Post by Fitz Kreiner on Aug 9, 2012 20:17:19 GMT
“How long, exactly, have these disappearances been occurring?” the Doctor asked. He was sat lounging back on the sofa in the lab, his feet resting on a small table, idly flicking through an old, shabby radio times magazine.
“You- You’re not angry or upset?” Tom asked, a puzzled look crossing his face.
Jess was sat on the leatherette office chair by the computer in the corner. She had initially been spinning back and forth on it when Tom has started his story, but at his mentioning of the incidents with the Master and grabbing the man by the throat, she had stopped and started intently paying attention. It didn’t sound like the Tom she knew, and that worried her.
“Tom,” the Doctor said, placing the magazine back on the table and leaning forwards. “Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom; you told me about the dreams you’ve been having, I know how traumatic your first experience with the Master was.”
The Doctor paused and looked closely at Tom. The younger Time Lord was sat on the work bench, a haunted look in his eyes. There was a look of fear evident that had never been there before.
“Yeah, but still, I’m better than that, aren’t I?” Tom managed hopefully. “I mean, what about today?”
“Tom, this could be the start of whatever it was the Master was referring to,” the Doctor replied.
“You mean he wasn’t just making stuff up?” Jess asked.
“I doubt it,” the Doctor replied. “Remember what I said when we first arrived here; something was drawing the TARDIS here. I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t what the Master was referring to. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t just saying a lot of this to antagonise you, Tom. You’re young and inexperienced and you were the one who caught him when we last met him; he wouldn’t let that one lie, that’s not the Master’s way. He’d have fed you enough information to work you up. He is, in that body, temptation personified; he’s not just a master of evil, but a master of psychology. He would have worked that to his advantage. It’s not the first time he’s done it and it won’t be the last.”
“But, Doctor,” Tom started.
“Tom,” the Doctor cut him off, jumping to his feet and walking over the room before laying a hand on the wooden exterior of the TARDIS. “I’m possibly even pickier than the Master, especially about who I ask to travel with me.” He paused and patted the shell of the TARDIS before turning and walking over to Tom and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I promise you that I didn’t leave you here on purpose, the TARDIS was drawn here. This is where we should have arrived, rather than back in October with the Klil-Raath. We should never have arrived then, but then, if we hadn’t, then things would have been very different now, if you hadn’t been instrumental in stopped James Duncan.”
“Whoa,” Jess chucked, “a girl could get a headache listening to all this. I was never great with all the timey wimey stuff, even on Star Trek and Professor X. Even The Terminator got me; I mean, if they’d succeeded in killing off John Connor, then he wouldn’t have existed, so they wouldn’t have gone back to kill him, so he would have been born and beaten Skynet, so they’d have sent the Terminator back, who killed him and so Skynet won and so the Terminator wasn’t sent back and so John Connor was born.” Jess trailed off as she saw the two Time Lords staring at her. Sheepishly, she realised that she was counting off what she was saying on her fingers and meekly folded her hands and smiled sweetly. “Sorry,” she finished.
“A twist on the Grandfather Paradox.” The Doctor smiled. “And the first film was the better of the series, although James never took on my ideas about the time travel aspect of the film.” It was the Doctor’s turn to fall silent as his two companions stared at him. “Yes, anyway,” he said meekly before continuing. “We were always meant to arrive here. When the TARDIS was drawn away, I was trying immediately to return to pick you up, I wouldn’t have abandoned you.”
“Sorry, I’m completely lost now,” Tom replied. “What Terminator is this? You’ve not had another run in with the Daleks have you?”
After several seconds, Jess and the Doctor laughed. The tension in the room broke and not quite knowing what he was laughing at, Tom joined in; the relief of being reunited with his friends overwhelming.
“Doctor, I appreciate this, but what about what I told you,” Tom said after the laughter had died down.
“Tom,” the Doctor said, placing his hands on Tom’s shoulders and staring into his eyes, “we’ll discuss this later.” With a swift movement he turned round and picked up the newspaper. “Right now though, I’m rather more interested in this; people going missing. What do you know about it?”
“Only what I’ve told you,” Tom replied. “The only lead we had about seeing something and I was thrown out of the interview because of how I am. I’m not me anymore.”
“Tom, forget about that,” the Doctor urged. “It’s the Master in your head. He’s gone now, and you’re you.”
“How do I know?” Tom asked.
“I do,” the Doctor said with a smile.
“Just as long as you’re back with us,” Jess smiled, reaching out and squeezing Tom’s hand.
Tom smiled at Jess before turning back to the Doctor. “Look, if you want to know more, ask the Cap,” he said.
“Will? Oh, I intend to,” the Doctor said, before catching himself and his face darkened.
“What I want to know though,” Jess said, “is what you know already? You said something pulled us here? What was it? And what could do that to the TARDIS; drain it’s power?”
“Drain-?” Tom looked at Jess, before looking over her shoulder at the silent police box in the corner. “What do you mean?”
“The TARDIS is dead,” Jess said. “Just as we arrived, something seemed to take all the power from it.”
“What on earth can do that?” Tom asked, turning to look at the Doctor.
The Time Lord said nothing; there was a great sadness to his eyes, almost a haunted look. Slowly he placed his hand on the ship to the side of the door, resting his forehead against the wooden shell.
For several seconds there was silence in the lab. Cautiously, Jess and Tom glanced at each other before they were brought back by the Doctor’s voice.
“Nothing on Earth,” he said softly turning to face his two companions. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but for something to draw the power from the TARDIS, to penetrate her defences, it must be immensely powerful, and alien. This has only happened to the old girl once before, but that was a long way from here and long time from now.”
“Could that have anything to do with this?” Tom asked.
“I doubt it,” the Doctor replied. “It was on the planet Exxilon; the ancient city of the Exxilons. It was a sentient city, built by the ancient Exxilons; it became so powerful that it destroyed their civilisation, reduced them to near savages who built up a religion about their once home. As much as I’m loathed to say it, I had to cause the city a neural collapse, destroy it.”
“But how can that be related to now?” Jess asked.
“That’s just it; it can’t,” the Doctor said, gently tapping his bottom lip with his forefinger. “The only two other possibilities could be the Time Lords, maybe using a time scoop or some relic of the Old Time, or the Daleks.”
Jess and Tom shot horrified glances to each other. Their blood ran cold at the very mention of the name; having seen what they could do; having seen them exterminate a planet’s entire population bar one. The Doctor’s oft mentioning of his greatest foes further added to the fear that the two already had regarding the metal monstrosities.
“Daleks?” Tom said, his voice wavering slightly. “OK, I joked about them earlier, but seriously? Here; on Earth now?”
“I just don’t know,” the Doctor replied. “I sincerely hope not. The Daleks have time technology and they have tried many times to gain the power of the Time Lords and take their place, but unless the Daleks of this time have learnt something new, they shouldn’t be able to siphon off the power from the TARDIS.”
“But if they’ve travelled from the future, from a time they could?” Jess asked.
“I’d rather hope it’s not the Daleks,” the Doctor replied.
“Alright, the Time Lords,” Tom said.
“That’s what worries me,” the Doctor said. “They’ve directed my flight before, remotely manipulated the controls of the TARDIS, but never cut her power. Unless of course,” he trailed off, his face becoming haunted.
“Doctor?” Jess asked a sense of fear evident in her voice. “What is it?”
“The TARDIS could have brought us here for something,” he said softly, “but for her power to drain like that; it’s almost as though she’s been cut off from the Eye of Harmony.”
“The Eye of Harmony?” Jess asked.
“An immensely powerful source of power, situated on Gallifrey,” the Doctor explained. “Rassilon trapped a black hole, stabilised it and brought it to Gallifrey. It’s the source of all the Time Lord’s power, what fuels a TARDIS.”
“And if someone’s attacked that?” Tom said. “Unleashing a black hole on Gallifrey?”
“I hope that’s not the case,” the Doctor replied. “No, that can’t be the case.”
“Then what is the case?” Jess asked.
The Doctor fell silent, a look of intense concentration crossed his face and his eyes drifted off into the distance. After several seconds of silence, Jess looked over to Tom, who merely shrugged his shoulders.
“What is it?” Jess whispered.
“From what I remember,” Tom replied, keeping an eye on the Doctor, “the Eye of Harmony is located in a specially shielded chamber below the Capitol on Gallifrey. Like the Doc said; it supplies energy to the TARDISes and all time equipment, as well as Gallifrey itself. Harnessing the power of a black hole is not an easy thing, and it’s how the Time Lords get our,” Tom paused, “their technology to do what it does. But is someone has tapped that, or destroyed it, it doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“A black hole on a planet?” Jess asked. “How did they do that?”
“I don’t remember, or I don’t know,” Tom said, his face screwing up as he tried to probe his own memories. “I know of, or remember, the Eye of Harmony, but beyond that-” He shrugged.
The sound of heavy footsteps in the corridor outside the lab caused the two to look up. The Doctor was seemingly oblivious to them, still staring out of the window, tapping his lips with the first and second finger of his right hand, humming an opera to himself quietly. The sound of the door being slammed open made everyone turn to face it.
“Tom, if you ever pull a stunt like that agai-” Morris thundered, trailing off when he saw who was in the room. “I,” he stumbled over himself, “Doctor?”
“Hello, Will,” the Doctor said, his face remaining stony. “Finally washed the Klil-Raath’s blood off your hands?”
“You were glad enough of our help with the Autons, and the regular army’s help with the Derbyshire incident,” Morris said coldly. “And need I mention all the times in the seventies and Lethbridge-Stewart?”
“Will,” the Doctor started, stepping towards Morris.
“I’ve had plenty more time to think about things and read up,” Morris continued, cutting the Doctor short. “I read about the Silurians up in the Derbyshire moors; how Lethbridge-Stewart blew them up. And I read about the Sea Devils; how you blew them up. Don’t go calling the kettle black, if you are yourself.”
“Those were extenuating circumstances,” the Doctor replied, somewhat taken aback. “I did what I had to to avert a war.”
“And so did I, Doctor,” Morris said. He had feared this moment for six months. He had the feeling that the Doctor would have still been holding a grudge and had spent the last six months preparing his argument for the inevitable return of the Time Lord. “I was following orders; they may have been right or wrong, but I had to follow them,” he continued. “It turns out, they may have been wrong,” he slumped his shoulders, “but I had to obey them.”
The Doctor blinked, not expecting the admission.
“I’m sure that you’ve had time to catch up with Tom,” Morris continued, “and I’m sure that he’s told you what happened the last six months. A lot has happened and the whole of the Army has come under scrutiny. It all kicked off back in August, following the Derbyshire thing, and we put a stop to it back in December.”
Tom cleared his throat, cutting in. “Who cleared it up?” he asked.
“You were the most instrumental,” Morris said, “and as loathed as I am to say it; so was the Master.”
“You and me both,” Tom muttered.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” the Doctor said quickly, “Tom has gone through that, I don’t need it again. Someone tried a manipulated coup, took control over the police and army, yadda yadda yadda. What I do want to know is; what are you investigating at the moment?”
“You mean Tom hasn’t told you that?” Morris asked, glancing at Tom.
“Yeah, course,” Jess said. “It’s these disappearances, isn’t it?”
The Doctor smiled and placed a hand on Morris’s shoulder, drawing him into the room. “Will, there’s something more to these disappearances, isn’t there? Something you maybe haven’t told Tom? Something you may not even have realised. I would like to see all your files on this. I’ve got a very unpleasant feeling about it all.”
“Come on, babe, doesn’t the idea excite you?”
Chelsea Halliday shrugged Jason Cole’s hands off her shoulders. “C’mon Jay,” she said, lighting up a cigarette. “It’s broad bloody daylight. What if someone walking their dog finds us? Or a kid looking for a ball.”
“So what?” Jason replied, taking the cigarette from Chelsea and taking a drag himself. “That’s part of the fun of doin’ it outside; the risk of being caught.” Jason tossed the cigarette aside and leaned closer into the Chelsea and began to kiss her neck.
“Seriously, stop it,” Chelsea said, shrugging him off again. “I said no, alright.”
“Chel, come on,” Jason said, trying to massage Chelsea’s shoulders, but only succeeding in aggravating her further.
“Jay, I’m not in the bloody mood alright,” she snapped, standing up. “God, you’ve only ever got one thing on your mind you perv.” Turning, she stormed off away from Jason and towards the river.
“Fine, go you frigid cow,” Jason shouted after her. “Maybe I’ll hit up your sister, heard she’s a bit of a bike, will never turn down a suck!”
Fuming and refusing to turn back, Chelsea stormed through the trees and onto one of the paths. Wiping away a tear, she looked up and saw the towering chimneys of the Battersea Power Station beyond the railway bridge. Turning, she walked down one of the paths towards the river and leant heavily on the railings looking out across the water at the large houses of Chelsea, the borough of her namesake.
Chelsea waited for ten minutes, staring out at the water and wiping the tears from her eyes. Ten minutes and Jason still hadn’t come after her; Manisha was right, he wasn’t worth the hassle.
Looking down at the silt bank of the river, something caught her eye; something moving very quickly. Squinting, she tried to see what it was, but it was partly buried under the silt and mud. Unsure why, but it drew her in. She had to run along the path to see where it was heading.
Reaching the Chelsea bridge Warf, Chelsea stopped and clambered onto the railings to try to see where the object had gone. The path curved off away from the river, but whatever it was had piqued Chelsea’s interest and she wasn’t sure why. Deciding that she had already come this far, Chelsea climbed over the railings and dropped onto the river bank below. Her feet sunk slightly into the muddy silt and she stumbled, falling into the mud.
Cursing, she picked herself up, mud clinging to her arms and knees. She had come this far, maybe it was being so mad at Jason that had caused her to be this rash. Looking round, she found that she’d lost sight of whatever it was she was following. She was ankle deep in the mud of the Thames. Strangely, no one had seemed to have spotted her jumping over the railing onto the river banks.
Looking round, she saw that the walls up to the path were sheer concrete. There was no hope for her climbing up them. The gravity of her situation suddenly seemed to fall onto her and she found herself choking back a sob. Her only hope was to either attract the attention of a passer-by or find a way further along the bank she could climb up. Numbed for a second, Chelsea fell backwards and into the mud. Sitting there for several minutes, she let the sobs and tears come freely now.
Chelsea was looking round the bank through teary eyes when she saw a shadow move. She looked around for the source of it, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything which could have caused it. Scrambling around in the mud to get back to her feet took longer than she expected, and by the time she looked back for the shadow, it had gone.
“Oh, great; f**king marvellous,” Chelsea cried looking around. “Help me! Somebody; help me!” she screamed.
A sound caused her to turn round. It was the sound of something heavy being scraped across stone. An opening had appeared in the concrete wall behind her. She started in amazement at the black opening. She couldn’t see anything inside it. Glancing up and down the river bank she saw no other hope of getting out. Maybe it was a sewer worker or something. That had to be the only answer; it was a door that she just hadn’t seen before in her distraught state. Cautiously, she stepped towards it.
“Hello?” she called into the dark. “Hello? Whoever you are, thank you.” Chelsea stepped into the dark. The floor was rough and uneven, and her feet splashed in small pools of water. “Hello? Is there anyone in there?” she called, her voice echoing down the dank tunnel.
A heavy grating sound from behind her made her spin round and almost lose her footing. The heavy grating sound was continuing and Chelsea was sure that the gap of light was shrinking. The heavy door was being closed behind her. She screamed and flung herself at the blackness where the door had been, her hands hitting a concrete wall hard.
She was in pitch blackness. There was no light at all. Frantically, she scrabbled about the wall, trying desperately to find where the doorway had been. All she succeeded in doing was rub her fingers raw on the rough concrete.
“Hello?” she screamed at the top of her voice, the echo lasting several seconds.
Then she remembered; the cigarette lighter. She still had Jason’s Zippo cigarette lighter in her trouser pocket. Fumbling for it, she pulled it out and struck the wick. The yellow flame flickered into life with a spark and illuminated the rough worn corridor in a flickering yellow light. The shadows danced on the walls and large shadows stretched towards her.
“Is there anyone down there?” Chelsea shouted.
There was a sound in the darkness. Chelsea strained her ears to try to hear it. There was something or someone in this tunnel with her. Fear and panic swept over her as she tried to look through the gloom. She could see nothing in the darkness outside the small sphere of light the lighter was generating.
The sound came again, this time from behind her. Chelsea turned round trying desperately to see into the darkness. There was something; something huge and monstrous. The shape was indistinct in the darkness but definitely moving towards her. Chelsea stepped back and into something behind her. Chelsea screamed in fear and panic and dropped the lighter, extinguishing the light.
The light never returned for Chelsea Halliday.
“You- You’re not angry or upset?” Tom asked, a puzzled look crossing his face.
Jess was sat on the leatherette office chair by the computer in the corner. She had initially been spinning back and forth on it when Tom has started his story, but at his mentioning of the incidents with the Master and grabbing the man by the throat, she had stopped and started intently paying attention. It didn’t sound like the Tom she knew, and that worried her.
“Tom,” the Doctor said, placing the magazine back on the table and leaning forwards. “Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom, Tom; you told me about the dreams you’ve been having, I know how traumatic your first experience with the Master was.”
The Doctor paused and looked closely at Tom. The younger Time Lord was sat on the work bench, a haunted look in his eyes. There was a look of fear evident that had never been there before.
“Yeah, but still, I’m better than that, aren’t I?” Tom managed hopefully. “I mean, what about today?”
“Tom, this could be the start of whatever it was the Master was referring to,” the Doctor replied.
“You mean he wasn’t just making stuff up?” Jess asked.
“I doubt it,” the Doctor replied. “Remember what I said when we first arrived here; something was drawing the TARDIS here. I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t what the Master was referring to. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t just saying a lot of this to antagonise you, Tom. You’re young and inexperienced and you were the one who caught him when we last met him; he wouldn’t let that one lie, that’s not the Master’s way. He’d have fed you enough information to work you up. He is, in that body, temptation personified; he’s not just a master of evil, but a master of psychology. He would have worked that to his advantage. It’s not the first time he’s done it and it won’t be the last.”
“But, Doctor,” Tom started.
“Tom,” the Doctor cut him off, jumping to his feet and walking over the room before laying a hand on the wooden exterior of the TARDIS. “I’m possibly even pickier than the Master, especially about who I ask to travel with me.” He paused and patted the shell of the TARDIS before turning and walking over to Tom and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I promise you that I didn’t leave you here on purpose, the TARDIS was drawn here. This is where we should have arrived, rather than back in October with the Klil-Raath. We should never have arrived then, but then, if we hadn’t, then things would have been very different now, if you hadn’t been instrumental in stopped James Duncan.”
“Whoa,” Jess chucked, “a girl could get a headache listening to all this. I was never great with all the timey wimey stuff, even on Star Trek and Professor X. Even The Terminator got me; I mean, if they’d succeeded in killing off John Connor, then he wouldn’t have existed, so they wouldn’t have gone back to kill him, so he would have been born and beaten Skynet, so they’d have sent the Terminator back, who killed him and so Skynet won and so the Terminator wasn’t sent back and so John Connor was born.” Jess trailed off as she saw the two Time Lords staring at her. Sheepishly, she realised that she was counting off what she was saying on her fingers and meekly folded her hands and smiled sweetly. “Sorry,” she finished.
“A twist on the Grandfather Paradox.” The Doctor smiled. “And the first film was the better of the series, although James never took on my ideas about the time travel aspect of the film.” It was the Doctor’s turn to fall silent as his two companions stared at him. “Yes, anyway,” he said meekly before continuing. “We were always meant to arrive here. When the TARDIS was drawn away, I was trying immediately to return to pick you up, I wouldn’t have abandoned you.”
“Sorry, I’m completely lost now,” Tom replied. “What Terminator is this? You’ve not had another run in with the Daleks have you?”
After several seconds, Jess and the Doctor laughed. The tension in the room broke and not quite knowing what he was laughing at, Tom joined in; the relief of being reunited with his friends overwhelming.
“Doctor, I appreciate this, but what about what I told you,” Tom said after the laughter had died down.
“Tom,” the Doctor said, placing his hands on Tom’s shoulders and staring into his eyes, “we’ll discuss this later.” With a swift movement he turned round and picked up the newspaper. “Right now though, I’m rather more interested in this; people going missing. What do you know about it?”
“Only what I’ve told you,” Tom replied. “The only lead we had about seeing something and I was thrown out of the interview because of how I am. I’m not me anymore.”
“Tom, forget about that,” the Doctor urged. “It’s the Master in your head. He’s gone now, and you’re you.”
“How do I know?” Tom asked.
“I do,” the Doctor said with a smile.
“Just as long as you’re back with us,” Jess smiled, reaching out and squeezing Tom’s hand.
Tom smiled at Jess before turning back to the Doctor. “Look, if you want to know more, ask the Cap,” he said.
“Will? Oh, I intend to,” the Doctor said, before catching himself and his face darkened.
“What I want to know though,” Jess said, “is what you know already? You said something pulled us here? What was it? And what could do that to the TARDIS; drain it’s power?”
“Drain-?” Tom looked at Jess, before looking over her shoulder at the silent police box in the corner. “What do you mean?”
“The TARDIS is dead,” Jess said. “Just as we arrived, something seemed to take all the power from it.”
“What on earth can do that?” Tom asked, turning to look at the Doctor.
The Time Lord said nothing; there was a great sadness to his eyes, almost a haunted look. Slowly he placed his hand on the ship to the side of the door, resting his forehead against the wooden shell.
For several seconds there was silence in the lab. Cautiously, Jess and Tom glanced at each other before they were brought back by the Doctor’s voice.
“Nothing on Earth,” he said softly turning to face his two companions. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but for something to draw the power from the TARDIS, to penetrate her defences, it must be immensely powerful, and alien. This has only happened to the old girl once before, but that was a long way from here and long time from now.”
“Could that have anything to do with this?” Tom asked.
“I doubt it,” the Doctor replied. “It was on the planet Exxilon; the ancient city of the Exxilons. It was a sentient city, built by the ancient Exxilons; it became so powerful that it destroyed their civilisation, reduced them to near savages who built up a religion about their once home. As much as I’m loathed to say it, I had to cause the city a neural collapse, destroy it.”
“But how can that be related to now?” Jess asked.
“That’s just it; it can’t,” the Doctor said, gently tapping his bottom lip with his forefinger. “The only two other possibilities could be the Time Lords, maybe using a time scoop or some relic of the Old Time, or the Daleks.”
Jess and Tom shot horrified glances to each other. Their blood ran cold at the very mention of the name; having seen what they could do; having seen them exterminate a planet’s entire population bar one. The Doctor’s oft mentioning of his greatest foes further added to the fear that the two already had regarding the metal monstrosities.
“Daleks?” Tom said, his voice wavering slightly. “OK, I joked about them earlier, but seriously? Here; on Earth now?”
“I just don’t know,” the Doctor replied. “I sincerely hope not. The Daleks have time technology and they have tried many times to gain the power of the Time Lords and take their place, but unless the Daleks of this time have learnt something new, they shouldn’t be able to siphon off the power from the TARDIS.”
“But if they’ve travelled from the future, from a time they could?” Jess asked.
“I’d rather hope it’s not the Daleks,” the Doctor replied.
“Alright, the Time Lords,” Tom said.
“That’s what worries me,” the Doctor said. “They’ve directed my flight before, remotely manipulated the controls of the TARDIS, but never cut her power. Unless of course,” he trailed off, his face becoming haunted.
“Doctor?” Jess asked a sense of fear evident in her voice. “What is it?”
“The TARDIS could have brought us here for something,” he said softly, “but for her power to drain like that; it’s almost as though she’s been cut off from the Eye of Harmony.”
“The Eye of Harmony?” Jess asked.
“An immensely powerful source of power, situated on Gallifrey,” the Doctor explained. “Rassilon trapped a black hole, stabilised it and brought it to Gallifrey. It’s the source of all the Time Lord’s power, what fuels a TARDIS.”
“And if someone’s attacked that?” Tom said. “Unleashing a black hole on Gallifrey?”
“I hope that’s not the case,” the Doctor replied. “No, that can’t be the case.”
“Then what is the case?” Jess asked.
The Doctor fell silent, a look of intense concentration crossed his face and his eyes drifted off into the distance. After several seconds of silence, Jess looked over to Tom, who merely shrugged his shoulders.
“What is it?” Jess whispered.
“From what I remember,” Tom replied, keeping an eye on the Doctor, “the Eye of Harmony is located in a specially shielded chamber below the Capitol on Gallifrey. Like the Doc said; it supplies energy to the TARDISes and all time equipment, as well as Gallifrey itself. Harnessing the power of a black hole is not an easy thing, and it’s how the Time Lords get our,” Tom paused, “their technology to do what it does. But is someone has tapped that, or destroyed it, it doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“A black hole on a planet?” Jess asked. “How did they do that?”
“I don’t remember, or I don’t know,” Tom said, his face screwing up as he tried to probe his own memories. “I know of, or remember, the Eye of Harmony, but beyond that-” He shrugged.
The sound of heavy footsteps in the corridor outside the lab caused the two to look up. The Doctor was seemingly oblivious to them, still staring out of the window, tapping his lips with the first and second finger of his right hand, humming an opera to himself quietly. The sound of the door being slammed open made everyone turn to face it.
“Tom, if you ever pull a stunt like that agai-” Morris thundered, trailing off when he saw who was in the room. “I,” he stumbled over himself, “Doctor?”
“Hello, Will,” the Doctor said, his face remaining stony. “Finally washed the Klil-Raath’s blood off your hands?”
“You were glad enough of our help with the Autons, and the regular army’s help with the Derbyshire incident,” Morris said coldly. “And need I mention all the times in the seventies and Lethbridge-Stewart?”
“Will,” the Doctor started, stepping towards Morris.
“I’ve had plenty more time to think about things and read up,” Morris continued, cutting the Doctor short. “I read about the Silurians up in the Derbyshire moors; how Lethbridge-Stewart blew them up. And I read about the Sea Devils; how you blew them up. Don’t go calling the kettle black, if you are yourself.”
“Those were extenuating circumstances,” the Doctor replied, somewhat taken aback. “I did what I had to to avert a war.”
“And so did I, Doctor,” Morris said. He had feared this moment for six months. He had the feeling that the Doctor would have still been holding a grudge and had spent the last six months preparing his argument for the inevitable return of the Time Lord. “I was following orders; they may have been right or wrong, but I had to follow them,” he continued. “It turns out, they may have been wrong,” he slumped his shoulders, “but I had to obey them.”
The Doctor blinked, not expecting the admission.
“I’m sure that you’ve had time to catch up with Tom,” Morris continued, “and I’m sure that he’s told you what happened the last six months. A lot has happened and the whole of the Army has come under scrutiny. It all kicked off back in August, following the Derbyshire thing, and we put a stop to it back in December.”
Tom cleared his throat, cutting in. “Who cleared it up?” he asked.
“You were the most instrumental,” Morris said, “and as loathed as I am to say it; so was the Master.”
“You and me both,” Tom muttered.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” the Doctor said quickly, “Tom has gone through that, I don’t need it again. Someone tried a manipulated coup, took control over the police and army, yadda yadda yadda. What I do want to know is; what are you investigating at the moment?”
“You mean Tom hasn’t told you that?” Morris asked, glancing at Tom.
“Yeah, course,” Jess said. “It’s these disappearances, isn’t it?”
The Doctor smiled and placed a hand on Morris’s shoulder, drawing him into the room. “Will, there’s something more to these disappearances, isn’t there? Something you maybe haven’t told Tom? Something you may not even have realised. I would like to see all your files on this. I’ve got a very unpleasant feeling about it all.”
*
“Come on, babe, doesn’t the idea excite you?”
Chelsea Halliday shrugged Jason Cole’s hands off her shoulders. “C’mon Jay,” she said, lighting up a cigarette. “It’s broad bloody daylight. What if someone walking their dog finds us? Or a kid looking for a ball.”
“So what?” Jason replied, taking the cigarette from Chelsea and taking a drag himself. “That’s part of the fun of doin’ it outside; the risk of being caught.” Jason tossed the cigarette aside and leaned closer into the Chelsea and began to kiss her neck.
“Seriously, stop it,” Chelsea said, shrugging him off again. “I said no, alright.”
“Chel, come on,” Jason said, trying to massage Chelsea’s shoulders, but only succeeding in aggravating her further.
“Jay, I’m not in the bloody mood alright,” she snapped, standing up. “God, you’ve only ever got one thing on your mind you perv.” Turning, she stormed off away from Jason and towards the river.
“Fine, go you frigid cow,” Jason shouted after her. “Maybe I’ll hit up your sister, heard she’s a bit of a bike, will never turn down a suck!”
Fuming and refusing to turn back, Chelsea stormed through the trees and onto one of the paths. Wiping away a tear, she looked up and saw the towering chimneys of the Battersea Power Station beyond the railway bridge. Turning, she walked down one of the paths towards the river and leant heavily on the railings looking out across the water at the large houses of Chelsea, the borough of her namesake.
Chelsea waited for ten minutes, staring out at the water and wiping the tears from her eyes. Ten minutes and Jason still hadn’t come after her; Manisha was right, he wasn’t worth the hassle.
Looking down at the silt bank of the river, something caught her eye; something moving very quickly. Squinting, she tried to see what it was, but it was partly buried under the silt and mud. Unsure why, but it drew her in. She had to run along the path to see where it was heading.
Reaching the Chelsea bridge Warf, Chelsea stopped and clambered onto the railings to try to see where the object had gone. The path curved off away from the river, but whatever it was had piqued Chelsea’s interest and she wasn’t sure why. Deciding that she had already come this far, Chelsea climbed over the railings and dropped onto the river bank below. Her feet sunk slightly into the muddy silt and she stumbled, falling into the mud.
Cursing, she picked herself up, mud clinging to her arms and knees. She had come this far, maybe it was being so mad at Jason that had caused her to be this rash. Looking round, she found that she’d lost sight of whatever it was she was following. She was ankle deep in the mud of the Thames. Strangely, no one had seemed to have spotted her jumping over the railing onto the river banks.
Looking round, she saw that the walls up to the path were sheer concrete. There was no hope for her climbing up them. The gravity of her situation suddenly seemed to fall onto her and she found herself choking back a sob. Her only hope was to either attract the attention of a passer-by or find a way further along the bank she could climb up. Numbed for a second, Chelsea fell backwards and into the mud. Sitting there for several minutes, she let the sobs and tears come freely now.
Chelsea was looking round the bank through teary eyes when she saw a shadow move. She looked around for the source of it, but she couldn’t see anyone or anything which could have caused it. Scrambling around in the mud to get back to her feet took longer than she expected, and by the time she looked back for the shadow, it had gone.
“Oh, great; f**king marvellous,” Chelsea cried looking around. “Help me! Somebody; help me!” she screamed.
A sound caused her to turn round. It was the sound of something heavy being scraped across stone. An opening had appeared in the concrete wall behind her. She started in amazement at the black opening. She couldn’t see anything inside it. Glancing up and down the river bank she saw no other hope of getting out. Maybe it was a sewer worker or something. That had to be the only answer; it was a door that she just hadn’t seen before in her distraught state. Cautiously, she stepped towards it.
“Hello?” she called into the dark. “Hello? Whoever you are, thank you.” Chelsea stepped into the dark. The floor was rough and uneven, and her feet splashed in small pools of water. “Hello? Is there anyone in there?” she called, her voice echoing down the dank tunnel.
A heavy grating sound from behind her made her spin round and almost lose her footing. The heavy grating sound was continuing and Chelsea was sure that the gap of light was shrinking. The heavy door was being closed behind her. She screamed and flung herself at the blackness where the door had been, her hands hitting a concrete wall hard.
She was in pitch blackness. There was no light at all. Frantically, she scrabbled about the wall, trying desperately to find where the doorway had been. All she succeeded in doing was rub her fingers raw on the rough concrete.
“Hello?” she screamed at the top of her voice, the echo lasting several seconds.
Then she remembered; the cigarette lighter. She still had Jason’s Zippo cigarette lighter in her trouser pocket. Fumbling for it, she pulled it out and struck the wick. The yellow flame flickered into life with a spark and illuminated the rough worn corridor in a flickering yellow light. The shadows danced on the walls and large shadows stretched towards her.
“Is there anyone down there?” Chelsea shouted.
There was a sound in the darkness. Chelsea strained her ears to try to hear it. There was something or someone in this tunnel with her. Fear and panic swept over her as she tried to look through the gloom. She could see nothing in the darkness outside the small sphere of light the lighter was generating.
The sound came again, this time from behind her. Chelsea turned round trying desperately to see into the darkness. There was something; something huge and monstrous. The shape was indistinct in the darkness but definitely moving towards her. Chelsea stepped back and into something behind her. Chelsea screamed in fear and panic and dropped the lighter, extinguishing the light.
The light never returned for Chelsea Halliday.
