Chapter 7 (Spirals)
On board the TARDIS Caleb and the Doctor were stood staring at the time rotor. Neither of them saying anything. Neither of them having the foggiest clue of how to go about locating the mysterious Illithia.
And then the clue flashed up in front of them.
It was a single flicker on a radar-like machine. It flickered over and over again.
The Doctor looked down at it and then shook his head before leaning in closer to look at it.
“What is it?” said Caleb, noticing the excitement in his eyes.
“It’s a sign. It’s very faint, but it’s a sign.”
“Do you think it’s her?”
“I don’t know,” he said, “maybe.” He looked at Caleb. “The essence of everything she is will be hidden. Locked away in an inanimate object. I used a fob watch. The Master used a fob watch too, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a fob watch.” He smiled at Caleb, his face barely able to contain the excitement any longer.
“Well don’t just stand there grinning like a loon, uncle,” said Caleb. He pointed at the radar. “Where is she?”
“Oh yes!” said the Doctor, snapping to attention and then haring around the console, flicking switches, turning dials, pulling levers and turning any other instrument he could get his hands on.
A holographic map unfolded from one of the emitters on the side of the console. It showed a map of the United Kingdom with a dot somewhere near the vicinity of Edinburgh.
The Doctor was hunched over the consoles trying to refine the search.
“Well?” said Caleb, excited to meet his sister.
“July 1st 1996. West Fulton near Edinburgh.”
“Where?”
“Scotland!” he said, his face beaming. “We’ve found her, Caleb. We’ve found her!” He embraced his nephew in a warm bear hug and then released him, holding a finger up his face. “Euro 96 will still be on…”
“Doctor?” said Caleb.
“Yes,” said the Doctor. And then his face fell. “But this must mean she’s released the essence of her Gallifreyan self if we’re picking up these readings. That also means that the Master will have detected it too.” He turned to face his nephew. “We must get to her before he does.”
Lilly looked down as the knife glowed white-hot in her hands. Spirals of energy and light flared up from the blade and homed in on her face. She was completely oblivious to the world around her. Completely unaware that the mother duck and her ducklings had swam for dear life to get away. Completely forgetting that she was knee-deep in the mucky lake.
She listened. She could hear voices coming from the dagger. Male and female.
You are my child…
You are my child…
You are my sister…
Illithia. You are Illithia. My sweet girl what have they done to you. My sweet, sweet girl…
I am Illithia… came her own voice. I am Illithia.
And then the knife went dead. She gasped. It felt like something had punched her in the chest. She released the knife and it fell into the water, sinking once again, but something told Lilly that she didn’t need it anymore. She had found what she needed.
But she was now gasping for air. She keeled over and fell into the water, barely managing to keep herself from going all the way in as she remained on her hands and knees.
She could feel a heavy pounding in her chest. Her heartbeat was thumping and thumping. No, wait…not just one heartbeat. There were two heartbeats. Her hand went to her chest. She had two hearts.
What the hell?!
And then she heard the sound. The same sound she had heard all those years ago.
She got to her hands and knees as the pain in her chest subsided just in time to see a blue Police Box materialised on the banks of the river.
The door opened and a handsome man with short, dark hair, stubble and wearing a grey blazer, white shirt and tie and dark jeans stood there, his face looking stern and serious.
“Illithia?” was all he said.
Lilly nodded slowly. “The voices. The voices called me Illithia.”
Another man appeared at her side. He was a little younger with dark hair swept back to stop his fringe from threatening to flop over his eyes. He had piercing eyes and pale skin. He smiled when he saw Lilly.
“You need to come with us,” said the first man.
“I…”
But Lilly didn’t have time to finish her sentence as the sky cracked open and a trail of smoke and blue flame came soaring in like an asteroid. It hit the edge of the lake with such a force that the police box was thrown into the air, a huge crater being created from the impact of the asteroid.
The two men were thrown from the side of the box and landed by the river bank.
Lilly stumbled backwards in the water as a flock of seagulls squawked angrily and then flew away.
Her ears were ringing as smoke billowed up from the crater.
“We need to go,” said the man, holding out a hand.
Lilly looked at him for a long while.
“You need to come with us now!” said the man.
And then the young man looked up, a pained expression on his face. “Please, Illithia. Trust me. I’m your brother.”
He emerged from the crater, his body still aching from the impact, but the flames around his face and hands still burning blue. He knew he couldn’t delay the change much longer. This new power of regeneration he had been given was a gift. He knew he had to use that gift to complete the change, but he felt so powerful right now. He needed to get to Lilly first. Once he had her he would change and finally live again.
The Master reborn.
He made his way up the side of the crater. The Doctor’s TARDIS was lying face down with it’s doorway blocked off, but there was nobody else to be seen.
He could hear the sound of sirens in the distance. No doubt his arrival had attracted the attention of the authorities. No matter, he thought to himself. Let them come.
The Doctor, Caleb and Lilly had made their way out of the park and had headed down a street and towards Lilly’s house.
“I don’t know why we’re running from the TARDIS,” said Caleb, out of breath. “My legs can’t take this kind of running anymore.”
“I’m so sorry,” said the Doctor, skidding to a halt, kneeling down and checking the braces on Caleb’s legs.
“I’ll be fine,” said Caleb, “but no more running. Please.”
“We need to draw him away. He can’t hold onto that regenerative power much longer. He’ll have to change soon. If we just run away in the TARDIS he’ll follow us. He doesn’t need his own TARDIS to travel in.”
“What a minute, people,” said Lilly, holding her hands up to halt the conversation, “this is all getting a tad bit confusing.”
“What do you want to know?” said the Doctor, turning to her and smiling.
“How about…everything!” She said. She pointed to Caleb. “He told me he’s my brother, but my brother’s dead. He was shot dead by Colin Dunlop.”
“Not exactly true,” said the Doctor, looking down the street for any sign of the Master.
“And why am I called Illithia? My name’s Lilly. It’s always been Lilly.”
The Doctor, looked down at Lilly and then back down the street. “Listen, we need to take shelter. We need to get inside.”
“Not at my house we’re not,” said Lilly.
“No,” said the Doctor. “Probably not a good idea.”
“How about over there?” said Caleb, pointing to a grotty pub called the Woodsman’s Axe.”
“That’ll do nicely,” said the Doctor.
They made their way across the road and went into the pub. The inside was dark and dingy. A collection of old men were sat around the side of the bar, supping on pints of real ale and playing dominoes.
The air was filled with smoke and the Doctor cough, waving his hand in front of his face to try and clear the air.
“What can I get for you?” asked a skinny man with a few strands of grey hair over the top of his head.
“Three glasses of orange juice,” said the Doctor.
“Put vodka in mine please, Phil.”
“Right you are, Miss Galloway,” said the barman.
“Alcohol? At this time?”
“I don’t know you, pal,” said Lilly. “Don’t presume to know me. Alright?”
When they had received their drinks they found a table in the corner. The Doctor sat down beside the window and keep peering outside, making sure he was partially shielded by the net curtain. “It won’t take him long to find us.”
“Right, who is he? Cos to me he looks like a bunch of blue flames, like the Human Torch or something.”
“Who?” said Caleb, confused as he took a sip of his tepid orange juice.
“It doesn’t matter,” said the Doctor, waving away the question. He cleared his throat. “Lilly, are you willing to believe anything we say?”
“No,” said Lilly bluntly.
“Okay,” said the Doctor slowly. “Well this may be hard work then.”
“Just tell me the truth and I’ll let you know whether I believe you or not.”
The Doctor nodded, took another glance out of the window and then leaned back in his chair. “The truth is that you are not from the planet, your father is not who you think he is, and you are not really called Lilly.”
“Crap,” said Lilly, drinking her vodka and orange juice. “You’re saying I’m some space girl from Mars?”
“Not from Mars,” said Caleb, his eyes bright with excitement, “but from Gallifrey.”
“Is that in Ireland?” asked Lilly.
The Doctor rubbed his forehead. “Just hear me out. Many years ago your mother - your real mother - had a…liaison with the man who is now after us. He goes by the name of the Master.”
“But he’s been visiting me all my life. He’s been paying my father to look after me.”
“And the first piece of the jigsaw slots into place,” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together. “Your mother believed you died when she gave birth to you, but really the Master had taken you away. He rewrote your biological data so you would appear Human and then took you to this place and paid the man who pretended to be your father to look after you. Your essence would have been trapped or stored away in some inanimate object, which you have obviously just released. It‘s how we were able to track you down.”
“The knife,” said Lilly slowly. “But…why?” said Lilly, scarcely able to believe any of this.
“That we don’t know yet.” He turned to Caleb. “This is your half-brother, Caleb, by the way.”
Caleb extended his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Lilly didn’t reciprocate the gesture. “Maybe we should just ask Magister.”
“Right now he is a raging monster, hell-bent on finding you. I don’t know why, but the Master has never done anything for the good of anyone.”
“But if he’s my real father then surely I have a right to get to know him.”
“That is your choice, Lilly,” said the Doctor, “but ask yourself this - why would he let you grow up in such a terrible background? He told me he wanted to make sure you were toughened up for the road ahead. He wanted you to grow up to be the person you should be.”
Caleb shook his head. “I’ve researched him. He’s had other children, but all of them have either disappeared, died or gone their own ways. You’re like his last chance option for a family I suppose.”
“I’ll admit I’ve had a crap life,” said Lilly, looking past the Doctor and into the distance.
“Is that the sort of father who you want?”
Lilly shook her head. “If this is all true then what do we do?”
“You come with us. With Caleb and myself. I’ll keep you safe until we can face down the Master without him being some otherworldly monster.” He leaned in closer. “Please, Lilly. Your mother was married to my adopted brother. We‘re technically family.”
“And why should I trust you?”
Suddenly the door blew inwards, splintering wood everywhere and throwing everyone off their seats.
The Doctor crawled across to Lilly and got in front of her, shielding her from the blue flaming man that stood in the broken door frame.
“Because the Doctor is the only one who can get us out of this alive,” said Caleb, his eyes full of terror.
To be continued...
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