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The Challenge
A Doctor Who story
“Fantastic?” The Doctor was grinning ear to ear now.
“Beyond fantastic! When you said we were going to celebrate Earth’s New Year for the year 2000, I never dreamed you meant one party per time zone. What a scene—London, Times Square, Hong Kong, all in one day . . . it was astounding!”
“Yeah, it was,” the Doctor agreed.
“And the way you ate,” Jothan remarked.
“None of that.” The Doctor sounded insulted, but his face hadn’t changed. “Time we were off. Any destination in mind, TARDIS?” He waited, but the ship gave no sign of any kind. “Right then,” the Doctor said, “I’ll choose.”
********
Later, the Doctor stood in the doorway to Jothan’s quarters watching his lover sleep. He played over the day’s events in his mind cheerfully. The Time Lord hadn’t had to save anyone from anything, which was a rare thing indeed.
As he was going over the party on the cruise ship again he heard Jothan’s voice saying, “Please, no. Don’t . . .”
The Doctor sighed softly and made his way over to the bed where the medic was tossing restlessly. He crouched down next to it and said gently, “Jothan, it’s a dream. Hush now, just a dream.”
Jothan was becoming more and more agitated. Suddenly, he was sitting straight up, screaming. The Doctor put his arms around the young man trying to comfort him. “Hush, Love. Relax. It was a . . .”
Jothan pulled away from the Doctor roughly, angry with himself. “Not again! Why does this keep happening night after night? Why again?” He reached a hand up and slapped himself on the cheek, hard.
Immediately, the Doctor grabbed his lover by the wrists and said sternly, “Don’t ever do that again!”
“It’s been years since the moon base—ages! I should be well over it by now.” Jothan tried to pull away again, but the Doctor still held his wrists firmly. “Let go!”
The Doctor was implacable. “No. Not until you promise you won’t ever hurt yourself again. I can understand the dreams, Jothan. What I can’t understand is why they anger you so.”
“Well, I don’t understand them, not in the least! I need to be stronger than this— not some emotional loony.”
The Doctor said, “I’ll explain, if you settle down a bit.” He waited until Jothan’s breathing had slowed, then continued, “It’s happening now because now is the first time you’ve felt strong enough and safe enough to face what happened and deal with it.”
“What?!?”
The Doctor told the medic, “For years you’ve kept the pain and fear from that time locked away inside you. Now you feel safe, so the stuff from the past is leaking out bit by bit. It’s a normal reaction; once you accept your feelings and work through them the nightmares will stop. They always do, you know.”
“What about your nightmares, Doctor? Do they ever go away?”
The Doctor, stroking Jothan’s hair, did not answer at first. Finally he replied, “It takes time but yes, even my nightmares fade. You’ve been a big part of that, actually. I’ll talk about it soon. Right now you should try to sleep.”
“Not likely,” Jothan muttered, throwing back the covers. “Where are we and where are we heading?”
“We’re just drifting through time at the moment,” the Doctor said. “I couldn’t think of anywhere I wanted to go.”
Both men headed for the Console room. As they came in, they were just in time to see a shower of sparks light up on one side of the TARDIS console. The Doctor ran over as another spurt of sparks rose up from another panel, and smoke started coming out. Then the TARDIS lurched strongly.
“What happened?” Jothan shouted.
“Not sure yet. We have to stabilize and materialize, else we might not get a chance again!” the Doctor yelled back. More smoke was pouring out of the console, then everything was still. A thin wisp of smoke still flowed up from the damaged controls.
“Are we anywhere?” Jothan asked.
The Doctor said, “We’re on a small moon, able to support life. Beyond that, I’m not sure. I’ll have to see exactly how badly she’s damaged. For now we’re stuck here.”
“Anything I can do to help? Or should I go see where we are?”
“I need to know what’s wrong before you can help. If you do go out, don’t go far from the TARDIS,” the Time Lord warned.
Jothan nodded, then grabbed a jacket from the coat rack and went to explore. In the area where they had landed, there appeared to be nothing but moss-covered rocks. There was no water, no trees or bushes, and nothing else as far as he could see. He went back in quickly and told the Doctor, “It’s pretty bleak. Doesn’t look like we’ll be disturbing the natives—there’s no one about. How much damage is there?”
The Time Lord appeared from a grate under the console and said glumly, “It’s not good. The Balanced Fusion Inverter is damaged, the Gravitron Capacitor is polarized, and I’ll need to replace the time chaining circuits. I can do it with stuff from the workshop . . . I think. If I can, it will take quite a while.”
“How many days are we looking at?” the medic asked.
“Days, nothing. We’re talking weeks here. Time chaining circuits are tricky at best, not to mention the Fusion Inverter, and depolarizing the capacitor will take a week by itself. Hope you have a book to read—we’ll be here a long while.”
********
Four days later, the Doctor was still hard at work. Jothan helped as much as he could, but was not able to do much. He went a day’s walk in several directions, but found nothing but more rocks. The sun was hot during the day, so Jothan grabbed a deck chair and beach umbrella, and set himself up outside out of the Doctor’s way. He made sure that the Time Lord took breaks occasionally and took care of himself.
One night as the stars were coming out, Jothan called, “Doctor—come on out! It’s cooled off, and the stars are so lovely.”
The Doctor came out, glanced at the stars a moment, then turned to go back into the ship. Jothan caught his hand, begging, “Please stay, just for a while longer. It’ll still be there when you go back in.”
The Doctor smiled, but sighed a bit as the medic gave him a hug. “I really hope tomorrow goes better,” he commented. “Everything’s taking longer than I’d hoped.” He did not mention his fear that he might not be able to fix the TARDIS at all.
Jothan reassured him, saying, “Tomorrow will be better. And look — there’s a big shooting star to wish on.”
The Doctor peered closely, then said, “That’s a big meteor. In fact . . .” Suddenly, he grabbed Jothan by the arm, pulling him into the TARDIS. “Quick!” he yelled. Jothan and the Doctor scrambled into the craft as a massive object hurtled toward them. There was quite a loud noise from outside and a huge shaking of the ground, then nothing.
Cautiously, the Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and looked around. He then told his companion, “It’s all right — it missed us. Not by much, but by enough.”
“What was it?”
“Can’t tell from here; it crashed a ways away from us. We can check it out in the morning.”
Jothan grabbed the scorched umbrella from the ground and brought it back into the TARDIS. “Just in case,” he told the Doctor.
********
The next day, both Jothan and the Doctor were up early to explore whatever had flown by so closely the night before. There was a long furrow in the ground behind the TARDIS, and off in the distance was some sort of shape. Jothan looked through his binoculars and told the Doctor, “Something survived that crash; I can see people moving about. Their ship looks like a big green pyramid.”
“Are you sure?” The Doctor took a look through the binoculars himself, and told Jothan, “Back in the TARDIS.”
“Are they that dangerous?”
The Time Lord told him, “They’re Jequenti. They’re warriors similar to Sontarans, and nasty to have to deal with. They’re all about wagers and challenges of strength or endurance. They also have time ships, similar to a TARDIS, but inferior.”
Jothan suggested, “If they are warriors, shouldn’t we find them first? That shows them we’re not afraid.”
The Doctor thought a moment, then said, “Perhaps you’re right. So back in the TARDIS with you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Jothan said flatly, “If you’re thinking of facing those things alone, you can think again. I’m going with you, or neither of us is going.”
The Doctor was going to protest, but Jothan had already reached out and taken the Doctor’s wrist, so he knew he had no choice. He was well aware that Jothan could, and would, force the issue if needed. “All right,” he finally said, “if we’re going, there’s no time like the present.”
********
As the two approached, they noticed that there were two Jequenti on either side of the door to their spacecraft. There was a third sitting on the ground nearby. They looked like bright orange lizards, and had weapons in their hands. The Doctor approached and said, “I wish to speak to your commanding officer.”
One of the creatures came closer. “The captain cannot be disturbed at the present time. If you are the native species of this moon . . .”
Jothan interrupted, “I’m Commander Jothan, and I demand to meet my adversary at once!” The Doctor stared at Jothan in shock as one of the Jequenti hurried into their craft.
“Are you trying to kill us?” the Doctor demanded in a hushed tone.
“Doctor, of the two of us, who understands the military chain of command better—you or I? And I didn’t lie — I earned my rank, and therefore am on the same plane as this . . . whatever it is.”
“They’re called ‘Jequenti’, and they are one of the most . . .”
Jothan waved the Doctor to silence as a creature came out of the craft. “I am Captain Mexwed, in charge of the supply ship for the 6th Jequenti Battle Brigade. Whom am I addressing?” he growled, looking at both the Doctor and Jothan with some disgust.
Jothan told him, “I am Commander Jothan of Outpost 17, Earth Force Alliance. I wish to challenge you.”
“To combat?” There was a gleam in the Jequenti’s eye.
“No. I challenge you to something a bit more difficult — a battle of perseverance. I challenge that I can stay awake longer than one of your crew. If I win, you will supply me with the parts I need for my ship. If I fail, my subordinate will repair your ship, and you can be on your way.”
“What parameters do you wish to set for this contest?”
“One moment,” Jothan replied. He and the Doctor moved away from the Jequenti ship. He asked the Doctor, “What rules do you suggest?”
“Have you gone mad? Those are Jequenti battle troops!”
“Hmm. Better avoid exercise as a means to stay awake; they’d get more out of it. However, I will want to read, so . . .”
“You’re not listening to me!” the Doctor whispered harshly.
“You said they have time vessels like the TARDIS. That means if they don’t have the right parts, they’ll have something close. Am I right?”
“You’re missing the point!” the Doctor hissed. “I wouldn’t be challenging any Jequenti on anything!”
“Of course not! You have to be working on the TARDIS in case this plan doesn’t work. But you were just going to go up and ask them, either for help or for a trade of work for parts. Then they would have thought we were weak. Warriors take advantage of the weak.”
“Do you really think you have a chance at this?” the Doctor wanted to know.
Jothan answered, “I stayed awake 120 hours in a row, during the Titan epidemic. If need be, I can do it again. Besides, it gets cold here, and they’re rept—”
“Don’t say it!” the Doctor warned. “They’ve wiped out planets for using that word!”
“I only meant they’re most likely exothermic, and will get sluggish during the night. However, I’ll make sure to not say that word. Now, what else do I need to cover so there are no loopholes? Reading allowed, sitting or standing, stretching but no strenuous exercise, talk permitted, plain water but not food . . .”
“You’ll faint in the heat, and then I’ll have to fix their ship and ours.”
“Ah yes — the umbrella! Why don’t you grab that and my chair, while I discuss the terms.”
“Why you?” the Doctor asked.
“Of the two of us, I’m more expendable.”
The Doctor’s face became a mask of anger. “Never say that again,” he cautioned in a frigid voice. “Ever.”
“Look,” Jothan said in a placating tone, “If something happens to you, we don’t have a chance. I can’t fix the TARDIS at all.”
The Doctor turned to go back to the TARDIS, only somewhat mollified. “I suppose you’ll want your book as well,” he commented.
“Idian: the Iron Butterfly? Yes, that’s the one.”
Loudly grumbling, the Doctor set out. Jothan turned back to Captain Mexwed.
********
Night had come. Jothan was stretching his legs while the Doctor sat in the deck chair. There was a fire burning between them and the Jequenti ship. Two Jequenti were scraping moss off the rocks to keep the fire going. The challenged Jequenti was standing near the fire, a pitcher of water at its feet. Jothan sighed, and took a sip from the pitcher of water the Jequenti had given him. “You could go and work on the TARDIS,” he told the Time Lord. “I’m safe enough; they wouldn't dare hurt me.”
“I’m not leaving you more than I have to,” the Doctor stated flatly.
“Then you can at least tell me a story or something.”
The Doctor began, “Once, I had a very stupid lover who challenged some . . .”
Jothan said hastily, “Not that story — I want the end to be a surprise.” The Doctor snorted loudly, but stopped.
Jothan looked up at the wheeling stars and asked, “Any of these constellations yours?”
“No. My planet was in the constellation of Kasterborus, a long way from here.”
“What did Kasterborus look like? Was it like our constellations, where if you look right you can see a fish, or a lady or something?”
The Doctor responded, “Kasterborus looked like a giant snow-cone.”
“Really?”
“No, I made it up. It didn’t look like anything in particular.”
“What were your people like, Doctor? Were they scientists or warriors or art lovers? Who were they?”
“They were . . . Time Lords tended toward the pomp and circumstance end of life. They touted themselves as being highly sophisticated and enlightened, but they rarely got involved with other worlds and their problems . . . until the Time War. Then, they had no choice.”
“You keep saying ‘they’. Weren’t you like them?”
“Not really. I got in trouble quite a lot for ‘interfering’ with other races, humans in particular. For a while, I was exiled to Earth, and got to like it. No matter how far or how long I travel, eventually I head back to Earth.”
Jothan thought a moment, then said, “So you were a rebel. Did you start a crusade or anything? Carefully planned uprisings?”
“I was President of the Time Lords — twice,” the Doctor mused. “Mostly, I just traveled on my own. Of course, every once in a while the Time Lords asked for a favor. I cooperated, most of the time.” He was silent, then said hesitantly, “I should have been more cooperative.”
“What do you mean?” Jothan wanted to know.
“When I was in my fourth incarnation, the Time Lords came to me, asking me to go to a planet called Skaro and destroy a race of creatures called the Daleks. The Time Lords said they could sense a time when the Daleks would be the dominant creature in the universe, to the damage and destruction of everything else. I went there with noble ideals, but not much foresight. I had the chance to destroy them forever, and didn’t.”
Jothan said softly, “And they were the ones you battled in the Time War, the war that destroyed your planet?”
“Yes,” the Doctor said softly.
“It would have been genocide,” Jothan commented.
“It would have saved far more creatures, planets, whole galaxies if I had.”
Jothan said quietly, “Are you sure you would have completely destroyed them? Absolutely certain?”
The Doctor was silent for a long time, but finally answered, “No, not absolutely certain. Just certain enough.”
“If you’re not absolutely sure, than it isn’t your fault,” Jothan protested. “Besides, if the Time Lords thought it was that much of a threat, they should have gone themselves. Sounds more like they had an annoying pest, and didn’t want to get too involved. Instead of dealing with it, they sent you to do their dirty work — and left you haunted by the consequences.”
“Back then, on Skaro, I told myself I didn’t have the right. But once the Battle of Arcadia came . . . things were different.” The Doctor put his face in his hands, remembering.
“It was a different time and set of circumstances. Perhaps the right ones.”
“Perhaps you’re right.” The Doctor sat up again.
“So how did that story end? Are the Daleks gone now?”
“Yes, all of them — along with all of the Time Lords.”
“At your hand?” Jothan asked very quietly.
“Mine, yes.”
“Then you did what you had to do, when you had to do it and not before. You gave them a chance. Not your fault they wouldn’t take it.” Jothan drank from his water, then said brightly, “So you like Earth. What keeps bringing you back to us, of all the races? We certainly aren’t the brightest or nicest lot.”
The Doctor thought for a while. “You’re always a surprise, and you’re excellent survivors. You can never tell how far a human will go to survive.”
“Just like you,” Jothan remarked.
“Yes, just like me.”
********
The morning of the eighth day dawned hot as ever. Jothan was afraid to sit down, so he stayed on his feet. He saw the Doctor coming from far off, and set himself to try and count the Doctor’s strides. He reasoned anything to think of would be better than thinking of just how tired he was.
The Doctor sat down in the chair sighing, “The capacitor has started to depolarize.”
“Good!” Jothan responded. “How long will it take to finish?”
“ At least a week. Got any water? I’m parched.”
Jothan looked at his empty pitcher. “Sorry — I’m all out. I can get . . .”
“No need,” the Doctor told him. “I’ll just get a bit of theirs.” He walked over to the Jequenti’s water pitcher that was next to the fire, and picked it up. One of the soldiers raced over to stop the Time Lord, but it was too late; the Doctor had taken a mouthful. He spit it out at once, and started yelling, “What is this? Mexwed? Where’s Mexwed? I demand to see him immediately!”
“What is it?” Jothan asked.
The Jequenti troops were trying to wrest the pitcher from the Doctor’s hands, but he evaded their grasp and kept yelling. At last, the alien captain came out demanding, “Why have you summoned me?”
“Your soldiers have cheated!”
The captain’s color changed from orange to a yellowish-green. “You lie!” he spat. “My soldiers would never dishonor . . .”
“Taste it yourself!” the Doctor insisted. “The rules were plain water — not whatever this is.”
Mexwed took the pitcher from the Doctor and took a swallow, then spit it out, as the Doctor had done. He whirled around to face his troops, hitting the nearest one with his tail in his hurry. “You dared to break the assigned rules of the challenge?” he hissed, his color now a dark green.
One soldier stuttered, “We knew it would be shameful to lose a challenge to creatures fit only for food, so we decided . . .”
“Decided to humiliate us all instead by breaking an oath? Be downcast — may your young die early! You have discredited my command!” Mexwed then turned to Jothan and said haltingly, “The challenge . . . is yours. What parts do you require?”
The Doctor listed off the parts as Jothan hastily gathered his belongings. The remaining Jequenti warriors came up hissing, but Jothan said quietly, “You won’t regain your honor by eating us. Next time, follow the rules.”
Mexwed came out with the required parts, and Jothan and the Doctor hurried back to the TARDIS.
********
“Doctor, I need you to do something for me, the hardest thing you’ve ever done,” Jothan said as he was sitting in the Console Room.
The Doctor was whistling as he finished installing the new parts. “Ask away!” he offered.
“I want you to take me back to Outpost 17 and leave me there.”
The Doctor froze in the act of climbing up from under the TARDIS console. “You want what?”
Jothan looked down at his shoes. “I need to go home.”
“You’re just tired,” the Doctor dismissed airily as he stood. He looked at Jothan again and asked, “Are you serious?”
“Completely. Take me back, and leave me there.”
The Doctor’s voice shook as he demanded, “Why are you even talking like this?!? Are you that afraid of happiness?”
“I don’t want my happiness stolen from me a day at a time,” Jothan sighed. “I don’t want a clock to be my enemy. I’ll die someday, but that doesn’t mean I have to take you with me! Let’s say I win the Cosmic Jackpot, and I live to be 120 years old. How old are you, Doctor? 300? 400? 800 — am I even close?”
“I’m 903,” the Doctor said softly. “903 years old.”
“Well, even with a triple score on the Cosmic Jackpot, I’m not living that long.”
“Why can’t you just focus on what we have right here, right now?” the Doctor asked desperately. “The future is light-years away!”
“The future is coming — and one of us has to keep that in perspective. You’re over 900 years old. In my world, that’s forever. I’m not going to be here forever, and if I end it now, it’ll be much easier and less painful for both of us. Listen to me; I lost everyone I knew once. People I loved, people I couldn’t stand, all of them gone in seven days. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through. And I’m deciding, in the here and now, to make sure I’m not the one who brings it all down again, especially not a bit at a time. Now you can take me back, or I can ask the TARDIS myself, but one way or another I have to go.”
“Jothan, please don’t do this.”
“I have to. At least then we’ve had what we had, with no contamination. I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of people come and go in your time, Doctor. I’m just one more.”
The Doctor started to cry. “No, you’re not. I love you, Jothan. You are the most special person I’ve ever met, and I’m NOT going to lose you now just because it won’t be a happy ending later! This universe has robbed me of my people, my planet. It took from me everything I’ve ever had, and almost everything I am. I want a chance, however brief, at a little peace and happiness of my own. Happiness even for one day. Are you really going to be the person who snatches that happiness away?”
“That was cruel.” Jothan stood up.
The Doctor did not move. “I’ll fight with whatever I’ve got.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you . . .”
The Doctor’s tears still flowed. “Then don’t. I know you’re afraid of what the future holds, but you don’t have to be. Even if we aren’t together forever, we can be together now — and now is all that matters. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life alone, wondering what could have been between us?”
Jothan didn’t speak at first, but finally choked out, “No. No, I don’t.”
The Doctor reached out for Jothan’s hand. “Then stay. Let me love you. Better than that, let me be loved by you.”
Jothan felt his resolve crumbling. “Is this really what you want?”
“I want every second I can have with you — every single one. Read my mind if you don’t believe me.”
Jothan took the Doctor’s hand. “I don’t have to.” He swallowed hard.
The Doctor used his most persuasive tone to ask, “So, how about a short hop somewhere with volcanoes? It’ll just take a few minutes . . .”
Jothan laughed, “That’s what you said before.”
“Yes. Can I say it again?”
Jothan was silent a moment, then responded, “All right. I’ll stay.”
*************** Sequel to Follow: The Games We Play *****************