Aliens Among Us (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 (The Turning Tide)

Holly had finished another days work at the newsagents and was just locking up (it shut at 6pm), when Arnold turned the corner into the street and gave her a wave, jogging over.

“Hey, Arnold,” said Holly, laughing at a memory of a kids TV programme of the same name.

“Hello, Holly,” he said in the same jolly voice he always had.

“Everything okay? I’m just locking up.”

“Well, no actually,” said Arnold, looking down at the path. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go.”

“What?” Holly closed the door and locked it. “Why? What have I done?”

“Nothing at all. It’s not you,” said Arnold, “but Keller Ltd, who runs the chain, says we need to cut back.”

“You already close at 6pm.”

“I know,” said Arnold, “but I have my orders. I’m sorry.”

Holly nodded and grabbed the top of the shutter, pulling it down to seal up the window and door. “It’s not your fault, Arnold.”

“I just feel absolutely terrible. Of course you’ll be paid for the hours you’ve done this month.”

“Thank you,” said Holly, nodding at him sadly. “Don’t let it bother you, Arnold.”

“I used to own the place independently, but the costs were becoming too high and Keller put in an offer, and well…the rest is history.”

“Trust me, Arnold, you don’t have to explain it to me.”

Arnold sighed and walked with her as she headed up the street and towards home. “So what will you do now?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I’ll find something closer to the town centre.”

“There’s not much going in Hanwick I’m afraid. You and your friends may be better off leaving full stop.”

Holly stopped and turned to face the man. “That sounds a bit extreme.”

“You have to think about your future, Miss Dangerfield.” He stared at her, his blue eyes burying deep into her soul.

Holly frowned. “Thank you, Arnold,” she said. “I’ll bear it in mind.” She turned to go. “I’ll see you around, yeah?”

Arnold nodded. “See you soon, Holly.”

She made her way down the street and turned onto Coventry Avenue. She crossed the road at the pelican crossing and then turned into Waterloo Close. She contemplated everything Arnold had said. Something about this wasn’t right. As she turned into the front garden she stopped dead in her tracks.

The Doctor and Lilly were on ladders at the front window. Both of them had a bucket of water and sponges and were attempting to remove some graffiti from the glass.

“What happened?” asked Holly.

“Ah, hello,” said the Doctor, waving with the sponge in his hand.

The Doctor hopped down from the stepladders and Holly could see what had been spray-painted on the window:




“LAST CHANCE”




“Holy crap,” said Holly, her hand to her mouth. “Did anybody see anything?”

“I’ve asked around,” said Lilly, dropping her sponge into the bucket, “but nobody’s saying anything.”

Holly exhaled. “I think it’s time we went on our way, Doctor.”

“Not yet,” said the Doctor. “We need to uncover this mystery.”

“But that is a clear warning,” said Holly, pointing to the partially smeared words on the window. “Not to mention this morning’s phone call telling us that one of us is going to die if we carry on.”

“An empty threat I think,” said the Doctor. “But never the less we need to route out this alien. It could be dangerous.”

Holly pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

“Everything else alright, Dangerfield?” asked Lilly, crossing over to her.

“Not really,” said Holly. “I’ve lost my job.”

Lilly rolled her eyes. “Both of us in two weeks!”

“Arnold said he had to make cut-backs. His hand was forced by the company, but it all sounds a bit suspicious.”

“How do you mean?” asked the Doctor, sitting on the front door step and looking up at her.

“He actually suggested that we should try and find work outside of Hanwick.”

“If he’s not the alien then I’m a nun,” said Lilly.

“I don’t think he’s the alien,” said Holly.

“But he clearly knows something,” said the Doctor, tapping his chin.

“That much is obvious,” said Holly. “He maybe knows who the alien is but wants us out of here to get us out of danger.”

“I’ll pay him a visit,” said Lilly.

“No,” said the Doctor. “We’ve gone beyond visits and investigating. We need to get the escape pods set up and activate the field. Then we’ll know for sure who this alien is disguised as.”

Holly sighed. “If you say so, Doctor. I’m off in for a shower.”

“Then we eat,” said the Doctor. “And tonight, when it’s dark, we’ll put our plan into operation.”




Although the darkness had fallen it was still a warm summers night. Holly and Lilly had both taken to wearing dark tops and trousers so they could slip about the estate without attracting too much attention. None of them had really spoken during dinner.

For Holly she was quite nervous about what was going to happen. A direct threat to them had been made. Whether the Doctor believed it was a genuine threat or not didn’t really ease her nerves.

Lilly meanwhile had tucked into her spag-bol and gulped down an ice-cold glass of water before going for a jog.

The Doctor led them down Waterloo Close back onto Coventry Avenue and back to the motorway where the TARDIS was waiting in the bushes.

“Do you think he’s out there somewhere?”

“Who?” said Lilly, turning to face Holly as the Doctor unlocked the door.

“The alien.”

“Probably,” said Lilly, calmly.

Holly pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders as they entered the TARDIS. Although she was new to travelling in the time machine, she felt a lot safer once she was in the confines of its dimensions.

The Doctor flicked a few switches and then double-locked the doors.

“You can never be too careful,” he said, giving a glancing grin towards the girls. “Follow me.”

He led them through the console room and into the interior door, down the corridor and then took a door off to the left. The corridor they entered was lined with vertical, pink fluorescent strip lights that cast an eerie pink glow on the three of them.

“What’s this all for then?” said Holly, stopping to examine one more closely.

“What, can’t a Doctor have mood lighting in his home?” said the Doctor.

They continued on their journey, past a blue door that looked like it led to a disused hospital wing, went down a spiral staircase and then back up the same one, and to Holly’s amazement found themselves in a totally different corridor.

They passed through a room which was lined floor to ceiling with rows and rows of bookshelves and then through a small, grassed area with a large oak tree reaching up to the roof, which was barely visible due to the darkness up above.

Finally they reached a doorway with a sign on the front of it which read “Other Ways & Means”.

The Doctor opened the door. Inside was a narrow, stone room lined with white roundels. Along the left hand side of the room were rows and rows of dull-grey boxes which stood at a height of around six foot.

“The escape pods?” said Holly, standing and eyeing them up.

“That’s right,” said Lilly. “I’ve never had cause to use them myself. Thankfully.”

Holly looked at Lilly and frowned. That was clearly a lie and the Doctor gave her an accusing glance.

The Doctor touched one of them. “You can never have too many escape pods. I always keep a good stock of them. Only in the direst emergencies have I ever used them.”

“But you’re using them now?” said Holly, touching the side and feeling the same, odd tingling that she got from touching the TARDIS exterior.

“Needs must,” said the Doctor. He turned to face the girls. “Here’s what we do. I programme three of them to land at a corner of the estate.”

“What about the fourth one?” said Holly.

“The TARDIS can act as the fourth point,” said the Doctor. “I can operate them automatically from the console room, but I’d like the three of us to each stay with a pod to make sure it’s functioning properly.”

“What about the TARDIS? Who keeps an eye on that?”

The Doctor looked frustrated and rubbed his eyes. “The TARDIS is like the brain. The pods are like the limbs.”

“Okay, I understand,” said Holly.

“Right. Let’s do this.”




Holly boarded the escape pod and was almost taken aback. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to expect. She imagined it to be more relative to its outside size, but no, the pod was large as well. Not quite as big as the TARDIS, of course, and as far as she could tell it only consisted of one room - the control room.

The room was circular, on one level, and dark-grey. The walls were dotted with yellow roundels and through the centre of the room was a smaller version of the TARDIS console with the glass tube containing the yellow rods rising up from the console into the roof.

Three steps led down to the console and Holly went and sat herself down.

The Doctor’s voice came over an intercom on the console.

“Now listen you two,” he said, sounding more serious than ever. “The TARDIS is going to land in one of the corners and then it will automatically dispatch the three pods to their allocated corners. Once your pods have landed then make sure you disembark.”

“Do we need to do anything else?” came Lilly’s voice over the same intercom.

“No. Just keep an eye on the pods. Make sure nobody sees. I’ll manually activate the field.”

“What do we do then?” said Holly. “I mean it’s the middle of the night. We’re not going to know if an alien has appeared.”

“The aliens shielding will be down,” continued to the Doctor. “The TARDIS will detect it and pinpoint its location.” He took a deep breath. “This is it folks. The grand finale.”

“You scared yet, Dangerfield?” came Lilly’s voice.

Holly frowned. Was she just teasing. “I’m bloody terrified.”

“So you should be,” came Lilly’s voice again. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Holly smiled. She couldn’t be entirely sure, but since the Rock and since arriving on this estate Lilly had nearly thawed out. There seemed to be a warmth in her voice now. Had she broken through?

“Enough chatter, ladies,” came the Doctor’s stern voice. “Stand by for departure.”

Holly remained sitting as she waited. She wondered what Roxy would think to her now, getting herself involved in all sorts of dangerous situations. She smiled at the thought - Roxy would have loved to have come with her. She should have taken her as well.

Although Roxy probably would have had a harder time with Lilly than she had done.

Suddenly there was a deep boom from somewhere within the escape pod. The lights lowered and the yellow rods in the glass tube began to rise and fall steadily as a similar sound to the TARDIS engines filled the room.

It only lasted a mere ten seconds before the engines came to a stop with a thud and the lights returned to their normal brightness.

“We’ve arrived ladies,” said the Doctor, cheerily. “Keep those peepers peeled.”




Holly’s capsule had landed her beside a playing field. The orange streetlights shone down, but there wasn’t much to see. Over to the left was a road which led towards some houses, and Holly could just make out a sign:




“WELCOME TO THE RUNSWICK ESTATE. PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY”




Holly turned to look at the pod, but was surprised to see it had turned into a large bush that blended in with the bushes that lined the playing fields.

Neat trick, thought Holly, touching the artificial leaves, if only the TARDIS could do that.

Holly’s phone rang and she answered it quickly. “Hello?”

“Are we all alright?” came the Doctor’s voice. “I’ve got us on conference call.”

“Fine,” said Holly. “Neat trick with the pod blending in.”

“I’m fine too,” came Lilly’s voice. “Hey, mine turned into a children’s shed. I’m near a park.”

“Never mind that,” said the Doctor. “Is there anybody around?”

“No,” said Holly, gazing out at the surrounding area, cast in the eerie orange light. “Nothing but me and myself.”

“Good,” said the Doctor.

“Just a drunk wandering past,” said Lilly. “He’s too out of it to notice me.”

“Take care, Lilly,” said the Doctor. “Right, I’m going to activate the field now. Keep communication channels open and be prepared. Once I have the location I’ll let you both know where to meet me.”

“Do we take the pods?” asked Holly.

“No, no, no,” said the Doctor. “You’re just gonna have to run.”

Holly nodded. “Good job I keep myself in shape.”

“Stand by, ladies.” There was a pause. “Activating the field…NOW!”

There came a high-pitched whine from the top of bush. Holly covered her ears up with her hands and stepped back. Then a beam of energy erupted from the top of the bush, high into the night sky. Some distance away Holly watched as another beam appeared. Over to the other side of the estate were the beams from the Doctor’s pod and the TARDIS. The beams slowly arched over until Holly’s had connected to Lilly’s and the Doctor’s had connected to the TARDIS’s, effectively creating a curved energy field over the estate.

Crackles of electricity and energy waves coursed over the curved, energy field.

But something was wrong. The beams of light were flickering.

“What’s happening, Doctor?” came Lilly’s voice.

“Something’s wrong,” said the Doctor. Holly could hear him frantically flicking controls. “It’s overloading!”

With a flash of energy the field crackled and flared. The beams separated and travelled back down. Holly backed away as the beam hit the bush and the bush exploded in a ball of flames.

Holly was thrown back down to the ground. She could hear the other explosions.

“Doctor!” came Lilly’s voice over the phone. “My pod exploded. Are you okay?”

“Mine too,” said the Doctor.

“What about the TARDIS?” said Holly as she watched the remains of the bush crumple into twisted metal.

“The TARDIS will be fine,” said the Doctor, resignation in his voice. “We failed. Again.”

Holly closed her eyes and lay the phone down next to her. For a moment she contemplated going to sleep. She was so tired. She was fed up. She couldn’t see any other way to find the alien. She lay there for a moment, the smell of smoke and the night air in her nostrils. It reminded her of bonfires when she was a child. She thought of hot dogs and sparklers and bright colours and she smiled.

And then she opened her eyes.

Looming over her was a spindly, tall, alien figure. It’s arms outstretched. Holly was frozen to the spot as it drew it’s hand up and deadly, two-inch claws shot out.

“I told you one of you would die,” said the alien as it brought it’s claws down on Holly.

The last thing that Holly did was scream.




The Doctor and Lilly had heard the scream over the phone and had both raced to Holly’s location. They almost ran into each other as they turned onto the street and made their way towards the playing field and the burning wreckage of the escape pod.

Holly was lying face down on the floor and it had started to rain. The Doctor raced over the road and onto the playing field as quickly as he could. He skidded to a halt and crouched down over Holly, slowly turning her over.

“Is she okay?” said Lilly, hurrying up to the Doctor’s side.

The Doctor looked down at Holly. She was still and silent as the rain drops pattered down onto her face.

“Is she okay?” said Lilly again, this time her voice faltering ever so slightly.

The Doctor looked down at Holly, her eyes wide open and her face a look of horror.

“DOCTOR!” shouted Lilly.

The Doctor turned to Lilly and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Lilly, but Holly’s dead.”

To be continued...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 (The Best Laid Plans...)

The Doctor had removed his cap and taken the pillow from the down the front of his overalls. He had made sure nobody was watching and then disappeared into the bushes behind the stalls. He made his way through the trees and to the corner fence and then threw the bag down.

He opened the bag and took out one of the devices. It was a claw-like device with a circuit board attached to the top. He stuffed it down the front of his overalls, took another quick glance around, and then began to shimmy up the tree.

Once he was at the top he pulled out some string from his overall pocket and began tying the device to the tree.

Once he was certain it was secure he shimmied back down the tree, grabbed the rucksack, and headed over to the next corner. The next tree he needed to be up was a little more exposed. It was beside the pathway leading into the park and beside the river than ran along the side. He made sure nobody was coming down the path and then quickly climbed the tree, attaching the second device.

He was about to shimmy down when he heard some laughing from below. A young couple were walking hand in hand into the park. He stayed up the tree, hidden by the branches and held his breath. Once he was sure they had passed he slipped back down and grabbed his rucksack.

He jogged along the path beside the river, saying “hello,” to the couple as he passed them and headed for the third corner.

This was going to be a little more difficult. There were no trees here as it was beside a road and the highest point was a house roof.

He took a small football from his rucksack and threw it up at the house roof. It hit the chimney stack on top and slowly rolled down before resting in the gutter.

The Doctor grinned and then ran around to the front of the house, knocking on the door.

“Yes?” came a young woman’s voice as she opened the door. She looked a little surprised to see the Doctor stood there in full Super Mario get-up.

“I’m afraid my little boy’s just kicked his ball up and it’s landed on your roof. I was wondering if I could get up there and bring it down?”

The woman came out and walked to the back of the house with the Doctor. “He’s got a very good kick!” she said.

“Yes, I know,” said the Doctor.

The woman looked around. “Where is he now?”

The Doctor looked flustered. “His mummy took him back to the bouncy castle.”

The woman sighed. “Okay, but be careful.”

“Thank you,” said the Doctor.

She let him in the back garden where he proceeded to climb the wall, onto a flat roof and then haul himself up the roof beside the guttering. He grabbed the ball and threw it down towards the woman.

When she turned away to get the ball that was rolling towards the river, the Doctor quickly placed the device on top of the guttering. As it was small the guttering managed to obscure most of it. Then he climbed back down, thanked the woman and headed towards the fourth and final corner.

This one was as simple as the first. He climbed the tree, affixed the device and then went back down. Satisfied with himself, he headed back towards the stalls.

By now nearly all the cakes had gone.

Holly turned to the Doctor as he came jogging up. “Everything go okay?”

“More or less,” said the Doctor. “Although I did have to just invent a son and wife.”

“What?” said Lilly.

“Never mind,” said the Doctor. He looked around. “I need to be in the centre to do this,” he said, grabbing his sonic screwdriver and walking away.

“Wait a minute,” said Lilly, grabbing his hand, “what do we do when the alien appears?”

“Grab him,” said the Doctor.

“Just like that?” said Holly nervously. “Just grab him?”

“Yep. He’ll be so disorientated he won’t know what’s hit him. Then we’ll make our excuses and leave.”

“Okay,” said Holly, nodding and feeling the adrenaline pumping. “Good luck.”

“You too,” said the Doctor.

The Doctor pushed his way through the throng of people until he reached the bouncy castle. He took a deep breath, held up his hand and pressed down on his sonic screwdriver.

There was a high-pitched whine from each of the four corners and the crowd of people looked around frantically.

And then there were four small explosions from each corner of the park. The whining stopped, absent mindedly the people glanced at the tiny explosions, and then all was forgotten as they continued to mill around.

“What happened?” said Lilly, running up to the Doctor followed by Holly who was lifting her skirt up so as not to tread on it.

“They blew up. It didn’t work,” said the Doctor dejectedly. “All this planning and it didn’t work.”




The fundraiser had been a success for the Scouts, but not for the Doctor. That evening he sat on the bench outside in the back garden, a glass of cool water in his hand. He took of a sip from it and stared blankly at the garden fence.

Holly stood at the kitchen window, her arms folded as she watched him.

“Come and sit down,” said Lilly from the front room. “He’ll sulk like that for a bit now.”

Holly sighed and headed back to the living room. Lilly had the TV on and was watching the original Star Wars film.

“Enjoying it?” said Holly.

“Aye,” said Lilly. “It’s a good one.”

“The second one’s even better,” smiled Holly, sitting down next to her. Holly rubbed her eyes. “Do you reckon we should give up?”

“What?” said Lilly, looking away from the screen. “No. Why?”

“Well, this alien hasn’t done anything wrong, has it? It’s obviously just wanting to live out it’s days in peace.”

“It attacked the Doctor.”

“Only because it was threatened.”

“Look, Dangerfield,” said Lilly, her hard edge returning, “you’re new to all of this. Believe me, when an alien is hiding in a town disguised as a Human being, it’s not hiding for any good reason.”

“Okay, okay,” said Holly. “I’m sorry. I just don’t see how we’re going to track it down.”

Lilly closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I snap all the time.”

“Actually,” said Holly, “you’ve not been doing it as much. Maybe you’re getting used to me being around.”

Lilly laughed. “I’ll never get used to having you around, Dangerfield.”

Holly turned and looked at her. “Do you feel ready to tell me yet about yourself.”

Lilly looked blankly at her.

“I mean, not everything. Just…well, I’d like to get to know you better.”

“I’m not ready,” said Lilly.

“That’s fine,” said Holly, “but like I said before - I’m here for you if you need to talk. Okay?”

Lilly nodded. “Thank you.”

“Right,” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together and walking into the living room. “I have a plan. This time we’ll catch him.”

“Oh no,” groaned Lilly. “Another plan.”

“What plan?” said Holly.

“We’re going to do the four-corner thing again, but this time on a bigger scale. We’re going to put them on the outskirts of the estate. It’ll create a field within the area which will expose him.”

“How do you know it’s going to work?” said Lilly. “It didn’t last time.”

“Because this time,” said the Doctor. “I’m going to use the TARDIS escape pods.”

“The TARDIS has escape pods?” said Holly.

“Plenty of them,” said the Doctor. “We position each one at each corner of this estate and then activate them and we expose him for what he is.”

Lilly nodded. “It might just work.”

“Good,” said the Doctor, “because I’m starting to go a little bit stir crazy staying in this one time and place.”




Day 14




Holly was sat up in bed with the diary open. It was early morning and she hadn’t been able to fall back to sleep after she had heard two cats fighting outside, so had instead opened up the mysterious diary for another look. She still felt guilty doing this behind Lilly’s back, but she had to try and make sense of something about her past.




Dear Diary,




What an absolutely terrible day we’ve had. We were going to visit the Ruins of the Night Fortress on Capa-Sol, but Lilly was nowhere to be seen. We checked every where in the TARDIS and ran scans for her and she was nowhere on board.

Finally we realised she’d taken one of the escape pods. We managed to track her progress through the vortex and discovered that she’d landed on Earth in 1973. She was sat in an East London café eating a full-English breakfast.

She said she couldn’t remember taking the escape pod, but she was happy to go back with us. It was weird. But what was weirder was that when we got her back she burst into tears again. When I tried to comfort her she pulled out a knife on me and slashed by arm.

Luckily I was patched up, but Lilly spent the rest of the night in her room, crying herself to sleep.

I don’t know what we can do with her. She scares me. It makes me wonder how much longer I can go on travelling with her on board.




Holly closed the diary and looked straight ahead. Lilly had clearly been troubled. She tried to join the dots together. Lilly and her brother had obviously lived apart. The brother had a better upbringing with his real family, whilst Lilly had been driven mad by her abusive family.

The Doctor had obviously decided to start travelling with the sibling and then gone on a rescue mission for Lilly which had resulted in her getting shot at some point. The three of them had travelled together for some time, but the sibling had left at some point with Lilly denying that she had ever travelled with anyone other than the Doctor.

So what had happened?

Holly flicked through the diary. There weren’t many more pages. She could sit here and read them now. Maybe it’d all become a little clearer.

There came a knock at the door and Holly slipped the diary back under the covers.

“Come in,” said Holly.

Lilly popped her head around the door. “Just me. The Doctor asked if you want scrambled eggs or soldiers?”

“Scrambled please,” smiled Holly.

“You alright?” said Lilly, noticing Holly’s nervous smile.

“Just had a funny dream,” lied Holly.

“Nice one,” said Lilly. “See you downstairs.”




They just finished up breakfast when three separate ring tones went off. All three of them went to their pockets and pulled out their mobiles. The only number showing was the single digit 0.

The Doctor looked to each of the girls and then answered his phone. “Hello?”

The other phones stopped.

He put his on loud speaker and the same, high-pitched, rasping voice came from the device. “I have already warned you once.”

“And I haven’t listened to you. I can’t listen to you.”

“You will leave this please immediately.”

“I will not.”

There was silence.

“Speak to me,” said the Doctor.

“I have warned you once. If you do not leave then one of you will die.”

The phone clicked off. Holly and Lilly looked at the Doctor, Holly concerned more than the other two.

“We need to find this creature now,” said the Doctor darkly.

To be continued...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Super Mario Brothers (and Princess Toadstool))

Day 12




It hadn’t taken much persuading to get Arnold to put on a fundraiser for the Scouts, but it had taken quite a bit of arm twisting for him to get it arranged in such a short time.

Holly had managed it, however, with the Doctor, Lilly and her putting up posters and canvassing the area, making sure everyone knew about the fundraiser that was to take place in Crestfall Park in the centre of the estate.

Arnold had queried why Holly was so eager to help set up a fundraiser. Holly had told him a distortion of the truth - it was for her grandfather, who had been a Scout leader many years ago. That bit was the truth at least.

For a split second Holly’s thoughts flitted back to her home life. In 1992 her grandparents were alive and well and she was just a little girl. It would be so easy to hop on a train and visit them, but she knew it’d be futile. How could she even consider that, she thought to herself? They’d not have a clue who she was anyway.

She buried the thoughts away and the preparations had begun. The night before the fundraiser the Doctor had gone to the TARDIS to get some equipment whilst Holly had found Lilly sat out in the back garden. It was a particularly warm and humid night and Lilly was trying to cool down in the night air.

“Not used to the heat, eh?” said Holly, grabbing herself a glass of wine and joining Lilly outside.

“You mean with Scotland being so cold?” said Lilly with a wry smile.

Holly smiled in reply to her. “Do you miss it? At all?”

“No,” said Lilly blankly. “Nothing about that life I miss.”

Holly sighed. “I’m sorry you had such a rough time.”

Lilly turned to Holly. “All I remember since being a little girl was living in fear. I never knew what bad people were gonna come round to the house. I never knew if my so-called dad were going to fight or get drunk or be arrested. The whole family were criminals.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t pity me, Dangerfield,” said Lilly. “I’m better off now.”

“I know.”

“You don’t know,” said Lilly. She turned away. “You couldn’t possibly imagine what’s going through my head.”

“Then why don’t you tell me,” said Holly, pleadingly.

Lilly exhaled deeply. “I don’t talk about my past because I don’t want to. It’s not who I am. The person I used to be ceased to exist the day that the Doctor took me away.”

“But it’s the past that makes you.”

“You don’t think I don’t know that?” she said. She pointed to her temple. “I know what I’m like. I know it’s screwed with my head. But there’s something else in there. Something different. Just cos you have a shitty childhood, it doesn’t make you insane.”

“You’re not insane-”

“Aren’t I?” said Lilly, edging a little closer to Holly, cutting her off. “I always buried that side of myself when I was little. I knew it was in there like a bull trying to break through, but it’s there. Every single day I try and think of different ways to ruin my life.”

“But why would you think that?” said Holly. “You have such a fantastic life with the Doctor.”

“Because always there at the back of my mind is the darkness.” Lilly looked angry. Her face was contorted into such fury that Holly felt terrified. And then her face fell and crumpled into a quivering mess, the tears pouring from her eyes. “Help me,” she said.

Holly reached out and put her arms around here. “Come here,” she said, pulling her in.

Lilly buried her head on Holly’s chest and sobbed. “How can I make myself better?”

“Only you can answer that, Lilly,” said Holly, stroking her hair, “but if you ever need to talk - and I mean ever - I’m here for you.”

Lilly looked up at her and smiled. “You have such pretty eyes.”

Holly frowned.

“I’ve been awful to you.”

Holly smiled. “Yes you have.” And then she winked.

Lilly laughed and then drew her knees up, Holly’s arm still around her. “It’s a beautiful night.”

“Yes it is,” said Holly.

“Busy day ahead tomorrow,” said Lilly.

Holly nodded. “A busy day ahead.” And all of a sudden Holly felt guilty for reading that diary.




The Doctor locked up the TARDIS and hefted the large rucksack onto his shoulder. He had been back to the TARDIS to collect some equipment that he felt he may need for the following days festivities. He had landed the TARDIS behind some bushes near to the motorway and so far it hadn’t been discovered.

He was about to turn and head back to the house when something grabbed him from behind and pushed him to the ground, face-first.

He tuned around quickly and looked up. He couldn’t make out the figures features, but it was tall and slender and only partially illuminated by the orange street lights.

“Careful,” said the Doctor, brushing dry mud off his coat, “I’ll make sure you pay for the dry cleaning.”

“You have to leave,” said the figure, its voice high-pitched with a light rasping sound.

“You have to reveal yourself,” said the Doctor. “Or rather the person you’ve disguised yourself as.”

“Why are you so concerned?”

“Because you are obviously hiding from something. That’s putting this entire planet in danger. I’m not here to hurt you, but you need to get off this planet.”

“You are an alien too,” said the figure. “You are a Time Lord.”

“That’s right,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet, but making sure he was out of reach of the figures thin arms. “I am a Time Lord.”

“Then you must leave.”

“I am a protector of this world,” said the Doctor. “I might not always like it, but I am.”

“Your people are dangerous. Even more so since their return.”

“I’m well aware of that,” said the Doctor, “but you shouldn’t tar me with the same brush.”

“And neither should you judge my species.”

“I don’t even know your species. What are they?”

The alien laughed. “I can’t tell you that, Doctor. If I did you’d find a way to reveal the truth.”

“Then why confront me now? Why not stay in hiding?”

“Because this is a friendly warning. If you do not cease with this investigation worse things will happen.”

“Don’t threaten me, sir,” said the Doctor.

“Then don’t make me threaten you.” The figure backed away into the shadows. “This is your first warning.”

The Doctor waited for a few moments and then ran into the bushes behind the TARDIS, but it was too dark and the alien was nowhere to be seen. The Doctor sighed, closed his eyes and then began the trip back to the house. He couldn’t just turn away from this now, but they had to be ready.




Day 13




The following day was greeted with warm, August sunshine. Holly was busy hanging the washing out on the line. She shielded her eyes against the sun and felt the scorching hot rays on her face. It was only 8.30am, but already it was hot. They were due for a scorcher.

Holly chuckled to herself as she finished pegging the last of the clothes on the line. She had inadvertently joined the Doctor and Lilly and had gone travelling into space, yet now here she was doing normal, every day things.

Holly walked back into the kitchen and shut the door. When she entered the living room she was greeted by the most bizarre site she had seen so far,

The Doctor was stood in red overalls with a blue shirt, a fake moustache and a red cap with an “M” on the front of it.

“What…?” was all the Holly could managed.

The door opened from the bottom of the stairs and Lilly walked in dressed in a similar costume but in green and blue, with a similar moustache.

“What…?” Holly repeated.

“It’s fancy dress, remember?” said the Doctor, holding his arms out and smiling.

“Since when?” said Holly, frowning and putting the empty washing basket on the table.

“Since Arnold told you,” said Lilly.

“Yeah, but that was for the stall holders,” said Holly.

“We are having a stall,” said the Doctor.

“Wait a minute,” said Holly, shaking her head and sitting down, “have I missed a few very important pages in this story or something?”

“I mentioned to Arnold the other day that we’d love to run a stall.”

Lilly nodded. “We’re doing the cake stall. Arnold’s wife’s baked us up a load.” Lilly turned to the Doctor and whacked him on the arm. “Why didn’t you tell her.”

“I’m sorry,” said the Doctor. “I assumed you had.”

Holly shook her head. “Good that we’re all communicating with this.” Holly suddenly had a thought. “Hang on. You two are going as the Mario Brothers, yes?”

The Doctor and Lilly nodded in unison.

“Then what about…?”

Lilly grinned, ran outside and then came back in with a bright pink dress and gold, plastic crown.

“Oh no.”

“You’re Princess Toadstool,” she smiled, handing the dress over to her.

“Or Princes Peach, depending on where you played the game and in what era,” said the Doctor, holding up a finger.

“Oh, god,” said Holly, holding up the dress and looking worried.

“You’ll be fine,” said Lilly.

“I’ve never been one for Cosplay,” said Holly.

“Mario and Luigi will be proud,” said the Doctor, stuffing a pillow down his overalls.

“Don’t be daft,” said Holly. “It’s not like they’re real.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “You try jumping up and bashing in blocks with your head and then tell me it’s not real.” He laughed and walked away.

Holly looked dumbfounded. “What?”

Lilly smiled. “Go try your dress on, Princess.”

Holly raised her eyebrows, smiled and then went upstairs.




A few hours later the three of them were stood in the park. The centre of the park was a large, open area surrounded by trees and bushes. All of the stalls had been arranged into a half-moon around the area and a large bouncy castle was set out in the centre.

It was noon and already the park was beginning to fill up with visitors. Old men and women, young couples and children…a good number of the residents were already there.

Lilly was sat on a put-up chair with her legs crossed biting into one of Patricia Jefferson’s fairy cakes. With every bite she looked down at it with desire in her eyes.

“I feel like a right numpty,” said Holly, standing there in the blazing sunshine in her pink dress and golden crown. Lilly had also managed to find her a bushy, brown wig.

“Nonsense,” said Lilly, “you like stunning.”

“Steady on,” said Holly, “you’ll make Mario jealous.”

The Doctor was standing trying to describe the delights of sweet ball bearings to a young child and his mother.

Lilly laughed. “I’m sorry, Mario, but your Princess is in another castle.”

Holly laughed.

“I used to escape the house back in Edinburgh and see my friend, Craig. He used to have all the Mario games and I’d play them for hours and hours. I went to bed dreaming of being in the Mushroom Kingdom and having a better life.”

“Running away from man-eating plants and walking mushrooms was a better life for you?” said Holly.

“Better than what I went through,” said Lilly sadly.

“Afternoon all,” came Arnold’s jolly voice as he walked up, arm in arm, with his wife. “How are my wife’s cakes selling.”

“Oh, like hot cakes,” smiled the Doctor, jogging over and then readjusting the cushion in the front of his overalls.

“Good,” said Mrs Jefferson, a broad smile on her chubby face.

Arnold took off his panama hat and fanned himself with it. “Phew! It’s a warm one today.”

“Yeah, I’m sweating here, Doctor,” said Lilly, finishing her cake and going for another.

The Doctor batted her hand away gently. “No more, Lilly.”

“Glad they’re a success,” said Mrs Jefferson.

“Well, we’ll leave you to it,” said Arnold, giving them a wave and heading off towards the Scout stall.

A couple of hours passed and the park was nearly chock-a-block full. The Doctor was eyeing each and every one of them with interest.

“Right,” he said, finally, “you two man the stall. I’m off to put the next part of the plan in motion.”

“Which is?” said Holly, frowning.

The Doctor lifted up a heavy rucksack and shook it. “In here are four devices. I’m going to place them at each corner of the park, high in the trees, and then activate them.”

“And what’ll it do?” said Holly.

“Yeah, don’t you think you should have told us all about this?” said Lilly.

“I didn’t have time,” said the Doctor, impatiently. “When it activates, if our alien is in this park it will cause him to reveal himself whether he likes it or not.”

“Okay,” said Holly slowly. “Won’t that cause a panic if the alien suddenly appears?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “but we’ll have him at last!”

To be continued...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (She Was Working as a Waitress at the Little Chef)

Day 6

Holly opened her eyes. She was aware of something in the room with her and she began to panic. She turned her head to the left and Lilly was sat there against the wall watching her. Holly sat up in the bed and frowned.

“What the hell, Lilly?”

“Did I frighten you?”

“Just a bit,” said Holly. “I mean I didn’t expect to see you sitting there.”

“You were crying,” said Lilly, getting up and sitting on the end of the bed.

“Crying?” said Holly.

“Yep. Don’t know what about though.”

Holly sighed. “It must be all this travelling. It’s probably doing some wacky stuff to my head,” she said, pointing to her temple and laughing.

“Ah well,” said Lilly. “You’ll get used to it.” She got up to leave.

“So you’re alright with me staying?”

Lilly turned and looked at Holly. “I’m okay, but I’m not comfortable.”

“Not comfortable?”

“Don’t make me explain it, Dangerfield,” said Lilly, turning to leave again. “Just don’t get yourself killed.”

Holly smiled and then got out of bed. She almost tripped over the rucksack she had brought from the TARDIS. The diary she had taken was threatening to fall out. She picked it up and sat on the end of the bed turning it over in her hands. She glanced back to the door to check Lilly wasn’t about to come in and start staring at her again, and then opened the diary to the second page.




Dear Diary,




Well, that was unbelievable. I know I’m not exactly a novice when it comes to being out in space and being in weird, alien dimensions, but actually getting to visit the Terrarcon Fault in Sector 5...well, it’s absolutely unbelievable! Amazing! Fantastic!

It’s a shame that Lilly didn’t share the same enthusiasm as us. Since we rescued her from Edinburgh she’s been very subdued. Granted, being shot and ending up in hospital on her first trip didn’t help her mood, but she’s better now. I guess the scars run deeper than the surface.

The other day I caught her sat in the TARDIS kitchen eating a tub of ice cream and crying to herself. When I asked her what was wrong she told me to clear off in much more colourful language than that. I asked her if she was interested in learning about her family - her real family - and she said she’d rather they all die. She said she’d rather she die as well. Then she threw ice cream at me and started laughing before running away.

I sat there for a long time thinking about her. I wish my sister could be the person she’s meant to be. She’s been damaged so much. I don’t know how I can help her.




She closed the diary when she heard Lilly re-enter the room and threw it under the covers. Lilly was dressed in a green top and black skirt and had tied her hair into a ponytail.

“Going somewhere?” said Holly.

“Taking you and the Doctor to breakfast,” said Lilly. “My apology for losing the job after an hour.”

“You don’t have to apologise, Lilly,” smiled Holly.

“Get dressed, Dangerfield, we’re off for breakfast.”




“Little Chef?” said Holly.

“Splashing out as always, Lilly,” said the Doctor.

Lilly had taken them to breakfast, but had simply taken them to a Little Chef that sat on the edge of the estate next to the entrance to the motorway.

Lilly smiled as she tucked into her bagel. “I lost my job remember. I never carry cash. I always used to go for a McDonald’s in Edinburgh.”

“I’ve never been to Edinburgh,” said Holly.

“Don’t bother,” said Lilly.

“Ah, now, Lilly, Edinburgh is a perfectly lovely city.”

“Not the parts I grew up in,” said Lilly solemnly.

Holly shook her head, clearing her thoughts away. She wanted to ask. She wanted to probe, but she didn’t want to lose this possible friendship she was developing with Lilly. She was already feeling bad for reading the diary.

“We need to come up with another plan of action,” said the Doctor, sipping on his coffee. “We need to find out more info about the residents in the flats.”

“Doctor,” said Holly, running her hand through her hair, “we could dig deeper and deeper into this and be no closer to finding out the real alien.”

“Dangerfield’s right,” said Lilly, draining her cup of tea. “We need to concentrate on the here and now. Delving into the past is only going to get us more and more confused.”

The Doctor nodded his head, resignation in his eyes. “I suppose you’re right.”

The waitress came bustling over and began clearing the table.

“Excuse me,” said the Doctor, “but we haven’t finished yet.”

“Your breakfast is gone. Your drinks are gone,” said the waitress, a frown on her face. “We have other customers waiting for your seats.”

“Forgive me,” said the Doctor, gesturing around the empty room, “but I don’t see many more customers.”

“It’s policy here. As soon as you are done you have to leave.” She finished clearing the table and then bustled off.

“Charming,” said Holly.

“Suspicious,” said Lilly, tapping her chin.

“What do you mean?” said the Doctor.

“She’s taken an instant dislike to us,” said Lilly, narrowing her eyes. “One to watch maybe?”

“Hmm, maybe,” said the Doctor.

The waitress looked over at them again.

“I think we better be on our way,” said the Doctor.




They returned to the house and Holly made her way into the kitchen to get a glass of water. It was a warm day so she unlocked the back door and ventured into the garden. It was then that she noticed something at the base of the fence.

She put her glass on the picnic table and walked down the path towards the back end of the garden. It was a brick with a piece of paper tied to it. It had obviously been dropped over the fence.

She picked up the brick and unfastened the paper, unfolding it carefully.

On the piece of paper, written in black marker pen was one simple word:




“LEAVE”




Holly frowned, put the brick down and then unlocked the back gate. She looked both ways down the alleyway, but there was nobody about. Not a soul.

“Everything alright?” came the Doctor’s voice, making her jump.

“Not really,” said Holly, showing him the note. “It was attached to that brick.”

“Hmm,” said the Doctor, picking up the brick and turning it over in his hand. “And there’s no sign?”

“No. Nothing.”

“The alien has obviously been rattled by our presence here.”

“Not only that,” said Holly, “but it also means they’re on to us.”

“But they haven’t been aggressive yet,” said the Doctor, placing the brick at the base of the fence.

“No,” said Holly. “They didn’t throw it through a window or anything.”

“That’s a good thing. A plus point.” The Doctor looked up at the blue sky, the fluffy white clouds casually floating above them. “He’s out there somewhere, Holly. I can sense him.”

“It also can’t have been the waitress. This brick was here when we got back so it had to have happened whilst we were at Little Chef.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “Normal, grumpy teenage mood swings I suppose.”

“Tell me about it,” said Holly. “I was a right little moody cow when I was her age.”

The Doctor smiled and put his arm around her. “C’mon, Miss Dangerfield, we better go and tell Lilly what we’ve found.”

After a quick coffee break and a rundown with Lilly on what they had found, the Doctor returned to the front window, gazing out at the sand-coloured brick buildings each with their own little fences. They all looked identical with only the odd hanging basket or front garden birdbath to distinguish them all from each other.

Across the road Maggie Hatfield opened her door and took out the rubbish. She gazed over at the Doctor and he gave her a wave. Maggie stared back at him angrily, swung the bin bag into the wheelie bin and then went inside.

“Charming,” said the Doctor. “The trouble is,” he said, moving away from the window and sitting down on the arm of the sofa, “is that it could be anyone. Just because someone is grumpy or moody or chatty and friendly, it doesn’t mean they’re an alien.”

“We could outright ask them,” said Lilly.

“That’s not an entirely good idea,” said the Doctor. “The alien might be scared off.”

“No, wait,” said Holly, her eyes lighting up, “Lilly has a point.”

“We can’t knock on everyone’s door and ask them if they’re aliens,” said the Doctor, exasperated.

“No,” said Holly, “but we could hold some kind of event. A fun day.”

“A fun day?”

“Yeah,” said Holly. “Lots of small communities have them. Get everyone together.”

“And ask if they’re aliens?” queried the Doctor.

“No,” continued Holly, pacing up and down the room, “but we’d stand more of a chance of observing them if they were all together.”

“There’s no guarantee that the alien would turn up.”

“I reckon he would though,” said Lilly. “If they are determined to blend in, then the alien is going to appear.”

The Doctor nodded. “It could work. At least it’s a start. But how do we arrange it? Surely the alien would suspect what it was for?”

“I’ll ask Arnold,” said Holly. “He’s the local Scout Leader. We’ll get him to put on a fundraising day.”

The Doctor click his fingers. “Excellent.” His face fell. “Wait…Arnold may be the alien.”

“So what if he is, Doctor?” said Holly. “Arnold trusts me. He’s a nice man. He’ll do this for us.”

The Doctor broke out into a huge grin. “Then we’ll do it. Oh, I do like a good challenge!”

To be continued...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Needles and Haystacks)

The first day had gone rather smoothly, and Holly had started to forget that she was actually on a wild, alien-hunting adventure, something the Doctor attempted to remind them at every turn. Holly had thought about things - up until now she hadn’t really spent that much time with the Doctor, and it was only now that she was seeing his serious side. He seemed brooding and much more darker, but that was only because he was worried about the residents of this estate.

And the Doctor wasn’t lying about blending in. After they had visited the estate agent, set up the tenancy agreement and settled themselves in, the Doctor had set about getting them jobs.

Holly had landed herself a part-time job at the newsagent around the corner (the previous girl had - mysteriously - won a round the world cruise and would likely be gone for a good few weeks), and Lilly had also managed to get a job at the local playgroup (another worker who had - this time - won the lottery!)

The Doctor, however, had opted to remain at home and continue to observe the neighbours.

During the first day, contact with the residents of the estate had been pretty quiet, much the Doctor’s frustration, but he had advised on getting settled in slowly so as not to arouse suspicion.

On the first night the Doctor had decided that the three of them needed to head to sample a local restaurant.

They had ventured into the town centre - a mere 15 minute walk from the house - and had found a little Italian place - Da Vinci - and had sat down to order.

Whilst they were waiting for their food, Holly looked up as a bald-headed man with small spectacles entered the restaurant with his plump, grey-haired wife.

“Hey,” whispered Holly. “Look.” She nodded towards the couple.

“Mr and Mrs Twemlow from down the street,” said the Doctor, tapping his fingers on his chin.

They were shown to a seat beside the window and the Doctor leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing.

“Should we say hi?” said Holly.

“Don’t be daft, Dangerfield,” said Lilly. “We don’t want to arouse suspicion.”

“Hello!” beamed the Doctor, giving a slight wave to the couple.

Mr and Mrs Twemlow looked across at the Doctor and his friends, and then a look of recognition arrived on their faces. Mr Twemlow nodded and mouthed “good evening” at them, before returning to study the menu. He had spoken to them as they moved in earlier in the day.

“So much for not arousing suspicion,” hissed Lilly.

“I’m just saying hello,” smiled the Doctor, eyeing them up.

“Anything?” said Holly.

“I’m sorry?” said the Doctor, frowning.

“You getting any vibes from them?”

The Doctor scoffed. “I’m not an alien detector, Holly.”

“Then how are we meant to do this?”

“I already said that it’s not going to be a quick one. We’re likely going to be here for a good few weeks. We’ll route them out eventually.”

Presently their meals arrived. Holly had picked pasta, Lilly soup and the Doctor a large, cheese and tomato pizza.

For the entire time that they ate, the Doctor continued to watch Mr and Mrs Twemlow, but they didn’t give off any strange signs.

Not long after the Doctor and his friends had finished their food, the Twemlow’s left and the Doctor looked a little deflated.

“We’ll catch that rotten rabbit,” said Holly to the Doctor’s bemused face.



Day 2

The following day Holly and Lilly started work. Holly was quite nervous when she entered the small paper shop. She had worked in a library before and, of course, the factory, but nothing as small as the paper shop.

It was run by another resident of the Runswick estate - Arnold Jefferson - who was a kind, old man with a big, bushy-white beard and a shiny bald head. She was reminded of Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses.

He was also the local scout group leader and commanded an army of thirty children.

“I think that’s everything you need to know, miss,” said Arnold, unwrapping a bundle of papers. “If there’s anything you need just give me a call. Jean’ll be in at 3 o’clock to take over.”

“Thanks Arnold,” smiled Holly. The old man turned to go. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can, dear,” said Arnold, turning back to her and smiling.

“You moved into the Runswick estate six months ago, right?”

“We all did,” said Arnold. “It was one of the biggest relocations that this town’s ever had to do. The biggest since the war actually.”

“Where did you originally live then?”

“It the tower blocks over to the North of the town, near the docks. There were six of them.” Arnold looked wistful. “I don’t know why they bothered building them to be honest. They replaced the old slums with the tower blocks back in the 50’s and then replaced the flats with the new estate six months ago. Seems such a waste of money to me.”

“And you all came here?”

“Most of us,” said Arnold. He frowned. “Why are you so interested? Didn’t you come from one of the flats?”

“No,” said Holly. “We moved from out of town.”

“Oh, I see. So you’ll be wondering why everyone’s pally with each other then?”

“Yeah, sort of. But, apart from us, have you seen any strangers around the estate?”

Arnold blew air out of his cheeks. “Strangers? Oh, Holly, we may have all come from the same flats, but that doesn’t mean we knew every single person that lived there. I only knew a handful of the older residents that were on the same floor as me.”

“Yeah, I suppose,” said Holly. She looked dejected.

“Do you want to tell me what’s this is really about? I mean, I’ve been around long enough now to know when someone’s get something on their mind.” He chuckled.

“It’s nothing,” said Holly. She looked at the old man. He looked like a kindly old soul, but then again he may actually be the alien. “Me and my friends are worried that there’s someone…dodgy living in the area.”

“Dodgy it what way?”

“Not right,” she said. She tried to gauge his reaction, but he remained smiling.

“My dear Holly, there are plenty of bad pennies that moved into the estate. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Holly was about to go into more detail when the shop door opened and a young man with a shaved head and goatee walked in.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Holly. “Just me being silly.”

“Are you sure?” said Arnold.

“I’ll be fine,” said Holly. “I’ll call you if I need you.”

Arnold arched his eyebrows and then gave her a little wave as he wandered out of the door. Holly eyed up the newcomer with curiosity. It could be anyone, she thought to herself. This was going to be harder than she first thought.




Holly returned to the house that afternoon, unlocked the front door and threw her keys onto the side. She hung up her jacket on the hooks at the bottom of the stairs and walked into the living room. The Doctor was sat in the middle of the floor, his legs crossed and studying a long sheet of paper.

Holly sat down on the sofa, her hands in her lap.

“Good afternoon,” said the Doctor, not looking up from the list.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

“A list of all of the residents of this estate.”

“How’d you get that?” said Holly, slipping off the sofa to kneel beside him.

“I pulled a few strings,” he said, flashing her a smile. “When you’ve travelled around as much as I have you tend to make friends. Enemies, mostly, but also friends.”

Holly glanced at the list and saw Arnold Jefferson’s name on it. He lived only a few blocks away. So far she’d not managed to find any more clues to the alien squatter, but she trusted that the Doctor would be able to sniff him or her out.

“They all moved from the flats,” said the Doctor, consulting another sheet of paper. “Every single one of them. This estate was built purposely for them.”

“And there’s no anomalies?” said Holly.

“No,” came Lilly’s voice as she entered the living room, a towel wrapped around her head and a white dressing gown on. “The Doctor’s cross-referenced all the names. Every one of the people that live on the Runswick estate came from the flats. We’re the only new arrivals.” She sat herself down on the sofa and smiled at Holly.

“How was your day?” said Holly.

“Ah,” said Lilly.

“What?” said Holly.

“Lilly got herself sent home from the playgroup.”

“What?!” spluttered Holly.

“It was a misunderstanding. A parent came to collect their child and also took another one. I didn’t check the records and stopped him.”

“You dislocated his arm,” said the Doctor, flashing her a disappointed look.

“Turns out he was the uncle of the other child, but I didn’t know that.”

“You like putting people in hospital, don’t you?” said Holly, remembering what she had done to Roxy.

“He was okay. Didn’t wanna press charges, but…”

“You’ve lost your job,” said the Doctor, not looking up from the paper.

“Yep,” said Lilly sadly.

“Well at least you did it out of protecting the child,” said Holly, getting back to the sofa and sitting next to her.

“I still say I should have had the paper shop job,” said Lilly. “I can’t work with children.”

Holly had to agree with Lilly, but the Doctor thought it would have been good for Lilly to take some time out and have some actual fun. It had backfired.

“So what you gonna do now?” asked Holly.

“I’m not getting another job,” said Lilly, “but I will be doing my own investigating.” Lilly turned to her. “Did you get anywhere?”

Holly shook her head. “It could be anyone. I spoke to about 30 different people today. Women, children, old men, young men, couples…anyone of them could have been the alien, but none of them gave off any vibes.”

“See this is the worry,” said the Doctor, pointing to the list.

“What?” said Lilly and Holly in unison.

“I detected the alien reading when the estate was built six months ago, but it was just a flash. A moment. The alien could have been at the flats as well.”

“You’re joking?” said Lilly.

“And those flats were built in the 1950’s,” added Holly.

“So this alien could have been here for decades living amongst these people?”

“Yep,” said the Doctor. “Fully integrated and involved with everyone.”

Holly sighed. “This is going to take a long, long time.”

To be continued...

Aliens Among Us (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (Shell Suits for Holly)

“What’s the story then?” said Holly, her hands on her hips and standing in the front doorway.

“We’re a bunch of students renting out a house,” said the Doctor, dropping his suitcase at the bottom of the stairs.

“Nope,” said Lilly, leaning against the door frame to the living room.

“Nope?” said the Doctor.

“She’s right,” said Holly, “me and Lilly would pass for students, but you’re too old. What are you? Mid-thirties?”

“Oh, what a compliment,” smiled the Doctor.

“Gotta be something else,” said Lilly.

“Okay…I’m a tutor and you’re my students.”

“Absolutely not,” said Holly.

“Why not?” said the Doctor, scratching the stubble on his chin.

“That’d be too weird. A bloke and two young women.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “You Humans…”

“How about…we’re all just mates? Mates who are renting a house,” suggested Holly.

“Sounds good to me, Dangerfield,” said Lilly.

Holly and Lilly wandered into the living room whilst the Doctor walked to the doorway. He leaned against the doorframe, one arm reached up, and gazed at the street beyond. All the houses looked like identical boxes with their gravelled drives and little wooden fences. “Yes,” said the Doctor. “We’re just mates renting a house…who happen to be hunting an alien.”


Earlier


Holly wandered into the console room. Lilly was curled up on the sofa, a book in one hand and a banana in the other. Holly tried to see the cover and was amused to see it was Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix.

“Just catching up, are you?” said Holly, nodding at the book.

“Never read ‘em before,” said Lilly. “They’re good.”

“The eighth book was my favourite,” said the Doctor.

“She didn’t write an eighth one.”

“Just you wait,” winked the Doctor.

Holly walked over to the console, touched a couple of controls and then walked up to the Doctor, her hands clasped in front of her and a look of innocence on her face.

“Soon be home,” said the Doctor.

“Actually,” said Holly. “I was wondering if I could stay.”

Lilly’s book slammed shut and she got up. “I knew it. I know it would come to this.”

“Calm down, Lilly,” said the Doctor.

“No,” said Lilly. “She can’t stay.”

“I thought you two were getting on,” said the Doctor.

“I thought we were,” said Holly.

Lilly walked up to Holly and stared at her. “I’ve gotta admit, she’s not annoying me as much as she once did, but she still can’t stay. Out of the question.”

“Actually,” said the Doctor, idly flicking a few switches, “this is my ship.” He looked at Lilly.

Lilly looked back at him and frowned. “But our home.”

“Yes. Our home. Holly has a home. She’s not here forever. If she wants to travel with us until we get this Kro’Tenk business sorted then I have no problem.”

Lilly shook her head. “But why? You hated things in prison!”

“I’m not in prison now, Lilly,” said Holly, laughing.

Lilly stumbled, looked like she was about to say something else, threw her book to the floor and marched off into the corridor beyond.

“I’m sorry,” said the Doctor. “Yes, you can stay. You’ve more than proven your worth, but it won’t be forever, okay?”

“Absolutely not,” said Holly. “I have a life to get back to at home, you know?”




The Doctor found Lilly sitting underneath a willow tree in an artificial park in the depths of the TARDIS, throwing plastic stones into a duck pond, causing the ducks to quack loudly at her in annoyance.

“Leave the ducks,” said the Doctor, sitting down beside her.

“They’re not real,” she said glumly.

“Look,” said the Doctor, “what’s wrong?”

“You know what’s wrong.”

“I know we’ve been travelling on our own for some time now, but this is still my ship. Our home, but my ship. I choose who lives here. I choose who stays with us.”

“I know that, Doctor, but…” Lilly looked away, shaking her head.

“She won’t die, you know?”

“What?” said Lilly, turning to face him again, a confused look on her face.

“I promise I won’t let any harm come to her. Not like last time.”

Lilly swallowed and closed her eyes, a trickle of a tear fell from beneath her eyelids.

He put his arm around her. “You’re allowed to like her, you know? You’re allowed to make friends.”

“I know. I know,” she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I just…I’m so scared.”

“Don’t be,” said the Doctor. He kissed the top of her head and then got up. “Anyway, we’ve got work to do.”

“What do you mean?” said Lilly, looking up at him.

“We’ve got an alien to hunt.”




“So let me get this straight,” said Holly. “You’ve detected alien signals in a small, English town in the 1990’s?”

“That’s correct,” said the Doctor, leaning on the console.

“And you want us to investigate?”

“Yes, but not the normal procedures, I’m afraid.”

“What do you mean?”

“This alien has disguised itself as a Human being, and I’m afraid it’s not going to be easy to make him - or her - show themselves.”

“Then what’s the problem? If the alien is just living a normal, every day life, surely that’s okay? I mean it’d freak the locals out if they knew the truth, but what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it shouldn’t be there, and usually an alien hiding must be hiding from something. Something dangerous. If that something dangerous happens to locate the alien…well, all sorts of innocents could be hurt.”

“I see,” said Holly.

“So I’m afraid it’s going to take stealth, cunning and patience.”

Lilly re-entered the console room, sniffed and smiled weakly at Holly. “Sounds like a charming town,” said Lilly, looking at some info she had pulled up on a town called Hanwick. “Started life as a village a few hundred years back and grew into a town during the latter half of the 19th century. Got a population of 180’000, and one of them is an alien.”

“And what do we do? Go searching? Ask questions?”

“No,” said the Doctor. He flicked a switch and an holographic display appeared to the right of the console. It showed a small housing estate with lots of identical looking houses. “This is an area of the town known as the Runswick estate. It was built only six months ago. Around forty families, couples, single people, etc moved in at the same time.”

“So we just look for single people?” said Holly, watching the housing estate spin around and around.

“Unfortunately not. We have no idea if this is one alien or a small group. They could be disguised as a family.”

“Same old story,” said Lilly. “Never the simple answer.”

“What we have to do,” said the Doctor, pointing at a small house with a red dot illuminating it, “is to live with these people. Breathe the same air as these people. Work with them and be their friends. Only then will we discover who our alien imposter is.”

“And how long’s this going to take?” said Holly, gazing up at the house.

“As long as a piece of string.”


Day 1


The Doctor was sat in the sparsely decorated living room complete with cream walls and cream carpets. They had moved the sofa in from the TARDIS and the Doctor had rigged up a small TV monitor. He had his feet up on a small pouf and was sipping a cup of coffee.

Holly walked into the room and crossed to the window, pulling back the net curtains.

“You won’t find him that way,” said the Doctor.

“I know,” said Holly, “but it’s worth looking.”

“You need new clothes,” said the Doctor, nodding at Holly’s attire. Apart from the prison garb she had worn, she’d been in the same clothes since she launched herself at the TARDIS. Those clothes she had lost in the prison, so she was now having to wear a hoodie, jeans and underwear from Lilly, much to the Scottish girls disapproval.

“I’m off shopping in a bit. Nineties clothing! Yay!”

“Early nineties clothing as well, Dangerfield,” said Lilly, emerging from the backroom through the double doors. “I’m sure we’ll find a shell suit in your size.”

“No way!” said Holly.

“Not just clothes though. We need things to do. Reading material. Things like that. And there’s no wi-fi in the 90’s.”

“I know that,” said Holly. “I was around in the 90’s, you know?” She looked at Lilly. “Were you?”

Lilly smiled sweetly at her. “I’m a time traveller, Dangerfield.”

“Somewhere out there is a scared and frightened alien,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet and crossing to the window to join Holly. “Just remember that. We’re hear to investigate and to track down, not to spend time idling away with pleasures.”

“Yes, boss,” said Lilly, giving him a mock salute.




And whilst the Doctor looked out across the road, someone, somewhere, sensed the presence of a threat.

To be continued...