Wishing for Adventure

The One Who Remembers part two

The carriage goes silent, watching. Lillian starts to cry. Understandable, she's just lost her husband. Many of the passengers sit open mouthed, or with their hands covering their mouths. The officer takes a minute to regain his composer.
Then he says "I'm sorry mam. You lost a good man. I will call for someone to take his body to the storage room. You may say goodbye when you are ready."
He exits the room and a few people go to comfort Lillian. I make my way to her.
"Hi." I say softly.
She stammers out a "Hello" through broken sobs.
"I was just wondering, you said Harold wasn't healthy. What did you mean by that?" I asked.
Immediately a middle aged women with her hand on her shoulder replies "Give her some time. Her husband's just died."
The woman in question lets out a loud cry. I look at her sympathetically.
"Come on dear, let's get you to your room." Another woman says.
And so a group of ladies escort the grieving woman to a place where she can grieve in peace. I am sad for her, but can't shake the feeling that there's something more going on here.
"Brooklyn?"
Elena has just called for me. I snap out of my daze and turn towards her.
"Your tea is going cold."
"Right.." I mutter.
And so I make my way back to our table to finish breakfast.

A couple of days later, another incident. This time it's a younger man who lost his arm.
This continues for just over a week. Different people of different genders and occupations seemingly losing their minds before promptly dying. The only thing I can gather that they have in common is that they weren't particularly healthy. Sounds sort of reasonable when you think about it. Perhaps they had reached their limit.

We are now in the dining carriage, discussing passing galaxies and talking about the future. After all, I could very well be in space forever, or, at least, until the train makes it's last stop. I suspect I will have to follow Elena, she's the only one I really know, and she didn't seem too worried about letting me stay with her.
A ding sounds throughout the train. An announcement is being put out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you turn to look out the left hand window you'll see the Great Dark Nebula, which is home to a number of planets, including the birthplace of Faella Tech."
"That's helpful. I wonder if it's hard to memorise all the important places." I say, looking out.
"Oh no, that's Gus. He's the Orient Express' very own automated system." Elena replies.
"What?!" I say surprised.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Right on cue. Most of us are used to this by now. In fact, one young man even started a stopwatch to time the outbursts. We've concluded that they run for about a minute, but keep timing just in case something changes. On this particular occasion, it's one of the guards.
It's all going fairly normally, and then the guard pulls out his gun. At this point he's scrambling along the floor, trying to get away. Just like everyone else. I jump a little bit as he starts shooting, presumably at the mummy, but to no avail. Glasses shatter and the wall now has a hole in it.
'Interesting.' I think.
"Please, stay back!" The guard pleads.
Then, as predicted, he flops on the floor, dead. Just as the body is being carted away, an older man walks from his spot at the door. Suddenly I am overwhelmed by a piercing headache, yet it vanishes just as soon as it arrives. For the next few seconds I am staring at the table, mind turning. I'm missing something. My head then turns to the man who has just entered. He seems as though he is finishing speaking.
"So, are you going to step out from behind the curtain and give us your orders?"
The train lurches forward and then stops, engines whirring the whole time. And then, nothing.
I look at Elena, just as the interior shimmers, and falls away to reveal a high tech corridor. The tables have been replaced by machines, and the comfy seating by standard attached-to-the-wall chairs. And then, Elena herself shimmers and fades, leaving me speechless. I look around the room, a number of passengers have disappeared. But Elena...
I am too overcome with confusion to notice that I am still wearing the dress she gave me. I shall question that later.
"Hard light holograms." The man says.
I slowly look at him.
"You..." I say, barley thinking straight.
He stops to talk to me.
"Me?" He asks.
"You seem to know an awful lot about this. And-" I tilt my head,
"There's something that I can't quite..."
Just then, another one of the passengers gasp. A professor, I believe.
"Perkins, start the clock." The old man says.
"Listen to me, I am a doctor, and I can save you. But first I need you to describe what you see."
There's something edging at the back of my mind, mixing with the grief and surprise, but it's strong and it's important. This is all too familiar.
"I know you feel scared, you're being chased by a mummy! But scared is good, fear is a superpower. Now-"
I stare at him. Those words...that saying...
"You really are the Doctor..."
I stand up quickly.
"Listen to me. I can save this man, I can save everyone, you just need to transfer his illness to me."
He stares at me as I walk over. "But it'll kill you."
"I can save everyone here just DO IT DOCTOR!"
The Doctor looks desperately at the retreating man. Then around the room, and there's someone taking notes on what he sees. So he turns back to me.
"But why?"
I look at him wistfully, "Because Doctor, I'm Brooklyn Turner. I'm the one who remembers."
He nods. Then he points his sonic screwdriver at the professor, using it.
"Oh, it's-it's....gone. It's gone!"
"Not gone, just shifted." He says, pointing the sonic at me.
I see the mummy appear before me, just as it's like in Doctor Who. Except it's all so surreal. It exists.
"Ah, okay. Time to work then." I say, walking forward.
I stop a few meters in front of the mummy, getting ready to walk backward.
"30 seconds."
"So, explanations. This mummy is attracted to the scroll onboard the train. Why? It's a flag. Why would a mummy be attracted to a flag?" I pause for dramatic effect.
"10 seconds."
"It's a soldier. I surrender!"
The mummy stops. It straightens, and then salutes me. And finally, it disappears.
"Great work!" Gus, the automatic system says.
"Unfortunately there is no need for survivors. The train will be destroyed in 10 seconds."

~Time Skip via explosion~

I wake up on a beach. It's cool, but nice. There are rocks scattered everywhere, and seashells. I take a deep breath and inhale the salty air. This is nice. But, I didn't get here unhelped. I look around, and see both Clara and the Doctor at my side.

"Hi." I say, to Clara.
"Hey." She replies, smiling.
I look at the Doctor.
"So, how did you know to do that?" He asks.
"Because, when I was a little girl, I watched this show. About you. And one of the episodes was on the Orient Express. The space one. I knew I could save everyone but I had forgotten, until you said 'Fear is a superpower.' I had heard you say that before. And that, I suppose, was enough to make me remember."
"You shouldn't have done that, you could've changed history! Do you have any idea how much this will impact you?!"
I speak softly, almost amused at this development . "No, Doctor. Listen, I don't know why I keep finding myself apart of your adventures, but I do know that if I didn't do anything more people would have died. I just wish I could've known earlier."
He looks at me for a bit, expression changing from one of anger to empathy.
"That woman, the one you were with.."
"Elena." I say, bringing my knees to my chest.
"You liked her didn't you?" He asks.
I turn to face him, tears swelling in my eyes.
"Yeah.."
"I'm sorry." He says, eyes dropping to the sand.
Clara puts an arm around me, and I sniff in an attempt to stop crying.
"It's...okay. She wasn't real anyway." I reply, turning back to the water.
"You know.." The Doctor starts.
"She may still be out there. The holograms had to come from somewhere right? And, if she's not, then it's not the end of the world. It'll be okay."
He pats my shoulder.
"And your memories, have they changed?"
I stop crying, mind going back to my childhood.
"No. The show has stayed the same."
"Perhaps..not everything you do will impact what you know."
I smile, still a little confused even after all these years; but hopeful nonetheless.
"Or nothing at all."
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And that's a wrap! Wow, time flies, huh? Well, not to worry, there's still one more story left to tell. Two parts, one chapter.