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THE STARWHALE
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"There's a high-speed Vator through there," Liz warned as the Doctor poked his head through two of the bars in the corridor they headed down. "Oh, yeah. There's these things." She nodded at the very large tentacles with what looked like large scorpion stingers. "Any ideas?"

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top." Amy frowned. "There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through like a root."

"Exactly like a root." The Doctor added. "It's all one creature, the same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What, like an infestation? Someone's helping it. Feeding it. Feeding my subjects to it." Liz narrowed her eyes. "Come on." She hissed heading down the rest of the corridor. "Got to keep moving."

Amy headed off but Hollie stopped as the Doctor stepped towards the bars, placing his hands on them. "Doctor?" Hollie looked at him.

"Oh Hollie..." The Doctor whispered, still looking at the tentacles."We should never have come here."

She slowly nodded and watched as Amy turned a corner with Liz and Mandy. "You'll fix it, though."

"I'm not exactly sure I can." He replied before walking away, tearing his eyes away from the tentacles.

---

Liz arrived at her room on the ship, the Doctor eyed all the glasses of water scattered on the floor as he, Amy and Hollie stepped past each glass and followed Liz to the bed.

"Why all the glasses?" The Doctor questioned as Liz sat down on the bed.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what."

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?" The Doctor questioned wondering about the room as Amy and Hollie joined Liz on the side of the bed.

"Secrets are being kept from me." She glanced at him before looking at the glasses. "I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this. My entire reign. And you've achieved more in one afternoon."

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" The Doctor asked picking up a mask with no back, a very old mask.

"Forty. Why?"

Hollie stared at the woman. "Forty?!"She gaped at her.

Liz smirked at the woman's wide eyes. "Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps."

"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor held up the mask.

"Undercover's not easy when you're me." Liz shrugged. "The autographs, the bunting."

"Air-balanced porcelain." Stays on by itself, because it's perfectly sculpted to your face.

"Yeah? So what?" Liz frowned.

"Oh, Liz." The Doctor stared at the mask. "So everything."

The four looked up as a set of men with black robes and hoods walked in. "What are you doing?" Liz stood up. "How dare you come in here?"

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK." The man on the left stated. "You will come with us now."

"Why would I do that?" Liz asked.

The mans face turned around, becoming one of the scowlers.

Hollie stood up from the bed and looked at the Doctor. "How can they be Smilers?"

"Half Smiler, half-human." The Time Lord answered.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen." Liz narrowed her eyes. "On whose authority is this done?"

"The highest authority, Ma'am."

"I am the highest authority."

"Yes, ma'am." The man nodded. "You must go now, Ma'am."

"Where?"

"The Tower, Ma'am."

---

The Doctor walked down the stairs with Hollie, Amy and Liz and the half-human half smilers.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked.

"The lowest point of Starship UK." The Time Lord replied as he stared at the tentacles behind a grating. "The dungeon."

"Ma'am." A man by a control panel nodded.

"Hawthorne." Liz narrowed her eyes. "So this is where you hid away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here." The Doctor frowned. "What's all that about?"

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children." He frowned. "You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky."

"Yeah, look at us." The Doctor shrugged. "Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky." He headed towards the large hole in the ground with a handrail to stop people falling. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is." He shook his head. "Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." He looked down. Hollie gasped and covered her mouth as it flew open in horror. "Is that-"

"What is it?" Liz asked, turning to her.

"I think it's a brain," Hollie whispered, tears in her eyes.

The Doctor slowly nodded. "Depending on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly."

"Or?" Liz frowned.

"Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator. Starship UK's go faster button."

"That's horrible!" Hollie stared at him.

"Yes." He slowly nodded. "Yes, it is."

"I don't understand?" Liz frowned.

"Don't you?" The Doctor looked at her. "Try to. Go on. The spaceship that could never fly. No vibration on deck. This creature, this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading, it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving. Tell you what. Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear."

The Doctor pulled his sonic out and enhanced the sound of the cries of the creatures.

Hollie lowered her head, a tear dripped off her cheek and the Doctor tilted his head at her as Liz shouted at him.

"Stop it." She shouted. The Doctor looked at her and then stopped as she shouted again. "I said stop it!" She looked at Hawthorne. "Who did this?"

"We act on instructions from the highest authority." He stated.

"I am the highest authority." She narrowed her eyes at him before pointing at the hole showing the creature's brain. "The creature will be released, now." She snapped at them. The Doctor stared at the woman before his eyes snapped to the mask still in his hands. "I said now!" She shouted again as no one moved. "Is anyone listening to me?"

The realisation hit the Doctor like a ton of bricks and the Doctors eyes lowered to the ground for a moment. "Liz. Your mask."

"What about my mask?" She frowned.

Hollie's eyes widened understanding what the Time Lord meant as she looked at the old mask with cracks in some of the edges.

"Look at it." He held it up. "It's old. At least two hundred years old, I'd say."

"Yeah?" She frowned with a shrug, not thinking much of it. "It's an antique. So?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, "an antique made by craftsmen over two hundred years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face."

Hollie shook her head. "That's sick."

The Doctor turned to his friend and nodded. "That's the human race for you Hollie."

The blonde stared at the Time Lord for a moment before she looked at Liz who stared at them in confusion. "What?"

"Liz I'm sorry." She whimpered as the Doctor sent the girl an apologetic look before deeply sighing and looking at the Queen.

"They slowed your body clock, but you're not fifty. Nearer three hundred. And it's been a long old reign."

"Nah, it's ten years." She instantly corrected him. "I've been on this throne for ten years."

"Ten years." Hollie quietly whispered.

The Doctor nodded. "And the same ten years, over and over again, always leading you here."

"Can they do that?" Amy asked.

"It's what she told them to do." The Doctor answered.

"What have you done?" Liz stared at Hawthorne.

"Only what you have ordered." He answered making the Doctor correct. "We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us."

"If you are watching this." A Queen Liz on a small screen stated after Hawthorne turned it on. "If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts." The Liz on the screen explained before lowering her eyes and pausing for a moment. "This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind." She looked back at the screen, back into the face of the current Liz Ten. "And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the Forget button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision."

"I voted for this." Amy looked at the Doctor in horror. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice." The Doctor explained. "Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that." He narrowed his eyes at the ginger. "And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what I need to know."

"I don't even remember doing it!"

"You did it." He hissed. "That's what counts."

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Oh, I don't care." He snapped. "When I'm done here, you're going home."

Hollie stared at the Doctor in shock. He wasn't actually going to do that, was he? She couldn't possibly live with herself knowing Amy was stuck living a boring old life while she travelled the universe, they dreamed about it together ever since they met the Doctor, one silly mistake wasn't really going to change all that, right?

"Why?" Amy asked. "Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!"

"Yeah, I know." He waved a hand. "You're only human."

"What are you doing?" Liz asked as the Doctor moved over to what looked like a large control panel as he brought he screwdriver out of his blazer pocket.

"The worst thing I'll ever do." He admitted. "I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it."

"But that's practically killing it." Hollie looked at him.

"Look," he sighed, lowering his hand as he turned to the girl. "I have three options, here. One, I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two, I kill everyone on this ship. Three, I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, because I won't be the Doctor any more."

"There must be something we can do, some other way-" Liz tried to cut in only making the Doctor turn to her and snap.

"Nobody talks to me!" He shouted making Hollie and Amy jump in his anger. "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!"

×××

While the Doctor worked on the machine Hollie sat in the corner of the room, staring at him as her thoughts flew around in her head like busy bees in a hive. Amy sat next to Mandy the two quietly talking.

"Timmy!" Mandy looked up and noticed her friend as he walked into the room. "You made it, you're okay." She grinned and stood up before she ran over to him and tightly hugged him. "It's me, Mandy."

Hollie watched the two friends embrace before her eyes widened as one of the tentacles appeared from out of a hole. She jumped up only to stop when the tentacle lightly tapped the girl on the back. Mandy turned around and smiled before she stroked the creature.

Amy stared as well before she looked at her friend and smiled. "The Children." They both laughed before Amy jumped up, the two ran over to Liz. "Doctor, stop," Amy told him. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!"

"Sorry, Your Majesty." Hollie lightly pushed Liz towards the screen where the two buttons were.

"Going to need a hand," Amy added grabbing Liz and pulling her to the voting buttons.

"No!" The Doctor shouted, launching himself at the three only to be pushed away by Hollie.

Amy slammed Liz' hand down on the 'Abdicate' button, the whale roared and the ship shook as sirens blared.

"Hollie, Amy, what have you done?"

"Nothing at all," Amy asked. "Am I right?"

Hawthorne looked at the computer before he turned around to them. "We've increased speed."

Hollie grinned and high fived Amy who laughed and hugged her friend. "It helps when you let the pilot do what it needs to do to go where it needs to go, torturing helps no one."

Liz frowned at the girls. "It's still here. I don't understand."

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago." Amy explained. "It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry."

Hollie crossed her arms and walked towards the Doctor, standing right in front of him. "What if you were really old, and really kind and all alone? Your whole race dead." His eyes softened slightly. "No future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind, you couldn't just stand there and watch children cry."

The Doctor stared at the blonde for a long moment before he turned and walked away. "Doctor!" Amy shouted going to run after him.
Hollie sighed and shook her head pulling her friend back. "Leave him, Ames."

"But—" she looked at the blonde.

"He needs time." She shook her head. "We did almost kill everyone on this ship and he did almost kill the last Star Whale."

Amy slowly nodded and they heard the Doctors footsteps turn into silence.

×××

After what seemed like forever Hollie found the Doctor on one of the many decks of the ship, staring out into space through one of the large glass windows. The Doctor turned around as she slowly walked up to him. "Are you still mad?" She asked, not daring to look at him, only looking in the same direction as the Time Lord.

"Mad?" He dragged his eyes away from the beautiful view to look at her. "Why would I be mad?"

"For what we did."

"Yeah." He nodded. "You could have killed everyone on this ship and I don't know if I would have been able to get back to the TARDIS quick enough to save you."

Hollie shook her head. "It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does."

"You could have killed a Star Whale." She replied. "I wasn't going to let you kill a species. I'll rescue you before that happens."

He shook his head. "Thank you." He smiled sadly at her. "My very own rescuer."

"Who's rescuing who?" Amy asked walking towards them.

"I was explaining about the starwhale and how we saved it."

"Yeah we did, didn't we?" Amy laughed.

Hollie giggled at her best friend. "It was quite good."

"Quite?" Amy looked at her. "It was amazing! Don't you think so Doctor? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind."

The Doctor frowned. "But you couldn't have known how it would react."

"Neither could you." Hollie protested. "But I've seen it before." She smiled. "Very old and very kind, sound familiar?"

The Doctor stared at her and Amy grinned. "Don't forget the very, very last of their kind."

The Doctor stared at the girls and blinked not expecting them to both suddenly launch at him with a hug.

"Hey," Amy said causing the Doctor to frown.

"What?"

"Gotcha." She laughed.

Hollie joined in with her own laughter as the Doctor chuckled. "Gotcha."

×××

After the trio wondered around the Starship for a while more they headed back to the TARDIS. "Shouldn't we say goodbye?" Amy questioned as they walked up to the blue box. "Won't they wonder where we went?"

"For the rest of their lives." The Time Lord hummed. "Oh, the songs they'll write." He remarked, brining his key out from where it was hidden on a chain around his neck and under his clothes. "Never mind them. Big day tomorrow." He unlocked the door.

Amy blinked, staring at Hollie who shook her head when she mouthed 'you told him' to the blonde. "Sorry, what?"

"Well, it's always a big day tomorrow." He shrugged over his shoulder "We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones."

Amy looked at Hollie for a moment silently wishing she could ask for her advice on the matter. "You know what I said about getting back for tomorrow morning? Have you ever run away from something because you were scared, or not ready, or just, just because you could?"

Hollie frowned at her best friends words. She loved Rory, everyone knew it, how was she, Amelia Pond scared?

"Once, a long time ago." He replied opening the door.

"What happened?" Hollie curiously asked, tilting her head at the Time Lord in wonder.

The Doctor tilted his head to match hers and waved. "Hello."

Hollie giggled, shaking her head at the Doctors goofy personality as Amy cut in, making them both look at her. "Right. Doctor, there's something I haven't told you." She stopped hearing a phone ring. "No, hang on." She looked at the TARDIS. "Is that a phone ringing?"

The Doctor stepped inside the TARDIS and headed to the console with Hollie and Amy following. "People phone you?"

"Well, it's a phone box." He shrugged moving to the console. The Doctor looked at Hollie who was the closest to the phone. "Would you mind?"

Hollie's eyes widened before her brain actually started to work again and allowed her to pick up the phone and answer. "Hello?"

"Hello, it's the Prime Minister."

"What?" Hollie frowned and held the phone away from herself. "Doctor, he says he's the Prime Minister."

"First the Queen, now the Prime Minister." Amy looked at the Doctor. "Get about, don't you?"

"Which Prime Minister?" He questioned.

Hollie brought the phone back to her ear. "Which one?" She rolled her eyes. "The British one. Sorry, I don't think that's helpful."

Amy giggled at her friend and the Doctor smiled slightly as the blonde's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god."

"What?" The Doctor ran around the console. "What is it?" He worryingly asked.

"It's Winston Churchill." She held the phone out.

The Doctor laughed and took the phone off the blonde. "Hello, dear." He spoke into the phone. "What's up?"

"Tricky situation, Doctor," Winston said through the phone. "Potentially very dangerous. I think I'm going to need you."

"Don't worry about a thing, Prime Minister." The Doctor handed the phone to Hollie who held it to the Doctors ear as he pressed a button on the console.

"We're on our way."