A Question of Time

(Author's Note: Or should I call this chapter New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York?

Oh, I‘ve placed Smith and Jones and Shakespeare at a different time… they still happen, just in a different order.

For me the Face of Boe is NOT Jack. I just don’t like the thought of handsome Jack becoming a big wrinkly face. In this story the Face of Boe is a random alien life form… let’s just say he’s like the Doctor = the rest of his race were killed in the Time War and only he survived.)

The Master had been walking from his bedroom to the control room of the TARDIS… along the way he’d somehow ended up in the TARDIS’ kitchen, where he’d found Jack. After sampling some of Ianto Jones’ coffee, the two continued on into the main room of the TARDIS, where the Doctor was almost dancing around the controls, Rachel in his arms.

It seemed that the Doctor was naming the various parts of the controls for his little daughter, while Ianto watched with a smile on his face. Seeing his mates enter the room, the Doctor turned to look at the Master and Jack.

“So…” the Doctor smiled, “any destination ideas?”

Before any of the adults could voice an opinion, Rachel turned around in the Doctor’s arms and reached for the controls of the ship. The Doctor blinked before he turned towards the controls… smiling as Rachel also shifted and reached out to touch the shiny buttons and levers that she saw. Realizing that she couldn’t reach them, Rachel turned to look up at the Doctor with teary eyes and a whimper worthy of a kicked puppy.

“Looks like Rachel wants to decide,” Ianto laughed as Jack sat down next to him and the Master moved closer to the Doctor and Rachel.

The Doctor, his face entirely serious, shifted Rachel around in his arms so that he had a free arm to work the controls of the TARDIS. Father and daughter leaned over the controls, whispering to each other… Rachel would turn a knob or press a button then the Doctor would make a slight adjustment, all the while asking Rachel questions in Gallifreyan.

After a few seconds, the Doctor turned towards the others. “Rachel has decided that we should go to New New York,” he announced and Rachel smiled, nuzzling into the Doctor’s shoulder.

“When is this that were going to?” Ianto asked, tilting his head.

“Round about 5000000053,” the Doctor answered.

“I don’t think I’ve been there before…” the Master remarked. “New New York, they have Cats as nurses, don’t they?”

“Cats?!?” Ianto squeaked.

“They’ve evolved into a humanoid form,” Jack explained.

“Last time I was there they were arrested for illegal medical experiemnts… ended up creating a new race --- New Humans,” the Doctor explained, shifting his grip on Rachel so that he was holding her tighter before he punched the ‘go’ button.

Rachel laughed as the TARDIS started to shake, the Master blinking in surpise at how bumpy the ride was before he reached out to grab something to hold on to, Jack and Ianto doing the same as the TARDIS raced across time and space.

The TARDIS eventually came to a stop and the Doctor, with Rachel still in his arms, walked over to the door, followed by his mates and Ianto… who looked slightly confused.

“Jack?” Ianto asked, taping the Ex-Time Agent on the shoulder. “Did Rachel just fly this thing?”

Jack laughed as he followed the Master out of the TARDIS. “Ianto… don’t question the insanity.”

“Welcome to New New York!” the Doctor smiled as he stepped out into a grimy alleyway…only to be instantly drenched by the rain. Rachel squeaked in surprise and flattened herself against the Doctor as her parents and Ianto ran to find cover from the downpour. Once the little group was under an awning, Rachel glared at her father as the Doctor blushed and pulled out a towel from one of the pockets of his coat before helping his daughter to dry off.

“Well, it looks like you’re ready for travel… you know where your towel is,” Ianto remarked, getting a laugh out of the Time Lords and Jack. “Wait, Hitchhiker’s Guide isn’t real… is it?”

“One of my former companions got drunk with Douglas Adams,” the Doctor smiled at the memory. “Then he introduced Douglas to me… so bits are real, or at least inspired by reality.”

“This…” Jack looked around the dingy street, a frown on his face. “This doesn’t look like the New New York I remember.”

“Isn’t it supposed to be the ‘Grandest City Ever Built’?” the Master asked.

“This must be the lower levels…down at the base of the towers, some sort of under-city,” the Doctor remarked as he looked around at the street they were standing on.

“You brought us to the slums,” the Master noted.

“This is the real city,” the Doctor replied. “Oh, and the rain’s stopped! Better and better!”

Indeed the rain had stopped… and as soon as the group stepped out into the street ,what had appeared to be buildings suddenly opened up, revealing a sort of open air market and soon men and women were peeking out of the stalls, yelling out the various items they had for sale.

“Are they selling drugs?” Ianto asked, peering at a nearby stall as the Doctor frowned.

“No, they’re selling moods,” Jack replied, watching as the Doctor handed their now dry daughter over to Ianto. Jack leaned over and ruffled his daughter’s hair, smiling at the frown that appeared on Ianto’s face when he realized the little girl’s hair was messed up.

“Moods, drugs… same thing, isn’t it?” Ianto jokingly asked, getting a smile from the Time Lords and Jack. Meanwhile, Rachel was occupied with looking all around the strange new world, enjoying all the new sights and sounds.

“Excuse me…” a frail looking young woman stepped past the Time Travelers and approached one of the Mood sellers. The young woman looked like she was going to fall over; her clothing hung off her thin frame and they were soaked with grease and oil. Her face was dirty, save for the path that tears had made down her cheeks. “I want to buy Forget,” she told the mood seller, her voice weak from crying.

“Oh, darling…I’ve got Forget. What strength?” the mood seller asked as she rifled through a drawer. “How much do you need to forget?”

“It’s my mother and father…” the young woman whispered, her eyes closing as she started to silently cry once more, her tears falling down to land on the ground. “They went on the motorway,” the woman said, before taking the Forget from the Mood seller.

The Doctor silently walked over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry… but what happened to your parents?“

“The motorway…” the young woman whimpered, her voice cracking as she looked away from the Doctor. “Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I‘ve lost them,” the young woman said and, before the Doctor or the Master could stop her, she placed the little patch on her neck… which seemed to activate the ‘Forget’. Her tears vanished and a dreamy sort of drugged smile appeared on her face. Humming under her breath, she walked away from the Mood Sellers with a spring in her step.

“What happened?” the Master replied, stepping closer to the Doctor. “Is this the human race? Off their heads on chemicals?”

The Doctor shook his head, but before he could say anything Ianto screamed and the group turned to see a man holding a gun to Ianto’s head. Rachel was still in Ianto’s arms, and the two were being pulled away by the man and a woman who was yelling “I’m sorry! I‘m so sorry!” as she pulled the two hostages towards a large metal door.

“We just need three!” the man yelled as he pulled Ianto into the darkness that lay just beyond the door, the woman shutting it behind them as Rachel screamed for her parents.

As one, Jack, the Master and the Doctor rushed at the door, only to find that it was locked from the inside. In seconds the Doctor had his sonic screwdriver out and unlocked the door, which led to an alley which all too soon branched off, leaving the Time Lords and Jack with no idea where the kidnappers had taken Rachel and Ianto.

The Master quickly backtracked to the Mood Sellers with the Doctor and Jack following closely behind him. The Master grabbed the first man he saw, actually pulling him out of his stall by the collar of his shirt. “Those people, where did they go? Who were they?” he growled, slamming the man against the wall.

“They…they looked like carjackers!” the man replied, shaking with fear. “They probably took them to the motorway!”

“Why did they say that they need three?” Jack asked, standing at the Master’s side.

“It’s the car sharing policy!” another vendor cried out. “To save fuel! You get special clearance if you have three adults in the car!”

“Where is this motorway?” the Master asked the man he was pinning against the wall.

The Mood Seller was all too happy to answer. “Down the alley to the end, you can’t miss the entrance!”

Jack and the Doctor took off down the alley that the man had gestured towards, while the Master stayed behind… just long enough to make sure he had the mood seller’s attention.

“A word of advice… for all of you,” the Master growled, allowing the Merchents to get a taste of the power of a Time Lord. “Cash up and pack your bags… because as soon as we’ve found them alive and well --- and we will find them alive and well, then were coming back.. And making sure this street closes!”

When the Master caught up with his mates, the three found themselves entering a huge underground chamber, where there were thousands and thousands of cars floating in the air, slowly moving from right to left in the largest, slowest moving and absolute worst traffic jam the three Time Travelers had ever seen.

“Rachel!” Jack cried out, his eyes sweeping over the thousands of identical cars.. His fear was clear in his voice. “Ianto!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto was holding Rachel as close as he possibly could. The little girl was crying silently into Ianto’s shoulder, her hands gripping at Ianto’s shirt as her entire body shook with the force of her sobs. “Take us back,” Ianto growled at the man and woman who’d taken them captive.

“What’s your name?” the woman asked, smiling at Ianto. “I’m Cheen and this is Milo… I’m sorry about that, but we just needed access to the Fast Lane. When we get where we’re going we’ll drop you off and you can go back and find your friends.” Seeing that Ianto wasn’t believing her, the woman pulled her hair back so that he could see the little mood patch she was wearing. “You can trust me! See, I’m wearing Honesty!”

“Where are we?” Ianto asked, looking out the window.

“On the motorway,” Milo replied, his hands resting on the wheel.

“What’s all that… fog?” Ianto asked as he struggled to see through the soot like fog.

“It’s exhaust fumes,” Cheen laughed, surprised that Ianto didn’t know.

“We’re going out to Brooklyn. Everyone says the air is so much cleaner there.” Milo smiled, as if he was day dreaming.

“I’m pregnant… scan says it’s going to be a boy. So we’re moving.” Cheen smiled and ran her hands over her stomach.

“So I’m supposed to congratulate our kidnappers?” Ianto almost hissed before he ripped off the Honesty patch.

“This will be fast, we take the motorway to the Brooklyn Flyover...” Milo explained, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “But after that it’s going to take a while ‘case there’s no fast lane. It‘s just ordinary roads, but at least it‘s direct.”

“Only ten miles,” Cheen told Ianto.

“How long is it going to take?” Ianto asked, looking at the husband and wife.

“About six years, just in time for him to start school!” Cheen smiled at her husband, who smiled back.

“Six years?” Ianto gasped, glaring at the two as Rachel's sobs slowly subsided. “Ten miles in six years?!?!?!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Meanwhile, the Doctor, the Master and Jack had found the Motorway and caught a ride with a nice couple… Valerie, who was a human woman, and Thomas Kincade Brannigan, a cat-man. The husband and wife even had some children… a basket full of cute little kittens who’d decided to climb all over the Doctor and Jack. As the Doctor and Jack tried to survive the onslaught of cuteness, The Master managed to figure out that although their new hosts had been driving for twelve years they had only managed to travel five miles. Worse still, they’d passed the lay-by, the only place where someone could get off the Motorway. According to Brannigan, the next one wouldn't come for six months. So the Doctor, the Master and Jack were stuck.

“Ianto and Rachel are somewhere out there,” Jack whispered, looking out a window of the car, through a dense fog of exhaust and other such fumes.

“How are we going to get to them?” the Master asked, biting his lip as he tried to formulate a plan to get his daughter back.

The Doctor had escaped from the attack of the kittens and was trying to reach the Police ---with no success. The only thing he’d managed to do was reach some friends of Tomas, two old married women who’d managed to get the number of the car which held Ianto and Rachel ---car number 465D6. The only problem was that car had gone down to the Fast Lane, which was at the very bottom and couldn’t be contacted by the rest of the cars on the motorway.

The Doctor turned towards his mates, a look of terror in his eyes as he informed them that he didn’t think there were any police… there was no one to help them, no one out there but the thousands of people trapped on the Motorway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto didn’t like the situation he was in; the sounds which his captors wrote off as ‘air vents’ were giving him a bad feeling. It didn’t get any less eerie when the people of the motorway began to sing, leaving only himself and Rachel sitting silently, looking around at the hundreds and hundreds of people who were living their lives inside of little cars, waiting to get off the Motorway so that they could start to live their lives.

Ianto moved towards the back of the car, gently rocking Rachel and whispering that it would all be okay, that her parents were going to come and save them… and praying that they would get there in time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Doctor was using his sonic screwdriver to open a small hatch so that he could look down at the cars beneath the one he was in. “I’m going down,” he decided, taking off his coat and tossing it to Jack.

“No,” the Master stated, before leaning over and kissing the Doctor. “Stay here. I’ll go down and get them, you two need to get in contact with the city above.”

The Doctor nodded and stepped back so that the Master could go down. Stoping only to kiss Jack, the Master pulled out his laser screwdriver and dropped down to the roof of the car below, the Doctor closing the hatch behind him.

The Doctor and Jack shivered as they thought of the Master making his way down, thinking of a thousand and one things which could go wrong. The two men listened as the entire roadway began to sing…

On a hill far away
Stood and old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame

They couldn’t have know that, far, far below them Ianto and Rachel were listening to the same music, the song which was echoing throughout the motorway.

And I love that old cross
Where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross
…Rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down

The Master was also hearing the song, in bits and pieces as he made his way down stopping only long enough in any one car to catch his breath and make sure there was something for him to drop down onto.

I will cling to that old rugged cross
…Rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown…

Soon the Master was just above the Fast Lane and there he found himself trapped.. There weren’t any cars to drop down onto. However he could hear something below, something strangely familiar.

At the same time that the Master was trying to get a bit of a breeze to see what was happening below, someone was trying to enter the car where Jack and the Doctor were… someone that the Doctor had met before!

“Novice Hame?!?” The Doctor blinked as Jack looked on in confusion. However before the Cat could answer the radio of the car sprung to life.

“Doctor!” the Master practically shouted into the speaker in his hand. “There’s Macra, de-evolved but still Macra. They’re living in the tunnels, living at the bottom of the motorway,” the Master shivered slightly. “At the same level as the Fast Lane!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto and Rachel were experiencing firsthand the terror of the Macra. They were trapped in the car, which was currently sitting on the bottom of the tunnel. They had eight minutes before their air would run out and they would have to turn the car on… alerting the Macra to their presence. Ianto was doing his best not to show Rachel that he was scared. Gently he rocked the little girl back and forth, singing softly any snatch of a lullaby that he could remember.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You’ve got to come with me!” Novice Hame explained. “With your help, I can finally find forgiveness,” Without giving the Doctor or Jack a chance to reply, she grabbed the two men’s hands and they were teleported away.

“Go back!” the Doctor shouted. “You have to help the others!” The Doctor begged Novice Hame, only to be silenced by the sight of the massive building the two had found themselves in.

“Where are we?” Jack asked, still shaking a little from the teleport as he looked around.

“This was the Senate of New New York,” Novice Hame replied, turning on the lights in the huge building. “The City died twenty four years ago.” Jack and the Doctor looked around in horror at the corpses that littered the room. “There was a new mood…” Novice Hame’s voice was soft, but it seemed to be louder then a scream in the silence of the room. “They called it ‘Bliss’… it mutated into a virus, which killed everything… the entire world died in seven minutes.”

“Everything except the motorway…” the Doctor gasped. “It was sealed off. The entire under city was saved by being sealed off!”

Novice Hame nodded. “But now there isn’t enough power to get them out… we’ve only just managed to keep them alive.”

“We?” Jack asked.

“Doctor…” a familiar voice called out. The Time Lord turned and stared at a dimly lit corner of the room.

“The Face of Boe!” the Doctor gasped, moving forward to touch the glass of the Face of Boe’s tank. “My old friend…what has happened to you?”

Jack watched silently as Novice Hame stepped forward to stand next to the Doctor. “The Face of Boe has saved the under city. He gives his life to keep them alive… no other planets will come near for fear of the virus.”

“So we’ve got to find a way to increase the power,” Jack smirked, looking over at the Doctor as he moved towards the machines that were connected to the Face of Boe’s tank. “Any ideas?”

“A few,” the Doctor smiled, following his mate. “Let’s get going…”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ianto was softly singing to Rachel in Welsh, rocking her back and forth as their kidnappers watched. But then Rachel pulled back from Ianto and looked up at the ceiling, tilting her head to one side as if listening to something… before Ianto could ask Rachel what had caught her attention, something fell against the roof.

Before Ianto could stop her, Rachel darted forward and pulled the hatch in the roof open, allowing the Master to drop in. Quickly the Time Lord closed the door behind him before he dashed to the car’s controls, pointing his laser screwdriver at the screen and fiddling with something… after a few seconds he turned to Milo. “Drive up,” he commanded. “Don’t talk, don’t ask questions… just drive up.”

Milo instantly obeyed the Master’s orders as the Time Lord swept his daughter up into his arms, hugging her tightly as he looked over at Ianto. “Don’t worry…” the Master whispered, a smile on his face. “We’re going to be okay.”

“But the cars are still over head!” Ianto realized.

“The Doctor and Jack are taking care of that.” The Master looked out the windows at the smog. “Or at least I hope they will.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“It’s open!” Jack yelled, drawing a huge smile form the Doctor. “The Motorway is open…”

“Sorry, no Sally Calypos… she was just a hologram.” The Doctor smiled as he looked at the camera, sending it’s signal to every car on the motorway. “My name’s the Doctor… and this is an order. Everyone drive up, I’ve opened the roof of the motorway. We’ve got to clear the fast lane!”

“Now what?” Jack asked, looking over at the Doctor.

“Hope that we did it in time…” the Doctor whispered, staring at the machine.

“Doctor, where the hell are you?!?!” the Master’s voice yelled from the speakers.

“We’re away from the Macra, everyone’s okay…” Ianto’s voice could be heard in the background.

“We’re in the Senate,” the Doctor replied. “Sending you a flight path.”

“Doctor… it would appear that my time is not yet over,” The Face of Boe seemed to smile at the Doctor as his voice whispered in the Time Lord’s mind.

“Rachel!” Jack yelled as he swept his daughter up into his arms. The little girl was followed by Ianto and the Master, who quickly made his way to the Doctor’s side… in front of the Face of Boe.

“Master, this is the Face of Boe… and Novice Hame,” The Doctor whispered. “They helped us save the Undercity.”

“So what happens now?” Ianto asked, looking around at the skeletons of the Senate of New New York.

“We shall help them rebuild,” the Face of Boe whispered, looking over at Novice Hame.

“Just what every city needs…” The Master sighed playfully. “Cats in charge.”

The Time Traveling Group left, the Doctor leading them back to the TARDIS… as they entered the streets of Pharmacy Town and stopped to look at the destruction that had once been the Mood Sellers stalls, Jack turned to look at the Doctor… Rachel riding on his shoulders.

“Who was the Face of Boe?“ Jack asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever see a species even remotely like him!”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted with a sigh. “I’ve only met him twice… and each time I forgot to ask, or didn’t have the time.”

“Well… we’ll just have to met him again,” the Master replied, kicking an old chair out of their way.

Ianto sighed as the Tardis came into sight and the Doctor unlocked it’s doors. “Is it always like this?” he asked.

“Oh, yes,” Jack laughed as he swung Rachel off his shoulders and letting her run into the TARDIS. “And we wouldn‘t have it any other way.”

TBC