1 Nov 2014

Family (Part 1)

A Long (Long) Time Ago…




There was a blinding flash of light and the room exploded.

There were no survivors.

At least not in this world…




Now




The dining hall was huge. A white, marbled floor reflected the three suns that shone down through the open, high-arched, grey marble windows. The view from the hall was spectacular, overlooking the valley below with the river that flowed between the two mountains.

The room, however, was very sparse. One would have expected to find grand pictures or some kind of antique objects fixed to the walls, but here there was barely anything of note.

In the centre of the dining hall was a large, long, oak table. At the far end of the table sat three people.

One was a man with dark, greying hair, a five-o’clock shadow and a world-weary look on his face.

The second person was a young girl of about 18 with long dark hair and an almost tomboyish like face.

The third person looked more out of place. She was a blue-skinned female with long, blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Despite her odd coloured she was extremely attractive.

The three people didn’t speak to each other. The man sat with his arms folded whilst the young girl cracked her knuckles and looked around the room in awe. The blue-skinned female had her legs crossed and was tapping her finger on the table impatiently.

The quietness was broken when the large, double, oak doors at the end of the hallway swung open.

A man in a black suit with long, untidy hair and an unkempt beard strolled in, his hands in his pockets. He was followed by a very elegant looking woman in a long, black dress with very red hair.

The bearded man sat at the end of the table, whilst the red-head opted to stand, her arms folded. She looked a little tired and worn down.

“Good evening,” said the bearded man.

“Evening,” said the blue-skinned woman. “Look, Matthew, what is going on here?”

The man she had referred to as Matthew held a finger up. “Ah-ah-ah. Not Matthew. Please, call me the Master, Miss Aleena.”

She closed her eyes. “Fine. What is going on here, Master?”

“Some answers would be nice,” said the man.

“Mr Dennington,” said the Master, “you’ve been patient so far. I am sure you can continue to be patient a little longer, eh?”

“You said you need my help?” said the younger girl.

“Indeed I do, Millie,” said the Master. “I need your help to help the Doctor.”

Aleena shook her head. “No. The Doctor told me about you before - the Master, that is. You hate each other.”

“Oooh,” said the Master, mocking a hurtful look on his face, “hate is such a terrible, terrible word. I do not hate him.” He smiled and chuckled to himself. “In fact I quite enjoy our encounters.”

“Can we get to the point, please,” said the red-head behind him, throwing him an angry glare.

“What is wrong with you people?” said the Master, shaking his head.

“Well,” said Aleena, “where do we begin? You appear out of the blue and uproot us from our own planets and times, tell us the Doctor needs help, and then dump us in this - magnificent as it is - dull castle on who knows what planet!”

“Well,” said the Master, leaning back in his chair, “I have gathered the three of you here for a very specific reason.” He went around the table, “Mark Dennington - you were about to be killed. I saved you. You owe me a favour. Millie Fieldgate-Parker - you want to travel with the Doctor. You’re a descendent of one of his friends. If he survives, you’ll get your wish. You’ll be his new companion. And finally, Aleena - you were there at this Doctor’s birth. You strived to help him, but you couldn’t. This is your opportunity to finish what you started.”

“And her?” said Aleena, nodding towards the red-head.

“This dear lady, is Celestia.”

Celestia gave a curt nod, but did not smile.

“And what connection does she have to the Doctor?” said Aleena.

The Master smiled and leant forward. “Would you believe it if I told you that she is his sister-in-law?”

“That’s…a little strange,” said Aleena. “In all the time I’ve know him I’ve never heard him mention family.”

Celestia smiled. “The Doctor was never very big on family matters.”

“And would you believe that all of this here all began with one, little nursery rhyme.” He smiled at their confused faces. “And it all started so long ago.”




She screamed, convulsed - her arms flailing at the side - and then fell back onto the sofa, the electrodes popping off from her temples.

The room was spinning all around her and she could barely concentrate on where she was, let alone what she was doing. She could hear raised voices and saw blurred figures moving around in her eye line.

And then a face appeared, slowly coming into focus.

It was the face of the man she loved. The face of Quinn Maxus.

“Are you alright?” he said, worry in his dark eyes.

“What the hell…?” she muttered, trying to hold back the tears.

“I’ve told him that’s it. That’s enough. No more fiddling about with your head.”

Tylaya thought back. Just after they had left Centrix, a full-on apparition of Alice Stokes had appeared to the three of them. Without thinking the Doctor had muttered something about a psychic echo and had attached two electrodes to Tylaya’s temples and attempted to pull the echo back. Maxus had strongly protested, but the Doctor and kept him back, claming that she could be in terrible danger from Alice.

“Well?” said Maxus, sitting down next to Tylaya and putting a comforting arm around her, “what was all that about?”

The Doctor was pacing up and down, wringing his hands together and grumbling to himself.

“Doctor?” said Maxus again.

“Leave him,” said Tylaya, her head pounding.

“No I won’t.”

The Doctor glanced at them and then continued to pace.

“Doctor,” said Maxus, a little louder this time. “Doctor!”

“What?!” he whirled around. Maxus had never seen him look so fierce. His eyes were wide and his face a look of pure anger. “What do you want? What are you prattling on about now?”

“We want some answers,” said Maxus. “You just made her have a fit.”

“I didn’t,” said the Doctor.

“Well something did.”

“Alice did,” said the Doctor. “Alice did it. Her body rejected her.”

“Explain,” said Maxus pointedly.

The Doctor closed his eyes and spun to face the two of them. “When Tylaya took over Alice’s body, everything about Alice - her consciousness if you like - was erased. Gone forever. However, the TARDIS is psychically linked to all of us. It had a back up copy of her stored away in it’s circuits. A psychic echo.” He grabbed his cane and pointed towards the doors. “When you walked in here as Tylaya, the TARDIS immediately knew something was wrong. It couldn’t reconcile why a different person was inside Alice’s body. It tried to put the psychic echo of Alice back into her body.”

“I never felt anything,” said Tylaya.

“No,” said the Doctor, “it was only prodding away at you. Not enough to cause you any distress. And then Maxus started to see Alice. And then we all saw her.”

“So, what, she’s like a ghost?” said Maxus.

“Yes. And she’s trying to get back into her body.”

“But it’s not the real Alice,” said Maxus with an incredulous laugh. “It’s just a copy.”

The Doctor was about to say something, but then stopped himself.

“Go on, say it,” said Maxus.

The Doctor turned away.

“I can take it,” said Tylaya. “No matter how much you and I have repaired bridges, I always knew if you were faced with the decision I’d know which you’d pick.”

The Doctor turned to face Tylaya. His face was blank. “I’d rather have a copy of Alice than no Alice at all.”

“Then I guess my days are numbered,” said Tylaya.

“No,” said Maxus, getting up and crossing to the Doctor. “No, I thought we had all this sorted. You accepted that Alice was gone.”

“It’s not just about me accepting that she’s gone,” said the Doctor, idly twisting a dial on the console and not meeting Maxus’s gaze.

“Then what?” asked Tylaya.

The Doctor flicked on the small monitor that was fixed to the top of the console. It showed a wavy line, faded and broken up. “This line represents your consciousness.” He pointed at it. “It’s breaking up.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that this body is no longer up to the task of having a new person in it. It’s rejecting you. Pretty soon it’ll reject you completely, and then you’ll be gone forever.”




The swirling colours of the space/time vortex where stretched and torn apart when a dark crack appeared. The clouds of time spiralled around the crack until an object floated out, the crack closing behind it.

It was a man, his arms and legs flailing. And then he went cold and lifeless as he tumbled on through the vortex.




Gallifrey…a long time ago…




Reikon was a striking looking man. He had a powerful jaw line, completely bald head and a heart warming smile. When Celestia married him back in his younger days, there were many disappointed people.

He exited the court room and exhaled deeply. It had been a particularly long and tiring session, and all he could think was getting back home to the warm fire and the arms of his wife again.

This winter had been particularly harsh in the northern continent on Gallifrey and he wondered if he would ever feel warm again.

He made his way along the arch-lined corridor that overlooked the Great Fountain in the centre of the court yard. The fountain was on and a steady stream of ice-cold water gushed upwards and then crashed back down to the pool underneath. He shivered just looking at it.

Working in the archives office was a boring, thankless job. He worked alone - which he hated - and he never saw daylight, at least not until he left work.

His feet ached. He’d been standing all day sorting some particularly boring files on Non-Intervention Policy, and he had drunk gallons and gallons of Tiborous tea to keep him awake.

He headed towards a stone bench set against the corridor wall and sat himself down to rest his feet a moment.

For a long time he stared out at the fountain, watching the rows and rows of Time Lords head out of their various offices and towards their homes.

Reikon worked in the Omicron building in the Falcar district, the equivalent of 40 miles away from the capital. He very rarely visited the capital, but he one day dreamed of moving his family there and moving onto something more interesting - maybe law enforcement. Even cleaning the glass dome of the capital would be more interesting then archives.

He sighed and ran his hand over his smooth, bald head. He really should start making his way home. Celestia would be home by down and right now all he wanted to do was settle down in front of the fire with her.

And then his communicator beeped.

That’s when he got the call.

The call that marked the beginning of the end.




Now




Tylaya sat crossed legged on the bed. She had been crying. The first time Maxus had checked on her she had told him to go away. That was a good twenty minutes ago. Now she was unable to cry anymore. Her eyes felt dry and tired and her head was hurting.

Every now and then she threatened to burst into tears, but none would come out.

Maxus knocked and gently walked into the room. He put an arm around her as he sat down next to her on the bed.

“Ty-”

“It was always going to happen,” said Tylaya, sniffing.

“Not necessarily.”

“It was always going to happen,” she said, turning to him and looking directly into his eyes.

“There has to be a way.”

“You heard what the Doctor said. The TARDIS is going to keep pushing Alice back inside me until I’m gone, that’s if I don’t…die first.” She stumbled over the last of her words.

“Don’t say that,” said Maxus.

“I can’t fight this anymore.”

Maxus threw his head back and closed his eyes. “It’s all my fault. All my fault.”

“No,” said Tylaya, shaking her head quickly. She took his hand. “You gave me these last few weeks with you. I never would have had them without you.” She turned to face him. “But I shouldn’t be here. We both know that.”

“We can try and find a way out of this. Maybe transfer you to another body.”

“Maxus, no,” she said sternly. She touched his cheek with the palm of her hand. “It’s over.”

When Tylaya and Maxus returned to the console room, the Doctor had his back to them and was hunched over the console, deep in concentration. The time rotor was gently rising and falling. The couple didn’t say a word as the sound of the TARDIS engines bringing them into a landing filled the room, the high-pitched whine turning into a whooshing and grating sound before finally coming to a stop with a loud thump.

The Doctor turned to face them.

“Where are we?” said Tylaya quietly.

“Central City,” said the Doctor.

“Why?” said Maxus. “Why bring us here?”

“I thought you might like to see your family,” said the Doctor, barely able to make eye contact with them.

Tylaya nodded.

“Why?” said Maxus, already knowing the answer.

“So Tylaya can say goodbye to them.”




Millie stood on the balcony, resting her arms on the stonework and gazing out at the valley below. The suns were setting now and the sky had gone a lilac colour. The sound of the waterfall far below soothed the headache she had developed and she closed her eyes.

She could hardly believe it. She was on an alien world at last. She had dreamt about this moment for most of her life, ever since she had heard the stories of the Doctor and what her ancestor, Caroline, had gotten up to. Now here she was, living the dream.

Sort of.

The man known as the Master had gotten as far as telling them about a man called Reikon who lived on the Doctor’s home planet, Gallifrey, a long, long time ago, when Celestia had gotten upset and ran out of the entrance hall. The Master had chased after her and the three of them had been left to wander the castle.

The blue-skinned Aleena emerged from the corridor and stood beside her, admiring the view.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” said Millie.

“It is that,” said Aleena. She idly picked at a bit of ivy growing between the cracks in the stone. “What do you think this is all about?”

“I dunno,” said Millie. “To be honest I don’t really know the Doctor that well. He just appeared and saved my life and that was that. All I know is what I was told about him.”

“I met Caroline, you know,” said Aleena.

Millie turned to her, her eyes bright. “Really? What was she like?”

“Hmmm,” said Aleena, turning and leaning against the balcony, gazing up at the castle towering over her. “She was…driven.”

“Driven?”

“She wanted answers to her past. I guess she got them.”

Millie nodded.

“She was a very nice woman. I was pleased to have known her.” Aleena narrowed her eyes, looking down at Millie. “You look similar to her. She was small, just like you.”

“Less of the small,” said Millie with a laugh.

There was a sound from somewhere towards the clouds. It sounded like a cracking, splitting sound. Millie and Aleena looked all around, trying to find the location of the sound.

And then the body of a man fell from the cover of the clouds, tumbling down and down into the valley before hitting the lake with a huge splash down below.

“What the hell…?” said Millie.

They heard footsteps behind them and the Master appeared, joined by Dennington and a puffy-eyed Celestia.

“No,” said the Master. “Damn you, Helenia. It’s too early for this!”

“What is it?” said Dennington as the body rose to the surface of the water.

“A visitor,” said the Master.



Next time: The Doctor encounters an intruder. Coming Sunday 9th November 2014.

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