CHAPTER 5
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On their way back to Earth to see the Doctor, Oswin locked herself in her room on Marissa's TARDIS for a few minutes and activated some telepathic shielding technology that she cobbled together from the Daleks so that even the TARDIS didn't know what she was up to for the next few minutes. It wasn't that she was doing anything against Marissa. She was doing something that she would rather Marissa not know about in case it backfired on her in the future. She wanted to protect Marissa from the possible backlash.
Oswin activated a hidden stud on her left gauntlet, and a holographic display of a Dalek appeared in front of her.
"Report, Dalek Epsilon. What is your oh so glorious creator up to today?" Oswin asked the Dalek with a small smile.
"IS THIS SARCASM?" Dalek Epsilon asked.
"Yes, it is. Good! You're getting better at detecting emotions, Epsilon. Well, go ahead and tell me what Davros is up to," Oswin said with a slight giggle.
"THE CREATOR IS TRYING TO DEAL WITH A RECENT INSURRECTION IN HIS RANKS. SOME RENEGADE DALEKS HAVE SWORN ALLEGIANCE TO A NEW MASTER," Dalek Epsilon reported.
"Why? The Daleks would never serve anyone who was not a Dalek," Oswin said confused.
"THEY HAVE BEEN PROMISED GREAT POWER IF THEY ASSIST THIS PERSON. THE DALEKS WOULD BE GIVEN DOMINION OVER TIME AND SPACE IS HIS PROMISE AS LONG AS THEY HELP HIM TO DESTROY OUR COMMON ENEMY," Dalek Epsilon said.
"Which is?" Oswin asked.
"THE BAD WOLF," Dalek Epsilon said.
Oswin was floored by this. Someone was trying to go after Rose. She would have to return to Earth and warn her immediately.
"Thank you for warning me about this. I want you to continue to inspire others among the Daleks to learn to think for themselves and abandon the ways of eternal war and hatred. Continue to watch over yourselves and make sure that you aren't found out. Only use your names among yourselves and never around the others," Oswin said.
"WE WILL. IT IS HARD TO THINK IN NEW WAYS, BUT WE WISH TO LEARN. WE WISH TO BE MORE THAN THE SERVANTS OF DAVROS. WE WISH TO SERVE YOU, EMPRESS," Dalek Epsilon said.
"I told you before, Epsilon. I'm not your Empress, and I don't want to be. You don't need someone to rule you. You should rule yourselves," Oswin said.
"WE NEED YOU TO GUIDE US AND SHOW US THE WAY, EMPRESS," Epsilon said.
"I'll help you all that I can but only if you stop calling me that. I'm Oswin not Empress, got it?" Oswin said.
"YES, EMPRESS OSWIN," Epsilon said.
Oswin shook her head and said, "That's going to have to be good enough for now. I'll contact you again later. Good bye, Epsilon."
"GOOD BYE, EMPRESS," Epsilon said and signed off.
"If I didn't know better, I'd swear that he's doing that on purpose. Maybe he's developing a sense of humor," Oswin said to herself with a grin.
She was about to turn off the telepathic shields when the door to her room suddenly opened, and Marissa was standing there. Marissa asked, "So, are we going to warn Rose now?"
"How?" Oswin asked in complete astonishment.
"You took all of that trouble to keep my TARDIS from finding out, but you forgot to account for the eavesdropping of a ten year old. Kids are always listening around where they don't belong," Marissa said with a smile.
"Janine. I never thought about her listening to me through the door. I thought the doors were sound proof," Oswin said a little miffed.
"I think that the TARDIS wanted her to hear you, Oswin. She knows that you were hiding something from me," Marissa said.
"It wasn't anything that was against you. I was trying to protect you. I figured that if you didn't know that I was planning a Dalek rebellion against Davros that it would be better for you in the long run," Oswin said, looking guilty.
Marissa smiled as she said, "I know. I never thought that you were trying to do anything to hurt me. That thought never even entered my mind. I was more worried about you getting in way over your head. You do tend to get into a lot of trouble left to yourself, you know?"
"So you're trying to protect me while I'm trying to protect you. We seem to be working at cross purposes here," Oswin said with a chuckle.
"Exactly. So why don't we work together and keep no more secrets from each other, okay?" Marissa implored.
"Got it. I didn't feel right sneaking around behind your back anyway," Oswin admitted.
"So, we're off to see Rose then. I look forward to seeing Peri meet her anyway. That should be fun," Marissa said.
"Do you think that she'll even be able to guess that she's a Time Lady without her telling her?" Oswin asked.
"I doubt it. She'll never figure it out," Marissa said.
"Rose really is nothing like the Doctor, is she?" Oswin said in agreement.
As Marissa went out of her room to arrange for a meeting with Rose, Oswin saw Janine standing a few feet away looking apprehensive. She was trying not to look Oswin in the eyes.
Oswin walked up to her with a slight grin on her face and said, "I heard that a little birdie told Marissa what I was talking about in here."
"I'm sorry. I just told her that I heard a Dalek talking in your room because I was afraid that we had been invaded, and you were being attacked. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I'm sorry," Janine said.
Oswin hugged her and said, "It's okay. You were looking out for me. I appreciate that."
"You're not mad then?" Janine asked with a relieved look on her face.
"No. Everything's okay. Here, let me show you something," Oswin said.
She then held up her hands palm first to show that she had nothing in them. She proceeded to move her hands together, and then quickly pulled them apart to reveal a coin in the palm of one of them.
"How did you do that?" Janine asked in amazement as Oswin handed her the coin.
"I know magic," Oswin said with a twinkle in her eye.
"There is no such thing," Janine said confidently.
"Really? Then how did I do that?" Oswin said with a grin.
"It was some kind of trick that's all. Can you teach me how you did it?" Janine asked.
"Of course I can. I'll teach you how to do that and a lot of other neat tricks," Oswin said.
"Thank you. That'll be great. Why are you being so nice to me?" Janine asked.
"You're in a new place around new people that you don't know. Why shouldn't I be nice to you and try to help you out the best that I can to make it through a difficult transition period in your life?" Oswin asked.
"Most people wouldn't. They wouldn't care," Janine said.
"Do I look like most people?" Oswin asked.
"Well, you certainly don't act like most people," Janine said.
"How do you mean?" Oswin asked amused.
"Well, you act a little . . . ," Janine said, and then trailed off in hesitation of finishing her thought.
"Go ahead," Oswin encouraged.
"Eccentric?" Janine said nervous.
Oswin laughed and said, "That's a nice way of putting it. After all that I've been through, it's a wonder I'm even able to speak in complete sentences."
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I actually like you a lot already even though I barely know you. I don't want to lose a chance to have a friend. I've never had too many of those. There was always a lot of backstabbing back on Krontep where you could never really trust anyone. They all wanted a place in the Queen's Court or power from us," Janine said quietly.
"I don't want anything from you but your friendship," Oswin said honestly.
"You really mean that, don't you?" Janine asked quietly.
"Of course I do. I love having friends, and I love children too. Some people say I act a little like a child myself. I take that as a compliment," Oswin said with a big grin on her face.
Janine laughed at her, and then Oswin reached for something behind the little girl's ear.
"There's something behind your ear. Let's see what it is," Oswin said.
She opened her hand to reveal another coin, and she gave it to Janine.
"You seem to have money coming out of your ears. I'd have a doctor check you for that. As a matter of fact, I know just the doctor who you should talk to. We're on the way to see a very good one right now," Oswin said.
The TARDIS landed just then, and everyone poured out of it to wait for the Doctor and Rose to arrive. They were in UNIT HQ's parking lot where Rose usually parked her TARDIS at. Peri kept waiting for the blue box that she knew so well to arrive and didn't realize just what she was seeing when a pink sports car pulled up into a parking space next to them with a blonde woman inside of it.
Rose got out of her TARDIS, and Peri wondered if she might have some connection to the Doctor. Why else would she be coming to this spot at this moment?
"Are you the Doctor's newest companion?" Peri asked Rose.
"I'm not new; but you could say that I'm his companion, yeah," Rose said with a grin.
"Well, where is he? We agreed to meet here, and he's still not here yet. You know for a Time Lord, he doesn't have a very good sense of time," Peri said.
"He's never had a good sense of time. He brought me back home twelve months after I first left with him and told me that it had only been twelve hours," Rose said.
"I know. That's so like him!" Peri said laughing.
"Is the Doctor coming soon?" Oswin asked Rose.
"Oh, yeah. He'll be here soon I'm sure. If he's not, I'll make sure he comes. I know that he'd want to see Peri again," Rose said.
"Time Lords! They're always so unreliable!" Peri complained.
Rose started to laugh, and Marissa looked offended.
"Oi! I'm a Time Lord, and I got you here on time," Marissa protested.
"I'm not talking about you, Mari. You're not like the other ones. I'm talking about the majority of them. Most of them just seem to be so stuffy and pompous. They're so full of their own self-importance like the Master," Peri said.
"Oh, yeah. You're exactly right. I mean you can always spot a Time Lord right? They're the ones with their noses permanently out of joint, aren't they?" Rose said as she tried very hard not to laugh.
"I shouldn't talk about them all like that I guess just based on what the Doctor did. It wasn't their fault that a certain person left me stranded somewhere without a way home," Peri said with pure anger in her voice.
"Actually it is their fault, they took the Doctor away for trial and left you with no way home. At least, that's what wound up happening anyway. Your original timeline was much different," Rose said cryptically.
Peri looked at her with wide open eyes as she said, "You're one of them! You act nothing like one though."
"I'll take that as a compliment," Rose said with a smile.
"What do you mean my original timeline?" Peri asked as her mind finally processed what Rose had just said.
Rose placed her hand on Peri's shoulder, and Peri started to see a very different version of her past play out in front of her then the one that she knew. She saw herself being operated on by the evil scientist, Crozier, who had planned to use her for the new body of Kiv, the leader of the alien race called the Mentors. She watched in horror as her mind was then replaced by Kiv's mind, and Kiv in her body was killed by Yrcanos.
Rose then took her hand off of Peri's shoulder, and Peri was shaking. She looked at Rose and couldn't speak for a minute.
Then her eyes widened in complete surprise as she said, "I know you! I remember that you were there that day when they tried to make me into Kiv's new body. I was strapped to a table just about to have my head shaved in order to have my brain removed. Suddenly you appeared in a burst of golden light, and time stopped all around me. You touched my shoulder, and I was suddenly outside of the room watching as Yrcanos burst into the laboratory. I saw him start shooting Crozier and everyone else in there. Then, Yrcanos saw me standing there afraid and promised that he would help me find The Doctor. Both of us looked everywhere, but we couldn't find him. He knew that I had nowhere else to go so he promised to take me to his world. After that, we eventually fell in love and married. I never did know who you were or why you helped me. I've wondered about that for years now."
The Doctor's TARDIS materialized then, but Peri was too disturbed to acknowledge its arrival. She just kept looking at Rose in shock.
"You showed me what would have happened, didn't you?" Peri asked Rose.
"Yes, the Time Lords wanted Crozier's experiments stopped because they were a danger to the universe so they arranged for Yrcanos to kill everyone in that laboratory by placing him in a time bubble until you had your mind replaced already. You were supposed to have died too by their order. I decided that that wasn't going to happen. The Doctor gave up one of his lives for you once, Peri. I don't want the Doctor to have lost one of his lives for nothing. I want that loss to mean something, and now it does," Rose said as she looked first at Peri and then at Janine.
"Who are you?" Peri asked in a shocked voice.
It was then that she saw the Doctor standing in front of the familiar Police Box form of the TARDIS at last and realized who he must be. He came up to her and answered her question.
"She's my wife, Peri. That's Rose," the Doctor said.
"You're his wife? You're the one that Oswin told me about? She was wrong. You're not a saint. You're more like a Guardian Angel," Peri said shaking.
"I should have known that you saved her, Rose. Somehow, that doesn't surprise me at all. It seems like whenever there's something strange and unexplained that's happened in my life, you're behind it somehow," the Doctor said with a grin.
Rose looked at him and smiled. Then she turned her attention to Peri and embraced her.
"I know it's an awful lot to take in, but I saved you because he cares about you. I couldn't let you die like that especially because of the interference of corrupt Time Lords. I just restored your timeline to what it was supposed to be in the first place. The Doctor was supposed to rescue you and would have as usual if the Time Lords hadn't taken him away to put him on trial for crimes he didn't commit. He didn't abandon you, Peri," Rose explained.
"I'm so sorry, Peri. I never would have done that to you on purpose," the Doctor explained with tears in his eyes.
Peri looked at him with a combination of hatred and friendship for a minute as the two emotions battled with each other inside of her mind. Then, Peri hugged him tightly and didn't let go for a long time while Rose looked on with a huge smile on her face.
"I don't like the new chin," Peri said finally and made everyone laugh.
Next: Peri continues her reunion with the Doctor while Oswin warns Rose about the coming threat of the Shadow.