Chapter Two: Silver Devastation
The Doctor had, luckily, parked the TARDIS inside the house so they didn’t have very far to go. Together, they helped the Temperon inside the ship.
You have redecorated, he quipped. The last console room he’d seen was the white roundels and center controls of the Sixth Doctor’s.
“One must change with the times,” said the Doctor as he and Lisa sat the Temperon on the chair beside the center console. He then went to the controls and started scanning for the Temperon particles, dematerializing the TARDIS.
The console beeped after a few moments. “Got one,” said the Doctor, flipping switches and pressing buttons. “Earth…Windsor…1988. Twenty-third of November.”
“Windsor? Like the castle?” asked Lisa, thinking.
“Yeah. There’s an odd energy source coming from there, actually.”
Something clicked in her head. “Validium!”
“What?”
“The Nemesis, remember? That statue of Lady Peinforte?” Her eyes widened. “And the Cybermen. They’re orbiting Earth right now.”
The Doctor frowned and checked the instruments. “I’m not reading anything.”
“They were shrouded. You did something with Ace’s stereo back then to make them reveal themselves.” He gave her a dubious look. “Trust me.”
He didn’t have a reason not to, so he worked at the controls and said, “All right…I’m using Earth’s moon to shield us for now.”
“What’s the plan?” asked Lisa.
He was silent for a moment, then said, “Temperon, how close do you have to be to the Sirens to…do whatever it is you have to do?”
Very, he answered. I must absorb them as I once did to you.
“That caused you pain last time, though,” said Lisa.
That was due to being released from the Kurgon Wonder and bringing you back to Gallifrey.
“Will you be able to handle it, though?” she asked. “Ten separate parts of the Sirens will put a huge strain on you, won’t it?”
We have no choice.
Unfortunately, he was right. The Doctor, who had been gaping a little at Lisa’s knowledge of his past, ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t be seen,” he said. “My other self will know Lisa because she looks the same no matter the time period.”
“Ace will know me, too,” she added.
“Right. We can’t be seen,” he repeated with emphasis.
“I can only use my invisibility on me and one other. It’ll drain quickly.”
“Use it sparingly. You and the Temperon.”
“That’s not gonna be easy…Temperon, can you fly?” she asked, eying his wings.
Yes, but not indefinitely.
“Yeah, well neither can I. We’ll have to alternate. Doctor, do you have a stopwatch?”
He nodded towards her. “In my coat.”
It was then she realized she was still wearing it. She searched through the cavernous pockets and found the item in question, then handed the coat back to him.
“All right…” said the Doctor as he operated the controls. “Let me get my bearings.” He studied the readouts. “Ace and my other self are in a field outside Windsor…the Cybermen on Earth are near the castle and there are two time-displaced humans on Windsor High Street.”
“That’d be Lady Peinforte and Richard,” said Lisa as she attached a string she’d also fished out of the Doctor’s pocket around the watch so she could hang it around her neck.
Once again, the Doctor started at her. “How is it you know more about my past than I do?” he asked. “Or your own, for that matter?”
She looked up, grinned, then looked back down at the watch, pretending to adjust the string. The Doctor knew that was all the answer he was going to get.
He went back to the controls and flipped some switches. “It looks like the Sirens are near Ace and my other self.”
“An ambush?”
“Very likely. All right. I’m landing the TARDIS.”
The ship touched down and they looked at the scanner. Through the trees they could see a man and two women seemingly following a glowing silver bow. Voices filtered through the speakers.
“So, I launched the largest piece into space.”
“But you got the sums wrong.”
Lisa’s hearts gave a small jolt when she heard those voices. She recognized them instantly: the Doctor’s Seventh incarnation and Ace. The other woman was, of course, herself, and she’d given no indication that she’d heard their arrival, possibly due to the Doctor and Ace talking and the hum of the bow that was now coming through the speakers.
What is that bow? asked the Temperon.
The Doctor was silent, not liking the memories that were beginning to surface, so Lisa answered for him. “Validium, a living metal. It’s one of three parts of a statue that fell to Earth. The Doctor’s gonna wind up using it to destroy the Cyber fleet in orbit later on. They’re using that bow to find the statue right now.”
“Well, the Cybermen might find the TARDIS. I mean, this way, our validium leads us to their validium,” said the Seventh Doctor.
“Isn’t that a bit old-fashioned?” asked Ace.
“I’m an old-fashioned guy.”
Lisa had to smile, then it faded when she noticed someone following their other selves. It was a woman dressed in 80s clothes. A singsong-like hum could be heard through the speakers.
“That’s one of the Sirens,” said Lisa. “They’d taken a woman’s form last time. Remember Helen, Elenya and Ellie?”
He didn’t, but he just opened the TARDIS door. “We’ll have to turn the ambush around,” he said. “Lisa, you and the Temperon go after her. I’ll make sure she doesn’t reach our other selves. Ready?”
They nodded and all three of them left the TARDIS. Lisa took the Temperon by the arm and watched the Siren stalking their past selves. They were far enough away that Lisa decided not to use her invisibility; that way she could conserve it for when it was really needed.
She teleported herself and the Temperon directly behind the Siren. The moment they reappeared they tackled the woman and covered her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
You must not succeed…! said the Temperon as the Siren vanished.
Looking of their shoulders to ensure they weren’t noticed, Lisa helped the Temperon up and they made a mad dash back to the Doctor, who was waiting beside the Seventh Doctor’s TARDIS, examining the arrow embedded in the door.
“Don’t touch it,” said Lisa as they approached. “They’ll need it later to kill the Cyber Leader. Plus it’s tipped with poison.”
The Doctor backed away. “You two all right?”
Yes, Doctor.
“Yeah.”
“Right. One down, nine to go.”
End chapter two.
Back *~*~* Chapter One *~*~* Chapter Three