Unfinished Symphony-E7-Hallelujah-Part Five

Oct 21, 2008 03:55

Prelude
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Unfinished Symphony Episode Seven

Hallelujah-Part Five



The Doctor walked through the halls of the TARDIS exhausted.

Sleep for a Time Lord was a different matter than for humans. Though he needed rest, actual sleep was a rare occurrence, meaning this was more trying than he was willing to admit. No one had ever found their way this deep into his sanctum, and as he opened a concealed door in the middle of nowhere he tried to remember the last time he had even been in here.

It was after the other four previous regenerations of himself had been pulled to the Tower of Rassilon to play some insane game involving immortality. Which was in fact the last time he had seen Susan.

Opening the door into a lavish room with a huge four poster bed in the middle of it. It was a work of art, carved out of what looked like redwood with angelic faces on the posts, each one looking away form the bed. The Doctor threw his coat off onto the Victorian chair pushed away in the corner. His mind was aching, the constant screaming from his first incarnation in his head was giving him a headache.

That old man desperately wanted to talk to Susan.

As he collapsed onto the bed face first, he let out a great sigh as he felt himself moving already into sleep. As he drifted away he told himself the past was the past for a reason, and what had been done to Susan had already been done. Nothing to change about it now.

Which still didn't explain why he felt so bad about it.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

He was on the surface of Ralafea again.

The last and only time he had been here was when he was a child, off on his first adventure with a family friend. It was days before he was to head off to the academy and look into the time vortex for himself. After that he would need to take a name and forever lose his own. But that was months from now and ages ago.

In the internal logic that only exists while one is dreaming, he is here again. Dressed in his long coat and in Ten's skin, he is here again, looking across the death and destruction of that day. He could see himself, in the middle of the courtyard, huddling against the Doctor in panic. He was the boy, he was the man watching the boy. Only asleep did that make sense.

Across the courtyard Ten could see One, also the boy and watching the boy. He looked up and the two parts of the same men made eye contact. Ignoring the approaching Vervoids, he walked towards Ten with steel in his eyes.

'This was so long ago', Ten thought, ignoring the old man and watching the scene. He remembered being scared so scared, not just for himself, but for the Doctor. He couldn't help thinking this was all his fault.

“You are being unreasonable.”, the first incarnation said stopping in front of Ten.

Ten looked up at him with tired eyes, “You are the one constantly draining my mental energy screaming like a five year old and I am being unreasonable?”

One ignored him and looked back as the Vervoids as they approached the memory, “You need to protect her.”, he said looking back to Ten.

“I know that much.”, Ten answered with just a hint of annoyance in his voice, “Are we done?”

The old man exploded in anger, making ten take a step back, “DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!”, there was a charge in the air as the dream slowed to a halt. One stood very still, obviously gathering his demeanor as ten looked on in shock. He didn't recall being this...emotional. The idea of making such a scene was...

“...a horrible lapse of control.”, One finished Ten's thought out loud. In response to Ten's shocked expression the old man said smiling, “We do share a mind, believe it or not.” He moved over to a set benches in the middle of town square. Ten followed and sat next to him, looking at the frozen expression of panic on his younger self. He didn't ever remember being that young.

“It was a different time.”, One said again answering ten's thoughts. “You can't imagine how the universe was before the change.”

“Change?”, Ten asked not understanding what he was talking about.

“The change in our culture, from being completely shut off from the universe to being its protector.”, he sighed and shook hi head, “It seemed like such a good idea at the time.”

Ten leaned forward, “You mean Gallifrey's decision to protect space and time against chaos? The single greatest accomplishment in our culture's existence and you are saying now it was a mistake?”

“It was”, the old man said dismissively, “It caused Gallifrey to be destroyed.”, and then he paused, “Well not destroyed, but you know that better than I do.” He grew silent and watched the motionless Vervoids moving towards his past, “I was so scared. I remember thinking it wasn't fair, I hadn't even taken a proper name yet and here I was going to die. And really die, I hadn't even been given my regenerations yet. I was just a scared boy who thought he was going to be killed.”

Ten watched the old man talk and added, “But he saved us.”

One looked at him with a look, “Did he? And here I thought it was Susan who did that.”

“Only because Susan had become a Vervoid at the time. It was the Doctor who convinced her we meant her no harm.”, Ten reasoned.

One stared at him for a long moment and then said, “Yes, and he was wrong.”

The scene started again, the two figures stranded in the middle of the courtyard as the Vervoids crept towards them. The plant creatures more shambled than walked, but they had surrounded the two Gallifreyians, and there was nowhere to run.

“When you get back to the TARDIS”, the Doctor explained to the boy, “Tell it activate emergency program one. It will return you to Gallifrey after we left. Tell the council the planet is gone...all life is destroyed.”

“I don't want to leave you!”, he boy wailed in a very undignified manner.

The man looked at the boy sternly, “We have no time for fear.”, he declared, “I am responsible for your safety and I will not allow you to die.”, he moved over and began to open the jacket. The boy sat there in panic and looked out towards the faceless flora that moved towards them.

And then one of them paused.

“Wait”, the boy said, slapping the Doctor's hands away from the controls built into the coat. The Doctor ignored the boy and tried to activate the system that would take him back to the TARDIS. The boy burst free from the man's grip and pulled the coat off. The Doctor stood and tried to stop him but the boy, holding the jacket in his hand, pointed to one of the Vervoids and said, “Look! That one is different.”

“Never should have said anything.”, the old man muttered from the bench. Ten gave him little notice as he watched the scene unfold.

The Doctor ignored the boy for a moment until he saw the one he was talking about. There was one Vervoid, unmoving in the crowd as they all pulsed towards them. And more than that, he could sense it reaching out with its mind. It was beyond a telepathic message, it was almost overwhelming. He could feel it reach out with its mind and...scan them both down to the atomic level. He could feel its presence all around him, inside of him, it was...at the very least uncomfortable.

“What...is that?”, the boy asked, never taking his eyes off the creature. The Doctor reasoned the boys telepathic sensitivity must be off the charts to have noticed this in a state of panic, but the thought was quickly moved aside.

“I don't know.”, the Doctor said quietly. He could feel the mind draw back from them slowly, as if it had found all it needed to know about them. And then the Vervoids stopped as one. Thought he couldn't sense any thoughts from them, it was as if the lone creature was communicating with them. He moved closer to the boy, wondering if this was the break they needed.

“She's explaining it to them.”, the boy said, “She's explaining to them we are alive!”

The Doctor knelt down in front off the boy, “Who is she?”, he asked carefully, “Who are you talking about?”

“Her.”, the boy said pointing at the creature, “She is telling them about us.”

The Doctor looked over and saw nothing that would indicate the Vervoid was female in any sense. He was quite sure that the plant race didn't possess gender as we knew it. Yet even as the boy spoke, the Doctor knew it to be true.

He looked over and saw the other Vervoids moving away from them, and around the lone plant. It was as if they congregating, encircling her to listen. And as they watched, the lone Vervoid began to change. Its leaves began to grow paler, less green and more...more skin colored. Its stalks began to fill out and become more solid, its root system began to merge together, forming crude legs. And there, within a matter of ten minutes, the lone Vervoid became a female girl. And from the force of her mind, it was obvious to both, she was Gallifreyian.

She was naked and surrounded by the Vervoids, who seemed to be in a state of shock. The boy and the Doctor stared in amazement as she looked at them with wild eyes and screamed, “Run!”

The boy and man moved as one. They both ran into the stunned Vervoids and grabbed the girls arms. The boy threw his coat over her as they fled. The three of them made haste towards the TARDIS, as the plant forms searched the area where the lone Vervoid had stood.

They ran out of the center of town, none of them daring to talk. Within minutes the entire forest had come alive, thousands of Vervoids, all searching for them. As they rushed deeper and deeper into the woods the girl said, “They realized they've been tricked, we must hurry.”

The Doctor didn't ask how she knew that or even who she was, all he knew was that they had a slim chance at surviving, and that chance was all they needed. Trying not to stumble he concentrated on the TARDIS, reaching out with his mind he felt the device's presence touch him back. He mentally screamed two words.

“Come here!”

In the distance her could here the TARDIS begin to dematerialize from where it was at. Pulling the children's arms back he held them in place,”Stay here.”

The girl looked up, “Calling the TARDIS by remote? Only the new series 40's can do that!”

The Doctor stood there stunned as the boy pointed and said, “Here they come!”

And come they had. The Vervoids came from all over, spiraling down trees, scurrying from all sides. There was nowhere to, they were trapped. The boy looked up to the Doctor in fear, and found the Time Lord looking back at him with a smile.

“There is always a way.”, he said as the TARDIS materialized around them.

The two Doctors, still sitting on their bench, watched the TARDIS form around them, looking like a great tree from the outside. As soon as the tree became solid it began to dematerialize again. Within seconds the tree and the people inside were long gone. Leaving a pack of angry and confused Vervoids to wonder what the entire thing was all about.

“I'm not used to it being something other than a call box.”, Ten said after a moment, “Isn't that strange?”

“It's more comfortable being one.”, One answered, “It takes its cues from us.”

“Never thought of it that way.”, Ten muttered.

“I remember when it felt him die.”, One said, more to himself. “Susan and were scouting Earth, we had traveled to the far past, distant future...we ended up in the late 60's England. The TARDIS had become a callbox, and it was perfectly hidden.” The old man paused for a moment, looking out across the dreamscape of the forest, and Ten could see the trees become a London street corner.

“We were just leaving, trying to find a time and place that would be safe for her.”, the old man wasn't even talking to Ten any more. He was...remembering. Ten saw him and Susan walk out of the call box, looking around in the afternoon sun. He recalled London like that, on the verge of the 70's, stuck between the old world charm and the new world business. The two figures in the distance began to walk down the street, and it happened.

The old man went down to one knee as the TARDIS quivered in place. The dimensions of the box actually wavered and for a moment it looked as if it was made of rubber. Susan, not understanding, tried to help her grandfather up but he brushed her hand aside. He looked over to the call box and saw it was slowing turning itself inside out. The walls were bending back onto itself, an impossible image of a box folding itself death.

Ten saw the memory of One call out to the box, try to reason with it. He spoke to it as he would speak to a crazed man on a ledge. Pleading, begging, almost crying for it to stay. And then, Ten saw something he had never noticed before.

“What's she doing?”, he said standing from the bench.

“What?”, One asked irritably, but stood with him.

“Stop!”, Ten commanded, and the scene froze in place. Ten walked around the scene of the old man in the alley and looked at Susan. “Look! Look at what she's doing.”

One walked around and looked at Susan himself, and he saw it.

Her hand was stretched out, touching the box. Where her fingers touched the wood, the tips were becoming blue. They could see her hand itself was turning into something not flesh as well.

“She's...she's becoming one!”, Ten said in amazement. He looked to One, who was pale in disbelief.

“Impossible!', he said, with no authority whatsoever.

“She was becoming a TARDIS! She spoke to it!”, Ten said smacking his forehead, “And here I thought I talked it down...it was her.”

The old man continued to stare at her in wonderment. Finally in a tone of awe he said, “Her people were such a wonder...”

And Ten's head whipped around, “What was that?”

One straightened up quickly, dismissing the entire London landscape with a wave of his hand. Their surroundings became the old TARDIS, the control room from One's era. “Nothing”, he said moving towards the panel out of habit, “I said nothing at all.”

Ten's eyes narrowed, “Now hold on, what is this? How can you know something I don't?”

One laughed as he adjusted the controls, “Oh you can have secrets about what is contained behind the time lock but I can't have secrets of my own?” And he looked Ten right in the eyes and said, “I know that planet right off of Varga that does telepathic lobotomies. They do good work.”

Ten's mouth hung open in shock as One continued to play with the controls, “Was different in my day. The TARDIS, she was in shock. Poor thing was almost dead. Had to coax every bit of life out of her, and even then it wasn't a guarantee.”

Ten began to walk around the old style panel himself, talking out loud, “You know something about Susan you aren't telling me. You've hidden the information somewhere in our mind.”

One ignored him and kept prattling, “Wasn't all wobbly and jumpy like you have her now. Jumping about the place like you were a drunk. It's unsightly.”

“You talked like you knew her race, how is that since my first memory was meeting her back then?”

“I remember one time”, One said half smiling, “The controls got locked and we were tumbling in space, end over end...”

Ten looked at One, “If Gallifrey was such an isolationist at the time...”

One looked up sharply, “Don't!”

But Ten continued, “...then why would they care if we lost contact with Ralafea or not?”

One narrowed his eyes in anger, “Stop this! I command you!!”

Ten smiled weakly, “Ah but you're tired too old man. Works both ways in here doesn't it?” Ten snapped his fingers and the control room became his in an instant. The old, modern version became the new, coral looking room.

One jumped away from the controls like he was burned, “Stop thinking this, It's none of your business!”

Ten walked forward as the old man walked away, “There was something important about Ralafea, something so important they gave him a brand new TARDIS to check on it. Now isn't that odd?”

“Odd?”, One stuttered, “What's odd is the lack of sitting area in this place. Why would you make something so unsightly?”

“They sent him there for a reason, an important one.”, and Ten grabbed the old man by his coat and spun him around, “And you know why.”

One looked at him and tried vainly to pull away, but Ten had been right. They were both exhausted, and he was at best, a faint echo of the past.

“He wasn't supposed to find Susan.”, One said finally.

“Susan?”, Ten declared, “How could they know she was a Vervoid? How did they even know they were there?”

And One looked deep into Ten's eyes, “Susan wasn't a Vervoid. Not at first.”

And Ten's eyes widened in understanding, “She was a Ralafian!” And he let the old man go, “She was one of the Ralafians...and became a Vervoid by instinct.”, he made a face looking up, “But why?”

One tried to move away, but Ten got it all by himself, “Their race, their entire race could do that...”, and he locked eyes with the old man, “She is a Ralafian, but what's that mean?”

One sighed and almost collapsed on the steps sitting down. He put his head in his hands and leaned over in silence. Ten gingerly;y sat next to him, waiting for the old man to gain his composure. After a pause One said, “Their race...their race had a unique ability. They could take the shape and form of any race they came in contact with.”

“Metamorphs?”, Ten asked but One shook his head.

“No, much more powerful. They not only became whatever race they encountered, they were reborn as them. A whole new life, with memories, skills, a past. To them, they had always been this new person, just as another race. Susan was always Susan, if she was Gallifreyian, Vervoid or human. Every time she encountered a race and began to bond, she would forget her old life, and be reborn again as the new one.”

Ten sat there in awe at the concept, “That is...well it's incredible.”, he said thinking about it, “And the Vervoids?”

“The Vervoids never made contact with them at first. When they land on a planet they release spores, spores that then get inhaled and incubate within the body. A good portion of the Ralafian died almost instantly, never seeing their attackers. Susan most likely stumbled across an advance party, and in fear and shock, became one of them. Her previous life completely forgotten, her new one as a Vervoid, in place. It wasn't until she saw us, something must have sparked. Our form was more familiar than theirs...she changed. But in changing, she could communicate with both. She was a Vervoid becoming a human. She explained to them that the animal life forms were alive...and since she was one of them, they listened. If it wasn't for her, we would have died.”

Ten sat there listening, the words triggering the memories from which they came in the first place. After a pause Ten said, “You still aren't telling me everything.”

One exploded in anger, “It's none of your business!”, he roared.

“What are you hiding?”, Ten yelled back.

And there, as they locked eyes and wills clashed, Ten saw the secret behind the old mans eyes. The entirety of it flooded his mind as the whole truth about Susan and her people became known to him. His eyes were trembling as he looked back at One, who said with sadness in his voice, “And now you know too.”

Ten woke up screaming in his room. He was covered in sweat and in a panic. He looked around the room for a moment, half expecting to see the old man in the corner smiling at him. But he was alone.

Shan'ka, Lortha, Zero, Long Death....

He was always alone. And now he knew why.

Looking at the time he realized, he had been asleep too long. Changing into fresh clothes he grabbed his coat and walked out. Praying it would be another dozen years before he ever saw that room again.

To be continued...

episode seven, hallelujah, part five, unfinished symphony

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