The Seventh Doctor Volume 1: Warriors Game

The Snowzone Base, Antarctica, 1990As night descended on Antarctica, those inside of the base settled down, waiting for the morning to come and observing the activity outside. As always, the activity of the Ice caps was low, but there always had to be somebody there monitoring, even at night time. Shifts were switched up every few days, and in charge of monitoring the base tonight were Nathan King and Gina Mortimer.

Nathan was a trustworthy fellow who was one of the brightest talents working at the Snowzone base. He always influenced theorems and ideas that would make the base a better place, both to work and to be more efficient in serving its purpose. He was also one of the only workers who did not mind working at night time. He was a lovely man, and one of the nicest anybody could imagine meeting. He got on with every member of staff within the base. Well, everybody except one.

That one was Gina Mortimer, the woman he was working aside that month.

Gina was a troublemaker who only worked in the base due to her family connections to the owner, Jonathan Mortimer, who was her father. Since Jonathan’s disappearance, the dynamic between the workers began to collapse, and Gina became more and more mischievous in her nature, partly deluded by all the questions and theories that surrounded her fathers unknown whereabouts.

Gina often poked fun at Nathan, however, Nathan was too polite to fight back. He just sat there, waiting for the night to be done, and admiring the sights they witnessed outside their window. Gina also remarked rather frequently that there was no purpose in the Snowzone base, and they were doing all this for nothing, but Nathan was always there to dismiss that.

Jonathan set up the Snowzone base to monitor temperature levels and to ensure they did not reach dangerous levels. Or so he said. There were a few people he told there was another reason behind the establishment of the Snowzone base, but nobody ever knew what that reason was. And now that Jonathan was nowhere to be seen, it was apparent that nobody would ever find out.

Gina tapped her fingers on the table beside her, which began to grate on Nathan. She always did this. He never understood why she was so mean and irritating to him. He had never done anything to her. Not that he was aware of. She kept tapping her fingers, wishing to get a rise out of Nathan and make him snap, even though she knew it was unlikely this would happen. She knew it was impossible to make him snap. She knew he was too calm and mild mannered to do so.

The incessant tapping continued, testing Nathan’s patience with his associate more and more with every second. The tapping seemed to be in a rhythmic pattern with the ticking of the clock in the room, which proved all the more frustrating for Nathan. He was attempting to concentrate, reading the measurements on the various pieces of apparatus in front of him. But he could not concentrate. Not with all this distraction going on around him.

“Could you stop that please?” Nathan demanded. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

“Alright!” Gina responded, “I’m just bored, that’s all.”

“Then why don’t you leave? You don’t have to be here. You don’t have to work here. You hate it here. There’s no reason for you to stay.”

“I couldn’t let my father down like that. You know I couldn’t.”

Nathan sighed. “You’re not letting your father down. You don’t enjoy it here. He may come back one day but he probably will not. You are not letting him down in the slightest. You’re ruining his vision and maybe it would be in the best interest of all the members of staff and all those we are in charge of protecting for you to leave.”

Gina tutted. “That’s quite cheeky of you, Nathan. I have as much right to be here as you do, if not even more. If you’re not happy with me being here, then you can go.”

“This is my life's aspiration, Gina.”

“What is?” Gina chuckled, “Sitting around all day and night reading some measurements? Come on, this is hardly saving the world.”

“Of course it is, Gina! This is saving the world. We are doing a job that needs to be done.”

“How come? Nobody would lose if we stopped doing this?”

“We are protecting the world. We are measuring temperatures from across the world. We may be able to combat the inevitable rise of climate change that will occur. We will play an important role in securing the future of this planet, I assure you.”

“Climate change?” Gina questioned. “There’s no such thing.”

Nathan gave out a loud sigh. “Often I don’t know how you can be so naive. You cannot interact with somebody civilly, you cannot believe the key principles of science and you mess up all potential chances of success. This is important, Gina, and if you don’t understand that, it’s best that you don’t stay here.”

Suddenly an alarm signalled on one of the pieces of apparatus. Nathan flicked a series of switches in order to cease the alarms but they still rang, insistently and irritatingly. 

“What’s going on?” Gina asked, “What does that alarm mean?”

“It means the base is under attack,” Nathan revealed, “Something has gotten in. It’s blown off the front door. I’m going down there. This base could be under-”

From out of nowhere the doors of the room blew off, knocking Nathan and Gina back towards the wall. Everything went black for a moment. Nathan picked his head up while Gina remained on the floor. All he could see in front of him was darkness. As his vision became clearer, he could see somebody in front of him. A silhouette. A female silhouette. 

He lifted himself up from the floor and raised his hands. He was worried that the woman would kill him. She was armed, and potentially dangerous, and was fearful of why she had invaded the base. 

“What do you want?” Nathan asked the woman. “Please, there’s no need for violence. We can reason with you. You can have whatever you want but there’s no need for anybody to get hurt here today.”

“I have no intention of hurting anybody,” Ace announced.

“What do you want here then?”

“I want the Doctor. I want to see the Doctor. I need to see the Doctor. It’s urgent. Somebody is about to do something to him and I need to do all I can to help him. If I don’t get there in time then everything he knows will be changed and his whole life will be destroyed.”

“We don’t have a Doctor here, it’s just the two of us. Well, only one of us that are conscious. May I ask your name?”

“I’m Ace,” The woman replied, “You haven’t seen a woman called Destari around here, have you? I need to find her and stop her before it’s too late.”

Gina leaped up from the floor and pressed a huge red buzzer. Ace grabbed her large gun and placed it against Gina’s head. She frowned, aware that the button that Gina pressed could have been back up, or security, or police.

“What did you just press?” Ace asked. “Did you just call for security?”

Gina nodded. “Of course I did. I don’t see why I shouldn’t. You’re an intruder and must be dealt with in an appropriate matter, so you will be instantaneously. I hope that’s alright with you. And if it isn’t, that’s rather tough, because they’re coming anyway.”

“Look, something dangerous is coming here and it could be about to destroy us all. For all I know the Doctor could already be under its spell, and it’s coming for you too, and for me. I’m the only one who knows what it is, and what it is capable of. You need to call off security this instant. It won’t get you anywhere.”

“I don’t care what garbage you are going to come up with, because you are intruding on private property, and you have no right to do so. No right whatsoever. Security are coming for you. You can run if you want. Or you can face the punishment.”

“Oh I will face it,” Ace sarcastically noted, “I’ll face it better than you could ever imagine.”

Three security guards streamed through the door and grabbed Ace. Ace used her gun and pushed it towards one of their groins, knocking them out in pain. Another of the Guards grabbed the gun and threw it out of the large window which separates the base from the outside world. Ace leaped up and kicked both of the standing guards in the face, before grabbing their weapons from them. Ace then held one of the guns she was holding towards Ginas face, and gave a meddlesome grin.

“Do not think you can mess with me,” Ace chillingly said, “You have no idea what I’m capable of. That was just the half of it. And if you dare try to get rid of me again, I will not hesitate to blow off your smug little head. Understand me.”

Nathan gave off a face of panic, just as Gina did, but somewhere deep inside, he was pleased. He saw this in a way as being a punishment to Gina for all she had done, not just to him but the other staff at the Snowzone base. Gina gulped, before nodding her head. 

“I’m sorry,” Gina responded, “I didn’t think you’d do something like that.”

“Well don’t do it again,” Ace demanded, “Now then, I need the Doctor. He hasn’t been here has he? Because I thought he’d turn up around here. I just had an inkling.”

Nathan shook his head. “There is no sign of anybody other than me, Gina, and the Security guards that have just been disarmed. You’re good by the way.”

“I know I am,” Returned Ace, as she prepared to depart the room.

More alarms began to flood through the building as the window caused the extensive cold from outside to reach the interior of the base. Gina pressed a few buttons and pulled a few levers which managed to shield the windows from releasing too much air. They all breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. Ace just stood there, not speaking for a while. Nathan and Gina were unsure what to do. They had seen what she was capable of and they could not combat that, at least when she had a weapon. Ace began to wander around the base, leaving the two of them a chance to have a brief conversation.

“What do we do?” Asked a panicked Gina.

“Well we need to get her out of here,” Nathan replied, “I suggest disarming her first. She’s dangerous with a weapon as you saw and if she keeps said weapon then we will all die quite painful deaths. How do you think we should go about it?”

Gina sat herself down on a chair. “She’s too quick. We need to lure her into a false sense of security and then get her out of here. Maybe release the shields so she is sent flying out of the window in to the deep, dark and cold districts of Antarctica and flung so far she cannot survive when she least expects it.”

Ace turned around, making it evident to the others that she overheard the conversation they were both having. She slowly creeped towards Nathan and Gina, making every footstep as pronounced as the next. She then moved towards Gina, pushed her towards the ground, grabbed her and then placed her large, futuristic weapon over her head.

“You’re not going to get rid of me that easily,” Ace confirmed, “You’re not going to get rid of me at all until I find the Doctor.”

“Let her go,” Nathan demanded, “There’s no need to harm her. We told you before that we have not seen anybody called the Doctor. There are no Doctors here. Just me, you, Gina and the three Security Guards. Nobody else.”

This reminded Nathan that the Security Guards were still lying in pain and agony on the floor beside him. He moved towards them, helping each of them up and ushering them out, which led to Ace pointing her gun towards them. One of them ran towards the door. Ace shot at a button next to the door, slamming it in the face of the Guard. Ace smirked, pleased that she had gotten everything under control.

“I don’t want to put you in danger here,” Ace proclaimed.

“It doesn’t look like that!” Gina remarked. “Please let me go at once.”

“You were plotting to end my life. You’ve seen what I am capable of. I’m not a villain, but I can be if you test my patience. So then, can I trust you? I’ll let you live if you do the same courtesy for me.”

Gina nodded, fearful for her life. “Of course. You can live.”

Ace smirked. “Good, good. I’m sorry about doing this. It really wasn’t my preferred method of taking action but the Doctor needs my help and I had a feeling he’d turn up here. He has a habit of turning up in places like this.”

“Places like what?”, Nathan asked, having his curiosity piqued.

“Places where there’s danger,” Replied Ace. “There’s something out there. You haven’t seen it there but there is something. A warrior, buried within the Ice. And it’s coming for you. It’s coming for this world. It needs this base to destroy it.”

“An Ice Warrior?” Nathan replied, “We have history of them on the databanks. A race which has attempted to destroy the Snowzone base before, and failed repeatedly.”

“I don’t know what it is, but all I know is it’s coming for you and the Doctor won’t be able to stop it because there’s something standing in his way.”

Gina got up of the floor, now released from her restraints. Pleased with her freedom, she strutted through the main area of the base, still attempting to find a way to get rid of their intruder. Ace observed her intently as she searched through the base. She knew that Gina still had the intention of getting rid of her. She was also aware that Nathan was more sensible, and knew there was nothing he could do that could get rid of her.

“Who exactly are you anyway?” Nathan asked Ace.

“I’m Ace, and that’s all you need to know,” She replied, “And now we wait for the Doctor.”

And this was the moment when the Doctor arrived. The familiar wirings of the TARDIS engines flooded the main room of the Snowzone base. Ace grinned as that little dark blue box drifted into the room, materialising slowly and steadily. The machine stabilised. Nathan and Gina were in shock. This was like nothing they had seen before. A little head darted out of the machine. It was the Doctor.

“Doctor!” Ace exclaimed excitedly, with that beam of energy that she usually had being restored for a moment. “I knew you’d come here.”

The Doctor seemed confused. “Who are you? How do you know my name.”

Ace’s face turned from that of joy to that of anger. “What has she done to you? She’s made you forget me, hasn’t she? I’ll kill her.”

“I’m sorry, young lady, but I’ve never seen you before in my life. Not yet anyway.”

Gina intervened in this peculiar reunion, “You’re the Doctor? The one that Ace has been wanting to see? The one she’s wanted to be reunited with?”

“Yes!” Ace confirmed. “Me and the Professor are mates.”

The Doctor frowned. “Why do you want me? Who are you?”

“She intruded in our base,” Gina announced to the Doctor. “She broke into our base and held us captive. Please you’ve got to help us. She’s beyond the capabilities that we have. You need to stop her. She might kill us all.”

The Doctor stared into her for a moment. “Get out of here, before you start to regret it.”

“What has she done to you, Professor?”, Ace questioned, “What has that evil mongbreath done to you? Where is she?”

The Doctor called for somebody, “Destari, I think there’s somebody who wants to speak to you out here. I don’t think they’re a fan of you.”

A woman in her mid twenties, tall with dark hair, peeped her head through the door before coming out of the TARDIS and into the Snowzone base. Ace looked at her and gave her a glare filled with apparent anger and hatred.

Ace rushed up to her and punched the woman in the face. The Doctor pulled Ace backwards as the other woman showed a face of shock and appeared startled. Ace was angry, attempting to kick the woman but the Doctor was pulling her back so this proved impossible. She pushed the Doctor back and released herself from his restraints, moving towards her once again and beginning to attack her. From out of nowhere, Nathan fired a gun which hit Ace in the stomach, propelling her to the ground.

Destari appeared in shock, as did the Doctor. They seemed to have no idea who Ace was, or what she was so angry with them about.

Destari looked the most visibly confused. “I’m not sure what that was about. She just attacked me from out of nowhere. I don’t even know who she is.”

“You have no idea either?” Nathan asked. “She arrived at the base looking for you.”

The Doctor sighed. “I guess we best help her.”

“No, Doctor,” Gina said, pointing a gun towards the Doctor, “I’m sorry, but you’re not in charge here. I intend to find out what she wants, and I’m not letting her escape or survive until I know everything.”

The Doctor gave a deathly stare at Gina, “You don’t want to do that.”

“And why not? You’re not the ones in charge here. You haven’t even told us who the hell you are or what that box of yours you arrived in is.”

“It will do no good. Pain, suffering, fear. It doesn’t help anyone. It’ll just send you to hell.”

“She arrived in our base and attacked every single one of us in this room,” Gina replied, “I’m not going to just help her and let her go. She needs to be dealt with. I need to know who she is and what she wants. Don’t you two want to know what she wants with you?”

The Doctor responded with, “If somebody is in danger, I’ll never refuse, whoever they are, and right now this young lady needs my assistance to survive.”

“Go on then,” Gina commanded, still lingering over the trigger, “Help her.”

“You won’t kill me. You are not capable of doing something like that. Shoot me, and we’ll see how far it will get you.”

Gina hesitated, before placing the gun on the floor, “You’re right. I’m not.”

The Doctor grinned as she kneeled down and looked at Ace, attempting to figure out who she was and why he was not aware of who she was. He tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to instantly recover. She tried to leap up from the floor, but the Doctor pushed her down, still restraining her, aware of the potential risk she could cause.

“Tell me how you know me.” The Doctor demanded.

“I’m your companion.” Ace inferred. “We’ve travelled together for a long time.”

“My companion is Destari here. We’ve been travelling the cosmos for a long time now.”

“She’s implanted fake memories in your head,” Ace suggested. “I know what she is and I know what she can do. Destari is not who you think she is.”

“She’s my friend. I know everything about her.”

“She’s taken my place,” Ace announced, “I don’t know how she can do it but she has. She’s dangerous. She may act like she’s your friend, but she isn’t. She’s done this before to other people. She feeds off of it. She has abilities. You’ve been put under her spell.”

Destari sniggered as if to suggest how absurd this is. “You’re the one who apparently stormed into this base and held everybody inside captive. You’re the dangerous one.”

“Look, Doctor, you’ve fallen for her spell. I don’t know how she’s done it but she has and that’s all that matters. You need to remember the truth. You need to remember everything that we’ve been through. We need to stop her before she manages to overrule my memories and wipe myself from your entire timeline.”

“This is absurd!” Destari commented. “What is this nonsense?”

“It’s not nonsense, it’s the truth. Doctor, you need to listen to me. You are in imminent danger. It doesn’t feel like it but you are.”

“What proof do you have?” The Doctor questioned. “This is all lies, but you seem pretty intent on proving that this is the truth, so you must have some form of proof.”

“There’s no way to prove this. She’s wiped your memories, Doctor. She’s evil.”

Destari turned to the Doctor, looking upset. “Why is she saying all this, Doctor?”

“I don’t know, Destari,” The Doctor asked, “She’s trying to trick us.”

“No!” Ace exclaimed. “I am not trying to trick you. I am trying to help you. Please, Doctor, you need to get as far away from Destari as you can. She’s dangerous.”

The Doctor looked frustrated. “You can trick me all you like, but when you try to trick my friends in a way that is emotionally cruel, I cannot take that.”

Ace sighed. “Please, Doctor. It’s not just that. There’s something in the ice.”

The Doctor turned towards Gina and Nathan. “Is this true? Is there something in the ice?”

Nathan looked unsure. “That’s what Ace said. I’ll try to take a look outside and see whether there is something out there. She said there was some kind of Warrior buried within the Ice. Something that is coming to invade us.”

“This must be a distraction,” Destari proclaimed, “Try and get us out of the base while she stirs up trouble from within.”

One of the Security Guards piped up, “Maybe we should split up.”

“Good idea,” The Doctor commented, “Me and these two lovely crew members will go outside and search for whatever is said to be hidden in the Ice. Destari, you stay here with the others and keep an eye over our new friend.”

The Doctor, Gina and Destari departed the Snowzone base, leaving Ace alone with Destari and the security guards. Inside of the Snowzone base there was an awkward silence for a few moments. Nobody knew what to say. Destari gradually broke the silence, creeping up to Ace in the process and leaning down, placing them face to face.

“You don’t scare me, Destari,” Ace announced. “Whatever you are, I intend to let the Doctor know, and break whatever spell you are casting over him, you evil, alien witch. I will beat your brains out if I need to. I’ll do anything for the Professor.”

Destari grinned at her. “Oh would you indeed?” She asked. Now that the Doctor had gone, her personality suddenly changed. “The Doctor will never know. Not before it’s too late.”

Ace looked angry, but was under restraint by the three security guards, much more tightly than beforehand. “Why aren’t you doing anything about her? You heard her. She’s going to cause trouble. She’s here to cause trouble.”

“The security guards won’t listen to you, Ace,” Destari claimed, “They are working with me.”

Ace was visibly confused. “I don’t understand. How could they be?”

Destari grinned widely. “They’re my friends. I’m helping them out. And by the time they’ve done with you, you won’t be able to warn the Doctor of what is in store.”

“Oh I will,” Ace promised, “Whatever it takes. The Professor doesn’t remember what happened on Dimrock 9, but I do, because your influence couldn’t destroy my memories like it did for the Doctor. And I will tell him.”

“You saw him back there, he didn’t listen. He does not believe you. To you, you are a stranger. All the two of you have been through together has been erased from his memories. Permanently, can I add?”

Ace attempted to remove herself from the restraints of the men that were holding her, but it was no use. Even though she had managed to take all three of them down incredibly efficiently earlier on, she struggled to remove herself from their grasps. She could not move. She could not escape. Destari stepped back for a moment.

“My friends are being quite rude in not announcing themselves,” Continued Destari, as she placed her hands on one of the Guards shoulders. “Reveal yourselves.”

Suddenly, the men morphed into a different form entirely. Slowly, their bodies began to sink and decrease, changing the shape and size and form and type of every section of the body. The colour of skin began to change from pale to green. The three men slowly shifted their human features to that of Jellyfishes. Destari looked delighted as the beings took their full forms and removed her hand from what was previously one of the guards shoulders, but was now the head of this creature.

“These are the Rutans,” Destari proclaimed, “And they’re here to destroy the Earth.”

Meanwhile, the Doctor, Nathan and Gina departed the Snowzone Base, entering a much colder and less hospitable environment than that they had been used to. Nathan and Gina were equipped with the same wintery gear that they had been wearing inside, and therefore the cold did not matter as much to them as they were protected. But for the Doctor, he was just wearing his regular, everyday clothes. He shivered for a bit, but seemed to disguise the fact he was secretly freezing.

The three of them headed out into the snowy wilderness, searching to see whether Ace was telling the truth and if there was something buried in the ice after all. The Doctor searched around him but he could not see anything of the sort. Nathan ran ahead, hurrying into one of the caves buried within the landscape. The Doctor hurried after him, as did Gina eventually, but she appeared to be unenthusiastic and was worn out by the day that had just gone, especially since it was already night time.

The Doctor, Nathan and Gina crawled through the deepest and darkest nooks and crannies that Antarctica had to offer. They eventually reached a cave filled with ice and nothing more. Nathan knocked on the Ice for a while.

“It would help if we had our gear,” Gina remarked, “You’re not going to break down the Ice that easily, idiot.”

Nathan seemed frustrated by Gina’s constant mocking. “Please, Gina, do not test my patience. We’ve had a long night and I don’t particularly know why we’re out here looking in the first place.”

“You don’t have to be here,” responded the Doctor, “You must have come because you were intrigued.”

“What would we be intrigued about?” Asked Nathan.

“Whether that woman you met in the Base was right. Whether Ace is telling the truth.”

Gina looked shocked. “You don’t actually believe that Ace was telling the truth, do you? I mean, a nickname like Ace says it all. A narcissistic, self obsessed clown.”

“There’s no way to tell,” The Doctor replied, “Anything is possible.”

“Let me get this straight,” Nathan began, “Ace believes she is your friend and that the person you came here with wiped your memories of her. I don’t see how that is possible. You don’t mean to say your friend is potentially an alien.”

“I met her on Iceworld, a long time ago. She is from Earth really. It’s a long story. But from what I know, she’s not an alien, but I am.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Replied Gina.

“I’m not kidding you,” The Doctor commented, “But I will warn you that I have a habit of turning up in places where danger is about to break out. There’s potential Ace is right, and aliens are involved in some way here.”

“What sort of thing would an alien want with the Snowzone base?” Gina questioned.

Nathan sighed. “We’ve been through this a lot. Snowzone is one of the places responsible for controlling the atmosphere of the planet. If someone or something knew their way around the base enough, they could set the whole world on fire.”

The Doctor looked admirably at Nathan. “You seem like a smart one, Nathan. I can’t say I’d say the same for you, Gina.”

Gina groaned. “I get this a lot, trust me. At least I’m not a fool like Nathan.”

“I still don’t understand what I have done,” Nathan informed the Doctor, “She hates me for no reason whatsoever and there’s nothing I can do to stop her from hating me.”

Gina tutted. “I’ve got more than enough reason, Nathan.”

From out of nowhere the Ice began to erupt. It was evident that there was some movement from within. The ground shook, vibrating, causing the Doctor, Nathan and Gina to fall to the ground. They were pushed across the surface as a result. The three of them attempted to cling on to the rocky areas, aware that if they lost control of their movements they could fly to the sky due to the intensity of the atmosphere.

The Ice began to be broken apart. Something smashed through the Ice. A hand, breaking its way through the hard and dense material of the Ice. The Doctor looked on. He recognised what was coming through almost instantaneously. Something he had come across before. Something he knew could set the world alight in the way Nathan claimed anything could do.

The Ice smashed open and a figure emerged, followed by three others who had escaped from their glacial prison. The Doctor, Nathan and Gina struggled to grip onto the rocks, as the Creatures marched towards them, armed.

“What are they?” Gina asked, terrified at the prospect of what would happen next.

“They’re called the Sontarans,” The Doctor confirmed, as the Sontarans moved towards them. The Doctor’s fingers lost their grip from the surface one by one, as the Sontarans got closer and closer. 

The Doctor, Nathan and Gina looked petrified, as what could potentially be the end of their lives dawned on them.

The Doctor, Gina and Nathan watched on in terror as the Sontarans continued to march towards them, desperately clutching onto the surface to avoid their descent into the atmosphere. The Doctor did not know what to do. The Sontarans continued to edge towards him, and his levels of panic slowly increased. They all were stunned. 

The leader of the Sontarans grabbed the Doctor and pulled him towards them, whilst Gina and Nathan continued to grapple on for security. 

“Why thank you!” The Doctor exclaimed, as the Sontaran continued to hold on to him. “The atmosphere is quite ferocious tonight, I must say.”

The Sontaran grunted and pushed the Doctor back towards the rock. He wished he had his umbrella to aid him in clutching onto something concrete, but he had left it back in the TARDIS. He did all he could to keep hold of the rock that was standing between life and death. Gina and Nathan panicked as they struggled to grip on to the hazardous layers of rocks and minerals. 

“Help us!” Gina demanded to the Sontarans. “You cannot leave us here!”

The Sontarans grabbed the Doctor, Gina and Nathan, with each of the three soldiers carrying each one of them back towards the base respectively. The Doctor was confused, unsure why his enemies had rescued him from a potential deadly fate. Gina and Nathan had no familiarity with the Sontarans anyway, so they were unsure whether to consider this as a surprising turn of events or not. The atmosphere began to cool down, and the environment became more hospitable. Gina and Nathan both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“You can let us go now!” The Doctor commanded the Sontarans. “The environment is tolerable enough for us to survive now.”

The Sontarans dropped the Doctor, Gina and Nathan on to the floor, leaving them with a slight bump on the head, but the conditions did not mean they would be accelerated into the air as they did moments before. 

“What happened back there? The temperature should not become that tempetorous, surely?” Nathan explained, “It wasn’t possible for those conditions to take place. Especially while the Snowzone base is under full control.”

“Unless of course there are more Sontarans in the base manipulating the levels of temperature,” The Doctor responded, “Isn’t that right?”

The Sontaran Commander nodded. “I am Commander Kergg of the Thirteenth Sontaran Battle Fleet. Me and my men are here to storm the Snowzone base. However, we cannot control it without your assistance. We have not yet stormed the base.”“So if the Sontarans were not responsible for the Temperature strike, then that means that they are not the only forces of evil at work here.”

Inside of the Snowzone base, Ace was still held captive, surrounded by figures who she believed to be evil. In front of her was Destari, the woman who she claimed had manipulated the Doctors memories and wiped Ace from existence as far as the Doctor was concerned. Next to her were the beings that were formerly the three Security Guards of the Base, but had now transformed into peculiar and horrific Jellyfish type creatures. Destari was chuckling away to herself. Ace was wearing a face of anger.

“What are these things?” Ace questioned, demanding answers.

“I told you, they’re the Rutans,” Destari announced. “They are here to conquer the Snowzone base and use the Earth as an intergalactic battleground against the Sontarans, if that’s alright with you.”

“I can’t believe you would give the plan away so easily.”

“Oh, I’m only telling you because there’s no way you can stop them. I’m going to do something to you that means you will never see the Doctor again.”

Ace groaned. “There’s nothing you can do to separate me and the Professor. I will always find a way to get to him, like I did this time.”

“That’s because I implanted the memories in your mind, dummy,” Destari claimed, cockily, “I wanted you to find me and try to inform the Doctor of who I am because I knew it would be fun. I knew that you could never find a way to tell him the truth. It’s impossible.”

The Rutans moved towards the control panel. “It is time to activate once again,” Announced one of the Rutans, “Our first test strike was successful and now we shall disarm the atmosphere entirely so it is inhospitable to human kind.”

Ace screamed at the top of her voice, “No you don’t, you stupid jellyfishes!”, before launching herself at the Rutans, kicking them and punching them and attempting to pull them away from the control panel. Destari held out a weapon towards Ace, causing Ace to step down for a moment. Destari placed her finger over the trigger of the weapon. Ace turned towards Destari.

“The Doctor’s distracted,” Destari claimed, “You can’t defeat our alliance alone.”

“You aren’t going to fire that at me, space witch,” Ace replied.

“You see, Ace, I might not be like the other enemies you’ve encountered, because I actually have the intention of winning.”

Destari reached for her weapon and shot at Ace, causing Ace to vanish into thin air. She laughed for a moment, before reaching towards the control panel and joining the Rutans. She noticed the Doctor, Nathan and Gina heading towards the base through the window, which was still protected by exterior shielding. She then noticed that the three of them were being escorted by Sontarans.

“Now Ace is dealt with, we need to find a way to keep them away from the base until we have been successful,” Destari schemed, “You need to work out how to keep them away.”

“There is a reason you are in this operation,” The Rutan replied, “You must achieve your purpose or you shall be assimilated, just as the deal was laid out.”

“I know what the deal was, and that was not the deal.” Destari looked towards the Rutans, and fearful of her potential death at their hands, strolled outside of the room and through the rest of the Base until she reached the door. She spotted the Doctor, Nathan and Gina, whose movements were being restricted by the Sontarans. She walked through the destroyed entrance of the Base, which was still in ruins following Ace’s attack earlier on. Her face suddenly switched from one of confidence to one of panic. One of the Sontarans grabbed her and pushed her towards the other prisoners. “You need to get away from the base immediately.”

“We need the base,” The Sontarans exclaimed, “Who are you?”

“This is my companion, Destari,” The Doctor announced. “What do you mean an explosion? An explosion caused by whom?”

The Sontaran interfered in the Doctors conversation, swiftly changing the subject matter. “You have not informed us of who you are. Are you also a worker of this base? We did not see your name on the files.”

“My name is the Doctor. I’ve come into contact with your race before.”

The Sontaran Leaders face turned, and grabbed his weapon swiftly. Nathan quickly panicked, while Gina looked like she still did not care about anything that was happening. The Sontaran prepared to pull the trigger on the Doctor, recognising that the Doctor was a notorious enemy of the Sontarans.

“No!” Nathan exclaimed. “We cannot use the Snowzone base without him.”

“Then we shall kill the two of you instead,” The Sontaran bellowed.

Destari interrupted, “Please, we’ve got enough on our cards here. The Snowzone base is about to implode, and it could set the whole world on fire in the process. Please, Doctor, you need to get in there and prevent the explosion.”

The Doctor attempted to rush inside but was restrained by the Sontarans. “Please, I need to sort this out. If I don’t, then we cannot go forward with this and there is no way you can do whatever you wish. Please, set me free for a moment.”

The Sontarans released him, while holding Nathan, Gina and Destari in their restraints. The Doctor rushed into the building, armed with nothing. He rushed into the main section of the base, and was shocked instantly by what he had seen. The Rutans hovered over the control panel, testing around with various pieces of equipment. The Doctor looked on in disbelief. Both the Sontarans and the Rutans were in Antartica, and he knew that was not a good sign. After all, they were sworn enemies, and would take any opportunity they could to cause destruction in the midsts of their never ending war.

The Doctor slowly strutted towards the Rutans, as they dangled their tentacles over a button, not yet noticing that somebody was moving towards them. The Rutans turned around, and noticed the Doctor. He grinned at them.

“Hello, Rutans,” The Doctor began, “It’s been a while since I’ve come across any of you lot.”

One of the Rutans questioned, “Who are you?” to the Doctor.

“My name is the Doctor, and I’ve encountered your race on numerous occasions before. I’m guessing you used your shape shifting abilities to take the form of the Security Guards, but you did not expect my imminent appearance and were not able to change your form in time. Sorry for foiling your guises so easily.”

“It is of no consequence to our plot, Doctor,” The Rutans announced, “It is time to activate the next test on the atmosphere.”

Outside, the atmosphere became tempestuous once again. Luckily Gina, Nathan, Destari and the three Sontarans were just outside of the base, so had the ability to cling on to the exterior of the building before they could fly away. The environment became more and more hazardous by the second, and less and less hospitable. It was only because of the safe structure of the building nearby that they managed to hold on. It seemed to last much shorter than last time, and after about half a minute, the strike on the atmosphere ceased, and everything was back to normal.

“Is everybody alright?” Destari asked, maintaining her innocent guise for the time being, “That was horrific. I’ve never seen whether like it.”

“What source is interfering with the controls?”, The Sontaran Commander asked. 

“There are these creatures inside of there called the Rutans. They said they were going to take control of the Snowzone base and destroy the Earths atmosphere so they could use it as a battleground against another force.”

The Sontarans stormed into the building. “The Rutans are our sworn enemies. They must be destroyed at all costs.”

The Sontarans vanished, leaving Destari, Gina and Nathan alone together. The Sontarans stormed into the main room of the Snowzone base, where the Doctor was being held by the Rutans. The soldiers grabbed their weapons and shot at the Rutans for a while, as a short battle took place between the two rival races. One of the Rutans dangled their tentacle over one of the buttons and pushed it down, turning everything to white. Everything suddenly faded into nothingness.

Gina and Nathan looked physically baffled by all that had happened to them, whilst Destari was attempting to give the impression from her facial expressions that she too was confused. 

“What the hell were those things?” Wondered Destari, acting as if she was oblivious to everything that was going on. 

Gina shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t say I was paying attention.”

Nathan planted his hand in his face, irritated by Gina’s words. “You weren’t paying attention? We nearly died back there, Gina. Quite a few times.” He turned back towards Destari. “I’m so sorry about my colleague here. They were called the Sontarans or something. They were hidden deep within the Ice, just like Ace said. Apparently they were old enemies of the Doctor. He seemed to know who they are. To be honest though, I’ve lost track of all that is going on. Tonight has been too much for me. The Doctor, the Sontarans, Ace. So many questions are flooding through my brain and at this rate I don’t think I’ll live long enough to get all the answers.”

“We best get inside,” Gina suggested, “Otherwise there may be another temperature strike, and then we’ll be good as dead. It’s best to be somewhere where there’s a little more security. The atmosphere is too deadly to stay out here.”

Nathan and Destari acted upon Gina’s suggestion, and strolled back inside of the base. The glass that remained on the door closed, causing more shattering, and they figured that they would be safe. They realised that the main section of the base which the Sontarans and the Doctor had both gone to would be too dangerous for the time being, and decided to remain in the area where they were.

“So you’re saying that Ace was right?” Destari remarked. “There was something buried deep within the Ice after all?”

Nathan nodded. “It seems so. Doesn’t mean she was right about all the stuff she said about you and the Doctor. I think she may have something to do with this whole thing.”

“I think that’s a pretty obvious examination. Of course she’s something to do with all this. She knew that those things were buried within the Ice, which means she must be working with them. She must have hidden them in the Ice for some reason. She created all those things about me and the Doctor to turn us against each other, and make us feel anger. Ace is evil, and I think we can confidently say she was behind all of this.”

Gina turned towards Destari. “I’m afraid I cannot trust you on that one, Destari. It’s all been coming back to me, slowly, but surely. I can remember what-”

Suddenly Destari grabbed her weapon and shot at Gina before she could finish her sentence. Nathan stared at her in shock. Destari put the weapon back in her pocket, and grinned at Nathan. Nathan was taken aback at what had happened.

“You killed her!” Nathan exclaimed, “You bloody killed her!”

“I didn’t kill her,” Destari announced, “But soon she’ll wish that I did.”

NowhereGina woke up on a hard concrete floor, unfamiliar with her surroundings and suffering a massive headache. She rose up and searched around her. She was not sure of what to think or what to do. She lifted herself off the floor and searched around the barren landscape. It was an endless nothingness. Just ground and dirt and filth and emptiness. Nothing. It was the blandest landscape imaginable. She squinted to see if there was anybody else in the distance, but there was not. She was alone. She did not know how far away she was from the Snowzone base, but she expected she was not close.

Gina was still struggling to get over all of the other experiences she had been through today. She had encountered aliens, or at least beings who claimed to be aliens. It had been the strangest and most alarming day of her life, and she was still in it. She began to increase her pace, desperate to find a way back and to save Nathan from potential danger now he was occupied by Destari.

She felt a tap on her back. Gina turned around, spotting a figure in a black cloak behind her. This had frightened her. Gina did not expect somebody to sneak up behind her but they did. The person did not reveal their true features, keeping their hood up at all times.

“Excuse me,” Gina began, “Where am I? I’m not meant to be here.”

The person in the hood remained quiet for a moment. Gina chuckled to herself for a moment, but she was not sure why. Perhaps it was due to nervousness, or shock, or fear, but she did not know. They stared at each other for a few moments.

Gina grinned. “This is all a joke isn’t it? The attack on the base. The people with the silly potato head costumes. The mad man called the Doctor and his little box. Me being beamed here. This is all on a TV show or something, isn’t it? I’ve seen things like this before. I bet Nathan set me up to this. I knew this wasn’t real!”

“Oh it is real,” The other person uttered, revealing themselves as female. 

“Well, that’s what you would say, to try and make me believe that this is real. But this is all fake, isn’t it? I’ve foiled it! I’ve foiled Nathan’s little scheme!”

“It is not fake,” The woman responded, “Only I wish I could say it was.”

“Then where exactly am I? That woman, Destari, she teleported me here, because I remembered something. But now it’s gone out of my mind what I remembered. I’d seen Destari before, I know that, but I just can’t remember then. Her teleporting me here must have deleted my memories or something.”

The other woman pointed to a mountain, which had the number six transplanted on it in huge, white writing. Gina looked on in confusion, unsure of what this meant.

“What is that?” Gina asked. “I’ve got a lot of questions as it is, and I don’t need more.”

The woman explained, “Destari. We have heard of that name. She is one of them. She is one of the apocalypse bringers. She is one of the Six.”

“The six? Sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about or what is going on.”

“The ancient books have prophesied that the Six will bring the destruction of all life in the universe, and plotted out the order of existence from the start. They brought the start, and they will bring the end. Six eternal gods who our worlds will stand no chance of defeating. The Dominatrix, the Overlord of Time, the Doomslayer, Airmid, Azazel and Destari.”

“Destari? She seemed pretty normal to me. She seemed a bit evil by the end, but she didn’t appear to me as an eternal god.”

“The bible said they each have different powers, but they can all manipulate in different ways. Everything they are doing is for a reason. If Destari brought you away, it must mean you found something out about her. A deep and dark secret that would stand in the way of her oppression of reality.”

“Look, I just need to get out of here, and back to the Snowzone base in Antarctica so that I can stop Destari from doing something to my friend. My friend Nathan might be in danger right now, as may the Doctor.”

“The Doctor?” The woman questioned. “It has been a long time since that name has been said to me, but it is rather pleasant to hear of it.”

“You know the Doctor? He’s a very strange man.”

“Yes he is,” The woman confirmed, “But a brilliant one.” She walked away into the distance, before turning back. “You must return and destroy Destari. We are not sure of how long we have before the Six destroy our universe, but we assume it must not be long. You must defeat Destari at all costs, before she brings an end to all things.”

Gina nodded. “I’m trying, but it’s proving quite hard. I don’t even know where I am. I don’t even know how I’m going to get back to Antartica.”

“You’re already here,” The woman replied, before strolling off into the distance.

Gina was stunned. She had so many questions. She did not know what to do. If this was Antartica, then what had happened to Nathan, and the Snowzone base? She intended to find answers to her ever growing list of questions. Everything was going too fast for her and there were too many things going on around her. What could she do?

Back in the Snowzone base, Nathan looked in shock following Gina’s teleportation away from the Zone. Destari addressed him with a sinister grin, as she stalked the Snowzone base, making her presence known to him. He seemed intimidated. 

“What did you do that for?” Nathan asked. “There was no need to do such a thing.”

“I did it because she knew too much about me. And now you know too. You know who I really am. You know that Ace was telling the truth. And I know you probably have so many questions that I’m happy to answer.”

“I have a lot of them, yeah. Who are you? What do you want? Why are you at the Snowzone base? What do you want with the Doctor? Who was Ace?”

“My god! So many questions. I think I’ll try and remember them all. My name is Destari, as you know, and I am a figure with infinite power and potential. Prophecies and myths claim I am the reason the universe came into existence, but they’re wrong, of course. That was the Big Bang, and we can blame the Cybermen for that. I am the reason a lot of important stuff occured in this universe, meaning we are here, and meaning you will not be here any longer. I may not have the abilities of my renowned associates, despite the legends claiming that I am even more powerful. Maybe one day, but you never know. I can manipulate the mind, and the soul, and the body, to dictate anything I want. I can implant any memory I wish, into any person I desire. I can divert the course of the timeline of any being in reality. I could change your entire past with the click of a finger if you step a wrong foot. I am here because I am helping the Rutans, and they want the Snowzone base. I’m only helping them because they struck a deal with me, and I got caught out. I always wanted the Doctor. All of my kind have. He is a complicated being and I desire his memories to feed from. Ace is his companion, although I wiped his mind of her to make the Doctor believe that I was his companion all along, so I could easily slot in and get what I want. I don’t want him to know who I am just yet. It’s too early. My plan is only just slotting into place. I’m just getting started. And everything that happens here today is going to help me. The Rutans, the Sontarans, you, Gina, Ace, the Doctor. Everything that happens here will get me where I want because I’ve seen what happens as a result. All our lives will be changed forever as a result of my actions today. And you’re going to stick in line.”

Nathan sighed. “That’s a lot of information to take in a short amount of time.”

“Look, Nathan, I’m happy to strike a deal. If you don’t tell the Doctor about my deal with the Rutans and my manipulation of his memories, then you can keep your past and Gina will be safe. If you don’t stay in line, she will lose her life, and you will lose your own.”

Nathan nodded, “Me and Gina may not see eye to eye, but I cannot condemn her to death at your hands. I could never do such a thing.”

Destari grinned. “Good good. Well done.”

Elsewhere, Gina was still unsure of what to do. The hooded woman was gone. She was away from the Snowzone base. Nathan was in potential danger. She had no clue of how to get back to the base and stop Destari. She had many questions. She had not even thought about the Sontarans properly yet. Nothing had sunk in.

She turned around, and saw a very familiar figure racing towards her. It was Ace. Gina headed towards Ace, happy to see a recognisable face at last. She thought this meant she may be in the right place.

“Gina, isn’t it?” Ace asked. “I see she’s put you here too.”

Gina nodded. “I’m so sorry about earlier. I can see now you intruded in the base for the right reasons. You wanted to stop Destari.”

“Why did she get rid of you? What did you find out?”

“I don’t know. When I was teleported away by her device, it just left from my memories.”

“Same with me,” claimed Ace, “I know I saw her before the Snowzone base, and I could remember my encounter with her before she transported it away, but her device must have stunned our memories so we could not remember much.”

“What is this place? How long have you been here?”

“It’s a death trap. There’s things here. I’ve managed to fight them off, of course, but they’re still coming. I don’t know where we are. I haven’t come into contact with any human forms of life. Only these weird snake things.”

“I saw a woman earlier on. She was hooded, and told me this was Antartica. She told me Destari was some kind of eternal god or something. If I’m honest, I have no idea what’s going on today. Too much has happened, and I’m struggling to deal with it.”

Ace’s attention was piqued. “Wait a second-You say this is Antartica? We’re still in Antarctica? This can’t be now. We must be in our futures. The future of the Earth.”

“How do you know?” Gina asked.

“I don’t, but I’m just assuming. Both the Doctor and Nathan are probably in genuine danger, not only by Destari, but by those talking Jellyfishes, and by whatever was buried in the Ice. We’ve got a lot on our plate left to deal with.”“The thing that was buried in the Ice revealed itself,” Announced Gina, “It burst out of the Ice and came towards us. It was like a humanoid potato. I don’t know what it wanted with the Base, but I’m sure that’s another element of trouble that we have to add to our ever growing list. How do you suggest we get back home?”

Ace sat herself down on the cold, dank surface. “I don’t know. Usually I have hope. Hope that the Doctor will save me, wherever I am. But he doesn’t even know who I am.”

In the Snowzone base, an awkward silence between Destari and Nathan lurked for a few moments. Nathan was not sure what to do. He was frightened by Destari. He knew both him and Gina were in genuine danger. If he stepped a foot out of place, then he would be placed in danger. 

“Don’t you think we should go inside the main sector of the Base?” Nathan asked. “I need to check up on the systems to ensure everything is in place.”

Destari shook her head. “You’re not going in there, but I will. The Rutans are in charge of this operation now, as I am. With any luck, they would have blasted the Sontarans that went through that door to smithereens. I will be back soon.”

Destari walked through the door, and closed it swiftly behind her. Nathan heard a scream from behind the door, and what sounded like a gust of wind. Nathan hurried towards the door, opening it. Suddenly, from the point he opened it, he looked out to nothingness. The whole room of the main base had vanished. All that was left was the door. The wind was unbearable. The Doctor, the TARDIS, the Sontarans, the Rutans and Destari had all vanished. Nathan slammed the door in his own face, and stepped backwards to where he was before. The whole base had gone. He was shook.

He turned around, as the temperature decreased once again, and an intolerable gust of wind burst into the room. He had nowhere else to go. This small, self contained room was all that was left of the base. The doors had been smashed in by Ace, although now he realised for good reason, and the main segment of the base had been destroyed somehow, alongside everybody else who was inside it. Nathan clutched onto one of the walls, unsure of what to hold on to. The temperature rapidly declined, with conditions worsening by the second. Things became colder, and colder, and colder, and colder. Soon the lighting in the room vanished, and everything descended into pitch black. 

Three figures descended onto the room suddenly. It was the Rutans. They shifted towards Nathan, who became even more terrified than he was beforehand. One of the Rutans launched into Nathan, shifting into his form. Nathan screamed as he and the Rutan became one and the same. Nathan grinned, or more so, the Rutan grinned.

Meanwhile, the main area of the Snowzone base found itself elsewhere, alongside those who were placed inside of it, the Doctor, the Sontarans, the Rutans and Destari. All of them found themselves in the same interior, but probably in a different area. The Doctor woke up, only to spot Destari above him.“What happened?” The Doctor interrogated. “The Snowzone base got teleported elsewhere.”

“Exactly, Doctor,” Destari replied, “That’s exactly what they intended to happen.”

“Why? I thought the Rutans wanted to take out the systems? I thought the Rutans wanted the end of the world.”

A Rutan nodded. “Yes. We have caused the end of the world, and now we wish to escape it. Except we have brought along some intruders. Only the Rutans and Destari are secured in our deal. Our enemies shall be eradicated.”

One of the Sontarans grabbed their weapon, blasting the Rutan to smithereens. Another Rutan used their tentacles to release the shield that was containing the base. It was clear now that from the visible exterior, they were no longer in Antarctica. The base, and the people inside of it, were now in outer space. The Sontarans were all sucked out into space. The Doctor managed to clutch on, reaching towards the TARDIS and entering the safe solace of his ships interior.

Destari then signalled the Rutans to place the shield over the window once again. Destari and the Rutans had all managed to remain inside of the base, unlike the Sontarans who had  been forced out due to the overwhelming pressure. Destari knocked on the TARDIS door. 

“Doctor, open the doors!” Destari demanded.

The doors of the TARDIS opened, and Destari rushed inside. The TARDIS doors slammed shut once again behind her. The Doctor plugged in some coordinates. Destari moved towards the TARDIS console.

“What are you doing?” Destari asked, still acting as if she was oblivious to everything that was going on around her, “Those things are out there. You need to stop them.”

“I know, Destari, but first we need to pilot the Snowzone base back to Earth. The Rutans played around with the controls, meaning that the temperatures on Earth sky rocketed below freezing. We need to get the base back to Earth so that we can fix the atmosphere of the planet. If we don’t, then the whole world will be destroyed.”

“The Rutans managed to change the Earths atmosphere?”

“Yes, and it will gradually become more and more inhospitable. The Rutans managed to pilot the base into space so that there is no way to reverse the atmosphere. But if I get the base back to Earth, then we can change things back.”

“No, Doctor,” Destari said, now aiming her gun at the Doctor. “I don’t think you’re going to do that. You’re going to go outside of the TARDIS and surrender yourself to the Rutans.”

“What are you talking about? Destari? What has happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me, but I can tell you what will happen to you if you do not surrender yourself. You will regenerate. You do not want that. The Snowzone base shall remain in space, and the Earth shall be frozen. The Rutans will win, and the Earth shall become their battleground. Surrender, or die. Make your choice.”

Ace and Gina continued to trott in the post apocalyptic landscape they had found themselves in. They both had endless amounts of questions, and no hope of returning home. Ace was cautious that the Doctor was in a great deal of danger. Gina was fearful of how Nathan was, despite her hatred of him. They both were wondering what the Sontarans and the Rutans had planned for the Snowzone base. They were both trying to find a way back home. However, that seemed impossible.

All the two of them knew was that according to a mysterious hooded woman who had crossed paths with Ace earlier, they were in Antartica. It did not look like Antartica to them. It must have been from their past, or their futures. One thing was for sure and that it was not the Antarctic they knew, and the Antarctic were Gina resided. They continued to journey towards an unknown and nonexistent destination. They still had hope that somehow they would be able to get back to where they needed to be, and stop Destari. Little did they know that the hope they had would soon be depleted.

Ace groaned as she was suddenly pulled to the floor. She grabbed a blaster from the side of her backpack and shot at whatever was grabbing her. The thing that was pulling her towards the surface made itself clear. It was a snake like creature, with fearsome claws and a meddlesome tongue. Ace attempted to crawl away. She kept shooting at the creature, but missed. Gina rushed towards the snake and stamped on it, forcing it back into the ground. Gina pulled Ace back up.

“Are you alright?” Gina asked. “I thought nothing could bring you down.”

“Those snakes are powerful,” Ace responded, “They could pull anyone or anything they wanted to down deep below the surface.”

“This place must be a death trap. Destari wants us gone, and I think this place may be designed to torture us to ensure that we are, the long way round.”

“She wants us to suffer,” Ace commented, “Well I am not letting that space witch taunt me, or make me suffer. I’m gonna get back there and kill her, whichever way I can. I am not letting her manipulate or control the Doctor anymore.”

“There is no way to get back,” Gina replied, “How do you suggest we get back to the Snowzone base? In our time, at least?”

Ace sighed. “There must be a way. And I am going to find it. Whatever the cost.” Ace’s head lighted up, as if she had just had an idea. “The six. The message on the mountains. It must mean something, surely? The hooded woman said it was something to do with Destari. Maybe it is a way for us to get us back home.”

“You’re not suggesting we climb that whole mountain?”Ace nodded. “I don’t see any other way. It’s worth a try. The sooner we get back and save the Doctor and Nathan, the less chance they’ll both be dead when we get there.”

Ace led the way towards the mountain, and Gina quickly followed. They hurtled rapidly, forcing themselves through the barren mounds of dirt that partially restricted their movements. It did not take long before they reached the mountain. It was only a few moments. The mountain appeared further away than it actually was. Ace began to climb it. She turned around, but Gina did not follow. Gina was panting, struggling to breathe. She took a few steps behind her, and pulled Gina towards her and up the mountain.

“I’m sorry, I’m just tired out,” Gina commented. “Done a lot of running.”

Ace smirked. “We do way more running than this on a normal day. Come on, or I’ll leave you down there, slow poke!”

Ace and Gina continued to hurry up the Mountain, desperate to get a way back home in order to save their friends. Gina propelled herself upwards. Ace was miles ahead of her. Ace turned around, and noticed that Gina had just stopped once again.

“What’s up with you?” Ace questioned, whilst still towering ahead of her new friend.

“Nathan isn’t worth this,” Gina responded, “Not after what he did?”

“I thought you wanted to rescue him? I thought he was your friend? That’s why you wanted to come up to the Mountain?”

“It’s just come back to me now. It’s just come back to me who he is.”

“Who is he?” Ace asked, screeching at the top of her voice towards Gina who was much lower down the Mountain, “Please, tell me the reason he’s not worth you saving his life.”

A beam of light materialised around Ace. She found herself back in the Snowzone base, where Nathan was, surrounded by two Rutans. The temperature was too intense for her to deal with. Ace grabbed her weapon but the gusts of winds forced it down to the ground. She tried to grab the weapon but one of the Rutans glowed up their eyes, causing a ray of light to be exposed which destroyed the weapon. Ace grabbed another weapon but the same thing occurred. Ace opened up the door into the main part of the base but there was nothing behind it. Nathan chuckled. Ace was alarmed.

“Nathan, get away from them!” Ace demanded, struggling to speak through the heavy winds but aware that Nathan’s life could be at stake.

“How can I?” Nathan cheekily remarked, “I am them.”

Ace grabbed on to the wall, attempting to prevent herself from being propelled out of the base and into the bleak, cold, dark exterior. The Rutans began to shift towards her. One of the Rutans came close to her. Ace managed to kick the Rutan away into the other direction. She lost grip, one finger at a time. She felt herself being sucked out, but she was still managing to hold tight. 

“I think she would make a good body,” Nathan remarked.

“Yes,” The Rutan agreed, “We wish we had thought of such a thing sooner.”

“Oh no you don’t!” Ace exclaimed. “Where is the Doctor?”

“He is long gone,” Nathan commented, “Destari and the Rutans are dealing with him and the Sontarans elsewhere. He is not here to save you.”

Inside of the TARDIS, the Doctor prepared to pilot the Snowzone base back to Earth to ensure that the Rutans did not succeed in their plot to destroy the Earth's atmosphere. Destari followed him in. The TARDIS doors slammed shut behind them.

“What are you doing?” Destari asked, still acting as if she was oblivious to everything that was going on around her, “Those things are out there. You need to stop them.”

“I know, Destari, but first we need to pilot the Snowzone base back to Earth. The Rutans played around with the controls, meaning that the temperatures on Earth sky rocketed below freezing. We need to get the base back to Earth so that we can fix the atmosphere of the planet. If we don’t, then the whole world will be destroyed.”

“The Rutans managed to change the Earths atmosphere?”

“Yes, and it will gradually become more and more inhospitable. The Rutans managed to pilot the base into space so that there is no way to reverse the atmosphere. But if I get the base back to Earth, then we can change things back.”

“No, Doctor,” Destari said, now aiming her gun at the Doctor. “I don’t think you’re going to do that. You’re going to go outside of the TARDIS and surrender yourself to the Rutans.”

“What are you talking about? Destari? What has happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me, but I can tell you what will happen to you if you do not surrender yourself. You will regenerate. You do not want that. The Snowzone base shall remain in space, and the Earth shall be frozen. The Rutans will win, and the Earth shall become their battleground. Surrender, or die. Make your choice.”

“She was right, wasn’t she? Ace was right. You manipulated my memories. You controlled me. You made me think that you were my friend. You made me think I had known you all that time. And now I don’t even know Ace, my real companion. I didn’t even know she existed. I’ve potentially left her for dead. You, Destari, have manipulated me. Nobody manipulates me and gets away with it.”Destari chuckled. “I’m sorry, Doctor. Well I’m not. Inside of my brain I have all of your memories. I sucked them up. Your memories are so luxurious. The pain, the suffering, the fear, the dread, the hate. All of it coddled up inside of there. Your past, your future. The other, the timeless child, lungbarrow, the hybrid, the Dominatrix. All of it lurks deep within.”

“You have no right to see my memories. You had no right.”

“I did not, but I did it anyway. What are you going to do to stop me? How exactly are you going to tackle me? In my mind, I have every way you have ever thwarted one of your enemies, and every way you will in your future.”

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

“Don’t you think it’s about time you tried saving the world, Doctor. I may have this gun, but I wouldn’t think that you’d be afraid. You’ve never been afraid of guns. You’ve never been afraid of others. All you’ve ever been afraid of is yourself.”

“Shoot me. End my life. It will only be a minor inconvenience to me. The real pity would be if you didn’t answer my questions and tell me who you really are.”

“I’m not going to tell you that. You’ve had enough information as it is.”

The Doctor pulled himself towards the TARDIS console and pressed a few buttons. Destari shot out her gun but no bullets fired. The Doctor turned around, stunned by this. He thought Destari would actually fire at him.

“Don’t worry, Doctor,” Destari commented, “I didn’t actually intend to shoot you because I knew that would not get either of us anywhere. Now, move away from the console or I will do something much worse than shoot you. Not just to you, but to your friends, and to everybody on this planet. Is that what you’d like?”

The Doctor continued to pilot the TARDIS, consciously ignoring the statements made by Destari. Destari reached out her hand towards the Doctor, as the TARDIS vanished from around them. The Doctor desperately attempted to plug in some coordinates. The console soon disappeared before he could. Everything around them descended into thin air. The background blended into that of the Snowzone base, which was now stuck in space. The TARDIS had gone, leaving the Doctor and Destari with the Rutans.

“Seems I didn’t have to go forward with my threats,” Destari remarked, “I just wanted to see whether you’d listen. I knew you wouldn’t.”

“What are you?” The Doctor replied. “I don’t understand.”

“Come on, Doctor, you are the most complex being I have ever encountered and not even you can understand me. I am more than you, Doctor. I am the darkness. I am the rage. I am the fear. I am the one who is going to destroy you. Your memories were yummy, and I’m sure your defeat will taste just as nice.”

The Doctor turned towards the Rutans, who were still plugging around on the controls. “The Earth will not be used as your battleground, Rutans, I will make sure of that.” He then turned back towards Destari. “What deal have you struck with them?”

“Once again, you know too much as it is. Why should I tell you more?”

The Doctor looked daunted. He was desperate for answers. There was a mysterious, unfamiliar woman who knew everything about him, and yet he knew nothing about her. He felt like he had no place left to turn. The TARDIS was gone, and the Rutans had thus far been successful. He found himself concerned about what to do next.

Meanwhile on the Snowzone base, the Rutans continued to lurk towards Ace, as she continued to clutch onto the walls of the building. The gusts of winds forced her away. She lost grip of the walls. The Rutans edge towards her. She let go of the building, and found herself flung towards the other side of the room. Before she could hit the wall, the TARDIS materialised, the doors opened and Ace found herself inside. Ace rushed towards the console and pushed a button which caused the doors to close.

There was knocking at the door. Ace gave a deep breath. She attempted to work the controls but it was no use. There was no way she was ever going to be able to pilot it. She knew she had to give it a go. To save the Doctor, Ace would do anything.

Ace pulled forward a lever towards her, immediately pinging back into the alternative direction. The ship shook from side to side, vibrating subtlely but not doing much more. She then pushed a series of buttons which were aligned in different directions. She pulled the same lever again, this time causing something to happen. The ship began to dematerialise. Ace screamed “Ace!” as she found herself with a victory for the first time in a long while. The TARDIS began to lift off, as it directed itself onto its next course. Ace hoped that it would lead her to the Doctor, but she was also aware that she had not been that lucky today.

Suddenly, the ship halted. It just stopped. Ace’s face turned from one of joyous success to one of fearful dread. The Rutans began to shift into the room, slowly and steadily, their forms becoming more clear by the second. They transformed from transparent to solid matter. Ace remembered that her weapons were still on the floor of the base. The Rutans moved towards her. Ace attempted to do the same thing as she did before, and the ship dematerialised once again. 

“Come on, Jellyfishes, try me!” Ace screamed at the creatures, as they continued to dart themselves towards her. Ace looked prepared to ward them off. She played around with the buttons on the console. She pulled a miniscule switch towards her direction, which caused the doors to open. The Rutans were forced out of the ship abruptly, with Ace only just managing to hold on. She pulled the same switch back in the direction it was beforehand, and the doors of the ship closed once again.Another figure began to shift through, once again going from transparent to solid matter. The features of this figure were very familiar to Ace. It was Nathan. Nathan strolled towards Ace’s direction, and pushed her away from the console.

“I knew you’d be able to tackle them in their Rutan form,” Nathan declared, “But can you question me when I am in my human form?”

Ace kicked Nathan in the groin, causing him to let out a giant scream of anger and rage and hurt. Nathan then followed Ace down the console, grabbing her neck and throttling her. Ace managed to kick him away, as Nathan fell onto the console floor. Nathan leaped up and moved towards the TARDIS console, plotting some coordinates in. Ace managed to push him away, back onto the floor. 

The doors of the TARDIS opened, revealing a sight of familiarity. It was the Snowzone base. In front of her were the Doctor, Destari and a hoard of Rutans. She sighed. Nathan pushed Ace out into the base. Nathan stepped out of the ship. Destari clicked her fingers, and the TARDIS transported itself away once again.

“So we meet again, Ace,” Destari introduced.

“I’m so sorry, Ace,” The Doctor apologised, “I didn’t realise who she was. I didn’t realise you were telling the truth. I still don’t remember you.”

“It’s not your fault, Professor. I’m gonna kill that space hag!”

Ace rushed towards Destari, but Destari clicked her fingers and a white shield protected her. Destari grinnec cockily. Ace looked towards the Doctor. He saw emotions in his face that she had never seen from him before. Fear, anger, loathing, and worst of all: The feeling of being beaten. Destari had managed to outwit him. 

“Try all you can, you two, but your combined abilities cannot defeat me. I am Destari, and I am stronger than either of you combined. I can erase your memories. I can summon things. I can destroy things. I can make people vanish.”

Destari tested out her powers by reaching out her hand towards one of the Rutans, causing it to imminently vanish. 

Ace glared at Destari. “If you can make people disappear like that, how come you had to use a weapon to get rid of me and send me elsewhere?”

“It uses up a lot of energy to send people away using my abilities, and you are not worth that. I hope you enjoyed your time in the wasteland. It isn’t very nice there. There are things there that you would never believe. Anyways, I’m quite liking it here. The Earth is being destroyed down below us. The atmosphere is causing billions of lives to cease. It’s quite a lot of fun when you think about it.”

The Doctor glanced at her, sinisterly. “The Earth will not die. Not today.”

“And what are you going to do, eh? The legends claim you are the Doctor-The savior of worlds, the giver of hope, the carer of many, the salvation of reality, and yet you never know how to get through all of this, do you? You never have a plan. You never have a strategy. You never have an escape route. You rely on chance. That’s all. Pure and simple chance. And there’s never been a time when you’ve found yourself without it.”

“Until now,” The Doctor murmured.

“You’re not gonna act like you’re defeated, Professor?” Ace said, concerned.

“This woman knows everything about me. This woman took part of me away. This woman destroyed every last chance I have. She has my memories now. Every possible way out of this situation she will be able to prevent because she knows how my mind works, maybe even more than I do. I don’t even remember you as a result, and you are supposed to be an integral part of my life.”

“She’s not going to defeat us. I won’t let it happen.”

“But you already have!” Destari responded, “I have the Doctor's memories. I have the two of you onboard. The TARDIS is gone. The Earth is about to be destroyed. Nathan and Gina have both found themselves dealt with. I know every escape strategy the Doctor is thinking about. All that is left for me to kill you.”

“You aren’t doing anything of the sort,” Ace protested.

“Oh yes I am. I have no use for either of you anymore. Ace is too strong for me to destroy her memories, and the Doctor’s are destroyed already. I have no need for either of you. I’ll be nice and let you choose how you’d like to die. There’s no limitations.”

The Doctor chimed in. “Get on with it then. Kill us.” It was almost as if from his tone, he was admitting defeat, which was a delight for Destari.

“Doctor?” Ace questioned, stunned by this. “You’re seriously not giving up?”

“I am beaten. I am sorry, Ace. I’ve always been able to get myself out of whatever predicament I have found myself in. I’ve always been able to find a solution. There is no solution here. Take all my lives away from me. I have one last request.”

“Name it,” Destari answered, pleased with her position.

“Tell me who you really are and why you really wanted my memories. I see it behind your eyes. You’re even hiding what you have told us.”

“Isn’t there some solace in secrecy? I often believe so. But as your life is ending, I’ll be clean with you.” Destari moved around the room, closer towards the Doctor. The Doctor was fearful. He knew she was serious. She was about to end his life. She looked him deeply in the eye. “Don’t you recognise me?”

Destari placed her hand around the Doctor's head, and began to suck away his remaining regenerations from him. The Doctor screamed. Ace was unsure of what was happening. Ace hurtled towards her and tried pulling Destari away from him, but she was unsuccessful. Destari reached out her hand towards Ace and forced her back to the other side of the base. The Doctor appeared to be in pain. Destari removed her hand from behind his head. The Doctor breathed heavily.

“Shall we kill the girl?” One of the Rutans asked Destari.

“No! No! Patience is a virtue! Ace shall not die yet. I just came up with an interesting idea of how to kill her.”

“Well you’re not going to kill me,” Ace said, “What did you do to the Doctor?”

“She removed my remaining regenerations, Ace,” The Doctor confirmed, “She has made me mortal. I am like a normal human. When she inevitably kills me in a few moments time, I will die, and there’s no way going back from that.”

“No! I’m not letting you die, Professor. I’m not letting you kill her.”

“I can see you’re a tough one. I’m guessing that’s why I picked you as my associate. She’s still too powerful. You cannot destroy her. Her strength is unmatchable. Before she kills me, I need to say I’m sorry for forgetting you.”

“She made you, Professor. It was her fault.”

“Yes, I know, but it does not stop me from feeling guilty. I’ve never given up this easily before, but this woman knows me inside out. She knows every-”

The conversation was intruded by a tremendous shot at the base. Suddenly, everybody inside of the Snowzone base was thrust towards the other side of the structure. The Doctor, Ace, Destari and the Rutans found themselves thrown from one side of the building to the other. The base was still drifting through space, and the speed soon began to excel as a result of this blast. Everybody clutched on tightly. Another blast shot through the shield protecting the base from the exterior, causing the Rutans inside to be sucked offboard. Destari grabbed the Doctor and Ace, tightly clutching onto their hands. She managed to click her fingers, transporting them away.

The Doctor, Ace and Destari all found themselves in the TARDIS. Destari hurried towards the console and began to pilot the ship, pressing buttons and pulling levers. The Doctor was insulted that it was not him who was piloting the ship.“What is going on?” Ace asked. “What happened back there?”

Destari responded, “I think it was the Sontarans. The ones back in Antarctica probably called for reinforcements. They must have sniffed out that Rutans were on board, and wanted them destroyed imminently.”

“Why did you not leave us there to die?”, The Doctor asked.

“Thankyou for saving my life would be a nicer response. You are mortal now, so you may need a little bit of help with staying alive.”

“Earlier on you wanted me dead. If we didn’t transport away, you probably would have shot me right there and then, along with Ace. What I don’t get is why you didn’t leave us there for the Sontarans to kill.”

Destari turned towards the Doctor. “Just be lucky you have a little bit of extra time.”

“I don’t think we can ever be friends with you, space hag,” Ace declared, “You want us dead, and you made the Doctor forget about me. What do you have in mind for us now?”

Destari grinned. “Well, seeing as though you have some more time, I think we’ll go to Earth, don’t you? I think that would be a rather nice place to go to. First of all though, I suggest we go and collect an old friend. Get the whole gang back together.”

The TARDIS found itself on the futuristic Wasteland where Ace had been left by Destari. The Doctor, Ace and Destari departed from the TARDIS. Destari hastily closed the ships doors from behind them. They looked around. Ace looked on the top of the mountain, and saw Gina. Ace attempted to run towards her, but Destari held Ace’s neck at the tip of her weapon.

“I’d suggest you don’t run off anywhere,” Destari said, “I can tell you want to survive for as long as is humanly possible, as I’m letting you live a little longer than I initially intended for you too. Don’t go anywhere just yet.”

Destari dragged Ace forward, still holding her at the tip of her gun. The Doctor closely followed, hesitant to escape as he feared that Destari would take his friends life. He looked up at the mountain and noticed the number six written in large letters, which took him by surprise. He did not know what this meant.

“What does six mean?” questioned the Doctor, “Do you have any idea, Destari?”

“I thought you were the one who was meant to know all the answers,” returned Destari.

Ace chimed in. “I know what it means. I didn’t have a chance to tell you earlier, Doctor. Somebody warned me about it-”

Destari interrupted. “Tell me, or I will shoot you.”“I don’t care if you shoot me. You can do what you like. How much do you want me to tell you what that six means? Because we can come to a deal. It does concern you. Potentially it concerns your future.”

Ace spotted Gina rushing down the mountain, and upon spotting Ace, hurtled towards her friend. Ace ushered her towards them. Destari continued to hover her gun around.

“Tell me, or I will end your life.”

“Then you will never know, will you?” Ace responded, “Here’s the deal: You let me, the Doctor and Gina go free, and leave this place, and I will tell you everything.”

Destari looked frustrated. “You can never get rid of me, you know.”

The Doctor nodded. “I know that, but I need time to realise how to defeat you.”

Gina rushed towards them and hugged Ace. “I thought you’d gone for good! I thought you would never come back! My god, I am so relieved!”

“Alright, I’ll let you go if you tell me what that means,” Destari confirmed. “After all, I quite like a fair fight. It’s not as fun as I thought when the Doctor ends up losing. I’ve already took quite a lot away from him as it is.”

Ace began to explain, “There was this woman who told me everything. She told me that there was some kind of ancient prophecy which was fore-”

The Doctor dragged Ace and Gina into the TARDIS, and closed the doors behind him. He pressed a few buttons, and a noise began to signal. Red alerts began to come across the entire ship. Ace looked irritated.

“Doctor! We had a chance to get rid of her then!”

“Do you really believe that if you told her the truth, she would let you go? The ultra protective shields have been placed on the TARDIS. There is no way any being could transport themselves in and out when it is in this state.”

Gina looked stunned. “Is it unusual for me to say, what the hell is this place?”

The Doctor grinned. “It’s not unusual at all, but if you could try and get over it, that would be great as we’ve got enough on our plate as it stands.”

“We need to go back to the Snowzone base. We need to get Nathan.”

“I’m sorry, Gina, but the Rutans took Nathan’s form,” Ace confirmed. “He’s one of them now. I don’t think you’ve come across a Rutan yet, but they took the form of the Security guards earlier, and they wanted my form as well.” Ace then moved onto another trail of thought. “Anyway, I thought you didn’t care about Nathan. I got transported away before you got a chance to tell me why you loathed him so much.”

“It isn’t the time or place,” Gina replied, swiftly changing the subject in order to avoid giving answers. “So that was Antarctica then?”

The Doctor looked shocked. “What do you mean-That was Antarctica? You need to tell me everything that I do not know. There are a lot of pieces of this ever growing puzzle that I am yet to put together, but need to.”

Ace continued, “There was this hooded woman earlier who told me that we were already in Antarctica, and told me it was all because of Destari. What lies out there must be a future wasteland of the planet or something.”

The Doctor pressed in some buttons on to the console, and gasped at the result. Ace and Gina moved closer towards the console. “That can’t be possible,” The Doctor exclaimed.

“What?” Gina asked. “Just tell us, Doctor!”

“This is Antartica, you are right. But the year, it doesn’t add up.”

“What year is this? What year lies outside?”

“1990. The year is 1990. I’m sorry, both of you, but it’s too late. Destari won. The Rutans won. They got what they want. They’ve utilized Earth as their battleground against the Sontarans. They’ve managed to change the course of time.”

“This is the end of the world?” Ace commented, startled. “It can’t be.”

“I wouldn’t think so either, but no point in time is definite. I’m so sorry, both of you. She’s beaten me. She’s destroyed the planet. I don’t know what effect this will have on time but it will prove detrimental. It’s all my fault.”

The Doctor opened up the doors, and Destari strolled through. Ace rushed towards her and attempted to attack, but Destari held her by the wrist and threw her down to the ground. The Doctor walked towards her, wearing a face of grimace and anger. He was fearful at the prospect of being beaten. Gina did not know how to react. She did not even know if any of this was even real. It didn’t feel like it.

“How does it feel to be beaten, Doctor?” Destari asked, chuckling away to herself. “From what I understand, the Earth has always been a favourite of yours. Now it all burns. You are mortal, and could die at any second. You have no recollection of the one closest to you. The Rutans and the Sontarans will use this planet as a playing field. Your friends shall all suffer and burn. And I reign victorious. Perhaps this is suitable punishment for what you did to me.”

The Doctor was confused. “What I did to you?”“This is my vengeance, Doctor. You made me like this. You destroyed me. And now, I have, and will continue to, destroy everyone and everything that you love.” Destari strolled towards the TARDIS console. “I understand that this ship is now mine then.”

The Doctor nodded. “There’s no point in me fighting you. It’s not going to get me anywhere.”

Ace was taken aback. “Doctor? She’s just destroyed everything and you’re just going to take it?”

“I don’t see you doing anything about it, Ace. There’s nothing I can do to stop her. Take my ship, take my friends, take my life. It’s all over. You’ve won.”

Destari smiled cockily. “Oh, I’ve waited so long to hear you say that! Now then, there’s no excuse for me not to kill you. It’s time to die, Doctor…”

Inside of the TARDIS, the Doctor had just admitted defeat. This was an event that had never happened before. Destari, the woman who had stolen some of his most precious memories and knew everything about him, had apparently destroyed the planet Earth, and took away everything he loved. The Doctor, Gina and Ace all stood in the TARDIS, pondering their recent defeat. All of them had faced their own different losses. Gina had lost Nathan, her planet, her home, and potentially everything she loved, while Ace had been gutted that Destari had taken the Doctor away from her.

Using the base which controlled the Earths weather, Destari and the Rutans had joined forces to destroy the planets atmosphere in order to transform it into a massive battleground between the Rutans and the Sontarans, two races who had been in battle with each other since time commenced. They would find any opportunity they could to fight each other. Destari had formed a deal, and they had been successful. The Doctor failed in his chance to thwart their plots, and yet Destari had managed to win.

She knew the Doctor inside out. She had taken his memories. She had taken his future regenerations. She had taken any chance he had of success. For some reason, she wanted revenge. Somehow, Destari seemed to believe that her and the Doctor had encountered each other before. The Doctor, however, was unfamiliar with this encounter. Perhaps it lay in his future, or perhaps it was something much more complex.

Destari grabbed her gun, as the Doctor surrendered his now mortal life. She hovered her gun in the direction of the Time Lord, prepared to end his life. Suddenly, a shot fired into the TARDIS. Destari dropped her gun to the ground, before placing a shield around herself as she had done before. Ace and Gina attempted to protect themselves. A sontaran revealed itself in the doorway. It began to shoot lasers out of its gun towards the direction of everybody inside. Ace and Gina hid behind the console. The Doctor hid behind the doorway. Destari grabbed both Ace and Gina and pulled them towards the Sontaran, throwing them on to the ground.

“There you are, Sontarans,” Destari announced, “These are my sacrifices.”

“We are here for select blood,” The Sontaran confirmed, “All Rutan forces shall be eliminated. The Doctor and Destari shall also be eliminated. We are unfamiliar with their visual appearance. State your names and identities.”

“I am the Doctor,” he said, surrendering himself to the Sontarans. The Sontaran grabbed him, and pulled him towards him, “And that woman over there is Destari.”

“Destari is in allegiance with the Rutans. She must be destroyed at all costs.”

“No!” Destari protested. “I am an ally of both the Sontarans and the Rutans. I am impartial.”

“You are a threat to the Sontaran regime. All threats to the Sontaran regime will be destroyed. The Doctor shall be eliminated. We shall take you all with us.”

Four more Sontarans materialised outside of the ship, and dragged the Doctor, Destari, Gina and Ace out of the TARDIS and back into the apocalyptic wasteland. All of them had their hands behind their heads. The Sontarans led them all towards an industrial form of building which was located nearby. It was very recognisable to all of their hostages. It was the Snowzone base. They must have seized it when the Doctor, Ace and Destari managed to transport themselves away. They all walked inside, and much to their collective surprise, it was all in one piece, connected together unlike it was before. There were many more Sontarans hovering around the area.

“This is the Doctor, Destari and their allies,” The Sontaran confirmed, “We have brought them here to be tortured and eliminated. They are enemies of the Sontarans and allies of the Rutan Empire. They must be eradicated.”

Another of the Sontarans nodded. “This world is ours now. All enemies of the Sontarans and the Rutans that can survive the vicious climates shall be destroyed.”

“Go on then,” Ace screamed, “Kill us!”

The Sontaran hovered their hand over their gun, but before they could shoot, a bombardment of shooting came from another direction. A hoard of Rutans floated into the Snowzone base, preparing themselves for attack. The Doctor, Ace and Gina rushed out as a battle commenced between the two races, taking advantage of their conflict. Destari remained in the base, much to the others surprise. She did not click her fingers. She did not run. She must have had something planned. 

The rest of the crew raced towards the TARDIS, entered and then closed the door abruptly from behind them. Lazers continued to be shot at the door. The Doctor frantically piloted the ship away, desperately attempting to control the materialisation process. Ace and Gina panicked as the Doctor attempted to do this. The emergency lockdown was secured once again, to ensure that nothing entered. There was a pause. They could not move. They could not travel. They had just stopped.

“What is going on?” Gina asked. “Why aren’t you getting out of here?”

“I can’t,” The Doctor responded, “And anyway, why should I? I have nothing left to live for. My whole past has been stolen.”

“What about Earth?” Ace questioned. “You can’t just leave it like that.”

“I have no choice. Time can change at any second and that’s what happens. I can’t change it back because that would just cause all kinds of mess. We are at the end of the planet Earth. Outside of that door, everything you have both ever known has come to an end, thanks to Destari and the Rutans. A Rutan and Sontaran battleground that will be used for the rest of eternity. There’s nothing I can do about that. It’s too late to save the planet.”

Ace sighed. “So we’re just stuck here then? You’ve got to get us away.”

The Doctor attempted again, but failed once more. “The TARDIS does not want to budge. I don’t know what’s up with the old girl. Maybe Destari did something to it. There’s no way of telling. We’re safe here for now, but we cannot move.”

Gina intruded. “And Destari? Who is she? What does she want? Are you going to do anything about her? You’ve got to stop her?”

“I can’t. She’s too powerful for me. Too powerful for any of us.”

“I wish I could have warned you earlier,” Ace said, “That woman earlier, she told me that Destari was the one who would bring the end to this world. I never thought that it would be now. I never thought it would be in 1990.”

“It won’t be the end forever. There are always people out there. Somewhere in the world, humans will continue to thrive, and one day humanity will be back to the way it was before. And then again, it will be destroyed. There’s not just one end of the world. They’ve happened before. This is just one I didn’t know about.” The Doctor then reflected on what he saw outside. “You said you knew what the six on the mountains meant, Ace? You said there was some sort of relevance for that?”

“Yeah. This woman came up to me and told me that Destari was some sort of eternal god and then listed off these weird names. The Dominatrix, the Kingdom Comer. Something like that. It seems like something much bigger is coming for us.”

The Doctor turned towards her. “The Dominatrix?”

“Yeah, that’s what the woman said. You sound like you recognise that name?”

“I do. Something in my past. It was a long time ago. I never thought it’d be important. I’ve never heard of the Kingdom Comer though.” The Doctor looked confused. “All of this is just too much to take.”

“Tell me about it,” Gina cheekily remarked, “I guess Nathan’s lost now then.”

“I’m sorry, Gina,” Ace replied, “But he’s gone. He’s one of the Rutans now. There’s nothing we can do about that now.”

“How do you do it? How do you just move on? It’s like this is normal for you.”

“It is,” The Doctor replied, “This is our lives, Gina. This is what we must struggle through each and every day. Pain, misery, loss, suffering. But sometimes there’s hope. I could do with a bit of hope today, more than ever.”

“We travel across time and space,” Ace confirmed, “The places we’ve been and the things we’ve seen. I could never put them into words.”

Gina smiled. “I always knew there was something more out there.”

Back in the Snowzone base, the Sontarans and the Rutans continued to battle against each other, as the constant conflict between the two forces continued to strive. Destari grew irritated. She grabbed her weapon, moved up to the Sontarans neck and whacked it, causing the Sontaran to fall to the ground. Another Sontaran shot at her, but nothing happened, as she still appeared to be protected by a shield which surrounded her. Destari pointed towards one of the Sontarans, and a vast ray of energy was released from her fingertips, causing all of the Sontarans to drop to the ground and be destroyed. The ray turned orange, and began to surround herself. She looked at it in shock.

“This is the Doctors doing, it must be,” Announced Destari, “This is regeneration energy.”

“What is this trickery? What are you doing?” Questioned one of the Rutans.

“The Doctor is a man who I managed to defeat, but he always has a little trick up his cards. Earlier, I destroyed his ability to regenerate; He became mortal. Now the regeneration energy is inside of me, taking control of me. It won’t be me that the regeneration energy affects.” She continued to stare at her hands, and looked up at the Rutans. “We need to act fast. This is not over. I won once, and I will win again. You need to contact the Rutan embassy, and tell them that the Doctor must be destroyed at all costs. Tell them that I will be back for them one day, and will aid them once again.”

The Rutan she spoke to transformed into Nathan. “I shall inform them.”

“You must leave instantly. The whole base will be imploded. If I get the facts right, the regeneration energy will restore life on Earth to the way it was beforehand. That means all Rutans and Sontarans on the planet will be eliminated, and the humans will have no idea what happened here. The Rutan empire must thrive.”

Nathan nodded. “Indeed, Destari, and I shall ensure it will. The next time we meet, we shall be successful, and the next time we meet, the Doctor will be destroyed. Properly, this time.” Nathan transported himself away, leaving Destari inside of the base, continuing to radiate regeneration energy from all over her body. Her head became infected with the energy. She looked at herself, and groaned.

“I thought I’d succeed,” Destari revealed, “I thought I’d done it.”

The regeneration energy was released through her body, and the Snowzone base blew up into flames, with Destari inside. Suddenly, everything reverted to the way it was. The temperature became normal. Everything was fine. The only thing different was that the Snowzone base had been destroyed. Human life was back. 

Inside of the TARDIS, the console began to vibrate again, and lift off commenced. The Doctor, Gina and Ace clutched on tightly. Gina grinned as the TARDIS moved, delighted and hopeful as a result. The ship halted without warning, and found itself at its next destination. The Doctor pressed a button, causing the doors of the TARDIS to open.

The Doctor strolled out of the ship, and his face transformed from one of fear to one of hope. Ace followed, and then Gina. Ace grinned as she realised where she had arrived. Around them, life was thriving. It was 1990, back to the way it should have been. There were kids playing, dogs barking, trees whistling. Everything and everyone was back to the way they should have been. 

“It’s perivale!” Ace exclaimed. “This is my home.”

The Doctor grinned. “Maybe I didn’t lose after all. This is 1990. Things are back to the way they should have been. It seems we just got lucky.”

“How could this be?” Asked Gina. “How could things have changed so suddenly.”

“I don’t know, but I didn’t lose. I didn’t lose everything.”

Ace’s face dropped. “But you lost me. We’re in Perivale, and it looks brighter and more beautiful compared to what we just saw, but at the same time it’s darker than it was before, because you didn’t even know this was where I lived. You still don’t remember me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. That’s not my fault. She stole you from me.”

“Will you ever remember me, Professor? Will you ever remember everything we’ve been through?”

“First of all, my name is the Doctor, young lady, and secondly, I’m unsure.”

Gina broke the awkwardness. “At least we’ve found some victory today. We’ve all lost a lot. Can I go home now then? Is it safe to go back? I don’t know whether I want to stay in the Snowzone base but I want to go back to Antartica. I never belonged in the Snowzone base anyway. Nathan always told me that and I never believed him. Today's events just proved it.”

“Of course we can get you back, Gina,” The Doctor replied, “Antarctica, yes? Quite a big place if you ask me, so we may need some directions.”

The Doctor, Gina and Ace walked back into the TARDIS. Inside, a familiar face greeted them. It was Destari. She was not in a physical form, only a mere hologram placed directly next to the console, but she seemed pretty realistic. Everybody's face turned upon seeing her. They already knew all was not over, but this just confirmed it.

“Are you really here? Can you hear me?” The Doctor asked the hologram.

“Yes, I can hear you,” The hologram responded, “The shield you have used to protect the TARDIS means I am forbidden to enter, but I can still contact you in a non physical form. I could still greet you face to face if you released the shields.”

“There’s no chance that’s happening, space witch,” Ace explained, “We’re not letting you back in to the TARDIS because you’ll lead us into a trap.”

“I would do nothing of the sort! Actually, I’m lying there. But I still think it’d make sense if we got to speak face to face. I have quite a few questions to ask all three of you, and I’m sure all three of you have a lot you want to ask me.”

“We can talk like this,” The Doctor demanded, “That’s fine by me.”

“How did you do it then? How did you manage to defeat me? I’m sure you haven’t explained it to your two little friends here.”

“You took my regeneration energy, but my regenerations are mine, so I still have control over them, whoever they belong too. I used them to revert everything back to normal. I had to use one regeneration up in order to do so, but now they have travelled safely back into my body again. My regenerations are my own. I’m back to being not mortal.”

“The one trick in the book that neither of us knew about. I applaud you for defeating me, Doctor, but all is not over yet. I’m sure you’re aware of that. The best is still to come.”

“And I’ll always be there to stop you. I may not remember Ace, but I am doing my best to regain that memory, and me and her will be there whenever you return to stop you in your tracks, whatever the cost.”

Destari chuckled away. “I know everything in your mind. Try to think outside of the box again next time, if there’s any more tricks left to play. The thing is, Doctor, you won’t be ready for it, because the next time I return, will be now.”

Destari hovered towards the console and clicked on a button. Despite her not being in physical form, the doors still opened. She then transformed into solid matter suddenly. The Doctor, Ace and Gina clutched tightly onto the TARDIS console, desperately preventing themselves from being chucked out. Destari continued to laugh away to herself, delighted by this predicament. Destari grabbed Ace and forced her fingers off from the console, causing her to fly out of the TARDIS. The Doctor and Gina remained tight. The Doctor moved along the console and pressed a button, causing the ship to lock itself once again.

“Ace!” The Doctor remarked, frantically attempting to pilot the TARDIS to save her.“You don’t even know who she is,” Destari commented, “You know her just as well as you know Gina, or me. She’s not worth your energy.”

“Get off my ship right this instant. You have no right to be here.”

“I just wanted to warn you. Warn all of you. Wherever you go, wherever you are, you are never safe from me. When I strike next, I will be willing to do anything to get my revenge, and blood will be spilt. The Rutans and the Sontarans will not forget you either. Today was just a warning for you. I haven’t done anything yet. Just you wait.”

Destari vanished. The Doctor rushed over to the console, and steered the ship away. The TARDIS crashed through the time vortex, hurtling after Ace, wherever she was. The TARDIS crashed down towards the direction the Doctor thought Ace was in, and quickly landed. The Doctor and Gina were taken back by the sudden arrival.

“Oh my god!” Gina exclaimed, shellshocked by all that had happened. “Can I go home now?”

The Doctor shook his head. “I need to get Ace back first. I’m sorry, Gina, I will get you home as soon as I possibly can. But for now, I just need to get Ace. I know I don’t remember her but I still-” He paused for a moment, abruptly preventing himself from speaking for the time being. Gina looked confused as he moved back towards the console.

“Doctor? Why are you pausing? What are you thinking?”

The Doctor grinned. “I remember her. My memories of Ace have returned to me. I remember. I remember Iceworld. I remember Fenric. I remember the planet of the Cheetah People. I remember the Metatraxi. I remember it all. I remember her.”

Gina’s expression widened. “That’s great news. How come?”

“I don’t know, but I do. She just came back to me, and now I need to save her more than ever.” The Doctor opened up the doors of the TARDIS. “So then, are you coming with me, or are you staying in here? Whatever lurks out there could be dangerous.”

“Danger’s my middle name!” Gina joked, as she clutched tightly on to the Doctor’s hand. “We’ve been through a lot as it is, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t go through any more.”

Gina and the Doctor strolled out of the TARDIS. They found themselves in a dimly lit corridor, with no light in sight. Their hands were closely connected to one another. The conditions were humid. They were not outside. Indeed, they were in an interior of some kind. There was no sign of Ace from anywhere close to them. Gina looked up to see a torch lighting up the corridors, but it suddenly got blown out. There was a noise from a distance. The Doctor turned around, and began to quicken his speed. Gina did the same, as she continued to hold on to her new friend. They rushed through the corridors of the building, away from whatever was behind them. A door approached them from in front. The Doctor walked through, and Gina quickly followed. They slammed it behind them.“I don’t see Ace anywhere around here,” Gina remarked, “Do you think that she might be elsewhere? Do you think we’ve gotten the wrong place?”

“Quite possibly. She could be anywhere and anywhen in time and space.”

Gina jumped as something knocked on another door in front of them. The Doctor slowly shifted towards it, and opened the door. A regular, unintimidating man greeted them. He was dressed in an old fashioned attire. He removed his top hat, and moved it towards them, as if to show them they were welcome here.

“Good evening, sir and madam,” The man began, “Are you here as guests.”

“Why would we be here if we weren’t?” The Doctor asked rhetorically. “Yes we are. My name’s John Smith, and this is my associate, Gina.”

“It is nice to meet you both. Have you met the Applebeys before.”

“We have not. We were invited out of warning.” The Doctor turned towards Gina, and began to whisper. “I’m sorry about this, Gina, but we may have to go along with this. We don’t want to make this awkward or anything.”

Gina sighed. “But Ace doesn’t seem to be here.”

“We’ll find her. For now, it seems like we’re expected for dinner. Come along, ma’am!”

The story will continue in Identity Theft.