Cold War- Part 2
"Gone? Gone? Gone? What do you mean, gone?" The Doctor asked us hurriedly.
"It's got out." Clara breathed.
"It is time I learned the measure of my enemies." Came Skaldak's voice from somewhere in the dark room. I started breathing heavily, "And what this vessel is capable of."
"No, no, no. Skaldak!" The Doctor yelled.
"Harm one of us and you harm us all. By the Moons, this I swear."
"Clara, Amelia, get out of there. Get out!"
"Clara, we have to get out, now." I whisper hissed to her.
"Don't you think I know that?" Clara hissed back.
Suddenly the door started to open and we both run toward it. Then something whooshes past us and down the passageway. I shivered from the amount of wind it created in the sub and realized it was the Warrior escaping from the room.
"Clara, Amelia! Clara! Clara! Clara!" The Doctor shouts, pulling Clara out as Professor Grisenko pulled me out. Zhukov stood off to the side abit.
"I'm okay. Ha, ha! I'm okay. I'm okay! Where did he go?" Clara says as The Doctor inspected her. Professor Grisenko picks up an irregular pattern of beeps on his earphones. "How did I do? Was I okay?"
"Are you okay, lass?" The Professor asked me in a quiet tone. "You're quite pale."
I leaned up against the corridor wall, took a deep breath and let it out, "I'm fine." I said back. I looked back at Grisenko with a small smile, "Thanks for asking." At least someone's looking out for me. I thought as The Doctor continued to check Clara over and ignore me.
The Doctor stared at Clara. "This wasn't a test, Clara."
"I know, but-"
The Doctor smiled, "You were great, yeah."
Clara hesitated, "Really?"
"Really."
"Doctor? The signal. It's stopped." Grisenko says.
"Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers. Now he's given up hope."
"Hope of what?" The Captain asked.
"Being rescued. He thinks he's been abandoned. He's got nothing left to lose."
"But what can he do, stuck down here like the rest of us? How bad can it be?" Zhukov asked as we walked down a hallway on our way back to the control room.
"This sub's stuffed with nuclear missiles, Zhukov. It's fat with them. What do you think Skaldak's going to do when he finds that out? How bad can it be? How bad can it be? It couldn't be any worse." The Doctor said. Some tumbling rocks hit the submarine and water pours through a hatch. It gets closed quickly, "Okay. Spoke to soon."
"Doctor." I said.
"Yes?" The Doctor asked, looking to me.
"Never say that again."
We regrouped back in the control room. "Comrades, you know our situation. The reactor is drowned. We are totally reliant on battery power and our air is running out. Rescue is unlikely, but we still have a mission to fulfil. If the Doctor is right, then we are all that stands between this creature and the destruction of the world. Control of one missile is all he needs. We are expendable, comrades. Our world is not. I know I can rely on every one of you to do his duty without fail. That is all." The Captain finished his speech.
A little bit later, still in the Control room we were discussing likely scenarios.
"Even if a missile did get launched, that wouldn't be it, would it?" Clara asked.
"It?" The Doctor said.
"End of the world. Game over. I mean, what if they fired one by accident. What would happen then?" Clara asked.
"I told you, Clara. Earth is like a storm waiting to break, right now. Both sides baring their teeth, talking up war. It would only take one tiny spark."
"Yeah, but the world didn't end in 1983, did it, or I wouldn't be here." Clara said stubbornly.
"New. History's in flux. It can be changed. Re-written." The crew are now all armed with rifles. "How many of us are left?"
Zhukov sighed, "Twelve. And we can't find Stepashin."
"We split up and comb this sub. One team stays here to guard the bridge." The Doctor says.
"That's it? That's the plan?"
"Well, it's either that or we stay here and wait for him to kill us."
"Okay."
"Is it true you've never seen one outside of its shell suit?" Clara asked The Doctor.
The Doctor looked at Clara, "Shell suit? Clara! For an Ice Warrior to leave its armour is the gravest dishonour. Skaldak is desperate. He is deadly and we have got to find him."
"Will this help?" Grisenko asked, holding up the sonic screwdriver to The Doctor.
"Ah! You saved it." The Doctor exclaimed.
"No, no, it was on the floor with this." Grisenko said, lifting up the Barbie doll that came out of The Doctor's pocket. The Doctor takes the sonic back and kisses it along with the Barbie doll.
"Ah, Professor, I could kiss you."
"If you insist."
"Later."
"So, why have you got a cattle prod on a submarine?" Clara asked as we walked down a passageway.
"Polar bears."
"Ah, right." Clara replied.
"We run across them when we're drilling. Can be quite nasty, you know." Grisenko said.
"I'd swap one for an Ice Warrior any day. Cuddlier."
"Courage, my dear. I always sing a song."
"What?"
"To keep my spirits up."
"Yeah, that would work, if this was Pinocchio." Clara retorts.
Alarms go off, set off by The Doctor, who is a bit ahead. I was in the middle with Clara and Grisenko bringing up the rear. I didn't understand it. The Doctor's reasoning. He brings me onto his Tardis with him to teach me how to be a Time Lord like him and he just ignores me and goes right to Clara.
"Do you know Hungry Like The Wolf?" Grisenko asks.
"What?"
"Duran Duran. One of my favourites. Come on."
"I'm not singing a song."
The Doctor gets a hatch open and puts his head inside. I heard an echoing growl.
I stopped and tensed, "What was that?"
The Doctor looked back, "Pressure. Just pressure. We're seven hundred metres down, remember?"
"That's not helping." I shot back to him.
Grisenko put a calming hand on my right shoulder, "Don't worry about it. Think of something else." He sings the opening phrase of his song, "I am hungry like the wolf."
"I'm not singing." Clara said, shaking her head.
"Don't you know it?" Grisenko asked Clara.
"Course I know it. We do it at karaoke, the odd hen night."
"Karaoke? Hen night? You speak excellent Russian, my dear, but sometimes I don't understand a word you're talking about."
The Doctor, Clara, Grisenko, and I hear growls and screams and run towards them. When we got there, I saw a stiff arm and hand sticking up. I took in a deep breath and counted to ten, squeezing my eyes shut. I clenched my fists.
"Good God. Torn apart. It's a monster, a savage." Grisenko whispered.
"No, Professor. Not savage. Forensic. Well, he's dismantled them. Skaldak's learning. Learning all about you. Your strengths, your weaknesses. Come on." We ran down a passageway. "Stay here."
"Okay." Clara said.
"Stay here. Don't argue." The Doctor asserted.
"I'm not."
The Doctor nodded, "Right. Good." He climbed up a ladder.
"Oh, it's a young man's game, all this dashing about. Clara, what is it?" Grisenko asked as he saw Clara lean up against the wall with an expression of horror mixed sadness.
"I was doing okay. I mean, I went in there and I did the scary stuff, didn't I? I went in there with the Ice Warrior and it went okay. Actually, it went just about as badly as it could have done but that wasn't my fault."
"Not at all."
"So I'm happy about that."
"Yes."
"Chuffed."
"And so you should be. So what's the matter?"
"Seeing those bodies back there. It's all got very real. Are we going to make it?"
"Yes, of course."
The sub creaked and I could hear growling in the distance. "What was that?"
"The Doctor told you, it's just the boat settling. Tell me about yourself. What do you like doing? Clara? Clara?"
"Stuff. You know, stuff."
"Stuff. Very enlightening. And the Doctor, what he said. Is it true you're from another time? From our future? Clara?"
"Yes."
"Tell me what happens."
"I can't."
"Well, I need to know."
Clara shook her head, "I'm not allowed."
"No, please."
"I can't!"
In a serious tone, Grisenko said, "Ultravox, do they split up?"
A small smile crept upon my face.
Clara laughs. "Funny. You're funny."
Then Skaldak grabs her head from above with both arms. Startled, I lept back and yelled, "Clara!"
"Let her go!" Grisenko shoots and Skaldak retreats. "See? I don't just like Western music."
Skaldak grabed Grisenko as the Doctor ran up. "No, please don't hurt him. Please!" I pleaded with Skaldak.
"You attacked me. Martian law decrees that the people of this planet are forfeit. I now have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this Cold War."
"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this. Listen to me." The Doctor said, his hands up and open, showing no weapons on him.
"My distress call has not been answered. It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge."
"There is something left for you, Skaldak. Mercy."
"Mercy?" Skaldak echoed.
The Captain appeared next to The Doctor, breathing hard from running, "You must wear that armour for a reason, my friend. Let's see, shall we?"
"No, Captain, wait!"
"I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor."
"Yes, great, fine, good, but we are getting somewhere here. We are negotiating. Jaw-jaw not war-war." The Doctor said.
"Churchill?" Grisenko asked The Doctor, still being held by Skaldak.
"Churchill." The Doctor confirmed.
"Very well, we'll negotiate, but from a position of strength." The Captain negotiated.
"Excellent tactical thinking. My congratulations, Captain." Skaldak said.
"Thank you."
"Unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope." Skaldak said.
"What do you mean?" The Doctor breathed. The Ice Warrior's armour entered. Skaldak releases Grisenko and drops into it, "He summoned the armour."
"How did it do that?" Clara asked.
"Sonic tech, Clara." The Doctor answered her, "The song of the Ice Warrior." A submariner empties his rifle at the back of the armoured, "No!" The Doctor yelled.
"My world is dead but now there will be a second red planet. Red with the blood of humanity!" The Warrior roared.
"Skaldak!" The Doctor called, "Skaldak, wait!"
We ran to the control room. I skidded to a halt as I saw Skaldak hooked into the computer and a missile up on the screen, "No! Skaldak, wait! Wait, wait." The Doctor yelled.
Zhukov eyes widened, "He's arming the warheads!"
"Where is the honour in condemning billions of innocents to death? Five thousand years ago Mars was the centre of a vast empire. The jewel of this solar system. The people of Earth had only just begun to leave their caves. Five thousand years isn't such a long time. They're still just frightened children, still primitive. Who are you to judge them?"
Skaldak unplugged himself, "I am Skaldak! This planet is forfeit under Martian law."
"Then teach them. Teach them, Grand Marshal. Show them another way. Show them there is honour in mercy. Is this how you want history to remember you? Grand Marshal Skaldak, Destroyer of Earth. Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier, a murderer. Five billion lives extinguished. No chance for goodbyes. A world snuffed out like a candle flame! All right. All right, Skaldak, you leave me no choice. I'm a Time Lord, Skaldak. I know a thing or two about sonic technology myself." The Doctor ended his speech.
"A threat? You threaten me, Doctor?"
"No. No, not you, all of us. I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion."
"You would sacrifice yourself?"
"In a heartbeat."
"Mutually assured destruction."
"Look into my eyes, Skaldak. Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this. Huh? Can you do that? Dare you do that? Look into my eyes, Skaldak. Come on. Face to face."
"Well, Doctor." The helmet tilts back to reveal the Martian lizard with its lidless eyes. "Which of us shall blink first?"
"Why did you hesitate? Back there, in the dark. You were going to kill this man, remember? I begged you not to, and you listened. Why show compassion then, Skaldak, and not now? The Doctor's right. Billions will die. Mothers, sons, fathers, daughters. Remember that last battle, Skaldak? Your daughter. You sang the songs." Clara spoke.
"Of the Red Snows." Skaldak says.
The submarine shifts and I grabbed hold of a pipe on the wall, "What's happening?" I asked.
"My people live. They have come for me!" Skaldak says.
Zhukov ran over to a computer, "We're rising. We're rising!"
"Six hundred metres. Five fifty." Grisenko called from another.
We heard cracking and scraping and then the sub was still. "We've surfaced. Your people have saved us." The Doctor said.
"Saved me, not you."
"Just go, Skaldak, please. Please, go in peace." The Doctor said. Skaldak is teleported away.
"We did it." Clara cheered, "We did it!"
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, taking out his sonic, "No. No, no, no, no, no. It's still armed. A single pulse from that ship. I'll destroy us if I have to. I will destroy us if I have to. Show mercy, Skaldak. Come on. Show mercy."
The nuclear trigger disarms and the silos close. The Doctor turns off his sonic screwdriver, "Now we're safe."
Clara hugs him for a long moment, "Ahem. Saved the world, then?"
"Yeah."
"That's what we do."
"Yeah." The Doctor responded.
I looked away.
We stood on the top of the sub as we looked up at the Martian spaceship. My arms were crossed and I stood a few paces from The Doctor and Clara, still processing how close the world had come to being obliterated. I looked over at Clara and The Doctor who didn't seem to care at all how close of a call it was considering the amount of smiling going on.
"The Tardis!" Clara exclaimed, "Where's the Tardis? You never explained."
"Oh well, don't worry about that." The Doctor said, shaking his head a little.
"Stop saying that. Where is it?" Clara interrogated.
"Yeah. Well, I wasn't to know, was I?"
"Know what?" Clara asked.
The Doctor sighed, "I've been tinkering, breaking her in. I'm allowed."
"What did you do?"
"I reset the HADS." The Doctor whispered.
Clara looked at The Doctor in confusion, though I was also confused as well, "Huh?"
"I reset the HADS."
"The what?" Clara asked.
"The HADS. The Hostile Action Displacement System. If the Tardis comes under attack, gunfire, time winds, the sea, it relocates."
"Oh, Doctor." Clara said.
I started to walk towards the open hatch that led back into the submarine.
"Haven't used it in donkey's years. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, never mind, it's bound to turn up somewhere. " His sonic screwdriver starts whirring and he takes it out of his pocket, "Ooo. Ha, see? Right on cue. Brilliant."
"Brilliant." Clara said.
"The Tardis is at the pole."
"Not far, then."
The Doctor sighed, "The South Pole."
Clara smiled, "Ah."
"Could we have a lift?" The Doctor asked Captain Zhukov as The Doctor saluted the Martian spaceship as it flied away. I was now at the hatch, looked back at the small group who were happily chatting among themselves. I sighed. They didn't even notice I wasn't there. I took a deep breath and climbed back into the sub to see how the sub was doing from Grisenko. It was going to be a long trip to The South Pole.
Thank you to my favorite: Zaconator and Zackis