The group made their way through the secret doorway into the so-called temple, the Doctor quickly locking the door behind them before Cobb and his men could follow.
"Oh, that was close." Jenny breathed in relief, and the Doctor answered cheekily, "No fun otherwise."
"It's not what I'd call a temple." Donna's voice had the three Time Lords turning to stare at what was behind them.
The Doctor's brow shot up while Jenny gaped at the enormous engine that was right ahead of them while around them were walkways and pipes shaped like the inside of a rocket.
"It looks more like-" Jenny began in awe and the Doctor completed her sentence.
"Fusion drive transport. It's a spaceship."
"What, the original one?" Donna asked, looking to her companions. "The one the first colonists arrived in? "
The redhead then blinked before looking around searchingly while the Doctor answered thoughtfully, "Well, it could be, but the power cells would have run down after all that time. This one's still powered-up and functioning."
"Where's Terry?"
The Doctor whirled around in alarm at Donna's question; before he sighed in relief as Terry popped her head around a corner.
"Come on, you lot." She called. "You're slowing me down."
"One day," the Doctor grumbled as he led the other two after Terry where she was scurrying up the stairs. "Your impatience is going to get you into trouble."
"Oh, Doctor, who do you think I learnt it all from?" Terry chuckled. "You can only blame yourself!"
That had him grinning, but it wasn't for long as they reached the upper floor only to find sparks flying from the door at the end of the walkway from where someone was cutting through the metal.
"It's the Hath." Jenny gasped as they all paused to stare uneasily at the door. "That door's not going to last much longer. And if General Cobb gets through down there, war's going to break out."
"Not if we can help it." Terry replied as she and the Doctor made to dash off again - when the Doctor stopped beside a console station.
"Look, look, look, look, look." He called, pulling Terry to a halt beside him. "Ship's log."
He whipped on his glasses before typing quickly on the keyboard, pulling up data.
"First wave of Human/Hath co-colonisation of planet Messaline." He read while Terry observed him.
"You know, I meant to say earlier but you really are sexy with your glasses on."
Jenny and Donna stared at Terry while the Doctor looked rather amused.
"Why, thank you, angel." He preened and Donna smacked her face in her hand.
"Oh, flirting." The redhead groaned at the same time Jenny demanded, "Is this the time?"
"Probably not." Terry agreed. "But then again, we are possibly about to become embroiled in a war that may take our lives. And it would be a shame to die with an unsaid compliment."
"It's always the time for compliments, Jenny - lesson thirty-four." The Doctor added approvingly before he continued to read off the screen. "Phase one, construction. They used robot drones to build the city."
"Doesn't explain the bloody war." Donna pointed out, making the Doctor frown.
"No… it doesn't." He muttered before scrolling down to continue reading. "Phase two initiated… Final entry. 'Mission commander dead'?"
Jenny looked up in shock while the Doctor continued to read, "'Still no agreement on who should assume leadership. Hath and humans have divided into factions.' That must be it!"
He smacked his hands down on the sides of the console while Donna frowned and tilted her head to the side as she spotted something on the opposite wall. The Doctor didn't notice, too busy jabbering to an attentive Jenny.
"A power vacuum. The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other. Start using the progenation machines, suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war."
Terry wasn't paying attention to him as she watched Donna as the redhead walked away from the console to stare at the screen on the opposite wall, but Jenny was. The blonde pointed out to her father, "Two armies who are now both outside."
"Exactly." The Doctor nodded before he turned to Terry. "And you're unusually quiet. What're you looking at?"
Terry grinned as the Doctor turned to see she was watching Donna.
"Donna?" The Doctor called curiously, not having noticed before that the companion had wandered off. Donna waved at the screen before her.
"It's the numbers." Donna explained and the others crowded around her.
The Doctor peered at the numbers, 60120724, displayed on the screen and he murmured in confusion, "It's like the numbers in the tunnels."
"No, no, no, no, but." Donna insisted. "Listen, I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers."
Donna smiled back at them briefly before she turned back to the screen.
"It's staring us in the face." The redhead explained.
The Doctor frowned, glancing at Terry for clues. She just smiled proudly while Jenny asked aloud the question on both her and the Doctor's minds. "What is?"
Donna turned around to face them. "It's the date."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he hurried swiftly to be beside Donna as the redhead held up her notepad where she'd been scribbling down all the numbers they'd passed by along the way while comparing it to the numbers on the screen.
"Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date," she explained, "then you've got year, month, day. It's the other way round, like it is in America."
"Oh!" The Doctor gasped as understanding finally dawned. "It's the New Byzantine Calendar."
Jenny stared at them blankly, not understanding, while Donna continued, "The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out from here, day by day, as the city got built."
"Yes." The Doctor smiled proudly, looking at Donna fondly. "Oh, good work, Donna."
"She's good." He thought, sounding like a doting father, and Terry shook her head.
"There's more."
The Doctor cocked his head, glancing at Terry before looking back at Donna as the redhead explained impatiently, "Yeah. But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was sixty twelve oh seven seventeen. Well, look at the date today. "
She gestured at the screen in front of them and the Doctor read the last four digits.
"Oh seven twenty four."
His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"No." He breathed, realization crashing down on him.
"What does it mean?" Jenny asked at last, unable to hold silent any more.
"Seven days."
Jenny looked at Terry in surprise. Donna nodded to Terry as the Time Lady continued, "That's what it means, Jenny. It's only been seven days since the war broke out."
Jenny stared while Donna agreed, "This war started seven days ago. Just a week. A week!"
"They said years." Jenny argued but Donna shook her head.
"No, they said generations." The companion corrected. "And if they're all like you, and they're products of those machines-"
"They could have twenty generations in a day." The Doctor breathed. "Each generation gets killed in the war, passes on the legend. Oh, Donna, you're a genius!"
He hugged Donna while Jenny gaped like a fish.
"But," Jenny gasped as she tried to make sense of it all. "All the buildings, the encampments. They're in ruins."
"No, they're not ruined." The Doctor corrected. "They're just empty. Waiting to be populated. Oh, they've mythologised their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Terry!"
He turned, only to find Terry gone again.
"Angel?!" The Doctor called, alarmed, when Terry's voice floated down from somewhere above.
"Doctor! Hurry up!"
"Terry?! Hang on!" The Doctor shouted, fear gripping his hearts as he dashed up to where Terry's voice had come from.
Donna and Jenny hastily followed, concerned by how alarmed the Doctor was; only to bump into said Doctor when he screeched to a halt at the sight before him. Terry was hugging Martha, who was beaming with equal joy as the Time Lady at being reunited with her friends.
"Doctor!" Martha called happily and the Doctor choked out, "Martha…"
"Martha!" Donna called happily before stopping to stare at the mess that was the other woman. "Oh, you're filthy. What happened?"
"I, er, took the surface route." Martha explained sheepishly while Terry drew away to return to the Doctor's side.
She cocked her head when she saw his face however and she asked silently, "Theta? What's wrong?"
He shot her a dark look.
"Don't run off like that - I was worried something had happened." He scolded severely and Terry rolled her eyes.
"I can take care of myself, thanks." She grumbled, earning a strange look from Donna and Martha.
But it was the Doctor and Terry who were surprised when another voice said in their heads, "Can you two not argue here? It's really uncomfortable to hear my parents fighting in my head… or flirt."
"Sorry, Jenny." Terry said sheepishly, looking at the young blonde.
The Doctor also opened his mouth to apologize, when they heard a very familiar male voice shout from several floors below.
"Positions!"
"That's the General." The Doctor muttered. "We haven't got much time."
"We don't even know what we're looking for." Donna protested.
"A wise wizard once said, 'when in doubt, always follow your nose'." Terry piped in suddenly.
"What?" Donna asked blankly while Jenny asked curiously, "Are there wizards where you're from?"
"It's a quote from a movie based on a book." Martha answered with a slightly puzzled expression. "And now that you mention it, angel, is it me or can you smell flowers?"
Donna and Jenny also sniffed, trying to smell what Martha had, while the Doctor said slowly, "Yes. Bougainvillea."
He glanced at Terry before taking her hand. He led the way as he said cheekily, "I say we do as the grey wizard said and follow our nose."
The group hurried along, making their way deeper into the spaceship, leaving behind the sounds of Cobb and his army once more - at least, for the time being.
The Doctor maintained the lead, hand-in-hand with Terry the entire way. Not that she minded. But Terry's mind was wandering, going many places at once while remaining exactly where she was with the Doctor. What should she do? Could she stay by and let the future play out the way it should? Jenny would be fine in the end… but the Doctor wouldn't know. On the other hand, it would give Jenny her own freedom to fly.
Terry shook herself from her thoughts as they entered the greenhouse filled with thousands of plans. And in the center of the greenhouse...
"Oh, yes." The Doctor grinned from ear to ear, genuinely delighted. "Yes. Isn't this brilliant?"
The group slowly entered the clearing that was situated right in the center of the greenhouse, all of them staring at a glowing, green globe that sat on a pedestal like a miniature sun in the middle.
"Is that the Source?" Donna asked in awe.
"It's beautiful." Jenny murmured admiringly, staring at the misty substance that floated and flickered inside the globe.
"What is it?" Martha asked curiously and the Doctor beamed.
"Terraforming." He explained. "It's a third generation terraforming device."
"So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?" Donna asked, not understanding. Math was her specialty. Biology was not.
"Because that's what it does." The Doctor explained. "All this," he gestured around the room, "only bigger. Much bigger. It's in a transit state."
He gestured at the globe that kept the contents sealed inside.
"Producing all this must help keep it stable before they find-"
A crash from behind had the Doctor whirling around just as the Hath appeared amongst the trees. Another noise from the other side had the Doctor spin again to see Cobb and his men rushing out from the opposite side, facing the Hath with the Doctor and his friends right in the crossfire.
"Stop!" The Doctor shouted, grabbing Terry and trying to shield her behind him. "Hold your fire!"
Terry however refused to be protected as she instead pulled Jenny, Donna and Martha behind her and as out of the way as possible from any potential gunshots. Luckily, the Hath and the humans barely cared, more focused on each other and the Doctor who stood in between them.
"What is this, some kind of trap?" Cobb growled.
The Doctor raised a hand placatingly and he reminded, "You said you wanted this war over."
"I want this war won!" Cobb snarled but the Doctor rebuffed him instantly.
"You can't win. No one can." He looked between the Hath and the humans, demanding their attention with his earnestness. "You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese whispers, getting more distorted the more it's passed on."
The Doctor moved his hands slowly before him to point at the globe in front of him.
"This is the Source."
There were general mutters from both sides of the war at the Doctor's revelation but he carried on without pausing for them.
"This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory, not some creator. It's a bubble of gases. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution."
The Doctor strode more boldly forwards, ignoring the way all guns were cocked and aimed warily at him now. He just continued, desperately trying to get the two species to understand.
"Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable."
That made people pause; Terry could see it. Cline was staring at the Doctor with wonder now, the unease slowly disappearing from his and many others' faces as the Doctor continued.
"Look around you. It's not for killing, it's bringing life."
Terry watched as slowly, one Hath after another started to lower their guns while they stared in a mix of uncertainty and awe.
"If you allow it," the Doctor continued in a softer voice. "It can lift you out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting, no more killing."
The Doctor reached out to take the globe and no one moved to stop him; well, almost no one. But the Doctor was moving too fast for the one dissenter and the Time Lord shouted loudly, "I'm the Doctor, and I declare this war is over!"
With that, he threw the globe where it smashed against the hard floor. Immediately, all the gases and energy that had been sealed within were released. The contents spread, rising like the Aurora up into the sky while the crowd below watched with bated breath. It was almost like the energy was indeed a breath of life as the soldiers seemed to wake up from the killing mindsets they had been literally born into.
Slowly, one by one, Hath and humans removed their guns and weapons, setting them aside as they stood to meet a new future that they had never imagined to be possible until that moment - all except one.
The Doctor didn't notice the exception, too giddy with joy. Jenny was similarly amazed as she sidled up to her father and asked in a soft voice, "What's happening?"
"The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process." The Doctor answered with a small smile as he went from watching the gases to looking at his daughter.
"What does that mean?" Jenny asked, looking at her father in wonder.
"It means a new world." The Doctor answered, and a smile began to spread across Jenny's face too.
It faded however when she noticed movement to the side, and Jenny's eyes widened when she saw Cobb aiming his gun at the Doctor.
"N-!" Jenny began, pushing the Doctor aside as she rushed to place herself between Cobb and her father. Donna and Martha realized the danger a second later, too late to move into action.
But they had all forgotten once again about the tiny brunette amongst them, a small figure who packed much more punch than one would imagine looking at her. And in that second before Cobb squeezed the trigger, Jenny felt her own body being shoved aside and she stumbled just as a gunshot fired.
"No!" Jenny gasped, whipping her head back around to see the petite woman in high heeled boots standing where she had been seconds ago, clutching at her chest where an alarmingly red stain was blossoming on her shirt.
"Terry!"
Donna, Martha, and the Doctor shouted at the same time, rushing forward toward the Time Lady where she swayed unsteadily. The Doctor's face was pale and his eyes wide with alarm as Terry's hands tightened on her chest, her hands soaking up the blood that began to spill out. But Terry had a small smile of relief on her face when she slowly lifted her head and saw Jenny safe.
"Ha."
Terry's legs gave out beneath her and she fell, clutching her bloodied chest. The Doctor got to her in time, his long legs having taken him across the fastest, and he caught her as she collapsed, trembling, into his arms.
Still, she managed to get out cheekily despite the pain, "Not quite impatient this time, was I?"
The Doctor's face was ashen, clearly not appreciating her joke at a moment like this. His sentiments were shared by the others who had reached them by now.
"Not again." Martha whispered in horror as she found herself yet again pressing her hand against her friend's neck, checking Terry's pulse after the Time Lady had been shot. "Terry, you heroic idiot."
"Sorry, Martha." Terry got out, choking slightly as the blood worked its way up her torn lungs, while the Doctor cradled her.
"Mum."
Jenny leant over the Doctor's shoulder, staring down at the brunette woman with wide, sorrowful eyes.
"You're okay." Terry whispered, and Jenny whimpered.
"Thanks to you." She looked mournfully down at the woman she had come to see as a mother and Jenny asked, "Why would you do that? Why would you push me away?"
Terry smiled.
"You're our daughter." She answered simply. "The Doctor's daughter… you'll do amazing things."
"Don't talk anymore." The Doctor shushed as Jenny swallowed back her tears unsuccessfully. "Save your strength."
"Oh, Doctor." Terry chuckled, although she just ended up coughing up blood. "You have surprisingly terrible advice for someone called 'doctor'."
"Will she be all right?" Donna asked anxiously as the Doctor lapsed into silence at Terry's words.
Martha hesitated, before she glanced at the Doctor as she answered Donna, "Maybe… this happened before. There may be hope. If..."
"It's coming."
They looked down at Terry who had spoken, but the Time Lady was looking down at her hands which were glowing faintly gold.
"Oh, thank God." Martha whispered in relief while Donna's eyes widened and the Doctor's arms tightened around Terry.
Terry watched as the glow slowly started to get brighter on her hands before, with great effort, she fixed her gaze back on Jenny.
"I may not see you again." Terry whispered, and Jenny bit her lip as a tear spilled over. "But, we'll always be with you here."
Terry tapped her own chest weakly, not having the strength to do more. Jenny nodded, smiling a little as Terry grinned at her tiredly.
"There's a whole new universe here and out there, Jenny. The most beautiful worlds." Terry whispered with great effort. "You be sure to go see all of it. Okay?"
"How will I know where to go?" Jenny asked quietly, her blue eyes shining with tears. Terry smiled.
"'Aim for the moon'." Terry quoted. "'If you miss, you may hit a star."
"W. Clement Stone." Martha murmured and Terry nodded weakly. "I suppose it's literal in this case."
"You never know what you might find." Terry encouraged, squeezing Jenny's fingers once although it was so weak it was more of a slight pressure on the blonde's hand. "So go for it, yeah?"
"Yeah." Jenny answered softly, swallowing back tears. "I will. I will, Mum."
Terry smiled, before her eyes moved to the Doctor as she felt herself start to disappear.
"Take care, Theta." Terry managed to think, and he answered aloud softly, "Until I see you again, my angel."
Terry smiled, before she closed her eyes as she disappeared in a flash of blue light tinged with a burst of gold as her regeneration energy exploded in space and time.
The Doctor watched her go, a sad smile on his face. He knew that he would see her again, but now he would know how Second Terry died. The cheeky woman he had first fallen in love with, had first kissed, and had first confessed to; he would know that that woman was gone.
"Goodbye, my love."