The Rani Revealed

"I used a timescoop to yank myself from seconds before the Omen Scourge destroyed me. The time paradox cancelled out its chronal energies."

"Oh, that's brilliant!" said the Doctor. "Shame you didn't care enough about anyone else to save them."

"I only had enough energy for myself, Doctor, and I knew that at the very least you and the Master would survive somehow. You always do, unfortunately."

THe Doctor hung his head, and he was the saddest that Astra had ever seen him. "Not anymore. The Master's dead now. I tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn't listen! Our endless stupid battle is finally over."

The woman answered him with a mocking laugh. "Do you seriously think he's dead? I thought you knew him better than anyone else. Then again, you always did have a tendency for dramatics. Such as interrupting my experiments--"

"Your experiments have an unfortunate tendency to get people hurt and killed. No, I can't have that."

"It's not like you're any better yourself, Doctor. The Family of Blood might have a thing or too to say about that, for one."

"How do you know about the Family!" His body snapped straight and he fixed her with a ferocious glare.

"You're so oblivious, Doctor. Why don't you look in the mirror sometime?"

"They wanted eternal life, and I gave it to them. It's that simple. You can join them if you want, eh?"

As Astra had been listening to them go on, her heart was beating faster and shouted, "Doctor, who is this woman? What is she doing here and why? Is she your friend?"

"This woman," said the Doctor, "is the Rani. A fellow TIme Lord, and not a very nice one. She's a scientist, she's always after knowledge and doesn't care much about anyone who gets in the way. And she is definitely not my friend. She's rather brilliant, though." The Doctor turned towards her and stared at her in the face. "Or at least she used to be. Turning people into animals? That's strictly elementary! Just what sort of game are you playing here, Rani?"

"I was testing out some new methods of genetic engineering," said the Rani. "And now I have finally accomplished what i intended. Follow me." She pushed a few buttons on the wall and a door whooshed open.

"And why should I?" said Astra. "How do we know you aren't leading us to our deaths?"

"You do want to know what happened to that young man who rescued you, don't you? I can show him to you." She led the Doctor and Astra through a long corridor filled with strange blinking lights that made Astra dizzy. If only she'd asked the Doctor for a weapon before following him straight into the "Dragon's" lair. There was something special about this Doctor that made it seem as if he knew all the answers to everything and was in control of the situation. But now Astra was starting to realize that he didn't and wasn't--and even when he did, maybe she couldn't trust him.

They came to a room whose walls were covered from ceiling to floor with tangled wires. In the center of the room were two poles, covered in flashing lights, and tied to the intersection of them, his arms stretched out as if crucified, was Lord Fred. His eyes were closed and his whole body was covered with bruises. He groaned softly. "What have you done to him?" said the Astra.

"I've given him an unimaginable gift," said the Rani. "The process is painful, but the outcome, if it works, will be well worth it." She pulled a rectangular thing with buttons out of the pockets of her robes and pushed a few of the buttons buttons. The pole on the bottom lowered, bringing Fred to the ground. "Doctor, feel his pulse."

He touched Fred's wrist, pressing his fingers into it, and frowned. Then his jaw dropped. "Two hearts. He's--he's got two hearts! He's a Time Lord!"

"Exactly. I intend to apply this process to Princess Astra once I've perfected it, but I also left her out as a trap for anyone brave enough to rescue her. The new Time Lord empire will soon have need of warriors."

"The new Time Lord empire? I think I've heard someone use that phrase before. He didn't turn out so well."

"I don't wish to conquer the universe, Doctor. I wish to save it. I don't know how much of a chance you've had to talk with this woman, Doctor, but you may have noticed that the people of this world have a strong belief in magic. THis is entirely natural for primitive worlds. But I've been somewhat surprised to discover that magic actually does work on this world."

"This is no time for jokes!"

"I am not joking, Doctor."

"But that sort of thing, rewriting reality with words, that shouldn't work except for the Carrionites, not since the universe became stable..."

"But the universe isn't stable anymore, Doctor. Not since the Time Lords died. I can give you proof, if you agree to help me."

"Oh no, not if you're doing this sort of thing," he said, gesturing toward Fred. "But--you're right, the universe--I need to think about it. But let Astra have a decent night's sleep for goodness sake. I can help you find some suitable candidates without chaining people to walls."

"If you must," said the Rani. She snapped her fingers and some large, bulky mechanical men marched into the room. "Take her to her quarters," she sneered.

1. After all she's been through, Astra is too tired to fight back. She lets the robots take her to a comfortable room.
2. Astra tries to free Fred and make a run for it.

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree