by M. J. Baker
He could tell she meant killing defenceless Maren in anger. His Time Lord telepathic abilities were impervious to Karnian control, Rula's were shielded by her new-found mental prowess and Derrin's mind, being non-telepathic, was like solid concrete to them - impenetrable but you could read what was carved on it. Maren made no effort to run, but nor could she stop him.
Maren craned her neck at him tauntingly.
The Warrior roared in anger. Straining uselessly against the soft, thick resistance playing on his every muscle. He looked into Maren's piercing red eyes.
"Do it!" she snarled gleefully.
She wanted...wants you to destroy your home. Maren thinks you've got no choice, Rula's voice continued. But she's wrong. You can choose to kill her and prove yourself the Warrior she wants you to be. Or you can spare her, show her that you always find another way, and be the Doctor again. But whatever you choose will be down to you alone. You'll have nobody else to blame.
The Warrior swayed slightly as he felt the pressure on his body lift.
Everything was still for a second and an eternity.
The Warrior's choice.
The Doctor's choice.
His choice.
The man who was once the Doctor thrust the spear forward and submerged it in Maren's neck. Her entire body went rigid and coursed with the same blue electricity that issued from the spearhead, which had turned a dull grey. Maren fixed her gaze on the Warrior and split her withering face with a smug grin that crumbled her head to dust. The spear fell from her disintegrating neck and clattered to the ground. With her ability to regenerate inhibited by the Kharus spear, the ancient Reverend Mother of the Sisterhood of Karn had decayed to nothing - just a heap of dust and scarlet robes. The cigarette, which had dropped from Maren’s hand, landed beside her throne, still burning.
A sob issued from the recovering Rula and a pained whimper from Derrin. The old man went to the Sister and offered her his hand, which she brushed away before standing bolt upright defiantly and straightening her robes.
"Your time's almost up, Warrior," Rula stated sourly.
She was right. The trial had ended ages ago, his younger self would be almost be reaching his TARDIS by now. He couldn't stay here any longer.
"Go," she ordered.
Chapter 19
The planet Karn had looped around three of its nearest suns before the man who'd once been the Doctor next set foot on it. A hot breeze swept between amber stones and blew dust into the ceremony cave, which scratched at the face of the old woman sitting on a slab, drinking tea from a plain brown cup. Her eyes were turned spaceward and she thought she could hear the hysteric screeches of the Daleks as each distant emerald flash meant another planet fallen to them. She heard the approaching footsteps and called out.
"Hello, old friend."
"Good afternoon," a husky male voice replied.
"How goes the day?"
"Very funny," the voice said humorlessly.
Ohila tore her eyes away from the cosmos-scarring battle above their heads and inspected the old man who'd appeared in the cave. He was the same as she'd seen him last time, though the sleeve of his jacket and the shirt beneath was torn, exposing pallid flesh. He was also failing to disguise his heavy panting and glistening brow to which knots of disheveled hair clung. He lowered himself creakily onto the slab beside Ohila and poured steaming brown liquid into an identical cup from the double-looped, red and gold teapot.
"Not poisoned, I take it but...do I detect...peranico?" the old man asked, sniffing the cup's contents.
Ohila nodded.
"So you still trust Derrin to make your tea then."
"I request him specifically. It helps his reputation. With all that happened, nobody was sure whether to punish him or praise him. I think they settled for ignoring him."
"What about you?"
"Rula," Ohila said proudly. "She convinced Reverend Mother Koralo to have me brought back, said it would never be the will of Pythia for us to abandon a murdered Sister."
"And Ohica?"
"In all the confusion, everyone assumed she died naturally. We decided that was best, let her finally be at peace after all this time."
"Maren?"
"I don't know how or if we could have administered elixir to what was left of her. The High Council spent a long time just trying to decide if they believed Rula's story at all. I think they did, but after a while they just decided to let it go."
The man considered this for a moment.
"Maybe I should talk to them, emphasise the urgency. They'll need to be prepared for when the Time Lords discover all that meddling with time Maren did and-"
"Oh, don't worry about that. Rula sorted it. She abandoned her work on the neural mainframe straight away and went into politics instead. Rula's working to end the Sisterhood's isolation and start diplomatic relations with Gallifrey. Now we're supplying the Time Lords with unlimited elixir and sharing our regenerator technology with them. So I suspect that when the Time Lords spot the temporal discrepancy they'll overlook it. And, at Rula's suggestion, Koralo asked me to resume my service, which made sense since my recovery requires elixir dosing anyway, and become Karn's first ambassador to Gallifrey. Her views are divisive at times, especially among the older Sisters, but nobody doubts Rula will make the High Council very soon. Personally, I think she's on track to become Reverend Mother eventually. Her platform is one of learning from the Universe, not hiding from it, and doing what's best for the future...assuming..."
A thunderclap interrupted her and made them both look up again. A thick barrage of green bolts were being pawed at uselessly by a sparse cluster of white lights.
"They're getting closer," Ohila said.
"I know," he muttered.
"They'll reach Kasterborous before long."
"Correct."
"And then Gallifrey."
"Mmm."
"Then what will you do?"
"Something drastic, I suppose," he said casually.
The old man reached into his pocket and produced a blue, marble-sized orb in his wrinkled hand. He held it out to Ohila, who plucked it from his palm and inspected it. She smiled fondly at the neural node, a memento of her old teacher now at rest. He got up to leave.
"Wait," said Ohila.
The Time Lord turned to her.
"Do you think Maren was right?" she asked.
"It's the only way to end the Time War and undo all its damage in one fell swoop. Still, I'll keep on fighting for a little while longer, see how long my optimism holds out." he grinned cynically.
"They were wrong. Both of them. Maren and Rula. Just because you didn't spare Maren doesn't mean you've lived up to what she made you. Maren might have thought it was the only way but she didn't know you. You still have a choice. You always find a way, Doctor," she smiled.
They looked at each other for a double-heartbeat.
"I am not the Doctor."
He was gone. So was Ohila's smile.
The End.
