Post by Fitz Kreiner on May 24, 2010 22:12:12 GMT
Day five, The Pod.
For two days, our escape pod drifted through space. Fortunately, it came fully equipped with everything that people in the pod would need for a prolonged period of time. There were a lot of things on my mind during the time in there, including what would happen to me if no one came and what had happened to the Doctor and Tom?
I was fortunate in my companion of Theoris. She was a very interesting person. She was not too unlike myself, enjoyed studying history, had a good sense of humour and was very interesting. We spent the two days talking, telling each other stories about our lives and what we’d done. I noticed that my stories started to get more and more interesting after I’d met the Doctor.
Theoris told me about her first schooling at the Covenant of Ra. Ra being their main God, in the same way that God is to Christians. The Anubians believe that Ra exists in some form in the centre of every sun and star in the universe giving life to whichever planet he wants. Or which he deems most deserving. It’s a rather interesting religion, respecting all life. I could see the Doctor fitting in almost, as a pope of that. I’ve seen him bump off Daleks and Cybermen, but he’s always seemed torn at the decision.
We didn’t have much else to do for the two days other than talk, and talk we did. There were a lot of differences between us and our worlds, I discovered. For instance, the Anubians didn’t have velvet, and she was fascinated by my crushed velvet top, just as I was rather intrigued by a lot of her stuff. I asked her, and Theoris told me her story;
She was born 27 years ago, she said, the third of the Pharaoh’s first litter of pups. She told me that she has two older brothers and four younger sisters, one of them unfortunately died not long after being born. She told me all about the state funeral for her sister. The streets of Cairoth, the capital city, were lined with flowers for the funeral procession. From the way she described the city, it’s even more magnificent than what I’ve seen on Intheop.
Intheop. Every time the name of the station is mentioned, I think about the Doctor and Tom. Whatever happened to them? It was playing heavily on my mind, and I think there were things playing on Theoris’ mind as well, which is why we talked so much.
The city was made mostly of stone, marble and crystal. There were apparently deep veins of minerals under the surface, lots of them, and the Anubians used the materials to be used in the construction of their buildings.
Back to Theoris’ story; she was rather upset by her sister’s death, she died of a disease she said. I can’t remember what it was, it was very tropical and alien sounding, and I’m not a doctor! It wasn’t long after that when she started learning at the Covenant of Ra. The teaching revolved around the religion of Ra, philosophy, drama, literature, mathematics and logic and logistics. Sounded rather more intense than my own education from the way she described it. It almost made my first year of Uni seem rather incomplete. (I’ll come back to that.)
After she graduated from the Covenant, the top of her intake she told me, even ahead of her brothers and sisters, she began taking up her role of Princess more full time; attending state events, and visiting other planets to visit colonies and other races.
She told me that after her graduation, she took further studies to help with her royal duties. According to all accounts, she’s one of the most popular members of the royal family amongst the people. In a way, she kinda seems like the Anubian version of Princess Diana; she’s done charity works and done a lot of work for the less fortunate citizens. It seemed rather impossible, from what I’d seen so far, to imagine that the Anubians had less fortunate’s, unless of course it was a euphemism for something else all together.
I did have a horrible sinking feeling when I realised that she was almost like an Anubian Princess Diana; what if this was her car crash in the tunnel?! I tried to push that thought out of my mind as she talked, telling me about her work. I could see that she was passionate about it. By the time she had finished talking, it was getting rather late, and I was getting tired. I think my adrenalin from the attack was dying out and I was exhausted.
I was rather tired, but I hardly slept. The events of the day were still running through in my head. What was it that the Doctor had told Tom to do? What had happened to him? Was the Doctor alright? Where had he ran off to after I’d seen him on the balcony? Would I ever see them again?
I heard Theoris moaning in her sleep. I didn’t know whether it was just something she did or whether she was in pain again from where the Drachnith had shot her in the leg. I know that my sleep was fitful. I kept waking up and had several nightmares which all had a similar theme. Sometimes I woke up crying out because they felt so real. I dreamt that I saw the Doctor and Tom killed in an attack. Something told me that it wasn’t the Drachnith. I kept thinking that I wouldn’t get back to sleep after but each time I did, and each time the dreams got more vivid and real.
I dreamt that I saw Tom shot dead in cold blood, the Doctor gunned down by aliens, Tom blown up by a bomb. Each time I woke in tears and crying out. Theoris comforted me each time. I think something must have reminded me of when I last thought Tom was killed when he was trying to stop a space ship exploding. He turned up again safe, just rather injured. I really hoped that both he and the Doctor would pull through somehow. I told Theoris about my dreams, and she said that she would pray to Ra for their safety.
We both slept badly after that. Eventually neither of us could sleep any more, and Theoris asked me about my story. So, I started at the beginning (after apologising for the Earth terms). Having not told you guys my story yet, I guess now is as good as ever;
I was born on 24th September 1979. My parents, Steven and Annalisa Lawton died when I was fifteen and I moved in with my Aunt, my mum’s sister, Carolyn. Theoris asked me about my parents, and it brought back quite a bit. My mum died of breast cancer and I’ve always been a strong believer in the cause to fight it since. My dad died some time later, when I was nearly sixteen, and it made it hard for my schooling since. I missed a lot because of compassionate leave, and I worked really hard to catch up. I don’t want to trivialise my parents’ deaths because it made me have to be a lot stronger, and there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think of them.
I’ve actually spent quite some time talking to the Doctor about them. It was one of those rare moments of peace, it was just him and me, and we were sat in the console room of the TARDIS, drinking tea and talking. He offered to take me back so that I could see them again, but I refused. I wouldn’t know what to do if I saw them again. It would be far too emotional I think. I’ve already grieved for them, and already moved on; going back and visiting them before I was born would just really mess with my head. He showed one of those moments which he has every so often, where he knew what I was feeling and what had happened as if he’d been there with me.
I got on really well with my aunt, and I did pretty well at school; straight A student at GCSE, got my A levels and got into Lincoln University. As soon as I got my results and got in, I moved into a house with Kelly and Mary, two of my best friends. I worked in a bar and a music shop in Lincoln. When I say music shop, it was instruments, not something like Virgin or HMV, so I’ve played a bit of music myself. Theoris seemed rather impressed by this, so I started talking about music.
She was rather interested in the various music genres as she said they only really have one style of music on Anubia. She asked me to sing some of my favourite “music”, which I took to mean songs. I sang her a bit of ‘Sweet Child of Mine’, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’. That last one was a bit more for me, as it always makes me feel stronger when I’m worried. I had a list of songs that I listened too after my parents died, and that was one of them.
After that, I told her about my first year of university, and my studying history and psychology. She seemed quite impressed although she didn’t know what psychology was, so I had to explain the basics to her, including Freud, which we had a good laugh at, Jung, Pavlov and what my plans were when I went back to my studies. That made me almost feel hollow in a way, when I realised that it was nine months since I’d left my house in Lincoln to travel with the Doctor. Of course, with a Time Machine, the Doctor could drop me off just after I left. But I was having too much fun, despite the fear I’d been feeling, with the Doctor and Tom.
Of course, that got me talking about them to her. I told her about how I met the Doctor in July 1999, accidentally starting this whole new life for myself after walking into the TARDIS. I’d almost forgotten what had happened; the accident and going to call the police and finding the TARDIS, not knowing what it was and going in just as the Doctor dematerialised. How that one incident took me away to two thousand years after my own time and the Cybermen, where we met Tom.
Then, from there, I told her what happened after; the Master and Sontaran, Daleks, meeting Tifa, the incident in Derbyshire with Harry, holidaying on Florana, the really bizarre thing with three other Doctor’s (really, don’t ask!), the Wyvern on Amaranth and Tifa leaving, the Master again and the Autons, more Cybermen, Solaris 3 and up to landing on Intheop.
She seemed impressed. Especially at all the nasties and monsters we’d fought. She hadn’t heard of any of them, other than the Nestene’s. It made me wonder what exactly the state of all the things we’d met were like in this time. 5000 BC; that’s seven thousand years ago. I don’t know what state the Cybermen or Daleks would be. The Doctor mentioned the Sontarans fighting the Drachnith a couple of days ago, and that that was in three thousand years.
I found myself running out of things to talk about. I’d given a long talk about my life and I was getting rather thirsty. The water and rations wouldn’t last for much longer, we both knew that. I was starting to get worried about how long we’d be stuck out here before someone came to get us. For some reason, we moved away from the planet near to Intheop and were heading out into space. I could see the stars going past the port holes. It was like the stars going past the windows in Star Trek. Where were we going? I couldn’t believe the question had never occurred to me before.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“The pod is homing to Anubis. It should be a four day journey,” Theoris replied.
“Four days?” I was rather astonished. “How long has it been? I’m getting cabin fever in here.”
“It is frustrating, Lady Jess,” she replied. She’d called me ‘Lady’ since we arrived in the pod, despite me telling her not to. I think it was the same thing that the Doctor felt. “I feel the need to run in the grass and feel the breeze. Intheop was some distance from Anubia, it will take time for us to travel there.”
“How long have we been in here?” I asked. I looked at my watch. But that didn’t tell me much, and I couldn’t see any clock in the pod.
“Two days so far,” Theoris said.
“Another two days.” There wasn’t any need to announce that, but I felt like voicing my frustration.
I stood up, the roof of the pod only just above my head. There would have been no way that Theoris would have been able to stand up in here. She stayed sat in her side of the pod, legs crossed. I couldn’t tell, but I think she may have been sulking. She’s almost impossible to read, although I don’t know whether that’s down to her being an alien and having different body language to me.
I wondered why the pod was going all the way to Anubis when I had seen a planet near the station when we left. The memory of it all made me go cold; I could feel the Goosebumps rise on my arms. I could still see the image in my mind as the pod sped away from the station. I couldn’t believe I’d left the Doctor and Tom on there. I should have got out of the pod and followed Tom, instead of sat inside here safely, watching the Drachnith ship destroy the station. I could still see the explosions when I closed my eyes, and the debris floating away. I didn’t want to think about how many Anubians, how many people, were losing their lives.
I knew that the sight had really shocked Theoris too. They were her people. I couldn’t imagine how I’d have felt had I been watching it happen to a lot of people, humans. I’ve seen people get killed before, some really horribly. Not that there’s a nice way to be killed. But death on that scale, it was horrible. There had to be millions of people on that station. You can visualise that number, it’s like when you’re told of the millions of innocents that the Nazi’s murdered, you can’t imagine it, it’s just a statistic rather than people. Not that that excuses anything.
I could tell we were passing by a star system rather quickly and at a distance. There was a large star outside the port hole near me. I didn’t know whether there were any planets nearby. Instead I just sat back. There was nothing else I could do but sit and wait.
“So, what do we talk about now?” I asked.
“I have a curiosity,” Theoris said. I’d noticed that she said ‘curiosity’ rather than ‘question’.
“Go on,” I said.
“It may be personal, so do not feel as though you are compelled to answer.”
I couldn’t deny I was almost intrigued by what she was going to ask.
“Are you mated with the Doctor or Tom?”
The question really threw me. For a couple of seconds I had to think about what she meant, and then it hit me, and that was what threw me; she was asking whether I was sleeping with either the Doctor or Tom.
“No, no I’m not,” I almost laughed at it after I’d recovered from hearing the question. I’d not told her about any relationships I had, so I told her the latest;
“I had a boyfriend, but he left me for some blonde bimbo with a bigger tit size than her IQ. Good riddance to him, I’m better off without him, and happier.” I said.
If I thought that question threw me, I was totally unprepared for the next;
“But I think you would like to, am I right?”
I stared at her, and I’m pretty sure that my mouth was open in shock. She just stared back at me. The silence was fast becoming awkward.
“What do you mean?” I asked once I’d recovered from the shock.
“The way you speak about them. You clearly hold them in great affection. You think about them often, and last night you called their names in your sleep.” Theoris just stared at me after saying that.
I could only think of one reason that would have happened. “I told you I was having nightmares about them,” I said. “That’s all it could have been,”
“You were very concerned,” she said. It was almost like she was a dog with a bone!
“They’re my friends!” I replied. I was starting to wonder whether after two days we were going to start fighting. After all, the Doctor was my only way out of here and he and Tom were my friends, my best friends. I knew that they’d protect me and do anything for me, and I would for them.
“Sorry, I did not mean for you to take offence,” Theoris said.
“No, its ok,” I replied. I didn’t want to alienate my pod mate for the next two days, and besides, if I pissed her off in return, her dad might have it in for me when we got to Anubis.
I was about to tell her that I don’t offend that easily, well, I do get a bit pissy when people stop treating me like a person, and I’ll gladly give a Cyberman or the Master a piece of my mind, but on the whole, I’m not easily offended. Anyway, I was about to say this to Theoris when the pod lurched and I was thrown against the wall. I saw that Theoris was thrown over by the jolt as well. It was like being in a car without a seatbelt when it emergency stopped.
“What the hell was that?” I asked. I was rather surprised at that. You don’t often get emergency stops in space, at least, not that I know of. I’ve never seen it in any sci-fi show, and I’ve not seen it on any of the space ships I’ve been on or that I’ve heard the Doctor or Tom talk about.
“I think we’ve been caught in a traction beam,” Theoris said. She was looking out of her side port hole window.
“A tractor beam? You mean, we’ve been found?” I asked.
I knew it was a stupid question the moment I said it, but I couldn’t hide my joy at the thought of being found. I really didn’t fancy another two days in the pod. No offence to Theoris, she was a good companion, it’s just the size of the pod was starting to get claustrophobic.
I looked out of the window, expecting to see a green or blue glow around the pod, like I’d seen in Star Trek. I couldn’t see a thing, not even stars. Outside had gone completely black. I could now hear clanging and clanking from outside the pod, and it was starting to jolt about a bit.
“Do you think your father has sent someone to find you?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It depends if the Doctor and Rameso managed to send the distress message,” Theoris replied.
That gave me a ray of hope; if the Doctor was going to send a distress call, then he would send a distress call, I know him. That could also have been what he sent Tom to do. Either way, I was pretty sure that I’d find out soon. The clanging was starting to get louder now.
“They’re taking their time,” Theoris said. She was looking at the hatch expectantly.
I couldn’t blame her. If I were her, I’d want to know what was taking her people so long to get us out. Plus, I really wanted out too! But she had a point; the clanging had started a few minutes ago and it was still going on. Ok, I didn’t know how long it takes for an escape pod to be brought on board a ship and opened, but it never seems that long on TV or films.
“If it’s not your father who’s found us,” I started the question, but I already knew the answer and I didn’t want to think about it.
Theoris looked at me, and I’m pretty sure that I saw a look of fear in her eyes. She was about to say something to me when a really bright light started to shine through the two port hole windows. It was bright enough for us to both cover our eyes. I could almost see my bones and veins through my skin the light was that bright. The clanging got louder and then more light came into the pod. I soon figured out why, the hatch had been opened.
I could see some figures moving in front of the light, they were just silhouettes at first, but then the lights died and I got the answer to the question of who had found us, and it really wasn’t the answer I’d been wanting;
The Drachnith.