TIME LORDS DON'T CRY

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Though the Doctor kept pressing down on the clutch and turning the key, the engine wouldn’t start. The thing in the metal suit slowly clanked towards them.

“Where’s my sonic screwdriver when I really need it?” The Doctor murmured sarcastically, “Oh, I know. Back in the Tardis. Lovely. I might as well wish for K-9 and a squad from U.N.I.T, while I’m at it.”

Uncle Tobias was about to yank open the driver’s side door. The Doctor looked at him through the glass and blew the creature a raspberry.

“Ha! It’s locked, so there!”

Uncle Tobias let out a low growl, and promptly yanked the door off its hinges.

“Okay, maybe not a problem for you then.” The Doctor said, slightly disconcerted.

Marie gripped his arm fearfully. Just at that moment the engine sputtered to life. Grinning, the Doctor shifted it into gear.

“Nasty Knight this here’s the Techno-geek,” he said to Uncle Tobias, imitating an American trucker, “And we’re about to blow this Popsicle stand good buddy, that’s a big ten-four.”

With that, the Doctor floored it, and with a roar and a spewing of noxious fumes, he crashed the old pickup truck out of the shed.

Marie gave the Doctor directions to a logging road that would take them almost directly to the Tardis. The Doctor carefully steered the old truck down the rutted dirt road, rattling along in silence. Trees scraped the sides of the truck and the wind turned sharply colder, driving dead leaves and little twigs before it. Marie broke the silence.

“You’re not from here, are you? I mean, not from earth.”

The Doctor glanced at her sharply.

“What makes you say that?”

Marie shrugged. “I can feel it. That’s why the others don’t like me. I know stuff–can sense things. Like an oncoming storm.”

The Doctor started. His knuckles whitened as he suddenly tightened his grip on the steering wheel. He stared out the windscreen at the dim beams of the headlamps, as they pointed the way up the track.

“Ey?” He asked, confused.

“You’re from a far-away place, Doctor. A place that feels…gone. I think I’m not the only one who’s been lost and lonely, sometimes.” Marie said quietly. “I think we both lost everything, didn’t we?”

“How do you know about me?” the Doctor asked, but hesitantly, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Marie looked out the passenger side window, refusing to look at him.

“You’re….different. Not human. Not totally, I mean. There’s something…” she groped for the right word, “I dunno’. It’s like you give off a sort of inner power, as if you could command the sun and stars and even time itself, to obey you. Yet…you don’t want to do that, do you?”

Not taking his eyes off the road, the Doctor reached over and squeezed her hand. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“No. No, I don’t.”

“Have you ever been to another time?” Marie asked, her natural curiosity taking over.

“That’s What I am.” the Doctor responded. “I’m a Time Lord. The last of the Time Lords. I travel through time and space, it’s all I do, travel. See the world, explore the universe from start to finish.”

“I think that would be a wonderful life,” Marie enthused. “I never get tired of exploring the woods and fields around here. They’re always changing, no two moments ever the same. I can’t imagine what it would be like, getting to explore the entire universe, and all those changes.”

The Doctor flashed her a broad grin.

“Oh yes! The universe never stops changing.” he said.

“What about time,” Marie asked curiously, “can that change as well?”

“Sometimes time can change, Marie. And sometimes, it mustn’t ever change. Not ever. Sometimes the changes are so small, no one but a Time Lord would ever notice. Life is like that stream this road is following. It meanders here and there. When it rains or there’s a drought, it may change its course in the such a small way, that no one would ever notice. But, sometimes, the storm changes the whole course of the stream, and floods the land, wreaking havoc and destruction. Sometimes a drought will make the stream die altogether. Those extremes are why some points in time must never change.”

“I remember a line I read in Moby Dick,” Marie pondered. “Ismael, the whaler, was looking at a painting of a sailing ship being battered by an icy storm on a dark night, and he described how he felt about the storm in the picture, as the ‘breaking up of the ice-bound stream of time’.”

The Doctor flashed her a smile.

“Oh right. I remember Herman coming up with that line.” he said, “I told him he should put it in the book. Glad he took my advice.”

Suddenly, Marie moved closser to the Doctor. Removing one hand from the wheel, he put his arm around her shoulder.

“You alright, now?” he asked.

She nodded and smiled up at him.

“Yeah, I’m OK now. I’m glad we found each other, Doctor. It’s really cool having you for a brother…and a friend.”

“You know, I think that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.” He stole a quick glance at her, smiling. “And you’re not afraid of me anymore, then?”

Marie shook her head.

“Good.” The Doctor grinned. “Now, how close are we to my ship?”

Marie frowned, trying to remember.

“It’s hard to tell, in the dark. But I think we’re nearly there. Look for a huge elm tree that’s fallen over next to the road.”

She fell silent again for a moment, than said,

“Doctor? What happened to my uncle and the others? How are you going to stop them?”

The Doctor saw the elm Marie had mentioned and stopped the truck. He hesitated a moment then said,

“Marie. That’s not really your uncle. Not anymore. He died that night he went out hunting with the dogs. I found his body down by the river. The thing that looks like your uncle is called an Exogen.” He paused. “I know this may be hard to understand, but I need you to try, okay?”

Biting her lip worriedly, Marie nodded. The Doctor sighed tiredly. “

The Exogen are really a parasite. They came from way far out in the universe. First, the sovereign–that’s the breeder–finds a host, in this case your uncle. It takes on the appearance of the species it decides to invade. Then, it takes over other members of the species, using each individual as an incubator for an egg. When the egg matures, it takes on the appearance of the host species. They also eat most higher species for food, such as your livestock.”

“Or our pets?” Marie asked sadly.

“Yeah. Sorry.” The Doctor replied shortly, angry for the hurt Marie had been caused.

“But, why didn’t they eat….” Marie trailed off, not able to say the name of her beloved cat.

“I’m not sure. He may have just been in the way. Maybe the didn’t even notice that they’d hurt him.” The Doctor said reluctantly.

“Why didn’t Uncle Tobias kill me?” She asked.

“I don’t know that either.” the Doctor shrugged. “Except, maybe because your connection to me, to my people. It’s something maybe I need to ask the Exogen, when I see them.”

“How many of them are there?” she wanted to know.

As the truck lurched through a pothole, the Doctor stared out into the night.

“Billions.” he muttered tersely.

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