31 May 2014

Short Story: A Switch in Time

This story borrows heavily from Anthony Coburn’s “An Unearthly Child” from 1963. It is only intended for entertainment purposes and not intended to infringe on copyright.

Please note that this story was originally intended to be last years 50th anniversary story, but I felt it too dark in tone so it was shelved. It has now been re-engineered and restructured to appear now.


On board the Starship Nautilus, command ship of the anti-alien company called Eyeglass, a man with long, grey hair tied into a ponytail strode across the shuttle bay of the ship. He was handed a huge, canon-like weapon by a young lieutenant standing at his side.

He continued to walk, his footsteps echoing on the polished, metal floor until he reached a huge, giant of a man standing with his arms folded. He wore blue armour and had an array of weapons strapped to his person. A blue hood covered most of his head, but white, skull-like features and yellow eyes could be seen peering out.

“Do you understand your mission?” asked the General.

Paragrim smiled, his teeth dripping with saliva. “We’ve been over this already.”

“But do you understand your mission?” asked the General again.

Paragrim took the canon from the General and nodded. “For what you’re paying me…you can trust me to understand the mission.”

“Find the Doctor-”

Paragrim sighed. The General just wouldn’t have it any other way.

“-and kill him. Remove him. Do anything. Just make sure he’s dead.”

“None of this makes sense, Helix. Already you have him as your prisoner. Why not just kill him now?”

“Because,” said the General, feeling like he’d gone over this over and over again, “his very presence here has disrupted my plans. I need you to go back before he came here.”

“Messing with time,” tutted Paragrim. “A very tricky business.”

“This is the last roll of the die,” said the General, getting more and more agitated. “I have no more plans up my sleeve. Not this time. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” said Paragrim quietly.

“DO YOU?!”

“YES!”

“Just stop him, or me or you bringing him on board from Mars.” The General calmed himself and then smiled. “I hope your new shuttle will be to your liking,” said the General, pointing to a small, brown, slightly curved ship sitting near to the shuttle bay doors.

Paragrim smiled and walked over to the ship, running his bony hand along it’s surface. Paragrim was a bounty hunter. Loathed as Eyeglass were to actually employ such a being, they had found Paragrim to be extremely useful when interrogating a previous prisoner - the Doctor’s friend Aleena.

Granted he had single-handedly helped to destroy one of their ships and kill a member of their crew, but now the General just wanted results. The Doctor had become a pain and he needed him out the way. And Paragrim was the man to do it.

“Hello, my beauty,” said Paragrim quietly to the shuttle. “You and I are about to have some fun together.”




Some time ago…



On board the TARDIS was a different TARDIS crew. A recent one, but an old one.
On board the TARDIS the Doctor, Danny and Caroline had set up a giant projector screen in the console room. Danny was busy scoffing his face with popcorn whilst Caroline sucked furiously on a straw that had already drained a glass of lemonade. The Doctor was hunched forward, concentrating on the film.

The screen showed a white-haired gentleman crossing the terrain of some alien planet, pursued by grey, metallic, cylindrical robots.

“This is strangely familiar,” said the Doctor, scratching the top of his head.

“It’s crap,” said Danny, finishing the last of the popcorn. “A bad, bad B-movie.”

“I don’t know,” said Caroline, noticing her empty glass, “I thought it was just getting really good. That was until one of them hid inside the robot. That was a bit daft.”

“As daft as the rest of it, perhaps,” laughed Danny, throwing a newly-discovered piece of popcorn at the screen.

The three time travellers were distracted by a beeping sound coming from the console.

The Doctor leapt to his feet and checked the scanner readout. “Proximity alarm!” he said.

“Meaning?” said Caroline, running to join him.

“Meaning-”

There was a huge boom and the TARDIS lurched violently to the side. Caroline, Danny and the Doctor were all thrown to the right and the Doctor crashed unceremoniously through the projector screen.

Somewhere in the depths of the TARDIS there came a loud, booming bell, tolling low and sounding ominous.

“The cloister bell!” said the Doctor, getting himself back onto his feet.

“What’s going on?” asked Caroline, joining the Doctor beside the console again.

The readouts were going haywire. Lights were flickering and the chronometer was spinning wildly.

“I’m trying to get a fix on what hit us.”

“Something hit us?” asked Danny, rubbing his bruised head.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Finally the scanner image cleared. It showed the multicoloured tunnel of the space/time vortex and travelling just in front of them was the scorched and battered hulk of a small, brown shuttle.

“Did it purposely ram us?” asked Danny.

“I’m not sure,” said the Doctor. “But it’s caught us in it’s time-wake.”

“It’s what?” asked Caroline, trying to wrap her head around what was going on.

“I think it was an accident, but we’re now both caught in a time-wake. Hang on. The readings are registering Aurellion. That’s Paragrim inside that shuttle! We’re slipping through the vortex to a specific date.”

“And that is?”

The Doctor checked the readouts, which had now stabilised. “Oh no…”

“What is it?”

“November 23rd, 1963. Shoreditch, London.”




If anyone had been paying attention they would have noticed the small, brown shuttlecraft that had whizzed over head after exiting the time vortex. However, this particular afternoon was becoming foggy and the night was drawing in, so nobody, other than a window cleaner had noticed the strange object.

The shuttle crash-landed relatively gently through the roof of a warehouse.

Paragrim stepped out of the shuttle and kicked it’s hull. “Rubbish. First time out and we crash!”

A few moments later he was outside on the street. It was getting dark by now and the fog had rolled in even more. He switched on his detector. A Time Lord trace was nearby. A few miles to the west.

“It must be the Doctor!” he said, delight in his voice. “It doesn’t look much like Mars though. Must’ve been knocked off course. No matter.” He smiled. “As long as the Doctor is here, it doesn’t matter when it is.”

Having one last look back at the shuttle, he headed off into the fog.




A little way off fifteen year old Susan Foreman was sat on a school desk with a little pocket radio held up to her ear. She was slim with short, dark hair and dark eyes. The radio was playing a 1960’s jangly guitar song and she made strange movements with her hand, almost like dancing, but not quite. It was almost alien.

The door behind her, unbeknownst to Susan, had opened. Standing in the door was two of her school teachers - Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. Ian was very clean cut with a neat haircut and a serious face, but with a twinkle in his eye. Barbara looked very proper with a beehive haircut and dark, mysterious eyes.

They had grown concerned over Susan. Her homework was suffering and Barbara had felt that there was something not quite “right” about her. And so they had decided to confront her head on.

“Susan?” called Barbara.

Susan noticed the sound behind her, looked a little embarrassed and put the radio down. “Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Wright. I didn’t hear you coming in. Aren’t they fabulous?”

“Who?”

“It’s John Smith and the Common Men. They’ve gone from 19 to 2.”

Barbara looked a little confused, unable to grasp the day to day chat of who was in the charts.

Ian, noticing Barbara’s confusion, laughed. “John Smith is the stage name for the honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn’t he Susan?”

Susan raised her eyebrows. “You are surprising, Mr. Chesterton. I wouldn’t expect you to know things like that.”

“I have an enquiring mind.” He nodded towards the still-playing radio. “And a very sensitive ear.”

Realising the loudness of the radio she switched it off, apologising.

Susan’s eyes then were drawn to a leather-bound book that Barbara was holding. On it were the words “HISTORY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION”

“Is that the book you promised me?”

“Yes,” said Barbara, handing the book over.

“Thank you very much. It will be interesting,” she said, turning it over and looking at the back cover. “I’ll return it tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary. Keep it until you’ve finished it.”

Susan grabbed her bag. “I’ll have finished it.”

Both Ian and Barbara glanced at each other in surprise.

Ian cleared his throat. “Where do you live, Susan? I’m giving Miss Wright a lift. I’ve room for one more.”

Susan looked a little sheepish. “No thank you, Mr. Chesterton. I like walking through the dark. It’s mysterious.”

“Well be careful, Susan,” said Barbara, looking noticeably concerned. “There’ll probably be fog again tonight.”

They both watched Susan packing things into her bag. “I like walking through the English fog. It’s so dark and mysterious.”

“See you in the morning,” continued Barbara, almost sounding like she was asking a question.

“I expect so. Good night,” said Susan, her mind not really on the conversation.




Ian and Barbara stepped out of the classroom and headed down the corridor towards the staff room.

“You see,” said Barbara, “there is something funny about her. Refusing a lift and everything.”

Ian smiled as he grabbed his briefcase from under a comfy chair and checked he had everything.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Miss Wright,” he said, “you know how teenagers can be these days.”

A few minutes later they were ready to go. Ian locked the staff room door, turned, and standing there, in front of him and Barbara, was the imposing figure of Paragrim, pointing a huge blaster directly at the pair of them.

“What on Earth-” began Ian.

“Where is the Time Lord?” he asked.

“Ian…” said Barbara, clearly terrified and moving closer towards her colleague.

“Where is the Doctor?” asked Paragrim again. “There are traces of Time Lord energy here. He was here.”

“Listen,” said Ian, trying to sound as brave as possible, “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but we’re the only ones here.”

“Susan…” said Barbara quietly.

“I saw her leave when I looked out of the window,” said Ian quickly. “She’s safe.”

“Then you two are useless to me.”

Paragrim pulled the trigger on his blaster and two bolts of energy erupted from it’s barrel knocking both Ian and Barbara to the floor.

“I will find you, Doctor,” growled Paragrim, stomping off down the corridor. A Time Lord had been here, but it had obviously just left.




A few moments later the TARDIS materialised in the corridor, it’s blue light blinking as it faded into view.

The door clicked open and the Doctor stepped out.

“Ah, familiar territory,” he smiled.

“You’ve been here before?” asked Caroline, stepping out into the corridor to join the Doctor.

“A few times actually. First time I registered my granddaughter here in 1963.”

Caroline had given up trying to understand much about the Doctor now. She knew he could regenerate, was a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey and spent an enormous amount of time and energy running away from a list of enemies as long as her arm. The fact that he also had a granddaughter that he and Danny had never met didn’t really phase her.

“I wonder what Paragrim’s doing here,” said the Doctor, stepping around the box and…spotting the two prone forms of Ian and Barbara on the floor. “Oh no.”

“What is it?” asked Danny, emerging from the box.

“Trouble. Big trouble. Severe trouble.”

“What do you mean?” asked Caroline, running to the two teachers and checking their pulses. “I think they’re alive.”

“This is November 23rd 1963. Paragrim has been here.”

“That’s obvious,” said Danny, nodding towards the bodies.

“You don’t understand. These two - Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright - are meant to be on there way to Totters Lane right now. They follow my Granddaughter back to the junkyard and eventually come travelling with me.”

“So….what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Paragrim has caused time to be changed. Ian and Barbara will never meet me now.”

“But nothing’s changed with you,” said Caroline.

“Not yet,” said the Doctor, looking very nervous, “but it’s only a matter of time before things begin to change. Time has to catch up to me first.”

“Then what do we do?” asked Danny, looking a little helpless.

“Paragrim needs to be stopped. He’ll be tracing Time Lord signatures. He’ll follow Susan and find me - the old me - and no doubt execute us both!”

“Then we’ve got to stop him.”

“We’ve got to get these two into the TARDIS first. They need medical help. Give me a hand,” said the Doctor as Danny and Caroline helped to drag the two teachers across the floor and into the time machine.

Once they were safely inside the three of them stepped out again.

“I need you two to run to Foreman’s Yard on Totters Lane. Get to me or Susan and tell them to be careful. Tell them to take off and run.”

“But isn’t that going to disrupt time even more?”

“No. Right now this whole timeline is in flux. Our one advantage is that we can do anything we want now. Paragrim has messed with this point in time so we can mess to try and put it right. But it’s only a matter of time before it unravels and I need to find a way to put it right.”

“So where’s this Totters Lane?” asked Caroline, grabbing her jacket from inside the TARDIS.

“Not far from here. Follow the road signs. I’ll join you there soon. You need to find either a dark-haired teenager or a white-haired old man.”

“This is crazy!” said Danny, arms outstretched.

“Go!” said the Doctor.

As soon as they had left, the Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS and closed the doors. He rested his head against the inner door. How could things have gone so wrong?

“Excuse me?” came a familiar voice from long ago.

The Doctor turned and standing there, next to the sofa was Ian and Barbara, both of them looking groggy and rubbing their heads.

“Ah,” said the Doctor.

“I’d quite like to know what’s going on here,” said Ian.




Caroline and Danny had virtually sprinted from Coal Hill School towards the junkyard. When they were halfway down Totters Lane they spotted a space. A space in between two houses. There was a gate with the words I.M. Foreman. Scrap Merchant written on them.

“There it is!” exclaimed Caroline.

The fog was thick now, but the spotted a dark-haired girl pushing the gates open and entering the yard.

“Go, go, go!” said Danny. “And keep your eyes peeled for Paragrim.”

They pushed the wooden gates open and stepped inside. The junkyard was full of…well, full of junk. Old children’s toys, rocking horses, bed frames, wooden pallets, lampshades, tins, bottles, plastic dummies with their heads bashed in…everything. There was a set of wooden steps leading up from the ground floor and sat next to the steps was a familiar shape - the TARDIS.

“Hey,” said Danny, “do you think-?”

“It must be the older Doctor’s TARDIS,” said Caroline, narrowing her eyes. She reached out to the box and touched it. “It feels alive. Just like our TARDIS.”

Danny copied Caroline and touched the box. “This is just bizarre.”

“Do you think she’s inside?” asked Caroline.

“There’s only one way out as far as we know. She must be inside. Let’s go in.”

They were about to push the door open when they heard the sound of the creaking gates and then the cough of a man.

“Hide!” said Danny.

The pair of them scuttled behind a couple of upright pallets and watched on. An old man with long, white hair stepped into the junkyard. He wore an Astrakhan hat, scarf and a cloak. He coughed again, cleared the air with a handkerchief and then crossed over to the TARDIS. He pulled out a key and then shone a pen-like flashlight at the lock.

He pushed the door open slightly and a girl’s voice came from within the box.

“So there you are, Grandfather!”

He was about to go in when the gate of the junkyard was pushed open, almost off it’s hinges, and the great figure of Paragrim clomped into the junkyard.

“Look out!” said Danny, leaping from his position behind the pallets and pushing the old Doctor out of the way.

“Doctor!” growled Paragrim as he aimed his gun at the old man.

“Unhand me, young man!” scolded the Doctor. “What is going on here?”

The door of the TARDIS opened and Susan stood there, looking down curiously at her Grandfather sprawled on the floor, and then up to the imposing hulk of Paragrim. She put her hands to her mouth and screamed.

“Get back inside, child!” said the Doctor.

“Wait! Wait!” said Caroline, running out from her hiding place to join Danny.

Paragrim aimed his gun and took a shot. It just missed the Doctor’s head and instead fried a stuffed rabbit next to Danny’s.

“Come on!” said Danny as he helped the old man to his feet, grabbed Caroline’s hand and dragged them both inside the box.

Inside the TARDIS was completely different to what Caroline and Danny had been expecting. Instead of the stone, green-tinted church-like console room, it was brightly lit with white walls and dark roundels adorning them. On the other side of the console room was a bank of computers. The central console looked smaller, standing in the centre of the room and it’s time rotor didn’t run all the way up to the ceiling. Instead a large, cumbersome looking device hung from the ceiling above the console.

“Close the doors, Susan,” said the Doctor, as he tried to compose himself.

“Completely different,” said a shocked Caroline.

“Now,” said the Doctor, turning and his heels to face them, “can you kindly explain to me what is going on and who that gentleman outside is?”

Caroline looked at Danny and then back to the Doctor again.

“What do we say?” asked Danny.

“The Doctor - our Doctor - said that time is in flux and we can do anything we like.”

The old man watched them curiously, listening to their every word.

“So,” continued Caroline, “I guess we just tell him the truth.”

“The truth?” said the old Doctor. “I would expect nothing less.”

“Well,” said Caroline, sitting down on an ornate, wooden chair, “Danny and I are from your future.”




“A dream?” laughed Ian, his head still pounding from the effect of the laser blast.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, edging carefully towards the console.

“Do you really expect us to believe that?” asked Barbara.

“Um,” the Doctor thought for a moment, “well, no. No, of course not.”

“What was that…that thing standing in the corridor?”

The Doctor rubbed the top of his head. How was he going to explain all of this? Even when he first met Ian and Barbara - really met them in the junkyard - he had a hard time explaining things. But this time it was even more difficult. They hadn’t seen the police box and they hadn’t ran inside it. They had been knocked unconscious by a bizarre alien and woken up in this console room.

“Listen,” said Ian, “I expect you to tell me everything that’s going on here, or do you want me to fetch a policeman?”

“Ian, please, you have to listen to me,” said the Doctor, his arms outstretched, pleading to the school teacher.

“How do you know my name?” asked Ian.

“And where are we?” asked Barbara.

“You’re somewhere safe.”

“That’s not a very clear answer,” continued Barbara. “Safe from what?”

“That man who shot you.”

“That wasn’t a pistol,” said Ian. “It looked like a bright light. Like a torch.”

“No,” said the Doctor, “it was a highly powered laser gun. Set to the stun setting.”

“Don’t be so ridiculous,” laughed Ian.

“Those sort of things haven’t been invented,” added Barbara.

“No,” said Ian, closing in on the Doctor. “Those sort of thing’s are reserved only for comic books and fantasy.”

The Doctor bit on his finger nail, a habit he’d picked up over this incarnation. And then he gasped, grabbing his chest and crouching down to the floor in pain.

“Ian,” said Barbara. “Ian, help him.”

“It could be a trick,” said Ian, moving cautiously towards the Doctor.

“No,” said the Doctor. “It’s fine. It’ll pass.”

Sure enough the pain passed and soon the Doctor was being helped over to the sofa by Ian and Barbara. He sat for a few seconds, getting his breath back and then looked up at the two confused school teachers.

“Would you believe me if I told you that you were in a time machine?”

“What?” said Barbara.

“And that you - the both of you - and I would one day become good friends?”

“Don’t be absurd,” said Ian, “you’re a mad man.”

“Ian,” said Barbara, nervously, “I don’t like this. We need to get out.”

“Will you let us out of here?” asked Ian.

The Doctor shrugged. “No.”

“You can’t keep us prisoner here!”

“No, but I do have a plan.”




The older Doctor and Susan were busy having a hushed conversation near to the back of the console room. The Doctor kept looking over at Danny and Caroline and then back to Susan again.

“Do you think he believes us?” asked Caroline.

“I don’t see why he shouldn’t. He knows it’s possible.”

The Doctor cleared his throat and stepped over to Caroline and Danny. He raised his head and looked down his nose at them. “Well, for your sake, young man, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve decided to believe your story.”

“Oh, thank god!” said Caroline.

“I have many questions that need answering, and I know that you’ll be reluctant to give me any clear answers.” He took the scarf from around his neck and draped it on the arm of the chair Caroline was sat in, “And I’m afraid we have no time for those answers. I just have to trust the both of you.”

“Grandfather,” said Susan, appearing at the Doctor’s side, “what are we going to do? In the long term, I mean?”

“Well, my dear, it seems to me that our friend with the gun is still outside. He’s probably trying to find a way in.”

“Then what shall we do?” she asked.

“I propose to let him in.”

“What!” said Caroline, Danny and Susan in unison.

“That’s crazy!” said Danny.

“Not as crazy as you may think,” continued the Doctor, crossing to the console. “If what you say is true, then this Paragrim fellow has come to kill a future version of me. Unfortunately he has found himself in my future’s past. If he kills me now it might just put things right.”

“No, Grandfather…” said Susan, with a pained expression.

“What do you mean?” asked Caroline.

“Time is already in flux, young lady. If he kills me, then your Doctor will cease to be and time will - hopefully - reset itself to before this Paragrim fellow collided with your TARDIS in the future.”

“That’s a lot of if’s and buts,” said Danny. “It’s too risky.”

Suddenly the air was filled with the familiar sound of a wheezing and groaning. The shape of a blue police box appeared in the middle of the console room.

The older Doctor looked horrified. “Ah, the stupid fellow. What’s he doing?”

The door clicked open and the bald-headed Doctor stepped out followed by a bemused Ian and Barbara.

“What are you doing?” asked the older Doctor. “It’s dangerous enough to land another TARDIS within another, let alone the same TARDIS.”

“This time line can’t get screwed up anymore,” said the bald Doctor.

There came a huge thump of the console room doors. And another. And then another.

“He’s trying to get in, Doctor,” said Caroline.

“Granddad here was about to let him inside,” said Danny, thumbing towards the older Doctor.

“A splendid idea,” said the bald Doctor.

“You’re all crazy,” said Susan. Her eyes suddenly fixed on her two school teachers who were feeling around the exterior of the blue police box. “What are they doing here?”

“Who are they?” asked the older Doctor.

“Two of my school teachers.”

“This is fantastic!” said Ian. “It can’t be real. None of it can be real.”

There came another thump.

“We need to decide on what to do.”

Another thump.

“Open the doors. If he kills my older self then time won‘t be able to cope with the change. It‘ll be like an elastic band snapping back.”

Another thump.

“Don’t be stupid!” hissed Danny.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

“Open the doors!” yelled the bald Doctor.

The old Doctor stepped forward, pulled a lever on the console and the large, chunky doors swung open. The huge, imposing figure of Paragrim stepped into the console room, stared around the room and then aimed his gun.

“Which one is the Doctor, I’m reading three Time Lord signatures?” he growled.

“We both are,” said the bald Doctor.

Paragrim’s mouth curled into a slight smile. “How?”

“You crashed into my TARDIS in the vortex and accidentally landed during the lifetime of my first incarnation. You’ve already badly damaged the timeline.”

“You have a choice, sir,” said the older Doctor. “You can destroy both of us or one of us. Either way this time will continue to unravel and soon even you may be erased from time.”

“Or,” continued the bald Doctor, “you can turn around, go back to your ship and we can try and heal time ourselves.”

Paragrim laughed. “I’m being paid to kill you, Doctor. Who cares which one dies?”

“Because time is already screwed up!” said Caroline. “Can’t you understand that you big, lumbering idiot?”

Paragrim growled and aimed his gun at the dark-haired woman. Susan shouted and tried to knock his arm out of the way. Paragrim staggered back slightly, raised his gun and aimed at Susan instead, blasting her full on in the chest.

“Susan!” said the older Doctor, crouching beside his dying granddaughter.

The room began to shake. Ian and Barbara fell to the floor and Caroline and Danny started to fade away.

“Doctor….what’s happ….us?” asked Danny.

“This timeline is damaged beyond repair,” said the bald Doctor, who was now starting to fade.

The room shook again.

Paragrim aimed his gun at the bald Doctor. “Make it stop!”

“It’s too late,” shouted the bald Doctor. “You’ve damaged things too much.”

He shot his gun but mis-fired and he hit the central column in the console.

“How dare you!” bellowed the older Doctor. “Do you know what you have done?”

“I don’t care what I’ve done.”

The bald Doctor was starting to fade. “It’s over,” he said. “Our presence in this timeline is making things fall apart. I need to get my TARDIS out of here before it tears yours apart.”

“No, my friend…” said the older Doctor, visibly shaken at Susan’s death.

“You can continue. With me gone, things might be okay. Take Ian and Barbara and show them the universe. Maybe one day you’ll become another version of me. But for now time will have to continue on a different path.”

“Unacceptable,” said the older Doctor.

“But you have to!”

“What I have to do, young man, is put things right.”

“How?”

Caroline and Danny were now mere faded shadows and Paragrim was starting to fade away.

“We said that if I died then things would repair themselves. That can still happen.”

“But Paragrim is fading away. He can’t kill you now.“

“He doesn’t have to. I shall fly my TARDIS into the vortex to the point of his ship hitting your TARDIS. If I can stop the collision from happening, then everything will return to normal.”

“It’s too risky. We can’t be certain it will work.”

Suddenly the Doctor grabbed his chest and faded away. He was gone.

“I’m afraid, young man, that I have no choice.”

The older Doctor surveyed the room. Caroline, Danny and Paragrim were gone. The blue police box was glowing orange and smoke was coming from it’s interior.

“What’s going on?” asked Barbara, not knowing whether to cry or run.

“My ship can’t handle the changes to the timeline.”

The console room shook again.

“I need to put right the damage to time.” And then the Doctor had a terrifying though. “I only hope I can guide the ship there.”

The Doctor worked furiously, imputing coordinates and charting his eventual destination. Ian and Barbara had banged on the console room doors to be let out. He didn’t have time for them and simply let them go, whilst Ian threatened to bring a policeman back with him.

Finally he had set the correct coordinates. Now the other TARDIS was glowing white-hot. If it exploded in here then his ship would also be utterly destroyed.

At least this way he could destroy this Paragrim fellow for good.

Giving one more look at Susan, he pulled the dematerialisation lever.




In the spiralling multicoloured maelstrom of the time/space vortex, Paragrim’s ship was once again heading towards the bald Doctor’s blue, spinning police box.

Like a bolt of lightning, the older Doctor’s TARDIS shot through the vortex and towards Paragrim’s ship. All it needed was timing.

In the console room the old Doctor watched on the small, TV monitor.

He glanced down at Susan. Peaceful and still. “Farewell, my child,” he said.

The box hurtled into Paragrim’s ship, exploding and shattering two thirds of the bounty hunters vessel. And then it dropped out of the vortex and spiralled towards a moon.




In the console room of the bald Doctor everything was normal. Nothing had changed. But they felt a shudder through their TARDIS.

“What was that?” asked Caroline, getting up from the sofa and passing the projector screen.

“An explosion in the vortex,” said the Doctor, checking the readings. “Whatever it was has crash landed on that moon.”

A few moments later the TARDIS materialised on the dark, grey moon. The Doctor, Caroline and Danny had donned orange spacesuits and were slowly making their way towards the crash sight.

In a small crater was the blackened remains of Paragrim’s ship, still smoking. There was the hint of a body, but it was unrecognisable.

“Poor fellow,” said the Doctor.

“How was he time travelling?” asked Caroline.

“Must have been an experimental craft,” said the Doctor. “Come on, there’s nothing more to see here.”

“Something feels odd,” said Caroline.

“What do you mean?” asked Danny, turning to go.

“Like something should have happened. I feel like I’m missing something.”

“Yeah, we’re missing that crappy film,” laughed Danny.

Caroline whacked him on his back as they made their way back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor was about to go when he noticed something. It was the remains of some kind of sign within the wreckage. He picked the fragment up and looked at it. On it were the remains of the words “-UBLIC CALL B-”

He frowned. And the remains of the sign crumbled to dust. They were gone.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up on end, dismissed the strange possibilities and then made his way back to the TARDIS.

And once they entered the box…they forgot.




Some time later the Doctor, now without Caroline and Danny, stood on the surface of the moon looking at the blackened remains of the ship. Ever since the General had told him that Paragrim had gone back to try and change things he had been concerned. And so he traced Paragrim’s time tracks and tracked it to here.

There was something itching at the back of his mind. Something about him encountering Paragrim some time before, but it was lost in his memories. Time had caused himself to forget.

Probably for the best, he thought to himself.

But one thing was certain: Paragrim, Eyeglass and the General were finally gone.




November 23rd, 1963




Ian and Barbara never encountered Paragrim. He had never come to Coal Hill School. Instead they had continued with their plan to follow Susan home.

And that’s when they had met the Doctor. And so began the adventure of a lifetime…




THE END


Next week: The Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus land in a normal suburban street in a normal town. But there is something wrong with Number 17 High Peak Avenue. "Number 17" begins Saturday 7th June 2014.

24 May 2014

The Fall of the Eye (Part 4)

Alice, Ivy and Anna stood on the beach, the gentle breeze whipping through their clothes. Soon, on the horizon, their came a small shape. It was floating above the water and as it got nearer to them it got larger. Eventually Alice could make out that it was some form of futuristic helicopter with jet engines instead of rotor blades.

It slowly touched down on the beach and a uniformed man got out. “You the three who called?”

“We are,” said Anna.

“We don’t usually send government ships in for rescue missions,” said the gruff man, his eyes flicking from Alice to Ivy to Anna and back again. “What makes you three so special?”

“Because I was stranded on this island for a reason,” said Anna, looking up at the man.

“Go on.”

“And I can help you to stop the Eyeglass.”

“How?”

“Because I’m General Helix’s daughter.”




The Doctor stood on the platform, two of the kindest and most respectable people he’d had the fortune to meet, standing on the edge of death. He shivered in the cold November air and forced back a cough from the thick grey smoke that was coming from down below.

“I can’t kill them,” said the Doctor. “They’re my friends.”

“Let me put it another way, Doctor,” came the General’s voice. “Either you cooperate with me, or I’ll burn out little Alice’s mind.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You know that we have an agent inside of her head. All it takes is the flick of a switch and Alice is gone forever.” There was a pause. “So, it’s up to you, Doctor. Either you kill one or I’ll kill them both.”

The Doctor didn’t know what to say. He looked at both Saraxx and Dennington.

“Doctor,” began Saraxx, “choose me. We must avert this war.”

“I can’t,” said the Doctor. “I just can’t.”

“You must,” said the General.

Dennington looked down into the smoke and then back to the Doctor.

“What are you thinking Mark?” said the Doctor, worriedly.

“Whatever happens, a war will begin,” said Dennington, tears welling in his eyes, “but maybe if one of us sacrificed ourselves, both races would see.”

“Mark, no.”

“Doctor, there’s no way out of this,” he said, shaking his head. “And besides, I want to be with Julie again.”

“Mark, no!” said the Doctor.

Dennington turned and faced the nearest camera. “There will be no war. I will not die to cause a war. I will die to bring about peace.”

“Mark, no!” said the Doctor, stepping forward.

But it was too late, Dennington leapt from the platform.

The Doctor ran to the edge and peered over. Dennington tumbled slowly through the air, his arms still tied behind his back. He looked quiet and serene as he disappeared into a huge plume of smoke, giving one final smile to the Doctor. Then there was a flash and he was gone.

All was silent. The guards fidgeted uncomfortable and Verash and Paragrim didn’t know what to do.

“Bring them inside,” came the General’s whisper-like voice.




On the trip back to England, Anna had explained a few things to the soldier, Alice and Ivy. Her father was General Helix. He had met and fallen for a young scientist called Paula Clarke. The relationship was short-lived, however, but Paula had fallen pregnant and the General had helped her to raise her.

However during her childhood Anna had learnt more and more about the job her father was doing and had grown to resent him and her mother.

Against her mother’s wishes, Helix had abandoned their daughter on the island, leaving her with enough provisions to live out the rest of her life.

“God, that was harsh,” said Alice as she gazed out of the window, watching the ocean zoom past below.

“You can say that again,” said Ivy. “And what a coincidence, eh?”

“What do you mean?” said Anna.

“That our escape pod lands right next to you.”

Anna smiled. “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.”

Suddenly Alice sat bolt upright in her seat. Her eyes were white and her lips quivering.

“Alice!” yelled Ivy, unbuckling herself from her seat and sliding over to her. “Alice, what is it?”




Alice and Tylaya were standing opposite each other. They were in Alice’s cottage back in Little Pebbleford.

Tylaya looked stern whereas Alice looked confused.

“What’s happening?”

“You could call it a psychic phone call.”

“Oh god…” said Alice, putting a hand to her head and sitting down quickly in the arm chair.

“Take it easy, Stokes,” said Tylaya. “It took me a long time to tune myself into this.”

“So I’m still back on that futuristic helicopter?”

“Yes, of course you are. This is all in your head. I chose a place that was safe and comfortable for you.”

“Safe? Last time I was here some big guy made me black out.”

“Yes,” said Tylaya, “that was my fiancé, Quinn Maxus. He was checking up on me.”

“Why don’t you get out of my head and go back to your own body?”

“That’s just it. I don’t think I can. Well, not this far away anyway.”

“Then how?”

“We need to go to the Nautilus, the General’s ship. That’s where my body is.”

“Uh-uh,” said Alice, shaking her head, “no way. We’re on our way with the General’s daughter to put an end to your lot.”

“And believe me, Alice, I’m getting out of Eyeglass too. Maxus and I are going to get married. We just need to give it one more year to make sure we have the funds and then we’re out of it.”

“You and your boyfriend killed my Head teacher.”

“Not us. It was other members who killed him. We didn’t want it this way.” Tylaya stepped forward and knelt down in front of Alice. “Look, I know we’ve made mistakes. We’ve made terrible mistakes, but I want this over as much as you do, Alice. Try and convince your friend to get you to the Nautilus and this can all be over.”

Alice stood up from the chair and walked over to the front door. She turned back to Tylaya. “We need to stop Eyeglass first.”





Alice awoke in the seat.

“Are you okay?” said Ivy, her face a little too close for Alice.

“I’m fine,” she said. She was frustrated. She wanted to get this Tylaya woman out of her head, but she knew she had to get Anna to Central City. She was the only one who might stand a chance of putting a stop to the General, and even that was riding on a lot of if’s and buts‘.

“But you-”

“I zoned out,” said Alice. “I’m fine.”

“Look, if you need to be somewhere else,” said Ivy noticing the frustration in Alice’s voice, “then maybe we can-”

“I’m fine,” snapped Alice. “Let’s just get to Central City, yeah?”




The Doctor was once again sat in the office of the General. This time, however, he didn’t have any tea.

The General was stood with his back to the Doctor, his arms folded as he gazed out through a screen overlooking the still-burning Houses of Parliament.

“Really,” said the Doctor, breaking the silence, “what did you expect?”

The General turned to face him. “What I expected, Doctor, was for you to do your job and push one of them. For you to be my tool.”

“The only tool in here is you,” said the Doctor.

“I can still take this ship to all the Martian colonies and wipe them out.”

“Nobody will follow you to war now,” laughed the Doctor. “Mark sacrificed himself to save an Ice Lord. The only thing both races will see is Eyeglass being the trouble causers. They’ll rally together and defeat you.”

The General stared at the Doctor, his eyes full of what the Doctor could only assume was confusion. “What do I do?” he said.

That question surprised the Doctor. “What do you do? You surrender to the Earth government. All of you.”

“No,” said the General, shaking his head. “I’ve already despatched Paragrim on another mission. He’ll make sure you never even come here.”

“What do you mean?” said the Doctor. The General was becoming more and more confusing.

“I’ve sent him back in time. He’ll stop you from ever coming here.”

“But I am still here,” said the Doctor, his arms outstretched. “Whatever you got Paragrim to do this time didn’t work. Again.”

The General brought his fist down on the table. “Damn you!” He flicked a switch. “Verash, any sign of Paragrim?”

“No,” said Verash. “He hasn’t returned. We’ve lost his time trace.”

“It’s over, General,” said the Doctor.

The General leapt over the table and launched himself at the Doctor who fell back and crashed to the ground. The General was on top of him, his hands clasping the lapels on his coat.

“Do we really need to do this?” said the Doctor, trying to struggle from under him.

“Every time I try and create a better world, you’re there.”

“That’s because all you create is darkness and fear. People like you can’t be allowed to continue.” He managed to pull himself from under the General and whacked him on the arm with the handle of his cane.

The General winced in pain and backed himself up against the bottom of the desk. “I hated your people, you know. When I fought in the Time War. I was just a soldier. I rose through the ranks to General.” He laughed. “I almost threw a party when Gallifrey was destroyed.”

“Gallifrey wasn’t destroyed.”

“I know that now!” he yelled. “And I saw what you had become. That secret part of you that you tried to hide away.”

“He became a good man,” said the Doctor, remembering his hidden self, bred for war. In some ways the General reminded him of that lost incarnation, but more bitter and twisted, and without reason.

“But what he did during the war…oh, that wasn’t good, was it?”

The Doctor looked at the handle of his cane. There was blood on it and a trickle had started to pour from a cut on the Generals face.

The General put his hand to the cut and then smiled. There was a faint, orange glow and the cut healed itself.

The Doctor’s hearts ached. He wished he could regenerate, then maybe he’d be able to put a stop to the General. Maybe he’d be fit enough to fight him and be the man he used to be.

The door to the office opened and Verash walked in. He frowned at the General and the Doctor, both of them sat on the floor opposite each other. “Are you-”

“I’m fine,” said the General as he got to his feet and set the chair back in its place. “What is it, Verash?”

“It’s Carpathia. He’s issued us a warning.”

“Oh?”




The General stood with his hands on his hips as he stared at Carpathia’s stern face on the view screen. He had issued the General - and the whole of Eyeglass - with a warning: to surrender now, or have their ships blasted out of the sky.

Various stations around Earth had trained nuclear warheads on the five ships in orbit, and the Nautilus, with battle ships already being prepped to go after the rest of the Eyeglass fleet.

“You wouldn’t dare launch nukes,” said the General.

“We would,” said the President.

“But the fallout would devastate Earth.”

“But we’d be rid of you, and you are more devastating to this planet than any nuclear weapon.”

The General stood there for a moment, his eyes transfixed on Carpathia’s. The man was telling the truth. He didn’t want it to be the truth, but he was certainly telling it.

“I can’t surrender,” said the General.

“Then maybe we can twist your arm a little more.”




Helix stood in the cargo bay as the Heli-jet entered through the bay doors and touched down on the metal floor.

The side door opened and three people emerged. Firstly Alice Stokes, the woman who was now carrying one of his officers consciousness inside of her head. Secondly was Ivy Coldstone, the woman whose death he had faked to trap the Doctor, and thirdly was a blonde girl of about 18. He didn’t recognise her, yet there was something there. Something at the back of his mind.

“What is this?” said the General. All Carpathia had told him was that he had a visitor to see him.

“Have you really forgotten?” said the blonde girl.

“You’re going to have to be a little more clearer on this one, my dear.”

“My name is Anna.”

“Anna.” There was the memory. It was more than a memory. It was a huge part of his life that he hadn’t thought about for six years. “Surely not.”

“Grown up, haven’t I?” said Anna, trying not to cry. It was more anger than anything else.

“How?”

“These two kind ladies rescued me. Rescued me from that Hell.”

“You were a rebel, Anna. You could have joined us.”

“I hated Eyeglass. Ever since I learnt the things you and Mum used to do. It made me hate the both of you.”

“I had no choice. I had to abandon you.”

“Most normal parents would have given me away to a foster family or something.”

“You were too dangerous,” said Helix. “You knew far too much about me.”

“And my where’s my Mum?”

“Your mother is dead,” said the General flatly. “It was a mistake with her. You were a mistake. You should never have been born.”

Alice leant over and whispered to Ivy. “I thought this was supposed to fix things. I thought he would have broken down with guilt.”

“Obviously not,” said Ivy.

Anna unsheathed her sword and pointed it at the General. A cluster of guards went for their guns, but the General motioned for them to lower them.

“Go on then. Kill me.”

Anna walked towards him and pressed the tip of the sword to his chest. She dearly wanted to drive it through his heart, but she knew it would do no good. He’d simply regenerate and be stronger than ever.

“You see,” said the General, chuckling at his daughter, “you’re just like your mother. Weak and pathetic.”

Anna cried out, raised her sword and swung it at the General.

“Anna, no!” yelled Alice.

Anna stopped, just before the sword hit her father’s neck. “He won’t die anyway!” she said, shaking on the spot.

“But you’re not a killer,” said Alice. “You’re better than that. You’re better than him.”

She stood in front of him shaking, trying to will herself to carry through with the mock execution. Alice was right; she wasn’t a killer. She hadn’t killed anything in her life.

She lowered the weapon and backed away from the General.

Verash’s voice came over the comms. “General, the President wants to know our answer.”

“We refuse.”

“What?” said Verash, surprised at what he was hearing.

“You heard, Verash. We refuse.”

“But sir, I’m sure most of our employees would agree that it’s suicide to carry on.”

“I don’t care what they think,” growled the General, his face getting redder and redder. “Turn the weapons on the Central Column and level it to the ground.”

A pause.

“No,” came Verash’s voice.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I said no,” he repeated. “None of us want to die. It‘s gone too far now.”

The General looked across to the group of guards who were busy edging towards the exit door.

“All over is it, Sebastian?” laughed Ivy.

The General hissed at her and then turned, running for the exit.




In the medical bay Finn was stood beside the cubicle containing Tylaya’s dead body. His hand was shaking as Maxus watched on.

“Are you sure about this, Quinn?”

“I’ve never been so sure of anything else in my life.”

“But if I press this button, she will remain stuck in Alice Stoke’s body forever.”

“Yes, I know that. And if she leaves Stoke’s body then she dies.”

Finn shook his head. “But it will destroy everything that Alice Stokes ever was. It’ll burn out her mind and she’ll be gone. Tylaya will be the only thing left filling that void.”

“Yes,” said Maxus through gritted teeth, “I know.”

“Even I can’t condemn an innocent woman to death.”

“It’s Stokes or Tylaya,” said Maxus calmly. “And I cannot live without Tylaya.”

Finn shook his head again. “I can’t do it, Quinn, I’m sorry.”

“Then I will,” said Maxus. “She’s in range.”

Maxus’s finger hovered over the button. It was the only way.




Further forward in the ship the red alert sirens had begun to blurt out. The crew were scrambling, each of them abandoning their posts and heading for escape pods. They had known the game was up. Eyeglass was worth working for, but it wasn’t worth dying for.

The General made his way through the confused crowds, berating them all for being cowards as he made his way towards the bridge. If he was going to go down, he was going to take Carpathia with him.

Somewhere back down in the corridor, Anna was quietly following him.




Alice and Ivy, meanwhile was running through the corridors, looking for the Doctor. They were about to give up hope when the Doctor and Saraxx burst out of the holding cell room and collided with the Doctor’s two companions.

“Doctor!” yelled Ivy.

“Miss Coldstone,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “Good to see you alive again! The guards let us out.”

“That’s fantastic!” said Alice.

“Alice,” said the Doctor, suddenly looking so sad. “I’m so sorry you got dragged into this.”

“Really, Doctor, it’s not your fault.”

“But we’ll get that Tylaya out of you. We need to get to the medical bay. The equipment is in there.”

Alice nodded. “Okay.” She smiled at him and then they embraced. “Thank you, Doctor.”

And then Alice went rigid, her eyes white again as she began shaking uncontrollably.




Alice was back on Mars in the church with Dennington and the Doctor, staring out at Ivy’s coffin. And then the flames appeared and everything burnt away.

Then she was in Owensby in front of a large mirror…and the flames burnt it all away.

Then she was on Issenttii. And then in Little Pebbleford facing the Daleks. And then at school, in the park, at the butchers, in the bath, in the hospital, in a car, at university, at school, with her sisters, playing in a sandpit.

And the flames continued to burn it all up. Every memory. Every moment that had made Alice Stokes.

And then nothing. All was silent. Blackness. Everything that Alice Stokes ever was had gone.





The General had found his way to the bridge. It was now empty, the crew having fled to the escape pods. The ship was still holding it’s position level with the Central Column. The Column had also been evacuated - the General knew that - but he needed to make a bigger statement. The only way he was going to begin Eyeglass’s takeover of the planet was by taking down the power seat of the government. It was the only way.

He made his way to a tactical station and readied the torpedoes.

“Dad,” came a voice.

The General turned. Standing there was his daughter, Anna, looking sad.

“Leave me alone,” he growled, turning back to the tactical readout.

“Do you really want to do this?”

“Oh,” said the General, turning with a spiteful look on his face, “don’t try and play the father/daughter card.”

“I’m not,” said Anna. “I couldn’t care less about you. You abandoned me - you and mum - and you didn’t care. You were too…focused on this damn company.”

“You could have been a part of it.”

“Rubbish!” she said. “That’s why you killed her. That’s why you killed my mum.”

His eyes flicked away from her gaze. “How did you know?”

“I checked the records on my way up. You executed her. Two blaster shots through the heart.”

“Anna, your mother was many things, but committed she was not.” He sat down on the chair opposite the tactical station and gazed into the middle-distance. “All she ever did was talk about why we needed to get you back.”

“So you killed her?”

“I killed her because I found out she was selling Eyeglass secrets to one of those protest groups in Germany.”

A flash of pride lifted Anna’s heart. So her mother hadn’t been completely bad.

“I killed her because she had betrayed me and she had betrayed all of us.”

“You really were bred for war, weren’t you?”

Helix sighed. “My heart has always been in combat. And in combat I will die.”

She walked over to him and crouched beside him. For the first time ever he seemed almost broken. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

“It does.”

“Eyeglass is finished,” she said. “I know it’s hard for you to accept, but you took it too far. They’ve all left you.”

He sat there in silence. His head swayed slightly backwards and forwards. He felt himself shutting down. The world melting away and the voice of his daughter becoming just a murmur behind the sound of the red alert siren.

And then he made a decision.

He stood up, turned to the tactical display and cancelled the torpedoes.

Anna breathed a sigh of relief and whispered “Thanks,” to the heavens.

And instead the General got up and walked to the navigation console. He sat down and began typing in a few digits on the readout.

Anna was confused. She wasn’t sure what he was doing.

And then realisation dawned on her. “No!”

“I can’t give in, yet I can’t win. So this is the only way. And I’ve locked the coordinates in so I can’t override them now.”

He hit a button of the readout and the ship began to tilt forward. Anna wasn’t sure what to do. She hesitated and then ran up behind him, drawing her sword.

The General laughed. “You’ve never killed anything in your life, Anna. You’re not going to start now.”

“No,” said Anna quietly. “There’d be no point.”

She sheathed her sword and turned to leave.

“Goodbye, Anna,” said the General, but there was no affection in his voice. “Maybe thing’s might have been different if you’d have only understood.”

She shook her head. “I’ll never understand evil.”




A few minutes later the ship was heading towards the top of the Central Column. The building had already been evacuated, but the General didn’t care. He was going to go out making a statement.

On the bridge the General had his eyes closed. Impact was imminent.

“For the good of the Human race,” he murmured.

And then the Nautilus smashed into the steel and glass of the Central Column. Screams could be heard from down below as the top of the Column was sliced off. Then there was an almighty explosion as the Nautilus’s engines gave way, obliterating the top 100 floors of the Column.

Eyeglass had fallen. The General was gone.




One Day Later




A transport shuttle had managed to recover the TARDIS from Mars and had lowered it next to the ruins of the Central Column, still smoking and smouldering from the attack the previous day.

Nearly all of Eyeglass had surrendered and it’s ships had been seized. Both the Martian and Human governments had joined together to help each other out, and Carpathia had vowed to bring anyone who still sided with the Eyeglass to justice.

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS and locked the door. Standing next to the box was Alice and Maxus. The Doctor eyed them up with disdain and then walked over to Ivy and Anna who were sat on a bench nearby.

Ivy smiled sadly at him.

“Well, I’m glad you’re not dead,” he said.

She nodded. “Me too.”

“What will you-?”

“I’m off to help Anna try and get her life back on track. She may still have family out there.”

“Preferably not deranged super soldiers,” said Anna.

The Doctor managed a chuckle.

“Thank you for being with Mark at the end.”

The Doctor shook his head. “He was a good man. He didn’t deserve-”

“I know,” said Ivy. “But he did it because he believed in you. He believed in doing the right thing. Some of those Eyeglass survivors could take a page or two out of his book.”

The Doctor nodded, glancing back at Anna and Maxus.

“What are you going to do?” asked Anna.

“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a way.”

“Alice is gone, Doctor,” said Ivy sadly. “There’s nothing left of her in there. Just Tylaya.”

“I refuse to accept that,” said the Doctor. “Such a bright light can’t be so easily put out.”

“Just be careful, yeah?”

Saraxx walked up. “Good afternoon, ladies. Doctor.”

The Doctor bowed his head a little to the Ice Lord. “And what about you, Saraxx? What now for my favourite Ice Lord?”

“Carpathia’s putting together a new joint government. I’m going to represent the Martian side of affairs.”

The Doctor smiled. “I couldn’t think of anyone better to do it.”

“It’s funny really,” said Saraxx, gazing up at the wreck of the Column, pieces of the Nautilus still intertwined with the steel of the skyscraper, “the General ended up uniting our races.”

“For the good of the Galaxy,” smiled the Doctor.

“Indeed.” Saraxx held out both arms. “Come, ladies. You can show me around this Central City of yours.”

Anna and Ivy laughed as they took Saraxx’s arms and led him away from the ruined site.

The Doctor watched them go. That way was light and hope…and life. Behind him was only the unknown.




Alice winced as the clamp tightened around her ankle. Maxus rubbed her arm and then rubbed his own ankle. The Doctor had fitted both of them with the devices to keep them in check. He had told them that if they didn’t cooperate he would activate them.

Maxus daren’t ask what that meant. All he cared was that he had Tylaya back.

“Just remember,” said the Doctor, as he punched in some coordinates on the console, “that the only reason you, Maxus, are coming with me is because I allowed you to.”

“And the only reason I’m coming, Doctor, is to be with Tylaya. No matter what you do, I’m not going to leave her side again.”

Alice - or rather Tylaya as the Doctor was now having to call her - smiled. “Thank you.”

The Doctor walked up to them, hands deep in his coat pockets. “She’s still alive, you know.” He pointed at Tylaya’s head. “Alice is still in there somewhere.”

“Doctor,” said Tylaya, “she’s gone. I’m sorry it had to be this way, but she is and she’s never coming back.”

“We’ll see,” said the Doctor, turning back to the console. “We’ll see!”




Somewhere…




Mark Dennington awoke with a start. Was he in Heaven? If so why did everything feel cold and dark, with only the faint humming of power just to his side.

He was aware of movement next to him.

“Hello?” said Dennington, trying to focus on something…anything.

“Ah, you’re awake,” came a calm, Scottish accent.

“Where am I? Where’s Julie?”

“I’m afraid you’re not dead yet, Mr Dennington.”

“Then what -?”

“Remember the guards back on the Nautilus? The one’s with the visor-covered helmets?”

“Yes,” said Dennington, his head starting to pound.

“Well, one of them was me,” said the man. His face came into focus. He had long dark hair and an untidy beard. He was wearing a black suit and a gold ring with an emerald ruby on his finger.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ll explain as we go,” said the man, “but suffice to say I knew that somehow you’d end up falling off that platform. Stands to reason either the Doctor did it, you jumped or the General pushed you. So I fitted you with a teleportation device when I moved you into position. Then, when you fell into the smoke I activated it. It brought you here.”

“Here? Where’s here?”

“On my TARDIS.”

“What? You’re a Time Lord? What do you want with me?”

The man smiled. “I need to help the Doctor.”

“Of course,” said Dennington. “But I don’t even know who you are.”

The man smiled again and chuckled. “You can call me the Master.”




THE END


Next time: We find out exactly where Paragrim went when we meet the Doctor and some old friends in "A Switch in Time", a special one-part story, coming May 31st 2014.


17 May 2014

The Fall of the Eye (Part 3)

Anna had led Alice and Ivy into the jungle until they had reached a ragged tent held up rather perilously by bamboo sticks and trees branches.

Anna went inside and then emerged with a basic looking radio.

“If your parents wanted you to be stranded, they shouldn’t have left you with a radio,” said Alice.

“I found it in a ship wreck about two years ago,” said Anna. “I couldn’t get it to work, but I kept it unless I ever found anything to get it going.”

“We can hook it up to the communications rig on the escape pod.”

“The communication console was damaged when we crashed,” said Alice.

“But we can still use the transmitter interface and the power from the pod to try and get a message out. We’ll cobble something together,” said Ivy, giving Alice a reassuring smile.

Alice suddenly winced in pain and fell to her knees. She tried to focus on what was happening to her, but instead she saw something different in front of her. Flashes of memories. Memories she had never had. She was surrounded by high-rise building and flying cars, a man and a woman she had never met. A swing set and then the smiling face of the dark-skinned man she had met back in Little Pebbleford.

Ivy slapped her across the face and she snapped out of it.

“Jesus,” said Anna, frowning at the pair. “Where did you find her?”

“She’s suffering some kind of body possession,” said Ivy, helping the sobbing Alice to her feet.

“I saw her memories,” said Alice, shakily.

“We’ve gotta get her out of you,” said Ivy.

“No,” said Alice, “we haven’t got time for that. We need to deal with the Eyeglass.”

“I admire your courage, sweetheart,” said Ivy as they stumbled back through the jungle, “but you’re no good if you’re gonna fizz out every couple of minutes.”

“I can fight her. And besides, we have no way of getting her out stuck out here,” said Alice.

“Who is she?” said Anna, whacking aside a large vine.

“I have no idea,” said Alice.

“Definitely an Eyeglass operative,” said Ivy. “Sneaky creeps have always been dabbling in that kind of crap.” Ivy shuddered. “I’d hate someone taking over my body.”

“Her name is Tylaya,” said Alice slowly, as if her name had slowly faded into her consciousness.

“Well, Tylaya,” said Ivy, looking into Alice’s eyes, “get your arse out of my friends head.”

Alice smiled. She’d only known Ivy a short time, but she’d already grown to like her. She was clearly someone who took life with a pinch of salt. After what had happened to her back when she first met the Doctor, she guessed that she had to be like that.

“There’s another name,” said Alice, concentrating. “Maxus.”

Anna eyed her up carefully. “He’s another of the Eyeglass goons,” she said.

“How’d you know?”

“Because I studied them as a kid before I was dumped here. I hated everything they stood for.” She guided them out of the jungle and back onto the beach. “I memorised all of their names. Magnus Blackmore, Quinn Maxus, June Caster…all of them. In fact Tylaya rings a bell too.”

“And are they all as bad as each other?” said Alice.

Anna smiled. “Not all of them. Some of them, in fact, are quite trapped and all they want to do is escape.”




On board the Nautilus the Doctor was escorted out of the General’s office and back down a corridor. As they waited for the lift to come down to transport him back to the prison level, he noticed a man in combat armour standing opposite a man in a white lab coat.

“Let me see her, Finn. I want to check her,” said the man.

Finn shook his head apologetically. “She’s not in a good way at the moment.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” said Maxus. “I need to know she’s okay. She’s been out of her body for too long.”

“You can’t go in there,” said Finn, barring the door. “We can’t disturb her.”

“What are you hiding from me?” said Maxus.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” said the Doctor.

“Quiet,” said the guard with the visor on his helmet, pushing him in the back.

“Tell me how she is?” said Maxus, walking towards the Doctor.

“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor.

“Tylaya. She’s the one inside your friend. How is she?”

The Doctor suddenly looked cold and emotionless. “So you’re the one who caused all of this bother. You’re the one who killed poor Mr. Groves.”

“I didn’t kill the teacher,” said Maxus. “That was the initial team that were sent in. I simply took his form and pretended to be him.”

The Doctor shook his head. “It doesn’t make it right.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. “I warn you, Mr. Maxus,” he said, holding a finger out and pointing, “if anything happens to Alice I will hold you personally responsible.”

“In,” said the guard, shoving the Doctor into the small lift.

Maxus watched as the Doctor disappeared behind the doors and the lift began its descent to the lower levels.

He sighed and turned back to Finn. “You need to let me in.”

Before Finn could answer a siren began blurting out. The bright corridor lights dimmed and green-flashing lights illuminated everyone and everything.

“Not now,” said Finn.

A voice came over the intercom. “This is Verash. We are coming into orbit around Earth. All duty officers please report to their stations. All agents report to the bridge for briefing. Repeat, we are coming into orbit around Earth.”




“Where the hell am I this time?”

Tylaya was standing in a forest beside a stream. It was cold and the air was wet. The autumn leaves under her feet were soggy and clung to her boots as she walked.

She was getting sick of this now. She’d been stuck inside Alice Stokes head for months, and, apart from the times when she was able to break free and report back to the General, she had to endure endless memories inside Alice’s head. Memories of birthdays, family holidays, drowning kittens and countless, countless school lessons.

She had had enough and she was sure something had gone wrong.

She should have exited this body a long time ago and returned to her own. She had managed a full-on conversation with Verash back on Mars, but then she had blacked out. Alice had become aware of her for the first time and she was now fighting back. And Tylaya was too tired to fight back anymore.

She wanted to go back to her own body. She wanted to go home.

Something had gone wrong.

She heard the sound of voices and looked as she saw a young, 17 year old Alice run past, laughing and being chased by a teenage boy with black hair neatly gelled into a side parting.

“Oh god,” said Tylaya. “Get me the hell out of here.”

The boy caught up with Alice and the two fell to the ground, rolling in the wet leaves and laughing uncontrollably.

“Please. I can’t do with any more of these,” said Tylaya, staring up into the sky.

The young man and Alice embraced each other and kissed passionately.

“Please!” yelled Tylaya to the sky.

Alice’s turned to face her, breaking away from her boyfriend. “It’s over,” she said. “You’ve got nowhere to go back to.”





The sparkling blue, white and green of Earth glimmered in the blackness of space, like a jewel set in a crown or an expensive ring.

Around the Earth five dark, grey ships - each emblazoned with a glowing green eye symbol on their underbelly - moved into an orbit around the planet. They were almost like piranha, circling their prey and waiting for the right time to make their move.

A sixth ship - the Nautilus - headed towards the atmosphere. The ship had not entered the Earth’s atmosphere since it left it 15 years ago after it’s launch, but now it was coming home. And it had thing’s to do before it could relax.

As the ship entered the atmosphere, flames blazing around it’s protective hull, four scout ships emerged from the clouds, shot past the ship and then turned around to fly either side of it.

On board the bridge, the General was stroking his chin thoughtfully.

“Incoming transmission,” said the communications officer.

“On,” said the General.

“This is Central City Defence. You are on a direct trajectory to the Central Column. President Carpathia asks for you to change course to the nearest ship yard.”

The General leant forward and pressed a button on the panel next to his seat. “You can tell Carpathia to clear the airspace over the Column. We’re not here to be brushed away, and especially not by the CCD. I’m bringing my ship in level with the Column and I expect full communications with Carpathia.”

“General Helix,” came the worried voice, “I cannot let-”

“Let me give you a demonstration,” said the General. He nodded to the weapons office, Hanslip, who pressed a few keys.

Outside a bolt of energy shot from one of the ships gun turrets, obliterating one of the scout ships.

“Need I say more?” said the General.

The scout ships broke away as the Nautilus continued its journey to Central City.

“Now,” said the General, “get the platform ready.”

The doors swished open and the Paragrim walked onto the bridge. He snarled at Hanslip and Verash and then crossed to the front of the bridge where he stood in front of the large view screen.

“Can I help you?” said the General, choosing to not look at Paragrim, pretending he wasn’t there.

“What’s the plan?” he grunted.

“Why do you care? You got your 100,000,000 credits. After the mix up with Throx last year, I’d rather you not be around me anymore.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” said Paragrim, remembering how the Doctor had tricked him into thinking he was doing a mission for the Eyeglass.

“All that is in the past now,” said the General. “You helped me to extract him from Mars. Now it’s time for you to go.”

“But you promised me that I’d get to kill him.”

The General sighed. He was becoming impatient with this creature. “I have other plans for the Doctor. It’s not just a simple case of me shooting him dead.”

Paragrim snarled and punched at a console, causing it to splutter and fizzle. “What is it with you people? Why can’t you ever be straight forward about things?”

“Because,” said the General, the anger inside him rising, “I am not straight forward. I do bad things. Terrible things, but that doesn’t mean that I’m so straight forward. I have plans.” He nodded towards the spluttering console. “And I suggest you start to curb that temper of yours.”

“Then tell me the plan.”

The General smiled. “I’m going to give the Doctor a choice.” He chuckled to himself. “And whichever choice he makes will tear this entire government apart.”




Maxus had disobeyed orders and he knew he’d be in big trouble for it. Instead of going to the tactical station on deck 3, he’d gone back down to the medibay, knowing full well that Dr. Finn wouldn’t be there now. He was up on the bridge in case they received any casualties.

Maxus looked around himself nervously, and then opened the door to the medibay. Inside was dark, illuminated only by a glass coffin-like cubicle which housed the prone form of Tylaya. It had been so long since he had seen her face - her real face - and he was overcome by emotion.

He crossed over to the cubicle and placed his hands on the cool glass, looking down on her pale, sleeping face.

She was connected with wires to the machine above her head, but something was wrong. She wasn’t breathing. Even though Tylaya’s consciousness was inside of Alice Stokes, she should have still have been breathing.

Maxus started to panic, looking for the opening mechanism on the cubicle.

“What are you doing down here, Maxus?”

He span around and standing there was Dr. Finn, his wise old face looking stern and clearly worried that Maxus had stumbled upon something he really shouldn’t have.

“She’s not breathing,” said Maxus.

“Maxus - Quinn - you have to get out of here.”

“Why isn’t she breathing?”

“Please-”

“Why isn’t she breathing?!” yelled Maxus, grabbing Finn by his shoulders and pushing him against the wall.

Finn stumbled on his words. “Her body expired some time ago.”

“What?”

“We tried everything we could to revive her, but without her consciousness, she was just too far gone.”

“This plan was supposed to be fool proof!” he yelled, pushing against Finn.

“It wasn’t my idea,” said Finn.

Maxus glared at him. No, it really wasn’t his idea. The General had come up with this crazy idea and it was because of the General that Tylaya was gone.

“Please, Quinn, you really have to understand that we tried all we could-”

“But we can find Stokes. Tylaya is still in there. We can bring her back.”

“They’ve been separated for too long.”

Maxus looked at the cubicle. “You still have the device switched on.”

“Yes,” said Finn. “We can still monitor Tylaya’s brain patterns,” he sighed, “but the body is gone.”

Maxus released Finn and slowly fell to his knees, letting out a cry of rage. “We were supposed to be getting married after this was over. One more year. One more year. Then we were going to leave this company.”

“The General -”

“I don’t give a shit what the General says or does. I knew this was all wrong right from the start.” He started to regain some of his composure. “The General is going to have to pay for this.”

“Now, Quinn-”

“Shut up!” He turned to Tylaya. “I need her.”

Finn straightened his lab coat and then knelt down beside Maxus. “There may be something we can do.”




The Nautilus slowly descended from the grey skies, hovering above Central City like a spider ready to pounce on a fly. Central City - or rather London - hadn’t seen a ship this big over the city since back in the early part of the 21st century. Back then that was aliens. This, however, was a ship built in the very heart of this country.

Inside the Column, Carpathia gazed up at the ship.

“We’re receiving a transmission,” said Jenny, glancing at the digital readout on Carpathia’s desk.

“Switch it on,” he said, trying his best to hold back his anger.

A holographic image of the General appeared, floating like a disembodied ghostly head above the table. He smiled when he saw Carpathia.

“Well?” said the president. “What do you want?”

“Please, Mr President,” smiled the General, “where are your pleasantries?”

“They went up in smoke when you shot that innocent pilot and his scout ship out of the skies.”

“You needed warning.”

Carpathia brought his fist down on the glass table, almost cracking it. “The Eyeglass were supposed to be helping the Human race, not going to war with it.”

The General laughed. “I’m not going to war with your.”

“Then what? What could possibly cause you to disrupt things like this?”

“On board my ship I have a Human being - of course - , a Martian Lord and a Time Lord.”

Carpathia raised his eyebrows. “How did you get a Time Lord?”

“You may have heard of the Doctor.”

Carpathia accessed his own personal memories. Throughout history the Earth had been saved by a Time Lord who had called himself the Doctor. A man who fought for peace and justice. If he was on board the Nautilus, then it was surely a good thing.

“Go on,” said Carpathia.

“The Doctor, for so long, has been a champion for all that is good in this universe. Except today. Today he will commit an act that will cause war between the Earth people and the Martians.”

Carpathia shook his head. “What the hell do you mean? Why would you want to intentionally cause a war?”

“Because I’ve seen how things are progressing. The Martians are changing. Pockets of them are showing discontent amongst their race. They believe that Mars should be returned solely to the Martians and that the Humans should be removed.”

“But these are problems that can be dealt with peacefully, not by causing a war.”

The General shook his holographic head. “Not this time, Mr. President. They need to be put in their place.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” said Carpathia. “Our race is wising up to you, Helix. You won’t get them to follow you blindly.”

“Not me,” said the General. “But they’ll soon follow once the Martians begin attacking.”

Carpathia frowned.

The General turned his head to look at what Carpathia assumed was someone on his bridge and nodded.

There was a woosh from somewhere outside and Carpathia and Jenny ran to the windows overlooking the old Houses of Parliament.

A missile had been fired from the Nautilus and was heading towards the Houses of Parliament. With an almighty boom the missile exploded, sending stone and masonry flying in all directions, flattening nearby hover cars and causing flames and huge billows of smoke to ensue from the centuries old buildings.

Carpathia looked on in horror. “Why?!”

“Because I can,” smiled the General.

“But they’ll see that this is you causing war.”

“Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few of your own things to make things better.”

Carpathia shook his head.

“We have the biggest fleet on the planet.” He looked to his side and nodded again. “And now, are you ready for part two?”




A huge, sloping platform lowered from the underbelly of the Nautilus. Emerging from the inside was the Doctor, Saraxx and Dennington, their arms tied behind their backs. Escorting them down the sloping platform was Paragrim and Verash and two helmeted guards, their visors down.

Paragrim looked over the edge at the carnage below and nodded his approval.

“What the hell have they done?” said Dennington.

“They’re gone too far is what they’ve done,” said the Doctor with a sigh.

“The thoughts of my people go with yours, Mr. Dennington,” said Saraxx

Dennington didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say.

Paragrim guided the three prisoners right to the edge.

“Well, this is it,” said Dennington. “I never thought it’d end this way. Being thrown into an inferno off a huge spaceship.”

“It’s not over yet,” said the Doctor.

“Indeed,” said Saraxx. “We must battle until the end.”

Verash pulled out a dagger and cut the rope, freeing the Doctor. The Doctor looked confused as Verash backed away. Two floating cameras then emerged from the interior of the ship and zoomed around to face the Doctor, Dennington and Saraxx.

“Here me, people of Earth,” came the booming voice of the General. “Here before you stands three sworn enemies.”

The Doctor frowned.

“One of our kind, a Martian Ice Warrior and a rebel Time Lord.”

“Look,” said the Doctor, shouting up to the sky, “will you just explain what is going on here.”

“Push one of them,” said the General, his order aimed at the Doctor.

“What?”

Dennington and Saraxx looked at each other, confused.

“Push one of them off the platform and into the flames below.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You heard me. Side with the Ice Warrior and kill the Human, and war begins. Side with the Human and kill the Ice Warrior, and war breaks out.”

“This is insane!”

“If you don’t push one, they both die!” growled the General. “NOW DO IT!”


Next time: Could Anna be the key to ending all of this? Coming Saturday 24th May 2014.

10 May 2014

The Fall of the Eye (Part 2)

Ivy’s eyes flicked open. It took her a moment to work out where she was, but then she realised - she was lying in a hole seven foot in the Martian ground. The General had actually done it. He’d actually faked her death. She felt panic rise up inside her, and then calmed when she realised that the coffin was actually open.

She was aware of movement up above. There were shouts and laser bolts.

“Help!” she shouted, hoping to get somebody’s attention. “Help!”

A man’s face peered down. “Damn it!” he said.

“Can you get me out please?”

Verash jumped down and helped Ivy out of the hole and onto the surface. He looked frustrated. “Looks like the General wasn’t lying when he said you’d wake up during the funeral.”

“Oh,” said Ivy, her heart sinking, “so you’re with him then?”

“Time for us to get out of here,” came a female voice. Standing there was Alice, a smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

“And you are?”

“You can call me Tylaya,” said the woman.

Ivy frowned.

“We need to get off Mars,” said Verash as the huge bulk of the Nautilus drifted into view and began aiming it’s weapons at the surface of the planet

“Where’s the Doctor?” said Alice, looking around her, hoping to see him somewhere nearby.

“He and your friend, Dennington, escaped,” said Tylaya. She suddenly winced and dropped to her knees. “She’s fighting me!”

“What? Who is?” said Ivy, becoming more and more confused.

“Fight back,” said Verash. “You’re stronger than she is.”

“It’s so hard,” she said, tears in her eyes. “Can’t you just put me back into my body now. Send the recall signal.”

Verash gulped nervously. He couldn’t tell her the truth. He couldn’t tell her that while she was possessing Alice Stokes’s body, her own body had died, unable to survive without it’s mind for so long.

“You need to be closer to your body,” lied Verash. “It won’t work this far away.”

“Then hurry up and get us back!”

The dots were beginning to join up for Ivy. She hadn’t travelled with the Doctor for so long without spotting the effects of body possession. This woman had presumably been travelling with the Doctor and at some point had become possessed by an Eyeglass goon.

She looked at Verash, knelt down beside the woman and eyed up the blaster attached to his belt. In a flash she had launched herself at him and knocked him to the ground, grabbing the blaster and aiming at him. Verash jumped out of the way as Ivy pulled the trigger. He activated a device on his wrist and he slowly dematerialised, presumably beamed up to the ship that was now beginning to fire down at the colony base.

The woman, still knelt on the floor, screamed and collapsed to the ground.




The Doctor, Dennington and Saraxx had been transported up to the Nautilus and were now being marched along a corridor, to a lift and then into a small holding room with energy beams for prison bars.

Dennington sat down on the bench, his head in his hands, and rubbed at his temples. “How did this happen?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said the Doctor. “I was a fool.”

“The both of us were fools,” said Dennington. “I should have asked for another medical examination to have been done on Ivy.”

“And I should have been weary when I first took Alice away. She was too eager.”

“Don’t mistake her eagerness for a false feelings. Believe me, Doctor, after what Ivy’s told me about your box, I’m quite tempted to join you myself.”

“All this is mere talk,” said Saraxx. “The real question we must be asking is how we get out of here.”

The Doctor got up and crossed over to the bars. He held the palm of his hand close to them. There was a warm, prickling sensation in his skin, like static electricity. “Not through that way. Those bars would cut you to ribbons.”

“Vicious things,” said Dennington.

“I can’t understand why they’ve taken you,” said the Doctor, spinning around and pointing at Saraxx.

Saraxx shook his head. He knew exactly why. “I was attending a conference with the head of the colony. I was negotiating buying back the land that we lost to the Humans. Talks were progressing well.”

“But Eyeglass has just bombed the entire complex,” said Dennington. “Taking you hasn’t changed anything.”

“It’s because I’m a threat,” said Saraxx. “Anyone who goes up against the Humans is a threat.”

“We don’t all side with them,” said Dennington. “I’ve heard of the things they do. The government used to turn a blind eye, but even they can’t ignore them now.”

“But you’ve wasted your time and now they’ve gotten too big to handle.”

“Okay, you two,” said the Doctor, sitting on the bench and interlocking his fingers, “there’s no point in squabbling over things.”

“Especially when they’re out of our control,” said Dennington with a sigh.

“They’re not necessarily out of our control,” said the Doctor.

“Oh?”

“No,” he continued, gazing at the bars, “in fact, we may be exactly where we need to be.”




The women stood in the expanse of golden-white sand, her thin, white dress billowing around her, fixed in place only by a black belt. Her blonde hair was tied up at the back and she wore some sort of headband across her forehead. She held two crudely cut curved swords in each hand and she quickly spun around, cutting through the air and striking defensive poses.

She stood there for a moment, still and cat-like, ready to pounce on her invisible prey, when suddenly she was distracted. Somewhere up above was the sound of distant rocket engines. She frowned and turned quickly to look for the source.

Zooming from out of the clear blue sky was a cylindrical object - an escape pod. She had seen one of these in the picture books when she was at school. It was bearing down on her location. For a moment she thought it would soar just over her head, and then she realised it was getting a little too low for comfort.

Like a panther she leapt out of the way as the pod came crashing down where she had been standing, burying itself in the sand and causing waves of grains to fly up and shower her face.

She coughed and wiped her face clean, spitting out the tiny grains of sand that had gotten into her mouth.

The door of the escape pod opened and a confused woman with long brown hair staggered out, shielding her eyes against the sun. She was followed by a taller, red-headed women with freckles and curls. She was wearing a combat suit and looked a little more confident.

“Nice,” said the first women.

“A desert. Joy!” said the red-head. She had an Irish accent.

“Oh, hello,” said the brunette, clocking the onlooker.

“Hi,” she said, a little flatly.

“Where on Gods Green earth - or brown Earth - are we?” said Ivy.

“Small island in the middle of the Pacific,” said the blonde, her hand still gripped firmly on the sword. She wasn’t willing to let her guard down even though the two women looked harmless.

“Looks familiar,” said Ivy, looking around. “Of course! This is where the Doctor took me on my first trip.”

“Ivy, we need to find a way to help him.”

“We will, love, don’t worry,” said Ivy. She nodded to the blonde women. “What’s your name?”

“Why do you want to know?” said the woman. She still hadn’t relaxed her grip.

“Jesus, what’s up with people? My name’s Ivy Coldstone and this here is Alice Stokes. We’ve just escaped from Mars.”

The blonde woman continued to stare at them, her face cold and calculating.

“Look,” said Alice, “we need to get to the Earth government and tell them all about the Eyeglass.”

“Easy, Alice-”

“What do you know about the Eyeglass?” said the blonde woman.

“Bunch of pricks,” said Ivy. “They’re currently bombing the colony up there.” She pointed up to the sky.

“On Mars? Why?”

“How they hell should I know?” Ivy was becoming more and more frustrated with this woman. “Look, can you just tell us the way to the nearest sail dock?”

“There’s no way off this island,” said the woman.

“What do you mean? There has to be.”

The woman sheathed her sword and extended her hand. “My name is Anna. I’ve been stuck on this island since my family dumped me here when I was 12 years old.”

“That’s harsh,” said Ivy. “Why did they dump you?”

“Because I was a rebel.”

“Most parents find better ways to discipline their kids. Boot camp?”

“Maybe,” said Anna. “Not me though. I was a very big threat to my parents.”

Alice was becoming impatient. “Look, can you help us or can’t you?”

Anna smiled for the first time. “To destroy the Eyeglass? I’m a rebel. Of course I can.”




The Doctor had been marched up to the bridge of the Nautilus where he found himself stood in the oak-panelled office of General Helix. It was definitely different from the last office he had been in that belonged to the General. This one was more homely and even quite cosy considering it was a war ship.

“Ah,” said the Doctor, gazing around himself, “much nicer than the one on the Victorious. What happened to that ship?”

“It’s still out there,” smiled the General, nodding for the guards to leave them. “I just decided on an upgrade.” The General poured the Doctor a cup of Earl Grey tea and pulled out a chair. “Please, sit.”

The Doctor smiled and sat down. “How courteous of you.”

“I always like to treat my VIP’s with the utmost decency.”

“How kind.”

The General sat on the other side of the large oak table and leaned back in his chair. “You’ve caused me quite a lot of hassle.”

“Not half as much as you’ve caused me,” said the Doctor, taking a sip of his hot tea. “Mmm, that’s good.”

“Eventually, Doctor, you will learn that you’re my tool. You’re my key to the rest of this miserable galaxy.”

The Doctor frowned. “You do realise that you still work for the Human race, yes?”

The General nodded. “I don’t work for the Human race. I am the Human race.”

The Doctor laughed. “What on Earth is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that amongst my fleet I have the best of the Human race. The best warriors, best thinkers, best doctors…I have no need of anything else.”

“So you’ve separated yourself from the actual Human race on Earth then?”

“Not just that,” said the General, leaning in and blinking slowly. “I’m about to show them what they’ve been missing.”

“What are you planning?”

The General smiled. “Right now the Nautilus is on a course back to Earth. We’ve just destroyed the colony on Mars. We’ve made our point.”

“By killing innocents.”

“By sending a message.”

“What message?”

“That it’s time for the government to step down and for the Eyeglass to take control.”

“What?”




Central City. England.

What was once London had changed, evolved and become what was now known as Central City. A city that spanned across most of the southern part of Britain, incorporating towns that had once stood on the outskirts of London.

But the centre of old London was still there. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and the Thames. It was all still familiar, albeit slightly different with sky scrapers and towers surrounding the old buildings.

Towering over the old Houses of Parliament was Central Column. A building that was narrow, but high. At the top of its 250 floors was the main office for the Earth Government, led by President Walter Carpathia.

Carpathia was a man in his late forties. He had dark, slightly greying hair and wore wire-rimmed glasses. He always wore the same grey suit every day, but was always, always smart and pleasant.

He sat there at his office table viewing the holographic projection of the atrocities on Mars.

The 3D image showed the Nautilus pounding the planet with torpedoes, obliterating buildings and levelling structures and the faces of the people - Martian and Human alike terrified and fearing for their lives.

“Turn it off,” said Carpathia with disgust.

“YES SIR,” said the computer voice.

He sat there for a long time, his fingers interlocked.

“WE HAVE REPORTS COMING IN FROM MULTIPLE FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE COLONISTS.”

“I can’t deal with them now,” said Carpathia. He wanted to deal with them, to try and explain why their relatives and friends had died on the colony, but he didn’t know what he could say to them. How could you explain the fact that a company who were supposed to be doing good things for Humanity, could turn against it’s own people.

He needed to deal with the General and Eyeglass. He was receiving pressure from the rest of the planet, and, as Eyeglass was essentially British-born, it was he who needed to reign them in.

The door to his office swished open and a dark-skinned woman walked in with a data pad.

“Everything alright, sir?” she said.

“Jenny,” smiled Carpathia. Somehow seeing his PA always warmed his heart. She had been with him right from his first day in office four years ago and they had grown close over the years. “I wish I could explain the words I want to say right now.”

“Did you have friends on Mars?”

“No,” said Carpathia, “but my brother did. His wife’s cousin works up there for the mining corporation.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Mark’s a tough man,” said Carpathia. “He’s been through a lot over the last few years. If I know Mark he’ll be up there right now helping with the survivors.”

“About that…” said Jenny, looking a little worried to breach the subject.

“Yes?”

“We’re preparing a few relief ships to help out the colonists.”

“Excellent,” said Carpathia. “Get them up there right away.”

Jenny shifted uncomfortably and handed her data pad over to Carpathia.

“What’s this?”

“We received a transmission from the Nautilus. The General says that any aid sent to Mars will be dealt with swiftly.”

“I beg your pardon?!” spat Carpathia. “They’re our own kind. They’re Humans!”

“What do we do?”

“Get Helix on the communication channels right now,” said Carpathia, directing his question to the computer.

There was a error beep. “ALL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EARTH AND THE EYEGLASS FLEET IS BEING JAMMED.”

“Try again.”

Another error beep. “ALL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EARTH AND THE-”

“Yes, yes, yes,” said Carpathia wearily.

“That’s not all, sir,” said Jenny, handing him another data pad. “It seems that around six of the Eyeglass fleet are heading towards Earth, led by the Nautilus.”

The data pad was flashing that a message was waiting to be read. Carpathia looked at Jenny and then at the pad and pressed down on the flashing orange envelope symbol.

On it were the words: “WE ARE COMING”


Next time: The Nautilus arrives and the Doctor is faced with a terrible choice. Coming Saturday May 17th 2014.