Human Timelord

The look of confusion on the Doctor’s face wasn’t reassuring in the slightest. I watched his eyes darting across the screen and I walked across the floor and opened the Tardis door, stepping outside into the crowded street.

The yells and screams that I heard didn’t even hint to me that perhaps there might be something wrong. But as I started walking around and there was always a pathway in front of me, I started to think that maybe people were avoiding me.

“Excuse me,” I started, talking to a shopkeeper. “Is there something going on around here?”

“No,” he replied a bit too quickly.

“It’s alright,” I said. “You can trust me.”

He looked out onto the street, checked that no one was listening and leant closer to me whispering, “They look like you, but they are not. They carry themselves like earthen humans, but they are mindless monsters. They share not, our amber eyes.”

I nodded, assuming that he spoke of the Pevalimon. “You might find this a stupid question, but where are we.”

“Ziera,” he replied. “The capital of Hiamara.”

I searched my brain. Hiamara. That was a country in...

“Parethon,” I panted to the Doctor as I entered the Tardis after my sprint back there. “We’re in Parethon.”

“How do you know?” he asked in astonishment.

“I asked.”

“Uh...okay.”

“I know. It’s something you rarely think to do. Life would probably be a lot easier for a lot of people if you weren’t so self-centred.”

“I’m not self-centred,” he replied, not looking at me. “I’m self-reliant. When you live like I do, you have to be.”

“But you have me,” I replied, walking around to where he was.

“For now.”

I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He turned to face me. Covering the screen with his back, he leaned against the controls and spoke to me with a serious face.

“I’m going to ask you a few questions. I want you to answer as honestly as possible.”

“What are you, a psychologist?”

But he continued.

“Pink or blue?”

“Blue.”

“Black or white.”

“White.”

I was still at a complete loss as he continued asking random questions without stopping.

“Books or TV?”

“Books.”

“Air force or Navy?”

Wow, these were getting even more random.

“Navy.”

“Flowers or chocolate.”

“Flowers.”

“Karate or Tai chi.”

“Karate.”

“Me or Jack.”

“You.”

I clapped my hand over my mouth in horror. I had blurted that out without thinking, but he didn’t wait for me to explain. He stepped aside letting me see the screen.

Jack was clutching a sharp metal pole. Nara lay unconscious at his feet. I couldn’t tell if she was alive or not. But he was surrounded by dozens of dead Parethonians.

“No,” I breathed. But he looked around the room and walked out of it and out of view of the camera. I could no longer see him. “It’s not...he wouldn’t-”

The Doctor placed his arm over my shoulder and I fell into him crying.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

But I cried on.

xxxxx

I clutched the pylon that was becoming all too familiar to me as the Tardis took off. I didn’t care about what happened to Jack anymore. Not after seeing what he had done. I had to find Nara. I had to save her if I could.

As we stopped, I ran out of the Tardis into the room. In my hysterical mind, I could almost see Jack standing there. But he wasn’t, and for that I was grateful. I never wanted to see him again.

I ran to Nara as soon as I spotted her amongst the mass of bodies. I felt a great rush of relief as I saw her stir.

“Nara,” I breathed. “Thank God you’re alive! What happened?”

“It was um...and attack, I think. One minute we stood next to the Pevalimon, chained. The next moment we were unchained and we were facing a group of Parethonians who were cowering in fear. Jack stood next to me with a metal pole that he got from God-knows-where, and he was prepared to attack. I started to stop him, but he hit me with it across the head. Then you woke me up.”

“Was there anything else?”

“No,” she said. “But, wait, yes. Jack, his eyes weren’t normal. They were red, like the Pevalimon.”

That’s what the shopkeeper guy had said. They had strange eyes. I’d assumed he was talking only about the Pevalimon, but perhaps they had done something. Perhaps Jack hadn’t ever actually done those things. At least not purposely. They’d found dome way of brain controlling the both of them. Suddenly, I felt my hatred vanish, only to be replaced by a burning resolve. I would find Jack no matter what.

“Come on,” I said to Nara. “We need to find him.”

We stepped back into the Tardis. I heard Nara’s “Whoa!” as we walked inside, but I ignored it and ran to the Doctor.

“It wasn’t him,” I said excitedly.

“Excuse me?”

“The Pevalimon did something. He was changed in some way. His eyes went red and he attacked them. That’s not Jack.”

The Doctor was hesitant but he let me look at where we needed to go on the screen.

“Why is that everything that’s happening now seems to cut me out of the picture?”

“Because,” I began. “Pretty much every adventure you and your companions gone on revolves around you and you love it.”

“True...”

“Well this time. It’s revolving around me.”