Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ A Growing Madness ❯ Chapter 3

Doctor Who and its accoutrements are the property of the BBC, and we obviously don't have any right to them. Any and all crossover characters belong to their respective creators. Alas no one makes any money from this story, and it's all done out of love for a cheap-looking sci-fi show.

 

Chapter 3

 

 

A morose foursome threaded their way back to the surface of the moon. Part of the journey was by hovercar, the other in the company of three Tetraps. All through the journey, Callom said nothing, and cried not a single tear. Ace just sat next to him, saying nothing in her anger at the Doctor, who sat on Callom's left. Raina kept her arm around Callom.

"There's something strange about how she acted," said Ace, breaking the silence at last.

"Later, Ace," snapped the Doctor, intimating the guards to her.

"Okay, everyone wants me to shut up, I may as well," she snapped sullenly.

"I just want to know how we're going to get out of here and back to Earth," Raina mumbled.

"You'll see," The Doctor nodded.

Through the small gap in the rocks they squirmed. Still Callom said nothing. Like a robot, he walked stiffly towards the distant spires. Ace shouldered her pack, and followed in silence. Last came the Doctor. Turning to the Tetraps, he said, "I think we can take it from here, thank you very much."

Nodding, the three guards turned and departed in a few flaps of their membranous wings. They were alone on the moon, with the wind howling in their ears. A few minutes walk brought them back to the familiar Police Box with its flashing blue light on top. As the Doctor produced his key, he muttered to himself.

"What the hell is this?" Raina asked.

"My TARDIS " said the Doctor. "If you know the Rani, you must remember she had a…time ship. Similar device."

"If you're a TIME lord how can I trust you?" Raina asked.

"Ye can, he came to save us," Callom pulled her hand. Raina sighed, too tired to argue.

"Well, that was a wasted trip," Ace said.

"Come on, let's not hang about, shall we," said the Doctor softly.

"Why should you care what I think," Ace snorted.

His hand rested on her shoulder. "Coming?"

Into the control room they walked. Raina gasped at the immensity, blinking in the light. Two double doors banished the howling winds outside. Tossing his hat onto the rack, the Doctor touched the three control levers for dematerialization. Callom headed right for the door leading to the rest of the TARDIS. A wheezing groan vibrated the room. They were off.

"So now what?" Raina asked.

"I'll attempt my utmost to return you home Dr. MacLaren," the Doctor said.

"So tired," she groaned.

"Callom, show her a room where she can rest, will you?"

"Yes, come this way," he whispered, and led her away with him.

"Ace,"

"What do you want?"

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, back in the cave. Things weren't going according to plan."

"According to plan?" laughed Ace bitterly. "According to plan? I get my nose busted, Callom is crying his eyes out, and all you care about is that things aren't going according to your plan!"

"I didn't think Vitreum would want to stay."

"She can take her broom and ride on it, for all I damn the hell care," snapped Ace. "I'm going to bed."

"Ace, please stop and talk to me."

"Why? You never listen to me anyway."

"That's not true. I was trying to discover the Rani's plan."

"Does it occur to you she may not have one? You're so used to fighting monsters you think somebody is trying to take over the universe every place we land."

"I know the Rani, Ace. she's got something up her sleeve. And the way Vitreum was speaking to Callom proves it."

"What do you mean?"

"didn't you notice that she was going out of her way to make him hate her" Saying all those nasty things to him, when she simply could have told him to leave. That emotion stemmed out of concern."

"Some concern. She doesn't give a flying flamingo about him."

"She does. She wanted Callom to be safe. Away from the Rani. That means that Callom was once important to the Rani's plan."

"Oh, so you mean she was just putting us on?"

"Yes. Trying to tell me something. But she did it too well. I only wish I knew what she was up to."

"A double cross?"

"Exactly, Ace," smiled the Doctor, touching his finger to her nose.

"Sometimes I just don't get you, Professor."

***

Back on Tetrapbyria the Rani confronted Fiona Vitreum, who stood about the samples, miserable. She asked, "Do you pledge your loyalty to my cause, Vitreum?"

"Yes, Rani," said the Mantissan flatly. "I have no choice. I'd rather die a scientist than an experimental subject."

"Be sure. I demand obedience. Failure has a high price."

"I will not fail."

"Good. Then we will proceed with schedule."

"Yes. But I was thinking, that the Doctor will try to come back for me, despite what he says. Callom can be very persuasive."

"Even after you rejected him?" the Rani asked, amused.

"He's foolishly loyal. A trait all humans possess. He'd lay his life down for mine."

"Pathetically human."

"Yes. I was thinking that you should put the Doctor out of action, permanently."

"Really?" asked the Rani.

"After all, he could ruin any other number of your experiments."

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"I was thinking your genius could come up with an appropriate end. And still get data."

"To tell you the truth, there is an experiment I've been meaning to try. The effects of Time Wind exposure to biological material. Here is where you will prove your loyalty to me, Vitreum."

"Me?" asked Vitreum.

"Yes. You will take your craft, loaded with a special device of mine, into the Vortex. There you will detonate a certain sequence."

"What is the theoretical principal behind this, Mistress?" asked Vitreum.

"You will track the TARDIS through its telepathic circuits. Then materialize near him in space-time. Jettison this canister," said the Rani, reaching for a small cylinder on a lab bench nearby. She handed it to Vitreum, who looked at it with question.

"What does it contain?"

"It operates on the same principal as a tumor. It feeds off a TARDIS's force field. Then a second device sets off a chain reaction in time space, creating a Time Wind."

"A Time Wind," gasped Vitreum. "That could destroy the structural integrity of the TARDIS relative dimensions."

"Exactly. And as the ship compresses, the life forms inside do not. Either they will die from the penetration of the chronion particles bombarding their bodies, or they will be crushed," said the Rani.

"What's to stop me from being affected as well?" asked Vitreum.

"I have taken the liberty of coating your TARDIS with a neutralizing agent. You will have five minutes of rell time to escape the Time Wind."

"When do I start?" she asked eagerly.

"There's no time like the present."

***

After having shown Raina a guest room, and helped her to lay down, Callom sat on his bed, absently fiddling on a violin. He'd just spent hours wandering in the corridors of the TARDIS, checking rooms absently. He was glad that Raina was alive and well, and he almost wished he could collapse into sleep like she did. In some rooms were long forgotten treasures. Including a whole room of various musical instruments. In a case, lovingly preserved, he found the violin. Rosin still filled a small metal canister. With nothing better to do, Callom rosined the bow, and plucked a few strings. Sweet notes filled the old chamber.

Carrying the violin, he made his way back to the room assigned to him. He spent hours playing scales, up and down. His nimble fingers caressed the ancient strings with a passion that would not be denied. Chords and runs gave way to abstract expressions of the conflicting emotions storming through his heart and soul.

Ace heard the sweet music echoing down the corridor. She was on her way to the chemistry lab to cook up more explosives. Vivaldi's four seasons rippled in massive choking waves to touch her. Not up much on classical music, she wondered what the piece was. And who was playing it.

Opening the door softly, she saw the young Scot standing. He rested one foot on a stool, violin tucked beneath his chin. Firm young fingers pressed strings like a master. He was oblivious to her presence, as his mind was consumed by his music making.

Sure, he was a telepath. But the Doctor said he wasn't the best at discerning thoughts. Except for human thoughts and visual images from humanoid species. He stopped, and looked at the door.

"Is that you, Ace?" he asked.

"Sorry to bug you, squirt," she apologized.

"Come on in, or go away," he said, lowering his violin and bow.

Ace entered. She wore a loose white blouse and biker tights. Her hair was pulled back in a French braid. Small earrings dangled from one ear, out of balance with the hoops in the left.

Her full lips pressed close together. For an awkward moment she stood just inside the doorway, not sure of what to do next. "I'm not really good at psychiatry, or anything, but if you like, need to talk or something..."

"Yuid be happy to listen. Verra well. I guess I do need someone."

Fidgeting, she sat on the bed. Already Callom had placed some personal touches in the room. A tartan swath was draped on the bed. His bonnet was hung over the end of a chair. Several classical books were piled on a bed side table from the TARDIS collection of books.

"I jest canna believe that she'd mean all that," he sighed.

"Grown ups say weird things sometimes," Ace said.

"I thought she loved me. I refuse to believe she doesn't."

"Angry people say things they don't mean. At least I think they do."

"She's like, a parent or something," said Callom. He sat down on the bed next to her.

"I don't need any parents," said Ace hastily, then stopped herself. "At least not any mum or dad."

"My da never really cared if I was there or not," Callom admitted.

"Was there, anyone else that took care of you""

"There was Ms. Fergusson, mah nanny. She was also the housekeeper. And ma uncle Andrew. He was nuts about me. That's where ma middle name comes from."

"Cool."

"And then there was Dr. MacLaren from the states. She was visiting the Loch when she was studying geology there. And then Vitreum showed up and said she was a psychic teacher. Did ye ken she was the first person who said that I cuild do whatever I wanted when I grew up? That I didnae have to be what my Father thought? Anything I chose was okay."

"She really means that much to you, doesn't she?" asked Ace.

"Aye. Raina and I were captured and both brought here to the Rani's zoo together. Vitreum betrayed us, because she was collecting specimens for the Rani. Still she tried to save us, but then she rejected us back there. That's why I hurt. Does everyone I love hurt me so."

Ace sniffed back tears. "No way, kid. Don't you believe that rubbish for a second!"

"I don't know what to believe, nau."

"Come here, Callom. You look like you seriously need a hug."

Ace held out her arms. Callom leaned against her, and they held each other for a long time. Two lonely children seeking comfort in their common histories.

The TARDIS and its occupants hurtled through the endless Vortex.

"Ye say that the Doctor thinks Vitreum was lying?" asked Callom.

"He said she was trying to get you to be angry with her, so you'd leave more easily. Make you hate her."

"That didna work too well."

"I know. That's what was fishy. He's seen lots of people, and lots of behavior. When he does pay attention that is."


***

Slowly the Doctor stirred a cup of tea. Darjeeling steamed hot inside the ancient china cup with matching service. He had gotten it long ago during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Tentatively he nibbled a digestive biscuit. Dunked it once or twice before slipping it into his mouth once more. It had taken him forever to program the food machine to get them right. Still, once in a while he'd tiptoe down to the food stores and dust off an old can of Walker's Scottish shortbread. He lay in a good supply the last time he'd touched down on Earth, the same place he'd obtained the Darjeeling. Few things perished in the TARDIS, outside of time and space.

He sat down in the Louis XV chair, propping his feet on an ancient hassock. Took cup and saucer in hand, and sipped. Each time he took tea, he dimmed the lights in the TARDIS lounge.

For one blissful moment he let himself slip away. Let his mind rest on the throbbing pulse from the TARDIS generators. Like a heartbeat steady and strong.

Something felt very wrong. He set down his cup, frowning. Jumped to his feet and paced. Then rushed out of the room. "Good gracious me, I should have guessed!" he exclaimed, slapping his forehead.

***

Fiona Vitreum slid her hands down the crystalline net relays readying the linkage between her computer and the TARDIS' computer. A vital countdown shouted into her ear as she watched the scanner screen for the vortex to flux. All around her shimmered and melted walls, like ice cream on a hot sidewalk. Only millimeters from a panel waved her finger as she waited for the walls of her ship to break down.

Then came the wheezing groan of dematerialization as the STAGE bore the TARDIS. Next came the dematerialization of the square blue TARDIS as it vanished free of its confines. Time winds gushed into the control room shattering the neural crystalline relays into thousands of glittering shards that slowly flew apart. Fiona Vitreum would be swallowed by the void of time-space with little chance to survive.

"We must simply try to stop the time wind penetration," was what the lad last remembered Vitreum saying. Callom clutched his tartan scarf and prayed she'd somehow survive. A hand came to rest on his shoulder as the geologist, Dr. Raina MacLaren crossed over to him.

"She wasn't a traitor after all," Raina muttered. "Damn…"

"That's one brave bird," muttered the teenager standing next to the short fellow she called the Professor.

"A foolish child," grumbled the Doctor. "She just had to be the one to jettison the room form mechanism on her STAGE to release mine."

"Take care of Callom, please," Vitreum begged them.

"You can be assured of that," the Doctor nodded.

"He'll be okay, but what about you? Do you have to play the goddamned martyr?" Raina shouted.

"Please… you must trust me!" Fiona shouted just before she swung her cloak round her quilted jacket shoulders. Into the glittering splendor of her time machine's control room she'd vanished.

"Even if she did survive and find a time lane to transit to, she couldn't withstand contact with the Vortex," finished the Doctor sadly.

"What if the Rani got her an instant before that break down, Professor?" asked Ace. "She'd be much better off dead, Ace."

"How canna ye say such a thing?" wailed Callom.

"I know the Rani. She uses captives for the most morbid experiments, said the Doctor gently stroking Callom's fair-haired head. "I'm sorry, lad."

"Doctor, do you have to state the damn obvious?" Raina rolled her eyes. "The poor kid's traumatized enough!"

All seemed so still and heavy to Callom as he buried his young face in the Doctor's brown felt jacket. It was to this strange pair he turned for a shred of comfort. On the scanner screen played the horrid events again. A loud muffled groan from the TARDIS as it broke free of Vitreum's TARDIS and hurtled into a safer part of the Vortex.

Yet as he reached to feel the aching loneliness existing after her death, he felt nothing. Not even the absence of her presence in his mind. "Doctor . . . when a friend of a telepath dies, is there a feeling of emptiness?"

"There is yes, for your mind becomes accustomed to sensing their thoughts. You, being of a telepathic species, have formed a bond with Vitreum."

"And ye Time Lords are also telepathic."

"Mildly so, yes."

"Then ye can sense Vitreum's thoughts almost as well as I ken?"

"Not as strongly no... what is your point?"

"When I reach out to find the emptiness I should feel," began Callom, shutting his eyes for a moment. "I feel nothing. If ye try-- dinna ye notice it's rather full of a nothing . . . not a void or fullness . . . jest a nothing."

The Doctor stared into a metaphysical dimension. "Nothing comes from nothing. Not emptiness or a void. Yet in every myth, there is nothing before something. But that's in creation mythology."

"What are you babbling about, Professor?" snapped Ace. "Callom's friend is dying, and you're . . ."

"He's making sense to me, and I have no clue what he's talking about," the geologist admitted.

"Pardon me while I'm having a strange metaphysical interlude," he hissed. "Anyway, that Descartes was not quite so accurate when he said 'nothing comes from nothing.' At least not in the case of psychic sensing death. A void means the absence of something, which, since we can label and discern it, it is at least something."

"But a void is emptiness. And something empty has nothing," argued Ace.

"But you can fill a void," Raina muttered. "Is that where you're going with this?"

"Exactly, Professor!" the Doctor clapped, slapping her on the back with glee that she'd grasped it. "Nothing cannot be filled with something and still be nothing . . . " countered the Doctor, his voice raised to a strong shout. Hurriedly he swung round the console. "And that means there is still hope!"

"What on Earth is he on about?" asked Callom.

"It's one of his crazy spells, explained Ace throwing up her hands in resignation.

"Oh wait!" he exclaimed, suddenly realizing what the Doctor meant. "The Doctor said something about what nothing was . . . so if I felt nothing that didn't mean I felt emptiness. That means. . ."

An abbreviated wheeze groaned as the TARDIS dematerialized in some part of the Vortex. In pure wonder Ace and Callom gazed at the scanner. Hurtling across the undulating Vortex was a small opaque chamber that seemed lit from inside.

"What's that?"

"Now what was the program for adding rooms to the TARDIS configuration?" asked the Doctor of himself.

"Nau I feel something!" cried Callom excitedly. "But its verra faint."

"Ace, when I tell you to, open the TARDIS doors," ordered the Doctor, both his hands flying across a pad of typewriter keys. Ace stood by the switch and readied herself.

All three Time Travelers gripped the console as the TARDIS shook from collision with an outside body. "Now!" shouted the Doctor. The doors swung open.

Out though the double doors the trio saw a dimming room. It was none other than the console room from the STAGE! Wearily into the TARDIS console room stumbled a figure clad in tattered clothing.

"Vitreum!" cried Callom, as he raced toward her.

"Stay back," Vitreum cautioned. "There may still be . . . radiation."

"Holy crap," Raina muttered, shaking her head. She moved first, and grasped the figure that pitched into her arms.

"You're safe in here no matter what," said the Doctor, stepping forwards. "Close the doors, Ace."

"What happened?" begged Callom.

"Damn, you look wasted, easy now," Raina urged, helping the Mantissan to lay down carefully.

"You saved us from death and disaster," congratulated the Doctor softly. "Though not necessarily in that order."

Vitreum smiled a pale smile, only a mere shadow of her old self. Indeed her whole body seemed a mere phantasm as she stumbled further onto the flight deck. Her hair was streaked with white, as if with age, and her eyes were glazed embers with dark circles under them. "Callom . . . we are safe?"

"Yes, ye saved us all!" he gulped down, trying to mask his fear.

"What the hell did you do?" demanded Ace, but before Vitreum could answer, she collapsed into Raina's arms. The geologist lowered her to the floor as the other three rushed to her, falling on their knees round her. The Doctor felt the pulse in her neck, as Raina pulled off her vest and shoved it under the scientist's neck. Callom turned her head so she could look sideways at them. "Hai-Callom," she breathed, smiling weakly at him. "So worried about me. Didn't I tell you, that this might happen?"

"She's dying," muttered Ace, laying a hand on Callom's shoulder. She knelt on one knee behind the lad as he propped Vitreum's head on Raina's knees.

"It's all right Vitreum," said the Doctor softly. "You don't have to fight it now. Just let it happen naturally."

"Please, don' leave me," sobbed Callom, sniffling at the tears rolling down his pale young cheeks.

"I will never leave you, " stammered Vitreum, looking up at him. "I promised to get you to Scotland . . . oh, Doctor . . . can you please?"

"Of course," nodded the Doctor, holding her hand. "Prof. Mariner, Ace and I will take care of him."

Rolling her eyes up to Callom, Vitreum blinked a small smile into existence. "Don't pine over me . . . or grieve," she whispered.

"I'm na crying... at least not now," he whispered.

"Professor… please… if you go back to Earth… take care… take care of him," Vitreum looked to Raina.

"Whatever you say… look, I said that you were a coward before, but I was wrong… I take that back," Raina MacLaren stammered.

"Your words, helped me see reason," she laughed. "Not bad for a primitive."

"Oh shut up," Raina urged. "Save your strength."

Vitreum croaked, "All things come . . . to their lowest energy state . . . that's entropy that is. The cycle continues . . . life from non life. "

At those words, her voice failed her, and she lay very still. Her head dropped limply into Raina's lap. At once he felt the emptiness flooding his mind that he'd dreaded for so long.

The teenager helped the geologist to move Vitreum's head and shoulders off of Raina's knees. Pulling out a handkerchief, Raina removed the scientist's glasses and lay the cloth over her face. "She really was with us in the end, bless her," she muttered. "If only there had been another way."

"She redeemed whatever evil she did with the Rani," the Doctor said slowly.

"What the hell good does it do us now Professor," countered Ace. She slid her arm around Callom's back as he cried softly to himself. He buried his face against her young chest. Raina lay her hand on Callom's shoulder, gripping it tightly.

"None, I'm afraid," the Doctor sighed.

"We need to give her a proper burial," Raina whispered.

"Of course," the Doctor whispered. Just then, a strange noise made them jump back from the fallen body. A flare of energy surged brightly from Fiona's body, and slammed into them all. The Doctor pulled Callom back as Raina threw Ace out of the way. Something spread quickly over Fiona's body in seconds.

"Get back!" the Doctor cried. "The radiation!"

Raina shrieked as the second lash slammed into her, knocking her back as the body suddenly imploded. She lay alongside of a pile of ashes, completely still.

"Doctor what…" Ace got out.

"Quickly, we haven't much time! That was one of the Rani's booby traps… a last flare of temporal radiation. We have got to get her down to the lab…"

"What do you mean…" Callom wailed.

"If we touch her would we be affected?" Ace asked.

"Wait…" the Doctor muttered, and rushed over to the console. He punched buttons and ran fingers down relays. There was a faint series of clicks that died into nothing. It sounded like an old fashioned Geiger counter.

"She's free of the time wind radiation. This is extraordinary," the Doctor muttered, moving over to Raina.

"Is she all right or not?" Ace demanded, wanting to move close, but holding Callom back.

"Yes… the TARDIS reads no more radiation. But that blast should have killed a human… I wonder… Callom, didn't you say that the Rani had done experiments on all of the subjects?" asked the Doctor. He tapped his chin with one finger.

"Yes… she gave me telepathic powers… I mean she enhanced what I already had,” Callom clarified, scratching his head.

"Presumably she must have experimented on Dr. MacLaren as well. But what sinister machinations did she make… I wonder… quick, help me Ace… Callom…"

"What can we do?" asked Ace.

"An anti radiation drug might bring her out of it. Come along now… careful," the Doctor directed them. The three lifted the sturdy geologist in their arms and carried her into the bowels of the TARDIS.

***