Dr Who: The Run for Rose

She knelt down beside him. “Are you alright, Doctor?” She whispered. The Doctor looked up at her faced, lined with concern for him, and was touched. He smiled at his frined. “I’ll be fine, Rose.” He said faintly, “Just give me a second. Hadn’t planned on him having brain-wave disperser…nasty things. Outlawed by nearly every civilized planet in the galaxy, I’ve no idea how Boswell got his hands on it--but I’m going to make sure no one ever uses it again.” So saying, he got up from the floor, and stood looking down at the little device. Taking out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor aimed it at the disperser. The sonic screwdriver lit up and hummed, and immediately the device shattered in a puff of smoke. The Doctor nodded with satisfaction. “Good days work, that.”

Rose looked at the Doctor’s overweight and balding enemy. “So how’d someone like that manage to pull me out of the Tardis, and then get here, besides? I thought it took enormous power to do something like that.” The Doctor looked over his shoulder at her. “Oh, they have it. You see, Bos’ here, he only looks human. The Cruor-brood are energy creatures, they have enormous powers--given the right circumstances. I’d say our friend here, has about used up most of his--and with the power out, there’s no more to be had.” He looked at Boswell. “Look at you, you’re growing pale already. You’ll be nearly transparent in another half-hour. You need energy to live, and there’s none here. Oh isn’t that a shame.” The Doctor said sarcastically.

Boswell snarled. “I will find energy--I always do--you have your Tardis--unlimited energy for all of eternity. Why do you think I went to all this trouble?” The Doctor snorted. “If you think you’re using my Tardis--she’ll never let that happen. She’ll self-destruct first. No, I think it’s time you joined the rest of your family in eternal repose.”

Rose tugged on the sleeve of the Doctor’s coat again. “But I still don’t understand, how did he manage to do these things, and how come he looks so…normal? He doesn’t seem all that powerful to me.” The Doctor smiled at Boswell, saying grimly, “I’ll wager you’d tapped into the power grid of wherever you came from, and used the energy to pull Rose out of the space-time vortex and then to tele-port yourself here, as well. So, where did you get that body? Ah yes, I remember well.” The Doctor’s eyes narrowed with anger…”it was the controller on the Rundell space station, wasn’t it?

Boswell laughed. “Oh yes, and he was quite tasty too, in the bargain. Quite a nice little feast we had, there. And the power from the station enabled us to drift to this wonderful planet--so many delicious humans, so much power--coal, steam, nuclear--even wind and solar. So much energy,” He yawned, “So little time. We would have bleed this planet dry, but for you.” The Doctor was not amused. “Rundell station--Three hundred and sixty-seven thousand people, murdered, by you and your bloodthirsty family, you didn’t think I’d follow you here? Did you expect me to sit idly by and watch you destroy yet another planet to satisfy your lusts? Even if I’d known about my people’s true motives, I still would have stopped you.”

“But you cannot stop me this time, Doctor!” Suddenly he backed into the wood stove. Instead of burning him, the flames were absorbed into his body. “Back!” The Doctor yelled, as Boswell began to glow cherry red. “He’s turning himself into an energy bomb!” “What?” Jane yelled, as they all backed towards the kitchen. “Not in my house, he’s not!” With that, she reached around the corner of the kitchen doorway, and grabbed a fire extinguisher off of the floor.

The Doctor and Rose watched as, with a great whoosh, Jane spaying the glowing Boswell in a white flume of chemical flame retardant. Boswell screamed hideously, and then threw himself out the window.

The Doctor looked at Jane, nonplused. “How’d you know to do that?” She shrugged. “I didn’t. But I only just paid off the mortgage on this place, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let some overweight, self-applauding, people-eating, power-grubbing alien destroy it!” The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I see.” He looked at Rose, as she stood there beside him. She stifled a giggle. “Well, I guess that’s one up on us. Fat lot of good you were, you might as well stayed in the Tardis and phoned my rescue in, Doctor.” She joshed him.

The Doctor didn’t take that very well. In fact, much to Rose’s regret, he looked a bit hurt. She gave him a smile and squeezed his arm. “I am glad to see you. I knew you’d come for me.” He smiled at her and stalked over to the broken window, his feet crunching on the shattered glass on the floor. He stared out at the bleak gray sky with its icy curtain of sleet. “Chilly in here, isn’t it?” He said to no one in particular. Then he spun around suddenly.

“Right then, in this weather, with his energy failing, he couldn’t have gone far. Is that fire extinguisher empty?” “No., there’s still some left Doctor.” He nodded. “Good. Jane, you stay here then, just in case he decides to return.” He stopped, as if he’d just thought of something. “Do you have a power generator on this farm?” She looked startled, as if surprised she’d forgotten. “Why yes. In the tractor shed, just up the drive from the stable, there’s a small portable power generator. I keep it for days like this.” Without another word, the Doctor dashed out of the living room and into the kitchen. Rose ran after him.

“Doctor, wait! I’m coming with you.” The Doctor opened the kitchen door. The hissing of the sleet, the clacking of the ice-encased branches seemed more ominous than ever. Carefully, the Doctor and Rose picked their way up the sleet-covered dirt drive to the faded red shed, where Jane kept the farm’s tractor and other assorted equipment.

The ice-shrouded trees surrounding the shed were bowed down over the ice-encrusted metal roof. Somehow, the hissing of the sleet sounded even more malignant. It gave the scene an almost surreal, anti-fairyland appearance. The Doctor cracked open the door. Inside, he and Rose could hear nothing, except that the continual sound of the sleet, as it echoed from the metal roof throughout the building. Flicking on his torch, he opened the door wider and they stepped inside. A large red tractor stood there, and various tools lined the walls. The smell of petrol and dust came to them. “Anybody home?” The Doctor called.

In answer, the generator started up with a loud throbbing. Rose started. “He’s in here alright, Doctor.” A glow came from the corner of the shed, behind the tractor, where the generator stood. Petrol fumes began filling the shed, as the soft white glow deepened to a dull orange. “Well,” the Doctor muttered, “that’s not good.” Rose looked at him. “Isn’t that rather obvious? So what are we going to do? We can’t let him get away, Doctor. How do we stop him?” The Doctor frowned. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and adjusted the setting. “Stay here.” He admonished Rose.

Creeping round the side of the tractor, the screwdriver pointed out in front of him, like a weapon, the Doctor suddenly found himself face to face with Boswell--or rather, the vague outline of him, as he was almost transparent. Even so, the creature that was known as Boswell was soaking up the power from the generator, and now positively glowed with energy.

The Doctor didn’t hesitate, but pressed the button on the sonic screwdriver--at the same time as Boswell reached out a near-invisible fleshy hand towards the Doctor. A point of orange energy shot out from his fingertips, stabbing into the Doctor’s chest.

The Doctor cried out in pain, and Rose screamed. “Doctor!” “Stay back!” He yelled through clenched teeth, still gripping the screwdriver, as wave after wave of energy assaulted his body. Suddenly, the generator went dead. The Doctor had dropped his torch and the sudden return of the dim gloomy interior of the shed, was startling. Rose rushed forward and knelt beside the Doctor’s prone body. There was no sign of Boswell, but then, she vaguely heard what sounded like hoarse breathing looming over her. She looked up.

Boswell stood there--returned to his human form, once again--though he still glowed with residual energy. It sparked and crackled around him, like static electricity. He was pale as a ghost and breathing heavily. He reached fleshy fingers towards Rose’s throat. “I--can,” he gasped, “still have you, Rose Tyler.”

Looking up at him, Rose heard a strange noise. It was a loud snapping, almost like gunshots. “It’s the trees,” the Doctor whispered, so only Rose could hear, “they’re going to come down. Get out of here, Rose.” “Not without you, I’m not.” Rose whispered fiercely. Just behind Boswell was an open can of petrol, sitting on a wooden counter--presumably used for the generator, and leaning next to it, was the long wooden handle of an ice chopper.

Without hesitation, Rose kicked the metal blade of the ice chopper with her foot, causing the handle to bang against the petrol can, which spilled its contents on the glowing Boswell. With a terrible scream, he caught fire. As he backed away, waving his arms about, Rose grabbed the Doctor’s feet and dragged him towards the open door of the shed. The screams of Boswell drowned out all natural sounds, except for a huge boom. Quickly reviving his strength, the Doctor sprang up and pushed Rose through the doorway---just as an enormous oak tree crashed through the roof of the shed. Despite the weather, the whole shed quickly caught fire, and in minutes was fully involved. No more screams were heard, there was just the roar of the flames and the still-hissing sleet.

Later, Rose and the Doctor were seating in Jane’s living room, in front of a roaring fire. The lights had come back on, and Jane was pouring them coffee. A blue tarp covered the broken window, and the room was now warm and cozy. Doc lay in the Doctor’s lap, purring contentedly, washing a paw. Jane smiled at the Doctor. “Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled about losing the use of my tractor, but my insurance will cover it, I’m sure. And besides, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world. I’ve forgotten how exciting life can be around you, Doctor.”