Travellers' Hearts {The Wattys 2017}

Chapter 10

'Kate, can you step over here please', the Doctor said after they had been sitting in the Tardis for a bit. There was something in his voice that made her shiver, but she did as he had asked her and sat down next to him. Giving him a long look, she remembered why they had left London in the first place. As if able to read her mind, the Doctor began: 'Kate, you are so very brave, and you have already done more than I can expect from you. But I need your help, just once more.' He said that in a low voice, and after finishing his sentence, he looked at her with a pleading look on his face. She nodded encouragingly at the Doctor. He took a breath but hesitated to continue. 'Doctor?', Kate asked when he didn't add anything. 'Yes. Yes, of course. As you know, Time Lords don't have the ability to travel to parallel worlds - how you do it will forever be a mystery to me, but nevermind. And I've got this...' He hastened. 'Arch enemy. He's a Time Lord, too.' Kate furrowed her brow. 'But didn't you say that...' He nodded. '-That I was the last of the Time Lords, yes. Well, I thought so, it's just... I've been dreaming about him surviving, and I sort of want to make sure that - I just want to make sure.' Kate noticed how he hadn't said what he wanted to be sure of, and somehow, she had an uneasy sense that he didn't really know either. Suddenly, the Doctor burst out in excitement. 'Blimey! Oh, but this is fantastic! Oh, yes!' 'What is it?', Rose asked from the other side of the room. He jumped up and scratched his head, murmuring: 'If I am going to stay in this parallel universe now, it means that he can never find me. Only what if...' The Doctor stopped, both fear and hope sparkling in his eyes. 'Kate', he addressed her, 'I need you to find out if somebody - something exists in... Rose's universe. Can you take us back there, please?' Kate nodded, furrowing her brow. 'I'll explain it all to you!', the Doctor shouted. He rushed over to the controller and mustered the buttons and screens. 'Hold on!', he shouted before turning the buttons and bringing them back to London, to their time. Then, after a for once smooth landing and without another word, he went to the door and opened it. Rose and Kate followed him in silence. Kate looked at the Doctor, not seeming sure of what to do. 'So, erm... I just take you back to the parallel London, and then?' The Doctor pursed his lips, and after a short pause, he nodded. Though Kate didn't understand what exactly all this was for, she did what she had been asked to do, and a split second later, the three of them found themselves in the garden front of Rose's house.

The Doctor had proposed that they went inside, and so they found themselves in Rose's room once again, where the Doctor began explaining: 'There was a Time Lord who called himself the Master. Though I didn't know it, he had survived the Last Great Time War as well' '-So you aren't the last of the Time Lords?', Rose interrupted him impulsively. A pained expression appeared on his face, but a moment later, it was gone, replaced by a coldness neither Rose nor Kate had expected. 'I am, in fact. He was killed a short time ago', he answered, barely a soupçon of bitterness in his voice, but nonetheless, both Rose and Kate noticed it immediately. After a while, when neither of them said anything, the Doctor continued: 'I've been... dreaming about him surviving.' Kate noticed how he avoided her gaze as he continued. So this was what his nightmares were about. 'And I have a sort of unexplainable feeling that if he survived the Time War there, maybe he also survived... here.' He looked at them, trying to see if they had understood. Kate slowly nodded and Rose whispered an 'okay' to show him they had. 'So, what can I do?', Kate asked after a small pause, even though she was quite sure she already knew the answer to that. The Doctor interlaced his fingers and leaned forward. 'Kate, I need you to look for Gallifrey. Find out if it exists here, and if it does, then find a Time Lord who calls himself 'the Master'. I need you to bring him to another universe - doesn't matter which one, you choose. Just any parallel existence - the one you like the least or something', he added with a movement of his hand. 'Why?', Kate blurred out in response, not understanding what this was about. She lifted her head to look at the Doctor; a pained expression he was not able to hide anymore was on his face. 'Because he's... he's some sort of arch enemy to me', he finally told her, turning his head to look at the wall, as if that would void his words, 'and because he's dangerous. 'Because I can't bear the thought of ever losing Rose again', he added in his head, but his lips remained pressed together tightly.

After none of them had spoken for a while, Kate unexpectedly jumped up from her chair. All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Jackie entered the room, wearing a pink silk dress. She had a scandalised look on her face as she exclaimed excitedly: 'You're back! Why didn't you tell me?' She hugged Rose in a hurry and pressed her lips against her forehead while giving the Doctor reproachfull looks. 'I'm sorry, Mum', Rose murmured. She noticed that Kate had scurried past them and left the room, and so she slipped under her mother's arms and hurried after her, with the Doctor right behind her. 'Come back, now!', they heard Jackie shout behind them, making an effort not to sound furious. They found that Kate had gone to the living room, and she was standing with her face to the big window, not moving. 'Kate?' She turned around in a whirl, a very stern expression forming on her face. 'Doctor, there's something else...' She hesitated. 'When I see this - this map of all the places in my head, there are black spots that sometimes appear. They... um... come and go, and I don't know exactly what they are. But I went to some of those places. They are planets, and there were people living there - but they couldn't get out!' She slowly shook her head. 'On one planet, I remember that they had built a rocket, and they took me for a ride; for fun! And when we reached a certain point in the sky - nothing. We couldn't move further! And that was when I noticed I couldn't teleport out of there! I was scared, and I was looking for a way out, so I teleported myself to the edge. Only from there, I was able to teleport again! They are sealed planets, sealed places, and right now, there is one of them. So I thought...' 'Oh, but that's brilliant!', the Doctor interrupted her, his eyes sparkling. 'If I find the Master, could I bring him there?' She looked at the Doctor for approval, and he nodded. 'Alright, then!', Kate said. 'How can I find him?'