Episode One-Whatsername-Part Five
Prelude
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Whatsername-Part Five
The Judoon captain was not happy.
As he marched through the empty halls of The Shadow Proclamation, he counted under his breath to steady his anger, “Sko, Bo, Tro, To, Maho”, he paused and activated the turbolift. He took another deep breath, there was nothing gained for being angry when walking to The Architect. Incredibly old, she took any variance of normal speech an offense, and no one wanted to offend The Architect. This was already a bad day, getting mad would just make it worse.
As he walked into the lift he saw two of his lieutenants waiting, “Cho, No”, they saluted. He nodded back and pressed the key for the upper level. It was a small asteroid and he had no doubt the content of the message was already making its way through the complex. Nothing in the universe moved faster than gossip.
With the exception of bad news.
“Zo, fo”, he ordered them as he got off the lift. They knew what to do if this went as bad as he thought it would go. He walked over to her and waited for her to acknowledge his presence, depending on her mood this could take upwards of a week sometimes. It was never amusing to challenge an immortal to a staring contest.
Almost immediately she turned to face him, “You have a message for me ?” It was said as a question, but it was obvious she had been expecting him.
“Wo, Lo”, he said and handed her the transmission log. She looked over it with her red eyes, scanning every letter of every word on the page. He had seen her consume such information before and in the entire time he had served her, he had never seen her forget one iota of data.
Sighing softly she shook her head and placed the log down on her desk. She walked over to the bay of windows overlooking the Proclamation's headquarters and stared out to the endless array of stars. Some of those same stars had been saved and preserved by the very woman looking at them, he wondered for the millionth time if anyone in the universe knew how much control she had over it.
She placed her forehead against the transparent aluminum barrier and rested there for a second. He had never seen her look so tried, so completely drained before. Again, not a good sign. She rested there for under a minute, the entire time the whole of the universe paused for her next words.
“Captain put out an arrest warrant for The Doctor over subwave. He is wanted for crimes against the Macra and wanted in questioning about the disappearance of the Dalek race.”
“Ro, to ?”, he asked.
She paused and looked back to her loyal servant, “Alive if possible, the next regeneration cycle if not.”
The captain saluted her and walked away. He knew it, this was indeed a bad day getting worse.
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“A time lord ?”, Donna asked.
He nodded.
“Me a bloody time lord ?”, she said standing up.
“The brains of one, yes”, he remained sitting.
“All of...”, and she gestured around the control room, “...this in my head ?”
He nodded again looking at his shoes.
She was silent for a second and then came back behind him, “And I bet you couldn't wait to get it out of me”, she said as she slapped the back of his head.
“Hey !”, he exclaimed as he rose to get away from her next blow.
“Oh I know you space man”, she was pacing him now as he walked backwards away from him, “Have to be the smartest guy in the pub do ya ? Can't stand for a woman to tell you what's what can you ? Always trying to keep the good ones down !”, and she swung again.
And he caught her hand, his face a mask of controlled anger, “The smartest person I ever met was a woman and she ended up becoming Ruling President of the Time Lords. I have no problem being the dumbest person in the room”, and he paused as his eyes softened, “But I want you to know I would have done anything to let you keep it if you could.”
She stopped cold, the emotion in his eyes making her feel even more foolish than before, “It was just a joke”, she said unconvincingly.
He arched his eyebrows in question.
“Mostly a joke”, she said breaking eye contact.
He let go of her hand and moved over to the console, “I would have done anything to save you Donna, anything.”, he repeated himself and she wondered who he was trying to convince of that fact. The TARDIS shuddered as they materialized into normal space time around New Earth.
“I know”, she started and then trailed off.
“Shall we go to New New York then ?”, he shifted a few levers and pushed a button and she could feel the TARDIS settle onto the planet.
“This will be fun”, he said trying to lighten the mood, “No one knows either of us this time !”, he looked back to her before he opened the door, “You ready for this ?”
She nodded and tried to smile. She understood all well and good that The Doctor always told the truth. But as he opened the door she had to wonder, if they were going to this New Earth because they could have taken the Time Lord meld away from her...why didn't he take her here first ? She tried to ignore that question as she walked outside with him.
To be continued...