Come to the End

Doctor Who fan fiction, exposition of a narrative.

The waves are rough today.

River-someone from my past who I still can’t remember- had fixed the chameleon circuit in my ship enough to turn it into a small boat for one last run. The name on her bleached white hull read Rose.

            The name meant something to me, I knew that much. Before my memory was gone, River had told me that I was a great man, a hero to many and a perpetual savior. I had apparently lived for hundreds of years, and had risked everything for the people of this planet.

            But that is all gone now. My time is over. My friends are gone and I have no one left.

            River once told me that all things have an ending. Now is the time for mine.

            Wait! Something is falling from the sky. It looks familiar, possibly a remnant from my past. But a sickening feeling in one of my hearts tells me that it is so much more than that.

            I turn Rose back towards land. Over the roaring of the waves, I can hear distant shrieks coming from the shore.

            As I draw nearer, there are metal men and what look like robot-controlled tanks on the wharf. They are arguing, and when I am close enough, I recognize them.

            The metal man is a cyberman. The tank is a Dalek. How do I know this? If these are remnants from my past, then they are certainly important.

            Now I can hear them. They are not arguing. Instead, they are discussing what the best course of action would be.

Their plans reveal that the Daleks want to “exterminate” all the humans and the rest of existence. The cybermen want to “delete” the humans.

While they talk, a woman walks by, hopelessly. She does not seem to notice the two monsters standing just feet away from her. Staggering, she falls to her knees, making a tiny splash.

Wordlessly, the Dalek shoots and kills her.

If I sat and did nothing, the Daleks would find and kill me. If I tried to stop them, I would be killed anyways. And, taking Rose out into the water today, I had been prepared to die.

The Dalek swiveled its eyestalk around to face me and ordered that all remaining life forms were to be taken to their ship.

I hesitated. An impulse told me that I could actually do this, but I really should have had no idea. But I had remembered both the cybermen and Daleks. As River had said, I risked everything to save others. So why not again?

            I could either die for nothing, or die saving the universe one last time.

I stood up and walked to the Dalek. Its eyepiece bobbed in acknowledgment and it moved towards the ship. I followed.