Anna went inside and then emerged with a basic looking radio.
“If your parents wanted you to be stranded, they shouldn’t have left you with a radio,” said Alice.
“I found it in a ship wreck about two years ago,” said Anna. “I couldn’t get it to work, but I kept it unless I ever found anything to get it going.”
“We can hook it up to the communications rig on the escape pod.”
“The communication console was damaged when we crashed,” said Alice.
“But we can still use the transmitter interface and the power from the pod to try and get a message out. We’ll cobble something together,” said Ivy, giving Alice a reassuring smile.
Alice suddenly winced in pain and fell to her knees. She tried to focus on what was happening to her, but instead she saw something different in front of her. Flashes of memories. Memories she had never had. She was surrounded by high-rise building and flying cars, a man and a woman she had never met. A swing set and then the smiling face of the dark-skinned man she had met back in Little Pebbleford.
Ivy slapped her across the face and she snapped out of it.
“Jesus,” said Anna, frowning at the pair. “Where did you find her?”
“She’s suffering some kind of body possession,” said Ivy, helping the sobbing Alice to her feet.
“I saw her memories,” said Alice, shakily.
“We’ve gotta get her out of you,” said Ivy.
“No,” said Alice, “we haven’t got time for that. We need to deal with the Eyeglass.”
“I admire your courage, sweetheart,” said Ivy as they stumbled back through the jungle, “but you’re no good if you’re gonna fizz out every couple of minutes.”
“I can fight her. And besides, we have no way of getting her out stuck out here,” said Alice.
“Who is she?” said Anna, whacking aside a large vine.
“I have no idea,” said Alice.
“Definitely an Eyeglass operative,” said Ivy. “Sneaky creeps have always been dabbling in that kind of crap.” Ivy shuddered. “I’d hate someone taking over my body.”
“Her name is Tylaya,” said Alice slowly, as if her name had slowly faded into her consciousness.
“Well, Tylaya,” said Ivy, looking into Alice’s eyes, “get your arse out of my friends head.”
Alice smiled. She’d only known Ivy a short time, but she’d already grown to like her. She was clearly someone who took life with a pinch of salt. After what had happened to her back when she first met the Doctor, she guessed that she had to be like that.
“There’s another name,” said Alice, concentrating. “Maxus.”
Anna eyed her up carefully. “He’s another of the Eyeglass goons,” she said.
“How’d you know?”
“Because I studied them as a kid before I was dumped here. I hated everything they stood for.” She guided them out of the jungle and back onto the beach. “I memorised all of their names. Magnus Blackmore, Quinn Maxus, June Caster…all of them. In fact Tylaya rings a bell too.”
“And are they all as bad as each other?” said Alice.
Anna smiled. “Not all of them. Some of them, in fact, are quite trapped and all they want to do is escape.”
On board the Nautilus the Doctor was escorted out of the General’s office and back down a corridor. As they waited for the lift to come down to transport him back to the prison level, he noticed a man in combat armour standing opposite a man in a white lab coat.
“Let me see her, Finn. I want to check her,” said the man.
Finn shook his head apologetically. “She’s not in a good way at the moment.”
“What’s that meant to mean?” said Maxus. “I need to know she’s okay. She’s been out of her body for too long.”
“You can’t go in there,” said Finn, barring the door. “We can’t disturb her.”
“What are you hiding from me?” said Maxus.
“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” said the Doctor.
“Quiet,” said the guard with the visor on his helmet, pushing him in the back.
“Tell me how she is?” said Maxus, walking towards the Doctor.
“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor.
“Tylaya. She’s the one inside your friend. How is she?”
The Doctor suddenly looked cold and emotionless. “So you’re the one who caused all of this bother. You’re the one who killed poor Mr. Groves.”
“I didn’t kill the teacher,” said Maxus. “That was the initial team that were sent in. I simply took his form and pretended to be him.”
The Doctor shook his head. “It doesn’t make it right.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. “I warn you, Mr. Maxus,” he said, holding a finger out and pointing, “if anything happens to Alice I will hold you personally responsible.”
“In,” said the guard, shoving the Doctor into the small lift.
Maxus watched as the Doctor disappeared behind the doors and the lift began its descent to the lower levels.
He sighed and turned back to Finn. “You need to let me in.”
Before Finn could answer a siren began blurting out. The bright corridor lights dimmed and green-flashing lights illuminated everyone and everything.
“Not now,” said Finn.
A voice came over the intercom. “This is Verash. We are coming into orbit around Earth. All duty officers please report to their stations. All agents report to the bridge for briefing. Repeat, we are coming into orbit around Earth.”
“Where the hell am I this time?”
Tylaya was standing in a forest beside a stream. It was cold and the air was wet. The autumn leaves under her feet were soggy and clung to her boots as she walked.
She was getting sick of this now. She’d been stuck inside Alice Stokes head for months, and, apart from the times when she was able to break free and report back to the General, she had to endure endless memories inside Alice’s head. Memories of birthdays, family holidays, drowning kittens and countless, countless school lessons.
She had had enough and she was sure something had gone wrong.
She should have exited this body a long time ago and returned to her own. She had managed a full-on conversation with Verash back on Mars, but then she had blacked out. Alice had become aware of her for the first time and she was now fighting back. And Tylaya was too tired to fight back anymore.
She wanted to go back to her own body. She wanted to go home.
Something had gone wrong.
She heard the sound of voices and looked as she saw a young, 17 year old Alice run past, laughing and being chased by a teenage boy with black hair neatly gelled into a side parting.
“Oh god,” said Tylaya. “Get me the hell out of here.”
The boy caught up with Alice and the two fell to the ground, rolling in the wet leaves and laughing uncontrollably.
“Please. I can’t do with any more of these,” said Tylaya, staring up into the sky.
The young man and Alice embraced each other and kissed passionately.
“Please!” yelled Tylaya to the sky.
Alice’s turned to face her, breaking away from her boyfriend. “It’s over,” she said. “You’ve got nowhere to go back to.”
The sparkling blue, white and green of Earth glimmered in the blackness of space, like a jewel set in a crown or an expensive ring.
Around the Earth five dark, grey ships - each emblazoned with a glowing green eye symbol on their underbelly - moved into an orbit around the planet. They were almost like piranha, circling their prey and waiting for the right time to make their move.
A sixth ship - the Nautilus - headed towards the atmosphere. The ship had not entered the Earth’s atmosphere since it left it 15 years ago after it’s launch, but now it was coming home. And it had thing’s to do before it could relax.
As the ship entered the atmosphere, flames blazing around it’s protective hull, four scout ships emerged from the clouds, shot past the ship and then turned around to fly either side of it.
On board the bridge, the General was stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“Incoming transmission,” said the communications officer.
“On,” said the General.
“This is Central City Defence. You are on a direct trajectory to the Central Column. President Carpathia asks for you to change course to the nearest ship yard.”
The General leant forward and pressed a button on the panel next to his seat. “You can tell Carpathia to clear the airspace over the Column. We’re not here to be brushed away, and especially not by the CCD. I’m bringing my ship in level with the Column and I expect full communications with Carpathia.”
“General Helix,” came the worried voice, “I cannot let-”
“Let me give you a demonstration,” said the General. He nodded to the weapons office, Hanslip, who pressed a few keys.
Outside a bolt of energy shot from one of the ships gun turrets, obliterating one of the scout ships.
“Need I say more?” said the General.
The scout ships broke away as the Nautilus continued its journey to Central City.
“Now,” said the General, “get the platform ready.”
The doors swished open and the Paragrim walked onto the bridge. He snarled at Hanslip and Verash and then crossed to the front of the bridge where he stood in front of the large view screen.
“Can I help you?” said the General, choosing to not look at Paragrim, pretending he wasn’t there.
“What’s the plan?” he grunted.
“Why do you care? You got your 100,000,000 credits. After the mix up with Throx last year, I’d rather you not be around me anymore.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” said Paragrim, remembering how the Doctor had tricked him into thinking he was doing a mission for the Eyeglass.
“All that is in the past now,” said the General. “You helped me to extract him from Mars. Now it’s time for you to go.”
“But you promised me that I’d get to kill him.”
The General sighed. He was becoming impatient with this creature. “I have other plans for the Doctor. It’s not just a simple case of me shooting him dead.”
Paragrim snarled and punched at a console, causing it to splutter and fizzle. “What is it with you people? Why can’t you ever be straight forward about things?”
“Because,” said the General, the anger inside him rising, “I am not straight forward. I do bad things. Terrible things, but that doesn’t mean that I’m so straight forward. I have plans.” He nodded towards the spluttering console. “And I suggest you start to curb that temper of yours.”
“Then tell me the plan.”
The General smiled. “I’m going to give the Doctor a choice.” He chuckled to himself. “And whichever choice he makes will tear this entire government apart.”
Maxus had disobeyed orders and he knew he’d be in big trouble for it. Instead of going to the tactical station on deck 3, he’d gone back down to the medibay, knowing full well that Dr. Finn wouldn’t be there now. He was up on the bridge in case they received any casualties.
Maxus looked around himself nervously, and then opened the door to the medibay. Inside was dark, illuminated only by a glass coffin-like cubicle which housed the prone form of Tylaya. It had been so long since he had seen her face - her real face - and he was overcome by emotion.
He crossed over to the cubicle and placed his hands on the cool glass, looking down on her pale, sleeping face.
She was connected with wires to the machine above her head, but something was wrong. She wasn’t breathing. Even though Tylaya’s consciousness was inside of Alice Stokes, she should have still have been breathing.
Maxus started to panic, looking for the opening mechanism on the cubicle.
“What are you doing down here, Maxus?”
He span around and standing there was Dr. Finn, his wise old face looking stern and clearly worried that Maxus had stumbled upon something he really shouldn’t have.
“She’s not breathing,” said Maxus.
“Maxus - Quinn - you have to get out of here.”
“Why isn’t she breathing?”
“Please-”
“Why isn’t she breathing?!” yelled Maxus, grabbing Finn by his shoulders and pushing him against the wall.
Finn stumbled on his words. “Her body expired some time ago.”
“What?”
“We tried everything we could to revive her, but without her consciousness, she was just too far gone.”
“This plan was supposed to be fool proof!” he yelled, pushing against Finn.
“It wasn’t my idea,” said Finn.
Maxus glared at him. No, it really wasn’t his idea. The General had come up with this crazy idea and it was because of the General that Tylaya was gone.
“Please, Quinn, you really have to understand that we tried all we could-”
“But we can find Stokes. Tylaya is still in there. We can bring her back.”
“They’ve been separated for too long.”
Maxus looked at the cubicle. “You still have the device switched on.”
“Yes,” said Finn. “We can still monitor Tylaya’s brain patterns,” he sighed, “but the body is gone.”
Maxus released Finn and slowly fell to his knees, letting out a cry of rage. “We were supposed to be getting married after this was over. One more year. One more year. Then we were going to leave this company.”
“The General -”
“I don’t give a shit what the General says or does. I knew this was all wrong right from the start.” He started to regain some of his composure. “The General is going to have to pay for this.”
“Now, Quinn-”
“Shut up!” He turned to Tylaya. “I need her.”
Finn straightened his lab coat and then knelt down beside Maxus. “There may be something we can do.”
The Nautilus slowly descended from the grey skies, hovering above Central City like a spider ready to pounce on a fly. Central City - or rather London - hadn’t seen a ship this big over the city since back in the early part of the 21st century. Back then that was aliens. This, however, was a ship built in the very heart of this country.
Inside the Column, Carpathia gazed up at the ship.
“We’re receiving a transmission,” said Jenny, glancing at the digital readout on Carpathia’s desk.
“Switch it on,” he said, trying his best to hold back his anger.
A holographic image of the General appeared, floating like a disembodied ghostly head above the table. He smiled when he saw Carpathia.
“Well?” said the president. “What do you want?”
“Please, Mr President,” smiled the General, “where are your pleasantries?”
“They went up in smoke when you shot that innocent pilot and his scout ship out of the skies.”
“You needed warning.”
Carpathia brought his fist down on the glass table, almost cracking it. “The Eyeglass were supposed to be helping the Human race, not going to war with it.”
The General laughed. “I’m not going to war with your.”
“Then what? What could possibly cause you to disrupt things like this?”
“On board my ship I have a Human being - of course - , a Martian Lord and a Time Lord.”
Carpathia raised his eyebrows. “How did you get a Time Lord?”
“You may have heard of the Doctor.”
Carpathia accessed his own personal memories. Throughout history the Earth had been saved by a Time Lord who had called himself the Doctor. A man who fought for peace and justice. If he was on board the Nautilus, then it was surely a good thing.
“Go on,” said Carpathia.
“The Doctor, for so long, has been a champion for all that is good in this universe. Except today. Today he will commit an act that will cause war between the Earth people and the Martians.”
Carpathia shook his head. “What the hell do you mean? Why would you want to intentionally cause a war?”
“Because I’ve seen how things are progressing. The Martians are changing. Pockets of them are showing discontent amongst their race. They believe that Mars should be returned solely to the Martians and that the Humans should be removed.”
“But these are problems that can be dealt with peacefully, not by causing a war.”
The General shook his holographic head. “Not this time, Mr. President. They need to be put in their place.”
“And how do you intend to do that?” said Carpathia. “Our race is wising up to you, Helix. You won’t get them to follow you blindly.”
“Not me,” said the General. “But they’ll soon follow once the Martians begin attacking.”
Carpathia frowned.
The General turned his head to look at what Carpathia assumed was someone on his bridge and nodded.
There was a woosh from somewhere outside and Carpathia and Jenny ran to the windows overlooking the old Houses of Parliament.
A missile had been fired from the Nautilus and was heading towards the Houses of Parliament. With an almighty boom the missile exploded, sending stone and masonry flying in all directions, flattening nearby hover cars and causing flames and huge billows of smoke to ensue from the centuries old buildings.
Carpathia looked on in horror. “Why?!”
“Because I can,” smiled the General.
“But they’ll see that this is you causing war.”
“Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few of your own things to make things better.”
Carpathia shook his head.
“We have the biggest fleet on the planet.” He looked to his side and nodded again. “And now, are you ready for part two?”
A huge, sloping platform lowered from the underbelly of the Nautilus. Emerging from the inside was the Doctor, Saraxx and Dennington, their arms tied behind their backs. Escorting them down the sloping platform was Paragrim and Verash and two helmeted guards, their visors down.
Paragrim looked over the edge at the carnage below and nodded his approval.
“What the hell have they done?” said Dennington.
“They’re gone too far is what they’ve done,” said the Doctor with a sigh.
“The thoughts of my people go with yours, Mr. Dennington,” said Saraxx
Dennington didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say.
Paragrim guided the three prisoners right to the edge.
“Well, this is it,” said Dennington. “I never thought it’d end this way. Being thrown into an inferno off a huge spaceship.”
“It’s not over yet,” said the Doctor.
“Indeed,” said Saraxx. “We must battle until the end.”
Verash pulled out a dagger and cut the rope, freeing the Doctor. The Doctor looked confused as Verash backed away. Two floating cameras then emerged from the interior of the ship and zoomed around to face the Doctor, Dennington and Saraxx.
“Here me, people of Earth,” came the booming voice of the General. “Here before you stands three sworn enemies.”
The Doctor frowned.
“One of our kind, a Martian Ice Warrior and a rebel Time Lord.”
“Look,” said the Doctor, shouting up to the sky, “will you just explain what is going on here.”
“Push one of them,” said the General, his order aimed at the Doctor.
“What?”
Dennington and Saraxx looked at each other, confused.
“Push one of them off the platform and into the flames below.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You heard me. Side with the Ice Warrior and kill the Human, and war begins. Side with the Human and kill the Ice Warrior, and war breaks out.”
“This is insane!”
“If you don’t push one, they both die!” growled the General. “NOW DO IT!”
Next time: Could Anna be the key to ending all of this? Coming Saturday 24th May 2014.
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