Doctor Who_ Autumn Mist Part 24

'But this is a year earlier than where we were,' Fitz protested. 'Any Sidhe we meet won't know why we're here yet...'

'Not necessarily. They have an intuitive relationship with time. Remember what Sam said about Galastel taking her back several days, to when we arrived? Oberon isn't a fool; there's always the danger that he might work out what we're up to, and follow us back.'

'Oh, I don't think that'll be necessary,' Sam said nastily. The Doctor and Fitz looked at her, realisation dawning. This wasn't Sam. Their perceptions had been altered, Fitz realised. They'd been made to see Sam; hear Sam's voice saying the sort of things Sam'd say. Clever. But this was Oberon; lean, mean, catlike.

'I thought as much,' the Doctor said. Fitz suspected he was lying through his teeth, but you could never tell with the Doctor. 'Couldn't resist the chance to have a go at me, could you?'

't.i.tania needs no other consort.'

The Doctor looked as surprised as Fitz. 'Is that what this is about? Jealousy?'

'No,' Oberon admitted. 'But I do have my position as Amadan na Briona Amadan na Briona to protect.' to protect.'

'You have a funny idea of how to go about it, then,' the Doctor said dismissively. 'Interfering in human affairs, risking a war between your people and theirs...'

'And the problem with that is...?' Oberon laughed. 'Mortals fight and die all the time. Why shouldn't I enjoy it?'

'Enjoyment doesn't seem motive enough,' the Doctor said, motioning behind his back for Fitz to head back up on deck. At the same time, he stalked to one side, drawing Oberon away from the TARDIS components. 'What's in it for you?' the Doctor demanded. 'I may only be the Evergreen Man, and not as well-up on your people as I should be, but I can't understand how you can possibly hope to profit from turning this war to your own ends.'

'Of course you can't,' Oberon said dismissively. 'You're small, and narrow-minded. You can't see what freedom really is.'

'Then tell me,' the Doctor demanded. 'Tell me what you hope to gain.'

'Gain?' Oberon echoed. 'I have everything I could ever want. Why should I need anything else?'

'But then...' The Doctor paused. 'You know, I was a.s.suming that you were aiming for some plan, some goal. But you're not, are you? You're just doing this because you can. You've got nothing to gain, and nothing to lose.' But then his eyes narrowed. 'Or have you?' he murmured under his breath. 'Perhaps I'm looking at this from the wrong angle...'

He started ascending the companionway back up to the deck. 'The other Sidhe won't stand for this! Do you really want to alienate yourself from them?'

Oberon laughed. 'You may know us, Evergreen Man, but you do not understand us, or you would never speak so foolishly.' He swaggered up after the Doctor. 'No one from any clan will speak ill against me. I am Chaos, to t.i.tania's Order. It's my existence to be chaotic, random, dangerous.' He pretended to think about it. 'In fact, it's my moral duty to do absolutely anything I feel like, and not worry about the consequences! You should try it sometime,' he added, 'it's very liberating.'

'I'm liberated enough.' By now, the Doctor had led Oberon back out on to the quarterdeck. Without warning, he moved back and slammed the bulkhead door closed behind the Amadan Amadan, pulling the small wires away from it. Oberon recoiled from the door immediately. Now he couldn't get back into the engine room the door was no longer neutral. He was trapped outside with the Doctor and Fitz.

'Nice one,' Fitz thought.

'Stop this!' The Amadan Amadan lunged for the Doctor, drawing a dagger of pure malice from the air. lunged for the Doctor, drawing a dagger of pure malice from the air.

'Fitz, get back to the TARDIS.' The Doctor tossed the key to him. 'I left a note ' He broke off to throw his coat around Oberon's arm, trapping the dagger under the cloth.

Fitz didn't need to be told twice. But, he thought, that note had better be some instructions on how to close the Rift.

The Amadan Amadan was stronger than he appeared, and it took all of the Doctor's strength just to force his arm away. But that overbalanced Oberon, and the Doctor took the opportunity to swing him around, slamming him against the wall. Oberon must have guessed his move in time, as he phased himself through the wall at the moment of impact, and it was the Doctor who crashed painfully into the steel. was stronger than he appeared, and it took all of the Doctor's strength just to force his arm away. But that overbalanced Oberon, and the Doctor took the opportunity to swing him around, slamming him against the wall. Oberon must have guessed his move in time, as he phased himself through the wall at the moment of impact, and it was the Doctor who crashed painfully into the steel.

He dropped to his knees, shaking his head in the hope that it would clear the ringing in his ears. He managed to recover just in time to dodge Oberon's next lunge, and caught the Sidhe's arm again. He rapped sharply on the back of Oberon's wrist, and the dagger clattered across the deck, fetching up against one of the junction boxes.

The Doctor hesitated, thoughts swirling through his mind, and then hurled himself towards the dagger. His fingers closed round the hilt just as Oberon pulled him back by his collar.

'No more games, Time Lord,' the Amadan Amadan hissed in his ear. 'This ends now.' hissed in his ear. 'This ends now.'

Steeling himself, the Doctor rammed the dagger into the nearest degaussing cable, where it entered a socket on the junction box.

The energy discharge blew him backwards, and blasted Oberon clear across the deck. Sidhe and Time Lord both rolled and thrashed where they fell, contorted with agony.

'No,' Oberon snarled. 'You mustn't.' He started to rise, and the Doctor forced himself to his knees. He couldn't allow Oberon to reach him before he got back to the cable.

The Doctor grabbed the cable in his left hand, and took a deep breath before touching the hilt of the dagger again. Pain coursed through him as if every nerve was on fire, but he managed to hold on long enough to rip the dagger upwards, severing the cable and breaking the circuit of which it was a part.

Even as the Doctor fell backward, screaming, he could sense the electrical energy snaking across the ship's hull. The junction box exploded in sparks, and brief flickers of lightning wrapped themselves around the superstructure.

Oberon screamed, a high and warbling screech, chillingly like the sound of a child in agony. 'No!' The Doctor half expected the insane Sidhe to attack him again, but no a.s.sault came. It had worked.

Fighting to dismiss the burning that coursed through his bones and teeth, the Doctor rose, and looked for Oberon. The Amadan na Briona Amadan na Briona was quivering, rooted to the spot, and sheathed in lightning. It looked almost as if the little rivulets of blue fire were consciously trying to enter and possess him through any available pores. was quivering, rooted to the spot, and sheathed in lightning. It looked almost as if the little rivulets of blue fire were consciously trying to enter and possess him through any available pores.

'Release me!' he demanded.

'I can't.'

'I can change,' Oberon managed to say through gritted teeth. 'I can undo what has been done...'

'No, you can't. That suggestion is just more proof that you could never change. Besides, I didn't say I wouldn't get you out I said I couldn't. With the degaussing loop off-line, the steel will have its normal effect on your kind. You can't move, can't phase out, can't communicate... And enough exposure will kill you. If it's any consolation, you won't be here long enough for the latter.' The Doctor retrieved his coat from the deck, and pulled it on.

'No?' Oberon whispered hopefully.

'No. The ship will phase back into normal s.p.a.ce soon, and close the rift.'

'But I am trapped here. When the rift collapses...'

'You'll lose dimensional cohesion, and anything that's left will be crushed when the rift collapses in on itself.'

'Make it stop!'

'It's too late for that,' the Doctor said sadly. 'You see, you've lived so long, able to do anything and not be held responsible by others. Absolutely anything. But what about holding yourself yourself responsible? I think that's what you hoped to gain from meddling in the war. I think you wanted the only thing you didn't have a limit. You risked the destruction of your own world and the humans, just to see how far you could go before you were stopped.' The Doctor shook his head. 'Well, now you know.' responsible? I think that's what you hoped to gain from meddling in the war. I think you wanted the only thing you didn't have a limit. You risked the destruction of your own world and the humans, just to see how far you could go before you were stopped.' The Doctor shook his head. 'Well, now you know.'

'No! Help me!'

'I can't,' the Doctor told him simply.

'Please,' Oberon screeched. 'Please, Evergreen Man. I'll be good...'

The Doctor turned on his heel. He'd made the same promise, once, himself.

Fitz was relieved to see that the note was exactly what he hoped, telling him which controls to work on the console. How long was he supposed to wait before following the instructions? Or did the Doctor mean to sacrifice himself by having Fitz do the honours immediately? How could he As he hovered in indecision, the Doctor ran into the console room, and started pulling on the controls. Fitz sighed with relief.

'Hang on,' the Doctor said, without commenting on whether Fitz had done the right thing or not.

The TARDIS faded from the Eldridge Eldridge's deck, chased by a heartrending scream from Oberon.

Then, as the Doctor's additions to the engine room became active, the sky changed, and the crewmen faded away like dying echoes.

The churning forces of reality tugged at Oberon, tearing him apart in eleven directions at once. Every fibre of his being was ripped asunder, his whole existence peeled away layer by layer. With a last heartrending scream, the Amadan na Briona Amadan na Briona flared out of existence. flared out of existence.

A dull boom sundered the sky over the Ardennes. Vibration lifted the snow off the ground in a single ma.s.sive sheet for just a moment, then a series of shock waves rippled out, shaking snow loose from the branches, and causing men to duck and stagger as they fought to keep their balance.

Garcia and Bearclaw had made it back to the crossroads, noting the smoke from the burning armoured cars.

Garcia paused, somehow knowing in his heart that this was a sign that the Doctor had succeeded. He couldn't see or hear any physical difference, but he felt it all the same. That Oz factor the Doctor had mentioned before seemed to be gone. That was the only rationale he could think of.

'There's Kovacs,' Bearclaw pointed out. They went over, Garcia feeling rather worried again. Kovacs was lying by the roadside, unmoving.

As they approached, however, Garcia could see that he was watching them with a vague smile. 'Are you hurt?'

Kovacs shook his head. 'Nothing a few drinks wouldn't cure. Just dead beat.'

Garcia nodded, and looked around him, his heart heavy. He was a healer. His duty was to all the wounded around here Sidhe, allies even the Germans. There was one struggling weakly nearby.

Garcia went over to the German and examined him. 'Well, you'll probably sit out the war in a prison camp, but at least you'll live '

Garcia felt the breath leave his body, as if he'd been winded by a heavy punch. He looked down. Between himself and the wounded man, the hilt of a bayonet was protruding from Garcia's solar plexus.

He stared at it, unable, for a moment, to comprehend how it had got there. The truth hit him at the same time as the pain did a relentless cold burning that was spreading out from the blade.

His medical knowledge was suddenly a curse. One part of his mind calmly told him that the blade had missed his heart, but that it had gone through the liver and one kidney. Intellectually he knew that blood and bile were flooding his torso, but the only thing he found himself able to consciously think was to wonder, 'Why?'

He hadn't even realised he'd spoken the word aloud. He had been trying to help this man; the fight was over. Why had he done it? Why

'No!' Bearclaw screamed.

Without Garcia's help, the German would clearly die now. But though the German was wounded, dying, and now unarmed, Bearclaw emptied a pistol into his head anyway, screaming out his rage.

Sam and Galastel pa.s.sed through the woods around the crossroads unseen. They'd dragged soldiers from wreckage, and Galastel had soothed the injured. There was no sign of the burning Rift, or of the Beast within it.

They were still bristling all over the people, of course.

'That's enough,' Sam told Galastel. 'Too many bad memories. Take me back. Back down to human levels.'

At least when constrained by human limitations of perception, she couldn't see the Beast. That alone was worth it.

'You're sure?' Galastel asked. 'You would turn your back on these powers. You would be... human?'

Sam nodded. 'It's who I am. Who I know.' She found herself smiling as she spoke. 'It's who I want to be.'

Kovacs, Bearclaw, Galastel and Sam gathered round the TARDIS as it arrived in a small clearing near the crossroads.

'It's done.' Galastel said when the Doctor and Fitz emerged.

'It d.a.m.n well better be,' Kovacs growled. 'It cost enough.'

'It is is done,' the Doctor confirmed, turning to Galastel. 'The Rift is closed. The humans' war shouldn't damage you any more.' done,' the Doctor confirmed, turning to Galastel. 'The Rift is closed. The humans' war shouldn't damage you any more.'

'And the Amadan na Briona Amadan na Briona?'

'I imagine t.i.tania will have found a new one by now.'

t.i.tania was radiant in every respect when she returned to the forest. The battle had moved on, leaving the survivors to lick their wounds.

'Thank you,' she told the Doctor.

'Don't mention it.'

'For someone who cares so much about others, and would sacrifice so much, you are so alone.' She pa.s.sed a hand absently through the tabletop. 'Why is that? You have friends in a thousand worlds and a thousand eras, yet you choose to go on alone. It seems odd, to those of us who need companionship to survive.'

The Doctor tapped the spot on the table, where her hand had pa.s.sed through. He looked disappointed that he couldn't pull off the same trick. 'I choose it because I can. That's what choices are for; it's what free will is for.'

'That's not an answer.'

'No, it isn't really, is it? But I'm not sure what answer I could give you, other than it's who I am. Maybe that's all that matters. And what's your excuse?'

'I'm not alone.'

'Ah... You have courtiers and attendants and guards who will die for you... But you're still alone. And being alone in a crowd is the worst form of loneliness. I think that's the difference between us.' He tapped his chest. 'There's a little part of all my friends in here. They're always with me; and in the same way, I imagine, I'm always with them.' He hesitated, as if searching for the right words, then leaned in close to her ear. 'My path often crosses those that wander from the light, and I find myself in places where shadows cast themselves freely. Others walk those paths, too, but only from one place to another. No matter how many get to where they're going, there will always be someone else who needs a fellow traveller on the road through the shadows. And it's a road that winds and will never end.'

'But someone has to be there,' she said understandingly.

'Yes. And that's not what I want, or what I do...'

'It's who you are,' she said softly. He didn't answer.

The Doctor returned to the TARDIS long after he'd left it, hands pushed deep in his pockets. Sam watched him approach on the scanner screen, and sighed. The brooding alien coming back to his insignificant humans.