Series 1 Episode 7: The Island of Lydia Barker

Some places in the universe have yet to be explored by the human race. The deepest depths of the Ocean, the furthest reaches of the sky, the largest plains of space. But there’s one land, located near the equator, that is rather impossible to reach, and that’s why no outsider had ever ventured there before. The legends called this the Island of Lydia Barker.

Lydia Barker was an outsider. She was born in Manchester on 6th December 1989 and had lived in Manchester for the whole of her life until one day, a strange man arrived in her home. His name was the Doctor-and he was the man who changed her life forever. The inhabitants of the island claimed that Lydia had arrived on the Island through a rift in time alongside a group of other friends: They were Corporal George Thompson, his brother Timmy and Private Nigel Tucker. They were soldiers from the First World War.

Lydia had travelled through time and space a number of times before, but George, Timmy and Nigel, whose memories of supernatural events in the trenches were wiped by the Gods of Ragnarok, were unfamiliar with time travel. When they arrived on the Island, nobody knew where they were. A watcher from far away had spotted them. This particular watcher was worried: There had never been an outsider on their Island before. Perhaps it was one of the Keepers: The Demons who they claimed watched over the Island and would one day come to destroy them. They were unaware of when this day would be, but they were confident that it would happen.

The Watcher blew his horn which grasped the attention of the other Islanders. The Islanders grouped together as they ran towards the strangers. Lydia, George, Timmy and Nigel were petrified, and had no other option but to hurry away as quickly as they could.

The four of them hurried across the Island, but within time they arrived at the sea. Lydia, George and Nigel began to swim, but Timmy did not know how. The Islanders roared as they ran towards Timmy, clutching their swords tightly in their hands. George hurried out of the sea and grabbed Timmy before the Islanders came towards them. They caught up with Lydia and Nigel-who were now fast ashore. The Islanders did not know how to swim either, which was why they had never escaped. They stood at the shore for a moment, but eventually retreated when they lost sight of the four outsiders.

The four of them returned to the shore after a while. They were unsure of what to do next. Lydia noticed a tree nearby so climbed up it, cut off a branch and held it as if it were a sword. The other three soon did the same. The four of them settled down by the shore while also keeping watch for the Islanders. Timmy struggled to catch hold of his breath. George held him tightly in his hands.

“It’s going to be fine,” Lydia smiled, “I think it’s best we swim out in a little while.”

“But we don’t know where we are,” Revealed Nigel. “I mean we could be anywhere in the world.”

“We could be anywhen too,” Lydia replied. “Whatever and wherever this Island is, it’s dangerous. We cannot stay here because if we do then we will be killed by those savages. They have obviously been on this Island for a very long time, and obviously we are the first outsiders to be here for a long time too. Just stay close to me, please.”

Lydia noticed an Islander approaching them, so signalled them to move towards a nearby cave. The four of them hurried towards it before they were spotted by the Islander. They each crawled inside. It was rather small, but was the perfect hiding spot from the Islanders.

It was only a few minutes before they heard a faint voice from outside. Two Islanders entered the cave. One of these Islanders pointed towards an ancient drawing depicted on the stone.

“It is time,” One of the Islanders revealed, “The ancient prophecy claims that the Keepers of the Island shall come today. It is Judgement day.”

The other Islander stepped forward. “Do you believe the outsiders are the Keepers?”

“I do not know, Natasha, but they must be dangerous. They have escaped, but if they are the

Keepers that the prophecy tells us about then they shall return to wreak havoc on our lives. They must be destroyed on sight.”

George pointed towards another exit in the cave which the four of them decided to crawl out of. On the other side, an Islander stood holding his weapon high in the air. The four of them crawled back but were cornered by the two other Islanders inside of the cave.

The Islanders carried the four outsiders towards a nearby cage. Lydia, George, Nigel and Timmy were all forced inside of it.

One of the Islanders locked the cage, before taking a step back. He pointed towards the outsiders. “You are outsiders. Outsiders are forbidden in these lands. These lands are our lands. You shall answer our questions, and then you shall be destroyed.”

Lydia sighed. “I’ve almost died quite a lot recently, and I don’t really want to almost die again. We heard two of your Islanders talking inside of the cave, and we are not the Keepers your prophecy tells you about. We are not important. We are just four people who accidentally fell into the wrong teleport and ended up here.”

The Islanders looked at her with confused expressions on their faces. The one who had spoken before (Who Lydia believed was the leader of the tribe) spoke once again: “Whether you are the Keepers or you are not, you are Intruders here, and that is forbidden. You shall be destroyed.”

Another Islander stepped forward. “Wait a second! They may be here to warn us about the Keepers. If they are not the Keepers, then they may grant us information about what the prophecy means.”

The leader of the tribe glanced at him for a moment, and thought about this Islanders words. “So you believe these Islanders should be given a chance to explain themselves, do you, Dando?”

Dando nodded. The Leader of the Tribe grabbed their sword and stabbed it through Dando’s heart. Dando fell to the floor in pools of blood.

The Leader of the Tribe chuckled. “Dando dared to question the laws of the Island. Does anyone else dare to question me?”

The Islanders remained silent for a while. Lydia, George, Nigel and Timmy stood in terror. The Leader of the tribe turned towards the cage before approaching the four intruders. He glared at them for a moment.

“These people here are intruders on the Island and they must be vanquished, before they destroy us.”

One of the Islanders from inside of the cave, Natasha, stepped forward. “You keep saying you are going to destroy them, and yet you haven’t. Why do you keep delaying it? Just kill them now!”

An unpleasant silence dawned on the Island. The Leader of the Tribe stepped towards Natasha. “You dare to challenge me, Natasha?”

Lydia poked her hand through the cage, unlocked it and hurried away alongside the others. The Islanders were distracted as Natasha and the leader of the tribe fought to the death. Lydia, George, Nigel and Timmy paced through the cave and across the Island until they reached the waters. They dove in, with George holding Timmy close by once again.

It was a few hours before they reached a safe place. They were exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and in desperate need of shelter. They had arrived in some kind of Jungle environment. Lydia called to see if there was anyone else around which was followed by the echoes of footsteps. The group held their wooden swords high, but they all knew this defence was useless. A silhouette hurried towards them from the distance. It was Matt.

“Lydia?” Matt asked, with a joyous expression on his face. “Oh you don’t know how pleased I am to see you! You’re not dead?”

Lydia chuckled. “Never. These are my friends-George, Nigel and Timmy.”

Matt shook hands with each of them before gifting Lydia with a hug. He was so relieved to see her.

“Why are you here?” Lydia wandered, “Did the Doctor get back to Manchester in the end?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about him. UNIT HQ were developing a new piece of technology which could transport matter between two set places, so I offered to test it out for them. I heard whispers through the jungle, which made me jump, so I stepped away, but in the process I stepped on the machine. I’ve been here for hours now.”

Lydia grinned. “I’m so pleased to see you anyhow! But we’re trapped here now. How’s everything going in Manchester?”

Matt chose not to respond to that question. “So where did you meet your friends?”

“It’s a long story.” Lydia looked at them. George had settled Timmy down on the floor, and Nigel was searching for food. They needed to get home.

The distant whispers began to sound once again. The five of them backed away to the edge of the Jungle. Matt held Lydia tightly in his hands. They were all terrified at the prospect of what was to come.

Meanwhile on the Island, Natasha and the Tribes Leader continued to fight. Eventually, the Leader stabbed Natasha in the stomach, causing her to fall to the floor. She passed away. The tribes Leader looked towards the cage and noticed the prisoners had escaped.

“The Intruders have escaped! Begin a search party immediately!”

In the Jungle, a bright light beckoned from far away. A number of silhouettes became clear. These figures ran towards the five of them. Lydia, Matt and George looked into the distance as the figures became more clear. They were holding weapons in their hands: Weapons more advanced than anything all of them apart from Matt were aware of. George woke Timmy up. Timmy leaped up of the ground and shifted towards Lydia and Matt.

Lydia and Matt soon realised what these figures were: It was the Tsuraxi. There were dozens of them running towards the group. The five of them were outnumbered.

Nigel continued to wander through the forest in search of food and necessary supplies. On the floor, he noticed a weapon, more advanced than anything he was aware of. He ran back towards the others, just before the hoards of Tsuraxi reached them. Nigel shot the pistol in the air, as the Tsuraxi paused.

“Stay back!” Nigel shouted.

Lydia looked at him. “They are a vicious alien warrior race. They will not be threatened by your weapon.”

Nigel tutted. He shot one of the creatures, knocking it to the floor. The hoard of Tsuraxi continued to run towards the five of them. The group backed towards the sea. Nigel dropped his gun on the floor so ran to grab it again, but George pulled him back into the water before he could do so. The Tsuraxi hurried through the sea and chased after the five humans. One of the Tsuraxi threw their sword towards Lydia, but she managed to duck before it could hit her. The soldiers increased their speed as the humans did the same. Timmy ran out of breath and paused for a moment. The sea was getting deeper by the second so the others began to swim away. George noticed that Timmy had stopped so ran towards his little brother to save him. The Tsuraxi caught up with Timmy. They slit his throat, as he fell to the floor in agony. George fell into the sea in floods of tears as Timmy’s body was washed ashore. The Tsuraxi caught up with George, stabbing him through the heart. Nigel, Lydia and Matt continued to swim away. The Tsuraxi paused.

The three of them eventually reached the Island they had only recently departed, this time quicker than before. The Islanders stood at the end of the shore with their weapons in hand. Lydia, Nigel and Matt backed towards the sea as a teleport appeared from in front of them. The three of them hurried back towards the cave.

Out of the teleport, the Tsuraxi materialised. The Leader of the Tribe approached.

“More outsiders, eh? You shall be destroyed.”

The leader of the Tsuraxi chuckled. “The Tsuraxi shall be infinite.”

The Tsuraxi Leader stabbed the Tribes emperor through the heart. He dropped to the ground in agony. The other Islanders tried to combat the Tsuraxi, but every one of them was eradicated by the Tsuraxi. Within time, every one of the Islanders lay dead on the sand. It was a bloodbath.

Inside of the cave, Nigel burst into tears due to the loss of George and Timmy. Lydia tried to comfort him.

Matt remembered something. “Lydia, I need you to do something.” He grabbed a piece of paper out of his pocket. “You need to write a letter for the Doctor. Tell him he shouldn’t feel like he’s responsible for your death, because you are going to die. I’m so sorry. I think this is it. I think this is the point where we die.”

The light from which the Tsuraxi had entered through in the Jungle surrounded the area. Matt passed Lydia a pen for her to write the letter.

“Dear Doctor,” She began, “I have faith that you will be reading this somehow but if you are reading this, then I’m most likely dead. I don’t know how I’ve died-I’m not a physic, but everything on this Island is out to kill me. We had the best of times on our two travels, even though my memories of the last one are rather faint. Please don’t feel like you are the one responsible for my demise. Love Lydia.”

Matt peeped out of the cave, spotting the bloodbath that the Tsuraxi had created. He noticed a portal in which the three of them could potentially escape from.

“The portal that the Tsuraxi came through-couldn’t we go through it?”

Lydia smiled. “Whatever I said, I do love you Matt. We all have to face the end sometime, there’s no stopping that, and this is the time when we must face ours. I’ve loved every second we’ve spent together. Every single second.”

Matt began to cry, “So this is it?”

Lydia nodded. The light surrounded Nigel and Lydia, but Matt decided to run out of the cave. The Tsuraxi hurried towards him with their weapons held high, but he managed to run towards the portal without being caught by them.

He materialised inside of UNIT HQ, which he thought was incredibly lucky. He noticed a person lying on the floor. He checked to see if there was a pulse. He rolled the body over and was greeted by a stranger.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “What happened here?”

“Matt-” The figure responded.

“How do you know who I am? Who are you?”

“Don’t you recognise me?” The man asked, “I’m the Doctor.”

Next Week: The Dark Emerald