The Trees of Cologne (Part 4)

The Doctor edged forward to try and see what the whimpering figure was in the distance. Tylaya put a hand on his upper arm to stop him, but he gently removed her hand and carried on walking.

As they walked forward the figure came into focus. It was about seven foot tall, wide and with every step it made creaking sounds.

“Hello,” said the Doctor softly as if talking to an animal. “Who are you then?”

“Be careful,” hissed Tylaya.

“I think we’re okay,” said the Doctor. He held up a torch and shone it at the creature.

Tylaya didn’t know whether to feel horrified or sick. The creature was actually a tree. It was part humanoid-part tree. It reminded her of an old film she had seen when she was small - ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’. In that film there had been strange, talking trees with faces. This is what this tree looked like, except it was stranger. It had almost arm-like branches and dragged itself along on where it’s trunk had split in two like some strange, deformed legs.

And it had a face. Not much of one, but there were two, gnarled holes for eyes and a jagged mouth.

It stretched out a gnarled arm towards the Doctor and Tylaya, and then collapsed to ground in a heap.

The Doctor was at it’s side in an instant and turned it over with great difficulty. The face looked sad and scared, but it was no longer moving. He whipped out his screwdriver and ran it over the tree-person.

“Anything?” said Tylaya, feeling sorry for the creature.

“No,” said the Doctor. “It’s gone.” He stood up, a look of determination on his face. “I don’t know how this has happened, but somebody is playing dangerous experiments. We need to find them. Now.”




Maxus wasn’t really sure what was happening. He could see tree branches flying backwards and forwards in the distance. And then he saw Mary’s face flashing in and out of focus. And then the young soldier. He was moving, the cloudy sky above him made him feel more and more tired.

He felt cold and tired as he drifted out of consciousness again. And for a split second he thought he saw her…




It had taken around 45 minutes, but the Doctor and Tylaya had finally reached a station that was still running it’s tube trains.

They emerged into the light of the Leyendeckerstraße station and quickly jumped onto the platform as curious onlookers frowned, wondering why two people had emerged from the tunnels.

One of the KVB trains was waiting at the platform in front of them.

“Look,” said Tylaya. “Ollenhauerring.” She pointed at the orange readout on the train. “That’s where we’re going, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” said the Doctor, pressing the button and helping her through the double doors. “And then maybe we can put an end to this.”

A few minutes later the train sprung into life and entered into the tunnels, heading towards it’s destination. They passed a number of stations along the route until they finally emerged out of the tunnels and into the sunlight where the tramlines began their overhead journey.

Tylaya stared out of the window and smiled as the golden light of the setting sun shone through, casting everything around them in a haze.

“Sorry,” said the Doctor quietly.

“Hmm?” said Tylaya. She almost thought she hadn’t heard him.

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “I should be a better man.”

She smiled sadly at him and nodded. “Thank you.”

The recorded voice over the speaker system reported that the next station was Ollenhauerring as they turned a corner, the tramline running alongside a main road to the right and a tree lined walkway to the left. Tylaya felt safer here. These trees didn’t look dangerous at all.

The train came to a halt and the Doctor and Tylaya stepped off the train. It was colder here away from the built up area of the city and the sun had almost set. The Doctor rubbed his hands together and then put on a dark blue pair of gloves.

“Where now?” said Tylaya, looking around her.

“This way,” said the Doctor, checking the readings on the screwdriver and heading down sloped ramp designed for wheelchairs, around a corner and down a street.

To their right was a large, white block of apartments. More trees surrounded the various blocks that made it look more picturesque than it maybe should have done.

By now the screwdriver was beeping more and more rapidly as they made another right and headed towards the block of flats. Stood in one of the parking spaces between a red sports car and a yellow people carrier was the white van they had seen earlier in the day.

“It’s them,” said Tylaya.

The Doctor strode up to the security door that led to the stairwell and the flats and activated the screwdriver, unlocking the door. They snuck inside and as the Doctor stepped nearer to one of the apartment doors the sonic beeped faster and faster.

“In there,” said the Doctor. He knocked on the door as hard as he could and a few minutes later the door opened. Standing there was a man with a shaved head, glasses and dressed in a black shirt and jeans.

“Yes?” he said, frowning at the Doctor and Tylaya.

“The game is up,” said the Doctor, with a smirk.

“I beg your pardon?” said the man, looking more and more confused.

“Don’t try and play the fool,” said the Doctor, training to peer over the mans shoulder into the apartment.

“I don’t understand,” said the man. “Who are you?”

“Do you have a tree in there?”

“What?”

“Doctor,” said Tylaya, tugging on the Doctor’s sleeve. The Doctor turned and followed her gaze. On the flight of steps leading up to the next floor there was a small collection of leaves.

They were twitching.

“Oh, yes,” said the man, “you might want to check in the flat above us. I’ve been hearing strange noises coming up there all day.”

“Do you know who’s up there?” said the Doctor, crossing over to the steps.

“No,” said the man, “but I think they moved in a few weeks ago. Been nothing but noise.”

“Thank you,” said Tylaya, smiling at the man.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, still frowning at the man.

“You’re welcome,” he said, closing the door.

The Doctor and Tylaya made their way up to the next floor where the sonic was now emitting almost a constant whine. The Doctor switched it off as they stepped up to the door to the above apartment.

“Do we knock?” said Tylaya.

“No,” said the Doctor. “Not this time.”

He aimed the screwdriver at the door and it unlocked. They then pushed the door open slowly.




Maxus slowly drifted back into the real world. Mary and the soldier came into focus, but he wasn’t lying on the hard concrete of the Deutzer bridge. He was instead lying on a bed with a ceiling and light above him.

“Where…?”

“Me and Fabian got you back to the hostel,” said Mary.

“Fabian?”

“The soldier who shot you.”

“Great,” said Maxus. He turned to the pasty faced soldier. He barely looked old enough to carry a fire arm. “Thanks.”

Fabian smiled nervously.

“What happened?”

“I didn’t think we were gonna get out alive,” said Mary, shaking her head in disbelief. “The other two soldiers were killed. Those branches just ripped the bridge in two. We just made it back in time.”

Maxus sat up and shook his head. He noticed the bandage over his exposed left side of his chest.

“I patched you up,” said Fabian, “but we’re going to have to get you to a doctor eventually.”

“Hopefully my Doctor will come back before too long.”

Mary crossed over to the hostel rooms window and looked out. The view of the Rhine would have been quite beautiful on a summers day, but now it looked quite bleak. She could see the twisted metal and concrete of the Deutzer bridge as it lay, sinking down into the cold water. The branches had also disappeared.

“So what do we do,” said Maxus, sitting up and wincing in pain. “We can’t stay here.”

“That’s exactly what we’re going to have to do,” said Mary. “We can’t go out there now. The streets are being overrun by trees, and -” She stopped, staring at something in the car park below.

“What?” said Fabian, crossing over to join her. “What the hell…?” he said as he looked down at the car park.

Maxus eased himself off the bed and then found the strength to make it over to the window. “Is that a tree?” he said.

Down below in the car park, next to the TARDIS, was a large tree. But something was different about it. It was creaking and cracking and slowly it’s branches were twisting around. It’s base cracked in two, it’s routes wiggling about, helping it to move along the concrete. In the middle of the tree trunk, towards the top of the tree, a crack appeared followed by another two, smaller cracks above it.

“It looks-”

“Humanoid,” said Maxus. He swallowed hard as the tree bent and twisted it’s trunk to look up at them. “They’re evolving into something else.”

The tree screamed in much the same way that a baby cried after it had been born. And then, with one big leap, it launched itself at the building, sticking it’s twigs and branches into any gap it could find in the brick work.

“This doesn’t look good,” said Fabian, picking up his rifle instinctively.

The tree slowly but surely started hauling itself up the side of the hostel, smashing windows as it went. It was slow, but it was determined.

“We need to get out of here,” said Maxus.

“I’ve already said the streets are full of trees. What’s to say they’re not all going to start turning into the same thing.”

Maxus looked around the room for an answer, knowing full well there weren’t any. “We can’t just stay here. We need to risk it.”

“With your wound?” said Mary, nodding towards his bandage. He had started bleeding again.

“I’d rather risk it out there than stay and die in here,” growled Maxus.

Mary couldn’t argue with that. She was terrified. She didn’t want to go out there, but waiting here was just suicide. It was only a matter of time before the tree reached them.

“So we run?” said Fabian, already near to the door. “I can shoot at it if you want.”

“No,” said Maxus, “that’ll only attract attention. We can’t have a whole army of these things after us.”

There was a loud explosion from somewhere in the distance and a plume of smoke appeared over the tops of buildings.

“Looks like your army buddies have brought in the heavy artillery,” said Maxus. “We need to go now. As far away as possible.”

“Agreed,” said Mary. “Let’s go.”

They made for the door just as the branch-like arm of the trees smashed through the window and pulled itself over the window sill.

They bolted down the corridor and flew down the four flights of stairs. The hostel was empty and abandoned now, and thankfully there was nothing on the other side of the outer door.

“Hey,” said Mary, “I have a thought. Why don’t we just hide in the Doctor’s box?”

“Because he never gave me a key,” said Maxus. “I can’t be trusted, remember?”

They exited the building and turned the corner only to discover another five trees in the final stage of their mutation into humanoid shape.

“Back the other way,” said Fabian. “Quick!”




The Doctor and Tylaya crept into the darkened apartment. The walls were white and there didn’t appear to be any sign of furniture in the hallway. To the left was a toilet and directly ahead a bedroom. To the right the hallway stretched down to a bathroom with a kitchen and living room to the right side and another two bedrooms to the left side. From the bedroom nearest to the bathroom a blue glow was coming from behind the closed door.

The Doctor held a finger up to his lips and he and Tylaya inched forward. There was a gentle humming sound coming from behind the door and the Doctor put his ear against the wood to try and listen.

“Can I help you?” came a female voice.

The Doctor and Tylaya span around and standing there was a young, Asian-looking woman in a white lab coat.

“Yes,” said the Doctor quickly. “Yes you can. I’d like some explanations as to what’s going on here.”

“And how did you find us? I remember you from the city?”

“Technology beyond your realm of understanding,” said the Doctor.

“Really? Do you really think that?” She pushed past the Doctor and Tylaya and opened the bedroom door. Inside looked like some kind of futuristic lab. Three people were stood around the various pieces of equipment - including the heavy set man, Michael - and they all turned to look as the Doctor came in.

“Who the hell is he?” said Michael.

“Well?” said the woman. “My name’s Nina. This is Michael and his brother Thomas and over there is Linda. So won’t you please introduce yourselves?”

“Who are you working for?” said the Doctor, ignoring the question.

“Okay,” said Nina, “no pleasantries. Fine. We work for CFN.”

“Which is?”

“Campaigners For Nature.”

“Oh dear,” said the Doctor, rolling his eyes.

“You disapprove of helping nature? Of saving this planet?”

“Nina, I’ve saved this planet more times than you’ve had hot dinners, but I’ve heard of CFN.”

“You have?” said Tylaya, frowning.

“Yes. They died out during the early part of the 21st century.”

Michael laughed. “Don’t be stupid. We’re not going anywhere.”

“Exactly. You’re not going anywhere. Anywhere at all. The United Nations soon worked out that what you were doing wasn’t exactly for the good of the human race, to coin an old phrase.”

Tylaya looked a little sheepish.

“You can’t possibly know the future,” said Nina.

“Look me up. I’m under Doctor.”

Michael whispered in Nina’s ear. “Want me to get rid of them?”

“Not yet, Michael,” said Nina.

“So what have you been up to here?” said the Doctor, pushing past and crossing to some form of incubator. He peered inside the glass fronted cubicle. Inside was part of a tree, and it looked to have started to develop.

“This is hideous,” said Tylaya, joining the Doctor by his side.

“What on Earth are you playing at?” said the Doctor.

Nina folded her arms and looked down her nose at the Doctor. “This planet has been destroying nature for too long now. CFN decided to step in and allow nature to fight back.”

“But not like this.”

“I don’t understand the problem,” said Nina.

“The problem is that innocent people are dying in the city centre,” said Tylaya.

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “How long before they spread out to the neighbouring suburbs?”

“But they’ll grow and develop and eventually learn to live side by side with us.”

“They won’t,” said the Doctor.

“And how can you be so sure?” said Michael.

“Because I’ve already seen one of your creations. It was lost and confused in the tunnels and it died right in front my eyes.”

“A side effect. We’ll perfect it.”

“And this one,” said Tylaya. “This one’s barely alive.”

“There has to be test subjects. We don’t like it, but it has to be done to better the rest of the race.” Nina was clearly faltering now. She was trying to convince herself.

“How did you even do any of this?” said the Doctor, trying to hold in his anger.

“Alien tech,” said Nina. “We have our contacts. People in the government that can get us the stuff we need. We just engineered a few seeds and dropped them in the heart of the city.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I want names.”

“Whose names?”

“The names of your contacts.”

“I don’t -”

“Tell me,” growled the Doctor.

Suddenly the cubicle next to them rumbled. Everyone’s eyes turned to the cubicle. It shook again. The something inside was waking up.




Maxus, Mary and Fabian had made it through part of the city and to a park area surrounded by high-rise buildings in a semicircle fashion around a lake. This was Mediapark where the Jolly Hotel had set up a refuge centre for people in the city. The deadly trees hadn’t taken route here.

They made their way across the main road and towards the gently curving bridge when Maxus dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest in agony.

“You’ve got to get up,” said Mary breathlessly. “We must keep moving.”

“Get me to the hotel,” said Maxus.

“We need to get further than that. Past the buildings is a hill and on top of that is the train tracks. We can follow them out of the city.”

“I won’t survive the journey,” said Maxus. “You two should get out. Get me inside the hotel.”

“Sorry, sir,” said Fabian, “but I’m not about to run out on the man I shot.”

Mary shook her head. “Maybe there’s a medic inside the hotel,” said Mary hopefully, but not really believing it.

Maxus nodded as they helped him to his feet and across the rest of the bridge.

Fabian happened to glance back and something caught his eye. In the distance, back towards the cathedral, the trees were beginning to move. Not caused by wind through the tree tops or anything. These trees were actually moving.

They were moving away from the centre.




Back in the flat the Doctor urged everyone to step back. The tube-like container shook and the lid of it popped off clanging to the floor.

To Tylaya it looked like a body bursting from a metal coffin.

Inside the cutting of the tree began to scream and cry, once again like a new born baby. It writhed in agony, flailing it’s twig-like fingers and branch-like arms.

“We have to help it,” said Nina.

“We can’t,” said the Doctor, running his sonic screwdriver over the tree. “It’s already dying.”

“That’s impossible,” said Nina, rushing to his side and checking her own compute readouts.

“Just like the one in the tunnels,” said Tylaya.

“Whatever you did to these seeds - these trees - is too much for them. They can’t handle the change. They’re dying.”

Tylaya looked hopeful, and then felt guilty. “Does that mean the trees in the city will-”

“Die? Yes,” said the Doctor grimly as the tree jerked and cried out before finally coming to a deathly stop.

“No,” said Nina.

“You see what your tampering has done?” said the Doctor, disgusted with the scientist.

“I wanted to help nature. I wanted to make nature equal.”

“That’s not how it works,” said the Doctor, looking down at the now still tree cutting, it’s face gnarled and it’s eyes closed. “You gave birth to a new race of creatures and now they’re all going to die.”




They were almost at the hotel when a noise from behind them made them stop dead in their tracks and turn to face the eerie sound. Coming from the city was a sound which could only be described as a thousand cries, screaming to the heavens.

“What the hell…?” said Maxus.

The line of trees that had been moving away from the cathedral area had started to waver and falter. The sound was coming from them, and one by one the trees began to fall.

“They’re dying,” said Mary.

After five minutes the screaming stopped.

And Maxus collapsed to the floor unconscious.




The next few hours had gone smoothly. The Doctor had contacted the police and then taken Tylaya for a walk around Bocklemeund, although he really had no idea of where he was going. They walked behind the flats and through the shallow woods and out into one of the parks. An old steam engine sat beside one of the park pathways. There was nobody about as it was now dark.

“I’m sorry, Doctor,” said Tylaya. She could sense the sadness in his hearts.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, resting his chin on the handle of his cane.

“What will happen now?”

“CFN will be arrested and they’ll have to answer for their crimes,” said the Doctor. “At least this particular gang of them will.”

“And they’ll want to speak to us, the authorities?”

“No,” said the Doctor. “I never deal with the legal side of things.”

She sighed. “At least the city is safe.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “but there should always be other - better - ways. An entire new life form died before our eyes. Before they had a chance to shine.”

She put her hand on his and for the first time since she’d met him he didn’t pull away from her. He looked at her and smiled sadly.

“What?” she said.

“I’m sorry, Tylaya,” he said.

“For what?”

“For being the way I have. I shouldn’t blame you for what happened to Alice. If anyone’s to blame it’s your fiancé.” He closed his eyes. “I can’t hold a grudge forever, can I?”

“I wouldn’t blame you if you did,” said Tylaya.

“Alice is gone,” he sighed. “The least I can do is make sure the rest of my days are spent being a better person.” He turned to her. “You’re off the hook.”

Tylaya smiled and thanked him, but she still didn’t think she deserved his forgiveness.




Maxus woke up in the TARDIS console room lying on a stretcher. His chest wound had been patched up again and Tylaya was smiling down at him.

“You alright?” she said.

“Yeah,” he said, wincing at the pain. “What happened?”

“Mary said you passed out. Fancy getting yourself shot.”

“What about the city?”

“It’s safe,” said Tylaya. “The clear-up’s gonna be massive, but they’ll all be alright in the end.”

Maxus nodded. “Good stuff. And what about us?”

“What about us?”

“Are we okay?”

She looked at him sadly. “We’re getting married, aren’t we?”

She walked away from him and he closed his eyes. He lay there for a good five minutes before opening his eyes again.

And for a moment he thought he saw her. He thought he saw Tylaya. How she used to look with her short blonde hair. He suddenly realised he hadn’t taken a breath he was so taken aback.

But she was gone again.




Outside the TARDIS the Doctor was stood in the car park opposite Mary. He smiled at her and she smiled back, wiping away a tear.

“You can still come, you know,” said the Doctor hopefully.

“No,” said Mary. “Like I said, it’s not my life. My life is here in Cologne. Someone’s gotta open up the pub after all.”

He chuckled. “I’ll come back one day.” And then he remembered. He probably wouldn’t have time to come back. “Don’t wait up for me though.”

She took his hand and looked into his eyes. She knew he wasn’t coming back. “Just do me a favour.”

“Anything,” he said.

“Give those two kids a break, yeah?” She nodded towards the TARDIS. “That Maxus is a bit of a dick, but they’ve made mistakes. We all make mistakes.”

The Doctor nodded. “I know.”

“It’ll be good for you and them.” She cleared her throat, held back the tears and then stepped on her tip-toes and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Then she hurriedly made her way across the car park, gave him one final look, and then disappeared back into the hostel.

The Doctor stood there for a good long time. Part of him hoped she’d return. Part of him wanted to stay here with her.

But instead he just turned and went back into the TARDIS.

The story continues in "Before the Dawn"

Next time: We return to regular ordering when the Doctor and his companions travel to Whitby, where a librarian is killed...by a vampire! "The Curse of Nosferatu" begins Sunday 4th October 2014.

The Trees of Cologne (Part 3)

It opened it’s eyes.

He opened his eyes.

Where was it? What was it. It was cold and dark. He felt lost. And so he made his way down the tunnel. He had to find a way out. He had to find the light.




The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS with a broad grin on his face. He looked like the cat that got the cream as he locked his box back up and flicked the screwdriver in the air, caught it with the same hand and then swiftly popped it inside his blazer pocket.

“Any luck?” said Mary.

“Mmm-hmm,” said the Doctor, remembering his stick was lent up against the side of the TARDIS. “They’re holed up in a flat in one of the suburbs of Cologne. Ollehauerring. About a 40 minute tube trip from here.”

“How can you possibly know all that?” said Tylaya, trying her best not to sound too astounded.

“I connected the sonic screwdriver to their GPS tracking system inside the van.”

“But surely they wouldn’t have been so stupid to have left that on?” said Maxus, remembering how the history books had explained what GPS was.

“No,” said the Doctor. “They’d switched it off, but the sonic discreetly switched it back on again. They arrived a few minutes ago at their location. We have them.” He smiled again.

“But Ollenhauerring? Are you sure about that?” said Mary.

“Quite sure,” said the Doctor.

“But it’s just a quiet little neighbourhood. Why would they be there?”

“Hiding amongst normality,” said the Doctor. “It’s the oldest hiding trick in the book. If you start building underground lairs or renting out hotel rooms you’re bound to get caught sooner rather than later.”

“Which means these people are definitely local to Cologne,” said Mary.

“Not necessarily,” said the Doctor. “Come on, we need to get there as quickly as possible.”

“But the tube systems closed off,” said Maxus.

“And the roads are sealed,” said Tylaya. “It’s all over the news. The army have everything on lock down.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll easily slip past the guards at the station entrance.”

“Don’t tell me you can drive a train,” said Maxus, rolling his eyes.

“No, no, no,” said the Doctor. “We’re going to walk through the tunnels.”

“You’re joking!” said Mary. “After what we just went through down there?”

“I admit it’s dangerous, but I’m afraid it’s the only way out.”

“But the trains are still running past the city perimeter at the moment. We might run into one. It’s madness!”

“Good,” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together. “It just means we can catch a train the rest of the way.”

“I’m not coming with you,” said Maxus, folding his arms. He then looked at the Doctor. “And before you say it, it’s not because I’m a coward. But I do know what a suicide mission looks like. I‘ve been on that many now.”

“It’s alright, Maxus, you’re not invited,” said the Doctor dismissively. “But Tylaya-”

“No,” said Maxus, getting in front of the Doctor. “She’s not going.”

Tylaya hadn’t intended on following the Doctor anywhere, anyway, but after the mood he had been in these past few days added to his domineering attitude now, she felt like rebelling. “Excuse me?”

“I, ah, think we’ll leave this two to their squabble,” said Mary, guiding the confused Doctor back inside the hostel.

“Ty-”

“And just why have you decided that I can’t go with the Doctor?”

“Well,” said Maxus, stumbling over his words, “why would you want to?”

“I wasn’t going to go,” she said, looking at him with those big, brown sad eyes that Alice always used to use to her advantage, “but I’ve never been one to be bossed about. Especially not by a man. And especially not by my future husband.”

“Ty-”

“No, Maxus. I’m going to prove to you that I’m still the same Tylaya that you fell in love with. The same Tylaya that you proposed to back on Oahu. It’s still me.”

“I know-”

“But you don’t know,” she said, looking even deeper into his eyes. “But you will do soon.”

“Ty-”

She put her finger to his lips, a smile playing on hers. “Shut your face.”




The Doctor was pacing up and down outside the hostel impatiently. When Tylaya and Maxus finally emerged the Doctor frowned at them.

“What?” said Maxus.

“We need to get a move on here,” said the Doctor, indicating the helicopter that was still whirring overhead.

“So you want me to come now?” said Maxus.

“Safety in numbers,” replied the Doctor.

“I’m…not going,” said Mary slowly.

The Doctor looked down at her, frowning. “Why not?”

“I can’t go back in those tunnels. Not after what I saw them do to you. What the almost did to both of us.”

The Doctor nodded. “It’s not safe here either.”

“I know,” said Mary, “but I’d feel a little safer with the army at my doorstep,” she said as another group of soldiers ran past, one of them barking for them to stay inside.

“Then I’d like Maxus to stay with you.”

“What? No,” said Maxus. “I’m coming with you and Ty.”

“You’re staying with Mary,” said the Doctor.

“No I’m not.”

The Doctor turned to him, his grey eyes burrowing deep into Maxus’s. “Please.”

That was the first time Maxus had ever felt as though the Doctor genuinely needed him. Since him and Tylaya had joined the TARDIS all the Doctor had done was snap and snap at them. But now, however reluctant he appeared to be, he was genuinely asking for help.

Maxus sighed. “Take care of Tylaya.”

The Doctor smiled sadly. “Thank you, Quinn.”

Mary reached up and quickly pecked the Doctor on the cheek. She smiled at him. “You be careful in those tunnels, yeah?” Her voice cracked with emotion.

And then she turned and disappeared into the hostel with a slight run.

The Doctor lightly touched where Mary had kissed him. “I’ll try,” he said, his voice almost a whisper.




The Doctor and Tylaya had decided to make their way on foot through the city rather than risk heading down into the same tube station again. It was much too busy not to mention dangerous. So they took a westerly route along Trankgasse, walking through the underground road way, eerily quiet now that most of the traffic had been moved out of the area. They were quiet, but nobody really noticed them. The soldiers were too busy up top.

They eventually emerged back into the sunlight beside the cathedral which towered above them. There now looked to be more trees than ever, looming over them and swaying. Swaying even though there was no breeze. And the snow had stopped now, lightly powdering the trees with flakes.

They were now out onto the main road which passed various shops and a McDonalds on the corner. Tylaya suddenly felt her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast and she was starting to feel it.

They past a small, but still impressive, church and then the Deutsche Bank building. Tylaya noticed that more and more trees were beginning to slowly break through the concrete. Small cracks could be seen in the middle of the road.

“How is this even possible?” she said.

The Doctor frowned. “They must be creeping through the earth underneath the roads and pushing their way up. If we don’t stop this soon they’ll rip this city to bits.”

The continued up the road, past what would normally have been a pretty busy junction and passed more and more grand buildings.

They finally turned the corner and arrived at Appellhofplatz station. As they descended the steps into the station Tylaya gazed up at the huge tree that loomed over them ominously. She half expected its branches to suddenly lash out like a snake and attack her, but it didn’t.

“Not all of the trees are as alive as the others,” said the Doctor, almost reading her thoughts.

“Maybe not,” said Tylaya, “but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be soon.”




Mary and Maxus, meanwhile, had left the relative safety of the hostel and had headed back over to the Corkonian. It was empty, of course, and Maxus pulled up a chair, leaning back in it and resting the back against the wall behind him.

“Watch the woodwork,” said Mary as she went behind the bar.

“You okay?” said Maxus. Mary’s eyes were puffy and red and she hadn’t said much during their walk to the pub.

“I’m fine.”

“Tell me,” said Maxus. “Please.”

She sighed. “I just wish I’d gone with him.”

“The Doctor? Then why didn’t you?”

“Because it’s not the life I want,” said Mary. “I thought I would do and I can tell what he’s thinking.”

“Which is?”

“He wants me to go with him. Travel with him. But I just can’t do it. I want to stay here. I love this city. I have my friends and my life. I can’t just leave.”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“He’s a very dear man. I’d be over the moon if he’d stay here with me, but that’s never going to happen. He isn‘t the same as everyone else. I think that’s why I like him so much.”

“You know he’s dying, don’t you?” said Maxus. He hadn’t meant to sound as cruel as it came out.

Mary nodded. “I know. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the time you have left though, does it?”

Maxus got up and crossed over to the bar. “I’ll have a pint please,” he smiled.

“And what about you, Maxus? Where do you come from?”

He smiled. “The future. A long way from here.”

“Do you miss it?”

“Sometimes,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be like this.”

“We all make mistakes,” said Mary filling up a pint glass and putting it down on the bar.

“It wasn’t a mistake,” said Maxus quickly, “but I wish there had been another way. And I feel like Tylaya is slipping away from me.”

“Aren’t you two getting married?”

“Yeah,” said Maxus, smiling. “When that will be, I don’t know. Y’know, my father used to tell me that no matter what it takes you must always do the very, very most for the one you love. But what I did was just…wrong. She’s lost her face. I’m starting to find it difficult to still see Ty in that body.”

The conversation was interrupted when they were both distracted by a sound from outside. The sound of concrete breaking apart.

“Oh god,” said Mary.

“Stay there,” said Maxus, taking another sip of his pint and heading to the door. He pushed it open and glanced outside. More trees were pushing their way through cracks in the concrete. “We have to leave.”

“Okay,” said Mary, looking around her at a loss. And then her eyes brightened. “We should get to the other side of the river. We might be safer there. It looked more or less tree-less.”

“Let’s go then. And quickly,” said Maxus.




The Doctor and Tylaya had made their way along the tunnels and so far there hadn’t been any kind of incidents like had happened back at the cathedral. There were a few minor twigs snapping backwards and forwards, but the further away from Appellhofplatz that they got the less they saw any “tree activity”.

Tylaya didn’t like the tunnels. She was beginning to wonder why she had come. It had reminded her of a mission she had been sent on during the early days of the Eyeglass. She was serving on the science ship Deep and had been despatched with her team to a moon that reportedly contained thousands of rubies in its tunnels.

They’d located the tunnels and spotted the shining, red glints coming from the rubies, but when they tried to examine more closely they were attacked by something from under the ground. Even to this day she didn’t know exactly what it was. There seemed to be many, large, scaly grey arms that clawed out of the ground and tried to grab at her shipmates. The rubies were the eyes of the creatures.

One of them, Dando, was dragged into the ground. The last thing she had seen was the grey arms pressing his face further down into the dirt.

They had run and made it back to the Deep more or less unscathed, but they had never found out what had happened to Dando or what those creatures were.

After her captain, Jackson Hawk, had reported the incident to General Helix, he had taken the Victorious and blown the entire moon out of the sky.

And she could still hear the screams of those creatures to this day…

She tripped on a twig and the Doctor, to her surprise, caught her.

“Be careful,” he said. She could tell he already regretted breaking her fall. “I’m struggling as it is. I can’t drag you along as well.”

“Oh, get a grip,” Tylaya found herself saying aloud.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your heard,” said Tylaya. “I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the dirty looks and the anger you’ve got towards me and Maxus. Yeah, we made a mistake, but now I’ve had enough. I know apologising can’t ever bring back Alice, but you’re just gonna have to lump it, aren’t you?”

“How dare-”

Tylaya stopped and held a finger out to him, pointing up at his shocked face. “You’re not the Doctor I read about when I was growing up. The one who forgives and gives people second chances. I wasn’t the one who pulled the plug on Alice, was I?”

The Doctor looked down at her unsure of what to say.

“It was Maxus. He did wrong, but it’s done now. The least you can do is be bloody civil towards us.”

The Doctor was about to reply when they were both distracted by a shuffling from ahead. They could see the light from the next station a little in the distance, and silhouetted against the light was a jagged shape. It looked like a tree, but it was moving - no, walking - towards them.




Maxus and Mary had arrived at the river. It was still and looked cold and uninviting. They had made their way fairly quickly through the deserted streets and onto one of the main roads that led to the Deutzer Bridge. It looked strange to see it so quiet. There were a few abandoned cars beside the bridge, but most people had managed to get away and find shelter.

Mary looked back towards the cathedral and almost gasped when she saw the tops of its spires peeking over what looked like a forest.

“Crazy, huh?” said Maxus, noticing her looking.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my days,” said Mary. “I hope the Doctor can sort this out.”

They walked onto the two-lane bridge with the tram line running down the middle and walked faster and faster.

And then stopped.

About halfway over the bridge were three army-camouflaged officers. The three of them aimed their rifles at them.

“We just need to get across,” said Mary. “It’s safer in Deutz. The other side of the river.”

“I know what Deutz is, miss,” said the soldier, “but I can’t let anybody cross.”

“Come on, man,” said Maxus impatiently. “Why keep us here?”

“We don’t know who caused this,” said the soldier. “We need to make sure everybody stays this side of the river. We can’t have it spreading to the other side.”

“Give me a break,” said Maxus, shaking his head and flinging his arms to the side.

“I suggest you go and find shelter. The Jolly Hotel in Mediapark is being used as a shelter. It’s not far from here.”

“I know where it is,” said Mary. “I’m not a tourist.”

“No,” said Maxus, “we need to get across.”

The soldier tightened his grip on his rifle. “I’ve already said, sir, that you can’t cross. The bridges are closed off.”

“Like hell they are,” said Maxus, edging forward a little.

“Maxus, be careful,” said Mary.

Maxus was about to make another move when suddenly, like some great sea monsters tentacle, a huge branch emerged from the river underneath the bridge, crashing down on the road and almost breaking the bridge in two.

“What the hell?!” said Maxus, frozen to the spot.

Another branch came from the other side and grabbed one of the soldiers around the waist. The remaining two began shooting at the branches, trying to free their comrade.

“Now’s our chance!” said Maxus. “Run!”

Mary and Maxus bolted towards the imminent danger. The soldiers would be distracted just long enough.

Bang.

Maxus stopped dead in his tracks. He stumbled and almost fell forward. He frowned and looked down at his shoulder. In the black material of his coat was a rough-edged hole and a slow trickle of blood was starting to flow out of it.

Mary grabbed Maxus to stop him falling and looked up. The younger soldier was stood looking as the branches thrashed about behind him. It had been an accident. Just a stupid accident.

Maxus fell to the floor and clutched at his shoulder as he began to slip out of consciousness.

Next time: Mary and Maxus fight to survive whilst the Doctor and Tylaya stumble upon the truth. Coming Sunday 28th September 2014.

The Trees of Cologne (Part 2)

The tunnel was dark, but it was all relatively still and quiet. All along the walls of the tunnel and underneath the train tracks were vines and branches, twisted and turned, almost as though they were grabbing at things, waiting for the signal to attack.

It gave Mary the creeps. The Doctor had told her a bit of what he had done in his life, but actually experiencing it was a different matter. She turned to look at him as he stared straight ahead, shining his torch from tree to tree. His eyes sparkled. He looked alive. He was enjoying this.

“They’re all down this tunnel,” said the Doctor. “I’m surprised they’re not already springing up at other stations.”

“It’s strange,” said Mary. “Where did they come from?”

“That’s what we need to find out.”

“It’s like they’re waiting.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. He turned to look at her. “Worrying, isn’t it?”

“Just a bit.”

“Well, now we’ve established they’re all over down here, we best see what we can find out from them.” He pulled out a pair of toe nail clippers from inside his blazer pocket and placed them around a very small twig coming from a larger tree. “Just a small clipping will do.”

Snip.

He pocketed the sample and they were about to turn and leave when Mary jumped at the sound of a low, creaking coming from the tree.

“Was that that one?” she said, nodding at the tree,

“I think it was,” said the Doctor.

It’s branches began to twitch.

“I’m sorry,” said the Doctor. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Mary looked bewildered. He was actually talking to a tree.

Then, with a lightning move, a branch suddenly bent backwards and flung itself at the Doctor, wrapping itself around the Doctor’s neck like a misshapen, wooden arm.

“Doctor!” said Mary, her fingers grabbing at the branch and trying to dislodge it from the Doctor.

Another branch snapped out and grabbed Mary around her ankle, pulling her to her knees. She twisted onto her back and kicked out with her free leg whilst the Doctor dropped to his knees.

The Doctor hit at the branch around Mary’s ankle with the end of his torch and it finally recoiled with a creaking scream from somewhere in the depths of the tree’s trunk.

Mary scrambled to her feet and brought her foot down on the branch wrapped around the Doctor’s neck. It snapped and the piece around the Doctor’s neck went limp.

He pulled it away from him, grabbed Mary’s hand and they both ran back up the tunnel the way they had come, all the time tree branches lashing out and snapping at them.




Back at the platform Maxus and Tylaya were sat on the edge dangling their feet over. They were aware of a commotion from up the escalator and a group of green-clad policemen came running in.

“You two need to get out of here,” said the oldest policeman.

“We’re just waiting for someone,” said Maxus quickly.

“There’s nobody left on that train,” said the officer. “You need to leave now. We’re evacuating the area around the cathedral.”

“Wait,” said Tylaya, holding out a finger. “Can you hear that?”

It was a creaking sound coming from the trees surrounding the train. The group turned to look at the train as the branches began to sway, slowly at first, and then more and more violently, causing the train to shake.

“We need to leave now,” said the officer.

“No, we can’t,” said Tylaya.

“Ty,” said Maxus, taking her hand, “we can’t risk staying here. The Doctor’s on his own now.”

“I can’t just leave him!” she said, pulling away from Maxus.

Maxus frowned. “Why not? It’s not like he’s our friend or anything.”

Tylaya couldn’t answer that. She had no loyalties to him. Maybe she was doing it out of guilt for what they did to Alice, but there was something niggling away at the back of her head. She just couldn’t leave him.

“Get out of here!” came a familiar shout from down the tunnel.

Emerging from the darkness and climbing up onto the platform was the Doctor, Mary in tow. They both looked battered and bruised and the Doctor had a large gash on the side of his face.

“I said get out of here!” yelled the Doctor.

Tylaya, Maxus and the police didn’t need any other warnings. The tree branches burst from the wrecked train carriage and lashed out at them as the group made their way across the platform and up the escalators. One of the policeman had stayed back to usher up his civilians, when a branch lashed out at him and dragged him towards the train.

His colleague turned and was about to run back when the Doctor grabbed his arm to stop him. “No. It’s already too late.”

They made their way through the upper part of the station, the screams of the policeman coming from behind them, and finally made their way up the steps and back into the open area outside the cathedral.

The Doctor dropped to his knees, out of breath, and Mary rushed to his side.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said the Doctor. He shook his head. “We should never have gone down there.”

“Did you find what you were looking for?” said Maxus.

“I got a sample of the tree. We just need to examine it to find out what we’re dealing with.”

“Back to the ship then?” said Tylaya.

“Yes, is it still there?”

The Doctor had parked the TARDIS in a car park behind some bins at the back of the hostel Tylaya and Maxus were staying at.

“Of course it’s still there,” said Tylaya.

“Good,” said the Doctor. “Mary, I suggest you go back to the Corkonian, gather your belongings and get out of the city.” He looked. The police were sending more and more reinforcements and more trees were beginning to push their way through the concrete from the station below.

“I’d rather stay with you, Doctor,” she said.

“Mary-”

“No arguments. You need someone to take care of you.”

“I have Ty and Maxus.”

Mary leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. “Do you trust them?”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and then looked down at Mary. He wasn’t sure he really did trust them. They weren’t his friends after all. “Okay. You can come. But stay beside me at all times.”

“Wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else, sweetheart,” said Mary with a smile.




In one of the suburbs of the city, a white van was racing through the streets. They weren’t bothered about keeping to the speed limit. The police had too much on their hands already. The van didn’t have any number plates and no signs on it whatsoever.

At the wheel was a heavy set man with a beard and greying hair. Sat next to him was a small, dark-haired woman who looked like one of her parents could have been Korean.

“Be careful, Michael,” said the woman.

“I am careful,” said Michael with a grunt. “We need to get there, don’t we? Before they close off the city?”

“Yes,” said the woman, “but I’d preferably like to get there alive.”

“We should have thought about this before they started growing.”

“We couldn’t be sure, could we? Now drive safely. We need to get there in one piece.”




The four of them made their way from the cathedral area, down some steps and past the taxi area in front of the main train station. People were now hastily making their way from the cathedral and the police were beginning to coordinate the evacuation.

The Doctor led the group down a side street and across another main road until they found the street where the Station Hostel was located on. It was a basic, red-brick building and had been welcoming travellers for quite some time.

When the TARDIS had originally landed, the Doctor had checked Tylaya and Maxus into a room and had left them there.

The inside of the hostel was warm and inviting. To the left was a reception desk and to the right a seating area were a couple of young men were sat playing chess.

All along the walls were posters and pictures of various musicians and maps of the world. The CD player had a Beatles album playing on it. The Doctor recognised it as the White Album. He fondly remembered singing the chorus to “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” at the recording studio that day. There was an inner door set in the far wall that led to the lift, stairwell and out into the car park.

The Doctor disappeared through the door and returned a few minutes later with a complicated looking microscope.

He politely asked the chess players to move - which they did with a little grumble - and set up the microscope. With a small filing knife he cut part of the twig away and placed it on a glass slide under the microscope.

He peered into the device for a good few seconds before looking up, slightly bemused.

“Well?” said Maxus.

“Just a minute,” said the Doctor, returning to look in the microscope.

Maxus sighed and the other three sat down. Tylaya picked up a magazine and began flicking through it.

“What is it with you two?” said Mary.

The Doctor glanced up momentarily, but then returned to the microscope.

“What do you mean?” said Tylaya, looking up from the magazine.

“What do you have against the Doctor?” she said.

“Nothing,” said Maxus. “We’re just not friends. He kidnapped us.”

“Kidnapped is a strong word,” said the Doctor, still looking down the microscope.

“Then what happened?”

“Long story,” said Tylaya.

“Well we’ve got time,” said Mary.

Tylaya closed her eyes. “I possessed his friend. My fiancé wiped his friends memory and now he’s keeping us with him in case he finds a way to wipe me out and bring her back.”

“That’s enough,” said the Doctor.

“Is it true?” said Mary, trying to understand this world that she’d just been thrown into.

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Can we move on and deal with the task at hand?”

“Which is?”

“Aha!” said the Doctor.

“Alien trees?” said Maxus, sounding as disinterested as he could possibly be.

“No,” said the Doctor. “In fact, they’re normal Earth trees.”

“Then what-?”

“It looks like they’ve been infected with something. There’s some kind of DNA sequence running through them. Like they’ve been augmented.”

“Who by?” said Maxus.

“By whom,” corrected the Doctor. Then his face turned into a look of anger. “And how the hell should I know?” said the Doctor. “I’m looking at the damn thing through a microscope. It’s not going to have a ‘made in such-and-such’ label running through it.”

“Okay, easy now, Doctor,” said Mary.

The Doctor closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry.” He looked at Maxus and Tylaya. “I’m sorry to you two as well.”

“Apology accepted,” said Tylaya.

“It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last,” said Maxus.

“We need to go and find out what else is happening out there,” said the Doctor.




Maxus and Tylaya had remained in the hostel, keeping an eye on the Doctor’s equipment whilst he and Mary had ventured back outside.

The city was slowly descending into chaos. They made their way down the narrow road that led from the Station Hostel and past the Cologne Hilton. Overhead two helicopters whirred into view, both of them heading towards the cathedral area, the snowflakes whipping around the blades. It reminded the Doctor of being back in Thornsby when the snow came.

When they turned the corner Mary didn’t know what to make of the scene. Trees had sprouted up all over the area around the cathedral, each of them from a hole in the ground. These trees weren’t as aggressive as the ones they had encountered down in the tunnels, but they were still moving. It was like they were getting used to their new surroundings.

All of the trees were being watched by the police, but nobody dared to make a move. They had heard what had happened to their colleague down in the station.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Mary.

“No,” said the Doctor. “They seem to be springing up all over the place. If we don’t work this out soon this whole area will look like a forest.”

Mary shook her head. “You do this all the time?”

“Most of the time,” said the Doctor.

There was still a small number of vehicles moving around the built up area around the cathedral, but by now the city was almost at a standstill.

Mary and the Doctor were both distracted when they heard the screeching of tyres and a white van emerged from around the corner, narrowly missing a stationary car.

The Doctor watched on intently as the van sped past them and screeched to a halt. A young, dark-haired woman and a heavy set man with a beard jumped out. They both ran to the back of the van and pulled out black balaclavas, pulling them over their heads.

“What the hell…?” said Mary.

The man then pulled out a chain saw and the two of them headed towards the nearest tree.

The man switched on the chainsaw and it whirred into life.

“Hey!” said the Doctor, making his way towards them.

“Be careful, Doc,” said Mary.

“Stay back!” said the woman, pulling out a gun and aiming it at the Doctor.

The chain saw hit the tree and wood shavings spat up, covering the man’s balaclava as he began slowly cutting through the tree trunk.

“What are you doing?” said the Doctor, careful not to make any sudden moves.

“It doesn’t concern you,” said the woman. “Stay back!”

By now two police officers had spotted the commotion and were heading over.

“Hurry up!” said the woman.

“What was it you said about speed?” said the man with a chuckle.

The policemen were now running over.

“Don’t make me use this,” said the woman. She was talking to herself more than anyone else.

“Stop!” said one the officers. They were almost on top of them.

“Don’t do it,” said Mary, noticing the woman’s wavering hand.

The man was almost through the tree, but the police man was almost on top of them.

“HURRY MICHAEL!”

The police officer lunged at the woman and she shot. The sound rang out around the built up buildings and the policeman fell to the floor, clutching his knee in pain, the gun shot wound oozing blood.

“Any further and the next one goes in his head,” said the woman.

“It’s done!” said the man as the small tree screamed and came away from its roots.

“Get it in the van,” ordered the woman.

She covered the remaining police officers, the Doctor and Mary with the gun as Michael hefted the tree up and bundled it into the back of his van.

“Follow us and you’re dead,” said the woman as they clambered back in, revved the engine, reversed, skidded around and made their way back down the street.

The Doctor whipped out his screwdriver and took a reading from the van as it disappeared around the corner.

“Do we follow them?” said Mary, worriedly.

“We need to know where they’re going first. Come on!”

As the Doctor and Mary headed back to the hostel, the trees began to scream, their branches whipping around and knocking people out of the way.

And as Cologne descended into chaos, something stranger began to stir back in the tunnels.

Next time: The Doctor and Tylaya had to the suburbs, whilst Mary and Maxus attempt to cross the Rhine. Coming Sunday 21st September 2014.

The Trees of Cologne (Part 1)

This story takes place BEFORE "Before the Dawn".

It was Monday morning and the Dom station on the Cologne Stadtbahn was a hustle and bustle of commuters, tourists and a whole array of other people, all beginning their daily business. It was December - close to Christmas - and the Christmas markets were in full swing.

Christmas always brought the tourists to Cologne, and this particular December was no different.

The orange and white underground train pulled up to the platform and the doors opened.

A man in a dark coat and black beanie hat stepped out of the doors and looked to his left and then right as people pushed past him. He rubbed his bristled chin and then made his way purposefully along the platform.

His hand went to his left pocket and he slipped it inside. A few moments later he was holding some kind of clear, plastic bag - the type usually used for drugs.

He waited until the train pulled out of the station and casually wandered next to the edge of the platform. Then, without giving another look, tipped the plastic bag upside down. A small collection of tiny objects fell to the ground below the rails.

The man gave another look around, and then exited up the escalator.




Beneath the rails all was quiet. The small collection of objects were actually seeds. They remained there for a few minutes, unmoving. And then, inexplicably, they began to vibrate. The small seeds sprouted tiny roots. Roots that dug into the concrete underneath the rails.

It had begun.




It had been two days since the strange incident at the underground station…




The snow fell in soft, tiny flakes. Some of it melted into nothing, but most settled adding another layer to the already inch-deep drifts. The little powdered flakes peppered everything. It looked as though someone had put the city inside a snow globe and shaken it.

The Doctor had been in Cologne for two weeks now. It had been a split second decision. After the heartache of what had happened with the Sleights and the Wallis’s at number 17, he had decided that he needed a break. He was missing Alice even more and having to stare at Tylaya wearing her face every day was making things even more difficult.

He had let the TARDIS make a random decision and it had landed him here. Then, handing the engaged couple a collection of money, he had wandered off into the city, telling them that he’d contact them when he was ready to leave. He could only assume that they had booked themselves into a hotel. He hadn’t seem them since.

The Doctor, meanwhile, had booked himself into a room above a lovely Irish pub called the Corkonian, situated in an area called Alter Markt - a cobbled square surrounded by café’s and restaurants and not too far away from the river Rhine.

He smiled as he stared up at the beautiful but imposing twin spires of Cologne’s cathedral, gently gathering snow like two giant, stone darts.

He wrapped his long black coat tighter around himself and wiped the snow off the top of his head. He made a mental note of getting a new hat as soon as possible and he trudged on through the snow with no particular plan of where he was going.

So far he’d visited every corner of the city and even explored the outskirts. It was nice to visit a normal, down to Earth city without the threat of an alien invasion for once.

He wandered through the Christmas market that surrounded the cathedral and tried a glass of mulled wine. He let the warmth flood his body and then checked his watch. He needed to get back to the Corkonian. He had a lunch date with Mary and he didn’t want to be late.




On the west side of the cathedral Maxus and Tylaya sat on a bench, the snow gently falling on them.

Tylaya sighed deeply.

“What?” said Maxus, his arms folded.

“How much longer?”

“Until he contacts us,” said Maxus, glancing at his phone.

“We don’t even have a number for him.”

“What can we do?” said Maxus, shaking his head. “We need to play along with his games.”

“But we haven’t even spotted him? We’ve wandered this city for two weeks. You’d have thought we’d have seen him by now.”

“I reckon he’s got trackers in this phone,” said Maxus, holding the device up, “so he knows exactly where we are and so he can avoid us.”

“Maybe,” said Tylaya, sighing again. “Maybe we should just go back to the ship.”

“He never gave us a key, remember?”

“Oh yeah, we can’t be trusted,” said Tylaya sarcastically. She glanced at Maxus and grinned cheekily. “Let’s get married.” She surprised even herself.

“We are getting married.”

“No. Now,” she said, turning to face him.

“What, here?”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling widely.

“I thought you wanted to get married in the Crystal Spire.”

Tylaya thought for a moment. The Spire was a beautiful, glass-built church on the in Western Central City and she had long admired it, ever since she was a little girl and her parents had taken to a wedding there. “I do - or rather I did - but in the end I don’t really care. I just want us to be married.”

He smiled at her. “Maybe. Not today though.”

Her face dropped and she turned away from him. She looked across the road and saw a young couple walking hand in hand. He looked like he had been crying and they clearly were only holding hands for the sake of it. She seemed completely disinterested in him.

“Do you have a problem with me?” said Tylaya.

“What?” said Maxus.

“Do you have a problem with me?” she repeated.

“No, of course not.”

“Then what’s wrong with you? You haven’t even kissed me since…”

“I know what you’re thinking,” said Maxus. “And what you look like doesn’t bother me. You’re still in there somewhere.”

“But?”

“But,” said Maxus, shaking his head, “it’s just gonna take a bit of getting used to.”

“I’m still me,” said Tylaya, looking at him with Alice’s sad eyes.

He looked at her and smiled. “I know, Ty,” he said, kissing her on the cheek.




The Doctor wandered into the Corkonian and undid his coat, hanging it up on a peg near the door. It looked like a traditional Irish pub, but was larger than most he had been in. Along the right side was a bar that occupied the entire wall and all around seats and tables were dotted here and there.

The Doctor smiled when he saw Mary. She was a blonde woman in her early 40’s, her hair tied into a ponytail. She was attractive and had piercing blue eyes.

“A pint of mineral water for me,” said the Doctor, leaning his cane against the bar and sitting on the barstool.

“Doctor,” said Mary in an American accent, breaking into a wide grin.

“How’s it going, Mary?” said the Doctor.

“All the better for seeing you, my love,” she said with a cheeky smile.

“Now, now,” said the Doctor, putting some cash onto the bar, “you know I’m married to my job.”

“Yeah, and so am I,” said Mary with a wink.

The Doctor smiled as Mary poured him a mineral water and he took a sip, letting the bubbles pop gently in his mouth. “You haven’t forgotten our date?”

“Of course not,” said Mary. “It’s my dinner break remember. Just let me tidy up around the back here.”

Twenty minutes later they were sat at a table in the corner. The Doctor was tucking into spaghetti bolognaise whilst Mary had steak and chips.

He had first met Mary the day he arrived in Cologne. He had been wandering around the area when he had found himself in the Corkonian. He had mentioned he was looking for a room and Mary had let out a room above the pub for a very reasonable price.

That evening they had chatted about their lives. Mary had moved from Cincinnati four years ago and had opened the Corkonian with her father. He had passed away the previous year, but Mary had carried on running the pub and made a big success out of it.

The Doctor hadn’t said too much. He’d kept quite quiet about most of his life, but he had suspected that Mary had liked the air of mystery he brought with him.

“You meeting up with your friends yet?” said Mary, taking a sip of orange juice.

“They’re not friends,” said the Doctor. “Just-”

“Just associates,” said Mary with a smile. She’d heard it before. “Why don’t you just take them home?”

“I can’t,” said the Doctor. “Not whilst they have what I want back.”

“Which is?”

The Doctor tapped his nose with his finger. “I’ll let you know one day.”

“Tease,” said Mary.




Back towards the cathedral Maxus and Tylaya were looking at the stalls and keeping themselves warm. Tylaya had grabbed a bag of candy floss and was munching away at it.

“That stuff will make your teeth rot,” said Maxus.

“So what?” said Tylaya glumly.

“Look,” said Maxus, stepping in front of her and putting his hands on her shoulders, “I’m sorry for what I said.”

“It’s alright,” said Tylaya. “I understand.”

“Yeah, but-”

But Maxus’s sentence was cut short as the ground started to gently vibrate. All around people stopped what they were doing, everybody glancing around them to see if they could see the source of the vibration.

On one of the stalls a collection of small wine glasses rattled and then fell to the floor with a smash.

“What is that?” said Tylaya.

“An earthquake?” suggested Maxus. He got to his knees and pressed his ear against the pavement. “It’s coming from underneath us.”

The vibrations were getting stronger and stronger. More and more of the stalls began to lose any objects placed on them.

Now the whole ground was shaking violently.

“We’ve got to take cover!” shouted Tylaya as people began screaming, running in all directions for shelter.

Tylaya looked up as a few chunks of loose masonry came crashing down from up towards the cathedral’s spires, narrowly missing people.

Maxus grabbed Tylaya’s hand and was about to turn and run when suddenly he was knocked off his feet, taking Tylaya backwards with him. It had felt as though a section of paving stone had come up from under him.

He was aware of something screeching and scraping at the bottom of his feet, and as he lay back, gazing up into the snow, he could see the twin spires of the cathedral towering above him.

But the mini-earthquake had stopped.

Maxus came to his senses, checked on Tylaya, who had bruised her cheek, and then scrambled to his feet…

…and almost fell back over. Standing right in front of him was a large, oak tree. That hadn’t been there before, Maxus thought to himself. It was sticking up right through the broken paving slabs and towered about fifteen feet tall.

By now crowds were gathering to look at the strange tree as it creaked and groaned, collecting snow on it’s leaves.

Leaves! thought Maxus. It has leaves. In the winter!

“What the hell - ?” said Tylaya, joining Maxus by his side.

“Stay back!” came the familiar voice of the Doctor as he came skidding around the corner in his familiar long, black coat.

“Typical,” said Maxus. “He turns up as soon as there’s disaster on the horizon.”

The Doctor was joined by a woman in her early forties with dark-blonde hair and blue eyes. She smiled at the two.

“Who-?” said Tylaya.

“Mary, this is Quinn Maxus and Tylaya Keller. You two, this is Mary. She’s a friend.” The Doctor flitted away and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, leaning on his stick for support and waving the thing in front of the tree.

“Nice to meet you,” said Mary, smiling politely.

“Likewise,” said Tylaya.

They could hear police sirens in the background.

“What did you see?” said the Doctor.

“Nothing. The ground started vibrating and suddenly Ty and me were knocked off our feet.”

“So you saw nothing?”

“No. I just said, didn’t I?”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor. “It’s come from underground.”

“Obviously,” said Tylaya, her arms folded.

Two police cars stopped at the foot of the steps leading up to the area around the cathedral and a collection of green suited policemen came running up the steps, slipping in the slush and sludge.

“Step back, please,” they said.

The Doctor, surprisingly, did as he was told as the police ushered the crowds backwards and out of the way of the strange tree.

“We were in the Corkonian when the earthquake started,” said Mary.

“We were right next to it, love,” said Maxus.

“What’s beneath here?” said the Doctor.

“The underground station,” said Mary. “Why?”

“I think we should take a look.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Mary, “they’ll be cordoning off that as well,” she said as the police began to roll out the tape.

“Then we better get down there now,” said the Doctor, suddenly finding a burst of energy and running over towards the steps.




Two minutes later they were descending into the underground station that stretched from the main railway station and underneath the cathedral plaza.

Already people were running up the escalators and escaping whatever had appeared down near the platforms.

“Are you sure this is safe?” said Mary, trying to keep up with the Doctor.

“Nothing is safe, Mary,” said the Doctor.

“I know that,” she said, giving him a quick smile, “but do you always run straight into danger?”

“Course I do,” said the Doctor, getting to the bottom of the steps and taking a breather.

“Taken any tablets?” said Mary, her hand on his upper back.

“No,” said the Doctor. “No point in them now.”

They turned the corner and were confront with a bizarre site. There was a train parked in the station, totally empty - the passengers must have fled - and pushing up straight through the floor of the train and through the ceiling of the train was the tree trunk of what had sprouted up above. It rose high up into the concrete beams.

“It’s lucky nobody was hurt,” said Mary.

“Look,” said Tylaya, pointing towards the gap underneath the train.

More branches and twigs were beginning to feel their way from underneath the train like fingers trying to find their way out.

“What the hell is happening?” said Tyalya.

The Doctor hurried over to the base of the train. He touched one of the twigs and it wrapped around his finger, like a baby grasping from it’s mother’s finger. The Doctor felt it squeezing into him and pulled back quickly.

Inside the train more trees and branches were breaking through the floor and rising up through the inside of the train and towards the surface.

“And you face this stuff everyday?” said Mary, crouching down beside the Doctor.

“Not exactly the same stuff everyday,” said the Doctor, running his screwdriver along one of the smaller branches. It lashed out and wrapped itself around the device.

“No, give me it back!” said the Doctor, desperately trying to pull the device away from the grip of the branch.

The branch resisted and tightened it’s grip around the screwdriver until it crushed it, causing it to splutter and spark.

“My screwdriver!”

“Jesus,” said Maxus, rolling his eyes.

“We need to see how far back into the tunnel these things go,” said the Doctor.

“You’re not serious?” said Tylaya.

“Incredibly serious,” said the Doctor.

He made his way along the platform and peered into the darkness of the tunnel beyond the train.

“You know you could get arrested for this?” said Mary.

“We could get arrested,” grinned the Doctor. He held out his hand. “You’re coming with me.”

“What?”

The Doctor stumbled back on his words. “If you want, that is?”

“Only to keep you safe,” said Mary, taking his hand.

The Doctor pointed at Maxus and Tylaya. “You two stay here. If you see anybody coming down those steps, give us a shout.”

“Yes, sir,” said Maxus glumly.

The Doctor helped Mary down off the platform and hand in hand they both walked into the darkness. Meanwhile, the trees continued to grow and push their way through the wrecked train.

Next time: The mystery deepens with the arrival of a strange, white van. Coming Sunday 14th September 2014.

Story 3.7: The Trees of Cologne (The Missing Story)

“Are you sure this is safe?” said Mary, trying to keep up with the Doctor.
“Nothing is safe, Mary,” said the Doctor.

The Doctor has taken some time away from Tylaya and Maxus. He has taken them to the German city of Cologne and has disappeared into the city, leaving them stuck in a hostel with no contact with him.

Whilst the Doctor gets to know barmaid Mary, Maxus struggles with his emotions and the continual realisation that Tylaya isn't the same person she used to be.

But whilst the three travellers cope with their own problems, down below the ground something is stirring and the trees of Cologne are coming...

This four-part story will begin publication from Sunday 7th September 2014. It was originally supposed to be published BEFORE "Before the Dawn". Events after the latter story will continue in October with "The Curse of Nosferatu". This story will be placed in its correct position in the Story Index.