Chapter 7: Star Whales, Failing the Doctor, Dead Walks
I don't own Doctor Who whatsoever BBC does, and I'm just a fan with an idea.
Avery's POV
We fell out of the chute with a scream. The floor was squishy and wet, seemed like a cave with rubbish. A rubbish chute as well the refusal pile? I got up frowning at the smell, it was disgusting. I looked over at where Amy and the Doctor fell. The Doctor stood up and started using his sonic. "High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel." He said
"Where are we?" Amy asked
"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally - puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say... Lancashire. What's this, then - a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave." The Doctor replied and Amy stood up. I felt bad for her, she was wearing a nightie. The Doctor and I at least had some sort of pants.
"It's a rubbish dump, and it's minging!" Amy said as she threw a piece of rubbish.
"Yes, but only food refuse." The Doctor sniffed "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship." I tried to take a step towards them and slipped.
"The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed." I said
"But feeding what, though?" The Doctor asked as he was thinking aloud.
"It's sort of rubbery, feel it. Wet and slimy." I added, we heard a distant moaning and the Doctor stood up from where he was feeling the floor. He had a sudden realization look, it seemed like he figured out where we were.
"Er... It's not a floor, it's a..." He put his screwdriver away "So..." He said
Amy got over to where I was having a hard time getting up. I would get to where I was standing on my feet but slip again. I growled and Amy helped me up. We carefully made our way to the Doctor. "It's a what?" Amy asked, I nodded with a questioning look.
"The next word is kind of the scary word. Take a moment. Get yourself in a calm place." He took both of our hands and told us "Go omm"
"Omm." Amy and I said together giving the Doctor strange looks.
"It's a tongue." He said
"A tongue?" Amy asked
"A tongue. A great big tongue." The Doctor said excitedly.
"This is a mouth? This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?!" Amy said stunned.
"Yes, yes, yes, but on the plus side, roomy." He replied
"How do we get out?" I asked
The Doctor took out his sonic again and said "How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey! If this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach." I could hear grunting and he added "Though not right now."
"Doctor, how do we get out?" I asked again
"OK, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is..." He looked ahead and saw sharp teeth of a closed mouth. "closed for business."
"We can try, though." Amy said started too head towards the teeth.
"No! Stop, don't move!" The mouth started to heave in agitation "Too late. It's started." He said
"What has?" Amy asked as I gave her an 'are you kidding me?' look.
"Swallow reflex." The Doctor and I said at the same time, I looked over at him right before we all slipped and fall back into the refuse. He used his sonic on the mouth walls.
"What are you doing?" Amy asked
"I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors." The Doctor replied
"Chemo-what?" Amy replied
"The eject button." I answered for the Doctor as I got ready to be covered in vomit.
"How does a mouth have an eject button?" Amy asked
"Think about it!" The Doctor and I said together right before we heard the creature growl, on our knees, we looked to see a wave of bile coming towards us.
"Right, then." He straightened his bowtie. "This isn't going to be big on diginity. Geronimo!" Amy yelled, I closed my eyes and held my breath. I heard a great grunting and lot of splashing. We then found ourselves out of the mouth and back in the ship. I was trying to shake off excess bile. This was going to require a shower. The Doctor started to examine the door. "There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick."
"Where are we?" Amy asked
"Overspill pipe, at a guess." The Doctor replied as Amy stood up.
"Oh, God, it stinks." Amy said.
"That's not the pipe."
"Oh." She smelled herself "Whoo! Can we get out?" Amy asked
"One door, one door switch, one condition." He moved to show the Forget button on the door. "We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot." The lights came on to reveal two of those freaky smiling head things. "Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" The faces spun to show mad. "No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?" The faces spun again to show anger. "Oh, stop it. I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?" The booths open and the heads with no bodies stood up showing that they did have bodies. They walked towards us as we backed away.
"Doctor?" Amy asked, as then the masked lady appeared again but without her mask. Liz 10 shot the figures and twirled her pistol before placing it back in its holster.
"Look who it is. You look a lot better without your mask."
"You must be Amy. Liz. Liz 10." Liz said to Amy.
"Hi." Amy said as she shook her hand.
Liz made a disgusted noise and wiped her hand on her cloak. "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick." She headed for the door. "You know Mandy, yeah?" She put her arm around Mandy's shoulder "She's very brave."
"How did you find us?" The Doctor asked
"Stuck my gizmo on you." She threw her device at him "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?"
"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it." He said
"No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject." She replied, I smirked. I had an idea with all of the indications that she had given us so far. I was pretty sure; she had to be the Queen.
"Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?"
"You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot..." The Doctor pointed at her like he's about to argue but ran his hand through his soaked hair instead "I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was." She answered
"Your family?" The Doctor asked, and then one of the figures began to move again.
"They're repairing. Doesn't take them long. Let's move." Liz said and we left the overspill.
She explained who she was as we walked down the lower corridors of the ship."The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!"
"Liz 10?" The Doctor asked and another figure rose of a booth in the corridor.
"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" We ducked as she turned and fired both pistols at the figures, both fall. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." She took us into another corridor. It's the base of a vator shaft.
"There's a high-speed Vator through there." The Doctor looked into a caged area where there were these pincer things. Like a tail of a scorpion. "Oh, yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?" Liz asked us
"Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root." Amy said
"Exactly like a root. It's all one creature - the same one we were inside - reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship." The Doctor said
"What? Like an infestation?" Liz asked
"Someone's helping it. Feeding it." He replied
"Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving." She stormed off in anger and Mandy followed her.
"Doctor?" We asked
"Oh, Amy. Avery." He looked sympathetically at the creatures as they bang against the bars. "We should never have come here." I remembered my video message. It haunted me. I wished I could remember what was in the video. We walked in the direction that Liz had headed and caught up to her. The Doctor walked carefully through the maze of glasses on the floor of Liz's room. "Why all of the glasses?" The Doctor asked
"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what." Liz answered while she sat on her bed.
The Doctor picked up her mask "A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?"
"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this - my entire reign - and you've achieved more in one afternoon." Liz answered.
The Doctor paced the space in her room that wasn't full of glasses. "How old were you when you came to the throne?"
"40. Why?" Liz asked
Amy pulled her hair up. "What, you're 50 now? No way!" Amy, Mandy, and I were sitting on the chaise on the foot of the bed.
"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps." Liz replied
The Doctor sat on the bed, still holding the mask."And you always wear this in public?"
"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting."
"Air-balanced porcelain. Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face." The Doctor said
"Yeah. So what?" Liz asked
"Oh, Liz. So everything." The Doctor replied, the door opened and four hooded men entered.
"What are you doing? How dare you come in here?" Liz said outraged.
"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now." The man replied
"Why would I do that?" Liz asked and then the hooded man spun to show the face of an angry figure.
"How can they be Smilers?" Amy asked
"Half Smiler, half human." The Doctor replied
"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?" Liz commanded to its face.
"The highest authority, Ma'am." The half Smiler replied
"I AM the highest authority." Liz said
"Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am." It said
"Where?"
"The Tower, Ma'am." It said; as we were escorted to a large stone room contain high-tech machines. There is a grating through which Amy and I saw more of the scorpion tail creatures.
"Doctor, where are we?" I asked
"The lowest point of Starship UK." He spun with his arms out as he said "The Dungeon."
"Ma'am." A gray-haired man said coming out of nowhere.
"Hawthorne! So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do." Liz exclaimed
"There's children down here. What's all that about?" The Doctor asked Hawthorne.
"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky." Hawthorne replied
"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?" the Doctor examined the equipment around the dungeon. "Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." He said as joined Liz by an open well sort of thing with a railing around it, inside there seemed to be something alive as I joined them on the other side of Liz.
"What's that?" Liz asked
"Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly..." He replied
"Or?"
"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button." The Doctor said carefully.
"I don't understand." Liz said, I blinked as I thought it out. They were torturing an innocent creature that was being their engine, their mode of movement. I looked around us for a way to release it. My gaze fell onto Amy, who looked at me. We had a telepathic communication, we agreed that we had to save it but it was different. There had to be a way to save it but also saves Starship UK, and then I figured it out.
"Don't you? Try, go on. The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature - this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading - it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving." An intermittent electrical beam shot down into the creature's exposed brain. "Tell you what." He moved to another well and lifts the grate. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing." One of the extensions of the creature breaks free. "This is the sound none of you wanted to hear." He used his sonic and we heard the creature's call, the mournful screams.
"Stop it." Liz said as she couldn't take it anymore, the Doctor stopped using his sonic and she said to Hawthorne "Who did this?"
"We act on instructions from the highest authority." He replied
"I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!" No one moved "Is anyone listening to me?"
"Liz. Your mask." The Doctor said, still holding her mask.
"What about my mask?" She asked, he tossed the mask to her.
"Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say." He said
"Yeah, it's an antique, so?" Liz replied
"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign." He replied
"Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years."
"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again," He took her by the hand "always leading you..." he showed her the voting area. "here." The buttons read Forget and Abdicate.
"What have you done?" Liz asked Hawthorne.
"Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." He replied turning on the screen.
A recording of Liz popped up on screen, like mine. "If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London." The real Liz sat down as she watched "The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart." We watched in silence "he Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button." Liz looked at the button. "Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button." She looked at Abdicate. "Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."
"I voted for this?" Amy said to the Doctor "Why would I do that?" I nodded, agreeing with her. Even though I kind of knew. The reason, the same reason of why we were here.
"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know." The Doctor answered. He turned to me and said "Same goes for you Avery. No use in trying to pretend that you didn't hit Forget." He looked away from me, that hurt for some reason. My chest hurt as I saw the disappointment and hurt in the Doctor's eyes. We had failed him.
"I don't even remember doing it." Amy said, I just stared at the Doctor.
"You did it. That's what counts." He replied
"I'm... I'm sorry." Amy and I said together.
"Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home. " He said as he walked away to the instrument panels.
"Why? Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. " Amy said to the Doctor, kind of angered.
"Doctor!" I said
"Yeah. I know. You're only human." He replied as he examined the instrument panels.
"What are you doing?" Liz 10 asked
"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it." He replied
"That'll be like killing it." Amy said.
"Look, three options. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor any more."
"There must be something we can do, some other way." Liz said
"Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" He said angrily. Amy, Mandy, and I sat against the wall, watching helplessly as the Doctor worked. I stared at him with sad eyes, the one chance I had to travel with him, like I always wanted and I blew it. I looked away as I couldn't stand it anymore. I was about to cry and I haven't cried since he left the first time. Thankfully my attention was drawn away from the emotions inside me as three children entered the room.
"Timmy!" Mandy exclaimed excitedly as she got up and went to him "You made it, you're Ok!" Timmy said nothing "it's me - Mandy." They stopped in front of one of the feelers and Mandy had her back to it. The feeler reached towards Mandy and Amy started to move forward. But surprisingly, instead of hurting Mandy, it gently tapped her on the back and lets her pet it. I started to understand, the whale was the last of its kind, and you grow kind and wise as you age. It couldn't stand to see a child cry... It was like the Doctor. And if it was like the Doctor then...
I came out of my thoughts as I saw Mandy and Timmy petting the feeler.
"Doctor, stop." Amy and I said together as we went to the Doctor. I looked at her surprised, but I knew she had the same thoughts as me. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" Amy continued she went to Liz taking her hand. "Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand." She led her to the buttons.
"Amy, no! No!" The Doctor said as he rushed over, I walked over till I was next to Amy. Amy had Liz's hand on Abdicate, I put my hand over Amy's which was covering Liz's. I nodded at Amy, together we forced Liz's hand to press the button. The whale bellows and the whole ship shakes.
"What have you done?" The Doctor asked us.
"Nothing at all. Are we right?" We said together. We let Liz's hand go and held each other's hands.
"We've INCREASED speed." Hawthorne reported.
"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help." Amy said smiling.
"It's still here? I don't understand."
"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it - that was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind..." I said looking over at Amy to finish, I still couldn't look at the Doctor. Amy continued for me as she said to the Doctor "You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry." Just as Amy finished, I took a quick look at the Doctor and scurried out of the room to one of rooms on the Observation Deck. It would be the last time...
Third Person POV
The Doctor was standing alone looking out onto the starship. Amy joined him saying "From Her Majesty." Holding out the mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK."
"Amy, you two could have killed everyone on this ship." The Doctor said
"You could have killed a Star Whale." Amy replied in the same tone.
He faced her and said "And you saved it. I know, I know."
"Amazing, though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery... and loneliness." She looked sideways at the Doctor "And it just made it kind."
"But you couldn't have known how it would react." He said
"YOU couldn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?" They hugged "Hey."
"What?" The Doctor replied confused.
"Gotcha." She said smiling.
"Ha! Gotcha." He said as squeezed her.
"You should go talk to Avery. She was the one who had dreamed of traveling with you through time and space. She always wanted to since we were 7. She was the one who never stopped believing that you would come back. Go!" Amy said to the Doctor as she let go of him, shoving him in the direction where Avery resided on the deck.
Avery's POV
I was on the deck staring out at the stars and planets. I felt a mix of emotions; anger, disappointment, sadness, that mystery feeling, and failure. I had failed the Doctor causing for us to be sent home. And there is nothing I can do now. But at least Amy and I had saved an entire ship as well the one lone Star Whale left in existence. I leaned against the railing still in my thoughts when a voice said "Avery, you and Amy were right." I stared at the slight reflection on the glass, of the Doctor and I. I stayed quiet, as I waited for what else he had to say.
"Avery, speak to me. Please. I'm not sending you two home. Are you angry at me?"
"No. I feel full of failure, even though I saved so many." I replied. He didn't say anything, just side-hugged me. I choked up as I was about to cry, and turned grasping him tightly in a hug. He patted me on the back. Thankfully I didn't cry, and I let go of him. I stared at the floor, and the Doctor spoke up. "I once knew a girl like you. The similarity between you two, is uncanny. The only difference, is that she's a lot older than you when I met her. She was brave and knew where she stood in life. She wasn't really afraid of anything... except failure. Failing those she cared for and loved dearly. I almost lost her once when she basically almost sacrificed herself to save those she loved. It was the day that Earth was stolen from the solar system. The day that there were planets in the sky. I think she's dead now, haven't heard from those people at Torchwood Three." I looked up quickly, a little nervous. Wondering if he discovered my little secret, but I nodded. I was curious as to who this girl was. There was a little anger inside of me hearing how he talked of her. It was like he was in love with her. But I was kidding myself, he probably just admired her. "Let's go. Can't keep Amy waiting." I said and he nodded.
We walked together back to the TARDIS. We met up with Amy in the market.
"Shouldn't we say goodbye? Won't they wonder where we went?" Amy asked
"For the rest of their lives. Oh, the songs they'll write! Never mind them. Big day tomorrow." The Doctor said, I gave Amy a quick glance as she choked.
"Sorry, what?"Amy asked
"It's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones." The Doctor replied unlocking the TARDIS.
"You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning... Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just... Just because you could?" Amy replied, I gave her a look, a little angered.
"Once...a long time ago." The Doctor said
"What happened?" I asked
"Hello!" The Doctor said, and we heard a phone ringing out of nowhere.
"Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you. No. Hang on, is that a phone ringing?" Amy said, I smirked as she was about to tell him about the upcoming wedding. We walked into the TARDIS. "People phone you?" She asked
"Well, it's a phone box. Would you mind?" He said as he prepared to dematerialize, gesturing to the phone. I went to pick it up but Amy beat me to it. I gave her a mock glare and stuck my tongue out at her, which she returned.
"Hello? Sorry, who? No, seriously. Who?" Amy said into the phone, and she muffled the phone against her shoulder as she said to the Doctor "Says he's Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?"
"Which Prime Minister?" He asked as he motioned to me to pull a lever, which I did.
"Er, which Prime Minister?" Amy said into the phone, and she said to the Doctor "The British one."
"Which British one? "
"Which British one?" Amy asked into the phone, to which her eyes widened and she passed the phone to the Doctor "Winston Churchill for you."
"Oh! Hello, dear. What's up? Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister. We're on our way." He said as we dematerialized. Just as we did, my cell rang "Hello?" I said into the phone as I hung onto a pole.
Ianto spoke into the phone "Avery, I know you're at your sister's, but seems as though we have a problem. Jack just blew up."
"What!? I'm on my way." I said into the phone and hung up. I gave Amy a look who nodded; I said nonchalantly to the Doctor "Where could I change out of my clothes into something not covered in sick?" He told me the directions to the wardrobe and the loo. I walked out of the console room, to the wardrobe. I changed into jeans, leather boots as well a dark green tank-top and black cardigan after showering.
I looked at my vortex manipulator, typed in the coordinates of the reception area of Torchwood. I saw white, and then I was in the reception area. But Ianto was nowhere to be found. I made my way to the hub, and found two people I thought I would never see again. Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper were alive. And one Captain Jack Harkness was yelling at Owen to get out. I spoke up "What's happened?" They looked up in surprise and Toshiko said "If she's here, then there's something definitely wrong." I gave them a confused look. Turned out, the rift had been opened and I ended up in the past instead of current time. My present was their future.
To Be Continued in: End of Days; Torchwood