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i-was-bored-so-this-happened · 4 years

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The Companion: Ascension Nikola Tesla’s Night Of Terror

Word Count - 5335 (something like that)

All in first person this time! Sam Tate is my OC! If you’d like to know more about Sam or the Companion series, feel free to send me an ask or a message

Oops if it’s a bit all over the place. If something’s wrong or confuses you, let me know :)

@koschei-taylor @theaussietimelord

******************

Sam

We never got to Zadkar. Instead, the fam and I are sitting on a train sometime in the early 1900s, waiting for the Doctor to come back. They are dressed appropriately for the time, all three of them with hats. I’ve got a hat too, with the outfit I ‘borrowed’ from Mr Babbage, which is several decades out, but it’s what I wanted to wear. The Doctor’s only adjustment to her outfit was to add a headlamp. My hands move up to tug at the lapels of the waistcoat just as the Doctor bursts through the door.

“Here we go! Perfect getaway vehicle!” there are people with her, “Full speed, straight to New York. What did I say?” she asks, directing her question at me and Graham, “Night train, right on schedule.”

“I have never known a train to be on time.” I remind her. And I am several centuries old at this point. Might be over a thousand, now I come to think of it…

“Did you find out what was causing this energy thing then?” Ryan asks. The odd readings had been why she’d put us on this train and promptly left us after all.

“No, but I found these two.”

“Welcome aboard the Orient Express!” Graham greets them, doffing his bowler, “We travel in style.”

“This is Graham, Yaz, Ryan-“

“And Sam. How d’you do.” I say, tapping my own hat. The man nods to me, though he looks a little baffled by my appearance.

“Had a little bit of trouble at the plant.” the Doctor says, “Nothing to worry about. We’ve lost them.”

“Lost what?”

“I’m the Doctor, by the way. Why don’t you tell me who you are and who’s shooting at you?”

“Dorothy. Dorothy Skerritt.” the woman answers, shaking the Doctor’s hand, and then mine as the man steps forward.

“I am Nikola Tesla, and I assure you, I have no idea.” my hand freezes in his as he says it. Oh. My. God.

“Nikola…Tesla.” I mumble.

“I knew you looked familiar!” the Doctor turns to the fam, “It’s only Nikola Tesla!”

“Who?” Yaz asks.

“Nicholas somethin’” Ryan answers.

“Total genius!” the Doctor exclaims, shocked they don’t know who this is. Ah beans, I’m still holding his hand. I let go in a second, clearing my throat.

“We’ve uh, always wanted to meet you.” I say, my hand swiping down the front of my waist coat.

“Shame you’re a big fat liar.” the Doctor adds. Tesla only has time to ask, Pardon? Before the whole carriage shakes. I hear the thump of someone falling to the floor. There’s someone in the doorway, a cloaked figure.

“Doctor!” Yaz shouts, seeing it too.

“And we’re off again.” the Doctor says.

“I assume this is what you lost?” I ask sharply, sonic screwdriver already out as Graham hurries the other two towards the other door. I really need to make myself a blaster, whether the Doctor approves or not. A lot of things could be dealt with a lot quicker if I could just shoot them. Between us, the Doctor and I slide the door shut and she seals it before the cloaked figure can get through. Yaz and Ryan have jumped across the gap and into the next carriage. Graham and Miss Skerritt follow quickly, and I’m reaching for Tesla’s arm to pull him across when the banging, creaking of the figure at the door stops.

“It’s gone quiet.” Tesla remarks.

“Why’s it gone quiet?” the Doctor wanders aloud. I think of it quicker than them.

“Look up!” as I shout it, the cloaked figure drops from the little trapdoor in the ceiling. It’s facing the Doctor, lifting up a hand. Some odd kind of green electricity shoots from its hand. “Doctor!” the thing turns to face me and Tesla, and I see it isn’t using its hand at all. Some kind of…gun? Tesla’s hands go up. My sonic goes out. It’s not a blaster, but I might be able to cause a small explosion…I hear the Doctor’s sonic buzz, and the trapdoor falls on the creature’s head, knocking it out cold. I dart forward in an instant, taking the gun, “Thanking you!” before turning and leaping into the next carriage. By the time the Doctor joins us, she has disconnected the carriage we’d been in from the rest of the train. I’m inspecting the gun in my hands. There’s a safety catch, and I pull it. The click startles Ryan. “Silurian Blaster.” I say, “But whatever was firing it didn’t look Silurian at all.”

“So, Nikola Tesla, why is someone chasing you with an alien gun?” the Doctor asks.

“You believe this is alien?” he asks, a hand reaching for the gun in my hands. I pull it away from him sharply.

“Don’t touch it, you don’t know how it works!” I tell him.

“You do?” he sounds fascinated.

“You bet I do.” I tell him. He’s staring at the blaster, reaching for it again.

“Not so fast, you big fat liar.” the Doctor tells him, and he turns back to her,

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Is she always this impertinent?” Miss Skerritt asks.

“Yes.” the fam say as one.

“First thing I asked you, I said, ‘Have you seen anything weird?’ And there’s one important thing you’re failed to mention. See, I started this evening chasing an unusual energy reading. I followed that signal, loud and clear, to the Niagara Generator. So why am I still detecting it on board this train with you?” the Doctor asks her question while scanning Tesla with her screwdriver. Miss Skerritt’s eyes are jumping between the two of us, me with an alien gun and the Doctor pointing an unfamiliar instrument at her friend.

“This is one of the most miraculous things in my life. It’s a mystery I intend to solve. And I have no intention of handing it to total strangers!” Nikola Tesla’s fascinated tone turns to annoyed.

“Strangers who just save your life.” Yaz points out, “Whatever you found is putting you in danger.”

“Yeah. Both of you. You alright with that?” Ryan directs his question at Miss Skerritt who, still eyeing the blaster, moves to stand beside Nikola Tesla,

“I agree with Mister Tesla. If anyone can make sense of this, it’s him.” she says firmly, though I think the Doctor might just be able to do that too. She usually does.

“So you won’t give it to us?” I ask, and Tesla nods. The gun in my hand gives off a soft click as I flick a switch. A switch that I know will do nothing, but they don’t know that. Miss Skerritt clearly thinks I’ve just prepped it to fire. I’m going to let her keep thinking that.

“You leave us no choice.” the Doctor tells them before moving forwards, “We’re not letting you out of our sights until we’ve worked this out.” for a moment, she’s deadly serious, almost threatening. But then she brightens again, and grins, “So, where’s this lab then?”

***

“I won’t lie. I was expecting more.” the Doctor says as the lab door creaks shut behind us. I can understand what she means. There are a few tables strewn about, various bits of metal and wiring starting to take shape. My feet take me to a table before I can stop them, my fingers tracing the grooves in something that looks a bit like a ray gun.

“Well, let’s have a look about.” Graham says decisively, leading the fam to wander around the room as the Doctor stands, looking rather like those Polite Cat memes I had seen just after our last regeneration.

“So, Tesla. Is he something to do with the cars then?” Ryan asks.

“Yeah, well, they’re named after him.” Graham answers, “He’s a famous inventor, ain’t he, Doc?”

“Yeah? And what did he invent?” Yaz asks, sounding as if she knows more than Graham. A snort escapes me.

“Well, he invented the, erm…the whatchamacallit. Tell ‘em, Sam.” Graham says, and Yaz laughs. I cut her laughter short by pointing out,

“You didn’t even know his name, Yaz.”

“Nikola Tesla dreams up the twentieth century before it happens.” the Doctor moves towards us, still shocked that the fam don’t know who he is, “Before you have x-rays, Tesla has shadowgraphs. Before you have drones, Tesla has automatons. Before Marconi gets the patent for radio-“

“-they’ve gotta nick it off Tesla cause he invented it first.” I finish the Doctor’s sentence for her.

“Nikola Tesla’s work on alternating currents helps electrify the world. He should have been the first billionaire by now, if he hadn’t have torn up his contract. Business isn’t his strong point.” almost before she’s finished her sentence, I hear the door open and the man himself walks in.

“Doctor. I believe you wanted to see this.” he’s holding out some kind of orb, pulsing with green light. It’s making a weird noise. Fizzing, almost.

“Is this what you found in the generator?” the Doctor asks. “Giving off all that energy? But why?” Tesla lifts his hand, and the orb launches into the air. I hear a soft whoa from Ryan. The orb hangs there, twitching from side to side.

“You see how it moves independently?” Tesla asks. “I believe this is something I like to call ‘remote control.’”

“Remote control?” Ryan asks, “You came up with that?”

“I believe this is operating on a similar principle.” Tesla tells him. Back to the Doctor, “If we could just work out its purpose…”

“I know what it is.” the Doctor says, “It’s an Orb of Thassor. But I’ve no idea what it’s doing here.” she holds out a hand and the orb floats down to rest there, “The Thassor were one of the ancient races. Amazing storytellers. Inventors, explorers. They built these orbs as a way to spread information, to send out among the stars as a way to share their legacy long after they were gone.”

“Why would someone try to kill us to get their hands on that?” Yaz asks as the Doctor puts the orb down in a shallow bowl on one of the tables, Nikola Tesla following her.

“I’ve no idea.”

“To get the information it carries?” I wonder aloud, pulling out my sonic screwdriver and aiming it at the orb. I can see Tesla’s eyes going wide as he sees it, even wider when he sees the Doctor’s. They were made at the same time, but they look slightly different. Mine’s more like the Doctor’s old screwdriver, and it glows faintly purple rather than yellow.

“I think it’s been repurposed.” the Doctor says after a minute, “But I can’t work out what it’s doing instead. This is all wrong!”

“Shouldn’t be making that noise. Shouldn’t be making any noise.” I mumble, clicking my sonic off, shaking it a bit, just in case that’s what’s throwing the orb off.

“It’s energy readings are off the charts!”

“Those instruments detect energy? Is..is this your own design?” Nikola Tesla asks. He sounds genuinely interested. Fascinated.

“I made it! Mainly out of spoons.” the Doctor tells him. He looks to me.

“Slightly different design to hers, mine does wood-“

“I know.” I think it still annoys her that my sonic has that setting.

“-but yeah, basically the same thing.”

“You’re inventors!” he sounds really happy as he says it.

“We have our moments, don’t we Sam?”

“Well, I’m more modifying teleporters and blasters, but yeah.”

“Still don’t approve of the blasters.” the Doctor tells me with a small shake of the head.

“You don’t have to use ‘em then.” I shrug.

“Teleporters?” Tesla repeats.

“Forget I said that.” I tell him.

“I knew you were inventors!” he exclaims, “So…so you can understand how it feels! You know, when you have an idea and…and to make it real? I don’t think there’s any greater thrill!”

“I couldn’t agree more.” the Doctor says. Sensing that this is more of a moment for them than me, I take a small step back, slipping my sonic back into my pocket. My fingers move to fidget with my teleporter but, of course, it isn’t there. The Master had taken it. God knows when I’m going to get it back. Instead my hands dive into the pockets of my trousers, looking for something to do.

“You spoke of aliens.” Tesla starts, “People, you know, laugh at the very idea!”

“But not you.”

“Well, apparently, I’m not like other people. It can be difficult, you know, to feel no one else sees the world you do. It’s like you’re…uh…” he’s struggling to find the words.

“Out of place.” the Doctor fills in.

***

“I thought you’d have more stuff. Sketches, blueprints, you know. For all your inventions.” Yaz says as she wanders the lab.

“All in here.” Tesla tells her, tapping the side of his head, “Before anything else I, uh, I build things in here.” he tries to explain, indicating his head, his brain, again. He sounds as if he’s waiting for Yaz to ridicule him. I cross the room and perch on the table nearest him.

“I do that. Before I make anything, before I make any modifications. I give it a trial run in my head, work out all the possible problems before I try to build it in reality. I think about it for ages.”

“You sound experienced…and your experiments clearly work out. How long have you been inventing? You are not that old.” Tesla says. I shrug.

“I have a lot of time on my hands.” saying this is easier than telling him that I’m over a thousand years old now. I wasn’t particularly good at inventing and tinkering before I met the Doctor, but she had taught me and I’ve had a lot of time to learn. Repairing the TARDIS, helping the Doctor rebuild a TARDIS once, has been the bulk of my practice. It took me over a hundred years to figure out and make my sonic screwdriver. Another fifty-seven to work out that blaster I still have to complete. It’s something that passes the time.

“Tell me about this Wardenclyffe project.” Yaz says, shifting her skirt so she can sit opposite Tesla.

“Uh…Imagine if, uhm, wherever you were, you were able to hear music or, uh, the speech of a great leader or, um…conjure a map of what lay beyond. That’s what I propose with Wardenclyffe, all of human knowledge shared freely.” Nikola Tesla explains. Yaz turns her head to look at me for a second. I register it, but I don’t react to her. I’m watching Nikola, and I can feel the soft smile on my face.

“Now, that sounds like the future.” Yaz says.

“Yeah. Yeah…it will change the world. Why can’t anyone else see that?”

“There must be someone who’ll invest in it.”

“Well, if there is, I can’t find them. And, uh, without money, I have no power source and without power…” he lets his voice trail off.

“If I had any money, I’d give you a hand.” I tell him, “But I don’t have a penny. I can see it, Mr Tesla. I can really see it. I-“ I’m cut off by an odd, sputtery buzzing noise. The orb has come to life. I slide off the table and scoop it up from the bowl. All my sonic can get from it is sky-high energy readings. I turn from the bowl, picking up a light bulb in my other hand. “Mr Tesla, would you care to perform an experiment with me?”

Between us, the circuit is set up quite quickly, the lamps flickering on.

“What is that?” Yaz asks.

“Power! Waiting to be harnessed. Your Doctor was right,” he stumbles over the ‘your’ “The orb is emitting huge amounts of energy.”

“It’s pulsing.” Yaz notes, bending closer to it, “Like a siren.”

“Or radar.” I add in, forgetting myself for a moment.

“Radar?” Tesla repeats, watching me carefully now.

“Using energy waves to work out what’s around you.” I explain. Catching myself I add, “It’s…it’s just a theory…”

“I’ve been working on a similar theory myself. I call it my exploring ray.” for a split second, we just stand there. “But, anyway, the orb is emitting distinct waves of energy. It’s like it’s sensing its surroundings.” he’s stumbling over his words, I think out of excitement.

“Or scanning.” Yaz says. “Which makes me wonder…what’s it looking for?”

“Yasmin Khan making the connections once again!” I cry, turning as my hands fly into the air. This would normally be a Doctor moment where she would start rambling about the answers. But I don’t quite have the answers yet. “Maybe it’s looking for that thing from the train. You know, the guy with the Silurian gun and the Palpatine hands!”

“What is Palpatine?” Tesla asks.

“Forget I said that!”

“You say that a lot.”

“I say a lot of things I shouldn’t say.” I tell him, my hands twitching in the air, my fingers curling over and over as if performing Jedi mind tricks. Stop it with the Star Wars. Yaz’s phone rings and I turn in an instant as she moves to a corner of the room to answer the call. I assume it’s from the Doctor. I can only hear Yaz’s end of the conversation, of course. Or I could, until I decide to jump into the psychic link.

-it’s aliens too. They can look like anyone, so don’t let anyone in! Tell Tesla! Tell Dorothy! Lock every door!

“I think it’s too late for that, Doc.” I mumble the words aloud as I turn again to the sound of footsteps. Two men with glowing red eyes, their skin almost grey, are slowly forcing Miss Dorothy Skerritt into the room.

“I’m sorry.” she says.

Yaz? Sam, are you and Yaz alright? the Doctor asks.

“You are dead.” Tesla says, pointing at one of the things.

“Let Dorothy go.” my sonic’s out, purple glow at max. The other man, a scientist judging by his coat, has another kind of blaster near Miss Skerritt’s shoulder. “You’ve met my friend, you know what this can do.”

“We know you want the orb. Let her go.” Yaz tells the creatures.

“Exactly. You don’t have to hurt her.” Tesla says, “With your levels of technology, there is no need for violence.”

“That depends what kind of alien they are.” I tell him, not daring to turn my head to look at him properly.

“We did not come for the orb.” the scientist creature tells us, voice deep and distorted, “We came…for you.” the thing lunges forward, reaching for Nikola Tesla. I step between them as Yaz yells but, just as the creature’s hand touches my chest, I can feel myself being teleported.

All three of us land in the same place. Yaz and Tesla are turning, scared. My sonic is trying to scan. As I look up, I see scorpion creatures crawling down towards us from the ceiling. A door slides up and open, and some…thing steps out.

“Welcome, Nikola Tesla.”

***

“One of these must be good for getting out of here.” Yaz says, picking up various bits and pieces. “Gotta find a way off the ship. Sam, do you think any of this is useful?”

“Hm?” I pause in my mental cursing of the Master for taking my teleport to shake my head. “Uh, give me a minute. Not good at quick invention.”

“We’re hundreds of feet above New York, what do you suggest we do, open a door?” Tesla asks.

“I’d suggest we don’t surrender to the giant alien scorpion.” Yaz says.

“Good plan, Yasmin Khan.” I click my fingers as I say it. That rhymed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. This is all my fault.” Tesla says, “You two shouldn’t even be here.”

“Just cause you’re a genius doesn’t mean you have to figure everything out on your own. We’re in this together.”

“You have examined the equipment?” all three of us jump at the sound of the Skithra queen’s grating voice. Nikola Tesla clears his throat before he answers,

“Yes, I have. There are more secrets on this ship than I could discover in a lifetime. Uh, it…it is a scientist’s dream.”

“Then your work shall begin. You will prepare us for battle.” the queen moves to turn away and leave again, but whips back around when Tesla tells her,

“No, I won’t.” the queen and the scorpions react to Tesla’s words in the same way, hissing menacingly. Is there any other way for a scorpion to hiss?

“Your work would burn a path across the galaxies, on Earth you are nothing!”

“Perhaps I will achieve nothing. But if I achieve anything, it will be in the name of progress, and you are not my idea of progress.” Tesla tells her. The Skithra queen lets herself burst, just for a moment, and roars. She quiets in an instant, her eyes landing on Yaz.

“Kill the stowaway.” she orders, and I hear advancing scorpions as I dart in front of Yaz. “This is the price of refusal, human. First, she dies, then everyone down there.”

“Stop!” Tesla tries, “She is my assistant, I need her.” he doesn’t try making up an excuse for me. I’m not directly at risk. I will be in a minute.

“You won’t touch her.” my sonic is up in the queen’s face, and she doesn’t like it. I push at a switch, and it glows brighter. “I am the Companion. You might have heard of me.”

“I have not. Human.” the Skithra queen hisses after she has sniffed loudly. I must still smell human.

“Human, yes.” I answer. Right. Time-wasting speech time. “But I have survived the touch of a Weeping Angel. I lived through the plague of the Silent and the Monk dictatorship. I ended the Time War. I have defeated armies of Daleks and Cybermen against unimaginable odds and that is just the tip of the iceberg. You really don’t want to piss me off.” the Skithra queen’s face twitches before she turns to one of the humanoid creatures. Ah well. If nothing else, I’ve bought us some time. Buy another minute or so and I might be able to blow her up…the humanoid creature tells her,

“They are not important.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with that.” the Doctor. She made it. “Ah. Nice place you’ve got here. Probably. If you cleaned up a bit. I mean, I’m messy, but this?” the queen snarls at her. “You guys alright?”

“Better now you’re here.” Yaz tells her as the Doctor shifts to stand with me, shielding Yaz.

“I’m the Doctor. I don’t believe we’ve met.”

***

We have a plan. A plan that really might work. I believe in it. If enough energy is pumped into Wardenclyffe, it can produce a bolt of lightning, hopefully strong enough to take down the ship and the Skithra with it.

“We need to move quickly.” the Doctor says to Tesla, who is momentarily distracted from his spat with Edison, “We have to prepare the tower.” she turns back to the diagram of Wardenclyffe, “You and me will finish the tower. I can extend the TARDIS shields within the boundaries of Wardenclyffe. That should keep us safe. For now. Edison, Yaz, I need you to get people off the streets. The Skithra are on their way. Dorothy, Graham, Ryan, find anything we can use to defend Wardenclyffe. And be fast. For all we know, they’ve already found us. Sam-“

“Mr Tesla.” I turn quickly, cutting the Doctor off, “May I…may I use some of your spare parts? I believe you may have exactly what I need here.” I’ve been taking mental notes of what’s in this lab. If he lets me use the bits and bobs, along with my own stuff in the TARDIS-

“Yes. Yes, whatever you need.” he tells me, and my eyes stop darting around the room to meet his.

“Thank you. Thank you.” I turn in an instant as Miss Skerritt starts to look for things to board up the windows. I spy a lamp and a Leyden jar. A hand shoots out to stop me grabbing it.

“Miss, I don’t think a young lady like you-“

“I’m not Miss and I’m not a young lady.” I interrupt Edison.

“Well, what are you then?” he asks, not sounding like he’s going to entertain any other notion. I can see the disdain as his eyes drop to the cuffs of my trousers.

“Well, seeing as I can’t think of an alternative in English at this very moment, you may call me Sir.” I tell him, one hand landing in a pocket as my eyebrow quirks upwards. “Got that?” I let him stand there, flustered, for a moment before I reach out and grab the Leyden jar and something that looks not unlike a satellite dish. I turn into the TARDIS, leaning out to tap my hat, “Good day.” before I close the door behind me. I’m off down the corridor in an instant, and I can hear the TARDIS sliding walls for me, helping me get to where I need to go.

Down. All the way down, deep into the part of the TARDIS that reminds me of what it was like two regenerations ago. There were always cables and wires hanging around back then. The room the Doctor calls my lab is small, hexagonal. I push the satellite-looking thing up and into a compartment in the wall, closing the door after it.

“Take that apart for me, would you?” I ask the TARDIS. The lights above me dim. “I know I could, but I don’t exactly have the time right now. Please?” my lights brighten again, and I press a hand to the wall, “Thank you.” I turn back to the middle of the room, setting the Leyden jar down on a table that floats slowly away from me. My blaster sits on the work surface in the centre of the room. It’s so nearly done. So close to being done. It isn’t like any blaster I’ve ever seen before. It’s several alien technologies smashed into a single blaster, paired with Earthen wiring and a little bit of Gallifreyan shot into the mix. If it works, and I bloody hope it does, it’ll be spectacular. I pull at a string and a light pops on next to me as I turn the blaster in my hand. There’s a loud ding behind me and I turn to collect the parts the TARDIS has made of Tesla’s. I pick bits out of it, rummaging through it…yes. Yes! This! This is it! “Thank you.” I turn and pick up the soldering iron that the TARDIS has already warmed up for me.

I’m not sure exactly how long it takes me, but eventually everything has connected. Blue lines of light run down my blaster. I want to test it, but there’s a loud creaking noise that distracts me.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask, my hand pressed to the wall of the TARDIS again. The ship gives me a small flash of what’s happening outside. Scorpion creatures, the Skithra. Attacking the shield around the Wardenclyffe tower, around the Doctor and Nikola Tesla. I flick a switch and my blaster starts whirring loudly, exactly how it’s supposed to. “Let’s go give you a trial run, eh?”

I step out of the TARDIS just as the Doctor and Tesla fall through the door. Edison and Yaz are back too. How long was I in there?

“Just in time. We need to barricade the door now.” the Doctor says.

“Good God…” Edison mutters.

“There’s too many of them!” Yaz cries.

“Well, they may have superior numbers, but we have superior minds.” Tesla says, still calm.

“We just have to hold them off.” the Doctor says as Edison and Yaz shove a plank against the door. “They’re a hive species. So if we take out the queen-“

“We take out all of ‘em.” Yaz finishes her sentence.

“Yes! She’s still on the ship, and, hopefully, we’re about to zap her with a lot of Wardenclyffe energy.”

“There’s a but.” Graham says, and he’s right.

“Small detail.”

“Spill.” I tell her.

“Once we power up the tower, the TARDIS shields will drop, but it will be about thirty seconds before we can blast the ship. There’s not enough juice for both.”

“What?” Miss Skerritt asks, “What’s going to keep them out then?”

“We are.” Ryan says before I can.

“Don’t worry. This ain’t our first rodeo.” Graham assures Miss Skerritt.

“We’ve never been to a rodeo.”

“You’re not helping, Ryan.”

“We can handle it.” I tell Miss Skerritt, who I don’t think has been particularly assured by Graham or Ryan. My blaster shifts and Nikola Tesla sees it.

“This is what you made?” he asks, “With my…”

“With many different elements. I’ve been working on this for a long time.” I can hear the note of pride in my voice, but then I catch the Doctor’s eye. She doesn’t like this, doesn’t like that when she said ‘defend’ I thought ‘blaster.’ I feel terrible. Like I’m in the wrong.

“Only as a last resort.” I promise.

***

I hear the Doctor walk past the door. Then she stops, backtracks and walks into the room to stand beside me. I’m fiddling with a globe, spinning it and tracing my finger through it as the galaxy goes past the screen wall in front of me.

“You gave the queen a speech up there on ‘er ship. I ‘eard you.” she tells me. “What was that about?”

“Buying time. I didn’t want her to kill Yaz, did I?” I say, turning my head to look at the Doctor. “I knew you were coming. You always come for me, you promised me that.”

“I did.”

“I figured I might be able to stop her. If she knew who I was, what I’d done, you know? And if I couldn’t, well, I was just stalling till you got there.”

“You told her you were human.” the Doctor says slowly, “But you’re not. You’re Time Lord, Sam.”

“I’m not really. I never went to the Academy, I never did that whole thing with the Schism.” I point out, “I still need the same sleep humans do, I don’t heal like you do.”

“You regenerate. You have hearts, brains.” the Doctor says. I sit heavily on the step I’m on and she joins me.

“I don’t feel Time Lord, Doc. I still feel…I still feel human. A massively out of place human, but a human all the same.” I can feel her watching me as I pick at my fingers. I look at her then. “When I feel like a Time Lord, I’ll tell you. When I feel like a Time Lord, I’ll tell the whole damned galaxy if you like.” the Tardis complains about me cursing, bumping the floor I’m sitting on so I come close to toppling forwards. I stand up then and make a show of it, putting on an odd voice that sounds a little like Edison and puffing myself out,

“I’ll say, you hear me, I’m a Time Lord, I say, I say! I’m from the planet Gallifrey, ya hear? I say, I travel across the galaxy,” I sweep a hand through the air as I say it before taking my hat off, flipping it and putting it back on in one move. I put my hand to my mouth, holding my sonic as if it were a pipe, “I’m a Time Lord, I say!” I drop the act then, accepting the Doctor’s shaking shoulders and scrunched-up nose. I sit back beside her then, my arm wrapping around her. “Cause you ‘ent the only one, Doc.”

#The Companion: Ascension #mywriting #doctor who #doctor who fic #thirteen doctor #sam tate #yasmin khan #ryan sinclair #graham o'brien #nikola tesla's night of terror

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