"Captain, captain" Lesia shouted.
"The mass, whatever it is has managed to by pass our force field. Worse than that, it's made its way into the ships engine according to these readings!"
"That's impossible. Nothing could have survived that." The captain said, in a terrified tone that was most unlike him normally.
"This entity is not like anything we've ever faced before captain. Almost every step of the way it has defied our expectations on even the most extreme ideas of what we thought life could be." Lesia replied as she frantically checked the readings again, hoping to god that she was mistaken.
It had all begun just two days prior, the crew of the earth ship SS Valencica had come across what appeared to be an immense object, floating in the dark space at the edge of the solar system. At first they believed it to be an asteroid, larger than any they had come across, but incredibly enough when they got closer they soon detected life signs. The creature meanwhile appeared to take notice of the space travellers too and started to head towards them. The crew of the Velencica attempted to communicate with it, and then repel the strange, seemingly hostile alien in every way they could using non lethal force, until it engulfed their entire vehicle. Fortunately their force field proved to be too much for the creature and burned its body away to nothing. Strangely enough however the alien did not give up. It kept throwing and throwing itself at the ship's field until it was seemingly all burnt up.
The crew had been very thorough or so they thought in making sure that no trace of it survived on the ships hull before leaving the solar system. Once again however just when they were about to enter the dark space, Lesia not only detected a disturbance in the very engine of the ship, but the same life signs from the mass too. How it had managed to break through, no one knew, but despite Leisa and the captain's best efforts to reassert control, the creature managed to completely take over the engine, just a few minutes after it had reappeared.
Whatever this entity was. It was now using the SS Valencica to make its way to earth.
Across the depths of time and space meanwhile it had been a difficult journey for the Doctor and his companion Dana. Little over a week had passed since their ordeal on Heglozia against the Daleks. The Time Lord had failed miserably to stop the monsters from burning the planet to dust, though he had at least saved one member of the Heglozians. Zoella.
Whilst the TARDIS medi bay had patched up her wounds, there was nothing the Doctor or Dana could say that could even begin to help her come to terms with the fact that she was now the last of her kind. The Doctor was actually making the TARDIS fly around in circles, not wanting to land anywhere whilst Zoella was in this state. Despite this however he only visited her once, with Dana by his side. This was most unlike the Doctor, Dana thought. Normally he was very good at helping her overcome grief. His long life naturally meant that he knew a thing or too about loss. For some reason however this time, he could barely even look at Zoella, and seemed more shaken by what she had gone through. He just wasn't used to losing Dana thought. Normally the Time Lord never had to deal with anything like this. That's not to say he had always succeeded, but in the time she had known him, he had never suffered such a crushing defeat. However little did Dana know there was more to the Doctors grief than that.
Dana meanwhile spent as much time as she could with Zoella. On the first day Zoella cried and broke down in Dana's arms. The former soldier didn't even say anything at first, it was just relentless crying. Dana had never seen such overwhelming despair.
"I can't imagine what you're going through." Dana said as she held the broken soldier. "I lost my family to those monsters too. I saw them gun them down, I know they used me as a puppet to murder my own kind in cold blood, but to see your entire world."
"I'm hoping every second that I wake up. That those monsters captured me and this is just some new form of mental torture. I know it isn't." Zoella said through the sobs. She continued. "I should have been prepared for this. I'd seen them destroy other worlds. Our world was already a dying husk of a planet already thanks to the Daleks. Still I never expected to survive the death of my planet. I wish you had just left me. I'm too much of a coward for all my bluster to end it myself."
"Your world can live on through you. I know you probably hate me for even trying right now, but we can help to give you a purpose again. There's so much good you can do throughout all of time and space with the Doctor if you want? You can ensure that's your people's legacy to the universe. One that will be remembered far more than those hateful monsters." Dana said.
Zoella however didn't want to listen and asked Dana to leave. She shunned further attempts by Dana for the next few days and remained quiet, almost eerily so in the medi bay.
On the third day of travelling however, Zoella finally emerged from the medi bay, with her weapon in hand and tried to force the Doctor to use his machine to go back and stop the Daleks from ever invading her planet. Much to Dana's surprise the Doctor gave into her threat to some extent. He took the TARDIS off its path and to a time hole. Whilst she wasn't sure why, the mere sight of this strange phenomenon, which resembled a large, golden black hole, terrified and disgusted Zoella to the point where she had to look away. This allowed Dana to wrestle the gun from her.
The Doctor explained to Zoella afterwards what this phenomenon was, and why it meant he could not go back to save her people. Normally it was impossible for most species to change history thanks to the Blinovitch limitation effect which would physically separate two different versions of the same being from different points in history from meeting. However some species, such as the Time Lords had found a way round this, but even then there were still consequences. The very fabric of the universe itself can still become more unstable via the smallest change, as the laws of cause and effect are violated. In most cases this creates anomalies at random points in the universe, which can be everything from unpredictable changes in the timeline, certain individuals ageing at an accelerated rate, or not ageing at all, the dead returning to life, people being transported at random from one time to another, individuals being lost in the time vortex, and horrifying mutations.
The most extreme changes however can create such a disruption that time holes, large tears in the fabric of time and space are formed. Time Holes at their most powerful can age planets to dust, transport them across time and space, rewrite their entire histories, and even wipe them from existence. Finally Time Holes can also cause the entire universe to fall off of its trajectory, and collide with another universe.
In spite of this however there are some time travellers who still change history for their liking, believing that they can monitor and contain these kinds of anomalies. The Time Lords however, and even the Daleks ironically generally know better however. The Doctor himself meanwhile, contrary to what his detractors and enemies often claimed. Did not change history. Instead he always simply created his own personal past, IE his actions in the past before his birth are what created and maintain the timeline he was born into. Though in spite of this the Doctor has made a few accidental changes in his time, the ramifications of which haunted him.
The Doctor felt that Zoella would only believe him that her people could not be saved, if she saw the Time Hole herself. Its corrosive effect on the universe and the laws of cause and effect can be felt by all creatures that are bound by those laws, even from a distance of several hundred thousand miles. There is no other terror quite like facing a Time Hole in the known universe. It goes beyond a simple fear of death. Even the Daleks themselves had never made Zoella feel quite so helpless.
Whilst Zoella knew that the Doctor was not lying after experiencing that terror, she couldn't quite admit it yet, though at the very least there would be no more attempts to force the Doctor into going back.
Dana meanwhile was furious with the Doctor for even going near the Time Hole. Whilst the Time Lord was very careful to make sure that he was a safe distance, as Dana rightfully pointed out Time Holes are unpredictable.
"What were you thinking? You risked all of our lives? Worse if that Time Hole had swallowed up the TARDIS, who knows what could have happened?" Dana said furiously once Zoella was back in the medi bay.
"I didn't have a choice in case you didn't notice she had a gun on us? Remember the state of temporal grace that prohibits violence in here is broken, along with the chamelion circuit. I keep meaning to get them both fixed properly rather than just tinker with them a bit, but well I never seem to have the time. Not that I'm not happy with you as you are now old girl, you know that." The Doctor said as he tapped the TARDIS console affectionately. Dana was not amused however.
"I get it Doctor you laugh in the face of danger, and treat everything like a big joke, but just remember that whilst I am with you, and I do appreciate all that you've done and do. I will not take stupid, pointless risks like that. Unlike you I only have one life, and I'm not going to throw it away to placate your ego and recklessness." Dana said as she handed the Doctor Zoella's weapon, somewhat forcefully before going to check on her.
As Dana had suspected however it wasn't simply the Doctors usual ego and recklessness as to why he had visited the Time Hole, nor was it even because of Zoella's threat. He knew that deep down she wouldn't shoot him. Not that she wasn't capable, but that if she killed him then she would never be able to pilot the ship, and similarly she knew that if she laid a finger on Dana then he would never help her.
Truth be told the Doctor was more trying to convince himself through the Time Hole not to go back and help her people. He felt tremendous guilt over it, not just because he had failed them, but because centuries ago he had given up a golden opportunity to destroy the Daleks at birth. He had been sent on a special mission by the Time Lords who had foreseen a possible future, where the Daleks would reach their level of technology and destroy all of creation.
The Doctors job was to alter or destroy Dalek history to prevent this. (The full backing of the Time Lords, would ensure that the erasure of the Daleks wouldn't cause multiple time holes, though even then it would still undoubtedly lead to multiple anomalies, which they felt was a satisfactory risk given how devastating the alternative was.)
Whilst the Doctors actions were able to slow down Dalek development, giving other species enough time to catch up to them and stop the monsters before they could reach the level of the Time Lords. He did not destroy them completely when presented with the chance. The Time Lord believed that exterminating an entire species at birth, morally would make him no better than the Daleks and was also worried about what erasing such an important species from history completely would do. As evil as they were, the Daleks still had a role to play in the great scheme of the universe like any other.
Still in spite of this the Doctor came to regret that decision for the rest of his life. In fact not a day went by when he didn't at some point, feel an urge to go back and force his younger self to take that opportunity. When actually forced to confront the horror of the Daleks in person however like on Heglozia the guilt became unbearable.
Worse unlike his other companions. He could never reveal that pain to Dana, and certainly not to Zoella. Ironically if either woman found out the truth, they would never forgive him. Zoella would almost certainly kill him. He couldn't look at Zoella his shame was so great, but the Time Lord knew that would have to control his grief and sorrow for her sake. As difficult a time as all three of them had ahead, this was Zoella's home now.
Whilst Zoella accepted what the Doctor said about the Time Hole, she still didn't give up on her people. She hoped if what the Doctor was saying was true that his machine could go anywhere to any place, then surely in the infinite recesses of space she could find a species or being advanced enough to restore her people without any consequences and destroy the Daleks once and for all. Ironically she wasn't unlike the Doctor himself in this respect who always hoped that deep down he could discover a race well above the Time Lords who could erase the Daleks. Granted the Doctor never truly believed this, but Zoella due to her grief held onto it as her only hope. She would have to play it safe for now however, and integrate herself into the Doctor and his companions lives. That wouldn't be too hard at least for Dana. Whilst they were far from friends, Zoella did at least appreciate that Dana had tried to get through to her, and their shared trauma against the Daleks was at least something she could relate too.
After a week the TARDIS finally landed at its next destination. The Doctor was somewhat less enthusiastic this time, as he was more concerned with what their new crew member would do.
Zoella meanwhile, pretended she was eager to see what the Doctor could do, with Dana naively hoping her words had got through to her.
The trio soon saw they had arrived in another spaceship. The Doctor however clearly recognised it as an earth design. Ironically it was only a couple of decades or so after another war with the Daleks.
"Ah I know this period well." The Doctor beamed, his somewhat old chipper tone returning.
"A period of great prosperity after the recent, well." The Doctor didn't want to say, as he felt that talking about how earth had managed to survive against the Daleks and rebuild, better than ever before would be somewhat insensitive to Zoella, to say the least.
"That may be Doctor, but aren't we still trespassing here?" Dana asked.
"Yes I'm afraid so, but you know the earth people at this stage are very open minded and."
Suddenly an alarm went off.
"Intruders detected in the quarrantine area."
"That's our cue to go" Dana said.
"No wait." The Doctor stopped her and Zoella.
"We're in the quarrantine section. For all we know we may have picked up some kind of disease. Until we know for sure what it is, we can't go travelling through the cosmos and risk spreading it everywhere." The Doctor said.
"Oh come on Doctor the TARDIS has a medi bay?" Dana replied.
"Yes but even it has its limits. For all I know this is a completely new strain of virus. We have to take our chances here for the moment."
Dana gave almost a death glare towards the TARDIS. It was always dropping them right in it. Like it wanted to on purpose, which given what the Doctor said about the old girl almost having a mind of her own, didn't seem too far fetched. Maybe it was taking them to these periods to ensure its own history panned out? If so it could at least give them a warning she thought. Still Dana knew the Doctor was right, and without any delay she and Zoella followed him down the nearest corridor as they tried to get a good baring on where they were.
As they made their way down one corridor however they were suddenly confronted with the sound of a gigantic roar.
"Whoever you are, get out of there now! It's coming your way." A voice from the monitor said.
The Doctor and his companions however could hear not only its roar, but the sound of something large scraping by the corridor walls. The Doctor was almost tempted to stay and see what it was, but Dana insisted that he flee with them and he didn't take much convincing when the roars got louder.
The trio soon arrived at a corridor that was blocked by two shut doors. The Doctor tried to tamper with the lock using his sonic screwdriver, and after a few seconds the doors suddenly flung open. The time travellers were then greeted by three figures dressed in completely white hazmat suits holding what looked like electric prods of some kind.
"Ah gentlemen good to see you, it seems there's been some kind of a mix up, you see" the Doctor said before the figures pushed by them to get at the large, green humanoid that had emerged behind the Doctor and his companions. This beasts skin was not only green and slimy, but looked as though it was literally melting off of its body. Six long tentacles meanwhile emerged from different parts of its body, with each one being over 6 feet long. The figures in the hazmat suits used their prods to fend off the tentacles and strike at the monsters itself, any time it came near. One of the tentacles however managed to strike at the wall, creating a gigantic tear which caused a live cable to fall out. The cable struck one of the men and instantly vaporized him into nothing.
Whilst the others were distracted, two of the tentacles wrapped themselves around the other two men and lifted them into the air. The Doctor meanwhile seeing his opportunity ran towards the cable and used his sonic screwdriver to send the energy flowing through the cable into somewhere else in the ship. It was just a slight adjustment of the controls.
The Doctor then picked up the cable and stabbed it into the slimy aliens back, causing it to drop the two men. Before the alien could turn around and kill the Doctor, he activated his sonic screw driver again, distributing some of the energy back into the cable, enough to knock the alien creature out completely.
"Is it dead?" Zoella asked.
"No. At least I don't think so. I prefer not to kill unless I have too. I used as little electricity as I could, but well it is an unknown alien. I have no idea if it could survive even that. In all fairness though its safety wasn't at the top of my priorities given the circumstances." The Doctor replied.
The two men meanwhile were not as grateful as you might think soon worked to try and restrain the three time travellers. Whilst the Doctor and Dana were willing (having done this so many times before, they knew it was easier to comply.) Zoella tried to fight back and sent both men crashing to the ground. One quick jab from one of the cattle prods to her leg however whilst she was distracted beating up another of the men, brought her to the ground instantly.
The three time travellers were led through what looked like a more comfy living quarters of the ship, clearly the only area that had not been contaminated and brought to the captain.
"Who the devil are these people? We detected no ship, never mind an earth one in the vicinity?" He said.
"Yes well I'm the Doctor, I'm an alien and so is this charming young woman. " Zoella rolled her eyes. "Whilst my other friend here, Dana is from earth, she's, well it's complicated." The Doctor felt it probably wasn't a good idea to introduce the concept of time travel. At least not yet."
"You're aliens? There are no records of humanoid life forms in this section of the galaxy. In fact there is not intelligent life in this section of the galaxy." The Captain responded
"Yes well we don't come from here. We're not part of your alliance or anything like that. We're just explorers and our ship happened to land here by chance. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but." The Doctor was suddenly interrupted by one of the two men.
"Inconvenience? We lost a good man back there because of you!"
Both the Doctor and Dana were noticably affected by the news whilst Zoella didn't even react. It's not that she was didn't care at all, but sadly in light of what had become of her people it was hard to even process one life as being a great loss at this point.
"I'm deeply sorry for that. Believe me my ship, as much as I love her, well she has a bad habit of just dropping me in it. Still we're here now and I did also save your life. I know a fair bit about your history. I know that creature, whatever it was also doesn't belong in this time or galaxy. If you'll let me I know I, we can help you." The Doctor said.
The captain was clearly swayed somewhat by the Doctors words. Of course the Doctor suddenly appearing not long after this creature made him a prime suspect, but given how desperate the situation was, he really couldn't afford to turn down any possible offer of help.
The Captain ordered that the two women be kept in one of the living quarters, whilst he would take the Doctor to the lab. The Time Lords actions had managed to knock out the creature, when all of the humans attempts before had failed. Hence why they had to corner off the entire region of the ship was contained in. Now that the creature was subdued, another team had been dispatched to take it to the laboratory to see if there was a way to kill or even communicate with it. The crew obviously weren't trying to establish peaceful relations with the monster, but wanted to know why it was so desperate to get to earth and if there was perhaps an full scale alien invasion. Some of the crew even suspected it was some kind of Dalek weapon. Those monsters were known to use chemical warfare after all.
The captain of course accompanied the Doctor at all times, whilst Zoella and Dana were guarded by his right hand woman and former pilot Lesia. Both weren't exactly happy about it, but went along for the time being. Zoella needed some time to get the feeling back into her leg, and Dana figured they'd probably have to rescue the Doctor in half an hour anyway.
As the Doctor was taken to the lab, the Captain explained at least some of the situation to the Doctor, though obviously he was reluctant to share some details.
The ship was sent here on an expedition to harness water from an asteroid. At this point in history the vast expansion of earth and her allies naturally caused a greater demand for resources than ever before. Rather than harness and disrupt resources from another world however, asteroids were seen as a viable resource. The captain didn't tell the Doctor this however, he simply figured it out from the design of the ship. The Time Lord had spent some time in the Dalek wars and knew a fair bit about this period.
The Captain did explain that they had suddenly detected a completely alien life form at the edge of the solar system, that despite their attempts to communicate with peacefully, and then drive off, had managed to burrow its way into their engine. Whilst Lesia had managed to burn out the engines, before they could be taken back to earth with this creature. Unfortunately the entity had managed to escape from them in time and had since possessed one of their crew. Anything it touches turns into one of them. Two other crew members had since been infected and though they tried everything they could to remove the infection, they were eventually forced to put them out of their misery.
The creature was contained in a special stasis pod, filled with purple liquid. The Doctor got a good look at its readings, with the captain and others constantly monitoring him. The captain didn't bother to explain to the other scientists who the Doctor was. Their faith in their captain in spite of everything that had happened recently was still absolute. What the Doctor said however baffled even him.
He recognised at least some of the life signs. The creature appeared to possess DNA strands from a race known as the Desconzia, a race that honestly in human and even Time Lord terms defies all physical description.
What was even more incredible however was how far from home anything with Desconzian DNA could be. The Desconzians lived in an area beyond what humans at least in this period would call the observable universe which is many hundreds of thousands of times bigger than their estimates.
The Desconzians live closer to the actual centre of creation and are therefore so far away from us, that even with humanities enduring life span in the universe, we will never reach them before they die out and they will never reach us either. Whilst this creature was clearly not a Desconzian (who the Doctor had encountered many times and considered a most charming people. Ironically despite their vast physical differences, they were among the friendliest species the Doctor ever encountered.) The fact that it could have encountered them and be here in the human federation's territory fascinated and in some respects horrified the Doctor.
After sharing his findings with the crew, who were just as terrified, the Doctor and the rest of the crew were suddenly alerted to the creature waking up in the tank.
It writhed and struggled, causing the guards to raise their weapons. Even the Doctor backed away somewhat. The creature appeared to be in tremendous pain and within a few moments its body began to twist and morph into new, hideous forms with in the tank. The Doctor and the others could hear its bones breaking, its flesh ripping with the monsters screams soon turning into nothing but gurgles as its throat began to tear into its new form.
"Whatever this creature is, it has far greater knowledge of the universe and of life itself than either you or me. It can not only completely rewrite DNA, but has fused that of several different creatures together, I, I don't know how we can stop it. It could have picked up attributes of creatures from corners of the universe even I've never ventured." The Doctor said as he and the others looked on in horror as what was left of their former crew mate's body was further twisted and broken into a new kind of creature.