The name “Laura” rang a
bell, although Domina couldn’t really understand why. It had been like a
whisper to her the whole time she had been inside the TARDIS, a comforting word
throughout her imprisonment like a lullaby to soothe her to sleep every time
she was afraid. There had been no women throughout her early life, no mother
like figure had been assigned to her as she grew in her confinement to raise
her as a woman, teach her about the world or offer her sympathy when she cried.
All her guards were men! Big burly soldiers assigned to her to watch over her
in case she escaped and brought about the end of days. Everything Domina knew
and had learned about the life that was now stored inside her brain and the
physical form she presented to those she would encounter, the other beings she
would come across during her journey and search for the truth, she took from
the TARDIS during the years she had assimilated with it in her incubation.
She decided to follow the man, to find out
what was going on, what he knew or thought he knew about her, what Ordifica was
and who Laura was. A lot of questions without leading him to ask any of her,
because for now, she wasn’t sure she could trust him. He led her down deep
under the canal and through a heavy metal door into what looked like a small
prison which he had turned into some kind of office. There were maps on the
wall, tide times, sun rise and sunset, blue prints of tunnels, underground
caverns, names and pictures of people stuck to the walls which Domina was sure
if she scanned them, looked at them closely enough she could find some
information on them, that somewhere buried deep within her memory, she would
find them! A bizarre concept to know you have a certain kind of ability without
really knowing who or what you are.
The man who thought he knew her, sat down
behind the large metal desk and pulled open a drawer, pulling out a bottle of
whiskey and two glasses which he filled before pushing one towards her. “Still
a JD girl I hope?” He asked as he took a gulp of the drink and eyed her with
anticipation, as though she were a stranger to him, yet somehow a trusted
friend. Domina noticed that as he drank his whiskey, his hand slid beneath the desk
slowly and he seemingly pressed something, a warning trigger maybe? Some kind
of button that opened a secret door? Nothing obvious happened around her and
her senses picked up nothing by way of any alarm but she returned her gaze to
him with more intent now, watching him a little closer, ready to attack if he
tried to have her surrounded.
“Your parents sent you away, yet here you
are. You were supposed to have rendezvoused with Kristeva 5 days ago? I thought
you had, Jesus, Laura we all thought you had. Our leader is going to want to
talk to you, you’ll have to be ready to answer his questions if we’re ever
going to have a hope of winning this war. What the hell happened? I mean yeah
you look younger maybe but they can’t have cloned you, yet could they? There
wasn’t enough time, unless......." he stared at her confused and
questionably, his facial expressions changing slightly as the cogs in his head
began to click ever so slowly into place so that he came up with what he
thought, was a rational explanation.
Domina found him
fascinating! He was the first being she had encountered since escaping
Gallifrey and so far, had yet to determine which species he was although human,
of some variant had crossed her mind several times. It was difficult to say the
least, to be inside her own head the way she was, trapped in the cell of
physical restraint when she had a whole universe buzzing inside her, fighting
to get out and explore.
“So, you know what year this is? Who you
are? What name did they give you?” He went on, interrogating her to get to the
truth. Was she a spy? Was she working for the other side now or had something
gone terribly wrong and their best hope of survival was now and empty shell?
That could explain it, some kind of memory loss perhaps? Understanding his
intent to a degree. Domina decided to use his lack of knowledge to her
advantage and took a gulp of the drink that burned the back of her throat.
“Yes, she said, maybe, I don’t know. Please tell me who I am, who is Laura? I
kind of have an idea but it’s all so foggy right now. Who is the leader?” He
nodded and drained his glass before pouring himself another, larger drink,
leaning back into his chair as he surveyed her. His thought once more trying to
fix the broken jigsaw that stood innocently before him. “Yeah thought so.
You’re probably the first, they like to clone the first quickly, you know, to
eradicate the memories they don’t need. Maybe they sent you back to help us win
this war? Tell me everything you know about the Time Lords?”
Time Lords! There it was.
The name of those who tried to kill her as a child. The race she had fled from
and travelled billions of years to escape from but it seemed now that no matter
how far she ran, they would always find her. A memory jogged in her head and
she locked eyes with the man deep in thought as a name come to her lips.
“Fritz?” The man leaned forward slightly and rested his elbows on his desk, his
brow furrowed in question. “You know me?” He asked her. “No” She replied
honestly, “but someone did, someone trusted you and I think maybe I can trust
you too?” A question mixed with a statement of confusion. She was telling the
truth. She didn’t know him yet she knew his name and that someone important to
her once trusted him with their life.
As the images of a woman started to burn
their way into her consciousness, Domina heard the sound of the TARDIS engines,
the screeching sounds of agony that screamed at her and she covered her ears in
pain wondering what the hell was happening. And then it happened, for the first
time, the only time or the first of many times. Domina was suddenly back in the
console room, the TARDIS surrounding her, hazy and magical as though it was
sucking her into its core. She felt drunk, like she was dreaming, blinking hard
to focus as the lights blinded her so she was unable to see what was going on.
And then it stopped again and she was standing where she had been, facing the
man now known as Fritz who had dropped his glass and shattered whiskey all over
the floor and was standing upright, staring at her opened mouthed.
“What happened?” she asked him, wondering if
he had spiked her drink and was untrustworthy after all. She had no real
conception of these things as she was still fairly new born in her existence.
“You, erm, well you kind of disappeared!
There was wind, down here in the deepest of all the tunnels where there’s no
light, so dark even the rats keep away, yet there was wind!” He pointed to the
papers that had been on his desk which were now all over the floor. “And there
was a noise, a whooshing, wheezing sound and then you kind of, faded out and
were gone! Literally gone, but for a few moments, 10 seconds maybe and then you
came back in the exact same way”
They were both confused at the event, but
unable to explain it, both lost in those few seconds about what to do.
“Who are you?” Fritz asked, his toned
changing as he began to fear the woman in front of him. “What did they do to
you? The faction, what the bloody hell is going on Laura, I don’t understand”
“Sit down Fritz!” The order came from behind
Domina, a man’s voice softly spoken yet full of arrogance and authority, and
Fritz sat down. “Yes sir” He mumbled, “But sir, she just….”
“I know, I saw it, it’s ok, she’s fine,
she’s perfectly fine”
Domina turned and faced
the man who smiled widely at her. In the gloominess of the room she could just
about make out his features and she let her eyes travel over the clothes he
wore which she was sure did not fit the time of the planet she was on. He was out
of place as she was, out of time, on the run, away from those he loved because
he feared them, he was alone, he was like her but different in so many ways. A
man with more secrets than she had, a man lying to Fritz whilst claiming to be
his leader. He knew she was scanning him and he let her. He knew everything
about her, things she herself had yet to discover and he smiled again, shaking
his head softly as he drew a deep breath.
“You’re just like your mother, Domina. Just
like Laura, although by the time the order had finished with her, by the time
she came to me she had been remembered 5 times and was was known as Compassion,
a wonderful brave woman and like you, one of a kind with a unique ability. Hers
was extrapolated to her of course, in a vain attempt to turn her into a weapon,
one she fought against hence being given the name Compassion. You though, oh
you were born with these abilities, the one thing the Time Lords couldn’t
foresee, The Nightmare Child”
He was rambling like an excited child,
watched in a state of confusion by Fritz and a state of fear by Domina.
“I suppose You’re wondering why you don’t
know me, why you can’t find traces of me in your memory? Well you can, just not
recent ones, it’s complicated timey wimey stuff but I’ll help you figure it
out. You faded by the way, just then, you kind of teleported, back to your
TARDIS maybe? It’s because you kind of are a human TARDIS….wibbley, wobbley,
timey, wimey but I’ll explain it all properly to you” He ran his fingers
through his hair and then jumped forward, his hand out ready for her to shake
as though he were apologising for not doing it sooner.
“I’m The Doctor by the way”
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