Doctor Who: The Time of the Companions: Book 3 (Doctor Who: The Companions' Adventure)

by Cour M.

  “General Sidney,” she began, “you know more than anyone, that I would give anything to see that we raised a whole field of TARDISes. That we humans can have access to the galaxies, but look at what’s happened? A battle was just fought, cybermen attacked our settlement. We have lost ones on our hands and many more will follow. And the mechanoids have returned. Today, at least half of their population made it out of the devastation of Mondas. The Doctor tells you that in the wrong hands, those TARDISes will be a weapon. But now I see it. Any hands that they are in will be the wrong hands. We cannot wield this sort of power. Please, General, give the order and blow up the junkyard.”

  “We might not even have sufficient bombs for it,” General rubbed his cheek, nervous.

  “They are not full grown,” Eleven sighed, “a 58-charge bomb would do it.”

  “Right. Doctor, I know you still care, beneath it all, don’t you?”

  “More than anything. I wish I could save them.”

  “Then you might wish to look away from Marinus now.”

  

  General Sidney turned to Nigel.

  “Nigel, assemble charges of the 58 within two corners of the yard, and have everyone evacuate the area.”

  “Sir, with respect,” Nigel said heavily, “there must be another way. Another way to make it appear as if we destroyed them, but not really. Or at least part of them. We just need to think about this.”

  “We lost fifty men to the last cyberman attack. And the mechanoids might be coming.”

  Nigel bit his lip to hide his agony.

  “Sir, please… if I do this, then I will go down in history as the man who destroyed the last TARDISes in the universe.”

  “No, that title will go to the Doctor, not you.”

  “No, it always goes both to the man who gave the order and the one who listened. And the TARDISes, I know they are alive. I would be killing—they are like children.”

  “Children, that if in the wrong hands, can destroy everything that one TARDIS fought to save. Nigel, this is an order, and besides, Martha told us to.”

  Nigel’s eyes relented when he recalled that Martha stressed it.

  “And if there was one person in Cardiff who wished for them to live more than me, it was her. Nigel, this is an order.”

  “Right,” Nigel gave in at last. Along with a couple of helpers, he went to the junkyard, placed charges within it, the area was evacuated and once he got to a safe position, he watched as the yard was blown up, along with all the TARDISes with it.

  There, in the light of the explosion, Nigel turned and wept without tears. After all, he was a soldier and he fought the impulse to cry fully for many times over. Yet to hide his emotion, he covered his face and continued to weep.

  

  In the TARDIS, the Doctor and Martha watched the explosion on the monitor, and whatever emotion that Nigel felt, Eleven felt twice over. He leaned back, then keeled over as Martha held him.

  “I had to do it again,” he cried, “I had to kill all that I loved again.”

  “I know. But this time, you weren’t alone.”

  They continued in that way for quite some time, then suddenly all the lights in the TARDIS shut off and they were covered in pitch black.

  “Doctor? What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know.” Eleven moved away from her, felt around, found the consul unit, clicked a few buttons and when nothing happened, he felt the mood of his TARDIS more than knew it. “Oh, no! Please don’t do this!”

  “What is it?”

  “It’s the TARDIS, it’s her soul, the matrix. It’s gone.”

  “Gone?”

  “Yes, the last time that this happened, it was because it was taken. But we are in space, so it cannot be taken here. There’s nothing around it.”

  “So, where would it go?”

  “It feels. I think it chose to go.”

  “Chose?”

  “It feels… heartbroken. It feels as if, it chose to leave.”

  “It’s angry at us for killing its sisters, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” he realized, “it is.”

  “Then if we are drifting in space in a dead TARDIS, well, won’t all the oxygen eventually get sucked out, and then we will get cold?”

  It had already begun to happen for she began to shiver and see her breath as she buttoned up her jacket.

  “It will take longer to suffocate because this ship is infinite, but yes, we shall eventually suffocate, but not before we freeze to death.”

  

  They went below and got many jackets and blankets, with it growing colder each and every minute. Wrapping themselves in it tightly and leaning against each other for heat, they tried to think of plans, but each one was as impossible as the next. At first they began to move around, so that the movement would keep them warm, but over time, they found that they were even too cold to move.

  Thus, they held each other tightly.

  At first they saw the progression of ice building all along the walls and doors of the TARDIS, then it gradually reached the consul unit, and eventually the ice began to cover themselves.

  Minutes ticked away into half an hour, then an hour complete.

  The ticking of time.

  The coldness and pain of space.

  “Doctor,” Martha whispered, hoarse from the cold while the Doctor lay against her, himself almost passing out from the frost, “Come on, Doctor, tell me about yourself. About what life was like for you, on Gallifrey.”

  “No,” he replied, “not because I don’t want to, but because I shouldn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s time for you to tell me about yourself. I never really asked you much about your life. And it’s time that I did. Tell me, Martha, did you always want to be a Doctor?”

  “No actually,” she replied, laughing, “before I did, I actually wanted to be a ballerina. Yes, cliché I know.”

  “What happened?”

  “Oh, what always happens. I was terrible. I just didn’t have the feet for it and I wasted my parents’ money trying. Eventually I found something I was good at, and by going to medical school, it was my way of making up for it.”

  “You never needed to. Martha, that’s the way of children. They are there to make a mess sometimes, to try and fail, and to break your heart. I broke my parents’ hearts with my failures sometimes, and my children did with me.”

  “Do you miss your children?”

  “Often. But I saw them grow and live their own lives. While I became the madman who ran away with a box. I suppose I might have been an embarrassment to them, in the end.”

  “It’s the job of a parent to embarrass their children every once in a while,” Martha laughed, offering solace. “I’m sure that you were splendid. You said that the TARDIS lost her soul before?”

  “It was taken and placed inside a person. A woman. But eventually it returned back to its proper place. She returned because she wanted to. Not because I persuaded her, forced her, or because she was obliged. She just did.”

  “So she can only come back if she wishes?”

  “Yes. Tell me more, Martha, about what your childhood was like?”

  “It was… well, I was an ugly child. And I was a little fat for a time.”

  “So was I!” Eleven laughed.

  “I was called humpback Martha. And so I grew my hair long so that there would be something to make up for my shortcomings. Tish was always the beauty, even when we were young. Leo was the one who had many friends and everyone liked. So, I suppose, I became the responsible one, the leader, because there was no other identity for me to have.”

  Martha continued to talk on and on, and then she eventually felt the Doctor’s head on her shoulder. He had fallen asleep or was unconscious. She did not know. She looked around the darkness, saw the shimmer of the ice faintly, but with her last breath, she gave it her all.

  “Hello,” she began, “TARDIS, I know you know me. And I want to believe
that you can hear me. It’s Martha. Martha Jones. The girl who walked the Earth—for him. The girl who left—for herself. Yet I suppose that I never wondered what I was—to you. Until now. I was the girl who you gave your mind to. And I cannot believe that you did that for nothing. Because when I saw into your mind, I saw into your soul as well. Even if you were not aware. I saw how much you care about him. I saw how you always forgive him for everything. Even when he hurts you, you forgive him. And even after we are all gone, you are always here. You listen and he always hears you as well. Please, if you love him, the way we love him, then don’t leave him. We do it, because we must, but not you. Never leave him.”

  She closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep when a light erupted from the consul unit. She opened her eyes once more and shoved the Doctor awake.

  “Doctor, look!”

  From the consul unit emerged the figure of a woman, made from light.

  “Oh my stars,” Eleven said, standing up and helping Martha do so as well, “Idris, my TARDIS.”

  “My Doctor,” Idris said, “hello.”

  

  “Martha,” Eleven said, “this is my TARDIS. TARDIS, this is Martha Jones.”

  “Yes, I know,” Idris said, “Hello, Doctor Jones. It is so nice to meet you.”

  “Hello,” Martha replied, “all that time that I rode in you and I never knew that you could look like that.”

  “It wasn’t till after your time aboard me,” she smiled sadly, “that’s when I was given a face. And a voice.”

  “It is nice to meet you at last.”

  “Thank you.” Idris then turned to the Doctor, “and you, you must have thought that I left you.”

  “I understand why.”

  “No, you don’t. I didn’t do it because I wished for you to suffer. Never, my Doctor. My thief. I just had to watch as the rest of my sisters down there died. And the pain of it, I could not bear it. I shut myself down because I did not want to feel anymore. For when feeling things hurts so terribly, one would prefer anything rather than go on. Is this what you felt like, when you had to destroy Gallifrey?”

  “Yes. My TARDIS, please,” he urged, “I did not want to hurt you. Never did I wish for it.”

  “I know. But it felt so cold in here. So dark. And I allowed myself to sleep, to focus my energy to give myself a voice once again. I need to speak to you, I did. And this was the only way that I could do it. You were the only one who knew what I must be undergoing.”

  “Yes, that feeling is called heartbreak. But please, I know how you must feel, but remember, you are never alone. I am here. Your thief, he shall always be here to keep you company.”

  “How do you live with these emotions?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose… Time. Time is what heals us all.”

  “Time, that thing we have so much and so little of.”

  “Yes. But we have it all the same.”

  Idris’s lip began to tremble.

  “And so I have learned the second most painful word in life.”

  “What?”

  “Goodbye.”

  “No!” The Doctor cried, “please, stay with me this time. We can fly through the universe together. Always talking. Never alone. Never lonely again. We both have had too much of that.”

  “Yes, we have. Yet if I stay like this, then you both will die. You know I must fade. But I shall never leave you. I just needed to speak once more. Goodbye Doctor, and the Doctor to my Doctor,” she said to Martha. “And remember, my raggedy man, I love you.”

  Idris dissolved back into the TARDIS as it turned back on. The lights returned, the heat came back on and the ice quickly was dissolving.

  “We really just saw her?” Martha gasped.

  “Yes, we did.”

  “She was beautiful.”

  “Yes, the most beautiful thing in all creation.”

  Martha took the Doctor’s hand and he kissed it.

  Chapter 23

  Journey’s End

  The great battle of Boxen was underway as Ten stood by Mr. Tumnus, Ace, Jack and the Ponds. C.S. Lewis however and the other soldiers had joined the battle, for they were at such a time where fighting for a noble cause was the best thing that they could have been given.

  Ten watched as the talking animals fought each other, trying to remain detached, knowing that this was the product of one mind—but then he looked at Amy and Rory, as he had come to the revelation that it was more than that the night before.

  “What are you feeling?” Ace asked the Doctor.

  “Tense,” was Ten’s only reply. “A very different emotion than I would have felt if I were Seven.”

  “Yes, I know. But why tense? Why?”

  “Because I know what will happen next.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yes. I know precisely what I must do. It’s just… I’m afraid to do it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I now know what he is. The Dream Lord. And I’m about to break a heart. Or two. Or three. Well, it must be done. As it always must be.”

  Ten rushed from where they stood, and entered the fray, using his screwdriver to assist him.

  “Jack!” Ace cried.

  “Don’t worry, I’m coming.”

  Ace and Jack found some spare swords and rushed after the Doctor, in order to offer him cover. Amy rushed forward, but Rory grabbed her.

  “What are you doing?” He yelled.

  “Well, let’s fight,” Amy replied.

  “We could die.”

  “We always come back when we do!”

  “Right.”

  Amy then turned to Mr. Tumnus. Then she picked up a sword and handed it to him.

  “Just going to stand there?” She challenged.

  “I’m too scared,” Mr. Tumnus replied.

  “I’ve got a secret for you,” Amy winked, “so am I.”

  Mr. Tumnus took up the sword and they joined the fray, helping the Doctor as he fought his way through.

  “Only you would rush into a sword fight with a screwdriver,” Ace cried as she defended the Doctor, “go assemble a bookshelf!”

  “That’s rude,” Ten replied, “help me, I need to get to C.S. Lewis.”

  “Why?” Jack asked, “you tried talking to him before!”

  “I know what to say. I’ve always known what to say. I just didn’t want to have to do this. You don’t understand, Jack. I was actually very happy.”

  He looked at Amy and Rory, making sure that they were safe, as he pushed his way forward.

  Through the battle the Doctor saw C.S., fighting valiantly with a few of the other soldiers alongside him. Eventually he made his way to the author of Boxen while Jack, Rory and Amy gave him cover.

  “C.S.,” Ten said, getting in his way so that he couldn’t fight anyone else. “You must stop this and wake up.”

  “This is not my creation.”

  “Yes, it is. This is where you and your brother went to when life was just too dark, too depressing. You needed a place to go as a boy. I can understand that, C.S., better than anyone. Yet look how far you have taken this? Look around you!”

  C.S. obeyed and looked around, but he still was stubborn.

  “I know that reality is scary,” Ten continued, “it’s hard to face, and you don’t always want to. You have a war to return to, and no one would blame you for wanting to remain in your dreams. But I have something to ask you, Clive Staples Lewis.” Hearing his full name made him falter. “In this world, where is your mother? Her grave is not in this world, but in the other one. And what about your brother? And all your friends who were there for you once upon a time? Where is the room for them here?”

  “I can bring them here,” C.S. replied, “I can create anything.”

  “No, you won’t Clive. You’ll just create images of them, but in the back of your mind, you’ll know that they are not real.” Behind the Doctor, the White Witch appeared a few meters away. C. S. Lewis saw her as she cast her gaze on him and the Doctor. Over t
he Doctor’s shoulder, C.S. saw the White Witch raise her sword and spear up, charging at him. “Nothing is better than the warmth of a dream. It’s where you feel the best sort of love. But there shall always be one better. And that is the love that is reality.”

  As the White Witch neared them, C.S. then realized that she was aiming for the Doctor—because he wanted her to.

  “Would your mother really want to know that you let all your fellow soldiers be stuck here, because you wouldn’t release them? Would your father know that you were his son? And did you and your brother really invent this world, so that you would do this?”

  Those questions were enough to break the spell. Just before the White Witch lowered the spear into the Doctor, she froze, unable to move.

  “They really are all my creations,” C.S. sighed, heartbroken.

  “Yes, and I am so sorry.”

  “Why?” The White Witch asked, only her face able to move, “Why couldn’t you leave it alone? What a disappointment you are.”

  She then turned into ice, C.S. walked up to her, pushed her over and she shattered as she hit the ground. Then all around them froze and the Doctor, Ace, Jack, the soldiers and the Ponds appeared as if they were moving in the picture on a canvas.

  Then everything turned to ice at once.

  Rory turned to Mr. Tumnus as the ice grew up his body.

  “No!” Rory cried, “Tumnus.”

  “Help me, Rory!” Mr. Tumnus cried, reaching out to him. Rory ran up to him to grab him, but as he did so, Mr. Tumnus was encased in ice and then shattered.

  

  As the shards of ice covered the battlefield, they suddenly heard clapping. On the steps of the fortress stood the Dream Lord, looking down, smug.

  “Well,” he grinned, “as I promised.” He snapped his fingers and all the captured soldiers from the World War appeared behind him. “Don’t worry boys, you are now free.”