Series 1 Episode 12: Day of the Tsuraxi

Lydia stood inside of the TARDIS console. She was still amazed at the sight of it, but shocked by the fact that the Doctor and Matt were nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the ships console began to move as the ship dematerialised. She held on tightly as she began to enter orbit.

It was only a few moments before she arrived safely at her next destination. The doors burst open as Janet, holding the Doctor in her arms, rushed into the TARDIS followed by the civilians of the planet Moros.

Janet closed the doors of the ship before placing the Doctor on the floor. “We’ve got to get as far away from here as we can. Who the hell are you anyway?”

“I could ask you the same thing myself,” Lydia answered. “What happened?”

“These things called the Tsuraxi invaded the planet Moros and killed a few civilians. We’ve got most of them safe and sound here. We need to pilot the ship away from here. After all, we don’t know whether the Tsuraxi are capable of getting inside.”

Lydia kneeled down and looked at the Doctor, who was still unconscious. She tapped him on the cheek. “I know what the Tsuraxi can do-I’ve been at the heart of one of their attacks and it’s really not pleasant. I’m Lydia, Matts girlfriend. Well, ex-girlfriend. Where is he?”

Janet patted her on the shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

Lydia began to cry. Janet tried to comfort her.

“We’ve all lost more than we could ever imagine today,” Janet said. “But we’ve got to keep moving I’m afraid. That’s all we can do.”

Elsewhere on Moros, the Tsuraxi had murdered all but one individual: The shapeshifter called Scott Donovan, who was currently in the body of the Sectors servant. They threw him against a wall. The leader moved towards him.

“Where are they? The Doctor and his friends?”

Scott grinned. “You’ll never find them again. Anyhow, you can kill me. I’ve done all I wanted today. The Doctor shall be a dead man.”

“We must make sure of it. He currently has the Dark Emerald in his possession: Something we need for our own. We must locate the Doctor.”

“I don’t know why you’re asking me because I’m not going to help you. Once the Doctor goes inside that little blue box of his, he goes and you don’t know whether you’re going to be able to see him again. I’ve spent the last 4 years of my life trying to search for him in order to kill him, and now if he isn’t dead I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance. I don’t work with anybody, so if you’ve got any deals, then you can stick them wherever you want, because I don’t want anything to do with you.”

The Tsuraxi moved in for the kill but Scott pulled back the sword. He placed his hand on the Tsuraxi Leaders shoulder, transforming into him. With his new weapon, he fought with the other Tsuraxi soldiers. One of them came from behind and killed him.

“Our leader has been taken so now I shall take over the Tsuraxi order. Our number one priority is to confiscate the Dark Emerald. We must locate the Doctor.”

The TARDIS soon materialised. Lydia opened the door of the ship and realised she was in familiar surroundings. It was Manchester once again: Specifically her office. She saw herself strolling down the corridor, and was approached by two people.

“There’s me!” Lydia pointed. “And there’s Daniel and Janine! This must have been just before they fired me.”

The Lydia from the past strolled back towards her office and took a seat. Her boss approached her. Lydia from the present watched in wonder as events unfurled.

“So Lydia,” He began, in a frustrating tone, “You know we always appreciate your work here…”

The present day Lydia looked as her past self tutted at her boss.

“It’s never easy to say this to a respectable member of staff,” He continued, “But we’ve been forced to let you go, I’m afraid. Don’t fear, you’re not the only one: Daniel and Janine have been fired too."

Lydia chuckled. She hated Janine.

“We’ll give you a decent amount of redundancy pay, don’t worry.”

Lydias past self sighed, before strolling off towards her office. She sat down, and burst into tears. Her boss returned to his office. Lydia was upset: She did not want to take no for an answer. Storming back into her boss’s office, Lydia made a stand:

“I work my arse off here for you and this is how you repay me. I know you’ve fired Daniel and Janine, but that’s different because Daniel and Janine are bloody useless. Particularly Janine anyway. I-”

“I’m sorry. It’s just how it is I’m afraid. We’re in a difficult position at the moment, and the new bosses have told us that we need to get rid of a certain amount of staff. I’m so sorry.”

The present day Lydia noticed that a portal had formed in the corner of the room. A figure began to emerge. It was the Tsuraxi. Lydia tried to steer them back towards the portal so her past self would not notice. She hurried through the corridors of the building and entered her boss’s office.

“Lydia?” Her boss exclaimed. “I fired you, didn’t I? I’ve tried to explain it to you already. It’s just how it is I’m afraid.”

“I’m so sorry, sir. I need to distract her from the Tsuraxi. It needs to happen.”

Lydia grabbed a chair from the office and chucked it at the window. She then pushed her boss through it. From outside, she saw her past self run out of the coffee house and across the road to see what happened. The Tsuraxi appeared from behind them. They clicked their fingers and the tattoo appeared on her hand.

The Tsuraxi Leader looked at her. “We believe your past self is here, so we have marked her hand with the tattoo too. If he destroy her now, then you will never arrive in the TARDIS and we can retrieve the Dark Emerald.”

A voice came from behind. “We have the Dark Emerald in the TARDIS.” It was Janet. She shot the Tsuraxi Leader through the back, and killed the other soldiers. “We need to go, Lydia. We’ve got places to be.”

Janet and Lydia rushed towards the TARDIS where the Doctor remained unconscious and the residents of Moros were still hopeless. Janet tapped on a few buttons hurtling the ship through time and space once again. It was only a mere few moments before they arrived at their next destination.

Lydia forced open the doors of the ship revealing a destination that was very familiar to her: A hospital in Manchester. She could see Matts back from in front of her. Lydia called Janet over from the console.

“I need you to do something,” Lydia told Janet.

After a few moments of conversation, Janet knew just what she needed to do. Lydia had told her about what would happen next in this scenario. Lydias mother, Andrea, would need to be poisoned by someone who Lydia would soon grow attached to or was close to anyway. Janet hurried through the corridors of the TARDIS searching for something that could kill Andrea. She found something, and departed the TARDIS.

“Tell me, Lydia, how come you aren’t doing this?”

“Because I can’t kill my mother. If I did that, what sort of human being would I be?”

“I don’t really know much about all that sort of thing. All I know my mother from is pictures. She died giving birth to me.”

Lydia gave Janet a hug before hurrying her along. It was only a mere few moments before Lydia's future self entered the room. Janets mission was to get Andrea to trust her so that when she poisoned her, Andrea would say the exact same dialogue as she had to Lydia. Janet tapped Matt on the shoulder and waved.

“Hiya, Matt,” Janet grinned. “I’m just here to see if Andrea’s okay.”

“Hiya Janet. You know Andrea too?” Replied Matt.

“Yes very well. She’s a friend of my fathers. I need to go quickly.”

Janet entered the doors. Andrea looked at her suspiciously, a glare which Janet greeted with a cocky grin. She held the tablet she had gained in the TARDIS behind her back and dropped it into Andrea's water.

“Who are you?” Andrea asked. “Look, I’ve probably not got long left on this Earth so I don’t really want to waste that time speaking with strangers.”

“My name is Janet Wilkinson and I’m here to ask you whether you would be interested to feature in the first issue of the hospital newsletter. Just to chat about the good work the hospital has done for you and everything. I’ll go if not.”

“I may die any second now, and I don’t want you to experience that.”

Janet sniggered. “Don’t be stupid you’ve got a lot of time left, I’m sure, now take a sip of water.” Janet looked at the water, and suddenly what she was about to do dawned on her. She couldn’t kill an old lady like this, even if it meant changing the course of history. Janet grabbed the glass of water and dropped it on the floor.

“Janet?” Andrea said. “What are you doing?”

Matt burst in the door. “Are you okay, Andrea?”

Andrea nodded. “Yes, it’s just Janet is acting funnily. I think she needs some help.”

“No, I’m fine thank you Andrea, it’s okay. It’s just been a long day, that’s all. A very close friend died today.”

Janet looked at Matt. From behind him she noticed a figure in the doorway: It was a Tsuraxi. Janet hurried out of the room and through the corridors of the hospital before ducking behind a table to avoid being seen by the Tsuraxi soldiers. The creatures knocked on the door of the TARDIS.

From inside, Lydia flicked a button which made an image appear on the screen. It showed the exterior of the box where the Tsuraxi were attempting to enter. Lydia began to panic.

“Oh god, Janet is still out there. The Tsuraxi are outside.”

The Tsuraxi continued to knock on the door. One of them clicked their fingers as the doors of the ship opened. Janet rushed towards them, throwing one of them to the floor, grabbing their weapon and threatening another with it. Lydia screamed as one of the soldiers came towards her. They slaughtered one of the residents of Moros.

The Tsuraxi Leader cleared his throat before speaking. “The Tsuraxi came to Moros on the search for the item that was concealed there known as the Dark Emerald. If we do not receive the item, then we shall slaughter one person every thirty seconds until there are none of you left and we can take the item ourselves.”

The Leader grabbed one of the residents and slit his throat. Lydia carefully took the Emerald out of the Doctors hands and gave it to the Tsuraxi Leader.

“Thankyou,” The Leader grinned. “Now we can leave you be. The Tsuraxi now have the key to immortality, and it’s all thanks to you.” The Leader looked around the TARDIS. “Although, this would be a nice gift to go alongside that.”

Janet laughed from outside. “There’s no chance you’re getting this ship.”

One of the soldiers grabbed Janet, chucked her to the floor and held her at the tip of their sword. Lydia begged them to stop.

“If you cared about this woman, then you would give up this ship.”

“Don’t do it, Lydia,” Begged Janet.

Lydia stepped forward. “Take it. Take the ship. Take the Emerald. It doesn’t really matter. Even if you destroy the whole bloody universe.”

The Tsuraxi threatening Janet lifted up their weapon. The Tsuraxi Leader bowed as Lydia, Janet and the residents of Moros departed the ship. Lydia looked back and noticed the Doctors body was gone from the ship.

“Where’s the Doctor? He’s not where he was? He didn’t wake up, did he?”

The TARDIS dematerialised as Janet and Lydia looked at each other. They were trapped in their own pasts, something that could cause them difficulty. They watched as Lydia’s past self entered the hospital room.

“Oh no,” Lydia cried. “That cannot happen. That’s not possible. You didn’t kill her?”

“I couldn’t. I could not take a life.”

“But think about the consequences this could have. None of this may never happen if my mum does not die here and now. It’s too late. Time has been changed.”

“Well it looks like we’ll be sticking around here to see the aftermath.”

Lydia’s past self entered the hospital room as Matt departed it.

“I’ve got some exciting things to tell you, Mum,” Lydia’s past self boasted.

Andrea grinned. “I’d love to hear about them.”

Lydia and Janet sat down and watched over the remainder of the conversation. They had lost all ways of getting back home. They were going to have to stay and wait until time caught up with them.

Charlotte shot bullets at a target. She was training to become a member of UNIT. Ever since she had broken into UNIT HQ, Samuel Davison (One of the Leaders of the organisation) had grown interested in her becoming a member of the team. She had shown great courage and determination, and he believed she would give UNIT all a great team member required to give.

Samuel clapped his hands. “You shoot bullets at a target better than any other human being I’ve seen in my life time. I’m looking forward to you joining our ranks.”

Charlotte grinned. “So am I. It’ll help me forget everything else that’s going on.”

As she continued to shoot the bullets, she heard a distant sound. Something which she had heard before. Suddenly, the TARDIS materialised.

“It must be Lydia. She’s taken a while.”

The doors of the box were burst open as a number of Tsuraxi soldiers hurried out of it. Janet shot at them but they guarded themselves from the bullets with their swords. One of the Tsuraxi threw a sword towards Samuel, slicing his head of. Charlotte decided that she needed to run. She was terrified. She had never seen anything like this before. The creatures continued to throw swords at her but she managed to duck them by hiding under tables. She ran out of the building as she hurried down the edge of the street.

Elsewhere, Janet and Lydia looked helplessly as the latter’s past self departed the hospital room alongside Matt. They looked at each other and shared a brief kiss.

Janet sighed. “What the hell do we do now?”

“I know it’s not nice to kill someone, but if you killed my mum when you had the chance we wouldn’t be in this mess, would we?”

“But doesn’t this mean your mother is still alive?”

Lydia smiled. The two of them burst into Andrea’s hospital room.

“Didn’t you just leave here, my dear?” Andrea remarked.

Lydia nodded. “I was just so desperate to see you again. You don’t know how worried I get. I came with Janet-She’s here to do an interview.”

Janet moved forward and shook Andrea’s hand. “I’m sorry about earlier. I just get a bit stressed. I’ve been through a lot recently.”

Andrea grinned. “I know how it is, Janet. The last few months haven’t exactly been a tour de force for me either.”

The doors opened. It was the other Lydia. She held something in her hand.

“Sorry, Mum, I forgot to give you thi-”. She paused as she noticed her future self sitting next to her mother's side.

Lydia’s present self smiled. “Things are going to get complicated, sweetie.”

Charlotte hurried through the streets of Manchester to escape from the hoards of Tsuraxi that were chasing her. She heard screams from behind her. She realised that she could not run anymore. After all, she was a UNIT member now. She grabbed the gun now concealed in her pocket and shot the weapon out of one of the soldiers hands before they could slaughter another civilian. She swiped the sword, shot this soldier in the stomach and stabbed a few others, killing them instantly.

“This planet is closed for today, I’m afraid, ladies and gentlemen.”

The Tsuraxi Leader stepped forward. “No, it is not. No planet is closed to us. We have the Dark Emerald, meaning we can do whatever we like, wherever we like.”

“You speak like you’re children.”

“If you are trying to mock us, it is not working. We shall become leaders of the universe. The day of the Tsuraxi has come.”

A portal appeared as a creature shifted along the floor. It was not Tsuraxi. Charlotte did not recognise it. It began to speak in an echoey voice. “No! We are the only leaders of the universe. Daleks shall reign supreme.”

The Daleks exterminated a Tsuraxi soldier, killing them instantly. The Tsuraxi raised their weapons. The greatest war known to man was about to begin.

Next Week: Night of the Daleks