A/N: These chapters are based on the Doctor Who episode, 'Utopia'. And if you have seen this episode, we welcome back an old friend: Captain Jack Harkness. YAY!
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy and this story. Please review and no flaming will be tolerated. Thank you
Happy reading!
THE END OF THE UNIVERSE
"Haven't always been this way.
I wasn't born a renegade.
I felt alone, still feel afraid.
I stumble through it anyway."
– Pink: 'All I Know So Far' (All I Know So Far [2021]).
Tardis
Katy emerges from her bedroom, wincing a little from a persistent headache that wouldn't go away. She had been sent there by a concerned Doctor, who ordered her to have a sleep, believing she was just having a delayed reaction to the stress they had been through recently, to see if that would make it go away.
No such luck.
Katy shuffles a little clumsily down the corridor towards the Console Room where the Doctor and Martha were currently at. The headache had manifested itself during the tail-end of their last adventure when she, the Doctor and Martha had been accidentally stranded in 1969, by a particularly dangerous type of alien the Doctor had dubbed a Weeping Angel, which had the appearance of an ordinary, seemingly harmless stone statue when you looked at it. But when your back was turned? Well, that's when it attacks you when you least expected it to.
"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death." That was what the Doctor explained at the time, not only to Martha and Katy, but also to a thoroughly confused young police officer named Billy Shipton who had been 'zapped' back to 1969 like they had been. "The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present, they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."
As it turned out, their saving grace had been put into the hands of an ordinary young woman called Sally Sparrow, whom had the task of returning the Tardis back to the trio before the Weeping Angels could get their hands on the sentient time machine. Funny thing was, the headache that suddenly took hold of Katy, was a familiar pain. A VERY familiar pain. Which was weird because as far as Katy knew, there weren't any Daleks around to speak of. But instead of feeling relieved, Katy felt dread.
"Cardiff." She heard the Doctor call out, announcing their arrival in the Welsh city to a highly bemused Martha. Katy realised that they were sitting on top of the rift in Roald Dahl Plass, fueling up for the next leg of their adventures. It wouldn't take long, and they would be on their way.
"Cardiff?" Martha sounded confused.
"Ah, the thing about Cardiff," the Doctor began to briefly explain the relevance of their visit here, much to the amusement of Katy. "It's built on a rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the rift bleeds energy." Katy quietly makes her way up the metal staircase and pauses at the top when she sees that Martha had her back to her, and the Doctor was distracted by what he was doing around the console. "Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."
"So, it's a pit stop?" Martha clarifies.
"That's exactly what it is," Katy makes her presence known, startling Martha who spins round to greet her. "Should only take twenty seconds. That's how long it took the last time we were here."
"Yep, it should. The rift's been active." The Doctor agreed, but then frowned at his girlfriend with concern. "Are you feeling any better, darling?" He asks her, quietly. The Doctor had been calling her 'darling' as a term of endearment, ever since their adventure in 1913, and it made Katy melt every time she heard him say it.
Katy nodded a little.
"Are you sure? You still look a bit pale." Martha remarked, walking over to her to take her temperature. But Katy batted away her hand, impatiently.
"The headache is still there, but it's manageable." She replied. "I'll let you know if that changes, sweetie." Katy jumped in before the Doctor could object. He looked at her with disapproval but accepted it for now.
"Okay. If you say so." Martha also looked doubtful, before returning to their conversation while Katy walks over to stand against the console. "There was an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?" She asked the couple, who nodded, groaning a little at the memory.
"Yep. Had a bit of trouble with the Slitheen," the Doctor explains.
"Let's hope there's not a repeat performance." Katy added, dryly.
"Agreed. It happened a long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then." The Doctor reminisced, before checking on the progress of the engines. "Finito. All powered up." He announces, then pales when he sees something on the scanner and immediately sets the time rotor moving. All of a sudden something goes bang on the console, alarming both Katy and Martha.
"Whoa! What's that?" Martha exclaimed. Katy goes over to the Doctor's side, looking over his shoulder at the monitor.
"Doctor, what's happening?" She questioned him. The Doctor scans the information on the monitor and grows more and more agitated with what he sees.
"We're accelerating into the future. The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? But that's impossible!" He lamented.
"Why? What happens then?" Martha asks, curiously.
"We're going to the end of the universe," the Doctor realises with dread. Eventually, the Tardis makes a rough landing, nearly throwing the already weakened Katy to the metal floor, had the Doctor not quickly snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her into the safety of his arms. "You, okay?" He asks Katy, urgently.
"I'm alright," Katy confirms, as the Doctor plants a relieved kiss on her head before pulling away to investigate where the Tardis had taken them.
"Well, we've landed." The Doctor stated the obvious, and Katy just looks at him sardonically.
"I'll say…" She mutters, earning an unamused look from her boyfriend as a result. Martha makes her way over to them, looking worried.
"So, what's out there?" She asks.
"I don't know," the Doctor responded, with trepidation. Both Katy and Martha blink at him in astonishment.
"Say that again? That's rare." Martha commented.
"Not even the Time Lords came this far," he tells both girls. "We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go…" He trailed off, still looking apprehensive … until he grinned with excitement and runs to the door.
"Typical," Katy muttered, shaking her head at him with fond exasperation as both girls follow him to the Tardis doors.
Planet surface
Martha steps out of the Tardis into what looked like a quarry, and glances around curiously. Her eyes widen when she spots someone dressed in a linen navy-blue button shirt, dark trousers with a brown leather belt, black boots, and a World War Two trench coat, lying on the ground near the Tardis.
"Oh my God!" She yells and runs towards the person who isn't moving; not even when Martha yelled out like she did. "I can't get a pulse!"
"What is it? What's wrong?" Katy questioned, nearly getting bowled over by Martha when the medical student rushes back inside the Tardis.
"Hold on. I'm gonna get that medical kit thing the Doctor has stored in the Tardis," Martha exclaims without any information. Katy steps out of the Tardis with the Doctor right behind her and both spot what has Martha in a tizzy. Katy's eyes widen when she recognises the lifeless man lying spreadeagled on the ground, while the Doctor sighed heavily.
"Hello again. Oh, I'm sorry…" He mumbled apologetically.
"Is that … Jack?" Katy questioned the Doctor who nodded, looking pained. "What's going on?" She goes over to see if she could help their old friend, but the Doctor grabs her by the wrist and shakes his head.
Katy looks at him, dubiously.
"Here we go," Martha returns with the Tardis's medical kit. "Get out of the way!" She shoves past Katy who steps aside to give Martha the space she needed to help Jack. But for all intents and purposes, it seemed like a pointless task. "It seems a bit odd, though." Martha observes how Jack is dressed. "Not very hundred trillion. That coat's more like World War Two."
"That's because it is," Katy confirmed, still looking surprised that Jack was actually here, back in their lives.
"I think he came with us," The Doctor stated, grimly.
"How do you mean, from Earth?" Martha looked back at him, curiously. The Doctor nodded.
"Must have been clinging to the outside of the Tardis all the way through the vortex. Well, that's very him." He mumbles to himself.
"What, do you know him?" Martha was surprised.
"We both do," the Doctor gestured between himself and Katy. "Friend of ours. Used to travel with us, back in the old days." Martha looked at the couple with sadness in her eyes; the kind you'd see from a surgeon who had the horrible task of informing a loved one that their family member has just died.
"But he's … I'm sorry, but there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He's dead." Martha confirms.
"No…" Katy whispers, horrified. However, the Doctor remained blank-faced. Suddenly, Jack gasps and grabs onto Martha, who was still kneeling beside him, causing her to scream in alarm.
Katy's eyes widen in amazement. Martha chuckles, awkwardly.
"Oh, so much for me. It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you."
"Captain Jack Harkness," Jack introduces himself when he finally registers that he was being supported by an attractive young woman. "And who are you?" He flirts, earning a blush from Martha.
"Martha Jones."
"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones." Jack grins coyly.
"Oh, don't start!" the Doctor immediately complains, earning an amused snort from Katy, who remembers when the Ninth Doctor would always burst Jack's bubble whenever he attempted to flirt with literally anyone.
Jack rolls his eyes, exasperatedly.
"I was only saying hello." He complains, obviously remembering the same thing as Katy did too.
"I don't mind," Martha reassures both men as she helps Jack to his feet. Jack and the Doctor fall silent, as they both sized each other up, while Martha falls back and looks between them both with bemusement.
"Doctor."
"Captain."
"Good to see you," Jack smiles at the Doctor.
"And you," the Doctor acknowledged, smirking a little. "Same as ever. Although have you had work done?" He pondered, curiously.
"You can talk," Jack snorted. The Doctor frowns a little, until he realises that Jack has never seen his current face before, and grinned.
"Oh yes, the face. Regeneration." He explains to Jack. "How did you know this was me?"
"The police box kind of gives it away." Jack replied, hooking his thumb in the direction of the Tardis, like it should've been obvious from the start. "I've been following you for a long time." Then he frowns at the Doctor, looking hurt and slightly irritated. "You abandoned me."
"Did I?" the Doctor feigns ignorance, then shrugged. "Busy life. Moving on."
"Just got to ask," Jack tentatively questioned. "The Battle of Canary Wharf," both the Doctor and Katy winced; still not entirely over the memory, even though it had been ages since then. "I saw the list of the dead. It said 'Rose Tyler'" He looked worriedly at the Doctor, who was quick to reassure him.
"Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive."
"You're kidding," Jack sagged with relief.
"Oh, yeah. Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey, and her mother," The Doctor explains.
"And Katy?" Jack questioned, looking worried.
"Here!" Katy spoke up, causing the Doctor to step to the side, revealing Katy to Jack. "Hello, Jack."
"Katy!" Jack barrels forward and scoops up Katy into his arms for a very relieved hug, pulling her off her feet. She winces a little due to her still tender head. "Oh, God. I missed you."
"I noticed," Katy croaked within Jack's tight, enthusiastic hug.
Jack puts her down but doesn't let go of her as he reaches out and spontaneously grabs the Doctor, pulling him into the hug as well. The Doctor just went with it, having anticipated that he was likely to be engulfed into a hug at some point, and all three reunited friends laughed happily.
"Good old Rose…" Martha muttered, feeling a little bit like an outsider.
Jack, Martha, Katy, and the Doctor walk through some scrubland. Jack had his arm draped casually around Katy's shoulders, as he filled them all in on what he had been up to since he had been abandoned at the Game Station back in 200,100.
"So, there I was, stranded in the year two hundred, one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me." Jack indicates to the Doctor who was walking ahead of them. "But I had this." He raises his wrist, revealing what looked like a leather bracelet. "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator," he tells Martha who was hanging off his every word. "He's not the only one who can time travel."
"Oh, excuse me," the Doctor instantly protests. "That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car, and you've got a space hopper."
"Oh ho. Boys and their toys," Martha giggles as Jack rolled his eyes at the Doctor's comment.
"All right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless." Jack was a little embarrassed.
"Told you," The Doctor was smug, and Katy scowled at the back of his head.
"I had to live through the entire 20th century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me." Jack argued, defensively.
"So that makes you more than one hundred years old…" Katy mentally calculated in her head.
"And looking good, don't you think?" Jack preened. "So, I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this detecting you, and here we are." Jack indicated to the backpack he was wearing, and both Katy and Martha eye it curiously.
"But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?" Martha asked, curiously.
"Yeah, now that you mention it. I'd like to know that too." Katy frowned at her boyfriend, suspiciously.
"I was busy," the Doctor explained. Katy nodded, accepting that answer because she knew that at the time, the Doctor was about to regenerate, and needed to get herself and Rose to safety.
Martha, however, didn't like that answer and wanted him to elaborate.
"Is that what happens, though, seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?" She looked a little bit worried about that, and Katy had a hit of déjà-vu, remembering that Rose had once asked the Doctor the exact same question back when they had first met Sarah-Jane Smith and learned she was once the Doctor's companion.
"Not if you're blonde," Jack stated.
"Oh, she was blonde. Oh, what a surprise!" Martha lamented sarcastically.
"You two!" the Doctor rounded on both Martha and Jack, who look like deer-caught-in-headlights when the Doctor raised his voice, looking thoroughly irritated with them. "We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging!" He glowers at them. "Come on, Katy." He goes over and takes Katy's hand and leads her away, leaving Jack and Martha to scramble after them.
They eventually come across a cliffside, which overlooked some sort of high-tech construction. It was an interesting view.
"Is that a city?" Martha asked.
"A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration," the Doctor agrees. "Like it was grown. But look, there!" the Doctor points to a specific section off in the distance. "That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago."
"What killed it?" Katy questioned.
"Time," the Doctor shrugged. "Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilisations have gone." He looked a bit concerned. "This isn't just night." The Doctor tilted his head back to look up at the pitch-black sky above them. "All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing." The others looked up too to see what he was talking about.
"They must have an atmospheric shell," Jack guessed. "We should be frozen to death."
"Well, Katy, Martha and me, maybe." The Doctor looks slyly at Jack. "Not so sure about you, Jack." Katy frowns at that comment and looks suspiciously at both men. Martha looked devastated about the possible survival of humans.
"What about the people? Does no one survive?"
"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way," the Doctor attempted to reassure her.
"Well, he's not doing too badly…" Jack points towards a man running through the city off in the distance, pursued by what looked like a tribe of wild men.
"Human!" They hear the leader of the tribe shouting out. The Doctor immediately frowns, not liking what he was seeing.
"Is it me or does that look like a hunt?" the Doctor observes. "Come on!" He and the girls take off running, with a widely grinning Jack following.
"Oh, I've missed this!" He laments, happily. The four of them meet up with the running man, with Jack overtaking them all and intercepting the visibly frightened man. "I've got you!"
"They're coming! They're coming!" the man panicked. Jack turns and aims a revolver at the approaching tribe.
"Jack, don't you dare!" the Doctor growls. Jack fires the gun into the air, and the loud noise stops the tribe in its tracks, as well as making Katy wince from the pain with every shot fired. The Doctor notices this and takes her hand to comfort her as best he could.
"What the hell are they?" Martha demanded, looking horrified.
"There's more of them. We've got to keep going!" The man insists.
The Doctor comes over to him.
"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's over there!" He points back the way they had come but spots more tribesmen arriving on the cliff. "Or maybe not…" He changed his mind, paling a little when he saw how outnumbered they were. The man immediately takes charge of the situation.
"We're close to the silo," He explains hastily. "If we get to the silo, then we're safe."
"Silo?" the Doctor put the option out there, and Katy just gives him a flat look despite the amount of pain taking root in her head, due to her headache.
"Silo." She agreed immediately.
"Silo," Jack doesn't hesitate.
"Silo for me." Martha raises her hand, as though giving her vote. The man nodded and took off, with the four of them following him. The tribe resume chasing them.
Silo gates
The 'silo' turned out to be a makeshift fortress-like bunker build directly into some cliffs, with a search tower and an electrified fence with barbed wire. It was armed to the teeth with guards holding machine guns. The man starts shouting desperately at the guards whilst running towards them with the Doctor, Katy, Martha and Jack following him.
"It's the Futurekind! Open the gate!"
"Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!" the guards demanded, pointing their guns at them. The man turns to the four confused time travellers to explain.
"Show him your teeth." He instructs. Everyone grimaces, showing off their chisel incisors to the guards.
"Human!" shouts the head guard. "Let them in! Let them in!" The metal gates are opened and the quintet run through. "Close! Close! Close!" A guard fires his machine gun at the ground in front of the tribe as they get too close. The tribe immediately stops and glares resentfully at the guards.
"Humans. Humani. Make feast." The chieftain of the Futurekind threatens.
"Go back to where you came from," the head guard requests, firmly. The Futurekind stay where they are. "I said, go back. Back!"
"Oh sure, don't tell him to put his gun down…" Jack grumbled, and the Doctor shoots him a look.
"He's not my responsibility."
"And I am?" Jack looks pleasantly surprised. "Huh, that makes a change."
"Kind watch you. Kind hungry." The chieftain complains, before the Futurekind gives up, backs off and leaves.
Everyone sighs with relief.
"Thanks for that," the Doctor thanks the guards who nodded in acknowledgement.
"Right. Let's get you inside," the guard said. The man they had rescued immediately goes up to him.
"My name is Padra Toc Shafe Cane," He introduces himself to the head guard. "Tell me. Just tell me, can you take me to Utopia?" Padra looks at him hopefully.
"Oh yes, sir. Yes, I can." The guard confirms.
Inside the safety of the silo, the Doctor attempts to talk to the head guard to enlist his assistance in getting the Tardis safely to the silo.
"It looks like a box, a big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The Doctor urgently explains but is interrupted by Padra.
"I'm sorry," He apologises to the Doctor before turning to the head guard Atillo. "My family were heading for the silo. Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone." He explained, and Atillo looks a little harassed having to deal with two problems at the same time, when he had to focus on getting these refugees to Utopia safely.
"The computers are down but you can check the paperwork," Atillo tells Padra. "Creet! Passenger needs help!" He calls out, and a young boy of approximately ten appears with a clipboard.
Padra goes over to him.
"Right. Now, what do you need?" He asks Padra as Atillo turns and gives his full attention to the Doctor.
"A blue box, you said." He clarifies, and the Doctor nodded in confirmation.
"Big, tall, wooden. Says Police."
"We're driving out for the last water collection," Atillo explains. "I'll see what I can do." He offers, and the Doctor nodded gratefully to him.
"Thank you."
"Come on," Creet tells the five of them to follow him, and the five fall into step behind the young boy.
Martha sidles up to Creet, looking curious.
"Sorry, but how old are you?" She asks him, politely. Creet just looks up at her, looking bored; like he had heard this question frequently.
"Old enough to work," he tells her, still checking the list on the clipboard he was holding in his hands. "This way!" Creet calls out, and everyone follows him.
Corridors
Katy felt as though she had fallen into an action movie and was taking refuge inside a refugee camp to avoid being taken out by assassins out to get her. It was a fairly depressing sight to see. People all around them had put pictures of their loved ones on the wall above where they slept on the floor, and you could literally feel the sadness and hopeless engulf you like a winter coat.
"Kistane Shafe Cane!" Creet was loudly calling out Pedra's mother's name to the packed corridor. "Kistane Shafe Cane! Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane? We're looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane."
"The Shafe Canes, anyone?" Pedra asked around, looking hopeful. "Kistane from Red Force Five?" He received blank faces in response. "My name's Padra."
"Anyone?" Creet raises his voice to be heard. "Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane? Anyone know the Shafe Cane family? Anyone called Shafe Cane?"
"It's like a refugee camp," Martha observes, sadly.
"Stinking," Jack wrinkles his nose, and looks apologetically at a man who takes offence at what he said. "Oh, sorry. No offence. Not you." The Doctor, looked impressed that humans had surprisingly survived this far out in time.
"Don't you see that? The ripe old smell of humans." He turns his head and looks at Martha, grinning at her. "You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans."
"Kistane Shafe Cane!" Creet calls out again.
"End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word. Indomitable! Ha!" He crowed, happily.
"Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?" Creet asks, and this time a woman in her late 40s stands up.
"That's me." She answers, looking wary … until she sees Padra, then she gasped with shock.
"Mother?" Padra confirms.
"Oh, my God. Padra!" Kistane wails in relief as Padra rushes over to his family and embraces them.
"Beltone?" Padra greets his brother. Katy and Martha smile at the bittersweet reunion.
"It's not all bad news." Katy observed, and just flinches back a little when an attractive young man suddenly stands up beside her, and flashes her a brilliant smile. "Er, hi?" She greets him, feeling awkward and exchanging glances with an equally bemused Martha. Jack spots this and makes his way over to rescue her, and perhaps to flirt a little for himself.
"Captain Jack Harkness," He shakes the young man's hand. "And who are you?" He inquires.
"Stop it," the Doctor scolds him, although half-heartedly, as he had seen what had happened and was grateful that Jack had intercepted on his behalf. But at the same time, there was a time and a place. And he needed Jack's help. "Give us a hand with this." The Doctor indicates to a metal sliding door he was attempting to open. "It's half-deadlocked. I need you to overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are."
Together, the Doctor and Jack open the door, which turns out to be part way up a giant rocket silo. The Doctor nearly falls into it.
"Doctor!" Katy squealed, in alarm.
"Gotcha!" Jack grabs him by the arm just in the nick of time.
"Thanks," the Doctor smiles gratefully at Jack before leaning in a little into the rocket silo for a closer look.
"How did you cope without me?" Jack teased, before taking a gander himself. Katy and Martha look over their shoulders and gape at the size of the rocket.
"Now that is what I call a rocket," Martha commented, impressed.
"They're not refugees, they're passengers." The Doctor realises.
"He did say they were going to Utopia," Katy recalled Padra and Atillo talking about it earlier.
"The perfect place," the Doctor nodded. "Hundred trillion years, it's the same old dream." He points down at the rocket's engines. "You recognise those engines?" He asks Jack who shakes his head, looking puzzled.
"Nope. Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though." He commented, tugging a little at the collar of his button-up shirt to fan himself. Both he and the Doctor slide the heavy metal door shut again.
"It's boiling," the Doctor agreed. "But if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?" He wondered.
An elderly old man, dressed in typical academy professor attire walks up to the four of them, and glances between the Doctor and Jack with interest, as though deciding upon something. Jack and the Doctor look at him in askance, while Martha blinks at him in confusion. Katy, however, had to stop herself from groaning out loud from pain when the man passed by her. The headache that had been a barely noticeable ache at the back of her mind, immediately started thudding like a bass drum. She glowers at him accusingly.
"The Doctor?" the man questioned Jack.
"That's me," the Doctor raised a hand, and the man beamed at him with delight.
"Good! Good! Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good." He babbled in his excitement, grabbing the Doctor by his arm and dragging him away.
"It's good apparently…" the Doctor tells Katy, Martha and Jack, who follow them.
A woman with pointed teeth watches them go.
Laboratory
The elderly man leads the Doctor, Katy, Martha and Jack towards what looked like a laboratory. The second they walk inside, the man takes the Doctor to various pieces of equipment straight away. A blue, bug-like alien woman wearing a white lab coat greets and bows at them as they enter.
"Chan-welcome-tho."
"Now, this is the gravitissimal accelerator," The man explains to a bemused Doctor. "It's past its best, but it works."
"Chan-welcome-tho." The bug woman repeats her greeting.
"And over here is the footprint impellor system," the man shows the Doctor another piece of equipment. "Now, do you know anything about endtime gravity?" He inquires, looking at the Doctor hopefully. Martha and Jack approach the bug woman curiously, but Katy lingers in the background, now struggling with her pain.
'Oh, no. Not again…' Katy despairs.
"Hello. Who are you?" Martha greets the alien, politely.
"Chan-Chantho-tho," the bug woman replies, smiling shyly at her. Jack reaches for her hand and kisses the back of it, flirtatiously.
"Captain Jack Harkness," He introduces himself with a saucy wink.
"Stop it…" the Doctor automatically scolds him.
"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack complains at him.
"Chan-I do not protest-tho." Chantho reassures Jack, who grinned at her.
"Maybe later, Blue." Jack promises, before becoming all-business. "So, what have we got here?" He goes over to see what the elderly man was showing the Doctor.
"And all this feeds into the rocket?" the Doctor questions.
"Yeah, except without a stable footprint, you see, we're unable to achieve escape velocity." The man explains, a little dejectedly. "If only we can harmonise the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it." He looks over at the Doctor with a hopeful expression on his face. "What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?"
"Well, er, basically, sort of, not a clue." The Doctor confesses, truthfully. He actually looked completely lost for once.
The man's face fell.
"Nothing?"
"I'm not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry." He apologises with a shrug. The man sags in on himself, looking defeated.
"No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help," He muttered, tiredly.
"Doctor…" Katy's voice rasps, and the Doctor looks over at her; only to react with alarm when he sees how pale she had become. He hurries over to her.
"Katy? What's wrong, darling?" He mutters, softly.
"It's happening again…" Katy whimpered, and the Doctor frowned in confusion.
"What's happening again?"
"Do you remember Utah? With Van Statten and the Dalek?" She attempts to jog his memory, and the Doctor swore underneath his breath. He glances around and spots a nearby table with chairs and a drinks machine and relaxed a little.
"Here. Come over and take a seat so I can examine you." He stated, looping her arm around his shoulder and half-carrying her over to the nearest seat, helping her sit down on it. Martha is immediately alert when she sees Katy's condition.
"What's happened?" She demanded, coming over to Katy's side.
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "But it's not the first time this has happened, and unfortunately, I don't have the equipment necessary to help her right now."
"What caused it the last time?" Martha questioned, as a concerned Jack comes over and hovers nearby, listening in.
"Last time? A lost Dalek." The Doctor explained, darkly. "Katy, Rose and I found one in an underground alien museum back in 2012 Utah. We had followed a distress signal, thinking that it was an innocent alien calling out for help. But it turned out to be that bloody Dalek." The Doctor was worried about Katy, who visibly winced in pain, and lowered her head to the cool table.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" the man questioned, looking concerned too. The Doctor was about to reject the offer, but thought better of it when he noticed the drinks machine out the corner of his eye.
"Do you have any water?"
"Yes, of course." The man nodded and gestured towards Chantho who wondered off to get it.
"A Dalek caused this?" Jack looked shocked. The Doctor hesitated.
"It's a grey area. We believed it was mostly the Dalek's presence that caused it; bringing back some of Katy's 'memories.'" The Doctor explained, rather pointedly, referring to Katy's trapped Time Lady memories. Both Jack and Martha immediately understood and nodded. Chantho returned with a large plastic cup full of water.
"Chan-here you go-tho." She offered the cup to the Doctor who took it with a 'thanks' and handed it to Katy.
"Take small sips, sweetheart." He advised, and Katy nodded, smiling gratefully at him.
"I wonder what's causing it now?" Martha mused, thoughtfully.
Eventually, Katy started gradually feeling a little bit better, but she still kept looking mistrustfully at the old man, whom they learned was called Professor Yana, as she realised that he was the cause of her pain that everyone was pondering over. But she decided to keep this information to herself, for now. The Doctor, Jack and Martha refocused on Yana's project but kept watchful eyes on Katy in case she deteriorated again. Martha started looking through Jack's backpack and pulls out a transparent container. A human hand was submerged inside some bubbling water.
"Oh, my God. You've got a hand?" Martha looks at Jack with alarm. "A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag." She puts the container on the table, and the Doctor comes over to examine it for himself.
"But that, that, that's my hand." The Doctor noted with surprise, looking at Jack with a raised eyebrow.
"Why do you have a hand in your backpack, Jack?" Katy inquired, feeling a little queasy.
"I said I had a 'Doctor' detector," Jack explained, unperturbed.
"Chan-is this a tradition amongst your people-tho?" Chantho asked, curiously.
"Not on my street." Martha confirmed, then frowned at the Doctor. "What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands; I can see them."
"Long story," the Doctor sighed. "I lost my hand Christmas Day, in a swordfight." He elaborated.
"It was kinda scary witnessing that too," Katy recalled.
"What? You were there?" Martha blinked at her.
"Yeah, of course I was. Don't you remember when the Sycorax invaded that one time?" Katy questioned Martha.
"And you grew another hand?" Martha clarified, as the Doctor looked up at Martha in amusement.
"Er, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah. Hello." He waved at Martha playfully with the hand that he had grown back that day.
"Might I ask, what species are you?" Yana was intrigued. The Doctor looked up at him, smiling politely.
"Time Lord, part of an endangered race. Heard of them?" He asked Yana, who looked at him blankly. "Legend or anything?" Still nothing. "Not even a myth?" The Doctor looked a bit taken aback. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling." He mumbled to Katy, who giggled a little.
"Chan-it is said that I am the last of my species too-tho." Chantho supplied. The Doctor looks at her curiously.
"Sorry, what was your name?" He asked, having missed out on introductions when Yana was showing him around the equipment for the project.
"My assistant and good friend, Chantho. A survivor of the Malmooth." Yana introduces her to him. "This was their planet, Malcassario, before we took refuge." He explains.
"That city outside, that was yours?" Katy asked, curiously.
"Chan-the conglomeration died-tho." She explained, sadly. Katy looked at her with sympathy.
"Conglomeration. That's what I said!" the Doctor shouted triumphantly, earning disapproving scowls from his companions.
"You're supposed to say sorry," Jack reminds him.
"Oh, yes. Sorry." The Doctor apologises to Chantho, who nodded gratefully.
"Chan-most grateful-tho."
"You grew another hand?" Martha couldn't seem to get past that little piece of information about the Doctor, and Katy giggles.
"Hello, again." The Doctor waves to get Martha's attention. "It's fine. Look, really, it's me." He offers his hand to Martha, who tentatively takes it and pumps it up and down in a friendly handshake.
"All this time, and you're still full of surprises." Martha acknowledged and the Doctor grinned and winked at her.
"Chan-you are most unusual-tho." Chantho observed with interest.
"Oh, sweetie. That's nothing…" Katy stated, casually. "We've done weirder things."
"So, what about those things outside? The Beastie Boys. What are they?" Jack asked Yana, steering the topic back to what was relevant.
"We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself," Yana explains, grimly. "But it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia."
"And Utopia is?" the Doctor prompted.
"Oh, every human knows of Utopia," Yana scoffs in disbelief. "Where have you been?"
"Bit of a hermit," the Doctor shrugged. Yana raises an eyebrow at his response.
"A hermit with friends?"
"Hermits United," the Doctor was a bit facetious. "We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit." He clears his throat, looking awkward. "So, er, Utopia?" Yana walks over to a futuristic gravitational field navigation system and switches it on.
"The call came from across the stars, over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originating from that point." He points towards a specific part of the navigation system.
"Where is that?" Katy questioned. Yana gives her a warm, grandfatherly-type smile before responding.
"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the humans scattered across the night."
"What do you think's out there?" the Doctor asked.
"We can't know. A colony; a city, some sort of haven?" Yana shrugged. "The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it, perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"
"Oh, yes!" An eager smile spreads across the Doctor's face. Katy winces heavily, cradling her head, and the Doctor immediately looks contrite thinking that he was too loud with his exclamation. "Sorry, love…" Katy waves him off, taking a sip from her water. The Doctor continues the discussion. "Plus, the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there." He stated. "And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix. So, you can fly without stars to guide you." The Doctor notices that Yana was staring off into space, not really paying attention to what he was saying, and attempts to get his attention. "Professor? Professor? Professor!" Yana jolts in surprise, and immediately becomes irritated.
"I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk." He said dismissively. "There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you." The Doctor frowns at him.
"You alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. And busy," Yana stated, impatiently. The Doctor stops him, trying to be realistic about their situation.
"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it? This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working."
"We'll find a way!" Yana snapped.
"You're stuck on this planet," the Doctor continued, as though Yana had not said anything. "And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly."
"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." Yana reasoned but looked incredibly doubtful and guilty. The Doctor nodded, seeing his point.
"Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor. This new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost." He gets up and gathers a handful of the wiring in his hand, pulling his screwdriver from his pocket simultaneously. "So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?" He sonics the end of the cable and pulls a switch. Power instantly surges through the machines, stunning both Yana and Chantho.
"Chan-it's working-tho!" Chantho exclaimed, with excitement.
"But how did you do that?" Yana was shocked. What he did took all of two seconds, and suddenly several hours of work, was now fully functional.
The Doctor smiled widely.
"Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you. I'm brilliant!"
"And so modest too…" Katy mutters underneath her breath to both Martha and Jack, who snigger in agreement.
Corridor
"All passengers prepare for boarding. I repeat, all passengers prepare for immediate boarding." Atillo's voice booms out from a hidden tannoy, and all the refugees gather up what belongings they possessed and started heading, single file into the massive rocket that would transport them to Utopia. "Destination, Utopia."
A/N: To be continued…