Story 3.3: Reflections

“What’s wrong?” said Alice, not daring to look into the broken mirror herself.
“Mirrors are interesting things,” said the Doctor. “Jimi Hendrix once claimed to have seen a ghost walk past him whilst he was shaving.”
“I think we should get out of here.”

Owensby. A village in the North of England. Grey, dark, always rain and windswept, and with very little happening.

Until the villagers began to disappear. And then UNIT were called in. And then their soldiers began to disappear.

Now the Doctor and Alice, accompanied by the last remaining resident - Barry - are the only ones that can solve the mystery of Owensby. But the mirrors have all been broken, because something moved inside of them...

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

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

NEWS: Upcoming Stories

Hi everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying the week so far, and I hope you're still enjoying the stories of Richard O'Brien's Darkpaths Doctor. Coming up on Saturday is the first part of "Reflections", but before then I've got a little bit of information regarding a trio of upcoming single-part stories.

In 4 different months - March, May, August and November - there will be FIVE Saturdays. Instead of extending that months story to five parts, the normal monthly story will be followed by a 1 part story. So, far example, "Reflections" is 4 parts, and the following Saturday - the LAST Saturday - in March, will have a single-part story called "Home".

"Home" will feature Alice returning back to Little Pebbleford to "catch her breath" before the next load of adventures for her. Then in May we will have "Sisters" which will give us a chance to meet her four sisters. August and Novembers stories are still being developed, but once we have more information, I'll let you know about them.

So, for now, keep reading and please enjoy!

"All my incarnations
Standing in a row.
When they are dead
Where do they go?"

The Tipping Point (Part 4)

796 Sleeps Ago



All was silent amongst the stars as the two, different shaped ships aimed themselves at each other. One was bulky, silver and obviously built by amateurs. The other was round, saucer-like and gold, built by experts in the field of spaceship engineering.

The first ship rattled along, metal plates already blackened by the first attack, whereas the saucer was undamaged and looked to be in no sign of being between.

This was the SS Tempest’s last run. They had exhausted all but their nuclear weapon supply. There were 15 of them in total, and it was the last line of defence against the saucer.

A fire broke out towards the rear of the ship and parts of it began to detach away.

Laser bolts and small, deadly missiles emerged from open ports on the saucer and a barrage of them hit the Tempest one after the other.

This was supposed to be a mission of discovery and exploration, but instead the crew of 145 were going to die out in the cold, blackness of space with their ship being obliterated above a small, desolate ice world. They had detected some kind of life, somewhere deep inside the many mountains, but their information would remain incomplete. They sent what they could to High Command.

Another barrage.

The captain on board gave the order to launch the nukes.

With grating, old machinery, the hatches opened and the nuclear missiles began their quick trip across the small expanse of space towards the saucer.

Some of them missed their target and fell to the planet below. Some of them hit their target - and did absolutely no damage whatsoever.

Finally, after a shower of explosions, the Tempest remained, hanging still and silent and waiting for the killing blow from the saucer.

Quickly and quietly another weapon descended from the bottom of the saucer. It was some kind of huge canon. It aimed itself at the Tempest and then, after a few seconds, shot a huge blast of blue light at the Tempest.

The Tempest was engulfed in a blue glow and then exploded from within, disintegrating into a million tiny metallic pieces.

For a moment the saucer remained, surveying the damage, and then it quietly flew away.

The Daleks had won. Again.

On the surface of Issentti, Rotox emerged from the mountain and surveyed the plumes of smoke and fire in the distance.

And then he saw it. A great, long shape lying next to the mountain. It looked cold and dead.

This one hadn’t exploded…




Now




Atherton stood at the view screen and watched as the great, dome-like device known to the colony as the Beast descended from orbit and landed with a great thud on the surface a few miles away from the ships.

“The Beast has landed,” said Amaya, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

It was understandable for them to be nervous, thought Atherton. Terraforming had been performed before, but this was the first time out on a world so far away from Earth. And they were sat right in the middle of it.

Luckily, the terraforming wouldn’t cause any damage to the ships and those within it thanks to specialist shielding, but Atherton had seen the video footage from the experiments. Whole landscapes were changed in a matter of minutes, and it was frightening. It was moments like this when Atherton thought to himself that surely the Human race had become Gods of their own destiny.

And he didn’t like that thought. Not one bit.

“Is the device secure?” said Atherton, rubbing his chin and refusing to use it’s pet name.

“Landing struts are buried and secure in the surface,” said Amaya. She turned to her commander. “Do we activate?”

Atherton sighed. He knew the Doctor, Reed and Alice were out there, and he knew the aliens were out there. But he had his orders. “Activate it,” he said.




Outside, on top of the device - sitting there spider-like - a small glass dome began to glow green. There was a low, humming power coming from the Beast, and the air began to shimmer around it. Then, with a huge blast, a massive green bolt of energy shot into the sky and into the clouds.

The Beast had begun its job.




The Doctor and Reed were almost at the mountain and looked back at the beam of light shooting into the sky.

“It’s alright,” said the Doctor, walking a little faster. “We have a good 25 minutes before the planet begins changing.”

“I do know,” said Reed. “It’s just collecting data. Working out how to change the planet.”

“Of course,” smiled the Doctor.

“What are we gonna do when we get to your friend? She seemed pretty determined to be out of your way.”

“We have to try and transport as many of the Issenttians off the planet as possible.”

“To where?” said Reed, almost laughing at the impossibility of it all.

“I believe there are some nearby moons. Similar atmosphere and terrain. The ones we can save will be happy there.”

“Apparently you have a time machine,” said Reed, not really believing it himself.

“I do. And if you’re about to ask why I can’t just keep popping back in the same minute and collecting every alien from this planet, it’s because I can’t cross my own time stream. I can only be in one place twice. After that thing’s start to fall apart.”

“Fair enough,” said Reed. “You answered that one.”

The Doctor suddenly stopped when he saw somebody emerging from the small tunnel at the base of the mountain, arms flailing.

“It’s your friend,” said Reed.

Alice was running as fast as she could towards the Doctor.

“What is it?” shouted the Doctor.

“It’s Rotox.” She arrived at the two of them, out of breath and panting.

“What about him?”

“He’s got…some kind of…nuclear weapon.”

“Oh my god,” said Reed. “Doctor, we’ve got to leave them.”

“No,” said Alice. “When he saw that light go up he panicked. They’ve started wheeling it through a larger tunnel. They’re going to aim it at the ships.”

“You need to make your mind up, woman,” muttered Reed.

“I beg your bloody pardon!” said Alice, squaring up to the officer.

“First you want to help them, and then you want to help us.”

Alice pointed at him. “I don’t want to see anyone die.”

“Look,” said the Doctor, pinching the top of his nose in frustration, “I have around 22 minutes now to save as many of them as I can. Atherton can’t delay anymore.”

“And how are we going to convince this Rotox?” said Reed. “It sounds like he’s in no mood to stand down.”

“They’re just scared,” said Alice. “I’m sure they’ll listen to the Doctor.”

“I can only talk to them,” said the Doctor. “I can’t force them to run away.”

“What? Why not?”

“They have their belief’s,” said the Doctor. “If they choose to stay then I can’t stop them.”




On board the ship, Atherton was sat at a communication station. Soon the picture of a blonde woman with short hair and green eyes flicked onto the screen. She smiled when she saw Atherton.

“James,” she said warmly.

“How’s it going Amanda?” said Atherton.

“I miss you,” she said.

“I miss you too,” he said, touching the screen with his finger tips, “but maybe when we’re ready you can fly out here.”

“And be with my brother again on some dead ice world?”

“It won’t be so icy when you arrive,” he laughed. “Did you find out any information?”

Amanda breathed heavily. “Yes. I did. Unfortunately.”

“What do you mean?”

She shook her head. “Graham found me what he could, but it isn’t good. Turns out the Empire knew about the life forms on your planet.”

“What!” spluttered Atherton. “Then why did we-”

“Remember a few years back, when we lost the Tempest?”

“Yes,” said Atherton, thinking back to the news reports. “What about it?”

“That was over Issentti,” said Amanda. “Turns out this place is close to the Dalek front line.”

“Bloody hell,” said Atherton, head in his hands.

“It’s not too much to worry about, but the Empire worried that if the Daleks got the planet, it’d give them a greater foothold in this area of the galaxy. The Empire wanted to get here first.”

“But we aren’t at war with the Daleks. Just a few battles here and there.”

“Not yet,” said Amanda. She sighed. “Still want to build a civilisation out there?”

“So the Empire covered up the findings of the Issenttians just so they could get this planet before the Daleks did. Unbelievable. In this day and age…”

“People are no different now than what they were all those years ago. There’s always an ulterior motive for everything. You know that. Look at Dad.”

Atherton nodded, remembering how his father had pressured him to join the cadets, making him believe he was doing it for himself, when in actual fact his father was able to claim “danger” money from his young son being enrolled.

They had fallen out soon after that.

Atherton said his goodbyes to his sister and then sat there for a long time, staring at the now-blank monitor screen.

He was stuck in a situation here. If he refused and went up against the Empire, he’d be court-martial. And then there was his colony fleet. They hadn’t enough supplies or fuel to make it any further. They had to stay here. They had to start the terraforming.

And then he thought of the Daleks. Did he really want them knocking on his front door in the middle of the night. There were 2,500 people in the colony fleet. One Dalek could destroy all of them. Every man, woman and child.

He continued to think for a long time.

And then he made his decision and headed for the bridge.




The Doctor, Alice and Reed stood, observing as the huge, nuclear warhead slowly emerged from a previously concealed, larger tunnel around the side of the mountain.

Rotox was standing beside it whilst other Issenttians directed a large group to move it out of the tunnel and onto the icy surface.

“Rotox,” said the Doctor. “We have 15 minutes before terraforming is complete. You need to gather your people and come with me.”

“We will not leave,” said Rotox, with an angry snarl. “This device will destroy the invaders and save our world.”

“If you fire at that terraforming device, it’ll cause untold damage to your world.”

“Doctor,” said Alice quietly, “there world’s already about to be destroyed.”

The Doctor glared at her angrily. “Stay out of this, Alice! I told you not to get involved.”

“Then you shouldn’t have brought me here, then!” snapped Alice back at him.

The Doctor was about to say something back to her and then thought better of it. He turned back to Rotox. “There are innocent beings out there. They don’t do this thing on purpose,” he said, kneeling down beside Rotox. “They do it because they have been told to.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” growled Rotox as the warhead came to a stop, aimed at the collection of ships in the distance.

“No, but they have no choice. If they leave now all of them will likely die.”

“But they will kill my people,” said Rotox.

“Not if you come with me in my ship,” said the Doctor. “It’s just over there. A little blue box.”

“Too little for all of us.”

“No,” said Alice, kneeling beside him and pleading with him. “It’s bigger on the inside.”

Rotox. “Stupid invader friends.”

Reed sighed. “He’s not listening, Doctor. We need to stop them.”

“How?” said the Doctor. “How do we stop them, because I’m at a loss?”




Atherton stood on the bridge, a cup of coffee in his hand. He nodded down towards Amaya.

“Are you sure about this, sir?”

“Absolutely sure,” said Atherton.

Amaya sighed and switched on the communication console. “Comms open.”

“This is Atherton,” he said sternly. “Reed, are you there?”




Reed answered his communicator device that he had strapped to his belt. “This is Reed.”

“Tell the Issenttians we surrender,” said Atherton.

“What!?” spat Reed.

“Tell them we surrender.”

“But the Empire…the colony…”

“We’ll find a way,” came Atherton’s voice.

The Doctor snatched the communicator away from Reed. “Now listen, Mr Atherton, you cannot stop the terraforming of this world.”

“And why not?” said Atherton.

“Because of your Colony.”

“You have a ship,” said Atherton. “You can help us.”

“It’s not about that,” said the Doctor, exasperated. “You need to be here. It’s the tipping point in Human civilisation.”

“I am not willing to commit genocide,” said Atherton.

“Please, Mr Atherton.”

There was a pause.

The Doctor looked down at the communicator and frowned.

“You know, don’t you?”

“What? Know what?” The Doctor looked a little awkward.

“You know about the Daleks.”

“Of course I know about them,” said the Doctor, irascibly. “Everybody know’s about them.”

“No,” said Atherton. “You knew about this planet being a good strategic point against the Daleks.”

“But we’re not at war,” said Reed, confused.

“Not yet we’re not,” came Atherton’s grim voice.

Alice’s eyes flicked to the Doctor. She wanted to turn around and walk out on him, but he looked lost, hopeless and worried. He was losing his grip on the situation and didn’t know what to say.

“Right!” said Alice.

Reed and the Doctor looked at her.

“Rotox,” said Alice, “you need to stop this. In a few minutes everything you are will cease to exist. You have to come with me and the Doctor.”

“No,” said Rotox again.

The Doctor watched as the Issenttian group examined the nuclear missile.

“You have no idea what you’re doing,” said Reed. “You’ll end up destroyed yourselves.”

“Alice, come on,” said the Doctor, grabbing her hand.

She snatched it away. “Where to? We can’t leave them.”

“We need to get to the TARDIS. You too, Mr. Reed.”

“But the nuke-”

“Now, Mr. Reed.”

Reluctantly Reed and Alice followed the Doctor as they made their way back across the ice, all the time looking back at the nuke in the distance.

“We can’t just abandon them,” said Alice.

“We’re not, but pretty soon they’re going to detonate that warhead. We need to get it away from here.”

“How?” said Reed. “In your blue box?” he said, noticing it now they had gotten closer.

“Exactly,” said the Doctor, grimly.




A few moments later the blue box dematerialised, leaving a patch of clear ground where the ice had melted under the warmth of the time machine.

Back towards Rotox’s group, they were still tinkering as Rotox eyed up the Beast in the distance. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew it was going to destroy them all.

Suddenly the air was ripped open by the sound of a thousand demons screeching and wailing into the wind.

It was coming from the weapon. The Issenttian’s ran for cover as, strangely, the warhead seemed to disappear from view to be replaced by a large, blue box.

Rotox edged cautiously towards the box and touched it. It felt warm and tingly. It felt alive.

And the warhead was gone.

The door was flung open and the Doctor stepped out with Alice and Reed behind him. Reed looked a little confused and baffled, but still had a hold of the situation.

“Where is the weapon?” said Rotox, angrily glaring at the Doctor.

“Safely in a holding area at the centre of my TARDIS. I materialised my box around it.”

“Give it back.”

“No,” said the Doctor, darkly. “You need to come with us now.”

“No,” growled Rotox, stepping back.

“Please,” said Alice. “If you stay here you’ll all be wiped out.”

There was a huge explosion from the Beast and the jet of light turned dark red, clouds coloured blood-red swirling overhead.

“Captain,” said Reed into the communicator, “what’s going on?”

Atherton came over the com. “I ran out of time. I can’t stop it now,” he sighed.

“Come with us now!” ordered the Doctor.

“No!” growled Rotox again and turned to run back to the mountain.

“You have 30 seconds,” said Atherton.

“We need to go,” said the Doctor.

“We can’t leave them,” said Alice, her eyes welling up with tears. “We can’t.”

“They won’t come,” said the Doctor as he turned and saw Rotox head for the mountain tunnel. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“20 seconds,” said Atherton.

“But surely there’s a way…” said Alice.

“Not this time,” he said. He turned as he watched Rotox pause at the opening and then turn to face the Doctor, Alice and Reed.

“10 seconds.”

“Go!” said Reed, pushing the Doctor and Alice to the box.

The last thing Alice saw was Rotox, his grey form against the side of the mountain. Rotox: the last of the Issenttians.

The TARDIS dematerialised just as a wave of red light burst from the beast. It was like a phantom sea, rolling across the ice dunes, swirling around the stationary ships full of their occupants housed safely inside.

Rotox’s eyes narrowed as the light flowed nearer and nearer.

And then, in a flash, everything went red. Rotox was gone. And so was his world.




The Doctor and Alice sat in silence in the console room. They had dropped off Reed at his ship and hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye to Atherton. Alice wasn’t sure what to say. Her first trip to another planet hadn’t exactly been the best. She was sure that it wouldn’t always be this painful.

Eventually, after watching the Doctor throw a power-ball against the interior doors for the hundredth time, Alice broke the silence.

“Did you really know?”

“Hmmm?” said the Doctor, turning to her.

“About the Daleks? I mean, you said this planet was a tipping point for my race.

“Yes,” said the Doctor.

“Yes what?”

“I did know about the Dalek factor.”

“Then why-”

“Because I wanted to see it.” He pocketed the power-ball and sat down next to her on the sofa. “You assume that just because it’s at the forefront during the Dalek War that it’s a bad thing. It’s not.” He leaned back and looked into the distance. “Yes, the Dalek’s do invade, but the colony fight back and drive them away. Issentti becomes a key world in developing weapons and ideas to fight the Daleks. James Atherton becomes a celebrated hero. I wanted to see where all of this began.”

“But you really didn’t know about the Issenttians?”

“No,” said the Doctor, hurt, “of course I didn’t.”

“You should have told me,” said Alice, dejected.

“Maybe,” said the Doctor. “But maybe this was a private thing for me. I don’t know how long I’ve got left. Every thing I see could be the last time I see it.”

Alice thought for a moment. “Show me Issentti again. I mean, Issentti how it is now.”




A little while later Alice and the Doctor stood at the base of Mt. England, surrounded by a dense jungle. They made their way through to a clearing where children were playing, and in the distance they could see buildings being constructed and the tops of the old spaceships that brought the colonists here.

And there was Atherton. He looked a few years older, but he was still recognisably the same man. He was throwing a ball and playing catch with a young child and his wife was sat, drinking lemonade, sat on a deckchair nearby.

Alice smiled. Out of darkness came some light, she thought to herself.

The Doctor guided her around, and set into the floor was a large, stone slab.

“There are darker days to come for them,” said Alice.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, nodding, “but at least they never forgot.”

And on the stone slab it read:




“REMEMBER ROTOX

REMEMBER THE ISSENTTII”




Time had passed for the Doctor and Alice.

The Doctor had landed the TARDIS again, and had asked Alice to wait inside whilst he made the trip outside. She had no idea where they were. She hadn’t even been bothered.

And then the Doctor emerged in the doorway again, his shoes wet and the bottom half of his trousers covered in mud.

“Where’ve you been?” asked Alice.

The Doctor was carrying something. It was a brown bag…and it was moving. Something triggered Alice’s memories. Memories of when she was young and innocent and scared.

“Oh my god!” she said, leaping to her feet and putting her hands to her mouth.

“Why have a time machine, if you can’t do some good some times.”

He opened up the bag, and two tabby-coloured kittens emerged.

Alice was crying and she ran to them, picking them up as they meowed at her. “How?”

“I surveyed your timeline. I went back, waiting until you were gone, and rescued them from upstream.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Thank you.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Now, let’s go and find these two a home, eh?”



Next Week: The TARDIS arrives in Owensby, a deserted northern village where the mirrors are not what they seem. Reflections starts on Saturday 1st March 2014.

Also, standby for more information on upcoming stories, plus information on a new spin-off from Darkpaths called "The Thornsby Chronicles".

The Tipping Point (Part 3)

Alice trudged on through the snow and ice, the colony ships looming larger and larger the closer she got to them.

The Doctor was reluctantly struggling on behind her.

“Alice,” he said.

“No, Doctor. I’m not letting destiny control me.”

The Doctor laughed. “What did you expect when you travelled in space and time with me?”

She turned to look at him. “Not the death of an innocent alien race.”

“Something similar happened to me a long time ago. I was faced with changing the course of the future and it backfired. I’m not willing to let it happen again. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Guess I’ll have to find out then, eh?”




Onboard the Centaur, Atherton was sipping on a celebratory cup of tea. He was on his data pad, messaging his wife, Kelly Atherton, who was the science officer on the Enterprise, when a high-pitched alert sign began blaring out.

“What is it?” asked Atherton.

“Proximity alert,” said Amaya.

“What? Outside?”

“Of course outside,” said Amaya with a little laugh.

Atherton frowned. “This place is supposed to be uninhabited.”

“There,” said Reed, pointing towards the two figures walking through the snow.

“Scan them,” said Atherton.

A few minutes later their details flashed up on a small screen attached to Atherton’s chair. “One Human. One…well, the other one isn’t Human.”

“Did the other ships send anyone out?” asked Reed.

“No,” said Amaya. “Nobody’s disembarked.”

“Then where did they come from?” said Atherton, getting up and crossing to the view screen.




Outside Alice and the Doctor had reached the underbelly of the Centaur. Alice stood, looking up at the huge craft above her. She narrowed her eyes and then cupped her hands to her mouth.

“Oi!!” she shouted up to the ship. “Let us in!”

As if to answer her question, a few seconds later there was a clanging and creaking of what could only be described as huge machinery up above. Slowly a piece of the underbelly of the Centaur began to descend, attached to hydraulics poles.

“Step back,” said the Doctor, guiding Alice out of the way. “It looks like you’ve got your wish.”

They two of them watched as the large platform reached the ground with a thud.

“Come aboard,” came Reed’s voice over a speaker.

Alice stepped on and the Doctor grabbed her arm. “Just don’t do anything rash.”




A few minutes later, the Doctor and Alice were standing on the bridge of the Centaur. James Atherton was on the commanders chair, his cold tea in his hand and his legs crossed as he looked at the two strangers intently.

“Hmmm,” was all he could say.

“What are you gonna do then?” said Alice.

“It’s an interesting story,” said Atherton. “Time travellers. Aliens under mountains.”

“It’s all true,” said Alice.

“Is it really?” he said.

“I’m afraid it is, commander,” said the Doctor grimly.

“And you?” said Atherton, nodding towards the Doctor. “You don’t register on our scanners as Human.”

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

“I’m a Time Lord.”

Atherton frowned. “Never heard of them, my friend.”

“Well, no,” said the Doctor, looking a little despondent, “you won’t have. My people are a little more out there than your average alien.”

Alice frowned. She suddenly realised that she hadn’t even asked the Doctor about his own people or his own place. She made a mental note to ask when this was all over.

“All this is beside the point,” said Alice. “You just can’t do your world-changing thing here.”

Atherton let out a long, heavy sigh. “It’s taken Colony Fleet Jericho 13 months to get here. The next uninhabited world is Peppervox IV, and that’s another 18 months away.”

“Then go there,” said Alice.

“We simply don’t have enough supplies, rations or…well, anything to make it there.”

“But, commander, can’t you see…?” said Alice desperately.

“I’m willing to help these aliens as much as I can,” said Atherton, “but there is no way we can leave this planet. And we can‘t hold back on the terraforming.”

Alice glared angrily at the Doctor, who simply lowered his eyes to look at the ground, knowing full well that she was fighting a losing battle.

“Amaya, take them down to the bar on C-Deck whilst I have a think about all of this.”

“Yes, sir,” said Amaya, stepping in front of the Doctor and Alice and indicating for them to follow.

The Doctor and Alice followed Amaya in silence. They were taken through a set of double-doors and into a long corridor that seemed to go on forever. At various intervals there were doors leading off to crew quarters, and then finally they came to a metal spiral staircase.

They followed it down into the darker depths, passing countless eager crew members, all of them itching to get started on Issenttii, and all of them curious as to where Alice and the Doctor had come from.

Eventually they reached a large area which reminded Alice of a school canteen. Set at the far end was a makeshift bar with all kinds of, what she assumed, where alcoholic beverages.

“Carly, guests!” said Amaya, as she guided them to the bar.

Amaya smiled as an older woman with long, blonde hair appeared from the back room. She was dressed like a civilian, looked to be in her early 40’s and still looking pretty glamorous.

“What can I get you?” she said, smiling.

“Water for me,” said the Doctor.

“Orange juice,” said Alice glumly.

“Good job you didn’t ask for anything stronger,” said Carly, grabbing a couple of glasses. “We have’t got anything!” She laughed.

Alice and the Doctor weren’t in the mood to laugh.

They took their drinks and made their way over to a table in the corner.

They sat there for a long time in silence.

Finally Alice broke the ice. “I’m sorry, Doctor.”

“What for?”

“For all of this.”

“You have your beliefs,” said the Doctor. “I admire you for that.”

“But I didn’t want to fall out with you,” she said.

“We haven’t fallen out,” smiled the Doctor. “Differing opinions doesn’t mean that we have to fall out.”

She sighed. “But what do we do?”

The Doctor leaned back in his chair and interlocked his fingers. “I agree that we need to find someway to save the Issenttiians, but we can’t disrupt what’s happening here. Not at all.”

Alice nodded sadly. “I guess that’s the burden you have to bare when you travel to the future. And the past. You have to be careful what you can and can‘t interfere with.”

He nodded grimly.

“When I was a little girl,” she said, looking into the distance, remembering, “we lived in a house near to a stream. One morning I went out on my bike and I saw this old, scruffy man with a few bags. He was dunking the bags into the water. I crept closer and I could see that something was moving in the bag.”

The Doctor looked sad.

“Well,” she continued, “I shouted and the man got scared and ran away. I ran to the stream and grabbed at the bags. I could only save one of them and inside were two ginger kittens.” She gulped, her eyes filling with tears. “So I watched on as the other two bags floated away down stream. I couldn’t get to them, but…”

“But you at least saved two of them.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking away and dabbing the corners of her eyes with her fingers. “Yeah, I could at least save two of them.”

The Doctor nodded. “I understand.”




Atherton sat in front of the view screen, his face stern and solemn. He knew it was going to be impossible, but he had to ask anyway. He watched the flickering image of the Earth President - Farrah Benz - as he shook his head slowly.

“Is there no way?” said Atherton, his arms outstretched, pleaing to him.

“If there was, commander, then I would not hesitate to give the order.”

“But these creatures will die.”

Benz shook his head again. “I’m sorry, James, but we knew when we set out on this colonisation mission that there would have to be sacrifices and choices we wouldn’t like. There’s nothing more I can do.”

“Can we at least delay the terraforming? Give this Doctor a chance to locate all the tribes and -”

“No!” said Benz in a tone that Atherton felt he couldn’t mess with. “You have your orders, Commander Atherton. Follow them to the letter.”




Atherton walked grimly into the canteen and sat between the Doctor and Alice. He put his head in his hands and ran his hands through his wavy, brown hair.

“Not good news?” said the Doctor.

He shook his head.

“Then appeal to someone higher!” said Alice.

“I can’t go any higher than the President of the Earth Empire,” said Atherton. “I can’t change his mind. Even if he wanted to help.”

“Then I’ll do something,” said Alice, getting up from her seat and running across the canteen.

“Alice, wait!” said the Doctor.

“No,” she shouted back as she exited the room.

She ran down the corridor towards the room where her and the Doctor had been brought aboard. It was a huge, hanger-like chamber with the platform that had brought them up from the planet’s surface.

She ran into the room, stood on the platform and then turned to face the bewildered officer at the control panel.

“Lower me down,” she said.

He looked startled, not knowing what to say.

“NOW!” she shrieked.

The officer jumped to attention and lowered the platform.

Alice felt her tears begin to well up again as she descended down into the cold, snowy blizzard down below.

The platform hit the ground with a thud. She pulled her scarf tight around her and then made her way back towards the mountain. She took one last look up at the ship as she left and was sure she could see the Doctor looking down from way up in the interior, but she couldn’t stop now.

She had to help them.




Alice had been running through the twigs and the bushes that covered Oakley Wood. She had had a fight with her parents and had gone running out of their house, through the incredibly large back garden, over the broken fence and then into the woods.

But now she was regretting it. In the distance she could hear her younger sister, Rosie, and her Mum calling her name. But she was torn. If she went back, she’d surely be in trouble, but if she continued, maybe she’d finally find some kind of adventure away from them all. Something a lot more exciting than the life she was having right now.

So she pressed on. Deeper and deeper than she had ever gone before, all the time hearing the familiar voices fade into the distance.

She looked up to the tree tops. It was autumn now and all the leaves had fallen from them, exposing the twisted, gnarled branches and twigs reaching into the grey sky like hands of some kind of demon she had read in her story books.

A flock of birds flew above, and for a moment she wanted to be a bird and fly away from all of her troubles. Fly away from her sisters…

“Alice…”

She jumped at the sound of her fathers voice in the very, very far distance again and it made her run faster.

Eventually she could hear the sound of running water. She was sure she couldn’t have come this far, but - no - it was definitely Oakley stream. She had remembered her parents driving her over the bridge somewhere over to the east and trying to capture a glimpse at the stream.

And then she saw movement. At first she thought it was her Dad, but then she realised that he couldn’t have gotten past and ahead of her.

It was a man, though. An old man with a scruffy white beard and scruffy brown clothes. She ducked behind a pathetic little bush and kept as quiet as possible.

He was looking around himself nervously and he was carrying something. A grey, fabric-like bag. No, there were a few of them. And something seemed to be moving inside. She thought she could hear some kind of sound coming from them, but she wasn’t so sure.

The old man looking nervously around himself again, and then knelt beside the stream. He put one of the moving bags into the stream and held it down. But his foot slipped on the muddy bank and he let go of the bag. Alice watched as it floated down the stream.

He cursed himself and then he pulled out the other bag. He put it into the stream, but suddenly his hand started shaking and he let go of the bag. He let out a cry of sadness and then quickly got up and dashed away.

Alice looked on in confusion as the still-moving bag slowly moved down stream.

And then she heard the sound.

Meow!

Alice knew what that sound was instantly. She jumped to her feet, slipped down the muddy bank of the river and fell face first into the stream. It was only shallow, though, and she trudged on through the water and the muck as the bag drifted away.

The further she got, the deeper the water became. Finally…finally…she reached out her hand and grabbed at the bag….just as her Dad appeared at the side of the bank.

“Alice!” he yelled, half furious, half terrified for his daughters safety.

“They’re cats,” said Alice, sobbing. “I couldn’t save the others one. I couldn’t save the others.”




Atherton paced up and down the bridge of his ship, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

The Doctor simply looked on, his hands behind his back, eyeing up the commander cautiously.

“It’s a tricky situation,” said Atherton.

“But will you give me the time?” said the Doctor.

“I can’t delay any longer.”

“How long do I have?”

“About 45 minutes. It takes 45 minutes to get the terraforming device set up. After that…well, anything outside of these ships will be torn apart.”

“So…45 minutes to save my friend, save the tribe under that mountain, and anything else that I might be able to save…interesting.”

“Let me send Reed with you.”

Reed looked up from his console, a little frustrated at being nominated for the fool-hardy trip.

“It isn’t necessary, commander,” said the Doctor.

“Of course it is,” said Atherton. “Look, I may be the one being made to execute these poor creatures, but I don’t have to like it. We can’t even argue against the Empire. We have to do this. But I at least want to help somehow.”

The Doctor looked at Atherton. He could tell that he was genuine. He really did want to help. “Okay,” said the Doctor, “send Mr Reed with me.”

Reed let out a long, very audible sigh.

“Get going, Harry,” said Atherton, crossing over to his console and slapping him on his back. “You’ve always said you wanted to rescue a damsel in distress.”

“More like a damsel who ran straight into the distress,” said Reed, his Scottish tones sounding almost like a long, drawn-out groan.

Atherton smiled. “Remember, 45 minutes.” He checked his computer read out. “43 now, actually. Go!”




By the time Alice had reached the base of the mountain and the tunnel again, it had become extremely dark outside. The only thing illuminating her way was the pure white ice. She leant against the cold stone of the mountain side to catch her breath.

“Hello,” came the voice, making Alice jump.

She looked down. It was Rotox. “Oh,” she smiled, relieved, “it’s you.”

“Welcome back Alice,” he said.

“You lot need to come with me,” said Alice quickly.

“We will not go anywhere with you,” said Rotox. “You are speaking with the monsters.”

“They’re not monsters,” said Alice, “but they are going to kill you.” She frowned, realising how stupid that sounded.

“We kill them first,” said Rotox, brandishing a dagger.

“No,” said Alice. “They are being made to do this. They are going to completely change your planet. You have to come with me.”

“You come with me,” said Rotox. “I shall show you something.” He scurried off into the tunnel. “Come on.”

Alice followed Rotox into the darkness until they reached the large cavern. Rotox pointed down towards the centre. Huddled around the fire were the aliens, once again, but now, standing next to one of the old stone pillars was a huge, rocket-like device. It was mounted on some kind of makeshift, wooden trailer.

“What is that?” said Alice, a little worried.

Rotox grinned. “Many sleeps ago it fell from the stars. A sign from the Gods.”

Alice frowned. She may have been new to all of this, but something about the rocket told her that it wasn’t something to be messed with.

“And?”

“We opened it up, but many people died looking at it. Wasted away.” Rotox guided her down the steps, across the cavern, past the intrigued Issenttiians and towards the rocket. He reached up and slid open a panel. Inside, behind a glass covering, was a glowing, red-hot crystal.

“Rotox. I don’t know if you should be tampering with this.”

“They won’t kill us,” said Rotox. “There were lights in the sky and this fell. Others like it fell and exploded. They destroyed many of our habitats.”

“Yes,” said Alice slowly. “It may be a futuristic kind, but that is definitely some kind of nuclear missile.”

Next Time: Is all hope lost as Alice tries to convince Rotox to leave the planet? Coming Saturday 22nd February 2014.

The Tipping Point (Part 2)

Alice and the Doctor had sat down on the cold, rocky floor, their legs dangling over the edge of the chasm that led to the little gathering down below. Neither of them had said anything for a long, long while, neither of them knowing what to say.

Alice stared on in curiosity. These were her first real aliens. Well, apart from the Daleks, who were just like big killer tanks really. But these creatures…these were her first. She wanted to go down there and introduce herself; get to know them. But she was conflicted inside, and the Doctor, she felt sure, was feeling exactly the same way.

These aliens were going to die very soon.

“So…” said Alice slowly.

“All the records stated that this planet was lifeless.”

“Obviously not,” said Alice. “Obviously the records were wrong.”

“Or nobody decided to check.”

“Well what do we do?”

“There’s nothing much we can do.”

“We’ve got to warn them,” said Alice, frowning at him. “Give them a chance.”

“They’re primitive - you can tell. They won’t have access to technology, let alone a spaceship to help them escape.”

“Then you can take them away in the TARDIS.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I can’t interfere in what’s going to happen here.”

“But why not?” Alice turned to face him. “Surely you interfered when you saved me and Little Pebbleford from the Daleks.”

“That moment in time involved me,” said the Doctor. “I was always going to be there.”

“And we were always going to be here,” said Alice. She was determined to get a straighter answer out of this.

“Okay,” said the Doctor, “maybe I can save them. But then where does it stop? There must be planets all over the galaxy that have been terraformed, killing innocents on their surfaces. Do I go back and save all of them?”

Alice bit her bottom lip. What he said made sense, but surely this was different. They were here. They were right in the middle of this right now.

“I can’t sit and watch them die,” said Alice.

“Excuse me,” came a strange, small voice from just behind them.

Alice jumped and whirled around. At first she was shocked and let out a short, sharp yelp. And then another emotion overtook her. Standing in front of her, about 2 feet tall, was a small, grey creature, just like the aliens down below. Except this was much smaller. It’s big, black eyes gazed up at her. It’s skin was grey - a little like elephant skin - and it’s hands were clenching and unclenching nervously.

This was a child.

“Hello,” said the Doctor, a smile on his face. “What can we do for you?”

“I saw you from down below. I’m the only one who saw.”

Alice frowned. “He’s speaking English.”

“The TARDIS helps to translate alien languages into the listeners language,” said the Doctor with a dismissive wave of the hand. He continued to speak to the little alien. “I think you should go back to your family.”

“I wanted to go explore,” said the child, a strange, crooked smile appearing on it’s round, oval face. Alice was reminded of Zippy, the puppet from Rainbow.

“Why don’t you introduce us to your family?” said Alice.

The Doctor frowned at her darkly. “No, Alice. I think not.”

“Why not?” said Alice, although she already knew the answer to that.

“Because we need to leave.”

Alice got to her feet, grabbed the Doctor’s arm, and dragged him a little way from the child-alien.

“How can you leave now? He’s just a child.”

The Doctor sighed, stabbing his cane at the ground. “You don’t know what this is like…”

“I came with you to enjoy myself, not be depressed.”

“It’s not always enjoyment. It’s dangerous as well.”

Before Alice could say another word she felt something strike the back of her head. As she slowly drifted out of consciousness, she was aware of the Doctor also falling to the ground, and the sound of small, cries of victory coming from all around her.

And then nothing.




When the world finally blurred back into focus, she realised she was lying on the floor next to a small, crackling fire. She could feel the heat on her face. It felt nice after the coldness from outside.

She tried to move and then realised that her feet and hands were bound together.

And she had a headache.

“Doctor…” was all she could croak.

“Hello,” said the Doctor quietly.

She managed to twist herself around. The Doctor was tied up to an ancient pillar covered in carvings. There was a trickle of dried blood down the side of his face and he was wincing in pain.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Silence creature!” came an alien-sounding voice from behind her.

She quickly whirled around and standing there was a slightly larger than the child version of the alien. It was brandishing a crudely made club and he was surrounded in a semi-circle, by similar aliens.

“Why did you hit me?” said Alice, putting two and two together.

“You have invaded our living home,” said the alien, slapping the club against the palm of his hand.

“We didn’t realise anybody lived here,” said the Doctor.

“Lies,” said the creature. “Lies. Lies. Lies.” It paused. “Lies.”

“What’s your name?” said Alice.

“Silence Other-Worlder!”

“I only asked,” said Alice, finding her first alien encounter a little more upsetting than she had hoped.

“My friend is simply trying to be friendly,” said the Doctor, a smile on his face. “There really was no need to knock us out and-”

“You carry a weapon,” growled the alien.

“A weapon…” The Doctor thought for a moment. “Oh, you mean my walking stick.” His eyes looked towards the walking stick that had been flung into a corner. “It’s an aid. Something to help me walk.”

“A weapon.”

“It’s not a weapon,” said the Doctor, trying to sound as unthreatening as possible. “It’s not a weapon at all.”

“A weapon.”

“No.”

“A weapon.”

“Please…”

“A weapon.”

“I’m dying,” he snapped. His voice echoed around the cavern and the aliens fell silent.

The Doctor looked at Alice. For a while they wondered who was going to be first to break the silence.

And then, to their surprise, the lead alien walked forward, his arm extended. It noticed that the Doctor’s hands were tied, pulled a knife from it’s ragged belt, cut the rope and then extended it’s arm again.

“My name is Rotox.”

The Doctor frowned and then slowly extended his arm. “I’m the Doctor, and this is Alice.”

Rotox looked to Alice and then crossed over to her. She panicked a little when the little alien went towards her with the knife, but sure enough he also cut the ropes binding her.

“It is agreeable to meet you,” said Rotox, nodding to the Doctor and then to Alice.

“Likewise. I think,” said Alice, rubbing the red marks where the rope had bound her wrists.

“We did not know you were dying,” he said, nodding towards the Doctor, “and that you were his carer,” said Rotox, nodding towards Alice.

“Oh, I’m not-”

“Yes, Alice is my carer!” said the Doctor quickly.

“But why-”

“Issenttiians have a code. All of those who are dying are to be absolved of their sins so they may be pure to travel to the Great Mountain.”

“The Great Mountain…” said Alice, slowly. “Like Heaven?”

“I know not your Other-World words,” said Rotox.

“Where you go when you die,” said Alice. “Well, supposedly.”

“Yes. That’s right,” said Rotox. He sat down on the dirt next to the Doctor and Alice and drew a mountain with his finger. “We live underneath the Mountain of Life.” He drew some crude stick-aliens at the base of the mountain. “When we pass on, we ascend the mountain to the peak and then cross through the Great Barrier of Issenttii.” He drew a line leading to a wavy line above the mountain.

The Doctor leaned in. “Beyond the atmosphere.”

“Above the Barrier is the Great Mountain where we will be united again.” He drew an upside down mountain, pointing downwards.

“Are there others like you all over the planet?” said Alice.

Rotox nodded. “Many tribes, all over, living underneath Mountains of Life.”

Alice sighed and looked at the Doctor, who was trying his hardest not to meet her gaze.

“Doctor, a word…” said Alice.

“Alice-”

But before the Doctor could say anymore, there came a great rumble from all around. Rocks fell from the cavern walls and the groups of Issenttiians ran for cover.

“The Mountain of Life is screaming!” yelled Rotox. “It is unhappy with the Other-Worlders.”

“I don’t think so,” said the Doctor, leaping to his feet. “Come on!”

Alice and Rotox ran after the Doctor as he grabbed his cane and walked as fast as he could up the narrow path that climbed the cavern and to the tunnel.

The rumbling continued and Alice had to shield herself, and Rotox, from a number of rocks that fell.

Eventually they reached the Doctor and the opening back out onto the arctic wasteland.

“No..” said the Doctor quietly.

Alice looked up. Descending from the skies were four, huge, robust spaceships. Their thrusters firing as each one of them slowly edged towards the surface.

“Monsters! Monsters from the sky!” cried Rotox.

“Even worse,” said the Doctor with a sad look on his face.

“The colony ships?” said Alice.

The Doctor nodded slowly. “The colony ships.”




On board the colony ship Centaur, of Colony Fleet Jericho, Commander James Atherton observed his crew as they all sat at their stations, guiding their large vessel onto the planet surface.

After a few moments there was a thud as the ship came to a land.

“Report,” said Atherton, his bearded face serious and focused.

“Hood, Enterprise and Excelis have touched down without any issue,” said a young, Japanese woman from a station towards the back of the bridge.

“Excellent,” said Atherton, his face breaking into a huge grin. He stood up and surveyed his crew. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived at Colony Jericho’s new home!”

The crew began whooping and cheering as Atherton went around each crew member, shaking their hands.

“Sir,” came the Japanese woman.

“Yes, Amaya.”

“Excelis wish to send their congratulations.”

“Put them on,” said Atherton, smiling and sitting back in his chair.

The sound of cheering came over the radio, and the crew of the Centaur joined in.

“Send our congratulations back, and to the other two and signal the other ships in orbit. Tell them that we’re beginning preliminary stages of terraforming, and will signal them when we’re ready for them to land.”

“Their feet will be getting itchy,” said a blonde haired man with bright blue eyes.

“It won’t be long now, Reed,” said Atherton. “We’ll soon get this place looking like a home.”




The Doctor, Alice and Rotox had returned to the cavern where the Doctor had tried to explain to the Issenttiians who the “monsters” were. Rotox hadn’t really understood. He had simply continued to say to the Doctor and Alice that they were monsters and had begged the Doctor for help.

The Doctor shook his head and stormed off as the Issenttians formulated an attack plan.

Alice followed him into the tunnel where she found him sat on a rock, his head in his hands.

“Doctor,” said Alice, sitting next to him and putting an arm around him, “you have to try and help them.”

The Doctor closed his eyes. “It’s not just about helping them. You heard what Rotox said, there are other tribes all over the planet. I can’t save them all.”

“But you can try and save the ones here.”

“And where does it stop? Where do they go?”

“They survive. They go to another world. Similar to this.”

“You don’t understand, Alice,” said the Doctor, with a groan.

“Then explain,” she said, a little more frustrated this time. “What’s wrong with taking a small group of aliens off the planet to make sure their species survives.”

“It’s their whole religion,” he said, getting up and wandering over to the tunnel wall, refusing to look back at her. “This planet is their whole culture and religion. The Great Mountain. The Mountain of Life. It will all be gone. They’ll have nothing.”

“They’ll have life. They’ll have hope.”

“But I won’t be able to save their world,” said the Doctor, rounding her.

“Then go out there and tell the colonists.”

“I can’t. I’ve already told you that this planet is important to the Earth Empire. If they don’t terraform this world, then the future will change drastically.”

“Doctor-”

“Alice,” he said, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking right into her deep, brown eyes, “we are at the tipping point here. The tipping point of two civilisations. The death of one and the birth of another. We cannot interfere. We have to let history take it’s natural cause.”

“And just let them die?”

“And just let them die.”

“No. Sorry. Not today,” said Alice, as she jammed her bobble hat onto her head and began heading towards the tunnel exit.

“What? Where are you going?”

“To change the future.” She turned to look at him. “I’m gonna convince those colonists to leave.”

Next Time: The Doctor and Alice travel to the Centaur. Coming Saturday 15th February 2014.

The Tipping Point (Part 1)

“Alice!” came the shrill, female voice.




Alice awoke with a start. She was lying in her bed in the TARDIS. They had only been travelling for a little while when Alice had explained to the Doctor that what she really needed was a bit of a rest before she visited what the Doctor promised would be her first alien world.

He had shown her to a small room with a double bed, bedside table, full-length mirror and a lovely, white fluffy carpet. He had told her that it had belonged to a former travelling companion of his - Caroline - and that he was glad to have someone back in it at last.

She had only meant to rest her eyes, but had found herself drifting off into a deep sleep.

But now she was wide awake, sat on the edge of the bed and wondering where the voice had come from.

“Alice!” came the voice again, followed by a laugh.

She panicked and stood up quickly, feeling herself wobbling ever so slightly.

“Who’s there?” she called out?

She brushed her hair from out of her eyes and realised she had been sweating. She felt scared. Really, really scared.

“ALICE!” came the voice again.

This time she bolted for the bedroom door…

…and found herself in the darkened corridor outside.

“Knock, knock,” came the voice again.

Alice span around and at the bottom of the corridor she could make out a dark, obscured humanoid shape.

“Who are you? What’s going on?”

“ALICE!” screamed the voice again.

Alice shielded her eyes as the shadow ran along the corridor towards her, and then…

…The lights suddenly came on and Alice was standing there on her own.

She looked around her nervously, regained her composure, and then made her way towards the console room.




Once she got there she found the Doctor hunched over the console, eyes dark and staring down at one of the panels. He didn’t really seem to be looking at anything. Just staring vacantly.

“Doctor,” she said, “are you okay?”

“What?” he mumbled, not looking up from the panel.

“I heard a voice. There was a person in the corridor. It came for me.”

“The TARDIS is psychic,” he said, no hint of emotion in his voice. “It was probably tuning into something in your head…or mine. Were you asleep?”

“Yes.”

“Were you dreaming?”

Alice thought for a moment. “No. At least I don’t think that I was.”

“You don’t remember, because your dream escaped into the real world.”

“What? Is that possible.”

He looked at her, his face stern and his eyes cold. “In this time machine, anything is possible.” His eyes flicked to the sofa beside the console. “Sit down.”

“What?”

“Sit down.”

She looked at him. He looked frightening. Just for a moment. He wasn’t the person she’d met back in Little Pebbleford. He looked so, so different.

“Please,” he said, suddenly breaking into a smile. “We’re about to land.”

She quickly sat down on the sofa as the lights in the console room lowered gently. The sound of the TARDIS engines filled the console room before finishing off with a large THUD.

“We’ve landed,” he grinned.

Alice felt like she’d suddenly woken up again. Like the Doctor’s previous mood had been some kind of nightmare. It was difficult to get a handle on the bloke. He seemed so distant sometimes, but she wasn’t regretting coming. She just had to try and adjust to his way as best as possible.

“So,” she said, getting up from the sofa, “where’ve we landed?”

“Issenttii.”

“Ooh, sounds interesting.”

“Not really,” said the Doctor, bluntly. He flicked a switch and a TV monitor descended from the ceiling. On the screen was an arctic landscape with a blizzard blowing across it. There was nothing to be seen but miles and miles of ice and snow under a green sky.

“Well it looks…interesting,” lied Alice. She was trying to look excited, but was failing miserably. It looked just like the North Pole or something.

“It’s not interesting at all,” said the Doctor. “In fact, it’s quite a dull little world.”

“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.”




A few minutes later they emerged from the TARDIS. The Doctor had wrapped his coat tightly around him and was wearing a black scarf adorned with yellow smiley faces. He also wore a very silly looking bobble hat on his head.

Alice, meanwhile, had put on a big, grey coat she had found in a room near to hers. She’d also put on a woolly hat and a pink scarf.

She shivered in the biting cold winds.

“So,” continued the Doctor, “not too long from now, the first colony ships arrive. They set up camp and then begin to terraform the world around them.”

“How do you mean?” asked Alice, kneeling down and prodding the snow on the ground.

“They completely change the world around them. Alter it’s look and atmosphere and make it a more hospitable place to live. Issenttii is one of the key strategic points for the Earth Empire. This place is the springboard for countless other colony worlds. Without it, your planet would get nowhere.”

“And what about any aliens living here?”

“There aren’t any,” grinned the Doctor. “In the early days the Empire were quite careful which worlds to choose. They had to be uninhabited. They got a little careless later on, but Issenttii is definitely lifeless.”

“It’s good to know,” smiled Alice. The thought of a planet full of living beings being completely changed around them didn‘t impress her one bit. “So….what do we do now?”

“Investigate!” said the Doctor, clutching his cane and marching off towards a nearby mountain range.

“What is there to investigate?” shouted Alice as he walked off. “It’s uninhabited!”




They made their way across the icy wasteland and towards a nearby mountain.

Alice gazed up in awe of the huge, ice mountain that loomed over her. It felt so unreal to be here. She kept expecting to wake up from a dream and find herself in her bed, still in Little Pebbleford, with an hour to go before school.

“Just over there,” said the Doctor, spinning on the spot, “is where the first ships land.” He pointed about half a mile into the distance. Then he pointed up at the mountain. “The mountain remains and the settlements are built around it. In about 100 years this Mountain is renamed Mt. England.”

“Fantastic!” said Alice, smiling at the impossibility of it all. “You’d hardly think it was possible.”

“It’s all possible, Alice.”

Alice’s gaze was diverted momentarily to a nearby opening at the base of the mountain. “I wonder where that leads.”

“Hmmm?” said the Doctor, following her gaze.

“Looks like some kind of opening.”

The Doctor frowned. “Very strange,” he said, walking over to it. He knelt down beside it and ran his fingers along the edge of the opening.

“What’s strange about it?”

“Feel it,” said the Doctor, urging for her to have a look.

Alice crouched down and touched the edge of the opening. It was ice cold and very smooth.

“Well?”

A thought suddenly dawn on Alice. “It’s man made.”

“Exactly. Not a naturally formed opening in the mountain side.”

“But you said this place is uninhabited.”

“It is,” said the Doctor. “So it must have been a passing trade ship or something. Perhaps they crashed and needed to find shelter.”

“I don’t see a crashed spaceship,” said Alice, looking around the desolate waste ground. When she turned to face the Doctor again, he was already half inside the opening. “Hang on!”

“Come on,” said the Doctor. “Let’s go and see what they left us.”

Alice followed him into the icy tunnel. Strangely, the deeper and deeper they got into the mountain, the warmer it became, and Alice was glad of that fact. Soon she was removing her scarf and hat.

“Have you noticed something, Doc?” said Alice.

“What?” said the Doctor, gently running his hands along the smooth walls.

“We’re walking down steps.”

“Steps?” said the Doctor.

“Yes,” said Alice, stopping and nodding downwards. “They’re steps.”

And so they were. Crudely cut steps leading down and down into the mountain.

The Doctor frowned. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You said the planet was uninhabited. Are you sure?”

“There are no records of any alien life form on Issenttii. And even if there were, the Earth Empire wouldn’t land here and terraform the planet. Not if there were signs of life. Like I said, they got a bit ruthless in the later days, but not now. Now they’re just explorers.”

“Well,” said Alice, pushing forward, “let’s hope you’re right about that.”

As they continued on their way, Alice began to think about a few things she’d learnt of the Doctor since she’d decided to travel with him. He’d told her he was dying. She wasn’t exactly sure of what, but she had a feeling it wasn’t an every day disease.

Before Alice could ask him anything, he had already turned the questions on her. “So,” said the Doctor, “tell me a little of your home life.”

“Like what? It was very dull. Well,” continued Alice, “I say dull. It wasn’t really dull. Looking after my sisters was great, but I just didn’t have a lot of time for anything else. Mum and Dad were always at work. And then my Dad went away.”

“What happened?” said the Doctor, shining a small torch in her face.

“He ran away with another woman.”

“Ah,” said the Doctor, shining the beam away from her. “I’m sorry.”

“Ah, don’t mention it,” said Alice. “It was always going to break him. My sisters weren’t exactly the easiest of kids to deal with. I think he got scared after Katy was born. He wondered where it would all end.”

“That’s a pretty mean thing,” said the Doctor.

“A lot of blokes go through it, don’t they?”

“I wouldn’t know,” said the Doctor, looking a little uncomfortable.

“Oh come on, now, Doctor.” Alice smiled. “Have you ever been married? Any kids?”

He looked at her. “I’ve been a father. Several times in fact. And a grandfather.”

“Wow,” said Alice. “And where are your family now?”

The Doctor’s eyes flicked back to hers. “Better off without me.”

Alice frowned as she watched him edge a little further than her. That was an odd thing to say. She wondered if they’d disowned him for some reason. Surely no matter what had happened, though, they’d want to be with him for his final days. But then again, maybe he hadn’t told them.

She felt sorry for him. He was going to die alone and without family surrounding him. She made a conscious decision to try and stay with him as long as she could.

Eventually the tunnel widened out until they were in what looked like an entrance hall. The roof of the cave was quite high up, and there appeared to be a gap on the far wall.

“I really am not liking the look of all of this,” said the Doctor.

“Come on,” said Alice, “we better go and see what’s through there.”

Just as they were about to continue their walk, there was a running sound and the Doctor suddenly dropped from Alice’s view and crashed to the floor. When he hit the ground, the torch fell from the Doctor’s grip and blinked out.

“Doctor!” exclaimed Alice. “Where are you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” said the Doctor, scrambling around in the dark. “Just slightly bruised.”

Alice managed to feel around until she was touching the top of the Doctor’s shiny head. She felt for his arms and hauled him to his feet.

“What the hell was that?” asked Alice. “Something knocked you over.”

“Indeed,” said the Doctor, peering into the gloom, “and it ran towards the gap in the wall.”

“We can’t even see it now,” groaned Alice. “I can’t see the torch anywhere.”

“Fear not,” said the Doctor, lighting the end of the sonic screwdriver. It cast a red glow over them. It wasn’t bright enough to really see, but they could at least make out a general path.

“I don’t think this is safe,” said Alice, as they crept forward.

“It’s uninhabited.”

“So you keep saying.”

“It must be.”

Eventually they reached the crack and clambered through.

And then the Doctor’s hearts sank.

Below them, deep down in a large area at what looked like a cavernous crater, were lots and lots of lit fires, their flames dancing around wildly. Gathered around each and every one of the fires, were small, greyish figures. It was difficult to make out any features at this height, but they looked to be around 2 feet tall.

“Uninhabited?” said Alice, arching her eyebrows in the darkness.

“It would appear not,” said the Doctor.

Next Time: The Doctor and Alice are faced with difficult decisions when they meet Rotox and the Issenttiians. Coming Saturday 8th February 2014.