The Doctor’s People (4/6)
Title: The Doctor’s People
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Mickey, Martha, OCs
Summary: A pair of old companions reappear in the TARDIS and the whole group heads off to a holiday planet. But something sinister and dark is going on, and it will test them all…
Amy, Martha, Mickey and Rory sat in one corner of the room, opposite the unmoving form of Brian Wilkinson.
They had fought the best they could, but against several armed men, and armed only with a stun gun, they had been easily overpowered. All of Martha’s amazing toolkit had been taken away (apart from the TARDIS key, which was invisible to the guards) and they had been tied up and left to await their fate.
Mickey was nearly out of his bonds, but it was taking quite a while.
“So,” Rory said. “Ghost’s not human.”
“Yeah,” Mickey said. “And they took her along with the Doctor.”
“Did you see what she did to him? One whack on the head and he went down. And earlier…she said something, something she couldn’t have known.”
“What about?” Amy asked.
“About me…dying that one time.”
“You died?” Mickey said. “What, really died?”
“Yeah, really died.”
Amy was silent. And Rory felt her shiver. “How could she have known that?”
“I don’t know.”
Mickey finally freed himself. “Right,” he said, and began working to free Martha. “How’d you die?” he asked, making what passed among the Doctor’s friends for casual conversation.
“It’s all a bit blurry now, but I pushed the Doctor out of the way of a laser or bullet or something.”
Mickey paused. “Blimey,” he finally said, and helped Martha up from the ground.
“We are in so much trouble if that guy wakes up,” Amy said. “Look at the stuff in here. Look at that machine. And there’s more robots like we saw in the caves, the ones they used to look like corpses. They’ve got like an army up here.” While Martha untied her, she seemed almost to drift into her own thoughts. “You ever met the Daleks? I met the Daleks.”
“Yeah, I did,” answered Martha.
“These people are worse, aren’t they? Much worse than the Daleks. I didn’t think that was possible, but…”
“It is,” Mickey finished. All of them were freed now and he looked at all of them, and then to Brian Wilkinson. “He’s unconscious. He’s dangerous. We should kill him.”
No-one answered.
“That’s not what the Doctor would do,” Rory said, eventually.
Mickey looked him in the eyes. “You took a bullet for the Doctor. You died right in front of him, right?”
“Right,” Rory said nervously.
“Did he ever thank you?”
Everyone was quiet, even Rory, and then Amy said. “No. He didn’t. But he doesn’t do that sort of thing, to anyone.”
“Mickey,” Martha said. “we can’t just kill an unconscious man. Rory’s right, think of what the Doctor would do.”
“No,” Mickey said. “We’re alone in this torture chamber and that man is going to torture us to death. It’s the lesser of two evils, Martha!”
“We’re not doing it!”
“No,” Amy joined in, “we’re bloody well not!”
Mickey waved his hands in frustration and fury. “Jack!” he finally said. “Think of Jack. We’ve known him almost as long as we’ve known the Doctor, and he’s saved the world. Do you know what he did, Martha? You do know, don’t you? That was the lesser of two evils! All the time, that’s what he does, and it works!”
“I’m never, ever, ever going to-”
“Could someone please explain this to me and Rory over here!”
“Just think, the Doctor’s always so upset about people dying, and he never once stops to consider that if he killed the bad people, the good people wouldn’t die!”
“You listen to me, Mr Jones-”
“Think about Torchwood and Jack!”
“Mickey, sweety, you don’t know Jack!”
Silence fell on the room. Amy giggled despite it all. And then-
-someone groaned.
All eyes in the room turned to Brian Wilkinson. He’d woken up.
*
The Doctor and Ghost sat in a dark room.
“So, you’re a robot,” the Doctor said. “Like the corpses in the tower, you’re an illusion.”
“Yes,” said Ghost.
“The ghost in the machine,” the Doctor said with a sigh. “I should have guessed.”
Ghost said nothing, just sat straight and blank like the android she was.
“So,” the Doctor said, “what were you, Ghost? All the bodies in the tower were created from memories and thoughts. You’re a memory. What of?”
Ghost turned to look at him. Behind her eyes the Doctor thought he saw cogs and wheels turning.
“I was a girl.”
“What was your name?”
Ghost seemed to think. “Grace.”
“Grace. I’m the Doctor, Grace, and it’s nice to meet you.” He held out her hand and she shook it, displaying again her tremendous strength.
“I didn’t want to hit you. When that man, his name is Andrews, gives me an order I have to do it.”
“That’s okay. It didn’t hurt that much. Listen, Grace, I have to save my friends. What can you do to get us both out of here?”
Ghost/Grace seemed to be thinking.
“Your friends,” she finally said. “One of them died for you.”
“Yes, I…”
“One of them is angry, very angry, and maybe he’s always been. One of them is thinking about…her parents. She knows them but she doesn’t. She’s worried she’ll die and leave them alone. And the last of them…tried to destroy Earth.”
“What! Oh…yeah, Martha tried to do that. A while back. With the best intentions, of course.”
“They’re all afraid.”
“Grace, tell me, how are you doing this?”
“I’m a memory, I can read other memories, other thoughts!”
“Right. That could be useful,” the Doctor said.
*
Amy, Martha, Mickey and Rory backed away. Brian Wilkinson unfolded himself from the ground like a monster, pushing boxes and wires and blank, staring robots to the floor, and said:
“Who shot me with the stun gun?”
“Me,” Mickey said.
“No,” Martha said. “It was me. If you’re going to kill who it was, it was me, alright?”
“Martha!” Mickey screeched.
“Relax,” Brian said, eyes rolling. “We don’t just kill people here.”
*
The Doctor said, “Right, Grace, can you smash down this door?”
“No,” she said. “I’ve been in here before…it can’t be done.”
“Right. Well, this is the last time you’ll be in here, Grace. I promise.”
Grace went quiet.
“Listen, you can read minds,” the Doctor said. “You can help save us, Grace. I need you to think very hard. Can you read the mind of Brian Wilkinson? He’s going to kill my friends, and I must stop him.”
“I’ll try,” Grace whispered. “What good will it do, though?”
“I haven’t got a plan yet but I’m thinking of one. Go, Grace! I know you can do it.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“He’s there, he’s awake,” she whispered. “He’s going to kill them, Doctor.”
“He. Is. Not.”
“He’s thinking…he’s thinking about a girl…Amy!”
“What about Amy? Grace! Tell me!”
“He’s thinking Amy looks like me…”
“What?”
“He thinks that if he was anybody else, that would make it harder to kill her.”
“What do you mean?” The Doctor reached out and touched her face.
Tears started running down Grace’s cheeks.
“Doctor, I’m his daughter. I was his daughter.”