Chapter 9
On Griffoth, the group was picking themselves up, shaking off the effects of the violent transport.
"Is everybody all right?"
"I think so…" Carolyn pulled out her scanner, began checking, and then Michelle saw Shakespeare.
"You-!"
Shakespeare rose to his feet, brushing himself off. "Where are we – and when is this?"
"It's the twentieth century… this is Griffoth – and you shouldn't be here."
"It seems to me that I have as much right to be in your time as you had to be in mine. You see, maiden, I wanted to see how you have conducted my future affairs."
"Your future affairs?"
"The affairs of mankind."
"Don't you see – the disappearance of William Shakespeare… one of the most noted literary figures of the sixteenth century…"
"Thank you."
"That's not supposed to happen."
"I have only taken advantage of an irresistible occasion… as any good writer would."
"Michelle…"
They moved to see that Carolyn had found the Doctor unconscious on the ground… hand still holding the time-slitheen, now back to the shape of a cane.
The group, carrying the Doctor, entered the TARDIS. Shakepeare reacted to the experience… this had been quite a day for him…
"Where are we?"
"The Doctor's time and space ship, the TARDIS."
"I'm going to take the Doctor to the infirmary. I'm going to try use the sonic screwdriver we have to examine him. It's almost five hundred years old, but it's the best chance we've got of helping him."
"I want Mister Shakespeare here under escort at all times. Perhaps I could handle that. I'd be happy to take Mister Shakepeare to quarters." Michelle was offering to make things smoother for this unexpected spanner in the works. To Shakespeare, "If you would accompany me…"
Shakespeare regarded her. A handsome woman, indeed. "Maiden… I would be delighted." He offered her his arm and Michelle took it; they moved toward the door. "So this is a time and space ship? Did you ever run into Genghis Khan?"
In the cavern on 16th century Earth, Nita is with Romana… she had bandaged her head with material from her cape. She was regaining consciousness, and tried to sit up. "Whoa… everythings's spinning…"
"Don't try to sit up too quickly… you've lost a lot of blood."
"Where'd… everybody go?"
"I hope they're safely back on the TARDIS by now."
Romana closed her eyes, fighting to remain conscious. "You're still here…"
"You were hurt. I had to make sure you were all right."
Romana opened her eyes part way and looked at Nita. "You stayed here… for that?"
"I can't very well let anything happen to you… you're far too important to the Doctor."
Romana smiled faintly… she was fading. "You know… so much about me."
"Believe me, in the future the tables will be turned."
"We… become friends."
"Good friends."
"But… I have to wait… almost five hundred years… and when we meet… I won't be able to tell you about this."
"No. Because for me, it won't have happened yet."
Romana smiled, nodding her head. As she did, she spotted the Doctor's sonic screwdriver on the floor of the cavern. "What happened?"
Nita rose, moved to the sonic, saddened by the tragedy she had hoped to avoid. "History fulfilling itself."
Michelle was with Romana in the TARDIS galley.
"History has to fulfill itself. Even Nita knew that."
"You were there, in the cavern. You know what happened. What am I supposed to do?"
Romana gazed at her, implacable. She was silent. Michelle's frustration mounted. "Damn it, Romana, don't play games with me… I need answers."
"If I tell you what happened in that cavern, it would affect any decision you're about to make. I can't do that. I won't do that."
"Not telling me might affect my decision, too… did you think of that?"
She did not respond. Michelle leaned in to her, frustrated. "We're talking about Nita Llewcots. I'm not going to sit around and hope it all works out… I've got to do something."
She waited, hoping Romana would relent. But she held her gaze unflinchingly. Finally, angry at Romana's stubbornness, she got up and left. Romana stared after her, her thoughts, as always, her own.
Shakespeare was walking in the corridor with Michelle; she'd been giving him a tour of the ship.
"That is the problem I see here… all this technology… it only serves to take away life's simple pleasures. You do not even let a man open a door for a lady."
"I think what we've gained outweighs anything that might have been lost."
"Oh? I am not so impressed with this future… huge airships… weapons that can no doubt destroy entire cities… military conquest as a way of life."
She looked sidelong at him. "Is that what you see here?"
"Oh, I know what you say… this is a vessel of exploration… your goal is to, discover new worlds… That is what the Spanish said… and the Portuguese… and what the Dutch are now saying. It is what all the conquerors say… I am sure it is what the Doctor told you… before he brought you here to serve him."
"The people you've seen are here by choice."
Shakespeare pondered this for a moment. "So there are a privileged few… who live on this ship, living in luxury, wanting for nothing. But what about everyone else? What about the poor? You ignore them…"
"Of course there's still poverty. And hopelessness… despair… cruelty… war… we help where we can, but the world's problems are bigger than us."
He regarded her solemnly. He was beginning to realize that his dark view was misplaced. "Men have always achieved wealth and power by standing on the backs of the poor… prejudice and intolerance are commonplace… power is an end unto itself… so things haven't changed?"
"That's right, unfortunately."
Shakespeare sighed. They were outside the infirmary. "Tell me… how long do you think it will be… before things begin to change?"
"A long time. But some things are better in my time."
Shakespeare nodded solemnly.
As they entered the infirmary, they saw Carolyn with the four-hundred-year-old sonic screwdriver.
"Is it working?"
She shook her head sadly. "Not so far. Its restart units won't initialize. I thought its buffering program would have protected them… but I guess five hundred years was just too long a wait."
Shakespeare noticed something on a nearby table… picked up the watch from the cavern. "My watch…"
"It was found in the cavern… near the sonic screwdriver. After five hundred years, I doubt that it'll work either."
Shakespeare put the watch back and regarded the unconscious Time Lord sadly. "Doctor… I fear I sadly misjudged you. As I have misjudged many things." He exchanged a look with Michelle… who realized this was a man with a lot to think about.
,
In the cavern on 16th century Earth, the alien nurse was stirring… phasing slightly from her human to her alien form because she was so badly injured. Nita went toward her. "Can you communicate?"
There was a pause… and then she spoke in a strange, guttural voice. "Yes…"
"Are you injured?"
"Why have you interfered?"
"You hunt us… you kill us. We can't allow that."
"We need your energy…"
"Perhaps we could find a substitute…"
"No… there is none… we must continue."
"We cannot allow that. We know how you move back and forth through time… my friends have returned to the twentieth century to destroy your transport site on Griffoth."
"Destroy it?"
She fixed her dying eyes on her… a mirthless smile appeared on her lips. "Your weapons will only amplify the time distortion… you will annihilate your own world." She phased out of existence. Nita was left to ponder the implications of her words.