The Mirror Cracks (A Doctor Who Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Doctor lowered his sonic screwdriver before looking around the TARDIS in disbelief. Here, standing in front of him, was a Time Lord. Well, she said she was a Time Lord. A Time Lord who he had seen burn on the battlefield and could not save. The TARDIS scanner had picked up her life signal but it was faded. The question is not who is she but what is she? The Doctor looked up, his shock so evident on his face.

“This cannot be. You should be dead like all the other Time Lords yet here you are telling me you are the Rani, the TARDIS incarnate. Forgive me for sounding old but that’s a new name for you.”

The Rani smiled her devilish grin towards the Doctor.

“I’ve been trying out a few new things.”

She moved towards the controls of the TARDIS, sliding her hand along the bottom of the panel and looking up to the time rotor.

“The Time War was a long and bloody affair. Defeat was inevitable and our race was about to become extinct. We decided to experiment to allow our bodies to survive whatever may come.”

The Doctor still displayed surprise in his eyes but his confidence grew as the Rani explained herself. His job was made easier by her openness to how she had come to be here.

“Looks like I don’t need to ask any more questions if you’re going to tell me everything anyway.”

The Rani began to walk towards the Doctor as he spoke and grabbed his tie again, trying to gauge some sort of sexual interaction from him but to no avail. She could sense that her forwardness was making no headway and simply turned, pulling at his tie before letting go of it as it moved over her shoulder.

“You haven’t lost your sense of humour, have you Doctor? I thought it would have been rude of me not to explain my coming to be here and, I must say, it will have you at the edge of your seat.”

“Well, you do and I’m listening.”

The Doctor crossed his arms and displayed a look of assured confidence to hide his uneasiness of what he dared not hear. The Time War was something he had tried to forget but here was a living reminder of his darkest hour.

“Like I said, we began to experiment on our own kind, looking at new ways to extend our lives beyond our regenerations. I know you would call these sick experiments, willing to kill our own kind to create genetic mutations of our race but we needed to survive. I can see you judging me but it was necessary. One of these was the ability to allow our essence, our souls even, to leave our bodies, to travel across space and latch itself onto TARDIS technology, using the energies harnessed within the Eye of Harmony, so that we may one day come back as flesh but as a being of Time Lord blood with control over the technologies and workings of a TARDIS. I was the only one to survive the procedure. It meant that, if I died, I would still be alive in spirit, if you will.”

The Doctor listened intently; he was finding it difficult to hold in his anger at his own race experimenting on their own kind, killing themselves in the process just to extend their lives.

“My death on the battlefield was not my last. You saw me die in physical form but my soul was able to travel, latch itself on to a TARDIS, allowing myself to survive. How fortunate that I end up on yours? I began to use the technology of the TARDIS to bring my body back to life but your TARDIS is like a loyal lapdog. It imprisoned me and kept me quiet for all your little adventures. However, it couldn’t hold me forever. The ion storm we entered was the perfect chance to escape. I tricked the TARDIS and managed to gain a physical form, one you would not recognise but feel like you have seen it before, and appeared, as I did. Once the TARDIS was trapped in the ion storm, weakening with every moment, I have now been able to gain more control over the TARDIS. I will soon be able to take us anywhere your heart desires Doctor and together, we can save our race, rebuild it to its former glory. Bring back Gallifrey.”

The Rani made her way over to the Doctor, taking his hands as she finished her speech. The Doctor tried to look away but the Rani placed her hand on his cheek and moved his head to meet her gaze.

“Doctor? Is that not what you want?”

The Doctor looked at her with tears in his eyes. He could not lie that he wanted to see his race reborn, to see a new Gallifrey in the skies, but it could not be. The Time War had ended his race and another race of Time Lords would bring its own problems to the universe. It was a conundrum that he did not want to face. Rassilon had tried to bring Gallifrey before and the universe itself nearly felt the full effects of such a disaster. How could he put it through another one to simply bring back those he loved? Gallifrey was out there, somewhere, but it was a risk he could not take. Not now. The Doctor walked away to the control panel, putting his arms down to lean against it.

“Where’s Clara?”

The Rani skipped over to another side of the control panel.

“Oh yes, your other little lapdog. I tried to disintegrate her with my control over the TARDIS but the TARDIS itself stopped me. Shame, I just wanted it to be you and me and now we have two stowaways on our ship and I believe they may be trouble.”

The Doctor looked up to the faint red glow from the time rotor.

“Clara,” the Doctor whispered before turning to the Rani, his face in a state of confusion.

"Did you just say two stowaways?"

*

Clara began to stir. She must have fallen as she was lying on the floor. Well, it felt like a floor. She began opening her eyes to see a plain white room. As she raised herself up, the whole room was white except for a chair and a lamp, not too far from where she was lying and in the chair was a man. As she got up, she couldn’t believe her eyes at who she was seeing.

“Tell me this is some sick joke,” she said to the man who smiled back at her.

“Oh no, this isn’t a sick joke. I’m the Doctor and I’m here to save you.”