by Cour M.
“Martha I am so sorry.”
She raised her gun.
“Then once more, don’t judge me for using this. I have no choice.”
“Like I said, I’m older now,” he assured her, “and I’m so tired of watching my friends die. Besides, you’re what I had you be.”
“Riley,” Martha ordered, “stay near us. We won’t leave you.”
Riley smiled bashfully, raising up his gun and turned to the Doctor.
“If only she was not so damned loyal to you, Doctor,” Riley whispered to him, “it could have ended differently for me.”
“Ah the universe is filled with could have beens and would have beens, Riley.”
“I suppose so.”
They were interrupted by the sounds of many ships filling the sky and teleporting its soldiers onto Taxos. Very soon, the battle began.
Due to the battle, Martha, the Doctor and Riley knew that they could not help by remaining indoors, so they exited the headquarters and began to help on the front lines of the settlement, helping the women and children get to the teleportation sites. As they did so, Martha and Riley shot at many of the warriors as well as the Doctor used his screwdriver to cause debris to fall on the soldiers as well as disabling their weapons—but then he got a better look at them.
“Those are mechanoids!” Martha yelled over the gunfire.
“No,” Eleven declared, amazed, “they are not mechanoids. These are Gelem soldiers.”
“They are the things of nightmares!” Riley gasped, absolutely terrified. As they all were.
“Doctor,” Martha said as she shot one, “I believe, that I am afraid. Truly and properly frightened.”
“That is their talent,” Eleven admitted, “fear and loathing in the hearts of their victims. Gelem Warriors are artificial soldiers, made from living creatures. Gelem warriors could be made from a variety of species and their end appearance reflects their origin. They are created by using at least five members of a species to create one Gelem warrior. But this is different, they are mixtures of many.”
“That is why they look that way? A patchwork monster.”
“The thing of nightmares.”
The Doctor continued fighting with the rest, but his feelings of fear were swelling within him, as it did when he was in the Waters of Mars. Except these monsters—were worse. Much worse. They had chalk-white skin with black holes for eyes while their faces were between human and jackal, their backs with wings on them as birds, predator claws and all the rest a mixture of different species.
“Then these are the creatures who sent the signal?” Riley commented, shooting one gelem warrior who had wings and was flying at him. “And not the mechanoids.”
“Oh, Riley, if only that were the case. Gelem warriors are just foot soldiers. Trained to be extremely loyal, and harvested from the remnants of other species.”
“Then they are like cybermen, but without any metal casing,” Martha summed up. “They are experiments.”
“Yes, which means that they have a master, and it’s never themselves.”
The battle continued to ensue, with the gelem warriors rushing at them with super speed or flying over them with their wings and both powers were equally formidable, but the gelem warriors instilled fear, to their benefit. Even the Doctor felt it seeping into his bones as he continued to fight onward.
“I am sorry,” he said as he destroyed a gelem by having its weapon explode in its hands. “I am so sorry.” The gelems could not help themselves, but now neither could he. Once more he had no choice but to understand why the people of the Gamma Forests thought the name Doctor meant Warrior. He was changing his name into something else—once again.
Through the fray, the Doctor came face to face with a gelem, in all its horror. It took one step toward him, then another, wings grew from its back as it began to soar at him, but it was shot down by Martha, who pierced his stomach. Seeing this as an opportunity, the Doctor leaned over it and looked into its eyes.
“Please, let me save you.”
“You must die,” it replied. “Doctor!”
At the mention of his name, the Doctor looked down at the gelem.
“Yes, we know your name. He knew you would be coming. He’s been waiting for so long.”
Eleven froze as Martha overheard them.
“He’s dead,” Eleven stressed.
“Doctor, you know it’s never too easy. You know that he could always survive. And he did. And he’s coming. You’re all going to die.”
The gelem warrior laughed and then breathed its last breath.
“Doctor,” Martha urged as Riley shot down a gelem that was about to attack her. “Who is he talking about?”
“A name, a man, a machine,” Eleven sighed over the dead gelem, “that I never wished to see again.” Eleven looked between Martha and Riley. “I am sorry.”
“Why?” Riley asked.
“Because we’re going to lose.”
Chapter 7
Five for Fighting
To 1917 the TARDIS landed, near a village called Ypres, where the very last report of missing soldiers had occurred, long after the Battle of the Somme.
“In two weeks’ time,” Ten informed Ace, Jack, and the Ponds, “the Battle of Messines shall take place. According to the military reports, the last missing soldiers were seen in the last battle and not too far away from here.”
“So whatever is taking the soldiers might be here next?” Ace checked.
“Most definitely,” Jack answered, winking at her, “But Doctor, what monster or alien would be haunting battlefields just to be taking dying soldiers? Do you know of any creature that would do that?”
“While I want to say that it’s cybermen,” Ten said, placing his TARDIS key in the replication compartment, “this just isn’t their style. At first I assumed that it would be a jutunguin, or a crevorian, or maybe even a deslick, but truth is, from what I recall, the jutunguins were pacifists still, crevorians still had a phobia for leaving their home planet, and deslicks hated the sight of human blood.”
“Oh, yes!” Ace cried happily, “I remember now, they did, didn’t they?”
“Yes they did!”
“Is there any blood that they did like looking at?” Rory asked.
“Xacri blood,” Ace and Ten answered simultaneously, then they looked at each other, “Nice!”
“So,” Amy added, clapping her hands together, “what’s the plan? Dear god, I hope you’ve got a plan.”
“Of course I do. How do you think I have lived this long?”
“You can regenerate.”
“Besides that.”
Ten opened up the replication compartment and he handed the key to Jack.
“You’re giving me a TARDIS Key!” Jack laughed, “be careful, or I’ll think you’re getting soft on me… at last.”
“Oh please, you know what it’s for.”
“Let a lady enjoy a gift, will you?”
“That’s the TARDIS key,” Amy noticed.
“A copy of it,” Ten informed them, “but not for opening doors, but simply to locate and summon it. It’s covered in huon particles, and once they melt into his skin, then the huon particles that will be in Jack can summon the particles in here. Jack, just by his emotions, will be able to summon us wherever he goes. We’re going to have to have someone enlist in the army, pretending that they are a soldier being transferred in.”
“But if we have someone enlist,” Rory pointed out, “then they will have to fight in the next battle. This Battle of Messines.”
“Yes, that is true, but since this monster is taking soldiers off the field, the best thing that we can do is have it take someone.”
“No,” Rory refuted, “I cannot allow that. I may not have the name, Doctor, but I am still a nurse. I am not going to let you allow anyone here to rush onto a battlefield and get themselves killed all for this mission.”
“Do I look like the sort of person
who would send anyone to their death?”
Ten blinked and faltered as he had a quick flash of Martha, as he had ordered her to walk the Earth and risk her life over and over… as he had possibly sent her to her death.
He blinked again as he did his best to rise above his guilt and self-loathing and returned back to the situation.
“Right,” Ten knuckled his hand, out of a defense mechanism, “Rory, I can assure you that no one will get hurt… not with me. Not this time! And not this day!”
“They had better not,” Rory replied, “it’s my job to make sure of that.”
“I can see why I also traveled with you both,” Ten smiled, then he turned to Jack, “Jack.”
“Once more I enter a war.”
“But Rory is right,” Amy added, “He could get hurt.”
“While I always thank a woman sighing over any danger that can befall me,” Jack smirked, “don’t worry, I’ll be fine. As long as you all come and get me.”
“Jack, you’ll just have to remember to keep the key on you so that the huon particles can enter your skin.”
“I’ll keep it in a place where it will be hard for it to fall out of.”
“Jack we don’t need to know that.”
“I was referring to a hidden coat pocket.”
“Oh.”
“Actually I wasn’t.”
“Knew it.”
“Now, all we need is a man to appear as if they are a Captain, or some official who is overseeing Jack’s transfer to General Hubert Plumer’s Second Army, for he is the Captain leading the battle.”
“Right,” Amy said, and then she, like everyone else, turned to Rory.
“Ah, great,” Rory groaned.
Luckily all that Rory needed to do was speak and not fight, so in the wardrobe room of the TARDIS, he and Jack got dressed in WWI military attire, the Doctor left them off at a train station where they took the rest of the way to the Second Army’s location. Once Rory had accomplished his mission, he called Amy’s phone, the Doctor picked him up, and Rory came bearing a set of papers.
“Doctor!” Rory rushed in, removing his cap, “Amy, Ace! You have got to look at this.”
“What is it?” Amy asked.
“Well, there was another battle a short time ago, it was in May, and it was called the Battle of Otranto Straits.”
“Yes, that one was a dozy if I recall,” Ten hissed, “too many young men died, as they will in this next battle. Blast this worthless war.”
“You really do not like guns now, truly?” Ace asked keenly.
“Ace, I hate the sight of them.”
“Then I am sorry,” Amy said.
“Why?”
“Because of the day when you have to pick one up again.”
“I won’t.”
“I’m sorry, but you will.”
“Doctor,” Ace assured him, “don’t worry, it’s inevitable.”
Rory laid out the papers that he received.
“I barely had to speak because Jack did the most of it. I get the sense that he has had to fight in wars before.”
“He was enlisted in World War II,” The Doctor explained.
“Really?” Ace asked.
“Yup, that’s vortex manipulation for you.”
“Well, he got this Captain Plumer to talk about the lost men from the last battle, and I asked him if he had a list of the ones who had gone MIA. And look at the last one.”
The Doctor leaned down, scrolled over a list of ten names and then the last one was…
“Clive Staples Lewis,” The Doctor read, utterly amazed. “My god, I should have known that.”
“What?” Amy asked, “what is it?”
“The name is familiar,” Rory stated, “I can’t recall where I heard it before, but I knew it was familiar when I heard it.”
“Oh, you’ve heard the name all right,” Ten acknowledged, smacking his head, “think, Doctor, think, why would this be happening? It cannot be mere coincidence. No, it’s never that simple. But then again, it has been before.”
“Doctor,” Amy demanded, “we are in the middle of World War I, we just had to hand your friend over to a battle where his life is at risk, and we never have all the time in the world, so stop muttering to yourself. Who is this guy?”
“You all really don’t know? Blimey, what do they teach in school these days? Clive Staples Lewis, a young man who fought in World War I. Note his initials.”
Amy, Ace and Rory thought about it, and Rory discovered it first.
“Oh!”
“Precisely, in the last battle, one of the soldiers who was taken was Clive Staples Lewis: C.S. Lewis.”
“The author of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’!” Ace cried.
“Yes, him! C.S. Lewis was taken by an alien!”
“Whoa!” Amy cried happily, grabbing Rory’s arm and they danced around. “We’re in the same place as C.S. Lewis! How cool is that!”
“Well, yes, but he’s taken?” Ace said, “and this creature has him.”
“Yes, it does,” the Doctor confirmed, “Or if it’s something else, then this changes a great deal.”
“Why?”
“C.S. Lewis is supposed to survive this war, eventually get discharged because he was wounded, then return, become an Oxford Professor, and the writer of a popular series. Which means that if this occurs…”
“His books,” Amy said, “they would disappear from history.”
“Worse, they would have never been written. And they won’t, if we fail.”
“Right.”
“But the books are written,” Ace cried, “they are out there.”
“They are out there in the future, Ace. You know how time is, in a constant state of flux except for the fixed points in time. If we fail here, then every work of his, every book or reflection, every part of ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ would just disappear.”
“And it would be all our fault,” Amy said for him.
“Precisely.”
They all stood there, with the weight of time resting on their shoulders once more.
In two days’ time, the TARDIS was located near the Battle of Messines, and they were all there, except for Captain Jack, hearing the gunshots and the sound of machine guns going off everywhere. The sound of war.
As they stood in the consul room, Amy walked down the steps and saw the Doctor sitting there pensively, on the base of the room, his elbows propped up on his knees, and his chin resting on his fists.
“How are you?” Amy asked.
“I hear a battle going on outside of my TARDIS. Right now, I feel sick.”
Amy sat down next to him as the battle continued being waged all around them.
“To this day, I am amazed how this ship can survive anything almost. Makes me wonder if it could even survive a volcano.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised where your mind goes, Amy Williams. Amy Pond. With that hair color.”
“You were never a ginger, right?”
“No, and I am still looking forward to the day that it comes. Then I would be the ultimate ginger.”
“The ultimate ginge.”
“The ultimate ginge,” Ten echoed, laughing.
“But what you said that other day, about us being the means through which C.S. Lewis’s books will still exist, well, it does place another weight on our shoulders.”
“Another weight.”
“I know I’ve told you so much already, so I’ll keep this secret. We shall meet someone, and we shall be the means through which his work will not be erased.”
“Really, so I still do that sort of thing?”
“What sort of thing?”
“That thing where I meet historic figures and have to keep their lives from derailing.”
“You did that before?”
“Yes, I was with my first companion after the Time War, Rose. We met Charles Dickens and he was surrounded by actual ghosts. Then with
Martha, I took her to see William Shakespeare, where he was haunted by witches.”
“Witches?”
“Yes, witches. Well, not really witches, but still close enough.”
“Oh, that is so cool!”
“Yes, it was, now that I look back on it. Despite all the running and almost getting killed, it was fun. Now that I think about it, when I was not making a mistake, we had much fun. I’m surprised I never told you that.”
“Unless I ask, you don’t talk much about your past.”
“Why not? That is just so strange.”
“Well, I want to say that it’s because you have another way of doing things. I think you choose not to talk about it, because that is your way of moving on. You don’t forget anything really; you just choose to let the weight of things go. But I think it’s more than that.”
“What do you think that it is?”
“You once said that you are not running from things, but you are running to them, before they fade away. Yes, you believe that. But I knew that you were lying in part. You meant it, but you are running away sometimes. And I think you also did it for us.”
“How?”
“Well, think about it. If you were always mentioning the past, then how would it have made me feel? And Rory? If you were always living in the past, then how would we have felt acceptance and as if we were being connected in the present?”
This point drove home inside the Doctor.
“I suppose you simply looked on us as a chance to start over. So you did.”
“I did?”
“No need to sound surprised.”
“Yes, I did change a lot.”
“Are you thinking of Martha now?”
Ten looked away from her and then relented.
“Yes, I am.”
“Are you ready to talk about her yet?”
“The pain is still too near, but I can talk a little.”
“What was she like?”
“She was brilliant, a Doctor herself, and she saved my life so many times. And she fancied me.”
“Oh, she did?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Well, she and I had that in common then.”
