by Cour M.
“No, she said that she wanted nothing to do with it, because of the Time War.”
“She?”
“Yes.”
“And she never went back!”
“No, is that important in any way?”
Ten almost dropped his scoop as he practically stumbled under the weight of the news.
“Yes, it is. This planet is called Westrid?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Lesius, do you know what happened to my home planet, Gallifrey?”
“No, I never learned of it. The knowledge we had of your planet came from her. What she told us, she told us, but as for everything else—she kept it a secret. She mentioned that a lot: secrets. She said that you all often lived under the weight of them. Yet it was a weight that you all bore happily.”
“She said that?”
“Yes.”
Ten rushed up to Lesius and grabbed his shoulders.
“Lesius, it’s important that you tell me. What was her name?”
“The promise that she made, but we all knew that it wasn’t the real one. She admitted to that.”
“And what name did she go by?”
“The Counselor.”
⌨
In hearing this, Ten closed his eyes, amazed.
“No, this can’t be real,” he refuted.
“What?”
Ten moved away from Lesius, and then turned back to him, furious.
“What is this?” He hissed, “a trick?! Who put you up to this!”
“No one.”
“Then you’re just lying. There is no way that there are any more Timelords left in the universe. I would have discovered it—unless they altered their DNA.”
“That’s why she came to Westrid.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s the solar winds around our planet. They have a certain frequency within them that can scramble any sort of tracking a person. We can’t explain it, but that’s the reason why Westrid has a small community of Timelords. They liked being free.”
“Wait, what?”
“Yes. Wait, you’re not thinking of reporting them, are you? Because there is no way we have of communicating with the outside world. And even if you did, I will try and stop you. They just want to be left alone.”
“Lesius, I promise I’m not a danger, but I need for you to repeat that,” Ten cried happily, “your planet has a community of Timelords.”
Lesius was silent.
“Lesius, please, trust me. I’m not a threat to them at all. I can’t even go back to Gallifrey myself.”
“Why not?”
“Because, for me, Gallifrey is gone.”
⌨
“Gone, what do you mean gone?”
“It’s gone, Gallifrey is no more. It was destroyed. There are no more Timelords left in the universe, except for me.”
“And them,” Lesius finished.
“And you swear that these are Timelords that you lived alongside. These could just be people who are claiming to be Gallifreyan.”
“No, I saw one of them regenerate.”
“Another species can do that as well.”
“I know of no other such species.”
“Usually people don’t.”
“One time, I did overhear them speaking. They mentioned something called the Matrix.”
Hearing this, Ten’s eyes narrowed.
“Lesius!”
“It’s true. I’m not lying.”
“But you’re making me believe that I have friends out there, and that’s enough to make anyone dangerous—if you prove to be lying.”[3]
“You know, you can be quite mean sometimes, when you speak,” Lesius noted, and it made Ten freeze.
“Sorry,” he apologized, “it’s just that you have to understand what I am going through now.”
“And what is that?”
“I’m the Doctor, the last of the Timelords, in a prison, scooping a Jupiter for its gas, and then I meet someone who swears that he knows more of my kind out there, when I know myself to be alone.”
“I speak the truth, Timelord. You are not alone.”
⌨
Ten moved away, and looked out at the surface of Jupiter as they moved along it.
“You have no idea how dangerous I can become if I get my hopes up,” Ten admitted. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, and the Counselor was one of them.”
“She taught you?”
“Yes, she did,” Lesius squinted, recalling how Ten reacted when he had mentioned her. “Did you know her?”
At first, Ten did not answer.
There was only one Timelord he ever knew who could possibly go by that name. She had mentioned it often enough, out of jest. But no, she could not be there now.
“Doctor,” Lesius demanded, “did you know her?”
“If she is the same Timelord that I am thinking about, then yes.”
“But you don’t believe me.”
“No, Lesius. For my own peace of mind, no I don’t.”
⌨
Eventually they got done their shift, and it was time for lunch. They all filed into the hall, Ten and Lesius got their meals and sat down together.
At first, they ate in silence, because Lesius was not willing to start the conversation, and Ten was deep in thought. Eventually, Ten came out of himself.
“You know what happens to this planet, you know,” he pointed out, “if we keep going on.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Of course, you do. Because if you were taught interplanetary geology by that Timelord properly, then you would know exactly what’s going to happen.”
“Yes. But all that happens long after I die.”
“Yes, it will, and I will still be here.”
“I just realized that. You’re going to spend the rest of your lives stuck here.”
“Yes, I will. And it’s enough to make anyone go mad. And unfortunately for me, I started going mad a long time ago.”
“That’s what she said,” Lesius interrupted.
“Who?”
“The Counselor. She told us that having all those lives was brilliant, but it also came with a price. You begin with having ideals and principles, and then one by one they fade, like dying stars in space. And then, slowly but surely, the madness kicks in. And you hope with your next incarnation, it will be better.”
“But it never is. You follow the same journey. You start out with ideals, but even those had holes in them. But I suspect that the Counselor knew that one. What was she like, by the way?”
“Well, she had curly hair—”
“No, don’t tell me what she looked like. We’re Timelords. For us, bodies are boring.[4] Tell me about her—spirit. What was she like?”
“She was smart.”
“She was a Timelord.”
“Oi! Not all of you are smart. Remember, you got yourself caught, you know.”
“So. Even smart people have Mondays. And you know what they say about Mondays.”
“No, not really.”
“Yeah, I don’t really know what they truthfully say either. But she was smart.”
“Yes, and charming. She was, oh I don’t know the correct word for it. She was… approachable.”
Ten recalled the Timelord that he was thinking about. All her many incarnations had that precise way about her. No matter her look or vocal change, that one aspect of her personality remained the same always.
“Approachable?”
“Yeah.”
“You have fond memories of her, don’t you?”
“She was… she was a good teacher.”
“Yeah, if we’re thinking of the same person, she would be.”
⌨
Eventually it was time to retire, therefore Ten was taken back to his cell where he lay down in his bed. He began to plot, to plan a way to converse with Eight, to let him know what he had discovered, because it was something he had the right to know, despite that he was pre-Time Wa
r.
Yet he was startled from out of his bed when he was given a memory. The Eighth Doctor was in trouble.
Chapter 8
What Lurked Beneath
While Ten was mining gas on Jupiter, Eight was stationed with the moon base prisoners to produce oxygen from one of Jupiter’s moons. Their suits had gravity stabilizers, so they were not going to float away into space when they walked. The shuttle conveying them to the sight eventually landed, and they all disembarked.
As Eight walked along, he looked around the moon surroundings.
“This is not the same moon that we were on yesterday,” He observed.
“It’s because it’s not,” another prisoner named Kenneth replied, as he walked near him, with his oxygen bag on his shoulders. “At this point, the other moons have stopped producing oxygen in their pockets. When the first fifteen moons cease to do it, then we come to this last one.”[5]
“Why do you come to this one last?”
“We never know. Orders are orders.”
“What I never got,” another prisoner named Leary voiced, “is how can a moon even produce oxygen? But it is what it is.”
“On the contrary, you’re not alone,” Eight explained as they walked along the white of the moon. “Many people are amazed by the mystery of it. On the moon that belongs to the planet Earth, it was discovered that for a few days out of each month, oxygen atoms from Earth can be found on the moon’s surface. After research was done, this process began when photosynthetic microbes first flourished 2.4 billion years ago. They would release oxygen into the Earth’s atmosphere and as the moon passed through the magnetosphere, oxygen earthly ions would enter the moon’s surface.”[6]
“But we’re not on the moon that revolves around the Earth,” Leary responded, “So I don’t get it.”
“Nor do I,” Eight commented, “but the universe is what it always is. And what it always will be is a breathing thing that does not give excuses or explanations. However, I admit that I myself would like to know why this is. After all, this Jupiter was created by a Planet Maker, right? This means that he had to also have created the moons. So, I’m wondering what else he didn’t tell anyone.”
“Hey, you guys,” Kenneth called behind them, “look what I found!”
He found a crusty flag on it.
“Get a load of me!”
He stood there, placed the flag upright and posed.
“One small step for man! One giant leap for mankind.”
They all laughed at that.
“Where does that phrase come from?” Another prisoner, named Wilson, asked.
“It’s a memory from Earth,” Eight answered, “I didn’t know you were an Earthling, Kenneth.”
“It’s because I’m not. I was born in Mecrellas and I was arrested and falsely accused in Mecrellas. This was one of the moments that we imitated from Earth’s history.”
“Of course, for how could you all miss that moment.”
“Yes, it was too marked to be overlooked. After all, you all love to repeat it yourselves. It had to have been the most watched video on that thing you all call ‘YouTube’.”
Kenneth threw the flag down and continued to walk along.
“That’s the tragedy of knowing that there’s no way out of your predicament; you take your laughs where you can get them.”
⌨
With the oxygen atom detector in his hand, Eight heard it go off.
“We’ve got a hit,” he reported, excited. Despite being in a prison, his spirits always raised whenever they found the oxygen. It was a new experience for him. He never had to search for oxygen atoms before. They were a group of seven, and their unit went towards the direction that the detector was indicating.
They entered a large crater and stood over it as it stretched far.
“Lovely view,” Eight commented.
“Right, and it’s the perfect place for oxygen atoms to remain in,” Leary observed.
“Well, get out your oxygen tanks and step lightly. You never know what you could step on.”
They all lowered themselves down, into the crater and began to narrow in on the oxygen atoms.
“Found them all,” Kenneth cried, holding out his detector, “Yup, it’s a feast, boys.”
The Doctor and other prisoners began to suck the oxygen atoms into their tanks, when Eight saw something out of the corner of his eye, lurking behind Leary.
His eyes snapped up, but there was no one there.
“What?” Leary asked.
“Did you just see something behind you?”
“No, not at all.”
Eight was still uncertain.
“Right, stick closer to us anyway.”
“Hey, we’ve done this longer than you, mate.”
“Oh, don’t be a prat about it,” Wilson retorted, “he’s just concerned. Besides, his name is Doctor, you know.”
“Well, I don’t need a doctor.”
“Nonsense,” Eight contradicted, “everyone needs a doctor.”
“Right.”
Leary went back to mining for oxygen, but Eight kept watch over him, out of the corner of his eye.
As Leary began to bend down to suck up some more oxygen atoms in his bag, Eight had the sad realization that his paranoia was appropriate. Suddenly, out of the surface of the moon, emerged a large tentacle. Wrapping itself around Leary, it began to suck him in.
⌨
Leary cried out as he tried to remove himself from the tentacle, but it was useless. He was sucked down into the surface of the moon as Eight grabbed his hand.
“Leary!”
Eight held on, but the creature that was sucking them down was strong and clearly was large. Luckily, before Eight could be sucked in as well, Kenneth, Jamison and some others grabbed ahold of him.
“Please don’t let go!” Leary cried, “Please!”
Eight looked at the tentacle that was sucking Leary down, and he recognized the markings along it.
“Of course,” he hissed, “That’s why they have you mine this last moon rarely.”
Eight gave Leary’s hand to Jamison.
“Don’t let him go,” he demanded. He moved from Leary’s frantic clutches, then Eight removed his oxygen pack, he released the top of it, where one side of it had a sharp and pointy edge and then he rammed it into the tentacle.
Beneath the surface, the creature roared out in pain and then released Leary. From the force of the release, the prisoners fell backwards, on the moon’s surface, and began scrounging around. Eight helped them all up.
“Abandon your oxygen sacks,” he ordered, “because we need to run!”
As they stood up, they felt the moon’s surface beginning to tremble.
“It’s making its way to the surface,” Eight bellowed, “If it catches up to one of you, stay still. It can’t see invisible objects, but for now, run!”
They all began racing along, back toward the ship, when they felt an earthquake underneath them. Eight turned as he ran, and the creature burst out from the crater. Larger than he recalled them to be, Eight took in its size, and saw that he was correct.
Over three stories tall, with crab-like feet, an octopus carriage, a large malignant face, and many tentacles that were almost as long as an anaconda, was the Equinae.
“Keep going!” Eight cried. They raced along and eventually the ship came into view.
“Hey!” Kenneth cried, “we’re here! Get the engines ready!”
In the space shuttle, the pilot saw the Equinae coming toward them, and he did as orders always instructed. He fired up the engines and began to take off.
“Wait!” Jamison bellowed, “it’s leaving without us all!”
“No!” another prisoner cried, whose name was Gibson, “no, please!”
All around that area of the moon, other prisoners who were a part of other units were also rushing to the shuttle. All of them cried out in protest as the shuttle rose and flew off back to the penitentiary.
It strande
d them on the moon.
With an Equinae chasing after them.
Eight was not deceived. This had been the plan all along.
⌨
“Keep running,” Eight demanded, as they joined the other units who had been trying to get onto the ship. “And follow me!”
In total, it was now thirty of the prisoners who were trying to escape the Equinae. Luckily, their spacesuits were Grade Plus, and allowed them natural movement along the lunar surface. Eight turned once more and saw that Jamison was lagging.
“Jamison!” Eight cried.
“Doctor!”
Eight rushed back to him, but the Equinae wrapped one of its tentacles around Jamison, pulled him toward his mouth, and Eight had to turn away before he had to witness the death of Jamison.
“I’m sorry,” Eight whispered, but he was interrupted when he felt Kenneth grab his arm.
“Come one, there’s nothing you can do!”
Eight then began to run along with the other prisoners. As he did so, he grabbed one of the others who had been searching for oxygen atoms in the group.
“Where were you all retrieving the oxygen, because we need to know where not to run!”
“We were scooping it from that direction,” the man cried, pointing to the left.
“Everyone,” Eight cried, “run to the right!”
At first, they didn’t listen, but Eight kept repeating it, running in the other direction, while the Equinae continued to chase them.
“Why are we running this way?” Gibson roared, “is there refuge ahead?”
“Better than that. There’s no oxygen atoms in that direction! Equinaes always thrive off oxygen pockets on moons. They love to dwell here because their bodies run hot, so they love the cold! But they always need to be in the place where there is oxygen, so that they can store it. Yet if it keeps chasing us, not only is it going to use up the air it has stored in its lungs, but the further it gets from its supply! If it keeps chasing us, eventually it’s going to run out of air.”
“Do you know that for a fact?”