The Thirteenth Doctor: Into Darkness by Whoniversity

PROLOGUE

MINING REPORT - DAY 1

CREW: 10

WE’VE LANDED SAFELY. IT COULDN’T HAVE GONE ANY BETTER. ALL CREW HEALTHY. NEW MATERIALS HAVE BEEN HARVESTED.

MINING REPORT - DAY 10

CREW: 10

SAME OLD SAME OLD. ALL CREW HEALTHY.

MINING REPORT - DAY 15

CREW: 10

NOT MUCH TO SAY REALLY. EVERYTHING'S GOING GREAT!

MINING REPORT - DAY 20

CREW: 10

BRAD HAS BECOME SEVERELY ILL- SENSITIVE TO LIGHT, VIOLENT. NO CURE AS OF YET.

MINING REPORT - DAY 21

CREW: 9

BRAD IS NO LONGER WITH US.

ILLNESS DOESN’T APPEAR TO BE CONTAGIOUS.

MINING REPORT - DAY 31

CREW: 3

CREW ARE DROPPING LIKE FLIES. ILLNESS = DEFINITELY CONTAGIOUS. HELP. PLEASE HELP.

MINING REPORT - DAY 31

HELP.

MINING REPORT - DAY 31

HELP.

MINING REPORT - DAY 31

WE NEED A DOCTOR!

CHAPTER 1

“So, where to next, eh?” The Doctor asked, hunched over the console. Yaz was scrolling through her Twitter, Ryan was phoning his Dad, and Graham was sat on an old chair he’d moved out of the house and into the TARDIS. “Didn’t I promise to take you to the planet made of pure fun?” The Doctor said, waving her hands in front of her.

“Funtopia?” Yaz recalled. The Doctor pointed towards Yaz and clicked. “That’s the one!” The Doctor moved her attention to plotting the coordinates, while Graham was reading the newspaper.

“Doc?”

“Yeah Graham?”

“Are you sure there’s going to be absolutely no dangers on this planet?” Looking up, the Doctor asked: ‘What would make you think that?”

“The last three planets we’ve been to have been host to hostile aliens!” “Yeah, that was my bad.” The Doctor admitted. “But! I can assure you that this planet has absolutely no dangers on it.”

“Whatever you say.”

Graham got lost in the newspaper once more, while the Doctor was running around the console pressing buttons for no apparent reason- she’d already set the coordinates.

“Right”, said the Doctor enthusiastically. Her right hand was hovering over the lever that would propel them through the time vortex, and hurdle them towards their destination. “Funtopia...here we come!” The Doctor pulled down on the lever, and suddenly, they experienced turbulence.

The whole room lit up and the usual warm orange glow had mixed and then got washed away as harsh reds and purples took over!

Yaz’s phone was knocked out of her hands and broke into pieces upon

contact with the ground! “That was expensive!” Yaz sighed, before being thrown towards the console by yet another wave of turbulence. Hanging onto the TARDIS console, Yaz turned to the Doctor, who was desperately trying to stabilize the time machine.

“Doctor. Are we safe?” she asked, worried for her life.

“100% Yaz. There’s nothing to worry about!”

As soon as the Doctor had finished speaking, the TARDIS was shaking again. Yaz was thrown to the floor, and debris started to fly around. Ryan entered the main console room, and as soon as he did, was hit in the face by a strip of metal, which had been ripped off of the console - like a lot of the buttons and levers. The Doctor and Graham were hanging on for dear life. The Doctor couldn’t do anything. She was helpless. And so was Graham. With no way out, they were flying straight into darkness. With the surroundings being torn to pieces and the time rotor shutting down, they were sitting ducks. And without warning, they crashed...

*

The TARDIS was dark; the power had been cut. The only light that emitted was a warm orange glow that was coming from the main crystal in the centre of the console. The reds and purples could be faintly seen too.

“Aw, my head!” Ryan complained, looking around to see if anyone else had regained consciousness. Yaz and Graham were just getting up, but the Doctor was nowhere to be seen.

“Is everyone ok?” Yaz asked, standing up, dusting of any debris.

“Yeah, I think!” Ryan said, unconvinced.

“I’m all right Yaz. Might need help standing up though.” Yaz helped Graham to stand. Once he was up, Graham looked at his watch, which was cracked beyond repair.

“What happened mate?” Graham asked, walking over to Ryan.

“I don’t know. Firstly I lost my signal, then I was thrown around and hit in the head with something.” Ryan stood up, wobbling. He had a raging headache, but he couldn’t worry about that now; it was time to find the Doctor.

“Where did she go?” Yaz asked, concerned.

“I don’t know!” Graham and Ryan said in unison.

“Well we’d better find her. She’s the only one that might have a clue where we are.” Yaz stated.

“Can’t we just go outside?” Ryan suggested.

“I’d rather not.” Graham said.

“We don’t know what’s behind those doors though - it could be toxic.” Yaz had made point; how would they know their surroundings?

“Is the monitor still working? Perhaps we can catch a glimpse of outside?” Ryan said. Yaz, Graham and Ryan all shared looks of hope.

“I mean. It could work.” said Yaz.

“It’s worth a shot isn’t it?” Graham added.

With the other two agreeing, Ryan checked the monitor. Although it

was a bit faulty, it still worked. Ryan stared at it. “Come on, it’s working guys,” he said. “Oh man. Look at this place.” He was shocked. At first, Yaz and Graham thought he was exaggerating, but once they’d looked to, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

“What happened to this place?” Yaz rhetorically asked. She was devastated.

“Whatever it was, it sure was deadly.” Graham almost couldn’t bare it.

In front of them on the monitor were two people. One human, one alien, both lying on the white polished ground outside, lifeless.

“Are they?-” Ryan started.

“-Yeah.” Yaz answered, solemnly.

“We better find the Doc quick before we, um. You know- end up like that.” Graham was breathing heavily.

“We’ll be fine Gramps.” Ryan assured.

“Graham’s right...” Yaz looked at them both, they all knew what they had to do. “We’ve got to look for her.....and quick!”

CHAPTER 2

The Doctor was miles away from her friends, in a room that was lit only by a torch she’d found in her coat - she kept it just in case.

Despite the lighting issue, the Doctor could see clearly that it was a mining facility. The crew were probably sent to gather materials from an untouched planet, which meant she could narrow the time period down to the 32nd century.

She’d managed to find the password to get into the mining logs - with help from the sonic - and was examining the captain’s reports, her face constantly scrunching as she read the information. “That’s not good. Oh, that’s worse.” She was in shock. Pulling out her sonic screwdriver again, the Doctor scanned the computer. “How did it go from nought to one hundred in the space of a day? What kind of illness was it?” The Doctor was confused. And it was unsettling for her. This was one of those rare occasions where she was genuinely scared. “I shouldn’t have left them on their own.” And with that, she set off, back down the maze of corridors she’d came - until she was stopped.

Two men and a robot were holding guns, standing in front of her. One of the men had lumps of ginger hair, a scruffy beard, bags under his eyes, and a scar all the way down the left side of his face. He was the captain, the one that stood in the centre of the three. Next to him was an even rougher man, who looked extremely anxious, and a robot that looked on the verge of completely shutting down.

“Drop the weapon!” the one in the centre demanded, gesturing with the gun in his hand.

“Um. A bit hostile, don’t you think?” The Doctor asked, trying to lighten the mood. The man in the middle gestured for her to drop the sonic yet again, and tightened his grip.

“This....this isn’t a weapon.”

“I don’t care, drop it!” The man in the centre said, defensively.

“Ok, ok. Don’t shoot!” The Doctor slowly lowered the sonic to the floor, and kicked it over to them. The crew member to the left picked up the sonic, cautiously.

“Now, who are you?” he demanded, his hands now shaking.

“Who are you?” The Doctor asked.

“We asked you first, don’t avoid the question!” the captain demanded. The Doctor decided to answer - “I’m the Doctor, I mean no harm.” “How did you get here?”

“My ship crashed. I don’t know how, but it was pulled off course; all I wanted to do was take my friends to a -”

“That’s enough!” The man in the middle stopped speaking and then they all huddled, conferring. After a few seconds of silently talking among themselves, the three of them then started to speak again.

“I’m Garfield,” the man in the middle said. “I’m the captain of this vessel!”

“Nice to meet you Garfield. And you two are?”

“I’m Odin, and this Robot.”

“That’s a very inventive name isn’t it!” the Doctor said sarcastically. “Well, we couldn’t think of a better one. Our job is to harvest, not to come up with fancy names, Doctor,” Garfield replied.

“No it’s fine really,” she replied, she was more worried about the situation.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s all that?” The Doctor pointed up at the ceiling and the walls. Climbing up the walls, were green vine-like spores. They looked alive. Aware. The Doctor pushed past the three crew members and pulled out her sonic. When she was close enough to the spores, she scanned them.

“Well. Long story.” Garfield said.

“I’ve got time....” The Doctor said, absorbing the information from her sonic. The spores weren’t giving off any readings. That clearly meant it wasn’t a species. So what were they? “Actually, no I haven’t!” The Doctor remembered that Yaz, Ryan and Graham were still on their own. Running back towards the crew, the Doctor put the sonic back into her coat pocket, and listened to Garfield.

“So, your friends?” Garfield asked, putting the gun down. “Where are they?”

“I don’t know...” she said. “Actually!” she exclaimed. “The TARDIS! They might still be in the TARDIS!”

“TARDIS?” Odin said.

“What’s a TARDIS? Is it a ship?” Garfield asked.

“Yup! It’s my ship - that’s what got me into this mess...And hopefully, we can find it.” The Doctor started to look at the ‘you are here’ map on the wall, and then looked at Garfield.

“Right then Garfield, I landed right....there!” she pointed to the far left corner. But that was on the other side of the base! By the time they got there, Yaz, Ryan and Graham could be long gone. “Let’s go and find my friends!” The Doctor led the way, while Garfield and Odin shared looks which both said ‘I don’t trust her, but she’s our best hope’.

*

Yaz, Graham and Ryan were tip-toeing through the base. Who knew what could be lurking around the corner? They’d managed to find spare torches in the TARDIS (that were obviously kept for this kind of situation), which helped guide them through the dark maze of corridors.

They’d been walking for about ten minutes and there was still no sign of the Doctor.

Along the walls of the base were large green spores that were all connected together in a vine- like pattern. They were disgusting. Ryan looked at one while Yaz and Ryan continued to walk cautiously around. Intrigued, Ryan edged closer to the weird ‘thing’, whatever it was. Strangely, it was almost like he was being called towards it. He wasn’t sure. He knew he shouldn’t touch it. It could be dangerous. It could be deadly. But he did! He couldn’t help himself. Stung by the strange growth, Ryan pulled his hand back quickly, and examined it. There was a red mark that looked like a blister in the centre of his hand. “Ow.” Ryan whispered to himself. Yaz and Graham didn’t need to know about this.

Graham was starting to lose hope, and decided to have a breather. He sat down against a wall and breathed in and out at a steady pace. Yaz sat down with him, followed by Ryan soon after.

“How far could she have gotten?” Graham asked, half rhetorically. “She is pretty fast ‘in she.” Ryan said.

“Too fast.” Yaz added.

“Yeah. And in this case it’s not a good thing!” Graham remarked. Yaz was thinking about Graham’s comment for a second, and then replied. “Do you think she left us? Like, you know? On purpose?”

Ryan’s face dropped; he didn’t like the thought of that. Why would the Doctor suddenly leave them in this spooky mining base, thousands of light years from any civilization?

“It just makes you wonder, does she really care?” Ryan said. He didn’t really believe it of course, but at this moment in time, he wasn’t going

to rule anything out.

“I’d like to think not. Look, I just think we’re looking to deep into all this. Maybe she just got intrigued or didn’t think it would be dangerous!” Graham suggested. Yaz and Ryan nodded.

“Let’s just go with that!” they both said.

*

The flickering beam of torchlight cut through the darkness and lit up a path for the Doctor. She was rushing ahead, and checking the maps in each Sector. The base’s ‘sectors’ weren’t long, but the base itself was huge. All in all, it probably contained 150 sectors!

Currently, her and the crew were in SECTOR 23, and soon entering 24.

“Come on, slow-coaches!” The Doctor looked over her shoulder, and saw the crew, who looked battered.

“Doctor, we can’t go further!” Garfield stated, glancing at his watch. “It’s too late.” Even Robot looked worried, and his face didn’t change one bit!

“Come on, it’s getting a bit late, so what? I need to find my friends!” The Doctor stopped, turned around, and shone her light on Garfield’s face - he wasn’t joking. He looked as if he was more scared than ever. “Please,” he pleaded. The Doctor thought about it for a second.

“If we stay out here then, what’s gonna happen?” The Doctor asked, intrigued. “I saw your logs, so don’t lie to me!” she said, waiting for an answer.

It took a while, but the captain eventually crumbled.

“It’s horrific. It started as an illness!” he stated. “Then it. It sort of developed.”

The Doctor was on the edge of her seat. “It was airborne, and then it developed into a spore. That growth you’ve seen all over the base.....that’s what it is now.”

The Doctor nodded, and then asked; “Why night? Is it light sensitive?” The Doctor asked. “Is it sentient?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never asked it!”

He looked shook. “All I know is that it killed over half the crew, whatever it is--” he added, but couldn’t continue any more. The Doctor accepted she wasn’t going to find out anything else from the crew, so walked a little faster-

“DANGER! DANGER! BREACH IN SECTOR 33!” The interface informed, and the lighting went from pitch black, to red. The red lights were flickering on and off, and signalled that whatever was happening, it wasn’t good.

“What the-” the Doctor said, looking up.

“See.....I told you!” Garfield said, looking behind him. “Run!” he said to the other two. Odin nodded, and Robot’s head tilted slightly to the left - he was too damaged to communicate in any other way.

“Doctor, we need to get back. The Lounge is the only safe room in the base -”

*

Yaz was the first to stand back up. She picked up her torch, which she’d placed on the floor during the rest, and shone it in Graham’s face - he was asleep.

“GRAHAM!” She said, to get his attention.

“What? I’m awake!” he replied, startled. He took a bit of time to get up and offered to help Ryan, but he denied. After the two of them were stood back on their feet, they looked left and right.

“Which way do we go?” Ryan asked.

“Who knows!” Graham said.

“Well, we’re going to have to make a decision, and fast!” Yaz replied, “The Doctor could be very close, and we don’t wanna mess this up!” Yaz took a step forward, so she was in front of Graham and Ryan. “This could be our last chance to find her.....so, which way?”

“Left?” Graham suggested.

“Right?” Ryan said.

“Ok then, you two haven’t made it any easier.” Yaz was calculating what was the best move, but she didn’t have time, as an alarm went off and it wasn’t a good one. The ships interface spoke: “DANGER! DANGER! BREACH IN SECTOR 33.” Yaz and Ryan looked around; they didn’t see anything. But Graham did.

“Oh no,” he said. “Um, Yaz. Ryan! Look at this!” Graham pointed just above them and in white bold writing were the words SECTOR 32!

“Can you hear that? It sounds like an animal! It swear!” Ryan said, scared.

Yaz and Graham looked at each other, confused. They couldn’t hear any sort of animal, but they took Ryan’s word for it.

“Whatever it is, it’s close!” Yaz said, keeping her cool.

“Yeah, so why are you so calm?” Ryan asked, sprinting.

“WAIT FOR US!” Yaz and Graham screamed, darting after Ryan! Great! Now they had an unknown alien life form chasing them in a labyrinth of corridors in a mining vessel thousands of light years from any form of civilization...How could their day get any worse?

CHAPTER 3

The Doctor was running towards the danger; as usual. Garfield had reluctantly decided to go after her, while the other two had gone to safety. He wondered if this strange woman enjoyed the danger, and somehow loved the idea of not knowing. If only he knew.

They’d just passed SECTOR 30 , and were rushing through the tunnel-like corridors, which reminded the Doctor of the corridors in the Tsuranga Medical Vessel. As they ran, the corridors were just a flash, like they were looking out of the window of a moving car. The Doctor was quick, and she wasn’t slowing down. Certainly not until she’d found her friends, whoever those people were.

“So then, you do this a lot?” Garfield asked, now struggling for breath. “Yup!” The Doctor replied, casually.

*

Yaz, Ryan and Graham were all running for their lives, turning left and right and relying on luck to take them to the Doctor. Ryan could hear scraping on the walls like nails on a chalkboard, and an unnatural screaming that echoed throughout the base. The lights were still flickering, and a siren was screeching. However, Ryan’s torch was running out. “Oh no, my torch is going!” Ryan said desperately; he didn’t want to die here. Yaz and Graham couldn’t stop but they looked back to speak to him.

“Have mine mate!” Graham insisted.

“No it’s fine,” Ryan assured. “We’ll find the Doctor soon!” he was sure of it. Well, he was actually just saying that to make himself feel better. As they were running, the lights started to flicker even more and Ryan started to lose sight of the other two. Ryan was plunged into darkness when the lights switched off. It became pitch black. Ryan stopped and looked ahead. Surely he should still be able to see Yaz’s, or Graham’s torchlight. Right? That was just the tip of the iceberg, as he then started to hear distorted echoes of different voices - Tim Shaw, The Doctor, Grace, Graham. They were all saying the same thing; he couldn’t tell what though.

When the light’s switched back on, Ryan looked around him. “Yaz? Graham?” he whispered nervously. He was standing still; he felt safe. He couldn’t hear whatever was chasing them. Surely he couldn’t have lost Yaz and Graham. They were right in front of him the whole time!

“YAZ!” he shouted! “GRAHAM!” he yelled. Despite his best efforts, they were gone, and he was left...on his own!

*

Still worried for her new friends, the Doctor was getting faster and faster by the minute, and was about to break a world record.

Suddenly, she knocked into an object. No. Not an object. People! Two to be precise. Yaz and Graham were scared, and shone their lights in the Doctor’s face.

“Doc, is that really you?” Graham asked, panting.

“Yaz? Graham? Yeah, it’s me!” The Doctor exclaimed happily. Suddenly, her smile transformed into a frown, as she realised Ryan was missing. “Where’s Ryan?” she asked, worried.

“I dunno, he was right behind us the whole time!” Yaz said, only just realising it herself. Graham looked just as confused; how could he just vanish into thin air?

“What happened to you?” The Doctor asked.

“There was this thing, a creature-” Yaz started.

“-It was chasing us the whole time, Doc.” Graham said.

“How? There isn’t a creature on-board, only those weird spores.” Garfield questioned.

“What weird?--” Yaz started to ask, but then looked at the ceiling and observed for herself. “ Oh!” She said, shocked.

“So how is that connected to a creature?” Graham asked, confused. “Looks pretty normal to me. A bit of moss. A bit overgrown, mind, but still average.”

The Doctor clicked, and pointed at Graham - “That’s what I’m going to find out!”

Garfield interrupted the conversation: “Doctor, we should be getting back!” He was looking at his watch, constantly checking the time. The Doctor nodded.

“Right gang - minus one, let’s get a shift on!” She said, and the three of them followed Garfield back to the only safe room on the base - the Lounge......

*

Ryan was disorientated. The surroundings were unfamiliar; upon close inspection, they were very, very different. He looked around, and observed the black walls, tunnel-like archways and a faint blue light that spilled out into the corridor. It was coming from around the corner. Ryan was nervous. Extremely nervous. He was away from his friends. Away from the Doctor. For all he knew, he’d been kidnapped. But by who?

In the distance; from around the corner, he could hear voices. Deep voices. They were speaking in a weird war-like manner, which unsettled him. Maybe they’d found him. Maybe an intruder alarm got set off and they were coming for him? Suddenly, that thought surrounded him, and his eyes darted around, looking for a hiding place. A place to lay low; there was none. The voices were getting closer, and then louder footsteps, that were more like stomps, could be heard moving closer. At least two were coming round the corner!

With nowhere to hide, and the enemy closing in, Ryan was stuck. Stuck in a situation that could decide whether he lived, or died. With seconds to go, Ryan just froze, much to his annoyance. Why? When he most needed to run away, he froze, and just like that, he accepted his fate, and closed his eyes....

*

The Doctor was standing, writing on a transparent lab board, well, it was more like scribbling down nonsense. Sat around her, in a horse-shoe shaped sofa, were the crew, Yaz and Graham, They were all sipping tea and coffee, and once they’d introduced each other, started watching as the Doctor wrote out every calculation she could think of.

“It’s not Krynoid, Vervoid, or a Vine-Warrior....” The Doctor kept listing off weird and wacky names of alien species, and was searching her mind for the answer. She was getting mildly annoyed; her face was red and her hair was messy, but no one said anything; they didn’t want to disturb her.

Suddenly, she turned to them. “Oh! I forgot! Why am I listing off species when it isn’t one?” The Doctor sighed. “It’s not natural!”

“Why would someone or something want to make giant balls of mossy slime?” Graham asked. “Can’t they just do something normal, like knitting?”

Yaz looked at Graham, surprised. “You do knitting--” she asked, but the Doctor interrupted!

“What if it’s a weapon?” The Doctor questioned. “Or a virus!” “Doctor, it killed half the crew!” Garfield said. “Surely it’s a weapon!” “Yeah, but why hasn’t it attacked us? The whole time, it never came

near me.” Odin asked.

The Doctor thought about this for a second, and then spoke.

“No. It didn’t stay away from you. You stayed away from it!” The Doctor

said, realising what it could do. “I think, whatever this is, it’s a biological

weapon. I think it’s been engineered in a lab to become a killing

machine. But why hasn’t it attacked you? Or me and my mates?” Graham and Yaz were starting to understand. “Activated by touch?” Yaz

said.

“BINGO!” The Doctor yelled. “I think that this is a weapon, or a virus

that is only caught through touching the growth.....” The Doctor trailed off. “So, that means there’s only one way to find out what it really is!” The Doctor ran out of the room, and left the others behind.

“She’s not going to touch it is she?” Graham asked. “She’s going to touch it.” Yaz sighed…

CHAPTER 4

Ryan opened his eyes. He was scared. Where was he? He must’ve been caught; he was now tied down to what he could only describe as a ‘dentist-chair’. He was looking up at the ceiling, and three people were gathered round him, examining him.“He’s awake!” one of the strange aliens said. Another one, the leader, came over and glanced at him, then moved out of sight, soon followed by the other three. Ryan couldn’t move, so he was totally defenceless against any tests they could run on him. What if they’d already run tests? He didn’t want to think about it, but he couldn’t shake the thought away.

The four aliens were gathered around a console, the leader tapping away. Above the main controls, sat at least five different screens, some switching from camera to camera, and other full of scientific data. The cameras weren’t on this ship though, Ryan could see clearly that these aliens, whatever they were, were watching the base.

He moved his attention to another screen, the main screen, and he could see an x-ray of him. They HAD taken tests! That made him feel sick. They were checking his heart, and then talked among themselves. Ryan couldn’t hear what they were saying, but all he knew was that it wasn’t good.

“What should we do with him commander?” the shortest alien asked. The commander considered for a second.

“This is our eighth human experiment, and so far they’ve all experienced the same effect.” The commander strolled from side to side, thinking of the best answer to give. “We need a new life form!” A new species to experiment on! We must be one hundred percent sure this virus will work on the enemy!”

“YES COMMANDER!” The three inferior aliens obeyed. They walked off in all different directions, all holding guns, and the commander walked menacingly over to Ryan!

“Now.....were to we begin?”

*

The Doctor was stood in front of the growth; the bubbles of slimy green ‘stuff’ were moving, like it was alive. The Doctor was preparing for the worst, and handed the sonic screwdriver to Yaz. “If I don’t make it out in one piece!” The Doctor started. Yaz shook her head. She didn’t want the Doctor to finish that sentence! She was going to find Ryan. And she was going to come back...alive, and in one piece.

Garfield and Odin had turned up after a few minutes of resting. “Where’s Robot?” The Doctor asked. Solemnly, the two surviving crew members looked at each other, deciding which one of them should break the news. They both came to a conclusion - without even speaking a word...and then Garfield started:

“He shut down! No way of ever getting him back now.” Garfield said. Yaz, Graham and the Doctor didn’t even know this robot, and they were almost as distraught as the crew members.

“I’m sorry. After this, I’ll try and fix him. Get him back on-line! If that’s something you’d want?” The Doctor asked, trying to help.

“Yeah..If we make it out alive..that would be nice.” Odin replied.

While everybody was standing around, not sure what to say, the Doctor was now prepared. She was ready for anything - she could probably face the Daleks again. All of them. Careful what you wish for, the Doctor reminded herself. Somehow the Daleks always managed to come back from the grave. It was like their superpower.

“So, you really think this is going to work?” The captain of the vessel asked. The Doctor shot a worried look at him.

“I hope so,” The Doctor replied, nervously. She wasn’t sure if this was the key to it all. What was on the other side? Was there another side? She had to slow down for a second, and focus on finding Ryan. Determined, the Doctor took a small step back, and breathed heavily. “Here goes nothing!” The Doctor said, and reached her hand out

towards the growth. Upon impact, a sharp pain shot through the Doctor’s hand, and she pulled it back immediately, as if touching something that was boiling hot. “Ow!” She yelled and Yaz and Graham looked at each other, concerned. The Doctor was now on the floor, dying of agony. It was like nothing she’d ever encountered!

“What do we do?” Yaz cried.

“I don’t know!” Graham said, helplessly.

The two crew members looked at each other and then Odin spoke: “Get her to the medical bay!” And with that, everyone helped to lift the Doctor towards the medical bay. Towards help!

*

“What do you mean?” Ryan replied. The alien was now holding a sharp object that Ryan didn’t want to come into contact with; at the moment, it looked like it the most dangerous weapon in the universe.

“You know very well.” The commander answered. “Before you arrived, there were three life forms on the vessel. Then you and three others show up!” It was sharpening the knife. “How?” It demanded to know.

Ryan was nervous, sweat was dripping from his face. “Um. Urm. It’s a ship - please don’t hurt me - it’s ur, um, it’s a spaceship!”

“What kind of spaceship, may I ask?” The alien asked, with a sinister tone. Suddenly, the knife was on Ryan’s throat. One wrong move and he was dead!

“Well. It’s bigger on the inside!” Ryan said, and gulped. “It’s a time machine as well!” With those words, the knife was lifted, and the commander returned to the control panel. He flicked through all of the bases’ cameras until he’d finally found it. A blue police box! The alien was taken aback. He activated his radio. “My brothers, the Doctor is on the experimental craft. Repeat, the Doctor is on the experimental

craft!” The commander paced over the Ryan and spoke six words to him; “You’re of no use anymore!”

With that, Ryan was being wheeled off by another two aliens of the same race, down a brightly lit corridor, and towards his demise. All he could think of as he looked up at the blurred surroundings and ceiling was that the Doctor was close. The Doctor would save him!

CHAPTER 5

Still crying in agony, the Doctor was laying down on a bed. Well, it was more of a slab. Yaz and Graham were encouraging her to speak; it sounded like she was making a list. A list of ingredients! To cure it. “Graham, what’s she saying!” Yaz asked, frantically!

“I don’t know..she’s kind of just - well, mumbling.” Graham said. Although nobody in the room wanted the Doctor to die, they couldn't do anything. They just had to accept that she was going to be gone in a few minutes. That was it. There’s no way she can die now, thought Yaz.

And she was right!

Just like that, the Doctor sprung up like it was nothing.

“How long was I gone?”

”What the-” the Graham started.

“How!?” Yaz asked, confused - but thankful.

“Does it matter?” Garfield asked.

“Yep! I need to know so I can add it to my collection!”

“Of what?”

“Things to avoid!” she replied.

“You have a list for that?” Yaz asked.

“What’s wrong with it? It’s not harming anybody! Well, as long as they avoid it” The Doctor said. “Right, ready to go! A bit of adrenaline. Well, a lot of adrenaline, and now I know what to do!” She stated.

“What?” Graham asked.

Suddenly, a green light enveloped them. It was like aliens had just wrapped a transport beam around them. Well, that’s because they had. “What is this?” Graham asked, worried. He was fed up of things happening on this journey. First, the TARDIS crashes. Then Ryan disappears! And THEN the Doctor almost dies! And now, he was about to be beamed up by an alien race that wanted to study him?

The beam shrunk, and shrunk, and shrunk. Enveloping less and less people each time, until the only person that was inside the beam was the Doctor.

“It’s a good job it only wants you!” Graham said, relieved.

“Thanks Graham!” The Doctor said with a hint of sarcasm.

And with that, the Doctor was gone. Taken by what Graham could only think of as little-green-men crowded around a control panel, in a cosy spaceship.

“What do we do then?” Graham asked.

“We could hide in the TARDIS!” Yaz exclaimed.

“But what if it’s been taken, along with the Doc?” Graham replied.

Yaz acknowledged this point, and then went back to the drawing board. “We could take you two to the Lounge..it’s the only safe place on this mining base! Especially without the Doctor.” Garfield said. Graham and Yaz agreed to this, and they traversed their way through the vine-like alien growth, back to the sanctuary..

*

Ryan had his eyes tightly shut. He didn’t want to look; he was scared that he would open his eyes and see something horrific. However, he hadn’t heard any type of noise for a while. No aliens. No humming from the ships engines...nothing. Just silence. He was debating whether to do it or not? Face this fear, or accept his fate...

The Doctor looked around; she was in the middle of what she presumed to be the main control room. Wrapped around her, containing her, was a force field. She was in the centre of the room, away from any sort of controls or anything that could be tampered with.

Then, a drone started to fly around her. It was scanning her. But what for? After a few seconds of calibrating, the drone had collected the data it needed and flew into the darkness.

“Doctor. THE Doctor!” The commander said. The voice was coming from the shadows. The Doctor was frantically looking around, desperate to see what she was up against. “I’ve only heard stories about you. But I never thought I’d ever have the blessing to come face to face with you!” “Come on then...enough about me! What about you?” The Doctor replied, dying to know what this creature, who knew so much about her, looked like.

The creature took a step forward, so that only a vague silhouette was visible. All she could tell is that it looked familiar. Something about the armour. The Helmet! It had a dome shaped helmet on: that’s what

she’d recognised. But what could it be? Lots of alien races had dome-head helmets - The Order of Excalibur and certain tribes of Ice Warrior, to name two. But she was missing something. A finer detail. “What are you? Just show yourself!” the Doctor said. The alien looked

at her, tilting its head. It was confused.

“Why are you so impatient, Doctor?” It asked.

“Sorry, that sentence was a bit muffled. Mind taking off the helmet?” The Doctor asking, slightly mocking it.

The creature replied: “Very well!” It took a step closer, so that the Doctor could see it more clearly, and then proceeded to remove the helmet extremely slowly. As it was removed, a hissing sound was produced, and a bit of smoke escaped. The Doctor was in shock! How could this be possible? How? Now she was worried.......

“Happy now?” The warrior asked, smirking.

It was a Sontaran!

CHAPTER 6

Walking through the base, Yaz, Graham, Garfield and Odin were

dodging the growths, which was harder than ever before; they’d spread. More of the base was covered with it, and soon, the whole place would become a death trap.

“How much longer have we got mate?” Graham asked, desperately.

“Not far. In fact, it’s just around this -”

Wow! How could this happen so quickly?

All around the corridor and doorway towards the lounge, were vine-like tentacles, bordering it off. It was like this thing was sentient, and trying to block them in. Graham just sighed, Yaz was shocked and the two surviving crew members were annoyed. Nobody spoke for a while, as they were all secretly trying to figure a way out of this situation! Where would they go? By they time they got back to the TARDIS, it’d be gone. But they had to try!

“I think we should go back...” Yaz suggested.

“Good idea Yaz! I completely agree!” Graham replied. “Let’s get going!”

“No!” Garfield demanded. He was dripping with sweat, and looked on edge, like somebody was out to get him.“We’re not going anywhere!” he was shouting now, and the two travellers were worrying for their lives! What was wrong with him? Had he gone mad or something? “Calm down Gar-” Odin said, trying to relax the captain.

“NO! You calm down! I’m the only sane one here!”

Graham and Yaz shot looks at each other - both were saying ‘Yeah right’.

“We’ll stay here until the Doctor gets back!” he yelled!

“She might not come back for a while! And what if these tentacles spreads across the whole ship by then? We HAVE to escape!” Yaz said, taking control of the situation. Odin was willing to help, so moved over to where her and Graham were standing.

“Come on, man. We’re not going to wait for them are we? And anyway, you’re always meant to look after number one!” Odin tried to persuade Garfield. This was, however, impossible! His paranoia was already too high!

“I can’t let that happen!” Garfield pulled out his gun, and aimed it towards the three. He’d been infected!

“Ay, there’s no need for violence!” Graham said, with his hands up near his head - surrendering. The others followed, and both surrendered. This was because all three of them were desperately trying to stay alive! “I think you travellers were tests! To see who’s stupid and who isn’t! Well I can see right through your tricks! Firstly you make your friend apparently disappear, then the Doctor gets beamed up to safety, and now I’m left with two! Are you here to kill me? Here to punish me for my crimes against humanity?”

“Wait, what?” Yaz asked, shocked. “I hope you’re not saying what I think you’re saying!”

“He is!” Odin assured. “This isn’t just a mining vessel. This is a rehabilitation camp....”

*

“Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?” the time lord said with sarcasm. The Sontaran had battle scars, the biggest of which ran straight down the left side of his face, right through the eye! It’s face looked dirty and battered, like it had been in the front lines of battle for

thousands of years! Behind the one remaining working eye, the Doctor could tell she was talking to a ‘war hero’ - if she could even call it that! The Sontaran answered with pride:

“I am Great Commander Staar of the Seventeen Battle Fleet!”

“Bit similar to Styre, don’t you think?”

“Don’t mention that filthy name!” The Sontaran spat. “That warrior did nothing compared to me! I’ve fought in hundreds of wars, many of which are still raging on! The only reason I am stuck on this scientific research vessel is because I have been instructed by the Strategic Command to formulate a new weapon for the battlefields!”

“Well thanks for telling me your plan!” The Doctor said, cheerfully.

“It’s not like I should be worried!” The Sontaran had a point; what could the Doctor actually do while she was stuck in the force-field-chamber? The Doctor sighed after this remark, but was working on a plan in her mind nevertheless.

“Fine. If we’re playing it like that! Yes, you’re right. I can’t do anything while I’m locked away in this force field, or whatever it is, but I don’t care. As long as my friend Ryan survives, I don’t care!”

“Why do you care so much about the human? They are weak and brittle. They would not make a good fighter!” Staar sneered. That’s all he cared about. War. All that was going through his mind was the notion of war. “So what? If he’s so weak and brittle, why do you care?”

“I would like to know. I hunger for knowledge!” Staar replied.

“What? No..no you don’t. You just want to know about the Rutans! I’m not falling for that!”

“Tell me about the Rutans, and I will free your friend!” Staar was trying to trick her. Or at least that’s what the Doctor thought.

“I want to see him first. Alive and well. Then I talk!” The Doctor said, sealing the deal. Staar agreed, and ordered for Ryan to be brought to him.....

*

Ryan opened his eyes. And saw nothing. Black. The lights must be off, he thought. He stood up and the lights switched on. He was in a cell. A plain cell. The door was locked shut! There was no way of getting out, unless he managed to trick the guards. Surely they weren’t that smart? It was worth a try, so Ryan started shouting. “HELP! HELP! Medical Emergency!”

After a bit of delay, a masked warrior entered the cell, and looked straight ahead. No one was there. Just as they were about to report it to the commander, the Sontaran was hit over the head with one of Ryan’s shoes. Hopping around, Ryan fitted his shoe, and walked out of the cell, locking the Sontaran guard in!

Right! Now it was time to find a way out! A way back to his friends!

*

The Doctor was now sat on the hard, cold ground, waiting for Ryan to enter the control room, unharmed. Hopefully then her plan could take shape!

Pacing up and down the room was Staar. He was getting impatient! Really impatient! It had been ten minutes and still the prisoner hadn’t been brought down. Typical. Suddenly, just when he thought all hope was lost, he heard the sound of a Sontaran voice, speaking through his radio.

“Commander Staar. This is Strype, over.”

“Where is the prisoner? Over.”

“I DON’T KNOW! I’ve just found one of the guards locked in his cell...he couldn’t have gotten far!”

“Just find him, and maybe I’ll let you live!” After the conversation had ended, the commander crushed the radio with his hands.

“Didn’t go too well, I presume!” The Doctor chipped in.

“Did I ask you to speak?”

“No. Sorry.”

Staar was focused on finding the prisoner, and walked over to the main control panel. He switched the CCTV from camera footage of the base, to camera footage of his ship! Luckily, he’d caught a movement. It was close to them. The human was heading straight towards the control room. Now he was calm. His plan would begin shortly....

CHAPTER 7

“Rehabilitate. That means you’re prisoners!” Yaz said, backing away from them, slowly.

“Yes. Worst of the worst. Well, until we were put here. On this mining vessel.” Odin said, trying to explain himself. Graham had now backed away from him, and Garfield was still shaking, holding the gun firmly,

and ready to fire “In the 31st century, a law was passed - any criminals that got sent to a maximum security prison, must be given the chance to reform. Therefore, a programme was set up. To give the criminals purpose in their lives again, they sent little groups of them out to untouched worlds, to mine, log, and live on, until they’d changed enough to be safe in society!”

Graham was confused. Yaz was confused. They were both confused! Before them, stood two of the most dangerous criminals in the universe, and they were expected to trust them? But then again, did they really have a choice?

Garfield had stopped. Nobody had noticed, but he wasn’t moving. Frozen. Either in shock, or frozen in time! Once Yaz and Graham had allowed Odin over to their side, they all stopped and noticed.

“Gar-? Captain?” Odin asked. “Are you okay now?”

Garfield was unresponsive. Not even his eyes moved. He wasn’t breathing. He was a dead man standing. Odin cautiously made his way towards his former captain. Former, because he was already dead! Without warning, the captain fell forward, to reveal a massive growth on his back - like it was using him as a host! They screamed with terror, and backed away!

“When did it-?” Graham asked.

“He must’ve come into contact with it without telling us!” Yaz suggested. Odin nodded. Of course he would want to hide something like that!

“Yes...But what are we going to do now!” Odin said, panicking! They were all wondering the same thing. What were they going to do? Where were they going to go?

“Isn’t there an exit?” Graham asked.

“No. They’re all blocked off--unless we try and communicate!”

“How?” Graham asked. “Haven’t you been sending out distress calls already? And how did they go?”

“Yes but this time is different-” Odin looked at Yaz, waiting for her to remember.

“The Sonic!” Yaz lit up with hope.

“One use of sonic technology is to boost signals, and repair things, right!” Odin said.

“So?” Graham asked, he was too worn out to think properly.

“So we could use that to try and find a new frequency...or send out the message further, and with more power!” Yaz said! She was right. All

they had to do was get to into the base’s computer! They had a chance of survival...

*

Staar was still waiting. He started to edge closer to the Doctor, who was still enveloped in the force-field. He started to laugh.

“What’s so funny,commander? It doesn’t look like my friend is showing up, so clearly you were lying, and clearly I’m not giving you any info.” The Doctor said. The Sontaran had a blank stare. Like it wasn’t listening. “I will get the information somehow.” He continued to grunt to himself, as he pulled out a 30 centimetre blade. It looked clean, but the Doctor could tell hundreds, maybe thousands had fallen to it.

“Chill out! There’s still time to negotiate!” The Doctor assured, trying to buy herself some time.

As the warrior was admiring his blade, the Doctor noticed a shadow, resembling a human, sneaking into the room, undetected, hidden in the darkness. She knew it was Ryan, but kept her mouth shut. Staar put the blade away, and asked: “How would you suggest we negotiate?” he was interested in exploring this potential new offer. The Doctor was racking her brain for information that could help her get out of this mess, while simultaneously giving Ryan instructions. “Is everything all right, Doctor?” Staar asked, noticing her strange behaviour.

“Yep! Yes. Everything is peachy over here - don’t mind me!” The Doctor was now waving her arms about, and scrunching her face. Ryan had no idea what she was saying, but assumed it had something to do with the controls.

“See, the thing is with control rooms--you should always have guards!” The Doctor said, as Ryan pressed away at the controls, randomly, praying that something would free the Doctor or get them off the ship. Staar didn’t react. Instead, he turned around slowly to face Ryan.

“You fool...” he was almost singing with joy.

Ryan’s face dropped when he realised it hadn’t gone well. The Doctor was still trapped, and things weren’t looking good for him. “I knew your friend would escape, Doctor. I just wanted you to feel the pain...I wanted you to know that what’s about to happen has been brought about by your own actions...”

The Doctor was worried. Oh dear! She had an idea of what it was. If she was the only person to be transported up to the ship, the others weren’t needed. Ryan was used simply to force the Doctor to come looking for answers. He wasn’t of use either after this! They only wanted her. They wanted to test the weapon on another race, just to check that it could be used in other wars! So if that was the case....what was going to happen on the vessel?

CHAPTER 8

The remaining three on the base - Yaz, Graham and Odin - were now sat around a control panel; the same one that was used to send out the distress messages that nobody had received. Graham was pressing the sonic, and nothing was happening. He didn’t understand what on Earth was going wrong. “Well. All I see her do is hold down this button, and then it makes a noise, lights up and does stuff.”

“You’d better hurry up and figure it out before the whole base is covered. I should think we only have a matter of minutes!” Odin said, trying to speed up the process. Yaz offered to try, and Graham passed her the device. She had no luck with it either, and was getting angry, which wasn’t like her.

“You ok Yaz?” Graham asked, noticing her anger.

“Yeah. Fine. A bit stressed out, cos if we don’t get this to work quickly, we’re all dead!” she replied, still trying to get the sonic to activate.

“It’s no use! Clearly only the Doctor can use this specific sonic device, so we may as well give up. Our fate is in her hands now!” Odin said, sitting down.

“Watch where you sit mate. In a few minutes the floor could be covered.” Graham said. Odin nodded, he was well aware. His whole crew was dead, and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty. He started to cry, and put his head in his hands. He just wanted a miracle to occur. Why couldn’t they just be whisked away and be safe from harm? Why was it always him?

In the distance, the sound of a siren, or an alarm went off.

“Do you hear that?” Yaz asked, gesturing for them all to be silent. They were all listening out for the sound, and when they heard it, they were scared.

“What’s that then? What’s happened now?” Graham asked. Then, there was an announcement. “ALL CREW MUST EVACUATE THE BASE IMMEDIATELY. UNKNOWN GAS DETECTED.”

Yaz, Graham and Odin all looked at each other with fear in their eyes. They couldn’t hide it anymore. They were all terrified!

“Now there toxic gas in the base!?” Graham felt like he was about to have a heart attack. Yaz was trying to calm him down, reassuring him that the Doctor would save them, no matter what!

Wouldn’t she?....

*

“What have you done?” The Doctor asked, desperate to know. The commander was laughing; he’d won the battle, now it was time to win the war.

“As you’ve noticed, upon your arrival, a drone scanned you for data. That data shows me how a time lord reacts the the weapon. Which means I no longer need the vessel to test on...This whole thing was a trap. I needed another species to arrive. Another species to test on other than humans. I scanned the universe for Artron energy, then the time vortex...and finally..my call was answered! You and your pathetic little friends--”

“No. That’s where you’re wrong!” The Doctor interrupted the warrior. “Me and my mates are stronger than you know!” The Doctor said. “How exactly?” Staar demanded to know. He was confused.

“Well. Let’s just say - while you were giving your war speeches and everything like that, I’d actually discovered a way out!” The Doctor revealed, and just simply stepped out of the force field. “Temporary force field! It only lasts for a minute, but maintains the illusion that it’s still active! Old tech. That was used before even I was born! I was a bit stupid for not realising it sooner..”

Staar was angrier than ever - now the time lord had a chance of winning! But he couldn’t let that happen!

“I think you’ve forgotten one simple thing!” Staar rushed over to Ryan, and held the knife to his throat!

“NO!”The Doctor yelled.

“Doctor. Please. Please help!”

“Don’t worry Ryan, he won’t do it!” The Doctor explained. “I mean you could prove me wrong couldn’t you Staar, except I could reverse the flow of the gas and redirect it into this ship instead! So....your choice!” The Doctor was sure of herself. Staar was laughing....

“What?” The Doctor was worried. “What? What is it? What?”

“The gas in the base isn’t toxic. It wasn’t meant to be. No. This gas is more like a fertiliser. It will speed up the process of growth for the--” “Tentacles-or whatever you call them...”

“Precisely! So...as you are now well aware...there’s nothing you can do to stop me!

*

Any safe place was now off limits. Gas was flooding the base, a strange yellow mist rolling down the corridors. They’d been trapped in. They couldn’t escape! They were sitting ducks! “It was nice know you Yaz.” Yaz didn’t reply; she was praying that the Doctor would save them (like she had been all this time), as she was reluctant to die. Not today! They took one final breath, and expected to die....but didn’t! At this point they were now just breathing normally, and nothing! Absolutely nothing happened to them! Yaz had here eyes shut, but slowly opened them. “You two!” she exclaimed! “Guys! Look! We’re not dead!” Yaz was celebrating, and Graham was just sighing with relief and gasping for air. He couldn’t believe it! Was this whole thing just a scare tactic? No. It wasn’t, as they were about to find out...

“Wait.” Odin said, pacing up and down, and peering out of the door and into the corridors. “If that gas, the gas still in the base, isn’t toxic! Then what does it do?” Yaz and Graham looked through another door, and into the corridor, then alerted the crew member!

“Urm. I think it might have been for that-” Yaz said slowly. They were now witnessing the large viney tentacles growing in size. They were also now moving a lot quicker...The fam only had seconds to live, and with the Doctor far from them, how where they going to escape?

...TO BE CONTINUED!