by Cour M.
As Martha walked around the room, she also focused on one puppet that was her height. The work on it was lovely as the face was of a beautiful Geisha. The hair on it was long, done up perfectly, and its body also was proportionate and well-shaped. If Martha had not known that it was not a puppet, she would have thought there was a woman underneath it.
Tick! Tock!
There was the sound of a clock in the room and she didn’t know why she observed it. After all, what was so strange about it? And yet, it felt as if it was unique.
“So, the Mecrellans don’t even develop their own sense of time, huh?” Martha pointed out, “They even take the ticking clock from Earth.”
“Strange,” Eight observed, “I don’t recall them having the hankering to mimic your time-system. Then again, it could be a new craze on the rise.”
“I was worried that you would have said that,” Ten replied, warily. Martha heard the edge in his voice and she turned toward him.
“And I worry about the tone in your voice. What is it?”
“Do you see a clock anywhere?”
Martha and Eight looked at the walls while Ten moved around the room.
“There’s a clock right here,” Eight reported, moving up to it and looking closely, “Oh.”
“What?”
“It’s broken.”
There was a slight pause that felt ominous.
“I was worried that you would say that too,” Ten answered.
“Why?” Eight asked, prepared for anything.
“Because we are not alone.”
“What does that—,” Martha began to ask, but she didn’t get the chance to continue, because out of the corner of her eye, she saw the puppet in front of her move its head. She turned toward it slightly and felt her heart freeze as its face looked directly at her.
“Companion of the Doctor,” it stated, “you must be taken.”
It raised up its arm, and at the edge of it was a blade. Its hand was a large knife. It slashed at Martha and she backed away just in time before it could kill her.
Martha cried out as she ran away.
“Martha!” Ten cried when he heard her. He turned and saw her running toward him, followed by the puppet. Yet that blade in its hand felt familiar.
“It can’t be…” he noted. Martha ran up to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along.
“Stop glaring and just run!” Martha ordered, pulling him along. Eight came toward them, and halted, amazed at the Geisha puppet that was walking after them.
“By the Orange of Gallifrey!” He cried, “Now that is just beautiful!”
“I know, right?!” Ten smiled.
Martha looked between them both, exasperated.
“Timelords,” she groaned. The Geisha puppet stopped and looked at them both.
Ten took a step forward and raised up his arms in supplication.
“Hello, I’m the Doctor. And so is he,” he pointed to Eight. Eight winked at the puppet. “And that’s Martha.”
“It tried to kill me, so it doesn’t really care about that,” Martha magnified.
“Right, gotcha. But still, we mean you no harm.”
“Analysis of identity has been confirmed,” the Geisha puppet stated robotically, “you are the Doctor. You are a threat. Doctor and companion must die.”
The Geisha moved forward. There was a puppet near Martha that had a sword on the side of it. She removed it from its sheath and as the puppet rushed to them, Martha ran forward.
“Martha, no!” Ten cried, “Don’t kill it.”
Martha leaned forward at the last minute, ducked the puppet’s blade and swiped at its feet. The puppet’s legs fell clean off and the Geisha puppet fell.
“Who said I was going to kill it?” Martha asked. As it struggled, Martha raised the blade down to its arm and cut off the hand that carried the blade. Sparks flew out when Martha severed the hand from the circuitry. “Now it can’t do anything.”
The puppet looked up and stared at the other puppets.
“Primal offensive guard has been breached,” it spoke, “activate the secondary offensive.”
Suddenly, from out of the collection, four more puppets emerged and bared their knife arms at Martha and the Doctors.
⌛
Eight rushed to Martha, grabbed her hand and pulled her along with Ten as they ran around the room, away from the oncoming threat.
“We have to warn Satsuki!” Martha roared.
“Precisely where we are going!” Eight reported, and then ran down the corridor, away from the room. “Satsuki! Time to get changed and run!”
From her room, Satsuki heard Eight cry for her as she put on the last bit of her clothes. When hearing the desperation in his voice, Satsuki opened her desk and pulled out her gun and swords. She wrapped them around her waist, carried the gun in her hand and she emerged to see the Doctors and Martha run toward her, followed by five puppets walking after them.
“That’s the head Maiko puppet,” Satsuki commented, horrified, as she looked at the puppet in the center. When Eight made it to her, she looked at him critically. “I can’t shoot that! What did you do?”
“Nothing for a change,” Eight cried, grabbing her hand and pulling her along.
“What is that?”
“We can’t kill them,” Ten overlapped, “or we won’t discover anything from them. Satsuki, this is a theatre, so it needs to have something in it that can put out a fire, right?”
“Yes, we do. At the second level, there is a hydrant, but at the bottom of the steps is the boiler room. Therefore, there is an automated cooling system there where if you press the lever, it will cool the part of the room where the heating tank is! It was there because we were worried what to do if it spontaneously combusted.”
“Good! Everyone, down to the boiler room!”
They all ran down the steps.
“We can’t destroy the puppets though,” Satsuki said, “for they will be in the performance next week!”
“Satsuki, I’m sorry, but those were never puppets. Believe me,” Ten urged, “you don’t want to perform with that.”
They reached the boiler room, Martha and Satsuki allowed themselves to be used as bait while the Doctors waited in the shadows. The five puppets came forward and Martha and Satsuki raised their swords.
“Our blades are bigger,” Satsuki taunted.
The puppets came forward, their knives raised up and they rushed at the women.
“Now!” Eight cried and Ten pulled the lever. Once the puppets got to the boiler, the freezing gas emerged, was sprayed on them and the puppets halted.
“That’s enough!” Eight reported when the puppets were fully frozen and totally immobile. Ten turned off the gas and all four of them stepped forward.
“Talking puppets,” Satsuki summed up, “now I’ve seen everything.”
“Not everything yet,” Ten clarified, “for these aren’t puppets.”
“What are they?”
Ten walked up to the main Maiko puppet and removed its mask and hair.
“Whoa,” Martha gasped, “that’s what it is?”
“Yes, it is,” Ten remarked, “and we go way back.”
Standing frozen before them was the Clockwork Droids.[16]
⌛
With all its gears and internal setup, there they were before him.
“Well, hello you all,” Ten said, “we meet again.”
“Friends of ours?” Eight asked.
“If you use the term loosely, everyone is our friend, I suppose.”
Eight went to his side and looked at the Clockwork Droid, eyeing it closely.
“Well now,” Eight exclaimed, amazed at the droid, “you are beautiful!”
“I know, isn’t it?” Ten smiled. “It was a masterpiece when I first saw it, and now here it is again! I was hoping I would run into you blokes once more, just to do a full scientific analysis—harmless of course.”
Both Doctors stood there, admiring it, while Martha and S
atsuki were behind them, watching them both.
“Amazing,” Satsuki groaned at the Doctor’s behavior.
“I know, right?” Martha scoffed, “because it’s not like it tried to kill us or anything. Of course I admit, the handiwork on it is lovely.”
“Oh, genius,” Satsuki complimented. “The setup alone is award winning.”
They all stood there, until Martha had a thought.
“Doctor, how long until these creatures defrost?”
“Around three minutes.”
“Isn’t it just about to be three minutes?”
“Oh, it—oh yeah.”
Suddenly the droids came back to life and Satsuki and Martha raised their swords while Eight pressed his hand over the freezer again.
“Move and my other self will freeze you again!” Ten threatened. “Do you really wish for that?”
The puppets stood stock still.
“And don’t bother to retreat,” Eight continued, “or our companions will kill you.”
“Yeah, please move,” Satsuki urged them. Eight winked at her, in approval.
“So,” Ten began, moving forward and pacing back and forth in front of the droids. “The Clockwork Droids, I haven’t seen you in a while. How’s life?”
“You are the Doctor,” one of the Clockwork droids identified.
“Believe me, I know who I am. The point is, how do you? Every Clockwork droid that I encountered had their time run out on them.”
“Data of your defeat of our stranded squadron was harvested from reports taken of Earth’s history, as well as security cameras showing you on the ship the ‘Madame Pompadour’,” Another droid voiced. “Once your identity became clear in the room, full annihilation is required.”
“Once we entered the theatre, you knew about us? And then we entered the room, and you wanted to kill me? This means that it’s not a revenge scheme. My appearance here was sudden.”
“But you wanted to kill Satsuki and me as well,” Martha added, “as if we were guilty by association. You said that I ought to be killed, because I was a companion of the Doctor. Yet I’ve never met you.”
“Precisely,” Eight remarked, “so why are you really here?”
The Clockwork droids did not respond.
“They do this,” Ten elaborated, “last time I encountered them, it was in 18th century France and they only answered to one person.”
“Who was that?”
“Madame Pompadour herself, who was a genius, a beauty and a French courtesan who fell in love with a Prince of France.”
“Was she blonde?”
“Martha, not now.”
“Just have a feeling, that’s all,” Martha smirked. She turned to Satsuki and whispered conspiratorially, “Bet you she was a blonde.”
“That’s a losing bet,” Satsuki responded, “Those types always are.”
“Anyway,” Ten said loudly to overshadow them, “they were ordered to answer to her, because they were going to harvest her mind to power their ship. Oh!” He cried, “eureka!”
“What?”
“The missing people! The tourists who have been disappearing on the trans-mats. You are the ones who are taking them. Am I right?”
The Clockwork droids did not respond.
“Everyone ask them to see if they will answer to any of us,” Ten said, “see if they will obey.”
They all asked and got no response. Until Satsuki.
“Are you the ones who are taking the people on the trans-mats?” She inquired.
“Yes, we are,” the main droid said.
⌛
Everything felt ominous when it responded to her, and Satsuki could feel it.
“You respond to her,” Eight whispered, “and her alone.”
“The last person you listened to was the person you wished to kill,” Ten hissed. “Satsuki, ask it if that’s the reason.”
Satsuki obeyed and asked.
“Affirmative,” the droid responded, “your annihilation was our primary objective, therefore you were given the right to inquire of why.”
“Her annihilation?” Eight hissed, “Why?”
The Clockwork droid did not respond.
“Tell him to answer me.”
“You will answer all questions that are directed at you, is that understood?” Satsuki asked.
“Affirmative,” the droids responded.
“Good, now we are getting somewhere.”
⌛
“So, why did you come to kill her in particular?” Ten began.
“Because our records indicate that she was a companion to the Doctor,” the droid answered, “and at her death, it was likely that the Doctor would come to investigate.”
“You were going to kill her to get to me?” Eight asked.
“Correct. The death of a companion would force the Doctor to come to Mecrellas.”
“Why?”
“Because if we destroyed you, then our plan could be completed.”
“What is the plan?” Ten asked. The droids did not respond.
“Oh, come on,” Ten replied, “you’ve answered everything before.”
“Answer him,” Satsuki responded, “what is your plan?”
“To retrieve specific Mecrellan technology.”
Ten’s face screwed up and then he came to the revelation.
“Oh, I get it! It’s the windows! The window-bridges that the Mecrellans open in time, you want to use for your own technological advancements. Or to do time jumps. After all, when I last saw you all, your ship was in great disrepair, to the point where you used a crew of people for spare parts to keep your ship going. And if you can get your hands on the window technology, you never have to worry about that happening again.”
“Is he right?” Satsuki pushed.
“Affirmative.”
“But what about the people though?” Martha asked, “are they alive, or did you use them as spare parts?”
“They are being detained in case we need to use them to repair any ships.”
“So, they are alive then? Great!”
“But why take them just for safekeeping?” Eight asked, direct, “why not pick them up whenever you need them? And mind you, that question was rhetorical.” Eight turned to Ten. “Mind if I take a crack at it?”
“Be my guest,” Ten invited.
“Thank you.” Eight turned back to the droids and began to give an explanation. “Let’s see if I can answer that question for you. You Clockwork people don’t need those victims at the moment—but rather they are here for what they will incite. See, the protestors are gathering in number, and what you’ve got is more planets getting upset with Mecrellas for its missing people. And they will blame the government. And then those planets will go to war with Mecrellas, leaving it easier for you to acquire the window-bridges for your own society—whatever planet that made you. You’re a technologically inferior species, therefore you can’t destroy this planet yourself. But you can plan a war between them and other cultures that could destroy them. Now, my question for you: am I right?”
The droids did not respond, so Eight turned to Satsuki.
“Is he correct?”
“Affirmative,” they answered.
“But why would you give me the right to know your plan, though?” She asked.
“Because we thought it would be more entertaining.”
“How?”
“For you to be told that the reason you were about to die was because of the Doctor. In your dying moment, the man who saved you was the reason you were about to die. It is our species’ version of entertainment.”
“Entertainment?” Eight hissed. “Another society that views bloodshed as beautiful. Another race to make me sick.”
“It is our prerogative,” the droid continued, “we wanted to see her grief when she died. And we still do. We will not stop, until we have your head, companion of the Doctor.”
Satsuki walked slowly up to the droid, and with a fell swipe, chopped its head off.
>
Ten started in shock, but Satsuki was resolute.
“I’m not going to apologize for that.”
“You don’t have to,” Eight replied, leading Ten to glare at him. “She doesn’t have to.”
They were interrupted when the rest of the Clockwork droids ran off and down the corridor. They all rushed after them, they reached the room with all the puppets, one droid grabbed the disabled one from before, and they were beamed out of the room before they could get to them.
“You couldn’t resist, could you!” Ten hissed, wielding on Satsuki, “you just couldn’t resist your need for revenge, could you?!”
As Ten stomped toward Satsuki, Martha stood in his way.
“Doctor, leave her alone.”
“That was still a creature!”
“And you will leave my companion alone,” Eight barked from behind him. “Enough, Doctor. Enough now.”
Ten calmed down.
“Right. Sorry.”
⌛
They returned to the TARDIS, and when Martha and Satsuki retired to their rooms, Eight was checking on the Eye of Harmony connection. When he saw that it was well, he was not surprised to hear footsteps. Ten appeared down the corridor as Eight continued to inspect the eye through the glass window of the door.
“You were looking for me, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was.”
“Go on,” Eight remarked, “what you have to say, you can spit it out.”
Ten walked up to him and also looked at the Eye.
“Martha might never forgive me for what I really plan to do with it.”
“Yes, she will.”
“And speaking of her…”
“Ah, here it comes.”
“What are you doing?” Ten asked.
“I suspect this is in reference to Satsuki and why I didn’t chastise her for striking down that droid?”
“Precisely. She carries a gun and a sword, and wields both freely. And you encourage it.”
“She does it to defend.”
“And using it so easily can eventually lead to her going from the defensive to the offensive. Besides, look at the effect she is placing on Martha.”
