1. THE SPEECH
War begins when it is declared through a powerful speech. Great leaders deliver great speeches, and I have been lucky enough to experience many with my own ears and eyes - but none of them delivered theirs quite the way The Visitor gave his. Our mightiest leaders would shout with passion from static podiums far in the distance; small versions of themselves promising large futures. They issued warnings through metaphor and uttered salvation through simile but no matter how important they built themselves up to be, time and experience made us sceptical of their visions.
The animated speech The Visitor gave us all was spoken by a leader who literally danced through the crowds; never stopping with a dramatic pause or trying to be clever with powerful triple sentences like our politicians always seem to. Instead he smiled when he spoke of our bravery, an honest smile. The Visitor praised and described each of our worlds with such passion that every race on board his ship would appreciate each other's involvement. The severity of the situation brought forth concordant feelings towards the Enemy and as such that one, great speech was all that was needed to create one gestalt creature: Us. We each contributed an individual skill that was inherent within our genetic make-up that could bring down this evil. Instead of a chaotic blending of multiple species we seemed like one solid war machine. Today, many chosen from their worlds were going to fight and die on the words of a creature with no name but knew and believed in their hearts he had the means to end the biggest and most terrifying War the universe had ever known and he convinced us when he visited our worlds that we would not have to worry about our destruction as he would protect us with his race's powerful science. A perfect deal. A mighty few would fight for him whilst he saved the vulnerable millions.
He started his speech from a gantry in front of a library full of old books. His arms gesticulated like a Wind Grinder trying to help us visualise how he had 'borrowed' Time Lord technology to seal our families and our entire planet in a bubble of frozen time. This was his promise to us for volunteering to destroy the Enemy at a crucial time in this inter galactic feud. He had thanked us all earlier in the day by placing his hand into ours and moving the clasp frantically up and down. Some of the races on board neither had hands or the means to invoke the movement but he attempted none the less to move fronds, claws and tails in his alien way as way of saying thank you. He left not one creature out. There were over two thousand of us yet he came to us all with words of praise, comfort and most useful of all; final tactics and tips to destroy the enemy. His speech continued as he slid down a polished metal pole to the ground floor and leapt like a newly born Wren Deer between the myriad of races reminding us how proud we should all feel. We had all been chosen to represent our worlds and it was a huge honour to fight in this unique army. I and my legion were extremely proud to be chosen and we would not let The Visitor and his plan down.
The mission was simple. A weapon was being built to destroy our system by a race with no feelings, emotions or conscience. It was to be tested against our home worlds and if successful it would annihilate them. Once a weapon is built of that power there would be no turning back the Sun clocks. We had to stop it happening. Before our attack we were told we were to join forces with something that would tip the balance in our favour. There was a rumour that it was an army from the Visitor's own race. On a forgotten Moon with no name we were to land. He assured us his ship would not be detected by the enemy and it would be a day's walk to the where the weapon was being created over a mountain range.
The Visitors intel was located on the same planet as the enemy and he had been speaking through minds for many weeks with them. This was science beyond my understanding but I could see the golden metal levers and glass symbols he placed his hands on when he closed his eyes to make contact helped. It was an awesome interaction to watch: a huge powerful machine and a Creature working in complete harmony. His army will be something to behold.
The Visitor had power in his ship, his glowing stick and his mind so what power would we have with a whole army of Visitors by our side? Victory felt absolute even at this stage.
It was not just the central control area that was a mesmerising array of lights and sounds the entire ship was impossibility. It was always interesting to watch a new race enter the doors. The looks on each of their face's had many of my legion breath fast with amusement. Some that did not own detailed features gave away their truths through cautious, shocked body movements. I wonder how we looked to the Visitor upon first arrival: a powerful army creeping like innocent children, slowly, struck down with dumbness and surprise. During the last speech from the Visitor I swept my gaze across the thousands of Creatures, my odd compatriots, one last time.
Originally I did not recognise any of the other soldiers on board except for the purple lizard creatures whose name was always impossible to pronounce but sounded like Grzzttck. We have traded with them for some years now and initially wary of their odd ways we have found common ground mostly through the drinking of wrinkly bark milk and competitive gaming. They have an ability to crush enemies with their tail and their weaponry skills are pinpoint accurate, this is something The Visitor said would come in very handy with this enemy, aiming for eyestalks. The Spiridons, to begin with, looked like moving hollow Fur Bushes until The Visitor sprayed their leader with a light yellow paint, this race had the curse of invisibility; the fur was a coat. How could these creatures enjoy the beauty of their new born? Or even their loved ones? How would you brag about your war wounds if you could not see them? Being an Invisible would have its uses in War but it is not an ability I would choose for daily living.
The Black Schooners from Velta 5 were cousins of the Voord according to The Visitor, sleek and dark with eye set deep into their heads. This may have been useful had I known who the Voords were. In the half light they became as invisible as the Spiridons, a shadow could hold them in its palm hidden like a spider in a closed fist. With eyes so far into their skulls it was hard to imagine they were the sharpest shooters in the galaxy but we were promised they were. They never spoke. Just emitted small yellow gas puffs from hollow head roots. It almost looked like thick hair but each tube had its own movement slowly writhing like twenty Black Sluice Worms.
There were two races that were hardened with tough flesh, the large hairy species known as the Harg and the augmented humans of Timo 6. The Augmented were bred for war, aggressive, muscular and with programmed battle plan capability: they were the ultimate hybrid fighting machine. The full humans on that small planet were at peace, only ever sending these special soldiers to war just because they could. An odd concept and one I still cannot fully appreciate. The Visitor complained they never smiled so he 'tinkered' with their metalized brains. He programmed them all to smile but it didn't look right. Their expressions were fixed. I found them creepy, like the The Grinning Tooth Beasts from the dry dusty Valley of Moh Moh where smiling was a warning of imminent death by their jaws. The 'Smirkers', as we in the legion secretly called them, were a solid bulk and when programmed could accommodate death accurately and swiftly with a cold unemotional heart but oddly, they spoke in poetry. The race that designed them found this amusing. There was a lot of free thinking Creature left in those minds so we could talk war stories with them but after a while their sing songy language grated and like I say the grinning was unsettling. The Visitor called them his 'Chunky smiley Shakespeares'. We had no idea what he meant by this remark as none of them held spears and their weaponry was part of their body, but they did, constantly, smile.
I on the other hand was happy to be all flesh and cartilage and my strengths came from a more natural source. My race's greatest weapon is our speed. Our hind legs are powerful and we can run twice as fast as most bipeds and we can jump, higher than a Bao Tree. We will be useful "planting magnetic grenades against the enemies casing". The visitor told us this when we boarded. The red and gold grenades have the power to rip apart the special metal they seem to be made of. This pleased me a great deal.
We were a strange collective of thoughts, beliefs and evolution yet here we all sat, ate and slept in this temple of the Visitor. This incredible box. This... Tardis. There were many races speaking the same language, impossible normally but the science of the box created a multicultural society with a common tongue. What would have taken decades to accomplish took days in this majestic and strange ship, peace reigned and alliances and friendships were forged. The exchange of foods and drink became an amusing past time. Seeing other races fail to stand up after a dozen capfuls of wrinkly bark milk made my fellow Cabalians fast breath uncontrollably. One Black Schooner after just four capfuls even missed the pupil of a Earth human in a picture from 200 Cabalian steps away. The Visitor put a stop to it, always smiling he gently slid the picture of 'Moaner Liza' now with a small hole between her eyes into a wooden drawer, we fast breathed for hours but we couldn't tell if the Schooner found it amusing unless a rapid pumping of green gas from its tubes constituted a high state of amusement.
The drawers where 'Liza' now resided were one of the many confusions the Tardis held within its walls, they seemed to be bigger on the inside too, for it would not have been possible to house a hundreds of hammocks in an area no bigger than cloth box. The whole ship was an odd combination of bronze, gold, wood, drapes, stone , old clanging bell towers and computer technology and echoed the look of the Calabrian Ska Temples. The mystic Relgons still believe that science and religion should be as one and would have swooned at the etheric vision of 'The Eye of Harmony' and the power held within, they would feel at home here. My soldiers cared not for the higher thoughts of the Relgons and were just happy to throw darts into a circular board of yellow and black with number symbols or fast breath when a 'funny bone' failed to be removed from 'Operation' one of the Visitor's many strange yet addictive games.
And that name. The Visitor, was chosen by us, he told us he had no name and could call him whatever we wanted. After hundreds of suggestions like General, Commander, Leader, Warrior and even unpronounceable Grzzztck words or a collection of gaseous hisses from the schooners we settled on Visitor because to all of us, he was.
The speech was succinct and finished from a strange looking chair: red cloth covered and threadbare. Yet The Visitor wasn't sat in it instead he was stood astride its two resting arms and with the enthusiasm of a Tabla Ape sang out our praises once more whilst beating his chest indicating his two hearts, this was taken to be a mark of his faith in our fighting abilities and was followed by music issued from a twisted hollow tree stump connected to a spinning black disc. I believe the music was called 'Jazz' and the song was named "What a wonderful world". It had been played often in the ship and became the closest thing we had to a battle Hymn. Many of the Creatures sang it as new Creatures arrived through the doors of the ship. The Battle Hymn was unpleasant to the ear but the sentiment was noted as genuine and the words reminded me of the trees from my country. Although they were not green.
2. THE DOORS
When our Region Leaders showed us our mode of travel to this far-off planet, it took my soldiers many minutes to compose themselves. Our rash amusement was crushed very suddenly when we walked through those blue doors. Magic had been relegated to the past in our culture, except the Relgons who kept their own brand of mysticism alive, so we were not prone to believing this to be a miracle, but when we first entered the ship the amazement was palpable. The hugeness of the room was more than surprising and the pure fact it was residing within a small outhouse proved we were about to be working with a very powerful creature indeed. And then we saw him. How could such a scrawny looking animal be a mighty warrior as promised by our Region Leaders? He was more akin to the Chittering Min Ape, with his long brown skin coat, odd looking mess of hair and thin lipped smile, than a beast with power and intelligence that could lead us to a victorious outcome. Even though we towered over him, within minutes he somehow proved to us he was not to be toyed with. Sharp intellect, precise oratory delivery and honesty is what we Caleb soldiers pride ourselves on. This creature could have been one of us. He understood our language, he understood our culture and he knew how to make us laugh.
He could even withstand many hatfuls of Wrinkly Bark Milk although he lost many times at Stone Dice. But nobody is perfect.
When we entered through those doors we never knew what to expect. Hundreds of us explored the ship for a month but never seem to find an end to it occasionally coming across a new race that the Visitor had coaxed on board to fight in the war, a war, if lost, could wipe out everything living creature in the universe. This is where the blue doors of the Tardis would lead to the next time we walked through them; To our fates, our destinies and to some, our inevitable deaths. But with such a mix of skills and fighting experience on this ship, I was confident we would win this war for The Visitor and our home worlds.
After the speech I stood looking at the doors along with the rest of the Tardis army. The Visitor looked around at us all and for a moment I thought I saw a shadow of doubt in his eyes. He pressed a button on a control panel and the doors unclicked. He nimbly bounced down a few steps, turned and smiled at us all. "Remember" he said " everything I have told you. Good luck and ...thank you"
The strange machine issuing forth its 'Jazz', ended its song with the words "and I think to myself, what a wonderful world". That again was something this army could agree on and a flash of home world in my mind with my family smiling back towards me bolstered my confidence and pushed adrenalin through my powerful body, ready to protect, ready to fight.
The doors were suddenly thrown open and purple light flooded the entrance. The Visitor's silhouette held aloft the thin glowing stick buzzing like an irritated insect. The buzzing increased and the craft's doors impossibly widened. He grinned.
"Well that's the first time that's ever worked!"
The Visitor pocketed the device and stepped out into what we hoped would eventually be a new future, for all of us, for the whole Universe.
A thought briefly occurred to me, that this would be the first alien world I had ever stepped upon.
It was not to last long.
3.THE FIELD
The sky was light purple and the dirt was bleached white. It took a few moments for our eyes to adjust but we had walked out to the foot of a hill, a few rocks and twisted trees were dotted around, ancient and forgotten. Mountains took control of the horizon behind us and patches of deep purple cloud were scattered clinging to the tops. Back on Cabalia on the edge of a battle field whilst camping, awaiting orders, some of the legion would attempt to create shapes out of the clouds to pass the time and dissolve any fears of never seeing our homesteads again. Floating simulacra from childhood were often seen ; A Tyberian Droga, Dagwas Petal Fruit and even sometimes the puzzling right angles of wild Bamplummian Owl. I saw no childhood shapes in these angry skies today. The straggly clouds looked like the rags and hair of a Deceiver Witch from stories of legend told at bedtime and fire pit circles.
We were here on an alien world to meet another army, an "invaluable asset to our cause".
I saw no one. Nothing, except a small dwelling. In amongst our patchwork ranks someone spoke. It came from one of the Harg. Its deep guttural voice cut the silence,
"Where is this army you speak of, Visitor?". It was Quarg their platoon leader. His powerful arms could tear a tree trunk direct from the ground yet his slender, sinewy fingers could deftly pick the maggots from its bark and thread a necklace with them. Well, that is what Quarg told us. The visitor believed The Harg could pull open the Enemies domes and rip out the creatures that lay within. Once their electronic defences were down. This was an advantage The Visitor had been working on when he started bringing us all together.
" My army lives in that hut, Oh Quarg of the mighty Harg"
" Is that bigger on the inside too?"
The Visitor bellowed a hearty laugh." No, Quarg, my army is one wise man"
"We have good fighters here, many good fighters but you promised us an army from the inside!"
"Calm yourself big fella, this man has great and powerful telepathic abilities, he will read the enemies mind, detect their motives and feed you with their every move as you fight instantly, that means all of you! Basically, he can work out their next moves and throw it into your skulls, giving you an almost second sight. But you have to give in to your intuition and go with your first thoughts, alright? He can also hover, which frankly, is just showing off! "
He was talking and walking backwards gesticulating with those enthusiastic arms as he went.
"Oh and for the record I never said I had a spare army. That was an assumption on your part" he smiled wider than a Smirker and bursting with energy turned and hopped over a small bush which brought him to the hut. He knocked at the door and placed his hands behind him. A strange gesture indicating trust on his part I believe.
The door wasn't locked and swung quietly open. The Visitor framed yet another doorway but this time his body looked unsure whether to proceed. There was pause and then suddenly he turned back to us, eyes ablaze.
"RUN!" He screamed at the top of his voice " IT'S A TRAP!"
4. THE BATTLE
The Tardis army were stunned. We stood fast. I was in the front line, poised ready for anything. But as the Visitor ran towards us flapping his arms about, we looked about us for an enemy. But we saw nothing. Nothing behind him, us or anywhere else. Then we realised with terrible clarity when a body fell from the sky and hit the dirt that they had been here the whole time.
Like the Spiridons they were somehow, unseen.
The body was of a hermit, judging by his dyed cloth and bare feet, he looked to be the creature that inhabited the hut we were facing. This body was just a husk, brittle and charred, it steamed slightly like every inch of his being had been sucked dry and left to blacken over a fire.
The Visitor didn't look down, instead he vaulted over the body and shouted something that was drowned out in an instant by a multitude of noise. The sound was like metal grinding, there were words in amongst the noise that were indistinguishable and this could only have belonged to The Enemy. The army turned to the skies but there was nothing there! The Visitor made it to the frontline and bumped hard into my shoulder and I could see his eyes looking angry and fearful. He turned for a split second and mouthed "Run if you want to live" and pushed his way through to the Tardis.
I was not running from a battle field. This is what I was bred to do.
Then from nowhere, Blue energy bolts rained from the sky, each deadly shot hitting square in the chest the whole of the front row of the Tardis army, two different species, glowed blue, their skeletal form revealed for a moment their evolutionary difference at an anatomical level. Except me, it had missed me, I was still standing.
We had seen the likeness of the Enemy on the Tardis scanners and were told how to attack them but it was difficult to imagine how large they would actually be ,how fierce their battle cry was and how devious and unrelenting they were. Each one appeared from nowhere and screamed in a grating metallic voice "EXTERMINATE!"
Their armour casing, covered in bulbous black half balls looking like insect eyes, just shimmered when The Black Schooners fired their pulse rifles at them. Concentrating their fire, the second best shots in the Galaxy were unleashing a furious wrath upon these Bronze titans, but their energy beams simply skimmed off them distorting the area around their bronze coloured bodies. The reply was almost impossible to witness. They were all annihilated in a breath. The full force of a hundred Enemy concentrating their fire on the entire platoon of Schooners was the worst atrocity I had ever witnessed. Three hundred creatures snuffed out in the clack of a wing. My body tensed and my hand grabbed two metallic grenades. At the point of launching myself at these demons two of my Legion cut across me and leapt through the smoke of burnt bodies high up to the Enemy that were flying. They were fast and laid a good eight red and gold grenades on the Enemies metal skirts in just a few seconds. These would 'tear their casing in two', promised The Visitor. I knew these soldiers, Greth and Selvia, they were married and often worked perfectly together, surviving many battles .They managed to avoid gunfire on the way up which was a feat in itself but on their descent were turned a deathly blue and their bodies became ash in the air. They had married in Winter time and like the snow on their wedding day they fell gently together onto the ancient tree's branches lightly dusting the purple blossoms. They were my soldiers, they were my friends, my heart stopped for a brief moment to mourn their demise until my thoughts moved to their efforts. The grenades.
They exploded, making the ground thunder and vibrate. The surrounding machines were rocked off of their axis from the blast but the scene seemed oddly quiet in amongst the cacophony of screams and fizzing energy. Quarg howled at the wasting of his army before disappearing himself. The Spiridons were detected and picked off one by one in under ten seconds, their invisibility becoming of no use against these seemingly invincible killers. The Smirkers thundered past but again were evaporated into dust. Metal and flesh particles swirling in eddies before settling into the white dirt colouring it a dark rusty red. The final standing race were the Grzzztck, they had powerful tails and like the Schooners they were pin point accurate snipers. Their concentrated fire power upon the eyestalks seem to affect one of the Enemy , screaming it peeled away from the group to let a healthier specimen take its place. That was it, the only damage done. The Enemy were unscathed, untouched, unharmed and they just carried on unleashing death upon the remains of the Tardis army without a second thought. The Grzzztck cohort were just a memory and all of our strengths and abilities, our individual reasons for being used in the battle , was all for nought. The Grenades never worked, the tricks we had, never worked, our fire power did not work, nothing worked. Something had gone terribly wrong with The Visitors plan.
5. THE SILENCE
The Tardis army was decimated in just over a minute. Every single soldier from so many different planets totalling over 2000 were gone. How was this possible? The Enemy seemed to have had the upper hand, they were guessing our every move, how? They wiped us out all too easily. And yet here I was. Still standing. Being the sole survivor of the carnage. I thought better than to leap and attack with the strap of grenades across my breast and the two in my hand. A soldier I am, but a fool I am not. Instead I stood still and waited for my end to come with dignity and pride. Holding back the crushing fear and sadness that wanted to engulf my soul I kept my eyes open defying their power and watched as the metallic killing machines silently hovered over the charred bodies and powder that were once proud Creatures with names and lives. The field smelt of death. I imagine they cannot smell death which is why they are probably so fearless. There were no sounds on the field except for the humming of their workings.
A single machine glided slowly toward me, its energy gun pointing at my head, the eye stalk penetrating my soul, it was silent except for its humming. Then an impossible thing happened. It turned and flew past me. It just left me there. Was this some kind of cruelty not foreseen? To leave one soldier as a witness to their destructive powers? Was I to tell other worlds of them, to sow the seed of terror they so readily own or was I left to endure the agony of grief and the haunting memories of this horrific defeat at their twisted whim?
The Silence was unbearable. I was about to shout out when I heard one say.
"All enemies of the Daleks have been exterminated, except for one"
I knew now this was my time. Maybe they would take me for torture. I placed my hand on my heart to swear not to tell them a thing when it touched an unfamiliar object; A small oblong circuit board on a string was hanging around my neck.
6. THE MUSIC
The Enemy were busy exchanging information, probably with a command point,
"The Enemy of the Daleks still lives, the Doctor has survived the Ambush. Extraction of the Hermit's knowledge and power was successful to 99 percent. Camouflage mode was successful to 100 percent. We are to use Time lord Technology to track the Tardis and deliver the Pulse on his arrival. We have no way to predict his arrival.We must wait.He will return.He always returns."
The Visitor is alive? Why not me? Why can they not see me? I stared at the circuit board and couldn't work out how it had arrived there or why I was invisible to The Enemy but I assumed it must have been connected. So the Visitor Survived? Where was the Tardis? Why had he left? And what did they name him? The Doctor? A Medicine Creature? Not a War General? This made no sense. It was hard enough watching our 'saviour' running from the field. I could not have imagined him to be the one who ran away from anything. Especially if he is really a Doctor.
So there I was on my first alien planet standing amongst my fellow space traveller's still warm ashes, with an army of heartless creatures plotting our saviour's death metres away from me. The Visitor was wrong in his speech, he was wrong about everything. Our planets called him a saviour. He was no saviour. He was certainly no commander, no leader and no wise and clever plotter. He had made a mistake that cost us our lives and then he just ran.
But I survived and if I ever saw him again I swore to myself I would hold him to his promise to keep our worlds safe or by the Relgon's Gods I would gut him with one hand and dissect him with the other.
As my thoughts began drift into torturing this so called Doctor-Visitor, a strange wind struck up blowing the dust of the dead into the Enemies vision.
Impossibly I could hear our Battle Hymn drift across the field of the dead, it seem to come from the wind itself, the same crackling sounding Jazz we had been subjected to in the Tardis for months on end. "I see friends shaking hands. Saying, "How do you do?" They're really saying, "I love you".
Every single one of The Enemy's domes turned and faced my direction, eyestalks fixed, their bodies followed, twisting until their guns were poised and aiming straight at me. There was nothing I could do so I closed my eyes and thought of my Homestead, my family, my world. It would be the last beautiful image I would see before moving on from this realm to inevitable death." I hear babies cry, I watch them grow, They'll learn much more, Than I'll ever know " In my mind's eye I gazed upon the children playing in the fields of silver corn.The music must have been in my head. Behind the children, moving to the rhythm of the wind were trees full of leaves, red, grey and black floating and laying still upon the grass. And I thought to myself, yes, what a wonderful world..
"Quick hop in!"
I was shocked out of my daydream and turned immediately to face The Visitor, his dark eyes were alert. His Tardis was open and his hand was in mine.
"Come on! NOW!"
He pulled me hard. I responded by leaping over his head and through the doors. A second leap took me close to the central console. Behind me I heard the Enemy shout their mantra and they open fired, nearly all of their energy bolts were deflected by the Tardis' incredibly strong protection, except one, which narrowly missed me but hit the console sending a shower of sparks over towards the Jazz machine and the old chair. The Jazz made a tear sound and was left to repeat a crackling sound on its own.
The Visitor went to kick the door closed but from nowhere came a strange wave of energy that knocked us both off of our feet , we moved slowly through the air for a split second then sped up landing with full force on the ship's floor.
"No.No.NO!!! Don't you dare! No please don't! I promised, how, how could you even do that?"
The Visitor was up on his legs and vaulted across the console to its furthest side, his hands already working on the dials and switches before his feet hit the ground. He looked terrified.
I leapt to the Tardis Doors and hit them hard. They thumped closed. The ship juddered and groaned and sounded like it was grating hard metal against metal. Then it was still. The vessel was calm. The Visitor walked slowly towards me, eyes fixed on mine, no smile, no vestige of hope in his eyes .His hand found a small lever which seemed to stop The Jazz Machine's crackling. His eyes never left mine.
"I am so, so, Sorry" he said.
7. THE PROMISE
I had my hands around his neck seven feet in the air when I saw that he was wearing the same circuit as me around his neck. I would hate not knowing what it was, so I dropped him.
Still choking and rubbing his back, The Visitor asked me why I had stopped trying to kill him and I told him.
"What is this around me and how did it get there"
"Perception Filter. Popped it on you when I ran to the Tardis. I had mine on just after they dropped my friend from the sky"
"Why me?"
"Why not?"
I had no sympathy for his one loss, hundreds of my soldiers and good friends were no longer in this realm because of his mistakes.
"Who was this one man army you spoke of? I thought you said he was powerful!"
He laughed not a real laugh. " Ha! He was, he really was. I told you of his powers, telepathy, so quick it would seem like he could predict what would happen next for you all. Except" He slumped into the old red chair " they got there before me."
He put his head into his hands and finally looked up " They used his powers against us, against me. I don't know how, but that's why they were so quick."
"What about you and your deactivation of the Enemies strength fields to make it easier for us to kill them"
"Traitor"
My Nerves tightened "WHAT?"
"Yes, Probably Quarg. He probably had the telepathic link with my friend except it wasn't him of course, it was the Daleks, he may have been tricked or maybe he was promised to be a ruler of his people, but whatever the reason it was probably he who sabotaged the mechanism I had in place. My Sonic Screwdriver couldn't activate it."
"So, two mistakes. But this isn't why you said sorry. That had depth beyond this catastrophe"
" Yes." He stood up and I could see water on his cheek leaving his eye. "I am truly, truly sorry but I have broken my promise"
8. The Memory
I was too distraught to be angry. I lost my balance and became light headed needing to sit, he tried to help me to the chair but I suddenly stiffened and clenched hold of his shoulders ready to crush the life from him.
"But, how? You promised. You..promised"
He spoke fast, "That wave of energy. That blast through the doors. That was a pulse from a Timelord weapon. Normally it would age anything in its path but it bypassed us and specifically locked onto the Tardis's circuits leading to the Eye of Harmony , I suspect Quarg set that link up, the result was the pulse travelled through the vortex, amplifying as it went. Spinning through the link from my Tardis to your world..to all of the worlds. I promised to protect them and I failed." He looked at the ground "Good God, what have I done?"
"Yes, Doctor, what have you done exactly?" His eyes met mine again, he was surprised at my knowing his real titles " What was their demise?
"They were... aged out of existence"
"Gone? Forever? Is there no way of reversing this?" He shook his head slowly "Just..gone?"
The Doctor-Visitor became emotional and was finding it hard to talk.
"Yes. I..I had the failsafe's in place, the codes were locked in the back of my mind, the Daleks must have extracted it via my link with my friend on the moon, devious bunch of... and I thought I was talking to him! They planned this from the offset .We never stood a chance. This carefully chosen vanguard I created would have blown a hole in their defences and and destroyed the Weapon they were creating except..they were never creating a weapon. The whole thing was a trap! I should have realised the weapon was me. This was supposed to save your system, and eventually my people. To just dent the Dalek's assured attitude , to make them realise there are worlds that will rise against them would have been a start . Other worlds would have taken heart, Solidarity would have bloomed across the stars, they would have taken up arms, they would have.."
He started sobbing.
This was no leader. This was reckless egomaniac. A man who needed reigning in. A man who needed to help people, not to destroy. His destructive plans wiped out my entire legion my entire civilisation and six other races that were now no longer in existence. No matter what promises were made. My home was gone. My family, gone. My way of life, gone. My..race gone.
I felt suddenly very alone in the universe. Grief started to drip through my body and anchored me to the spot. My throat felt tight and I choked out rapid tiny silent breaths. Our race does not 'cry' but our bodies still feel the pain of loss.
I suddenly felt his fingers on my temple. Shocked I moved away.
"No wait. I can make your pain ease. I wouldn't ever do this unless I thought it had to be done..do you want to be rid of pain and loss?"
"Yes I do. But how can you make it go, my memories are embedded in me, my body is traumatised, I know my body will remember, you cannot just make it go"
"Well I can, kind of. I can compact your memories into a part of your brain you don't use..lock it away."
"The memories of our defeat? But then forever I will ask where did my Soldiers go?"
"No I was thinking a lot more than that"
"My travels with you? My entire army life? How far back would you have to go back before I stopped asking questions about the missing parts of my life?"
"Well, all of it. You have lost your family, your world; you are the last of your kind. I can't imagine how that feels but I have seen people go mad from the grief. If you want me to I can erase it all, take you back to being a child. Your life span is a good few hundred years, I could nurture you, look after you, you could live here, you would not know any different. You would have no pain, no survivors guilt.."
I pushed his hands away from my head, "Leave me alone. I want the pain. I need to remember. I will live with the memories. A creature is the sum of his memories.."
"A Timelord more so my friend.. I understand, where will you go?"
"I will seek my revenge. It may take years but I will get it. This defeat is not the end. These minutes are not the end. I have many more minutes to give and I shall give them to The Enemy and make them suffer greatly."
9.The Circle
I was to keep the special circuit necklace. It was his gift to me from him. I pocketed the device and scanned my new surroundings. He had landed at a space port, a thriving community with many different species bustling about their business. I didn't recognise any of the Creatures. I know why he did this. To remind me of the other races still yet to be saved, still unaware of the potential deadly universal destruction awaiting them. I am to warn them. To rally them together. To make them understand they need to fight for their survival. I will lead them. I will be their saviour. I will not make mistakes and they will not suffer my world's fate
As the Tardis began to fade from the port a small ugly alien child tugged my hand.
I could understand him for a minute or two before the blue temple was completely gone.
"Hey, are you visiting here?"
"Yes" I replied " I am ... a visitor"
The child's language faded and I was suddenly a stranger in a strange land, but I needed no words for my quest.
My speech would be plain and simple.
Love your fellow worlds and unite and protect their unique place in the Universe.
Under a silver tree on an Alien Moon a man in a brown coat sits and stares up to where a planet used to reside. Music drifts on the thin air, "and I think to myself". His hands tap his chest indicating his two hearts, he utters a promise to the empty skies. A promise he swears he will never break again. The drifting song ends, crackling with age and the man's head sinks into his hand,. "what a wonderful world".