Dr Who: Time Lords Don't Cry

The wind snatched at their clothing, sending chilling fingers of cold air creeping up their spines. The Doctor unlocked the door and led Marie inside. Without ado, he dashed up to the console and consulted the computer screen. Marie stared about the room, silently looking the place over from roof to floor. He looked up at her, grinning from ear to ear. “What do you think of her, eh?” Marie was wonder struck. “This is so cool! I mean, it's just so...wow." She walked up to the Doctor, staring in complete fascination at the Tardis's console, with it's great column in the centre. She laughed and said, "Oh, Man! This is amazing! And you fly around in this all the time? That's just--so...cool! But, Doctor, why's it bigger on the inside?"

The Doctor chuckled, and hugged her. "Long story. “Tell you what? Why don’t you have a seat and make yourself at home while I go and change?" Marie saw a bulge under his sweater, and pointing at it, asked, "What's that?" The Doctor smacked his forehead. "I am getting absent minded in my old age! I nearly forgot. I’d found something of yours back at the farm. held it out to her. “Here, I believe this belongs to you.”

Marie took the object from the Doctor. It was one of her mother’s teacups. Grasping it in her hands, she stared at it. Marie's composure slipped: her lip began to tremble and she seemed about to cry. The Doctor knelt down and said consolingly, “I’m sorry. It’s the only one I could find.” Marie stared at the cup in her hands, rubbing it with her fingers as if it were a genie’s lamp that could make her mother magically appear. Then, throwing her arms around the Doctor, she cried. He patted her back awkwardly, saying “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry all this had to happen to you.” A few minutes later, the Doctor brought out a warm blanket and, smiling a little sadly, put it around Marie. She was curled up on the control room chair. Completely worn out, and had cried herself to sleep. "Ah, Rassillon. I don't know what you were playing at," he whispered aloud, "but you've got one heck of a terrific granddaughter."

Once again standing at the console, the Doctor was looking---and feeling, more like his old self than ever. Dressed in his usual garb of a brown suit over multiple layers of shirts and his trusty trainers, the Doctor silently hovered around the console, pushing buttons and studying readouts. “Ah, yes. He whsipered, “Now I have you. I thought as much. The Fumerick system..that explains the suit of armor, then.” Donning his glasses, the Doctor bent over the console and studied a particularly interesting readout. Taking the glasses off, he tapped his hand with them and started pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

The Doctor pulled off the decking panel and was working underneath the console. He dropped his sonic screwdriver with a loud clang, waking Marie. She slipped out from under the blanket and went over by the Doctor, sitting beside him. The Doctor glanced up at her, holding a pair of wires in his teeth. "Sorith 'bouth thath." Marie tilted her head at him, "What?" The Doctor removed the wires, and was busily connecting them together. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to wake you."

Marie glanced curiously at the Doctor. "S'okay, Doctor. What are you doing? Something to stop Uncle Tobias--I mean this Droom thing, from killing things?" The Doctor nodded, and, talking as he worked said, “The Droom come from the Fumerick system. That’s in one of the darkest parts of the galaxy. The sun is so distant from the planet, it’s in near total darkness all the time. The Droom are light-sensitive creatures. Any kind of bright light causes them pain. UV rays are especially dangerous to them. Too much exposure and they disintegrate. So, over the course of millions of years, the species developed ways to protect themselves. Very much like you humans.”

Marie grimaced, not sure what the Doctor meant by that. The Doctor’s hand shot out and searched around for the sonic screwdriver. It was just out of reach. Marie got up and got it for him. The Doctor thanked her and continued, “Anyway, they developed a tough but lightweight armor that shields them completely from any harmful UV rays. It’s implanted into them when the eggs are fertilized. They grow into the armor as they develop. It’s a part of them. They can make it appear or disappear at will. The human hosts--your cafeteria lady and the others, don’t need it. But, the human bodies that the Droom take over, they alter genetically, to produce the armoured effect.

Marie cocked her head, her young mind ingesting all she just heard. “So--you mean, the armor is sort of like sunscreen, and these human slaves--like Mrs McHenry, they don’t need it because they’re still human?” “That’s right.” The Doctor said. "Your dinner lady is nothing more than an animated corpse--kept alive through the energy projected by the Droom--energy gained by consuming the life force, bones and blood of living flesh." Marie shuddered and looked away. But the Doctor hadn't noticed.

He emerged from beneath the console deck, and dashed over to the console, punching away at various buttons and dials. Suddenly, there was a big bang against the Tardis. Flipping on the view screen, the Doctor looked outside. Uncle Tobias had arrived, and he wasn’t alone. There were now about a hundred humans with him.