My Final Chapter
Chapter 6 - The Point Emerges
A/N: Hey guys, hope you're well and safe. We are heading into the final stretch of this story. There is one more instalment in this series and the Children of Time saga will be complete. I have some ideas of what to do next for Doctor Who but feel free to leave suggestions in the reviews or send me a pm. I do take requests. Until next time, ENJOY! R&R PLZ!
Elsewhere…
A screen with CCTV footage shows the Doctor and Sky investigating one of their locations. Fortunately it had been cleared since that first detective came poking around. They'd had to keep an eye on her; annoyingly close as she was. She would have been eliminated already if her superiors had taken her more seriously. Still it may be worthwhile given… a pair of eyes slid from the screen to lifeless form limp on the cold table. And she posed a risk of helping the Doctor. "What was it that humans say? Kill two birds with one stone." a cold voice drawled. "Bring me that Latimer woman."
"My lord, my lord, no," a voice stammered weakly. "It will draw too much attention, we - you've been so careful. You can't afford mistakes now, especially with him here. Besides, she hasn't been given anything, the maturation time…"
"Time…" the cold voice flowed over the flashing controls of a panel. "Is on our side."
At the manor…
"I thought we just agreed that it wasn't Huon energy," Donna asked. They had all rushed into the TARDIS and down into the Doctor's lab where he was fiddling random test tubes and vials.
"Huon energy is not the only thing that exists in the TARDIS engine," the Doctor reminded her. "There is also a miniature time vortex."
"You're testing for time particles," Donna frowned.
"Yes. I'm surprised you didn't think of it."
"I did but can't be. To synthesize time particles like that, the tech needed would be -"
"Advanced?" Rose filled in.
"Complex?" Clara tried.
"Gallifreyan," The Doctor, Donna, and Michael said grimly.
"But that's impossible," Sky marvelled.
"Indeed and yet here we are," the Doctor added some unknown chemical to the water sample and watched glow gold. He showed the shining substance to the group. "There you have it, time distilled."
"How?" Donna breathed, bending down to look at it.
"I'm more concerned with the 'why'," Jack interjected. "Why create this? Why dose humans with it?"
"Only one reason to do all that," Michael shook his head. "Just one."
"Oh hell," Sky cottoned on. "You can't mean - but that implies - no, just no!"
"Someone want to clue us in?" Pete's gaze bounced around their anxious faces.
"This is old science, one not seen anywhere except on Gallifrey and not practised by anyone besides the strongest Timelords." The Doctor explained, setting aside the sample. "Not even the Daleks attempt it for it's volatile consequences. Energy is harvested from the time vortex using special equipment to protect the collector. Only one person is known to have gone through the vortex bare and made it out the other side."
"Lucky me," Jack muttered.
"From there it must be distilled into a physical liquid using immense heat and pressure. After that, on Gallifrey, young timelord blood is mixed in and kept in a carefully controlled environment until it reaches the optimum stage where it can be extracted for use."
"For use in what?"
"Back up, in the event of an emergency," the Doctor cut his eyes to Clara. "Like a crack in the universe."
The young woman stumbled where she stood. "No."
"Yes." The Doctor continued gravely to the group, "However it would appear that they are using humans in place of timelord blood. This is why those missing people never come back. They are dead without a chance of survival."
"What are they making, Doctor?" Rose asked point blank.
"Regeneration energy."
The room went silent. The gravity of what this fight was now falling heavily on all of them. Some in denial. Some too shocked to think. Some horrified at the cruelty.
Suddenly they were jarred into awareness but the shrill peel of Sky's cellphone. She pulled and frowned at the screen, "It's the Yard." She pressed the answer button and took a breath, "Yes Detective Latimer? Oh, I'm sorry, yes, this is she… I see. One moment, my associate is with me, allow me to place you on speaker." Sky held the phone out and tapped the screen.
A male voice issued from it for all the room to hear, "Ms. Song, when was the last time you spoke with the detective?"
"I spoke to her on the phone some thirty minutes ago," the Doctor replied. "Then shortly after I collected a lab sample from her for analysis. We have not been in contact since."
"Our records indicate the same. Unfortunately this places you and Ms. Song as the last people to have had contact with Beth Latimer before her disappearance."
"Disappearance?" Sky repeated.
"Yes I'm afraid I have to ask to come down to the Yard for an official questioning. It would be better if you did this of your own cognizance."
"Of course sir, we'll comply and be there in 20 minutes."
"Thank you for your cooperation. I understand you and the detective were investigating the missing persons case. If you happen to receive any information on Beth Latimer, I urge you to call us immediately. Please do not take it upon yourselves."
"Of course, we'll go down to the Yard shortly." The Doctor hung up.
"This is too much," Martha grimaced. "What the hell is happening? What does this have to do with time energy?"
"The quick answer is that the distilled time energy learns genetic processing from the cells it's exposed to specifically how to regenerate and heal. To use a living being in this process would be relatively harmless at first, even beneficial. The increase in energy would renew them but it still has to be extracted which causes cell death. One cell dies, the body might compensate but in total cell death, there is nothing to save and nothing to do the saving."
"And the detective that's been helping you has gone missing," Jack murmured. "That can't be a coincidence."
"It's not," Sky said gravely. "After all, we're dealing with a Timelord."