The Doctor suddenly became aware that the central column on the console had started to rise and fall. The TARDIS was in flight! He scrambled to the console and began checking dials and readouts. The TARDIS didn’t seem to be responding to his commands. Someone was controlling it by remote.
“Come on then!” he shouted towards the ceiling. “Show yourselves!”
The TARDIS abruptly came to a standstill and the doors opened. Beyond was a yellow / white void and an oak door in the distance.
“Now, what’s this?” asked the Doctor cautiously. There was no reply.
The oak door began to creak slowly open. The lights in the TARDIS were dimming. Suddenly, standing there, was a tall, white-haired man in a velvet coat and a frilly shirt.
“Goodness gracious me,” said the Seventh Doctor, trying to hide a smile.
The man, the Doctor’s Third incarnation, had his eyes closed. They snapped open suddenly. “Did I make it?”
“It depends on where you were heading for,” said the Seventh.
The Third Doctor gave a slight smile and nodded once at the smaller, dark-haired Doctor. “I can see that I did make it.”
“You’re not real, are you?”
“Unfortunately not,” said the Third Doctor. “More of a projection of reality actually.”
“Care to explain?” said the Seventh, removing his hat and placing it on the top of the time rotor.
The Third scratched the back of his head. “I don’t suppose you remember anything that happened to you?”
“I remember a lot,” said the Seventh.
“The skull-faced creature with the hood? Paragrim?”
“There’s a vague memory there.”
“Well he’s got our first six incarnations, old chap. We’re trapped in stasis tubes and can’t get out.”
“Then how are you here?”
“We were able to link our minds. I was the one we voted to try and make contact. Mental projection and all that. Our TARDIS being linked throughout time.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” said the Seventh. “I know how mental projection works.”
“Well you’ve got to track him down. Find him before he finds you.”
The Seventh shook his head. “I can’t just abandon Chris and Roz.”
“You’re companions? My dear fellow, the very threads of the universe hang on this. I don’t know why he’s doing what he’d doing, but you have to stop him.”
The image of the Third Doctor began to flicker. For a moment it looked like he was all of his faces at once, and then he blinked out like a light. The oak door disappeared and the Doctor was standing alone in the console room.
“I’m sending the co-ordinates now,” said the ghostly voice of the Third Doctor for the last time.
The time rotor began to move up and down as the TARDIS engines began to grind to life once again.
“No! Wait!” said the Doctor. “I can’t just leave my friends!”
He ran around the console, operating switches and trying anything to halt the materialisation of the time machine.
It was no use. With a thud and a beep the TARDIS landed at it’s destination.
The Doctor switched on the scanner. He was in a cargo bay and standing there was the tall, white and blue figure of Paragrim with his yellow and red sidekick, Bitz. He did remember them now. The memories were hidden, but they were there.
Grabbing his hat and umbrella, he made for the exit.
“You!” growled Paragrim at the sight of the Seventh incarnation of the Doctor. “We were about to come for you!”
“Yes. Good evening, Paragrim. Looks like I’ve made it to you first.” The man grinned.
Paragrim stepped forward and ground his teeth together. “You are still as arrogant as always. Just like your other incarnations.”
“Oh, Paragrim, a lot has changed since we first met. I think you’ll find me a much tougher opponent now.”
“I think not,” said Paragrim as he aimed his blaster at the Doctor. “Not about to let a pathetic little cretin stop my job now, hey?”
“You’ll have to catch me first!” shouted the Doctor and he sprinted away from his TARDIS and towards the inner doors of the cargo bay.
Paragrim began firing blasts at the Doctor but he kept missing.
“Scum!” screamed Paragrim. A blast hit one of the tubes and sent it flying. The body of the first Doctor fell out and slumped to the ground. Another blast hit the fifth tube and caused the glass to shatter. Paragrim had gone wild and didn’t care what he hit.
“You’re doing a good job of damaging our cargo,” said the Doctor as he quickly peered into one of the tubes.
Paragrim roared and jumped at the Doctor. He stepped aside and the bounty hunter went head first into the bulkhead. When he finally looked up he realised the Doctor had gone and Bitz was standing next to him.
“What in all the Twenty Circuit Staxers are you doing?” asked Bitz.
“The Doctor! You fool, he’s probably gone off to the control room!” screamed Paragrim as he got to his feet and dragged Bitz along at a terrifying speed.
They entered the control room to find the Doctor attempting to climb up onto the computer read-out control panel and understand the navigation system.
“Stand away from the console!” said Paragrim, trying to calm himself.
The Doctor didn’t move and began punching in codes on the buttons.
“Stand away. NOW!”
The Doctor turned around and then back to the console. Paragrim’s fury exploded. He raised his hand and brought it down on the Doctor as hard as he could. The Doctor was slapped away from the console and landed at Paragrim’s feet, completely out cold. The fury was still burning inside the bounty hunter and he raised his foot. He was about to slam it down on the Doctor’s prone form when Bitz stopped him.
“No!” shouted the little robot. “We need to keep him alive!”
Paragrim was about to turn on Bitz when sense suddenly dawned on him. “You’re right. I almost ruined everything.”
“Yes,” said Bitz quietly. “Now let’s get him to the tube and we’ll clean up the mess. Only four more to go.”
Paragrim nodded and then patted Bitz on the back. “Only four more to go.”
***
“Well, Charley, what do you think?” asked the Doctor as they stared up at the dark, red roller coaster track.
“It’s odd,” said the young, short-haired blonde girl standing beside him.
“Odd? Charley this is Blackpool. That is the Blackpool Pleasure Beach.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive, but it looks like a ride built simply for thrills.’
“Charley!” The Doctor looked hurt. “Isn’t that the point of a roller coaster?”
Charley turned and smiled at him. “But it was sweet of you to bring me here.” She gave him a little hug and he gave a nervous smile. “What month did you say it was?”
“November,” he said shivering. “Sorry we couldn’t catch the sun.”
“Oh that’s ok. I’m sure we‘ll warm up once we get on one of those things.”
“You had them back in your day, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes,” said Charley, “but one didn’t always find the time to go gallivanting.”
“Quite frankly they frighten me to death. In a good way, of course.”
“You? Frightened?” She stifled a laugh. “I can’t believe that.”
“Charley, I’ve fought Sontarans, Cybermen and Bandrils. That thing up there is the scariest thing I’ve ever faced.”
Charley laughed.
The Doctor smiled. “We’ll see how you feel when you’re up there.”
Along the way the Doctor had bought them candy floss and struggled with it in the wind. They had fought on through the drizzle and huddled under a tram shelter whilst they finished the pink, fluffy cloud of sweet stuff.
Eventually they reached the gates to the Blackpool Pleasure Beach theme park. Hardly anybody was about and the Doctor only had to pay half price for them to get in. The weather had not produced many visitors so prices had been reduced. The Doctor bought Charley a toffee apple and then they made their way towards the huge red and blue imposing structure of the ride named ‘The Big One’.
“Oh – my – word,” said Charley as she gazed up at the gigantic ride. The silver roller coaster cars zoomed along with distant screams from the people sat in them. “It’s huge! Even bigger close up!”
“I told you,” grinned the Doctor.
“I mean, I saw it from a distance but when you get up closer....well, it’s just too scary for me Doctor.”
“Oh nonsense!” said the Doctor, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the ride area.
“No, really Doctor,” said Charley nervously. “I’m feeling quite queasy.”
“You’ll be fine,” said the Doctor excitedly. ‘Where’s that Edwardian Adventuress when you need her?”
“I thought you were frightened off them!!”
They reached the queue and only had to wait for a few minutes until a car was available. The Doctor literally pulled Charley into the front and she gripped his hand tightly and closed her eyes. The car began it’s journey up the track.
For Charley this seemed likes hours rather than a couple of minutes. As they rose up the steep slope she could feel the ice-cold wind biting at her face. She dared to open one eye and saw the Doctor gazing out across the cold sea with excitement plastered all over his face. His curls billowed back and his teeth chattered in the biting cold air. She pulled in closer to him and gripped his hand tighter. He turned to face her and gave her hand a squeeze back.
Then Charley saw the spaceship.
A large brown and oval-shaped spaceship with huge jet engines was zooming across the sea. It touched down on the beach near the Pleasure Beach outer wall and then a side door opened.
“What is it, Doctor?” said Charley.
“I don’t know,” said the Doctor worriedly, “but I seem to recognise it from somewhere.”
From the doorway stepped a very large figure. He was about 7ft tall, wore blue armour and blue hood and had a pure white face with yellow teeth and eyes. There were gasps as the creature looked up at the roller coaster car. It seemed to be holding a device in it’s hand and a sound began to beep rapidly when he pointed it towards the Doctor.
Then Charley felt her stomach lurch. The car had reached the top of the ride and was now beginning it’s plummet downwards at a tremendous rate. For the time being everyone had forgotten about the mysterious creature.
All accept the Doctor and Charley.
Charley was feeling a mixture of emotions. One was interest and concern over what she had just seen down below and the other was an adrenaline rush from the ride. She wanted to scream out in joy but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She turned to look at the Doctor who seemed oblivious to the ride and was looking over his shoulder to try and see the creature.
The car flew up and down and round and round going higher and higher again and then shooting back down towards the ground. Then Charley saw it again. The creature was climbing the frame of the ride. She tapped the Doctor on his shoulder and he looked down the frame. It was coming up for them. It’s gigantic hands gripped the iron framework as it pulled itself further and further up. Nobody else had spotted the alien and Charley was finding it difficult to concentrate on it. The car was speeding towards the things position. There was a collective scream as the creature stood in front of the car and pushed down on the front of it. There were sparks from underneath the car as the thing ground to a halt.
“Who are you?” asked the Doctor
“Name’s Paragrim,” said the creature.
“Paragrim? I remember you!” said the Doctor excitedly. He then realised that there was a car load of terrified people sat behind him. “What’s the meaning of stopping this ride and frightening these people?”
“I’ve come for you,” grinned Paragrim. His hand came up again and grabbed the Doctor by the arm, dragging him from his seat.
“No!” shouted Charley in panic, grabbing a hold of the Doctor’s legs.
“No, Charley! No!” shouted the Doctor as he struggled to free himself from Paragrim’s grip.
Charley was lifted out of her seat as she clung to the Doctor. She screamed.
Paragrim noticed the dangling girl hanging from the Doctor and pulled the Doctor closer to him. The sudden jolt caused Charley to lose her grip on the Doctor and she fell back against the track. Before she could do anything else she felt herself begin to slip on the wet rails and fall towards the ground. She closed her eyes, but then felt herself stop abruptly. Her coat had snagged on part of the frame work and she was hanging there in the cold air. It began to rain and Charley scrambled to grab onto the frame work. When she was sure she’d found a safe holding place she looked up. Paragrim was already heading back to his spaceship with the Doctor struggling in his grip. She watched as he threw the Doctor in the door, boarded his ship and then blasted off into the sky.
Charley Pollard clung to the freezing cold frame of ‘The Big One’, crying out into the ice cold wind and rain as the rescue teams began to arrive.
Next: Paragrim's search for the first eleven incarnations of the Doctor continues when he tracks the Ninth Doctor and the Tenth Doctor down. Coming Friday September 20th.
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