Story 3.2: The Tipping Point

“Well why are we here then?” she said, getting confused.
“Ah, it’s what happens here that’s interesting,” he grinned. “It’s a few centuries into your future and this is one of the first colony worlds of the Human Empire.”

The Doctor takes Alice to her first alien world - the lifeless, icy planet known as Issenttii.

At first thing's seem a little dull for the new time traveller, but the Doctor reveals that the planet is a key stone in the Earth Empire's colonisation of planets throughout the galaxy.

And Issenttii is hiding a secret. A secret that will divide the Doctor and Alice.

This is the second story of series 3, featuring Richard O'Brien as the Doctor and Louise Brearley as Alice.

This four-part story will begin publication from February 1st 2014 and continue with a part every Saturday throughout the month.

Village of the Daleks (Part 4)

A few minutes had passed and the Doctor had gotten the basics of the plan right with Alice. He had given her an apologetic look as he had made his way to the edge of the shield. Now he stood there, a little further away from the Daleks, hidden by a tree. He looked at his watch, and waited.




In the quad, Alice knelt down over the drain. She sighed as she activated the Doctor’s strange device. The hum of power that was coming from the generator slowly died down and Alice noticed the flash in the sky to signify that the shield was down. Then, with a nervous sigh, she waited.




Outside the blue Dalek suddenly got excited, even if excitement wasn‘t an emotion known to it. “SHIELD HAS BEEN DISABLED. ADVANCE TO THE BUILDING. LOCATE THE DOCTOR.”

The Doctor watched from the tree as the three Daleks began floating over the grass and towards the old school building.

He had almost forgotten what he had to do. He took one last look back at them and then walked as fast as he could down the lane.

He had to time this exactly right. If he didn’t he may end up sacrificing Alice, and that’s something he didn’t want to do.

He turned the corner and made his way into the small close at the bottom of the cliff. A number of army vehicles were surrounding the houses and a tall, thin man in a military uniform strode up to the hurrying Doctor. His hair was grey and he wore a bushy beard. His face was stern, but he had a slight twinkle in his eyes.

“Ah, Doctor,” said the man.

“Brigadier Joseph Winters, I presume?” said the Doctor, not stopping to chat.

“Good to finally meet you,” said Winters, extending his hand. “I was a great admirer of you during the Blood and Thunder days.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, arriving at the base of the chalk cliff. “Give me a leg up.”

“Do you think it’s safe to go in there, Doctor?”

“Oh, Joseph,” said the Doctor, “nothing is safe. Not when the Daleks are involved.”

Winters helped the Doctor up to the hole in the cliff and looked up at him. “Listen, do you want us to do anything? My men are at a bit of a loose end.”

“No,” said the Doctor, looking down. “Just keep everybody away from the school and this entire area. I‘ve managed to fool the Dalek’s sensors into thinking I’m still up there. My sonic’s giving off signals. But it‘s not going to fool them forever.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Blow the place up.”

“Right,” said Winters. And then he realised what the Doctor had just said. “Right! Of course.”

He saluted the Doctor, the Doctor rolled his eyes, and then he made his way back towards the UNIT vehicles.




Alice could hear the Daleks getting closer and closer. They were within range of the shield now. She sighed and activated the generator again with the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. The sky glowed with energy as the shield was re-activated. Then, grabbing a mop from the store cupboard in case she needed to protect herself. She hurried out of the quad and into the building.

A few minutes later the doors burst open and the three Daleks emerged.

One of the Daleks glided over to the drain. “SHIELD HAS BEEN LOCATED.”

“SHIELD HAS ALSO BEEN REACTIVATED. WE ARE SEALED INSIDE,” said another.

The blue Dalek looked down at the generator. “CONCENTRATE MAXIMUM FIRE POWER ON SHIELD GENERATOR. DISABLE IMMEDIATELY.”

Beams and bolts of energy were thrown from the Daleks weapons and aimed into the drain cover. Mortar and concrete flew up into the air and when the smoke cleared and the Daleks had stopped firing their weapons, the shield generator was still intact.

“SHIELD IS UNDAMAGED. SENSORS INDICATE IT IS HOUSED WITHIN A MICRO-SHIELD.”

“FIND A WAY TO DISABLE,” barked the blue Daleks. It turned to the other Dalek. “LOCATE THE DOCTOR AND HIS HUMAN ASSOCIATE.”

“I OBEY.”




The Doctor had made his way back into the Dalek shuttle. It was in darkness again, with only a small, computer console glowing in the corner. He knew what he had to do. He had to activate the dormant crystals in the engine and blow it up. But he had to make it a slow build-up. He needed time to get down to the TARDIS and then fly it back to the school.

The Doctor stepped into the shadows and was about to start work on the engine, when the looming shadow of a Dalek glided into view.

“STOP!” barked the Dalek, as the Doctor froze on the spot. “YOU ARE THE DOCTOR. YOU MUST BE DESTROYED.”

“Go on then,” said the Doctor, with a huff. “You’ve never been able to do it before now. So what makes you think you can do it now?”

“WHY ARE YOU NOT WITHIN THE SHIELD?”

“You’re all so stupid aren’t you. Clearly the centuries buried under this rock has addled your brains.”

“I MUST INFORM THE SHUTTLE COMMANDER OF THIS DEVELOPMENT,” said the Dalek, turning to face a communications console.

“Oh, don’t bother old Bluey,” said the Doctor, skipping up behind him.

It was then that the Doctor noticed that the Dalek was connected to a console via a large, thick cable. He knelt down beside it and examined it. It appeared to be some kind of power cable.

The Dalek suddenly became aware of the Doctor’s intrigue. “DO NOT TOUCH THE POWER CABLE.”

“Interesting,” said the Doctor, a smile playing across his lips. “I knew you lot had been under here for a while. But I didn’t know you were so low on power.”

“SYSTEMS HAVE DEGRADED TO THE POINT OF COLLAPSE. PREVIOUS ENERGY BUILD UP HAS NOW FALTERED.”

The Doctor had a thought. Maybe he didn’t need to blow up the shuttle. Maybe the Daleks up above would simply run out of power.

“STEP AWAY FROM THE POWER CABLE.”

“Or what?” said the Doctor, standing up, his arms outstretched in front of the Dalek. “What are you going to do? Your powers are draining. You daren’t try and exterminate me.”

“I SAID STEP AWAY FROM THE CABLE.”

The Doctor smiled. “Sorry, old fella, but it’s not going to happen.”

The Doctor couldn’t risk it. He needed to blow the ship. He ducked under the Dalek’s sucker arm and then kicked the pepper pot away. It glided slowly across the room, but still didn’t attempt to fire at him. It must have been on it’s last vestiges of power.

All the Dalek could do was watch on helplessly as the Doctor began to set his plan in motion.




It had been almost 15 minutes and Alice could hear them outside. The strange, metallic sound of them gliding across the floor grated against the concrete of the school corridor. They were getting closer and closer to the store cupboard she was hiding inside.

She inwardly laughed at herself. She was cramped in a dark, confined space with nothing but a pathetic mop to fight off these creatures. Either way she looked at it, she was screwed. She just had to hope that the Doctor had gotten to the shuttle. Pretty soon they’d locate her. She wondered why they hadn’t already found her. They must have been getting weaker and weaker for their sensors not to detect her.

And then she suddenly heard a familiar, guitar-led tune coming from her jean pocket. At first she didn’t know what to do. She was scared. Surely the Daleks would hear the sounds.

Her hands flashed to her pocket and she grabbed her mobile.

“Yes?” was all she could whisper into the speaker.

“Drop the shields. Drop them now!” came the Doctor’s voice.

Alice didn’t think. She didn’t have time to. She knew this was her only chance. She kicked the door open, leapt out of the store cupboard, arms trying to cover her face and ran across the width of the corridor and around the corner towards the door.

She could hear the Daleks in the distance. “HUMAN FEMALE SIGHTED. PURSUE. PURSUE!”

But she didn’t stop. She didn’t even look at where she was going. She then felt herself stumbling forward, just as a blast of energy from the Daleks gun blasted over her head. She landed with a thud on the ground and opened her eyes. She was right in front of the drain covering the shield generator.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear the sounds of weird, alien engines wheezing and groaning and struggling to get through.

The Daleks were right behind her. She grabbed the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and aimed it at the generator. It fizzed and puffed and spluttered, and then shut down. The shield around the school lowering in a dazzling light show of orange and golden light.

And then, slowly but surely, the image of a blue, wooden box materialised in front of Alice. She gazed up at it wide-eyed, hardly able to comprehend what was now happening.

The door clicked open and standing there was the Doctor, resting slightly on his cane.

“Doctor…” she said.

“Thank you, Alice,” he said with a smile, kneeling down and helping her to her feet.

“YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!” screamed the blue Dalek.

“Oh, Bluey,” smiled the Doctor, “I suspect your power is now long gone.”

“EXTERMINATE” it screamed.

The Daleks aimed their guns, but the deadly blast of energy that had become a familiar site from the Dalek’s weaponry was nowhere to be seen.

“You’re all dying,” said the Doctor. “It’s over. Finished.”

“NO. WE CANNOT DIE.”

“I don’t know if you can remember - it’s so long ago now - but back on your homeworld of Skaro, when your power ran out, I left you all to decay in the city.” He edged a little closer and looked directly into the Dalek’s eyestalk. “Well, not this time. I’m not going to let a single one of you have the opportunity to get out of here.”

Alice frowned. That sounded pretty cold, even if it was against these evil creatures.

“Alice, in the TARDIS please.”

Alice didn’t need to be told twice. She backed herself up and slipped into the door.

“YOU MUST…HELP US…” pleaded the blue Dalek.

“Sorry,” said the Doctor, sighing. “the damage has already been done.”

He kissed the palm of his hand and then pressed it against the blue Daleks’s dome. With a final wink, he grabbed his cane and walked back into the TARDIS.

“RETREAT TO THE SHUTTLE!” screamed the blue Dalek. “DOCTOR!”




Inside the TARDIS, Alice stood, gob smacked at the sight which greeted her. Instead of a small, wooden box interior, there was a church-like room. The stone walls rose high up into the air, curving and meeting in the middle, the wall pocked with green, glowing circles. In the centre of the room was some kind of console with a glowing, green tube that rose up and to the ceiling.

The Doctor walked down the pathway to the console, turned and looked at her.

“Well?”

“I…”

The Doctor smiled as he pulled a lever and set the ship in motion. “Let me explain…”




A little while and a few explanations later, the Doctor and Alice were standing next to the blue police box which had landed next to the Doctor’s house in Little Pebbleford. They were staring up at the hill where the school was situated.

Alice had slowly gotten over the shock of what the TARDIS was, and was re-adjusting to having moved from the school.

After a few minutes watching she said, “Do you think they’ll escape?”

“That shield? No. Never,” said the Doctor.

“Is there just no way to stop the engines? Do we have to blow up the school?”

The Doctor sighed as he lent on his cane. “I can’t leave any trace of them being here. There’s already too much alien-tech floating around in this time period. The explosion will obliterate them and their spaceship. It’s for the best.”

Alice thought for a moment. “Why wouldn’t you help them?”

His eyes flicked darkly to her.

“I-I mean,” she stuttered, “why couldn’t you have taken them away somewhere else. Dropped them off at a space prison or…or something?”

The Doctor lowered his head and looked at the ground. “It’s because I’m dying, Alice.”

“Dying?” She wasn’t sure what to say.

“I’ve fought the Daleks for so long. Now every time I fight them or some other alien menace, it feels like the last time. I can’t leave thing’s unresolved. I have to make sure I’ve done the very, very best I can in each situation.”

“But surely someone else-”

“No,” said the Doctor coldly. “When I’m gone, who else is going to stop the evil out there?”

Alice was about to reply when there was a huge flash in the sky. The dome-like shield around the school was momentarily lit up by the explosion that had erupted from deep under the school. And then, with a huge roar and rumble, the cliff, the school and everything else within the shield slowly collapsed and crumbled.

And then the shield failed, causing a landslide of bricks, mortar, rubble and chalk to come tumbling down.

On the housing area at the base of the cliff - long since evacuated - homes were crushed under the weight of the rubble, billows of smoke ploughing around buildings and snaking through gardens like some phantom smoke monster.

And then, after another, final shudder, everything fell silent.

The Doctor and Alice watched on in silence for a long, long time.

Alice finally broke the silence.

“I guess I need a new job then.”




Time had passed. It was dawn and the Doctor had liaised with UNIT to clear up the mess and cover up the incident.

A day later, when the Doctor returned to Casterby House after dealing with the clean-up operation, he found Alice sat on the wall, a suitcase next to her.

“Can I help you, Miss Stokes?” he said, taking the TARDIS key from his jacket pocket.

“Yeah,” she said, getting up and hefting up her suitcase.

“Are you going somewhere?”

“With you,” she said.

“I’m afraid not,” he said, with a little laugh.

“You owe me one, Doctor,” she said.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You blew up my school. My job. I’ve got nothing to do now. The kids are all being taught in nearby Featherby from next week. They don’t need teachers there as they’ve got their own. All of us lot are just…well, we’re just on standby until they can build the new school. Even Mrs Metcalfe’s planning a trip to Spain for a few weeks.”

“I can whip you forward a few months if you like.”

“Nope,” said Alice, walking over to the TARDIS. “I’m taking this as my opportunity to have a bit of a holiday.”

The Doctor laughed and shook his head. “It’s dangerous. Not holiday material at all.”

She let out a huge sigh. “When I was a kid, looking after my sisters, I never really got a chance to have fun and adventure like most kids do. Well, this is my pay day.”

“Alice…”

“No, Doctor.”

“But I’m dying. I don’t know when it will happen. It could be today, it could be tomorrow.”

“Or it could be months and months from now,” she said. “And surely you’d want someone with you for one last run of adventures?”

“There’s still so much you don’t know about me.”

“Well, we’ve got time,” she said with a smile. “I’m coming. You can’t stop me.”

The Doctor shook his head in defeat. “Okay, but as soon as I become incapable of saving you-”

“-speak for yourself!” said Alice. “I’m quite capable of taking on aliens myself.”

“When the end comes,” he said, a little more urgently, “then I take you home.”

“Deal,” said Alice, holding out her hand.

Reluctantly, the Doctor shook her hand. “Come along then, Miss Stokes. Let’s get the kettle on and see where this old box takes us.”

He unlocked the door and let her inside. He was about to step in when he realised something. “Hold on a mo. Just got to get a few things from the house.”

Five minutes later he was locking up Casterby House and carrying three carrier bags worth of all manner of items that he’d had in the house since his arrival. He pushed open the door, gave one more look around and then stepped inside.

A few minutes later, with a wheezing and groaning sound, the TARDIS disappeared.

Standing behind a tree in the graveyard was the school headmaster, David Groves. He lifted a wrist-device to his mouth as he looked on at where the TARDIS had been standing.

“This is Agent Maxus to control,” he said into the device.

“Go ahead, Maxus,” came a voice from the wrist device.

“The Doctor has taken the package. He collected it just before he left. All is going to plan.”

“Excellent,” came the reply. “Return to base.”

“Over,” said the head teacher.

He smiled as he flicked a button on the wrist device. The bald-headed form of David Groves slowly shimmered and changed until standing in his place was a tall, muscular, dak-skinned man. He laughed as he made his way down into the centre of Little Pebbleford.




The face appeared again.

It smiled again.

And then it slept.

Next Week: The Doctor and Alice travel to the uninhabited ice world of Issenttii - the site of one of the first Human colonies. The Tipping Point starts on Saturday 1st February 2014.

Village of the Daleks (Part 3)

Alice wasn’t exactly sure where she was supposed to be running to. She wasn’t even sure what she was running from. She’d heard - even seen - the Daleks. Who hadn’t? Back in those bizarre few days years when they had flown out of the skies.

This was something entirely different. This was normal, ordinary Alice running from such an extraordinary thing. And she wasn’t ill in bed this time.

And this was Little Pebbleford. Daleks didn’t invade Little Pebbleford. Nothing happened in Little Pebbleford.

“Stop! Stop!” said Alice, once they’d gotten to the end of the tunnel and back to the gardens of the houses at the bottom of the cliff. “I need to catch my breath.”

“Alice, we must continue to run as fast as we can. They are Daleks.”

“I know!” said Alice, leaning forward, a stitch in her side. She looked up at him. He was leaning on his cane and trying to hide his tiredness. “How do you move so fast when you’re using that thing?”

The Doctor looked a little uncomfortable. “It comes and goes.”

“What does?”

“The…illness.”

“Everything okay, sir?” came the police man.

“I need you to move everyone back,” said the Doctor. “Keep them away from this entire area. Get them into the town centre.”

“Can I ask why, sir?”

“Do I have to wave my I.D. at you again, constable?”

The young policeman looked as though his school teacher had just told him off. “No sir,” he said, looking down.

“Where’s UNIT?”

“On their way,” said the policeman.

“Typically slow of the military,” he said under his breath.

“You did tell me to tell them to make in an hour.”

The Doctor mumbled something under his breath. “When they get here, tell them to cordon off the area, but not to enter anywhere past this housing area. That includes the hill leading up to the school.”

“Yes, sir,” said the policeman.

“Wow!” said Alice, now recomposed, “you’re definitely not the school caretaker.”

He grinned. “Sometimes I wish I was. But I’d miss this life too much. It’s half the reason I’m fighting to stay alive.”

Alice frowned. “Alive?”

“Not now,” he said, skipping through the back garden and back to the lane that ran up to the school.

“Where are we going?”

“You’re not going anywhere, miss Stokes,” said the Doctor, suddenly looking immense as he blocked her path.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re not going anywhere. This is too dangerous.”

“Oh, come on,” said Alice. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions.”

“It’s too dangerous,” he repeated.

“And who’s gonna look after you when you collapse?”

“I beg your pardon?” he said, gripping his cane a little tighter.

“It’s obvious, Doctor,” she said, looking at him sadly. “You may seem fit and healthy, but you’re not. Whatever plans you have up your sleeve, you’re gonna need someone with you to complete them.”

He opened his mouth to say something, realised it was futile, and then closed it.

“What happens if you collapse when you’re trying to defeat those pepper pots? You need me there to help you back up.”

The Doctor looked frustrated, turned away from Alice, and then turned back to her. “What makes you so eager to trust me?”

Alice shrugged. “Intuition. Any person who knows how to deal with madness must be trustworthy enough.”

He smiled. It was a smile that said he had accepted defeat.

Alice smiled back. “Come on then. Let’s go.” She made for a jog and then stopped herself. “Wait a minute. Where are we going?”

“Up to the school,” said the Doctor, hobbling past her. “I already have my plan ready and waiting.”




In the Dalek shuttle, the lights in the control room were beginning to spark back into life. Now a further three Daleks were slowly beginning to wake. The first Dalek crossed over to one painted blue with black trimmings. It was slightly bigger and bulkier than the other three and was dusty with cracks running down it’s skirting panels.

“ARE YOU FUNCTIONAL?” said the first Dalek.

The blue Dalek creaked it’s dome around to look at it’s fellow soldier. “OPERATING AT 78%. POWER LEVELS ALREADY RISING.” The blue Dalek swivelled it’s head to look at a computer readout. “STATUS REPORT.”

The first Dalek glided slowly to the panel and began running through information screens. “DALEK SHUTTLE TRANS-WARP ENGINES MALFUCTIONED. SHUTTLE MATERIALISED OUT OF TRANSWARP INTO SOLID ROCK.”

The blue Dalek’s eyestalk looked up. It was surveying the damage. “WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE SHUTTLE?”

“SHUTTLE HAS SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO OUTER HULL. SHUTTLE WILL NOT FLY AGAIN.”

“CURRENT LOCATION?”

“EARTH.”

“CONTACT DALEK FORCES IN THE GARAZONE SYSTEM.”

“READINGS INDICATE THAT WE ARE TWO THOUSAND YEARS IN THE PAST. THE EARLY 21st CENTURY.”

“THEN WE ARE TRAPPED HERE.”

“UNLESS WE CAN BUILD A NEW SHIP.”

“REPORT ON THEORY?”

“THE TIME LORD KNOWN AS THE DOCTOR IS HERE. HE ESCAPED AS WE WERE REACTIVATED.” The Dalek changed the readouts and it showed a map of Little Pebbleford. “READINGS INDICATE HE IS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE DIRECTLY ABOVE US.”

“PREPARE A BATTLE PLAN. THE DOCTOR WILL HELP US, OR HE WILL DIE.”




The school was in darkness. For Alice, this was such a strange experience. She’d been in the school at night before, of course, marking homework, but this was different. There was absolutely nobody about.. All of the outside lights were off and the whole area was still and silent.

They made their way into the school grounds and up the gentle-sloping lawn that led to the pathway that led around the old, 1930’s-built stone school building.

“So what’s the plan?” said Alice, eager to know what to expect.

The Doctor stopped, turned to face her and then looked her in the eyes. “Alice, what is wrong?”

“What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong?” she said with a nervous laugh in her voice.

“You seem far too eager to rush into danger.”

Alice sighed. “I’m not eager to rush into danger. I’m eager to have a bit of excitement.”

“But you like your job?”

“Of course I do, but….this is Little Pebbleford. Nothing ever happens here.” She had to remind herself of who she actually was. She was a school teacher, not a child. She had to keep a level head. She knew these Dalek things were dangerous and she had to make sure that she didn’t let her eagerness for adventure overtake her common sense.

“Hmm,” said the Doctor, continuing to walk along the path. “Just be careful.”

“Why are you so concerned about someone having fun?” said Alice, following him up the stone steps and into the entrance to the old building.

“I’m not concerned,” said the Doctor, as he marched along the corridor, walking stick swinging beside him. “I’m more concerned about the fact that you don’t seem scared.”

“Of course I’m scared,” said Alice. “It’s terrifying.”

“Then why-”

“Because I haven’t had this before.”

The Doctor stopped and frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I grew up looking after my sisters. I had a good childhood, but it wasn’t a very adventurous one. All those stories the other girls at school used to tell me about just…well, having fun and playing. I never had that. I had to grow up quickly.” She smiled sadly. “I missed out on it all. Especially after Dad went away.”

The Doctor smiled at her sadly.

“So let me have this. Even if it’s just this one night. Let me have this fun. Please.”

He broke into a smile. “Of course. But just this one night. After this, you go back to your job and get on with your life.”

“Yes, boss,” she said, giving him a mock salute.

“Let’s go!”

“Where?” said Alice, jogging after him.

“The quad,” he said, opening the doors which led outside to a central open-air courtyard.

In the quad was a small greenhouse, a pond and various trees and potted plants. Only this morning Alice had witnessed one particularly naughty child being made to stand in the quad for ten minutes whilst he thought about the awful name he had called Mrs Dobson.

Mind you, thought Alice, Mrs Dobson was pretty awful anyway.

“The quad’s the centre of the school,” said Alice.

The Doctor smiled, pulling a bunch of keys from his pocket and going to a drain cover in the centre. “And the Dalek shuttle is directly beneath us.”




Back down the little lane, four Daleks, led by the blue one, were slowly making their way up the slope and towards the school.

“READINGS INDICATE THAT THE DOCTOR IS IN THE BUILDING AHEAD,” said one Dalek.

“HE WILL NOT ESCAPE US THIS TIME. HE MUST BE EXTERMINATED.”




Inside the school, Alice had run back inside, across and corridor and to the textile classroom. She stared out in horror as the four Daleks gently floated into the air and began making their way towards the buildings.

“Doctor!” shouted Alice, back to where he was working outside, “The Daleks are here!”

The Daleks had stopped. They were floating about 15 feet off the ground, but it looked as though they were waiting for something. Waiting for instructions.

The blue Dalek had a device attached to where it’s plunger should have been. It extended it and held it up into the air. The device began beeping.

“ALIEN DEVICE HAS BEEN DETECTED WITHIN THE SCHOOL. IT IS OF TIME LORD ORIGIN.”

“Hello, Daleks!” came a voice from near to the main building’s entrance.

“IT IS THE DOCTOR,” said one of the Daleks, with almost a hint of excitement in it’s voice.

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. “Even after all these years, I’m still here and you still haven’t defeated me.”

“YOU ARE SURROUNDED,” said the blue Dalek. “YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.”

“I’m not looking to escape,” said the Doctor. “In fact, all I have to do is make sure that you don’t get in.”

“THIS FACILITY IS OPEN. YOU CANNOT WITHSTAND THE MIGHT OF THE DALEKS.”

“Yes, yes,” said the Doctor, leaning beside a drain pipe, “under normal circumstances, you would be able to just glide in here, exterminate anybody in your way and take me prisoner.” His eyes narrowed. “But not today.”

“EXPLAIN,” said the blue Dalek.

“Ah, now that would be telling,” grinned the Doctor. He went into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small, silver object with a red light at the end. “I can just show you. My sonic screwdriver,” he smiled.

The Daleks watched on. If the Doctor hadn’t known better, he would have thought they had curious looks on their alien faces.

“Now,” said the Doctor, “all I need to do is activate the screwdriver, and I’m safe.”

The Dalek stalled for a moment. “THIS DEVICE IS OF LIMITED CAPABILITIES. READINGS INDICATE THAT IT WAS BUILT TO OPEN DOORS.”

“True,” said the Doctor, giving a little chuckle, “but it’s able to switch on other objects of much greater capability.”

The Doctor placed his thumb over a small button at the side, and then pressed down.




Back at the quad, Alice watched on and stepped away from the drain hole. Inside was a brass, cage-like object with machinery and a completed clock-work device inside. A small pipe protruded from the centre of it. The machine started humming, and then suddenly a beam of light shot into the sky. It stopped about forty feet up and then exploded outwards, spreading out across the sky and then slowly trickling down to create a dome of energy around the school.

Alice smiled. And then frowned. The Doctor had explained to her that it was a force field, but he didn’t explain how they were going to get out.




The Daleks watched as the force field touched the ground, effectively sealing off the school from anything else outside

“MAXIMUM FIRE POWER,” barked the blue Dalek. “EXTERMINATE!”

The other four raised their guns and shot out deadly energy blasts at the dome. The force field flickered and sparked angrily, but ultimately stayed standing.

“Oh, don’t be so silly,” said the Doctor, popping the sonic back in his jacket pocket, “that’s a shield of Gallifreyan design. Nothing - but, nothing - can get inside or out.”

“SWITCH OFF THE DEVICE,” shouted the blue Dalek.

“Not today, thank you,” said the Doctor, giving a look of disdain and then returning to the building.

Once the Doctor had gone, the blue Dalek turned to another. “RETURN TO THE SHUTTLE. BEGIN TO FORMULATE A PLAN TO BRING DOWN THE SHIELD.”

“I OBEY,” said the silver Dalek, as it glided back down the slope.




The Doctor returned to the quad where Alice was looking a little worried. She had been pacing up and down beside the drain opening, biting her finger nails.

“Don’t bite your finger nails, Miss Stokes. I do that. Is everything okay?”

“Did you know the Daleks were down there?”

“No,” said the Doctor, “but I had a bad feeling. So, when I took this job, I installed the device in the school.”

“But why the school? The rest of the village isn’t defended.”

The Doctor pulled up a chair and sat down. “I knew something was under the school. I wasn’t sure what, but I was aware that there were alien readings coming from it. I thought it likely some kind of spaceship.”

“Okay,” said Alice, “but that still doesn’t explain why you put an alien shield thing into a school drain.”

“For protection,” said the Doctor, grimly. “There was always the possibility that whatever was under the school wasn’t friendly.”

“So you built it to protect yourself?”

“No,” said the Doctor, interlocking his fingers, “I built it to protect the children. If this village had become overrun by aliens, at least I’d be able to put a shield around the school.”

Alice smiled and touched his hand. “That’s very kind of you.”

He smiled back at her. “Fortunately it‘s night time and there are no children here anyway. I also had considered that if whatever was down there had escaped, they would have come upwards. I‘d have been able to trap them inside the force field. I didn‘t expect their ship to blow a chunk out of the cliff.”

Alice shook her head. “You could have been ages waiting for whatever was under there to be uncovered.”

“Believe me,” said the Doctor, getting up and crossing over to the drain again, “I wasn’t intending on staying. I thought I’d settle for a few weeks and then see what happened. If nothing happened I was going to monitor the area from afar and then return if anything happened.”

Alice crossed over to him. “You do this a lot, don’t you?”

“All the time.”

“How are we going to get out of this?”

The Doctor turned to her and looked down into her eyes. “That’s the tricky part. I suppose I didn’t really think my plan through well enough. I’m going to have to modify the plan.”

“How?” said Alice.

“I need to let the Daleks inside,” he said.

“And we escape through the back?” said Alice, hopefully.

“Sort of,” said the Doctor.

“Just tell me, Doctor,” said Alice, getting impatient.

“I need to let them in, switch on the shields and trap them inside.”

“Okay,” said Alice, getting up and walking across the room to the door. “How are we going to do that with us inside?”

The Doctor frowned. “I need you to stay here.”

“What?”

“I need you to lower the shields, let me out and then raise them once the Daleks are inside.”

“They’ll kill me,” said Alice, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“That’s why you have to hide. Find somewhere - anywhere - to hide. Then I’ll signal you, you drop the shields and I fly the TARDIS in to rescue you.”

“What the hell’s a TARDIS?”

“It’s my time machine!” said the Doctor, impatiently.

“Ah,” was all Alice could manage.

“Look,” said the Doctor, putting both hands on her shoulders and looking down at her, “I wish there was some other way, but there isn’t. The Daleks aren’t going to enter the building if there’s nobody in it. In the ten or fifteen minutes that we might have, I’ll have time to slip back to the Dalek shuttle and blow it up.”

“Blow it up!?” said Alice, shocked. “That’ll bring the entire school down!”

“I know,” said the Doctor. “I didn’t want to do it, but it’s the only way.”

Next Time: Alice is left alone...to face the Daleks! Coming Saturday 25th January 2014.

Village of the Daleks (Part 2)

The Doctor was hurrying up the sloping lane that led towards the school. He was using his walking stick, but even though Alice was much more younger and fitter, she still found it hard to keep up with him.

“Hold on,” said Alice, running alongside him, “do you know what that explosion was?”

“Not exactly,” said the Doctor, “but I have a few good ideas.”

“Let us in on the secret then,” smiled Alice, looking up at him.

He glanced down at her. “Actually, Alice, I’d rather suggest that you go home. It could be dangerous up here.”

“Dangerous? How?” Alice thought for a moment. “Okay, we’ve just heard a loud explosion,” she smiled up at him, “but dangerous how?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Alice managed to get in front of him and stopped him. “Don’t speak to me like I’m a child,” she said, holding her finger up to him. “I teach children, remember.”

The Doctor arched his eyebrows. “Believe me, you’re all children when it comes to dealing with things like this. Everyone on this planet is.”

They could hear police sirens in the distance and the Doctor hurried on past Alice.

Alice frowned at the Doctor’s bizarre statement. “Well, no matter what you think,” said Alice, jogging alongside him again, “I’m coming with you. At least until the police get there. It’s my school.”

They could see the school on top of the hill in the distance, but it didn’t look damaged. Instead of continuing up the lane, the Doctor took a turn to the left and walked onto the new housing area at the bottom of the chalk cliff that the school stood on.

People were standing outside their houses, gazing up at something on the cliff face.

The Doctor urged them to all stay back as he pushed his way through.

That’s when a couple of police cars appeared. The policeman got out and stopped the Doctor and Alice before they could get any further.

“That’s it, sir. It’s not safe around here.”

“My dear police constable, I am in no mood to be stopped by the likes of you.”

“There’s been a gas explosion at the back of the houses,” said the policeman. “I can’t let you go any further.”

The Doctor laughed. “Gas explosion!” He looked at Alice. “Can you believe this?”

Alice giggled nervously at the policeman and then frowned at the Doctor. “Maybe we should do as they say,” she said cautiously.

The Doctor went to the inside pocket of his blazer and pulled out what looked like an ID card slipped inside a wallet with a clear front. On it read: “UNIT. CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR. ACCESS ALL AREAS.”

He flashed it at the policeman who promptly stepped back. “Sorry, sir. I had no idea this was a UNIT matter.”

“That’s okay, constable, you’re just doing your job.” He put the ID back into his pocket. “I suggest you clear this entire area of all civilians and then contact Brigadier Winters at UNIT. Tell them to give me an hour, and then to come in and investigate.”

“An hour?”

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

“Yes, sir.” He looked at Alice. “And the young lady?”

The Doctor looked down at the small woman, her eyes big and brown and full of hope. “She’s with me.”

Alice grinned.

“Okay, everyone, step back,” said the policeman as they began ushering the crowd of onlookers away.

The Doctor gave a little grin to Alice and then they both made their way past the final row of houses that backed up against the cliff.

It was then that Alice could see just what had emerged from the explosion. About 10 foot up the rock face was a huge, gaping hole with nothing but blackness inside. The chunk of cliff that used to occupy that space was now in smaller, broken chunks and scattered all over the back gardens of the houses that backed onto it.

“What caused that?” said Alice, gazing up in wonder. “A gas explosion? Like they said?” She felt stupid as soon as she said it. As stupid as the policeman had sounded when he had said it. There would be no gas pipes running through ancient rock.

“I have a few suspicions,” said the Doctor, as he clambered over the rubble until he was at the base of the cliff.

“So you’re some kind of scientific advisor then?” said Alice. “You kept that one secret. What are you doing hanging about as a caretaker.”

“Don’t take everything at face value,” said the Doctor. “I used to work for UNIT. They investigate aliens and what-not. I don’t work for them anymore.”

“Oh,” said Alice.

“Although I do tend to do a bit of freelancing now and again. It’s always handy to have something like UNIT back you up. You don’t sound too fazed about me mentioning aliens,” said the Doctor, gazing up at the hole.

“It’s hard to dismiss the idea these days,” said Alice, joining his side. “We’ve all seen them.”

The Doctor turned and smiled at her. “A good, open mind. Brilliant!”

“It doesn’t take much of a leap to believe,” she said. “I know the government don’t like us to believe in them, but when you’ve seen spaceships in the sky and metal men in the back garden, it’s difficult to un-believe.” Alice smiled. “And you deal with them?”

“In a way, yes,” he said. “Give me a leg up.”

Alice helped him to clamber up to a small ledge sticking out from the rock face. Once he was on it he was high enough to reach the gaping hole. She passed him up his walking stick and then he reached down for Alice, pulling her up to the ledge. They then helped each other to clamber up to the hole.

“What’s the deal with the walking stick?” said Alice, brushing herself down as they faced the darkness beyond.

“How do you mean,” said the Doctor, his hand gripping the stick as if almost forgetting that he had it.

“Sometimes you need it and then sometimes you don’t.”

The Doctor smiled. “That’s because sometimes I need it, and then sometimes I don’t.”

Alice frowned, not quite believing him. “Fair enough. So, where are we going? Onwards?”

“That’s right,” said the Doctor, pointing towards the darkness with his walking stick.

They walked for a good few metres, the Doctor pulling out a strange device with a red glowing end which illuminated the cave.

“Tell me about yourself then,” said the Doctor, turning to look at her.

“Not much to tell really. This is my first secondary school job. I like to teach. I think people - children - should aim for their true potential.”

“Is that what you did?”

“Well, not exactly,” said Alice. “I kind of fell into this job. I was the oldest of the kids in my family. I had four sisters, all younger than me. Mum and Dad had busy schedules and I just ended up helping to look after them. Rosie used to say that I’d make a good teacher and I guess that’s what I became.”

“Interesting.”

“By the time they had all grown up, I didn’t really know anything else. My life was spent looking after my sisters, so I just felt I needed to look after others.”

“But do you enjoy it?” said the Doctor.

“Definitely,” grinned Alice. “Even if this wasn’t the path for me, well, I think I stumbled on a flipping good path.”

The Doctor smiled again. And then stopped. Standing in front of them, occupying the rest of the tunnel were two, large rocket engines. They seemed to be attached to an even larger object beyond.

“Bloody hell!” said Alice. “I knew they were out there but I never thought I’d come face to face with a real life spaceship!”

“Easy, Alice, these are just the rockets,” said the Doctor.

“But what’s it doing in here? All the way under the cliff?”

“Under the school to be precise,” said the Doctor, checking the readings on his device. “We’re directly underneath the quad. And a little more to the right is Mrs Metcalfe’s biology classroom.”

Alice gazed up at the ceiling, as if expecting to see her colleague sat at her desk marking homework.

“There has to be a rear access hatch,” said the Doctor, edging between the two engines. “It looks like these things ignited and blew that chunk of rock out. Well, most of it. Some of it must have been vaporised in the blast. I should have known that was going to happen when the ground vibrated earlier on this evening.”

“I felt that too,” said Alice, following him between the engines. “I was in the bath and it felt like the entire room was vibrating.”

“The entire village in fact,” said the Doctor. “It was the power building up ever so slightly in the engines. And then they just blew. A bit like a volcano. A few tremors and then BOOM!”

“It’s a wonder no one was hurt back there.”

“Aha!” said the Doctor, feeling around a small gap between where the engines disappeared into the ship. “It’s a doorway.” He aimed his device at the door and there was a clunk, followed by the door sliding open with a horrible, grating sound.

“Do you reckon we should?” said Alice, a little worried.

“Do you reckon we should?” asked the Doctor. “Or do you want to go back home?”

“If I step through those doors, my life’s never gonna be the same is it?”

The Doctor let a smile play across his lips. “It changed the moment I opened the gate to the back garden, Miss Stokes. So, do we go on?”

“What the hell,” said Alice, shrugging her shoulders. “We’ve come this far.”

“Just be careful and follow my lead,” said the Doctor as he tripped up on a boulder. He looked back sheepishly at Alice and then they made their way inside.

Inside was a darkened room, which housed the large, containment units for the engines. The Doctor fumbled around in his pocket again and brought out his glowing red device. He shone it around the room. There were no signs of life. Alice suspected that they must have been in another part of the spaceship.

And then they spotted it.

As the Doctor edged a little further into the engine room, the light from the device hit something. It was about 5 foot tall with a silvery domed head, lights on top and a protrusion from the front of the dome. The rest of it was shaped a little like a pepper pot. Around the “skirt” of the pepper pot were blue, hemispheres in a regular, repeating pattern. In the mid-way point was a metal pole with a sink plunger on the end, and another, shorter pole, which looked a little like a heavy-duty egg-whisk.

The Doctor’s face had dropped and there was a worried look in his eyes.

“These look strange,” said Alice, reaching her hand out to touch one. “Like some kind of tank.”

“No,” said the Doctor, grabbing her hand and pulling it away.

“What’s wrong? They look dead.”

“They’re Daleks,” said the Doctor, darkly.

Something triggered in Alice’s memory. A good few years ago, when the Earth was moved across the galaxy, these things had appeared. She had been ill in bed at the time and couldn’t really remember much of what had happened, but she was sure they had been Daleks as well. In fact she was sure of it. They were all over the papers and TV for weeks after.

“They may look dead, but it’s highly likely that they‘re not.” He peered a little closer at the dome. “They’re just hibernating.”

“It’s just sat in there, sleeping.”

“Yes. This is just the travel machine that the Dalek creature sits inside. The thing that it kills with. Like a tank.”

“But how did them and their ship get under here? There’s no sign of an entrance or anything.”

“It’s likely it trans-warped in.”

Alice frowned, clearly not understanding the term.

“Materialised. Appeared out of thin air. An accident.”

“Okay,” said Alice, laughing, “I think I get it.”

“The engines would have been that powerful that the rock that the ship replaced would have just melted away, otherwise the ship would have been crushed to nothing.”

“From what I remember, Doctor, these things are dangerous. Don’t you think we should get away?”

“What I would like to do,” said the Doctor, “is blow this ship and the Daleks up.”

“But you can’t, can you?”

“No. If I do it’ll bring down the entire cliff and the school and crush those houses outside.”

Suddenly there came a sound from the dormant Dalek. The Doctor and Alice backed up as the Dalek’s dome-like head slowly began to turn with a creaking, metallic grate.

“Run?” suggested Alice.

“Wait,” said the Doctor. “We don’t want to cause anymore disturbances. It might go back into hibernation.”

The eye-stalk began to move up and down, slowly rising and falling. It was testing it’s systems. Then there came a low, guttural grate from deep within the creature.

“EX-EX-EX-EX…”

“Oh no,” said the Doctor.

“Run now?” said Alice, her eyes wide with fear.

“EX-EX-EX….EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!!” screamed the metal monster.

“RUN!” shouted the Doctor.

Next time: The Doctor and Alice are trapped in the school...and the Daleks are coming...! Coming Saturday 18th January 2014.

Village of the Daleks (Part 1)

For a while there was only darkness. No light. No sound. Nothing.

And then a face appeared.

And the face smiled. And the memory faded.




Little Pebbleford was an ordinary village. Ordinary houses. Ordinary buildings. Ordinary people, and ordinary, every day, simple things. Crime was low and happiness was high. People simply got on with their lives. If you were ready to retire and settle down, or were simply after getting away from the hustle and bustle of the busy towns or cities, then Little Pebbleford was the place for you.

Alice Stokes was also pretty ordinary, but she had come from a slightly more hectic background. She was the oldest of five girls, and, being the eldest, had more or less helped her parents to raise her sisters. This experience had led to her desire to become a school teacher. Although she had initially started out with primary school children, she had moved on to more troublesome secondary school pupils.

She had done her training - as an English teacher - a few years back, and had finally received her first secondary school assignment - teaching ages 11-16 at Little Pebbleford School.

She had been there for six months and was enjoying her job and her life. And life couldn’t have been different than what it had been six months ago. Back then she had been in a car crash and had been unconscious in hospital for a few days. When she’d woken up, she’d discovered a new love for life and for the world around her.

She had rented a small house in the village centre and had enjoyed the quiet, peaceful days. School life was hectic, but at the age of 25 she was still able to sympathise with some of the older kids. She was a good teacher and a good friend to them, but she knew how to keep her distance and keep things professional.

But her life was due to change rather dramatically on one grey, Autumn evening, after another ordinary day at school.

She had just finished packing up her stuff and was about to leave when the headmaster - David Groves - walked into the room. He was a tall man with a bald head and just a little bit of hair around the sides. He’d gone bald at a young age and his pencil-moustache always made him look more serious than he actually was.

“Good afternoon, headmaster,” smiled Alice.

“Please, Alice, we’re off duty now. David will do.”

“Good afternoon, David,” smiled Alice again.

David smiled and held out his hand, dangling a bunch of keys in front of her. “Could you pop the new keys down to the caretaker. I was meant to do it at lunchtime, but I had a governors meeting.”

This afternoon the school had had new locks put onto the doors. New security measures.

“Ooh,” said Alice, letting him drop the keys into the palm of her hand, “shouldn’t he be here now?”

“Well I was going to wait for him to get here,” said Groves, “but he said he’d been held up for a few hours. Can‘t wait around forever, you know. Goodness knows what he gets up to at that big old house!”

“I see,” said Alice. “Well, yep, that’s no probs at all. He’s at Casterby House, isn’t he?”

“That’s right. Next to the church.”

“I’ll drop them off now. I’ve gotta pass that way. Need to pick up some eggs from Mrs Blissett’s.”

“Good stuff,” smiled Groves.

Alice noticed Groves itching his right wrist. “You okay?”

Groves quickly looked from his wrist and then to Alice. “Oh, fine. Just the bloody washing powder. I’ve told my wife to change it, but she’s having none of it. Says it brings out the fluffiness of her cardigans.”

Alice smiled, gave a little chuckle, said her goodbyes and then made her way out of the school.




Five minutes later, Alice was on her rather rickety bike, cycling along the little lane that led from the school and down to the little streets that filtered off from the main village square. The school was built on the top of a hill of chalk that now overlooked a new cluster of houses. Apparently, back in Roman days, there used to be a fort there. Alice believed the story, because on a clear day you can see all across the county. A perfect spot to observe the approaching enemy.

Alice took a turn to the left and veered into a small lane that led to a large, white house with a small stone wall and a quaint front garden. Next to it was the small village church, St. Augustine’s, and it’s old graveyard.

Alice hopped of her bike and leaned it against the wall. She opened the creaky, iron gate and walked down the little pathway towards the front door.

Above the doorway was a wooden plaque with golden letters proclaiming the building to be “Casterby House”.

Alice knocked on the door and waited.

There was no answer. She knocked again.

Still no answer.

She decided to post the keys through the letterbox, and then realised that it was screwed shut.

She frowned. “Hello!” shouted Alice, peering around the edge of the house and towards the fence surrounding the back garden. “Is there anybody there?”

No answer.

She sighed and made her way back up the garden path. She needed to get home and have something to eat. Then she’d try again.

Before she got on her bike, she thought she heard a wheezing and groaning sound coming from somewhere inside the house, but there was nothing to be seen. Tutting to herself at being distracted, she got back on her bike and made her way towards the village square.

In the centre of the square was a stone statue of one of the first mayors of the village - Autlock Brown. She locked her bike up against a fence and made her way into Mrs Blissett’s Butchers.

“Hello, dear,” smiled Mrs Blissett, her round face and red cheeks breaking into a smile.

“Hi, Mrs Blissett,” said Alice. “A dozen eggs, please.”

“Coming right up.”

Alice had a thought. “Hey, have you seen anything of the school caretaker?”

“Mr Smith? No, not today. But he likes to keep himself to himself, doesn’t he?”

“I suppose,” said Alice. Alice had never really met Mr. Smith before. She had seen him on the odd occasion, pottering around the school with his walking stick, but she had never spoken to him. He always looked distant and tired, but he also seemed to be looking around for something. Like he wasn’t quite there.

She paid for the eggs and then made her way back to her bike. She put the eggs in the front basket and then set off again. She took a turn up another little lane between the buildings until she reached a small, quaint little bungalow with potted plants and hanging baskets outside.

This was home. The lovely little place she was renting whilst she was working at the school. It had taken a while for her to settle in, but now she had, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else but here. If she could afford it, she had one day planned to buy the place.

She took her bike around to the back, locked it in the tiny shed, and then made her way inside.

Thirty minutes later she was lying in the hot, bubble-filled bath, her eyes closed as she let all of the days aches and pains ease out of her and evaporate in the steaming hot water.

Her days were manic at the school, but these were the moments she savoured. The moments were she could relax. The weekend was just around the corner, and Alice was determined to spend it relaxing.

For a fleeting moment she found herself starting to drift off back to her days looking after her sisters. There was Rosie, the second oldest and the prettiest of them. She had always been there to give advice to her, even though she was a year younger. Then there was Audrey, Mary and Katy. Katy was the youngest and had often caused Alice to have the most headaches. She was a little tearaway, always getting into trouble and invariably needing Alice to get her out of trouble. Mary was the quiet one. She was into her books, rather than toys, and then Audrey was the oddest. She found it strange to be calling her own sister odd, but Audrey had always been the one who would be found at the bottom of the garden, examining dead birds and mice. Strange.

She rarely kept in contact with them now. Well, except Rosie, who she met up with once a month, but she missed them all. She missed their company.

She was momentarily distracted from her thoughts when she felt something a little…odd.

She thought she could feel the bath vibrating. She opened her eyes and looked at the surface of the water. She was right - it was vibrating. Ever so slightly. The water had small, tiny ripples in it.

And it wasn’t just the bath. The whole bathroom looked as though it was vibrating as well. She could see the glass with her toothbrush in it slowly, slowly vibrating across the windowsill.

And then it stopped.

She frowned, dismissed it as possible building works nearby, submerged her entire head in the water one last time to rinse out the shampoo, and then climbed out of the bath.

After drying and getting dressed, she tied her still-damp, brown her into a ponytail and left the bungalow. She still had to get those keys to the caretaker.




It was now dark and all of the shops had closed for the day. She had put on a woolly, beret-type hat and her long coat and walked across the village square and back towards Casterby House. She needed the night air to wake her up from her sleepy, hot bath.

Once at Casterby House she noticed it was in darkness.

She let out a huge sigh. She needed to get these keys to him somehow.

And that’s when she saw the blue flashing light. It was coming from around the corner and over the gate that led to the garden.

She pushed on the gate, but it was locked.

“Hello?” she shouted, looking up at the gate. “Hello, is there anybody there?”

No response.

She cursed silently. “Mr Smith, I have your keys. The ones for the school. They changed the locks, you know. You need them to get in.”

For a moment she considered throwing the keys over the gate so she could get back home and to her nice warm house, but the headmaster had put more faith in her than that.

“HELLO!!” she bellowed again.

The blue light went out. She heard the sound of footsteps on gravel and then the clunk-clunk of the gate being unlocked.

For a moment she was scared, and then she dismissed the stupid thought straight away.

The gate swung open and standing there was a tall man in a black suit, blue shirt, black tie and a bright yellow smiley-face badge pinned to his lapel. He was completely bald and was leaning on an beautifully carved, wooden cane.

He frowned at her.

“Mr Smith,” said Alice, “I’ve brought you the keys from the headmaster.”

He continued to frown.

“We’ve not met, but I’ve seen you around school. I’m Miss Stokes, the English teacher. Alice Stokes.”

The man broke into a grin and extended his hand. “Ah, good to meet you, Miss Stokes.”

“You can call me Alice, Mr. Smith.”

“And you can call me the Doctor,” he said, shaking her hand.

“The Doctor? What are you a Doctor of?” she said, handing him the bunch of keys.

“Everything mostly. And nothing. Depends on your perspective really.”

She frowned. “And you’re only a school caretaker?” She wondered if he’d been struck off the medical practice for some sinister reason.

The Doctor grinned. “It’s only a temporary position. I’m only here until I find what I’m looking for.”

“And what’s that?” asked Alice, as they both made their way up the garden path and towards the front gate. “I mean there can’t be that much to find in a small village like this.”

“Actually, you can find many things in small villages like these. Many, many secrets.”

“Secrets? What kind of secrets?”

Suddenly, as if to punctuate Alice’s question, a huge explosion and a plume of smoke came from the direction of the school. The ground beneath their feet shook and Alice and the Doctor were thrown to the floor.

“What was that?” said Alice, scrambling to her feet to try and see.

“I’d say that was what I was looking for!”




Somewhere, in a darkened control room, a shadowy object, about the height of a small man, slowly moved on the spot. It was almost as if it was testing itself to see that it still moved.

They were awake…

Next time: The Doctor and Alice discover something buried under tons of rock. Coming Saturday 11th January 2014.

Story 3.1: Village of the Daleks

“Do you reckon we should?” said Alice, a little worried.
“Do YOU reckon we should?” asked the Doctor. “Or do you want to go back home?”
“If I step through those doors, my life’s never gonna be the same is it?”

In the small English village of Little Pebbleford, something is stirring. Something buried underneath tons of rock. An evil menace that has travelled across the galaxy and fallen through time to remain dormant for countless many years.

The Daleks.

For schoolteacher, Alice Stokes, her life is never going to be the same again. Especially not after she meets the mysterious school caretaker known as the Doctor...

This is the first story of Series 3 featuring Richard O'Brien as the Doctor, and introducing Louise Brealey as Alice Stokes.

This four-part story will begin publication from January 4th 2014 and be updated every Saturday until the end of the month.