Doctor Who: The Nemesis Who Stole Time-Part 2

 
Hi, there!
 
This is Dave-El and this is my blog, I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the blogosphere's leading supplier of sorghum.*
 
*Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants, either cultivated or as part of pasture. Who says this blog isn't committed to educational values?.
 
This is my weekly Saturday posting of Doctor Who stuff.
 
Except it's Sunday.
 
As you know, time is not a linear progression but is more of a wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey ball. OK, that's not fair. The Doctor can get away with that sort of thing. Why can't I?
 
OK, the truth. Last week, I posted part 1 of a story that will be part of my multi-Doctor epic as I fill time between the end of series 7 and the debut of the 50th anniversary special. I actually had written the story for part 2 Saturday evening but, of all things, Doctor Who got in the way. My family has a Doctor Who Night where we watch a couple of episodes from our DVD collection. Usually this is on Friday but circumstances pushed it to Saturday.**

**In case you're wondering, last night's episodes: Asylum of the Daleks and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship.

Also, I've gotten this idea of using various re-purposed photos and stuff to snazzy up this silly little thing I'm doing here so that ate up some time. Plus I wanted a little extra time to review and look for plot holes.***
 
***I didn't promise I would actually fill the plot holes.
 
I will take time to do some "behind the scenes" with part 3 to discuss my thinking behind this storyline and how I approach writing it. In the meantime, I will clear up one point: the events of this story takes place BEFORE the Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor. As such, Clara Oswald is not yet aware of her special destiny as Steven Moffat laid out for us in that episode.
 
OK, enough babbling. Let's get this party started! A new installment of The Nemesis Who Stole Time....is next. 

 

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Previously in Part 1 of The Nemesis Who Stole Time

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The Doctor: Clara, allow me to introduce…the White Guardian.

The White Guardian: The Key to Time, Doctor. Once more it is needed.

• Clara: This…is going to save the universe?

• The Doctor: The universe, yes. And time itself!

A red laser blast cuts through the air and slams the Doctor right in the chest.

Clara (screaming): DOCTOR?!?!

• The Doctor looks down at his hand and it starts to glow. He looks at his other hand and it too is glowing.

• The Doctor (whispers): No…not now….

• Clara: Doctor!

• The Doctor: Clara, I believe in you, I-

• Suddenly the glow around the Doctor begins to brighten as the regeneration effect takes hold.

• Clara (averting her eyes from the blinding glare): Doctor!

• Abruptly, the regeneration glow is gone and there stands…a lanky form of a man in a blue pin stripe suit, black tie and red sneakers.

• It is the 10th Doctor!

• The 10th Doctor: What?

 

And now part 2....

The Nemesis Who Stole Time

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The 10th Doctor staggers as Clara looks on both frightened and confused.

Clara: Doctor, are you…?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10th Doctor (attempts to steady himself): I’m…I’m fine… (he staggers again)

Clara: Doctor, I don’t think…

10th Doctor: OK, not fine.

Clara: Doctor, your clothes changed too?

10th Doctor (a bit of a struggle but he steadies himself): Yeah, that’s weird. Clothes don’t regenerate. Well, the whole thing’s weird. I’m not supposed to go back…ward…

Clara: Doctor?

Both Clara and the Doctor look up and around as we see the TARDIS interior has changed as well. It’s back to the coral theme during the time of the 9th & 10th Doctors.

 

Clara: Doctor, what’s happened to the TARDIS?

10th Doctor: It’s…changed back? But how? That doesn’t…

The Doctor frantically checks knobs and dials on the TARDIS console. Suddenly he falls back from the console, grasping his head and he screams in pain.

10th Doctor: Arrrggghh!

Clara: Doctor!

10th Doctor: No! Stay back! I’m not sure but…oh, oh, this is…this is…no! No, my memories…Clara?

Clara: Yes, Doctor?

10th Doctor: Time has been re-written.

Sudden scene jump back to the past:

·       The 10th Doctor, ragged and scarred, standing in a large room with rubble and smoking machinery.

·       10th Doctor (VO): The Time Lords…and the Master…both cast back into the void. Then I heard the knock.

   ·       Sound f/x: Knock! Knock!

           Knock! Knock!

 

 

·       10th Doctor (VO): Good old Wilfred Mott! Donna Noble's grandfather. He had come so far and done so much. He was trapped in a booth that was going to fill with radiation. I could save him but at the cost of my own life.     

 

 

Back to the present:

10th Doctor (to Clara): Of course, there was a chance I would regenerate. But even without that, I couldn’t let Wilf die.

Back to the past:

·       10th Doctor (VO): Except….

·       A blinding flash of light comes from the glass booth.

Back to the present:

10th Doctor: No! NO! That’s not what happened! That’s not….

Clara: Doctor?

10th Doctor (looking at Clara in anguish): I’m sorry. I’m oh so sorry…

Back to the past:

·       The 10th Doctor stands over smoldering ruins.

·       10th Doctor (VO): Wilf was dead.

Back to the present:

The Doctor is clutching his head, pacing frantically.

10th Doctor: No, too many paradoxes! I didn’t die, I didn’t change! The energies from my regeneration didn’t exploded the TARDIS control room yet….

Back to the past:

·       The TARDIS hurtling through the skies of London.

·       10th Doctor (VO): But I still remember the TARDIS plummeting through the sky. I still remember crashing in Amelia Pond’s back yard.

·       We see the TARDIS in the backyard, we see Amelia Pond looking at the TARDIS and we see the face of the 10th Doctor pop up over the edge of the TARDIS:

·       10th Doctor (to Amelia): Hello! I’m the Doctor!

Back to the present:

10th Doctor (still in pain): The contradictions…time is fracturing…No! Not Donna!

Back to the past:

·       We see Donna looking sad, then she screams in pain, glows and disappears.

·       10h Doctor’s VO: Donna…when she hears her grandfather is dead…the grief is too much….the barriers I placed in her mind….No, Donna!

Back to the present:

10th Doctor (dejectedly sitting on the floor of the TARDIS): The Time Lord essence in her mind broke through the barriers I placed there…she burned up….oh, Clara…Donna and Wilf died because I didn’t…I was supposed to die…

Clara (kneeling beside the Doctor, puts her arm around him): It’s OK, Doctor.

10th Doctor (takes a deep breath, then steels his anguished expression into one of determination): No, Clara, it isn’t. Someone has changed time and it’s cost the lives of two people I held very dear. And….

The Doctor jumps to his feet and begins working the console controls.

Clara: And what, Doctor?

10th Doctor (still focused on the console): There’s…something else. Some other memory….some element of my timeline. I can sense something else has been altered but I can’t seem…to recall…

Clara: Doctor, have you thought…whatever happened…is connected to the threat the White Guardian warned us about?

The Doctor stops for a moment as he contemplates this question and the scene fades to white.

 

White Guardian (VO while the scene is still pure white): The peril faced by all of existence is beyond comprehension, Doctor.

The details come into focus as we see three figures seated around a glass table: the White Guardian, resplendent in her white gown; Clara; and the Doctor…the 11th Doctor.

11th Doctor: No offense, Guardian, but you’re talking to the Time Lord who jump started all of existence the last time it winked out to nothingness.

Clara: Bragging much, Doctor?

11th Doctor: Me? No! Never! OK, just a little. Aren’t I entitled once in a while? I mean, restarting the entire universe, that's got to be worth mentioning once in a while? (The Doctor adjusts his bow tie.)

White Guardian: Doctor, I’m sure you have heard of…The Great Negation.

11th Doctor (pauses a moment): Yes. Yes, I have.

White Guardian: And…?

11th Doctor: It’s a story. A scary story that Daddy Time Lords threaten tell Baby Time Lords to get them to behave.

White Guardian: Correct, Doctor, It is a story. Only a story.

11th Doctor: Then why…?

White Guardian: Because it is a story that, as we speak, is being…told.

11th Doctor (looks serious, leans forward): Being…told?

White Guardian merely nods assent as Clara interjects.

Clara: How can telling a story be a danger to…well, to everything?

The Doctor leans back and turns to face Clara but all of a sudden, it’s the 10th Doctor, not the 11th.

10th Doctor: The Great Negation is a formula buried inside of a myth. A formula for the de-creation of all time and space. The formula is put into effect when the story is told. Except the beginning of the story is lost to all eternity.

10th Doctor gets up as Clara looks puzzled but before she can say a word, the White Guardian hold a finger up to her lips, signaling silence.

Suddenly, the Doctor looks like the 11th again.

11th Doctor: But the story is being told. Someone has worked out the beginning. Which means someone has access to the whole formula. And when the story is over, the formula is complete and all existence is…is…

White Guardian: The word I might choose, Doctor, is “nullified”.

Doctor (looking like the 10th again): Guardian! You said the Key To Time has been destroyed. Destroyed as in  *fwoosh!* or….

White Guardian: An object as powerful as the Key To Time cannot be totally eradicated. But still, the parts are scattered in smaller pieces than before and there is no guarantee that if assembled, the Key will resume its original functioning.

Doctor (looking like 11): We’ve got to try!

White Guardian: And there’s no way to ascertain if the Key’s functioning will have any effect on The Great Negation

10Th Doctor: We’ve

11th Doctor: Got

10th Doctor: To

11th Doctor: Try!

Clara looks perplexed as the scene fades to white and fades back in to the TARDIS.

Clara (whispers to herself): That didn’t happen, not like that.  

10th Doctor: Clara?

Clara (shaking her head): Sorry. Lost in thought.

10th Doctor (giving Clara a hug): Oh dear Clara. I’m sorry to put you through all this.

Clara: I’ll be fine. But you, Doctor. The, um, the Great Negation and…and your change…

10th Doctor: Well....It could be just a coincidence?

Clara: A very unlikely one, if you ask me!

10th Doctor: I agree! Besides I don't believe in coincidence.

Clara: So….

Doctor: So….

Clara: We stick to the plan?

Doctor: We stick to the plan. And Clara?

Clara: Yes, Doctor?

10th Doctor (throws a lever and the time rotor goes into motion): Allons-y!

Through his hard set expression, the Doctor allows the slightest hint of a smile. Clara gives a slight smile in return.

Scene shift to:

Earth. A park off of the Champs-Élysées near the Arc de Triomphe. We see Mickey Smith and Martha Jones dressed in black and armed with futuristic weapons as they run vigorously past trees, hedges, statues, park benches, all  in pursuit of what appears to be a normal (if somewhat heavy set) human male. He turns and fires an energy weapon at his pursuers but they duck out of the way.

Martha: Spring time in Paris, Mickey! A great way to get exercise!

Mickey: I can think of better ways to get a work out, Martha! (He winks and smiles at Martha.)

Martha: Down, rover! (She stands up and looks back over her shoulder with a smile)  After the mission, OK? 

Mickey (leaps to his feet, cocks his rifle): Let’s go kick some alien butt!

They begin to run after the fleeing man who turns again to look behind and readies to fire.

Behind him, Mickey and Martha stop in stunned surprise.

Mickey and Martha: What the hell?

We hear the familiar sound of the TARDIS as it materializes right in the path of the running man who slams hard into the blue box and falls to the ground. Out of the box steps the 10th Doctor and Clara as the man staggers to his feet.

10th Doctor: Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to get in the way of your morning jog…

The man makes a farting noise and the Doctor withdraws his sonic screw driver and aims its high pitch whine at the man.

10th Doctor: Slitheen.

And the man’s disguise vanishes and he stands revealed as a Slitheen.   

Mickey and Martha rush up.

Slitheen: Oh bugger.

Mickey: OK, Slitheen! Hold it right there!

Martha (smiling): Doctor!

10th Doctor (grinning broadly): Martha!

Martha throws her arms around the Doctor and hugs him.

Mickey is securing the Slitheen in restraints.

10th Doctor: And Mick-AY!

Mickey (snapping harshly): Stay the hell away from me!

 

10th Doctor (confused): Mickey?

 

 

Mickey (angry): You’ve got some nerve coming back here. After what you did to Rose.

10th Doctor: What?

Mickey (to Martha): I’ll take this bag of slime into containment. You can stay if you want.

Mickey leaves, the captured Slitheen in front of him. Some naturally curious Parisians are watching this.

 

Mickey (calling out to the onlookers): Il n'y a rien à voir ici. Il suffit de pratiquer pour un nouveau film de science-fiction.

 

Martha: I’m sorry, Doctor. But you should expect…it’s hard to let go, after what happened to Rose.

Doctor: But….

Clara (extending her hand to Martha): Hi, Clara Oswald!

Martha (shaking Clara’s hand): Hello! Martha Jones! Well, Martha Jones-Smith, now. 

The three amble to some benches and they sit down.

Clara: So you’re a kind of alien hunter?

Martha: Well, there are certain skills one picks up travelling with the Doctor.

Clara: I’m focusing on the wrong skills. I spend too much time in the TARDIS kitchen trying to perfect soufflés.

10th Doctor (interrupting): Martha, what was going on here?

Martha: This? Mickey and I had word there was a contingent of Slitheen hiding on Earth, specifically Paris. They were doing a rather good job of hiding themselves. We couldn’t get a bead on any of them. Until early this morning.

10th Doctor: What happened?

Martha: The one we just got caught? He came out of hiding and broke into an old safe in an abandoned office building. Not sure why it was so important to break cover…for this…

Martha pulls out a piece of broken crystal.

Clara: Uh, Doctor?

10th Doctor: Well, look at that!

Martha: What?

Clara: Coincidence?

10th Doctor: No, Clara, the plan.

Martha: The plan?

10th Doctor: The White Guardian’s plan.

Martha: The who’s what?

Clara: Why would a Slitheen want to steal this?

10th Doctor: A very good question, Clara.

Martha: Will one of you like to tell me…?

Bellowing voice from off camera: WHERE IS MY BROTHER?!?!

The Doctor, Clara and Martha leap to their feet as a Slitheen materializes and immediately charges at the three.

Martha: Doctor! Clara! Get down!

 

 

Martha draws her weapon but the Slitheen slams into her, and her shot goes astray. Martha is knocked to the ground stunned.

The Slitheen draws his weapon and fires towards Clara. The Doctor pushes her away but catches part of the blast on his forearm.

10th Doctor: Ouch! Let’s take away that toy!

The Doctor aims his sonic screwdriver and the gun sparks and falls to the ground.

Slitheen: Bah! I’ll squeeze the answers out of you with my bare hands!

Before the Slitheen can attack, Martha has recovered and shoots the Slitheen and he falls to the ground unconscious. 

Martha scrambles towards the Doctor and Clara.

Martha: Doctor! Clara! Are you all right?

Clara: Yeah, just dazed. Doctor?

10th Doctor (clutching his left arm with his right hand): The Slitheen winged me. Nothing more than a scratch.

But as he moves his hand off his arm, the Doctor as well as Clara and Martha are alarmed to see the Doctor’s hand is glowing. 

10th Doctor (incredulous): What? No! That…that was nothing. I’ve…I've had worse cuts shaving in the morning!

But now both hands are glowing. Indeed the regenerative energy is covering all his form.

Clara (pulling at Martha): Martha! We need to get back!

Martha: But the Doctor…

 

 

As the two women step back, the regenerative energy envelopes the 10th Doctor completely.

 

But as before, the energy almost seems to be flowing back into the Doctor’s body.

The energy abates and there stands the Doctor…but different.

Shorn head, black clothes. His head is lowered as he whispers: Rose. Oh, Rose. I remember.

Clara: Doctor?

The 9th Doctor raises his head and proclaims: I KILLED ROSE TYLER!   

 

 

 

 

 

     

---------------------to be continued--------------------------------

Next time:

• The tragedy of the 9th Doctor. 
• A deadly mission to a distant planet.
• More pieces of the shattered Key to Time turn up in the most unlikely hands.
• The White Guardian's plan revealed.
• And the Great Negation claims a world!

• In part 3 of The Nemesis Who Stole Time