26 Apr 2014

The Story of Ivy Coldstone (Part 4)

The Doctor stood in front of the coffin, his hand resting on the black wood. It felt cold. It felt lifeless. It didn’t feel anything like Ivy. She was always so full of life and to see what she had become broke his hearts.

He had always had difficulty accepting the mortality of his companions. He never wanted to hang around and watch them grow old and die, but this was worse. This was Ivy taken away at the prime of her life.

He frowned to himself. Looking at the coffin he realised that he himself would be lying in one of these, and in the not too distant future. He’d faced death before, of course, on numerous occasions, but any battle against it this time just felt futile.

“You okay?” came Alice’s voice and the gentle touch of her hand on his shoulder.

“Mmm-hmm,” he said, nodding. He wasn’t really.

“I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through,” she said. Ivy suddenly seemed to tune in to what he was thinking about. “Can’t your own people help you?”

The Doctor turned, not knowing what to say to her.

“Surely you want to be on your own planet with your own family. Surely they can help.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Too much has happened. It can’t be helped. Not now.”

Alice frowned. He was always so vague when he spoke about his own people - the Time Lords. It’s like he was avoiding even mentioning them. She felt that she’d never get any answers out of him.

“C’mon,” said Dennington from his pew, “it’s time.”

“Nobody else coming?” said the Doctor, glancing around the church, feeling a little upset.

“Like who?” said Dennington. “She lost everything, remember?”

The Doctor puffed out his cheeks and blew out air. “Well, at least she’ll be reunited with James now. And Leska,” he added quickly.




The service was a quick and light affair. The vicar had used the anti-gravity unit to take the coffin out of the church and out into the Martian landscape. What they were standing in was a large, open area with a huge glass dome covering them. All along the reddish-brown surface were headstones.

Alice found it slightly creepy. She knew it was exactly the same on Earth - people buried under the ground - but she never expected to see it on an alien world.

The coffin was slowly lowered into the ground.

Dennington stepped forward. “I got to know Ivy quite well over the last few years. She was always there for me. She was a bright spark in the dark night, and I will miss her.”

Dennington stepped back and the Doctor felt himself walking forward. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to say.

He opened his mouth. “I…” He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. “I…”

“Doctor?” said Alice, looking concerned over his shoulder.

The Doctor cried out in agony and fell to his knees, the Martian dust billowing up around his knees. He was lost to the world. All he could feel was searing pain through his temples, prickling down his neck and causing him to have palpitations. One of his hearts had stopped and he fell forward, his face hitting the dust.

He felt himself being rolled onto his back, but the person standing above him wasn’t Alice or Dennington. It was his previous incarnation.

He leaned over him, concern on his face. “You idiot!” he scolded.

“What?” gasped the Doctor, barely getting the words out.

“Are you really this stupid? Have you been led astray so much?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Get it into your stupid head,” he said, tapping his right temple with his index finger. “Think thing’s through. Think it through!”

Suddenly the Doctor was awake again. The pain had subsided and his previous incarnation was gone. Standing there above him was Alice, Dennington and the old, frail vicar.

“Open the coffin,” said the Doctor quickly.

“I don’t think-”

“Open the coffin,” said the Doctor again, scrambling to his feet and steadying himself with Alice’s help.

“No,” said Dennington.

“Did you do a formal ID?”

“Of course I did,” said Dennington, frowning.

“Did you do a post mortem?”

“Doctor, she was thrown from an exploding shuttle.”

“Where there any burn marks on her? Any sign of bodily damage?”

“She was thrown from the shuttle.”

“She wouldn’t have been thrown from an explosion unless she was already exiting, and if she was already exiting the shuttle then she would be in a spacesuit.”

“Doctor…”

“Open the coffin,” said the Doctor again.

Dennington looked at the Doctor and then at Alice. Alice nodded to him, and Dennington pushed past the Doctor, clambering down into the grave.

The Doctor threw his sonic screwdriver down to him and Dennington aimed it at the coffin. A few clunks later and the lid was unlocked. Dennington got to his knees and slid back the panel that covered over the upper portion.

Dennington almost wept when he saw the perfect, sleeping features of Ivy, her red curls draped over her shoulders. She looked so peaceful and serene.

“Run the screwdriver over her,” said the Doctor. “Setting F-21”

Dennington changed the setting and then ran it above Ivy’s face. It was faint, but there was a slow, beeping coming from the device.

“Well?” said the Doctor, an excited smile on his face.

“There are faint brain signals in there.”

“They lied to us. Ivy isn’t dead at all!”

“But why?” said Dennington unable to grasp the reality of the situation.

“Because,” said the vicar, a smirk on his face, “we needed to lure you here.”

All three of them looked at the vicar as the smirk grew wider. He began laughing as he removed his white smock and threw his walking stick to the ground.

“Who are you?”

“You can call me Commander Verash.” He held up a device on his wrist and flicked a button. His imaged shifted and blurred until standing there was not an old man, but a young, short-dark-haired man with a square jaw, piercing blue eyes and high cheekbones.

“Neat trick,” said Alice.

Verash smiled at Alice. “All in good time. You can wait your turn, Miss Stokes.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Who do you work for?” said Dennington quickly. “Why have you even played this insane, cruel trick?”

“To answer your first question, I work for Eyeglass.”

“Oh god,” said Dennington, his face pale.

“I might have known,” said the Doctor.

“And who are Eyeglass?” said Alice, confused at the two men’s reactions to Verash.

“A company that exist purely to make Humanity better.”

“Well that’s good isn’t it?” said Alice, frowning.

“No,” said the Doctor. “They are willing to exploit any race, any technology, any thing just for the-”

“For the good of the Human race,” smiled Verash. “It’s all that matters.”

“I had a run in with them a while back. How is the General?”

“He’ll be much happier now we’ve got you.”

“Go on then,” said the Doctor, sitting himself down on a nearby Martian rock, “tell me how you ensnared me?”

“Simple,” said Verash. “Miss Coldstone was in our time zone and we discovered she was a former associate-”

“Friend.”

“-a friend of yours. We staged her death knowing full well that you’d come here to mourn her.”

The Doctor nodded. “Pretty simple then really.”

“So Ivy-” started Dennington.

“She’s just in an induced coma. We took her out, blew up the shuttle and then got our own medics to declare her dead, leaving the body back with you, Mr Dennington.”

Despite the severity of the situation, Alice noticed the Doctor look relieved.

“And that brings me on to you, Miss Stokes,” said Verash.

“Me? What do you want with me?”

Verash clicked his fingers and Alice suddenly felt the world melt away until all that was left was blackness.




When Alice awoke she was lying in the dust. Her head was hurting and she could feel a trickle of blood running down the left side of her face. It felt warm and trickled into her mouth.

She was aware of something happening around her. There were explosions and what sounded like gun fire - no - laser fire. Futuristic weapons.

She edged herself up on her elbows and tried to bring her surroundings back into focus.

“Doctor…” she mumbled. And then louder. “Doctor!”

“Can you walk?” said an Irish, female voice.

Alice looked up. Standing there above her in some kind of black, combat suit - maybe some kind of uniform - with long red hair, pale face and green eyes was the woman called Ivy Coldstone. The woman they thought had been dead.

“What…” slurred Alice.

“Can you bloody well walk?” said Ivy, more urgently.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh for goodness sake, woman. Can you walk?”

“Yes,” said Alice, feeling herself hauled to her feet. “I can try.”

Ivy was taller than her and struck an imposing figure in the combat suit. The ground shook and Alice noticed a few very small cracks in the glass dome above them.

And that’s when Alice noticed something else. Something above them, flying close to the top of the glass dome. It was a spaceship. It didn’t look sleek or particularly beautiful to look at. Just a huge, dark oblong shape floating above ominously. Emblazoned on it’s underbelly was a glowing green eye and various bolts of energy were being fired out of weapons adorned across the edges of the ship.

“What the hell…?” said Alice as she was dragged towards the church by Ivy.

“No time to answer now, sweetheart,” said Ivy as they ran - or in Alice’s case stumbled - through the church and into the corridor beyond.

Ivy took them into the main Martian complex. All around were screams as people ran for cover, ran for escape pods and ran for transport ships. The huge Eyeglass ship was pounding the protective domes that covered the Mars base over and over again.

“I don’t understand,” said Alice. “Why are they attacking their own people? Why are they attacking the Humans.”

“Beats me,” said Ivy. “Maybe they don’t like us mingling with the Martians.”

Alice looked around. There weren’t just Human beings here. There were green scaly creatures wearing some kind of battle armour. They looked as concerned and frightened as the rest of the colony.

“Where’s the Doctor?” said Alice as she was dragged into a corridor lined with various small, circular airlocks.

“I told you - not time to answer now. We need to find an escape pod.”

“But the TARDIS -”

“Forget it,” said Ivy, more forcefully this time. “We need to get off Mars now!”

They finally found an airlock with it’s door unlocked. Ivy opened it up and the two women both clambered into the very small, very cramped pod.

“This is a bit of a tight fit,” said Alice, almost banging her already-sore head.

“I’m sorry,” said Ivy, closing the door and prepping the pod for launch, “I should have booked us into a Gold Standard pod,” she said sarcastically.

“Where are we going to go?” said Alice as the pod whirred into life.

“Back to Earth. In an emergency the pods are programmed to travel back to Central Command.”

“And what then?”

Ivy looked exasperated. “I don’t know, Alice. I’m sorry. I know you want to go and help the Doctor. I want to help him too, but right now my main priority is getting you away from Verash and Eyeglass.

“What have I got to do with any of this?” said Alice, finding the situation becoming more and more laughable.

“Because,” said Ivy, as the pod began to detach from the airlock, “they did something to you. They planted something in your head.”

“What?!” spluttered Ivy, not quite believing it.

“Have you had any bad dreams? Have you found yourself waking up somewhere you hadn’t gone to sleep in?”

“I’ve been dreaming of a face,” said Alice, trying to picture the face, but not quite remembering it. “And I did wake up in the swimming pool the other day.”

“Mmm-hmm,” said Ivy, nodding. “That’s because you’ve been switching off whilst somebody else uses your body.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Alice, shaking her head and laughing nervously.

“I’ve just witnessed it, love,” said Ivy. “Hold on tight!”

Alice suddenly felt a rushing sensation as her body was pressed against the small seat in the pod. The circular window at the front showed the surface of Mars rushing towards them, and then the pod tilted and lifted into the air and Alice could see a blanket of stars up above.

When the shuttle had hit it’s cruising speed, Alice unbuckled her seatbelt and scrambled to look out of the window. Below was Mars - the glass dome shattered as the huge, Eyeglass ship continued to pound it with bolts of weapon fire.

“They just don’t care now,” said Ivy, peering over Alice’s shoulder.

“Why do it at all?”

“Because they’re cruel and vicious,” she said.

“And he’s down there somewhere,” said Alice, thinking of the Doctor, stuck in the middle of all of that.

“He’ll be fine. He’ll be safe. He knows what to do.”




On the surface of Mars, the Doctor and Dennington had taken refuge in one of the only buildings in the colony that had not lost it’s air.

They were gathered around by a group of people including an Ice Lord and one of the Martian warriors.

“So, you’re the mighty Doctor,” said the Ice Lord.

“I wouldn’t say mighty,” said the Doctor.

“I’ve heard of you. I know of the legends.” The Ice Lord extended it’s claw. “My name is Saraxx.”

“Please to meet you, Saraxx.”

Saraxx hissed it’s approval. “We must escape this place before there’s nothing left to escape from.”

“Easier said than done,” said the Doctor. “My TARDIS is back in the collapsed section. We tried to get to it but it was near on impossible.”

“Well I refuse to be slaughtered like cattle.”

There was a rumble and the ground shook, causing some of the group to cry out in fear. A billow of dust emerged from down a corridor and the Doctor, Dennington and Saraxx were aware of something emerging from the dust.

Eventually the dust cleared, and standing there was a huge, seven-foot tall pure, white skinned man. His head was like a skull with jagged yellow teeth, whilst evil yellow eyes stared out over high cheek bones. He wore blue armour with rippling muscles underneath and strapped to his belt was an array of weapons.

“Good evening,” he growled.

“Paragrim,” said the Doctor.

He lifted a huge blaster and pointed it at the Doctor’s group. “You’re under arrest. General Helix is waiting for you.”




A long time later, after the ship had left with the Doctor, Dennington and Saraxx as prisoner, the colonists emerged from their hiding places. One of them looked up into the sky - it was a girl of about 12, her hair covered in dust and her eyes scared.

One of the warriors that had been left behind put it’s claw on her shoulder. She had always feared these creatures, but now she no longer feared them. She looked up at the Ice Warrior.

“We will be okay,” it hissed.

She nodded and looked back to the stars and towards Earth.

She no longer feared the Ice Warriors.

She feared the Eyeglass.

She feared the Humans.

She feared herself.




TO BE CONTINUED…



Next time: Ivy and Alice join the dots, whilst the Doctor and Dennington are captured by The Eyeglass. "Fall of the Eye" begins Saturday May 3rd 2014.

19 Apr 2014

The Story of Ivy Coldstone (Part 3)

Alice shook her head. “That’s…an incredibly sad story.”

“It is,” said the Doctor. “I’m afraid that back then I was a very reckless person. I often found myself getting into trouble and then having to deal with the consequences of my actions.”

“Surely nothing’s changed,” said Dennington.

The Doctor had a wry smile. “I wasn’t very good at dealing with things. I made a few mistakes. I was maybe a little too overly sentimental.”

Alice put her hand on his. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”

“No,” said the Doctor, leaning back on the church pew, “but it meant that I failed in my job with Ivy.”

“Ivy had a good life,” said Dennington.

“Yes, but I should have stayed to help her through her grief. Instead I just ran away.” He sighed. “I did keep checking on her though. I saw her spiralling further and further out of control. The job she had…well, I think they called it a lady of the night back then.”

Alice nodded. She knew what he meant by that.

“When she finally hit rock bottom, I decided that I had to do something. By then, though, it had been a year since I’d first met her.”




London, England, 1860




The man stood there, his top hat filthy and falling apart. There was a whiff on stale beer on his breath and Ivy felt sick at the site of his fat, podgy face and grey stubble. He leered at her.

“How much then, love?”

Ivy looked him up and down. “Too much for you.”

Normally she wouldn’t have said anything. She would have accepted any money that came her way, but after seven months of being stuck in this rut, she was beginning to lose all hope. She should have just thrown herself into the Thames that day and ended it all. Then she’d be with James at last.

“I beg your pardon?” said the man, his eyebrows arched. “I’ll ‘ave you know I’ve got enough money to pay your wages for the year.”

“A year with you?” said Ivy with distaste. “Not a chance. If you had that much money, you wouldn’t be dressed as the most undesirable man in London.”

He snorted and then spat into the gutter. They were standing in a narrow alleyway lined with tall, old stone buildings, the gutters running with effluent and rain water.

Ivy found herself backing up a little. She was wearing a low-cut white dress and found herself pulling her shawl a little tighter around her.

“You don’t get a choice in this, you little whore.”

Ivy stepped back as the man came towards her.

And then, like a sound from the Heavens, there came a screeching and whining from somewhere down the alley.

She and the man turned to look as a blue box slowly materialised. His box.

They stood watching in stunned silence for what seemed like eternity. And then the door swung open and the Doctor strode form the box. He didn’t look any different. He hadn’t changed. His clothes were slightly different. He wore a shiny, burgundy waistcoat and had lost the white jacket, replacing it with electric blue, but he was still the same man she had met a year ago.

“Doctor…” said gasped.

“Step away from her, you animal,” growled the Doctor.

“Who the hell are you?” said the man.

“I’m the Doctor. And if you’re not careful, I’ll be the man that makes you wish you’d never set your ugly eyes on this young lady.”

“Hah,” said the man, “wait your turn.”

He turned back to Ivy and the Doctor grabbed the man by his shoulder, span him around and then brought his hand down onto his other shoulder with a chop. The man winced in pain and fell to his knees.

“Leave!” growled the Doctor.

The man didn’t need to be told twice. He barely managed to get to his feet as he ran across the cobbles and to safety.

The Doctor turned back to the astonished Ivy and then broke into a wide smile. “Venusian Karate.” He then smiled sadly at her. “Hello again, Ivy.”

Ivy found her eyes welling up and then, without thinking, whacked him angrily on his chest. “Where were you?! Where did you go?”

“I…needed to get away,” said the Doctor, looking upset with himself. “I’m not very good with…emotions. That is to say, I’m okay, but I don’t quite know how to deal with them exactly.”

“I looked for you for ages. For months.”

“You should have stayed with your family.”

“I couldn’t!” she said, tears streaming down her face. “Everything reminded me of him.”

The Doctor sighed. “Come with me.”

“What?”

“I can show you a better world. A better life. My apology to you.” He held out his hand for her to take.

“I spent a year thinking about where you’d come from.” She looked up. “You came from up there, didn’t you?”

The Doctor nodded. “A long, long way from here as well.”

“It hardly seems possible.”

The Doctor smiled. “Anything is possible if you put your mind to it.”




Ivy stepped through the door of the blue box, and what greeted her was not what she was expecting. She had been expecting the inside of a dark, wooden box with maybe a chair or two to hold them in as they flew to another world, but this was the complete opposite.

It made Ivy stumble at first. It was bright. So, so bright. The room was almost like a large, white dome, filled with yellow circles that reminded her of cheese-holes. The floor was flat and grey and in the centre of the room was a white, hexagonal console with a tube that rose high-up to the ceiling.

The room hummed with energy and she could feel it vibrating through her body. It felt warm in here. Warm and safe.

And it felt alive.

The Doctor walked past her, to the console and pulled a leaver. The doors slammed shut and he smiled, folding his arms. “What do you reckon then?”

“It’s different than I’d have expected.”

The Doctor nodded. “Good-different?”

“Scary-different,” she said. And then she swayed slightly and found herself sitting on the floor. “And it can go anywhere? Any time?”

The Doctor looked at her sadly. “I know what you’re thinking, Ivy,” he said.

“What am I thinking?” she said.

He arched his eyebrows and looked at her.

“Why can’t we save him?”

“I can’t cross my own time stream. Whatever happened, happened.”

“But surely-”

“First rule - you can’t change the past. Not a fixed point, anyway. If I go back and save James then you’ll never meet me a year later to travel in this TARDIS to go back and save him. It’d create a paradox, and you don’t want that.”

Ivy rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. “Stop, stop.” She sighed. The thought had flashed across her mind when he had told her outside that they can travel in time as well. But she might have known it wouldn’t be that easy. “Can we just get out of here?”

“Out of the TARDIS?”

“No,” said Ivy. “Out of London. Out of this time. I can’t stand it anymore. The filth and the loneliness…”

“Don’t you want to pack a bag or-?”

“No,” said Ivy quickly. “I have nothing left here. I don’t want to see this place ever again.”

The Doctor nodded. “Any destination preference?”

Ivy shook her head. “Just somewhere away from here. Please. Somewhere clean with fresh air.”




A few minutes later Ivy stepped from the box onto a completely different surrounding. The air was warm and there was a gentle breeze that licked at her face and blew through her red curls. She could feel something warm through her shoes. It was sand. Warm, soft sand.

She smiled as she looked around her. They were on a beautiful, white-sanded beach. Behind the TARDIS was the clear, blue sea and at the top of the beach a lush, green jungle. A large green bird wheeled in the sky and made a strange, unearthly screeching sound. In the distance there looked to be some kind of large, stone statue near to the shoreline.

“Well?” said the Doctor, emerging from the TARDIS and locking the door behind him.

“Where are we?”

“Still on Earth,” said the Doctor. “Just some nice little island somewhere in the pacific. I like to come here to relax. Not many people come here.”

“Sounds like your life is very dangerous.”

“Yeah,” said the Doctor, sitting on the sand and gazing out at the ocean, “but rewarding. You get to see so much, Ivy.”

Ivy sat down beside him and slipped her shoes off. “What happened to the creature that killed James?”

The Doctor turned his head to look at her. “The Hoopex? It’s gone. On the other side of the galaxy. Probably back with it’s own kind.”

Ivy sighed. “Back then all I wanted was revenge on thing,” she said, finding herself welling up again, “but I guess…it was just doing what it does.” Those words were hard to say. More than anything she wanted to have the thing killed, but over time she had come to realise that it was just an animal. And an animal did what an animal had to do.

“I’m so sorry, Ivy.”

She sighed again. “Tell me more about yourself. What planet do you come from?”

He laughed, noticing that the change in conversation was necessary from Ivy. “How do you know I come from another planet.”

“Because nobody on Earth could ever be like you.” She smiled at him.

He raised his eyebrows. “Well, I’m from a little planet called Gallifrey.”

“Can we visit it?” she said eagerly.

“It’s complicated,” said the Doctor.

Ivy took the hint that he didn’t want to discuss it. “Any family?”

“Family,” laughed the Doctor. “Now there’s a long story.”

“You’re not giving me much here, are you?” she smiled.

“Okay, how about this; one of my brother’s once said to me that if you give everything away at once then you have nothing to give in the future.”

“And what happened to this brother of yours?”

“He’s gone now,” said the Doctor sadly. “Died a long, long time ago, back when I was still living on Gallifrey.”

Ivy noticed that the Doctor wans’t exactly eager to talk about his brother’s death, so changed the subject. “Ever had anyone else travel with you?”

“You’re the first,” said the Doctor with a cheeky grin.

“Liar!” said Ivy, laughing.

“Okay, okay,” said the Doctor. “I do tend to travel with an entourage from time to time. People like you, Ivy. Lost souls looking for their meaning in life.”

“Do they always find their meaning?”

The Doctor nodded. “Mostly.” He looked pained all of a sudden. “Listen, Ivy, it can be incredibly dangerous travelling with me. It can change you. It can make you unrecognisable from the person you used to be.”

Ivy nodded. “Right now, Doctor, I don’t want to be the person I am now.” She turned so she was on her knees and facing him. Something about him looked so, so old. She couldn’t quite put her fingers on it. “I want to come with you. I want to be changed. I want to be a better person. I need to get this pain out of me.”

He touched the side of her face lightly with his fingers and just nodded.

And they sat there for a long time, watching the sun go down..




Mars…Many years later




A long, long, long time had passed for Ivy. She had left the Doctor a long time ago, before meeting up with him again, this time with him sporting a new face. Before then they had explored the universe together, fighting aliens and visiting different races, different planets and different times. She had seen the fall of empires and the rise of warlords. She had fought metal monstrosities and she had changed beyond all that she had started out as.

Her and the Doctor had become the best of friends. She had learnt to grow and become more than the weak woman that she had been all those years ago. She had become wise to the universe and she had learnt so much about the Doctor’s past. The Time War, Gallifrey’s destruction and the complications that had arisen after that. She had fought the deadly Carracarra’s after they had stormed the Great Dome. She had met knew friends and fought alongside enemies. She had watched the Doctor win the Universal Scrabble Championship.

And she had almost fallen in love with the Doctor. He had never shown any such emotion towards her, but she had still felt it. It was the same feeling she had had when she had fallen for James, but something inside her heart told her that she couldn’t do anything about it.

And then she had met Leska. The beautiful, beautiful Leska. She had fallen in love with her and she had travelled with the Doctor and Ivy for some time. This had been the first time she had really loved since James.

And then it had happened again. This time Leska had died.

It was at the Bassassel gardens in China. She had fought bravely, but there had been nothing that they could have done to save her. And the heartache was too much for Ivy. To love the love of your life once, was bad enough, but to lose it twice…that was too, too much.

She had told the Doctor that she wanted to leave him, and so he had given her a time ring so she could explore the universe on her own.

And then he had gone. She didn’t know it at the time, but she would never, ever see that same face of his ever again. The next time she met him, he had regenerated. He had changed into somebody completely different, and although she still felt close to him, it was like she had lost yet another loved one.

After leaving Theen with Dennington, they had settled back on Mars and Ivy had gotten a job transporting minerals from Mars to Earth. She enjoyed her job. She knew she wouldn’t stick at it for long, but just for a while she needed some normality.

Dennington was the controller back at the station and she had just finished loading up her final load for the day when his voice crackled over the intercom.

“Come in, Ivy,” he said.

“Good afternoon, boss,” she said with a cheery smile.

“Are you coming home tonight, or what?”

“Easy,” said Ivy, flicking her switches and prepping the shuttle for launch. “I’ve just been having a Taligion tea with the Ice Warrior stationed at Earth Control.”

“We’re shutting down in an hour. Get yourself back here ASAP.” He sounded stern, but there was still warmth in his voice.

“On my way, Mark,” she smiled. “I’ll see you in another life, yeah?”

“Out,” said Dennington.




Forty-five minutes later, as the shuttle was coming in to land on Mars, it exploded.


Next time: The Doctor, Dennington and Alice bury Ivy Coldstone...and all Hell breaks loose! Coming 26th April 2014.

12 Apr 2014

The Story of Ivy Coldstone (Part 2)

Alice had been listening intently to the Doctor’s story. He had described himself in great detail, but somehow the description and even the mannerisms of the Doctor back then hadn’t seemed the same. She could have never imagined the Doctor with a full head of hair or a beard.

And his personality seemed different. Maybe it’s because he was younger, but he seemed a little more feisty and argumentative. A little more stubborn perhaps.

They were brought out of the story when they heard footsteps. Coming up the centre of the church, looking very solemn, was a man in his late 40’s with wavy black hair and deep, dark eyes. He had his hands in his pocket and wore a simple black suit with a white shirt and black tie.

“Mr Dennington!” said the Doctor, getting up and greeting the man with a warm hug.

“I’m sorry, Doctor,” said Dennington sadly.

“How did it happen?” said the Doctor, suddenly remembering why they were here.

Alice glanced back at the black coffin.

“Like I said before, she was killed in a shuttle accident.”

“Yes, but how?” said the Doctor. Alice could see he was having difficulty grasping Ivy’s death.

“After leaving Theen we’d decided to come back to Mars. Ivy was only staying to keep me company, but then she got herself a job moving the Martian rocks and minerals from here to Earth. She used to fly a transport shuttle. She was on her way back when there was a malfunction and the shuttle exploded.”

“And she was definitely on the shuttle?”

“A full investigation was carried out. Her body was found outside the shuttle, floating in space. It was definitely her.”

The Doctor shook his head and then looked at the coffin. “I’m so sorry, Ivy,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.

“Look,” said Alice, trying to lighten the mood, “why don’t you finish telling me about the first time you met her?”

“Oh,” said Dennington, “Ivy was always quiet on that one.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, sitting back down next to Alice with Dennington joining them. “I’m afraid the origins of Ivy’s travels with me weren’t exactly happy.”

“It might help the both of you to tell them though,” said Alice with a sad smile.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, nodding. “Where was I?”

“The egg had just cracked open.”

“Ah, yes,” said the Doctor, nodding slowly. “That’s when the trouble really started...”




London, England, 1859




The smoke from the egg had risen to about 7 foot high, and James was pulling on Ivy, urging her to run with the rest of them, but something inside Ivy made her want to continue to watch. The plume of green smoke had expanded and they could no longer see the egg.

“What the bloody hell is it?” said Humphries, coughing and spluttering.

“I’m still not sure without examining it,” said the Doctor. “But whatever it is is growing at an exceptional rate.” The Doctor looked at Ivy and James. “You two need to get out of here. Now!” He turned to Humphries. “You too.”

“But it’s my egg.”

“Oh for goodness sake,” said the Doctor, grabbing Humphries arm and pushing him towards the escaping crowd. “Take your loss and go.”

“Release me, sir!”

Suddenly there came a deep, rumbling growl from somewhere within the smoke. It was now expanding towards them, and the Doctor and Humphries were slowly backing away. It had reached a height of around 15 foot now and they could see a blurred shadow moving somewhere in the swirling mass.

“RUN!” said the Doctor.

The four of them scattered. Ivy, somehow, ended up following the Doctor after she was separated from James amongst the panicked crowd. Humphries had ended up running with James.

The Doctor instinctively grabbed for Ivy’s hand and she felt herself being pulled faster and faster than her legs could take her.

“Wait!” she said, eventually pulling free and bending over, gasping for air.

“We have to go,” said the Doctor, reaching out his arm again. His eyes then flashed back up the way they had come. The plume of smoke was now around 50 foot high and had consumed most of the stalls at the centre of the fair. “This is bad.”

“Can you stop it?” said Ivy. She wasn’t sure why she was asking, but she had a feeling that if anyone was to sort this out then it was this mysterious Doctor.

“I don’t even know what it is,” he replied, his eyes darting left to right as he toyed between getting away and staying to find out what was going to happen. This wasn’t fear, thought Ivy, this was genuine concern.

“Well, should we run or not?” Running. Running! Ivy’s mind suddenly turned to her fiancĂ©. “Wait a minute. What about James?”

“I saw him running the other way with Humphries. He’ll be fine.”

Ivy felt the panic rising in her chest. Her heart was beating faster and faster. She couldn’t lose him. She couldn’t. Without thinking she bolted from the Doctor’s side, hoisted her dress up and ran towards the pillar of smoke.

“Ivy, wait!” she heard the Doctor calling.

She didn’t care. James had gone the other way, towards the river. She had to get to him. Before she knew it she was up close to the smoke. It was like a thick fog. She pulled out a handkerchief and coughed as she covered her mouth. And then she started to regret what she had done. She was lost amongst the smoke and couldn’t tell where she was going.

It was then that she spotted a large shape looming above her. She couldn’t quite make out what it was, but it was over 50 feet high. And it smelt. It smelt of rotten eggs and sick.

“Ivy…” came the Doctor’s distant voice from somewhere outside the smoke.

From somewhere up above there came a low, rumbling growl. She saw something black swaying about up above. And then she saw the thing lower it’s head. She still couldn’t work out what it looked like, but she spotted two burning bright-red eyes set either side of what she assumed was it’s head.

She was frozen to the spot as the creature’s head lowered further down towards her.

And then she felt the grip of a hand around her slender arm. It tightened around her and she turned to face her rescuer.

“Run! NOW!” said the Doctor.

She didn’t need to be told twice. She ran. Actually, she felt more like she was being dragged along than anything. She could hear thundering footsteps behind them as they made their way out of the smoke.

Once they were clear of it she realised they were at the river bank. She immediately started scanning the area for James, but he was no where to be seen.

“Get back!” shouted the Doctor.

She turned and stumbled on the muddy riverbank. When she looked up she wanted to scream, but the scream wouldn’t come out.

The creature had emerged from the smoke. It was like some kind of dinosaur that she had seen at the museum and in the children’s picture books. It’s head was huge with a row of jagged, yellow teeth. Along the top of it’s head was a ridge of horns and either side of it’s head was two bright red eyes.

The body was quite large and it walked upright on two legs. It’s arms looked big and powerful and it’s tail was long with a spiked end to it.

The Doctor was standing over Ivy pointing his strange device at the creature.

“What…what…?”

“It’s a Hoopex.”

“A what…?”

“A Hoopex. At least one of their race. I met one of them back in my second incarnation way back,” he babbled. “That one was the more intelligent, Humanoid kind. This is kind of like the bigger, dumber version. The wild pet.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Ivy, finally finding her voice again.

“It’s an alien,” said the Doctor. “From outer space,” he added quickly in case Ivy didn’t understand.

“Normally,” she said, getting to her feet, “I’d not believe such a lot of old rubbish, but there it is, standing in front of me.”

The Hoopex roared at them and Ivy caught a whiff of the rotten eggs and sick again.

“Ivy!” yelled James’s voice from back along the mud bank. “Ivy!”

“Stay back!” yelled the Doctor as the Hoopex’s head turned to look at the terrified man. “Don’t come any closer, you fool.”

But it was too late. The Hoopex was already running and clomping along the mud bank towards Ivy’s fiancĂ©. Ivy would have laughed at the site if it hadn’t been so terrifying. James running as fast as he could and the dumb looking creature clomping after him.

“No!” yelled the Doctor. “No! No! No!” his said, waving his device around and trying to get it’s attention. “Stupid creature!” he yelled.

It was almost on top of James. He slipped on the wet mud and landed face-first. He tried to struggle to his feet, but just slipped and slid on it, his eyes clogged with thick, brown mud. He found himself wading through the mud like it was some kind of muddy swimming pool.

The creature was right behind him, it’s head - and mouth - baring down on him.

He cleared his eyes with his fingers and glanced back. But he wasn’t looked at the creature. He was looking directly at Ivy.

“No,” Ivy mouthed silently.

“I love you,” he said, tears in his eyes.

“NO!” screamed the Doctor as the Hoopex’s head came crashing down on James, it’s mouth open.

Ivy closed her eyes as she heard James’s screams above the roar of the creature. When she finally dared to open them, the Hoopex was standing with it’s back to them and James was gone.

“Don’t look,” said the Doctor, as he returned to her and helped her up out of the mud.

Ivy didn’t know what to say. She was in shock. She simply stood there, shaking whilst the Doctor turned her away from the nightmare she had just witnessed.

“Stay there,” said the Doctor. “I’ll deal with this.”




Ivy didn’t say anything. She stood there, looking out of the dark water of the Thames, shivering in the cold. The Doctor had put his white jacket over her, but even that hadn’t warmed her up. She wasn’t sure what he was doing, but all she heard was the Doctor walking away…somewhere, calling the monster to follow him.

She could hear it clomping away until she no longer heard the footsteps. She dared to turn around and face the spot where James had been…killed. Something told her not to look. She didn’t want to believe it to be true.

But she turned anyway, half hoping to see him still lying there, hoping that the monster hadn’t taken him from her.

But he wasn’t there. Only his desperate, wet footprints where he had tried to scramble away. The footprints of the shoes she had bought him for his last birthday.

It was too much for her and she exploded in grief, dropping to the mud bank and howling into the night air.




It was some time later that the Doctor returned to her. She was curled up in the mud feeling numb to everything around her. The Doctor’s white jacket was covered in brown, dirty mud, but she couldn’t say anything to him. No words would come out.

He knelt down beside her and touched the side of her face.

She flinched. It wasn’t the way James used to touch her.

“I led the Hoopex away,” said the Doctor. “Set up a trans-dimensional portal beside the TARDIS…” She wasn’t listening. “…it walked right into it. Should have been transported somewhere on the other side of the galaxy…”

She didn’t reply. She couldn’t reply. She didn’t understand his strange words.

She felt herself being picked up by strong arms. The Doctor’s arms. She looked up at him as he carried her up the bank and back towards the deserted fairground. She glanced back at the place James had been taken and began to cry again.

But the Doctor didn’t stop. He looked down at her with big, sad eyes. “It’s alright,” said the Doctor. “I’ll take you home.”




The next few days remained a blur. She remembered crying a lot. She remembered James’s family crying a lot. She remembered half-cooked explanations for what had happened. A fairground trick gone wrong. In normal circumstances feuding families would have come together, but not the Gilbert’s. They already blamed her for taking their son away, and now he was dead.

She left the Coldstone family slum and found herself living out in the streets. She wasn’t sure why she had left her family. It was the Gilbert’s that had blamed her, not her own family. But she didn’t care. She needed to get away from anything that reminded her of James. It was too painful.

But somewhere, at the back of her mind, there was something else.

She found herself back at the site of the fairground. It was gone now and there was nothing but the hollow emptiness of the place. She looked out over the cold, uninviting Thames and shivered. There was a reason she was here.

She was looking for the Doctor.

He had left her back at the Coldstone’s house, made his excuses and left. But she wanted to see him. She didn’t blame him for anything. She wanted to thank him for helping her. Even though she wasn’t aware of it at the time, she knew that he had helped her. If it wasn’t for him, she would have died as well.

Maybe I should have died.

And she wanted answers. And she wanted revenge. Not on the Doctor, of course, but on the creature that had done this.

And she knew that she wouldn’t stop until she found the Doctor again.

Next Time: One year later, the Doctor and Ivy reunite once again as he introduces her to the TARDIS. Coming Saturday 19th April 2014.

5 Apr 2014

The Story of Ivy Coldstone (Part 1)

The church was small in comparison to other churches Alice had been used to over her years. This one was very similar to medieval churches back on Earth, but this was had been built more for functionality than for look or space. Instead of stone, the walls inside were polished metal with marble floors. The ceiling still rose high, but there were metal beams up there holding the roof up.

A stained-glass window looked out over the Martian landscape and, of course, didn’t let in any light. It was purely for decorative effect.

She and the Doctor slowly walked towards the front of the church, their footsteps echoing on the marble floor as they got closer and closer to the coffin.

The Doctor hadn’t told her much after they had left Little Pebbleford, and to be fair Alice was still concerned about the mysterious stranger who had caused her to black out, the readings that the TARDIS had registered coming from her brain and the mysterious death of her Headmaster David Grove. But Alice knew that the Doctor was upset about the death of his friend, Ivy Coldstone, and she felt it wrong to pressure him with her own problems at this time.

They had made a quick trip somewhere into the future and had materialised on a base covered by a protective glass dome on Mars. They were greeted by one of the workers that lived on Mars Base 5 and were escorted down a long, tube-like corridor towards the church. The tube had been more or less transparent, apart from the frame holding it together and the floor, and Alice had marvelled at the field of stars above her. Sometimes she had to pinch herself to remind her that this was all real. She was actually travelling through space and time.

Before she realised it, the Doctor had stopped and they were standing in front of the coffin. The lid was closed and the Doctor reached out to open it.

I put my hand on his arm to stop him. “Wait.”

“Alice, I have to pay my last respects,” he said solemnly.

Alice looked at him with sad eyes. “Tell me about her.”

“What?” he said, retracting his arm from the coffin lid.

“Tell me about Ivy. Tell me how you met her.”

“Alice…”

“Please, Doctor,” she said. “I’d like to know her. Then maybe I can pay my respects as well.”

The Doctor glanced back at the coffin and then at Alice. He smiled sadly and guided her over to the front chair pew. “It was a while ago, back when I was a different man.”

“How do you mean? When you had hair?”

The Doctor smiled. “Yes. When I had hair.”




London, 1859




Ivy Coldstone stood on the banks of the Thames, his long, red, curly hair blowing gently in the breeze. She stared out across Westminster bridge and towards the fairground on the other side. She had been looking forward to this evening for a long, long time. A chance to have a little bit of fun with her love at last.

Her love, James, clasped her hand and turned to smile at her.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said, her Irish accent a contrast amongst the Londoners. “It’s about time we went and had a little fun.”

Ivy had moved to London with her parents to escape the famine. She was only 13 when they had arrived, but in the ten years they had been here, her father had managed to get a job working at a textile factory, and Ivy had become a nanny for the Gilbert family. The Gilberts had three children. One of them, James, was in his mid-twenties and required no looking after, of course, but the other two were younger being 10 and 8 and the Gilberts needed someone to keep them in control at all times. Mr and Mrs Gilbert were both school teachers which meant that they weren’t always there for their children.

Isabelle and Harold Gilbert, the children, were a handful, and Ivy had come to rely on James to help her out. Their parents hadn’t known about it, and during that time Ivy and James had fallen in love. Unfortunately the Gilbert’s had discovered that Ivy wasn’t doing all the work herself and had dismissed her, causing James to fall out with his parents and run away to live in the slums with Ivy and her parents.

James’s parents had disowned him and he hadn’t seen them since.

In a fit of anger at his parents, James had proposed to Ivy. The Coldstone’s had been overjoyed. The Gilberts had not even batted an eyelid.

So when Ivy had heard that the famous Nottingham Fair was coming to London, she knew that herself and James had to go to finally have some fun with each other.

“Come on,” said Ivy, gripping James’s hand and making a run for the bridge.




Somewhere, up above in the space/time vortex, the blue box of the time and space machine known as the TARDIS span unceremoniously around and around, travelling to which ever destination it would find next. It always seemed to have a mind of its own.

Inside the TARDIS was smaller than it had been in the past. This Doctor had gone for a much more minimalist approach. The console was white with a tube that rose to a high-up ceiling, and the main walls were almost like a dome, white and adorned with various round circles. It was very similar to how he had decorated it many, many moons ago when he had first started out on this journey.

Standing at the controls was the Doctor. A different Doctor. This was the Doctor before he had regenerated into the current incarnation. This Doctor was much younger, to a Human looking in his forties. He had a full head of brown hair which was ever so slightly spiked. He also had a goatee beard and dark, dark eyes.

He was wearing a white suit with a black shirt and multicoloured tie. He also wore a silver fob watch which he consulted and then popped back into his top pocket.

It had been a little while since this incarnation of the Doctor had come into the world. He had travelled with numerous friends, but each one had left him and he wasn’t sure he was ready to make any more friends just yet. He was content just to travel on his own for a while. He needed a bit of peace and quiet.


And then he heard the beeping coming from the console.

The Doctor groaned when he realised what it was. An alien detection in Victorian London. He had only just recently left Earth and had really wanted to head out to another planet; maybe Crix and Tutorian. Maybe even Centrix, but he knew he couldn’t ignore this.

“Sod it,” he said with a groan and aimed the TARDIS for London, England, 1859.




Ivy and James ploughed into the crowds of people, all eager to see the various stalls and rides that had been put up in the fun fair. The sky was darkening now - it was late September - and all the lights from the various carousel’s and stalls where making Ivy and James stop and gaze in wonder.

Towards the north of the fair, near to the Houses of Parliament, they could see the large, cream banner with red letters declaring that this was the Nottingham Fun Fair. Ivy found it strange, because normally a fair wouldn’t have been allowed this close to the Houses of Parliament. They must have paid them an extortionate amount of money for it.

Ivy and James had bought a toffee apple from a nearby stall and were stood eating and enjoying the sites and smells, when suddenly, before their eyes, a blue box appeared out of nowhere.

Ivy and James stared, open-mouthed at what they could only assume was a magic trick.

The door opened and the Doctor stepped from it. He popped a white straw hat on his head, locked the door and then turned to face his astonished onlookers.

“Hello,” he said with a smile.

“How did you do that?” said Ivy. “That was…amazing.”

The Doctor glanced around him quickly, trying to ascertain exactly where he was.

“I bet nobody else in this fair can do something like this,” said James, taking a huge bite out of his toffee apple.

“That’s right,” said Doctor with a bow and leaning against the blue box, “I’m one of the fairground attractions. The Amazing Vanishing Man.”

“Fabulous,” said Ivy, grinning at him. “You’ll have to show me how you do that.”

“Ivy, Ivy,” said James. “I saw a fortune teller tent over back towards the river. Wanna go and see how married life’s going to treat us?”

“Come on, my darling,” sad Ivy with a grin. “Catch you later, Vanishing Man.”

The Doctor doffed his hat to them, turned and patted the blue box, and then headed into the crowds of people milling around the array of sites to see.




Ivy and James had found the Great Emily. She was sat in a small, rather dark and shabby looking tent. The inside looked even smaller and she was an older lady with grey hair. She sat, hood over her face, amongst various dangling coloured chains. In front of her on a small rickety table was a crystal ball.

“Sit, please,” said Emily as Ivy and James pulled up chairs. She looked up from beneath her hood. “Two of you, eh?”

“We’re getting -”

“No,” said James, lightly kicking Ivy.

Ivy frowned at James.

“Good, good,” smiled Emily. “Don’t give away anything away about yourselves.” She cleared her throat and then clasped Ivy and James’s hands. Her hands were clammy and waxy to the touch. “You’ve come from across the water.”

James arched his eyebrows. “Did the accent give it away?”

“Quiet,” said Ivy, glaring at her fiancĂ©.

Emily suddenly frowned, her eyes remaining tightly shut. She gripped Ivy’s hand tighter, whilst relaxing her grip a little on James’s.

“What is it?” asked Ivy, not sure whether she should be taking this seriously or not.

Her eyes snapped open and she let go of their hands. “I have to shut up for a while.”

“What?” said James. “We’ve just paid you two shilling’s for this!”

“And you can have your money back,” said the old lady, sliding the coins back across the wooden table.

James frowned at the women, but took the money back anyway. He wasn’t about to give his hard earned cash away, especially after he felt stupid for giving it to her before she did the reading.

“No, no,” said Ivy, “I’m not having any of that.” Her eyes were fierce as she stared at the old woman. “Why can’t you finish the reading?”

“I’m sorry, miss,” said the woman, getting up and beginning to pack a small bag. “I have to leave right now.”

“Why?” said Ivy, standing up, her hands spread across the table, her fierce Irish side coming out.

The old women turned to James and Ivy and looked sad. “Because you need to leave as well.”

She gathered a few more items from a small, wooden cupboard in the back, hastily packed them into her bag, grabbed her shawl and made for the exit.

“Wait!” said Ivy, feeling a lot more worried that she knew she should be.

Emily turned to face the youngsters. “I suggest the two of you leave now. Good evening.”




James had managed to calm Ivy down - just - and they had left the tent and headed nearer to the centre of the fair. They passed fire jugglers, mime acts and clowns riding amongst astonished onlookers on unicycles.

By the time they had reached a stall containing a large, blue and green speckled egg, Ivy had more or less forgotten about the strange fortune teller.

At the stall was a man in a bejewelled top hat, stripy waistcoat and wearing the longest, curliest moustache she’d ever seen. He held his arms out, sticking his large stomach out across the circular table that sat in the middle of his stall.

“Roll up! Roll up!” he bellowed in a Yorkshire accent. “Come and break open the egg. Inside the dragon’s egg is a thousand gold coins. If you can break the egg then it’s all yours. Just four shillings. Roll up! Roll up!”

The egg was rather large - about three times the size of an ostrich egg - and was sat on a small nest of straw in the middle of a round table.

“Another con,” said James, shaking his head.

“How do you know it’s a con?” said Ivy, folding her arms and staring inquisitively at him.

“For starters, there are no such things as dragons. And secondly, why would a dragon egg have golden coins in it?”

Ivy was stuck for an answer and just shook her head. “Just enjoy yourself,” she said with a laugh.

“I’m sorry,” he smiled. “I just can’t help myself sometimes.”

“Such a cynic,” she said.

Ivy was distraction when she spotted the Vanishing Man - the man in the white suit - wander up to the stall. He was looking intently at the dragon egg, rubbing the bristles of his beard.

“Is it a dragon’s egg?” asked Ivy, her eyes sparkling with interest. If he really was with the fair then he’d know for certain.

The Doctor’s eyes flicked to Ivy and then back to the egg. “No.”

“Oh,” said Ivy, a little despondent. She had been hoping he’d say yes.

“But it is an alien egg.”

“I beg your pardon?” said James, his ears pricking up at the word.

“An alien egg,” said the Doctor. He clicked his fingers and the man behind the stall came over. “Could you hand me that egg, please.”

The man laughed, his belly shaking. “That’s not how it works, sir.” He indicated an array of items that you could throw at the egg to try and break it.

“I don’t want to break it,” said the Doctor. “I want to get it off this planet.”

Ivy frowned at this strange white-suited gent. He was certainly spouting some odd things.

“I’m sorry, good sir,” said the man, “but this egg is going nowhere. There are a thousand gold coins to be had…but only in a fair contest.”

“That egg doesn’t contain golden coins,” said the Doctor, going into his pocket and pulling out a strange, metallic tube-like device with a glowing blue end. “And it is very, very, very dangerous.”

The man laughed and shook his head in disbelief.

“Where did you get the egg?” said the Doctor, a little more urgently.

“I picked it up when we were in Carlisle,” he said, “off a man in a suit.”

“And what did he say?”

“He sold it to me for a shilling. Said he wanted to get rid of it.” the man’s voice trailed off.

“All a bit suspect, isn’t it?” said the Doctor. He shook his head. “Dear oh dear, do you people never, ever learn?”

“Now look here -”

“Just give me the egg,” said the Doctor, leaping over the front of the stall with the agility of a cat.

“No!”

“You were given the egg,” said the Doctor, his eyes wide as he looked down at the utterly terrified stall-holder, “because whoever gave it to you knew it was dangerous. It does not contain golden coins. It contains an alien creature.”

“But it’s mine,” said the man, he pushed his way past the Doctor and grabbed the egg.

The Doctor lunged for him, and as Ivy watched on she almost burst into a laughing fit. They looked like some kind of comedy act reserved for the theatres in the West End.

“Give me it here!” said the Doctor, as the man tucked it under his arm and tried to leap over the stall.

The weight of the man caused him to miss it. He caught his feet on the side and went head-first over the counter, landing with a great flump in front of Ivy and James.

“Idiot!” said the Doctor, gracefully leaping over the counter and pulling up the man. “Oh no.”

The man had landed on the egg and it had split in two. Green vapour rose from the inside of the egg and a puddle of green goo trailed along the ground.

“What’s your name?” said the Doctor, as he edged himself and the man away from the cracked egg.

“Peter Humphries.”

“Well, Peter Humphries, I hope you’re better at running then you are at jumping.”

The smoke gathered thicker and thicker and thicker as the watching crowd began to scream and panic in fear.

Ivy and James stood there staring at the smoke as something began to emerge from the cracked remains of the egg…


Next Time: The Doctor continues his story, as he and Ivy confront the fearsome Hoopex. Coming Saturday April 12th 2014.

Story Index

4 Apr 2014

Story 3.4: The Story of Ivy Coldstone

“Tell me about Ivy. Tell me how you met her.”
“Alice…”
“Please, Doctor,” she said. “I’d like to know her. Then maybe I can pay my respects as well.”

Ivy Coldstone is dead. Killed in a shuttle explosion whilst on route to her home on one of the Mars colony bases.

The Doctor, with Alice in tow, travels to Mars to say goodbye to his former travelling companion.

Whilst there the Doctor tells Alice about how they met back in London, 1859. A story that features love, death, a mysterious egg...and a very different Doctor...

This is the fourth story of series 3, featuring Richard O'Brien as the Doctor, Louise Brearley as Alice, Rebecca Mader as Ivy and introducing Eddie Izzard as the previous Doctor.

This four-part story will begin publication from April 5th 2014 and continue with a part every Saturday throughout the month.