Forget or Protest

By Laura Schiller

Crossover: Doctor Who/Across the Universe Trilogy

Copyright: Beth Revis/BBC

1.

"C'mon, keep up!" Amelia Pond calls over her shoulder, laughing, her sunset-orange ponytail whipping through the air as she runs along the sidewalk. "Deep breaths, that's the ticket!"

Amy Martin gasps for air, her chest and legs burning, stubbornly ignoring the pain. The last thing she wants is for her cousin and namesake – gorgeous, confident, ten years older - to be disappointed in her.

Tall trees and quiet houses pass them in a blur, the cool clean air of Leadworth a refreshing change from the sticky, car-exhaust-fuelled heat of Florida. Their sneakered feet pound the pavement in unison; their hair sticks to their foreheads. A passing man whistles at their short shorts and tank tops. Amy ducks her head, but Amelia sends an ear-splitting whistle right back, and they both giggle.

As they circle the block back to Amelia and Rory's house with its bright blue front door, slowing to a walk and then a complete stop, Amelia grins and bends down to ruffle Amy's hair.

"Well done, you," she says, in her lilting accent. "Keep practicing. If you ever want to try and save the world, you'll find there's an awful lot of running involved."

2.

When Amy's parents inform her that they have been granted special permission to take her with them on Project Ark Ship, the first thing she does is exchange piercing squeals about it on the phone with Amelia. (Even now, pushing thirty, it seems Amelia will never outgrow her squealing years.)

"Omigod, it's really happening!"

"I know!"

"You're going up in space!"

"Isn't it awesome?"

"A whole new planet, a generation ship and everything! It's like … " The delight leaves her voice with startling abruptness, replaced with a quiet, almost fearful sort of awe. "Remember those stories I used to tell you?"

"About River and the Doctor, you mean? And how you used to travel in space and time?" Amy, much to her annoyance, has never managed to meet the elusive Time Lord branch of the family. Truth be told, much of the appeal of Project Ark Ship is the chance of running into them; not a bad chance, actually, since the Doctor seems to be present at almost every major moment in Earth's history.

But then she remembers the other side of those wonderful stories. The Silence. Weeping Angels. River Song's imprisonment. Amelia's kind, quiet, sensible husband Rory forced into immortality for two thousand years. She understands immediately why the older woman's voice has turned sober.

"Do you think it will be worth the risk?" Amy asks. "The adventure, I mean?"

A wistful little laugh travels down the phone line.

"Oh, Amy … it's always worth the risk."

3.

Amy's heart is in her mouth as she sits by the hospital bed, counting Elder's breaths. He is too pale under his oxygen mask, too fragile, more like a little boy than the kind, strong, passionate young man she knows and – loves.

I love him. It's not a revelation so much as a fact she can finally acknowledge. If her heart stops when his does, if she can catch herself breathing with him as if to give him her oxygen, if she wants nothing more than to see his soft brown eyes smiling up at her again, it must be love.

She remembers the story that, ironically, was one of her favorites as a child. Is this how Amelia felt when Rory lay choking on the deck of the pirate ship?

Then Elder opens his eyes, and her heart explodes with joy.

"You stupid idiot! I don't want the new planet without you!"

Even as she swats him on the arm and leans down to kiss him, she recognizes the echoes of centuries past and future in her own voice. So I said: 'Because Rory isn't here. If this is the real world, then I – don't – want – it!' … I promised us both I'd tell him properly, just to see his stupid face.

Amelia was right. Love is a choice. And if it came down to choosing between Elder and any other man in the universe, she'd choose Elder in a heartbeat.

4.

Momma, Daddy, help me get through this. Amelia, what do I do?

It's the closest she's come to a prayer in weeks, born out of genuine, breathless fear. Elder is on Phydus, Victria has a gun trained on her, and Doc is standing there, informing her in his most chillingly clinical manner that he will blow up the cryo level, Bridge and all, unless Orion is woken up.

But she has her own gun, and knows how to use it. Marksmanship is in her blood. She feels her father's warm hands correcting her grip and posture; sees the shadowy figure of River Song shooting a fez off her husband's head. Amelia's voice ecoes in her mind, her gentle Scottish accent turned sharp and cold, as Amy catches sight of Orion's frozen face. Some people don't deserve to live.

But against that, another memory, a story Amy did not hear until she was fifteen. The story of how River's gun turned on the Doctor in earnest, and he married her anyway. Always and completely forgiven.

"You wouldn't kill me," says Doc.

"You're right," Amy replies, and shoots him in the leg.

5.

Once upon a time in the far future, aboard the Starship UK, Amelia Pond watched a video revealing the ship's most horrifying secret. She had a choice between two buttons: "Protest" and "Forget". The second would make her a silent accessory to the torture and exploitation of a Starwhale. The first would put her life at risk.

Today aboard the starship Godspeed, Amy Martin found a chain of puzzles leading to a secret both horrifying and wonderful. Orion has given her a choice: stay trapped inside a ship that's slowly dying, or escape and face the beasts below?

Forget or protest? Amy asks herself. What would Amelia do?

She covers Elder's hand on the button that starts the landing sequence. She will never see her cousin again, but she can still make her spirit proud.

I choose to protest.