Chapter V. - Few Things about the Doctor
They made that funny scene around the consol again: running after each other, turning switches on and off, pulling and pushing arms and other wierd things. I amused quite well but didn't want to move because of my arm: I was afraid really I'd cut it off while not sensing it.So I stood still, watching them and listen to their arguments. It belonged till a cling was heard and the ship didn't shake further. She sighed and smiled.
'So we're here.'
I frowned although I knew she wasn't speaking to me.
'Where is 'here' exactly?' On Gallafreyl – or what did you called that planet?'
'No, not Gallifrey. No.' he frowned and shook his head at me. I pulled my eyebrows.
'So where then?' I knew what she said: she couldn't stay with him (however, I did not fully undertand, why), but I didn't want to push the thing.
'The Moon Colony, 5152.' River told.
'We're in the 52nd century?' I asked disbilievingly, however, I knew in my mind the ship could move in time – just couldn't accept it. The Doctor bowed his head, and answered quietly.
'Yes.'
River looked at him, and stepped to him.
'So...' she told, and the Doctor lifted his head.
'So...' he straightened, and smiled at her – with some sadness I did not understand. She closed the space between them and he lifted his hand to smooth her chin.
'We've got company.' she warned him flirtingly, and he jumped and turned to me blushing.
'Urm... sorry... I almost forgot.' he cleaned his throat and paddled nervously. River turned to me.
'Would you mind?...' she asked smiling.
'No, why would I? You are a married couple or what.'I smiled back and she turned him back to her and kissed him deep. First he tried to protest, but then he obeyed and kissed her back. When they parted, he cleaned his throat again.
'River...' he began reproachfully.
'Yes, Sweetie?' she flirted.
I don't think so... that she... her...' he swallowed.
'Oh she said she didn't mind, did you?' she turned to me.
'No.' I nodded.
'See?' she turned back to her husband. When she saw him still sulking, she rolled her eyes. 'Alright. Then see you next time, Doctor.' she stepped back.
'Yes.' the Doctor told, busy with pushing and pulling arms. River stood in the doorway, watching him sadly, and then opened up the door and turned to me.
'Have a good time, Lily. And take care of this idiot here.' she nodded towards the Doctor, who pretended not to hear the insult.
'I will. Thank you, Professor Song.'
'Oh call me River for God's sake. How old do I look?!' she rolled her eyes. I laughed a bit.
'Alright, River. Goodbye.'
She nodded to me, and stepped out of the ship, closing the door behind her. The Doctor was still at the consol.
'So... where do you want to go, Miss Orwell?' he faked a smile when she was gone. I frowned for a moment but then answered firmly.
'Nowhere.'
He frowned and stopped pulling the yellow arm.
'How do you mean 'nowhere'? There's a place called Nowhere, but I don't think so you want to see it, it's messy and dirty and smelly. I don't want to go there again...' he wondered. I walked to the chair and sat down.
'I said I want to go nowhere, not to got to Nowhere. I want to stay here. You could explain a few things.'
'Explain?' he crossed his arms and leaned against the consol.
'Yeah. About yourself, River, your spaceship, your home, your journeys, adventures and everything. You know, explaining. You are quite good at it as I got to know.'
'I don't like to be questioned.' he frowned at me.
'Why?' I asked back.
'It's rude.'
'To ask?'
'To query.'
'I do not want to query you, just ask.'
'Yes, you do! Because you're a scientist.' he slapped at me. I frowned at him.
'I am. Is it a crime to want to learn?' I couldn't believe he thought so. He just couldn't.
He sighed and paced to me. He bowed his head, and clutched his hands. For a moment there was silence.
'What do you want to know?' he asked at last, and I knew there was my chance to ask. Now, or never. I pulled up my eyebrows and bit my lips.
'Where are you from? Who are you? What are you?'
He sighed and smiled, sitting on his heels before me.
'I'm from a planet called Gallifrey, from the constellation Kasterborous. I'm a time lord, I have two hearts and I live for a very long time. Sometimes I think more than I should...' he said wondering. I nodded.
'That's true for everyone. We live more than we should.'
'Huh!' he bopped up. 'Humans do not live long! Not a single man. They are vulnerable and weak and so very short-lasting!' his voice was full with anger and sorrow. 'You can't imagine how many I saw dying. Oh, very lot of people, good people. Violently, from diseases, age or sorrow. Too many good man. Too many who knew the name 'Doctor'.' he said almost crying. I was too afraid to calm him – but it wasn't necessary. He rubbed his forehead and calmed himself. 'Sorry.' he said after a minuit. 'I didn't want to frighten you. It's just...' he sighed. 'I'm old. Really, really old. I lost so many friends. Some left me, some was left behind – and some died. The last ones, Amy and Rory: they died, because of me. They took them from me. River's parents...' he covered his face with his hands. I swallowed hard. I understood his pain: I lost lot of kind people too. I shared his silence for a while, but then asked.
'I heard you telling their names. Amy and Rory. Can you explain what happened to them again?' I asked gently. He looked up at me, sadly, but then smiled and began.
'Amy and Rory Pond. Or Williams. Amy Pond and Rory Williams. My Ponds...' he sighed. His voice was sensitive, I saw he was close to crying again.
'Where were they from?' I wanted to keep him talking to avoid him from the memories. I felt he would like to speak, but needed someone to protect him from the shadows of the past. And I decided to be the shade.
'They were simply earth humans. Humans, from the 21th century... No, they weren't simple, they weren't... The girl and boy who waited...' he stopped, and I knew I should ask again.
'What does it mean? The girl and boy who waited. Waited for what?'
He laughed up.
'She waited for me. I was freshly regenerated, the TARDIS too, I crushed her slightly before, I met her first with my new body...'
'Okay stop there.' I cut him off. 'What are you talking about?!'
He looked at me annoyed.
'I try to tell the story for you, as you asked.'
'No, no, the whole 'regenerating' thing.' I shook my head.
'Oh!' he realized. 'Yeah. Time lords, my species have a special 'talent': when we're dying, our body heals itself: its every cell rewrites its DNA, we get a new body. Just the body, but also the personality and behaving changes a bit. But the same person we stay; same memories, same feelings, same reasons and goals.
'Urm... It's quite confusing, but okay. I don't think anything could surprise me after a 20th century police box standing in my cold store, which bigger on the inside.' I tried to joke. He laughed a bit, so I smiled too.
'But go on with the story. What happened?'
'She was just a little girl then, alone in a big house with a strange crack in her wall. I wanted to help, but the engines overheated and I had to jump forward in time. I said five minuits, it became twelve years. I met her again when she was nineteen. We saved the world, I made a test drive with the new TARDIS, and I arrived two years later to her. She was twenty-one when she came along with me.'
I nodded.
'Alright. I understand now the girl who waited. What's up with the boy?'
He sighed again.
'Rory the Roman... Yeah. I told you about the crack in Amy's wall. Well, it was a crack in the universe, a big blow somewhere in time. It pulled everything in itself: people, places, whole stars, everything. It fed on them. Once Rory was dying, he got too close to the crack and it snipped him in. He was forgotten: he hadn't been born at all, he was ereased from time. Amy forgot him too, he never existed at all. But we found him: in Britain, in the first century, as a roman centurion. I did not understand, he shouldn't have been there – although he was. Then it turned out: my enemies trapped me, they made a copy of him from Amy's memories. He was plastic, the whole legion was. They put me in the perfect prison, the Pandorica and left me there. And he came and saved me: the plastic Rory, the copy. He told me he killed Amy, he was programmed for it, he hadn't got a choise. We put her in the Pandorica to preserve her. You must understand, the Pandorica is the perfect prison: not even death can escape you from there. It not only preserved her, but recreate her. It took almost two thousand years, yes, but it did. I told Rory to leave the box and jump forward those two thousand years, but he didn't listen to me. He stayed with the box, with Amy, to protect her. Through two thousand years... Practically, he lived more than I.' he wondered at the end. He laughed a bit. 'I don't ever know how he managed it. He waited two thousand years to keep her safe. But he did it. And I rebooted the universe, so they got back to their normal lives.'
'And you?'
'Oh, it was a bit more difficult with me. I was on the wrong side of the explosion, I got lost in the void. They forgot me: Amy, Rory, everyone. Only a few words, which remembered Amy to me, and she believed I was real. So she got me back, and they both came with me.' He sighed, and I smiled astonished.
'So that's what you do. Saving the universe?'
His face lit up.
'No, no! I'm discovering it. It's just I always bump into things to fix.'
'So you save the universe.' I facted.
'Basically.' he grinned, and I laughed up.
'Nice to meet you, Doctor, guardian of the universe.' I joked, but he frowned.
'Nooh, I'm not a guard. I'm just travelling.'
'Alright.' I smiled. 'Then travel.'
'After all, do you want to come with me?' he frowned cautiously. I laughed out loudly.
'Are you kidding me?! I can see the universe! It's great!' I swang my arms so heavily I almost punched him in the face. 'Oops, sorry. I still don't feel my arm.' I said blushing.
'It's okay. May I have a look?' he reached for my arm.
'Sure.' I nodded, and he took my arm and looked at it. The colour was almost gone.
'It's healing quite rapidly. It's good. We may leave the vortex now.'
I frowned.
'What vortex?'
'Time vortex. A stream of time where we can travel. A bit difficult to explain to a species which accepts theory of relativity.' he grimaced.
'Hey, Einstein was a great scientist, if he was wrong, too.'
'Oh, Einstein was a great man, I loved to argue with him.'
'With Einstein?' I frowned disbelievingly.
'That was long ago. I was – how much? Sevenhundred? Young ages...' he said nostalgically, and I frowned harder.
'Sevenhundred. Sevenhundred?! How old are you now?' I felt dizzy.
'Oi! That's rude to ask!' He bopped up.
'Right, right. Sorry.' I shook my head, and he grimaced. He jumped back tot he consol, and began to pull arms.
'So where now? Agzilli? Or Watruva? Ney, something less hot. Oh, the Oods!' I like the Oods. Their planet is pure snow. They're very friendly. What do you think?' he asked cheerly.
'I trust your decide.' I smiled.
'That's very nice from you. Ood planet, here we come!' he shouted and was to pull the yellow arm, when I frowned and cleaned my throat.
'Doctor...' I halted for a moment.
'Yes, Miss Orwell?'
'Lily, please.'
'Lily, of course.'
I swallowed. 'Is River Song human? I mean, when we where on the roof, her reflexes seemed more sharp than any human's. You said she was the daughter of Amy and Rory, both humans, but it's weird...' I shook my head. He smiled.
'You are clever, aren't you? Great observer. No, she isn't fully human, she's part time lord. Time lady. My species.'
'But how?' I frowned.
'Urm... well...' he blushed. 'She was... well... made on the TARDIS while flying in the vortex.' He swallowed.
'Oh, I see.' I pulled my eyebrows. 'Convinced, you mean.' I was a biologist, it was the correct expression, how too natural it was.
'Yes. That.' he swallowed again and turned away rapidly. I amused quite well on it.
'So – could we see your home planet: Gallifrey, I think.' I stood up and walked to him to the consol.
'No.' he said annoyed. 'Gallifrey doesn't exist anymore.'
I grimaced with guilt.
'I'm sorry. They say Earth will be lost in a few centuries too, and humanity will have to move...'
'No, Gallifrey wasn't lost, not in that way. It didn't perished, it was destroyed.'
'Destroyed? A whole planet?' I frowned disbelievingly.
'Lost, in a way. Lost in the void between realities and dimensions. Time-locked, we call it. I call it, I mean...'
His face was sorrowful, and dark, and full of guilt for some reason. I did not understand. So I asked.
'How do you mean you call it? Where are the others? The others from your species?'
He bowed his head, and I saw I asked something touchy. I asked more gently, most silently.
'Are you left alone from your species?'
He nodded quietly.
'How?' I frowned. He sighed.
'There was a big war. Bigger you could ever see or imagine. Billions of people died and suffered, I had to make an end of it. I haven't got a choise...'
I smiled forgivingly and smoothed his shoulder friendly.
'Yeah.' he came to sense and started to push and pull arms and switch buttons on and off. I smiled encouragingly and watched him and held on with my good arm.
'You can use your other arm now. The injure is healed.' he nodded towards my arm, and I realized I could feel it now.
'Wow...' I breathed surprised. I started to roll down the boundage from it.
'So, you can be surprised after the bigger-on-the-inside phone box in your cold store after all?' he smiled at me cagily. I pulled up my eyebrows and grimaced but laughed after all. Yes, there were many things which could surprise me after that moment when I entered that amazing machine.