Post by Fitz Kreiner on Aug 30, 2012 20:36:18 GMT
The Doctor was sat leaning back in the chair in the briefing room in UNIT HQ, he feet crossed and up on the desk. He was idly turning the chair slightly, leaning from one side to the other. Morris was sat at the head of the table, the whiteboard behind him a mass of scrawling notes and information whilst before him, on the table, sat a brown file labelled “Misper”. Spilling out from it was a mass of paper and missing person flyers. Loding was sat to Morris’s right, whilst Tom and Jess sat beside the Doctor.
“Will, Will, Will, Will, Will,” the Doctor was saying. “Whilst I admire your dedication to this and the admirable nature of trying to find lost and missing persons, isn’t this more a police matter?”
“It was a police matter, Doctor,” Morris replied. “But they have asked us to get involved with this issue. You see, there are many people who go missing in London; run-aways, suicides, murders, the odd abduction and kidnapping. That’s nothing new. The thing is, several people have started disappearing rather quickly over the past six months; all within the central London area. Not only that, but these are people who don’t fit the profile of run-aways or people who would normally disappear.”
“And?” the Doctor asked. “What are you getting at, Will? Got any ideas you’re not sharing with us?” he asked with a smile.
Morris nodded. “This is something that was overlooked during the time of James Duncan,” he said. “As head of the police at the start of his rise to power, he should have known of this. But as he gained power, the police started to steer more away from this; as a result, more and more people started to disappear. It became something of a common thing to see these missing person posters appear.
“But as Britain was going through one of its worst hours since world war two, these became overlooked. It’s only since mid January this year that these things have started to be looked into. And there was a bit of a common theme amongst some of the disappearances; they were people who disappeared whilst at work; construction workers, engineers, transport workers. During the midst of their shifts, they just seemed to disappear; some clocked in but never clocked out.
“Naturally, the police became involved now that they weren’t under the Jackboot as it were. As we’ve done, the police started by investigating the sites of the disappearances. Sometimes they found nothing; sometimes they found a radio or tool left by one of those who disappeared. It was during their investigations that the first of the police began to disappear.”
“The police as well?” the Doctor asked.
“Yeah,” Tom replied. “That’s when their investigations stepped up and we started to pick it up. The police who have disappeared have stepped it up into higher profile. It always does when a copper disappears or dies.”
“Did the police ask you to get involved?” Jess asked.
“Yes,” Morris replied. “There had been some proper Jonathan Creek style disappearances; no possible way for them to disappear but they did. Today was the latest; in the Underground. A driver reported seeing a trespasser on the District line between Westminster and Waterloo. If you don’t know, that’s under the river. Since we’ve been investigating, one of our agents has disappeared as well.”
“Two of our agents, sir,” Lovatt’s voice came from the door.
The occupants of the room turned round to face her.
“Sorry, sir,” she replied, closing the door behind her and sitting at one of the seats. “I’ve just come from the ops room. Another of our agents appears to have gone AWOL. They’ve not reported in for about fifteen hours.”
“nuts,” Morris sighed. “Who was it?”
“Nat Simmonds,” Lovatt replied. “Something must have happened; she’s normally so punctual with her reports.”
“That’s two,” the Doctor said, solemnly. In a swift movement, he swung his legs off the table and leant forwards. “I don’t think it’s just the disappearances that’s the issue as well, is it?” he said.
“How did you-?” Lovatt began.
“Something drew the TARDIS here and drained the old girl’s power,” the Doctor admitted. “And if there’s something here on Earth that can do that to the TARDIS, then logically, it would have had an effect on your technology. Probably not to the same effect as it was probably directional when it affected us. But something on a more planet wide scale I would think.”
Morris looked at Lovatt who was staring at the Doctor, slightly open mouthed. “Well?” he asked. “You seem to be more in the know there, Staff.”
“Staff?” the Doctor asked, his eyes lighting up as he looked up at Lovatt. In a quick movement he was on his feet and standing over Lovatt, pumping her arm up and down furiously. “Congratulations, Allison,” he cried. “Another promotion, and hugely well deserved no doubt.”
“Erm, yes,” Lovatt managed, “thank you.”
“Sorry, what were you saying?” the Doctor asked, returning to his seat.
“Well,” Lovatt said, slight taken aback by the Doctor’s sudden change of behaviour. “I’ve just come from the ops room, been getting the handover from Rutherford.” Lovatt paused as she looked around the five other occupants in the room before licking her lips and recounting what she had learnt in the ops room.
After Lovatt had finished her story, the room turned to look at the Doctor. The Time Lord was sat back in his chair; his feet back up on the desk, his hands together, forefingers tapping his lips softly. After several seconds he spoke.
“It seems to me, Will,” he said, swinging his feet off the desk and leaning forwards, pointing a long finger at Morris. “That you’ve got two different problems here.”
“Exactly, Doctor,” Morris replied.
“Ah-ha!” the Doctor cried with a grin. “Wrong.”
“Wrong?” Jess asked. “On one hand you’ve got people disappearing and on the other you’ve got what sounds like a computer virus. Then, we’ve got our problem; the TARDIS.”
“Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess,” the Doctor said, turning his chair to face her. “Think about it; there’s just the one problem. What happened to the TARDIS was a directional attack; what’s happening with the computer systems here is a global problem.”
“Yeah,” Jess said, “I get that, but-”
“No, no, think,” the Doctor urged. “What I said; there’s something on Earth which dragged us here. Something which has the power to target a TARDIS would have an overflowing effect; some immense power which is effecting all around it on a world wide scale.”
“Doctor,” Morris started.
“Will,” the Doctor said, spinning back to face the group. “As I said, this is not two different issues. The people who disappeared, you said they were workers; construction workers, engineers and so on?”
“Yes,” Morris said slowly.
“People who work in these areas; electricians, telephone engineers that sort of person?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes, but I don’t see-” Morris began.
“No, you don’t, Will,” the Doctor said. “That’s the problem."
“Doctor, I,” Morris started, rising slightly.
“Will, please, listen to me,” the Doctor urged, not moving. “The people who disappeared, they did have something in common; they were likely to have been called to investigate power losses or disruptions to phone lines. As for the construction workers, people who discovered something maybe? You have to join the dots, Will. It’s far too coincidental, and when you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn never to ignore a coincidence.”
“You’re saying these disappearances are connecting with this computer virus thing?” Loding asked.
“Yes,” the Doctor replied simply. “And something tells me that this is more than a computer virus.”
“But what about all the others who disappeared?” Morris asked.
“I can only assume that they found out too much, or discovered something they shouldn’t,” the Doctor mused. “Like your new chap today. The driver of that train saw something, something he couldn’t explain and thought it was a trespasser; someone messing around on the lines. He reported it in, like he should, and the latest disappearance is the poor unfortunate man who was sent in to investigate it.”
“So, instead of one thing, we’re actually investigating the same thing from two different angles?” Lovatt asked.
“Precisely, Allison,” the Doctor smiled, pointing a finger at Lovatt.
“Right then,” Morris said, standing up and wiping the board behind him clean. “Corporal, I want you to-”
“Will, wait,” the Doctor said, standing and walking round the table to him. “From what it seems, you’ve already got things well underway. Far be it from me to interfere,”
Jess and Tom looked at each other, a slight smirk playing across their lips.
“But,” the Doctor continued, ignoring his two friends, “I will at least make a couple of suggestions,” he said, placing an arm around Morris’s shoulder and drawing him over to the window. “Will, you’ve got a good team here, you’ve got them working where they need. You, Suzanne and Tom are looking into the case of the disappearances and Allison here has been looking into this computer virus and energy drain. I only need to tweak just one or two things.”
“Doctor,” Morris said, a slight warning tone in his voice.
“Oh please?” the Doctor asked almost like a child asking to stay out to play longer. “I just want to look into the background of this energy issue and virus, if it is a virus. But I may have to borrow Tom back.”
“Me?” Tom asked, looking round.
“You’re not saying you don’t want to stick with us anymore are you?” Jess asked.
“Settled,” the Doctor smiled. “You’re doing a great job here, Will; I’ve got great faith in you. Follow up the leads you’ve got today and I’ll look into these technical issues.”
“What about us?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, you say you want to borrow me, yet you seemed to just take me out of it all,” Tom said. “Don’t you think that I can handle things?”
The Doctor smiled and looked at Tom. “Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom,” he said softly. “Far from it; I know you and Jess and your talents, and I think you’d be better employed doing what you do best.”
Tom glanced over at Jess, who looked from the Doctor to him and gave a small smile that was supposed to be reassuring, yet there was a certain element of uncertainty to it.
“Do what we do best?” Tom asked.
The Doctor gave a broad grin before glancing over to Morris. “No disrespect to Will,” he said, turning back to face his young friends, “but you’re not army, you’ve a certain amount more freedom than the armed forces will ever have, whatever may have been freed up after the last few months, or not. Have a bit of a breather, I’m sure Jess will appreciate it, and then carry on regardless.”
The Doctor gave a broad grin as Tom and Jess glanced at each other before getting to their feet.
“You sure?” Tom asked, shifting uncomfortably as he approached the Doctor.
“Positive,” the Time Lord smiled, clapping Tom on the shoulder.
Tom smiled at the Doctor before nodding to Morris and leaving the briefing room. As she left to follow him, the Doctor took hold of Jess’ arm.
“Jess, keep an eye on Tom, will you,” he whispered. “I’m worried about him; make sure he doesn’t do anything silly.”
“You just asked us to do what we normally do, that’s carte blanche for him to do something silly, surely?” she replied with a worried smile.
“You know what I mean,” the Doctor replied. “You’ve got the same worries. Keep him away from talking about the Master and his concerns about something coming. I don’t want him making a mistake and jumping to the wrong conclusions.”
“Like you never do,” Jess teased, trying to ignore the worry that was starting to creep over her. She knew full well what the Doctor meant; she had spoken to him about her concerns for Tom and his apparent detachment over the last few weeks, at least, the last few weeks for her.
“Jess?” Tom called from the corridor.
“Coming,” she called back, giving another worried glance up at the Doctor before following her friend out.
“Now, Doctor,” Morris said as soon as the door was closed. “Perhaps you would care to tell me what all that was about?”
“All in good time, Will, all in good time,” the Doctor replied.
“No, Doctor, now,” Morris said. “If I spotted it, I’m sure that Tom would have spotted it. You know full well he’s no idiot.”
“No, but he’s distracted,” the Doctor replied, sitting back down. “Will, I don’t mind admitting, that I’m worried about him. This last issue with the Master has got to him; he told me about what happened during the last few months, his outbursts in the Wingmoore institute and his outburst when you interviewed the tube driver this afternoon. That’s not like him.”
“I’d noticed,” Morris said. “When I first met him, he was different. I thought it was just the being stuck on Earth thing that was worrying him, and whether or not he would see you again.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” the Doctor said, waving the comment away. “The fact of the matter is, the Master was right; something is coming. And the worrying thing is, I don’t know what it is. But something has drained the power from my TARDIS. For something to be able to do that, it must be immensely powerful. That means that something big is happening here and now.”
“But,” Loding ventured, “you’re a time traveller; surely you already know what it is if you’ve seen the future?”
“Time doesn’t work like that,” the Doctor said sadly. “It’s all relative. I can’t know what is in my personal future, even if I do know what is in other people’s futures. It hasn’t happened to me yet, so I don’t know what it is. And besides, you humans have a remarkable capacity for self deception. Just take the last year; the Derbyshire Incident, the Autons, the Klil-Raath, James Duncan. I can tell you categorically that James Duncan is virtually wiped from all history. Give it a few years and people will forget, either naturally or willingly. The Autons are being passed off as a terrorist attack, people will believe it because it is much more believable an excuse for the general public than what actually happened.”
“Ok, point taken,” Loding said.
“Alright Doctor,” Morris said. “We’ve had our differences, but surely you’ve something you know which can help us?”
“Will,” the Doctor said sadly, “anything I say to you know will just be pure supposition. Sometimes I think that I know too much, and that in itself is a curse. I know so much that sometimes it clouds my judgement. I’m not infallible, Will, remember that. We all make mistakes.”
“Doctor, what are you getting at?” Lovatt asked.
“I’m not going to jump to conclusions,” the Doctor replied. “Not when we’re dealing with something that is powerful enough to drain the energies of a TARDIS. I want to be armed with all the essential information I can get so that together we can stop this.”
Morris looked up at the Doctor. His sad blue-green eyes were steely and determined. He had fixed the soldier with a cold and sincere stare and immediately Morris knew that the Doctor was worried. That thought made his blood run cold.
Above the Earth, directly from the planet’s magnetic north, a second dark ship was moving towards the planet. As the first, this ship was answering the silent call that was being sent from the planets’ northern hemisphere.
Already, the ship’s sensors could detect the signals that were undetectable by the natives of the planet snaking their way around the globe, through the primitive communication systems.
The approaching craft could already detect the first ship concealed behind the planets sole satellite. It could detect the small spheres which were finding their way to the artificial satellite network. As the ship approached, it released its own spheres. The sole occupants of these spheres emerged into the vacuum as they set about their sabotage of the satellites.
As the ship approached the moon, it moved into position beside its fellow. Already they had signalled back to the source of the signal on the planet below and received a further signal. The crew knew they had to maintain position and wait. The sabotage being conducted on the satellite network would leave the planet blind and defenceless and ripe for picking.
“Will, Will, Will, Will, Will,” the Doctor was saying. “Whilst I admire your dedication to this and the admirable nature of trying to find lost and missing persons, isn’t this more a police matter?”
“It was a police matter, Doctor,” Morris replied. “But they have asked us to get involved with this issue. You see, there are many people who go missing in London; run-aways, suicides, murders, the odd abduction and kidnapping. That’s nothing new. The thing is, several people have started disappearing rather quickly over the past six months; all within the central London area. Not only that, but these are people who don’t fit the profile of run-aways or people who would normally disappear.”
“And?” the Doctor asked. “What are you getting at, Will? Got any ideas you’re not sharing with us?” he asked with a smile.
Morris nodded. “This is something that was overlooked during the time of James Duncan,” he said. “As head of the police at the start of his rise to power, he should have known of this. But as he gained power, the police started to steer more away from this; as a result, more and more people started to disappear. It became something of a common thing to see these missing person posters appear.
“But as Britain was going through one of its worst hours since world war two, these became overlooked. It’s only since mid January this year that these things have started to be looked into. And there was a bit of a common theme amongst some of the disappearances; they were people who disappeared whilst at work; construction workers, engineers, transport workers. During the midst of their shifts, they just seemed to disappear; some clocked in but never clocked out.
“Naturally, the police became involved now that they weren’t under the Jackboot as it were. As we’ve done, the police started by investigating the sites of the disappearances. Sometimes they found nothing; sometimes they found a radio or tool left by one of those who disappeared. It was during their investigations that the first of the police began to disappear.”
“The police as well?” the Doctor asked.
“Yeah,” Tom replied. “That’s when their investigations stepped up and we started to pick it up. The police who have disappeared have stepped it up into higher profile. It always does when a copper disappears or dies.”
“Did the police ask you to get involved?” Jess asked.
“Yes,” Morris replied. “There had been some proper Jonathan Creek style disappearances; no possible way for them to disappear but they did. Today was the latest; in the Underground. A driver reported seeing a trespasser on the District line between Westminster and Waterloo. If you don’t know, that’s under the river. Since we’ve been investigating, one of our agents has disappeared as well.”
“Two of our agents, sir,” Lovatt’s voice came from the door.
The occupants of the room turned round to face her.
“Sorry, sir,” she replied, closing the door behind her and sitting at one of the seats. “I’ve just come from the ops room. Another of our agents appears to have gone AWOL. They’ve not reported in for about fifteen hours.”
“nuts,” Morris sighed. “Who was it?”
“Nat Simmonds,” Lovatt replied. “Something must have happened; she’s normally so punctual with her reports.”
“That’s two,” the Doctor said, solemnly. In a swift movement, he swung his legs off the table and leant forwards. “I don’t think it’s just the disappearances that’s the issue as well, is it?” he said.
“How did you-?” Lovatt began.
“Something drew the TARDIS here and drained the old girl’s power,” the Doctor admitted. “And if there’s something here on Earth that can do that to the TARDIS, then logically, it would have had an effect on your technology. Probably not to the same effect as it was probably directional when it affected us. But something on a more planet wide scale I would think.”
Morris looked at Lovatt who was staring at the Doctor, slightly open mouthed. “Well?” he asked. “You seem to be more in the know there, Staff.”
“Staff?” the Doctor asked, his eyes lighting up as he looked up at Lovatt. In a quick movement he was on his feet and standing over Lovatt, pumping her arm up and down furiously. “Congratulations, Allison,” he cried. “Another promotion, and hugely well deserved no doubt.”
“Erm, yes,” Lovatt managed, “thank you.”
“Sorry, what were you saying?” the Doctor asked, returning to his seat.
“Well,” Lovatt said, slight taken aback by the Doctor’s sudden change of behaviour. “I’ve just come from the ops room, been getting the handover from Rutherford.” Lovatt paused as she looked around the five other occupants in the room before licking her lips and recounting what she had learnt in the ops room.
After Lovatt had finished her story, the room turned to look at the Doctor. The Time Lord was sat back in his chair; his feet back up on the desk, his hands together, forefingers tapping his lips softly. After several seconds he spoke.
“It seems to me, Will,” he said, swinging his feet off the desk and leaning forwards, pointing a long finger at Morris. “That you’ve got two different problems here.”
“Exactly, Doctor,” Morris replied.
“Ah-ha!” the Doctor cried with a grin. “Wrong.”
“Wrong?” Jess asked. “On one hand you’ve got people disappearing and on the other you’ve got what sounds like a computer virus. Then, we’ve got our problem; the TARDIS.”
“Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess, Jess,” the Doctor said, turning his chair to face her. “Think about it; there’s just the one problem. What happened to the TARDIS was a directional attack; what’s happening with the computer systems here is a global problem.”
“Yeah,” Jess said, “I get that, but-”
“No, no, think,” the Doctor urged. “What I said; there’s something on Earth which dragged us here. Something which has the power to target a TARDIS would have an overflowing effect; some immense power which is effecting all around it on a world wide scale.”
“Doctor,” Morris started.
“Will,” the Doctor said, spinning back to face the group. “As I said, this is not two different issues. The people who disappeared, you said they were workers; construction workers, engineers and so on?”
“Yes,” Morris said slowly.
“People who work in these areas; electricians, telephone engineers that sort of person?” the Doctor asked.
“Yes, but I don’t see-” Morris began.
“No, you don’t, Will,” the Doctor said. “That’s the problem."
“Doctor, I,” Morris started, rising slightly.
“Will, please, listen to me,” the Doctor urged, not moving. “The people who disappeared, they did have something in common; they were likely to have been called to investigate power losses or disruptions to phone lines. As for the construction workers, people who discovered something maybe? You have to join the dots, Will. It’s far too coincidental, and when you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn never to ignore a coincidence.”
“You’re saying these disappearances are connecting with this computer virus thing?” Loding asked.
“Yes,” the Doctor replied simply. “And something tells me that this is more than a computer virus.”
“But what about all the others who disappeared?” Morris asked.
“I can only assume that they found out too much, or discovered something they shouldn’t,” the Doctor mused. “Like your new chap today. The driver of that train saw something, something he couldn’t explain and thought it was a trespasser; someone messing around on the lines. He reported it in, like he should, and the latest disappearance is the poor unfortunate man who was sent in to investigate it.”
“So, instead of one thing, we’re actually investigating the same thing from two different angles?” Lovatt asked.
“Precisely, Allison,” the Doctor smiled, pointing a finger at Lovatt.
“Right then,” Morris said, standing up and wiping the board behind him clean. “Corporal, I want you to-”
“Will, wait,” the Doctor said, standing and walking round the table to him. “From what it seems, you’ve already got things well underway. Far be it from me to interfere,”
Jess and Tom looked at each other, a slight smirk playing across their lips.
“But,” the Doctor continued, ignoring his two friends, “I will at least make a couple of suggestions,” he said, placing an arm around Morris’s shoulder and drawing him over to the window. “Will, you’ve got a good team here, you’ve got them working where they need. You, Suzanne and Tom are looking into the case of the disappearances and Allison here has been looking into this computer virus and energy drain. I only need to tweak just one or two things.”
“Doctor,” Morris said, a slight warning tone in his voice.
“Oh please?” the Doctor asked almost like a child asking to stay out to play longer. “I just want to look into the background of this energy issue and virus, if it is a virus. But I may have to borrow Tom back.”
“Me?” Tom asked, looking round.
“You’re not saying you don’t want to stick with us anymore are you?” Jess asked.
“Settled,” the Doctor smiled. “You’re doing a great job here, Will; I’ve got great faith in you. Follow up the leads you’ve got today and I’ll look into these technical issues.”
“What about us?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, you say you want to borrow me, yet you seemed to just take me out of it all,” Tom said. “Don’t you think that I can handle things?”
The Doctor smiled and looked at Tom. “Oh, Tom, Tom, Tom,” he said softly. “Far from it; I know you and Jess and your talents, and I think you’d be better employed doing what you do best.”
Tom glanced over at Jess, who looked from the Doctor to him and gave a small smile that was supposed to be reassuring, yet there was a certain element of uncertainty to it.
“Do what we do best?” Tom asked.
The Doctor gave a broad grin before glancing over to Morris. “No disrespect to Will,” he said, turning back to face his young friends, “but you’re not army, you’ve a certain amount more freedom than the armed forces will ever have, whatever may have been freed up after the last few months, or not. Have a bit of a breather, I’m sure Jess will appreciate it, and then carry on regardless.”
The Doctor gave a broad grin as Tom and Jess glanced at each other before getting to their feet.
“You sure?” Tom asked, shifting uncomfortably as he approached the Doctor.
“Positive,” the Time Lord smiled, clapping Tom on the shoulder.
Tom smiled at the Doctor before nodding to Morris and leaving the briefing room. As she left to follow him, the Doctor took hold of Jess’ arm.
“Jess, keep an eye on Tom, will you,” he whispered. “I’m worried about him; make sure he doesn’t do anything silly.”
“You just asked us to do what we normally do, that’s carte blanche for him to do something silly, surely?” she replied with a worried smile.
“You know what I mean,” the Doctor replied. “You’ve got the same worries. Keep him away from talking about the Master and his concerns about something coming. I don’t want him making a mistake and jumping to the wrong conclusions.”
“Like you never do,” Jess teased, trying to ignore the worry that was starting to creep over her. She knew full well what the Doctor meant; she had spoken to him about her concerns for Tom and his apparent detachment over the last few weeks, at least, the last few weeks for her.
“Jess?” Tom called from the corridor.
“Coming,” she called back, giving another worried glance up at the Doctor before following her friend out.
“Now, Doctor,” Morris said as soon as the door was closed. “Perhaps you would care to tell me what all that was about?”
“All in good time, Will, all in good time,” the Doctor replied.
“No, Doctor, now,” Morris said. “If I spotted it, I’m sure that Tom would have spotted it. You know full well he’s no idiot.”
“No, but he’s distracted,” the Doctor replied, sitting back down. “Will, I don’t mind admitting, that I’m worried about him. This last issue with the Master has got to him; he told me about what happened during the last few months, his outbursts in the Wingmoore institute and his outburst when you interviewed the tube driver this afternoon. That’s not like him.”
“I’d noticed,” Morris said. “When I first met him, he was different. I thought it was just the being stuck on Earth thing that was worrying him, and whether or not he would see you again.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” the Doctor said, waving the comment away. “The fact of the matter is, the Master was right; something is coming. And the worrying thing is, I don’t know what it is. But something has drained the power from my TARDIS. For something to be able to do that, it must be immensely powerful. That means that something big is happening here and now.”
“But,” Loding ventured, “you’re a time traveller; surely you already know what it is if you’ve seen the future?”
“Time doesn’t work like that,” the Doctor said sadly. “It’s all relative. I can’t know what is in my personal future, even if I do know what is in other people’s futures. It hasn’t happened to me yet, so I don’t know what it is. And besides, you humans have a remarkable capacity for self deception. Just take the last year; the Derbyshire Incident, the Autons, the Klil-Raath, James Duncan. I can tell you categorically that James Duncan is virtually wiped from all history. Give it a few years and people will forget, either naturally or willingly. The Autons are being passed off as a terrorist attack, people will believe it because it is much more believable an excuse for the general public than what actually happened.”
“Ok, point taken,” Loding said.
“Alright Doctor,” Morris said. “We’ve had our differences, but surely you’ve something you know which can help us?”
“Will,” the Doctor said sadly, “anything I say to you know will just be pure supposition. Sometimes I think that I know too much, and that in itself is a curse. I know so much that sometimes it clouds my judgement. I’m not infallible, Will, remember that. We all make mistakes.”
“Doctor, what are you getting at?” Lovatt asked.
“I’m not going to jump to conclusions,” the Doctor replied. “Not when we’re dealing with something that is powerful enough to drain the energies of a TARDIS. I want to be armed with all the essential information I can get so that together we can stop this.”
Morris looked up at the Doctor. His sad blue-green eyes were steely and determined. He had fixed the soldier with a cold and sincere stare and immediately Morris knew that the Doctor was worried. That thought made his blood run cold.
*
Above the Earth, directly from the planet’s magnetic north, a second dark ship was moving towards the planet. As the first, this ship was answering the silent call that was being sent from the planets’ northern hemisphere.
Already, the ship’s sensors could detect the signals that were undetectable by the natives of the planet snaking their way around the globe, through the primitive communication systems.
The approaching craft could already detect the first ship concealed behind the planets sole satellite. It could detect the small spheres which were finding their way to the artificial satellite network. As the ship approached, it released its own spheres. The sole occupants of these spheres emerged into the vacuum as they set about their sabotage of the satellites.
As the ship approached the moon, it moved into position beside its fellow. Already they had signalled back to the source of the signal on the planet below and received a further signal. The crew knew they had to maintain position and wait. The sabotage being conducted on the satellite network would leave the planet blind and defenceless and ripe for picking.