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bi-bard · 2 years ago

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Clever Boy - Eleventh Doctor Imagine [Doctor Who]

Title: Clever Boy

Pairing: Eleventh Doctor X Reader

Word Count: 6,449 words

Warning(s): major character death, canon-typical violence, mention of past trauma

Summary: [Season 7, Episode 1] The Doctor and (Y/n) are reunited with Amy and Rory when all of them find themselves in the custody of the Daleks with an impossible task before them.

Author's Note: Wouldn't be one of my OCs if I didn't randomly jump around the timeline a lot. If there's a season that you want to see next, let me know and I'll see what I can do!

MORE OF THIS OC HERE!

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I warned the Doctor about going to meet the women who wanted to save her daughter.

After all that we went through, it just seemed a little too perfect. Someone being able to send him a message and begging for help just after we avoid true death? I had trouble trusting it.

But he wanted to talk to her. He thought that he needed to.

I went with him for the sake of safety.

We met her on Skaro. The original planet of the Daleks.

She told us the story of Hannah. Her daughter who had been taken away to a Dalek prison camp. People had told her that we could help.

The Doctor noticed the same things that I did. The meeting place, how much she seemed to know about us, and the fact that she had left her daughter behind in the first place.

Mothers don't do that if they want to save or protect their child. They would rather burn the planet around them to the ground than be separated from them. At least, that's what I had learned from Amy.

Once the Doctor started asking too many questions, the woman was forced to reveal herself.

She hadn't escaped anything. She had merely been transformed.

Once the Doctor had been incapacitated, I went to take off running. Another person was already there and before I could truly make any progress, I was lying on the ground next to the Doctor.

When I came to, we were both in a cell.

"Good, you're awake!"

The Doctor pulled me off the floor. I blinked a few times, trying to get rid of whatever tiredness was still clouding my thoughts.

"How are you feeling," he asked.

"Angry and tired," I muttered.

"That's the spirit," he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

The doors slid open as he pulled away. Two Daleks rolled in.

"You will come with us," one of them instructed.

"Where are we going," I asked, not moving from my spot.

"The Doctor and (Y/n) will be reunited with their companions."

I felt a strong hit of fear strike my chest. They had gotten Rory and Amy too. This was the worst-case scenario.

"Move," the Dalek instructed again.

We were led down the hall. One Dalek was leaning in front of us, the other was behind us.

We made it to another cell. Amy and Rory were waiting for us just inside.

As soon as we were all inside, a hatch in the ceiling came undone and the platform we were standing on began to raise itself up.

A room. A circular room full of enough Daleks to fill up a few dozen lecture halls. Far more than they would need to take over a multitude of planets.

"Please, tell me this isn't what I think it is," I spoke to the Doctor quietly.

"What is it," Amy asked. "Spaceship, right?"

"Not just a spaceship," he explained. "The Parliament of the Daleks."

I closed my eyes for a moment. Some part of me wanted to believe that this was all some twisted dream. Another part of me knew very well that it wasn't, but facing the reality around us was too terrifying to contemplate.

We had just escaped death to be handed a death sentence.

I only opened my eyes because I heard the Doctor start telling them to take their shot. I was ready to slap him.

"Save us," the emperor spoke up.

"Excuse me?" I admittedly didn't think much before I snapped back at the creature.

"You will save the Daleks."

I scoffed. Another decision that I didn't think through properly.

The room began chanting at all of us. Just repeating the same three words over and over. Save the Daleks.

As the voices died down, The Doctor started pacing.

After a little while, I heard Amy and Rory mumbling to each other. I tried to pay it no mind, but it was difficult when the tension between them was more suffocating than the fear of being surrounded by Daleks.

I didn't mind the muttering until it turned to me.

"And (Y/n) is constantly glancing at us because they want to help us from whatever is wrong with us," Amy whispered. "'Oh no, Amy and Rory are clearly not alright, how are we going to fix that?'"

"Get better at hiding the tension if you don't want me worrying about you," I said bluntly.

She looked down for a moment.

"We have arrived," one of the Daleks announced.

"Arrived where," the Doctor asked.

"Doctor," the emperor said.

"The Prime Minister will speak with you now," the woman from our original meeting spoke up, motioning over to him.

The Doctor didn't move for a minute. When he did, he didn't turn to face their emperor- sorry- their Prime Minister. He moved over to me.

The Doctor stepped closer to me, taking my hand in his as he mumbled into my ear, "We don't have to do this, We could run-"

"Yes, we do," I cut the Doctor off as I looked at him. "They won't let us walk out of here if we don't."

I saw the sad look cross his eyes.

"I don't care if I die," I whispered. "But I will not be the reason that you or Amy or Rory die. I just won't."

He took a deep breath before kissing the side of my head and stepping back. He turned back to the Prime Minister.

He stopped by the woman. "Do you remember who you were before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?"

"My memories are only activated if they are required to facilitate deep cover or disguise."

"Look at that," I replied sarcastically. "We were important enough to switch the memories back on."

The Doctor continued approaching the Prime Minister. I took a few steps closer behind him. Quiet support more than anything else.

"What do you know of the Dalek asylum," the creature asked.

"According to legend, you have a dumping ground," he replied. "A planet where you lock up all the Daleks that go wrong. The battle-scarred, the insane, the ones even you can't control. Which never made any sense to me."

"Why not?"

"Because you'd just kill them."

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred."

That statement made me sick to my stomach. I interrupted the Doctor, "Offensive?"

"Does it surprise you to know that Daleks have a concept of beauty?"

"No," I shook my head. "I am just surprised that after so long you can still find ways to be so disgusting. Hatred so beautiful that you have to keep hurt, scared creatures in a cage like a personal zoo? Such a fixation on the emotion that it makes you go against your entire purpose. Kill what's different."

The Doctor started walking down the ramp towards me.

"Perhaps that is why we could never kill either of you," the Prime Minister stated.

I was ready to stand and argue, but I didn't get the chance before a hole in the middle of the floor opened. We both walked over to it, looking down at the planet just underneath it.

"The asylum occupies the entire planet," the woman- Darla- explained. "Right to the core."

"How many Daleks are in there," the Doctor asked.

"A count has not been made," she answered. "Millions, certainly."

I was next to speak up, "All still alive?"

"It has to be assumed. The asylum is fully automated. Supervision is not required."

"Armed?" Amy looked over.

"A Dalek is always armed."

"What color?"

We all looked at Rory as the question came out of his mouth.

"Sorry, there weren't any good questions left."

"There's a signal being received from the very heart of the asylum," Darla explained. Just as she did, music began playing over the speaker.

"What is the noise," a Dalek yelled. "Explain! Explain!"

"It's me," the Doctor replied.

"Oh God," I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Sorry, what?" Rory turned to us.

"I'm playing the triangle," the Doctor grinned, mimicking his motion.

"And hasn't one let me forget that fun fact," I added.

"Carmen," the Doctor pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket and scanned the console that the Dalek had been using. "Lovely show."

I follow him back up the ramp. "Please tell me you're-"

"Tracking back the signal so we can talk to them," he finished my sentence for me.

"Dibs!" I shoved him out of the way. "Hello? Hello... Carmen?"

"Creative."

"Shut up," I muttered. "Hello! Come in, come in. Someone there?"

"Do you read me?" a voice rang out.

"Loud and clear," I replied, smiling properly for the first time since the trip had started. "Identify yourself and report your status."

"Hello," the voice said.

"Hello," I repeated.

"Are you real? Properly real?"

"Actually, properly real. Living, breathing, and bleeding if I am not careful."

"Oswin Oswald," she introduced. "Junior Entertainment Manager, Starship Alaska. Current status: crashed and shipwrecked somewhere... not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing, provision's good but keen to move on."

"A year," I asked. "Are you okay? Under attack?"

"Some local life forms. Been keeping them out."

I looked at the Doctor, scared and confused by the story. "Know what they are?"

"I know a Dalek when I hear one, yeah," she replied.

"What have you been doing all alone, for a year? Against the Daleks?"

"Making soufflés."

I let out an amused huff. "soufflés."

"Where do you get the milk?" the Doctor butted in. I furrowed my eyebrows. It was a good question.

"This conversation is irrelevant." The Dalek did not agree with me. It shut off the signal.

"No, it isn't," the Doctor snapped back.

"Someone crashed into your asylum, meaning there's a big hole in whatever security you had," I joined in. "One thing gets in, millions can get out."

"Even you don't want that," the Doctor added.

"The asylum must be cleansed," the Dalek spoke.

"Then, why is it still here," the Doctor asked. "You have enough firepower to blast it out of the sky."

"They can't," I concluded. "The security that they put on the planet won't allow it. That's why we're here."

"The asylum's forcefield is impenetrable," Darla stepped forward. "And can only be turned off from the inside."

The Doctor went walking down the ramp again. "A small task force could sneak in. Send a couple of Daleks."

He paused halfway down the ramp, noting the silence in the room.

"Oh," he mumbled. "That's good. They're too scared to go down there. What do the Daleks do when they're too scared."

To put it very simply, they were going to launch all of us into a planet. They gave us these bracelets that fended off the nanocloud, which would turn everything that wasn't Dalek into... Dalek. Once we made it down, it was our job to figure out how to shut off the forcefield so they could destroy it.

We were led back to the opening in the floor, where a gravity beam was waiting for us. I reached over and grabbed the Doctor's hand. He rubbed a circle into the skin of my hand with his thumb.

"Ready," I asked.

"Are we ever," he grumbled back to me.

I was hoping to get a chance to jump into the gravity beam on my own. We didn't. Instead, we were all pushed into it.

My next memory was lying in the snow. I groaned as I pushed myself up. I looked around at my surroundings. There was nothing there that I could make any sense of.

I jumped when music started playing next to me. I looked down at an eyestalk looking at me. I moved to lay on my stomach in front of it.

"Oswin?" I called.

"Sorry!" she replied. "I pressed the wrong switch. You okay?"

"I just got launched at a planet, but I could be worse," I shrugged. "How are you doing that? This is Dalek technology."

"It's very easy to hack."

"Respectfully, no, it really isn't. Where are you?"

"Somewhere underground... I think. Ship broke up when it hit. You coming to get me?"

"(Y/n)!"

I jumped at the sound of the Doctor's voice. The camera disappeared as soon as he spoke.

"Dammit," I mumbled, pushing myself to stand up.

"Who are you talking to?"

"Oswin," I replied.

"Soufflé girl?"

"She has a name."

"Doctor!" Amy came running at us from the other side of a hill.

The Doctor helped steady her.

"Where's Rory," he asked.

"There was another beam," the man pointed vaguely behind us all. He continued following us.

We found a hole in the ground. It was deep enough that we couldn't see the bottom.

The man from earlier led us to a hatch that he had been trying to get into. He explained that his team had come down two days ago and that there were twelve other escape pods.

"Alaska," Amy read out, looking down at the name printed on the ship. "That's the same as Soufflé Girl."

"Two days," I asked, looking at the man. He nodded before opening the hatch. "It can't be the same as her. She's been here a year."

We all followed him down.

"There should be some climbing rope long enough for that hole," he explained.

I stepped around one of the seats when I spotted a hood. I leaned down only to be met with a skeleton sitting in the seat. Can't be merely two days old. It couldn't have been.

"Won't you introduce us to your crew," the Doctor asked. I grabbed his arm and stepped as close as possible. "What?"

"They're dead," I mumbled. "That... That one is a skeleton. They can't be two days old."

"Guys, this is the Doctor, Amy, and (Y/n)," the man introduced us. Nothing. I stepped a little further back from the seats. "Guys?"

The Doctor stepped forward, tapping the one I had seen on the shoulder. Its head rolled back, revealing the skeleton. The Doctor checked all of them. With the sonic screwdriver for some reason... they were skeletons, he didn't need to use the screwdriver. They were all dead.

"That's not possible," the man argued. "I just spoke to them. Two hours ago. We were doing engine repairs."

"I'm sorry, but there was no way that's possible. They've been dead a long time."

"Of course," he muttered. "Stupid me. I died outside. The cold preserved my body."

I stepped closer to the ladder, hoping to be ready to run from the man.

Then, an eyestalk started to protrude out of his forehead. "I forgot about dying."

The Doctor grabbed the fire extinguisher off the wall and sprayed it at the man. Amy hit the button next to the door, only shutting it once the man was secured on the other side.

"How'd he get all... Daleked," Amy asked.

"He didn't have a bracelet," I explained. "Nanocloud."

"Microorganisms that automatically process any organic matter, dead or alive, into a Dalek puppet."

"Anything that attacks the asylum immediately becomes on-site security. We've seen the interesting abilities of nano-tech."

"Living or dead?" Amy said. I paused, eyes going wide as I looked around the room.

"The wristbands protect us," the Doctor continued rambling. "The only thing keeping us from going completely-"

"Doctor, shut up," she cut him off. "Living or dead?"

"Yes, exactly, living or..."

The bones of the skeletons started cracking as the creatures stood up. The Doctor took off over the tops of the chairs once he noticed. I mostly followed his lead.

We only had true trouble once one of the creatures had caught Amy's wrist. The door slamming shut was enough to get the thing to let go.

The two of them leaned against the door while I stood across from them.

"Unauthorized personnel may not enter the cockpit," a familiar voice rang out over the intercom in the room.

"Oswin!" I jumped a bit. "I lost you back there, you alright?"

"I'm fine, just lost the signal."

The Doctor moved around me, taking a seat at the console, where a camera was pointed at us.

"Oi, Mr. Grumpy, don't get too close," she said. "Ooo, bad combo. No sense of humor and that chin."

I bit the inside to keep from laughing, even though I heard Amy chuckle behind me.

"What is wrong with my chin," the Doctor asked. He looked over at me.

"Nothing," I promised.

"Careful, don't poke their eye out."

I couldn't stop the laugh that came out of my mouth.

"(Y/n)," he whined.

"Sorry, sorry," I held my hands up. "I think your chin is... very handsome."

"I'm scanning you," Oswin informed us. "You're in another of the escape pods from the Alaska. It seems your power's on."

"How are you hacking into everything," I asked. "That should be impossible."

"Long story," she said simply. "There a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"

I chuckled. "Not that I know off the top of my head, sorry."

"What's your name again?"

"(Y/n)."

"That'll work."

I let out a stunned scoff. "Oswin!"

"What?!"

"I am in a very committed relationship," I explained.

"With the chiny one?"

I had to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape.

"Is it him?"

"Yeah, it's him," I replied.

"Aw, cute," she gushed. "I was hoping it was the redhead."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. I saw the Doctor's frown and leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. He let a small grin cross his lips.

There was a beep on her hand. "Check the floor. I'm picking up a breach at floor level. There could be a way out. See you later!"

There had been a hatch on the floor. There was a rope going down into wherever it led. Someone else's escape route.

"This must go straight down to the asylum," the Doctor muttered as he unlocked the hatch.

"Where Rory is," Amy replied.

"Speaking of Rory," I started. "Anything you wanna talk about?"

"Are we going to do this now," she asked.

"What happened?" I countered.

"Just stuff, you know. We split up. What can you do?"

"What can I do," the Doctor mumbled, looking at her.

"Nothing," she explained. "it's not one of those things that you can fix like your bow tie."

The Doctor looked down again.

"Oh, don't give me those big, wet eyes, raggedy man. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you two aren't around. We don't all get to end up traveling all of time and space with our true loves."

I felt a sting of guilt in my chest. I had always known that the Doctor and I were the exception. But Rory and Amy were each other's person. They were stuck together by the universe. They couldn't get away from each other if they tried.

I had grown to see them as an example of sorts.

I looked back at Amy. Maybe she saw us the same way.

There was a rope ladder going all the way to the bottom.

"Someone else got out this way," Amy noted.

"Let's go and find them," the Doctor muttered. He ran to the camera by the door.

They were holding up one of the bracelets. Amy's bracelet.

"Amy," the Doctor whispered.

"What's going to happen to me," she asked. "Seriously? Tell me. What?"

The Doctor didn't reply. Instead, he ran off to the ladder, leading the way down. I let Amy go before me. I followed right behind them, pulling it shut behind me.

"So, what's going to happen to me," she pushed again. "And don't lie. Because I know when you're lying to me and I will definitely fall on you."

"The air all around is full of micro-machines," the Doctor explained. I was stunned that he answered at all. "Robots the size of molecules. Nanogenes. Now that you're unprotected, you're being rebuilt."

By that point, we had made it to the bottom. Granted, by that point, we had already had this conversation at least four times.

"So what happens? I get one of those things sticking out of my head?" she continued.

"Physical changes come later," the Doctor grabbed her hand, pulling her along with us.

"What comes first? How does it start?"

"Your mind. Your feelings, your memories. And I'm sorry but it's already started."

"How do you know?"

"This is the fourth time we've had this conversation."

"I'm scared now."

"Hang onto that," I told her. "Scared isn't Dalek. Hold onto anything that isn't Dalek."

The door opened in front of us.

There was a smell coming from the room.

"What's that," Amy asked.

The Doctor closed the door again. "Stay right there. Don't open this door."

"Oswin," I yelled. "Can you hear me?"

"Hello (Y/n) and the Chin, I have visual on you," she replied. "(Y/n) and the Chin. You two could start a band."

"Why exactly don't we have a visual on you," the Doctor spoke up. "Why can't I ever see you?"

"Limited power, bad hair, take your pick," she explained. "There's a door to your left. Open it."

I looked to my left and went to the door. "Alright."

The door slid open to reveal a small screen.

"I'm going to send you a map to that screen," she explained.

I nodded and stepped inside. "Ready when you are, Oswin."

"Oh, your friend is safe. I can get you to him."

"You found Rory," I asked.

"Yup," she confirmed. "Well, I call him Nina. Personal thing."

I furrowed my eyebrows for a moment before focusing on the screen again.

I watched as she typed away. I followed the map that she was using to guide us. I heard the door open.

"How many Daleks are right ahead of us," I asked.

"Ten, twenty," she estimated. "Some are catatonic, but they do have firepower."

"Doctor," I tried to whisper-shout at him. "Where's Amy?"

He turned around and ran into the room that we had been avoiding earlier. She was standing in the middle.

"How do we get past them," I turned back to Oswin.

The Doctor and Amy shoved their way into the closet with me.

"Okay then," I gasped as I was shoved into the wall.

The sounds just outside the door powered down. The two of them stepped out first and I awkwardly followed.

"It's damaged," the Doctor said.

"Okay, but what do we do," Amy asked.

"Identify me," he turned to the Dalek. "Access your files. Come on."

"You are the Predator," the Dalek spoke.

"Access your standing orders concerning the Predator."

"The Predator must be destroyed!"

"And how are you going to do that? the Doctor stepped forward. "A Dalek without a gun? You're a tricycle with a roof. How are you going to destroy me?"

"Self-destruct initiated," the Dalek shouted.

"What's it doing," Amy asked.

"Destroying the Predator," I explained.

The Doctor lifted the Dalek's hood.

"Self-destruct cannot be countermanded," the Dalek said.

"I wasn't looking for countermand," the Doctor replied. "I'm looking for reverse."

The Dalek proceeded to roll backwards into the large room. It exploded, taking out the other Daleks with it.

We had all been thrown backward.

I shoved myself off the floor. The Doctor picked up a now unconscious Amy and followed me. Rory was standing on the other side of the room.

"Where have you been," I asked.

"Oswin put me in a- a room," Rory pointed behind him. "Is Amy alright?"

"Just unconscious," I explained. "Where's the room?"

He led us into some other room off to the side. The Doctor placed Amy down and we all waited for her to wake up. While we did, the Doctor explained the situation of the stolen bracelet.

"Will the sleeping help her," Rory asked. "Slow down the process?"

"You'd better hope so," Oswin's voice filled the room. "Because pretty soon, she's going to try and kill you."

Amy woke up a moment later, groaning as she did, "Ow."

"Hey," the Doctor said. "Still with us?"

"Amy, it's me," Rory grinned at her. "Do you remember me?"

She reached up and slapped him as soon as the words left his mouth.

"I'd take that as a yes," I advised.

"Same old Amy," the Docter mumbled.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek," Oswin asked. She was quieter now. Like she was scared. "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"

"Well, somebody's never been to Scotland," Amy replied, pushing herself up.

"Oswin," I said. "How are you... okay? Why hasn't the nanocloud converted you?"

"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah?" she explained. "Shielded in here."

"Clever of you," I muttered, trying to ignore the nervousness in my stomach. Hope. If I needed one thing right now, it was hope. "Now, the Daleks said that this place was fully automated. But it's a wreck."

"I've had nearly a year to mess with them and not a lot else to do."

"A junior entertainment manager hiding out in a wrecked ship, hacking the security systems of one of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen," the Doctor spoke up as he was scurrying around the room. "But you know what gets me about you, Oswin? The soufflés."

"The soufflés," Amy asked.

"Where do you get milk for the soufflés?"

He turned to the rest of us.

"Seriously, is no one else wondering about that?"

I didn't want to admit that I had found it easier to ignore it. I merely looked down. Rory shut it down more bluntly than I had.

"So, Doctor," Oswin piped up. "I've been looking you up. And you, (Y/n). You're all over the database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator? Why are you lot such a threat?"

"Not a predator, just a man with a plan," the Doctor replied.

"You've got a plan?"

"In no particular order," the Doctor explained, "we need to neutralize all the Daleks in the asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from the planet, and save Amy and Rory's marriage."

"Alright, I'm counting three lost causes, anyone else," Amy asked.

"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, got it on the sensors," she replied.

"The asylum has a forcefield. The Daleks are waiting for me to shut it off. As soon as I do, they'll burn this whole world and us with it. So, my question for you is this, how fast can you drop the forcefield?"

"Pretty fast."

"Good. This is a teleport, am I correct?"

"Yeah. Internal use only."

"I can boost the power once the force field is down. And we can use it to beam us right off this planet," the Doctor explained, messing with the teleport.

"But you said that when the forcefield is down, the Daleks will blow us up," Rory pointed out.

"That's why we have to be quick," I spoke up.

"Fine, we'll be quick, but where do we beam to," Amy asked.

"The only place within range. The Dalek ship," the Doctor answered.

"They'd exterminate us on the spot," Amy said.

"We'd survive four seconds longer," Rory agreed.

"What's wrong with four seconds," the Doctor smirked. "You can do loads in four seconds."

"Oswin, how fast can you drop the forcefield?" I called.

"I can do it from here," she explained. "As soon as you come and get me."

"Why don't you drop the forcefield and come to us," I asked.

"There's enough power in that teleport for one go," she replied. "Why would you wait for me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"No idea, never met you," she said. "I'm sending you a map so you can come and get me."

"(Y/n)," the Doctor grabbed my arm as I went to run over. I yanked my arm away.

"I'm going to do this," I told him bluntly. "Stay here. Keep them safe. If we don't make it in time, then I want you to go. Got it?"

He stared at me for a moment before letting out a sigh. "Make it back."

"I plan to," I smirked a bit before looking at the map. As I took off, I turned back to him. "I love you!"

"Love you too!" I heard him say behind me.

I stepped out into the hall.

I could hear banging and the sounds of Daleks screaming various threats and promises. They only got louder as I rounded the corner. I took a deep breath as I continued moving.

It was terrifying.

The closed walls, the sound of Daleks yelling. It was all so familiar. I could vividly see myself back in that little box that I had known for far too long. The practice scenarios where I would be faced with almost exactly this situation.

I tried to block out those memories. I had other things to focus on at the moment.

In a more relative sense, it had been going well. I hadn't been met with any loss Daleks and I was close to where I needed to be.

"Oswin," I said quietly. "I think I'm close."

"You are," she replied. "Less than twenty feet away. Which is the good news."

"And the bad?"

"You're about to pass through intensive care."

"Oh, great," I muttered, taking another deep breath.

The door slid open.

It was quiet. Daleks were lined up in cages, all dormant. The lights were off.

"Why are they here," I asked.

"Don't know. Survivors of particular wars. Spiridon, Kembel, Aridius, Vulcan, Exxilon. Ringing any bells."

I felt like the air was being forced out of my lungs. I was being strangled without anyone else around. My legs felt shaky as if my knees were prepared to give out at any given moment. And my head. My head hurt and was swirling with a thousand thoughts and memories.

And all I could was keep walking.

"Yeah," I answered, pausing to look at one of them. "These are the Daleks of the Time War."

I wanted to vomit.

"I was supposed to stop it. I couldn't."

I heard one of the Daleks coming to life behind me. "Savior."

"I'm sorry, what did it call you?"

"Nothing," I replied. "A name that I gave up a long, long time ago."

More Daleks started to wake up. I walked away, hoping to get out of the room as fast as possible.

"Oswin, there's a door but it won't open," I said. "They can't be far away now."

"Hold on. There's a release code, but I just need to find it. Is there anything happening out there?"

"No. But I don't like the silence any more than the yelling."

I heard chains rattling behind me. My breathing spiked again.

"Oswin!"

"Just a second!"

I heard the snapping of chains and my name being yelled again. I pressed my back to the door, putting as much distance between me and the approaching Daleks as I could. None of them seemed to have guns, so I should have been safe.

I closed my eyes, curling in on myself.

And then, it stopped.

All of it just froze.

"Oh, that is cool," I heard Oswin say as the Daleks turned around and moved away from me. "Tell me, I'm cool."

"What did you do," I asked.

"Hang on, I think I found the door thingy-"

"No, I need to know what you just did," I cut her off.

"The Daleks have a hive mind. Well, not really, it's more of a telepathic web."

"And?"

"I hacked into it," she explained. "Did a master delete on all the information connected with the Savior or (Y/n). Including information about the Doctor and your friends."

I let out a breathy laugh at the idea, tears filling my eyes. "You made them forget me."

"Good, huh," she asked. "And here comes the door."

"The Doctor has tried hacking into the path web before. He could never find a way to do it. I never even tried because of how much security they've got on it."

"Come and meet the woman who can."

The door slid open behind me. I scrambled inside but froze just in the doorway.

"Hey, you're right outside," the voices were mixing together. One Oswin's and the other was... Dalek. "Come on in."

"Oswin," I said. I took a step forward. "We have a problem."

"No, we don't," she replied. "Don't even say that. I joined the Alaska to see the universe and crashed on my first trip. You're here. You can take me to see it all. Properly."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Does it look real to you? That little place you're in right now?"

"It is real."

"It's a dream," I said. "Your mind constructed a safe place for you. Reality got too terrible. Too scary."

Her voice disappeared. All that was left was the Dalek's. "Where am I?"

"They did a complete transformation on you," I explained. "You are... a Dalek."

"No, no, I'm not a Dalek. I'm human."

I stepped forward, gently touching the shell of the creature. "You were when you crashed. But they found you... you climbed out of that pod we found."

"I'm human."

"Not anymore. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

There was no answer.

"You're a genius. They need genius."

There was still no response.

"I am so sorry," I started walking backward, closer to the door. "The Doctor asked earlier, but you never had to answer. Where did you get the milk? And the eggs? For the soufflés?"

"Eggs..." the Dalek voice shot fear into my stomach.

"I'm sorry."

"Ex... term... i... nate."

"Oswin," I muttered, stepping further back.

"Exterminate!"

"Oswin, wait!"

I scrambled back toward the door as the chains snapped off.

"You don't have to do this! They turned you but look at what you've done so far! You are still good! You are still you! Oswin, please!"

The Dalek stopped just in front of me.

"Oswin?"

"Why do they hate you," she asked. "You and that man. Why do they hate you so much?"

"I fought them. With him. More times than I can count."

"We have grown stronger out of fear."

"I know. That's... That's part of why we tried to step away. Stop giving them a reason to be stronger."

"Run."

"What," I asked. "What did you say?"

"Run," she repeated. "I've taken down the forcefield. The Daleks have begun their attack. Run.

I blinked at her a few times. I couldn't think of what to say.

"Oswin-"

"I am Oswin Oswald. I fought the Daleks and I am human. Remember me."

I grinned at her. "Yeah. I will. Thank you."

"Run," she urged me. I nodded and turned around as I heard something start crumbling around me. "Go save that clever boy of yours... and remember."

I have never thought about how difficult it is to run while you're crying. It hinders every system you had. Eyesight and breathing and your sense of direction gets shot by the emotion.

It was a miracle that I made it to the teleport in time. I jumped into the Doctor, hugging his as tight as I could.

"You alright?"

"We don't have time," I shrugged it off as I stepped back. There was another rumble. "We have to go."

He nodded. He hit a button on his control panel.

The Daleks were panicking when we got there. We ended up inside the TARDIS, but we could still hear them worrying about being under attack.

"You guys should have seen this coming," the Doctor yelled. "The thing about me and teleports is that I have really good aim. Pinpoint accurate, in fact. Or, to put it another way..."

"Please don't," I begged, going to grab his arm.

"Suckers!"

He stepped out of the TARDIS before I could stop him. I followed him out. If I couldn't stop him, then I could be next to him when he got himself killed.

The Dalek yelled at us, "Identify yourself! Identify!"

"What," the Doctor asked. "You know me."

"She did it," I whispered.

"Who did what," the Doctor turned to me.

"We should go," I said.

The Dalek yelled again, "Identify yourself!"

"The Doctor... The Oncoming Storm-"

"Titles are not meaningful in this context. Doctor who?"

I let out a sharp, relieved breath at the question. And then at how the question spread like wildfire.

"Come on," I grabbed the Doctor's hand.

He didn't question me any further, just following me back inside as the Daleks continued yelling.

Our next stop after that was Rory and Amy's home. They stepped out, waving to us as we went.

As the TARDIS took off again, it felt like the adrenaline finally wore off, I felt the tears coming back to my eyes.

I covered my mouth, leaning forward a bit and laying my other hand on the railing. The sobs started long before I ever had a chance to stop them.

"(Y/n)?- Hey," the Doctor walked over. He reached out and touched my arm.

It was as if that made me snap back to my senses. I quickly wrapped my arms around him, hiding my face in his shoulder.

"Hey, hey," he whispered, hugging me back. He ran his hand up and down my back a bit. "What happened?"

"I was too late," I muttered. I leaned back, wiping my eyes as I did. The Doctor's hands touched my sides. "I... I found her, but they... they had done a complete transformation."

"The milk and eggs," he mumbled.

"She... She wasn't even aware of it," I continued. "That's why she thought she had all of this stuff. She really thought that she was still human. That she was just waiting so I could save her."

The Doctor leaned over to kiss my forehead before pressing his against mine. "There was nothing you could have done."

I didn't respond for a moment.

"(Y/n)..."

"She did something," I said. "She got into their telepathic web and... she deleted all of the information about you and me."

"Really?"

"She saved our lives. And all I gave her was false hope."

The Doctor pulled me into another hug. "I'd like to think you saved hers as well. In some way."

I closed my eyes.

"A new way of thinking can save someone more than we'll ever know."

I would love to think that he was right.

And maybe he was, but it would be a very long time before I accepted that possibility.

-----------------------

Navigation Guide

What I Write For

Some Original Characters

#eleventh doctor imagine #eleventh doctor fanfiction #eleventh doctor x reader #doctor who x reader #doctor who imagine #doctor who fanfiction #imagine #fanfiction #x reader #matt smith x reader #matt smith fanfiction #matt smith imagine

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livesfordrama16 · 2 months ago

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What my OC would say in Doctor Who: Ninth Doctor

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Entering the Nestene lair*

Hydra: Well this looks familiar~

Rose: How, we haven't been here before?

Hydra: No, It just reminds me of my sisters room

Rose: Your sister has chains in her room?

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Cassandra: I am the last Pure Human

Hydra: HA, yeah sure, tell yourself that if it makes you feel comfortable, you up right trampoline

Rose: Ouch

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Man: Can't keep them down sir! They walk!

*Nine turns to Hydra"

Nine: Isn't that something you should be angry about because of the balance of life and death?

Hydra: Hey, as long as the souls go into the after life the bodies are up for grabs

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Harriet Jones: Who's not human?

Rose: They are not human

Harriet Jones: They are not human?

Hydra: I'm not even an Alien

Harriet Jones: What????

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Guard: Thank you doctor but I think I know how to fight a single tin robot

Hydra: That single tin robot killed 14 of your staff but alright!

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*Adam Mitchell getting information into his brain and expose The Doctor, Rose and Hydra*

Hydra: OH THAT MEAT BAG IS GETTING EXEECUTED WHEN I'M DONE WITH HIM!

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Hydra: I have these really cute bats as my pets, though they only appear when someone disrupted the balance of life and death... *looks at Rose with a too wide smile*

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Little Boy with gas mask: Are you my mummy?

Hydra: I think the universe will have collapsed if I did have children

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Nine on phone: Slitheen heading north!

Hydra: Yes sir~

*Stretches their arm out and a gust of wind blows the people out of the way and the window pane, jumping out and grabbing onto a pole Bayonetta style*

Hydra: Going down~

*Slides down pole*

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Dalek Emperor: I am the GOD of ALL Daleks

Hydra: AHAAHAHAHAHAH, oh please, oh great Dalek Emperor!

Hydra: Y̶̡̱̠̹͛̓́͌́͑͆̑̈́̀́̓̉͑̋̅ȏ̸̝̙̻̗͕̮͔̤̮̦͎̳͚̳̆͆̓͌̑͗̆͆͗́̌̀̀̈́͜͜͠͠ų̵̨̨̬̯̮̙̘̘̾́̽̊͂̽̾͂̔̈́͠ ̷̞͍̬̬̗̰͍̫̰͉̐͐̎̈́̿̇̎̍̌̆͘͝ǎ̶̡̨̭̖̫̥̞̩̱͈̤͖̳͇̯̈́̚ͅͅr̶͍͚͔͎̖̻͈̿̇́̾͝ę̵̘̱̝̪̣̭̰̱͓͙̦͚͎̳̞̽̅̄̈́̓͂̊͘̚͝ ̸̼̖̩̗̙͍͓̠̬̺̟̠̈́͠ͅn̶͎̮̋̈̉̍̎̋̐̋̾ớ̵̛͚̩͖̖͉̗̮̱̓̈́̓̓̓̅̐̅͗̈́͂̚͘ť̵̙̗̣͎̮̜̱̣̩̤̤̪̄̉̑̐̑̀͛̋̐̒͒̓̌͠ ̸̡̣̻̘̗̬̝̲̼̪̭͖͇͓͙̾̽̋̈́̇̓̂̀̀̕͠o̴̡̰͉̩̝̜̝̣̫̍̾̕n̶̢͕͇̠̬͈̹̺̜̳̦͈̜̆̇̃ ̸̢̤̠̦͚̀̈́͝O̵̡̗̟̤̰͚̞̤̫̺͔͍͋̍̅́͌͑̿̕̚͜U̴̳͋͋̈́̐̑̓͗̄̔̆́̓̽̒̔̈̑Ŗ̶̱̳̟̺̣̝̯͙̥͕̩̳̙̻̪̾͌͊̊̅̎́̃̃̎̚͘̚̚͠͝͝ ̸̨̢̫͖̱̥̤̲̻͉̣͔̠̲͝ͅL̵̝͌̋͐̌͌̎̚̕Ḛ̶̛̦̦͖̻̠͊̀͘ͅV̸̛̦͒̐̿̔̈́̍͌̌̂͝Ẽ̴̢̧̨̛͔̯̗̹̳̘̼̲̮̿̈́̃̽̿͆͊͛͒ͅĻ̷̥̩̣̤̩̦̠̱͎̹̩̹͖͕̇̀́͆̈́̉̆̀̍̓̾͛

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*After seeing the Tenth regeneration*

Hydra: Oh hello pretty boy~

Rose: His face is different!

Hydra: Yeah and now we have David Tennant as the Doctor

Rose: Who?!!?

Hydra: No one important

#doctor who #tenth doctor #ninth doctor #rose tyler #the empty child #oc #The Doctor x OC

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doctorkinktraveller · 1 year ago

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[DALEK SAUCER]

EMPEROR [OC]: Patience, my brethren.

#doctor who #tardis #9th doctor #9th incarnation #parting of the ways #dalek #emperor of the daleks

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thegeekprompts · 5 months ago

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RP MASTERLIST

Below you will find a masterlist of many fandoms and muses. To be added t this list, reblog THIS post

Last update: 18th of August 2024

BILLIE BUST-UP

BARNABY - CANON - spookyowlman

BORDERLANDS

HANDSOME JACK - CANON - pateretfilia HANDSOME JACK - CANON DIVERGENT - pyramultimuse

CARS (DISNEY)

TOPAZ MCLAREN - OC - blue-jewel-muses

CASTLEVANIA

ALUCARD - CANON - bloodxstarved RICHTER BELMONT - CANON - hxdrostorms

CRITICAL ROLE

BEAUREGARD LIONETT - CANON - playedbetter CALEB WIDOGAST - CANON - playedbetter FJORD - CANON - playedbetter MOLLYMAUK TEALEAF - CANON - playedbetter

CUCUMBER QUEST

CUCUMBER - CANON/AU - wizard-of-night

DOCTOR WHO

12th DOCTOR - CANON DIVERGENT - rpwithoutlimit 13th DOCTOR - CANON DIVERGENT - rpwithoutlimit 14th DOCTOR - CANON DIVERGENT - rpwithoutlimit CYRUS - OC - musesreunite NOMAD - OC - musesreunite NOTA - OC - dalek-nota RAWYA - OC - musesreunite THE ARCHIVIST - OC - thearchival THE MASTER - CANON - musesreunite

DRAGON AGE

ANDERS - CANON DIVERGENT - playedbetter COLE - CANON - playedbetter CULLEN RUTHERFORD - CANON DIVERGENT - playedbetter DORIAN PAVUS - CANON DIVERGENT - playedbetter GARRETT HAWKE - OC - playedbetter JUSTICE - CANON DIVERGENT - playedbetter SEBASTIAN VAEL - CANON - playedbetter ZINNIA LAVELLAN - OC - playedbetter

FANDOMLESS

EZRA CAGNEY - OC - ironwoodwizard HADES - CANON DIVERGENT/OC - hades-kami OLEANDER IRONWOOD - OC - ironwoodwizard

GOOD OMENS

AZIRAPHALE - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr CROWLEY - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr CROWLEY - CANON - pyramultimuse

GOT/HOTD

AEGON II TARGARYEN - CANON DIVERGENT - sunfyre-rider AEMOND TARGARYEN - CANON - vhagar-rider DAEMON II TARGARYEN - OC - vermithorbonded

HANNIBAL

WILL GRAHAM - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr HANNIBAL LECTER - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr

HOLLOW KNIGHT

HOLLOW KNIGHT - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

HICCUP - CANON - dragonmasterhiccup

LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

ALUNE - CANON - playedbetter APHELIOS - CANON - playedbetter APHELIOS - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr BRIAR - CANON - playedbetter CAITLYN - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr DR.MUNDO - CANON - playedbetter EKKO - CANON - playedbetter JARVAN IV - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr SERAPHINE - CANON DIVERGENT - playedbetter VI - CANON - playedbetter VIKTOR - CANON - playedbetter VIKTOR - CANON - pyramultimuse ZOE - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr

PACIFIC RIM

PETER WILLIAMS - OC - blue-jewel-muses TANYA WILLIAMS - OC - blue-jewel-muses

PAUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA

ZATSU SAIGAMI - ORIGINAL CHARACTER - blue-jewel-muses

PLANES: FIRE & RECUE

AQUA - ORIGINAL CHARACTER - blue-jewel-muses

POKEMON

GYM LEADER MORTY - CANON - healbellls RIVAL BARRY - CANON - healbellls GYM LEADER JUAN - CANON - healbellls E4 MEMBER DRAKE - CANON - healbellls PROFESSOR ROWAN - CANON - healbellls TRAINER BRENDAN - CANON - healbellls MATSUBA - OC - healbellls

SAINT SEIYA

ARIES KIKI - CANON - santuxrio ARIES SHION - CANON - santuxrio CANCER DEATHMASK - CANON - santuxrio CANCEL DEATHTOLL - CANON - santuxrio GEMINI KANON - CANON - santuxrio SAGITTARIUS AIOLOS - CANON - santuxrio SCORPIO MILO - CANON - santuxrio TAURUS ALDEBARAN - CANON - santuxrio VIRGO SHAKA - CANON - santuxrio

SANDMAN

LUCIFER - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr MORPHEUS - CANON - wayfaringstrangxr

STAR WARS

OBI WAN KENOBI - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr JUNO - OC - blasters-and-sabers VESPER TURIN - OC - blasters-and-sabers BELLE FIOR - OC - blasters-and-sabers

STRANGER THINGS

EDDIE MUNSON - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr HENRY CREEL - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr

SUPERNATURAL

DEAN WINCHESTER - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr LUCIFER - CANON DIVERGENT - wayfaringstrangxr SAM WINCHESTER - CANON DIVERGENT - stanfordprepped

THE BOYS

HOMELANDER - CANON - red-white-and-trauma FRENCHIE / SERGE - CANON DIVERGENT - freakinxfrenchie

THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE

KUZCO - CANON - boombambaby

TRANSFORMERS

BIOSHOCK - OC - blue-jewel-muses IRONHIDE - CANON - blue-jewel-muses METROPLEX - CANON - blue-jewel-muses OME - OC - autobot-ome OMEGA SUPREME - CANON - guardian-of-cybertron SIDEWINDER - OC - blue-jewel-muses SIGMA SUPREME - CANON - blue-jewel-muses ZETA SUPREME - CANON - blue-jewel-muses

VAN HELSING

GABRIEL VAN HELSING - CANON - pyramultimuse SELINA - OC - blue-jewel-muses

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tardisgirlepic · 8 years ago

Text

Ch. 1: “The Empress of Mars” Analysis Doctor Who S10.9: Fastballs, Mars-Not-Mars, Rassilon References, Etc.

Apologies for getting these 3 chapters for “The Empress of Mars” out after the airing of “The Eaters of Light.” I post first on Archive Of Our Own, which I did before the 10th episode. With photos, it takes more time to post here.

NOTE: TPEW = “The Pyramid at the End of the World” TRODM = “The Return of Doctor Mysterio” THORS = “The Husbands of River Song” CAL = Charlotte Abigail Lux, the little girl from the Library TOS = The Original Series of Star Trek TNG = Star Trek: The Next Generation

Wow, So Much to Say and So Little Time!

It’s going to be impossible to cover all the main points of “The Empress of Mars” because of the huge data dump of subtext. DW has run out of time to tell the story in a slower manner. Even though the subtext has been coming at a fast pace all season, this episode crams more subtext into it than probably any I’ve ever seen. It must have taken Mark Gatiss awhile to figure out how to get all the references into the episode.

These week-to-week analyses are just the start, too, of how I read subtext. The one thing they lack is to place them in the broader context after several weeks and months, seeing how they fit in the subsequent story. For the most part, I don’t have that luxury of doing that here in a weekly format. That’s something for a post mortem, so to speak, after Season 10 is over.

Due to lack of time, I’m going to show only necessary photos.

The previous analysis was really long. My apologies. This analysis will be in multiple chapters.

Big Classic Who Connection

“The Empress of Mars” has a very Classic Who feel to it. It’s clear to me that Mark Gatiss is a fan of the Ice Warriors since this is the second story he’s written with them. His first one was “Cold War,” an 11th Doctor story.

However, the really big Classic Who connection comes at the end with the Alpha Centauri character, shown below. Alpha Centauri is an ambassador, or was, at least, in Classic Who.

The woman, Ysanne Churchman, who voices this character in “The Empress of Mars” is the same person who voiced the original Alpha Centauri in the 3rd Doctor story “The Curse of Peladon.” I had never heard of this character before. But now I’m geeking out with the Classic Who connection of getting the original actress.

Ysanne Churchman was born May 14, 1925, and according to the TARDIS Wikia, she has “voiced Alpha Centauri in the Doctor Who stories The Curse of Peladon, The Monster of Peladon and Empress of Mars, and an Eight Legs in the Doctor Who story Planet of the Spiders.”

Usurpation of a Different Type, Cowardice & Leadership

This story has a lot of themes. And one of them is usurpation. It’s not possession as we’ve seen but the situation where young Captain Catchlove in the British army is blackmailing older Colonel Godsacre with the colonel’s secret. Godsacre is a figurehead of sorts, and at any moment of the captain’s choosing, the captain can take command, and he does.

Interestingly, this theme is connected to another, which is people grappling with cowardice in the face of leadership. The colonel had a crisis of leadership sometime back, which led to his desertion. However, Catchlove fairs no better once he usurps control.

In fact, he is even more of a coward than Godsacre. Even though we see Godsacre run again from leadership once he, the Doctor, and Bill escape the brig, it’s Catchlove who throws Vincey in front of Ice Warror fire to save himself. And a little later, Catchlove takes Queen Iraxxa hostage to save himself again. In fact, he’s planning to desert his men and strand everyone on Mars.

In the end, Godsacre finds redemption when he pledges his life to die bravely in battle.

GODSACRE: God save the Queen. SOLDIERS: God save the Queen! IRAXXA: You will die with honour, with bravery, and in the service of those you swore to protect. GODSACRE: Thank you. You don't know what that means. Thank you. IRAXXA: But not today. In battle, soldier. To die in battle is the way of the warrior. Pledge your allegiance to me and my world, and I will ensure you have the opportunity. GODSACRE: My life and my service are yours. (kneels) To the end. IRAXXA: To the death, my friend. To the death.

It’s a good day to die, a warrior’s hope to die well in battle. While this phrase does come up in TNG with Klingons, like Worf, who is living on the Enterprise, among humans, I first heard this phrase as a child. It comes up in the movie Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman, a white man who was raised among a group of Cheyenne in the Old West after his parents were killed by another tribe.

I mention this because redemption and dying well have become themes for the 12th Doctor. Dying well is implicit in the whole idea of Norse culture and Ragnarök. And we’ll examine this more in the next chapter.

Anyway, Godsacre and Catchlove aren’t the only ones grappling with leadership in the episode. Iraxxa admonishes Friday, telling him his duty, as an Ice Warrior, is to command.

DOCTOR: His cryogenic cell was damaged. They saved him.

IRAXXA: And made him their pet!

FRIDAY: It was necessary to dissemble, Majesty. I thought only of your resurrection. It was a tactical decision.

IRAXXA: An Ice Warrior's duty is to command!

She doesn’t accept his excuse.

Cowardice & Leadership in a Broader Sense

Cowardice has long been a theme. The Doctor has been running all his life, according to the 10th Doctor in “The Sound of Drums,” ever since he looked into the Untempered Schism at the age of eight. In “Heaven Sent” and “Hell Bent,” we find out he’s been running from himself. He’s scared of the prophecy that he is the Hybrid, who will destroy the universe for love.

GENERAL: All Matrix prophecies concur that this creature will one day stand in the ruins of Gallifrey. It will unravel the Web of Time and destroy a billion billion hearts to heal its own.

Cowardly in Love

As a result, the Doctor knows he is not supposed to fall in love with anyone. Love is a curse, which comes back to the 7th Doctor story “The Curse of Fenric.” He then becomes cowardly in love, too, not telling people how he feels. We saw those results, for example, in River’s outpouring of anguish in THORS.

Cowardice in the Face of Leadership

In “Dark Water,” Danny Pink dies. Later, he has a chance to delete his emotions in the Nethersphere, but he can’t bring himself to do it. In “Death in Heaven,” the 2nd part of the finale to Season 8, Danny becomes a Cyberman with emotions.

He wants Clara to turn off his emotions because he can’t bring himself to do it. He’s a coward here. Yet Danny admonishes the Doctor for the Doctor’s cowardice of not wanting to turn off Danny’s emotions, either, and allowing Clara to do it. Danny is being hypocritical, but then Danny is a mirror of the Doctor.

DOCTOR: Danny, Danny, I need you to tell me. What are the clouds going to do? What is the plan? CYBER-DANNY: How would I know? DOCTOR: You're part of a hive mind now. Presumably that's how you found Clara. Just look. CYBER-DANNY: I can't see much. DOCTOR: Look harder. CYBER-DANNY: Clara, watch this. This is who the Doctor is. Watch the blood-soaked old general in action. I can't see properly, sir, because this needs activating. If you want to know what's coming, you have to switch it on. And didn't all of those beautiful speeches just disappear in the face of a tactical advantage? Sir. DOCTOR: (sighs) I need to know. I need to know. CYBER-DANNY: (sotto) Yes. (normal) Yes, you do. CLARA: Give me the screwdriver. DOCTOR: No. CLARA: Just do it, Doctor. Do as you are told. (The Doctor meets Cyber-Danny's gaze then gives Clara the sonic screwdriver.) CYBER-DANNY: Typical officer. Got to keep those hands clean.

In the end, it’s the women who step up. Clara turns off Danny’s emotions, and Bill, to help stop a slaughter, confronts Iraxxa in an irreverent way that even the Doctor wouldn’t or couldn’t consider.

Fear & Usurpation

Has the Doctor been usurped because of his fear when he was blind?

Interestingly, the Master talks about his own fear in the 10th Doctor episode “The Sound of Drums.”

MASTER: The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a

[Underpass]

MASTER [OC]: Time War. I was there when the

[Cabinet room]

MASTER: Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because I was so scared.

Turning human is a form of usurpation of a sort, where the human part takes full control of the Doctor’s body. In “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood,” we saw how different the Doctor was when he was human. He did things he would never do as a Time Lord, like having children beaten or sending them into battle.

Both the Master and Doctor turned themselves human out of fear. Is this how all the problems started? There is subtext in “The Empress of Mars” that suggests, not for the first time, that events are all the Doctor’s fault. We’ll look at this in the next chapter.

Imperialism: Another Type of Exploitation

Exploitation of beings is one of the main themes in Season 10 within different types of governments, economic systems, and government actions. We’ve seen it in a totalitarian government in “The Lie of the Land.” Before that, we’ve seen capitalism gone amok in multiple episodes. And now imperialism rears its ugly head in “The Empress of Mars.”

According to Wikipedia:

Imperialism is an action that involves a country (usually an empire or kingdom) extending its power by the acquisition of territories. It may also include the exploitation of these territories, an action that is linked to colonialism. Colonialism is generally regarded as an expression of imperialism.

It is different from New Imperialism, as the term imperialism is usually applied to the colonization of the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries, as opposed to the expansion of Western Powers (and Japan) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, both are examples of imperialism.

Since exploitation of groups of people, racism, and species-ism are heavily referenced, especially this season, I expect this has to be at the heart of the story with the Doctor. It comes back to the question: why is Caecilius a slave in Pompeii to begin with? Is it because he is a Janus of sorts but turned himself human? The Janus could also possibly relate to Missy and the Master, where Missy represents the future and the Master the past.

Imperialism, Robinson Crusoe, Friday & Daniel Defoe

Robinson Crusoe, a 1719 novel by Englishman Daniel Defoe, is important to look at since Friday, the Ice Warrior, is specifically mentioned as being named for the character in the book.

In the novel, Robinson Crusoe is an Englishman whose father wants him to study law. Initially, Crusoe is committed to obeying, but he eventually capitulates to the temptation of the sea and embarks on a ship with a friend. They nearly die in a storm. On his second voyage, Moorish pirates seize the ship, and Crusoe gets enslaved. Later, he and a slave boy break free, and Crusoe sells the slave boy.

Years later, he gets involved in the slave trade when he joins an expedition to bring slaves from Africa, but he gets shipwrecked in a storm, along with 3 animals. He reads the Bible and becomes religious, so here is another religious conversion event, similar to the Doctor going through the Great Work.

Wikipedia says

More years pass and Crusoe discovers native cannibals, who occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. At first he plans to kill them for committing an abomination but later realizes he has no right to do so, as the cannibals do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of obtaining one or two servants by freeing some prisoners; when a prisoner escapes, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion "Friday" after the day of the week he appeared. Crusoe then teaches him English and converts him to Christianity.

Friday, too, wants to eat the people they kill, but Crusoe forbids it. Crusoe spends 28 years marooned, the last 4 with his servant, Friday, according to Wikipedia, “on a remote tropical desert island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. The story has since been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966, but various literary sources have also been suggested.”

The expression "Man Friday," comes from the novel and describes a male personal assistant or servant, especially one who is particularly competent or loyal. "Girl Friday" is the female equivalent. (Nardole is, at times, playing the Doctor’s Man Friday.)

It’s the interpretations of the novel that I find very important because they symbolize themes, especially in Season 10. It’s James Joyce’s that I find particularly interesting. According to Wikipedia:

Novelist James Joyce noted that the true symbol of the British Empire is Robinson Crusoe, to whom he ascribed stereotypical and somewhat hostile English racial characteristics: "He is the true prototype of the British colonist. ... The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit in Crusoe: the manly independence, the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity." In a sense Crusoe attempts to replicate his society on the island. This is achieved through the use of European technology, agriculture and even a rudimentary political hierarchy. Several times in the novel Crusoe refers to himself as the "king" of the island, whilst the captain describes him as the "governor" to the mutineers. At the very end of the novel the island is explicitly referred to as a "colony". The idealised master-servant relationship Defoe depicts between Crusoe and Friday can also be seen in terms of cultural imperialism. Crusoe represents the "enlightened" European whilst Friday is the "savage" who can only be redeemed from his barbarous way of life through assimilation into Crusoe's culture. Nonetheless Defoe also takes the opportunity to criticise the historic Spanish conquest of South America.

According to Wikipedia, Defoe’s “most successful poem, The True-Born Englishman (1701), defended the [King of England William III, who was Dutch-born] against the perceived xenophobia of his enemies, satirising the English claim to racial purity.”

Interestingly, racism was not overt in “The Empress of Mars,” and at least from what we saw, there was tolerance of both Vincey and Bill, at least race-wise. We did see sexism, which added realism for the time period. On top of that, Vincey had a picture of Alice, the white woman he wanted to marry. So I found the message of human toleration hopeful from the start, except for Godsacre’s initial reaction to the Doctor. Most likely, there’s more going on here with the Doctor than what it appears.

Instead of racism, species-ism is a problem with both the humans and the Ice Warriors. The humans have made Friday a servant, just like Robinson Crusoe did, and they want to claim another planet as their own. On the other hand, Iraxxa calls humans pink things and worms.

I see this episode as hopeful in the end, where the 2 sides show tolerance and cooperation, overcoming whatever prejudices they have to live, work, and die together.

While the themes are sound, we can’t trust the setting.

They’re in the Library Matrix

From the start, the Matrix makes its presence known. Things aren’t happening the way they appear.

NASA

At the beginning of the episode, the shot of NASA looks very digitized, so we know right away this is in the Matrix. Also, there’s a reflection line (red arrow) to tell us this isn’t real.

Inside NASA, there’s another reflection line (red arrow). Also, there are at least 3 types of computers (yellow arrows) in the mission control room. While I’m not an expert on working at NASA, I’ve been in a similar environment. The computers would most likely all be the same in this type of environment. Maintaining multiple types of computers (one is a laptop) costs more money and can create potential problems.

Doctor Fades into the Clockwork

Interestingly, right at the end of the NASA scene, the Doctor smiles at the “God Save the Queen” message, which seems odd once again. Then, a mist of sorts starts to superimpose itself over the Doctor, and the color mutes before he starts to fade into the clockwork, as shown in the image below. He becomes part of the machinery.

Mars Is Not Mars

We know the Doctor, Bill, and Nardole can’t be on Mars for multiple reasons. The Doctor while on Mars said, “Mind you, there's a lot here that doesn't make sense.” So true! These are just a few of the problems:

Martian Gravity

Since Mars has a lot less mass than Earth, the surface gravity on Mars, according to NASA, is only 37.5% of the surface gravity on Earth. Therefore, if you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh only 37.5 pounds on Mars. The moon’s mass is about 1/6 of Earth, so 100 pounds on Earth weighs only 16.7 pounds on the moon.

While people on Mars wouldn’t be bouncing as much as on the moon when they walked, there would still be a noticeable difference in how people moved.

Martian Oxygen

To prove there was oxygen on the Mars-not-Mars, there was a fire. That didn’t preclude any harmful elements or compounds, though. Nardole, the Doctor, and Bill could still have died when they took off their helmets.

On Earth, our atmosphere is mostly made of nitrogen, 78%, while oxygen accounts for about 21% Argon, carbon dioxide, and smaller amounts of other gases make up the rest.

On Mars, according to the Universe Today, the atmosphere is composed of 96% carbon dioxide, 1.93% argon and 1.89% nitrogen along with traces of oxygen and water. The atmosphere is not breathable without a spacesuit or an artificial environment. Even if the Ice Warriors had created an artificial environment, that doesn’t account for the gravity issues, unless this is a spaceship with artificial gravity.

There’s also less atmospheric pressure on Mars.

It’s interesting that oxygen is once again a subject and that there would be a lack thereof. I’m betting “Oxygen” will be referenced again in at least one subsequent episode.

Spacesuits Are Fake

The helmets wouldn’t have helped anyway because the spacesuits are the 2-piece variety. Therefore, they can’t be airtight the way they should be. There’s no way the steam punk spacesuits of the Victorians are airtight. I do love the ear horns. Nice touch. Why does Catchlove’s helmet have all those viewing holes? How many eyes does he have?

Helmet Lights

Most of the time, we can see 4 lights in the helmets, a sign they are in the Library. A few times, we can see 5, which is a weapon of mass destruction. This episode is very much foreshadowing the Doctor’s fate, which we’ll examine in the subtext references.

Martian Ice Cap Obscuring “God Save the Queen”

There’s no way the Martian ice cap wasn’t there in Victorian times. Therefore, the whole “God Save the Queen” message couldn’t possibly be written the way it appears.

Pitching Fastballs: Astounding Number of Internal & External References

Wow, there are an astounding number of internal and external references in the subtext! On the whole, “The Empress of Mars” possibly has more internal and external references to movies, TV shows, books, short stories, songs, British terminology, mythology, and other DW episodes than any other episode so far that I’ve seen in DW. Also, I believe Season 10 has more of these internal and external references than any other season of DW.

“The Empress of Mars” is a great example of fastballs: the copious subtext references that we have to deal with in one week before the next episode airs. Because I had to look up most of the references, it’s taken time just to understand all of this before I get to write anything, which cut into my writing time. There are several references to Classic Who episodes, but I only had seen a few of them before this episode.

On top of this, some of the external references are actually indirect allusions to other DW episodes. So there is a big bowl of spaghetti to look at.

“The Empress of Mars,” The Princess of Mars & Star Wars

Right from the start, the title of the episode, “The Empress of Mars,” is an external reference to a classic science fantasy novel A Princess of Mars by American author Edgar Rice Burroughs. It’s the first book of his Barsoom series.

The Princess of Mars and the Barsoom series is what Star Wars is based on. In 2012, Disney put out the John Carter movie but horribly marketed it. Many people didn’t realize this John Carter story started it all. The original story really is remarkable given Burroughs wrote it in 1912.

The Doctor even made a reference, too, to Star Wars, when he said, “I have a bad feeling about this.” That quote is said in every Star Wars movie at least once.

Here’s what StarWars.com has to say about Burroughs’ story The Princess of Mars and subsequent books and the John Carter film.

John Carter is a film directed by Pixar alum Andrew Stanton that follows Civil War veteran John Carter on his astounding trip to the planet Barsoom, which we know as Mars. There he meets a princess leading a rebellion, fights against an evil empire, and meets a variety of strange aliens on a desert wasteland of a planet, gets powers far beyond the abilities of normal men, and encounters a strange religion. There are times where he’s captured, thrown into an arena to fight bizarre monsters, and other times where he’s forced to rescue a princess.

It sounds like I could be talking about Star Wars just as easily as John Carter. And since John Carter came out in 2012, you might be thinking, “No! You’ve got it the other way around! John Carter was influenced by Star Wars.”

But you’d be surprised.

Here’s a quote from George Lucas in a 1977 issue of Science Fiction Review: “Originally, I wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie, with all the trimmings, but I couldn’t obtain all the rights. So I began researching and found where [Flash Gordon creator] Alex Raymond got his idea: The works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, especially his John Carter series of books.”

We examined many chapters ago how the Doctor was going to be involved in a rebellion. We’ve seen the evil empire in “The Lie of the Land.” Also, we’ve even seen much of the rest of it, including a strange religion – the Church of the Papal Mainframe, the Silence, and the Monks.

Mars Has Significant Ties to Previous Episodes

When I think of Mars references in DW, I think of “The Waters of Mars,” which “The Pilot” alluded to with all the water coming off of Heather. However, there are other episodes that are very important, too. BTW, this isn’t an exhaustive list:

“The Pyramids of Mars”

In “The Pyramids of Mars,” a 4th Doctor story, Sutekh, according to the TARDIS Wikia, is a powerful extraterrestrial, also known as Sutekh the Destroyer. He was an Osiran who planned to destroy all life in the universe. Afraid of all forms of life which might one day challenge his hegemony, he became the destroyer of all living things. The Osiran inspired Egyptian mythology.

At one point, he usurped the Doctor’s body.

“The Ambassadors of Death”

“The Ambassadors of Death” is an early 3rd Doctor story with Liz Shaw as his companion. I had never seen this story before. It can possibly explain a bit about what is happening in Season 10.

The Doctor joins UNIT's investigation of the mystery surrounding Mars Probe 7. The Recovery 7, on a rescue mission, runs into problems once it comes back to Earth. The 3 astronauts are kidnapped. It turns out these astronauts are a triad of radiation-dependent alien ambassadors, who swapped places with the 3 human astronauts.

According to the TARDIS Wikia, the Doctor finds that Mars Probe 7 is still orbiting in space. Intercepted by a huge, alien spaceship and taken aboard, the Doctor finds the real astronauts unharmed, but mind controlled. The aliens' captain threatens to destroy the Earth unless the 3 ambassadors are released.

The Doctor returns to Earth and discovers that the kidnapping of the ambassadors is part of a plot devised by xenophobic ex-astronaut General Carrington to frame the aliens. The general has a machine built to mind control them, forcing them to kill humans, so he can convince the world's authorities to wage war against the extraterrestrials.

The 3 ambassadors act like robots, very similar to the zombies in “Oxygen.” In fact, like the zombies, the aliens can kill with their touch. Once the aliens aren’t being mind controlled, they want to know why they have been made to kill when they came in peace. The Doctor and UNIT thwart the general’s plans and arrange an exchange of the ambassadors for the astronauts.

Interestingly, right at the end, there is a big structure overhead made of hexagons, symbolic of imprisonment. The Doctor walks out, representing his freedom as one of the astronauts.

In the 10th Doctor episode “Smith and Jones,” the Doctor talked about roentgen radiation after using an X-ray machine to kill a Slab, a slave drone, who was trying to kill them.

MARTHA: What did you do? DOCTOR: Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. Killed him dead. MARTHA: But isn't that going to kill you? DOCTOR: Nah, it's only roentgen radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it.

Why would the Doctor or any Time Lord be playing with roentgen bricks in a nursery?

Interestingly, in the very 1st Dalek story called “The Daleks,” the Daleks talk about needing radiation:

DALEK 2: We need radiation to survive. So we must increase our supply of radiation.

DALEK 1: But there is only one way to do that.

DALEK 2: Exactly. We may have to explode another neutron bomb.

There’s a possible theme here of needing radiation to survive in 2 of 3 episodes.

Tip: When reading subtext, always look for patterns (at least 3 occurrences). Or what could be the beginning of a pattern (2 occurrences). Themes that keep coming up are foreshadowing the coming canon. Patience is typically required because it’s rare for foreshadowing to become canon in the next episode. Usually, things take years to become canon. However, Season 10 and the 12th Doctor are different.

There are several key points here, making patterns that we’ve encountered.

1. There is a triad involved.

2. There is usurpation, not of possessing a body, but of mind controlling the aliens to kill, something they normally wouldn’t do; they came in peace.

3. Their touch kills, like the zombies in “Oxygen.” (This isn’t a pattern with 3 occurrences that I know of, but with everything else matching it becomes part of the pattern.)

4. We know the subtext shows in “Deep Breath” that the Doctor is a cyborg. Is he really a cyborg? Is it that he is just mind controlled to look that way, or is he really that way? If so, how did he get that way?

5. The aliens are being framed, which is something we examined as a possibility in my analysis of “The Lie of the Land,” relating back to how the Valeyard, the Master, and the Time Lords were working to frame the 6th Doctor.

Therefore, “The Ambassadors of Death” does help substantiate my hypothesis that the Doctor is being framed and being used to kill against his will. And this also goes along with the image we keep taking a look at, shown below, from “Human Nature” that has said all along the 24th Doctor (the Roman Doctor) is in the Library metaphor being framed and used against his will. And it’s because he’s unbalanced by love. For the extensive examination, take a look at Chapter 10 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

There’s a similar photo of the 12th Doctor that we looked at from TRODM in Lucy’s kitchen in the pre-airing analysis of the episode in Chapter 9 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who.

A cyborg assassin and time travel are themes of The Terminator, which Bill mentioned in “The Empress of Mars.” The Terminator goes back in time to kill someone to prevent a revolt. Not only does this have similarities to using the ambassadors as cyborg-type killing machines, but also the movie’s concept of an assassin relates to the 4th Doctor story, “The Deadly Assassin,” which we examined in my analysis of “Extremis.” In it, the Master frames the Doctor.

“The Christmas Invasion”

While the first 10th Doctor story “The Christmas Invasion” has just a small reference to Mars, it is very significant. Britain sends the Guinevere One space probe on a mission to the red planet and loses touch with it, which is a call back to “The Ambassadors of Death.” While, the signal loss is only for a short time, unlike the Classic Who episode, we see a triad of assassin Santas. Also, Mickey and the others talk of the Santas being pilot fish, a reference to the 12th Doctor. Santa, for that matter, is also a reference to the Doctor. Therefore, there is quite a bit of similarities to “The Ambassadors of Death.”

Guinevere is also a character in the King Arthur legend.

“The Waters of Mars,” “The Five Doctors,” the Ice Queen’s & Rassilon’s Tombs

Back in Chapter 19 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, I posed a question. “Did the 10th Doctor bring a curse upon himself when he announced he was Time Lord Victorious” in “The Waters of Mars”?

Here’s what I said

I believe he is either a version of Rassilon or a slave of Rassilon, since this most likely comes with a curse of immortality, just like with the Ring of Rassilon.

Rassilon, in the past, has slept eternally in his tomb while his mind lived on in the Matrix. Putting on the ring grants the wearer immortality. However, it imprisons the wearer in the stone of Rassilon, watching over him forever. In “The Five Doctors,” a Time Lord puts on the ring and gets petrified as a relief on the side of Rassilon’s sarcophagus. The ring comes with the warning:

To lose is to win And he who wins shall lose

So Time Lord Victorious loses.

Weeping Angels are probably involved in this.

We’ve actually looked at “The Five Doctors” multiple times in recent chapters because Rassilon’s insignia keeps coming up in Season 10. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the Ice Queen’s tomb in “The Empress of Mars” looks similar to Rassilon’s tomb, shown below, in “The Five Doctors.”

Rassilon is sleeping eternally (red arrow). However, we see his projection from the Matrix (yellow arrow) of his head. The Time Lord on the right will end up in the blank area (white arrow) as a stone relief because he puts on Rassilon’s ring and gets immortality at a price of being a sentinel to Rassilon. This relief is one reason why I believe the Weeping Angels may have something to do with all of this.

In comparison, here’s the Ice Queen’s tomb, shown below. Like Rassilon’s tomb, the items underneath the body, in this case gems, have an effect on the body above.

In fact, both Rassilon and Iraxxa claim themselves as resurrected.

In “Hell Bent,” after Rassilon tries to have the Doctor executed, gunships show up

RASSILON: Excellent, General. You sent for reinforcements. DOCTOR: No, he didn't. (He puts on his sonic sunglasses.) DOCTOR: I did.

(The final troopers join the Doctor as the gunships train their weapons on Rassilon.)

RASSILON: What? I am Rassilon the redeemer! Rassilon, the resurrected! Gallifrey is mine!

In “The Empress of Mars,” Iraxxa talks to Friday, who is here sentinel:

IRAXXA: My Sentinel. You have fulfilled your pledge. I am resurrected!

Mars, the Roman God of War, and the Janus Connection

Mars is significant for multiple reasons. Not only is it the setting of multiple Martian episodes that have a bearing on what is happening, but also Mars was the Roman god of war. According to Wikipedia, he was also “an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter and he was the most prominent of the military gods in the religion of the Roman army.”

Interestingly, according to Wikipedia, “Mars was a part of the Archaic Triad along with Jupiter and Quirinus, the latter of whom as a guardian of the Roman people had no Greek equivalent.” And Quirinus: “In Augustan Rome, Quirinus was also an epithet of Janus, as Janus Quirinus.”

Regarding Janus: In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

This is significant because not only is there a triad, which we’ve examined in my analysis in “Extremis,” although not in the same context, but also we’ve examined the Janus connection, which shows up in “Face the Raven,” where Clara is killed. We also saw it in “The Pilot,” where Heather is shown as a Janus in a puddle. Since I never got to finish “The Pilot” analysis, I ended up talking about the Janus concept and mistaken identity in my analysis of “Oxygen.”

The Doctor is a mirror of the 2 Janus in “Face the Raven” as well as Heather. Interestingly, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. We know the Doctor is connected to time, and we’ve examined the Door/Doughnut metaphor (which would also cover passages and gateways) in Chapter 17 of Fairytales and Romance in Doctor Who, along with the Doctor’s struggle with duality in my analysis of “Oxygen.”

Therefore, it’s fitting that “The Empress of Mars” takes place on Mars-not-Mars for multiple reasons.

I’ve arrived at the symbology of duality and the Door/Doughnut metaphor (which includes gates, doorways, and passages) independently from the symbolism of Janus. Because everything connects, it verifies we are on the right track of reading the subtext.

Tip: When reading subtext in DW, just about all subtext will have multiple connections, so it should link up from various, independent directions. Once it does, you know these things are important and will become part of the canon in some form.

Alpha Centauri & Ice Warrior References

As we saw above, Alpha Centauri shows up in 2 stories, neither of which I had seen.

“The Curse of Peladon” & TOS: “Journey to Babel”

“The Curse of Peladon,” a 3rd Doctor episode, is very interesting, especially because DW obviously based this episode on parts of TOS: “Journey to Babel” and Spock’s background. Now, I understand better why Spock’s name comes up 5 times in “The Empty Child.”

Anyway, in “The Curse of Peladon,” according to the TARDIS Wikia:

The Doctor and Jo make a test flight in the TARDIS and arrive on the planet Peladon. Seeking shelter, they enter the citadel of the soon-to-be-crowned King Peladon, where the Doctor is mistaken for a human dignitary summoned to act as chairman of a committee assessing an application by the planet to join the Galactic Federation.

Here’s a case of mistaken identity. Only men of rank and women of royal blood are allowed in the royal throne room of Peladon. The Doctor and Jo become imposter Federation delegates – Jo impersonating a princess.

Every time the term “Federation” came up, I kept thinking of Star Trek. At first, I didn’t think anything of the soon-to-be king’s pedigree that he was half-human on his mother’s side. However, when characters started talking about the delegates voting on Peladon’s application to join the Federation and mining rights were involved, along with a strange murder, I suddenly realized this was based on parts of the TOS episode “Journey to Babel.” And the soon-to-be king was a mirror of Spock, who is the Doctor in DW, as “The Empty Child” makes clear.

According to Memory Alpha regarding “Journey to Babel”:

The delegates will be attending a conference on the neutral planetoid named Babel to decide the admission of the planet Coridan to the Federation, which is rich in dilithium but is poorly defended.

As the Enterprise comes under attack on the way to a diplomatic conference on Babel, one of the alien dignitaries is murdered, and Spock's estranged father Sarek is the prime suspect – but he is also deathly ill, and only Spock can save him.

In this Star Trek episode, we find out Spock broke tradition against the wishes of his father and joined Starfleet, an instrument of the Federation. In comparison, one of King Peladon’s trusted advisors is accused by another trusted advisor of abandoning “the ancient ways of our people.” And he says that this will bring the curse of Aggedor upon everyone. To avoid the curse, the advisor kills the other. The king wants to join the Federation, which would abandon the ancient ways.

The Doctor, as Spock, is a mirror of soon-to-be King Peladon. The prince wants to marry Jo, the Doctor’s companion.

In comparison to the Doctor-as-a-prince mirror in “The Curse of Peledon,” in “The Lie of the Land” the 12th Doctor is associated with Prince Charles (red arrow), shown behind the Doctor, and Lady Diana in her wedding dress (on the other side of his head). This happens inside the pyramid just before he touches the seated Monk’s head.

Then, in “The Curse of Peladon” both Alpha Centauri and Ice Warriors show up. The Ice Warriors are not the villains. In fact, one of the Ice Warriors saves the Doctor’s life.

Even more interesting is that there are emblems of Aggedor, the beast, shown below, whom people are afraid of. It looks like a pig or boar, which is reminiscent of the sheriff’s boar emblem in the 12th Doctor episode also penned by Mark Gatiss, “The Robot of Sherwood.”

“The Robot of Sherwood”

Here’s the Sheriff’s shield and emblem in “Robot of Sherwood.” This shield also shows up in THORS.

Surprisingly, Ice Warriors and Mars are also mentioned in “The Robot of Sherwood” in a conversation between the Doctor and Clara.

CLARA: Yeah, you. You stop bad things happening every minute of every day. That sounds pretty heroic to me.

(The Doctor licks something from a large metal spoon. Custard?)

DOCTOR: Just passing the time. Hey, what about Mars?

CLARA: What?!

DOCTOR: The Ice Warrior Hives.

CLARA: You said it was my choice.

The sheriff (a cyborg) was supposed to lose his head in the episode. However, it was to air just after journalists were decapitated, so the BBC, thinking better than to show a decapitation, edited it out.

“The Monster of Peladon” & TOS: “The Cloud Minders”

“The Monster of Peladon” is a sequel to “The Curse of Peladon.” However, it’s not that good. Both Alpha Centauri and Ice Warriors show up again, but this time the Ice Warriors are villains. This episode is based on the same premise as the TOS episode “The Cloud Minders.” In both the DW and TOS episodes, miners are at odds with the leadership on the planets.

The main thing I came away with from this sequel is that 50 years later, King Peladon was dead, and his daughter is now queen.

Another Master Reference

One of the internal references in “The Empress of Mars,” has the Doctor mirroring the Master again. At NASA, Knibbs starts counting down to the reception of the probe’s signal.

KNIBBS: I got everything crossed. Okay, people. Transmission arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six. (The big screen is now counting down to Download Commences with them.) DOCTOR: Five, four, three, two, one! Sorry, I could never resist a countdown.

In “Last of the Time Lords,” the Master says

MASTER: Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?

Additionally, the Doctor’s smile at “God Save the Queen” before the opening credits just seems really odd and out of character.

In the Next Chapters

There are so many references left to look at, so I’m planning on 2 more chapters to show you the meaning of at least part of them. For example, Friday is a lot more important than he might appear, so we’ll examine him in connection to more than just Robinson Crusoe. In another example, ravens show up in the subtext in multiple ways, which comes back to Clara. We’ll begin to look at some of the raven references in the next chapter. Then, there’s more to the Victorians than it appears, and I’ll show you examples of what I call collective symbology vs. individual symbology in relation to the troops. Additionally, we’ll look at how the subtext is coming together for Ragnarök and more.

Go to next chapter => Ch. 2: Friday, Odin & the Doctor; Missy’s 2 Faces; Etc.

#doctor who #twelfth doctor #bill potts #nardole #clara oswald #river song #eleventh doctor #amy pond #rory williams #tenth doctor #the empress of mars #meta #analysis

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ao3feed-doctorwho · 5 years ago

Text

Ex Terminate

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/35SiIQM

by BethNottingham

After his encounter with Rose Tyler and her humanness, the Dalek in the series one episode "Dalek" wanders the earth aimlessly, devoid of purpose and unsure of his own identity without the other Daleks or the emperor to serve. When he meets a little human child who reminds him of Rose and her kindness, he will question everything that he is. One-shot. Cross-posted to fanfiction.

Words: 4731, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 1 of Doctor Who What-Ifs

Fandoms: Doctor Who (2005)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Dalek(s) (Doctor Who)

Additional Tags: Friendship, Dalek human friendship, Introspection, Dalek - Freeform, Ghost In The Machine, Or rather soul in the murder machine, Character Study, Character Development, Contains OCs, Original Character - Freeform, Don't Like Don't Read, Rose Tyler Mention, Brief Child Endangerment, Drowning, Brief suicidal thoughts, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Self-Sacrifice, mildly AU

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/35SiIQM

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #doctor who #dw

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lesbianbeiovaz · 6 years ago

Text

Parallel: From Another World 12/34

It’s been a bit of a while but I am back with my all time favourite OC!

Rita Stone lives in our world. The world where a big blue box bigger on the inside is simply impossible. However, this all changes after what is most definitely an impossible event. Then again nothing is impossible with the Doctor. Follow Rita through time and space, learning about herself while struggling to comprehend her new life travelling with the Doctor and his companions.

AO3 | CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12

"Where have you been?" Rose asked Rita as she ran up to them leaning next to the door of the maths computer room. "The doors locked and we can't get in"

"I was busy" Rita mumbled opening the door with the sonic screwdriver.

"Busy?" Rose raised a brow and Sarah Jane shook her head smirking getting an idea of what Rita was doing possibly with a certian Doctor.

"Not like that" Rita groaned rolling her eyes and walking into the classroom heading straight for a computer.

"Here you take it Sarah Jane I feel sick after that" Rita made the excuse without even thinking about it giving Sarah Jane the sonic screwdriver. Sarah Jane took the screwdriver and leaned over a computer attempting to open it she hit the screwdriver with her hand lightly a few times then groaned.

"It's not working" she mumbled trying again.

"Give it to me" Rose walked over and took the screwdriver off of Sarah Jane then began to sonic at the computer.

"Used to work first time in my day." Sarah Jane commented crossing her arms clearly annoyed that the screwdriver was not working for her.

"Well, things were a lot simpler back then." Rose snapped at the woman.

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?" Sarah Jane asked noticing that Rita had left the room to give her and Rose some time (and space) to work things out.

"I've got a feeling you're about to," Rose muttered.

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding."

"I don't feel threatened" She paused then also noticed Rita was no longer with the two of them "by you if that's what you mean."

"But Rita?" Sarah Jane whispered raising a brow.

"A little" Rose mumbled sighing holding the sides of her arms across her chest.

"She doesn't mean it, Rose, I can see it in her eyes even if she doesn't know she knows it yet trust me, anyways that's good for me because I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."

"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?" Rose spoke sarcastically trying to possibly hurt the woman but having no effect.

"I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth."

"The thing is when you two met they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for you." Rose snapped not caring about Sarah Janes feelings anymore.

"I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe." Sarah Jane snapped back at Rose knowing that being passive was getting them both nowhere.

"Try me," Rose commented. Rita heard this from outside the room. She slowly entered the room again trying not to interrupt the two.

"Mummies."

"I've met ghosts." Rose tried to one up the woman.

"Robots. Lots of robots."

"Slitheen, in Downing Street."

"Daleks!"

Rose scoffed "Met the Emperor."

"Anti-matter monsters."

"Gas masked zombies."

"Real living dinosaurs."

"Real living werewolf."

"The Loch Ness Monster!"

"Deadly statues" Rita spoke up just wanting to get something out of this conversation the two turned to her and raised a brow. "Well, technically not yet but I have seen them and I now know that they're real"

"Seriously?" Rose chuckled a little. "Listen to us. It's like me and my mate Shireen. The only time we fell out was over a man, and we're arguing over the Doctor." She shook her head then perched herself on the edge of the computer desks, Rita walked over moved a chair and sat down placing her legs on the desk and resting her arms on her head looking very comfortable.

"With you, did he do that thing where he'd explain something at like, ninety miles per hour, and you'd go, what? and he'd look at you like you'd just dribbled on your shirt?" Rose asked.

"All the time." she laughed. "Does he still stroke bits of the Tardis?"

"Yeah! Yeah, he does. I'm like, do you two want to be alone?" Rose wiped her eyes and raised her brow, they continued to laugh while Rita sat there just enjoying herself and the two finally not arguing she noticed the Doctor walk in and raise a brow.

"How's it going?" He asked not questioning the two as to why they were laughing. They both started to laugh louder and have to rest there hands on their knees to keep upright.

"What?" He looked at them and then Rita who just shrugged. "Listen, I need to find out what's programmed inside these." Sarah Jane and Rose then laughed even louder.

"I did warn you yesterday Doctor" Rita grinned smugly.

"What? Stop it!" he ordered like a small child. Rita walked over and patted his shoulder. "Not sure how you're going to calm them down sorry, also I need to borrow the psychic paper, please?"

"What for?"

"Secrets" Rita winked at him.

"Is it dangerous?" He asked frowning.

"Most definitely, won't get me killed though" she grinned innocently. "I know what I'm doing Doctor, Foreknowledge remember?"

"Sometimes I don't trust you Rita Stone." He shook his head reaching into the inside of his coat pocket. Sarah Jane and Rose were now on the floor in hysterics.

"Ah but you trust me really" She joked as he handed her the psychic paper and then watched her walk off grinning to herself.

The brunette headed for the staff room, noticing that all the students were now heading inside she mentally groaned and started to run over trying to stop the Krillitanes from having their 'lunch'.

"Are you alright miss?" Multiple students had asked Rita on her way to the staff room. She tried to 'speed walk' past the students not to worry them however it was too slow and she had to pick up the pace changing the walk into a run. After arriving she noticed moat of the staff were inside she stood outside the door and breathed in deeply, this she had no ideas how it turned out the foreknowledge didn't include her decisions as she was never in the 'show'.

"Excuse me?" Rita spoke out loud noticing that thankfully none of the maths teachers were in the staff room. "Mister Finch says he wants you all to meet him in the science department preferably Mister Smiths room, told me to tell you to wait for him there. She held up the psychic paper.

The teachers nodded and then headed towards what was the Doctors class room which lucky was in the opposite direction to where Mister Finch and his Krillitane maths staff were coming in.

Rita followed the staff unaware of their boss being an alien that wanted to eat them to the class room and waited for them to enter before shutting the door and placing a lock on it. It wasn't anything like the Doctors sonic screwdriver but she knew he needed that so she had to do with second best. Lucky she eyed the lock and picked it up before exiting the staff room.

The brunette pleased with her work ran back to the maths computer room the Doctor, Rose and Sarah Jane were ingoing the long way round so she wouldn't bump into any Krillitane and become a snack before taking over the world and being stopped by the TimeLord. The halls were now almost silent and she knew that the students were almost all in their 'maths lesson' the brains of over one hundred children being used to take over the world.

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"Where have you been?" The Doctor asked not looking up from the CPU he was trying to get into.

"Lunch is meant to be around twelve, not eleven, had to stop it." She grinned, the Doctor looked up pausing what he was doing.

"Seriously?" He raised his eyebrows guessing what she was talking about.

"No" she lied "of course, I had to. The poor staff are probably scared for their lives stuck in your classroom."

"Why did you send them there and how did you keep them in there?"

"Well since you needed your sonic screwdriver and You don't exactly have a spare I found a big thick old lock in the staff room and used that." Rita grinned proudly.

"Oh, you are brilliant Rita!" He grinned hugging her then turning back to the CPU. "But I can't shift it."

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything!" Sarah Jane said surprised that it couldn't unlock the CPU

"Anything except a deadlock seal." The Doctor sighed.

"And wood, you would think that he would change that considering his ship is made of that on the outside. A lot of 'wood' mentioned in the sentence," Rita thought out loud.

"And wood" the Doctor groaned in annoyance but not at the brunette. "There's got to be something inside here." He hit the computer trying to get it to work.

"That won't help you Doctor" Rita chuckled a little at how thick he was acting for a 900-year-old TimeLord that was no doubt smarter than the entire human race.

"What're they teaching those kids?" He rhetorically asked himself. "Rita?" he sighed.

"I don't know Doctor"

"What do you mean you don't know?" Sarah Jane asked. "I thought you had foreknowledge.

"I don't know everything, I am only human" Rita sighed. "Just have to keep trying Doctor somethings bound to happen.

The Doctor continued to try and open the CPU while Rita, Sarah Jane and Rose stayed out of the way and waited, they all jumped back when the computer monitor it suddenly switched itself on.

"You wanted the programme? There it is." Sarah Jane pointed out that the computer was now on.

"Some sort of code." The Doctor frowned his eyes then widened "No. No, that can't be." The Doctor slowly walked towards the large screen at the front of the room, his face full of horror and his eyes widened. "The Skasis Paradigm."He identified it as "They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"The Skasis what?" He gritted his teeth not looking over at Sarah Jane. "The God-maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?" Rose asked frowning. "Yes." The Doctor turned around. "And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil." He cracked it. "That oil from the kitchens, it works as a, as a conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer."

"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them." Rose eyes widened

"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?"

"Two thousand and sixty five.' Rita thought

"Two thousand and sixty-five. Oh, my God." Rose answered automatically

'Wait what.' Rita thought her mouth dropped open. No one else noticing the brunettes expression. 'I haven't even touched the chips and there is no way I remembered that'

"But why use children?" Sarah Jane asked. "Can't they use adults?"

"No, it's got to be children. The God maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code, they're using their souls." The Doctor gritted his teeth again. Rita looked over her shoulder at the computer. She slowly walked over to it in the corner like it was pulling her in. She had no control.

"Let the lesson begin." Finch spoke proudly of his work. The Doctor, Rose and Sarah Jane all turned round. Finch noticed Rita over by the computer and grinned then flicked his eyes away from the brunette before the Doctor or the other two females noticed "Think of it, Doctor. With the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mister Finch? Call me old-fashioned, but I like things as they are." He mocked the Krillitane.

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order? Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good." He attempted to persuade the Doctor.

"What, by someone like you?"

"No, someone like you. The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a God at my side. Imagine what you could do. Think of the civilisations you could save." He hit the Doctor where it really hurt. Who he could save. "Perganon, Assinta. Your own people, Doctor, standing tall." Finch grinned seeing how it effected him. "The TimeLords reborn."

"Doctor, don't listen to him." She tried to help.

Finch snapped his head over to Sarah Jane. "And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young, fresh, never wither, never age, never die." He turned back to the Doctor smiling again. "Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us. "

"I could save everyone." He murmured thinking aloud.

"Yes." Finch cooed.

"I could stop the war."

"No." Sarah Jane snapped. "The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it's a world, or a relationship, everything has its time. And everything ends."

"What lovely words miss Smith. It's a shame you're not as clever as your brunette friend over there, ruined my lunch and didn't even eat a single chip." Mister Finch moved his gaze from Sarah Jane over to Rita grinning madly. The Doctor snapped out of the moment picked up a chair throwing it at the huge screen at the front then turned to Rita pulling her away from the computer by her arm.

"Out!" He shouted switching from grabbing hold of Rita's arm to the brunette's hand and pulling her away. 'How?' The same word repeatedly came up in his mind as he ran heading out of the room taking the lead. still holding onto Rita.

"What the hell happened?!" Rose shouted following the Doctor and Rita in the corridor.

"I- I don't know. It's like it pulled me in" Rita stuttered trying to explain.

"But he said you didn't touch the chips?!" Sarah Jane also shouted.

"Not the time!" The Doctor shouted back turning a corner and running down the stairs.

"I didn't-" Rita began to talk.

The Doctor then interrupted her speech. "Like I said, not the time we can talk about this later" he cut her off continuing to run down the stairs.

"What is going on?" Mickey who then turned his head looking up the stairs at the sound of deadly krillitanes not that far away from the group.

"That explain it?" Rita snapped not understanding why she did.

"Canteen lets go!" The Doctor shouted running in the direction of the canteen. Rita felt her body jolt almost falling over at the sudden sprint made by the Doctor who forgot his hand was still firmly connected to the brunettes mainly because he knew that the krillitanes will no doubt want her for her unbelievablely smart mind that he still couldn't figure out how it was possible but also because somewhere inside him in a tiny corner of the TimeLord's body even when he wanted to deny it so very much, he though it just felt right.

"Are they my teachers?" Kenny asked in shock noticing the Krillitane behind him as they ran into the canteen

"Yeah. Sorry." The Doctor said not very sincerely.

"We need the Doctor and the young brunette alive. She has a clever mind." Finch grinned staring right at Rita until the Doctor stepped in front of her blocking the Krillitanes view. "As for the others? You can feast."

The group all dived under different tables the Doctor pulling Rita to the ground with him causing her to crash to the floor. Rita saw a krillitane dive down at her, she closed her eyes waiting for the impact and the pain but then noticed there was none, slowly opening her eyes she jumped back right into the Doctor who also jumped at the sudden movement. The Krillitane which had dived to attack was now lying right in front of her unconscious or possibly dead.

"K9! " Sarah Jane shouted proudly grinning at the metal dog.

"Suggest you engage running mode, mistress."

"Come on!" The Doctor pulled Rita out from under the table and let her go to help Rose. He made sure all of the companions got out of the canteen safety before ordering: "K9, hold them back!"

"Affirmative, master." He obeyed. "Maximum defence mode." He ran out the canteen in the same direction that the others had gone in while K9 shot at the Krillitane defending him. "Power supply failing," K9 stated.

"Forget the shooty dog thing." Mister Finch spat

"Power supply failing," K9 mentioned again.

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Rose, Rita, The Doctor, Sarah Jane, Mickey and Kenny were all in one of the psychics class rooms.

"It's the oil." The Doctor widened his eyes in realisation. "Krillitane life forms can't handle the oil. That's it!" He started to pace around the room.

"They've changed their physiology so often, even their own oil is toxic to them." He turned to Rita and Rose to ask them both: "How much was there in the kitchens?

"Barrels of it." Rose answered quite literally meaning barrels upon barrels.

The group changed there gaze from each other and focused on the door which was getting shaken by what was most likely the Krillitanes outside trying to get in.

"Okay," the Doctor said calmly thinking fir a moment. "we need to get to the kitchens. Mickey." He turned to the man.

"What now, hold the coats?" He asked sarcastically.

"Get all the children unplugged and out of the school." He ordered not commenting on the mans sarcasm. "Now then, bats, bats, bats." He looked around the room then looked over to Rita who nodded knowing what the Doctor meant by looking over at the brunette. "How do we fight bats?"

"Kenny" Rita looked from the Doctor to the child grinning. Kenny looked around then slammed his fist into the fire alarm next to him. Almost automatically the ringing if the bell blared out around the entire school.

The group could hear the Krillitanes shrieks and cries of pain outside. The humans and the TimeLord opened the door and ran past the Krillitanes which were clutching their heads hunched over there wings flapping about.

"Master."

"Come on, boy." The Doctor cooed K9 to follow. "Good boy." He ran to the door heading into the kitchen and unlocked it with the sonic screwdriver. Rita and Rose ran in first over to the barrels of Krillitane oil. He began to try and open a barrel of oil. "They've been deadlock sealed." He groaned. "Finch must've done that. I can't open them."

"Of cause you can't" Rita sighed. "For a bat he's not stupid." The Doctor nodded at her comment then tried to open another barrel.

"The vats would not withstand a direct hit from my laser," K9 spoke up. "But my batteries are failing. " The Doctors face fell knowing what will happen. "Right. Everyone out the back door. K9, stay with me."

"You" Rita pointed to the Doctor. "Don't do anything stupid" she ran out the back door following the others. She knew he wouldn't but it was good to just be safe.

"What is he doing?" Sara Jane asked Rita after she appeared at the door.

"Just get back!" Rita shouted sprinting away from the kitchen door.

"Rita-"

"Where's K9?" Sarah Jane asked. Rita sighed at the woman's persistence. She saw the Doctor ignore her question locking the door and turning to the companion.

"We need to run." Was all he said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the door.

"Where is he?" She asked again talking about K9. "What have you done!" Sarah Jane asked again as the Doctor pulled her away running away from the kitchen door catching up with Rose and Rita then grabbing the brunette's hand with his free one helping her run faster.

The group found Mickey with the students out side of the school the Doctor let go off Sarah Jane and Rita's hands, moments after finding them the schools kitchen made a loud explosion signalling K9 had shot the barrels and successfully killed the Krillitane.

"Yes!" Kenny jumped up and down throwing a fist into the air. Rita slowly walked over to Sarah Jane seeing the woman who looked heart broken. "He had no choice. The Doctor didn't want it to end like that, I know he had no other way." She placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. She was looking down at the ground breathing deeply. The children started to chant Kenny's name over and over. Rita sighed patting Sarah Janes shoulder.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor cautiously walked over to the pair seeing Sarah Jane in distress.

"It's all right." She sadly smiled looking up at the Doctor then looked over at Rita the same. "He was just a daft metal dog." Rita knew this wasn't true and slowly retreated back giving the woman and the Doctor some space. "It's fine, really."

Only seconds after her comment Sarah Jane she began to cry, the Doctor tried to comfort the woman wrapping an arm around her shoulder Rita smiled sadly over to them Sarah Jane too upset about the loss of K9 didn't notice the brunette, however, the TimeLord did and sadly smiled back.

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"About in the classroom" Rita mumbled while the Doctor leant on the console in the TARDIS he crossed his arms and watched her begin to explain, "I honestly don't know what happened"

"It's fine, I'm not worried about that" he admitted. "What I'm wondering is how it did that and how you managed to almost crack that thing."

Rita sighed looking down away from the Doctor she mumbled "I also knew the answer"

"The answer?" he questioned.

"To your question. Fifty-nine times thirty-five. It's two thousand and sixty-five, and that definitely wasn't foreknowledge. It's like the longer I'm here the smarter I'm getting, no that sounds stupid, right Doctor?" She looked up at him, his expression unreadable. "Doctor?" She questioned again just as Rose and Mickey walked into the TARDIS.

"Rita, you always were smart and I still don't know how you got onto that Dalek ship but that theory definitely is not stupid, I'll keep looking, soon we will understand what happened."

"Okay" she nodded. "Thank you, Sarah Jane will most likely be here in a minute, go ask her if she wants a cup of tea" she grinned the Doctor nodded his head then walked outside. He then appeared a moment later followed by Sarah Jane.

"You've redecorated." Sarah Jane grinned looking around the TARDIS console room.

"Do you like it?" The Doctor asked her walking over and standing next to Rita.

"Oh, I, I do." She smiled lightly moving her hand over the console, the TARDIS hummed in response. "Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but, er, yeah. It'll do."

"I love it" Rose smiled warmly at the woman. Rita also smiled glad the two companions were now on 'good terms'

"This one is my favourite" Rita looked around smiling.

"Hey, you" Sarah Jane looked over at Rose. "What's forty-seven times three hundred and sixty-nine?"

'Seventeen thousand three hundred and forty-three' Rita blinked. The Doctor noticed confused face and lightly squeezed the brunette's hand. She looked up at him and sighed. Whatever it was wasn't going to just go away.

"No idea." Rose shrugged. "It's gone now. The oil's faded."

"But you're still clever." Sarah Jane smiled. "More than a match for him." She looked over at Rita. "Both of you"

"You too Sarah Jane" Rita let go of the Doctors hand and walked over to her and Rose.

"Er, " the Doctor scratched the back of his head starting to move around the console. "About to head off, but you could come with us." He offered.

"No." She shook her head lightly trying not to hurt the Doctors feelings. "I can't do this anymore. Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead. Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

"Can I come?" Mickey spoke up. Sarah Jane looked over at him in horror. He then explained further. "No, not with you, I mean with you." He looked over at the Doctor "Because I'm not the tin dog, and I want to see what's out there."

Sarah Jane saw the glint in Mickey's eyes and the mental groaning in the Doctors. "Oh, go on, Doctor." She encouraged. "Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board."

"Okay then, I could do with a laugh." He agreed giving the man a chance.

"Rose, is that okay?" He asked Rose crossed her arms not looking at him biting her lip and speaking harshly but quietly as she lied: "No, great. Why not?"

"Well, I'd better go." Sarah Jane saw the sudden tension and pulled Rose in for a hug.

"What do I do?" She asked Sarah Jane. "Do I stay with him?"

"Yes." She looked at the blonde. "Some things are worth getting your heart broken for." Her gaze looked over at Rita who was now talking to the Doctor. "Find me, if you need to, one day. Find me." Rose nodded and then let Sarah Jane go. Rita turned to her and walked over to the woman.

"I'll see you again soon Sarah Jane" she smiled. "Until then I'll miss you"

"You and me both Rita." She hugged the brunette then whispered into her ear. "Take care of him, both of them. I see that sparkle in your eye Rita Stone just be careful" she warned her face giving off a serious expression.

"Sparkle?" Rita frowned pulling away.

"Secrets" she grinned stealing the brunettes line.

"I see what you did there." She shook her head. "Goodbye, Sarah Jane."

"Goodbye, Rita Stone" She then exited the TARDIS, the Doctor following her outside.

"It's daft, but I haven't ever thanked you for that time. And like I said, I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Sarah Jane spoke to the Doctor over her shoulder as she walked out.

"Something to tell the grandkids." The Doctor smiled.

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now. " Sarah Jane smiled sadly.

"Right. Yes, sorry. I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't?" He didn't know the right words to use scratching the back of his head is tried to find the correct words. "There hasn't been anyone? You know."

Sarah Jane laughed a little then joked. "Well, there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while, but he was a tough act to follow. Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, it's not goodbye." He tilted his head a little.

"Do say it. Please. This time. Say it." He sighed.

"Goodbye, my Sarah Jane." He smiled then pulled her into a hug pulling her off of the floor. He then let go of her and walked inside.

"Doctor!" She shouted then repeated again even louder: "Doctor!"

"Hmm?" He popped his head out of the door confusion filling his face.

"Look after her" he frowned not knowing who she was talking about.

"Rita" Sarah Jane confirmed. "And Rose, look after both of them, I can see Rita needs it, her eyes remind me of you, lost and alone, no one should be alone Doctor, not even you." She smiled then turned away. The Doctor stood there for a moment a little shocked and confused.

"I will," he finally replied giving a small nod. "Both of them, I'll keep them safe" he watched her walk away then mumbled quietly giving out a sigh.

"As safe as I can"

#tenth doctor x oc #doctor x oc #original female character #my oc #Parallel: From Another World #TPS #TPS no12 #doctor who

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