by Cour M.
“Yes, but he probably looked at it as different. He probably looked at it as if he was fighting for something.”
“That’s the definition of terrorist, you idiot.”
Clara stopped and thought about it.
“Oh blimey, it is, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. Did you really think that argument was going to work out for you?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time. But still, I’m sticking to what I say. He hasn’t committed the action yet, and I therefore won’t judge him, especially given how spotted everyone who he fought against was. So, Governor, you need to give him a chance.”
“Are you ordering me around?”
“Must you look at it that way?”
“Well, I might have something to say about that.”
“I’m sure you will,” Clara scoffed, “and I’ll have something to say about that too.”
“I’m sure that you will. Well, this is my TARDIS.”
“Good for you, what are you going to do? Throw me out in space just because I disagree with you?”
“Of course not, because I don’t believe in blowing up people just because I disagree with them. See, now aren’t you happy that I’m not like Guy Fawkes over there?”
“You’re not like him,” Clara stated simply.
“What do you mean?”
“The Doctor. The man I met. You’re nothing like him.”
“Why not?”
“Because I want to believe that he would try and understand. He would try and forgive, and he would help that man over there who has resorted to such measures because he feels oppressed. He would try and convince him to be better. By sitting here and just being mean, are you really helping the situation?”
“Maybe I’m more like that Doctor than you realize,” Nine argued.
“Well, when you prove it, then I’ll like you.”
“Stop idolizing him.”
Clara stood up, walked over to the TARDIS doors and Virgil stood up for her, moved out of the way and allowed her to set down next to Mozart as they dangled their feet over the edge of the TARDIS, into the vastness of space.
“You’re handling this very well,” she noted.
“I guess I am,” Mozart sighed, coughing a bit, “but I suppose I am accepting it because of the human ability to adapt to any situation if having no choice but to. You show me this thing, this space! And so I have no choice now. I’m not dreaming.”
“No you are not.”
“The universe has always looked a little funny to me,” he confessed, “funnier than it appears to others anyway. Only my wife understood it, though it doesn’t stop me from driving her mad often. I see the world in notes. Just look there at that star,” he pointed, “it feels like a G note suspended in this blank emptiness, and every other star another note that leads to this universal symphony. All of it is coming together,” he sighed, moving his fingers as if he wanted to begin gesticulating like a conductor once more. “All the music swiveling around in this beautiful chaos. And that’s what the world is. It’s chaos. A lot of nonsense and noise, and it is the job of the musician to bring all those sounds together and make a beautiful movement with it.”
“It is the same way with singing the blues,” Ethel Waters said, “you take all the madness that comes with life and turn it into a beautiful melancholy.”
“Yes, all the small and grand moments. And sometimes, things, concepts, and ideas that seemed so separate can be connected in the strangest of ways, and it’s your job as the conductor to pluck these ideas from the multitude, bring them together in a way that augments them and distracts people from what is happening in the background.”
“It’s beautiful,” Clara acknowledged, “and it…” she trailed off and then she noticed something, “wait, repeat what you just said. That stuff about connection and distractions.”
“Well that is the trick of us artists,” Ethel inferred, as if it were obvious.
“Yes,” Mozart muttered, “Yes, well yes, it is. Good art is supposed to be a bit of a distraction. By connecting things in a way that creates a work of art, the beauty of that moment is there to help the viewer be distracted from the ugly in another area. Our job is to help you dream by forgetting how scary reality can be.”
“It can help you forget?”
“Yes.”
In that moment, something clicked in Clara’s brain, and she jumped up.
“It can help you not notice! Governor!”
Nine was at his consul unit and still trying to figure out what was going on when she called him.
“Yes?”
She rushed up to him and leaned against the dashboard.
“You checked all of Uxarieus and found nothing, right? Not one thing wrong with the planet or space around it.”
“Yes.”
“I think we were looking at it wrong,” she assumed, “what if Uxarieus was not the main point. What if they were brought here to make us focus on what was happening here rather than paying attention to the planet that they came from.”
Nine thought about it for no more than a few seconds before the concept became apparent. He rushed to the TARDIS doors, pushed everyone in and locked them.
“Everyone, grab ahold of something again! This time we’re flying further.”
“Where are we going!” Commander Nestor cried, “I should contact my armies.”
“Sorry commander, but there is no time for that! We have to get there!”
“Where are we going?” Emily Bronte asked.
“To the place where you all came from, and where the invasion is really happening. We’re going back to Earth.”
Pulling the lever, Nine transported them through time and space, worried that they would be too late.
No, not Earth! Not Earth!
Chapter 9
Flesh & Stone
“Daleks!” Twelve cried, through the shouts of human and Dalek alike, “everyone back into the Valiard! Go!”
Covering all as they rushed back in, while grabbing Donna’s hand, he looked around him as the Weeping Angels began to suddenly spring to life as the Daleks shot at them. Heedless of the Doctor and the humans, the Angels gathered their strength and began to jump on the Daleks as a full on skirmish ensued between them. As he closed the doors behind him, the Doctor could not help but take one last look at the scene and he was amazed to see the Angels and Daleks destroying each other.
Daleks fighting and successfully killing the Angels.
The Angels moving while being seen and ripping the Daleks apart.
It was all unwinding and it was madness!
He closed the door behind him as Donna rushed up to him.
“What is happening?” She demanded to know. “Are they both enemies?”
“Not that I ever knew,” Twelve said, “now we are off.”
“But what about the other refugees?” Donna asked, “the other ones in the other rooms who also got zapped in time with us?”
“Precisely,” Leela said, holding her niece, “we have to get them out.”
“And we will!” Twelve hissed, “Of course I’m not leaving them behind. If I did, then my name wouldn’t be—”
He stopped abruptly, almost saying it.
“Or I would not have the right to even call myself Professor.”
Twelve spent the next few minutes materializing around the other people in the other rooms and riding them to safety.
“There,” he said, with four rooms of many people in it on his ship, “now we are in the vortex and we should be safe.”
Leela’s niece removed her hand from her aunt’s and walked up to the Doctor.
“Are we really safe?”
“Yes,” he answered gently, “yes we are.”
The little girl raised up her hand and the Doctor took it.
“Well, thank you,” Twelve chuckled.
“Professor,” Donna whispered, going up to him, “thank you! But how do you know they are not following us?”
/> “We’re in the time vortex now.”
“What’s that? Oh, scratch that! Even if you were to explain it, I still wouldn’t know what it is. Still say something though. And the people back there on Larissa are in no danger, right? You said that once we got out of there, the Angels would track us, but what were those other things?”
“Exactly,” a random man in the crowd said, “will they attack the people in Larissa?”
“And what about the people back home?” Leela asked, “even if we get out of there, will they still be able to track us?”
“I will go back to check on Larissa,” Twelve assured them, “but in the meantime, I cannot return you all to Earth just yet. Those creatures, are even worse than the Weeping Angels. Angels kill you kindly by not killing you at all usually. But those are Daleks. And they just want to kill everything.”
“Why?”
“Because they can,” Twelve said simply, “because that’s all they are trained to do. And all that they are good at doing. But as for the rest, no, we will not be tracked. Because now that we’re in the vortex, I cannot be overtaken. Indeed, it would take the Daleks many equations to figure out how to trace me, for I am flying randomly. And—”
A distress alarm suddenly went off and the lights began to flash in the TARDIS.
“I have warning lights,” he exclaimed, “when did I ever get those?!”
He went up to the consul unit, read the computer and he groaned.
“What is it?” Leela asked.
“It’s the Daleks! They actually are following us through the vortex.”
“You said that they couldn’t do that,” Donna reminded.
“Well clearly they can!”
The Doctor looked on his screen and in fact saw a Dalek spaceship on it that had the name plastered on the hull.
Gallifrey falls
“Really?” Twelve groaned, “cheeky little buggers!”
The TARDIS suddenly halted and everyone jolted forward, amazed at the sudden stop.
“Did we stop?” Leela asked.
“Yes, we did!” Twelve cried, utterly shocked and horrified, “but that’s impossible.”
“What is?” Donna asked.
“We are being immobilized. The Daleks! They’ve immobilized the TARDIS.”
“Can you get free at all?” Molly Pratchett asked.
Twelve began to press buttons and do everything he could, but the TARDIS was not responding.
“No, they’ve done something.”
“Are they going to kill us?”
“Probably not,” he responded, “but not because they don’t want to, no. They won’t kill you because they hate me too much. And they won’t kill you, because I won’t let them.”
The TARDIS suddenly shook violently and they all fell to the ground. Donna went over to the Doctor and helped him up as he took her hand and looked at the screen again.
“No!” He cried, “they’ve taken us on their ship!”
“How did they do that?”
“There’s only one other way,” the Doctor cried, “they used a magno grab of some kind. But that’s impossible, because they have to be thrown on board to be able to disable an entire ship. Unless…” he pressed a few buttons to scan the exterior of the ship and saw that a device had been attached to the outer hull of the TARDIS. “Eureka! They found a way to insert magno grab destabilizers onto the outer layers of my ship. That sort of technology never existed before.”
“Which means that they are capturing us?” Donna hissed.
“Yes.”
Twelve looked at Donna for the first time that closely, with their faces inches apart, and he saw the woman once more that he knew but didn’t know him. No, he would not fail her again!
“Donna,” he pressed his hand on hers, “I said I would get you back home, and I meant it.”
Donna nodded.
“Fine, then prove it.”
“Oh yes!”
Donna smiled sadly.
“But what can you do now?” A larger man said, coming forward. “At least we were safe before, but since you showed up, things have gotten from bad to worse!”
“Yeah,” a woman came forward and pointed threateningly at the Doctor, “we at least were safe before. Then you bring the Angels to us, you promise you can get us home, and we’re here, then Dalek things show up and they will kill us!”
“Yeah,” a man cried out, “you’re useless!”
They all began to blame him at once and the Doctor was getting overwhelmed as Leela tried to calm them down.
But they all did not know one thing.
Donna Noble was and always would be… Donna Noble.
“Everyone!” She shouted, “shut your mouths and leave him alone!”
Everyone were silenced for a moment and Donna, frustrated, straightened her shirt.
“In case you didn’t notice, we were never safe!” Donna pointed out. “Even on Earth, we were all hunted by these Angel things, and when we got onto Larissa, what did we get? A factory that looked like a bloody concentration camp. We were never safe! And those Dalek things, creepy little buggers, they were clearly waiting, so this was always going to happen. Do you get that?! So let’s calm down and let him think.”
Donna turned to the Doctor and walked up to him.
“I work as a temp in business places, and the people there got the exact same way when the air condition stopped working in the middle of summer. Therefore, I can tell you that you only have five minutes before their fear of me wears off and they return back to the angry mob mentality.”
“Right,” Twelve said, kissing her forehead, “have I ever told you that you’re brilliant?”
“Oh, I know already,” she boasted, “and please don’t ever kiss me without my permission.”
They were interrupted as the TARDIS received a message from the Dalek ship that it was now within. Twelve went up to the screen and clicked it on.
“Daleks!” Twelve groaned, “Long time, no change.”
“Doc—”
“There’s no point in saying my name, thank you very much,” Twelve declared, giving a quick look at Donna, “after all, we all know who I am, don’t we? So please do your best and state your purpose as fast as you can. You all speak so slow that I always worry that I’ll die of boredom first.”
“We have your ship,” The Dalek stated.
“Yes, I noticed that bit.”
“You are trapped.”
“Yes, I noticed that too. Congratulations Daleks, you have found a way to destabilize an entire ship by hacking into its exterior. Bravo! Give me time and a run in with the Shadow Proclamation and soon that will be outlawed as well and then to add to it, I’ll manage to find a way to destroy your plans for those as well.”
“You won’t have the chance.”
“You have my ship, but I’m curious, Daleks. What are you going to do with it? After all, your strongest weapons couldn’t do damage to it. You see, I’ve enhanced its defenses and even your core system couldn’t fry it.”
“We are flying toward the Xelron Rift now,” the Dalek informed him, “And there is the one thing that can destroy the TARDIS.”
At the mentioning of the TARDIS, Twelve stole a glance at Donna, who’s head twitched again as she began to recall where she had heard that name before.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Twelve cried.
“We would,” the Dalek assured him, “we would hurl the TARDIS into the supernova, which is the only thing that can destroy it.”
“But if you do that,” Twelve countered, “then before it makes it there, I can regain control of my ship by disabling the magno grab. I can do it; you know that I am capable. And then I can turn around and use your device against you. Didn’t think about that, did you?”
The Dalek was silent.
“But I chose my identity for a reason,” The Doctor continued, “and I would not be who I was if I did not ever offer a truce of some kind. So Daleks, I offer you this. I
will come out there right now and you will face me, leaving these people alone to return to Earth, or you risk releasing me into a supernova where I can get free and then can reverse the polarity of your own device against you, sending you into oblivion. So Daleks, what say you? You don’t get my machine, but you get me! You get me in exchange for all these people! Well, what say you?”
The Doctor crossed his arms over his body and waited.
“Well, Daleks? Are we just going to stand here and have us looking at each other, because I will get bored very soon? You make me feel that a lot, don’t you?”
“Come out of your ship!” The Dalek instructed.
“Thank you,” Twelve turned off the machine.
“You can’t go out there,” Leela urged, “they will kill you.”
“No they won’t,” The Doctor assured her, straightening his coat, “they hate me too much to do that.”
Leela looked confused by this, but she still held onto her niece.
“They look funny,” her niece said.
“Yes,” the Doctor leaned down and pat her head, “just think of it that way. They are funny and this is all just a game.”
“Are you good at winning?” She asked. “Do you win a lot?”
“Sometimes.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I’m not very good at games.”
Twelve chuckled and then stood up and placed a key into the TARDIS mainframe.
“Donna,” he instructed her, “if I am not back in five minutes, or they do kill me, I want you to turn this here. It will take you back to Earth.”
“But the Angels will still come after us,” she pointed out.
“Yes, but once you ride this home, I have placed orders in it so that it shall materialize back to the Tower of London. There, a woman named Kate Stewart will be informed of everything and never fear, she will make sure you are all protected.”
Donna looked at the mainframe.
“Why are you asking me to do this?” She inquired, “Why me?”
“Don’t worry, it’s simple.”
“No,” Donna urged, “why are you asking me to be the one to do this? You’re ordering me to be the one to make the decision to leave you behind. Look at what you are doing. Really, think about it! Why not ask the others? You’re placing this on me and I—”
