The Second Homecoming

Chapter Sixteen

SIXTEEN

 So this was it, we all waited for the Galanties to appear. Each of us assembled at different key points in the round room gallery amidst the exquisite backdrop of Victorian paintings, dad and mum in pairs with Jasmine and Kyle together, Paul, Mike and myself were stationed on our own. None of us were too far apart, we could easily reach each other if we needed to. I watched the Doctor place the “ship” device containing the time component in the centre of the room. Sure enough it started to glimmer again, calling out to the rest of the time key, it would only be a matter of minutes. I glanced over at mum and she smiled anxiously back, I couldn’t believe she had said all those things about me to the Doctor. At times my mum goes too far, she shouldn’t have said half those things but I smiled to myself, we are too alike, I know one day I’ll turn out exactly like her and Nana Joan. Though what exactly did she know about my future? Fate was awaiting us, it was only a matter of time before I found out what the future held for the Doctor and me.

 My thoughts were interrupted by a crash and then a blaze of light, a portal began to emerge just below the glass dome ceiling. The light reflected from the glass, illuminating the whole room. We all crouched deeper into our hiding places. This time we weren’t about to get sucked into the portal as the Doctor in his own words was controlling the effects of the portal “Controlled by me, a Time Lord and not a bunch of God delusional time hopping amateurs.” 

 “This is it everyone!” The Doctor shouted, full of fight, hiding behind a Jacob Epstein sculpture of an angel.

 “Does he have to sound so darn excited?” Mike scowled, uttering under his breath.

 The coalition of shadow armies, the Captain and the Leader of the two opposing forces suddenly emerged from the portal. There were at least over six foot, welding swords and wearing armour like the Knights of old on Earth, thankfully they were nowhere near as intimidating as the creature downstairs. But don’t get me wrong, they were scary. I was right earlier, they did not possess a solid form as their skin was made up of constantly shifting particles which underneath the translucent armour kept altering and rearranging as often as we humans would take breath. I wondered if their people had always looked this way or maybe their shadowy forms was something to do with their relentless pursuit of the time key. I glanced around the room and hoped everyone was okay as I saw their eyes widening at the two Galanties but also at the prospect of an army we had all spotted, awaiting instruction to emerge from beyond the portal. Mercifully, the two Galanties only had eyes for the solitary time component lying on the floor. After all their race had been waiting centuries for this moment. I swear their eyes lit up and they were practically slavering with greed. Though had they even noticed us hiding in the shadows? And had it even occurred to them why the component was lying on the ground? They shielded their eyes from the light reflected from the ceiling and then glided elegantly towards the ground and as they touched down on the marble floor, they looked remarkably solid and strong. Which was a bit of a worry. By this point I was silently counting down, the two Galanties removed the other components from under their cloaks. The Captain of the true righteous time army had two of the crystal like components and the Leader of the uprising of valiant time crusaders had three pieces of the component. The pair of them could barely contain themselves, it was a somewhat uneasy truce. Their grasping, bony hands reached out…Only for the final component to take off from the ground and fly towards the Doctor who at that moment stepped out of his hiding place. With his sonic screwdriver held aloft, the time component connected to his device landed straight into his hands.

 “Come to daddy!” The Doctor yelled and instantaneously with the Dimensional Stabilizer, resting under his other arm he opened his very own portal right next to him.

 The two Galanties let out a long drawn hiss when they saw who it was. The Doctor had explained that the time key components were all linked together, bonded by an ancient and powerful force as old as the Galanties Universe itself. Basically the components wanted to be together and with a force greater than nature that’s exactly what they did as the pieces flew from out of the Galanties hold and straight towards the Doctor. Now the Galanties were powerless to manipulate time and space but I don’t think that new reality had dawned upon them as yet…The Doctor raised the final time component tauntingly, still attached to the time ship device, he then flung it through the portal beside him.

 “You want it then…Go and fetch!” The time component was set on a never ending course, through time and space, right up until the end of the Universe…Not that the Doctor was going to tell the Galanties that interesting nugget of information.

 The Captain couldn’t resist the bait as he flew through the portal after it, into the unknown. It closed behind him. We were left alone with the leader, possibly the most violent and dangerous of the two Galanties. The Doctor smiled and shrugged.

 “Leader isn’t it? I’m sorry but you’ve lost the missing piece, that final component is on a one way, non-stop course to the end of the Universe. So what’s it going to be? Go home quietly or…”

 “Go home with your head Time Lord!” The Leader shrieked enraged, raising his sword.

 “You know I had a feeling you were going to say that.” The Doctor deadpanned and then yelped as he ducked the insane swiping of the remaining Galantie. With an ambidextrous and brilliant series of sequences, the Doctor closed the Galanties’ portal and his route home, the shadow army could no longer appear in our world! Everyone in the room (including my mother and Mike) had to admire the Doctor’s agility and flexibility as he dodged the leader and set about flinging each remaining component to all of us and then opening various portals. Mum and dad were the first to receive their component.

 “Quick David!” Mum shrieked as dad nervously dropt the component and then fumbled on the floor to retrieve their piece upon finding it, mum snatched it out of his hands and threw it through the portal, programmed to close upon contact with the component.

 Jasmine and Kyle had less drama, the young lad caught his component and gave the honour of dispatching their piece to the museum curator. The Doctor threw the next piece too far but Paul leapt impressively in the air to catch his component and in one continuous athletic movement, threw his inside, bang on target. Mike and I received ours almost in unison, not to be outdone my ex, used an elaborate sporting underarm technique, I simply rolled my eyes at him and chucked mine inside my personal portal. In that instant the storm ceased and daylight returned to the museum. So that was the end of the time key, it’s power harvested and turned against itself,  the components scattered throughout time and space, in numerous Universes. No one would ever be able to find them and use them again. Earth was saved, along with the rest of the Universe. And the brilliant man behind it, the Doctor was now left to fight for his life…