Doctor Who: The Time Splicer: The Penitentiary (The Time Splicer Series Book 3)

by Cour M.

  Doctor Who

  The Time Splicer

  Book III: The Penitentiary

  Cour M.

  Dedication

  Readers, thanks so much for picking this third one up, and I hope you enjoy the ride. So, sit back, buckle up and here we go!

  Book III

  The Penitentiary

  Chapter 1

  A Plan

  Within the TARDIS, Martha switched off the TARDIS’s exterior viewer as the ship carrying the Doctors flew off.

  “Can you fly after them?” Martha asked Satsuki.

  “I don’t have any real flying skills,” Satsuki admitted, “I only can materialize in places if I have the proper coordinates. I can hover a bit, but that’s about it. Thank goodness the Doctor ceased that whole isomorphic command on the TARDIS controls.”

  “Isomorphic?”

  “It means one to one ratio,” Satsuki explained, walking around the consul unit, preoccupied. “There was a time when only the Doctor could drive the TARDIS, because the TARDIS would not recognize anyone else’s handprint. Yet he realized that it would help me to be able to do some basic things. And that was foolish of you!” She burst out suddenly. “You could have gotten us killed when you chased after them. Honestly! What did you think you were doing? We couldn’t help them at all, and could’ve only made it worse, because we could have been captured as well.”

  “Satsuki…”

  “Anyway, never mind,” Satsuki dismissed, as she pressed a lever, moving briskly around the unit some more, “there’s the TARDIS handbook down below in the computer room. We should get that.”

  Martha watched her ramble on, and between that and her temper, she could tell what was really going on.

  “Satsuki…”

  “Of course, we won’t be able to understand a word that’s in it! After all, have you ever glimpsed that blasted book! It’s all Logopolis technobabble.”

  “Satsuki!” Martha exclaimed, standing in her way and preventing her from continuing to pace. “You’re rambling and you’re upset. Listen to me, you are suffering from shock, and you need to confront it. Because if you don’t, then you will never calm down.”

  Satsuki looked at her angrily, and Martha knew that was just another phase of the situation, so she cradled Satsuki’s face in her hands, hoping eye contact would help.

  “Satsuki, look into my eyes. Stop moving and look at me. You’re suffering from shock. Confront it, or you will keep saying things that you will not wish to remember.”

  Satsuki’s eyes shifted, and then she grew sad.

  “The Doctor was captured,” she hissed, sorrowful, “Martha, they were captured.”

  “I know,” Martha said, hugging her to ease her, “I know.”

  “You don’t understand,” Satsuki confessed, “we let them down.”

  Satsuki walked away from her, and then turned back.

  “We didn’t let them down,” Martha countered. “Don’t say that. Please!”

  “Yes, we did. You know how they are when they are on their own. They are strong, but they are now alone. And they hate being alone!”

  “Until we see them again, they have each other.”

  “But I never let him get captured. I never let it go this far.”

  “For the longest time, I was the same. Until he did get captured. But Satsuki, I got him back! We will get them back.”

  Satsuki was silent for a time.

  “You were right. I was in shock.”

  “Better now?”

  “A bit. But until we get them back, I will never forgive us.”

  “Me neither. So, we’ll just have to get them back.”

  ⌨

  Satsuki looked ahead and then drummed her hands against her legs. Martha sat down on the steps of the TARDIS, thinking away while she had her chin propped up on her fists, her elbows resting on her knees.

  “Right,” Satsuki announced, decisive. She stood up, marched back to the consul unit and began to input some information. “Well, take all the time you like today.”

  “What?”

  “We need them back, which means that you need to come up with a plan.”

  Martha did not waver; since she knew that Satsuki was still suffering from her disturbed feelings.

  “Right,” Martha replied, “give me a couple of days to think of something.”

  “You don’t have a couple of days. Remember, that we don’t know how to travel back or forward in time. I only know how to materialize in select places, and only if I get the correct coordinates. Therefore, we need a plan quickly, because we shall have to set it into motion.”

  “We can’t begin to think of anything if we don’t know where they are being taken.”

  “I think I can hack into some security records, maybe even the Draconis Precinct and discover where they are being taken. Yet where they are going, they might have a narrow window. They could be taken to be executed.”

  “Then after you discover it, give me two hours.”

  “Right.”

  Martha left her alone in the consul room while she went to her bedroom. Once she was alone, Martha paced back and forth, before she rushed to the waste bin and vomited up her breakfast. Everything about the circumstance was beginning to make her sick. Once more the Doctor was captured, but now it was even more complicated. There were two Doctors.

  While Martha had spent the year walking around the Earth without any certainty that the Doctor was alive, she always got the sense that the Master would not have killed him. That would have been too easy for the Master to do. He liked to win, and how could he triumph over the Doctor if the Doctor was not there to see it? Yet with the Draconis authorities, this was different. They possibly had no reason to find pleasure in keeping the Doctor alive. They even tried to execute him already. Therefore, time was of the essence, and they didn’t even know where they were being taken. And she didn’t like having no destination.

  As she looked at her bed, she realized also that now the nightmares would return. Yes, she still dreamt of the Master every now and again, but it was more like dreams rather than night terrors. She was no longer suffering under terrifying conversations, or to wake up in a violent start after the Master had killed her in a violent way. But now the Eighth Doctor was gone, and the nightmares would return.

  ⌨

  She stood up and began to pace back and forth. After remaining in her room for about an hour, she walked back to the command room where Satsuki was pressing letters into the keypad and doing research.

  “How is it going?”

  Satsuki looked up at her.

  “Stellar!”

  ⌨

  “So, that’s a good thing, then?”

  “You bet. I was able to tap into the message, and listen.”

  Satsuki pressed a button, and it was the police squad that had seized the Doctors. The message was being sent to the Halls of Justice, and it stated that the Doctors would not be taken back there, but placed on a shuttle that would take them off planet, and to the prison called The Eastern State Penitentiary.

  Perking up now that they had a destination, they found solace. Satsuki searched for the prison in the computer and the first result that came up was the Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, on Earth.

  “That can’t be right, though,” Martha listed, “I heard of that place and it’s not even a working prison anymore. It’s a tourist spot now.”[1]

  “Oh, it’s definitely not right. I’ve heard of the prison before, but not the initial one. The one that I’ve heard of is an im
itation.”

  “An imitation? You mean that Mecrellas imitates some of our prisons too?”

  “Oh yeah. But only the legendary ones. We even have a Tower of London. I just never looked it up because I didn’t know where it was located. But according to this, we have sixteen different copies of that prison. And they are all located on the Jupiters.”

  “The Jupiters? You said that in a plural way?”

  “Oh yeah, Earth has only one in your solar system of course. But Jupiter is the most replicated planet in the universe.”

  “Really?”

  “Yup.” Satsuki pressed a button and sixteen different holograms of Jupiter appeared over their heads. “The legend says that there was a planet-manufacturer named Vellius, and he copied the layout of your Jupiter, then replicated it all throughout the galaxies.”

  “Is the legend true?”

  “No one knows, but it is a beautiful story. Still, that’s not the point.”

  “No, it’s not. But you’re saying that you all have prisons on each of the Jupiters in the galaxies?”

  “Yes, and each one is impossible to break out of.”

  “We don’t need to break out. We need to get in. Which Eastern State Penitentiary were they taken to?”

  “The one in the Janis system. It was the fifth Jupiter replication.”

  “Vellius copied our planet,” Martha smirked, “I should be flattered. But why are the Penitentiaries on the Jupiters? What makes Jupiter so special?”

  “No idea, but perhaps I can consider it further.”

  “Good, do that. And do me a favor. See if you can learn of the overall layout of the prison. I know it will be hard to discover that, but any information helps. Also, find out what sort of cargo ever goes into the prison or out of it.”

  Martha moved away, sat down on the seat, propped her feet up and began to look ahead.

  “Are you thinking of a plan?” Satsuki asked.

  “Yup.”

  “I could tell. You have your ‘I’m thinking of a plan’ look on your face.”

  “You can tell that?”

  “I’ve seen it many times.”

  “Good. I’d hate to find out that I lost my nerve in the future.”

  Martha continued to stare into space as she thought on the matter. She eventually closed her eyes, and did her best to calm herself down. She never could think clearly if she let her nerves get the better of her.

  “The computer doesn’t have that much information about the layout,” Satsuki reported, “but only the overall different levels, and the cells within it. The cells can only be opened by a key. As for the input and output, only guards enter with new prisoners, there are food deliveries and mail. Yet the prison itself does have an output of shipments of gas.”

  “Gas? What sort of gas?”

  “The contents of the gas are unknown. But they ship out crates of the stuff.”

  “Wait, Jupiter itself could produce the gas of course. Perhaps it’s a natural resource.”

  Martha bit her lip, and smiled happily as she jumped up.

  “That means you got a plan, don’t you?” Satsuki asked.

  “Yes, and I have Mecrellas to thank for it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Mecrellas spends a lot of time imitating our history. Therefore, why not give them a dose of their own medicine?”

  “Do explain.”

  “I will eventually, but first we shall need a distraction, and we will need help. Satsuki, can you find the next protest rally in Mecrellas and then also look up some old friends of mine. They are androids, and their names are Howard.”

  Chapter 2

  Things Come Together

  “Good day, Technician Jones,” Howard 6 greeted Martha. Once they had discovered his whereabouts, they had tracked him down at a robot manufacturer warehouse.

  “Good day, Howard 6,” Martha greeted, “and this is Katsuna.”

  “Nice to meet you, Howard 6,” Satsuki replied.

  “Nice to make your acquaintance as well,” Howard 6 responded, “yet I have caught you within a deception. Your name is not Katsuna, but rather it is Satsuki Nyoto.”

  Martha and Satsuki started.

  “You need not be alarmed,” Howard 6 elaborated, “when distributed into a new environment, we Howards can draw on the records of any close bay station. When I ever make the introduction of a new person, I draw on the records around me. And you are not who you say you are.”

  “Howard 6,” Martha whispered, “I trust that you know I would never bring anyone to you who is harmful to anyone, especially you Howards.”

  “Is this true?”

  “I want to believe that you know the truth when you hear it.”

  Howard 6 leaned forward.

  “Stand still,” Howard 6 ordered, looking deeply in her eyes. “Your eyes speak the truth. We Howards sometimes can detect shallow attempts at deceit.”

  “Good for you, mate,” Satsuki replied, “and now my pride is hurt.”

  “Howard 6,” Martha began, “where are the other Howards?”

  “Three of us are distributed in financial centers and office buildings. The other three of us work here in the robot factory, to build more mechanical software.”

  “So, you are robots who are building other robots?”

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know if that’s really smart of the Mecrellans or really stupid. But tell me, Howard, are you really happy here?”

  “I am an android; my happiness is no concern to anyone. All I require is labor.”

  “Yes, it is of concern, and you know that I am aware of it. You all have some emotion hidden down there somewhere. I’ve seen it. Howard 6, are you all happy?”

  Howard 6 looked away.

  “Even if we could choose our fortune, we wouldn’t know what to do with it,” he admitted. “Therefore, we would be confused. And our programming would become corrupt. I cannot survive the mystery of not knowing what to do next.”

  “Well, we can give you time to find out. Howard 6, we need your help.”

  At the mention of the word ‘help’, Howard perked up.

  “How can I be of assistance?”

  Martha smiled.

  “Howard, I’m about to ask you to risk your life, I know, but I promise we are doing the same thing, and we’ll have your back the entire time.”

  “What is it?”

  “We have two friends who have been captured and taken to the Eastern State Penitentiary in the Janis system.”

  “And by those two friends, you are referring to the Doctors who were arrested for taking out two of the four space windows.”

  “They successfully destroyed two of the four windows?” Satsuki repeated.

  “Yes, it was all over the news. Draconis has been talking of it most animatedly.”

  “So, they were partly successful,” Martha echoed, “but the other two are still operational?”

  “One is. The second one was not fully destroyed by the supernova that they shot at it, however it was damaged by it. With the one window still active, the games can continue, but it narrows itself on what they can select. This last window specialized in finding moments of levity or triumph in some sort of way. Therefore, they can only imitate actions such as peace treaties being signed, or public games again. They were going to replicate a figure skating competition, however, with the circumstances, it must be pushed back.”

  “The circumstances?”

  “By living off the radar, you might not have heard. The protestors were not only successful, but the number of men that have been taken on the trans-mats have reached 200 victims.”

  “200 hundred lost men?!”

  “Yes, and Mecrellas still refuses to shut down the games. Yet Kellerphron and Nestor, two planets that lost the most victims, are now calling Mecrellas out for its negligence and is accusing the planet of stealing their citizens.”

  “And therefore, conflict is rising,” Satsuki concluded.

  �
�Yes, and war is perhaps likely,” Martha confirmed, “at the end of all things.”

  “Perhaps it shall,” Howard 6 reported, “yet either way, tension has occurred. If peace is established beforehand, then all could be avoided.”

  “I’m a native of Mecrellas,” Satsuki groaned, “and we’re not always the most sensible lot.”

  “Well, since half the planet wishes to imitate war, they are going to get it. And the Clockwork droids would have been successful.”

  “I am unfamiliar with your phrasing. What are the Clockwork droids?”

  “We’ll tell you later. Howard 6, I know you’re not happy here, and I think we could have a way to get you all out of this.”

  “How?” Howard 6 asked.

  “We can find the Doctors. And they can take you anywhere.”

  “But the Doctors are imprisoned.”

  “And that’s where we need your help. You may look like a sleek robot, but you’re an android. So, is there some way that you can change your look?”

  “Precisely,” Satsuki encouraged, “is there any way that you could be disguised if we took you to an android specialist who can make believable human suits?”

  Howard 6 smirked and then he shifted in size. His whole form morphed and very soon Satsuki was looking at a precise replica of herself.

  ⌨

  “Oh, that is just so creepy,” Martha smirked, “and I love it!”

  “So, that’s what I look like?” Satsuki asked, “no mirror can prepare you, sometimes.”

  Howard 6, looking like Satsuki, winked at her, and then turned back into his original self.

  “Can all androids shift form like that?” Martha asked.

  “Not on my street,” Satsuki answered, “androids have to have a special body prepared for them. They can’t just morph into one.”

  “The benefits of being an antique,” Howard 6 replied, “Our creator mixed our wiring and altered our program, creating a hybrid in ourselves.”

  “A hybrid?”

  “He mixed our program with a robotic program that has been experimented on, but not put into effect. The designer was named Melaj Zenit, and it was called the Tesserecta. Yet it has not been distributed, because there was trouble with the prototype.”[2]