The Captain's Cure
The year is 5050. Humanity has fallen long ago and there has been no record of The Doctor since 2013. The remnants of the Human High council have turned to the only man who can help. Their prisoner of 1000 odd years, Captain Jack Harkness. His mission,should he choose to accept it, to find out what happened to The Doctor, bring him back and rewrite humanities future.
Nina awoke before her alarm clock, she was excited. She was one of the lucky ones, the few survivors of the rebel attack on New Earth. The Human High Council had survived though, taking heavy casualties, but wiping out the rebels in the process. Nina lived with the rest of the survivors in the last haven of New Earth. A few thousand were all that was left the human race, the species had in fact been endangered since the thermonuclear war of the year 3067.
That was 2000 years ago and resulted in the destruction of Earth. This forced the hand of the Human High Council, who implemented the New Earth Contingency Plan (originally for the year five billion, due to the predicted death of the planets star). However, humanities faults culminated in a massive war and the plans were accelerated.
The same flaws existed in their new home, with peace only lasting a few hundred years. A rebel group formed and left the haven of New Earth, however eventually exhausting their resources, they returned to purge the Human High Council. However that's history now, now was the time for moving forward , rebuilding and surviving. The last humans.
Being alive wasn't the reason for Nina's excitement though, not today, today was the day she started her new job. Her first job, being only 15 she had never been expected to take an active role in society, her duty was to learn in the school. The latest attack changed things though, all of the children older than 14 were assigned new duties. For Nina, hers was in the prison a foul place where rebel prisoners had been held and tortured. Hardly the most glamorous of jobs, but still it pleased Nina to be able to contribute.
She had to report to the Council at 08:00 hours for briefing. She wondered as she readied herself, what the day would entail for her?
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As she approached the council chambers, Nina was slightly apprehensive. She'd heard stories of this place, the most common of which being, everyone leaves it with a sore stomach. The untold joke was that the corruption of the Human High Council was to cause nausea. That was one if the lighter stories, it has been said that several Councillors who have opposed petitions put forward by the council. The children of the colony are told, if they are disobedient, their spirits would haunt them.
To add to her worries, she had been speaking to some other new recruits, and none of them were called before the council. What made her so special? She had her answer soon enough and was relieved to discover it was nothing to do with her, only that she had to escort a prisoner to an audience before the council.
She found it odd, she recognised the name, Captain Jack Harkness. Surely it couldn't be the famous Captain who had fought in the great wars, Nina was sure it couldn't be, he'd be dead long ago, he must be. As she left the council chambers to retrieve her prisoner, she felt it, that deep nausea right in the bottom of her stomach, coupled with the unshakable feeling that she was forgetting something. But still she maintained her excitement, she had a purpose within the society.
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Nina unlocked the cell and was surprised at the prisoner in front of her. He was well dressed with a trench coat, the type of which she has only seen in books. He looked out of place in this prison. She wondered what he was in for. She could never had guessed it; this man was no criminal, well at least not like the rest of the filth in The Colony's prison. No this prisoner was a victim of circumstance, a man who cannot die, the perfect asset in a never-ending war.
As the cell opened, Jack wondered what it was now. Last time they had summoned him was during the recent war with the rebels. The time before that, the thermonuclear war itself, the New Earth one that is, to be honest he had lost count of how many nuclear wars there had been.
They had come for him when the war first began. They had heard tales of a man who braved the enemy onslaught, in order to rescue children. Jack often wondered was it worth it, had he let the children die, he would never had encountered the Human High Council, in fact he'd probably be drinking the bit out an intergalactic space bar.he always came to the same conclusion though, for ten lives, it was worth it. His situation was precarious a man who can't die, the perfect soldier, the perfect prisoner too, no way out. He tried escaping once, only to be shot and wake up in his cell again. His situation was grim and he had long since given up hope.
He was surprised to see a pretty young girl on the other side of the door. "Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?". To this day Jack heard The Doctor's voice in his head every time he introduced himself. "Stop it!" It said, two words, all Jack had left of The Doctor, a fading memory. But that was all The Doctor was to the universe, a memory. He hasn't been seen since 2013, not even a trace, or a whisper. Nina's voice broke Jack's thoughts, "The council demands your presence".
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Jack stood before the council. He was repulsed by their arrogance. The room stunk of fear, the object of that fear, The Lord President of the Human High Council. He sat in a raised chair in the centre of the room, a chair that represented a throne. Sometimes, something caught Jack's eye around the exterior of the room, he'd experienced it before in this room, but each time dismissed it as nothing.
The council was called to order and the speaker arose. " The council has been convened today by the order of The Lord President himself. The prisoner Jack Harkness has been summoned before the court to receive a mission. A mission to save humanity. Following the recent rebel attack, a biochemical agent was released in the colony. At first it appeared harmless. But our tests have shown it has in fact caused the males of the colony to become impotent. This is the end of humanity. ".
The Lord President stands and a small gasp circulates the chamber, since it is unusual for him to get directly involved in council matters. He addresses Jack directly. " Recent intelligence suggests that salvation lies in the hands of a Time Lord, known only as The Doctor. He was known to favour our race, so it is predicted he will do so again. However since the events of 2013 he hasn't been seen. Your mission is to determine what happened and prevent it from happening."
"And how do I do that, The Doctor has a time machine. He could be any where any when." Jack retorted.
The Lord President continued "It is believed that an entity known as the Intelligence is the adversary The Doctor faced last. The events are also tied to an organisation known as The Silence, however we know very little about them, or even what they look like,"
"My only advice is this your answers lie with a woman Captain, find her and you may find The Doctor . Our intelligence suggests you will find your answer on The Library Planet in about 200 years time. You'll need this your vortex manipulator, we never could figure out how to work it. Good luck, the fate of humanity rests on your shoulders."
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As Jack left the Council Chamber he too felt nauseous, however it was more than that, he felt an electricity in the air, like a storm building. Little did he know that outside, The Colony was having the best day of the year. Whereas inside the Human High Council was dead, a vicious plot was closing in around Jack, and he was oblivious to it.
He met Nina outside, she was waiting expecting to return him to his cell. When she heard what was happening instead, she begged him to allow her to go with him, citing the reason that she had always wanted to see outer space and that life in The Colony, on New Earth was boring.
Jack toyed with the idea for a few minutes weighing the pros and cons, on one hand having a beautiful young girl as company was no bad thing, on the other, she was too young and would get in the way. The real reason he rejected her request however was that should he be successful in his mission, she would blink out of existence as time began to recover, as would he and the rest of The Colony.
Without saying anything, Jack set the oscillating digit on his vortex manipulator between a four and a nine, set the date for 5212 and pressed the button. Nina was amazed to see the man in front of her disappear. She would never know that he reappeared in the archives of the Shadow Proclamation 200 years in her future to gather information on The Library.
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Jack's first priority when he had access to the data banks was to try to find out as much about what happened to The Doctor as possible. Using what he already knew from personal experience he was able to piece together a rudimentary timeline that suggested to him that the last sighting of The Doctor was playing Hide-and-Seek with two unimportant children.
This got him no where, so his next port of call was The Library. His research told him that it had infested with Vashta Nerada some 50 years previous. Logic would have presumed they would be died off, starved, but he had learned that they are cannibalistic the young feed on their parents. With a relatively short reproductive cycle an infestation is impossible to remove.
The source of this data, a report called 'Silence in the Library' by a Mr. Lux. It also, highlighted the fate of his expedition team, who were downloaded onto The Library's central computer system. Armed with a special suit make of Dalekanium and the name River Song, the Captain's search for the woman, brought him as suggested to the library. He wasn't to know a deadly trap awaited him there and that he was closer to the woman than he thought.
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Jack approached the node at the main foyer of The Library. It turned to reveal the face of a woman.
"Hello, Captain Jack Harkness".
"Professor River Song, how very nice to meet you"
"I'm looking for a woman"
"You've found one, but bad news honey, I'm married, Sorry!"
"Aren't all the good ones? But that's usually no problem for me. Flirting aside, I've been told you could point me to a woman"
"Really, and what type of girl are you looking for Captain? A cheeky three headed one , or just a face like me".
"I dated a face once, it was interesting, got boring quite quickly, very little to do."
" Oh Captain, The Doctor warned me about you!"
"It's The Doctor I'm here about, I have a plan to help him, I'm looking for a woman with ties to an organisation known as The Silence"
"Oh, we'll things must be serious then, I remember something about that back when I first met him. I think it's me your looking for, I was raised by them."
"I was told, you were not the woman I was looking for, but that you could give me a name, given that legend has it, she raised you, orchestrated your birth on Demons Run"
" Way to put it nicely Captain, the woman your looking for is Madame..."
A voice comes from behind Jack
"Turn around girl and face me in the glory of battle."
Jack turns and sees a Sontaran,
"Well, well, if it isn't a Sontaran, I've heard the Vashta Nerada love their baked potatoes".
"You will pay for your insults, the Sontarans are a mighty race who strive in battle, I will have the honour of killing you"
"Go ahead then, no ones done it yet".
As the Sontaran raised its gun, Jack noticed something out of the corner of his eye. What happened next, happened very fast. A small electrical discharge seemed to hit the Sontaran in its probic vent and it fell to the ground, dead. He heard a shout from behind, River warning him, but it wasn't quick enough as he felt a surging pain radiating from his lower back throughout his entire body. As he died he could make out three figures walking towards him.
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Jack had died many times, so he was used to his life flashing before his eyes. But this was different, it wasn't a rapid flash, more a slow deliberate memory. It felt almost as if something was pushing the memory into his mind. But what did it mean? It was so vivid, it felt like he was reliving it.
He was back on earth, before disaster stuck, right before. It was 3054, and the thermo-nuclear war was just about to begin. It was less than a week ago the first suggestion of the use of the new thermonuclear weapons had been suggested. He was in Miami, what was left if it anyway. It had fallen victim to a bombing that has provoked the latest round of threats.
The Human High Council had tasked him to remove a high priority personal from somewhere in the city remains. They'd given him a DNA locater, the use of which caused further rebellions. (People believed than a device that could locate their specific DNA from anywhere was a violation if their human rights). The located was already tuned to Target X's DNA.
The locater led him to an orphanage, he wondered what sort of place this was for a high priority person to be. He soon got his answer and was surprised to find that he had gone to this trouble fora lonely little girl. Despite his surprise Jack endeavoured to fulfil the order to bring the girl to the designated point for return to the Human High Council.
On the way he was ambushed, and now he knew something was messing with his memory. His saboteurs we tall wearing Black Suits, but the problem was the rest of their bodies, they were blank spaces. he knew something was meant to fill them, but he couldn't place it. He remember hearing one of them saying " Secure Madame Kovarian", he recalled the girl getting taken. Then he blacked out receiving a blow to he head, only to wake up in his cell again the next morning. That voice haunted him, he could only describe it as a rasping snake like sound. Deep and penetrating into his head.
Jack wondered the significance of this memory. He had heard that point of death flash backs give you information which could be helpful to survive, the brains last attempt to save itself. Now he was back in his childhood, he heard a women's voice, his mothers. "Wakey wakey". He opened his eyes.
Standing in front of him he noticed a woman dressed in a black leather jacket and matching long skirt, she was wearing an eye-patch. Beside her were two creatures about seven foot tall with huge three fingered hands.
He placed them instantly, they were the ones who ambushed him all those years ago. How did he forget that? He recognised that they resembled his favourite painting, "The Scream" but it was more than that, he'd seen them elsewhere.
And the women, surely she couldn't be the little girl, that was over 2000 years ago. She spoke, confirming Jack's suspicions. " I'm Madame Kovarian, I see your awake, you've been looking for me. Now we can begin!"
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"We are The Silence. I suspect you haven't heard of us, you wouldn't remember if you did. You see, these fascinating creatures, their image, it so special. It has the ability to remove itself from the memory centre of the brain. For that reason, we have fitted you with an eye-drive, so we can have this little conversation."
"I suppose I should tell you who we are; We are the sentinels of time! I can tell you that every decision, every little decision can divert the course of history. Our job is to keep the universe on track. We try not to intervene, but sometimes, needs must. The creatures, while you look at them they can tell you anything, once you look away, all that remains in your memory is a suggestion, planted by us. You think you have free thought, but you do not."
"Granted, some are strong enough to resist these suggestions, their reward death by our hands. You see these creature have elemental manipulation too, don't you just love them! But they're boring, they only use electricity, I can think of much more adventurous and dramatic ways they could kill. I may even let them practise a few on you."
"We are The Silence and silence will fall. No captain that isn't a declaration about our end, it's our goal, think about it. It literally means universal peace. Who doesn't want that!"
"We were doing so well. Then the Doctor happened, well rather, he didn't happen, he vanished. For once he foiled a plan without even trying to. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't have been too significant. We were more than capable of maintaining the time-stream, The Doctor is big, but he's not irreplaceable."
"So what happened? Unfortunately not all members of the silence agreed on a suitable course of action. Our unity, shattered. Multiple factions emerged each believing they knew the best way forward. Eventually infighting between the groups started. But the creatures, they valued themselves too highly. The civil wars on earth, they were no coincidence, in-fact they happened on every inhabited planet."
"Wars played out like giant chess games, the universe as the pieces. You've met some of the factions before. One is known to have killed the Human High Council, not long after they tasked you with finding me. We are the main faction, we want the universe restored to its normal balance, and for that. We need you!"
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"Our sources have told us what happened to the Doctor, he was imprisoned in a time proof container by the Great Intelligence on the Fields of Trenzalore."
"Really enjoying the story time Madame K, but what has all this got to do with me?"
"Well Captain, you're the only one that can help. The Great Intelligence needs a body, that's all it wants, but the Doctor thwarted it at every attempt. The Intelligence's rage grew, consuming him, altering his mission. His hatred for the Doctor was what drove him now. His first plan failed, he entered the Doctor's timestream and tried to wreak havoc. Thankfully, we neutralised the situation by making the right leaf fall off the right tree at the right time. I told you we were good Captain."
He took glee in their failure as he smugly said "You're insane, and not good enough evidently. How'd you fail, how'd the Doctor get trapped?"
"You'd do we'll to remember you're our prisoner Captain! We weren't expecting the Intelligence to come back. And back with a vengeance he came, multiple entities of his splinters coming together, knowing exactly where the Doctor was. Some say that was his plan all along. If so, he is the second person in the history of the universe to do so, the first was your beloved Doctor" Jack could detect the hatred in her voice aimed at the Doctor. She claimed to be on his side, but Jack's instincts told him otherwise. Either way, he was desperate and knew what she would suggest would be the only option.
"You're still not telling me what this has to do with me!" He was getting frustrated now, he was helpless, forced to listen to this woman.
"I thought that was obvious, we need you to intercept the Intelligence, and offer him your body..... "
"What!?" Jack anger gave him the strength to break free of his restraints sending the chair scattering across the room.
"Stun him!" Madame Kovarian didn't even need to finish her sentence, before one of The Silents had fire a short burst of electricity straight into Jack's spine. "Don't try to move Captain, you may make the damage permanent."
"Why me? Why do you want to give him my body? What have you done to me?" Jack was scared, he'd never experienced anything like this before.
"We know he'll take a body over revenge, and yours is perfect, everyone he has attempted before has died, he needs one who can't! We'll put the necessary space time Co-ordinates in your head, and don't remove that eye patch, otherwise you'll forget your mission, and the universe will be doomed. Go as soon as you can move again. Good bye Captain, and good luck!"
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After what seemed like hours, Jack could move again. His motion gradually come back, starting in his fingers and moving its way more central as his nerves repolarised.
He was alone now, The Silence had left along with Madame Kovarian. The node that had been River Song was destroyed too, and the Sontaran lay dead in the corner.
Jack was in a state of distress, he was indecisive, his choices were to give up his body or live the rest of his life as the sole survivor of the entire universe. A lonely existence, or no life at all, some choice. It made him angry.
He realised that should he decide to let the Great Intelligence have his body, there would be no going back. He be at the centre of the temporal storm, everyone else would wake up as if the Doctor had never been away. And he'd be stuck. But he made his decision. One life for the sake of trillions, it's worth it, it's what the Doctor would do. He set his vortex manipulator to the spacetime co-ordinates he'd been given and pressed the button.
As he appeared he seen a man in front of him with his back turned, he recognised him as the Great Intelligence. A quick survey of his surroundings told Jack that he was in some sort of graveyard, then he saw it, the stone TARDIS. Just looking at it gave him an eerie feel. "What is this place?", he said aloud without thinking.
This alerted the Great Intelligence who turned around, suddenly at his side were three men at each side. But they weren't men, they didn't have faces. "Who are you?", the Intelligence enquired.
"I hear you're looking a body, you can have mine. Take it. But only if you leave the Doctor alone" Jack tried his best to sound authoritative, but his fear showed.
"No one could survive taking me, I've tried oh so hard. But all I'm left with are the Whisper Men, I can take any and every of their forms" he turned to one of the Whisper Men at his side. "Kill him". The Whisper Man reached straight into Jack's chest and stopped his heart. "Now to get revenge on the Doctor"
As he lay dying on the fields of Trenzalore, the Great Intelligence and his Whisper Men turned and began walking towards the giant stone TARDIS. Jack had failed. He had just died again.
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Jack gasped as he came back to life. The Great Intelligence heard him and turned back amazed. "A man who cannot die, impossible. Perhaps I will take you up on your offer after all."
He walked towards Jack, his arms outstretched as if he was going to give him a bear hug. That's exactly what he did, except there was no contact. He went straight into Jack as he disappeared. Jack cried out in agony as every cell in his body began to change, new DNA being taken up into the nuclei of each and every cell of his body.
Inside the giant stone TARDIS, the Doctor and his companions heard the screams of agony. They immediately ran outside, just in time to see the last of the Great Intelligence disappear into Jack. The Doctor looked on, helpless as Jack fell to the ground.
All around them, the universe was in a state of change. A universe which would now never be, died, and in its place a new one, filled with aspirations of hope and piece.
As Jack regained consciousness, he realised that he couldn't see. Not only that, but he was unable to move his lower body. But his mind, he had never felt better, never had he known so much. From what he could discern of his surroundings, he was on a hospital ward. He could feel the presence of a man standing to the left of the bed, perhaps a doctor.
The man spoke to someone beside him. Jack noted that this was the voice of a younger man, but he could detect an impossible age and wisdom too. I'd could only be the Doctor and he must have regenerated since Jack last saw him.
The Doctor noticed a spike in Jack's vital readings, which let him know he was awake. The Doctor began to talk, "Jack I am so, so sorry. The Great Intelligence died during the process, but not all of him, perhaps you still have his knowledge."
Jack could detect a great sadness in the Doctors voice as he continued. "You've suffered too, you've undergone irreparable mutations, which have left you permanently deformed. I've taken you to the best hospital in all of time and space, and they've built you a machine to act as a life support for you. They say you'll be able to see and talk again very soon."
An elevation in Jack's heart rate let the Doctor know he had heard him. "I'll never know exactly why you did it, I'm sure you had a good reason, and I don't doubt you for a minute"
"I have to go now, but I can assure you, you'll see me again. As he turned to walk away, he failed to acknowledge the two Silents stood beside Jack.
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The Doctor stood alone in the TARDIS, you could see from how he was standing that he was feeling down. He suspected that he wouldn't see Jack again, but at the same time was one hundred percent certain that Jack would meet him again. He wouldn't have promised if he wasn't.
In his hand, he held the eye-drive which Jack had been wearing. He knew what it meant, recognised it as the Silence. The obvious realisation was that the Silence had sent Jack, for whatever reason. The crux of the matter however, they must know that the Doctor is still alive. That scared him, he'd suffered last time, the enormity of erasing himself from the universe, wasted. Clara interrupted his train of thought, "Where to now?" Immediately the childish Doctor was back, "Anywhere and everywhere" he said with a huge grin as he hit the controls of the TARDIS.
Meanwhile in the hospital, Jack was slowly recovering, he called the nurses over. He tried flirting with her as he usually did with attractive young women, but was surprised when she snubbed him. Maybe it was for professional standards reasons, but deep down Jack feared it was because of his newfound deformity.
He knew he couldn't move, he didn't expect to ever again, his recently gained knowledge told him that. He wanted to see the extent of the damage, so he asked the nurse to pull over a mirror. What he saw, shocked him. He knew one thing for sure, his life would never be the same again. But it wasn't all bad, he'd live in hope every day, hope given to him by the Doctor. What he told him was this; "You can die now Jack, but it may not be for a while. It sounds impossible, but trust me, I'm the Doctor"
Back on Earth in 3068, Nina woke before he alarm clock. She was excited, today was the day she read her poem to the entire city. Today was a good day, one where every body was happy to be alive.
Today was a day for celebrating, it was the one thousand days of peace. If you'd have told someone that before the end of the last world war in 2068, they'd have laughed at you. But it happened, one thousand years and not a single war, not even a small fight. Nina's poem was to commemorate this new Golden Age of planet Earth.
She'd heard stories of a reality that could have been, and a hero who stopped that from happening. Sometimes she felt she knew this man, but she had never met him. She decided to base her poem on him. They must have liked it, because she won the competition, and that's what brought her here today.
As she took to the podium, silence fell amongst the onlookers. She began;
We are Free to live a life,
Of joy, content and woe.
We owe it all,
To the Face of Boe.
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The year is 5050. Humanity has fallen long ago and there has been no record of The Doctor since 2013. The remnants of the Human High council have turned to the only man who can help. Their prisoner of 1000 odd years, Captain Jack Harkness. His mission,should he choose to accept it, to find out what happened to The Doctor, bring him back and rewrite humanities future.
Nina awoke before her alarm clock, she was excited. She was one of the lucky ones, the few survivors of the rebel attack on New Earth. The Human High Council had survived though, taking heavy casualties, but wiping out the rebels in the process. Nina lived with the rest of the survivors in the last haven of New Earth. A few thousand were all that was left the human race, the species had in fact been endangered since the thermonuclear war of the year 3067.
That was 2000 years ago and resulted in the destruction of Earth. This forced the hand of the Human High Council, who implemented the New Earth Contingency Plan (originally for the year five billion, due to the predicted death of the planets star). However, humanities faults culminated in a massive war and the plans were accelerated.
The same flaws existed in their new home, with peace only lasting a few hundred years. A rebel group formed and left the haven of New Earth, however eventually exhausting their resources, they returned to purge the Human High Council. However that's history now, now was the time for moving forward , rebuilding and surviving. The last humans.
Being alive wasn't the reason for Nina's excitement though, not today, today was the day she started her new job. Her first job, being only 15 she had never been expected to take an active role in society, her duty was to learn in the school. The latest attack changed things though, all of the children older than 14 were assigned new duties. For Nina, hers was in the prison a foul place where rebel prisoners had been held and tortured. Hardly the most glamorous of jobs, but still it pleased Nina to be able to contribute.
She had to report to the Council at 08:00 hours for briefing. She wondered as she readied herself, what the day would entail for her?
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As she approached the council chambers, Nina was slightly apprehensive. She'd heard stories of this place, the most common of which being, everyone leaves it with a sore stomach. The untold joke was that the corruption of the Human High Council was to cause nausea. That was one if the lighter stories, it has been said that several Councillors who have opposed petitions put forward by the council. The children of the colony are told, if they are disobedient, their spirits would haunt them.
To add to her worries, she had been speaking to some other new recruits, and none of them were called before the council. What made her so special? She had her answer soon enough and was relieved to discover it was nothing to do with her, only that she had to escort a prisoner to an audience before the council.
She found it odd, she recognised the name, Captain Jack Harkness. Surely it couldn't be the famous Captain who had fought in the great wars, Nina was sure it couldn't be, he'd be dead long ago, he must be. As she left the council chambers to retrieve her prisoner, she felt it, that deep nausea right in the bottom of her stomach, coupled with the unshakable feeling that she was forgetting something. But still she maintained her excitement, she had a purpose within the society.
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Nina unlocked the cell and was surprised at the prisoner in front of her. He was well dressed with a trench coat, the type of which she has only seen in books. He looked out of place in this prison. She wondered what he was in for. She could never had guessed it; this man was no criminal, well at least not like the rest of the filth in The Colony's prison. No this prisoner was a victim of circumstance, a man who cannot die, the perfect asset in a never-ending war.
As the cell opened, Jack wondered what it was now. Last time they had summoned him was during the recent war with the rebels. The time before that, the thermonuclear war itself, the New Earth one that is, to be honest he had lost count of how many nuclear wars there had been.
They had come for him when the war first began. They had heard tales of a man who braved the enemy onslaught, in order to rescue children. Jack often wondered was it worth it, had he let the children die, he would never had encountered the Human High Council, in fact he'd probably be drinking the bit out an intergalactic space bar.he always came to the same conclusion though, for ten lives, it was worth it. His situation was precarious a man who can't die, the perfect soldier, the perfect prisoner too, no way out. He tried escaping once, only to be shot and wake up in his cell again. His situation was grim and he had long since given up hope.
He was surprised to see a pretty young girl on the other side of the door. "Hello, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?". To this day Jack heard The Doctor's voice in his head every time he introduced himself. "Stop it!" It said, two words, all Jack had left of The Doctor, a fading memory. But that was all The Doctor was to the universe, a memory. He hasn't been seen since 2013, not even a trace, or a whisper. Nina's voice broke Jack's thoughts, "The council demands your presence".
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Jack stood before the council. He was repulsed by their arrogance. The room stunk of fear, the object of that fear, The Lord President of the Human High Council. He sat in a raised chair in the centre of the room, a chair that represented a throne. Sometimes, something caught Jack's eye around the exterior of the room, he'd experienced it before in this room, but each time dismissed it as nothing.
The council was called to order and the speaker arose. " The council has been convened today by the order of The Lord President himself. The prisoner Jack Harkness has been summoned before the court to receive a mission. A mission to save humanity. Following the recent rebel attack, a biochemical agent was released in the colony. At first it appeared harmless. But our tests have shown it has in fact caused the males of the colony to become impotent. This is the end of humanity. ".
The Lord President stands and a small gasp circulates the chamber, since it is unusual for him to get directly involved in council matters. He addresses Jack directly. " Recent intelligence suggests that salvation lies in the hands of a Time Lord, known only as The Doctor. He was known to favour our race, so it is predicted he will do so again. However since the events of 2013 he hasn't been seen. Your mission is to determine what happened and prevent it from happening."
"And how do I do that, The Doctor has a time machine. He could be any where any when." Jack retorted.
The Lord President continued "It is believed that an entity known as the Intelligence is the adversary The Doctor faced last. The events are also tied to an organisation known as The Silence, however we know very little about them, or even what they look like,"
"My only advice is this your answers lie with a woman Captain, find her and you may find The Doctor . Our intelligence suggests you will find your answer on The Library Planet in about 200 years time. You'll need this your vortex manipulator, we never could figure out how to work it. Good luck, the fate of humanity rests on your shoulders."
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As Jack left the Council Chamber he too felt nauseous, however it was more than that, he felt an electricity in the air, like a storm building. Little did he know that outside, The Colony was having the best day of the year. Whereas inside the Human High Council was dead, a vicious plot was closing in around Jack, and he was oblivious to it.
He met Nina outside, she was waiting expecting to return him to his cell. When she heard what was happening instead, she begged him to allow her to go with him, citing the reason that she had always wanted to see outer space and that life in The Colony, on New Earth was boring.
Jack toyed with the idea for a few minutes weighing the pros and cons, on one hand having a beautiful young girl as company was no bad thing, on the other, she was too young and would get in the way. The real reason he rejected her request however was that should he be successful in his mission, she would blink out of existence as time began to recover, as would he and the rest of The Colony.
Without saying anything, Jack set the oscillating digit on his vortex manipulator between a four and a nine, set the date for 5212 and pressed the button. Nina was amazed to see the man in front of her disappear. She would never know that he reappeared in the archives of the Shadow Proclamation 200 years in her future to gather information on The Library.
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Jack's first priority when he had access to the data banks was to try to find out as much about what happened to The Doctor as possible. Using what he already knew from personal experience he was able to piece together a rudimentary timeline that suggested to him that the last sighting of The Doctor was playing Hide-and-Seek with two unimportant children.
This got him no where, so his next port of call was The Library. His research told him that it had infested with Vashta Nerada some 50 years previous. Logic would have presumed they would be died off, starved, but he had learned that they are cannibalistic the young feed on their parents. With a relatively short reproductive cycle an infestation is impossible to remove.
The source of this data, a report called 'Silence in the Library' by a Mr. Lux. It also, highlighted the fate of his expedition team, who were downloaded onto The Library's central computer system. Armed with a special suit make of Dalekanium and the name River Song, the Captain's search for the woman, brought him as suggested to the library. He wasn't to know a deadly trap awaited him there and that he was closer to the woman than he thought.
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Jack approached the node at the main foyer of The Library. It turned to reveal the face of a woman.
"Hello, Captain Jack Harkness".
"Professor River Song, how very nice to meet you"
"I'm looking for a woman"
"You've found one, but bad news honey, I'm married, Sorry!"
"Aren't all the good ones? But that's usually no problem for me. Flirting aside, I've been told you could point me to a woman"
"Really, and what type of girl are you looking for Captain? A cheeky three headed one , or just a face like me".
"I dated a face once, it was interesting, got boring quite quickly, very little to do."
" Oh Captain, The Doctor warned me about you!"
"It's The Doctor I'm here about, I have a plan to help him, I'm looking for a woman with ties to an organisation known as The Silence"
"Oh, we'll things must be serious then, I remember something about that back when I first met him. I think it's me your looking for, I was raised by them."
"I was told, you were not the woman I was looking for, but that you could give me a name, given that legend has it, she raised you, orchestrated your birth on Demons Run"
" Way to put it nicely Captain, the woman your looking for is Madame..."
A voice comes from behind Jack
"Turn around girl and face me in the glory of battle."
Jack turns and sees a Sontaran,
"Well, well, if it isn't a Sontaran, I've heard the Vashta Nerada love their baked potatoes".
"You will pay for your insults, the Sontarans are a mighty race who strive in battle, I will have the honour of killing you"
"Go ahead then, no ones done it yet".
As the Sontaran raised its gun, Jack noticed something out of the corner of his eye. What happened next, happened very fast. A small electrical discharge seemed to hit the Sontaran in its probic vent and it fell to the ground, dead. He heard a shout from behind, River warning him, but it wasn't quick enough as he felt a surging pain radiating from his lower back throughout his entire body. As he died he could make out three figures walking towards him.
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Jack had died many times, so he was used to his life flashing before his eyes. But this was different, it wasn't a rapid flash, more a slow deliberate memory. It felt almost as if something was pushing the memory into his mind. But what did it mean? It was so vivid, it felt like he was reliving it.
He was back on earth, before disaster stuck, right before. It was 3054, and the thermo-nuclear war was just about to begin. It was less than a week ago the first suggestion of the use of the new thermonuclear weapons had been suggested. He was in Miami, what was left if it anyway. It had fallen victim to a bombing that has provoked the latest round of threats.
The Human High Council had tasked him to remove a high priority personal from somewhere in the city remains. They'd given him a DNA locater, the use of which caused further rebellions. (People believed than a device that could locate their specific DNA from anywhere was a violation if their human rights). The located was already tuned to Target X's DNA.
The locater led him to an orphanage, he wondered what sort of place this was for a high priority person to be. He soon got his answer and was surprised to find that he had gone to this trouble fora lonely little girl. Despite his surprise Jack endeavoured to fulfil the order to bring the girl to the designated point for return to the Human High Council.
On the way he was ambushed, and now he knew something was messing with his memory. His saboteurs we tall wearing Black Suits, but the problem was the rest of their bodies, they were blank spaces. he knew something was meant to fill them, but he couldn't place it. He remember hearing one of them saying " Secure Madame Kovarian", he recalled the girl getting taken. Then he blacked out receiving a blow to he head, only to wake up in his cell again the next morning. That voice haunted him, he could only describe it as a rasping snake like sound. Deep and penetrating into his head.
Jack wondered the significance of this memory. He had heard that point of death flash backs give you information which could be helpful to survive, the brains last attempt to save itself. Now he was back in his childhood, he heard a women's voice, his mothers. "Wakey wakey". He opened his eyes.
Standing in front of him he noticed a woman dressed in a black leather jacket and matching long skirt, she was wearing an eye-patch. Beside her were two creatures about seven foot tall with huge three fingered hands.
He placed them instantly, they were the ones who ambushed him all those years ago. How did he forget that? He recognised that they resembled his favourite painting, "The Scream" but it was more than that, he'd seen them elsewhere.
And the women, surely she couldn't be the little girl, that was over 2000 years ago. She spoke, confirming Jack's suspicions. " I'm Madame Kovarian, I see your awake, you've been looking for me. Now we can begin!"
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"We are The Silence. I suspect you haven't heard of us, you wouldn't remember if you did. You see, these fascinating creatures, their image, it so special. It has the ability to remove itself from the memory centre of the brain. For that reason, we have fitted you with an eye-drive, so we can have this little conversation."
"I suppose I should tell you who we are; We are the sentinels of time! I can tell you that every decision, every little decision can divert the course of history. Our job is to keep the universe on track. We try not to intervene, but sometimes, needs must. The creatures, while you look at them they can tell you anything, once you look away, all that remains in your memory is a suggestion, planted by us. You think you have free thought, but you do not."
"Granted, some are strong enough to resist these suggestions, their reward death by our hands. You see these creature have elemental manipulation too, don't you just love them! But they're boring, they only use electricity, I can think of much more adventurous and dramatic ways they could kill. I may even let them practise a few on you."
"We are The Silence and silence will fall. No captain that isn't a declaration about our end, it's our goal, think about it. It literally means universal peace. Who doesn't want that!"
"We were doing so well. Then the Doctor happened, well rather, he didn't happen, he vanished. For once he foiled a plan without even trying to. In the grand scheme of things, it shouldn't have been too significant. We were more than capable of maintaining the time-stream, The Doctor is big, but he's not irreplaceable."
"So what happened? Unfortunately not all members of the silence agreed on a suitable course of action. Our unity, shattered. Multiple factions emerged each believing they knew the best way forward. Eventually infighting between the groups started. But the creatures, they valued themselves too highly. The civil wars on earth, they were no coincidence, in-fact they happened on every inhabited planet."
"Wars played out like giant chess games, the universe as the pieces. You've met some of the factions before. One is known to have killed the Human High Council, not long after they tasked you with finding me. We are the main faction, we want the universe restored to its normal balance, and for that. We need you!"
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"Our sources have told us what happened to the Doctor, he was imprisoned in a time proof container by the Great Intelligence on the Fields of Trenzalore."
"Really enjoying the story time Madame K, but what has all this got to do with me?"
"Well Captain, you're the only one that can help. The Great Intelligence needs a body, that's all it wants, but the Doctor thwarted it at every attempt. The Intelligence's rage grew, consuming him, altering his mission. His hatred for the Doctor was what drove him now. His first plan failed, he entered the Doctor's timestream and tried to wreak havoc. Thankfully, we neutralised the situation by making the right leaf fall off the right tree at the right time. I told you we were good Captain."
He took glee in their failure as he smugly said "You're insane, and not good enough evidently. How'd you fail, how'd the Doctor get trapped?"
"You'd do we'll to remember you're our prisoner Captain! We weren't expecting the Intelligence to come back. And back with a vengeance he came, multiple entities of his splinters coming together, knowing exactly where the Doctor was. Some say that was his plan all along. If so, he is the second person in the history of the universe to do so, the first was your beloved Doctor" Jack could detect the hatred in her voice aimed at the Doctor. She claimed to be on his side, but Jack's instincts told him otherwise. Either way, he was desperate and knew what she would suggest would be the only option.
"You're still not telling me what this has to do with me!" He was getting frustrated now, he was helpless, forced to listen to this woman.
"I thought that was obvious, we need you to intercept the Intelligence, and offer him your body..... "
"What!?" Jack anger gave him the strength to break free of his restraints sending the chair scattering across the room.
"Stun him!" Madame Kovarian didn't even need to finish her sentence, before one of The Silents had fire a short burst of electricity straight into Jack's spine. "Don't try to move Captain, you may make the damage permanent."
"Why me? Why do you want to give him my body? What have you done to me?" Jack was scared, he'd never experienced anything like this before.
"We know he'll take a body over revenge, and yours is perfect, everyone he has attempted before has died, he needs one who can't! We'll put the necessary space time Co-ordinates in your head, and don't remove that eye patch, otherwise you'll forget your mission, and the universe will be doomed. Go as soon as you can move again. Good bye Captain, and good luck!"
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After what seemed like hours, Jack could move again. His motion gradually come back, starting in his fingers and moving its way more central as his nerves repolarised.
He was alone now, The Silence had left along with Madame Kovarian. The node that had been River Song was destroyed too, and the Sontaran lay dead in the corner.
Jack was in a state of distress, he was indecisive, his choices were to give up his body or live the rest of his life as the sole survivor of the entire universe. A lonely existence, or no life at all, some choice. It made him angry.
He realised that should he decide to let the Great Intelligence have his body, there would be no going back. He be at the centre of the temporal storm, everyone else would wake up as if the Doctor had never been away. And he'd be stuck. But he made his decision. One life for the sake of trillions, it's worth it, it's what the Doctor would do. He set his vortex manipulator to the spacetime co-ordinates he'd been given and pressed the button.
As he appeared he seen a man in front of him with his back turned, he recognised him as the Great Intelligence. A quick survey of his surroundings told Jack that he was in some sort of graveyard, then he saw it, the stone TARDIS. Just looking at it gave him an eerie feel. "What is this place?", he said aloud without thinking.
This alerted the Great Intelligence who turned around, suddenly at his side were three men at each side. But they weren't men, they didn't have faces. "Who are you?", the Intelligence enquired.
"I hear you're looking a body, you can have mine. Take it. But only if you leave the Doctor alone" Jack tried his best to sound authoritative, but his fear showed.
"No one could survive taking me, I've tried oh so hard. But all I'm left with are the Whisper Men, I can take any and every of their forms" he turned to one of the Whisper Men at his side. "Kill him". The Whisper Man reached straight into Jack's chest and stopped his heart. "Now to get revenge on the Doctor"
As he lay dying on the fields of Trenzalore, the Great Intelligence and his Whisper Men turned and began walking towards the giant stone TARDIS. Jack had failed. He had just died again.
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Jack gasped as he came back to life. The Great Intelligence heard him and turned back amazed. "A man who cannot die, impossible. Perhaps I will take you up on your offer after all."
He walked towards Jack, his arms outstretched as if he was going to give him a bear hug. That's exactly what he did, except there was no contact. He went straight into Jack as he disappeared. Jack cried out in agony as every cell in his body began to change, new DNA being taken up into the nuclei of each and every cell of his body.
Inside the giant stone TARDIS, the Doctor and his companions heard the screams of agony. They immediately ran outside, just in time to see the last of the Great Intelligence disappear into Jack. The Doctor looked on, helpless as Jack fell to the ground.
All around them, the universe was in a state of change. A universe which would now never be, died, and in its place a new one, filled with aspirations of hope and piece.
As Jack regained consciousness, he realised that he couldn't see. Not only that, but he was unable to move his lower body. But his mind, he had never felt better, never had he known so much. From what he could discern of his surroundings, he was on a hospital ward. He could feel the presence of a man standing to the left of the bed, perhaps a doctor.
The man spoke to someone beside him. Jack noted that this was the voice of a younger man, but he could detect an impossible age and wisdom too. I'd could only be the Doctor and he must have regenerated since Jack last saw him.
The Doctor noticed a spike in Jack's vital readings, which let him know he was awake. The Doctor began to talk, "Jack I am so, so sorry. The Great Intelligence died during the process, but not all of him, perhaps you still have his knowledge."
Jack could detect a great sadness in the Doctors voice as he continued. "You've suffered too, you've undergone irreparable mutations, which have left you permanently deformed. I've taken you to the best hospital in all of time and space, and they've built you a machine to act as a life support for you. They say you'll be able to see and talk again very soon."
An elevation in Jack's heart rate let the Doctor know he had heard him. "I'll never know exactly why you did it, I'm sure you had a good reason, and I don't doubt you for a minute"
"I have to go now, but I can assure you, you'll see me again. As he turned to walk away, he failed to acknowledge the two Silents stood beside Jack.
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The Doctor stood alone in the TARDIS, you could see from how he was standing that he was feeling down. He suspected that he wouldn't see Jack again, but at the same time was one hundred percent certain that Jack would meet him again. He wouldn't have promised if he wasn't.
In his hand, he held the eye-drive which Jack had been wearing. He knew what it meant, recognised it as the Silence. The obvious realisation was that the Silence had sent Jack, for whatever reason. The crux of the matter however, they must know that the Doctor is still alive. That scared him, he'd suffered last time, the enormity of erasing himself from the universe, wasted. Clara interrupted his train of thought, "Where to now?" Immediately the childish Doctor was back, "Anywhere and everywhere" he said with a huge grin as he hit the controls of the TARDIS.
Meanwhile in the hospital, Jack was slowly recovering, he called the nurses over. He tried flirting with her as he usually did with attractive young women, but was surprised when she snubbed him. Maybe it was for professional standards reasons, but deep down Jack feared it was because of his newfound deformity.
He knew he couldn't move, he didn't expect to ever again, his recently gained knowledge told him that. He wanted to see the extent of the damage, so he asked the nurse to pull over a mirror. What he saw, shocked him. He knew one thing for sure, his life would never be the same again. But it wasn't all bad, he'd live in hope every day, hope given to him by the Doctor. What he told him was this; "You can die now Jack, but it may not be for a while. It sounds impossible, but trust me, I'm the Doctor"
Back on Earth in 3068, Nina woke before he alarm clock. She was excited, today was the day she read her poem to the entire city. Today was a good day, one where every body was happy to be alive.
Today was a day for celebrating, it was the one thousand days of peace. If you'd have told someone that before the end of the last world war in 2068, they'd have laughed at you. But it happened, one thousand years and not a single war, not even a small fight. Nina's poem was to commemorate this new Golden Age of planet Earth.
She'd heard stories of a reality that could have been, and a hero who stopped that from happening. Sometimes she felt she knew this man, but she had never met him. She decided to base her poem on him. They must have liked it, because she won the competition, and that's what brought her here today.
As she took to the podium, silence fell amongst the onlookers. She began;
We are Free to live a life,
Of joy, content and woe.
We owe it all,
To the Face of Boe.
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