Hi guys. How did you like the specials? I did. And I'm super duper normal about the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna and I'm also normal about the Toymaker and since we're talking about things I'm normal about: the episode the Wild Blue Yonder. Super Duper Normal. That's me. :).
All jokes aside, I really liked it, and I'm so excited for Christmas so I can see Fifteen in action. Everything I have seen so far has made me ecstatic.
The fact that RTD is going to be doing some historicals has me feeling very cautious, but I'm sure he's grown since 2009.
Anyway, speaking of things I'm super calm and normal about, superwholocked2016 (aka bookworm) drew Marion not one, but TWO times.
tumblr [PUT A PERIOD HERE] com/superwholocked2016/736468193085964288/marion-henson-the-person-that-you-are
tumblr [PUT A PERIOD HERE] com/superwholocked2016/736527263498141696/marion-is-in-my-head-and-on-my-heart-this-week
Running down a hill was not the most comfortable thing to do while battling through waves of vertigo. The further it got from her the worse her vertigo got which meant it was harder to keep up. It was easier when all she had to focus on was keeping in more or less straight line.
Marion was faster than the average human. Especially over longer distances. But that wasn't because she had super speed. What she had was super endurance. She could break out into a sprint, and then she could keep that speed because her lungs and her legs didn't get tired. Maybe there would be consequences for running for too long at a sprinter's pace, but she hadn't had cause to run for that long so she didn't know.
And it's not like those consequences would stop her anyhow. It's not like she could stop. A cart rolling down a steep hill is still a cart rolling down a steep hill. The distance between the two of them was gradually expanding. Stopping wasn't something that she could afford to do.
She had to keep going. She had already lost some ground staring up at the sky waiting for her arm bones to go back into place.
Marion could hear Peri shouting after the two of them, but she didn't stop to call back to her.
The Doctor went just around a bend and past some trees. She could hear but not see shouting.
The nausea got a bit worse, Marion pushed herself to run harder.
She could see six of the miners crowded around the Doctor, and she was perhaps twenty or so feet away from catching up to them when they lifted the Doctor's stretcher, put it on a cart, and moved it to the cart. The same cart that they had used to put the TARDIS into the pit. And shove it forward.
"MARI!"
Part of Marion wanted to attack the men. But she couldn't do that. She had no real guarantee that Geroge Stephenson would get there to cover the pit in time after all. She wove past them, not changing her stride even though a part of her wanted so badly to crash into one of them and send them to the ground except she didn't, because she knew that the reason they were acting that way was because of the effects of the Rani's experiment, but also she did, but she didn't, but she did, but she didn't, but she…
Well, she didn't have time to do it, and obviously, she wouldn't go out of her WAY to attack them. Not if she didn't need to.
Marion ran along the minecart track. The hill wasn't as steep towards the bottom. She thought that the men might've been behind her, but her blood was rushing in her ears too fast for her to tell. A steady heartbeat that went in time with every slam of her feet on the ground.
She got closer and closer and closer until she was within reach. She reached out her hands. The first swipe reached nothing but air. The second swipe did as well, but then the final swipe, she managed to get her hand on one of the bars. She still felt anxious, but the anxiety was gone. She leaned as far back as she could.
She could feel the heel of her shoes get scuffed up as the cart dragged her forward, but she was pretty sure that it was slowing down. She didn't know if it was slowing down fast enough.
She could probably lift the Doctor out of the pit if she needed to. The TARDIS could survive getting dropped down a coal pit but could the Doctor? She wasn't sure. And she was worried that the answer was no.
Considering Ten had fallen through that skylight and been mostly fine, maybe? But then again considering how Four had died…it wasn't something that she needed to risk.
Or think about.
Marion didn't want to think about any of that and she was going to stop doing that immediately.
Marion saw a man running towards the track from the woods closer and closer, and then because of the way she was hunched down, she couldn't see him at all.
Finally, Marion's sense of dread abruptly disappeared, Marion finally managed to bring the runaway cart to a full stop, and when she stood up, the Doctor was moments away from falling into the now-covered pit.
The man who had pushed the cover in front of the pit (thereby making an excellent impression on a part of her brain she hadn't realized had been capable of feeling non-violently towards strangers) had hair that reminded Marion a bit of Harry Sullivan's only more.
Marion stood up properly.
She rocked back and forth on her feet for a moment and decided that the soles of her boots were mostly even and hadn't been scuffed up nearly as badly as she had feared. She shook her hands, and the palms of her hand gradually turned less red and didn't sting as much.
Her legs and feet felt weird. Marion bounced lightly on her feet trying to get the feeling to disappear as she rummaged through her bag past the Doctor's coat and retrieved the prybar.
"Are tha hurt? Harmed at all?" the man asked.
"No," the Doctor replied, "Mari?"
"Already on it,"
"No, I was asking if you were hurt?"
"Oh. No, I'm fine."
Marion went to one of the manacles around the Doctor's wrist, shoved the tool under it, and started to attempt to tear it out of the table. In the process, she realized that there was a simple magnetic clasp on the sides. Likely designed to be difficult to remove if you were the one locked to the bed and lacked the leverage but pretty easy to handle if you weren't. She felt sort of silly. She lifted up one manacle and then quickly moved to the other side of the bed.
Meanwhile, the man, George Stephenson, seemed far more intrigued by the metal the manacles were made of.
"Hey, this metal. I've ne'er seen the like of it afore. Dost know what foundry forged it?"
Marion found the clasp on the other side and lifted it.
"I'm not sure how you could possibly know that just by looking at it." she said offhandedly, "It looks just like metal to me."
"George Stephenson, I presume?" the Doctor asked as Marion helped the man sit up.
Marion looked back the way that they had come and Peri had just crested over the hill.
"RUN!" she shouted.
A few moments later, the men also crested the hill. Marion's vision swam.
The Doctor's eye flickered towards Stephenson.
"Stephenson, we've got to get away."
The man glanced towards the people running over the hill and then back at them, and gestured with his hand.
"Follow me!"
The man darted off into the woods, with Marion, the Doctor, and Peri close behind.
Marion noticed Peri lagging behind and held on tightly to the other woman's hand.
And honestly, Marion was baffled as to why Peri would even consider wearing that kind of footwear while traveling with the Doctor, but that was beside the point. The woman wasn't having as difficult a time running as she might have if she had still been wearing the pink high heels, but a forest was still a forest, and roots and rocks were everywhere.
But unlike Marion, her skirt wasn't designed for running and evading and movement. Still, having Mairon hold onto her hand and guide her around seemed to help. She just had to make sure that she didn't accidentally grip her hand too tightly.
She had left finger imprints on the sidebar thing. She didn't want to bruise Peri's arm.
They ran further through the forest until they came to a building. George ran straight towards the door and shoved it open.
Luke barrelled into them.
"Mr. Stephenson, his lordship says-"
George cut him off.
"Lift planks."
Geroge was already rushing past him and grabbing one of the planks to shove it in front of the door and Luke grabbed another one.
Marion took a moment to look around the workshop.
The room was full of workbenches, and the benches were all covered with bits of this and that, and even more stuff was piled on top. The kind of things that are leftovers from other projects, but you can't bring yourself to throw them away because you might need them for the next one. So they pile up higher and higher on your workspace until you only have a tiny sliver of space for actual work.
Marion's studio bench always ended up looking something like that about a month or two into the semester. Only, when she did it, her desk was covered in more cardboard and paper and wood than metal.
The room smelled of sawdust and oil and metal and smoke and Marion could hear the mob running closer and closer.
"Mister Stephenson!"
The man tried again, "SHHHHHHHH!" George hushed.
Marion stood still and listened closely as she heard the sound of more people rushing past. The sound of men running came closer and closer and closer and then it started to get farther and farther and farther and as they did, the last of her anxiety faded away.
"Somewhat unorthodox entry." the Doctor remarked.
"Owners notion."
"Lords Ravensworth?"
The other man nodded. "Aye. He thought we'd best be prepared lest the Luddite riots started here. Seems he were right."
"Not completely," Marion replied.
"How so?"
"They aren't Luddites."
"They're not?"
The Doctor started to take off his coat. "That's what you were supposed to think." He folded the coat until it was resting on top of his arm.
"Then why did they attack thee?" George asked.
"Thought I was attending this meeting of yours."
"For that they were prepared to kill thee?" the man sounded.
"Afraid so. Not just me, either."
"What? Tha means Davy, Faraday and t'others are in danger? I find that difficult to credit."
"You disappoint me. A practical man, and yet you refuse to believe the evidence of your own eyes?"
"They've tried to throw the Doctor into a pit! Twice!"
"Oh. Dost thou think we should cancel meeting Miss Mari,"
"And only if the idea of being murdered bothers you," Marion replied. "And it's Marion" She wasn't sure why that came out as such a reflex. Seems that "Mari" was for her what "Doc" was to the Doctor. Some people could call her that. Not just anyone though.
"Pity. I suspect the Doctor's contribution would have put a cat or two among pigeons."
"Marion," Peri tried, "now that's sorted out, don't you think we should do something about trying to get to the TARDIS?"
"I don't think it's safe enough just yet."
"Quite right!" the Doctor nodded. He marched past the two of them to the other side of the lab, putting his coat in her arms.
"What am I supposed to do with-" Marion rested the coat over the back of the chair.
The Doctor raced to a large wood-paneled engine. He excitedly brushed his fingers around the different sides.
"The Blucher, is it?" he asked Luke.
"Aye!"
"Doctor, this is no time to be playing trains!" Peri shouted.
The Doctor ignored her. "Mind if I take a peep?"
"The TARDIS is at the bottom of that pit shaft!"
"We have to wait," his voice became muffled as he stuck his head into the boiler of the engine, " until it's safe. Like Mari said, it's not safe for us to go yet."
"But that could take forever!"
"It could, but it won't." Marion shrugged. She sat down in the same chair she'd dropped the coat.
"When the Doctor were attacked again-"
"Yes, Luke?" Marion replied.
"Was," he paused, "did me father take part?"
Marion nodded.
"I asked me mam about that red mark on his neck. She'd ne'er seen it. She knew nowt about it. Do you know what caused it?"
Peri brought up her hand to rub at the side her her neck and the Doctor finally looked up from the train engine.
Before Marion could answer, George interrupted them, holding out a letter.
"Right, Luke, take this to his Lordship."
"Aye. Dost mind if I also seek me da?"
"Course not lad,"
"Couple things before you go," Marion said quickly, she counted them off her fingers. "Your Dad's not going to be acting like normal. Stay away from the bathhouse, and if you see a man dressed in all black with black and white hair and a beard and terribly unsettling eyes you need to calmly but quickly leave the premises as soon as you can."
Marion…didn't quite remember what exactly the Master had hypnotized Luke to do, but she was fairly confident that it had ended poorly for him. And that confidence was enough for her to at least TRY to tell him to avoid it.
He seemed like a decent kid.
Luke nodded at what she said and walked off.
She wondered if she should have offered to bring out the note herself.
The Doctor and George Stephenson were on the floor together under the steam engine. George seemed thrilled to have someone willing to listen as he went on and on about his cutting-edge new invention and the Doctor seemed thrilled to get what was essentially a private lecture from a brilliant 19th century mind.
Considering how advanced Time Lord technology was, she wondered what he in particular liked learning about it this way was, and if it was at all comparable to say, watching a video essay about some 400-year-old historical figure, except from the figure's mouth.
She supposed she saw the appeal. Even though trains weren't something she was particularly fascinated with outside of their capacity for efficiently getting people from point A to point B, there was something special about a person enthusiastically talking about a topic that interested them deeply.
And George Stephenson was deeply interested in his soon-to-be revolutionary steam engine.
"The key is more power." the man explained, "Now, if I can increase that, a speed of fifteen, even twenty mile an hour will be possible. Now, power is the problem."
The Doctor looked like he was about to say something. Marion pulled the Doctor's coat out of her bag and dropped it on him.
"Wha-MARI!"
She didn't think that he was going to slip up and give the man a hint, but she figured it still would be a smart idea to distract him.
"Doctor," said Peri, "there is a more pressing problem."
The Doctor snapped his fingers. His voice was slightly muffled from under the coat, and he briefly wrestled with it.
"Peri's right." the Doctor snapped his fingers, "I'll talk to you later, Stephenson. Come on." He wiped his hands off on a nearby rag and threw it at them George and ran out.
It's not that she disliked the Doctor's coat. The more she looked at it, the more she was considering looking through the larger TARDIS closet to see if she could find something similar. Maybe as a sweater. Or a button-up. She thought that it looked fun.
She had been told that she had bad taste. Not by people whose opinion of her mattered, but by people.
Anyway, the problem was that it was bright and eye-catching and distinct and no amount of casually waving to the people they passed by could make it possible for him to appear casual and natural.
The Doctor walked very fast through the town, and while Marion could manage to keep up with him just fine, she kept looking back to see Peri lagging far behind them.
"Doctor," Marion said, stopping for a moment. "Wait a moment, give Peri time to keep up."
The Doctor kept going and Marion had to keep meeting his pace in order to continue the conversation.
"Why on Earth is she always lagging so far behind."
"Because you walk fast and have very long legs."
"You don't have a problem keeping up."
"I also don't have the ability to get tired. I can walk as fast as I want for as long as I want without breaking a sweat."
"That's a trait all humans share, isn't it? That's how you used to track down animals for food. Persistence Hunting if I remember right. Terrifying."
"I mean, yes, but for me, it's even more so. Peri can't keep up with you, and you don't want her lagging behind."
"She's not lagging behind she's right-" the Doctor stopped talking. He turned around. Marion also turned around.
"Where's Peri?" he asked.
Marion felt a sudden sharp and terrible pain in her arm, and somewhere in the distance, she heard a noise, the sound of something moving quickly through the air and then-
"Mari!"
The Doctor slammed into her and seemingly slammed the arm pain out of her in the process. They both went tumbling to the ground, the Doctor's arm braced under her head and the rest of his body on top of her. Something whooshed over the two of them and Marion heard the sounds of something crashing into the water.
After a moment, the Doctor got up and pulled Marion up after him.
"Thank you, Doctor. That was quick thinking. Out of curiosity, how good exactly is your peripheral vision."
"Better than your 100 degrees."
"I mean, yeah I figured, but that's not exactly an answer."
"I think you'll find that it is in fact an answer. Just not specific enough for your liking."
"Just not specific enough for your liking." Marion parroted back.
"Jack Ward, you stay where you are!" Marion heard off in the distance.
"Oh! Peri will be looking for us."
"Looking for us?"
"She heard the crash. She might suspect that you were hurt."
Marion caught sight of Peri and her bright yellow shirt and jogged towards her. She was crouched down on the riverbank looking into the water as if she thought she might spot a body or something floating by.
"We're fine Peri!" Marion called out.
Peri looked up. Her shoulders visibly relaxed.
"Stand up," said the Doctor, "You're making a mess of that pretty dress."
Marion helped the other woman to her feet. "The Doctor's got amazing peripheral vision."
"Yes, it was a technique I learned from the Shikari, on the Planet of the Hunters. I only needed a moment or two to grab Mari and get out of the way, I was never really in any danger at all."
The sharp pain in Marion's arm would beg to differ, but she didn't feel the need to go in on all of that.
"Now, none of this would've been a problem if you weren't lagging behind!"
"Lagging behind! It's not MY fault you two walk so fast."
"In my defense, I was trying to get him to slow down."
"I'm sure you were Marion."
"And I shouldn't have to. Peri, your ancestors used to be able to stalk a deer until it died from exhaustion. Surely keeping up with me can't be that difficult."
"Doctor…" Marion sighed deeply. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. "One, you have more endurance than the average forest animal. Two, that was for long distances. Three, you've-"
"Marion?"
Marion looked up at the sound of Peri's voice to see the Doctor's brightly colored coat gradually getting farther and farther.
"Really!" Marion shouted after holding out her hand for Peri to take. "Come on, if we run we can catch him."
The Doctor had made a beeline back to the bathhouse. The moment they were close enough to see where he was going, Peri let go of her hand and ran towards him.
"Oh, Doctor, you can't be serious," Peri called after she tried to get in between the Doctor and the door. "You've only just escaped from there!"
"The victim returns to the scene of the crime." the Doctor casually pushed past her.
"Marion, tell him to stop."
"I don't think either Rani or the Master are in there right now. I'm pretty sure they're somewhere underground."
"How sure?"
Well, the Doctor was inside of the bathhouse, and Marion felt neither pain nor nausea nor any levels of dread higher than unusual so…
"Pretty sure," Marion remarked with a shrug. She pushed through the door. She ducked her head inside. The Doctor beckoned her inside, and so, Marion beckoned Peri inside.
Peri closed the door behind her.
"Look, let's be sensible. Concentrate on getting the TARDIS out of the pit shaft, instead of shoving our necks into the noose again."
"If someone tried, I'd cut them down."
"You mean you'd cut us down."
Marion blinked. "That's what I said."
She was pretty sure that that's what she said anyway. "Anyway, if we went down in that pit shaft right now, there's a solid chance that we would end up coming face to face with the Rani and the Master."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I'm not 100% sure where they are, but I know where they aren't and that's right here. At least, for the time being anyway."
"Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once."
"I would prefer that the two of you not die at all. If you're taking requests."
"What about you?"
"We can play it by ear."
"Hmm," The Doctor murmured under his breath, "Interesting fellow, the Bard. Must see him again sometime. Mari, have you met him yourself yet?"
"No," Marion shook her head, "Not yet."
"Ah, well, I'm sure it's only a matter of time until- Ah-ha!"
The Doctor pulled aside a curtain and started tapping a bunch of different buttons. Marion heard a bunch of beeping noises, and then the wall that had been blocking the way to the Rani's lab moved out of the way.
The Doctor stepped away from the curtain and marched through the open doorway.
"Control panel?" he scoffed, "Most unsophisticated. Not worthy of the Rani."
The Doctor quickly ran in after him. There were two bodies on the ground. Marion knew what she would find, she crouched down next to him and lightly put her fingers to the side of his neck. The bright red spots on the side of his neck had spread into a ring.
The Doctor went to the other body. She looked over at him, and she shook her head. Marion stood on her feet. She looked away from them and thought about the woman that she had met earlier and her baby.
She hadn't fully remembered his fate. But she was glad that she hadn't guessed it would be something positive and told them that. False hope would've done more harm than good.
"The Master?"
"No, more likely the Rani's handiwork," the Doctor said, holding out a hand to keep them from stepping forward. "No, don't come any further. The Rani's quite capable of leaving some very unpleasant surprises behind."
Marion remembered that there was some kind of trap here somewhere. Something involving poison gas. The issue was she wasn't quite sure where it came from, or how to trigger it. Or for that matter, how to avoid triggering it.
And she was, at this point in time, she was 0-2 when it came to avoiding that kind of thing. She was hoping to break that streak.
"That red mark," Peri trailed off, "What was she going to do to me?"
"Drain the substance from your brain that enables you to sleep."
"Melatonin? Is that what she's been taking from their brains."
"Yes indeed."
"The result. Those poor men. Hasn't she any conscience?"
"Short answer?" Marion replied, "No."
"Long answer," the Doctor added, "Like many scientists, I'm afraid the Rani simply sees us as walking heaps of chemicals. There's no place for the soul in her scheme of things."
"Or sense, what do you need to extract melatonin from people's brains for?"
"You don't know what she needs it for. I figured you might,"
"No, I mean. I know what she needs it for. I just don't know why she's trying to get it this way. They sell it. You can buy it in gummy form. Fruit flavored even. All she needs is a bag and a pharmacy. Just kind of shovel some in."
"Perhaps she needs it in a purer form than what she can acquire from a 21st-century drug store.?"
"I mean…maybe?"
The Doctor got up and walked towards the large folding panel decorated with an exploding volcano.
The Doctor stepped close to it. Marion's vision went spinny for a moment, and she grimaced.
"How come you know the Rani?"
"Same way as I know the Master." the Doctor replied.
"They went to the Academy together," Marion replied. Still looking at the volcano. The volcano being depicted had a plume of smoke floating. Marion stared at it for a moment, and then something clicked. "Doc, step away from that panel for a moment."
"Why?"
"Humor me."
The moment the Doctor backed away, the nausea disappeared which was a good sign. It meant she was on the right track.
Marion looked at the panel carefully. She lightly brushed her fingers over the volcano. There, right above the opening of the mountain, there were a few divots. So, this was the right place. Marion quickly took her hand away.
"Mari?"
Marion took a step back, "The panel's trapped."
"A trap!" The Doctor replied, "I would have said Turner's too passionate for the Rani's sterile taste. How? Does it set off some sort of alarm?"
"No. No! No? I don't think so."
"Then what's the trap?"
"Poison gas out of that volcano right there. Mustard gas to be specific."
"Mustard gas!" Peri exclaimed, "why would she use a thing like that?"
"Deadly enough to make anyone who's sneaking around places where they ought not to regret their life choices and also regret having lungs and skin, requires fairly easy to access ingredients, and it's simple enough to put together that you can do it by accident if you aren't careful."
Marion paused for a moment. "It didn't kill you. Or do any kind of long-term harm."
Which, in hindsight, didn't make a whole lot of sense, especially at that concentration, but Marion wasn't exactly going to complain about the Doctor and Peri not experiencing long-term harm.
Marion very carefully crept around the side of the panel. Behind it, she could see a gray wardrobe. Marion lightly drummed on it with her fingers and hummed thoughtfully.
"What've you got over there?"
"Rani's TARDIS," she replied, "At least I'm fairly certain that it's her TARDIS. She's got the mustard gas panel blocking the entrance."
Marion backed away. Slowly and leaned closer to the panel. She walked back and forth around it.
"You could check it over with your screwdriver. There's got to be some way to move the panel aside without triggering it. I don't think the Rani would want to risk gassing up the place every time she got inside her ship. She's got a respiratory bypass, but MUSTARD gas is definitely pushing it."
The Doctor nodded and reached into his pocket for his screwdriver. It buzzed as he waved it around the panel slowly. The buzzing noise increased in frequency when it waved over the volcano itself and the Doctor followed that difference in feeling until he got to a small hidden divot in the side.
"So Doc?"
"Well you're right," The Doctor said, "There is some kind of mechanism hidden inside of the panel. That must be the gas distributor you're referring to. It's good that you mentioned it, I might've triggered it by mistake." The Doctor's sonic continued to buzz softly, "It's rather sensitive to jostling. But if I just do this-" The noise coming from the sonic changed frequencies for a moment, and then the Doctor lowered the screwdriver. "There."
"What?" asked Peri, "What did you do?"
"In theory, I should be able to do this," The Doctor grabbed one end of the panel and started to carefully close it.
Marion watched the Doctor closely. Waiting for a flare of nausea or the sound of hissing and a billow of yellow and, presumably, the smell of something burning and terrible. But none of that came. The Doctor simply took the folded screen and lay it against the side of the wall.
The words "That was too easy," almost spilled from her lips. She kept them shut. She didn't want to tempt fate in that way. She wasn't an idiot.
The Doctor examined the front of the wardrobe for a single moment, and then he zeroed in on a keyhole. He reached into his pocket and took out his TARDIS key.
After a moment, the door clicked open and he pushed through.
"Marion," said Peri, "The Rani's not in there? Is she?"
"She shouldn't be." Marion replied, "Come on!"
The Rani's TARDIS was largely dark grey with hints of red light. In the middle, its console was on a raised platform and involved two slanted silver rings spinning. There were five pillars each with a preserved animal floating in formaldehyde.
The Doctor's TARDIS felt friend-shaped. Like she was surrounded by something that wanted her safe. Like a house haunted by a beloved relative whose love didn't stop when their heart had.
The Master's TARDIS had felt like it knew that she was there, and was actively ignoring them. Not exactly a positive feeling. But it wasn't the worst.
The Rani's TARDIS made the hair on her arms stand on end. She felt like she was being carefully observed by someone or something curious. It didn't feel malicious. But it didn't feel benevolent either. It was a neutral sort of curiosity. It was interested in seeing her and what she did because she was fascinating. It didn't seem like she was in danger of say, the floor dropping from under her, but she was unwilling to go past the console room, lest she end up in the corridors, and whatever was watching her got curious about how she would react to being trapped in an endless maze for however long it decided to keep her.
Marion glanced towards the door to the TARDIS and pointedly kept in her line of sight.
The Doctor either didn't notice, or didn't care about the weird vibes, and he marched right toward the pillars and examined them.
"Hmm. Embryos of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Don't suppose one of these is going to swallow the TARDIS whole one day?"
"What?" Marion remembered that she'd mentioned the thing that happened in Deep Breath. "No, no, no, don't worry about that. That's like, several hundred years and seven faces away."
"Seven. Huh."
"Yeah, Seven."
"Hmm," the Doctor remarked, "Well, that's comforting I suppose. To know I made it that far" The Doctor's attention quickly shifted from the specimens to the many things on the shelves.
"The Rani's a magpie. Do you realise, through these, we could tell just where in the cosmos she's visited?"
"Yeah Doctor, that's super cool, please don't touch anything."
"Yes, yes. Of course. I know that."
Marion didn't comment on the fact that his hands had been moments from picking some weird crystal thing up and that said hands were now lowered by his side.
"What do you think about this Mari? Such a novel approach to chromatography, utilising pi-mesons."
"Oh certainly," Marion replied, pretending that she had any idea what he was talking about.
She needed to get her hands on a 24th-century science textbook aimed at young children. Surely that would help her get at least a base knowledge of things. Surely she could wrap her brain around something targeting kids in the single digits.
In the center of the room, the silver rings of the console started to spin around each other.
"Peri get out of here." the Doctor ordered quickly.
"But what about-"
"Peri." Marion said quickly, "Leave. We'll catch up with you later. Go. We aren't going far!"
Peri looked at them for a moment and then rushed through the door.
A few moments, later, Marion felt the muted curious hum of the Rani's TARDIS moving. It didn't sound the way that the Doctor's TARDIS had. The Doctor stared at the Time rotor with his hands on his hip.
"Incredible. Absolutely incredible," he paced around with his hands in his pockets. "A TARDIS linked to a Stattenheim remote control. The Rani is a genius. Shame I can't stand her. I wonder if I was particularly nice to her, she might? No. No, no, of course not. Well, Marion, what do you think?"
"Do I think that you could butter up the Rani enough for her to show you how she did that?"
"Yes. Do you?"
"No. I don't think she'd fall for it, especially when you still try to keep her from experimenting on people. You've got too strong of a moral compass to pull it off I'm afraid. I'm sure you'll figure out something similar eventually."
She was pretty sure that Ten figured out some way to operate the TARDIS remotely. And if not, one of his successors had.
"Are you sure or are you Sure."
"You'll pull it off eventually. Don't know how, but that doesn't mean much."
The circles came to a halt, and the Doctor looked forward for a moment. The Doctor leaned on the console, and then his eyes flickered towards the door.
Marion and the Doctor realized the same thing at the same time for different reasons. And they quickly moved behind a pillar. The Doctor in the corner between the pillar and the wall, and Marion with her back pressed against the wall next to him.
The Master and the Rani were having what was both a bit of an argument and a bit of a conversation.
"Do I detect a lack of enthusiasm?" the Master asked.
"Grandiose schemes of ruling the universe will mean nothing if that dilettante Doctor is still at large." replied the Rani.
"Dilettante?" the Doctor mouthed offended.
"The dratted man."
"Dratted?" Marion mouthed.
"Don't tell me you've botched something. What did you do, leave a trap for the Doctor? Is that why we couldn't use your TARDIS? I doubt that it worked. Not with Miss Henson around sticking her nose in everything."
"I find that hard to believe she'd be able to do anything."
"You would be surprised."
"Here, take these." the Rani replied without saying anything in response.
"It's power was needed to operate the-"
"Be careful."
"What are they?"
"Well, let's say that they'll change the Doctor's lifestyle."
"How? Will he suffer?"
"Well," Marion could hear a wide grin in the woman's voice. "I can promise you he'll never be the same again."
"Excellent. Why not kill two birds with one stone?"
"Who's the other one?"
"George Stephenson."
"How will that threaten the Doctor?"
The two of them started to leave the TARDIS. The Doctor leaned forward a little bit, just around the column. He looked back at Marion, and nodded.
"How indeed. Marion, do you think you can remember?"
"I can remember just fine."
"Well, can you say it?"
"Landmines." Marion said. Her eyes brightened when she realized that she'd been able to speak "Landmines that turn you into trees." Huh. That doesn't get filtered out. How interesting.
"Transformation into trees? That's monstrous."
"Yes, it is! Which is why we need to leave, find Peri and make sure that Luke is fine,"
"Luke? What about young Luke?"
Marion stood in front of the exit to the TARDIS. Her fingertips drummed on her thigh. "Best case scenario? Nothing bad."
"And the worst-case scenario?" The Doctor started doing something under the Doctor's console. She wasn't sure exactly what he was doing. He was taking wires and moving them elsewhere and swapping buttons.
"Nothing good. Either way, we won't know until we get there." Marion thought for a moment and reached into her bag for her first aid kit. She opened the lid and leaned it against the TARDIS console.
"I know you aren't that kind of Doctor, but let's say, hypothetically, a human had been force-fed a worm that made their mind highly susceptible to control. Is there anything in here that could make them throw it up, or reject it, or make the parasite inert?"
The Doctor finished whatever he was doing and rose from under the Rani's console. "Is this actually a hypothetical Mari?"
"Depends on if this is the worst or best case scenario."
"Give that kit here. I'll see if I can find anything."
The Doctor went through the medical kit for a moment. He hummed thoughtfully and examined a bottle. He read the side of the label closely. He unscrewed the cap, looked inside, sniffed it, and then turned to look at her.
"Mari, this hypothetical parasite of yours. It would have been administered orally correct? Not through the nose or through the bloodstream?"
"Right."
The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "This one then. A dose of that should do it just fine. Hopefully, you won't need it."
"Hopefully."
The Rani's TARDIS had landed just below a circular pit. Looking up, Marion was fairly certain that this had been the well they had tried to throw the Doctor down earlier that day. It was hard to tell.
Marion wondered why the chameleon circuit didn't change the wardrobe into a mound of dirt or a support column or something.
She also wondered which way she had to go to leave.
Marion has been able to find her way through the London tunnels in the 22nd century. But like, she hadn't been sure how she'd done that then, and she was fairly certain that it had had something to do with whatever energy was flowing through her brain, and she doubted that the Rani had a test tube of the stuff. And even if she didn't she wasn't exactly interested in going through the Rani's TARDIS to look for them.
"It's a pretty steep chimney climb. Maybe I could use my knife to help me brace between the bricks. I could climb my way up maybe? And then pull you up. What do you think? Oh, wait," Marion got a closer look. "Oh! There's a chain hanging down! I'm sure I could make my way up that. We can't all be six feet tall though. If you could just give me a boost then I could-"
"That won't be necessary Mari," The Doctor shook his head.
"Oh?"
"Another technique I learned from the Shikari. Tracking! Follow me!"
Marion blinked the sunlight out of her eyes.
They found Peri leaning against the pit they had pushed the lid over top of. She seemed to be looking around waiting for the, but she was looking in the wrong direction. Marion called out to her.
"Heyo Peri!" Marion greeted loudly. Peri stood up.
"There you are! I was starting to think that you'd gotten lost in another century!"
"Oh, if that had happened, you wouldn't have known. I would've gotten the TARDIS to pick you up. Even if I had to do it with a much older Doctor with better piloting skills."
"I have perfectly fine piloting skills, thank you very much!"
"No, at this point what you have you have a TARDIS that adores you and refuses to let you do the cosmic equivalent of driving off a cliff."
"And you just press whichever buttons the TARDIS draws you into pressing with little no rhyme or reason to it."
"There is a rhyme and reason to it. I trust Honey's judgment and press and push and click where she tells me to."
"And what if her judgment sends us in a supernova?"
"She would never do that, and if she did, she probably had a good reason!"
"A good reason to send us into a SUPERNOVA?"
"Well, she wouldn't do it! But if she did well that's her business."
Marion put her hands on Peri's shoulders. "The point is, if it's possible for us to get you, we'll get you. And if it's 'not possible'" Marion put that part in quotes. "I will simply start from a time when whomever told me that it was impossible is dead and do it anyway. If I have to start from the end of everything and work my way backwards I will."
And Marion meant that.
It wasn't that Marion hadn't been planning on saving Peri before meeting her, but actually meeting her face to face had made that change from a hypothetical pinned-on-my-vision-board sort of plan, to something more concrete and definite.
Peri's eventual fate had, like many things in Doctor Who, had a thousand and one possible outcomes. Some better than others. For both Watsonia and Doylist reasons.
Marion was going to do everything in her power to make sure that the Peri of this timeline had a singular, happy ending. And if the Time Lord council tried to get in her way, she would simply have to do it from either a time when the Gallifrey was stuck in a moment in that painting, or from some other time where they couldn't do shit.
But Marion didn't say this, and neither Peri nor the Doctor could have had any idea the hidden meaning behind the words that had come from her lips. And ideally, they would not ever.
Peri for her part didn't know what to say to that. She just sort of stared at Marion for a moment, and then looked away, nodded, and said.
"Well, that's- good to know," she quickly changed the subject, "Lord Ravensworth wants to see you in his office."
(Next Chapter: Gifts of Apollo)
The Doctor: You and I both know that nothing you say is just a hypothetical is ever a hypothetical but I'm choosing to let that slide.