Doctor Who: The Time Splicer: The Imitation Games

by Cour M.

  “Yes, that can happen sometimes. Timelines can get smeared.”

  “So, then that moment is now? You met me when I was travelling with Ten.”

  “Oh, no, not Ten. He doesn’t match the description of the Doctor you told me that you were with.”

  “What? I travel with another Doctor?”

  “If you told me the truth, then yeah.”

  Martha blinked.

  “I am confused.”

  “Believe me, that’s the phrase of the century.”[10]

  ⌛

  “Oh, and there’s another thing,” Martha continued, “I actually came looking for you, because I have a problem.”

  “Oh, what would that problem be?”

  “I can’t find my bedroom. I mean, not my room per se, but the bedroom that I used when I was with him. It was in that TARDIS, but when I went to the same place that it was before, it wasn’t there. So, does that mean that…”

  “Yeah, the TARDIS creates rooms.”

  “So, when my other Doctor does collect the Eye of Harmony extract for his consul unit, he really can rebuild the TARDIS?”

  “Yes, he can. Given the right block-transfer equations and Logopolis system schematics.”

  “Wicked. So, can I be presumptuous and request you to make another room for me?”

  “You don’t have to. Your bedroom from when you travelled with me is still there.”

  “It is?”

  “Yeah. In my timeline, you’ve only been gone for a few months.”

  “Oh, cool.”

  “My lady,” Eight offered her his hand, “allow me to show you your room.”

  “With pleasure.”

  They stood up. As they did, Martha’s foot slipped and she slid down the front of the TARDIS. As she did so, she did not fall off into space. This amazed her, but all that occurred was that her foot remained on the TARDIS and she was walking along the side of it.

  “I’m not falling?” Martha asked as she looked down into darkness.

  “One of my successful experiments,” Eight explained, “I programmed the TARDIS to have the exact dimensional laws of gravity without as it does within. As long as your foot is on the TARDIS, you cannot fall off it.”

  “Really, so I can just walk down this wall?”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “Sorry, I trust you, but just in case,” as a precaution, she took Eight’s hand, and then she walked down the side of it, with Eight behind her. “Oh my god, this is bloody brilliant!”

  “One of my few successful experiments. Because so far, the improvements that I have been making to my sonic screwdriver have failed.”

  “Oh, keep trying with that one. It’ll work eventually.”

  “Of course. I’ve got all the time in the world. Until I run out of lives, that is.”

  Martha turned around as they walked along the other side, and Eight had an idea. He turned to Martha and offered her his hand.

  “Well, would you care to dance?”

  “You don’t have to ask me twice,” Martha responded, taking his hand, and together they began to dance along the TARDIS exterior. From around the walls to the base of the TARDIS, back to the roof, they did a slight waltz, and Martha looked at Eight in wonder.

  “You are charming,” she observed.

  “I am? Good, charming is good. Funny is better, but I was never very good at cracking jokes.”

  “Me neither. If I say something funny, I consider it a lucky day.”

  “Life is always harder when you don’t have the fortune to be funny.”

  “Yeah, it is.”

  They continued to dance around the TARDIS, until Martha rested her head against Eight’s shoulder. As she did, she saw the swish of a brown coat in the doorway below. She knew she had not seen incorrectly; Ten had glimpsed them from the doors of the TARDIS.

  ⌛

  He must not have remained there for long because soon his coat disappeared. She knew that he perhaps was coming to apologize, but since they were stranded for a time, she knew that he had all the time in the world to do so.

  So, she allowed them to dance a little more before they went back into the TARDIS and Eight escorted her to her room. Next to her bedroom, there was another bedroom that looked quaint.

  “Oh, that room belongs to another companion of mine,” Eight explained, “you’ll meet her when we get back to Mecrellas. Her name is Satsuki.”

  “Satsuki? I remember that name. General Vander mentioned it when he was going to execute me in her place.”

  “To avoid any detection, she goes by the name of Katsuna in public. And her main trade is a Geiko.”

  “A Geiko? Wait, isn’t that a Geisha?”

  “Yeah. On Mecrellas, they copied Japanese culture too. You’ll love her.”

  “I’m sure that she’s lovely.”

  “Ah! She’s perfection!”

  When they entered her room, it was all in darkness, so Eight had to reach for the light. When he managed to find it, the light filled the room and Martha was quite surprised.

  Along the walls were pictures of her family and some children that she didn’t recognize.

  “I put up pictures of Tish and Leo!” Martha remarked, looking on the walls. “Did I make you meet any of them?”

  “Yes, Tish travelled with us for a bit.”

  “She didn’t!”

  “Yes, she did. On four adventures of ours. The only reason she stopped after that was because she almost got killed by a cyberman the last time, and they scared her terribly.”

  “Did I look after her?”

  “Yes, you did. Don’t worry. And Leo had to help us once when there was a Macra invasion. Of course he had a family, so he didn’t make it a constant thing.”

  “So, the Doctor and the Joneses?”

  “The Doctor and the Joneses,” Eight repeated.

  Martha plopped on the bed, it was comfortable, and she noticed a closet. She went up to it and saw that there were some clothes in it, but then she looked back at the wall.

  “Who are those children, though?”

  Eight did not respond, at first. Martha noticed.

  “Doctor?”

  “They are yours,” he reported, “those are your children.”

  Martha blinked.

  “What?”

  “You eventually have a family.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes, you do.”

  Martha did not know what to say at first.

  “I… sorry, I wish I could say something smart now, or that I’m at least happy. I mean—you drop out of the sky, save me over and over, know more about me than I do, and then you tell me that I will have children. I want to show some sort of affection to the idea of having kids, but I don’t know what to feel.”

  “It’s fine,” Eight assured her, “don’t worry, the mom gene kicks in when you have them.”

  “That’s good to know. So, I have children? Well, they are quite beautiful, aren’t they? I bet you loved them.”

  “I did.”

  “But in these pictures, there’s just me with them. Did I ever get married to the man who—”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “Ah.”

  Martha paused for a moment, and then gathered her courage.

  “So, I can only imagine that it didn’t work out.”

  “Oh, it did. I just removed all pictures of him from the wall.”

  “You did what?”

  “I removed all evidence of him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I knew that this day would come. I knew that there was at least one more time that I would see you again. Letting you know that you might have children one day is not harmful, because it always has the possibility of happening, but showing you who you’ll marry, well… that’s the worst thing to do. You don’t influence a person in that way, ever. If I did that, then I might as well put you through an arranged marriage.”

  “So, you know the man I marry, and I don’t,” Martha screwed up her fa
ce, “how creepy.”

  She looked around the other part of the room and found a stethoscope on the desk.

  “Well now,” Martha picked it up, “now this is fully me. Do you know, when I first met your older self, I took his pulse?”

  “Did you?”

  “Yeah, and that’s when I discovered that you had two hearts. Now that I think about it, I don’t know why I didn’t freak out when that happened. So, you have two hearts too?”

  Eight opened his cloak. Martha placed the stethoscope in her ears and then took his heartbeat.

  “Two hearts. One Timelord.”

  “Yes, now it’s fully confirmed.”

  Eight said goodnight to her and left her alone.

  Martha sat down at the desk in her old and new ‘room’, and looked at the wall.

  Tish would one day come along with them.

  Leo once would help.

  And she would get married and have children.

  A husband without a face.

  And Martha realized that she would have preferred it to be no other way.

  She put on some pajamas and fell asleep.

  Where the Master was waiting for her.

  Chapter 12

  Desperate Hours

  When Martha woke up the next day, she felt her head throbbing, but she knew the headache would subside. After another nightmare of the Master, she had grown accustomed to waking up with pain. So, she took a shower, put on some clothes, found her drawer of makeup, did a little more knitting, and then prepared herself for the day. As she took one last look at herself, she realized that she still had not confronted the fact that the Doctor, her Doctor, still looked a bit older than usual. From his slightly worn down features, to a few more wrinkles on his forehead. In the matter of a couple of days, he looked like he did age fifteen years at this point, appearing in his early forties. Yet it didn’t seem to be a big thing to worry about, therefore there was no point in getting upset about it.

  Thus, she was prepared, and she made her way to the control room. Once entering it, she saw Ten there, by himself. She breathed in a sigh of relief, for she didn’t want Eight to see this discussion; it would have been too awkward.

  When he saw her, Ten jumped up, letting his energy speak for itself.

  “Now then, I bet you slept well. I’m sure that you did. I know it feels like we’re stranded, but truth is, I’ve been checking on the Eyes daily and I feel that they are stabilizing just nicely. We should be out of here in—”

  He trailed off when she entered and just stood there. Letting his hand rest on the consul unit, he prepared for a set down.

  “How are you?” He asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I really am.”

  Martha smiled warmly, and Ten’s chest rose up and down as he breathed in heavily, out of relief.

  “I’m happy about that,” He added. “Really, I am.”

  “Thanks. And in all the excitement, I never got to ask. How did it feel for you? To see Gallifrey again.”

  “Oh,” Ten smirked, looking away and turning back to the consul unit, checking the monitor. “It was great of course! Nothing like home! Great in every way.”

  “And methinks the lady doth protest too much again,” Martha jabbed, knowing when the Doctor was putting on a brave face. “Doctor, it’s perfectly normal for something to not live up to your expectations. Especially going back home.”

  Ten turned away again, but Martha pursued him.

  “What use is there in still hiding things? What is the point of secrets now?”

  “Secrets keep us safe!”

  “But we’re not safe!”[11] Martha rubbed her chin, out of annoyance, and then she tried again, “what do you have to lose? You’ve already lost Gallifrey. So, what could be harder than that?”

  “That… I’m embarrassed.”

  This confession took Martha by surprise.

  “Why?” She asked, confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t get it.”

  “Martha, I told you about Gallifrey, and I made it seem beautiful. And it is… was. It was. But you heard my Eighth self; he had no joy in returning to Gallifrey, and you just saw why. If ever I took a companion there, I would have wanted them to have been amazed by the sight of it, but of course that’s not how it ended. Because that’s never how it ends. It was just my nostalgia that led me to believe that it would work out. Martha, the truth is… every time that I encountered my people in the past, it wasn’t always pleasant. They put me on trial twice, the head computer that oversaw Gallifrey, the Matrix, was tampered with to ruin me, they coerced me to try and alter the fate of the Daleks, the Timelords once changed my face, forced a regeneration, and then broke my TARDIS, stranding me on Earth. Another time, I was caught up in an assassination accusation. I couldn’t stand how they were always interfering and… Martha, I suppose I just—my people didn’t always like me. In fact, my people sometimes couldn’t stand me. And I wanted to go home, but I never wanted any one of my companions to see that. I didn’t expect it now. You saw my people try and capture me to wrap me up in the Time War, and then seize my TARDIS. And you saw how they viewed me. And after so long of Gallifrey being destroyed, to know that I was going back, well, I had high hopes. I wished for everything to stand still when we saw it, and for it to be perfect. But of course, time stands still for no one. So, I feel like a great fool, because the image let me down. No one’s first view of Gallifrey should be like that.”

  Martha walked up to the Doctor and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him. He responded by placing his arm over her shoulders as they stood there, looking at the consul unit.

  “When I was in my senior year of High School, and my first two years of college,” Martha confessed, “everyone in my classes hated my guts.”

  Ten laughed at that.

  “It might have been my fault sometimes,” Martha admitted, “I had a bit of a temper once. Yeah, mate, no one liked me. But Earth is still home. Besides, you’ve seen my people at our worst. And I’ve already met the Master, so… there really was no chance that I could have been disappointed. And I still was happy to see it.”

  “You were?”

  “The skies burned orange, just as you said. Stellar!”

  Ten squinted.

  “Why do you say that now?”

  “Huh?”

  “Well, you never said it before, but then suddenly, we get pushed through time in a strange way, and then you begin to say it, just before we met my Eighth self. And that’s what he loves to say. Therefore, I wonder what it is that is going on.”

  “I don’t know, but I feel like there’s something, just on the tip of my mind that I can’t remember. But did you just say that we got pushed through time in a strange way?”

  “Yeah, it must be. I’m assuming that you’ve seen my face.”

  “Oh, I was wondering if you noticed it.”

  “Of course, I noticed it. You really thought me aging fifteen years was going to go unnoticed. No, when this sort of aging process occurs, it means that there can be something terribly off with the timeframe. There’s something missing, Martha. Something staring me in the face, and I can’t see it. Yet, I suppose that it will present itself over time and smack me on the cheek. Either way, we have a connection to the Eye of Harmony now, therefore, I promise you.”

  “What?”

  “I will get us out of this.”

  “I know that you will.”

  They smiled at each other, when they were interrupted by Eight entering.

  ⌛

  When seeing them coming to an understanding, Eight smirked and then proceeded to turn around.

  “Ah, do you both need to be alone in the consul room?” He asked playfully, “I could go and do a lap around the indoor track field.”

  “No, come in here, you!” Martha laughed.

  “Oh, you cheeky git!” Ten jabbed.

  “Just checking,” Eight inferred, sauntering into the room. “I was just c
hecking on the two dying stars.”

  “I was checking on them a few hours ago, as well,” Ten said. “They were stable then.”

  “And they are stable now. Give us another day in the TARDIS, and I will allow us to enter the universe again.”

  “Great.”

  Martha moved away from Ten and stood next to Eight as he checked on the stabilizers.

  “So, a full day? What do you say to a marathon watching of ‘Columbo’, ‘No Job for a Lady’, and ‘Count Arthur Strong’?”

  “Fine by me,” Eight replied, then he started as he glanced keenly at Martha.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing much, just…” Eight looked closely into her eyes, “Martha, how did you sleep?”

  “Fine,” she replied, automatic.

  “Really?”

  “What is it?”

  “You told me, that there would have been something wrong with you.”

  “Oh, in my future,” Martha observed, closing her eyes from the realization, “I told you that you had to look after me?”

  “Yeah, you did. And you told me that you would pretend like everything was all right.”

  “Do I ever stop doing the annoying Doctor thing?”

  “Do I ever stop doing the annoying Doctor thing?” He echoed.

  “Fine,” Martha gave in, “I’ll tell you about it later.” She looked up at Ten. “I convinced your younger self to watch some BBC with me. You know you want to say yes?”

  “Ah, but, but, but,” Ten raised his finger to chastise them, “business before pleasure you both. Perhaps we can watch television later, but I just need some time to think first. We’ve been away for some time, so there are things to consider. Yes, when we go back, we will have amnesty, but we must find out what happened to the Howards, how to subdue these Imitation Games again, which I’m sure have turned bloodthirsty since we left, and how will Mecrellas negotiate with Ptorian and give them back their ark.”

  “You both mentioned that before,” Eight pointed out, “the sagriens. What did they have to do with all this? You stumbled on them in space, am I correct?”

  “Oh, we found them on an ark,” Martha reported, “a satellite drifting in space. They were using a Saturn Starfish to use as a life-force, we released it, and the ark is now in the hands of the Mecrellans.”