Doctor Who: The Way Through the Woods (16 page)

Amy and Laura hugged each other, and then rejoined Reyn at the console.

‘
Pond! Pond! Calling Pond! I’m here, Pond! I’m at the hatch into the ship! I’m going in! Any messages for Rory?
’

Amy grabbed hold of the console. ‘Give him a kiss from me!’

‘
Doubt he’ll let me, but I’ll try my best! Opening the hatch now! Going in!
’

There was a pause, the sound of the sonic screwdriver buzzing, and then an almighty
thump
. The room around Amy rocked alarmingly.

‘Try not to finish us off when we’re so close to success, Doctor,’ Amy said. There was no reply. She leaned forwards anxiously. ‘Doctor?’

Another thump.

‘
Ow… Yes! Yes! Still here! Everything’s fine! It wasn’t fine, and now it’s fine again! Walking down a corridor… Some things never change… Here’s a door… Shut door…
’ The sonic buzzed. ‘
Open door! Ooh, what – and who – do we have here?
’

In the background, Amy could hear voices, raised voices. ‘Doctor! Are you OK? Is it Rory? Tell me it’s Rory!’

The room around her shook again, and there was another brief squeal. Then the Doctor said, ‘
Hey! You two! Don’t you know better than to quarrel in front of the children?
’

There was a pause, and then, to Amy’s delight, Rory’s voice came through – clear, annoyed, and extremely baffled.

‘
Who on
earth
are you?
’

Lights dimming, some blacking out entirely, some turning red; an alarm going off – and now, standing at the top of the steps leading down to the console, there was a young man in a bow tie grinning down at Rory like a maniac.

This, Rory thought, really was the absolute limit.

‘I don’t know who you are,’ he said hotly, ‘but if you’re the one behind all this, I want it stopped! I want it stopped now. I want my memories back, and I want to go home. Wherever that is. Which I don’t know. Because
somebody
has got their spaceship to pinch my memories! Well, I’m telling you,’ he raised his finger, not too high, he didn’t want cause too much trouble, just to get his point across, ‘it’s not good enough!’

Bow-tie man beamed at him and then swung down the stairs. He bounded over to Rory and planted a kiss on the top of his head. Rory pushed him away.

‘No! Stop! Get off! This isn’t fair!’

‘
Rory?
’ A young woman’s voice echoed through the control room, piercing through the whine of the alarm. ‘
What time do you call this!
’

‘Oh, Mr Amy Pond,’ said bow-tie man, shaking his head. ‘You’ve stayed out too late, and the wife isn’t happy.’

Emily, kneeling beside Harry, couldn’t quite suppress a chuckle. Bow-tie man swung round and favoured her with another lunatic smile. ‘Miss Emily Bostock!’ he said. ‘At last! What an
absolute
pleasure to meet you!’

‘Oh!’ said Emily, nicely. ‘Lovely to meet you too, sir!’ Bow-tie man went over to join her, and Rory, bewildered, followed. Kneeling down beside Emily, the new arrival took hold of Harry’s other hand.

‘Well,’ he said, calmly. ‘I bet you’re frightened! That’s all right. World’s a strange place, isn’t it? Confusing. You’re not sure what to think and you’re not sure what to do. I’m the Doctor, by the way. I’m here to help.’

The Doctor
… Rory rubbed his forehead. Lights dimmed and reddened around him. The alarm was very distracting.

‘It found out, you see,’ Emily said to the Doctor. ‘About all the people that it brought here. And it got terribly upset. I think that’s what’s making everything shake about.’

Harry trembled and the walls of the ship rocked. The whine went up a notch.

‘Oh, please, love!’ Emily cried softly. ‘Don’t! Don’t!’

‘
Stolen…
’ whispered the ship through Harry. ‘
Sorry… Sorry to be born…
’

‘Yes, I see,’ said the Doctor softly. ‘Thought about someone else for the first time. Scary when that happens. Thought about what it had done to them. Even scarier.’ He rubbed Harry’s hand. ‘Emily, ever helped anyone give birth before?’

‘Well,’ Emily said doubtfully, ‘the
pigs
…’

‘Er, excuse me!’ Rory tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. ‘What exactly is going on here?’

‘Rory, yes! Sorry! Memory loss! Haven’t forgotten – how ironic would that be? I’m onto it! But right now we’ve got to deal with the ship. You probably noticed – what with the alarms and the lights and everything – that something’s going on. Well, that something is called its Shift, which means it’s coming alive, and I think all this talk about its terrible evildoing hasn’t exactly helped—’

‘But it’s true! It’s stolen people! Taken them away and used them!’

Harry – the whole ship – convulsed once again at his words. More patches along the walls went dark and the howling alarm screamed louder, like the ship was in pain.

‘Rory,’ said the Doctor, ‘you need to shut up.
Now
.’

‘But it’s only a ship. I—!’

‘
Rory!
’ Again, the young woman’s voice rang round the room. ‘
Button it!
’

Rory, as if programmed to, obeyed. He clamped his mouth shut and froze.

‘
End…
’ moaned the ship through Harry’s lips. ‘
Finish… The only way…
’

‘Now wherever are you getting that idea?’ said the Doctor briskly. ‘All right, so it’s not nice to go about dragging people off and stealing their memories, but nobody told you not to, and as soon as you realised, you stopped. Can’t say fairer than that, can you? What’s all this about finishing yourself? That’s a terrible idea!’

‘
Scared… ran away… Shouldn’t have… Don’t want it… Don’t want to be me…
’

‘Oh Harry!’ exclaimed Emily. ‘Nobody thinks that! Nobody blames you! Anyone who does is wicked or a fool!’

‘
Sacrifice… like the others… there has to be a sacrifice…
’

‘Oh, an even worse idea!’ said the Doctor. ‘Where are you picking these things up from? Who are you hanging round with? Emily, who exactly is Harry?’

‘My friend. He ran away into the woods rather than get called up. Ship took him. This is his body.’

‘Oh… Oh, I see! So Harry’s are some of the most recent memories Ship’s got to draw on. And Ship’s confused its own guilt about the disappearances with Harry’s shame about deserting…’

‘And Ship’s got the idea that to make amends there has to be a sacrifice,’ Emily said. ‘Oh, Harry, you poor thing! Who wants you out there in all that murder? Who in their right mind would want that? Not me, love!’ She started to cry. ‘Don’t give up, dear! Stay with me! I can’t lose another, not after Sammy…’

‘Ship,’ the Doctor urged, ‘you’ve got access to other memories, haven’t you? Other people came here too, didn’t they? Not just Harry. So what about them? What do you know from them? What can they tell you?’ He looked back over his shoulder to where Rory was standing by, silent and befuddled.

‘What about Mr Amy Pond?’ said the Doctor. ‘Trooper Rory Williams? What about his memories? Can you see him, Ship, standing guard over the woman he loves, for two thousand years? What an amazing sacrifice! And nobody – absolutely nobody – had to die!’

As he spoke a light switched on in Rory’s head. ‘Er,’ he said, ‘actually, that wasn’t me…’

‘No. It wasn’t,’ said the Doctor. (And of course this was the Doctor! How did you forget the
Doctor
…?) ‘Not technically. But it was you in all the ways that matter. You’d do it if you had to, Rory Williams. Plastic or not, you’d find a way to stand guard for ever if you had to.’

And Rory knew he would – for Amy. His amazing, wonderful, alarming, smashing Amy, the memory of whom flooded back into his head now. Rory nearly cried to think he could ever have forgotten her.

‘Amy!’ he called out. ‘I’m not in trouble, am I?’

‘
No, you’re not in trouble!
’ A pause. ‘
Well, not today
.’

The alarm sounded mournfully. ‘
End…
’ said the ship-through-Harry. ‘
Die
…’

‘Oh, love!’ Emily said. ‘I don’t want you to die! Nor Harry, neither! There’s been enough of that. Please, Ship! Listen to us! Nobody wants you to die!’

Rory, understanding fully now what was happening, rested his hands on Emily’s shoulder. ‘Ship,’ he said urgently. ‘Emily’s right. You made a mistake, that’s all. You’re sorry, and you’ve stopped. That’s enough. You don’t need to do any more.’

For a moment, there was only the sound of the alarm, howling, the ship’s guilt and shame and sorrow. Then: ‘
Not consistent… Rory… Why not consistent?
’

‘I was wrong,’ Rory said simply. ‘I changed my mind. But that’s OK. You don’t always have to be right. You’re allowed to change your mind. You should, if you’re wrong. That’s what being a person is about.’

‘
Not… consistent…
’

The walls shook violently. Rory had to grab onto the console to stay upright. Harry was flung forwards, sending Emily crashing to the floor beneath him. The ship’s wail reached its crescendo. Then it, and the lights, cut out. It felt to Rory as if he had been picked up, shaken hard, and then dumped down again slightly to one side.

For a moment, everything was dark and silent. Then the lights, yellow and green, slowly lifted. There was a brief further moment of silence, and then the ship spoke, but not through Harry. Now its voice came from all around.

‘I understand,’ said Ship, calmly. ‘Shift is achieved. Situation stable.’

Harry blinked and his eyes went back to their usual blue. He looked down at Emily, lying in a heap under him. ‘Emmy?’ he said. ‘What the devil’s going on?’

Emily laughed in delight.

‘Congratulations,’ the Doctor announced proudly to all listening. ‘It’s a beautiful baby ship.’

Back in Reyn’s control room, Amy punched the air.

‘Yes! Oh, Doctor, you’re amazing! And as for you, Rory Williams…’ She blew him a kiss. ‘You’re adorable!’

She felt Laura’s hand suddenly grip her arm.

‘Amy…’ the old woman whispered.

Amy turned around. Reyn, from somewhere, had produced a weapon, a large weapon, the kind that alien foxes might use to fight their enemies.

‘Ship,’ Reyn called out. ‘This is your captain speaking. Prepare to report for duty.’ He looked sadly at the two women. ‘Laura, Amy – I’m sorry. But Ship and I have our duty to perform. We have to return to the War.’

‘Oh no you bloomin’ well don’t!’ Emily Bostock shouted back at the disembodied voice echoing around her. She gripped onto Harry’s arm like a tigress making ready to defend her cubs. ‘Whoever you might be, you just think on! No one here is going to the War. Not Ship, not Harry, not anyone! Over my dead body!’

‘Got to hope it won’t come to that, Emily,’ the Doctor said softly, and then addressed Reyn. ‘Reyn, I don’t much like the sound of this. Sounds – I don’t know, a bit too much like bossing someone about. Why don’t we ask Ship what it wants to do now?’

‘
Doctor
,’ said Reyn,
‘I’m grateful for all that you have done for me. But this is no longer your concern. It’s not a question of what Ship wants to do. It’s a question of duty. Ship knows what’s required of it, and so do I. It’s been a long war for all of us, Doctor, but it’s not over yet
.’

‘Ship,’ said the Doctor. ‘Is that what you want? To go back to the War?’

‘You don’t have to, Ship, love!’ Emily said fiercely. ‘Not if you don’t want to! It’s a waste! A terrible, wicked waste!’

The Doctor touched her arm. ‘Let Ship decide, Emily,’ he said quietly. ‘Ship can do whatever it wants.’

Rory watched as, on the console, images sped past of all the people that Ship had gathered over the centuries.

Eventually, Reyn’s voice came through again. He was getting impatient. ‘
Ship
.
It’s your duty—
’

‘No,’ said Ship evenly. ‘I disagree. I shall not go.’

‘
That’s desertion, Ship. Mutiny. I can take action—
’

‘I shall not go,’ Ship said again.

‘Sounds like Ship’s made up its mind, Reyn,’ the Doctor said. ‘So why don’t we come up with another plan—’

He stopped speaking when the air on the far side of the console began to fill with particles of golden light. Quickening, solidifying, the shimmering space resolved itself into Reyn, Laura, and Amy. Amy gave Rory a little wave.

‘Hi, gorgeous,’ she said. ‘Love to come and give you a “hello” kiss. But look: there’s a weapon-wielding were-fox in the way.’

Rory gave her an anxious little wave back. The return of his memories definitely had both good and bad aspects. Good – Amy. Bad – he was the kind of person who could get separated from his loved one by big alien guns carried by humanoid foxes.

Reyn gestured to the Doctor and the others. ‘Over here, please,’ he said, backing round the console, his weapon covering them all. Bright lights flashed on the console and a voice began to chant. It sounded very much like a countdown.

‘What’s he doing?’ demanded Emily. ‘Here, what are you doing?’

‘I’d like to know too, please, Reyn,’ said the Doctor.

Reyn’s free hand moved quickly around the console. ‘If Ship’s mind is made up, then Ship’s mind must be made to change.’ The hand upon the weapon shook. ‘The Shift is only newly completed. I can still undo it. Ship’s sentience can be reversed.’

‘That’s obscene!’ Amy said. ‘Ship’s alive now! You’d be cutting out its mind! That’s murder!’

‘Worse than murder,’ the Doctor said. ‘The shell of the ship would be intact. It would fly – but it would no longer think.’

‘I’m within my rights,’ Reyn said defensively. ‘Summary execution is the penalty for desertion—’

‘You…
monster
!’ Emily cried. ‘Doctor, have at him!’

‘Everyone, calm down,’ the Doctor said. ‘Reyn, I don’t believe that you want to do this.’

‘I have to get back! They’re dying, Doctor! You said you knew about our war! You should understand!’

‘I know. I know that what happened to your world – to your people – was a terrible crime. And so is this!’ He took a step forwards, but Reyn lifted the weapon again. ‘Reyn, Ship is bound up with this place, entangled with it. If you destroy Ship’s mind – what effect will that have on the people around here? Everybody has been affected by Ship’s growing consciousness! And now that the Shift has happened… What would that do to them, Reyn? Have you thought about that?’