The BBC own practically everything in this story. Much thanks to Marnal Gate and her insanely detailed Gallifreyan website I stumbled across and used as reference. Her website is called RASSILON, OMEGA And That OTHER Guy and definitely worth a read!
In the Vortex/ Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:30
"For Rassilon's sake, Theta, don't you even know how to fly this thing?" the young Gallifreyan known as Ruath cried, holding on to a lever whilst the TARDIS they were in bucked and jolted.
"Of course I do!" the one called Theta called back, twisting knobs and pressing buttons in wild abandon. "This just makes it more fun!"
"I can't believe you two roped me into this," moaned Drax from his crouch behind the console. "Why not take Koschei? He actually likes this sort of thing!"
"Aw, but we wanted you, Drax!" Theta said, laughing.
"I'm going to kill you when we get home," Drax muttered.
With a flurry of sparks and groans the time ship settled down on solid ground. "Well, we're out of the Vortex at any rate," Ruath sighed in relief. "Now to see where we've landed."
Theta examined the console, then punched the air in joy. "Yeess!" he shrieked. "Sol III, London, March 3, 2006 A.D.! We're here!"
"Yes, yes, yes, we all know your obsession with this bloody primitive planet," Drax grumbled. "I just hope it's as great as you say it is."
"This is going to be so fantastic!" Theta said to himself. "Wow!"
Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:15
Rose Tyler sat against the console of the TARDIS and blinked back tears. She was holding a small dog-eared photograph of three people, taken in a photo booth on the planet Sirius IV. They were all smiling big cheesy grins, and her photo self was laughing at some joke Jack had made. The Doctor was grinning his usual manic grin with one arm slung on Rose's shoulder. For some reason the photo machine had printed 'Our Honeymoon' on the top. They'd had a good laugh about that.
If anyone had told her then that in a few months she'd be the only one left alive she'd have thought they were crazy.
But here she was, stuck on Earth, unable to help her friends trapped and dying in the far future. She sighed. It had been a week and she still didn't know what to feel. Some days she thought it all hadn't even happened yet, and somewhere the Doctor was still alive and traveling the universe. Some days she thought they were dying right now and she felt so frustrated that she couldn't help them. Some days she knew they- he was dead and all she could do was mourn the most amazing being she'd ever known.
And some days she realized she was the only one now who knew the Time Lords had ever existed.
That was one reason why she couldn't just let the TARDIS die like the Doctor had told her to. It was, after all, the last Time Lord object in the universe, the last proof they had been there. The real reason, though, was that she wasn't ready to let him go. Not yet. Probably not ever. And she knew she'd never ever ever forget the one wonderful year she'd had him.
The sadness in his eyes as he told her of the war that had destroyed his planet. The pure joy as he cured the nanogene-infected humans. His simple, childlike pleasure at dancing with her. The wonder as he saw new weirdnesses. The hardness as he confronted the latest villains. The amazement she'd felt when he hesitated between saving the world and saving her. The fear that had flowed through her at the madness in his eyes when he looked at that Dalek. The sadness as she realized how little he valued his own life. The terror she'd known when he stepped between her and the Reapers. No, she wasn't ready to give that up just yet.
But he was dead now. Dead and gone, the last Time Lord in the universe, and now they were extinct with nothing to remember them by but a dusty blue box.
She pressed 'replay' on the console.
"This is Emergency Programme One. Rose, now listen; this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in da-"
She pressed, 'stop'.
"I think I'm going for a walk," she announced to herself.
Earth, March 3, 2006, 9:29
It was the sound. The sound of the universe arriving on your doorstep and yanking you out of your ordinary little life. The grinding, beeping, singing song of the TARDIS.
She forgot she'd just left the machine, forgot there was no way for him to escape, forgot everything and ran. The familiar blue box had materialized on a street corner just half a block away, and she was there in seconds. She stared at it for half a minute, then, daringly, reached out to touch it. It felt solid, warm to the touch. Not a hallucination, then. She tried to get the courage enough to knock, but just as she raised her arm the door opened.
A young man with tousled black hair stuck his head out. He stared at her. "Oh," he said.
She stared back. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in the TARDIS?"
"T-t-tardis?" the young man stuttered. "What Tardis? What's a Tardis? I was just hanging out in this here, this, this," he looked back at the blue box, "this- what are these called again?"
"Police boxes?" Rose suggested.
"Ah! Yes! Police box. No, no Tardises here! I'm just an ordinary human being, doing, doing- what is it you do in a police box?"
"Make phone calls?"
"Yes! Exactly!" he said in relief.
"Nice try, but police boxes haven't been made in fifty years," she said, trying to be angry but failing. You couldn't be angry with this guy. You could just be severely annoyed.
"Oh. Really?" he said, looking crushed. "I knew there was something wrong with the chamelion circuit."
"Look, who are you, anyway?" Rose asked, taking him in in more detail. He was wearing rather unusual robes- a white-and-gold cross between Superman and Merlin with huge cuffs and collars. A gold ornament hung on a wire around his neck. His long black hair was wild and scruffy, tied back in a messy ponytail down his back. He had a rather insane look to his face, a very long nose, and big ears.
"My friends call me Theta Sigma," he introduced himself, "but I prefer to be known as the-"
He was cut off mid sentence by the door swinging open. A beautiful haughty blond girl with an aristocratic air and sharp blue eyes stepped out. "Thete, what do you think you are doing?" she sniffed. "Fraternizing with the natives is against the first Law of the Time Lords!"
Oh my god they're Time Lords, Rose thought, gasping. Of course, even if they were destroyed in the Doctor's past, their past time voyages were still taking place. Ugg, this makes my brain hurt.
"Draaax!" the girl called imperiously back into the TARDIS. "Drax, we're here!"
A third being stepped out into the sun. He appeared to be about the same age as the other two, with wild brown hair as long as Theta's. He rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Okay, okay!"
"How old are you guys anyway?" Rose asked.
"Eighty-five this Otherstide," Theta began. The girl slapped him.
"Oww! That hurt, Ruath!"
"You deserved it to be such a scatterbrain," Ruath replied scornfully. "You total idiot, you yourself told me these natives have a mere centennial lifespan!"
"Oh, right," he mumbled.
"So what would you be in human years?" Rose said.
His face took on the inward look of someone doing an extremely fast mental calculation. "Twenty-one," he said after a few moments.
"Theta-" Ruath began.
"It's okay, I know you're Time Lords," Rose sighed.
All three of them stared at her. Theta said, "Rassilon, you're not one of our agents are you? Please don't be," he said. Unexpectedly he grabbed her hand and felt her wrist. Then he let it fall. "Nope. One heart," he said in relief. "Gosh, for a moment there I thought we'd been rumbled!"
"You're using that TARDIS illegally, aren't you," Rose teased.
"How, by the Great Seal of Rassilon, do you know about TARDISes if you're not a Time Lord?" Drax asked.
"Well, you see, I happen to... well... it'd be rather hard to explain," she said sheepishly. "Anyway, welcome to the planet."
Theta gazed around him. "It's just like I thought it would be," he said in hushed, reverent tones.
"Looks just like every other backwater dump," Drax grumbled sourly.
"Oh, shut up! It's perfect!" He turned to Rose, his eyes shining. "It's all just so fantastic!"
Rose started at the word. She realized with a pang of guilt that these alien teenagers had made her completely forget the Doctor for the first time in a week. Oh, god.
She noticed Ruath looking at her sharply. She swallowed.
"Hey, are you a time traveler or something?" Drax asked. " 'Cause you seem to have way too many tachyons."
"Yeah," she said, grateful for an explanation, "yeah that's it."
"Hey, we could give you a lift, if you're stuck here," Theta offered.
"No we could not!" Ruath said sharply. "Non-interference, remember?"
"Actually," she said, her heart in her mouth, "I have a time ship, I just need it repaired."
"I'd be glad to help you out," Theta said. "What's your name again?"
"Rose. Rose Tyler."
"Then, Rose Tyler, show me your ship."
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