Prisons in the Sky (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Dancing with the Devil)

Lilly wandered back into the cell and clambered under the bed covers and turned away.

“Well?” said Holly, still awake.

“Well what?” said Lilly, her face still turned away.

“You’ve spent the past few hours talking to that Shrall guy. What’s the deal?”

“There’s no deal.”

“Oh, come on, Lilly. I know something’s going on.”

Lilly turned to look at Holly. “I’ve been negotiating a way out of here.”

“He’s a terrorist,” said Holly. “You can’t trust him. He’s dangerous.”

Lilly smiled. “Let me worry about that, yeah? You just focus on sleeping and conserving your energy.”

Holly sighed. “My uncle went to prison, you know?”

Lilly frowned. “Why?”

“He was stealing from the company he worked for. They made girders for bridges and stuff. It near enough ruined his family. All my cousins disowned him. My Dad was devastated by it.” Holly rolled onto her back and looked up at the metal ceiling above her. “It was when I was about 14. I used to worry about him.”

“Worry? Why?” Lilly frowned.

“Because he was a good man really. He just made a big mistake. I used to be scared at what a prison cell would be like.”

“Well,” said Lilly, turning away again, “I’m sure your uncle wasn’t locked away in a big, tall spike in the sky?”

“No,” said Holly with a smile. “He was out after about a year, but he never really recovered from it. He’s quite a lonely man now.”

“My entire family were criminals,” said Lilly distantly.

Holly froze and then turned her head to face the blonde girl. “Seriously?”

“Yep,” said Lilly, nodding, her hands behind her head as she too gazed up at the ceiling. “Got themselves involved in all sorts of dodgy deals.” She turned to face Holly again. “That’s how I know how to handle Shrall. So don’t worry about me.”

“I’m not worried,” said Holly with a laugh.

“Yes you are,” said Lilly.

Holly flashed her a smile and Lilly winked.

“Goodnight, Dangerfield.”

“Goodnight Lilly.”




It was dark now, but the storm clouds were rolling in. Huge, grey clouds that looked like giant, fluffy elephants floated across the sea and just above the reach of the spires.

The Doctor, Ziggy and Nao were on their fronts, low down on the scrubland at the top of the cliff. Ziggy had a complicated pair of binoculars and was looking out towards the spikes.

“See anything?” said the Doctor.

“Just total darkness,” said Ziggy.

“This is the best time to make our move,” said Nao. “When it’s dark.”

“Well, obviously,” said the Doctor. “Move under the cover of darkness.”

“Shall we go then?” said Ziggy, putting the binoculars away and shuffling back towards Nao and the Doctor.

“What?!” said the Doctor. “No. Not yet. We need to formulate a plan.”

“My sister is in there-”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “I know that. And my two friends are in there as well, but running in there without a plan isn’t gonna get us anywhere.”

“Then what do you suggest?” said Nao.

“We go back to your camp and get a good nights sleep. Another day won’t make any difference at all. We get rest, food, drink and then formulate a plan of attack.”

“But Zia-”

“Zia will be absolutely fine,” said the Doctor. “I’m sure she can look after herself.”

They made the relatively short journey back to the cave with Ziggy lugging behind, glancing back occasionally towards the spires in the distance. Eventually they reached the cave and went back underground.

Once inside the Doctor took off his rain-soaked boots and his socks and began ringing them out over the fire they had set earlier. He was sure he had only done this a few hours ago.

Ziggy sat down and went into a small, cooling-box, throwing the Doctor and Nao a banana each. The Doctor peeled the banana, bit into it and then closed his eyes.

“Taste good, don’t they?” said Nao, smiling for the first time.

“Very much so,” said the Doctor.

“They’re grown on Banttii. People come from all over the galaxy to buy them. All the food’s like that. Absolutely delicious. Just a shame the people don’t enjoy the riches. It all goes to the government.” said Ziggy.

The Doctor shook his head. “Tell me, Ziggy, what are you planning on doing when we get Zia out of there?”

“How do you mean?” said Ziggy, biting into an apple.

“Well, you can’t go back to Banttii. You’ll be fugitives. On the run.”

Ziggy shrugged. “I didn’t think that far.”

“No,” said the Doctor, “and I think that’s your problem. You’re not thinking far enough ahead. Not planning.”

“What do you expect us to do?” said Nao, flinging the banana peel across the floor. “Do you expect us to sit back while my sister in law rots in prison?”

“Absolutely not,” said the Doctor, a little hurt, “but what I am saying is that you need a plan of action. You need everything put into place before you go through with it. Otherwise you’ll end up running and running with no idea of how you’re going to be able to stop.”

“Sounds like you have experience,” said Ziggy, throwing the Doctor a bottle of water.

“That, my friend, is very much correct.” He took a swig of water. “One of my friends - Lilly - ended up coming with me when I first met her, but I didn’t think through the consequences. I just flew in there and took her away. Now, if I’d have planned a little more then we may not have been in the pickle we are now.”

“In prison you mean?” said Nao.

“No, no, no,” said the Doctor. “In general.”

“Why? What kind of pickle are you in?”

The Doctor took another swig of water. “We’re on the run.”

Ziggy and Nao listened intently.

“We’re on the run from my past, and, yes, I am being cryptic. The less I say about the situation the better, but if I’d thought through my actions then we might not be in the trouble we’re in now.” He drained his bottle of water. “So when we do rescue Zia, you better have a damn good plan for getting yourself as far away from the authorities as possible.”

Zia looked at Nao.

The Doctor smiled, grabbed a scruffy brown blanket from next to him, laid down on the ground, pulling the blanket over him, and then turned over. “Goodnight kids.”




The guard who had taken in Holly and Lilly was stood with five others in Wainwright’s office. He looked nervous standing there in his black armour and large, domed helmet.

Charlie Banks hadn’t been in the guard for long and he was starting to consider whether he had made the right career choice. But he had more or less had no choice. He had a reason to be here and he firmly believed that it was the right reason.

“Now then, fellas,” said Wainwright, snapping Banks out of his thoughts. He paced up and down in front of them, his hands behind his back, eyeing each of them up one at a time. “Are you aware of the situation?”

The guard didn’t respond. They knew they weren’t supposed to.

“There are at least two or three dangerous people loose out there. They are hiding somewhere. One of them may be a Time Lord. I want the non-Time Lords killed. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir,” they said in unison.

“And if anyone happens to kill the Time Lord, they will be spending the rest of their lives in one of our spikes.” He looked at each one individually again and then nodded. “Dismissed.”

The guards filed out. It was night now and Banks was looking forward to getting some sleep. As he left he glanced at the desk clock on the governors desk.




02:34




It wouldn’t be long now, he thought to himself. He felt sad and happy at the same time. All he had to do was make sure he was ready.

To be continued...

Prisons in the Sky (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (Terrorists and Thieves)

Boredom. Boredom. More boredom. I haven’t seen Lilly for a good few hours now. This business with Shrall is worrying me. I mean, he’s a terrorist. I know Lilly has her reasons, but I just don’t get why she’d wanna get involved with that. Does she think he’s gonna break us out or something? None of us are getting out of here. Not for 12 months anyway.

I miss my family. I miss my bed. I miss my bath and I miss work for god sake!




Ziggy and Nao guided the Doctor through the tunnel that led from the entrance to the cave and into a deeper section. The cavern was actually underneath the scrubland he had been on and a small slope led from the hole with the slab over it down into the area he had woken up in.

Eventually they reached a smaller cave with a number of candles burning and two tents set up. Crates and containers were piled up against the curved far wall and on them entering the area a figure emerged from one of the tents.

It was a tall man dressed in black combats and painted head to toe in silver paint. He was completely bald and wore a permanent frown on his face.

“Who is this?” asked the silver man.

“This is the Doctor. I found him up above.”

“Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is?” asked the man.

“Apparently not,” said Nao, putting down her weapon and sitting on a crate to remove her boots. “Jesus, my feet are hurting.”

“And who might you be, friend?” asked the Doctor, extending a hand.

“This is T23,” said Ziggy, nodding towards his silver friend.

T23 took the Doctor’s hand, and to his shock he realised that it wasn’t silver paint at all. It was actually some form of metallic skin. “Please to meet you, T23.”

“It is agreeable to meet you as well, Doctor,” he said politely in a very well spoken voice.

Ziggy sat down next to Nao and opened a bottle of water, drinking nearly half of it in three big gulps. “T23 is sort of like our butler. He takes care of all our needs.”

“You’re an android?” asked the Doctor.

“Indeed I am,” said T23, sitting down on a crate next to Ziggy and Nao, “and I’m happy to serve.”

“That sounds like a tagline,” said the Doctor, raising his eyebrows.

“Don’t start with that, Doctor,” said Ziggy. “T23 is designed to serve and he is quite happy. We treat him with respect and he enjoys what he does.”

“I am always happy to serve, Master Ziggy.”

“Enough of this chit-chat, though,” said the Doctor. “We need to get my friends out of that prison.”

“I agree,” said Ziggy. “But the most important thing is getting my sister out of there.”

“Surely it’s important to get all three of them out.”

“But Zia mainly,” said Ziggy. “She’s just turned 16. She shouldn’t be in that place.”

“What did she do?” asked the Doctor, sitting down on the ground opposite them.

Ziggy finished the rest of his water and threw the bottle to the ground. “We’re from a really poor market town on a planet called Banttii. Zia made a mistake.”

“She stole some bread,” said Nao.

“She’s a teenager. She gets into trouble. She gets into scrapes. I tried to plead with the mayor but he said she needed to be made an example of. She’s been sentenced to two years.”

The Doctor shook his head. “That seems incredibly harsh.”

“Exactly,” said Ziggy. “Too harsh.”

“And what about you two?” said the Doctor, pointing between Ziggy and Nao.

“What about us?” said Nao, frowning. “We’re husband and wife. My sister-in-law’s in trouble so we’re getting her out.”

“My father died when Zia was a baby and my Mum passed away a few months back. I used the money from her will to buy a crate of a shuttle to sneak in down here and break her out.”

“It’s very admirable of you, but surely you could have asked for an appeal.”

“There’s no appeal. The Spire Security Force patrol this section of the galaxy and rule with an iron fist. If you’re in their territory,” continued Nao, “you’re under their rule.”

The Doctor sighed. “Same old corrupt company running unfair operations. I‘ve heard of the Rock before, but never had any desire to visit it for obvious reasons.”

“Exactly,” said Ziggy, “and we need to get Zia out of there quickly. She may have a two year sentence, but that doesn’t mean she’ll make it to two years. There are thieves and killers in that spike, Doctor. She won’t survive two months.”




The bearded man fell to the floor with a grunt as the red-headed girl landed on top of him, her hand around his throat as she squeezed harder.

The man tried to say something, but all he managed was a strangled grunt.

“What?” said the girl, her eyes glittering with rage.

“…please…”

“Do you promise not to come near me again, Fred?” said the girl.

The man tried to nod and the girl let him go. “Get lost you great, fat, bearded freak.”

The man scrambled to his feet as fast as he could and he ran away, followed by a chorus of mocking cheers.

The cell area was a circular walkway that round around the circumference of the spike with the cells against the walls. Through the centre of the spike was a long, drop right down to the bottom.

Holly peered over the barrier and she could see the different levels with various different prisoners going about their long, boring days.

Up above was a ceiling, which Holly presumed held the governors office and the hanger they had arrived in and possibly other officers. A lift in a cage led down to each level and ran through the centre of the spike. There was also a stairwell that led up to each level, but the door was caged off.

“This looks…grim,” said Holly.

“Yep,” said Lilly, sighing. “We’ll be alright though. The Doctor’ll get us out.”

“Are you sure about that?” said Holly.

“He’s always got me out of scrapes before.”

“Was there anyone else ever travelling with you and the Doctor before you met me?” said Holly. Even though she was faced with the harsh reality of being in a space prison, she still intended to probe further, especially after reading the diary extract.

“Nope,” said Lilly dismissively. “Just me and him.”

“Hey,” said the red-head, walking up to them and extending her hand. “Welcome to Theta-Spike.”

Holly shook her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“What they get you for?” said the girl.

“Just being here,” said Holly.

“Madness, isn’t it?”

“What did you do?” asked Holly.

“Stole some bread. Stupid, I know, but I was starving. Never expected to end up here.” The girl backtracked. “What are your names by the way?”

“I’m Holly and this here is Lilly.”

“I’m Zia. Zia Smith.”

“Good to meet you, Zia,” smiled Holly.

“Yep,” said Lilly, not wanting to get into another conversation. “Where are the empty cells?”

“Yours should be just around the bend,” said Zia with a smile.

“Cheers,” said Holly, giving her a polite smile and following Lilly.

They arrived at a cell door. The bars were rusty but it at least looked habitable. Inside were two beds with dirty looking mattresses and very flat pillows.

Holly sighed and wandered into the cell, sitting on one of the beds.

Lilly followed her in, and sat on the bed opposite Holly.

Holly looked worried. Sad and worried.

“You alright, Dangerfield?” said Lilly, leaning forward.

“Yeah,” said Holly. “I’m just…scared.”

“Of this place?” said Lilly looking around her.

“Well aren’t you?”

“I’m used to getting into scrapes with the Doctor,” said Lilly with a little smile. “I understand it must be tough for you.”

Holly nodded. “I didn’t expect this when I came travelling.”

“Hey,” said Lilly, leaning a little closer, “no matter how bad the situation gets, he will get us out of here.”

Holly looked doubtful.

“I mean it, Dangerfield. The Doctor will get us out.”

Holly managed a weak smile and was about to reply when they heard some commotion outside. A crowd rushed past the cell door and Lilly and Holly got up to see what was going on.

A crowd had gathered on the walkway but the two girls were having trouble seeing.

“It’s Shrall,” said Zia, who was stood further back, her arms folded. “He got into an argument with the bearded guy, Fred. He’ll never learn.”

“Who’s Shrall?” said Holly.

Suddenly the crowd parted, like Moses parting the Red Sea, and from behind the crowd came a huge, seven-foot walking toad coloured yellow with dark, black eyes. He was grinning as he held up Fred to the crowd, his huge hand around his neck.

“That’s Shrall,” said Zia, wearily.

“Fred here,” said Shrall, in a deep, gravelling voice, “believes I should be locked away in isolation. Kept away from you lot.”

The crowd were silent.

“Fred, is a danger to himself.”

Fred tried to speak, but the hand was clamped too tightly around his throat, his face a bright purple colour.

“Shall I tell Fred what happens to people who go up against me?” said Shrall.

“Yeah!” came a chorus of shouts from the crowd.

Shrall turned and held Fred over the barriers. Beyond was the long, long drop to the bottom. “He was always talking about wanting to break out of here.”

There were laughs and murmurs of approval from the crowd.

Fred looked at Shrall, tears in his eyes as he tried to shake his head.

“Well, let me give him his wish.”

Holly looked away as Shrall let go of Fred and he fell like a boulder - a screaming boulder - all the way down the shaft and hit the bottom with a thunderous splatter.

There was a huge cheer of approval from the crowd as Shrall flexed his muscles, laughed, took a swig of his drink, and then sauntered off back to his cell.

“That was awful,” said Holly, not daring to look over the barrier to see Fred’s broken and battered body.

“Yeah,” said Lilly with a cheeky grin. “We need that guy on our side.”




Wainwright sat in his office at the top of the spike, scratching his chin and watching the monitor showing the guards taking away Fred Barcombe’s broken body. He shook his head and then chuckled to himself. If the prisoners wanted to destroy each other then so be it. It made his job more easier.

The communications console beeped and Wainwright turned to the large screen that adorned one wall in his sparsely decorated, grey-walled office.

He flicked on the screen and a man in a suit with a slightly receding hairline and high forehead appeared, looking stern.

“Agent Matthews, how may I help?”

Matthews didn’t smile. He didn’t blink. “I understand that you have two new prisoners - a blonde girl and a dark-haired girl.”

“Indeed I do,” said Wainwright. “The both of them were caught trespassing near to Theta-Spike.”

“Did you capture them with anyone else? A man, perhaps?”

Wainwright frowned. “No. They were the only ones there. There’s a curious blue box parked on the cliffs, but so far my guards have been unable to break into it.”

“And there definitely wasn’t a man with them?”

“Absolutely not.”

Matthews sighed and rubbed his eyes.

“Why? What’s the problem?”

“I have reason to believe that you have a Time Lord loose on your planet.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Wainwright with a nervous chuckle. “They don’t involve themselves in the affairs of the others. Even less so now.”

“This one does,” said Matthews. “I will be there very soon. In the meantime, if you find the man, make sure he doesn’t escape. I want him alive.”

To be continued...

Prisons in the Sky (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Up Above the Streets and Houses)

Lilly has, worryingly, made friends with a terrorist called Shrall. He’s a big, ugly creature. He’s bright yellow with black eyes and the head of a frog. I don’t trust him. I’d rather be hanging around with Zia at the moment. She’s a teenager we met. She was imprisoned for stealing bread from a market town on some planet that I can’t remember the name of. Bantii or Banksy or something. Poor thing. She’s barely sixteen.

I’m trying not to get scared though. I keep telling myself it’ll all be okay. It will all work out.

I keep looking out of the small windows here hoping to see any sign of the Doctor, but all I see is the cold, grey sea and the cliffs.

Has he left us?




“Wake up, mate!” said the voice as a bucket of cold water was thrown over the Doctor’s face.

The Doctor sat bolt upright, trying to catch his breath.

Standing in front of him was a man with long, brown hair and a bushy beard. He looked to be in his mid-thirties and was stood in some form of combat uniform with a woolly hat jammed on his head.

“Did you have to?” said the Doctor.

“I needed to wake you up,” said the man with a smile.

“You didn’t need to make me go to sleep in the first place,” said the Doctor, rubbing his sore forehead.

“Yeah, sorry about that, mate,” said the man, “but I wasn’t sure you weren’t one of the Spikies.”

“Spikies?”

“One of the guards. The ones in the spikes?”

“I saw the alien structures, yes.”

“They’re not alien. They’re Human built.”

“Human built? Where are we exactly?”

“You mean you don’t know. How could you not know? You’re on the Rock.”

“You have to be kidding me?” said the Doctor, wobbling to his feet. “Please tell me that I haven’t sent my friends into certain danger yet again?”

“Do you mean the two birds that were trudging through the sand?”

“Yes, the two…birds,” said the Doctor, taking his boots off and wringing out his sodden socks.

“Yep, the Spikies got ‘em. Flew them up to Theta-Spike.”

The Doctor shook his head. “I knew it. I absolutely knew it. I can’t let either of them out of my sight for five minutes.”

“Be fair to them, mate, you got yourself caught as well.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, looking around his new, cave-like surroundings, “who might you be?”

“The name’s Ziggy. Ziggy Smith.”

“Ziggy Smith? Seriously?” said the Doctor, a look of incredulity on his face.

“It’s a nickname really,” he said with a cheeky smile. “When I was a kid I used to watch this kids programme from the old times with this orange puppet that they used to zip up to stop him talking. My mum used to tell me that I needed a zip to shut me up. My real name’s Clive.”

“But his name was Zippy,” said the Doctor with a frown.

“Yeah, alright,” said Ziggy sheepishly. “Ziggy sounded cooler than Zippy.”

“Well,” said the Doctor, clambering to his feet, “I’d normally say it was nice to meet you…Ziggy, but I’m afraid I need to get my two friends out of that prison.”

“Ziggy!” came a female voice as a Japanese woman came running out of a tunnel brandishing a large blaster, dressed in brown, dirty combats and a bandana around her forehead. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the Doctor and frowned. “Who’s this?”

“That’s what I was about to ask, Nao. I found him wandering around outside.” Ziggy looked at the Doctor as he pulled his boots back on. “Name please, mate.”

The Doctor held out a hand. “You can call me the Doctor.”

“Doctor what?” he asked, taking the Doctor’s hand.

“Just the Doctor.”

“Gotta have a real name, chief,” said Ziggy, not releasing the Doctor’s hand.

“Okay. Doctor John Smith.”

“Smith!? Are you taking the Michael, Doc? We‘re definitely not related.”

“No, I’m most definitely not taking the Michael.” The Doctor turned and smiled at the woman with the blaster. “And you are…Nao, did he say?”

“That’s right,” said Nao, lifting the blaster up ever so slightly just to remind the Doctor that it was there.

“Good to meet you both. Ziggy and Nao. You sound like a Eurovision entry.”

“Alright, chief,” said Ziggy, finally releasing the Doctor’s hand and pushing past him. “I’ll get you patched up and then you can be on your way.”

“Not without my friends,” said the Doctor, removing his coat and placing it on a warm rock near a fire that had been set up in the centre of the cavern.

“We’ve got too much to do without trying to rescue more people?” said Ziggy.

“More people? Why? Who are you two?”

Nao stepped forward and put her blaster on the floor. She went in her pocket, took out an apple and a small knife and then started carving chunks off it. “We’re the people who are gonna break into Theta-Spike and rescue my sister in law.”




Holly and Lilly were sat next to each other at the back of the small patrol car. Their hands had been bound together with black, complicated handcuffs and the guard had not said anything to them since they had been bundled into the car.

They rose high above the beach and flew out across the grey sea. Holly looked down at the waves as they crashed against the rocks and shivered. She was scared, but she felt sure that the Doctor would get them out of this. He had to. It was a mistake after all.

They rose higher and higher into the sky as they moved forward. Holly peered over the guards shoulder through the front windscreen. One of the large, metal spike was getting closer and the closer they got the more detail she could see. It was about 250 feet tall with small windows running around its circumference from about 70 feet up. They got closer to the top of the spike were a small opening slid down to let the car in.

The car landed and Holly and Lilly were ordered to exit immediately.

“Easy, pal,” said Lilly, frowning at the guard.

He flashed her a smile, but she gave him the darkest look Holly had ever seen, erasing his smile.

“You know this is a mistake, yeah?” said Holly to the guard as she passed him.

“Just keep moving, miss,” he said.

“A mistake you say?” came a well-spoken voice.

Standing across the small hanger was a man with a bald head, white beard and dressed in a grey suit, his hands clasped together in front of him. He looked to be in his 60’s and peered over his half-moon glasses at the women.

“Yeah, a mistake,” said Lilly before Holly could answer.

“You do realise that the Rock is out of bounds to everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone.”

“We understand that,” said Holly. “We landed here by mistake. We didn’t know it was the Rock.”

“By stealth, young lady,” said the man.

“I beg your pardon?” said Lilly.

“You came in a blue box that slowly materialised on the beach.”

“Yes, but-”

“You came to free the prisoners, didn’t you?”

“No of course not,” said Lilly.

“You’re part of that stupid rescue party, aren’t you? New recruits for them?”

“What?!” said Holly. “What brigade?”

“Ziggy Smith. There’s three of them out there. They think they can free one of their relatives.”

“Well we’re not a part of it,” said Lilly. “What’s your name?”

“Governor Wainwright. You can call me, ‘sir‘.”

“Well, Mr Wainwright, you have to believe us when we say that it’s a mistake that we’re here. Our ship has materialisation capabilities and we were simply letting the ship repair itself before we took off again.”

“Whether I believe you or not - and I will get to the bottom of it - you’re still trespassing, and the only way to learn from your mistakes is to serve your punishment.”

“But we didn’t do anything wrong!” said Holly, starting to really worry.

“I’m sentencing you to 12 months in Theta-Spike.”

“Without a trial!?” spat Holly.

“You are guilty of trespassing. That much is obvious.” He turned to the guard. “Lt. Banks, take them down to the cells. Make sure they are looked after, but make sure they realise the full extent of what they have done.”

“Yes, sir,” said Banks, with a salute.

“You can’t do this,” said Holly, as Banks grabbed both girls by the arms and ushered them away.

“I can, young lady,” said Wainwright. “And nobody out there will stop me.”

To be continued...

Prisons in the Sky (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (Grey Beaches and Stormy Skies)

I have no idea why I‘m writing this, but I’m hoping it might help me come to terms with what has happened. We’ve been here twelve hours and there’s certainly no way we’re getting out of here. Not any time soon anyway. All I can hope is that the Doctor’s out there somewhere trying to find a way out of this for us.

Lilly’s already busy making plans to escape, but I have absolutely no idea how we’re going to break out of this prison.




Sixteen Hours Ago




Holly hadn’t really had a chance to explore the TARDIS since arriving. After flinging herself through the doors she had been thrown into the events with the Coronation crew and the Cybermen and had barely had a chance to actually think about what was going on.

After they had made the terrifying spacewalk from the Coronation to the TARDIS (Holly had almost thrown up in her space helmet), the Doctor had set about programming the controls to take her home. Holly didn’t want to go home though. She had just started this wild adventure and she wasn’t ready for it to be over just yet.

She begged - almost on her hands and knees - for the Doctor to take her on one more trip. Eventually he caved in, but warned that he needed to spend a bit of time mending some of the TARDISes systems after it was cast adrift in space.

Lilly had, reluctantly, taken Holly through an array of corridors leading off from the control room to find her a room to relax in. Holly found it amusing how, as soon as Lilly had gotten back into her comfort zone - aka the TARDIS - she had returned to her frosty self with no hint whatsoever of the frightened girl she had had to comfort back on Remos.

Lilly opened the door to a small, dimly lit bedroom, turned a dimmer switch to brighten it up, made her excuses and headed back to the control room.

The room was basic. The same circular pattern that was in the control room adorned the walls of this room and a big, double-bed with white sheets sat in the corner next to a bedside table.

She laid down and smiled at the softness of the mattress. She wouldn’t be sleeping in here though, unfortunately. She wouldn’t be here long enough.

She sat back up and pulled open the draw in the bedside cabinet. She frowned. Inside was a small book with a cartoon cat on the cover.

She opened it up and inside were handwritten journal entries. It was a diary. She read the first one:




Dear Diary,




First day on board the TARDIS. I’m kind of excited really. I know Lilly doesn’t really want me here, but I’m not letting my sister do this without me, not after we found each other at last. This new Doctor seems nice enough and so far everything he has said has been the truth. I just hope Lilly can try and leave her past behind her.

I often wonder what life would have been like if she’d stayed with the rest of the family.

Well, that’s all for now. The Doctor’s just shouted me and we’re about to land. I wonder where this ship will take us first?




Holly looked up from the book.

Lilly has a brother or sister, she thought to herself. So where is he or she now?

“Dangerfield!” came Lilly’s voice from back up the corridor.

She slammed the book shut and flung it back into the draw, quickly closing it.

Lilly burst into the room. “Did you hear me shouting?”

“Yeah,” said Holly.

“Why didn’t you answer then?” said Lilly.

“I…was asleep.”

“You must be knackered,” said Lilly. “Anyway, no time for that. The Doctor needs to put us down to make the repairs so he thought this might be an opportunity for you to see another alien world.”

“Fantastic!” said Holly, making a mental note to return to the diary when she got back in.

“Don’t get too excited,” said Lilly, “it’s just some rocky world in the backside of nowhere.”

They headed for the control room where the time rotor in the centre of the console was coming to a rest and the engines stopped with a thud. The Doctor rubbed his hands together and smiled at Holly.

“So the TARDIS is damaged badly?” said Holly.

“Not exactly,” said the Doctor, “but the engines need to re-charge before we can take off again. She’s already repairing the surface damage by herself. Should only take about an hour. Self-recharging you see.”

“And we can go outside?” said Holly, looking at the doors.

“I don’t see why not,” said the Doctor. “Check the readings, Lilly.”

Lilly looked at the console. “Oxygen and Gravity are normal. Atmosphere is normal too. No spacesuits needed.”

“Thank god for that!” said Holly, eyeing up her crumpled suit on the floor beside the console.




The landscape wasn’t much to look at. The TARDIS had landed on the top of a cliff and all that could be seen as far as the eye could see was cold, grey water and rocky beaches. The one thing that did stand out, however, were four spires that reached up from far out in the sea and high into the sky.

“Rain,” said Lilly, glumly.

“What are they?” said Holly, nodding towards the spires.

“No idea,” said the Doctor. “Some ancient alien structure perhaps?”

“Can we go and look?” said Holly.

“I am not wading through water again,” said Lilly, remembering last time.

“True,” said Holly. “I don’t much fancy that either, but can we at least go down to the beach?”

“I don’t see why not,” said the Doctor. He gazed out towards the spires. “It all looks quiet. Just be careful on your way down. Those rocks look slippery.”

“What about you?” said Lilly.

“I’m going to have a look back this way,” he said, thumbing over his shoulder towards some scrubby grass with a few small, grey hills in the distance.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” said Holly as Lilly made her way towards the slippery path that led down to the beach.

“Holly, nothing is a sure thing,” said the Doctor. And then grinned. “But surely that’s the fun of it?”

Holly nodded and smiled and then followed Lilly towards the path.

The route down was more treacherous than they had initially thought. Although the pathway was quite a gentle decline, the rocks were slippery and the two women ended up nearly crouching to get down. But when they finally reached the bottom it was a different scenario. The beach was grey, wet sand - almost slush - and their feet sunk into the mush.

“Lovely,” said Lilly.

“We should have brought wellies,” said Holly, trying to scrape some sand off her trainers and onto a nearby rock.

“We can always go back up,” said Lilly, wearily looking back up at the cliff.

“Nah,” said Holly, trudging off across the beach, “let’s live life dangerously!”

“You’re getting brave,” said Lilly.

“When have I not been brave?” said Holly.

“You weren’t very brave when you were spacewalking. That helmet would have taken weeks to clean out, you know?!”

“Cheeky!” said Holly. “It was my first time, you know?”

“I know, I know. I’m kidding. You’re just an amateur.”

Holly saw the window of opportunity opening again. “How long have you been travelling with the Doctor?”

“A while now,” said Lilly, kicking a large, purple pebble out of her way.

“How long’s a while?”

“You like digging don’t you, Dangerfield?”

“I gotta try,” said Holly shrugging. “My parents used to take me to the beach when I was little, before Agatha came along. I used to love it. I used to roll my jeans up to my knees and wade into the water.”

“You don’t wanna wade into that lot,” said Lilly, nodding towards the grey water. “What a dump this place is.”

“Yeah,” said Holly. “There’s not much to see, is there?”

Back towards the cliff in a small, secluded cave, a number of eyes watched Holly and Lilly, unseen to them.




The Doctor hadn’t gotten very far but he was already bored. He was no closer to the grey hills, and the scrubland around him was as depressing as anything he had been depressed at before. He was about to give up and go back when he spotted something up ahead. Just a little off to the right was a small cluster of slab-like stones - and he was sure one of them had moved.

He checked his watch - thirty minutes and the TARDIS would be in working order again - and then made his way in the direction of the stones.

When he eventually got there it had started raining and he shivered, fastening up his coat and pushing his sodden hair out of his face. He crouched down over the slab that he was sure had moved and knocked on it.

Nothing.

He tried to lift it himself but it was too heavy. In fact it didn’t budge at all, which he found odd. Odd because even though it would be incredibly heavy, he should have been able to rock it at least. It was almost as though it was fixed down.

He got to his feet, tapped the stone with his foot, sighed, looked at the sky - it was teaming down with rain now - and then decided to head back to the TARDIS. Whatever was under the stone would have to wait until it had stopped raining.

He turned to go and when he was barely five metres away he heard a sound from behind him. He turned to look, but all he saw was something large and dark hitting him between his eyes before he blacked out.




Holly and Lilly were stood by the waters edge when the rain started coming down faster and harder. The two girls pulled their coats up to cover their hair. They were about to turn and go when a sound came from the vicinity of the spires.

It sounded like an alarm and was as loud as an air raid siren. A constant VOOT-VOOT.

“What the hell’s that?” said Lilly, looking for what the commotion was all about.

“Look over there!” said Holly, pointing towards the spires as a small flying object soon became a bigger object. The closer it got the more they realised that it was actually some kind of flying vehicle. It was a small, white pod with black stripes running down the sides and a flashing blue light on top.

“I think we better go,” said Holly, turning to leave.

“Don’t even think about it!” came a voice over a loudspeaker attached to the flying car.

“What have we done?” asked Lilly, sensing the menace in the voice.

The car descended and a man in black armour and brandishing a large, canon-like weapon aimed it at the two woman.

“What?” said Holly, her arms outstretched.

“You’re both under arrest.”

“Under arrest? For what?” said Lilly with an incredulous laugh.

“Under arrest for trespassing on the Rock.”

“This place?” said Lilly. “Oh crap, this is the Rock?”

“Have you heard of it before?” said Holly.

“Yep. Unfortunately so,” said Lilly with a grim face. “It’s a prison planet.”

To be continued...

Story 3: Prisons in the Sky

“I’m sentencing you to 12 months in Theta-Spike.”
“Without a trial!?” spat Holly.
“You are guilty of trespassing. That much is obvious.” He turned to the guard. “Lt. Banks, take them down to the cells. Make sure they are looked after, but make sure they realise the full extent of what they have done.”

The Rock is a prison planet run by the ruthless Governer Wainwright who has control over most of the Rock's sector of space.

Holly and Lilly are arrested and imprisoned in Theta-Spike along with sixteen-year-old Zia Smith and the yellow, toad-like creature, Shrall - a terrorist. 

And there is no escape for them.

Meanwhile the Doctor meets husband and wife, Ziggy and Nao, along with their android assistant T23, as they plan on busting Zia, Holly and Lilly out of the spike.


This is the third in a series of adventures featuring James McAvoy as the New Doctor, Felicity Jones as Holly Dangerfield and Evanna Lynch as Lilly Galloway.

Mondas Down (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (Man of Emotions)

The Doctor ran faster than he had run for a long time. His legs were aching, but he couldn’t stop now. If he did he’d feel sure he wouldn’t be able to start again. He had heard the explosion and it had worried him as it wasn’t that far away, but the sound that worried him more than the explosions was the sound of the two screams - female screams. They echoes through the mountain valley as if calling him and he felt compelled to follow. He had no choice.

Verax and Saragon had tried to stop him, but he had dodged them and pounded into the partially collapsed valley, leaving the camp behind him.

He knew it was stupid. He wasn’t going to be able to fight against the Cybermen, and by all accounts he was about to hit a full on battle zone, but that couldn’t stop him. He had brought Lilly this far, he wasn’t about to let her die on an alien world so far from her home.

He could hear laser blasts getting closer and closer and saw a number of mountain sides shatter and crumble to the ground.

He crouched down behind a ridge as he approached a wider part of the valley. He peered over the top. Standing there was Jaspar and a number of other Mondassians. They were in hand-to-hand combat with the Telosians and they were losing. No matter how many times Jaspar hit the various Telosians with his axe, it didn’t really do much damage. Before long Jaspar and his men would be overrun and then they would take the camp.

Then he spotted the two women lying prone on the ground. He checked that none of them were looking and then edged around the clearing, keeping low and hoping he wouldn’t be spotted.

He eventually reached Holly and Lilly and managed to pull them into the narrower part of the valley and behind cover.

He checked the two of them for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. They were simply stunned.

As Lilly began to stir the Doctor looked up. The fighting had intensified and Verax and Saragon had joined in the battle, followed by a partially converted Brax. The Doctor felt sick as Brax grabbed a hold of one of the Telosians and started to struggle with it.

“What…happened…?” groaned Lilly.

“You were stunned,” said the Doctor, helping her to sit up. “Just take it easy.”

“Holly…?”

“She’s fine,” said the Doctor. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Fletcher’s off to commandeer a ship. Chartell has emotions. Roy’s dead. Anything else? Let me think.”

“This is a disaster,” said the Doctor. “Chartell has emotions?”

“Yep. She went Cyber-Ape on the Telosians that had taken us prisoner.”

“Fascinating,” said the Doctor, tapping the end of his chin. “It’s a long held belief that all Cybermen still have their emotions but that they are blocked out. Buried beneath the surface. The Mondassians are closer to their original selves than any of the other factions so it makes sense that their emotions would be less shielded. Even Saragon has been displaying some interesting signs.”

Holly groaned as she opened her eyes. “Roxy….?”

“It’s us, Holly,” said the Doctor.

She rubbed her head and laughed to herself. “I thought I was back home.”

“We need to move. We don’t have time to lie about dreaming,” said Lilly, back to her old self again.

“Welcome back, Lilly,” said the Doctor sarcastically.

“Do not move,” came a harsh, electronic voice from behind the Doctor. They had been that oblivious to what was going on around them that they hadn’t noticed the Telosian creep up behind them.

“The guns have stopped,” said Lilly worriedly.

“Indeed,” said the Doctor.

“Get to your feet,” said the Cyberman, a gun trained on the Doctor’s head.

The Doctor and Lilly helped Holly to get to her feet and then they were escorted towards the clearing where the Telosians had managed to overpower the Mondassians. Jaspar, Saragon, Verax, Brax and the few remaining survivors were grouped together in the centre of the clearing whilst the Telosians kept their weapons aimed at them.

“Mr Brax,” said the Doctor, giving him a welcoming nod.

Brax looked at the Doctor but there was no emotion on his face.

“Well,” said Holly, as she backed up to the group of Mondassians, “I guess this is it. Shortest time travelling traveller ever?” she asked, turning to the Doctor.

The Doctor didn’t know how to respond.

“You will all be like us,” said the Cyberleader. “The Mondassians will be fully upgraded. The Human beings will also be converted.”

“Oh, joy,” said the Doctor. “How many times do we have to come up against each other before you realise that no matter what you say you never seem to win?”

“Don’t push it, Doctor,” said Holly.

“Holly’s right,” said Lilly. “I can’t see a way out of this. Not this time.”

The relative peace and quiet of the valley was broken with an ear-piercing screech of engines from back towards the lake. Holly, Lilly and the Doctor clasped their hands over their ears as a huge ship shot overhead. They followed it’s path as it turned and headed back towards them, descending into the valley.

“It is our ship,” said the Cyberleader. “Who is flying it?”

A voice came over a loud speaker. A familiar voice. “Good evening, gents,” said Fletcher.

Holly grinned and clapped her hands together. Lilly nodded her approval and the Doctor broke into a wide grin.

“Right now I have all of this ships weapons trained on the Telosian Cybermen. If you move a muscle - a hydraulic muscle that is - I will shoot you all down.”

“Give us our ship back,” said the Cyberleader, pointing towards the underbelly of the ship.

“Oops,” came Fletcher’s voice, “you moved a muscle. Get down everyone!”

Everyone but the Telosians dropped to the ground as pulses rained down from the underside of the ship, hitting each of the Cybermen in the chest. They tried to get away, but it was too late. The Cyberleader fell to it’s knees and looked up at his ship.

“I’ve lost too many people today, mate,” said Fletcher. “No more.”

The ship shot out another pulse and the Cyberleader fell to the ground dead.




Fletcher had brought the ship into land at the Mondassian camp and the survivors had regrouped with the Doctor and his companions at the base of the dome.

Fletcher emerged from the ship with Natalie, Angie and Chartell. Fletcher grinned as he saw Holly and Lilly.

“I thought we’d never see you again,” said Holly.

“I couldn’t leave you lot behind, could I?” he laughed.

“Thank you,” said Verax, extending his hand.

Fletcher looked at it curiously and then shook it, nodding at the half-human man.

“Chartell!” said Verax, noticing her for the first time.

“Is that surprise in your voice?” said the Doctor.

Verax stopped himself from going over to Chartell and then looked at the Doctor for an answer.

“I think our emotions are starting to break through,” said Saragon, answering before the Doctor could.

“We must work on this. Find the fault,” said Verax anxiously.

“Who says it’s a fault?” said Chartell. She put her hand on Verax’s shoulder. “Maybe this is what we needed.”

“We can never be the people we used to be,” said Verax. “I tried to turn myself back.”

“Then you know that this is the right thing to do,” said Chartell. She smiled at him.

He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” said Chartell.

“Sorry for what I did. Sorry for my part in all of what happened to us.”

Saragon put his hand on Verax’s other shoulder. “We must work together now. We must protect ourselves from the threat of the Telosians.”

“They’re right, Verax,” said the Doctor, smiling at the trio. “Before today I thought that all Cybermen were the same. Cold, brutal and emotionless. You have all proved me wrong.”

“I have one question though?” said Natalie.

“Go ahead,” said Verax.

“Can we keep the ship?”




Some time later Brax was sat in the dome, looking at his partially converted cybernetic arm, turning his hand over and over.

“Are you okay?” said the Doctor, standing silhouetted in the doorway.

“I am functioning as normal,” said Brax.

“You know what I mean.”

“I feel no emotion,” said Brax, coldly.

“The ship’s about to leave.”

“I cannot leave.”

“Dig down into yourself, Brax,” said the Doctor. “Don’t you want to go back to Samantha?”

“She couldn’t love me like this,” said Brax. “I am a Cyberman now.”

“Maybe when your emotions resurface -”

“I would be branded a freak,” said Brax. “Something to be examined and locked away.”

“I could help.”

“Let my team go. Rick and Roy died. Let me just be another casualty of this mission.”

The Doctor sighed and turned to walk out. “I’ll miss you, Man of Steel.”

Brax’s mouth almost curved into a smile, but he stopped himself. “I’ll miss you too, Doctor.”




Saragon, Chartell and Verax watched as the Telosian ship lifted off from the clearing and blasted off into space.

Chartell turned to face Saragon and smiled. Saragon touched her mouth and then his own and then broke into his own smile.

Verax watched the two of them. It was a strange situation, but he was determined that his people would survive, and now he was more determined than ever.




On board the ship the Doctor stood beside Natalie as she programmed in the navigational controls.

“Chartell showed me how to fly this thing,” she said. “We’ll get back quicker.”

“Good,” said the Doctor. “Remember to tell those back at the NESP about what happened to Rick, Roy and Brax.”

“We will,” said Fletcher.

There was a beeping coming from a nearby console and the Doctor rushed over. “Well?”

Angie Grant looked up from a small monitor and smiled. “Your blue box is out there, Doctor.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” said the Doctor, skipping away.

“Thank god for that,” said Holly, looking at Lilly.

“Silly girl. I never doubted it,” said Lilly, but she glanced at Holly and had a twinkle in her eyes.

Holly smiled back.

Is the ice officially broken? Holly thought to herself.

“Where will you go now?” said Fletcher, as the Doctor, Lilly and Holly clambered into the Coronation’s spacesuits to begin their spacewalk from the Telosian ship to the TARDIS.

“Well, I’ve got to get Holly home.”

“We still don’t know anything about you,” said Natalie.

“Join the club!” said Holly.

“That’s just the way I like it,” said the Doctor, giving a mock salute to Fletcher.

“Be careful, won’t you? All of you?” said Fletcher. “Home may be safer than out here.”

“Well, my captain, our destiny is in the stars, at least mine and Lilly’s. Home right now is an impossibility.”

Epilogue

It had been a good few weeks, but they had arrived back at the NESP headquarters. Fletcher, Angie and Natalie had been grilled for hours about what had happened. Where had the Hobbin twins gone? Where was Brax and what the hell had happened to the Coronation. They told the truth, of course, but the only thing they remained silent on was the whereabouts of Remos. They also decided to remain quiet about the Doctor and his friends.

Fletcher sat before one of the council members. A stern looking man in a suit. He had a high forehead and receding hairline, but looked quite handsome despite looking like he had never cracked a smile before.

“You lost a valuable piece of equipment.”

“Ten a penny,” said Fletcher. “They’ll build more ships.”

“And you’re sure there was nobody else with you?” said the man.

“Absolutely not,” said Fletcher.

“Very well then, Captain Fletcher, you can go.”

Fletcher nodded and got up to leave.

The man grabbed his arm. “But if I find out you’ve been lying to me there will be trouble.”

Fletcher pulled his arm away and frowned. “There was nobody else, sir. Nobody at all.”

“Good,” said the man, suddenly breaking out in a smile. “I suggest you all get yourselves checked out.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Go and see a doctor.”

Fletcher’s head snapped around, he hesitated a moment and then exited the room.

The man leaned back in his chair and chuckled to himself.




The End

Doctor Who: Resurrection returns in two weeks time in "Prisons in the Sky".

Mondas Down (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Mountains of War)

The progress across the lake had been a long, very wet one. In reality, Holly thought, it’d would have been better for them to have stripped out of their clothes and swam across, but there was no where to put their clothes and keep them dry, and she certainly wasn’t going to hike through rough, mountainous terrain in her birthday suit.

Whilst in the water they had spotted a number of Cyber shuttles flying backwards and forwards, but so far they had not paid them any attention. Holly hoped that they were that intent on getting to the Mondassian camp that they were now considered small fry.

They reached the rocky beach and got out of the water.

“We need to build a fire,” said Fletcher, looking around the rocky beach for scraps of wood.

“It’s daylight,” said Holly. “We don’t need a fire.”

“But it’s cold and we’re soaking wet and need to dry our clothes,” said Fletcher.

“Get looking folks,” said Angie.

After a few minutes they had gathered together some old, dry wood and got a fire going. Fletcher didn’t have any issues stripping to his boxers and hanging his clothes over a stick to dry, but the rest of them were a little more conscious of the fact, so smaller fires had been started up further back towards the cliff, secluded behind some large boulders.

Lilly sat with Holly around the fire as they dried their clothes.

“Well, this is a first,” said Holly, looking slightly embarrassed.

“What?” said Lilly.

“Stripping nearly naked with almost-strangers.”

Lilly flashed her a grin. “Nonsense,” said Lilly. “We know each other.”

“I don’t know anything about you though, Lilly.”

She sighed. “What do you wanna know?”

“Who are you, perhaps? Where you come from? Your relationship to the Doctor?”

“You keep going on about this. Why does it matter?”

“It’s called getting to know someone.”

“But you’re going home after we got off this planet,” said Lilly, bluntly. “You don’t need to get to know me.”

Holly wasn’t sure how they were going to get off the planet with the TARDIS being gone. “I’d still like to get to know you. See what makes you tick.” Lilly didn’t answer. Holly sighed. “I tell you what, I’ll tell you something about myself.”

“Joy,” said Lilly.

“A couple of years I met this guy at the library called Peter. He was handsome and kind and sweet. Then one day I caught him in the history section of the library frantically searching through the book of deaths from 1754. I asked him what he was up to and he said he needed to get back there.”

Lilly frowned. “Back where?”

“Exactly. He said he needed to get back to 1754 to be back with Annabelle. When I questioned him about it he said that he had been making frequent trips back to 1754 and had met this girl called Annabelle and had fallen in love.”

“He was a time traveller?” Lilly’s interest was piqued.

“I don’t know. He had a break down and then a group of men in suits came and took him away. I never heard from him again and this guy, Roger Stark, told me it was best I kept quiet about it.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it. I didn’t really put much more thought into it until I met you and the Doctor.” She smiled at the curiosity in Lilly’s eyes. “Now, you tell me something about yourself.”

Lilly frowned and looked away. She took a deep breath. “My name’s not really Lilly.”

“What?” said Holly.

“Come on ladies, we need to move,” came Fletcher’s voice from back towards the lake.

“What’s your name?” said Holly.

“Coming captain!” shouted Lilly, putting her almost-dry clothes back on and clearly wanting to avoid the question.

“Lilly, please…,” said Holly as Lilly pulled her ripped jeans on and marched away.

“Get your clothes on Dangerfield,” said Lilly with a laugh.

Holly finished getting dressed and sighed. She had managed to scratch only the surface with Lilly, but she was becoming more and more determined to stay and find out more.




The Doctor was worried about Verax. Worried because he was going to try and convert Brax into one of his own. He wondered what he could do to stop it happening, but in reality he was powerless. He was a small man about to get stuck between two different factions of Cybermen. He was sure none of them would get out of this alive.

Verax was making preparations with another Mondassian, when there came the sound of explosions in the distance.

The Doctor ran out of the dome and looked towards the mountains. In the sky were a number of Telosian shuttles and they were firing energy blasts into the mountain range. He wondered who they were firing at. He felt guilty for thinking this, but he almost hoped it was the Mondassians and not his friends. And then it dawned on him. They were collapsing the routes out of the camp. They were blocking them in.




“That was a little too close for comfort,” said Fletcher as they saw more energy blasts rain down from one of the nearest shuttles.

“This is madness!” said Holly. “I can’t remember signing up for the Suicide Squad!”

“Maybe we should head back,” said Natalie.

There was another explosion and large chunks of the mountain splintered and landed not far from where they were standing.

“Get back,” said Chartell, shielding them all with her long arms.

“We can use the guns to blast a path through,” said Angie.

Fletcher, Angie and Natalie aimed their blasters and began firing at the debris, blowing it into smaller chunks.

“Let’s move, folks!” said Fletcher, leading the way.

Another blast hit and there came a great, heavy cracking sound. The group looked up and cried in terror as a huge piece of the mountain began sliding down towards them.

“Back!” shouted Lilly as they scrambled to get away.

The chunk of mountainside landed with a thunderous crash, causing a great cloud of rock dust to explode around them.

“Everyone alright?” said Fletcher as the dust began to clear.

“Fantastic!” said Lilly, coughing and spluttering.

“Shit!” said Angie, her face pale.

The rest of them looked to where she was staring. Lying on the floor, his mid-section crushed beneath the fallen mountain side was Roy, blood trickling from his mouth as he gasped for air.

“Roy!” said Fletcher as he through his blaster down and ran to his fallen officer.

“Captain. Too late for me, sir,” said Roy wearily.

“This can’t be happening,” said Natalie, her hand to her face.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” said Fletcher. “We should have stayed back at the beach. Waited this out.”

“Don’t worry about it, sir,” said Roy. “At least I get to see Rick again.” He managed a smile.

“Take it easy, my friend,” said Fletcher, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Get them home, captain,” said Roy. “Get them all home.”

And with that Roy Hobbin was gone, his green eyes still and staring up at Fletcher.

Fletcher brought his hand down over his eyes and closed them and then closed his own, his hand pinching the top of his nose. He had lost two crew members and an entire ship and they were still no closer to getting out of this mess.

“What do we do, sir?” said Natalie as more explosions rained down nearby.

Fletcher remained still and unmoving.

“Sir, what do we do?” said Natalie again.

Fletcher turned to face his two remaining officers. “This was a mistake,” he said. “We can’t possibly survive this.”

“Then what do we do?” said Holly. “We need to find the Doctor and Brax.”

“Not forgetting my father,” said Chartell.

“No,” said Fletcher. “We can’t. We just can’t. I am not going to lose you two,” he said, looking at Natalie and Angie. “We need to go back to the beach.”

“And then what?!” said Lilly. “We’re not abandoning the Doctor!”

“The Doctor isn’t my concern.”

“But Brax is!” said Holly.

Fletcher shook his head. “We have to assume that they’re all dead. We haven’t seen or heard anything from them since they left yesterday. We need to go back to the beach, go through the jungle and commandeer one of those Telosian ships. It’ll get us home.”

“Do you even know the first thing about flying one?” said Lilly.

“No,” said Fletcher, “but Chartell can help us learn.”

“I am not going back,” said Chartell.

Fletcher looked up at Chartell. “Please. I am begging you. I need to get my crew off this planet.”

“I need to find my father.”

“We’ll look for him,” said Lilly.

Holly looked at Lilly. “So we’re going on, yeah?”

“We have to,” said Lilly. “I’m not leaving the Doctor. Chartell, you go back with these three and we’ll try and find your father, the Doctor and Brax. If you get that ship operational then try and fly it over the camp to look for us.”

“My one concern is getting the crew off-”

“Sir,” said Angie, walking up to him and lowering her voice. “Brax is still part of the crew. Dead or alive, we need to get him back to.”

Fletcher hesitated for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. But we’re only doing one fly-by over the camp. After that we head back out into space and home.”




The Doctor watched as Seeth began inserting tubes and hooking up Brax to a chest unit. Small, spider-like devices had been placed on Brax’s burnt flesh and were busy trying to heal it. Brax opened his eyes and looked across to the Doctor.

“How are you feeling?” said the Doctor, looking down at him.

“Like I got exploded on,” said Brax. “And it bloody hurts.”

“It will do,” said the Doctor sadly.

“What are they doing to me?”

“Trying to convert you into a Cyberman.”

“Jeez,” said Brax, “you don’t mince your words, do you?” Brax looked as a tube was placed through a hole in his chest. He winced in pain. “I thought their boss didn’t believe in conversion?”

“Normally he doesn’t, but he needs more Cybermen to fight against the others. He’s using the excuse of him helping you to explain it away.”

“I guess I should be grateful then.”

“I can try and stop them.”

“You can try,” said Brax. “I’d die, yeah?”

The Doctor nodded.

“Oh, balls. What a great choice I have. Become a Cyberman or die.”

Saragon entered the dome and marched over to the Doctor. “He is awake?”

“He is,” said Brax.

“Jaspar and his men have engaged the Telosians in the valley. It is not going well.”

The Doctor’s eyes closed. This was becoming a lost cause. He didn’t know where his friends were, Brax was lying here in an impossible situation and they were about to be overrun by Cybermen.

“Doctor,” said Brax. “They need me.”

“Brax…”

“No,” said Brax, shaking his head. “I’ve got no choice. If I die I can’t help, but if I become one of them I can at least fight to help us all, yeah?”

“But it’s just…wrong.”

“Hey, Samantha always wanted to marry the Man of Steel,” he laughed. “Now she might well do.”

The Doctor managed a weak smile, but he knew that Brax was scared as hell about this. He didn’t really want to do it, but he had no choice.




Holly and Lilly stumbled over more rubble and more broken bits of mountainside. Mercifully the bombing at stopped and the shuttles had descended. They could hear a fire fight in the distance and before long they realised that they were going to run into a ground battle.

“You alright, Dangerfield?” said Lilly, glancing back at Holly, who had scraped her exposed arms a number of times against the rocks.

“I’m still on my feet, if that’s what you’re asking?” said Holly. “You ought to be careful. People might start to think you have a heart.”

Lilly suddenly felt very hurt and turned to face Holly.

“What?” said Holly. “It was a joke.”

“I don’t have parents,” said Lilly blankly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You have parents, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” said Holly, realising that she really missed them right now.

“I don’t have parents.”

Holly felt incredibly guilty for what she had just said. “I’m sorry, Lilly. It was just a joke. A tasteless joke.”

“I do have a heart,” said Lilly. “I just choose not to let it rule my head.” She swallowed. Her eyes were slightly wet. “And I don’t wanna see you die.”

“I’m not gonna die,” said Holly. She really couldn’t work her out. She couldn’t tell if Lilly disliked her, or whether it was all just a show. Right now wasn’t the best time to go into a deep conversation about feelings though.

“I don’t always mean what I say. When I am nasty, I don’t always mean it.”

“Okay,” said Holly. “I understand.”

“I can’t lose the Doctor,” said Lilly, her head shaking frantically. “I can’t lose him.”

“We’ll get there and he’ll be fine.”

“He is everything to me. Everything. Do you see?”

“Yes, yes,” said Holly. Lilly was really fighting back the tears now. “Come here.”

Lilly collapsed into Holly’s arms and buried her head on her shoulders.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” said Holly, absolutely flabbergasted at the change in Lilly. She wasn’t sure how she could help Lilly though this breakdown. She didn’t know enough about her.

Almost as suddenly as Lilly had broken down, she regained composure, pushing Holly gently away from her, her face turning back to a frown. “That’s enough hugging, Dangerfield,” she said.

“Woah, okay,” said Holly, holding her hands up. “You okay?”

“Of course I’m okay.” She nodded to Holly and then turned her back to her. “We need to get moving before we both get killed, or worse - you get injured and I have to carry you.”

“I’m not that heavy,” said Holly as she began following Lilly again. Holly smiled to herself a little though. Strangely she could handle cold-Lilly, rather than emotional-Lilly.

Before they could say anything more a huge pile of rocks exploded in front of them knocking them both back. When the dust cleared two Telosians stood before them, aiming there weapons.

“Wait!” said Holly.

But it was too late. They fired at both woman, pulses hitting them clear in their chests and the two of screamed before collapsing to the ground, still and motionless.

To be concluded...