by Cour M.
The officer stuttered, then he was interrupted by another officer who came forward.
“Captain Guller,” the soldier informed him, “reports have been taken, that seven more of these bombs have been placed all throughout the city. And they have all just begun the countdown.”
“Ten minutes all around the city?” Ten clarified.
“Yes.”
“He’s trying to keep every soldier and authoritative office busy diffusing them so that he can get away and don’t have time to retrieve the ark.”
“Yeah,” Satsuki agreed.
“Hey, annoying bloke,” Ten called the captain, “get me an earpiece and have me able to communicate with every bomb squad on the sites.”
“We’re men of action,” the captain replied, removing an earpiece from his pocket and handing it to the Doctor, “let’s not reduce ourselves to name-calling, shall we?”
“Sensitive much? You’re the one who is carrying the gun, mate.”
“Oh god, you’re one of those,” the captain sneered, “all naïve peacekeepers should be shipped to the furthest Magna City if you ask me.”
“Now who’s name-calling?”
Satsuki and the Doctor began to dissemble the bomb together.
“You’ve done this before,” Ten observed.
“Oh, yeah,” Satsuki smirked. “This bomb is Sontaran technology.”
“What?”
“Look at it!”
Ten looked.
“Oh, no,” Ten sighed, “no, no, no, no, no!”
“What is it?” The captain demanded. “What’s wrong?”
“Sontarans make every precaution to have their bombs impossible to diffuse fully,” Ten reported. “And if it can, it is only dissembled by voice command. We need Weldon Jinn’s personal voice to fully stop the bomb.”
“But we can delay it,” Satsuki pointed out.
“Oh yes!”
“What does that mean?” the captain asked.
“The Sontarans always plan to deploy every bomb they activate, yes,” Ten clarified, “but they understood that sometimes they would have to change the time that the bomb would go off.”
“So,” Satsuki concluded, “the bomb can be hacked into and you can add another few minutes.”
“Can you do it?” The Captain asked.
Ten looked at him, with stone-like confidence.
“I’m the Doctor.”
Ten placed the earpiece into his ear and began to speak.
“Hello, is anyone there, over?”
Seven different voices from captains from the other areas of Draconis that contained the bombs flooded in.
“Ba, ba, ba!” Ten halted them, “you’re all talking like a cascade, and all that you have to do is listen. I am the Doctor, and my companion and I are dissembling the chief bomb to give us more time. It’s important that you do exactly what we tell you, because if you don’t, then you trigger the timer and it will blow up on you, taking a section of Draconis with it!”
All the soldiers agreed, and together, he and Satsuki began to dissemble the bomb further, giving instructions to the other soldiers along the way.
Chapter 15
The Leader and the Doctor
“No, I am not staying in here!” Martha roared to Eight.
Eight had landed the TARDIS right near where Weldon had landed and began to run through the Gang Wars.
“Martha, don’t argue with me! It dangerous out there.”
“Right, and all you’ve got is a sonic screwdriver.”
“And confidence! You forgot my confidence. And confidence is key! Martha stay here. And if I fall pursuing him, then get back to Hall-H and get Ten to chase him.”
Martha groaned, but agreed as Eight emerged and began to run after Weldon Jinn.
She watched him from the monitor as Eight ran along the grounds, avoiding gunfire that was being shot from the victims who were chosen for the Gang Wars, and as Weldon could easily weave his way through the onslaught.
Martha paced back and forth, annoyed, so she went into Satsuki’s room, and felt that she would be forgiven if she took some more guns, in case she couldn’t take it any longer and decided to disobey the Doctor. As she reached the command room, with a rifle slung over her shoulder and loading her pistol with bullets again, she heard a phone ring.
Martha rushed to the consul unit, found the drawer that the phone was in, and she realized something.
“This is like the phone that I gave Ten.”
She opened it up and spoke.
“Hello?”
“Um, Doctor?”
“No, it’s Martha.”
“Oh, Martha! It’s Satsuki. You found your phone.”
“I knew it was mine. How is it going with the bombs?”
“We’ve managed to hack into the wiring and add five more minutes to the bomb. Yet, this is Sontaran technology.”
“Is that good news?”
“Good news and bad. We can keep on diffusing it to keep giving it five minutes, yeah, but only four more times. The Sontarans put a limit on it. Also, the bombs can only be diffused fully by voice activation. We need Weldon Jinn to deactivate it.”
“Even if we capture him, which will be impossible.”
“I know.”
“Unless…”
“What is it?”
“Satsuki, I have an idea. But to deactivate the bomb, does Weldon Jinn need to say anything in particular? A code, or a phrase.”
“That’s the brilliant thing about Sontarans,” Satsuki elaborated, “they think simply and laterally. All that we need is the voice of the person to say ‘deactivate’.” There was a pause as Satsuki realized Martha’s plan. “Oh!”
“Yeah. Now I have every reason not to listen to the Doctor.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Doctor ordered me to stay in the TARDIS.”
“Where is he?”
“Chasing Weldon Jinn through a five-block gun war. I just need a quick way to pursue them, and I can’t fly the TARDIS.”
There was a brief pause.
“Martha, can you ride a motorbike?”
“I live in Hammersmith, so of course I can. Why do you ask?”
⌛
“Satsuki!” Martha cried as she rode the Doctor’s motorbike through the TARDIS, “You’re a star.”
“I know,” Satsuki replied, “good luck.”
“Call me in five minutes to give me an update,” Martha requested, “and if I’m dead by then, sorry about that.”
Martha hung up the phone, pocketed it, rode the motorbike through the corridors, made it to the command room, and the TARDIS doors opened for her automatically.
“Oh, thank you,” she said to the TARDIS. Martha rode the motorbike through the TARDIS doors and they closed behind her. Through the streets, Martha pursued the Doctor. As she rode, she had to duck her head, for gunfire was going off all around her as the Imitation Game was going on. She rode past two men who were shot down from snipers above them. She almost got shot by the sniper, so she turned the motorbike into a dilapidated building, and rode through it. Yet there was a rush of gunmen shooting each other in the adjoining rooms, but through a collapsing wall, Martha glimpsed Eight chasing Weldon Jinn. She rode through the building, praying that she wouldn’t get shot in the process. Yet as she rode on, she glimpsed many people shooting and getting shot all at once.
‘So, this is what London will turn into,’ she thought, ‘it probably all began when the wrong football team won a game.’
Yet as all the carnage occurred around her, Martha had to do her best to blot the horror out of her mind and focus on the Doctor. As she made it through the dilapidated building, she emerged to find a large crowd of people on bleachers, watching the scene. In seeing her, the people cheered. There were many rows of them!
People really did come from all over the universe just to watch these massacres, and it made Martha sick.
Right next to it, there was a crowd of people who were pic
keting the games, with signs and shouting at protests, but the Doctor and Leader Weldon were nowhere in sight. She scanned the area, but then she heard more gunfire behind her, so she rode forward and suddenly, in the crowd of picketers, Martha recognized a face, and she recalled that it was the young woman who was picketing at the Hall of Justice.
Martha rode up to her and stopped the bike.
“Hey, you?” Martha asked.
“It’s Daphne. And nice wheels. Wait, aren’t you the woman who was supposed to be executed?”
“Yeah, it didn’t work out. Have you seen two men running past here, and neither were carrying guns?”
“Yeah, the two pretty ones?”
Martha blinked.
“If that’s how you look at it.”
“Yeah, I think those were the two that ran towards the interstate.”
“Which way?”
“Look above and behind us all, and you will see the traffic.”
Martha looked above Daphne’s head and saw in the distance a busy street—where there were cars and motorbikes flying midair.
“Oh, I am so outclassed,” Martha observed.
“What’s happening?” Daphne asked, “what’s going on?”
“Can’t talk now, mate, I’ve got some men to chase.”
“I know the feeling.”
Martha chuckled.
“Good luck with the protest. Keep at it!”
Martha turned the bike back on and rode toward the traffic.
⌛
Martha reached the interstate and she was in awe. There were cars along the ground, hovering a few inches over it, and cars, hovercrafts, and other vehicles flying everywhere, around the buildings and in different directions. Martha looked around and around, seeking the Doctor.
Then she suddenly had the impulse to look up.
“Oh, stellar!” Martha groaned, “they just couldn’t resist it.”
There above, she saw the Doctor and Weldon Jinn jumping along the roofs of flying vehicles, with Weldon running, and the Doctor in pursuit.
Martha looked at the traffic on the ground, breathed in and began to ride in between the cars, following the Doctor and Leader Jinn from along the ground.
⌛
As she drew nearer, her phone went off in her pocket and she risked answering it.
“Satsuki?” Martha began, “how is it going?”
“We’ve just used ten more minutes now,” Satsuki reported, “And we can reset it twice more, giving us only twenty minutes left. And that’s it. We’ve got to get Jinn’s deactivation order.”
“Right, working on it. Sorry, I didn’t know that this area of Draconis had flying cars.”
“Oh, wait, you reached the Gang Wars of London Imitation?”
“Yes, we did. And now I’m at the interstate, following the Doctor and Weldon down below.”
“Where are they?”
“Car hopping.”
There was a moment of silence.
“Martha, are you afraid of heights?”
“Yes, why?”
“Look to the left of the mirror, and you’ll see a blue button.”
Martha looked and saw a blue button.
“Found it. What is it?”
“The anti-grav. It means you can ride along buildings.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. Ride it like you’re on the ground.”
Martha breathed out and in.
“Call you back in nine minutes,” Martha responded. She hung up the phone, bit her lip, then pressed the button. Martha rode up to a building, and hoped for the best.
“Whoa!” She cried.
Once she reached it, she was riding along the side of the building. Getting to the same eye level of the Doctor and Weldon, she saw that the Doctor was gaining on Weldon. Once he reached him, Weldon punched Eight, who fell backwards and almost fell off a hover-craft that they were now riding. The hover-craft was large, and was like a flying tank. When the Doctor was punched backwards, he rolled along the edge and grabbed onto the side of it in time. As he was leaning over the edge, Weldon rushed up to him and tried to kick him off the craft.
“Weldon!” Martha cried. This distracted Weldon, who turned to hearing Martha call after him, “Fight him fairly!”
Weldon sneered at her, then turned his attention back to the Doctor, only to find that Eight had disappeared. The Doctor crawled along the bottom of the craft, climbed back over the edge, and grabbed Weldon, pushing him backwards. They both rolled around, fighting each other. From the little that Martha had seen of Ten, he wasn’t keen on fighting, but she could only assume that that could vary per incarnation. Eight had some skill at combat and he managed to hold his own against Weldon.
“You’re getting weaker, Weldon,” Eight hissed, “your telekinesis is almost fully out of focus.”
“I’m still the stronger one.”
“Let’s put that to the test, shall we,” Eight continued, flipping Weldon over. Weldon rose, punched Eight twice, then Eight punched Weldon. They rolled over once more, then Weldon kicked Eight off the craft. Eight fell backwards and luckily landed on a car that was flying below him.
“Doctor!” Martha cried. Eight rolled over, clutching at his arm, where the sleeve was completely torn off his coat, and he jumped from car to car, trying to get closer to Martha as she rode along. When he reached the car that was the closest to the building, Martha reached out her arm and Eight jumped, reaching out to her.
⌛
Their arms linked.
“Stellar!” Eight replied, “Martha, don’t let go.”
“Not planning on it, mate,” Martha reassured him, a little in pain from holding his weight, “But Doctor, I’m not sure that I can pull you up.”
“Don’t worry, I got it.”
He swung himself around, got ahold of the handle, and pulled himself up. He got behind Martha on the seat, and then saw Weldon getting away.
“Martha, swing around me and get behind.”
Martha obeyed and she swung around him successfully.
“I can’t believe you have a flying motorbike,” she laughed.
“Always had one. What? Did my future self never show it to you?”
“No.”
“Blimey. Well, I hope I use it again at some point in the future.[12] So, do you trust me?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because, I just wish to let you know, in advance, that I am sorry.”
“For what?”
“For this.”
“Oh no,” Martha realized.
“Oh yes, indeed!”
When they reached the edge of the building, Eight jumped off it, and began to hop along large hover-crafts, on the motorcycle.
“So, this is you when you were Eight,” Martha acknowledged.
“More or less. Disappointed?”
“Get us killed, and then I’ll say so!”
They continued to jump along the hover-cycles, getting closer to Weldon. Eventually, they reached Weldon, landing on the hover-craft that he had been riding. Eight rode the motor-cycle right at Weldon, who remained on the other side of the craft, just standing there.
“What are you doing?” Martha cried.
“Getting him!”
“We can’t kill him. Doctor, we need him.”
“Of course, I’m not going to kill him! I’m just getting closer.”
Eight continued to ride toward Weldon, who did not move.
“Come on, Professor!” Weldon bellowed, “do what you do best! And come then!”
Eight roared out, and then he swiveled around Weldon and parked behind him as Weldon jumped out of the way, and began to fight the Doctor. Amid the fray, Martha got pushed out of the way, almost fell off the craft, but she was able to anchor herself as she hung on.
Once she gathered a strong hold and could secure herself, she removed her gun and shot at Weldon, going for nonfatal targets. She grazed his ankle and arm and then he could not ignore her anymore. Weldon punched Eight and
hurled him backwards, then began walking toward Martha as she kept her gun outstretched.
“You won’t kill me, Doctor Jones,” Weldon taunted, “you are the Doctor’s companion. You cannot kill me.”
“Think again, mate.”
“You are a Doctor yourself.”
“But I’m not in the mood to let that get in the way.”
Once he reached within seven meters of her, Martha felt her courage rise as she hoped that he had finally gotten close enough.
“Weldon, you know what I’m about to ask.”
“Do I?”
“I think you do!”
She needed him to say the words.
“So, tell me,” Martha urged, hoping to play into his vanity. “For you like to believe that you know what’s in my mind.”
“You actually expect me to deactivate the bombs.”
Martha sighed inwardly.
First step had been accomplished.
Now came the next complication; she needed to survive this.
“You still haven’t shot me yet,” Weldon jabbed.
“Because she doesn’t have to,” Eight responded, rising again. “Because she is not you.”
“She only wishes that she had the courage. Just as you do.”
“It’s not courage to kill without feeling,” Eight said, “and always you will never be victorious, Weldon, because you will never see anything clearly. How can a man with eyes so old be so blind? Yet you are. All you do is look, observe, and then see so little. Weldon, it’s over, and let this end.”
“Never!” Weldon bellowed, and then he jumped to another car. Eight rushed after him, but Martha grabbed his hand.
“Doctor, the motorcycle!”
“Right.”
They climbed on and both continued to chase Weldon. Eventually he reached the public trans-mat center and rushed in. Martha and the Doctor parked the motorcycle.
“You know not to tell me to stay here right,” Martha commented.
“Yes, I figured that one out.”
With her gun raised, Martha and the Doctor entered the center, where they heard screaming. Tourists rushed around them, roaring as they went. Dreading what they would see, they rushed in and the Doctor grabbed a man’s hand.