by Cour M.
“I can change that horrible day,” Croesus bellowed, “I can save my people and undo the trouble of the Timelord who says that he only comes to help.”
“I do come to help.”
“How did you help us?”
“Croesus,” Eleven said, “we have fought on and off over these years. I did my best to keep my companions from you, but you have caught me in a weakened state. Yes, you’ve got me at last, and it’s Christmas.”
“Oh, I don’t just have you alone, Doctor.” Croesus turned to one of his subordinates, “switch on the monitors.”
“Yes, my lord,” the mechanoid replied, then it switched on a large screen. On it showed many of the citizens of the settlement captured by the mechanoids.
“You failed again, Doctor,” he laughed, “once we discovered their aims, we managed to disable their teleportation device. We have many of them captive.”
“What are you going to do then, I wonder? Hand them over to the cybermen?”
“No, use them as fuel.”
“What?”
Croesus pressed a few buttons and then a hologram of Mondas came up.
“Mondas is now a shared planet, home of the cybermen and the mechanoids. Yet this planet is not enough to sustain us both, and even if it could, it could not because…”
He enlarged the hologram and focused on the middle of the planet; Mondas’s center.
“It’s the planet’s core, Doctor,” Croesus said, “And it’s dying.”
“Dying? How?”
“Because of this!” Croesus had a large gate raised next to them, and Eleven’s face dropped when he saw what was behind it, “behold, Doctor, my own Eye of Harmony.”
“There’s no need to ask me how I got ahold of one,” Croesus stated evenly, “you know that I shall never tell you. Yet what I did not know was that this planet was not strong enough to maintain one for harvesting, and now the planet’s core is dying.”
“So what do you need humans for?” Eleven thought about it and then he turned to stone. “No, you are not going to do that!”
“It’s the best option.”
“What are you going to do?” Martha breathed as Croesus grabbed her neck again.
“The human body, Martha Jones. All the potential in there for many things. All the energy. The potential energy. The kinetic energy. And electric energy. All the things needed to serve as the source for the middle of a planet.”
“You’re going to harvest those humans and make their bodies fuel,” Doctor hissed, “fools, just move to another planet.”
“No, for this is where we chose to remain. And I’ve already begun. What do you think the core of the planet is made of now? Three thousand, Doctor. Three thousand people are in the center of our planet, all connected to each other by their limbs, suspended in physical stasis and having food pumped into them from tubes. But we always need a little more,” he said, eyeing the crew from the settlement on the monitors. “And now I have a Timelord.”
“Yes, you do, and the body of a Timelord is enough to work a miracle. Let the people go and just choose me. Use me for the center of the planet.”
“A beautiful offer, for I would love to watch you suffer, but it’s not enough. One Timelord is still just one and that’s not sufficient.”
“So this is your large plan, then? You landed on Mondas, made a pact with the cybermen to let you have land in exchange for repairing the center of their planet, then you tried to prepare the Eye of Harmony for the TARDISes, but it was not enough. You need a new place, such as Marinus itself. And there you shall finish constructing the TARDISes, most for the cybermen armies and the one for yourself… the one to go back in time and kill me possibly.”
“All those words spoken, and now they are all valuable.”
“Croesus, I’m warning you, that time is tricky. If you go back in time and attempt to kill me, or my companions, then there will be repercussions that you did not foresee. You can’t change history if you are a part of it. And you all were. If you attempt to change it, thinking that you saved Mechanus, then I can assure you that you will have made things worse. You saved your kingdom, enough to have a formidable race still and also made gelem warriors. If you go back and try and undo anything, then you might not even have all of that.”
“Fair lies for a man who makes lying his life.”
“I only lie because the truth is just too complicated. I only lie when the truth destroys rather than saves.”
“That’s what all liars tell themselves. No, Doctor, I’ve got you here now and you’re right. This is the greatest prize of all. You believe in helping, Doctor. Well now you can believe in helping Mondas, and keeping the planet alive. I have a Timelord as fuel, and it is the best sort of Timelord to terrorize.”
Croesus continued to speak on an on, the way the villains always loved to do so, but as he did, Martha noticed that the Doctor placed his TARDIS key into the middle of his fingers. He then began to look about the room and his eye rested on the teleportation device.
He truly was going to leave her behind! Her mind was frantic, her feelings hurt, but at the same time she knew that Riley would be captured at that point, and the people needed to be freed.
In that moment, she thought of Mickey, and how she would never see him again, which was the worst of all: because she had not told him something.
Croesus ordered the Doctor and Martha to be taken, but then the Doctor began to laugh uncontrollably.
“What are you doing?” Croesus demanded.
“I’m laughing, metal head!”
“What are you doing?”
“Did I not just say that I’m laughing?”
“Yes,” Croesus said, “this regeneration is even sillier than the one I encountered before.” Still holding Martha by the throat, he moved closer to the Doctor. “What lunacy is stirring you?”
“I just realized that I had to admit that you were correct.”
“Correct; about what?”
Eleven suddenly turned very serious.
“You actually were right; all along, you knew precisely where my heart was.”
Acting with swiftness, the Doctor once more did not care about his name. He balled his hand into a fist and punched Croesus. Amazed by this, Croesus faltered, releasing Martha. Eleven grabbed her, shoved the key into her hand and pushed her behind him, toward the teleporter funnel.
“Go!” Eleven cried to Martha while raising his screwdriver and disabling the Gelem soldiers’ guns as well as shocking the mechanoids’ lasers. “I’ve got your back, Martha!”
Martha picked up a gun that was on a table, shot a nearby gelem and together, she and the Doctor raced to the teleporter. As they did so, fighting their way through, Eleven knew they were not going to make it unless he sacrificed himself, so he remained still, disabling weapons, while Martha fought her way to the funnel. Once she jumped into it, she realized that the Doctor was not with her, and she turned around to see that he was being restrained.
“Doctor!” She cried.
“Go Martha!”
Unable to leave him, while feeling guilt at thinking he had betrayed her, she made to move out of the funnel and help him, but he pointed his screwdriver at the teleportation panel and Martha was stuck in it as she could only watch as he got restrained. Eleven was able to get his one hand free, and he threw his screwdriver at her. Once it reached through the funnel, she grabbed it.
“Go!” Eleven cried, but he need not have ordered it, because the beam shot her out of Mondas and into space itself.
Martha had shut her eyes until she could feel the ground beneath her feet. Once feeling it, she lifted her lids and found that she was inside the TARDIS. She looked down at the key in her hand and then saw it glowing. Realizing that the key had navigated her into the TARDIS when she entered the teleport, she knew that she was back in Boston, where the TARDIS had been parked.
She was safe, at the moment.
And the Doctor wa
s still on Mondas, captured by the mechanoids, and soon they would have joined forces with the cybermen.
The Doctor had never betrayed her; he simply had learned the gift of bluffing. He had just learned how to lie better than he had before. Feeling terrible for forsaking him, she collapsed on the ground from weakness and felt the emotion swelling within her.
No, the Doctor would not die! He was the Doctor after all.
Back on Mondas, Eleven was brought before Croesus, shackled. Rubbing his chin, Croesus bore down on Eleven.
“So, this is the man you have become,” Croesus spat, “I hardly would think you are the same man as before.”
“I was young back then,” Eleven replied simply, “and my ideals have only turned to ideas. My ideas turn to aims and my aims turn to hopes, hopes turn to dreams, and dreams only turn to disappointments. I only have one thing to fight for, and I fought for it. She is gone. And you can never reach her.”
“She’s your companion, and I remember them well. Without you, they are aimless.”
“You don’t know her,” Eleven smiled, “you knew where my heart lay the entire time. But you don’t know where yours does.”
“I know where my heart is placed.”
“No,” Eleven sighed, “your heart died long ago. I would know, because I once shared the feeling. Leave her alone.”
“She will be hunted and destroyed, and you will be too helpless to stop it. Spend your remaining days serving as the core of a planet, Doctor, with your last thought of how you failed another one.”
Eleven did not resist, and allowed himself to be taken away, to be prepared and jettisoned to the core of the planet itself. Eventually he was rendered unconscious, then after a time, he woke up and found that he was in a web of light. This web of illumination connected him closely to humans who also were caught, and all around him, the Doctor saw a sight that shocked and disturbed him. As far as the eye could see, there were people. Men and women, caught in this web of light, being used for their energy to fuel the planet. He felt tubes under his skin which was used to feed them all—and it was horrible. His pride was affected while he realized that even he could not help them.
Chapter 7
When Dreams May Come
Ten looked at Amy and Rory, stupefied.
“What do you mean that you’ve seen him before?”
“It means I’m from your future, stupid,” The Dream Lord said, “and once again, I heard such great things. The Doctor, the Last of the Timelords, the oncoming storm, and what do I get this time, but a tight suit wearing bloke who gives a lot of angry speeches and wears sandshoes.”
“They are not sandshoes,” Ten replied, “And my speeches are never angry.”
Jack cleared his throat.
“Now’s not the time to be honest, Jack,” Ten exclaimed over his shoulder.
“Ah, the charming and dashing Jack Harkness,” The Dream Lord said, then he vanished and appeared near Jack, wearing similar clothes to his. “The man who always gives the Doctor his best, and all the Doctor gives him in return is his bad attitude. Have you ever told him why, Doctor? Why you don’t know how to act?”
“That’s just the way I am,” the Doctor retaliated, “leave him alone.”
“Oh, so this time it’s him you’re telling me to leave alone.” The Dream Lord turned to Amy, “Amy, I’m sorry, but it’s clear that you are replaced, and funny nose,” This he said to Rory, “you have now been even further replaced.”
“Still a massive jerk, I see,” Rory retorted.
“Oh touchy.”
“You killed me the last time we saw each other.”
“My god, that was so long ago, let it go!”
“Not really, mate. You see that’s the problem with killing a bloke. He becomes less afraid of you as time wears on, and also after he’s been brought back a few times. Yeah. It relieves the sting. So sorry, you’re not that intimidating. Now leave my wife alone, and let us go.”
The Dream Lord looked closely at him.
“My my, you’ve come a long way,” the Dream Lord clapped his hands, “I’m impressed. Or is the credit misplaced and,” here he turned to the Doctor, “are you responsible for this? Well not you now, but your future self. Did you put him through such mileage that you made them so strong… because you put them through so much of the other thing? And what is that other thing? Right; all that Hell.”
The Dream Lord disappeared and then reappeared standing in a tree, leaning against the bark and looking down at them, but this time, he was wearing an outfit very much like the Doctor’s. From the long coat to the brown suit and tie.
“The patterns are all there, aren’t they, Doctor? The look on Rory’s face. That’s how Mickey looked when you last saw him, wasn’t it? You do leave such a mark on the poor men whose girlfriends that you snatch away.”
“I’ve grown,” Ten argued, “I am different.”
“Are you? I’m not entirely convinced. Oh and there’s the delightful ghost from your past. Ace. Good ole Ace. Dependable, reliable, but like so many before and after you, so expendable.”
“Leave her alone as well,” Ten ordered.
“Angry at hearing the truth?” The Dream Lord smirked, “your future self started that way at first, but afterwards he greeted the truth like an old friend. It just took a lot of kicking, screaming and rolling around, but he got there in the end. That’s my skill, I suppose; I always get there in the end.”
The Dream Lord looked down at his outfit.
“I admit that I like this outfit much better than your successor.”
“Hey, the Doctor can wear bowties really well,” Amy retaliated, defensive, “you just couldn’t.”
“Be careful, Amy, because we’re in a fictional world, and I make the rules.”
“No, you don’t. Because we remember how you operate.” Amy turned to Ten, “He’s not real; he’s just you.”
Ten turned to the Ponds while the Dream Lord wrung up his hands.
“Oh, here we go,” the Dream Lord grunted.
“You may elaborate,” Ten invited.
“I forget the dust that it was called,” Rory said, “but we met him when we were in the TARDIS, some sort of space dust got caught in the fans and it put us all in a dream state. We were forced to be put into a place where we were pushed back and forth between two realities, and we had to choose between what was the dream and what was real. If we chose right, then we won. Yet we were tricked, and both worlds were a dream and the Dream Lord just proved to be the Doctor’s subconscious creeping out and becoming corporeal.”
“Yeah,” Amy added, “so we already know this game. Both this world and whatever other one that you create is fake, therefore there is nothing else for you to do. Game over.”
“Good memories, but let’s look clearly for a moment,” The Dream Lord smiled, “and riddle me this. Are we in the TARDIS?”
Amy and Rory bit their lips.
“Right, and therefore what dream dust is there for you to suffer under? None, this all began even before you stepped into that overrated blue box.”
“Did he just call my box overrated?” Ten gasped.
“Yes, I did.”
“Don’t take it personally, he hates everything,” Rory explained.
“You’re not in the TARDIS,” The Dream Lord said, “which means I should have no power over you if I was made of dust. No, so the question is, how am I here? And why am I here?”
“Because you just like to mess with people,” Jack declared, “that seems like a good guess.”
“Is that all there is to me then?” The Dream Lord winked at Jack.
“Easy there, buddy,” Jack rebuked, “even I have standards.”
“We know your style, so there is nothing else for it,” Amy said.
“Do you, then answer me this, Mrs. Williams. What about all the missing soldiers?”
“Precisely,” John Henrickson said, coming forwa
rd, “I’m on to you, sir. And for the past year, you’ve been stealing soldiers.”
“Yes, you did pick up on my behavior, bravo! Now feel the rewards of a man who has seen the truth: the world calls you insane. Have fun with that.”
“Still, what about the rest of us?” James said, “we are here and we want our fellow soldiers back.”
“And you will return them,” Ten added, “we won’t leave here without them.”
“Of course you won’t. I was counting on that. But of course I’m not going to give you the same task as before. That would be redundant, and I hate being that. Hence why I chose a different Doctor than before.”
“You actually invented a whole world, placed us in it, and you have absolutely no idea of why? Just for laughs, my god, either you must be really bored, or you must like me very much.”
“Please, do I look like a pretty medical girl with the last name of Jones?”
Ten’s smile turned to a scowl.
“Ah, there’s the reaction that I was looking for. Found your weak spot, did I? Yes, well, I’m very good at that.”
The Dream Lord turned to Amy.
“He likes you, Amy. He likes you very much.”
“Shut up and stop being so vulgar, please,” Amy groaned.
“Come now, we’ve met before. When have I ever shut up? Now then, here we are, in a magical land with many broken soldiers fighting a worthless war, and one of them is that man.”
The Dream Lord pointed to C.S. Lewis.
“Why are you pointing at me?” C.S. questioned. “I’ve done nothing, and we just want to go home.”
“Is that what you really want, C.S.? Really?”
C.S. Lewis bit his lip and then looked away.