29 Oct 2014

Story 3.10: Family

"All of this here all began with one, little nursery rhyme.” He smiled at their confused faces. “And it all started so long ago.”

Maxus and Tylaya return to Central City to try and patch things up with Ty's parents, but the end is drawing near for her and time is running out.

The Doctor, meanwhile, returns to Casterby House in Little Pebbleford, where he has a run in with one of Alice's sisters.

But on Mount Cassius, the Master continues his plan. There he has gathered friends of the Doctor where he recounts a tale from the past of a family matter...and a mysterious package arrives from somewhere else...

'Family' is the penultimate story to Doctor Who: Darkpaths, and "features" Richard O'Brien as the Doctor, Louise Brearley as Tylaya, Idris Elba as Maxus, Terry O'Quinn as Reikon, Henry Ian Cusick as the Master, Harry Lloyd as Caleb, Carice van Houten as Celestia, Clare Danes as Aleena and Maisie Williams as Millie.

26 Oct 2014

Special: War of the Machines

This story is dedicated to the memory of Maggie Stables, who played Evelyn Smythe, companion to the Sixth Doctor on Big Finish's rage of audio adventures.



The Doctor leaned back on the sofa and cracked his knuckles.

“Well?”

“Tell me again,” said the Doctor.

Maxus rolled his eyes as Tylaya rubbed his back. “I’ve already told you twice.”

“Tell me thrice,” said the Doctor.

“I saw Alice.”

“And you’re sure it was her? Not just Tylaya stood at the end of the bed.”

“Yes,” said Tylaya sarcastically, “because I like to linger at the bottom of beds and pretend to be someone I’m not.”

“Tylaya was in the bed next to me,” said Maxus.

“A dream perhaps.”

“No,” said Maxus. “It wasn’t a dream. It’s was her. It was Alice and she wants her body back.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, putting his fingers into a steeple formation.

“You said you’d find a way.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Alice has gone. I’ve come to terms with that now. I may not like it, but she’s gone.”

“Clearly she’s not if she’s still stalking the TARDIS corridors. I told you about what happened with the mirror as well.”

The Doctor exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. “I suppose I could do a scan for any lingering psychic patterns.”

“And what will that tell us?”

“I really don’t know,” said the Doctor. “You have to be patient with these things.” He struggled up off the sofa and made his way to the console. He flicked a few switches and slow, rhythmic pulsating began to reverberate through the console room. “This may take some time.”

“We’ve got all the time in the world,” said Tylaya.

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

“Yes,” said Tylaya, “but not until this is sorted out.”

“That’s why we don’t have all the time in the world,” said Maxus.

The TARDIS suddenly lurched violently as the time rotor began moving up and down faster and faster.

“Has it found something?” said Maxus.

“No,” said the Doctor. “The tracking systems are still running. But we’ve been drawn into the time stream of another time ship.”

“Huh?” said Tylaya, getting to her feet.

“Would you believe it’s another TARDIS. My TARDIS.” He checked the readings. “We’re following it down to the machine world of Centrix.” The Doctor narrowed his eyes. “Centrix…it sounds familiar…”




Across the depths of space, the metallic world known as Centrix hung in the sky against a glittering blanket of stars and beautiful, rainbow coloured nebulae. The inhabitants of Centrix, however, had no need for such beauty. They were simply robots. They had feelings, but all they were bothered about was running the biggest cargo company the universe had seen.

Standing on top of one of the metal bridges that swept over the many metallic ravines of Centrix was a blond, curly-haired man in a multicoloured coat, and an older lady with grey hair and a green cardigan.

The man was the Sixth incarnation of the Doctor. The woman was university professor Evelyn Smythe.

“Welcome to Centrix, Evelyn!”

“It’s beautiful,” said Evelyn Smythee as she looked out over the metal mountains and into the valleys. “It’s breathtaking.”

“I take it you like it then,” smiled the Doctor.

“I do. Doctor this is amazing. It’s just what we need after all the problems of late.”

“That’s what I thought,” said the Doctor.

“But why Centrix? Why this planet?”

“Oh, well…,” the Doctor fumbled with his cat badge pinned to his lapel, “well, no reason really.”

“Doctor, what year is this?” asked Evelyn suspiciously. She’d been reading about Centrix in the TARDIS databanks before they had arrived and a worrying thought had struck her.

“Well…it’s the 46th century.”

“Doctor!” said Evelyn aghast. “I was reading about this place, and the 46th century was one of the most dangerous periods in this planet’s history!”

“It was also one of the most exciting times and places to be,” said the Doctor with a smile.

“Something about a war, if I recall?”

“The story of the Centrix robots has always intrigued me. I don’t know why I stayed away from their war for so long.”

“Because it was a war, Doctor. And maybe you had more sense in your previous incarnations. This is dangerous,” said Evelyn with raised eyebrows.

“But don’t you find it fascinating? Two warring factions of service robots, fighting all because they want to be the biggest and best cargo haulage company around.”

“As I said, I find it downright dangerous. It’s ludicrous.”

The Doctor put an arm around Evelyn and guided her towards the edge of the bridge. He pointed into the distance. “See over there, that’s the command tower from which the leader of the Centrix-A robots runs his operations. And over there,” he pointed towards the eastern hemisphere, “is where the Centrix-B robots are from. Oh, I don’t agree with the war, but most wars are fought over religion and land and opinions. This is fought simply over cargo haulage!”

Evelyn shook her head in disbelief. She knew the Doctor wasn’t cruel or callous, but sometimes he did infuriate her.

“Come on!” said the Doctor excitedly as he began to cross the bridge towards the Centrix-A sector.

Evelyn sighed. “Here we go again.”




The TARDIS slowly materialised and the door opened. The Doctor stepped out followed by Tylaya and Maxus. Maxus was looking more and more annoyed than he usually did.

“It’ll be fine,” said Tylaya, taking his hand.

“I just…I just want to be married.”

“I know,” she said.

Maxus waited until the Doctor was out of earshot and then turned to her. “Do you think he’ll let us go?”

She looked to the Doctor as his surveyed the twisted metal landscape. “I don’t know. I hope so. Since Cologne I feel a little more…comfortable with him.”

“But there’s this whole Alice thing. I mean what if she’s there in the TARDIS. He may try and put her back inside your head.”

Tylaya shook her head. “I know the Doctor was devastated when he lost her, but even he’s not so cruel as to execute me to save her. The Doctor just doesn’t do that.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Maxus.

She turned and smiled. “If she is in the TARDIS, we’ll find a way. Don’t worry, Quinn.”

“Come on you two,” said the Doctor impatiently.

“What are you expecting to find here?” said Maxus. “You said it was your own TARDIS. How is that even possible?”

“I’m a time traveller,” said the Doctor. “I’m bound to run into myself on rare occasions.”

“So it’s you in a previous body that we’ve followed here?”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “Normally I wouldn’t have followed him down, but the TARDIS seemed determined to land.”

“Then how come you can’t remember?” said Tylaya.

“Time has a tendency to muddle with your head. I always have a faint memory when I meet my previous selves, but the memories are largely locked away,” he said, tapping his right temple. “Similarly my past self won’t really remember this.”

“So which one of you is he?” said Tylaya.

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “One of the more happier ones I hope. Ah!” He pointed to a spire in the distance. “We should head over there.”




The Doctor and Evelyn’s progress to the tower had been a pretty quick one until the Doctor spotted some gleaming black metal halfway down the dirt track. He squinted to make out the shape and as it came closer it appeared to be a large, metal robot with missiles mounted on it’s side and caterpillar tracks underneath it. It hadn’t noticed the Doctor and Evelyn and had it’s back turned to them, seemingly watching something far off.

“Doctor,” said Evelyn worriedly, “I don’t think we should go near that thing.”

“Amazing,” whispered the Doctor. “That must be one of the Advance Weapon Drones. An AWD.”

“Well you don’t really want to go near it, do you?” said Evelyn as the Doctor beckoned for her to stay back and he moved in a little closer.

“Nonsense. He’s too pre-occupied with whatever he’s watching. This is an excellent opportunity to observe him at what he does best.”

“Oh for goodness sake. You talk about it as if it’s a nature show.”

“He won’t harm me. He won’t even know we’re here.”

The Doctor was wrong. The AWD suddenly snapped around, it’s red visor glowing brightly and it‘s guns whirring into life.

“Ah,” said the Doctor, realising he was in big trouble. For a moment the two of them, both alien to each other, simply eyed each other up. The AWD seemed to be scanning the area and trying to work out the Doctor’s physiognomy.

Then it attacked. It was sudden and vicious. The guns whirred to point at the multicoloured form of the Doctor and blasted a few, lethal pulses at him. The Doctor was knocked backwards. Evelyn yelled as the Doctor landed with a thud next to the edge of the bridge.

From out of nowhere there came two blasts of an energy weapon and the Doctor got the impression that the AWD had been blasted back along the bridge. He didn’t dare open his eyes. He couldn’t open his eyes. The pain was too much. He felt himself slipping into nothingness.

The blast had been life saving for the Doctor. The AWD was now rolling off into the distance whilst a huge white and red robot stood before Evelyn and the unconscious Doctor. Evelyn’s first thoughts were to panic and run, but then she realised that this robot had just saved the Doctor’s life.

“Who-who are you?” asked Evelyn nervously.

“The name’s Sparx,” said the robot in a thundering voice. “What are you doing here?” he asked as he bent down over the Doctor, his huge hand moving the Doctor’s head from side to side.

“The Doctor wanted to visit your world.”

“This is a war zone,” said Sparx calmly. “Sneaking up on an AWD wasn’t the best thing your friend could have done today.”

“I tried to warn him,” said Evelyn shakily.

“Well that can’t be helped now. I was working on some sensor arrays in the valley. Looks like the AWD had been spying on me. When I heard the commotion I came looking. The Centrix-B robots are violent, but when the AWD’s are taken by surprise they’re not so clever.’

“Where do you think it is now?” asked Evelyn, nervously looking around her.

“Oh, it’s probably gone rolling back to it’s hemisphere. Pathetic.” Sparx looked back down at the Doctor. “We’ll have to take him back to our Chief Medical Officer.”

“Will he live?” asked Evelyn. She knew the Doctor had regenerative capabilities, but at the moment she was more concerned about keeping him alive in this body.

“We’ll have to ask the CMO about that one. He’s a medic for Centrix robots, not Humans.”

Sparx was about to pick up the Doctor when there was a slash and an axe slammed down into his shoulder. He screamed in agony and fell to the floor. There was another flash of an axe and this time it slammed into Sparx’s head. Evelyn screamed as Sparx fell to the floor with a thud and went silent and still. Standing over Sparx’s prone form was a large, silver robot with a black head and a red crystalline face.

‘Sparx!’ cried Evelyn as she knelt over the giant robot. The gash in his head was leaking what looked like glowing blue liquid. It was almost like liquid electricity.

The silver robot brandished the axe, the red crystals glowing a violent red colour. He was about to attack Evelyn when two pulses shot out from down the road, flying over the robots head. It panicked, and turned and ran before blasting two rocket launches on it’s back and flying across the metallic wasteland.

Evelyn stumbled away from Sparx and back to the Doctor. She began to cry and rested her head on the Doctor’s chest. Soon the sound of an alien-looking vehicle mounted with cannons came from the direction of the other side of the bridge. Evelyn looked up as the ambulance screeched to a halt.

She looked back down to the Doctor. His eyes were open and he was smiling.

“Doctor!” she cried. “Are you okay?”

“Never felt better,” said the Doctor. “It was touch and go there for a while, but I think I’m going to be alright.”

The vehicle pulled up and a small blue robot jumped out. He had a green visor for a face and his arms were long with normal fingers and hands. “What happened to Sparx?” said the blue robot.

The Doctor sat up and shook his head. “I believe he must have been attacked by that brute you just frightened away.”

“Hmm,” said the robot. “That was Cyclone. He’s one of the generals of the Centrix-B robots.” The blue robot looked back at the two humanoids. “And who are you?”

“My names Evelyn Smythe and this is the Doctor. We’re visitors to your world.”

“It’s a dangerous place to visit,” said the robot. He nodded. “My name’s Hi-Tek.”

“Nice to meet you, Hi-Tek,” said the Doctor. “Now if you’ll forgive us, we must be going.”

“No,” said Hi-Tek, “General Obsidian is going to want to see you. You’re coming to the tower with me.”




Progress had been good as the Doctor and his friends reached the tower. As they approached, a yellow robot with red arms and legs approached, a gun mounted on his arm, it’s caterpillar tracks causing the ground to vibrate.

“Halt!” it said. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor,” said the Doctor. “And these are my friends, Tylaya and Maxus.”

“What are you doing here?” said the robot, it’s drone-like voice showing no sign of emotion.

“Curiosity,” said the Doctor with a smile.

“You are working for the Centrix-B robots, are you not?”

“Who?” said Maxus.

“Not at all,” said the Doctor. “Never. We are simply here to explore your wonderful world.”

“This is a war zone,” said the robot. “You will leave immediately.”

The Doctor looked past the robot to the large entrance door. “Are there any other non-robotic life forms here?”

“Negative,” said the robot.

“Are you sure?”

“I think we should just go,” said Tylaya. “Maybe the TARDIS has finished it’s scans now.”

The Doctor turned to Tylaya. “I need to know why the TARDIS insisted we landed here though. It must have something to do with my previous self. He must be in some kind of danger.”

There came a rumbling of engines from their left and a medical vehicle carrying the damaged body of Sparx appeared.

“Looks like one of them had a disagreement with another,” said Maxus.

The vehicle came to a stop and a grey-haired woman clambered out of the inside of the vehicle, followed by Hi-Tek.

“Evelyn!” said the Doctor with a gleeful smile.

Evelyn looked at him. “Do I know you?” she said.

“Oh no,” came another, familiar voice. The other Doctor followed Evelyn out of the vehicle.

“Jesus,” said Maxus. “Look at that coat!”

“What are you doing here?” said the Sixth Doctor.

“I could as you the same question,” said the Doctor.

“I don’t understand,” said Tylaya. “Who is he?”

“He’s me,” said the Doctor. “Me. No.6.”

“I prefer to be called, the Doctor.”

Tylaya, Maxus and Evelyn all looked at each other. This day had certainly started getting stranger.




The Doctor, the Sixth Doctor, Evelyn, Tylaya and Maxus were escorted through the large doorway at the base of the spire and into a huge, metal corridor. It was dark and the door slammed shut behind them with an ominous thud.

At the end of the corridor was another doorway with a row of light beams barring any intruders.

Hi-Tek held his palm out to a sensor pad.

“ACCESS GRANTED” said a computer voice.

The bars disappeared and he ushered the group through the doorway and into a large room full of computers and huge screens covering all of the walls.

All around were robots of all shapes and sizes monitoring battles in the distance and analysing data.

A large, green robot with caterpillar tracks and huge canon-like arms rolled over. “Who are these people?” asked the robot.

Hi-Tek looked a little flustered. “They are travellers. They were found outside the perimeter.”

The robots big, one-eyed face looked at the strange group. “Did you know this planet was out of bounds?”

“I’m afraid we didn’t,” said the Sixth Doctor, an apologetic look on his face, “but if you let my friends and I go I can assure you that-”

“No,” interrupted the robot.

“No?” quizzed the Doctor.

“It is too dangerous out there. You must be kept here until nightfall when the battles have eased off.” He rolled off.

“Well,” said Evelyn with a chuckle, “at least we fell in with the good guys.”

“In war there’s no such thing as good guys and bad guys,” said the Doctor.

The Sixth Doctor rolled his eyes. “What about the Daleks then? Surely the epitomy of bad guys.”

The Doctor smiled. “Believe it or not I’ve met a good Dalek.”

“Listen, you two,” said Tylaya, “what the hell is going on here?”

“Well obviously, young lady, your Doctor and my time stream have gotten a little bit confused.”

“It’s you who’ve got a little bit confused,” said the Doctor.

“I was here first,” said the Sixth.

“To be fair to Coco, here, he’s right. You followed him down,” said Maxus

“Less of the clown business,” said the Sixth, becoming defensive about his multicoloured coat.

“Mate,” continued Maxus, “you could have the lead part in a West End musical back in the Central City.”

“Central City?” said the Sixth with curiosity in his eyes. “So you’re from much further into Evelyn’s future?”

“Yes they are,” said the Doctor, ushering his companions back. “But none of that is any of your business.”

“He’s right, Doctor,” said Evelyn, “you don’t want to know your own future.”

“Oh, pish,” said the Sixth with a wave of the hand. “What number are you anyway?”

The Doctor looked away from the Sixth, unable to meet his stare. “Further than the Eighth, but it all gets a little complicated after that.”

“Oh, do tell,” said the Sixth.

Evelyn gave him a tap on his arm. “Doctor, enough.”

The Doctor smiled at Evelyn. He’d travelled with her for a long time back then and he missed her greatly. She had been the one that had mellowed him out and made him less irascible.

Hi-Tek reappeared from the other side of the room looking a little concerned. “I’ve been negotiating with Obsidian, our leader over there, and he’s agreed that you can both return to your ships.”

“Fantastic news!” said the Doctor.

“However, you’re going to have to wait it out for a while. Intelligence reports that an attack from the Centrix-B robots is imminent. You cannot risk your lives out there.”

“Now wait just a minute-” said the Sixth.

Evelyn held her hands out. “It’s fine, Mr Hi-Tek. We’ll wait here until you and your friends say it’s safe for us to leave.”

“Evelyn-”

“Doctor - Doctors - there is a war going on out there. You were very lucky that you weren’t killed when we first arrived.”

“Oh, but surely-”

Tylaya joined in. “The lady is right. It’s obviously a mistake that we’re all here. It’ll be best for us to wait it out until it’s safe enough to leave.”

“Ty,” said the Doctor, puzzled, “you were a soldier. I’m surprised you’re so eager to stay. Wouldn‘t you rather fight your way out?”

She looked down. “I wasn’t a soldier in this body. Got to keep it safe.”

Maxus touched her arm. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, pulling away.




Above the metal landscape a huge combat ship silently moved through the acid-clouds, barely disturbing anything around it. Inside the ship was Cyclone at the flight controls, with a squad of around twenty jet-black robots with cannons mounted on their shoulders standing right behind him.

“Everybody to your positions,” said Cyclone, his red crystalline face glistening. “We’re coming up on our target. I don’t want any prisoners. I want them all dead.”




It had been a good half an hour since the two Doctors, Evelyn, Taylaya and Maxus had arrived. The three companions had had a good old natter and gotten to know each other, but the Doctors had remained relatively quiet with each other.

Now they were sat next to each other on the floor whilst the other three were off looking at some of the computers with Hi-Tek.

The Sixth Doctor turned his head. “Are you ok?”

The Doctor mumbled, “Hmmm.”

“You seem a little bit distracted. Are you feeling under the weather?”

“Please,” said the Doctor, “don’t ask me any questions about me.”

He frowned. “Why not? Surely you know that it’s very rare that we retain any information about meetings with each other.”

“That’s true,” said the Doctor. Although he had met his previous selves on numerous occasions, all of the encounters had felt like dreams after the event. They had faded and he only had a slight inclination that they had ever happened.

“Then tell me what’s wrong,” said the Sixth. “I’ll forget.”

“I don’t think you’ll forget this,” said the Doctor sadly.

“Then tell me. Perhaps I can help you.”

The Doctor took a deep breath. “I’m dying.”

The Sixth looked taken aback, and then had a thought. “Is this your last life? Your thirteenth incarnation?”

The Doctor laughed. “No. That was a long, long time ago.”

“So the Time Lords actually granted us a new set of regenerations? That’s…remarkable.”

“I’ve told you enough already. This stuff might stay with you, you know. I could already be changing my future.”

“Then tell me specifically about you.”

He sighed. “There was an accident, during my last regeneration. Something went wrong and now I can’t regenerate anymore.”

“Can’t you ask the Time Lords to help again?”

“Well,” said the Doctor gazing into the distance, “without wanting to give too much away, a lot has happened with the Time Lords since…well, since after your time. I’ve had to rule the Time Lords out.”

“But there has to be a way, surely-”

“I’ve looked at all possible answers. There’s no other way around it. So I’m just waiting for the inevitable now.”

Both of them sat there is silence for a good few minutes.

“No,” said the Sixth finally.

“No?”

“No,” he said again. “I will not allow it. You can’t just accept death like that.”

“I…I don’t want to die,” he said. “I’d accepted it, but then I realised how much more to the universe there is. I wanted to live again. I found my desire to live.”

“Then you have to find a way.”

“There is no way,” said the Doctor. He had a thought. “All I‘ve gotten are cryptic clues.”

“Go on.”

“Something about finding a Mount Cassius. Apparently there are people there that need my help.”

“Never heard of it,” said the Sixth.

“Well don’t go looking for it,” said the Doctor quickly. “It’s my problem to deal with. Not yours.”

“Calm down,” said the Sixth. “You really need to lighten up a bit. And after all, no matter what stage of your life you’re in, you’re still me. I’m entitled to a say in my future.”

Before the Doctor could say anything more the whole room shook and was plunged into darkness.

The Doctor scrambled around and then got to his feet, looking for any form of illumination. He saw various blinking lights coming from the robots around the room, but the whole place was in chaos.

“Doctor!” came Tylaya voice as another boom shook the room.

“Ty!” came Maxus’s voice from on the other side of the room.

Before the Doctor could answer there was a flash of light and the wall beside them caved in. Lights flickered as an army of black robots piled it. The only reason the Doctor could tell they were black was because the red lights from their visors illuminated everything around them.

“No prisoners!” yelled Cyclone.

“No!” screamed Tylaya.

“TYLAYA!” came Maxus’s voice again.

“Evelyn. Evelyn! Are you okay?” came his Sixth incarnations voice.

“Doctor…” came the older ladies voice, distant.

More explosions came and the Doctor was thrown to his feet.

He landed hard on the ground and knocked his head. No, he couldn’t flake out now. He needed to help his friends.

He could hear something in his head. A nursery rhyme being sung by children. It sounded familiar. Amongst the chaos he tried to listen in.




All my incarnations standing in a row

When they are gone, where do they go.

Carried by the darkness on time’s winged glitch

Taken up and eaten by the dreaded Swytch.

Where the fires burn an ice-cold blue

You will find yourself looking at you

So keep your eyes open and keep out of their way

For the Swytch will come and eat you up one day





When the Doctor opened his eyes he was lying outside, a star field peppered with green acid clouds above him. He rubbed the side of his head and sat up. All was quiet. In the distance he could hear the rumblings of laser fire and the occasional louder bang, just like thunder.

He was lying at the base of a huge skyscraper, it’s once blinking lights now all gone out.

And then he noticed an unmoving shape behind a pile of metal rubble.

“Evelyn!”

He dragged himself along the ground, realised he had sprained his ankle and thanked his lucky stars it wasn’t more serious, until he finally reached his former companion.

“Evelyn,” he said again, softer this time, noticing her blackened face start to stir.

“Doctor…” she said, eyes blinking and trying to focus on anything around her.

“Do you feel okay? Is there any pain?”

“Oh,” she said, trying to sit herself up. “Pain?”

The Doctor nodded.

“Only the searing pain across my forehead.”

The Doctor carefully places his hands either side of her head and moved it from left to right.

“No, no,” said Evelyn. “I had a migraine coming on before…this happened.” She gestured with her hands.

The Doctor smiled and then sat next to her, his back against some of the blackened rubble. “We need to find the others. They must be around here somewhere.”

“More likely they’ve been carted off by those Centrix-B robots,” said Evelyn.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I saw them.” She pointed into the distance. “Before I passed out I saw two of the tank ones rolling away with your two friends and my Doctor strapped to the top.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, scratching his chin.

“Is none of this coming back to you?”

“I vaguely remember some of it, but I won’t really remembered until we all separate again.”

Evelyn watched him as he continued to look into the distance, his eyes flitting all around. Looking for some sign. Some answer. Her Doctor was quite loud - and she wasn’t talking about his fashion sense - whereas this future Doctor seemed a lot more quieter and thoughtful.

But he also looked broken.

“Doctor,” she said softly. “Is there something wrong?”

“Hmmm?” He turned to look at her and then smiled. “Oh, not really. Not really. Nothing new at least.”

“If you truly are the same man that I met that day back in my lecture hall, then you know you can tell me. We’re friends, remember?”

The Doctor turned and smiled to her. “It seems so stupid even worrying about it.”

“And why’s that?”

“I’ve lived for thousands of years. And I’m going to die.”

Evelyn didn’t say a word.

“And yet you Humans have such short life spans. I’ve had more than my fair share.”

“That doesn’t mean you should die. I take it there’s no way to help you?”

“Apparently there is a way, but I’m struggling to find the time to actually find out how that is. There always seems to be something else that needs doing.”

She took his hand and smiled sadly. “If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, Doctor, is that the universe definitely needs you. It definitely needs the Doctor. It doesn’t matter what you look like or who travels with you. The universe needs you.”

He smiled at her. He missed her optimism.

“I’m an old lady, Doctor, and I doubt I have much puff left in me, but I would have been a darn sight sadder if I hadn’t at least spent my twilight years with you.”

“Thank you, Evelyn,” he said softly.

“So you just jolly well get yourself out there and find out how to put yourself right.”

A sound in the distance distracted the both of them from their conversation.

“Now come on,” she said, struggling to her feet and brushing down the metallic particles, “we need to go and find your friends and my Doctor, otherwise none of this will even matter.”




The Sixth Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus had woken up a large, church-like hall with black walls and black metallic floor tiles. A large computer screen adorned the far wall and sinister looking robots of all shapes and sized marched up and down.

The silver robot that had attacked the Doctor and Sparx earlier on marched up to them, their hands chained to each other, and knelt down to their level.

“Why have you brought us here?”

Cyclone pointed a finger at the Doctor. “You have been working with the Centrix-A robots. You know of their plans.”

“Rubbish,” said Tylaya, wincing. A piece of rubble had hit her jaw and her face had come up in a lovely, purple bruise. “We aren’t working with anyone. We were simply passing by. We were about to leave.”

“The young lady is correct,” said the Doctor. “Now if you’ll kindly show us to the door, we’ll be on our way.”

“You are not leaving,” said Cyclone, getting to his feet.

Another robot with green armour, a silver head and claws for hands handed a data pad to Cyclone.

“What is it Boomer?”

The robot, Boomer, pointed at the readouts on the data pad. “This brainwaves indicate that they are not lying.”

Cyclone turned to face the three prisoners. “Then maybe they can be of use to us. We can use them as hostages. Make the Centrix-A robots surrender.”

“Why would they be bothered with us?” said Maxus. “This is your war. We’ve got nothing to do with it. We’re not friends of them.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “In fact if anything we were more or less temporary prisoners in their camp.”

Cyclone looked away. He was thinking to himself. After a few seconds he turned back to Boomer. “Take them outside an execute them.”

“What?!” said the Doctor. “Now listen here.”

“Be silent!” roared Cyclone. “You will be executed. We have no time for minor issues like you.”

Tylaya, Maxus and the Doctor glanced at each other worriedly as Boomer grabbed the chain that linked them together and marched them back towards the exit.




The Doctor and Evelyn had only been walking for a few minutes when they came across Hi-Tek staggering around beside a ruined building, electric-blue fuel leaking from a gash in his side.

“Steady,” said the Doctor, making his way over to him.

Hi-Tek collapsed against the building and groaned in pain. “I thought I’d made it out in one piece…”

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and examined the gash. “It’s pretty bad, but I’m sure I can have you patched up with the right tools.”

“No,” said Hi-Tek. “There’s no time for that. I heard chatter on the comm system. They’re going to execute your friends. The Centrix-B robots have them prisoner.”

“Then we have to go,” said the Doctor.

“But what about Hi-Tek?” said Evelyn. “We can’t leave him to die.”

“And you’ll never make it. It’s a good 50 clicks until you reach their base of operations.”

The Doctor rubbed the top of his head. He was in an impossible situation now.

“I have an idea though…” Hi-Tek clambered to his feet. “I can…I can fly you…there.”

“What?” said Evelyn. “That’s very kind of you, Hi-Tek, but you won’t survive.”

“I’ve got enough juice in me to get your to their compound. It’s the….least I can…do.”

“I can’t ask you to risk your life for us,” said the Doctor.

“Tough,” said Hi-Tek. “I’ve already made my decision.”

He stepped a little way from the Doctor and Evelyn and then turned his back on them. Two rocket jets fired on his back and he rose slightly into the air.

“I’m not sure about this,” said Evelyn.

“I can take you,” said Hi-Tek. “I’m stronger than a look.”

With a worried glance to each other, the Doctor and Evelyn both grabbed a hold of Hi-Tek’s arms.

“Hold on…tight,” he grinned.




The Doctor, Maxus and Tylaya were escorted to the outside of the building. From the outside it looked like a huge, black church with shining spires and glimmering green lights. The whole building seemed to be set inside a large, metallic trench with sentries posted along the rim at regular intervals.

“Well,” said Tylaya, “this is it. Not the way I wanted to go out.”

“Please,” said the Doctor as Cyclone emerged from the doorway, “there has to be a way to reason with you.”

Cyclone looked down on him. “I’ve been fighting this war for many, many years.”

“All over some stupid cargo haulage dispute,” said Maxus with a laugh.

“We will be victorious,” said Cyclone. “I owe it to the ones who came before us. We will fight until the bitter end.”

The Doctor sighed. There simply was no reasoning with them.

They were lined up against the edge of the crater and a squad of black troopers appeared, their guns aimed squarely at them.

“Wait!” said the Doctor. “If you kill me now I will regenerate and it would cause a huge chain reaction. My future will change and everything will fold back on itself erasing your actions now.”

“Then you have nothing to worry about then,” chuckled Cyclone. He lifted his arm. “Ready.”

The troops lifted their weapons.

“Oh, God,” said Maxus.

“Aim.”

The troops aimed their guns.

“Alice, I’m sorry,” said Tylaya softly.

“FIRE!”

But the troops didn’t fire. At least not at the three prisoners. Instead they were firing up above towards the rim of the crater as Hi-Tek, carrying the Doctor and Evelyn in his arms, swooped down. Most of the shots missed, but one hit Hi-Tek full-on in his chest.

He began tumbling to the ground and the Doctor and Evelyn managed to jump clear as he crashed to the ground with a metallic thud.

“Kill him! Growled Cyclone.

“Get out of here,” said Hi-Tek to the Doctor’s, Evelyn, Tylaya and Maxus.

“But-” started the Doctor.

Hi-Tek pointed towards his chest. The electric-blue fuel was bubbling. He nodded to both Doctor’s and they sadly nodded back, understanding what was about to happen to the brave robot.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Maxus, grabbing Tylaya’s hand and making a run up the side of the crater whilst Cyclone’s forces concentrated on the helpless Hi-Tek.

They were almost at the top of the ridge when the fuel inside Hi-Tek combusted and ignited. The explosion was that great that the time travellers were thrown over the edge and the Centrix-B castle was partially blown in two. The guards were sent scattering and Cyclone was thrown across the ground, smashing his head against the metal wall of the castle.

The Doctor took one last look at the carnage below. Hi-Tek had given them an escape route. They had to take it.

“Come on,” said the Doctor. “We need to get out of here now.”




Almost an hour later the two Doctor’s, Tylaya, Evelyn and Maxus were gathered around both TARDISes. The Centrix-A robots had been kind enough to collect them up for them. Evelyn looked sad whereas Tylaya and Maxus simply looked relieved.

“Well,” said the Sixth Doctor, holding out a hand to Maxus and Tylaya, “it was a pleasure meeting the two of you. Not that I’ll remember it, of course. Well, I will do one day.” He smiled.

They shook his hand and then Evelyn’s.

“Take care of him,” said Tylaya to Evelyn. “I want to make sure he’s around so we’re still around. If you get what I mean.”

Evelyn chuckled. “I think I do, dear.”

The two of them went into their respective TARDIS and closed the door.

The Doctor took Evelyn’s hands and smiled at her warmly. “I’ll miss you.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll run into each other again, Doctor,” she said, hopefully.

He smiled sadly. He knew in his heart he would never meet her again. She was long gone. “One thing that comforts me, Miss Smythe, is that no matter where I am and what time I am, I will always be somewhere out there travelling with you.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye, Evelyn.”

She smiled, tears in her eyes and then turned to her TARDIS. She looked one last time at him. “And remember what I said - the universe needs the Doctor.”

And with that she was gone.

The two Doctor’s stood facing each other, both with their hands in their trouser pockets.

“This place,” said the Sixth Doctor. “I wonder when it will all end. Their stupid war.”

“Eventually,” said the Doctor. “But not yet I suspect.”

The Sixth Doctor smiled. “I suppose not all things are there for us to fix.”

“No,” said the Doctor.”

“Well,” said the Sixth, “I’m ready to forget. And I expect that will happen the moment my TARDIS takes off.”

“Indeed,” said the Doctor.

He nodded. “I don’t think I need to say any more to you.” He turned and opened his TARDIS door. “I think Evelyn said it all quite well enough.”

He nodded back at him and watched as his Sixth incarnation disappeared into his TARDIS. A few seconds later their was a rush of wind and the TARDIS disappeared.




EPILOGUE




The Doctor was quietly sat on the sofa reading a book when Tylaya and Maxus walked in, hand in hand.

“Everything okay?” asked Tylaya.

“Everything’s fine,” said the Doctor, closing the book and returning to the console controls.

“We still need to talk about Alice,” said Maxus.

“I know,” said the Doctor through gritted teeth. The scans were still incomplete and they had quite some way to go yet.

“Then maybe now-”

But Tylaya’s words were cut short by a gust of wind. The lights in the console room flickered and then went out. When they flickered back on again, Alice Stokes was standing beside the console room, her face white and furious.

Tylaya, for the first time in her life, screamed.




TO BE CONTINUED



Next time: It's a family affair as Tylaya returns to Central City to say goodbye to her parents, the Doctor has an encounter with one of Alice's sisters, and the Masters plan begins to be revealed with a flashback to a time from long ago. Darkpaths continues in "Family", coming Sunday 2nd November 2014.

19 Oct 2014

The Curse of Nosferatu (Part 3)

Rose was asleep in the hospital room when Rita Cartwright entered. She was laid in the bed, under her blankets, but was shivering and breathing erratically. Cartwright walked up to the side of the bed and brushed her hair aside. A huge plaster covered the two holes that the…man had bitten into her and she shivered at the thought.

She loved a good horror film as much as the next person, but she still couldn’t believe that a vampire could have done this, let alone a fake vampire from a film!

She pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, continuing to gaze at the shaking girl.

She jumped as the door to the hospital room opened and Mr Cook walked in, his face pale and concerned.

“Sorry,” he said, looking a little more sincere than he had earlier.

“What can I do for you, Mr Cook?” said Cartwright, turning in the chair to look at him.

“I just…I just came to see Heather’s body.” He swallowed. “I just can’t believe she’s gone…”

“I know,” said Cartwright, giving him a sad smile.

“And this girl?” said Mr Brown, nodding towards Rose. “The same thing happened to her?”

Cartwright looked back at Rose and nodded.

Mr Brown shook his head and turned to leave. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Cartwright frowned. The poor man, she thought to herself, it’s going to be a long time before he gets over this.

When she looked up again Rose’s eyes were opened and staring right at her. They were dark and sad and she looked terrified.

“Rose,” said Cartwright. “Are you okay?”

Rose opened her mouth and looked like she was about to say something. And then nothing came out. Her eyes remained glassy and blank as Rose drew her last breath.

Rose was dead.




Tylaya awoke to find herself lying down on her back on hard, cold concrete. Above her was darkness, but she could just make out high, crumbling stone walls rising up around her. The building didn’t have a roof and the rain had started to fall again. She felt damp and cold.

She was suddenly aware of a pain in her right shoulder and her hand went to it and felt around. She winced in pain and brought her hand up in front of her face - blood. She had been bitten.

She started breathing heavily, the fear rising inside her.

Get a grip, she thought to herself. You’ve been in worse situations than this. She sat up quickly - a little too quickly - and went dizzy. It felt like a hangover and she tried to focus on her surroundings, her vision slightly blurry. She’d noticed that for some time since she’d been in Alice’s body - she was definitely starting to wonder if she needed glasses.

She was sat on an old, stone alter, but, thankfully, hadn’t been tied down to it. She swung her legs over the side and looked around. She was sat in the ruins of the abbey, the walls rising high above, but ending where a roof used to be.

She slipped off the alter and back to her feet. She felt unsteady for a few moments and then steadied herself.

She couldn’t remember how she got here. She remembered getting a little ahead of the Doctor and Maxus on their trip up here, and then just blackness and a searing pain in her shoulder.

She was about to walk away from the alter when there came a shuffling sound from the corner. She quickly twirled around and standing there was Count Orlok, his face the only thing giving away his location amongst the blackness.

“Good evening,” she said calmly, trying to fight back the fear inside of her.

Orlok opened his mouth to say something and then closed it quickly, a look of puzzlement on his face.

“Everything okay?” she said, trying to remain confident.

He opened his mouth again, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Of course! thought Tylaya. He comes from a silent movie. He can’t talk.

Orlok opened his mouth again. “…I…”

Tylaya was startled. Clearly he could talk, or was just learning too.

Orlok looked pleased with himself as he opened his mouth to speak again. “I…found…you.” There was a hint of a foreign accent about his voice, but she couldn’t quite place it.

“I wasn’t lost,” said Tylaya, her eyes constantly fixed on the strange figure.

“You…are all…lost.”

“You’ve hurt innocent people. Even killed at least one,” said Tylaya, disgust in her voice. “You’re not even real.”

Orlok smiled. “I do not claim to understand your world, but I know it has what I need to survive.”

“Which is?”

“Fresh blood.”

She could feel the hairs standing up on her skin. She wanted to turn and run, but she felt that it would be futile. He looked a little meek stood there right now, but she suspected he’d be able to move quicker than her. She wasn’t about to argue about the nature of a vampire.

“You are different though,” he said. “You and your friends are…different.”

“That’s because we’re time travellers,” she said, reaching down, Orlok’s view obscured by the alter, for the dagger she kept tucked in her belt.

“You travel through time?” he said, running the thought over and over in his head.

“Yep,” she said, gripping the suede handle of the dagger. It wouldn’t kill him, but it might give her a distraction to escape.

“This is…not possible.”

“Neither are you,” she said. “You come from a film. There are no such things as vampires. Well, not anymore anyway.”

He smiled, his sharp teeth caked with dry blood. “I am here now. That is all that matters.”

“I guess so,” said Tylaya. Like lightening she pulled the dagger from behind her back, drew her arm back and then launched it at Orlok.

It hit him in the shoulder and he snarled in pain, but it was just enough for her to turn and bolt across the grassy floor and towards the other end of the abbey.

She daren’t look behind her. She knew he would give chase, but she had to keep running.




Back at his house, Mr Cook was sat in his armchair, a whiskey in his hand. He was looking up at the ceiling, his eyes red. He drained the last of the whiskey and then looked back to the ceiling.

“Help me,” he said, his hand clamped around a small, brightly coloured marble. “Please, help me.”

There came no answer.

He became angry. “Please. It’s not my fault. I didn’t want this to happen. I swear I didn’t.”

Still no answer.

“For god sake!” he yelled, throwing the marble to the floor. “Help me!”

The marble hit the floor, there was a flash and the marble started to glow yellow. Mr Cook had to shield his eyes. When the light died down standing in his front room were two, thin, black figures. They stood at roughly seven foot high and their black skin looked like vinyl. They had no faces, just a smooth surface, and their arms and legs were thin and insect-like.

“You came,” said Mr Cook hopefully.

“It is too late,” said one of the figures, it’s voice low.

“You have to let me take it back,” pleaded Mr Cook.

“It is too late,” said the other figure, it’s voice slightly higher.

“But it was a mistake. I never intended for her to die.”

“You must live with the consequences.”

Mr Cook rose from his chair and shook his head. “But you’re the Make-Real-Men. You can bring her back.”

“You only had one request. You chose the film.”

“But I didn’t mean for her to die. Or that poor girl in the nightclub.”

“You must live with your actions now,” said the second creature. “Maybe you will learn.”

And with that the two figures slowly narrowed until they were nothing more than thin black lines which dispersed into nothingness.

The marble had gone cold and grey as Mr Cook fell to his knees.




Tylaya rounded one of the walls and ran straight into the Doctor knocking him flying to the ground. Maxus ran up and grabbed a hold of Tylaya and looked down into her eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked, worry in his voice.

“I’m…I’m fine,” she said, a little taken aback by his concern. “He’s right behind me though.”

“Nobody worry about me,” said the Doctor, wiping mud off his hands and onto his trousers.

“Doctor!” said Tylaya, grabbing the Doctor’s hand and hauling him to his feet. “I’m sorry.”

“Where is he?” said the Doctor, getting yet more mud on his shirt.

As if to answer the Doctor’s question, Orlok suddenly appeared from around the corner. He stopped as he saw the three time travellers standing before him, his mouth wide open and his eyes flicking to each of them in turn as if deciding which one to go for first.

“You know I can’t let you continue to exist,” said the Doctor. “You know you’re not real.”

“As I said to your friend - I am real now.”

“That’s what concerns me,” said the Doctor.

“Stake him!” said Maxus.

“Have you got a stake?” said the Doctor angrily.

Maxus didn’t respond.

“The sun will be up soon,” said the Doctor. “The sun will rise and turn you to dust.”

Orlok turned to look out over the cliff and towards the sea. On the horizon there was a slight orange glow. This stranger was right - the sun would be up soon.

“Doctor, it’s no use trying to reason with him,” said Tylaya. “He’s only interested in getting to our blood.”

The Doctor put his hand in his pocket and took out the sonic screwdriver. He kept a distance but ran it up and down in front of Orlok. He frowned at the readings and shook his head.

“What?” said Maxus.

“He’s not even registering as a life form.”

Orlok launched himself at the Doctor and the Doctor fell back again. Maxus managed to drag the vampire from the top of him and the three of them started running back towards the steps.

“I can draw him away,” said Maxus as they slipped on the wet grass and then made their way through an archway into the courtyard of the museum building that sat in front of the abbey.

“Don’t be stupid. You don’t stand a chance,” said the Doctor.

“I can at least try and find something to fight him with.”

“He’s a vampire, Maxus. And not a regular, normal vampire either. My people fought them - the real ones - a long, long time ago. I know how hard they are to beat.”

“I’ll find a way,” said Maxus.

“You stupid, stupid git,” said Tylaya.

Maxus grabbed her hands and stopped her running.

“What are you doing?” said the Doctor, skidding to a halt on the pebbles and out of breath.

“Will you marry me?” said Maxus.

Tylaya frowned. “We’re getting married anyway.”

“I know,” he said, breathlessly, “But I mean really marry me. Marry me when this is all over.”

The Doctor held out his hands. “We don’t have time for this!”

She looked confused and then her mouth curled into a smile. She laid her arms on his shoulders. “Of course I will you big, stupid idiot.”

He kissed her on the lips as the Doctor rolled his eyes, and then broke away from her. “I’ll be back.”

“You better,” she said with a laugh.

“Come on!” said the Doctor as Orlok appeared in the archway across the courtyard.




Cartwright had had a long night and was about to turn in for the night and finally crawl into her warm bed, when the doors were flung open by a distraught and dishevelled Harry Cook.

Oh god, thought Cartwright. She had sympathised with him, but now this was getting a little too much.

“Mr Cook,” she said as politely as possible, “what can I do for you?”

“It…it was me,” he stammered.

“I beg your pardon.”

“Arrest me.”

Nut job, thought Rita. “I don’t understand.”

“It was me. It was me. I killed Mary. I killed her. I let that thing out. It was me!”

And slowly the thoughts of Rita Cartwright’s bed drifted away again like a long forgotten dream.




Maxus had headed in the other direction when he spotted something. On the other side of a small stone wall that surrounded the perimeter of the abbey ground was a road and then a small, barbed wire fence with short, wooden posts holding it up.

He vaulted the stone wall and ran over to the fence. He grabbed at one of the wooden posts and tugged and tugged until it slopped out of the wet mud. He then began furiously rubbing the post against the wall. After a few minutes it still hadn’t sharpened any more. He angrily threw the post to the ground and then put his boot on it and tugged until the thing splintered in two.

It was crude, but at least he now had a suitable enough stake.




The Doctor couldn’t go on. He was out of breath and they were back at the lookout area halfway down the steps. He collapsed against the bench, clutching at his chest. He even reached in his pocket hoping to find one of those blue pills Aleena had given him so long ago. He felt so disappointed with himself. He didn’t want to die a weak man.

Even Tylaya was struggling in this much weaker body of Alice’s. She clutched at her side, feeling the stitch boring into her.

They heard running footsteps and Orlok emerged out of the darkness. Unlike them he didn’t even look affected by the running.

“We can’t outrun him,” said Tylaya, backing up against the small wall.

“We can’t give up,” said the Doctor.

Orlok slowly walked over to them. The Doctor struggled up off the bench, but the vampire simply batted him back down as he closed in on Tylaya.

“I’m sorry, Alice,” she said as she closed her eyes.

And then they heard the yell. The battle cry as Maxus emerged from the darkness, splintered stake in hand and launching himself off the steps at Orlok. The count turned at just the right moment as Maxus, with all of his might, plunged the crude stake into his chest.

Orlok was stunned and looked down at the stake in surprise.

The sky was getting lighter and a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, hitting Orlok full force. The count collapsed to the ground in fear, waiting for the inevitable.

But nothing happened.

Everyone was surprised, even Orlok, as he seemed unaffected by the sunlight and the stake. He felt the sunlight on his face for the first time and it felt good. He smirked as he grabbed at the stake and removed it from his chest.

“Doctor…” said Maxus, edging away, “why isn’t he dead?”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor.

“He’s a vampire!” said Tylaya.

Orlok closed in on Maxus.

A thought suddenly dawned on the Doctor. “No he isn’t.”

“He is. He is!” said Maxus.

“No. He may look like a vampire, but he’s essentially a film!”

“How does that help?”

“How would you destroy a film? The quickest and easiest way?”

Maxus thought for a moment. “Burn it?”

“Exactly!” said the Doctor.

Maxus scrambled away as Orlok lunged on him. “Have you got a match then?”

His hands went to his pockets and he pulled out a box of matches. “I can’t condone burning a living being to death,” said the Doctor, suddenly feeling sick at the thought.

“I can though,” said Tylaya as she grabbed a box of matches out of the Doctors hand. She struck one of the matches and threw it at Orlok.

The count looked up in shock as his cloak caught on fire. He screamed in agony as the flames fluttered up him until all but his head was engulfed in flames. He snarled one last time as the flames consumed his entire body. Slowly the flames began to die away as Orlok creased and crumbled into a huge mound of ash and what looked like burnt film.

Finally all that was left was a small burnt pile on the floor with the smoke gently rising from it.

Tylaya breathed out and looked at the Doctor. “I’m sorry,” she said guiltily.

“It had to be done,” he said quietly.




It was dawn and the sun had risen. The Doctor and his companions left the police station and Cartwright escorted them down the street.

“It makes no sense to me,” she said to the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head. “The man wanted to frighten his wife. He made a deal with the wrong aliens.”

“That’s what makes no sense to me. Aliens. Vampires…It’s all too much.”

“Will you tell the truth?” said Tylaya.

“Nobody would believe me. As far as they’re concerned Harry Cook is a lunatic who killed his wife and that poor Rose girl.”

“But Harry was at home when Rose was attacked. How are they ever going to ever pin it all on him?” said Tylaya.

“They’ll find a way to make it fit,” said Rita. She sighed. “And anyway, he was the one who set all of this in motion. He can take responsibility for what happened.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Sometimes I wonder if your species will ever open your eyes.” He turned and walked away.

Tylaya smiled apologetically to Cartwright. “He has…issues.” She and Maxus then turned. “See ya.”

“Good morning,” said Cartwright. She closed her eyes and stretched her neck. Now maybe she could finally get to her bed.




In the hospital morgue, Rose was being wheeled out for a final autopsy to be carried out on her. The porter moved away from the stretcher and exited the room.

The sheet over the body moved slightly and then was ripped back. Rose opened her eyes with a start, looking all around the room. And then she opened her mouth and tasted the air.

And she licked her lips.

She licked her fangs.




EPILOGUE




Maxus awoke with a start and turned to his right. Tylaya was sleeping soundly next to him and he smiled. It had taken a while to get used to, but he finally felt content with Tylaya. He finally felt ready to settle down with her.

And then he got the sense that something was standing at the end of his bed. He looked up quickly. It was the outline of a woman.

“Who are you?” he whispered, careful not to wake up Tylaya.

The woman lowered herself so the faint orange glow of the roundel illuminated her face.

Maxus gasped and looked back at Tylaya. It wasn’t possible. “You’re a ghost!” he said.

“I’m not,” said the woman. She looked identical to Tylaya. She looked identical to Alice.

“You can’t be here. Ty’s in your body now.”

“I know,” said Alice, her face looking fierce, “and I want my body back.”


TO BE CONTINUED...


Next time: The Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus find themselves in the middle of a robotic war zone...and the Doctor bumps into an old companion, and an old incarnation. Coming Sunday 26th October 2014.

11 Oct 2014

The Curse of Nosferatu (Part 2)

Thirty minutes later the Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus had found a small Italian restaurant just off Windsor Terrace and the Doctor was enjoying a glass of mineral water, pondering what Mrs Cook had just told them. It hardly seemed possible.

“Why Whitby?” said Tylaya, as three spaghetti bolognaises were delivered to their table.

“What do you mean?” said the Doctor, taking another sip of his water.

“Well, in our time Whitby isn’t very significant. It’s a small little blip amongst the major cities and super-towns.”

“Just because it’s small, it doesn’t make it insignificant.”

“Yeah, we know that,” said Maxus, “but it’s not making any ripples either. Not in our time.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Do the people of your time not care for history? For the past?”

“Not really,” said Tylaya, twizzling some spaghetti around his fork, “it’s more about building for the future.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor disapprovingly. “You’ve seen ‘Nosferatu the Vampyr’ though, yes?”

“The film? Yes of course,” said Tylaya. “It’s a classic. One of the few films they didn’t convert to 4D.”

“It’s actual name is ‘Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens’, roughly translated as ‘Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror’. It was an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’.”

“And in ‘Dracula’, he came ashore in Whitby, didn’t he?” said Tylaya.

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “In Nosfetatu, he goes to Wisborg instead where he is eventually killed.”

“So what’s it got to do with Whitby? This is Count Orlok. To all intents and purposes he‘s a cheap rip off of Drac.”

“Not so cheap if you mind,” said the Doctor, “but Whitby obviously has some significance.”

Maxus tucked into his food and pointed his fork at the Doctor. “She said she liked the film. Beautifully shot and all that rubbish.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “We need to look at where Count Orlok came from, not what he actually is. There are legends of vampires all over the world. All over the universe. This is specifically Count Orlok from the specific film. He’s not Dracula. He’s not a real vampire. He’s a work of fiction that has escaped a film canister.”

“That’s even more stupid that the idea of a vampire let loose,” laughed Maxus.

“Maybe so,” said the Doctor, “but those are the facts.”




Back at the Cook house Heather had decided it was time for bed. She never usually went to bed this early, but right now all she wanted to do was sleep.

She made herself a cup of cocoa and then went into the living room where Harry was sat watching the snooker.

“You off to bed, love?” said Harry, turning to look at her.

“I’m wiped out,” said Heather. “It’s been a long day.”

“You sleep well then,” said Harry with a little smile. “It’ll all seem better in the morning. Things are better now.”

“I hope so,” said Heather. She looked into the middle distance. “I know what I saw though.”

She made her way up the stairs and then to the front bedroom. She sat in her bed and sipped on her cocoa. Usually before bed she’d read a book, but right now she didn’t want to read. She didn’t want to find herself in another world tonight. She wanted normality. She wondered what dreams she would have.

She drained the last of her cocoa, turned off the bed side lamp and turned over in bed.

She wasn’t sure how long it was before she drifted off, but it can’t have been long. She awoke with a start a while later as she heard the door creak open. She had her back to the door and she heard footsteps across the floor.

Harry must have come to bed early, but somehow she felt safer with him being in the room. She smiled and closed her eyes. When she opened them she noticed the bedside clock, it’s digital readout showing 8.55pm.

8.55pm….

She had only been asleep for ten minutes….and she could still hear the TV downstairs. And then she heard something else that made her blood run cold. She heard the sound of Harry cheering at the snooker downstairs.

So if he was downstairs still watching the snooker…who was in the room.

Her heart was beating faster and faster and her blood ran cold. With every ounce of nerve she could muster, she turned over to face whatever was there.

And then she screamed.




The TARDIS crew were just finishing their meal when the dark streets outside the restaurant were illuminated with the blue flashing lights of a two police cars and an ambulance. All three of them watched as they zoomed past and then they turned to look at each other.

“Mrs Cook?” suggested Tylaya.

“Undoubtedly,” said the Doctor. “They’re heading in the direction of her house. Come on!”

They scrambled out of the restaurant, the Doctor dropping off a mass collection of coinage at the angry waiter, and splashed out into the rain.




By the time they had arrived at the scene, a stretcher was being carried out and Harry Cook was standing beside the door, his hand to his mouth and trying to force back the tears.

The Doctor dashed into the front garden where he was stopped by a young police woman with blonde hair and ice-blue eyes.

“Stop there, sir,” said the police woman, holding a hand up to him.

“And who are you, miss?”

“WPC Rita Cartwright,” she said quickly, “and you can’t be here right now.”

“Is she-”

“Dead?” said Cartwright, responding to Tylaya’s almost-question. “Yes, she’s very dead. Hence why the sheet is over her face.”

“Indeed,” said the Doctor. He was trying to catch a glimpse as the stretcher passed him. “Could I perhaps have a look at the body?”

“No you cannot,” said Cartwright. “Who do you think you are? A doctor?”

He looked at her and then smiled. “Thank you for your help, Rita.”

“It’s WPC Cartwright to you, sir,” she said as he and his friends left the garden and made their way back down the street. “Weirdo,” she muttered under her breath.

She sighed and then crossed over to Harry, who was shaking his head, still in disbelief at what had happened to his wife. She took out her notepad and sighed.

“Would you like to step inside, Mr Cook?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to go in there.”

She nodded. “What was it that happened? Can you tell me what you heard or saw?”

“I didn’t see a thing,” said Harry. “I was downstairs watching the snooker when I heard Heather screaming. When I ran up there she was….” He started crying.

Cartwright closed her eyes. Somehow she managed to forget about the rudeness he had shown her earlier on and put that aside. Now he looked pathetic, standing there, a man of his age, crying about the loss of his wife.

“Is it okay for me to come back tomorrow and ask you a few more questions?”

“Why?”

“Because we need to know why your wife died,” said Cartwright, trying to sound as sensitive as possible.

He nodded.

“Are you going to be okay?”

He nodded and sniffed away the tears. “I’m going to have to be.”

She nodded, patted his shoulder and then made her way back to the car. She looked down the street for any sign of the strange man she had encountered, but he was nowhere to be seen.




It was getting on for 1am when the Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus arrived at the morgue. The rain had eased off, but the puddles still made the surface of the cobbles glisten.

All was quiet as the trio emerged into Foster street and the old, 18th century built building loomed over them like something out of a horror movie.

The building was two stories high and a basic square shape. In front was a small wall with tall iron railings on top to keep people out. The gates were higher than the fence and were flanked by two stone pillars with gold lions sat atop.

“Looks creepy,” said Maxus, echoing his fiancée’s thoughts.

“Just a bit,” she said, pulling her coat tighter around her.

“It’s just a morgue,” said the Doctor, crossing to the gate.

“Glad you find morgues un-creepy,” said Tylaya.

“They’re just a temporary resting place for the dead,” said the Doctor as he aimed his sonic screwdriver at the gates. “The dead can’t harm us.”

“If you say so,” said Maxus.

“I can’t stop thinking about that poor woman,” said Tylaya. “She was just there earlier in the evening, talking to us.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor as the gates clunked with a satisfying sound, “it’s all very sad. Goodness knows what her husband must be going through now.” He looked back at them as he pushed the gates open. “That’s why we need to find answers to this now. We need to stop Count Orlok before he kills again.”

Tylaya and Maxus followed the Doctor up the small flight of steps to the wooden door. The Doctor unlocked the door with his screwdriver and they made their way inside.

It was dark and cold in the entrance hallway, and the Doctor produced three torches from inside his pocket. The beams cast a friendly light around the place, but nothing about the building made any of them feel comfortable.

They made their way along the black and white tiled floor until eventually they reached the back where the bodies were kept.

Inside the Doctor managed to locate the relevant paperwork on a desk in an adjacent office, and then he moved over to compartment 7, set into the metallic wall.

“Do we have to?” said Tylaya, putting her hand on the Doctor’s arm.

“We need to examine her,” said the Doctor blankly. “We need to know if this is really Orlok that’s done this.”

He gripped the handle of the draw and pulled. A body emerged, gliding noisily against the metal runners. It was covered with a sheet.

The Doctor let out a long sigh, grabbed the sheet at the edge and then slowly peeled it back.

Underneath was the cold and lifeless body of Mrs Cook, her eyes closed, her lips blue and her lined face pale. Every ounce of life had been eradicated from her body.

“Poor woman,” said Tylaya, shaking her head.

The Doctor gently turned her head to the side, and sure enough, deep into her neck, were two, deep, dark red puncture marks encrusted with dry blood. She had been bitten.

“This can’t be happening. It can’t be real,” said Maxus, shaking his head and walking away.

“It is,” said the Doctor. “We need to accept it. Count Orlok is alive and kicking in Whitby.”




They had left the morgue and were heading back to the TARDIS. The Doctor had produced a test tube from his ever deepening coat pockets and had scraped a few flecks of dry blood from around the puncture wounds of Mrs Cooks’ neck.

They were heading back to run an analysis on the blood, when the Doctor spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Down a dark alleyway there was a person in a long, grey mac and a hat dumping a black bag into a larger, metal bin.

Nothing suspicious in that, thought the Doctor.

“Good evening!” said the Doctor with a cheery voice.

The person panicked and bolted towards the other end of the alleyway, disappearing out of site.

“Strange fellow,” said the Doctor.

“You’d freak anyone out, mate,” said Maxus.

“But why be so nervous about simply getting rid of your rubbish?” pondered the Doctor.

“It looked like he was trying to get rid of something,” said Tylaya.

“Shall we go and look?” said the Doctor.

He guided his two companions down the alleyway until they reached the bin. Then Maxus reached in and grabbed the bag.

They tipped it out onto the pathway in front of them, and with a metal clunk something fell to he floor amidst the potato peelings and food packaging.

The Doctor quickly grabbed at the thing and held it up in the orange glow of the street light.

“Is that what I think it is?” said Maxus, thinking back to his history classes back in his own time.

“It is indeed,” said the Doctor. “This was missing from the scene of the crime.” He examined the circular piece of metal with curiosity and then plucked a length of film reel from inside it. He gazed down at the film.

“Fancy watching a horror movie?” he said with a smile.




The rain had stopped, but it still felt cold, and this made him happy. The cold and damp made him happy. He sat as still as a statue halfway up the steps to the Abbey, staring out at the twinkling lights below in the town centre. In the distance the waves crashes against the bottom of the cliff and he smiled to himself.

He wasn’t sure how he had gotten here. The last thing he remembered was blinding sunlight and then...waking in a darkened room and biting that old woman. It felt good to drink again, but it also felt different. He felt alive, whereas before he had felt...nothing.

And now he wanted more. He was a long way from the Carpathian mountains and his home. He had travelled to Wismar to seek a new home, but this place was different. The light was different. The sounds. Everything so different from the life he knew.

And he hungered for more. He needed more.




The Doctor sat between Tylaya and Maxus on the sofa. He had contemplated making some popcorn, but he felt, what with the current murder investigation going on, that it would be in bad taste. Instead he made himself a small cup of Earl Grey and kept it at that.

He had loaded up the old projector he had found under one of the panels in the console room and pulled down the projector screen.

He got himself comfortable between his two companions and then pressed play on the remote.

But what they saw left them all dumbfounded.

Not one single frame of the film contained a shot of Count Orlok. The scenes were all there - including the reactions from the other actors and actresses - but Orlok was nowhere to be seen.

The Doctor whizzed through the film and checked over and over again.

When he finally switched off the projector Maxus and Tylaya were sat with puzzled looks on their faces.

“So, what, he just escapes from the film?” said Maxus.

“It would seem so,” said the Doctor, scratching his chin.

“How does that even happen?” said Tylaya.

“Oh, there are many ways it could be done,” said the Doctor. “Fiction gods, Make-Real-Men…”

“What?”

“The Make-Real-Men. Apparently they live in clouds and make your dreams come true.”

“Get away!” laughed Tylaya.

“Yes, well I’ve never encountered them myself, but I knew a couple on Bombay VI who lived into their 150’s just because they had an encounter with the Make-Real-Men. Allegedly.”

“How do we get him back inside the film then?” asked Maxus.

“First we need to find out how he did it. Then we can find out how to get him back in.”

“The person who dumped the film must have some answers,” said Tylaya.

“Yes. So if we find out who that is then we stand a chance of finding out who started all of this in the first place. In the meantime, Whitby has got a real life vampire running around it’s streets. We must be vigilant.”




The trio left the TARDIS and headed back down the street. They were about to turn the corner and head back to the librarians house when there came the sound of sirens in the distance. Tylaya and Maxus found themselves being hauled out of the way as three police cars skidded around the corner on the wet cobbles and headed towards the quayside.

“Come on,” said the Doctor, grabbing both Tylaya and Maxus’s hands, “this could be something.”

They made their way through the winding streets until they finally reached the quayside. A crowd had gathered around the front of one of the nightclubs - the Apollo - it’s neon sign casting an eerie pink glow on the cobbles below.

The police cars had parked up and Rita Cartwright was just emerging from the club, shaking her head. She went to her car and picked up her radio.

The Doctor edged a listen closer, just enough to catch what she was saying, but not enough to get himself noticed by the police officer. He had already had a run in with her that night and felt that another encounter wouldn’t do him any better.

“…looks like some kind of injury to the neck. A young woman in her early twenties. No ID on her, but she’s still alive. It looks like….” She hesitated as the voice on the other end of the radio urged her to carry on. “Well, it looks like she was bitten. Just like Heather Cook.”

The Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus looked at each other, and then the Doctor made a decision. He whipped out his psychic paper, ducked under the police cordon and held out the wallet containing the blank card.

“You again!” said Cartwright, switching off her radio. “You seem to be turning up at all the wrong moments, sir.”

“Read my credentials,” said the Doctor confidently.

Cartwright’s eyes flicked down and then back at the Doctor. “It says “John Smith the Vampire Slayer.”

“What?” said the Doctor, frowning and looking at the paper. He grumbled and shook the paper. “Look again.”

Cartwright sighed and did as she was asked. She frowned.

“See,” said the Doctor.

“I could have sworn.”

“What does it say?” said the Doctor with a knowing smile.

“It says you’re from UNIT. You’re their scientific advisor.”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “Now you may check the credentials with Brigadier Winters if you want, but there’s a girl in there with her life in perilous danger. I need to find out what did this to her and I need to find out now.”

Cartwright sighed. She wasn’t winning any victories tonight. “Okay, come with me. We’re going to have to be quick though. The ambulance is on its way.”

She led the Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus into the nightclub. By now the place was deserted and all of the lights had been switched on revealing discarded bottles, ticket stubs and a very sticky floor. Only the manager stood, kneeling over the young, red-headed girl with another two policemen looking on.

The Doctor crouched down beside her. “How do you feel?”

“In pain,” said the redhead with great difficulty.

“What’s your name?” said the Doctor.

“Rose.”

The Doctor smiled. “I used to know a girl called Rose once. Long, long ago. I like the name.”

“It hurts so much.”

“I know. I know,” said the Doctor. “The ambulance is on its way.” He brushed the hair away from the side of her neck. Two large, gaping wounds were still wet with her red blood. A bandage had been placed over them and that had stemmed most of the bleeding. “What did this, Rose?”

“It was a man,” said Rose, clearly still traumatized by the experience.

“A man? What did he look like?”

She started to breathe rapidly again, tears in her eyes. “He came out of nowhere. He was waiting in the shadows. He had a bald head and long finger nails.” She started cry.

“Easy, easy,” said the Doctor, stroking her hair.

They all turned when they heard the sound of the ambulance outside.

“It was a vampire,” came Rose’s weak voice.

“What?” said Cartwright, barely able to grasp what the young girl was saying.

“It was a vampire and he bit me.”




Ten minutes later and Rose was being stretched out and into the back of the ambulance. Cartwright supervised as the Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus sat on the wall along the quayside.

“Will she turn?” said Tylaya.

“Turn what?” frowned the Doctor.

“Into a vampire?”

He smiled. “It doesn’t work like that. She’s been bitten by a vampire that isn’t real. Count Orlok is just a film creation come to life.”

“But he can still hurt? He can still kill?”

“That much is obvious,” said the Doctor.

“But he’s not a real vampire,” said Maxus with a laugh.

“Well cold blooded murderers aren’t vampires either, are they? But they can still kill you.”

“He’s right,” said Tylaya, arms folded as her eyes watched the stretcher being loaded into the back of the ambulance. “He’s just as dangerous as any killer we’ve ever fought, Maxus.”

“And the point is he thinks he’s a vampire,” said the Doctor.

Cartwright had been listening in and laughed. “Don’t be so bloody absurd! There aren’t such things.”

The Doctor turned on her. “Miss Cartwright, two people have been attacked by Orlok tonight. One is dead because of him. Don’t tell me that there’s no such thing.”

“But it’s crazy talk. How can a film creation come to life?”

“How can spaceships fly? How can monsters exist. Just because you haven’t experience it doesn’t mean that it can’t be true or real.”

“You said he still thinks he’s a vampire?” said Tylaya.

“That’s right,” replied the Doctor, biting his finger nail.

“Then surely a stake through the heart will do it. Or waiting until the sun comes up?”

Maxus laughed. “Don’t be stupid. We’ve just established that he’s not really a vampire.”

Tylaya glared at him, her arms still folded. “He thinks he’s a vampire. So he thinks he can die by a stake.”

Maxus hadn’t seen that look before. He’d never even seen that look through Tylaya’s old eyes. He didn’t even bother to respond. She had turned to ice.

“I don’t want to wait until sunrise,” said the Doctor. “We must lure him out and then…”

“Stab him,” said Cartwright. And then she chuckled to herself. “This is insane!”

“Then stay out of our way,” growled the Doctor as he marched off.

“Where are you going?” called Tylaya.

“To the Abbey. He’ll most likely be holed up there,” he shouted back.

“Why?” said Maxus, a frown on his face.

“It’s where I’d go if I were a vampire. It‘s where Dracula went after all.”

Cartwright shook her head.

Tylaya turned to her. “Look, I know this is hard, but try and trust the bloke, yeah? He’s a bit weird. A bit of an odd ball, but he mostly knows what he’s doing.”

“That’s comforting.” Cartwright looked down and then back at Tylaya. “I need to go and question that girl again, but I’ve got to warn you to be careful. There’s a killer out there.”

“I know,” said Tylaya. “And we will be careful. We always are.” She turned to smile at Maxus, but he just looked away. The smile was wiped off her face instantly.




He sat t the top of the steps again, his knees drawn into his chest, his chin smattered with dry blood. They girl had tasted good, but he was hungry again. She had been too young. Too thin with nothing on her. Her blood hadn’t experienced anything of this world. It was full of drugs and alcohol and it made him feel sick.

But there was something else. Some other scent that he had tasted on the wind. Something…otherworldly.

He put his fingers to his mouth and then closed his eyes. He could smell them coming.




“How many steps?” said Maxus, gazing up as the old stone steps disappeared into the darkness.

“199,” said the Doctor, hands deep in his pockets.

“Not to make things even harder, but couldn’t they have rounded it off to 200?”

“Come on,” said the Doctor, “let’s go.”

The trip up the steps wasn’t as difficult as they had first feared. They were a bit slippery, but it wasn’t much longer before they were halfway up.

Tylaya and Maxus had gained considerable pace on the Doctor, who was lagging behind, clutching at his chest and gripping his walking stick tighter.

“You alright, Doc?” said Maxus, coming a few steps back down to meet him.

“Oh, yes,” said the Doctor, looking up and appreciating the fleeting moment of kindness that he rarely saw in Quinn Maxus. “It’s just this old body. Phew!” He wiped his brow. “I’m reminded of the time I first went to the Dalek city on Skaro.”

“Yeah, Doc,” said Maxus, suddenly returning to his couldn’t-care-less self. “We need to catch up with Ty.”

Both men gazed up the darkened steps, but Tylaya was nowhere to be seen.

“Ty!” shouted Maxus, his voice disappearing in the breeze. “TY!”

“Tylaya. Are you there?” said the Doctor.

Maxus looked at the Doctor. “We need to hurry!”

They continued up the steps, the Doctor fighting against every urge in his body telling him to give up. He couldn’t let Tylaya become another victim of Orlok.


Next time: Tylaya finds herself in a tricky situation in the concluding part. Coming Sunday 18th October 2014.

5 Oct 2014

The Curse of Nosferatu (Part 1)

The rain lashed down against the old cobble stones of Whitby town. Water ran down the gutters that lined the steep roads and the last of the pub goers ran for cover after last orders, racing back to their homes to get into the shelter.

Halfway up one of the streets was an old building built two hundred years ago, the only modern part of it being the front doors which had been converted to automatic sliding ones, replacing the old wooden double doors back in the 1980’s.

Through the front window a light shone out from inside.

Inside was an old lady, her grey hair tied up into a bun. She wore a green skirt, white blouse and a black cardigan.

She sat hunched over a table reading an old book, her wire-framed glasses threatening to slip off the end of her nose at the slightest movement of her head.

She sniffed, pushed her glasses back up and turned the page of the book.

Heather Cook was the chief librarian at the library. She had worked there for most of her life and had chosen to continue working here after retirement age. She loved the library and was determined that nothing or nobody would stop her doing what she loved doing. Not even old age.

She had fallen in love with books at a young age and had immersed herself in them as she grew up. It was her life. It was all she needed in her life.

Well, her husband as well, of course.

It was while she was reading a book on the Spanish Civil War that there was a boom of thunder outside and the lights went out.

“Dear, oh dear,” said Heather, getting up from her desk and peering out of the window.

The whole town was in darkness. A town-wide power cut, and she frowned.

She had candles somewhere so struggled about in the darkness until she reached a cupboard that stood just before the front doors. She plucked out a candle, matches and lit it.

The candle cast a warm glow around the room and she smiled. She knew she should really head home, but she liked to spend as much time here as possible.

She sat down to continue reading the book, the candle illuminating the old pages of the book.

And then she heard a noise.

It was coming from somewhere towards the back of the library. Somewhere towards the film archives.

She listened.

The sound came again.

She sighed and thought that it must be a loose panel on the air conditioning unit back there. She wrapped her cardigan tighter around her, grabbed the candle and made her way through into the main part of the library.

She past the rows and rows of library bookcases, stacked high to the ceiling with all sorts of weird and wonderful books. The closer she got to the back of the library, the darker it seemed to get.

The candle was burning down faster than she had realised it would and she felt a shiver run up her back. She chuckled at herself for feeling so scared. She’d been here this late before many times.

Suddenly there came a high-pitched noise from her pocket. It made her jumped and she dropped the candle. Thankfully the candle landed on its side and she picked it up quickly before it set anything alight, realised the high-pitched sound was her phone and plucked it from her cardigan pocket.

“Harry, what do you want?” she said, annoyed. She disliked mobile telephones, but she understood they were a necessity in this day and age.

She listened to the reply.

“Yes, I’ll be home some,” she said, trying to hide her annoyance at her pestering husband.

She listened again.

“No, I’m fine. Put the dinner in the microwave. I’ll be home soon.”

Listening again.

“Yes, you to. Goodbye.”

She put the mobile back into her pocket and let out a frustrated sigh. Harry didn’t understand her love of books. Not many people in her family had ever done. All he wanted was for her to be at home all the time, but she wanted to be at the library. This was her place. This was her home.

The sound came again and she pressed on.

She opened the double doors into the film archive just as the candle flickered again, threatening to go out.

“Damn you,” she cursed at the candle. She didn’t fancy fumbling around in the dark.

She passed the rows of film canisters and reached the air conditioning unit. All looked fine. And then she heard the sound from the side of her.

She turned quickly and on the wall she saw a shadow. A familiar shadow that she had only ever seen on the screen. A creeping, dark shadow with long finger tips.

She screamed and the candle went out.

On the floor, a few metres away from her, was a film canister which bore the name “NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE.”

The canister was melted and broken as smoke rose from the twisted film inside.




Tylaya found the Doctor eventually. She had been searching the park for nearly 30 minutes when she found him sat on the grass next to the pond, cross-legged with a sketch pad in front of him. He was furiously drawing something with a pencil and looked to be in deep concentration.

“There you are,” she said.

He jumped and turned the pad of paper down so she couldn’t see it.

“What are you drawing?” she said, sitting beside him

“Oh, nothing,” said the Doctor. He looked out over the yellow water and smiled. “It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

“It is,” said Tylaya. She sighed.

“Anything wrong?”

She shook her head.

“Out with it,” said the Doctor.

“Show me your picture first,” said Tylaya.

He sighed and showed the roughly drawn picture. It showed a pencil sketch of a picturesque cul-de-sac with six, nicely designed houses. In the middle of the road stood an elderly, but grand, lady with her hands clasped in front of her.

“What is it?” said Tylaya.

“I’m not sure.” He looked more intently at the picture. “I don’t think the setting has any meaning. But it’s what’s behind the setting. And this woman, Helenia…”

“Doesn’t sound like a Human name,” said Tylaya.

“Neither does Tylaya,” said the Doctor, arching his eyebrows.

She laughed. “That’s my father for you. I was named after the daughter of an ambassador from Zenith. They were great friends.”

“That makes it even stranger that you joined an anti-alien group like the Eyeglass.”

Tylaya looked away from him. “It was never about being anti-alien. We weren’t all like that. You know that.”

“I know,” sighed the Doctor. “I’m sorry that I keep taking it out on you.”

She decided to change the subject. “What do you think the picture represents then?”

The Doctor narrowed his eyes, looking into the middle distance. “I don’t know, but I know it’s somewhere I have to get to.”

“It could be anywhere,” said Tylaya.

“I don’t think it’ll be as easy to find as you think. It may look like a normal cul-de-sac, but I think it’s meaning has great significance.”

“And what’s that.”

He ripped the paper from the pad, screwed it up and threw it into a nearby bin. “I think it’s where I can find a way to make me better.”




The Doctor and Tylaya wandered away from the pond where they found Maxus doing press ups beside the TARDIS. He jumped up when he saw them coming and stood with his hands on his hips, out of breath.

“Feel better?” said Tylaya.

“Hell, yes,” said Maxus with a big smile. “It’s been a while since I had a work out like that.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “The fresh air has done us all some good I think. After the traumas of Number 17 and then you being injured in Cologne, not to mention the atrocities in Thornsby…We were in need of a break.”

“Gotta keep you in shape for that wedding suit,” smiled Tylaya, thwacking him on the chest.

“Yep,” said Maxus, forcing a smile and quickly entering the TARDIS.

Tylaya’s face dropped.

The Doctor noticed. “You never told me what was wrong with you.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Ty-”

She held up a finger, her eyes wide. “It doesn’t matter.”




WPC Rita Cartwright slammed the door of her police car and sighed. The rain was getting worse and her uniform was already wet. Right now she wanted to be at home, in front of the fire, curled up on the sofa with her Kindle and Shih Tzu dog, Bishop. It had been a long day and she was ready to clock off.

Instead she was standing outside a small but modern house, ready to interview an old librarian about being spooked by ghosts.

She wasn’t averse to believing in the paranormal, but she certainly wasn’t about to accept the woman’s story that she had been attacked by a vampire.

She opened the gate and walked up the garden path.

The door was opened before she could reach for the knocker. Standing there looking rather irate was a tall man with short, silver her and a too-tight pullover that exposed his ever widening waist line.

“Harry Cook?” queried Cartwright.

“We don’t want the police around,” said Mr Cook, standing in front of the door.

“The police were called. Your wife-”

“My wife was scared in the power cut. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“But the caretaker at the library-”

“Please, leave.”

“Mr Cook, I have to at least take a statement-”

“I said leave,” said Mr Cook, a little more forceful this time.

Cartwright straightened herself up. She certainly didn’t want to be spoken to like that. She knew of Mr Cook. He used to be a school teacher, and a very strict one at that. He had retired ten years ago, and she remembered being in his history class. He had always been a grumpy sod. She may have been young, but she certainly wasn’t going to let him keep interrupting her.

“Mr Cook, if you’ll please let me finish. The caretaker at the library found your wife on the floor in the film archive next to a burnt out film canister. She was terrified, muttering something about vampires. Clearly there was a break in.”

“Did you visit the library then?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you find evidence of a break in or the film canister?” He looked smug.

She wrinkled her nose and tried to keep her patience. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well then, my wife was obviously mistaken. Good evening, officer.”

She straightened herself up again, trying to make herself look bigger than her 5’5” self would allow. “How does your wife feel about this?”

“She’s sleeping now,” said Mr Cook.

“Mr Cook-”

“Please leave,” he said again. “There’s nothing to see here.” He folded his arms.

She sighed. “As you wish. I’ll mark it down as a misunderstanding.”

“Good,” said Mr Cook, turning around and going inside, slamming the door behind him.

As Cartwright made her way back up the garden path she muttered “miserable sod” under her breath and made her way back to her car. She unlocked the door and was about to step inside when she thought she heard a sound from somewhere nearby.

It sounded like the wheezing and groaning of some unearthly machinery. And then the sound was gone.

She frowned and got into her car, just as a shadow scuttled behind her in the orange street light’s glow.




On board the TARDIS Maxus stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He was drying himself down and looked in the mirror. He needed a shave and grabbed the hand towel to wipe the condensation away, when he noticed something. Slowly, in the centre of the full length mirror a line appeared. And then another line.

Maxus frowned as two words were spelt out in the steamed up mirror.




“HELP ME”




He frowned. This was absurd. Was it some psychic test from the TARDIS?

“Help who? Who are you?”

He felt stupid for saying this, but as soon as he had, another word appeared under the previous two. It stunned Maxus with his mouth agape at what he saw.




“ALICE”




“Maxus!” came Tylaya’s voice.

He jumped. “What?!” he shouted back.

“We’ve landed!” she shouted back from the console room.

“Be there in a minute,” he said. When he turned back to the mirror the words had melted away with the condensation. There was no evidence it was ever there.

He quickly dried himself, got dressed and made his way back to the console room. This was too weird. Too weird to mention…yet.

When he reached the console room Tylaya was in a duffle coat and the Doctor in a long, almost detective-like coat.

“What’s happening?” said Maxus, as the Doctor threw him a long, woollen coat.

“It’s raining,” said Tylaya.

“Jesus,” said Maxus, putting the coat on. “It was raining in Thornsby. It was snowing in Cologne.”

“The park was sunny,” said the Doctor.

“Yeah, we didn’t stay long enough,” sighed Maxus. “Where are we anyway?”

“Whitby,” smiled the Doctor.

“Exciting,” said Maxus, his thoughts still on what he saw in the shower room.

“Ah, but it is,” said the Doctor excitedly. “The Abbey, Captain Cook, Dracula! I was here at the founding of it during my Third incarnation.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Tylaya, finding herself becoming more and more accustomed to travelling with the Doctor.

“Yes, in 656. I aimed to take Jo to the building of the Abbey. I got the dates wrong and got here the day the town was founded.”

“Typical,” said Maxus with a roll of the eyes.

“So why are we here?” said Tylaya, as the Doctor opened the doors and they stepped out onto the rain soaked streets.

“I was trawling through some news reports of this time.” He went into his blazer pocket and dug out a print out of a news paper article. “Look.”

“The Daily Speak…” read Tylaya.

“A nonsense paper full of nonsense stories. Mostly. But look at the one article at the bottom.”




DRACULA COMES TO WHITBY




“Whitby residents were fearing for their lives when retired librarian, Heather Cook, 70, claimed to have been attacked by a vampire.




A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said that the plucky pensioner had been working late in the library when she came face to face with Dracula himself.




Her terrified screams sent the Count scuttling back to the shadows, but reports have suggested that the Old One is still hiding out somewhere in the town.




Mrs Cook was unavailable for comment.”





“And when did that happen?” said Maxus, reading the article.

“About three hours ago,” said the Doctor, wiping the rain off his smooth head.

“What?” said Maxus, frowning.

“Oh, this article was published a week from now.”

“Right,” said Maxus. “But it can’t be anything too serious otherwise the report would be a lot more serious than this.”

“The Speak tends to jump from wacky story to wacky story,” said the Doctor. “The editor and even the journalist who wrote this rubbish has probably already forgotten it ever happened.”

“So we’re here to investigate, yes?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, rubbing his hands together. “There’s a mystery here.”

Tylaya smiled. The Doctor had been so down in the dumps for such a long time, but since they had left Thornsby he had seemed so much happier. He seemed to have a purpose at last. He seemed to want to live again.

“Come on,” said the Doctor, screwing up the print out and throwing it into the TARDIS. “The Cook’s house is just around the corner.”




Heather Cook took a sip of her tea as Mr Cook - known to her as Harry - put on his raincoat. He went into the living room and put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked worriedly at him.

“I’m just off to the shop,” he said. He then rubbed her shoulder. “Don’t worry, love. You’re safe here. No one’s gonna get you.”

She nodded, but she certainly wasn’t convinced. Something was out there, and it was looking for her.




The Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus turned the corner as a police car drove past. As they headed down the street they saw Harry Cook come out of the house and walk the other way.

“Husband,” said the Doctor.

They went down the garden path and knocked out the door.

After a few moments the door opened and the small, pale Mrs Cook stood there, looking at the three of them.

“Heather Cook?” said the Doctor, leaning down a little to speak to her.

“Yes,” said Heather.

“I’m here to talk to you about your encounter with the Vampire.”

Heather Cook’s blood ran cold.




Across the road, eyes watched as the Doctor, Tylaya and Maxus went into the Cook house. A figure stood behind a hedge in front of a darkened house. The figure was dressed all in black, his face pale, his eyes sunken in. His ears were long and pointed and his front teeth dripped with saliva.

The was the face of evil.

The was the face of a vampire.

This was the face of Nosferatu.




Heather Cook her finished recounting her tale of her attack a few hours ago in the library. She had passed out after her fright and had woken up with the caretaker beside her, but she had known what she had seen. She had seen Count Orlok.

“Not Dracula then?” said Tylaya with a frown.

“No, no,” said Heather. “It was Count Orlok.”

“From the film?” said the Doctor.

“Exactly like that. The big ears, the bald head and the fingers. Those fingers…” she started shaking and took a quick sip of her tea.

“Okay, Mrs Cook,” said the Doctor, “there’s nothing to worry about now.”

“You need to go,” said Heather. “My husband will be back soon.”

“And is that a problem?” said Maxus.

“He doesn’t believe what happened to me,” said Heather. “He thinks I was imagining it. Working too late.”

“But you say the film canister was smouldering? Smoking?”

“Yes,” said Heather, draining the last of her tea. “It was the canister of Nosferatu. I used to watch that film over and over. I think it’s a marvellous film. Beautifully shot and terrifying.”

The Doctor nodded. “I was there.”

“What?” said Tylaya.

“I was there when Murnau was filming it. I was one of the camera men.”

“Get away!” said Tylaya. “Which version of you was this then?”

“Number Eight,” said the Doctor. “Before the War.” He went serious again.

Heather wasn’t listening. “It was him.”

There came the sound of footsteps up the garden path followed by the banging of the front gate.

“Leave out the back,” said the Heather. “Harry won’t be happy.”

“Oh, but really,” said the Doctor, “we need to discuss this further.”

“Please, just go.”

Reluctantly they made their way out of the front room, through the small kitchen and into the back garden. They then made their way around the side of the house and back out onto the street.

“So what now?” said Tylaya as the Doctor pulled his overcoat collar higher around him.

“I’m hungry,” said Maxus.

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Let’s go and grab a bite to eat. Then we can discuss what Mrs Cook has told us.”

As they made their way down the street, the shadow scuttled across the street towards the Cook house.



Next time: Count Orlok makes his first kill. Coming Sunday 12th October 2014.