Travellers' Fate {The Wattys 2017}

Chapter 6

I apologise for the first five chapters all being rather short. I promise that from here on, the story will become much more eloquent and the chapters much longer. If you wish, you may see everything up to this point as a prequel. I hope you liked it this far, but don't worry, it's about to get far more interesting!

'Mortal?!', the Doctor exclaimed, confusion written all over his face. 'But didn't you say-' 'I thought so, too. But apparently... not.' There was a long, shared silence between them. 'I - I don't know what to say', the Doctor admitted quietly, at which Kate let out a small, cynical laugh. 'Well, if it helps, neither do I', she replied, her voice dripping irony. 'But yeah, that's why I was actually looking for you as well. And I'm glad you sent me a message; there's a strange disruption in the space-time continuum, and the last time that happened was during the Last Great Time War!, due to which I was unable to locate you. Any idea what could be responsible for that?' Kate watched the Doctor frown. 'Absolutely no clue...', he muttered, 'but I think I just found out why the Tardis was acting so delicate lately... So, anyways, back to the problem at hand! Are you able to locate Ro-, I mean, Bad Wolf, now? Can you take us to her?' Kate nodded: 'Yeah, I can see her now.' She stretched out her hand for the Doctor to take. The two travellers exited the Tardis, and Kate touched the wooden door with her free hand. 'It's better to hold your breath!', she reminded the Doctor, and they departed.

Someone forcefully grabbed her elbow from behind. Kate let out a shriek in surprise. She whirled around, gasping for air, but was only able to make out a vague figure that was barely taller than a ten year old. Suddenly, the silhouette whipped out a strange device. They pressed a button, and then, everything went black.

Kate and the Doctor landed on the floor, both panting and gasping for breath. Fighting a fit of coughs, she wasn't able to get up at first, but after a good minute, Kate finally regained her composure. Wiping away the dust from her blazer, she stood up and reached out her hand to help the Doctor on his feet. The latter, however, hadn't entirely pulled himself together quite yet. In fact, he was sitting on the floor, groaning something that sounded like 'my head' and explaining how he 'bloody hated this combination.' But, to be honest, this was something even Kate could relate to. Or, as her mom had always said: 'Don't breathe, but if you have to, breathe steadily. I'll never make the mistake again to try holding my breath without knowing if I'd be able to.' Funny enough, Kate had made the exact same mistake on her first trip. Well,...

Then, all of a sudden, Kate realised where they had landed. They were at the main court of the Shadow Proclamation, and in front of them, she saw a young Sensorite sitting in a large, white chair, staring confusedly at her. She attempted to get closer to the child, when there was screeching in the distance, and forceful steps passing through an opened door disrupted the silence. They were followed by a groan, as the Doctor - finally - got back on his feet again. He and Kate exchanged short glances, mainly so Kate was able to direct his attention to the newly arrived. 'Ah, it's a pleasure to see you lot. Again! But, and don't mind my incredulity here, I'm just asking, because I wonder, aren't you arch enemies of the Judoon?' 'We've infiltrated the station', he heard a familiar voice say. 'It's a pleasure to see you too, Doctor!', stated Commander Strax with what the Doctor identified as almost a hint of joy. 'A pleasure?' A deeper voice from behind Strax caught the Doctor's attention. The individual it belonged to turned out to be another Sontaran, whom the Doctor recognised as General Staal. 'Yes, yes, a pleasure, General Staal, truly a - my... pleasure', he rambled on, 'it's my pleasure to meet you again, too, of course, or not, now, tell me, General: why has Commander Strax kidnapped us?' General Staal came forward, mustering the Doctor carefully with every step. 'Have you or have you not been attempting to travel to another universe, Doctor?', he asked, his voice hard and his gaze determined. The Doctor eyed him in surprise. 'Well, yes, I suppose I was, is there a problem with that?' The Sontaran didn't immediately respond to that. 'Surely, you must know, Doctor, that dimension travelling is strictly forbidden for travellers. I thought we didn't need to mention it, since it was your people who forbade it in the first place. Furthermore, I don't know how you even did it.' The Doctor nodded slowly; Kate was almost certain that she could hear him think of an explanation he could present to the Sontarans. 'There is a tiny problem with your arguments, General Staal, I'm afraid. You see, she', he turned around and pointed at Kate with the palm of his hand, 'is technically responsible for bringing us here, and she's a Valetteron of Space, and the last one even. So, if you dont mind, I'd suggest you check your records of her, because you will find-' 'None.' The Doctor's speech was interrupted by Strax, whom they saw stuff a strange rectangular device into his pocket. 'No records of living Valetterons of Space, General.' He turned to General Staal, who, wasn't he a Sontaran, Kate could have sworn to see turning red. 'So, what do you suggest, Commander Strax, that we should do with them, other than wipe their minds?', interrupted he the silence. Commander Strax replied, with the tone of a respectful command: 'I suggest you read their minds for any illegal intentions. We didn't know about this Valetteron boy; there are no laws for a case like this, and unfortunately, that means it's not their fault, and we can't squish the red soup out of their pores. What a pity!'

As soon as he finished talking, Kate felt a tug at her left temple, like someone knocking on a door. Excitedly, she realised it was probably the Doctor, asking for telepathic entrance to her mind. She therefore concentrated, and imagined a door at her temple, opening. Suddenly, her mind was flooded with pictures, but after naught time, they disappeared again, and a clear, distant-seeming voice took their place. 'He meant girl', she heard her friend explain inside her head, 'two genders is just further than he can think.' Kate giggled internally. This was just so fitting everything she knew about the warrior race of the Sontarans! 'So, what are they going to do to us now?', Kate queried, hoping that, when communicating telepathically, the Doctor would elongate his responses to at least thrice their usual length. 'Probably...'

'Come here, please!', General Staal ordered the Sensorite. Kate and the Doctor both noticed that it looked somewhat scared, but neither of them said anything, though each of them for their own reasons, and both of them out of fear. Yet the very thing they were afraid of was nothing more than their own minds; both Kate and the Doctor were downright horrified of what was about to happen, but, as if in a competition against each other, they both kept their pokerfaces on, perfectly void of anything but what would have looked like curiosity to anyone but very few - amongst which, luckily or unfortunately, they both happened to be.

'Out of courtesy to you, since we cannot be sure if what you did is punishable or merely forbidden, we will not look at anything but the most important - your greatest wishes and worst... fears.' General Staal cringed at the word, forcing a smirk out of Kate's companion. 'Doctor, step forward and turn around', he ordered with a loud voice. He then turned to the Sensorite, saying: 'You have permission'; Suddenly, Kate saw pictures, resembling watercolour paintings, appeared right behind the Doctor, so that everyone except him could see them. The colours whirled around for a bit, but slowly rearranged themselves to a silhouette, and then a body with a washed-out face, which gradually became clearer and clearer, until -

The paleness in Kate's face was obvious even to the Sontarans.