Maturity is a
process not an endpoint. Every individual in
every species travels their own road to their own end.
-
Fifth Doctor's
diary, 950 years.
Tegan ran at the
head of the crowd, leading two children by the hand. The
Doctor was close behind her flock, carrying a young boy and shepherding several others. Turlough brought up the rear with two of the gun
toting guards. The sound of blaster fire was
drawing closer and to Tegan, it was like an approaching horde of the hounds of hell. The child that the Doctor held was crying and the
rest were obviously too scared to make a sound.
The TARDIS loomed
large in front of her in the dark of the station's wing.
It was obvious that the battle had waged here; the sides of the familiar
blue box wore new scars, burns and dents. With
a shout to the others to hurry, she reached its front and released one of the girls. As the young one whimpered and buried her face in
Tegan's legs, the woman struggled with her extra key and slipped it into the door. It opened inward and she, not too kindly, but with
gentleness, ushered her brood inside. The
Doctor reached the door after her, handing his crying child to her and turned to yell to
the others to hurry.
"Get the
children inside, Tegan and away from the console. We
will have to leave quickly, I'm afraid."
She nodded and
disappeared back inside. The Doctor threw back
his head to stare at his other companion and the straggling children and guards that were
bearing down on the TARDIS. "Time to
leave!" he shouted.
Turlough and the
last two guards turned, obviously abandoning the tact of fighting off the advancing war
faction, and ran for the TARDIS. The Doctor
stepped to the side, allowing those running toward him to hurtle into its strange vast
dark. As Turlough pressed past him, he saw a
lone boy of maybe five running at full speed, slow in comparison to the adults, towards
the TARDIS. He wordlessly held out his hand
and the boy slid into and against his tall stature. Laser
fire whizzed past him as the Time Lord turned and all but threw the young boy into the
TARDIS and followed him in.
The door slammed
shut and was soon followed by the wheezing, groaning sound of a TARDIS slipping back into
its temporal vortex existence…
Just as the
advancing guard arrived on its spot.
**
Inside the TARDIS,
the situation was a little calmer. The adults
were leaning on various pieces of furniture and consoles, regaining their breath; the
children were spread throughout the room, but mostly were clinging to Tegan. They sniffled, whimpered and moaned. The only being not noticeably winded by the
situation that the small band had just experienced was the Doctor. He leaned into the console and was delicately
adjusting the instrumentation.
"These short
jumps are harder to accurately accomplish than going thousands of hundreds of light
years," he mumbled. "But, with a
little luck and a lot of skill, we should end up just where we want to be."
The only thing
that seemed out of place was the small boy that clung to the Doctor's leg. The lad had his face pressed into the side of the
Doctor's hip, occasionally drying his tears on the linen fabric. The Doctor moved slowly about the console, doing
his tasks without disturbing the boy. As the
final adjustments were made, the Doctor nodded and stood tall.
Tegan called over
to her friend and his new little shadow. "Doctor? I could take the children to the bathroom and get
them something to eat."
"A splendid
idea, Tegan," he answered, slipping his hands, gently into his pockets and dislodging
the young lad's face from his hip. "Turlough,
Jones,
The men nodded and
left, Turlough lastly, following the girls and young boys as they filed behind the guards,
into the corridor. As the door slid shut,
Turlough was seen running to the front to act as guide to the mentioned rooms.
When it seemed
that the boy holding the Doctor's leg would not let go or open his eyes, which had been
shut since he entered the TARDIS, Tegan walked over slowly to kneel by the console and her
friend.
"Don't be
afraid," she cooed, her voice quiet and her accent weak. "We have some cordial and sorbet here in the
TARDIS and fruit and bread and meat. You must
be starving…why don't you come with me and the others."
The child's eyes
opened at the sound of her voice and he appeared in shock.
His breathing was slow and his brown eyes were wide as saucers. Suddenly he released the Doctor's pants leg and
turned like a whirlwind to face the kneeling woman. The
tears on his face went unnoticed for the moment and his light child voice was loud as he
shouted: "Momma!" and hurtled
himself at Tegan. "Momma!"
Tegan's mouth fell
open and she, in shock, reached out to enfold the now openly crying boy in her arms. She blinked several times and then lifted her eyes
to gaze at her friend. The Doctor returned her
shocked gaze with an equally shocked one of his own.