Chapter 48

The smallest Dose of Reality.

Raven felt her shield collapse under the pressure of thousands of tonnes of water. Water began rushing in, but suddenly it was gone! It receded just as quickly as it had come.

The ship broke the surface, water spray going everywhere as the ship settled and gently rose further up out of the water.

"I cannot believe that worked." Raven said to the Doctor.

"As I said, 'cartoon physics'" The Doctor beamed. "Sometimes you have to adapt to the logic you're fighting against."

"Cartoon physics is stupid." Raven said, "It has no basis in reality. Why should I consider it when we both agree physics doesn't work that way." The Doctor looked worried and he tried to motion for her to shut up.

'BANG'!

The balloon had suddenly exploded and ripped itself to pieces, and without the balloon to support it the ship fell, and sharply impacted the water. Everyone fell to the deck because of the impact.

"Raven, you invalidated the reality!" The Doctor complained.

"I just said it was impossible." Raven rubbed her elbow, she'd fallen on it. "And we both know it."

"Yes, and that invalidated the reality." The Doctor said, "Psychic pressure is one thing, but nothing brings a fantasy crashing down then a good dose of reality."

"Captain Hook said it was ridicules first!" Raven shouted at him.

"Captain Hook is just as much a fantasy as the balloon was. We are real. We are 'Creators'. We can influence this world with just the correct words and enough mental pressure. But the fantasy sinks when reality is added to the mix." Raven rubbed her temples. She hated this place. She was the kind of person who disregards fantasy in favour of facts and rationality, but in this world fantasy becomes reality, at least until you douse it with actual reality.

"I hate this place." Raven said.

"Speaking of sinking, I'm afraid we're taking on water." Captain Hook said as he hurried past them, pushing one of his crew out of his way as he stamped around. "Cabin Boy Ed, plug the holes. I don't care how. And don't tell Miss Raven how you intend to do it..." He gave her a dark look. "She might tell you it's impossible."

She gave him a scowl right back.

Raven suddenly thought back. Back to a few days ago when she first arrived in this world. She had encountered several small creatures who proclaimed themselves to be giants. This was obviously impossible so Raven dispelled them of that notion, and then they vanished. Popped out of existence. So she did invalidate their existence by pointing out its contradiction.

In her mind that was a literal interpretation of someones bubble being burst. When their 'fantasy reality' comes crumbling down as the false notion was dispelled.

She wondered what the Doctor thought of this and wanted to test that notion on him. But he seemed far too busy now to pay any attention to her.

Did I do something bad? She asked herself.

No, he's just busy.

Yeah, trying to sort out a mess 'I' made.

It's not your fault he didn't tell you rationality would cancel out the fantasy.

I've put the ship in danger by being rational.

Being rational is good, sometimes fantasy needs to be dispelled.

Is it though?

Maybe you could use that against the Mistress.

Yeah, that was a thought. If Raven and the Doctor knew something was fantasy, then presumably they should be able to dismiss anything they came across that was dangerous as fantasy and thus dispel it.

Easy. Raven smiled, He'll be proud of me now.

Don't start that again!

The crew rushed around to board up the holes the ship was leaking through. Unfortunately without the masts they had no way to catch the wind and get any forward movement going.

Someone shouted they spotted land, just on the horizon. All they needed was to somehow drift towards it.

Captain Hook wanted to break out some large ores and begin rowing towards the shore, but the problem with that was most of the crew were being used to bail out the incoming sea water.

While standing on the prow of the ship looking down into the water Raven had an idea and was keen to share it with the Doctor.

When she found him though, Barriss was already in conversation with the Doctor about how to get the ship moving.

"If I raise the water level using the Force I could push the ship forwards using gravity and buoyancy." She said. Raven felt her face contort into a snear. That was her idea! Only she was going to lower the water level in front of the ship so it constantly fell into a moving dip of water that would lead it towards the shore.

She wanted to say. "You're powers don't exist, and me and the Doctor know it." To get back at her for this. But she quickly rationalised that Barriss was just trying to help out, she didn't steal Ravens idea, they just had a similar one.

But the pleased look the Doctor gave Barriss...

You don't need it!

But I want it.

Oh grow up!

With Barriss on the bridge and Raven at the prow they both used their powers to try to push the boat along. Raven depressing the water ahead of them while Barriss forced it up from behind.

Sure, Raven could just pick up the boat and move it that way. But she'd need to maintain focus, especially to move something so large, and the mass of that object means she'd tire out more before she reached land. At least there was consultation that Barriss couldn't do it either. She didn't know how she'd feel being shown up like that, by a fiction.

"Now that we're in the real world, or real by the Land of Fictions, we just have to hope the Mistress doesn't find out we're outside her Censored field of vision." The Doctor said.

"If I know the Mistress, and I unhappily have to say I do." Alice spoke up, "She'll focus all her forces on the Censored zone. She'll assume none can escape."

"Ah!" The Doctor laughed "but if the Impostor is a creation of hers she knows if there is a way out I would find it."

"Lets just hope we have a head start on her, dear boy." Captain Hook said.

The conversation apparently over the Doctor moved towards Raven.

"Hows the paddling going, Rae Rae?"

"Would it make any difference if I asked you to stop calling me that?" Raven asked.

There was a pause which said to Raven 'No'. Well fine, she could take it.

"I am proud of you." The Doctor said, "Moving this whole ship out of water, away from the World Turtle must've been a great stress on your abilities."

"It's nothing." Raven dismissed.

"You saved them." The Doctor added.

"They're not even real people." Raven blanked.

"I'm not so sure of that any more." The Doctor replied.

"Your little theory again?" Raven rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever heard of the Turing Test? No? I thought not." The Doctor said reading her reactions and deducing her answers. "It's a test of machine intelligence. Basically to test if a machine has intelligence it must be able to hold a conversation with another being, and that person should not be able to clock on by any other means that they're not talking to another living creature, but a computer."

"These creatures pass that test?" Raven asked. The troughs in the sea she was making were too deep, so she made them more shallow and gentle.

"With flying colours as you can see. But after intelligence comes the imagination test." When Raven didn't prompt him to go on he did so anyway. "Devised by Edward Sparks in the early 22nd century. The imagination test tried to determine a machine intelligence ability to be spontaneous with intelligence. " The Doctor blew air out through his mouth in an almost whistle. "Unfortunately it also shed some light on the human condition. Basically that a lot of humans don't even pass the test."

Raven looked away, but only because she was hiding a smirk. The irony of it was amusing to her.

"Do these creatures pass the Sparks test?" she asked.

"Captain Hook, Barriss, Alice and Apu do." The Doctor said, holding out a note pad in his hand. On which he'd scribbled down some questions and answers. Some of the answers had a green 'tick' next to it, others a red 'cross'. There were mostly red crosses. "I wrote out some questions to ask each of them, going by what I've learnt about them. I've asked them these questions multiple times. If they were just a basic intelligence, like I'd expect a fiction or a computer program would be, then I'd expect to get a pre-programmed response. But that doesn't happen with them. Their responses can be as forth coming as this, or their views may change over time. Other times they don't tell me at all and just ignore me."

"You 'are' irritating." Raven said, hoping to get a rise from the Doctor. But again, his focus on this puzzle was so strong he walked right past it. Raven decided to ask a better question. "What about the Ed kid and the others?"

"If I have to be frank. I think Ed, the pirates and the lost boys were written to be simpler characters. Tinkerbell hasn't quite broken the Sparks test either, but she's close. You can see her tiny face trying to act spontaneous."

"And you're telling me this, why?" Raven asked.

"I thought you might be interested."

"I'm not." Raven said flatly.

"You call them 'creatures' not 'people.' You don't consider them alive?" The Doctor asked.

"Like you said, they're like machines. Machines can't be alive, machines don't have souls."

"I have a robot dog that'd find that remark insulting." There was a note of humour in that, which made Raven suspect this robot didn't feel anything of the kind.

"They're held here by sheer force of will." Raven said in a dismissive tone, "If the universe dies, so do they."

"Technically if the physical laws governing your existence vanished then you too would dissipate."

Raven sighed, she was getting bored of this conversation. The Doctor didn't say much else. He just leaned against the ships railing, the wind blowing in his face, dreaming up his new theory.

Suddenly he leapt up and went to the very front of the ship.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked.

"I've always wanted to do this. But never found the time or opportunity." and the Doctor stood tall and opened his arms out like he intended to flap them and take off like a bird. "They said in a movie this is what it feels like to fly!"

A mischievous smirk crossed Ravens face. She shouldn't, it was a misuse of her powers. But this was the Doctor, and he was asking for it.

Dividing her concentration Raven grabbed the Doctor with her powers and she lifted him off the deck and into the air.

"You want flight, you got flight." She smirked. The Doctor didn't look threatened, in fact he giggled all the way as Raven lifted him even higher.

"Rae Rae, come on. Put me down." He continued to giggle as if this was a game. Okay, it was actually a game. She tipped the Doctor upside down and made him do a somersault. The Doctor was still laughing. "Do it again!" Man, the Doctor was a real child at heart. Well, he asked for it so... "Wheeeeeee!" He went.

He's such a child! Though her exterior was cold, inside Raven was laughing at seeing the Doctor enjoy himself. She expected people to be terrified when she had them in her power like this. He had such confidence -or was it trust?- that she wasn't going to just dump him overboard or sharply drop him to the floor.

He's foolish to trust me. Her darker mind thought.

Her mind went back to the sea troughs she was creating. Her concentration flickered for a brief moment.

DON'T DROP HIM! Her mind screamed.

I've got him, I've got him! Don't worry, he's totally safe.

Something made her stir again. She couldn't breathe!

She was in some kind of tight space, with the walls pressing down around her. They felt like they moved so she tried to force them to part. Daylight! She could see daylight!

"I don't understand!" Said a female voice, "How come they've mobilised? How could they turn against me? Me?! Of all people!"

"There was a leak. Some character called Alec Leamas has spread this to the masses, and the masses aren't happy!"

Where was she? Who were these people?

"They're only fictional. Who cares if they're happy! They're not really people. They exist only to serve me and my goals." the female grunted again. "I'll put them in their place!"

Raven groaned and the walls closed over her again. All light vanished, leaving her in the dark.

Rachel woke up.

Well, that was a weird dream. She really regretted eating that cheese now. First a night terror of Raven, and now a claustrophobic dream?

Maybe she was thinking about her story too hard. Perhaps the dream was about how it was consuming her and her life.

Maybe she should stop writing it for a while and let her creative juices recharge. She's probably got stacks of homework to catch up on, after all.

Gently Rachel went back to sleep.

BANG!

Something exploded on the deck and Raven dropped the Doctor! She caught him again just before he slammed into the deck and she gently let go once he could firmly stand.

"Good Lord. What was that? Lightning?" Captain Hook looked into the clear sky. The ship was slowly coming to a halt.

"It was more like a laser blast." The Doctor said shading his eyes from the sun, he pointed up into the air. "From there!"

There was a figure hovering in the sky. Big, dark and imposing. With a flash of light suddenly he'd vanished and re-appeared on the deck of the ship.

He was a tall man with bulging muscles, a knee long cape, a black cowl over his face, a face which had a vicious look to it. He was like a wrestler. In his hand he had a strange looking, gun weapon, like a laser pistol.

"Fear me, for I am the Karkus!" He said with a subtle German accent.

The what?! Raven's mind groaned.

"The Karkus?! Of course." The Doctor said excitedly. "So nice to meet you again!"

The Karkus levelled his gun at the Doctor. "I have yet to meet you before. Friend of foe?!"

"Umm…" The Doctor looked a little unsure as he gingerly raised his hands. "Friend, I hoped. I am the Doctor."

"Doctor? No. You are not the Doctor." The Karkus stepped forward aggressively. "I have been instructed to rescue the Doctor."

"I think he means the Impostor." Raven said beside the Doctor.

"Oh no, no, no, no." The Doctor shook his head as if this was a simple misunderstanding which could be sorted out so simply. The Karkus didn't look so easily swayed. "I am the Doctor. The woman in the hold is an impostor. Remember when I was first here? Remember Zoe Heriot? How she defeated you in unarmed combat?"

The Karkus stepped forwards aggressively, pointing his gun under the Doctors chin. "I remember no such thing!"

"Oh, but you must do! You were her favourite comic book character. You helped us defeat the Master of the Land of Fiction before!" This didn't look like it was ringing bells for the Karkus. "Well, you must remember Zoe being the Mistress of the Land of Fiction? She sent you on a mission to plant a bookworm in the Cyber-planner and you were killed, remember?"

"Silence speaker of untruths!" said a new voice and another person suddenly appeared with a flash. "I am Gargal Girl!"

What a stupid name!

"I am the loyal sidekick to the Karkus!" The woman standing beside the Karkus didn't look a thing like any kind of super hero Raven had ever seen. She was big, bulky, muscly, but was just as dumpy as the Imposter was.

"Gargal Girl?" The Doctor questioned. "I admit I'm not totally caught up, but I'm sure the Karkus never had a sidekick."

"Silence!" Said Gargal Girl. "My power is to sniff out untruths! You are clearly lying!" She said pointing. "You are not the Doctor. You are an evil, mad scientist."

"Well, nobodies perfect, but that's over stating things a little." The Doctor joked.

"You admit your crimes?" Gargal girl accused.

"About being mad, yes. Not sure about the evil part. But everyone is evil from a certain point of view."

"Enough prattle!" The Karkus said striding towards Captain Hook. "You! You are Captain? Release the Doctor."

Captain Hook drew his sword. "That woman stays precisely where she belongs. If it were up to me I'd keel haul her; and you!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen." The Doctor said standing between them, "I'm sure we can settle this civilly." He turned to the Karkus. "I challenge you to single combat. That is the way of the Karkus, yes? And if I win you have to obey me."

"That is true." The Karkus said looking the Doctor up and down. "But do you think you have the strength to defeat one of the worlds strongest super men?"

"Strength, no. But I'm still willing to try." The Doctor said removing his coat and he handed it to Barriss beside him.

Why's he giving it to her?! I'm right here!

"This liar shall be made short work of." Gargal girl said.

Raven was certain the Doctor had a plan. No way would he enter into a competition like this unless he was sure he could win.

The Doctor adopted a fighting stance as did the Karkus.

The Karkus threw a few blows, but they were all feints. Clearly he was sizing the Doctor up, testing his reaction times and attempting to intimidate the Doctor. But the Time Lord just stood coolly, making not attempt to defend himself.

"Ha! He's so scared of you he barely moves to defend himself." Gargal Girl said. Is that the way she saw it? Raven just saw the Doctor not reacting to fake blows. He was waiting his chance.

Then a real blow came, and the Doctor stepped aside. The blow came within inches of striking him, but it still missed. A rain of blows came but the Doctor easily side stepped all of them. Was he some kind of a martial artist as well as a scientist? Raven wondered.

The Doctors fighting style seemed to be more a defensive form as he narrowly avoided blows as easily as taking a walk.

The rain of blows stopped and the Karkus was barely winded. He reached out a hand and rested it against the Doctors chest. Raven didn't guess what the purpose of this was until… What happened next happened so fast Raven had spent a couple of seconds interpreting what had just happened.

The Karkus had drawn his other hand back in a fist and attempted to punch the Doctor in the face. But the Time Lord was a little quicker. He reached across himself, took the Karkus' hand, that was resting on his chest, by the wrist and pulled it down and twisted it back. The Karkus screamed and fell forwards as the Doctor pushed forwards to hold him in some kind of lock.

"Venusian Akido." The Doctor said, "It'll always out class a fictional fighting style." The Karkus, despite being strong, could not break free of this hold he was in.

"Submit." the Doctor said. Putting a little more pressure on the lock. The Karkus squealed a little.

"NEVER!" more pressure. Raven could tell the Doctor didn't want to do it, but it was necessary to get the Karkus to surrender. This was a new side to the Doctor. She never expected him to deliberately hurt anyone. But then again, the damage he was causing was not permanent, nor life changing. The Karkus was just stuck.

BANG!

The Doctor was thrown to the floor and the Karkus broke free.

The Gargal Girl was standing beside Raven with a weapon in her hands. She'd just tried to shoot the Doctor!

"That breaks the rules of Karkus Combat!" The Doctor complained.

"You had an unfair advantage!" Gargal Girl complained back.

"Being a better fighter is no unfair advantage." Barriss commented.

Gargal girl turned and pointed her weapon at Barriss. Barriss slowly reached to her laser sword.

Just before Gargal Girl could pull the trigger Raven used her powers to bend the barrel of the gun downwards. When Gargal Girl pulled on the trigger the weapon fired down at her feet and the resulting explosion knocked the girl off her feet and her cowl went flying.

As she got up Raven instantly recognised who Gargal Girl was. It was the Impostor! Though instead of being a three eyed, purple alien; this person was clearly just human and her hair was a shocking shade of pink!

"Fascinating!" The Doctor said, "You know. You look very familiar. Almost like the Impostor Doctor downstairs, baring the difference in species. Almost as if you were cut from the same cloth."

"What does he mean, Gargal Girl?" the Karkus questioned as he composed himself.

"He is just trying to trick us. Do not forget that I can easily sniff out truths and falsehoods." Gargal girl said proudly. God, she even had the same smug look as the Impostor! This girl can't be real, right? She was a total human Doppelganger for the Impostor.

"You might be able to detect falsehoods." Barriss said, "It doesn't mean you don't speak them."

"Are you accusing 'me' of lying?!" Gargal girl asked, outraged such a thing could be asked.

"She was hardly subtle about it." Raven commented drily.

"I trust Gargal girl with my life!" The Karkus said standing next to Gargal girl. "She has been my partner for decades!"

"Oh, really. How did you meet?" The Doctor asked.

"It is not important!" The Karkus insisted.

"Then you might as well tell me." The Doctor insisted back. "Because I think you're more self-aware than you realise; and something tells me you have a vague inkling something isn't right. So how did you meet her?"

"I…" he paused, "She was found. She was exposed to radioactive contamination dumped by greedy corporations, and it was that waste which gave her, her powers."

"And she'll agree with this?" The Doctor asked.

"Of course!" Gargal girl said.

"Ah, but in your own continuity radiation does not give people powers. It's impossible and it was never retconned to be so. Therefore she can't be from the pages of the Hourly Telepress." The Doctor paused for this to sink in for the Karkus. "Therefore, she was never really your sidekick to start with." Another pause. Gargal girl began to look worried. "Therefore, you can't trust her, nor her word. Because the only untruths which could ever be spoken now and never called out are those she utters."

"Gargal girl…" the Karkus said, trailing off.

"It's all a lie!" Gargal Girl said. "Remember when we defeated the Brain Worms? The rise of the evil Emperor Malgus? Or the Solex political party?"

"I remember… but…" the Karkus said, still unsure. Gargal girl looked worried, so much so she was quietly fidgeting with her useless gun.

"I've actually read those strips. You aren't part of those stories. You know what I think. Gargal girl is an inserted character, a fan fiction." The Doctor said. "Gargal girl is just a fiction. A fiction within a fiction. Even in the Karkus world, she doesn't exist."

Her eyes went wide and her skin had gone pale at the realisation of what had just been said.

With a whoosh she was gone, the spell of fiction broken. Her costume and equipment clattered to the floor in a heap.

The Karkus stepped forward and looked over the fallen costume. "Have I been so easily manipulated?" He fell to his knees in great shame.

"It's alright." The Doctor said, "I know what you're going through."

The Karkus looked up at him. "You are the great Doctor?"

"Last I checked." The Doctor smiled a little.

"I am the Karkus! I have been sent to retrieve you for the Mistress!" He stated.

"Later, if you please." The Doctor said, motioning for everyone to be mute on the subject of the Mistress. Raven thought this wise, the Karkus had just found out his side kick was a manipulative little bitch. He probably wasn't ready to find out the Mistress was a bad guy too. "Tell me, do you really not remember me? Nor Zoe? Jamie? Either version of them?"

"I do not, sir." The Karkus stood. "Merely that I was to retrieve someone, a great person called the Doctor."

Raven noticed Barriss was looking around, a hint of worry crossing her face. What was it? Was she sensing something? The goth girl reached out too trying to feel for any danger. She could sense it, and it was fast approaching. It was near, and counting down.

Raven looked down at Gargal Girls equipment. There was a flashing light, and as time marched on the sense of danger became sharper and sharper like a dagger about to be plunged into them. It was Gargal Girls gun. It was going to explode, and they only had seconds left!

"GET BACK!" Raven shouted, waving her hands and casting a black ball around the gun. But she was just a fraction of a second too late. She felt the heat as the weapon exploded and she knew only blackness.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: If I'm honest, this update only took so long because I couldn't think of a good name to call the Karkus' fake sidekick. In the end I decided to come up with a similar ridicules name instead of trying to think of a serious one.