Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Eighty-Three: The Poison Sky

The moment I land back on Earth, I can feel it: something is different. I stumble out of the teleportation chamber and allow myself to catch my breath. I know of the Sontarans, I know how deadly they are. I should have been more scared than that. Whatever power the Coin has, it's affected me in some way. It must have.

My glance passes over the giant windows of Luke's personal quarters. Something catches my eye. London should be visible from the hill Rattigan Academy is built upon but I can barely see it. The entire city has been covered in a thick fog. Only it isn't fog. It must be a gas of some sort, I can smell it even from here. Sharp and bitter. ATMOS was a threat after all, it must have released this poison. For what, I don't know.

I am stranded here. There were no cars in the academy driveway — none that aren't ATMOS, that is — and I'm not even certain as to how long it will take to return to UNIT. My phone is gone and my chances of contacting the Doctor limited to none.

The chamber emits a low hum, pulsing with purple light. Luke appears.

In an instant, I have him pinned to the wall by the front of his t-shirt. "What did you do?"

He immediately cowers, squeaking with fear, "It's not my fault! They wanted me to!"

I don't have the patience for this. Keeping a hold on him, I march him over to the window and roughly shoving his face against the glass. "Look at that," I yell. "What, do you still think this is some game? People are going to die!"

I feel his shoulders tense under my hands, a sob escaping him. My grip loosens. But then I catch a glimpse of his reflection. It wasn't crying I heard. In the face of this horror, he is laughing. "I know, right? Isn't that so cool? I mean, I created that!"

My stomach turns. In my life, I have seen some evil things, but sometimes I still find myself surprised by the atrocities that people commit. Sickened to even touch him, I pace the length of the room and hug myself tightly. My anger is strong enough to bring me to a stop soon after, scowling at him as he continues to watch the fog thicken. "You may be smarter than the average human, but you are not better than them. You don't get to choose when they die. The Gods will punish you for this. You will burn."

"'The Gods'?" he scoffs. "You seriously believe in all that? I thought you were smart."

"Smarter than you, smart enough to know when someone is using me. And what do you believe in, Luke? Science? The Sontarans? Because believe me when I say that they are not gods, they're just bloodthirsty idiots... and you're just as bad for helping them."

With nothing else to say, no argument to give, he storms out of the room. I follow after him, ready for the next provocation to get my rage out. We pass through the double doors and onto the front steps. In the garden below, the students watch in horror as London sinks further below the murky clouds. "Leave it. Turn away," he says. "Civilisation is falling."

One of the eldest steps forwards, his face sickly pale and drained of colour. "But it's all over the news, sir, it's everywhere — Paris and New York."

I look on in disgust as he chuckles to himself, making his way down to them. "It's time I told you, all of you. It's time I revealed what our work has been for. Come." Reluctantly, they follow him inside and I tag along, curious to see exactly how he expects to explain this away. He stops in the middle of the lab and gestures to the projects set out along the workbenches. "All this stuff we've been building, all this... invention, where's it been heading? Gravity densifiers, hydroponics, atmospheric conversion, ecoshells. More than enough to build a brand new world!"

"Luke, we haven't got time for this. I've got to find my parents."

The boy's worry appears to amuse him. Rolling his eyes, he continues, "Oh, but this isn't just theory. I'm talking Planetfall for all of us. A brand new start for a brand new human race. Look." Grabbing a remote, he starts up a hologram projection from the overhead lamp. Two tiny spheres appear, one orbiting the other, surrounded by several orbital rings. "A new world... far out, beyond Alpha Geminorum, just waiting for us. Its official designation is Castor Thirty-Six. I think of it as Earth 0.2. I did wonder about Rattigan's World," he arrogantly adds, "but we can take a vote on that."