Tuesday, 7 July 2020

Fans Fiction Stories of the Nightmare Child - Chapter Two - Compassion by Lady Mayhurst



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”

No comments:

Post a Comment