Entry Eighteen - Earth

After a very eventful trip to a space station with time windows and Madame de Pompadour the Doctor figured there was a need to show me how to get the TARDIS home. The programme had always been there, of course, and he’d activated it one time but it wasn’t something that I knew how to do myself. He showed me which buttons to press and which lever to crank. I listened and I demonstrated when he asked me to do it for him but my heart wasn’t really in it. I sort of always figured that if he couldn’t be driving the TARDIS than I wouldn’t really be either.

At this precise moment, I was very glad that I’d paid attention. Up popped his holographic image of himself speaking to me and whir when the time rotor but I was already back towards the door where Ariella had stayed with the Doctor. He was breathing normal and his one heartbeat was steady, but that didn’t stop me from worrying about the lack of the second. I wondered if Time Lords could survive with one heart, and… uh, I hate to write this down because I think that probably he will read it and not be very happy, but I didn’t want him to have to regenerate. I mean, I know that he’s the same but… it’s not.

But anyway, the TARDIS seemed to understand the urgency of the matter and so we went hurtling through the Time Vortex faster than I had in a long while. It was an exceedingly bumpy ride, which I couldn’t tell if it was good or not, I had two thoughts, keep the Doctor safe, and land somewhere quickly, the two were hardly mutually exclusive. And then suddenly the whole TARDIS sort of tipped and it felt very much like we’d just crashed into something. Everything in the console room shifted, the three of us were thrown, and then it was still.

Ariella picked herself up, and looked at me with wide eyes, “Where are we?” she asked, and I bit my lip.

“Home.”

Ariella visibly blanched and I had to stifle a laugh that was hardly appropriate. “Home?” she asked, “As in, Earth, as in…” her voice got very low, “Jackie Tyler?”

“Don’t believe a word he’s said,” I told her and then looped an arm around the Doctor and indicated to Ariella to do the same on the other side. We opened the door and went out.

And there, quite to my surprise, was Mickey running down the road to meet me. I blinked, “Mickey?!” I said and he grinned.

“Yeah it’s me, what’s happened? I didn’t expect you back so soon and then I heard the TARDIS. What’s happened to him?” he looked a bit wide eyed, and then helped.

“Mickey,” I was a bit dumbfounded. It wasn’t so long ago that I’d seen him. Of course I’d seen him last when we left him behind on a parallel universe never expecting to see him again. If I hadn’t been supporting the Doctor I would’ve hugged him. “When is it?”

“February 3^rd.”

Oh. So… well, he didn’t seem to not recognise the Doctor so it was clearly after that Christmas, just after it would seem. That was a bit weird. We’d never done that before. All trips home were done linearly, time-wise. The Doctor said it was easily on mum that way, which made sense to me, but this was different, the Doctor wasn’t piloting the TARDIS and now we’d, well… I supposed that it didn’t matter all that much really. And it was quite a help that Mickey was there to help with the Doctor, actually. I wondered if the TARDIS had done that on purpose.

Between the three of us it wasn’t too hard to get the Doctor upstairs. Mum was just sitting there reading a magazine on the couch watching telly and apparently hadn’t heard all the ruckus of us coming up the stairs. She jumped up, ran over, and helped us get him to the couch. I explained what had happened, leaving out the bits where I was about to be a slave and had, well, willingly sacrificed myself. She got all mother hen in the way that she does. She got a cold flannel and pressed it to his forehead and everything before switching on the kettle for the rest of us.

“I don’t reckon he can drink any tea in that condition,” she said, coming back into the room and adjusting her hoodie, “but do you think it’d help?” Then, “This isn’t gonna become a habit with this one, is it?”

I was collecting the mugs for the tea and paused for a moment, yeah, well if this was February then it meant that the last time they’d seen us the Doctor’d been all laid up too. I peered around into the hall and noticed the nearly repaired doorway into mum’s room. “Mum,” I said, “we’ve been here, in between Christmas and now, that was ages ago.”

Mum looked confused for a moment, and then just said, “Oh.” And I felt badly because I could tell she was thinking about all the things in my life that she’d never know and probably never understand. But then she turned her attention to Ariella whose eyes got very wide at mum’s attentions. Previously she’d only asked briefly who she was and I’d practically barked “Ariella!”, but now she was giving the Nyklus Queen a proper once over. “So, who’s this then, properly?” she said, forcing on a cheery smile and changing the subject completely. I returned to the room.

“Mum, Mickey, this is Ariella Lavizsia, she’s Queen of a planet called Jacowitz, Ariella, mum – Jackie, and Mickey,” I said with a gesture of my hand.

Ariella smiled, quite demurely and politely but looked a bit like she wanted, more than anything to flee to the TARDIS for safety. “It’s lovely to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about-”

Mum’s eyes sort of bugged out, “Queen?! You’re telling me we’ve got royalty in our home? No warning, just popping in, nothing in the cupboards and the place not even tidied!”

I nearly laughed, but didn’t. “Mum, it’s not like we had time to phone ahead or anything.”

“Well I know, sweetheart, but-”

“Really,” Ariella broke in with her calming voice, and even though she spoke softly we all turned towards her, “I don’t need anything special, I-”

“But, your majesty,” I almost cringed as mum spoke, “I can send Rose out, or Mickey, I’ll send Mickey I wouldn’t want to leave you all alone without someone you know, and he’s…” she guestured towards the Doctor, “well, he’s well knackered it’d seem, we can get some cakes or something. And the good tea in the boxes, you know the ones Mickey, slides open? And you’ll have to get something I can cook, we’ve just got leftover Chinese in and I couldn’t possibly serve takeaway to royalty, and-”

“Blimey, Jackie, don’t you ever shut up?”

All four of our heads spun around back towards the Doctor who was still lying on the couch, but now his eyes were open and he was his spectacles which were hanging a bit funny.

“Doctor!” Ariella cried and nearly flung herself on the side of the couch in a very good impersonation of Florence Nightingale.

“Hello,” he said smiling at her, and I went round to the end of the couch, he made a show out of looking round, “Well I see you paid attention to the Emergency Protocol One tutorial,” he said to me in a voice far too cheery for the fact that he’d just been unconscious for the greater part of an hour. Then again, he was the Doctor, and he tended to do that.

I grinned back, “I did,” I said, “how are you? Your heart wasn’t working, is it better now?” I almost reached forward and rested my hand on his chest to see but didn’t.

“Oh, fine, you know, just a bit sore.” And then he went on talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Remarking on mum’s hairstyle, the presence of Mickey (he shot me a glance at that but seemed satisfied that I’d not told him anything about his future), apologising to Ariella for having to meet my mum (Mum and I ‘Oi!’ed at the same time). And his heart was back to normal. I could have cried from relief. But I didn’t.

Then mum came back with the tea and passed it round to everyone. Ariella seemed to have gotten a bit more comfortable and mum had stopped falling all over her (maybe it was the way the Doctor and I were treating her like we always treated her, like a normal person) and the Doctor was happily sipping his tea while we all listened to Ariella recount the last Sontaran invasion. For about ten minutes it looked like all the drama was over for the day.

“Rose,” the Doctor said and I looked at him all smiles until I caught the expression on his face. “Rose, what did you give me, when I was out, you gave me some sort of medicine or something, what was it?”

Nothing so far as I knew. I racked my brain, Ariella gave me a concerned look, again. I shook my head, “No, nothing.”

“Oh, yeah, well that was me,” Mum said seemingly just catching wise to the conversation. All three of us whipped our heads round to her. “Well it was just a bit of children’s stuff, he said he was sore and Suze left a bit of stuff over when she was here last with little Terese.” We all continued to stare. “All right I’ll go and get it!” she said and then got up to the kitchen. By the time she got back the Doctor was practically purple and had already activated his respiratory bypass. “My god! What’s happened to him!?” she cried holding up the bottle, “it’s just Acetylsalicylic Acid!”

Mickey was on his feet crossing his arms and looking very confused, he made a face and half shrugged, “That’s just aspirin.”

The Doctor’s eyes got very wide and Ariella and I gaped at mum and Mickey. “Aspirin?!” we said at the same time. Then I finished, “Mum, he’s allergic to aspirin!”

Her hands flew to her mouth and I could tell how apologetic she was, I shouldn’t have been cross cause she was just trying to help but I could hardly help it. This whole thing was really bending my nerves and my stomach sort of churned with worry, actually I was starting to feel nauseous. But the Doctor sort of launched himself off the couch and grabbed the bottle from mum at a full pounce and examined the label. Then he made some sort of noise that sounded like he was being strangled. Mickey ran and got him a sheet of A4 and an old nibby pencil from my room, and I had to give him props for understanding what it was that the Doctor needed.

“Epi Pen!” Mum shouted.

“Have we got an epi pen?” I asked, confused, not thinking it would do much good anyway.

“Hospital?!” she said once she realised we did not have an epi pen.

“Mum!” She was quiet after that and the Doctor scribbled on the paper holding it out for us to read. “Potassium, sugar, Vitamin C, zinc… we’re supposed to find these things?” He nodded vigorously. “Mum! Have we got bananas?” She shook her head. I gaped, even the Doctor was still, he grabbed the paper back, flipped it over and wrote in large letters; ‘NO?!’

“Well, I said, we’ve nothing in!”

Ariella jumped up from the couch and ran, out the door, slamming it behind her. I hardly noticed, “Okay, orange juice then?” Mum ran into the kitchen and came back with an almost full container, which the Doctor hastily drank, and then actually looked a bit better. I checked the list, “Have we got zinc mum?” she had already brought in the sugar.

“Zinc?! Why would we have zinc?”

“For colds and stuff, you know, it’s meant to make you better!” She looked a little helpless, I turned back to the Doctor, “What has zinc?!”

He seemed to be able to push a bit of air through his throat, at last, and managed some words. “It’s in a lot of metal things, I don’t know, oysters!” I looked at mum, she shook her head, “They use it too coat pills in the future, Rose, you know what I’m talking about!”

“Pills,” I said, wracking my brain, wondering if we had any of that stuff in the TARDIS, probably, I wondered- “And food supplement pills?” he nodded, and I fished in my pockets. “Like desert pellets?!” I asked extracting the large amount of them that I’d pilfered from the Antalusian ship. Apparently, yes, cause he grabbed them and downed about ten in eight seconds.

This time when he spoke it was a little more clearly, “Sugar, and potassium, where’s my coat?”

I started towards the door. As far as I knew his coat was in the TARDIS, he hadn’t been wearing it before and I could see it in my minds eye thrown over the coral columns, but before I even had a chance to open the door Ariella bust in toting a huge box of banana donuts. “Potassium and sugar!” she said, breathlessly, she’d obviously run. The Doctor waved her over and grabbed a donut, and shoved it in his face. By the time he’d finished his third he was quite back to normal, but no one begrudged him a fourth.

Then, he, quite calmly, picked up his tea cup and washed the contents down the kitchen sink. Before grabbing the children’s aspirin bottle, walking to the balcony and tossing it down into the courtyard below. He didn’t tell me at the time, but thank god it was children’s aspirin. When he came back he smiled, hands tucked into his pockets and started rocking on the balls of his feet and said, “Right then, who wants tea?”

Entry Seventeen - Above Jacowitz (5)

Unfortunately it was about at this time that I felt the vent start to buckle, which was frankly the last thing that I needed. We were just above a large group of the Antalusians and if this ventilation shaft didn’t hold we’d soon be in a heap among them, I didn’t quite fancy the idea. I gestured towards Kit to get back. He looked at me curiously. I had to try very hard not to roll my eyes at him. “Go backward, there’s too much weight here, this thing’s not gonna hold, it’ll break and we’ll fall.”

“And falling is bad, yes?”

I nodded, “Yes.” But my explanation was cut short as Kit started backing up and suddenly the whole metal structure around us splintered and collapsed sending us sprawling to the room down below. I didn’t move immediately, not because I was hurt, but mostly because I was aware that I would soon be surrounded by a great many large lizard like creatures who’d be snapping their jaws at me for not being where I was meant to be. I wasn’t even entirely sure what it was that I was doing on this ship so I didn’t even know if they would or would not kill me. I was fairly sure that my stillness was meant to be some form of playing opossum.

But that couldn’t really last for long, and I knew that, and I opened my eyes. The Lizard King already had Kit’s arm grasped in his meaty paw and that caused me to sit straight up. “Let him go, it wasn’t his idea,” I said, not thinking because if I had been I would have been sure that the Lizard King was not exactly one to care who’s idea it was.

“It seems that you are a feisty one, Miss Tyler,” he said to me. “I suppose that we should not be surprised. Our sources tell us that the Doctor’s companions are often feisty.”

I stood to my full height, which was about one half of the Lizard’s and put my hands on my hips. “Well, I’m here. I’ve been stuck in your prison, I’ve seen what you’re doing. I think its sick, which you know, and I am fully convinced that this has nothing to do with your economy in the slightest degree; I think it’s all about revenge. All because the Doctor foiled your little plan back on New Earth, well I was there to. I pulled the lever, I doused all those new humans with the disinfectant cure so you might as well just take your revenge out on me and leave the Doctor and Jacowitz alone. And while we’re on the subject why Jacowitz at all?!” I sucked in a breath then, realising that I’d gone on quite a bit.

The Lizard King looked me up and down and then began to chuckle, a deep belly laugh that shook his own body. He let go of Kit’s arm and he moved quickly over to me, standing in front of me a bit in a very gentlemanly manor, though I thought it was just as likely to get him killed as anything else.

“You amuse me, girl,” the Lizard King said, “perhaps when all is said and done I shall make sure that you find a place in my household. I could use an amusing slave such as yourself.”

The amount of unworry I had to that remark should have frightened me but it didn’t, because the king was on the move now. He went over to a strange and intricate looking machine, large buttons, perfect for his large hands, and wires that I could tell would have been exposed, were covered in a thin glass. It as shiney and new and I wondered very briefly what it was before my question was answered for me.

“You have many questions, Miss Tyler, this is not a surprise. But this is not a film from your planet. I am neither villain nor hero, and I feel no need to relay my entire plan for you. You insist upon misbehaving, do you want your friends to suffer for it?” And then he pushed a button on the machine and I realised, that was the telepathic inhibitor. It was sending waves through everyone and everything that had telepathic abilities right now and they were in pain.

“No!” I shouted, “Stop it!” He flipped the switch again.

Now obviously I didn’t want everyone on Jacowitz to be in pain, especially not Ariella or the Doctor, but the Antalusian’s demonstration had just helped me enormously.

I edged my way closer to Kit so that we could converse quietly and I explain my plan. This whole time the King had been focusing all his attentions on me. Kit was seemly just some sort of extra piece that had happened along. But if travelling with the Doctor had taught me anything it was to never underestimate the abilities of simple people. I told him my plan and then I ran.

The Lizard King did not seem bothered, not in the slightest with a wave of his hand there were instantly several guards upon me, holding both my arms quite tightly, actually. But the purpose had been served. Because at the same moment I ran, so did Kit and he ran towards the telepathic inhibitor and quickly smashed it with the bracelet around his wrist. The Lizard King had opened his mouth in a sneer towards me but spun when he heard the shattered glass. For a moment everything was still and then he spun in a roar, slapping me hard across the face, I could tell there’d be bruises in the morning, he might even kill me but now everyone on the planet was safe, small price to pay. And if everyone on the planet was safe then that meant the Doctor was safe, and the TARDIS would work again and that might just mean-

My train of thought broke off as the familiar sounds of the TARDIS materialising filled the room. Everyone froze. I nearly cried.

“What is that?!” Kit called to me from his captive station across the room.

“That’s help,” I said back and couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face as the TARDIS door opened and the Doctor stepped out, hands in pockets and with that really very menacing look he gets on his face from time to time.

“Right,” he said, searching out the Lizard King and then making eye contact, “you have something that I want back. You okay, Rose?” he asked not taking his eyes off the Lizard King, and probably his peripheral vision on the rest of them.

“Yeah, you know,” I said back, not quite able to keep the grin out of my voice.

The edges of his lips quirked a little too but his expression remained stoney. “You have one chance. Give her back to me and leave Jacowitz in peace.”

“Doctor, they’ve got slaves,” I called out.

“Right, give her back to me, leave Jacowitz in peace, and free your slaves and I’ll let you go. It’s a good offer, you should take it.”

The Lizard King was still for a moment and then he began his belly laugh again. “We have heard of your arrogance, Doctor. There is nothing that you can do to stop us, we know of your abhorrence of violence, we know-”

“I’m not sure where you’re getting your information from,” the Doctor said, “but don’t ever mistake an abhorrence for violence with peaceful. But you’re right. There’s nothing I can do to you. I’ve done my research too, you’re a very impressive lot, doesn’t mean you can’t be stopped.” The Lizard King laughed and the Doctor sighed and then opened up the door to the TARDIS. Ariella stepped out.

She was wearing some sort of weird… well I’d have to say headdress, but it looked more like one of those things they put on people’s heads when they’ve fractured their spine. And it connected from her head to a sort of… ray gun? There really wasn’t much of a way to describe it. But she exchanged glances with the Doctor and he nodded and she closed her eyes and the next thing that I knew every single one of the Antalusians were unconscious on the floor.

Kit gaped, “Are they dead?” he asked me.

I leaned over them, “No, sleeping. What happened?”

“Time for explaining later,” the Doctor said bounding over to the ships controls, a very proud look on his face. I picked my way across the room and stood near him. His hand sort of hovered for a moment and then he turned back. “Rose, don’t you ever do that again.”

I opened my mouth and left it hanging there, I realised I looked a bit like a fish. I supposed I should have expected that sort of reaction, but I, well, I didn’t really fancy being yelled at right at the moment. And I was about to say so but all speech was muffled cause I found myself pressed into one of the most phenomenal hugs that have ever come round. I couldn’t quite help burying my face in his shoulder.

About three hours later (yes vast exaggeration) it felt like everything had just gone back to normal, all that scary stormy Doctorness that freaked me out sometimes was gone and he was back to his grinny self. “Basically,” he said, setting some controls, “I build that… thing, which will obviously be needing a snazzy name, to enhance Ariella’s telepathy and tap into a particular wavelength and-” he seemed to notice Kit for the first time as he rounded about to flip some more switches. “Hello, sorry, Rose, who’s your new boyfriend?”

“This is Kit, he’s been a slave here since-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because the Doctor had pressed a button and the whole ship started to shake. There were several loud explosions and we all ducked for cover.

The Doctor was the first one up again, “No no no no no! They were isomorphic controls! An unfamiliar finger touches it and the whole thing goes kablewy!”

“Technical term? Kablewy?”

“Very!” he flipped some more switches, “there’s… I can’t do anything, we’re being pulled towards the largest heat source, which is of course the pink sun. Sort of a self destruct. We have about five minutes.”

Kit took off running down the hall, no doubt back to where the rest of the slaves were being held. I looked at my wrist, “They’ve all got teleport bracelets on, it’s sort of like a prison thing. Like a, um, force field! But it does both, can you fix the teleports?”

The Doctor grinned, “Oh, just watch me!” he said and started pulling out all kinds of wires and tubes and lots of things I just didn’t recognise. Neither Ariella or I could do much to help so we went to keep an eye on the sun and our approach while the Doctor worked. It took all of two minutes and when he was done the sun was looming so large and pink that it almost filled the whole frontal shield and both Ari and I were pretty damned nervous.

“Rose,” he said after a moment, and we both turned back, “you know what to do if something happens to me, right? You remember.”

I hesitated before answering. “Yes, I remember.”

“Okay,” he said, “Good.” Then, I’m sending them all to Jacowitz, hospital wing, we’ll go check on them, I promise.”

“Doctor,” I said a bit warily and Ariella at my side took a step forward.

“Doctor what are you going to do?” she asked, and he just kept his eyes trained on the teleporting device and then he flipped a switch.

The whole table shook and a blue light started from the core of the device and worked its way out blindingly. Ariella and I were both thrown backwards and once we’d both recovered from having the wind knocked out we both looked towards the Doctor, who was now lying in a crumpled lump on the floor.

I think I might’ve screamed, and Ariella scrambled over to him and checked his pulses. “He’s alive!” she said, the relief evident in her voice, “Only one of his hearts is working though.”

“But,” I felt a bit paralysed.

“Rose,” Ariella said, “Come on, help me get him to the TARDIS, we’ve got to get out of here. Now.” I looked out the window and realised just how right she was. We’d have moments before being getting too close to the sun. We each grabbed onto the Doctor and pulled him into the TARDIS. Slammed the door shut, and I activated Emergency Protocol One.