the hourglass (doctor who fan fiction)

The Doctor's Daughter

    "What the hell's it doing?" Donna asked as we hung onto the console. I tried to press a few buttons. "The control's not working." I said. The Doctor got thrown onto the floor  and got a look at the jar at the base of the time rotor. "I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it." I laughed at his statement. "I thought that was just some freaky alien thing. You telling me it's yours?" Donna yelled. "Well-"

"It got cut off. He grew a new one." Martha said.

"You are completely impossible." Donna rolled her eyes. I chuckled.

"Not impossible. Just a bit unlikely." the Doctor said.

There was a bang and sparks, then stillness and peace. Me and the Doctor ran out the door.

We landed in what looked like a junk yard in a railway arch at night. "Why would the Tardis bring us here, then?" the Doctor pondered. "Oh, I love this bit." Martha said stepping out the tardis doors. "I thought you wanted to go home?" Donna asked. "I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get." Donna giggled. "Like you swallowed a hamster?" Suddenly, a man to our left yelled, "Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons." We turned to see three men with rifles pointed at us, so we raised our hands.

  "We're unarmed. Look, no weapons. Never any weapons. We're safe." the Doctor said putting himself between me and them. "Look at their hands. They're clean." a soldier said. "All right, process them. Him first." Two soldiers pulled the Doctor away from us. "Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?" he argued. "What's going on?" Martha raised her voice. The Doctor was pulled  to a machine, his right arm was pushed inside it.
"Leave him alone- please." I ask. "Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure.-Argh!" he winced in pain.  "What are you doing to him?" Donna yelled.

  "Everyone gets processed." the first soldier said. "It's taken a tissue sample. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?" he squinted as he was released. "Are you all right?" Martha asked. I ran over to him and took his hand. There was a graze on the back of it.
"What on earth? That's just-" A pair of glass and metal doors opened. A figure stepped out from the steam of the brightly lit interior. She was a skinny blonde woman in combat boots and trousers, and a khaki t-shirt. "Attractive." I smirked to myself. "Oi!" the Doctor nudged me in the shoulder.

  "Arm yourself." the first soldier said handing her a rifle. "Where did she come from?" Martha asked. "From him." I said. "From him? How? Who is she?" Donna asked me. The woman checked the rifle is ready for use. "Well, she's, well, she's my daughter." I laughed. "Hello, Dad." she said to him. She looked over at me and smiled. "You primed to take orders? Ready to fight?"

"Instant mental download of all strategic and military protocols, sir. Generation five thousand soldier primed and in peak physical health. Oh, I'm ready." She took her place by the soldiers.

"Did you say daughter?" Donna asked.

"Mmm. Technically." The Doctor shrugged.

"Technically how?" Martha questioned.

"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently." he explained.

"Something's coming." Jenny said. We saw shadows on the tunnel wall. As they came into view, the figures started firing. "It's the Hath!" the first soldier yelled. They began to fire at them.
"Get down!"

We took cover, the Doctor held me behind him. "We have to blow the tunnel. Get the detonator." one of the soldiers said. "I'm not detonating anything." the Doctor answered. I ran over to a wounded soldier. As I was helping, the Hath breached the barricade and one grabbed Martha. Jenny took on another hand to hand, then got the detonator. "Blow the thing! Blow the thing!" the first soldier yelled. "Martha! No Don't!" the Doctor saw Martha being taken away.
Jenny hit the button. We ran back before the explosion brought down the roof. "You've sealed off the tunnel. Why did you do that?" he yelled at his daughter. "They were trying to kill us." she defended. "But they've got my friend." he said.

   "Collateral damage. At least you've still got her. He lost both his men. I'd say you came out ahead." Jenny said unsympathetically. "Her name's Martha. And she's not collateral damage, not for anyone. Have you got that, GI Jane?" Donna snapped. "I'm going to find her." the Doctor was about to walk off. "You're going nowhere. You don't make sense, you three. No guns, no marks, no fight in you. I'm taking you to General Cobb. Now, move." we were taken away.

  We had been taken deeper underground. "I'm Donna. What's you name?" Donna asked the girl. "Don't know. It's not been assigned." she replied. "Well, if you don't know that, what do you know?" Donna questioned. "She was made to fight, Donna." I told her. "Nothing else?" she asked. "The machine must embed military history and tactics, but no name. She's a generated anomaly." the Doctor said "Generated anomaly. Generated. Well, what about that? Jenny." Donna smiled. Jenny smiled back. "Jenny. Yeah, I like that. Jenny."

"What do you think, Dad?" Donna asked the Doctor. "Good as anything, I suppose." he shrugged. "Not what you'd call a natural parent, are you?" Donna said. "They stole a tissue sample at gunpoint and processed it. It's not what I call natural parenting." he looked up. "Rubbish. My friend Nerys fathered twins with a turkey baster. Don't bother her." Donna rolled her eyes. "You can't extrapolate a relationship from a biological accident." the Doctor argued. "Er, Child Support Agency can." He scoffed. "Look, just because I share certain physiological traits with simian primates doesn't make me a monkey's uncle, does it?" he furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not a monkey. Or a child." Jenny said.

We had arrived at a large room with a slightly domed roof and a gallery. There were more clone chambers down here. "So, where are we? What planet is this?" I asked. "Messaline. Well, what's left of it." the first soldier we met said. "Six six three seventy five deceased. Generation six six seven one, extinct. Generation six six seven two, forty six deceased. Generation six six eight zero, fourteen deceased. Generation six." another said. "But this is a theatre." Donna said. "Maybe they're doing Miss Saigon." the Doctor joked.

  "It's like a town or a city underground. But why?" I asked. A man with a neatly trimmed white beard approached us. "General Cobb, I presume." he turned around to face the general. "Found in the western tunnels, I'm told, with no marks. There was an outbreak of pacifism in the eastern zone three generations back, before we lost contact. Is that where you came from?" The Doctors eyes widened. "Eastern zone, that's us, yeah. Yeah. I'm The Doctor, this is Donna, and this is Juno." Jenny joined in, "And I'm Jenny."

  "Don't think you can infect us with your peacemaking. We're committed to the fight, to the very end." said the general. "Well, that's all right. We can't stay, anyway. We've got to go and find my friend." the Doctor began to turn to leave. "That's not possible. All movement is regulated. We're at war." the general informed. "Yes, I noticed. With the Hath. But tell me, because we got a bit out of circulation, eastern zone and all that. So who exactly are the Hath?"

  "Back at the dawn of this planet, these ancient halls were carved from the earth. Our ancestors dreamt of a new beginning. A colony where human and Hath would work and live together." Cobb started. "So, what happened?" I asked. "The dream died. Broken, along with Hath promises. They wanted it all for themselves. But those early pioneers, they fought back. They used the machines to produce soldiers instead of colonists, and began this battle for survival." Cobbs continued. "There's nothing but earth outside, why's that? Why build everything underground?" the Doctor questioned. "The surface is too dangerous." Cobbs answered.

  "Well, then why build windows in the first place? And what does this mean?" Donna asked pointing to a plaque. "The rites and symbols of our ancestors. The meaning's lost in time." Cobbs responded. "How long's this war gone on for?" the Doctor asked. "Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead." he sighed. "What, fighting all this time?" Donna questioned.
Jenny looked over at us. "Because we must. Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight, and how to die."