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

by Cour M.

  “Very much so,” Eight confirmed, “In fact, the cause of one led to the effect of the other. We’ve seen this situation once before. Long ago, on Earth.”[8]

  “Think of the equation,” Ten added, “E= mc2.”

  “Einstein’s theory of special relativity,” Martha clarified.

  “Yes.”

  “But that equation shows that the increased relativistic mass of a body comes from the energy of motion of the body,” Martha magnified, “and that is ‘E’: kinetic energy.”

  “Divided by the speed of light squared,” Eight continued, “which is ‘c 2’. So, kinetic energy equals the mass of something times the speed of light, squared. So, think about it, what happens if something drastically loses mass very quickly?”

  Martha squinted.

  “Oh,” she realized, “the equation becomes imbalanced. If mass gets lost, then all that energy must go somewhere. It gets sucked somewhere.”

  “Precisely,” Ten confirmed, “Therefore, if you lose mass, the energy must go somewhere, which accounts for the heat wave. That heat barrier that is around Draconis, is really in reaction to the clockwork droids.”

  “What did they do to trigger such a chemical reaction, though?” Satsuki asked.

  “They shrunk themselves,” Eight answered, “they shrunk themselves and their ship.”

  ⌨

  “When a person wants to diminish something or themselves,” Ten extrapolated, “so that they are so small that no one can see them, their mass has to decrease. If their mass decreases as such a fast rate, and mass is equaled to energy divided by the speed of light squared, then what happens to the other side of the equation?”

  “The energy and speed of light will level themselves,” Satsuki determined.

  “Precisely!” Eight cried, “Stellar, isn’t it?”

  “It’s annoyingly ingenious. That’s what it is,” Martha realized, “you mean to tell me that the heat barrier was created because the clockwork droids decreased the size of their ship and themselves. So, the energy just went out, with the speed of light, and thus the heat barrier was created in reaction.”

  “Yup.”

  “So, the clockwork droids never left Draconis.”

  “Not at all,” Ten confirmed, “they’ve been there the whole time, hiding in plain sight.”

  There was a knock on the TARDIS doors. Martha walked up to it, opened it, and Howard 6 appeared.

  “We’ve arrived at the Shadow Proclamation.”

  Chapter 15

  The Clock Getting Wound Up

  When they arrived, the Doctors, Companions and Howards 1,2 and 3 emerged, followed by Daphne. The Howards carried the crates of gas with the mailing labels upon them.

  Immediately they were greeted by the Judoon.

  “You better have assimilated yourselves to English by now,” Ten said impatiently as they arrived.

  “Language is assimilated,” the head Judoon confirmed, “yet that doesn’t mean that you ought to forget protocol. And what are those crates?” He asked, with all the Judoon removing their guns and aiming them at the crates.

  “Believe me, you do not wish to do that,” Eight countered, raising up his arms. “If you do that, then the Chief Justice will not forgive you for destroying evidence.”

  “No, she will not,” the Chief Justice spoke, appearing behind the Judoon, “that being said, it has to be true evidence. Welcome back, Doctors.”

  “Chief Justice, you look radiant as always,” Eight complimented.

  “Thank you, but your gentlemanly flattery is showing.”

  “Chief Justice,” Ten interrupted, “you once sent us away, because we had no evidence that the Imitation Games were causing intergalactic chaos. Yet we have just come from being detained in one of their penitentiaries.”

  “We heard of your sentence. Yet we could do nothing, since you committed public destruction, and therefore it was out of our hands. Their sentencing you was just, tragically.”

  “And for that, I am happy that you did not interfere. Sometimes one needs to fall to rise. By us being sent to the very place that Mecrellas wished to bury us in, we uncovered the secret.”

  “Chief Justice, we humbly request another audience with the head council,” Eight requested, “and this time, we shall need not only the desk and chairs, but a projector. Oh, and these are the Howards, and this is Daphne.” He pointed toward Daphne, who waved insecurely.

  “Hello,” Daphne said.

  “Welcome, Kellerphronian,” Chief Justice said, “is she a new companion that you are breaking in?”

  “No, at least not to my knowledge,” Eight replied, “she’s just helping us, so we can retrieve her boyfriend from the missing people.”

  “Very well,” Chief Justice said, “I do so like that you are cooperating with me, Doctors. Truly, this is a refreshing change from usual.”

  “Misfits,” Satsuki teased Eight and Ten under her breath.

  “There is no need to whisper,” Chief Justice said over her shoulder, “you don’t speak anything that we don’t know, dear.”

  ⌨

  Once they entered the interrogation room, the room was once more transported to space and time, and the four council members, Zanoria, Luxor, Rebrullen and Nettril, appeared once more as large wooden figures.

  “Wicked!” Daphne cried, when seeing their tall figures against the dark starry sky that was the infinity of space. “Amazing! It’s just like magic.”

  “And whoever said that politics is always boring,” Ten remarked. “Well, never mind. It usually is.”

  Eight moved forward and turned on the projector that was on the table. Martha was amused at how they were floating in space once more, with four wooden figures looming over them, like wooden gods. And yet, there they were, with a projector on a table. However, this projector was of galactic design, and rather than showing images against a flat surface, it projected holograms.

  “We stayed at one of the Eastern State Penitentiaries on Jupiter 6,” Eight began, “and while my duties were to extract oxygen atoms from pockets in craters on the moon, Ten’s duties were to extract gas from the surface of the planet.”

  “Gas scoops,” Ten continued, “and the proof is right here.”

  The Howards opened the crates and there were the gas containers.

  “Along with a mailing label that shows that it comes from the penitentiary and was going to be sent to Mecrellas specifically for its window-bridges. If you were to bring in a technician to analyze the design of the window-bridges, they rely on Jupiter’s gaseous elements to be maintained. Yet, as it is with every species, they latch themselves to any natural resource and don’t think of what they are doing to it.”

  On the projector, all the Jupiters that were stationed all around the universe were shown.

  “Needless to say,” Eight pointed out, “at the moment, and over the next few years, there will be no reaction. No side effects. And that’s precisely all that the Mecrellans wanted you to see. The present and only the present.”

  “And they expected that no one would think of how things would occur in the long run,” Ten concluded, “It was in my first night in my cell that I was able to do the math,” he recalled when he had used a stone to draw on his wall, “right now, the planets can sustain their gas being absorbed. They also can sustain it over the next century. Yet here I shall show you what will happen over the next thousand years.”

  Ten clicked a button on the projector and the Jupiters began to spin faster and faster with the progression of time, and then suddenly, they all burst apart.

  ⌨

  Zanoria, Luxor, Rebrullen and Nettril all loomed over the image of all the Jupiters bursting apart and being destroyed.

  “The planets will dry up,” Ten continued, “and they will not be able to sustain the imbalance of gas. Thus, the planets will have an imbalance of elements and they will self-destruct. Therefore, if the Shadow Proclamation does nothing, then centuries later, you will have begun one of th
e largest downward spirals in space; we will have a universe without the Jupiters. Just think of the repercussions that it will have on space and time itself.”

  “Well,” Eight announced, “what say you? We come to you, asking for aid.”

  ⌨

  There was a silence as Zanoria, Luxor, Rebrullen and Nettril looked between themselves. They had a certain telepathic conference that all had to wait through. Eventually, all was decided between them and Zanoria turned to the Doctors, companions, and Howards.

  “And the Shadow Proclamation shall assist you.”

  ⌨

  The Doctors and companions breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Now, what shall be done then?” Ten asked.

  “We shall send a legion of ours from our allies on Necros,” Luxor commented, “They will supply us with enough ships and fleet that shall halt the war between Mecrellas and its rivals.”

  “But that shall not be enough,” Rebrullen pointed out, “for even though we will destroy the remaining window-bridges, we still need to have the uncovering of the clockwork droids.”

  “And that’s where we come in,” Ten stood up.

  “You have till the end of the day, Doctor,” Nettril advised.

  “A full day?” Eight smirked, “to a Timelord, Councilwoman, all of time and space can be fit into one of those.”

  All of them left and returned to Mecrellas, landing outside of Draconis.

  Chapter 16

  Five Minutes Until the Final Hour

  After the Doctors dropped off the protestors at their respective planets—and Eight grumbled a bit about the state that they left the pool in—they travelled back to Mecrellas and landed right inside the Halls of Justice.

  Since the Howards were stowaways at that point, Eight had them remain in the TARDIS, but they emerged and Daphne accompanied them. As they entered the Hall, they were in the council room, and General Vander was in the middle of a meeting with his fellow council members.

  “Good day,” The Doctors greeted them pleasantly.

  “You’re supposed to be in prison!” General Vander bellowed.

  “Tried it, and it didn’t agree with us,” Ten responded.

  “And since you are surrounded by a heat barrier, you really can’t send us back, now can you?” Eight asked.

  “And you still enjoy provoking me,” General Vander grunted.

  “Yes,” the Doctors said in unison.

  “Now then,” Martha interrupted, “the hour is late, so do you want help with getting rid of that heat barrier? Or perhaps you just wish for us to fly away?”

  “Because we can just totally fly away,” Satsuki stressed.

  “What are you talking about?” One of the councilmembers asked us.

  “And why would you help us?” General Vander inquired.

  “Because despite our interesting past,” Eight continued, “We still are the Doctor. And our name is a promise. A promise that we shall surely keep.”

  “As we flew in,” Ten noticed, “we saw that above your planet, in the stratosphere, there’s a battle going on.”

  “It’s a battle we wish to help in, but can’t take any part,” General Vander remarked, “because of this infernal heat barrier. Our Magna-City, Carta, is now fighting a fleet that was sent from Nestor and Kellerphron.”

  “My planet is in that battle now?” Daphne voiced, but Satsuki tried to shush her, and yet it was too late.

  “You’re a Kellerphronian?” General Vander hissed, “Doctors, you brought our enemy here.”

  “That complaint is redundant, mate,” Martha remarked, “we’re already your enemies now.”

  “Seriously,” Ten concluded, “therefore let’s not waste any more time now in repeating the obvious. Besides, her being here will bear witness to the return of the captured people and the uncovering of the clockwork droids. We brought you a diplomat. You’re welcome.”

  “So,” Eight urged, “do you believe us yet, that the clockwork droids are behind this?”

  “If they are, then who controls them?”

  “Clockwork droids are manufactured, yes,” Ten clarified, “but they eventually become self-making creators where they create more of themselves. If they had a master/creator once upon a time, then they long since could’ve broken away from them. No, I don’t think we need to worry about a puppeteer in the background. This time, we’ve got puppets who can stand on their own.”

  “Very well. Where are they?”

  “We don’t know yet, but we will.”

  “You don’t know yet, but you will?” He echoed.

  “It’s not our fault that we just arrived, you see, because you kind of had us imprisoned on a Jupiter.”

  “You destroyed two of our window-bridges.”

  “Okay, we’re all a little guilty here.”

  “But we can destroy the heat barrier and discover the Clockwork droids if you let us,” Eight added, “if we come to a compromise. If you are mandated by political decree to end the Imitation Games, then you shall. And you need not worry about all the people who will suffer due to losing professions. After the destruction that this war will cause, believe me, those who are out of work can be used for something.”

  “You will never give up, will you?”

  “No, they won’t,” Daphne said, which surprised them all. “Now, will you give in? Because right now, both your and my people are dying because of these droids. And the longer that we dawdle, the more people die. Will history thank you, General, for waiting longer?”

  Ten looked smug.

  “She’s only been with us for a day, and she’s already like this,” he boasted.

  “Hey, mate,” Satsuki objected, “we were with her longer,” she indicated to herself and Martha, “only we can take credit.”

  “So,” Eight finalized, “do we have a deal?”

  ⌨

  Once the deal had been struck, the Doctors landed the TARDIS outside of the heat barrier while some military justice trucks traveled to the other side of it. Both exited their vehicles and the Doctors and Companions were on the outside while the Mecrellan Soldiers were on the inside, facing each other.

  Daphne picked up a stone and threw it at the heat barrier. It disintegrated as soon as it made impact with the invisible dome placed around the city, and it blew up.

  “Well, well, well,” Eight determined, “it really is just like it was the last time that we came upon something like this.”

  “And with a heat barrier of this size and intensity must’ve come from a spaceship that was once 200 feet long, but now it’s only 15 inches long, due to the compression,” Ten elaborated.

  “So, what do we do?” Satsuki asked.

  “We tried blowing it up and everything,” the soldier explained and Eight looked at him, sharply.

  “And that only made it worse, didn’t it?”

  “It made the barrier larger.”

  “Of course, it did,” Eight spat, “Mecrellans! You all just shoot first and ask questions later.”

  Ten grabbed Satsuki and Martha, pulling them into the TARDIS.

  “Come on now,” he ordered them, “we need to travel to the heart of the TARDIS.”

  “Why, or do I not want to know why?” Martha asked.

  “We need the electrical current that can be emitted from a supernova that was suspended in time. We used the Eye of Harmony connection to destroy their window bridges, right? Well, in truth, we can also transfer electrical currents from the eye, using cables, and then insert them into the heat barrier. Howards!”

  Howard 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 entered.

  “Yes, sir,” Howard 1 responded.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “I need you all to help again,” Ten rushed out, leading them through the TARDIS. “I need you to connect cables to a dying star that’s suspended in time. We must all be careful. One wrong move and we can blo
w ourselves up.”

  “I love the smell of suicidal acts during these points in time and space,” Martha remarked.

  “Oh, so that’s why you kept coming back to me?” Ten suggested, and then Martha gave him a look. “Come on, doesn’t that deserve one laugh?”

  “If we survive, I promise that I shall laugh wholeheartedly.”

  “I love having a goal.”

  ⌨

  On the outside of the TARDIS, Eight was explaining the science behind their actions to the Mecrellan soldiers.

  “The last time we did this, we had to attach cables to some high-tension power lines. Yet that was on Earth, and setting up powerlines outside of your cities is not something that you imitated from them. So, we must make do. We’re going to use cables, attach them to the heart of my TARDIS, then we are going to send 10,000 volts through it. 10,000 volts can get through any heat or cooling barrier.”

  “What’s the principle?” The soldier asked.

  “Negative diathermy, sergeant. Buffer the molecular movement of the air with the reverse phase short waves.”

  “That is impossible.”

  “According to classical aerodynamics, it’s impossible for a bumblebee to fly. You are imitators, Sergeant, but your skill is not in innovation. It never has been. We Timelords don’t imitate; we don’t have the creative mindset for it. But we have the ambition to innovate.”

  “If you are wrong, Doctor, will it make the problems worse?”

  “If I am wrong, then yes it can. The heat barrier can get wider.”

  “To the point where it can destroy an entire city?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “You said that you didn’t think so, and not that you didn’t know so.”

  Eight walked closer to the barrier.

  “Be careful, Doctor,” the soldier advised.

  “Don’t worry. I know where it begins.” Eight looked at all the soldiers. They were terrified, and they had a right to be. They were about to see the situation get either better or worse. Therefore, Eight kept his temper in check, as he knew that he was dealing with men with guns, yes, but they in fact might as well have been frightened children with a water pistol.