The Story So Far...

Some time ago...

After travelling to a dying, alternate Earth the Doctor met with an alternate version of himself. A version of him who had remained on Earth to try and save the planet from a dimension-hopping alien race known as the Kro'Tenk.

This version of the Doctor adopted the name Aldridge.

Before he arrived in this universe he discovered a casket. A container that held within what was believed to be the regeneration energy of the very first Time Lord. The first Gallifreyan to be granted the power of regeneration. A figure from the myths and legends of Gallifrey that had been swept under the carpet and confined to children's storybooks and fairytales.

The legends say that the First waged a war against the ancient Gallifreyan's until they found a way to remove the energy from the host body and cast the energy into the Void.

Whilst in the alternate universe, Aldridge gave the Doctor his siege-mode TARDIS which contained the casket. Aldridge had been travelling between realities when he brought it onboard his own ship.

The Doctor left it at UNIT:X HQ where his adopted brother, Reikon, and their team of scientists attempted to open the box, at the time none of them really knowing wht it was.

When the casket's power was momentarily unleashed the Doctor decided it best to remain with himself in the TARDIS. Unbeknownst to him, Reikon and head of UNIT: X, Roger Stark, removed it from Aldridge's TARDIS before the Doctor could take it in an attempt to continue investigating the strange casket.

Elsewhere...

Following her reunion with her father and mother - the Master and Celestia respectively - Lilly Galloway decided to escape her father and the Gallifreyan city of Jacarthia. After her father had virtually turned her into a prisoner and vowed to make sure she never left him again, Lilly stole an experimental timesuit and followed the Doctor, her girlfriend, Holly, and the TARDIS through the vortex.

The Master's plan - to erase Holly from time - failed and now that history has been put right the Doctor plans to deal with the Master once and for all.

But the threat of the First Time Lord is threatening to become all too real and sacrifices will have to be made.

Story 16: The First Time Lord

“I know the myths and legends, and I know the stories that we were told as children, but somewhere in those stories is a grain of truth. The history records are lost to us, but there is something there.”



Then: The legends tell of a Gallifreyan that was the first of their kind to be granted the power of regeneration. That person became unstable and waged a war against the ancient Gallifreyans until they found a way to defeat The First and separate the energy from the host body.


Now: The regeneration energy from the First Time Lord, stored in a casket at UNIT:X HQ, is threatening to break free and escape. Such is the seriousness of the situation that the High Council of Gallifrey ask for the Master and the Doctor to work together to find a way to stop history repeating itself.


As the Master travels to Earth with Celestia, the Doctor, Holly and Lilly visit the Deadfort - the ancient headquarters of the First Time Lord, where they discover some disturbing truths about his origin.


The end is coming and sacrifices must be made for the sake of Earth and Gallfrey's future.



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

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 10)

Chapter 10 (Back in Time for Tea)



Mortimus wasn’t quick enough.

The Nightmare swooped down, screaming from the pit of its stomach, and reached out. Its clawed hand grabbed around Mortimus’s neck and pulled him into the air before finally releasing him. As it released him its talons ripped through the flesh on his neck and his body fell to the ground with a sickening thump.

“No,” said Holly, running to his side immediately.

Blood poured from the Keepers wounds, a pool of sticky red forming around the man’s head.

“Go,” said Mortimus, reaching up for her and pointing to her wrist. “Go…”

Holly looked up. The Nightmare had swooped over the trees, just out of view of the funeral procession, and was making another dive – this time it was aiming for her.

She had no choice. She could see the Master striding across the car park, heading for her other self. She could see her second self hiding behind the bushes. Time was in flux. She ran as fast as she could. She could hear the Nightmare soaring through the air behind her. She could feel its breath on her neck. She screamed out. The Master turned to look at her. Her past self turned to look at her.

The Nightmare reached out and grabbed her from the back of her neck just as she ripped the wristband from her wrist and pulled it away. She screamed in pain as multiple layers of fused skin was ripped from her wrist along with the band.

For a moment everything seemed to freeze. The wrist band fell to the floor and crumbled into a pile of blackened ash. Holly wondered if anything had happened at all. And then she felt it. The itching sensation she had felt in her wrist had turned to a burning. The burning feeling began to spread up her arm and up to her chest and before long she felt it through her entire body.

She fell away from the Nightmare and collapsed onto her back. The strange, twisted creature was writhing in agony, unable to focus on anything before it folded in on itself and disappeared in a twisting flash of light.

The Master and her past self were frozen in time, but all around her colour was fading from the world. It was turning black and white, the whites becoming whiter and the dark colours becoming darker. And Holly herself was glowing orange. The orange soon turned to white hot. She screamed out as the universe bubbled around her like a photograph burning in the flames.

And then there was nothing.



At the Zero Point India looked sadly at the Doctor, a tear falling from her eye. “She did the right thing.”

All the Doctor could do was nod before the world around them went dark.





Holly opened her eyes. The pain was gone. The black and white was gone. Colourful images flashed across her eyes.

She could hear Lilly’s voice. It sounded distant, but it was definitely her.

“...you are the best bloody thing to happen to me in ever...” She closed her eyes, fighting back the headache, “but he said he had a plan to make sure I was always with him. I’m...I’m worried, Dangerfield.”

“No he won’t,” said Holly, the world suddenly coming into focus. Lilly was lying on the floor in her strange time suit, the Doctor kneeling over her and frowning.

“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor.

Holly felt her wrist and then smiled, a tear falling from her eye. “I’m back.”

“Back?” said the Doctor. “You didn’t go anywhere.”

Holly looked down at the Doctor and then smiled down at him. “Doctor, I have a very long story to tell you.”



Lilly was sleeping. She had pretty much passed out just after Holly had quickly explained the situation she had found herself in. It had been all too much for her. The Doctor had carried her to her old bedroom, gotten her out of the time suit, and had left her to rest.

“Will she be alright?” asked Holly, eager to reconnect with the woman she had fallen in love with.

“All in good time, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor. “You and I need to go over this little adventure of yours in more detail.”



A few hours later and the Doctor and Holly were standing beside her grandfather’s grave. It was a sunny day and she could hear crows cawing in the trees. They always unnerved her. Why did they always hang around graveyards?

“And you’re sure everything is alright?” asked Holly.

“Everything is back to normal,” said the Doctor. “I checked the timeline and apart from a very small kink during the arrival of the funeral procession, none of it ever happened. The timeline reset. It was unable to cope with the changes.”

“And the Master?”

“He likely snapped back to before he left.” The Doctor shook his head. “He’ll know that something went wrong though. He’s a Time Lord. We tend to sense things like that.”

“But what’s to stop him trying again?” asked Holly, looking over her shoulder and almost expecting the Master to reappear with a gun.

“I’ve known him for a long, long time. He’s learnt not to repeat the same plans again. I always defeat him.” The Doctor smiled.

“Hey,” said Holly, “it was me that defeated him.” She smacked him playfully on the arm.

“Do you know how happy I am to have you two back with me?” said the Doctor. “I’ve missed having Lilly on board.”

“Me too,” said Holly. “We’ve got a lot to catch up on when she wakes up.”

“And we have a lot to do as well,” said the Doctor. “This stuff with the First Time Lord is worrying me.”

“And what about Zero Point? Mortimus died. Who’s there now?”

The Doctor shrugged. “I never meddle with Zero Point in case I have to. Maybe Mortimus is still there. Maybe he never left. Maybe it’s someone else.” The Doctor nodded. “The silly old fool.”

“And one more thing...India.”

The Doctor looked sad and handed Holly a computer tablet. “I’m sorry.”

Holly looked down at the tablet and closed her eyes, fighting back the tears.

“Not long after I met you she was killed in a car accident. She had her funeral back in the US a few weeks later.”

“I promised her I’d not forget her. I promised her.”

“Holly,” said the Doctor, his hands on her shoulders, “this is what the Master does. There are always consequences. He made sure that we’d lose no matter what we chose to do. He never changes.”

“But what about India?”

“India had a short life, but I’m sure she was happy. The India you knew never existed. But at least up here,” he said, pointing to her head, “you’ll always remember her. As long as you keep her in your memory she’ll never die.”

The Doctor turned to go.

“Do you mind if I stay a while?” said Holly. She turned to look back at him. “Just for a little while?”

The Doctor nodded. “Just for a little while, eh? We’ve got work to do.”

Holly nodded and smiled sadly as he wandered off towards the waiting TARDIS. Holly looked down at her grandfather’s grave and she thought of India who was now resting in her own grave halfway across the world.

The sun had disappeared behind the clouds and it was beginning to spot with rain. Somewhere out there evil was lurking, waiting in the shadows. And it was about to be reborn.



Zero Point

The room was different now. It had changed from its medieval look to a much more homely, clean look. It resembled a fashionable New York apartment. In the open plan apartment, across in the kitchen, a bag of popcorn was turning in a microwave. Across to the other side of the apartment a young woman with red hair sat and watched Holly on a flat screen television.

The microwave ‘dinged’ and the young woman got up. She looked ahead and smiled. The real her had died back in the original timeline, but this version of her – the aberration that had been trapped at the Zero Point – had survived. She hadn’t been forgotten. She nodded and closed her eyes.

She had become the new Keeper.

India had survived.

India lived.





The End

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 9)

Chapter 10 (Tears of the Future)



Mortimus sat in the armchair, his hands holding on tightly to the hot, steaming mug of tea. The Doctor, India and Holly were sat in a row in front of him, their legs crossed as they eagerly waited for the Keeper to tell them exactly what was going on with the visions.

Mortimus took a sip form his drink, the fire crackle making the four of them glance momentarily to its glowing embers, and then he raised his head.

“The stories of the Slayer-”

“I know about them,” said the Doctor, interrupting the old man. “I had a childhood, remember? The stories used to fascinate me.”

“I hear you even found one of the castles that he used to occupy?”

The Doctor frowned. “Allegedly that he used to occupy.” He looked to Holly and India. “During my 13th incarnation – the TARDIS had crash-landed on a moon called Lanix, not too far from Gallifrey. There was a ruined castle there but not much else.”

“It’s said that the Slayer planned his battles from Lanix. The books called it the Doomhouse.”

“Or the Deadfort, depending on whose interpretation of the legend you read. Personally I preferred Tosterakium’s version.”

“The one with the unicorns,” said Mortimus, remember a childhood memory.

“That the one,” said the Doctor, nodding along with him.

“Unicorns?” said Holly, a confused look playing across her face.

“None of that matters,” said Mortimus. “What matters is here and now and what we do with this timeline.”

“Well I’d quite like to know a little bit more about this Time Lord Slayer,” said India.

“Another time,” said the Doctor. “Mortimus is right – we need to look at the current problem.”

Mortimus nodded and relaxed back in his armchair a little. “How, I don’t know, but in this timeline, and in the original timeline, the Slayer is returning.”

“But he’s just a legend,” said the Doctor.

“But one that is based in the long and distant past,” said Mortimus. “Those stories come from somewhere. I can’t pinpoint exactly where he is from and what brings him back because the timelines are so clouded and confused, but I do know that in this timeline he wins. He devastates entire planets including Earth and Gallifrey.”

“You said that this timeline needed to be destroyed,” said Holly. “How would that work?”

“And why is it in danger?” said the Doctor. “Forgive me, Mortimus, but I’m the same Doctor whether I’m with Lilly or not.”

Mortimus shook his head. “But you’re not.” He finished his tea and put the mug down on the side table. “Already you have spent so long trying to hide Lilly from the Master that the Slayer’s plans have already been put into motion. If you continue to chase Lilly and bring her back you will allow it to consume you. The Slayer will use your lack of focus to launch his attack.”

“But I won’t. I promise I won’t,” said the Doctor. “I know what matters. I would never allow the galaxy to fall into chaos.”

“Wouldn’t you?” said India. “I’ve seen how dedicated and devoted to her you are. You blame yourself for how she is.” India looked at Holly. “She says that Lilly was better in her timeline – that she was healed.”

“Nearly healed,” said Holly.

“Can you remember when the Master followed us to starship Centaur? You were so eager to get Lilly away from him that you allowed the Master to kill half the people on that ship.”

“I didn’t do that on purpose,” said the Doctor. “I had to get her away.”

“Exactly,” said India. “Where does it stop?”

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but realized he didn’t have any kind of defense. It was true – he had allowed the Centaur to fall all so he could get Lilly away from the Master. He had failed those people.

“Don’t fail the universe,” said Mortimus. He sighed and shook his head. “When Holly arrived I realized I had just the weapon I needed to bring this timeline crashing down.”

“Great,” said Holly, shuffling uncomfortably, “I’m a weapon.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Dangerfield, but yes you are.” He leant forward and pointed towards her wrist. “The Doctor wanted me to re-weave you into this new timeline, but I knew that if I let the temporal energy build up it’d eventually explode, and when it explodes…”

“It’ll be like a chain reaction,” said the Doctor, staring straight ahead. “This timeline won’t be able to cope with the disruption and things would snap back, taking Holly right back into her own timeline like a rubber band.”

“I never wanted this,” said Holly. “Surely there has to be another way.”

“There isn’t,” said Mortimus, getting to his feet. “This timeline must die for the old one to be reborn.”

“I can’t let you do it,” said the Doctor, also getting to his feet. “Now I know what’s at stake I will do everything in my power to stop the Slayer. You need to re-weave Holly.”

Mortimus shook his head. “I can’t risk it, Doctor.”

“I am ordering you, Mortimus.”

“This timeline shouldn’t even be here,” said India.

“India,” said the Doctor, turning to her and taking her hands, “you know what this would mean, don’t you?”

“That everything I’ve been through will never have happened? Yeah, I know, but let’s face it; it’s not been a total trip of a lifetime, has it?”

The Doctor didn’t respond. He couldn’t respond to that.

“Why let this timeline survive when there’s a much better one out there?”

Mortimus took Holly’s hand. She looked at him with terrified eyes.

“Will you trust me, Holly?” he asked.

Holly wasn’t sure what she couldn’t trust anymore, but she did know that she wanted her world back. For once she realized that the Doctor was wrong.

“Holly, please…” said the Doctor.

Holly looked between the Doctor and India. “I’m sorry, Doctor, but the Keeper is right. Lilly was better, you were better and you were focused. If it means the universe will be better off then I’m gonna have to go with your bearded friend here.”

The Doctor turned to face the pair and puffed his chest up. “And I can’t allow that.”

“I’m afraid the decision has already been made.”

Holly looked between the two Time Lords – one her friend, one a stranger – and for the first time she didn’t trust the Doctor. She was fearful. Was this the dark side of the Doctor that was due to become obsessed over Lilly? She knew she couldn’t let that happen.

She felt Mortimus grip her hand tighter and tense up. He was going to make a run for it. She closed her eyes and then heard the Doctor yell.

She opened her eyes. India had grabbed him and knocked him to the ground. “RUN!” shouted the redhead as she collapsed on top of the Doctor.

“I’m sorry,” said Holly as Mortimus pulled her past the two of them and towards the exit.

“Just don’t forget me,” said India as they passed. “Find me!”

“I will!” said Holly.



Holly and Mortimus were standing behind the cemetery gates, the wind once again whipping at Holly’s long, dark hair. Behind them stood the familiar blue of the TARDIS. She had groaned and resisted when her and the Keeper had jumped on board and effectively kidnapped the ship, but she had relented.

Holly wondered if the TARDIS had actually known that this was the only way to protect the universe – to protect her precious Doctor.

“Why are we here again?” said Holly, keeping behind the gate as the funeral procession rolled on past again. “Why do I have to be at my granddads funeral three times?”

“Because this is the moment it all changed,” said Mortimus. “This is the moment the Master killed you and changed time.” He looked into her eyes. “It’s also the weakest point in space and time right now. There are three iterations of you here. Your original self, yourself that I sent back here and then you.”

“But I tried to stop it last time and it didn’t work.”

“I thought it would, but it didn’t. But this time all you have to do is remove the wrist band.”

Holly looked to the band. It had been itching for hours now. It was almost burning her wrist and she scratched at it. “Will it hurt?”

“Momentarily,” said Mortimus, “and then you will be back where you belong, the timelines resetting themselves.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I can’t for certain,” said Mortimus, “but this is our best shot.”

“Okay then,” said Holly, her hand going to the band.

“No,” said Mortimus, grabbing her wrist, “not yet. You have to wait for the Master to arrive.”

Holly looked at him. He was as scared as she was. She couldn’t fully trust him, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. She nodded at him in agreement, and then something caught her attention and her face turned to a look of horror. Flying in over the trees, its clawed hands stretched out in front of it, was the Nightmare.



To be concluded...

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Victory to the Master)



The Keeper – or Mortimus – was frantically trying to adjust his projection device in his chamber. He hadn’t managed to get back to Holly and India since the incident outside of the car and he was worried. He’d detected numerous disruptions in time and Holly now appeared to be on board the Doctors TARDIS. He needed to get back to her. He had to make sure he escaped from this place.



“Yes, this place has certainly seen better days,” said the Master, sitting down on the sofa next to Lilly and folding his arms. “Hello, my dear.”

“Hey, Daddy,” said Lilly, smiling.

“Glad to see you’ve finally come around to my way of thinking, Illithia.”

“I’ve been on your side for some time now.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” said the Doctor, helping Holly over to a chair in the corner of the room. “The Master shouldn’t have been able to track us. You helped him, didn’t you, Lilly?”

Lilly nodded. “Guilty as charged.”

“Why?” said India, looking more upset than she realized she should be.

“When that psycho came on board,” said Lilly, nodding towards the very pale Holly, “I realized something was up.”

“Ah, yes,” said the Master, getting up off the sofa and crossing over to Holly.

“Stay away from her,” said the Doctor.

“Take it easy, old man,” said the Master, crouching down in front of her. “Multiple time disturbances and…ooooh, what’s this?” he said, taking her arm and looking at the device. “Oh, tut, tut…”

“Apparently she’s from a changed timeline.”

“Let me guess,” said the Master, getting to his feet and grinning. “Moi?”

Lilly nodded. “Apparently you killed her. Stopped her from making me become a better person.” She pretended to stick her fingers down her mouth.

The Master chuckled. “I cannot believe you’d let a Human girl change your heart.”

“I didn’t,” said Lilly. “Lucky for me really.

“She was a better person,” said Holly, feeling herself unable to control her anger any longer. “After what she did to Caleb-”

“The kid deserved it,” said Lilly.

“Lilly,” said the Doctor, stepping forward and grabbing the Masters arm, pulling him away from his companion, “I’ve already said time and time again that Caleb was an unfortunate accident.”

“No it wasn’t,” said Lilly. “I mean to kill him, you know?” She grinned at the Doctor. “It’s just taken a while to realize that. Like it’s taken a while to realize a few things.” She looked at her father and smiled at him. “I think I’m ready now.”

“You can’t think to go with him,” said Holly. “Please.”

“When will you get it in your stupid, thick skull,” she said, bearing down on Holly, “that I am not that same stupid blonde bimbo that you met. I am his daughter.”

“So you’re just doing this for him?” said Holly.

“No,” she shouted, “I’m doing this because this is who I really am.” She jabbed at her chest. “This is the true person inside. The real woman. Illithia.”

Holly didn’t know what to say. She looked to the Doctor for some words of support, but she just closed his eyes and shook his head, a look of defeat on his face.

“That’s my girl,” said the Master, “finally back in the fold.” He took her hand and guided her towards the TARDIS doors and his waiting ship beyond. “Maybe we should go and meet your other siblings.”

“Don’t do this, Koschei,” said the Doctor, one final attempt to stop them.

The Master turned and smiled at his old adversary. “For once, my dear Doctor, you’re just going to have to accept the inevitable. I’ve won. I’ve beaten you.”

“Lilly…” the Doctor said, a pleading look on his face.

“I’ll let you live, old man,” said Lilly. “I owe you that at least.”

The Doctor’s arms fell limply by his side as Holly watched on in abject defeat as Lilly and the Master exited the TARDIS, the doors closing behind them. The doors banged shut with such a force that she thought she could hear the sound echoing around the console room over and over again.

Eventually India, who had kept quiet, stepped out of the shadows and leant on the console. “So, what now?”

“Now?” said the Doctor. “Now we get her back.”

“Doctor, that’s not going to work,” said India. “She’s gone.”

“We can still try,” said the Doctor, rushing to the console and tracking the Master’s TARDIS as it disappeared into the vortex.

“No,” said India, “we’ve been running from him for ages. Lilly hasn’t changed. She hasn’t made any effort to rebuild her life. She’s lost.”

“I won’t believe that. Lilly is still there somewhere.”

“She’s not,” said Holly, quietly from the sofa, her hand clutching at her wound. “She’s really not. India is right – Lilly has gone. The Lilly I know and love never would have done this.”

“I think I know her better than you, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor.

Holly got to her feet. “No you don’t. Not the real Lilly. The real one that grew and changed. You don’t know that girl at all. That girl never existed and I can’t let that continue to be the case.”

“You heard the Doctor though,” said India, “we can’t fix this timeline.”

“Can’t we?” said Holly. She held up the wrist band. “Mortimus let me loose in this timeline for a reason. I reckon we should go and find out why.”



The TARDIS landing was much rougher than they thought it would be as the ship materialized back at the Zero Point. India poked her head out of the door and then stepped outside gingerly. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing this place again.”

“What’s up with the lights?” asked Holly, as she followed India out of the box.

“Must be connected to Mortimus trying to escape,” said the Doctor, exiting the TARDIS and locking the door behind him. “This place is looking a bit precarious.”

They made their way down the black, marble corridor, their footsteps echoing loudly as they went. Just when they were about to reach the tunnel down to the Keepers domain the lights flickered out. When they came back on Mortimus was standing there in front of them.

Holly jumped back. “Jesus Christ!”

“What are you doing here?” asked Mortimus. “Why have you returned?”

“What are you trying to do?” asked the Doctor.

“I beg your pardon?” asked Mortimus, his eyes looking between the three of them.

“Cut the fake surprise,” said the Doctor. “We know that you’re up to something. My alternate self sent Holly here to be re-woven into this new timeline. So why didn’t you do it?”

“My dear Doctor,” said Mortimus, taking his hands, “it’s so good to see you again. And suspicious as always I see.” He laughed nervously.

“Mortimus, I know you have your reasons, I just don’t know what they are,” said the Doctor.

Mortimus looked at the Doctor and then let go of his hands. He looked away and then down at the floor. He looked frustrated and scared.

“Tell us what’s wrong,” said Holly.

“I’m ashamed,” said Mortimus, unable to make any kind of eye contact with them. “I’m ashamed because I’m frightened.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being frightened,” said India.

“Frightened of what?” asked the Doctor.

“Of what I’ve seen happening to this world.”

“I don’t understand,” said the Doctor. “What have you seen?”

Mortimus took the Doctor and Holly’s hands and nodded to India. “I need the three of you to come with me.”



When they eventually reached the room Holly and India had been in before he knelt in front of the old TV set and switched it on. On the screen was a myriad of images showing war and desolation raging across various different planets.

The Doctor squinted his eyes at the grainy picture, recognizing some of them – Skaro, Earth, Gallifrey, Theen, Masker, Vorlaris – but not all of them. On each world buildings fell and fires broke out. Images flashed up of crying children and starving people.

“Switch it off,” said India, unable to watch any more.

“What is this?” asked the Doctor, turning to Mortimus, a tear already trickling down his cheek and disappearing into his white beard.

“This is our world, Doctor. This is our universe.” He crossed over to the armchair and sat down, looking utterly dejected.

“You can see all of time from this room,” said the Doctor, “so what are you seeing exactly?”

“Everything,” said Mortimus. “This is what happens to this universe if this new timeline continues to exist.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Holly.

“This universe that the Master created will become what you saw in those images.”

“What, because the Master and Lilly were reunited?” asked Holly, doubting that herself.

“No,” said Mortimus, shaking his head in frustration, “because of the First Time Lord.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the Doctor, his eyes widening.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about it. The legends of the First Time Lord. The story of the Time Lord Slayer.”



To be continued...

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (The Loneliest Place in the Universe)



“Doctor,” said Holly, her head in her hands once again, “I’ve known you – or a variation of you – for a long time now. When are you going to realize that sometimes you need to tell me some things?”

“I can’t say that I wouldn’t have done things exactly the same as my other self,” said the Doctor, shrugging his shoulders.

“This guy didn’t seem like a prisoner though,” said India. “I mean why would you put someone who is a prisoner in a place with so much power?”

The Doctor shook his head. “When I say that he was a prisoner, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was a criminal.”

“Ugh,” said Holly, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Clarity, Doctor, clarity.”

“He was a Time Lord back in the day. I suppose you could call him a pre-cursor to me. His name was Mortimus. He used to monitor the timelines from the central processing centre on Gallifrey. He became…curious.”

“Let me guess – he decided to leave Gallifrey,” said Lilly.

“Sort of. He watched and watched and watched until he couldn’t watch anymore. He wanted to go and help. Now the difference between myself and Mortimus is that I don’t like to interfere.”

“Hah!” said Lilly.

The Doctor shot her a look. “I try not to interfere. At least not like Mortimus did. He used to meddle with time. He stole a TARDIS and rattled around the universe altering timelines and changing things. That’s when he earned the name the Time Meddler.”

“So he made the world a better place by changing things?” asked India.

“Not exactly,” said the Doctor. “At first he did, but soon he realized he could change things to benefit himself and started to act irresponsibly. I ran into him on quite a few occasions, but eventually the Time Lords caught up with him.”

“And so they put a known meddler of time in charge of time itself?” asked Holly.

“You can’t control time from the Zero Point. That’s the point. He was placed there at the end of existence to keep him away from anymore interfering. His punishment was to watch forever.”

“But you said he should have defused my wrist strap,” said Holly.

The Doctor smiled. “Believe it or not Mortimus changed. Some truly horrible things had happened to him during his time.” The Doctor looked distant for a moment. He looked sad. “He realized his mistakes and gladly took on the role at Zero Point. He’s been there ever since but has never put a foot wrong.”

“Until now,” said Holly.

“Until now,” said the Doctor. “He can’t escape from there. At least he shouldn’t be able to. And why would he revert back to his old self anyway?”

“Perhaps he was playing a long game,” said Lilly. “Like my father.”

“You mean he’s been biding his time, pretending to be good whilst he tries to break out?” said India.

The Doctor looked frustrated. “That doesn’t sound right to me. He had changed – I know he’d changed. So why do all this now?”

“People change,” said Holly, glancing over at Lilly, who saw her looking.

“Why don’t we just go back there and ask him?” said India. “I mean what harm could it do?”

The Doctor rapped his knuckles on the console and then looked up at Holly, India and Lilly. “Mortimus is the only person who can defuse that wristband and re-weave you into this new timeline. Maybe we should pay him a visit.”

“No,” said Holly, shaking her head. “I’m not willing to give up on everything yet. The Master changed my own history and I’d like it back.”

“You’ve already seen what happens if you try and correct it,” said the Doctor. “Time fights back. It doesn’t want to be changed.”

“You don’t understand,” said Holly, her eyes welling up with tears. “I found myself here in this silly old ship. It wasn’t always easy, but I’d like to think the three of our lives were better for it. Yours was at least, Lilly. You found some kind of peace at least.”

Lilly laughed and shook her head. “No chance in helping me, you silly cow.”

Holly stormed over to her and looked down at her. “Believe it or not myself and Lilly….well, we had feelings for each other.”

Lilly smiled. “You’re not my type. In fact I couldn’t give two shits about types. I’m exactly who I want to be.”

“Then I saved my Lilly before it was too late then,” said Holly, looking defiant.

“Well done on the saving,” said Lilly. “You got her erased from time.”

Holly was about to reached down and grab Lilly when the Doctor stepped between them and intervened. “There isn’t any time for this.”

There was a deep, low thud and the TARDIS juddered slightly.

“It’s the Nightmare, isn’t it?” asked Holly, already knowing the answer to her question.

The Doctor nodded. “It’s never going to stop following you, Holly, wherever you go.”

Holly looked and felt completely and utterly dejected. She had trusted the Doctor. She had truly believed that going to the Zero Point would have saved her, but now all she was worried about was how, if she could be re-weaved into this timeline, she was going to put her life back on track. The Lilly she knew was gone. The Doctor was also a totally different person.

There was the thud again.

“We need to go back to the Zero Point,” said India, “it’s the only way to stop this and save Holly.”

Holly smiled. This young girl was the one person who, despite everything, was willing to help her.

Holly noticed there was a flashing light on the side of the console. She frowned at it, recognizing seeing that same light before. “Doctor, what is that?”

The Doctor was so perplexed from the problems they were under that he didn’t even notice. He looked down at the blinking LED. “That’s the communications panel.” He crossed over to it and flicked the responder switch. “Hello?”

“Are you ever going to let me in?” came a familiar voice.

“Oh, no,” said India, backing towards Holly.

“Leave us alone,” said the Doctor, genuine worry on his face.

“Let him in,” said Lilly.

All three of them turned to face her. She was holding a small pistol and was aiming at Holly.

“Oh, Lilly, please…” said the Doctor.

Lilly squeezed the trigger and it just missed Holly and hit one of the metal beams surrounding the TARDIS console.

India yelped and Holly ducked.

“LILLY!” growled the Doctor.

“How many times do I have to tell you,” said Lilly, “that I have no desire to stay here and be reintegrated into society?”

“You can’t mean to go with him,” said Holly.

“You don’t know me, woman,” said Lilly, aiming the gun back down at her.

“Listen to my daughter,” came the voice over the speakers. “Now open up the doors and let your Master in.”

“You have no choice,” said Lilly. “I want to go with him.”

Holly closed her eyes. The Master had actually gotten what he wanted by erasing her. Without Holly to help ground Lilly had she had gone off the rails. He had succeeded.

“If you don’t open those doors I will shoot this woman through the head,” said Lilly. “Don’t believe me?” She squeezed the trigger and a shot rang out, hitting Holly in the right shoulder. She screamed and fell to the floor.

“NO!” shouted the Doctor, dropping to her side immediately.

Holly clutched at the wound in her shoulder as the blood seeped through her top. It was like pain she had never felt before and she could feel herself swaying, the room drifting out of focus.

“Now open the doors!” yelled Lilly.

“Let her go, Doctor,” said India, crossing over to the console and opening the double doors into the TARDIS.

Outside the doors the Master had clamped his own TARDIS onto the Doctors. He console room was in darkness as he calmly walked across the threshold into the Doctors ship. He wore a black suit with a high collar and had grown a beard. His eyes twinkled as he looked around the console room.

He tutted. “Dear me, Doctor, this place as seen better days.” He looked down at Holly and frowned. “And who is this?”

“It doesn’t matter to you,” said the Doctor. “No, I suppose it doesn’t,” said the Master. “Now, let me have my daughter back.”



To be continued...

A Life Less Extraordinary (Chapter 6)

 Chapter 6: The Curious Motives



“It’s trying to stop us, isn’t it?” asked India.

Holly noticed something different though. Her fringe was beginning to whip up a little, like there was a gentle breeze blowing on her forehead.

“Listen,” said India.

Holly narrowed her eyes to listen. Slowly there came the familiar wheezing and groaning of the TARDIS materializing. Just beside the lifts near the door the blue box solidified with a loud and definite thump.

The door opened and the Doctor and Lilly – the ones Holly had escaped from – emerged, looking around curiously.

“So you found me,” said Holly, backing away a little.

“What are you doing? What was your name again?”

“Holly Dangerfield?”

“What are you doing, Miss Dangerfield?”

“Freezing time by the looks of it,” said Lilly, nodding her head in appreciation.

The Doctor looked from his India to the crowd of arrivals and then spotted the earlier India. His eyes widened and he looked back to Holly, fury on his face. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m trying to put things right,” said Holly.

“By messing things up even more?” asked the Doctor. “I took me a bit of doing, but I managed to track you down thanks to the two anomalies.”

“The one at the cemetery in Huxley,” said Holly.

“That’s the one.”

“That was the Master killing me. So you have to believe me.”

“I do believe you,” said the Doctor, “but this is still not the way. Time is fighting back against you and you are becoming more and more dangerous by the second.”

“I don’t understand,” said India.

“Surprise, surprise,” said Lilly. “Red doesn’t understand. Remind me why we took you away with us?”

“You didn’t take me,” hissed India. “It was my choice.”

“What do you mean by me being more and more dangerous?” asked Holly.

“Your wrist. That device. It’s building up more and more.”

“I know,” said Holly. “That’s why I’ve got to put all of this right.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” said the Doctor, edging a little closer to her.

“Stay away,” said Holly, backing up and nearly colliding with the frozen, earlier India.

The four of them were distracted by the most hideous, horrible scream any of them had ever heard. It was coming from outside the entrance doors. Hovering over the row of taxi cabs was, what Holly assumed, the Nightmare.

Holly froze on the spot. It was floating horizontally, but it’s arms were outstretched and it’s head pointed unnaturally forward. It was pure white and had a female form, but wore no clothes. The head was bald but had female features. It had no discernible mouth, but the eyes burnt a bright red as the head turned to look at the four time travelers.

To Holly’s horror she recognized the creature. It looked like her.

“Oh my god,” said India.

“Into the TARDIS,” said the Doctor. “Quickly!”

“What the hell?!” said Holly.

“Oh, that thing’s got your face,” laughed Lilly as they ran towards the TARDIS.

The Nightmare sensed it was about to lose them and turned and aimed itself towards the windows. Holly shielded her face, waiting for the glass to shatter, but instead it just phased through and bore down on her.

“IN!” shouted the Doctor, literally dragging Holly by her arm into the TARDIS before slamming the doors behind them.

The Nightmare rammed itself head-first into the doors of the TARDIS, but a few moments later the box disappeared.



“What the hell is going on?” asked Holly. “Why did that thing look like me?”

“Hold on a moment,” said the Doctor, jumping from control to control. “I’m trying to make sure it’s not following us.”

“The Keeper said it’d always follow me, that it was after me.”

“Well the Keeper isn’t the most reliable person around at the moment,” said the Doctor, almost shouting at Holly.

“But you sent me to see him – or at least your real self did.”

“Holly,” he said, skidding around the console, “look at me.” He pointed to his face with both index fingers. “This is me. I may be a little different to the Doctor you know and love, but this is still me.”

“Doctor, maybe you should try and help her to understand,” said India, “because quite frankly my own brain’s starting to fry here.”

“Tell them about the Keeper, Doctor,” said Lilly, sitting on the sofa and putting her feet up on the arms. “Tell them about your realization.”

“Be quiet, Lilly.”

Lilly smirked and rolled her eyes.

“Tell me,” said Holly. “Please.”

The Doctor checked the readings one more time and then walked over to Holly. He scratched his chin and then looked at the wrist device. “If we’re going along the same thought patterns as my alternate self then he sent you to the Keeper because he said he would help you, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“Except your Doctor told a little white lie. I say a little white lie – I actually mean a massive, huge, whale-sized black lie.”

“What do you mean?”

“I suspect the idea was that the Keeper would re-write you into history.”

“Back up a moment,” said India, feeling confused.

“No,” said Holly, “he sent me back in time to try and stop the Master changing time.”

“Which is what confuses me because there’s no way that was ever going to work. The Keeper has the ability to defuse these situations. He would have rewoven you into time and discharged this wrist strap. This timeline would still remain, but you’d be able to still exist. Your original timeline can never return now.”

“No,” said Holly, shaking her head, “my Doctor wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t lie.”

“He would if he knew there was no other way. If it meant protecting someone he cared about. If he’d have told you the truth you wouldn’t have gone through with it, would you?”

“No,” said Holly, feeling her world start to melt around her, “I would have tried to put it all right.”

“Exactly,” said the Doctor. He looked sad, pushed Lilly’s legs out of the way and sat down next to her on the sofa. “He knew the only way to save you was by sending you to the Keeper.”

“But hang on,” said India, trying to wrap her head around all of this, “none of this makes sense. The Keeper didn’t say anything about defusing the wrist band or anything. Why wouldn’t he tell us that?”

“Why indeed?” asked the Doctor. “It’s curious, isn’t it?”

“Did this Keeper bloke say anything to you about where he comes from?” asked Lilly.

“No. Just that he could help and that the timeline would become more and more unstable.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Those freezes in time that you experienced…that was not the reaction of an unstable timeline. That was a very strong-willed timeline trying to stop you.”

Holly looked dejected and began itching at her wrist. It felt hot and she felt pins and needles in her fingers. “What can we do?”

“Firstly we need to work out the Keepers motives,” said the Doctor.

“So we go to the Zero Point?” asked India.

The Doctor interlocked his fingers. “Perhaps, but there’s something you need to know first about the Keeper.”

The three of them stayed silent, waiting for an answer. “The Keeper isn’t just a resident at the Zero Point – he’s also a prisoner. His name is Mortimus and I used to know him as the Time Meddler.”



To be continued