THE CULT OF THE DOCTOR

Chapter Four

When Jackie returned with the food, they sat in the room and ate while the Doctor filled her in on what was happening. Jackie listened, shocked, that there might be another Gallifrey and another Doctor in Pete's World.

"But you never found evidence of that, yeah?" Jackie said to her daughter when the Doctor finished speaking.

"Yeah but…that doesn't mean it couldn't be out there somewhere, it is a big universe," Rose said.

"Not to mention if this Doctor has a TARDIS, he could have come from another point in time," the clone said. "Maybe Gallifrey also burned here but the Doctor survived it or…it could be this body but a different Doctor, maybe an earlier Doctor."

"But why would he write a book about himself?" Jackie said.

"That I don't know since I'd never do that," the Doctor said. "I certainly would never tell humans this much about Gallifrey. But each universe is slightly different. Seems this universe's Doctor not only has no qualms about sharing secrets with humans but he also doesn't mind being turned into a celebrity. Since he's different to me in that way, I can't tell you why he's doing it. I s'pose we'll have to seek him out and ask."

"Whatever his reasons, he nearly caused a riot today when he tried to leave the bookshop," Jackie said, pointing to the clone. "I thought they were going to rip him apart when he got near the door."

"I'm sorry that happened to you," the Doctor said sincerely as he examined a rip in the clone's jacket. "I'm glad you made it out of there in one piece."

The clone was shocked by that but he did manage to thank him, hoping that perhaps the two of them could mend things and work together.

"Does that mean you'll cause a riot if you go outside now?" Rose said to the Doctor and the clone.

"We could try to disguise ourselves," the clone said to the Doctor.

"Yes," the Doctor said. "If I had the TARDIS, I could get a holographic projector that would cover my body with a holographic disguise…"

He trailed off for a moment in thought. Then he had an idea. He stood up and rifled through his pockets and grinned when he pulled out the perception filters he made for himself and Martha. Martha had returned hers to him after they left the Valiant and the Doctor had retrieved the others from the Master's lab. He showed them to Rose and Jackie and explained how they worked.

"So if you put these on, no one can see you?" Rose said.

"Well, it's not a matter of being seen, it's more like no one will notice us. Me and Metacrisis can use them and we have a spare just in case. Hopefully since the only "Rose" here was Jackie's dog, no one will recognize either of you. The crowd didn't recognize you at the bookshop, did they?" he said to Jackie.

"No. Just him," Jackie said, gesturing to the clone. "And they only turned violent when he tried to leave, not me."

"Good. That means you and Rose don't have to worry about crowds mobbing you when we walk down the street. As long as you don't draw attention to us, you'll be fine."

He handed a filter to the clone and they put them around their necks.

"I can still see you," Jackie said.

"That's because you know we're here," the clone said. "That's why he said not to draw attention to us when we're outside."

Jackie nodded.

"That's sorted but what about you? Are we going to call you both, Doctor?" she asked them.

"Yeah, it'll get confusing if you have the same name," Rose said.

"She's right," the Doctor said.

"Just call me John then, for the moment. I use John Smith as an alias and since I'm half human, it seems appropriate."

"Okay, John, but are you safe?" Rose said.

"As long as I keep the perception filter on, I don't think I'll have to worry about frenzied crowds…"

"No, I mean you said Donna's mind was gonna burn because she's half human and half Time Lord. Aren't you the same then?" Rose said.

"He is but it's not the same. Donna took most of his mind into her own and since she has a human mind to begin with, she can't handle that much knowledge. The Time Lord mind's been drained from him so he's in no danger of burning up. He's safe," the Doctor said.

"So how much time does Donna have then?" Jackie said.

The Doctor and John glanced at each other.

"Unless someone intervened, she'd be dead by now," the Doctor said with heavy hearts.

"Maybe the other you took the TARDIS and saved her," Rose said, grabbing his arm in sudden realization.

"That was very rude of him to take it and not tell you," John said to the Doctor.

"I don't care as long as he saves her and brings them back to me. The problem is contacting him…if there even is a him, we still don't know for sure if that's the correct theory. It could be something else."

John gasped with a sudden realization and the Doctor looked at him.

"You have a theory?" he said to him.

"Yeah. Donna does have the memories of a Time Lord. Whoever took her could have used a mind probe on her, wrote the book and used the TARDIS to bring the finished book back to this point in time."

"Why?" Jackie said.

"Don't know. But for the moment, Donna also has our mind," John said to the Doctor.

"True. But that still leaves the question of why someone would do that," the Doctor said. "And it would have to be someone who knows who I am."

"Which brings Torchwood back into the scenario," John said. "Even if Rose just mentioned the Doctor in passing, she might have perked someone's interest and with all that alien tech at their disposal…"

"But they took the TARDIS a few minutes after we came here," Jackie said. "How could have they known about it if we're here in Norway?"

"Me," Rose said.

Everyone looked at her.

"They were tracking me wherever I went," Rose said. "They put nanorobots in my bloodstream that allowed them to pinpoint my location in case I got lost or needed to get away fast. And I kept in contact with them as well. I also allowed them to take a sample of that background radiation stuff so they could lock on to the TARDIS and transmat me to its location."

"So someone at Torchwood got a bit too nosy about you," John said to the Doctor. "And used Rose to nick the TARDIS and Donna and get more information about you."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Rose said. "When I let them take that background radiation, I didn't think anyone would use it against you…if that's what's happened."

"That's why I hate Torchwood. Even with Rose and Pete working there, they're still capable of underhanded stuff," the Doctor said. "But I don't blame you, Rose. You did that so you could find me and if you didn't find me; Davros would have succeeded with his reality bomb. You had selfless intentions when you did that. You didn't think that anyone would use the artron energy for a nefarious purpose. But…if that is what happened, we can start with Torchwood and try to track down whoever did it and get them to tell us where the TARDIS and Donna is and why he's turning me into a celebrity.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they ate and cleaned up, Jackie and John went back to their rooms but Rose stayed with the Doctor. It was late evening now and he was flipping through the television channels, looking for the nightly news. He figured if John was attacked today, it would be on the news. The time for Donna to be saved had long passed but the Doctor held on to the hope that whoever took the TARDIS saved her. Imagining any other scenario was too much for him to bear.

He finally found a newscast and stopped his channel surfing. The broadcast was in Norwegian so he was the only one who could understand it. But a few moments after he found it, there was a report on the assault at the bookshop and when the Doctor pointed it out, Rose went to get John so he could listen to it. The Doctor sat on the side of the bed and listened while a middle aged Norwegian newsreader described the frenzy at the bookshop and the fact that the Doctor had been sighted buying a copy of his own book. By this time, Rose and John returned and John stood by the bed and listened while Rose walked back around to her side.

"What are they saying?" she asked the Doctor as she sat down on the bed.

"They're describing what happened and they're wondering why I wanted a copy of the book," the Doctor said to her. "They think that perhaps I'm fact checking it, which we were. They're hoping I haven't left Norway yet so I can agree to more appearances. Apparently, a lot of people are angry they missed me at the bookshop. "

"I'm glad they missed me since the ones who were there nearly tore me limb from limb," John said.

"They're now likening it to the Beatles and Beatlemania," the Doctor said.

"Seriously?" Rose said. "You're that popular?"

"Alien who travels through time and space and who's been saving the Earth for millennia?" John said. "I can see how that might capture the imagination of the public."

The Doctor chuckled.

"What?" Rose said.

"Oh…they are talking about making a film about me now, based on the book," the Doctor said with a wry grin. "I'm not only the Beatles; I'm Tom Cruise as well."

"Can I come to the premiere then when the film gets made?" Rose teased him.

The Doctor didn't say anything in reply. He was watching the telly with a raised eyebrow. Now they were showing footage of several people wearing long red robes and gold plastic skullcaps. One young man in front was holding the book up in the air like it was a holy relic and they were all chanting something in Norwegian. The Doctor and John were exchanging looks of disbelief.

"What's going on now?" Rose said, pointing to the TV.

"It appears some humans have gone off their trolleys," John said. "This lot is worshipping the Doctor or at least they're chanting "The Doctor is supreme" while dressing up as Time Lords."

"You mean those robes they had on? That's how you lot dressed on Gallifrey?" Rose said.

"Not everyone. Their outfits are modeled on Time Lord robes and regalia. They did describe it in the book. But yes, it seems I have some disciples now among the adoring public."

"And now that bloke said that this whole…worshipping thing is happening worldwide. That some people seem to be forming a religion based on the Doctor."

"Seriously? You're a god now?" Rose said, bemused.

"If I'm a god, they need to start treating me a bit more gently when I'm out in public," John said. "Thank heavens you still had those perception filters, I have a feeling our lives will depend on those now."

The report on the Doctor ended and the Doctor switched off the TV, his mind swirling with all this new information. John bid them goodnight and kissed Rose on the cheek before heading out. When he shut the door behind them, Rose put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"I'll go as well, let you think awhile," she said.

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "I just need to study this book a bit more and think of a plan. Whatever the reason for all this happening, I think our first stop should be Torchwood when we get back to London. Whoever this George White is, he's causing a frenzy and I have a feeling it's intentional. Humans can be very passionate about things but someone or a group of someones is stirring up the passion and turning me into a god. That can't be good. Besides, I don't wanna be treated like a god. I really don't wanna be treated like a celebrity. When I come to Earth, I want to come and go as I please and do what I want without starting a kerfuffle. But we can't do anything tonight. Get some rest, Rose. We need to be ready to tackle this problem with clear minds."

Rose nodded. She kissed his cheek and lingered there a moment with her nose on his cheek. The Doctor smiled at that and squeezed her hand briefly before letting go and allowing her to leave the room. Once she was gone, the Doctor picked up the book from the bedside table, found where he'd stopped reading and finished the book.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie looked over when she heard a knock on the door. She'd managed to purchase an English language book from the bookshop before the riot started and since she couldn't understand anything that was said on TV, she was reading it now. She put the book down and answered the door.

"Hello," John said. "We're going to sleep and I wondered what time you wanted to get up and if we were having breakfast."

"Yes. Um...probably around eight if Pete hasn't come yet. Are you alright? Those people nearly tore you in half today."

"I'm fine," John said. "Thanks for your concern."

"Well, the last thing I want is to see you get ripped apart. Now get some sleep and we'll all have breakfast in the morning."

John nodded. He started to walk away but his eyes widened when he realized he couldn't move.

"Jackie, something's wrong. My feet won't work," he said to her.

Jackie tried to move towards him and to her horror, she realized her feet were also frozen. Both of them tried to move and while that happened a funny feeling came over John, like he was being bombarded with static electricity.

"Something's happening to my body," Jackie said.

"Mine too," John said.

At that moment, Rose was walking towards her room. She noticed John standing at the door to Jackie's room and headed towards him. John saw her.

"Rose, something's happening to us. We can't move!" he said to her.

Rose sprinted towards the room while the Doctor, who heard him yell, opened his door. He was about to follow Rose to the room when suddenly a bright light enveloped John. The Doctor sprinted up the hallway but by the time he and Rose got to Jackie's room, the bright light was gone and both John and Jackie had disappeared.

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