Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Last Of Their Kind

As soon as I ran out of breath, I could barely take in another breath before my voice rang out again. My knees went weak in pain and I collapsed, screaming in the relentless pain.

I barely heard Liz beg The Doctor to stop it. His screwdriver went off and the link was severed. The pain subsided, and I lay, unmoving, on the ground in relief, embracing the cold of the concrete. It was like something had burned my brain.

I saw Liz approach the man. "The creature will be released," she instructed. "Now." Nobody moved. "I said now!" She said loudly.

"Liz," The Doctor interjected. She looked over. "Your mask. It's old," he observed."

"Yeah," she said. "It was an antique. So?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "An antique. Made by craftsmen hundreds of years ago, and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock alright, but you're not fifty. Nearer... The hundred. It's been a long reign for you, Liz."

I struggled to my feet, and Amy helped me up, letting me lean on her shoulder.

"Just ten years," Liz objected. "I've been on this throne ten years!"

"Yeah," he answered. "Ten years. The same ten years, over and over, always leading you back," he lead her to a computer machine type thing. My head still felt fried. I didn't feel like placing a name on the thing. There were two buttons, like in the voting rooms. One had the word "forget" on it, but the other, instead of saying "protest", said "abdicate". I gripped Amy's wrist tightly to keep standing up.

Liz turned to the man. "What have you done?" She said meekly.

"Only what you have ordered," he said. "We work for you, ma'am. Me. The Smilers. The half breeds. We all work for you." He flipped a switch on a monitor thing and the screen came to life, showing an image of Liz, who looked little to no younger then she did right now.

"If you are watching this... if I am watching this, I have found my way to the tower of London. The creature you are looking at, is called a star whale." The screen showed a graph of a whale-like creature. "Once, there were hundreds of them, and legend says they guided the early space travellers. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of his kind. And what we have done to it, breaks my heart. The sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed, as the skies grew hotter. And then it came. Like a miracle. The last of there star whales. We trapped it. We... built our ship around it, and rode on it's back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the forget button. Be again, the heart of the kingdom. If not, press the other button. Our voyage will end, the star whale will be released, your reign will end, and the ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

After a moment, Amy said, "I voted for this. Why would I do that?" The sand question was running through my head.

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity, or the alien. And both of you took it upon yourselves to save me from that. And that was wrong. You never decide what I need to know."

He was speaking so harshly now, I could barely speak, expecting him to hit me.

"I- I'm sorry," I said, barely over my breath.

"Oh I don't care," he said coldly, glaring at me. "When I'm done here you're both going home," he decided.

"Why?" Amy demanded. "Because we made one mistake, one little mistake? I don't even remember doing it! Doctor!"

"Yeah, I know," he said without looking up from the work he'd begun on the other side of the monitor. "You're only human." Ouch. That hurt. I mean, that was a serious burn right there.