He made his way up the road until he reached the town centre. He checked his watch which had adjusted itself to the time zone. It was 3am. He frowned. He hadn’t aimed for this time in the morning, but it was maybe a blessing in disguise. In his few months in Little Pebblesford as the school caretaker he had become quite well known. This was how he wanted to do it. Quiet and silently without any fuss.
He made his way up the small lane that led to the church and the house he had been renting out - Casterby House.
He made his way up the garden path and unlocked the front door. Except he didn’t need to unlock it. It was already unlocked. In fact the door had been forced open. The wood had splintered around the lock.
He pushed the door open.
“Knock, knock,” he said.
He turned on the light in the entrance hall and he was momentarily blinded by its brightness. When his vision cleared nothing seemed out of place. The staircase was off to the right of the large hallway with a kitchen towards the back and two rooms either side - to the left the living room and the right the dining room.
A shuffling came from the living room.
“Hello?” he said, closing his umbrella. “I know there’s someone there.”
He dropped his umbrella into the ornate, iron holder beside the front door, removed his soaked blazer and strode confidentially into the living room.
Standing there in the darkness was a young woman with blondish-brown hair, holding a vase in one hand and a collection of papers in her other hand.
“Can I help you?” said the Doctor, not recognising this woman one bit.
“Where is she?” said the woman. She sounded well spoken.
“Where is who?” said the Doctor, hands on his hips.
“My sister? Where’s Alice Stokes?”
Tylaya and Maxus sat in the café, their drinks untouched and going cold, when the door opened. A man in his 50’s with greying brown hair entered followed by a beautiful, older woman, also in her 50’s, with long, blonde hair and a lot of heavy makeup applied.
Maxus touched Tylaya’s arm and the two of them stood up.
“Mum. Dad,” beamed Tylaya as her parents came over, confusion on their faces.
“No,” said her father. He had a faint South African accent.
“No?” said Maxus. “Look, Jeremia, I know our phone call was a bit weird, but-”
“No,” he repeated. “You’re not Tylaya.”
“I may not look like myself anymore,” said Ty, “but it’s still me. Still me inside this body.”
“I told you,” added her mother, “that the Eyeglass would do something like this to you.”
“Jean..” said Maxus.
“Don’t try and convince us,” said Jeremia. “Quinn, how could you do this to her? The authorities found her body. We buried her.”
“We couldn’t tell you the truth,” said Tylaya. “We weren’t in a position to.”
Jeremia shook his head. “You’re not our daughter.”
“How can you say that?” said Tylaya, trying to remain calm.
“You hurt an innocent woman,” said Jean. “You erased everything she was.”
“But I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“But it did happen. I knew working for the Eyeglass would do this.”
“So you keep saying!” yelled Tylaya. She looked from one face to the other. Neither of them seemed to care. Her childhood had always been pretty straightforward and she never really felt much love off either of these two. She wanted to scream at them. She wanted to shout, but she couldn’t. She loved them, but they didn’t love her.
She got to her feet, flung the chair aside, grabbed Maxus’s hand and dragged him out of the café, much to her parents shock.
She walked a good ten minutes, with Maxus in tow, until she stopped. She gazed across the Thames at the new Splinter Centre that was being built on the banks. Apparently it was supposed to be conducting research into alien tech. She shook her head. If they weren’t careful they’d only end up with another Eyeglass on their hands.
“You okay?” asked Maxus when he was sure it was safe.
“Yep,” was all she could say. And then after a few beats. “No.”
He put his arm around her.
“It’s all so, so wrong. Everything. You and I. Alice. My parents. And pretty soon I’ll be dead.”
“Hey,” he said, tightening his arm around her. He smiled. “At least my parents aren’t here to screw it up even more.”
Tylaya nodded. “I wish they were though.”
“I’ve wished that every day since they died.”
They stood for a long, long time watching the GravCranes lift the various metal beams into place, forming the structure of the building. Time was running out for Tylaya.
He made his way onto the rocky banks of the river. It was still and peaceful and, thankfully, the body had drifted from the sea and down the course of the river. It was muggier down here and he could feel the sweat trickling down his face. His beard was itching and he made a note that maybe it was time to have a shave.
He absently scratched at his face. This other itching was getting annoying now.
“Wait!” came the girls voice.
He rolled his eyes and turned around. “Miss Fieldgate-Parker-”
“Just call me Millie,” said the girl, shaking her head. “I’m proud of where I come from, but bloody hell it can be a mouthful sometimes.”
“Fair enough…Millie,” he said. The words tasted wrong somehow.
“Who is that guy?” She nodded towards the body.
“I think you should return to Celestia and the others.”
“No way,” said Millie, pushing past the Master to try and get a closer look. “I’m fed up of sitting up in that castle, as grand as it is. Now who is he?”
The Master sighed. “An explanation…I hope.”
The Master pushed past her and she grunted her disapproval.
He grabbed the back of the man’s shirt collar and dragged him up onto the bank, his face still facing downwards.
“Is he dead?” said Millie, this time keeping her distance a little.
“No,” said the Master, checking for a pulse on his neck. “I’d be very surprised if this fella could die so easily.” He turned and grinned at Millie. “It’d be an interesting scientific experiment though.”
He turned the man onto his back. He wore a long, dark coat, a white open-shirted collar, black neckerchief and brownish-golden waistcoat.
He face looked old, but young at the same time, his hair a tangle of brown curls. His eyes were closed, but they moved beneath the eyelids.
“He’s dreaming,” said the Master. “He’s had quite a trip here.”
“So I’ll ask again,” said Millie. “Who is he?”
The Master grinned, and for a moment Millie thought he looked incredibly handsome, but she knew she couldn’t trust him. There was something about his eyes…
“Would you believe,” he said, allowing every word to roll off his tongue, “that this man here is one of the many versions of the Doctor.”
“What?!” said Millie, moving in for a closer look.
“This is number eight.” He chuckled. “But he comes with a very, very interesting twist.”
The Doctor returned to the living room and handed the mug of steaming hot tea to the young woman who had broken into his home. She whispered “thank you,” and put it on the coffee table.
The pieces of the vase were scattered against the far wall and the Doctor knelt down to pick them up.
“I’m sorry,” said the woman.
“It’s okay,” said the Doctor, throwing them into a wicker bin, “you were bound to have a less than happy reaction to that information.”
“It’s just…so much to take it,” she said, eyes wide and unblinking.
“Which one are you?” said the Doctor, sitting on the sofa across the room. “Which of Alice’s sisters, I mean?”
“Oh,” she said, giving a shake of her head. “Katy. Katy Stokes.”
“Never married?” queried the Doctor.
Katy smiled. “It’s only just been made legal, you know? But, no, me and Bryony aren’t ready for it yet.”
Realisation dawn on the Doctor. “Katie! Ah, you’re the trouble causer.”
“I beg your pardon?” she said, her eyes narrowing, a smile playing on her lips.
“Alice said you were the one who always got into trouble. The tearaway.”
She laughed. “That’d be right. Always into something,” she said, brushing the light-brown hair out of her face. “Alice bailed me out on a few occasions.”
The Doctor smiled. “She told me all about each of you. Sounds like you are a close bunch.”
“We were a close bunch,” said Katy. “I guess we don’t see enough of each other anymore.”
The Doctor sunk back into the sofa. He’d explained at some detail what had happened to Alice and how her body had been possessed by Tylaya. It had taken some swallowing from Katy, but she had slowly gotten herself there. That’s when Katy had thrown the vase. Not at the Doctor, but at the wall out of frustration. In anger.
Her sister was dead. The Doctor had tried to explain the bit about the “ghost” of Alice haunting the TARDIS, but it was too difficult for Katy to understand. To her, her sister was dead. Her sister was never coming back.
But now she was starting to think it over in her head. She was trying to understand.
“So where do we go from here?” said Katy. “I want to see this Tylaya.”
“That’s a bit difficult at the moment. I dropped her off in Central City - London - to try and repair things with her family.”
“I want to tell her what I think of her,” said Katy.
“Please, Miss Stokes,” said the Doctor, recognising some of the fire that used to burn in Alice’s belly, “I understand your frustration, but Tylaya is…dying. Please let her have this time to herself. Then we can think about getting Alice back.”
“But she’s not the real one,” said Katy. “She’s just a…what was it you said? A copy?”
“Essentially, yes,” said the Doctor. “She’s a back up copy. But she’s still Alice. Everything about her is still Alice.”
Katy shook her head. “I just don’t know what to think.”
The Doctor leaned forward. “Copy or no copy, your sister needs our help. I owe it to her to get her back home.”
Gallifrey…a long time ago…
Reikon entered the chamber. It was a huge, oval-shaped room. The door was set halfway up the wall and a staircase encircled the room and led down to a work-space at the bottom. In the middle of the workspace was what looked like a huge, upright telescope. It pointed towards the ornate, domed ceiling like a canon waiting to fire off a shot at a nearby enemy.
Stood at the canon, wearing red robes trimmed with gold was a handsome young man with swept back, black hair that looked like it was about to fall into his eyes at any moment. His eyes were dark and his eyebrows made him look fiercer than he actually was.
When Reikon closed the door the young man looked up and broke into a grin. “Dad.”
“Caleb,” said Reikon with a nod of the head. He kept his hands together and his eyes fixed on his son. “You called me?”
“That’s right,” said Caleb, throwing a data pad onto a desk and grinning excitedly. “I think I’ve done it.”
“Done what?” said Reikon, frowning, but remembering something that Caleb had mentioned at the back of his mind.
“Found a way to the Nest.” He clapped his hands together and then cracked his knuckles. “I’ve found a way into the nursery rhyme.”
Reikon frowned and shook his head. “It’s a nursery rhyme, Caleb,” he said. “It’s not a real place.”
“All nursery rhyme’s come from somewhere,” said Caleb, raising his eyebrows.
“That’s your mother talking,” said Reikon, chuckling to himself. “Always the superstitious one.”
“Will you at least come down here and look at some of the research?”
“Caleb, it’s getting late. I’ve had a very long day. Your mother will be waiting. She’s cooking roast Quarzain. We don’t want it ruined, do we?”
“But I can’t leave now. Seriously, I’m that close.”
Reikon glanced at the telescope. “You know you were given that grant by the Academy to do some proper research.”
“Oh, rubbish,” said Caleb. “I’ve done as much ‘real’ research as I can be bothered to do in two lifetimes. I’ve more than paid my way.”
Reikon shook his head. His son had always been strong willed, but, unfortunately, also arrogant. Not in a nasty way, but once Caleb got his claws into something, it was difficult for him to back away from it.
“What can convince you to come home for dinner?” said Reikon.
Caleb thought. “That tomorrow morning you’ll come and look at my readings?”
Reikon exhaled. He wasn’t going to give in with this. “Okay,” he said, “but that’s all I’m doing. And then we need to clear this lab and let you get on with some proper studies.”
“Whatever you say, Dad,” said Caleb, jogging up the steps to join him.
“These experiments are dangerous. They could get you killed.”
Now
The Master had carried the Doctor back up the mountain path, over his shoulder, until he reached the drawbridge that crossed the deep drop and led into the castle courtyard. Millie had hurried along just behind the Master, still trying to piece together what she had been told about the Doctor in the past. She knew he was a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. She knew things had happened to his world, but he had always been vague when talking to Caroline about it. She didn’t know if his world had been destroyed or if he simply couldn’t return there. The Doctor had never truly confirmed it.
She also knew that once upon a time he had the ability to regenerate his entire body and that his entire look and personality would change. He had done this so many times, but now the Doctor - the one she had met - had been a failed incarnation and he was dying, unable to regenerate any more.
She had no idea what number Doctor was the one she had met back in Thornsby, but this one was apparently the Eighth incarnation.
She had questioned the Master on their way back up, but the Master was more eager to get this man back to the castle and to safety.
Dennington, Celestia and Aleena had rushed out to meet them as they returned and the Master had quickly filled them in on who he was.
“This is impossible,” said Celestia, as the Master carried him up some steps and down a stone corridor that led deep inside the castle. “You can’t have him here.”
“Don’t tell me what I can or can’t do until you have the facts,” said the Master.
“Then perhaps you should tell us,” said Aleena. “Is this your plan to save him?”
“In a way, yes,” said the Master, as he opened an old wooden door and stepped down some steps into a small laboratory. In the far corner was a black cabinet with wires trailing from the interior. All around advanced computers hummed with power and cables snaked from the interior of the cabinet to a medical bed sat in the centre of the room.
With a grunt, the Master placed the Doctor on the bed and then breathed a sigh of relief. “He may not look much, but he’s heavy!”
He turned to find Celestia standing with her arms folded and her eyebrow arched.
He smiled. He knew he was in control here. They were all waiting to find out his plan. To find out where this particular Doctor had come from. He had them in the palm of his hands.
When they couldn’t wait any longer, Dennington spoke. “Come on, man, spit it out. How’s this going to help the Doctor.”
“Hmmm,” said the Master, perching himself on the edge of the bed and folding his arms. “This man here is the Eighth incarnation of your friend. It doesn’t really matter why he’s the Eighth incarnation. All that matters is that I have one here.”
“Okay,” said Celestia. “Come on, keep going.”
“Someone I have been in talks with managed to get him out.”
“Out of where?” said Millie.
“Out of a place where the dead go.”
Celestia arched her eyebrow for the umpteenth time, and the Master found his hearts melting again. He had loved her…once.
“It’s not exactly death,” said the Master, “but I can confirm that the gentleman laying here is the Eighth incarnation of the Doctor, and he most certainly is dead.”
“If that’s the case,” said Aleena, “then why is his eyes opened.”
They all looked to the Doctor on the table. His ice-blue eyes flitting around, trying to take in his surroundings.
“Ah,” said the Master with a wicked grin, “that’s where this get’s really interesting. And that’s why our story takes us back to all those years ago, back on Gallifrey with Celestia, Reikon, and their son, Caleb.”
Celestia’s face fell.
“Back to when they found the Nest.”
Next time: The story begins to unravel as the Master tells the tale of Caleb and Reikon. Coming Sunday 16th November 2015.
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