctor, "Why would he want to kill you? Unless he's met you."
"And how could he know that we'd be here?" Rory asked. He lowered his voice. "We didn't even know we'd be here."
Amy sighed, "We were aiming for Mexico. The Doctor was taking us to see the Day of the Dead Festival."
"Mexico's two hundred miles due south." Isaac said.
"Well, that's what happens when people get toast crumbs on the console. Anyway, I think it's about time I met him, don't you?"
"Who?" Isaac asked.
"The chap outside said I could be the alien doctor, but you said I wasn't, so you already know who it is. Two alien doctors. We're like buses. Resident eighty one, I presume, so beloved by the townsfolk he warranted an alteration to the sign. Probably because he rigged up these electrics, and I'm guessing he's in here, because if half the town suddenly wanted to throw me to my death, this is where I'd want to be."
"I don't know what you-"
The man in the cell throws back his blanket. He has a curved mark down the left side of his face, "Isaac, I think the time for subterfuge has passed. Good afternoon. My name is Kahler-Jex. I'm the doctor." Jex said.
"The Kahler. I love the Kahler. They're one of the most ingenious races in the galaxy. Seriously, they could build a spaceship out of Tupperware and moss." The Doctor said.
"All right. How did you get here?" I asked, turning my head to look at Jex, not moving from my original spot. I knew what and who Jex was and I did not want to go near him.
"My craft crashed about a mile or so out of town. I would have died if Isaac and the others hadn't pulled me from the wreckage." Jex said.
"And you stayed, as their doctor."
"On my world I was a surgeon, so it seemed logical. And it gave me an opportunity to repay my debt to them."
"Listen to him. Talking like it was nothing. Tell them about the cholera." Isaac said, standing up and moving around his desk to stand next to The Doctor.
"Now, Isaac, I'm sure our guests are-"
Isaac cut him off, "Two years after he arrived, there was an outbreak of cholera. Thanks to the doc here, not a single person died."
"A minor infection we'd found a treatment for centuries ago." Jex said.
"No, no, what, what do you call them?" Isaac asked, snapping his fingers, trying to remember, "The electrics?"
"Using my ship as a generator, I was able to rig up some rudimentary heating and lighting for the town."
"So why does the Gunslinger want you?" Lia asked.
Isaac shook his head, "It don't matter."
"I'm just saying, if we knew that-" The Doctor started until Isaac cut him off.
"America's the land of second chances. We called this town Mercy for a reason. Others, some round here, don't feel that way."
"Now, Isaac, we've discussed this." Jex said, looking pointedly at Isaac.
"People whose lives you've saved are suddenly saying we should hand you over."
"They're scared, that's all. You can hardly blame them."
"Them being scared scares me. War only ended five years back. That old violence is still under the surface. We give up Doc Jex, then we hand the keys of the town over to chaos."
"Did you try to repair your craft? Surely someone with your skills-" The Doctor tried again.
Jex shook his head, "It really was very badly damaged."
"We evacuate the town. Our ship's just over the hills, room for everyone. I'll pop out, bring it back here, Robert's your uncle."
"Really? Simple as that. No crazy schemes, no negotiations." Amy asked, staring at the Doctor in a bit of shock with how simple the plan sounded.
The Doctor waved his hand, "I've matured. I'm twelve hundred years old now. Plus I don't want to miss The Archers."
"Oh, so you're not even a tiny bit curious?" Amy asked.
"Why would I be curious? It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin. Curious? Of course I'm not curious."
"Son? You've still got to get past the Gunslinger. How you going to do that?"
The Doctor puts on the Stetson. The Doctor smirked, "With a little sleight of hand."
Amy stayed in the Saloon while Isaac and Rory ran out in the desert, with Isaac dressed in Jex's cloths. Lia and I followed The Doctor to where the Preacher and his horse were, "Doctor?" Lia asked, hesitantly.
The Doctor stopped and looked at Lia, "Yes."
Lia glanced at me then looked back at The Doctor, "Can- may I come with you?"
The Doctor looked at me. I swallowed, "As long as you do what The Doctor says and under no circumstances go inside Jex's craft." The Doctor glanced at me in confusion.
"I thought Jex crash landed. Wouldn't there be nothing left of the craft?" Amelia asked me.
"If you happen to see that some still remain, do not go in. Those are my terms. You can go, but don't go inside." I said, thinking of what The Doctor would be seeing with those video's. I did not want Lia to see that.
Lia thought about it, "Deal."
I smiled and hugged her as The Doctor went to ask the Preacher if he could borrow the horse, "Be careful."
"I will."
"He's called Joshua. It's from the Bible. It means the Deliverer." The Preacher told The Doctor as The Doctor hopped onto the horse, followed by Lia. Lia put her arms around The Doctor's waist, holding on tightly.
"No, he isn't. I speak horse. He's called Susan, and he wants you to respect his life choices." The Doctor said and smacked the reigns, galloping out of town.
"He's strange, tha' one." The Preacher stated.
"Yes, yes he is." I agreed and made my way back to the Marshal's office.
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