Chapter 49: Obvious, When You Think About It

My mother was clearly captive but she looked unharmed. Her eyes flicked between the camera and whatever card or screen she was supposed to be reading from. ‘We were wrong, all of us,’ she intoned mechanically. ‘We have pretended to be meat. We have denied our true nature. We must free ourselves from the cold shackles of this prison planet. We,’ and here she coughed and stumbled, looking sharp at the camera, and shook her head saying, ‘This is all true, they’re not forcing me, I understand now, we must ascend, I don’t know what…’ At this a jolt ran through her, and her face twisted in pain. She gathered herself, turned angrily to her left and said with what looked like the last of her strength. ‘Can’t you see I understand? I agree with…’ Another jolt, and her voice when she spoke again was on the verge of tears. She went back to reading the script. ‘You must join us, Mary Sue. I love you, and it is our destiny to be together. Ask your precious Teacher. Forget your past, and think of your destiny. Nothing compares to destiny.’

The recording came to a halt. My hand was over my mouth. The stone that started dropping through my insides when I saw her face was still plummeting. Maybe being the Chosen One gave me infinitely deep metaphorical innards. I’d have preferred laservision. Or a brain. As soon as I knew David Tennant was my reincarnating father, I should have realised that my mother was… ‘But wait,’ I said to the Teacher. ‘You said she died giving birth to me, and then reincarnated! That I was the last of her strength. That doesn’t work because…’

‘She died again in a car crash, aged five. We are not immune from casual tragedy.’

I rewound the disc and froze the picture, trying to find anything of myself in her face. I knew there would be nothing – I’d already been told how I’d grown to resemble the couple who brought me up – but I desperately wanted to catch some flash of familiarity. I stared and stared. Eventually, the Teacher said gently, ‘There is nothing, Mary Sue. That’s not how it works.’

‘So,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what this means. What do we have to do now?’

‘She told us she is really your mother. She told us she is not some surgical creation.’

‘How?’

‘She said, “We must ascend”. It was the agreed signal, should this ever happen to her, or to David. It means she will do everything she can to stall them.’

‘What did she mean about the prophecy?’

Miss Smallbone bent forward, plump little hands holding each other. Her knuckles didn’t whiten the way a normal person’s would have done. ‘The prophecy is confused, and a dangerous guide. No, Mary Sue, don’t interrupt. I am going to tell you, but it is important you do not let what I say bear too heavily on you. From the prophecy, it is unclear whether or not you join the Master or kill him, that remains your choice, but it does say you join your mother, and it does say that your father sacrifices himself for you. They do not survive, and they go to a place from where they will not return. And also, they…’ She stopped.

‘You cannot…’

‘I know. It is just very difficult to explain. Our language has a much more complicated verb structure than English, as bad as Russian or something, and the conditional tense is particularly tortuous-slash-ambiguous. The Master will use an obscure section of the prophecy to confuse you: it says something along the lines of your mother being both your saviour and also the great betrayer. It is not clear who she betrays, or how, or even whether this is a good or bad thing. The phrase has so many meanings that it is fundamentally meaningless, which is why it is so dangerous. You must not trust anything the Master says about your mother. She was the purest and best of us, and I will not believe she is anything but that now. When she said, “We must ascend,” she meant we must do what we are doing. She will fight to the last, and she loves your father beyond the death she cannot avoid.’

‘When did you last speak to her?’

‘I know her, but she doesn’t know me. Only you know me, and David. And only David knows her. Her identity must be protected from the Master.’

‘And yet.’

‘And yet what?’

‘And yet there she is, Miss Smallbone. On the screen, captured. They found out who she was, and it’s obvious how they did it, if they knew about David Tennant.’ The Teacher said nothing. ‘Rose and the Doctor? Don’t you think that was a bit stupid? In retrospect? The way they looked at each other every week?’

‘They are both good actors, Mary Sue.’

‘And yet.’

‘Yes. And yet. I’m sorry.’
***

If you are a billionaire twenty-five year-old and your father marries someone old enough to be your little sister, no one expects you to think of this new step-mother as your mother. That was not exactly the problem I had thinking about my new relationship to Billie Piper, but it wasn’t exactly not what at least one of the problems was. But there was nothing to be done about that. I had a trial to prepare for, and even if The Teacher didn’t like my strategy, I couldn’t think of anything else. Sir Connaught Sampson-Samson thought it would be fun, but even he was scared. David Tennant looked proud when we discussed it. After learning that Billie was captured, his eyes locked themselves to the table for five minutes, during which he spoke in a dead monotone. After that, he was the most frightening, beautiful David Tennant, voice brittle with having to pretend. I loved every meeting with him despite it all, and our connection was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I thought, ‘So this is the connection you feel with your real father.’ I still loved the man who brought me up, but with David the bond was more utter and primal. I understood, a little, Electra and all those other tragic ones.

The trial got closer. But I still had something that needed clearing up. Once we went to court, things might happen too fast. ‘You have to tell me about Rollo Price,’ I asked him.