Goodbye, 2024
2
Monday, 22nd of December
What did the Doctor do at night? For at least seven hours every day, Clara was completely dead to the world, which left the Doctor adrift on Earth with little to do. In the past, she would get up to all sorts of things at night while her companions slept; she used to while away the small hours dallying with River Song while the Ponds were in bed, but of course she couldn't do that anymore (nor did she want to). It was a constant battle coming up with projects to do, experiments to run, machines to build, and now she had a spare room full of junk. Sometimes she did actual work like tried to come up with lesson plans she rarely used, or resorted to playing video games on an array of obsolete devices. And other nights, she got so tired of the lonely hours that she went for walks.
People – usually Rose – had asked her why she didn't just go travelling with Jenny after dark, but she didn't like straying far in case Clara had one of her nightmares. It was also the reason her night-time walks were a rare occurrence, and she wouldn't have left the house at all had Oswin not arrived two days ago to spend the Christmas holidays with them. If Clara did have a nightmare, it would be Oswin who would be the first port of call. And there was also the fact Oswin was sharing the bed because she was too volatile at present to be left on her own, the same as every Christmas. So, perhaps she shouldn't have chosen that night to go for a walk, but she had done regardless, and she was out prowling suburban Brighton looking for something to do at three o'clock that winter morning.
It was times like this she wished she enjoyed Earth's nightlife, maybe she could go to a club or a bar and get something to drink – but she didn't drink, and she didn't like clubs; bars she only put up with when Clara was there too, which of course she wasn't. She did, from time to time, call Jenny on the intertemporal landline and have her come over for the night, but there still wasn't very much to do. She helped the Doctor build gadgets, but she didn't have an interest in watching movies or TV. And of course they could talk, but Jenny was not a particularly talkative person.
But she did like her walks, especially when she got lost. She felt like she was grounding herself, and ultimately the move to Earth had been good for her long-term memory damage. After her last full-time stint on Earth a few hundred years ago when she had been exiled by the Time Lords, she hadn't thought staying on Earth would be particularly beneficial or enjoyable; but there was a big difference between being banished to Earth as a cruel and unusual punishment and willingly going there so she could protect her relationship with Clara. And even trapped in the 1970s, she'd still managed to have enough fun – and had met Sarah-Jane, after all, in '73.
The Doctor wondered what Sarah Jane would say if she could see her now, married and somewhat settled on Earth – Brighton, of all places – with a wife and a job and a pet lobster and even an unruly teenager to take care of. She did sometimes, she had to admit, have the urge to take the TARDIS and visit Sarah-Jane or some of her other old companions like Susan, Ace, or Tegan. This would be selfish, though. She would be catapulting herself back into their lives uninvited, and she was not always a welcome sight. Besides, she knew that if any of them found themselves in the 2060s, they need only follow the alien incidents, like the invasion of deadly trees or the Kandyman's return, and they'd find her.
She hadn't brought a coat out with her on her midnight stroll and the cold was starting to bite. She could see clouds of breath in front of her face and crossed her arms, walking a little faster to warm up. She was trying to work out if rain was about to fall so that she could go back home and avoid being washed out by sleet when she heard a dull beeping sound. Pausing, she strained her ears to listen. Beeps, whistles and hums were all coming from nearby. Intrigued, the Doctor left the residential street she'd been walking down into a narrow snicket, straining her ears for the noise.
"Somebody out here?" she asked quietly, "Or something…" There was a slightly louder beep. She frowned; was something trying to communicate?
Eventually, she tracked the mechanical trills to a dense patch of weeds crawling out from beneath the fence of someone's garden. Crouching down, she pushed through the plants and found a small robot lying on the ground. This was the source of the noise, and it whirred much faster when she found it. It was about the size of a melon and a similar, rotund shape as well, bright red in colour. It had two stubby arms and no legs, and it was these arms it was trying to move as it beeped.
"What happened to you?" she asked softly, picking up the robot which was covered in muck. It beeped approvingly and buzzed, its animated, digital eyes lighting up happily. She turned it upside down and saw it had a cylindrical hole in its underside where its repulsion drive (which created lift and made the robot hover by being magnetically repellent to Earth's own magnetic sphere) seemed to have been stolen. "Has somebody stripped you? That's not nice." It made a sad noise. "Well, at least you seem to be okay now. You can always get a new driver, right?" It beeped again. "That's the spirit."
The Doctor stood back up, the little robot in hand, and was struck by how it almost looked like a Furby. It luckily didn't have the plastic fur, the strange feet, or the dead eyes that a Furby did, but it was still somewhat similar. She knew what it was though: a pet, more or less. It was a somewhat primitive AI, from her point of view, about as intelligent as a dog or very young (human) child.
"Did somebody abandon you, or do you need me to help you get home?" she asked the robot. It whistled. "Well, you must have the address saved somewhere…" She balanced it in one hand and took out her sonic screwdriver, scanning the machine. She probably wouldn't be able to get an actual address out of the microchip it would have installed, but she could track the correct direction easily enough with the screwdriver. The robot beeped. "No, I don't have a phone, sorry. I borrow my wife's sometimes when I come for walks in case she needs to call me, but not usually. I've got the location now, though." Another whistle. "Do you have a name?"
"MY NAME IS CLANKY," said an automated voice like a text-to-speech program.
"That's a great name, very imaginative. Is that the only thing you can say?" It whistled again, so she assumed it was. "Then it's nice to meet you, Clanky. I'm the Doctor, and I'll take you home. I'm sure somebody's missing you." Carefully holding Clanky upright she began to walk in the general direction the screwdriver had pointed her in. "I'm surprised I don't see more robots like you around, you know."
[Questioning beep]
"Oh, no, I don't have a robot. Not me personally, at least – now, my sister-in-law, she builds robots. She's had one for decades that looks like a giant centipede. He's sweet, but he really freaks people out at first. We've got a lobster, though."
[Confused beep]
"Yeah, it is a weird pet," she carefully jumped over a puddle on the pavement, passing beneath street lamps. "But he's blue! I stole him from a restaurant. Could you believe they would've eaten him? A blue lobster? You're lucky you're a robot and you don't have to worry about anybody eating you."
[Sad whistle]
"A dog? Really? Is that how you got lost?"
[Confirmatory beep]
"Well, at least it got bored and put you back down. And you'll be okay now because I'm here," the Doctor assured Clanky. "We're friends now, and I always help my friends."
[Inquisitive beep]
"No, sorry – I do have a bag full of spare parts, but I didn't bring it with me. Besides, there's nothing in there I could use to replace your thrusters anyway. I could take you back to my workshop, but I'm sure your family will have a replacement," said the Doctor, "It's up to you, though."
[Resigned beep]
"Then we'll go straight back home. Like I said, they'll be missing you. Captain Nemo – that's our lobster – gets out sometimes, and I can't think of anything else until we find him again. Of course, he's not friendly like you, and he's hurt my wife more than once. I've been trying to get another pet for a long time, but she doesn't want any," the Doctor sighed.
[Curious whistle]
"Well, I haven't asked about a robot," said the Doctor, "I don't like to bother her too much, y'know? She's so busy now… we're teachers, and she's the head of the English department, so she has a lot of responsibilities. And I'm proud of her, of course I am, I know she's fulfilled, but… maybe it's selfish of me to wish she could keep me company more."
[Questioning beep]
"No, it's not just us, we have a ward. She's, uh… she's fifteen. Or thereabouts. But she sleeps all night as well, it's only me who's awake. I'll tell you a secret – I'm an alien. I'm from another planet. I only sleep once a week, so I have all this downtime. Don't get me wrong, though – I don't resent her. I love her more than anything, more than I ever thought possible. And I know she loves me. She just loves her job as well, and how can I fault then when it's so important? She wants the best for those kids. But I do wish she was more receptive to going on, uh… mini-breaks, I suppose is the term."
[Wistful whistle]
"Oh, really? And where would you travel, if you could?"
[Multiple informative beeps]
"Seriously? CyTech's R&D department? I suppose you are a CyTech robot, after all… my brother-in-law is CyTech's founder, actually; but I don't think he has a big hand in R&D these days. Which he's not happy about, I think he'd much rather sit in a dark room with pieces of machinery than worry about the business side of things, but that's the hole he's dug for himself. But the whole family is desperate for him to retire."
[Questioning beep]
"He just doesn't trust anybody else to run it, I guess. If it were up to me, I'd just put the union in charge. Maybe someday I'll get through to him. It seems like everybody's working too much these days, and then there's me…" she sighed, "I guess there's always Sally, as a last resort. We could talk about retro AV equipment – that's one of my biggest passions. I found this old cathode ray TV a while back that shows whoever touches it how they're gonna die."
[Amazed whistle]
"Right? Of course, now I've got it hidden away where nobody can mess with it. That's the thing about humans, they don't like thinking about death. Which is ironic, given they're all so obsessed with it. 'Sex and death.' I think that's what it means to be human. Things were never like that on my planet, though; people barely had sex and they died even less. Maybe that's why I never fit in… Regardless, Sally lives in London, and I can't envision her coming all the way down here every night just to keep me company. Plus, she can be a little… grating - unless she's talking about photography, then she can be charming. Then there's Nios, on the other hand, but she's basically her girlfriend's full-time carer now. Although, Cohen is surprisingly mobile and sharp for an eighty-year-old with no fancy technology pulling her along. Not that that'll always be the case. I was consulted in confidence about the possibility of making her a hologram, which she asked for herself. Nios, I hear, isn't actually happy about it. Strange, because she's a robot, like you."
[Excited beep]
"Technically, she's a synth. Doesn't like being called a robot. But she's all metal and silicone whatever she calls herself. I'd ask her about why she's not into the hologram thing, but I'm not supposed to know about it at all. I wonder if Clara would have some insight into it…"
[Questioning beep]
"Clara," she repeated, "My wife. I told you her name, didn't I?"
[Flat whistle]
"Really? Are you sure? Well, she's called Clara, and she can be… a lot wiser than people give her credit for. She always gives me sage advice, steers me in the right direction when I need it. I think you'd like her if you met her. More than most people. Most people take a while to warm up to her, they say she can be irritating. But underneath that, she's really the kindest, warmest person I've ever known. And I've known a lot of exceptionally kind people." Clanky didn't respond right way, just stared up at her with his glowing, pixelated eyes. "Listen to me ramble. You're probably not interested; you just want to get home."
[Inquisitive yet tentative whistle]
The Doctor was aghast, "What do you mean, 'if she's so great why doesn't she stay up with you late at night'? Because she needs to sleep! And I love her, so I'll make sure she gets enough sleep, of course. Besides, her sister's staying with us at the moment, and they're sharing the bed, which is… fun." It wasn't remotely fun. "The thing you have to understand about Oswin is she's extremely fragile, especially at this time of year. She can't be left on her own at all for more than a few minutes. So, she shares the bed, and I've got to keep myself company. But aren't you glad I came along and found you?"
[Sad whistle]
"I seem lonely? Why? Because I'm telling a tiny robot I just met all my thoughts and feelings?" Again, Clanky said nothing. "I'm always lonely, Clara doesn't factor into that. My entire species is dead and gone. Now it's just me and my daughter." She paused, "Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil the mood…"
[Questioning beep]
"Jenny? She's a lot like me. She would've helped you as well, but she's far less conversational. Oswin always says, 'the Doctor talks a lot without saying anything at all, but Jenny just doesn't say anything in the first place.' At least she's coming by for Christmas, so I'll see her this week. And yeah, I could hang out with her at night, but she's busy a lot, too. Everybody's always busy."
[Bright chime]
"What?" she stopped in the street, looking around, "We're here? Which house?" Clanky, with his stubby arms, was just about able to indicate a house on the Doctor's left, one of a row of terraces. "Number One-Nineteen?"
[Affirmative beep]
"Alright, stay quiet. I'll make sure you get home okay."
Ordinarily, she would break into a house through the back door, but she'd found herself on a street of back-to-backs, meaning she could either go through the front or climb through a window. She picked the front and took out her sonic screwdriver, unlocking the door as quietly as she could. No alarms went off when she entered, gently shutting the door behind her.
It was a small and cosy home. She found herself tripping over pairs of shoes haphazardly left at the foot of the stairs as soon as she came in. The living room was just as messy but still welcoming, despite the fact she had broken in completely uninvited. On the arm of the sofa there was a stack of paper posters: missing posters, all for Clanky, much like you'd put up for a beloved pet.
"They sure did miss you…" she said quietly. She set him down on the sofa, propped up against a cushion. "Hold on, I'll see if they have a thruster around here somewhere." She crept into the kitchen to search, being careful not to wake up the house's sleeping occupants. Luckily, they seemed to be hoarders to some degree, because she managed to dig out Clanky's original box buried in the kitchen pantry. 'CyTech Robo Helper 7', the box read. Opening it she found, to her delight, a replacement thruster. It was this she took with her as she returned to the living room, and within a minute of tinkering Clanky was good as new – aside from the scratches and dirt. Clanky whooshed into the air and nearly bounced off the ceiling, running rings around the Doctor in the middle of the room. "It seems my work here is done. "
[Jovial whistle]
"I definitely can't stay; I don't want to be arrested and have to call Benji to release me." Even acknowledging Benji was a step too far for her. "But if you ever find yourself about a mile and a half east of here, in Fiveways, you can look me up. I'm on Garland Avenue. Just in case you ever need anything – another thruster, some other gadgets installed…"
[Grateful beeping]
"It's really no big deal. I'm happy to help. I'd better leave, though. Tell your folks merry Christmas from me, and have a good one."
[Indignant weep]
"And merry Christmas to you as well," she said, smiling. Clanky was still floating, twirling through the air, when she locked the door behind her and took her leave. It was after four, so she decided it was time to head back home.
Sticking her hands in her pockets again she set off walking through the rain-slicked streets, returning from her odyssey beneath the glow of orange streetlamps as a plane flew by overhead.