“I don’t know where to begin. I don’t even know HOW to begin. It was only last night that it happened and I am lost for words. The first thing I noticed was the light coming from the crypt. It seemed to flood the entire chamber. And emerging from that very same room, and indeed the light within, was a young lady. A lady unlike any I had seen before. She wore her reddish-blonde hair down, draping over her shoulders and down her back. And she wore garments this old man’s eyes had never seen. I felt sure she had been sent from the Heavens to take this old soul away.
She was followed by other people. They looked around at my church curiously and with interest. And then when they saw me…well, they didn’t know what to think. They were as speechless as I.
I had intended to continue this recounting of my tale, but the lady known as Jayne has asked me down into the crypt. Her and her friends have been sleeping there over night and they need my help. So, for now, I must go, but I will continue this strange tale later.
This was the final entry of Father Henry Ainslie. He disappeared later that week and was presumed dead.
Somewhere in the space/time vortex…
The TARDIS shook violently and Caroline was thrown from her bed and onto the floor, the magazine she was reading landing on her face. She threw the magazine off her, pulled on her shoes, threw her slippers into the corner and raced out of her room.
She followed the corridors towards the sound of the TARDIS engines in the distance. And then Danny emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
“What’s happening?” he asked, confused.
“You’ve got bed hair,” said Caroline, nodding at the young man’s hair, sticking up at odd angles.
“And you’ve got your pyjama’s on,” said Danny, noticing Caroline’s blue attire adorned with cartoon sheep.
“Bugger it!” said Caroline, racing back to her bedroom.
Once there she slipped into a short black dress with a belt and red tights and then raced back towards the console room.
Once she was there she found Danny laid back on the sofa still rubbing his eyes and yawning whilst the Doctor was hunched over the console, examining the controls.
He had promised a few days ago to take Caroline back to Thornsby. They had put Matthew Cole - a aspect of the Doctor from the future - into suspended animation and the Doctor had tried to return to the small coastal town, but once again they hadn’t succeeded. He had tried everything, short of pulling the TARDIS apart and skydiving down to the Earth.
Caroline had almost given up again. Almost. That was until now.
“What on Earth is going on, Doctor?” she asked, crossing over to the console.
“I’ve gotten the TARDIS into the upper atmosphere,” he beamed. “I had to jettison half of the rooms on board, but we’re getting there. I just need to push the engines a little more.”
“Is it worth the risk?” asked Danny sleepily.
“To get answers for Miss Parker? Of course it is!” said the Doctor, as if it should even be up for discussion.
“Okay, okay,” said Danny, stretching his arms high above him. “I was just checking.”
The engines were grinding louder than Caroline had ever heard them before and the time rotor that ran through the centre of the console was glowing white-hot. The glass around the glowing rods was cracked and smoke billowed from underneath the console.
“What if the TARDIS blows up?” asked Caroline, worriedly.
“It won’t blow up,” said the Doctor, skipping around to another load of controls on the far side of the console.
“You hope,” said Caroline underneath her breath. He sounded a little too confident for her liking.
She joined Danny on the sofa and he put an affectionate arm around her. “Got any popcorn for this show?” laughed Danny as they watched the Doctor dance around the controls.
“He’s trying,” said Caroline. “I just don’t understand why the TARDIS won’t take us back home.”
“I gave up trying to fathom this thing out,” he said, looking up at the ceiling, “ooh, around about the time we stepped on board.”
Suddenly the TARDIS jerked and Caroline and Danny were thrown off the sofa, Caroline hitting a metal railing near the console.
“Are you two okay?” asked the Doctor.
Danny coughed and spluttered. “She’s out cold!” he said, noticing Caroline on the floor with a cut on the side of her head.
An alarm was ringing in the distance. The sound of bells, and lights were blinking red. Smoke and steam were pouring from the console and the tube around the time rotor had fully shattered, exposing the white-hot rods within.
“Doctor?” said Danny, getting extremely concerned.
The Doctor, for a second, looked completely lost. It was as if he was thinking of something to do, but having no idea what.
“Doctor? What’s happening?”
The Doctor turned to Danny. “I’m afraid that the TARDIS engines have reached the critical point. Beyond the critical point actually. They’re going to blow up.”
“What?!” spluttered Danny. “Caz was right!”
“We need to get to the escape pods,” said the Doctor, running over to Caroline and hefting her to her feet.
“Not the escape pods again!” said Danny, remembering the problems they had finding them last time.
Danny helped the Doctor carry Caroline from the console room, through the corridors, and past the high-arched Cloister Room until they finally reached what resembled an office. Rows and rows of cubicles dotted the room, all of them unoccupied.
“Look for the ‘E’”, said the Doctor, sitting Caroline down on a chair.
“This place just gets more and more bizarre,” said Danny as they both went through cupboards, drawers and adjacent offices. The escape pod room hadn’t looked like this last time.
“Ah ha!” shouted the Doctor from the far end of the room.
Danny grabbed the chair Caroline was in and wheeled it over to where the Doctor stood beside a filing cabinet with a pink ‘E’ printed on the side.
“Get her inside,” said the Doctor.
“Will she be safe?” asked Danny, as they pulled open a side door on the cabinet..
The Doctor opened a panel on the side of the cabinet and programmed in some numbers. “I can control the pod from out here. With any luck the force of the escape pod will break through whatever barrier is keeping us from getting to Thornsby. It’ll shoot her straight towards the town in 2012.”
“Brilliant!” said Danny. “But what about us?”
“I need you to help me get Matthew out of the suspended animation booth.”
“But that mean’s leaving Caz on her own.”
“She’ll be fine,” smiled the Doctor. “We’ll get Matthew and then take another pod and follow her down.”
Then the Doctor pressed a green button and the escape pod dematerialised with the same sound the TARDIS engines made.
“Come on,” said the Doctor.
They were about to leave the room and head for the booths when the lights went out. The TARDIS began to shake and creak and then the whole room turned upside down. Danny and the Doctor were thrown against the far wall and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
“Get to the pod!” yelled the Doctor.
“But Matthew-”
“There’s no time!” he said, grabbing Danny and hauling him to his feet. “Forgive me, my friend,” he whispered, hoping that Matthew would.
They clambered into a second filing cabinet and a few seconds later it too dematerialised.
Both escape pods raced through the vortex towards Thornsby. But something was wrong. Although the two pods were on course for Thornsby, they weren’t heading for 2012. In fact both pods were heading for two completely different time zones.
And behind them, the TARDIS hung in the vortex, silent and dead. But still intact.
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