There are many untold stories that the Doctor has experienced. Events we've only heard about and eras we've not seen. But by far the largest gap in the television series is the adventures of the 8th Doctor.
We recently put a call out for your Doctor Who fan fiction, and we've received some great short stories. Thank you. We have some talented readers indeed!
To kick off this regular feature we have an 8th Doctor story called There She Was written by Bob James. I'll let him introduce it...
The Eighth Doctor is my favorite, and thank God for Big Finish, and Paul McGann's willingness to stay involved with the audios. But on television, other than the TV Movie, we had no other tales of the Eighth Doctor. Than came "The Night Of The Doctor", which I found brilliant. It made me think of what the Eighth was getting up to in the events of the Time War. I thought that there was surely the possibility of many more stories to be told. My story, "There She Was", emerged out of that thinking, along with my fannish desire to see the Rani return. I was picturing either Helena Bonham Carter, or Asia Argento playing her in my mind. Doctor Who is the one of a kind television show that stays with its fans even when they're not watching it. If you're not seeing something you want to see, if the stories you'd like to see aren't being made, write them! Who knows where that might lead you someday!
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| Image courtesy of Mike's Star Art |
It was cold on Largas, very, very cold. It was, for some reason, the first thing the Doctor noticed upon exiting the Tardis. How long had this Time War been raging now? Time was shifting, changing, moving and stopping and events made and unmade so frequently it was hard to tell. He had followed the distinct time signature of another Tardis here. A time signature that he knew someone had wanted followed. Had wanted him to follow. He was resolute in his will not to fight in this war, and he had hoped that this wasn’t another attempt on the part of the Time Lords to persuade him to do otherwise. But there was something faintly familiar about this time signature. He was sure he had encountered it before. It must have been so long ago.
And then there she was. How she had managed to come so closely upon him without his detecting her was a mystery to him. But there she was. Clad in black from head to toe, leather pants and boots, and a long leather coat, she had changed again. Regenerated no doubt. But how many times since they had last met?
“Doctor”, she said, “I knew you couldn’t resist following my Tardis’ time signature. I was summoning you. I knew you would come. I am glad to see that you have survived. Thus far.”
“I don’t know if I should say the same for you”, he replied, “Rani”. She regarded him with dark eyes, her hair a mass of black streaked with purple. In the middle of the Time War, the Doctor mused, she still makes time to highlight. “What do you want?”
“You” the Rani replied. So many regenerations for them both, and he still seemed the man with the boy inside that she had known back at the Academy on Gallifrey. “I’m not surprised you’re not fighting. But all these little beings you save, these planets, what will it matter if everything burns in the end anyway? The War must be fought and won. That’s the only way anyone, anywhere will survive.”
“You want the Universe to survive so that it can continue to be your playground?”, the Doctor replied, “So that you’ll have whole worlds and peoples to experiment on and engage your curiosity with? You’re a hypocrite. The survival of anyone or anything for anything other than as your toys is the furthest thing from your addled mind.”
“Wrong, Doctor”, she replied, with an intensity that surprised him. “I stand with my people, our people. Gallifrey winning this War is the only hope for all of the Universe, Time and Space, and you know it. They are the only hope for the restoration of peace and order.”
“Gallifrey has gone mad”, the Doctor replied ruefully, “Their only interest now is their own survival, at any cost. They even resurrected that madman to lead them. Our people, Rani, have become as insane as the Daleks.”
“But who better to change that than you?”, she replied. “It will come down to you, Doctor, it always does. You will stand and watch it all burn, or you will make whatever you have to burn to save even some of it. The longer you wait the less that will be left to save. Unless the Daleks or the Time Lords incinerate it all along with each other first. There is no way to end this without fire.”
The Doctor looked at her, and not for the first time, it went round and round in his head that what she was saying was true. She had just said again what had been burning in his mind for he no longer knew how long. Why did it have to be him? He had just wanted to explore the wonders of the Universe, see and experience life in this Cosmos. That’s why he had taken his Granddaughter Susan and fled Gallifrey so long ago. And then he had gotten “involved”. Because he could not bear injustice and tyranny, oppression and cruelty. He had to stand against it and stop it wherever and whenever he found it. But it was easier then, wasn’t it? Now it had become so hard, and had come to cost so much. So many dying, simply because they chose to travel with him, and he brought them into danger. So many he couldn’t save, had failed to save, and now, this.
“No”, he replied, “I refuse to become a monster to fight monsters. I refuse to kill to attempt to stop the killing. I am so tired of death. I will save who and what I can, until I cannot anymore.”
“You remain the fool you always were”, she sneered, “And now spineless fool is an even more apt description. You aren’t doing the right thing, Doctor. You’re being selfish. You want to maintain that pathetic white knight delusion that should have worn thin so long ago. You already have blood on your hands, Doctor. Now, if you continue to refuse to act, the blood of the Universe will be upon you. You are the only one who can steal and use the Moment, and you know it. It is the only way. If you don’t, all will be lost, and you will prove to be nothing more than another travesty that perishes.”
“I am leaving now, Rani”, the Doctor replied. “Do not attempt to follow me. I would have no compunction at all stopping you. This is NOT MY WAR!” And with that the Doctor turned and strode away. She watched him go. Eventually, she heard the engines of his Tardis whining and groaning as he departed. The fool is still leaving the brake on, she mused. There was real regret in her hearts. She, in the midst of this War had been forced to take stock of who she had become, and how she had lived her lives. She had come to the conclusion that she had wanted to be better, and with the arrival of that conclusion, she had found herself thinking of him. Even in the midst of all this wrong, his way had been the right one, his hearts had been true. A pity that even that would now be taken away from him.
“Time to keep that appointment on Karn”, she said to herself. “Plan B. Time to make you see the light, Doctor, by making the lights go out for you”. She felt genuine sorrow, and she didn’t like the feeling. She strode back to her own Tardis, the coordinates already set. The Sisterhood would be waiting. But she had had to try this first. For him. She found herself wishing there had been another way. But Time itself was very soon about to run out of time.
If you write Doctor Who fan fiction and would like to be featured then please send your story along with a short introduction to warpedfactor@live.com.
Ideally we are looking for short fan fiction stories of between 1,000 to 3,000 words (but if it's longer or shorter then that's possible for inclusion), nothing sexual or overly filled with profanity will be presented on the site.
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