The Ghost of Gallows Inn (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Time)

Ace, Hex and Eleanor returned to the bar. The Doctor was sat on the floor with all the tables pushed to the side. His hair was a mess and he had taken his jacket off. In front of him was a blanket covered in an assortment of electronic devices, circuit boards and wires. In the centre of the blanket was what looked like a tripod but with six legs. A small, metallic rod ran through the middle and tapered at the top. A thin aerial extended from the tip of it and flashing red lights blinked all the way up it. Various wires were connected from the base of the metal rod to a control panel in the Doctor's hand.

"What's he up to?" said Hex.

"Probably figuring out a way to get us home," said Ace. "Oh no."

"What?" said Hex, frowning.

The calendar on the bar. "It's been two weeks already."

"Your friend has been trying to rescue you for two weeks?" said Eleanor. "Everyone gave up on me after a few days."

"I'm sorry," said Ace.

"Don't be. I was a nobody. A no one. Nobody at all." She folded her arms and stared down at the Doctor.

"Do you think he'll do it?" said Hex.

"He hasn't given up on us yet, Hex," said Ace. "If there's a way, he'll find it." She looked at Eleanor. "And then he'll save all of us."

Eleanor smiled.




Dudley brought the Doctor a glass of water and opened the curtains allowing the sunlight to stream in, the dust particles dancing around in the beam of light.

The Doctor blinked and then rubbed his eyes. "Good morning, Dudley."

"Haven't you slept again?" he said, yawning.

"Not when I'm this close," said the Doctor.

"Have you ever thought that maybe you should give up?"

"Never," said the Doctor, connecting another wire into the back of the control pad. "My friends are trapped between worlds, Dudley." The Doctor looked at him. "There's a fissure in time running through your pub. I don't know where it's come from or what caused it, but I know my friends are trapped there. We don't know what might have happened."

"Well at least you know they're safe. That woman and your Hex friend have been haunting me for years."

"Trying to get your attention, Dudley," said the Doctor. "They are not haunting you."

"Is that what ghosts are, then? Just people trapped in time?"

"No, not all the time. But sometimes they are."

"If Ace suddenly jumped in, why can't you?"

"Too many questions."

"It's one that I need answering."

The Doctor put down the control panel and sighed. "Trying to understand time is like trying to shake jelly and make sure absolutely none of it wobbles. Entering time fissures is also like jelly. You stick your finger in, pull it out and nine times out of ten the jelly just gloops back, sealing the crack. And it takes an enormous amount of emotional energy to break through as well.”

“It takes an enormous amount of emotional energy to break through jelly?”

“No, no, no,” said the Doctor, Dudley’s more primitive mind frustrating him. “When Ace fell through the conditions were just right, but the doorway closed up behind her, sealing her off from us. Hex, presumably, found his time ring which ignited the fissure and pulled him inside."

"And the woman from the 1940’s?"

"Hmmm, an interesting one. When her friend emerged a few decades in the past, he actually walked through a time portal. A stable doorway that closed just after he re-entered. When the woman went to check what had happened she stepped through the fissure - the residual of what was left of that time portal. She avoided the tunnel in the jelly and actually stepped through the jelly."

Dudley rubbed his eyes and sighed. "So in other words, in 1941, someone had opened a time portal to the Edwardian days?"

"More likely someone created a time portal from the Edwardian days to some point in the future. What they have left is a scar in time. The fissure."

"But who?" said Dudley.

"I don't know, Dudley. I really do not know. I tried to take my TARDIS but she's refusing to move, stubborn old thing." The Doctor clicked another component into place and smiled. "Once I've rescued my friends from the fissure I intend to find out. But it could just be a natural occurrence."

"There's nothing natural about time portals in a pub, mate," said Dudley.

"You'd be surprised."

Dudley ran his hands through his thinning hair and then shook his head. “I need a shower.”

“Good idea,” said the Doctor, scratching at his nose. “You go get a shower, and then I think we’ll be ready to activate this.”

The Doctor flicked a switch on the control panel and the red lights that lined the antenna began to flash in a repeated pattern, but getting faster and faster. There was a faint hum coming from the machine.

“It looks like it’s working,” said Dudley, staring at the device.

“Indeed it does,” said the Doctor.

“And what exactly will it do?” asked Dudley.

“It reactivates the particles in the time fissure. It will allow me to hopefully fly my TARDIS into it.”

“That sounds a tad bit dangerous, Doc,” said Dudley, looking nervously between the machine and the Doctor.

“It’ll be fine,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet and jamming his hat back onto his head.

Dudley also got up to go, but the Doctor put a hand to his chest to stop him. “Not you, Mr Fenner. I need you to stay here.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m hoping that Mr Hex and Ace will have worked out that they have to stay near to someone to stop time from slipping away from them.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Dudley, looking flummoxed.

“They are hopefully in this room with us now. If we both leave, time will run faster for them and it could cause all sorts of complications. So stay here so they are tethered to something.”

“I still don’t understand, Doc, but I won’t leave unless you ask me to.”

“Thank you, Mr Fenner,” smiled the Doctor.

He turned to leave and Dudley called him. “Doctor?”

“Yes, Mr Fenner?”

“Please, for the last time, just called me Dudley.”




Hex, Ace and Eleanor watched the Doctor disappear and Dudley return to tidying up the bar area. Hex was sat on the edge of a table, his arms folded. He looked across to Ace and then smiled sadly.

“I think it’s time, Hex,” said Ace.

Eleanor looked from Ace to Hex and then cleared her throat. “I’ll just be over there, with Dudley.”

Ace smiled as the woman left.

“Go on then, say it,” said Hex, not meeting her gaze.

“You’re a bloody idiot,” said Ace. “Fancy running off like that. What were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to save those kids, McShane,” said Hex sadly.

“You know you should trust the Doctor.”

“But I don’t know him that well, do I?” said Hex, looking at her with pained eyes. “It’s alright for you. You know how he works. You understand him. I don’t.”

Ace chuckled to herself. Even after all this time she wasn’t sure she quite understood him. “Don’t underestimate the Doctor’s secretiveness.”

“Every time I closed my eyes and tried to forget about it, all I saw was those kids crying.”

“Hex, I’ve lost people in my time. People I wish I could go back and save, but I can’t. There are consequences.”

“I know, I know.”

“And people screwing about with time could be the reason for why we’re stuck here now. Some fruit-loop punching holes in time. And why? What for?”

“How do I move on?” said Hex.

She put a hand on his shoulder and smiled sadly. “It’ll take time, but you’ll get over it eventually. It’ll become easier.”

“I don’t want it to become easier. If it becomes easier it means I’ve started accepting it. It means I’ve stopped caring.”

“Just because it becomes easier, it doesn’t mean you’ve accepted it. I never did.”




The Doctor stood in the TARDIS console room, his hands poised over the keyboard ready to press the dematerialisation button. He had managed to get the correct frequency from the device he had constructed, but it was a risk. The device had reactivated the particles, but if he didn’t do this correctly he’d risk blowing a hole in the space time continuum. Entering a micro-dimension within the normal dimensions was a delicate matter.

And something didn’t feel right about it either. Somebody somewhere had tried to create a time corridor. Someone in the early 20th century had that kind of technology. It worried him because there was no indication of where to go to and how to even find the person responsible.

The Doctor always liked to tie up loose threads, but when he had no idea where the thread started…it was near enough impossible.

The TARDIS beeped randomly and it drew him out of his thoughts. He had to deal with the task at hand. He had to free Ace, Hex and that woman.

“Oh, very well,” he seemed to say to his time machine as he pressed the button.

The normal sounds of dematerialisation ran through the TARDIS and the central column began to rise and fall steadily. And then the Doctor flicked another switch. There was a gentle vibration coming from the console. The Doctor’s hand went to a small dial beside the main control panel and turned it very, very gently.

There was a low whining sound from all around as the roundels around the console room began to dim ever so slightly.

“Easy now. Easy…” he said. “One wrong step and we’ve had it, old girl.”




Ace and Hex could hear the sound. It was somewhere at the edge of their hearing. It was a very, very faint whistling sound. The room seemed to be shimmering and the grey and white world seemed to increase in contrast. The lights became whiter and the darks became blacker.

Eleanor came running over from the bar as the world around them began to shimmer and flicker with sparks of light.

“What is it?” she said.

“Well,” said Ace, “either we’re about to get torn to pieces, or the Doctor’s found us.”

“Let’s hope it’s the latter, McShane,” said Hex nervously.

There was suddenly a great rush of wind as if all the air was being sucked to one spot in front of the bar. Ace, Hex and Eleanor found themselves being dragged towards the spot. Hex turned and grabbed a hold of the table, but it wasn’t fixed down and he found himself being dragged along with the table.

Ace and Eleanor had gotten a hold of each other and were holding onto one of the wooden partitions.

“HEX!” shouted Ace as he was dragged towards the invisible epicentre of the suction point.

And then there was a blinding light, a flash of blue and a huge clap of thunder. The suction stopped and everything was still.

Standing there, beside the door, with Hex at the base of it, was the TARDIS, the Doctor stood in the doorway, leaning on his umbrella and smiling down at his friends.

“Doctor!” said Hex, looking up and scrambling to his feet.

“Professor! You made it! How?”

“All in good time,” said the Doctor. “This place is going to collapse any minute.”

“How come?” said Eleanor with a frown.

“This dimension is like a bubble. I flew the TARDIS into it like a pin. But there’s going to be a big bang!”

The three of them didn’t have to be told twice as the Doctor stepped aside, glanced at a sorry-looking Hex and then let the three of them in.

Already the world around them was starting to melt away, objects going out of focus. The Doctor lifted his hat off his head. “Sweet dreams,” he said, and then went inside the TARDIS.




Inside Eleanor stood looking around her in mild curiosity.

“What do you reckon?” said Ace as the Doctor set the rattling TARDIS back in flight.

“It’s interesting.”

“Interesting?” said the Doctor. “That’s a bit of a mild expression about such a wonderful machine.”

Before Eleanor could answer the TARDIS lurched violently forward, throwing the four of them to floor. The lights went out.

“That’ll be the fissure collapsing,” said the Doctor, scrambling to his feet as the lights flickered reluctantly back on.

“So everything’s okay now?” said Hex.

“Everything is ok. The dimension is closed.”

“And the time corridor?” said Eleanor.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. “The corridor was only open momentarily. It’s gone now. It’s been gone for a long time.”

“Good,” said Eleanor, nodding.

“And now for you.”

Eleanor’s eyes flicked to the Doctor. “What about me?”

“What’s your story?”

“Oh, she got stuck in the dimension when she was out having a drink with some bloke in the 40’s,” said Hex.

“Thank you, Hex,” said the Doctor, “but I’m afraid that story isn’t going to cut it with me.” He took his hat off, placed it on top of the time rotor and then stared deep into Eleanor’s eyes. “You know more than you’re letting on.”

“What do you mean, Professor?” said Ace, looking between Eleanor and the Doctor.

Eleanor stared at the Doctor for a good few seconds and then broke into a smile. She tilted her head. “There’s no flies on you, eh, Doctor?”

“What? Eleanor, what’s wrong?” said Hex.

“The time corridor was yours, wasn’t it?” said the Doctor darkly.

“Not exactly,” said Eleanor. “I simply used it. I hitch-hiked down it.”

“Tell me more.”

“I know you, Doctor. Well, not this version of you.”

The Doctor looked a little flustered.

“A long time in your future. We meet in 1908. A man called Sydney Rook creates a time experiment-”

“Wait!” said the Doctor, holding his hand up. “I don’t want to know.”

“Oh, go on. I’ve been dying to tell my story to you.”

“You’re a Vortex Wraith, aren’t you? A time vampire. I’ve heard of your kind. You hide in the vortex and hitch rides to various times and pray on time travellers.”

“Mr Rook opened up his time portal and I jumped through. But he shut the corridor down and I became trapped in the 1940’s. I was weak and cut off from my own race, so I waited. I hung around the pub and waited.”

“And then when that gentleman went through the time slip, you saw that as your opportunity to go back, didn’t you?”

“I realised that Rook must have switched the corridor back on. But it was only momentarily. I didn’t want to go back, Doctor,” said Eleanor. “I simply wanted to return to the vortex. Instead I miscalculated and ended up in that freak dimension.”

The Doctor nodded. “You tried to enter the vortex through the remnants of a time corridor and slipped between the cracks. I bet your names not even Eleanor, is it?”

Her eyes glinted. “You have to let me go.”

“I have to defeat you,” said the Doctor.

“I think not my friend. Your future self is still hunting me down. If you defeat me now, it’ll change how you do things in the future.”

“But I will remember this meeting.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s a tricky business, dealing with future events that you already know of.”

“Professor, you can’t let her go,” said Ace.

“I have no choice, Ace,” said the Doctor.

“But your future self?”

“Will have to find her himself.” The Doctor closed his eyes and pressed the door control. The doors swung open and Ace and Hex had to shield their eyes against the bright, swirling colours of the vortex. “Go.”

Eleanor smiled and turned to Hex. “Thank you for keeping me company, Thomas,” she smiled.

“Thanks for nothing,” said Hex.

She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips and then walked to the edge of the doorway. She held her arms outstretched at her side, her eyes shone bright blue and two electric-like wings unfolded from within her body.

She turned to face the three time travellers, gave a little wave with her hand and leapt backwards into the vortex. “See you again, Doctor.”

They watched as she floated away amongst the colours until she was nothing but a pin-prick in the distance. Then the Doctor closed the doors and exhaled.

“Is that it then?” said Ace. “Aren’t you gonna do something.”

“I daren’t mess with my future,” said the Doctor.

“But you always know the future. You always know the outcome,” said Ace.

“What makes you say that?” said the Doctor. He flicked a few more controls. “No, this particular part of the adventure is over. I’ll leave it to my future self to tidy up the loose threads.” He chuckled to himself. “Threads. Again.”




The Doctor, Ace and Hex were sat at the table in the pub when Dudley came up to them with a collection drinks.

“So it’s alright then?” said Dudley, sitting down next to the Doctor and looking at him intently.

“You mean is the haunting over? Yes, Mr Fenner. The haunting is most definitely over. The fissure has closed.”

“But I still don’t get how it all started. What happened?”

“That, my friend, I’m afraid you may never find out.” He looked at Ace and Hex. “And maybe even you.”

“Well, all I’m bothered about is that I can go to bed in peace,” said Dudley, taking a swig of his pint.

“You’ll sleep like a baby, Mr Fenner.”

Dudley put his hand on the Doctor’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

“What for?” said the Doctor.

“Mr wife died all those years ago, but you’ve proven to me that she’s still out there.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I may never get to time travel myself, but I know that back then my wife is still alive. Me and her are still happy and that the past is never really gone.”

The Doctor smiled as Dudley clapped him on the shoulder and returned to the bar.

And then the Doctor turned his eyes to Hex.

“Doctor-” he started.

“It’s alright, Mr Hex,” said the Doctor slowly. “You don’t have to apologise.”

“But I made a mistake-”

“Yes,” said the Doctor. “And you will learn from the mistake.”

“I already have,” said Hex.

Ace smiled. “Like I said, you’ll get used to it.”

Hex managed a smile and then held his hand out to the Doctor.

The Doctor took his hand and shook it gently. “I’d be worried about you if you didn’t throw up these time travel concerns.”

Ace laughed. “Where to now, Professor?”

“Oh, I don’t know. There’s a battle raging on Visti Prime between two warring sets of dragons. Or there’s a planet in the Quartz Galaxy that’s slowly rebuilding itself after blowing up. Or-”

“Or we could go to Florana?” suggested Hex.

“Florana?” said the Doctor inquisitively.

Ace smiled. “Florana.”

“Florana it is then,” smiled the Doctor.

They got up to leave and Hex took another look around Gallows Inn. “Just one thing, Doc?”

“Yes?” said the Doctor, stopping to look back.

“Do you reckon you’ll ever find out the whole story? You know, what happened in 1908 with that Sydney Rook and Eleanor?”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. “Time will tell.”




The End




The story of Sydney Rook’s time corridor will be explored in Doctor Who: Resurrection - “The Edwardian Way”, starring James McAvoy as the Doctor. This is due to begin publishing from Saturday 5th March 2016.

The Ghost of Gallows Inn (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (Scars)

Wherever Ace was it was cold. Cold and grey. And fuzzy. She frowned as she looked around herself. Everything was in black and white, but her surroundings were in a haze. It was like looking at something in soft focus. The Doctor was standing a few metres in front of her frantically looking around himself. He was shouting something, but she couldn't hear him. All she could hear was a faint rumble of gentle wind all around her.

Dudley came rushing past her and she could see him talking to the Doctor, but, again, she couldn't hear either of them.

"Doctor!" she shouted. Her voice didn't echo around the toilet. It seemed to stop dead as soon as she said anything. No reverberations or anything.

"DOCTOR!" she said again.

"He can't hear you," came the familiar, scouse accent.

She turned around. Standing there in a grey t-shirt and jeans was the friend she thought she had lost. He still looked the same as the day he had left them. His blue eyes twinkling and his blonde hair cut short. He smiled at her reaction to him.

"Hex! What happened?"

"Bet you thought you'd never see me again, McShane," he said.

"You can say that again. What the hell's going on around here?"

"Yes," said a female voice from back towards the toilet entrance, "because two's company, but three is most definitely a crowd."

Ace frowned. Standing there was a woman in her 30's in a black dress, her red hair tied back into a ponytail. She looked strikingly beautiful.

"Who are you?" said Ace.

The woman smiled and held out her hand. "Eleanor. Eleanor Wragby."

"Someone better tell me what's going on right now."




Dudley and the Doctor exited the toilet and returned to the bar area. The Doctor took his hat off, threw it onto the table, checked Ace's notes and then shook his head.

"Where did she go?" said Dudley, scratching the back of his neck and looking around the pub as if expecting Ace to suddenly reappear.

"Mr Fenner," said the Doctor, suddenly right in Dudley's face, "have there been any recorded disappearances in this pub?"

"Disappearances? No," said Dudley.

The Doctor groaned in frustration.

"No, wait a minute. There was something. A bit of a tall tale if you ask me, but might be of some use."

"Go on then," said the Doctor impatiently.

"It was in the paper at the time. Bit of a legend from this place. One the punters like to talk about.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” said the Doctor, motioning for Dudley to carry on.

“During the war a young woman was in here. She struck up a conversation with this gentleman. He went to the toilet but when he came back out the people were dressed in completely different clothes. Looked like something out of the early 1900’s, ya’know, with bonnets and bow-ties. That sort of thing. He got spooked, ran back to the toilet, and when he got up the courage to come back out everything was back to normal."

"Interesting. It sounds like some sort of time slip."

"Well I don't know much about that, but she got curious and went to take a look for herself and never came back. Vanished without a trace."

"Fascinating!" said the Doctor. "Do go on."

"The police couldn't explain it. Neither could the poor chap. The weird thing is that nobody ever reported anyone missing. They didn’t even get her name. I was just a lad at the time."

"Keep going," urged the Doctor.

"Well that's it. It just became a bit of a legend of Gallows Inn."

The Doctor was lost his thoughts, nodding to everything Dudley was telling him.

"Do you think the same thing happened to your friend?"

"Both of them I'm afraid," said the Doctor.

"Both? Look, I may be getting on here, but I know how to follow the plot of reasonably complicated stories. You're not telling me the full picture."

"You say Ace was concerned when she saw the name Thomas and that phone number?"

"That's right."

"Thomas is likely to be my friend, Thomas Hector Schofield. We had a...falling out not too long ago. The name written in the soap in the sink was Hex, which is what Thomas likes to call himself."

"Hex! That's right," said Dudley, his eyes widening ever so slightly. "Hex was the name this Thomas gave to me. I told him it was a pretty daft name so he told me Thomas instead. He's the lad who came in here saying he'd lost a ring."

"Yes," said the Doctor, nodding. The pieces were slotting into place now.

"Look, Doctor," said Dudley, collecting his empty glass and Ace's half-finished drink from the table, "maybe you ought to tell me what happened to this Hex."




Two weeks ago




It was a couple of weeks back when we had our falling out. Hex had been travelling with us for some time and we had just left Victorian England. An alien - a Barabus - had invaded a children's orphanage and unfortunately three of the children were killed in a fire that the Barabus had caused.

We defeated the Barabus, made sure the other children were safe, and then returned to the TARDIS.

"Come on then, Doc," said Hex to me at the time, "let's get this old crate moving." Hex was very new to travelling in time and space and wasn't as knowledgeable on the do's and don'ts as Ace was.

"And where would you like to go next," I said to him.

"Anywhere but here," said Ace gloomily. "Come on, Professor, this place is depressing me."

"Your choice Hex. We could all do with a break."

Hex had looked a little confused with my suggestion of a break. "Well surely there's only one place we can go."

"Florana," I smiled, knowing full well that the sea on Florana would do wonders for my aching back.

"Florana? No, Doctor. We need to go back in time."

I was confused at Mr Hex's statement. "To what time period?" I opened up the input keyboard, reading to type in the time and coordinates.

"Just before the orphanage burned down."

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, confused. You have to understand that, as much as I like travelling with your species, Mr Fenner, I don't always understand how they work.

"We need to save those kids," said Hex, looking at me as if it was a given. As if it was the only thing that should be done.

"Hex," groaned Ace, shaking her head and looking at the ground.

"What? What's the problem?"

"Do you wanna tell him about the web of time," said Ace, leaning against the console and looking dejected.

"Screw the web of time," said Hex. "Those kids need saving. We've got a time machine so why don't we use it?"

"Mr Hex, there are some events in time that must happen no matter what. Those children, as sad as it seems, have died. They were always going to die and we cannot change that."

"They're just three little children," said Hex. "They can't surely have had that much of an impact on the timeline if they survive."

"Who knows," I said with a shrug, wondering if, in hindsight, one of them may have grown up to be the next Adolf Hitler or Davros.

"You can't just be that blasé about it!" said Hex to me.

This frustrated me. I, more than anyone, was truly devastated at the deaths of those innocents, but I was powerless to stop it. For a brief moment, I considered going along with Hex's request and saving them, but I had been involved in hiccups in time before and hiccups are always difficult to get rid of.

"It's not that the Doctor doesn't care," said Ace, looking at Hex sadly, "but things happen and things can't always change."

"Then what's the point in any of this?"

"Because," I continued, "you have to look at what good came out of this. The children that we did save from the alien. They are the positive that's come from the negative."

"I don't care," said Hex. "None of them should have died."

"Hex..." groaned Ace as Hex stormed off out of the TARDIS console room.

But as it turns out Hex didn't go to his room to sulk. Instead he went to a storage room beside the library. After his first trip Ace had shown him around and inside the storage room was a box of time rings. I’d done my best to collect them all up from the rogue Time Lords that were still out there. The less dangerous elements the better. Hex had taken one of these and re-entered the console room with a look of determination on his face.

"Mr Hex," I had said to him as he stood there with his arm outstretched, the brass bracelet around his wrist, "you don't even know how to use one of them."

"Ace told me that you just have to think about where you're going and you turn the dial and end up there. If you won't take me then I'll go it alone."

"But one kink in the time vortex can knock you off course. Even the most experienced time ring traveller can encounter problems. It takes utter, complete concentration."

"Will you take me back there?" said Hex, his hand on the dial at the top of the ring.

"I can't," I said.

"Hex, listen to the Doctor. He knows what he's talking about."

"Last chance, Doc," said Hex. I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was scared to use the ring, but he was also determined.

I shook my head sadly at him. "I'm sorry."

"Then this is goodbye. Doctor, I'm sure you have your principles, but I have mine." Hex look at Ace. "Don't become like him, eh?"

Ace didn't reply.

Hex gripped the dial tightly and turned. There was a blue flash of light and he disappeared from the console room.

In hindsight I should have checked on him. Ace had begged me to track him and find out where he had gone, but I was so frustrated with him that I believed that Hex had to understand the hard way. It was my intention to track him down in a little while and bring him back - or at least take him home - but we never got around to it.




Five Years Ago




Hex felt sick as he tumbled around and around through the twisting maelstrom of the time vortex. He couldn't get a grip on himself and he was starting to lose focus. He wondered how people could travel this way. He started to believe what the Doctor had said about kinks in time knocking you off course. It wasn't necessarily a kink - it was more of the fact that there was no way he couldn't concentrate on where he was going.

He reached out a hand and there was a flash of blue around him like a force field. The bubble he was in was protecting him from the effects of the time vortex.

He retched as he turned over and span around. It was like being in some giant, intergalactic washing machine. He managed to stop himself from throwing up, but now his head was pounding. He couldn't handle this anymore. He twisted the dial on the time ring and there was another flash. It felt like he was being sucked through a vacuum cleaner and he screamed. He tried to pull the ring off his wrist in desperation. As it slipped from his arm his heard a loud bang.

He then felt himself tumbling through thin air where he landed hard on solid ground. He tried to get his bearings. He was on a wet, concrete pavement and he had landed with his back against a white, stone wall. There was a slight drizzle of rain and it was night time. In front of him was the road and a church on the other side with various ancient gravestone dotted around.

He allowed his breathing to slow and jumped as a car flashed past in the rain, it's headlights illuminating him. If there were cars then he most definitely wasn't in Victorian England.

In a moment of panic his hand went to his wrist. The ring was gone with only a few scratch marks left where he had panicked and scratched to get it off. He closed his eyes and gently knocked the back of his head against the wall behind him in frustration. Now he was stuck somewhere else and in a totally different time.

He clambered to his feet and looked up at the building. A sign outside swung ominously in the rain. It was a pub - Gallows Inn - and the sign showed a picture of a green hill with wooden gallows sat on the top.

Very inviting, thought Hex. Another sign on the side of the door proclaimed that there were "ROOMS AVAILABLE INSIDE". He sighed. He checked his pockets for his wallet. The Doctor had given him a collection of coinage and notes from throughout Earth's history. He wasn't exactly sure when he was, but the tax disc on a nearby car said that the tax was valid until June 2002, so he couldn't be far off that date. He didn't have a lot of money, but he figured that he could get himself a cheap room at the pub and then hang about in the hope that the Doctor might come and find him. That’s if he was even looking for him.

He still didn’t want to think about the Doctor.

He went into the pub. It was quiet with only a couple of old men sat in the corner beside the juke box with a quarter of their pints each left.

The barman turned from cleaning a glass and smiled. "Hello young sir," he said with a cheery smile. "We'll be closing up soon I'm afraid."

"No worries," said Hex.

"You okay, lad?" said the barman.

Hex sighed. "Not really. Just got a lot on my plate."

"Anything I can help you with? The wife used to say that I was a good listener."

Hex looked around the pub. It looked cold and uninviting. He didn't really want to stay here, but he wondered that if he found the time ring he may be able to jump forwards or try and find the Doctor again.

"I don't suppose you've seen a ring around here?"

"A ring?" said the barman.

"Yeah. Well, it's more of a bracelet really. A big, brass bracelet that would fit around your wrist."

"I'm not sure," said the man. "But if I come across something like that then I can call you, perhaps?"

"Yeah, great."

"Is there anything else?" said the barman.

Hex sighed and closed his eyes. "I just fell out with some mates, that's all. I need to go back and say sorry to them. Sorry for being so stupid and walking out."

The barman smiled knowingly at him. "We all make mistakes, my young friend. I wish I'd patched things up with me brother before he died. I can't ever change that now."

"I don't know if I can go back either. Not without that ring."

The barman went under the bar and pulled out a notepad. "I'll take down your number and if I find this ring of yours I'll give you a ring." The man looked up at Hex and laughed. "Ring? Get it?"

"Oh yeah. Real comedian, mate," said Hex sarcastically.

The man cleared his through and returned to his pencil. "My name’s Dudley. What's your name, son?"

"Hex."

"Funny name isn't it? Is it a nickname? Hex?"

"Just put down Thomas," said Hex, irritation creeping into his voice. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket. The screen was blank. It must have been damaged during his fall. He gave the barman the number, not holding out much hope, and then had an idea.

I fell outside, he thought to himself. It can't hurt to take another look for the ring.

Hex made his excuses, thanked the barman and then left the pub. By now the rain had stopped and the ground was already beginning to dry in the wind. There was no sign of the ring in the street so he carried on walking until he reached a set of wooden gates set into an archway that led to the yard of the Gallows Inn.

He knelt down and put his head to the ground so he could see under the gates. His heart leapt. There it was! The time ring, rain droplets sprinkled on top of it, but still there next to a barrel.

He checked nobody was looking and then hoisted himself up and over the gate, landing with a splash on the cobbles the other side. He smiled as he knelt down and picked up the ring. He wasn't that comfortable about using it again, but he could at least try. He knew the TARDIS was in the vortex when he left it, so he hoped he might still get back there. He'd try and smooth out the disagreements about what had happened. He was about to put the ring on his wrist when he noticed something - it was shimmering. It was vibrating. The ring was getting warmer. It felt like constant static electricity building up through his fingers. He felt like it was being pulled towards the centre of the yard.

He threw the ring to the ground and it hit the ground with a flash of light.

And then Hex was gone.




Ace was sat on the floor whilst Hex leaned on the wash basin. The woman, Eleanor, was still beside the door. She had heard Hex's tale already, but wanted to hear it again. She was incredibly intrigued about where he had come from.

"So what happened when you got here?" said Ace.

"I freaked out. I shouted, but nobody heard me. The ring had disintegrated so there was no way out that way. Then Dudley came out and I tried to get his attention. I concentrated hard - like in that film from the 90's with that bloke as a ghost - and managed to push one of those barrels backwards and forwards."

"We've seen the video," said Ace with a grin. "Proper little poltergeist."

"It was hard work, McShane, I can tell you that. When the silly sod just went inside I got angry and thumped the barrel."

"He heard you," said Ace. She thought for a moment. "You slipping into this place must have buggered up his video tape. It lost a whole hour."

"After that I found my way inside and then met Eleanor. We've been stuck here ever since."

"But it's been five years, Hex!" said Ace. "At least five years since the barrel incident. Only two weeks since the orphanage for me."

"Yes, it’s curious," said Eleanor. "It seems time moves differently over in this...realm," she said, waving her hand about to find the right words. "What year is it now, young lady? It's difficult to keep track when you're stuck here."

"We arrived in 2006," said Ace.

"Would you believe that I've been here for 65 years?"

"What?!" splutted Ace.

"When I arrived it was 1941. I was in here having a drink with a young gentleman I had just met. He went to use the bathroom and returned with his face as white as a ghost saying he had seen the Edwardian days or some such nonsense. Well, I went to have a look myself and that's when I appeared here."

"Well boggling," said Ace.

"Indeed," said Eleanor. "I've been trying to find a way out ever since, but with no luck."

"But you said time moves differently?" said Ace.

"Yeah," said Hex. "I soon found out that. It seems when you come closer into contact with someone in the real world then time slows to a more steady, normal pace, but when they aren't there it speeds on. It only feels like about a month for me."

"Then we better get back to the bar quickly!" said Ace. "If it's true that time moves quicker when we're not near someone in the real dimensions, then we could be a few days away from the Doctor by now!"

To be continued...

The Ghost of Gallows Inn (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Stories)

Try as he may, Dudley had been unable to explain the mysterious disappearing hour from five years ago, nor the faint figure that had only appeared for the first few frames at 1am.

Ace, always a tough, strong young woman, had actually felt pretty chilled by the video and felt anxious as they returned to the bar.

"Can't believe I didn't spot this before," said Dudley, pouring himself a brandy and downing it in one gulp.

"Fair do's Dudley, it was five years ago," said Ace.

"And the figure only appears for a few frames," said the Doctor. "Unless you had paused the video right at the start you never would have noticed."

"So what do you think happened?" said Dudley, sitting back at the table with the mysterious strangers.

"First you need to tell us a little more about what else has been happening here," said the Doctor.

"Not much after the barrel. Not at first anyway. It was a curiosity to me and the rest of the bar staff but we soon forgot about it, as you do." He leaned back in his chair and scratched at his bushy, white moustache. He had become so used to things going on in the pub that he never really gave much thought to the individual cases.

"I'll come clean with you, Mr Fenner," said the Doctor, leaning forward across the table. "I've been watching over this place for some time. Since that first incident actually."

Ace frowned. "And you never told me?"

"When I say watching over it, I actually mean tracking the incidents." He turned to Ace. "The TARDIS picked up a disturbance in time back on November 4th 2001 and I kept an eye on the timeline until things started to occur more frequently."

Dudley held his hands up. "Hold on a minute. Disturbances in time? And what's a TARDIS?"

"All in good time, Mr Fenner." The Doctor got up from the chair. Ace got up to join him but he put a hand on her shoulder for her to sit back down. "You stay with Mr Fenner. He's got a lot of incidents to recount." He turned back to Dudley. "Do you mind if I take a look around?"

Dudley was unsure, but this man seemed to know something. No amount of psychics, mediums or priests had helped him so far. What was one more eccentric pottering around going to harm? "Knock yourself out, mate."

"Thank you," said the Doctor, jamming his hat back onto his head.

"Be careful, Professor," said Ace.

"I always am," he said as he disappeared to the vicinity of the rest rooms.

Ace watched him disappear into the shadows and then turned back to Dudley. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and then smiled. "Now, Dudders, tell me what else has been going on around here."




The Doctor exited the main bar area and walked slowly down the corridor that led towards the toilets. The old floorboards creaked under him and before he reached the entrance to the male toilets he stopped. He stood listening for a good few minutes. He could hear Ace and Dudley talking back the way he had come. To the left was a very short staircase leading only a couple of metres up the wall to a small, wooden door. He walked up the steps and tried the old, brass doorknob. It was locked. He considered going back to get the key off Dudley, but decided against it. It was best to keep the old man out of this. It was probably a store cupboard or something.

He was about to turn and leave when he heard the slightest creak from the floorboards behind him. He turned but there was nothing there.

"I know you're there," said the Doctor. "I know you can hear me." He stepped down the staircase and back into the corridor. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Nothing.

The Doctor sighed, waited a few moments and then made his way to the male toilets.




Dudley was on his second whiskey while Ace furiously wrote things down in a notepad she had pulled out from the rucksack.

"First things first," she had said to him. "I know this might be a tough question, but have you got any reason to suspect that this could be your wife?"

"What?!" spluttered Dudley. "How did you know I was married let alone that she'd died."

Ace pointed to his wedding ring. "A wedding ring but no wife about. Even if you didn't live here, you'd have gone home by now if you had anything to get back to."

Dudley was lost for words. He had never even considered that it could be his wife haunting the place.

"You keep turning the ring on your finger as well. You miss her."

"I do," Dudley said, not meaning to have said that out aloud.

"We all miss someone," said Ace softly. "But it's not her, is it?"

"I don't think so," said Dudley. "And why would she be here anyway? She’ll be up there with her old sister enjoying a whiskey.” He smiled at the memory of her.

Ace smiled. "So after the barrels, what happened?"

Dudley took a deep breath. "The bar staff started hearing footsteps in the corridor towards the toilets. Heavy steps as well. Sometimes running and scuffling sounds." He looked back towards the shadows. He thought he could hear the Doctor talking to someone.

"Ignore him," said Ace. "Go on."

"Some of the customers used to throw 1's and 2p's into the urinal and at the end of the night we'd fish 'em out and clean 'em up."

"That's disgusting," said Ace.

"It all went to charity though," said Dudley. "Sometimes customers would say they'd thrown the coins in and the coins had flipped back out at them. Spooked a few of them I can tell you."

"Then there were the toilets flushing by themselves, the taps turning on. One night I locked up and one of my pumps was pouring out beer."

"It could have been a fault," said Ace.

"Have you ever pulled a pint, love?" said Dudley with a laugh. "You need to put force into them to get them to pour." Dudley noticed Ace's glass was empty. "Did you want another?"

"Yeah, go on," she said. She leaned in. "Pop a drop of vodka in it, yeah?"

"Won't your uncle be mad?"

"I'm a grown woman, Dudley," she said. "Just one isn't going to hurt anyone."




The Doctor stood in the toilet looking down at the urinal. Everything seemed unnaturally quiet and he turned around in a full circle, taking in the surroundings - the white and black tiled walls, the slightly damp floor, the battered door leading to the single toilet cubicle and the faint smell of urine mixed with cleaning chemicals.

"Come on," said the Doctor. "Why would you want to hang around a smelly old place like this?"

Still nothing.

"You've been scaring the bar staff out of their wits with your games."

Silence again.

"Stop being a coward!"

The Doctor's voice echoed around the toilet and as if the punctuate the Doctor's taunt, his hat flew off the top of his head, landing underneath the sink.

"Oh, very clever," he said darkly. He crossed over to pick it up and as he got back up the tap turned on, splashing cold water over his coat. "Parlour tricks!" he said with a laugh.

The tap switched off and his hat was snatched from his hands, this time landing in the watery sink.

"What's the purpose in this?" said the Doctor, grabbing his hat and patting it down. "I've come here to help you; come to release you, but you have to cooperate with me."

The Doctor's attention was drawn to something else - on the side of the sink was a squeezy bottle of soap and very slowly the soap was drip-dripping out into the sink.

The Doctor frowned and picked up the bottle, opening the top and pouring everything into the sink, creating a gloopy, green mess.

"Go on then," he said, looking down at the liquid soap.

Slowly but surely, as if being written by an invisible finger, letters started to form in the liquid soap.




Ace was feeling a little more relaxed as she wrote in the notepad about Dudley's exploits in the pub. Now she was getting to know the man, she was actually enjoying his company. Beneath the tough exterior there was a jolly old man locked away. A man that had run away to hide after the death of his wife.

"By far the worst time," said Dudley, "was when I had decided to let out some of the rooms upstairs. We would have a member of staff working at night time if we had anyone staying over. One night - must have been about 3 years back - he said one of the people staying here - a business man I'm led to believe - came running down the stairs in just his boxers and a vest, his face as white as those walls there."

Ace took a sip of her lemonade and vodka and nodded for Dudley to carry on.

"He reckoned he'd spotted a woman sat beside the window on a chair just staring at him. He closed his eyes, opening them and she was gone. He tried to get back to sleep when he felt these cold hands around his ankles, trying to drag him down the bed. He jumped up and legged it down into the bar. Didn't even stop to go back and get his things. He demanded a taxi out of the town and back to where he came from and we never heard from him again."

"Well freaky," said Ace.

"Actually," said Dudley, looking distant, "Now I come to think about it, there was something else that happened the night the barrels started moving. The first incident."

"Okay, well anything you remember might be important."

"This young guy came here. He looked a bit glum, talking about a ring he had lost."

Ace frowned.

"Said he needed to go back and say sorry to his friends and that he regretted walking out on them."

Ace eyes shifted from side to side, thinking.

"I told him I didn't know where the ring was but if we found it we'd let him know. Took a telephone number and then he cleared off. Never saw him again. Or his ring."

"Do you have the telephone number?"

"That I do."

"After five years?!"

“Never get rid of a phone number.”

Dudley got up, went behind the bar and pulled out his large, leather-bound notepad. He brought it over to the table and opened it up to the back, revealing faded writing on scruffy lined paper. He looked down the list and spotted the number he was after. "Here you go. Thomas his name was."

Ace looked at the name and then the number. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she bolted from the table and made for the toilets.

“What?” said Dudley, frowning as he watched Ace go. “Did you know him or something?”




The Doctor stared down at the words "HELP ME" that had been written in the pool of soap. He frowned and then messed the soap up again, erasing the words.

"Who are you?"

Slowly the words began to spell something else out.

H

The Doctor's eyes narrowed.

E

He shook his head in disbelief.

X

His eyes stared straight down at the word: HEX

"Hex?"

Ace yelled and barged through the door. She skidded to a halt on the wet toilet floor. The Doctor was momentarily stunned to see her.

"It's Hex, Doctor! It's Hex!"

The windows shattered, the taps burst into life, water gushing from them. The Doctor ducked out of the way of the splintering glass...

And then Ace vanished in a flash of light.

To be continued...

The Ghost of Gallows Inn (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (Ghosts)

The room was dark, but warm and with the faint smell of stale beer lingering in the air. One light illuminated the room. The dim bulb was fixed under a tatty, blue lampshade that hung just above the bar. It was just enough light for Dudley Fenner to see what he was doing as he scribbled in the old, tatty, leather-bound notepad in front him, occasionally stopping to scratch his cheek and grumble incoherently to himself.

He had locked up over an hour ago, but he himself was certainly not ready to head to bed yet. He had to try and work out his finances somehow. He had been struggling to make ends meet and the pub had taken a hit when the smoking ban had been brought in a few months earlier.

He himself was no longer a smoker; he had promised his late wife on her death bed ten years ago that he would never touch another cigarette again, but he had understood that it was good for trade. People liked to come to the pub and smoke. The masses may not have liked it, but pubs and cigarettes went hand in hand. It would be like fish without chips or salt without vinegar. It just wasn't right.

He realised his thoughts were drifting again and turned his eyes back down to the notepad. He frowned. Something was odd with the page. Slowly but surely the light illuminating the pages was shifting in a very gentle and very slight circular motion.

He frowned and looked up at the bulb above him. It was swinging in a circular fashion ever so slightly. He let out a huge sigh, his eyes glaring at the bulb as an owner would have glared at a disobedient dog.

"Not tonight," he said through gritted teeth. His face softened a little more. "Please..." He sounded more hopeful this time. Sure enough the lampshade stopped swinging and he let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't put up with another night of it. He barely slept most nights and tonight he was extremely tired.

"Do you often talk to light bulbs?" came a voice that almost made Dudley jump back and crash into the bottles lined up on the shelves.

He hadn't noticed the odd couple coming in through the still-unlocked door to the pub.

The man who spoke wore a brown jacket with a patterned scarf thrown around the collar. On his head was a straw hat and he wore the most garish jumper he had ever seen. Was that question marks knitted into it? he thought to himself. In his hand was a black umbrella with a red-handle that also looked like a question mark and he was wearing a pair of baggy, chequered trousers. He was smiling but his face didn't look like he was pleased. He could barely make out the mans eyes, they were so deep-set in under his dark eyebrows and he seemed to wear a permanent frown.

The woman also didn't look quite right. Her brown hair hung down and she wore a red top and black leggings. She looked to be about nineteen - maybe twenty - and she looked pretty if a little awkward, especially as she let an oversized bomber jacket adorned with badges ruin what was likely an attractive figure. She also clutched hold of a rucksack that was thrown over her shoulder. She had a very sweet, round face with big, dark eyes, but there seemed to be a fierceness buried in there somewhere.

"It's rude to stare," said the woman. It was a London accent.

"I beg your pardon?" said Dudley, still unsure of where these two had come from and at this late hour.

"The Professor asked you a question," said the woman.

"Professor?" said Dudley, looking at the man.

The man looked a little embarrassed and blinked slowly. "Doctor, actually." He extended his hand, but Dudley didn't take hold of it. "Mr Fenner, I presume?"

"How do you know my name? I haven't seen you here before," said Dudley.

"Your names above the door," said the man who had introduced himself as the Doctor, pointing his umbrella back towards the exit.

"You still haven't answered his question," said the woman, leaning on the bar and smiling at him.

"What? What question?" said Dudley, closing the notepad up.

"Do you often talk to light bulbs?" repeated the woman.

"No," said Dudley. "No of course not! I’m not talking to a light bulb," he said. "We are closed, you know?" said Dudley.

"I know," said the Doctor.

"So I can't serve you."

"I know that as well," said the Doctor. "We're not here to have a drink."

Dudley frowned. This was becoming stranger and stranger. These two didn't look like they could do any harm - she was probably his niece or something - but what else could they possibly be here for?

Unless...

"You've been having a few problems, haven't you, Mr Fenner?" said the man again. There was a hint of a Scottish accent in his voice.

"How do you know?" said Dudley, shifting backwards ever so slightly.

He tapped his nose and smiled. "I have my ways."

"So you're gonna need our help," said the woman.

"Yes," said the Doctor, pulling out a barstool and sitting down. "We're going to help you with your ghost."




Later the Doctor and Ace were sat beside a window, the curtains closed with a drink in their hands. Dudley had hastily gotten a drink and told them to sit in the corner whilst he finished his calculations in the notepad.

Ace looked around at the dimly lit surroundings. It was a typical, old fashioned pub. It looked to have been built sometime in the 17th century and had a dark wooden floor, white-washed walls and dark beams across the ceiling. The pub was effectively a square horse-shoe shape with a bar in the middle and the entrance facing directly opposite. To the left side was the main bar area with a jukebox and pool table and to the right was what had been, in the past, the lounge. Back in the day it would have had a doorway leading into it to make it a little more private. The remnants of the old wooden partition was still there, but it had long-since been taken down.

The decor was in keeping with its old style. Battered, wooden tables were dotted around. Ace glanced down at the table they were sat out. The words ‘Holly + Lilly’ and ’Briggsy 23/12/03 were crudely etched into it. A fireplace was at the end of the bar area and lined along the walls were various secluded booths with worn-down red leather material covering the seats.

The Doctor and Ace were sat in the left hand corner of the horse shoe.

"He can't be that spooked, Professor," said Ace, taking a sip of her lemonade. She had asked for a dash of vodka but the Doctor, annoyingly, had advised her not to. He had advised her, but it felt more like him telling her no, and she felt she couldn't argue against him. He had that kind of power of her. Sometimes she still felt like the student.

"How do you mean?" asked the Doctor, his chin resting on the back of his hands as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Well look at him. He's carrying on as if he isn't even being haunted."

"I saw it in his eyes, though," said the Doctor, his own eyes narrowing. "As soon as we mentioned the word 'ghost', his pupils dilated. He was trembling."

"Seemed steady enough to me when he poured our drinks."

"I didn't say his body was trembling."

Ace sat back and sighed. "This place is a bit of a dump."

"You think so?" said the Doctor. "It's been standing here for nigh on 450 years."

"It looks like it hasn’t been decorated for 450 years as well! I don't see any ghosties though."

"Hmm, give them time and I'm sure they'll show up."

"So you think there's more than one?" said Ace, leaning in closer, her interest piqued.

"More than one what?"

"Ghost."

"I don't think Mr Fenner is being haunted by a ghost."

"But you said-"

"I told him that we would help him with his ghost because that's what Mr Fenner understands it as. I don't believe in them. Not the ghosts of fiction and ghost stories, that is."

"Then what is it?"

"I have no idea," said the Doctor, taking a sip of water, "but there's always a rational explanation for everything."

"Oh, come on," said Ace with a knowing smirk, "when do you ever turn up somewhere without already knowing the answer?"

Before the Doctor could answer, Ace jumped at the sound of Dudley slamming his notepad closed and throwing it under the bar. He popped his pen in his shirt pocket and then looked over at the Doctor and Ace.

"Would you care to join us, Mr Fenner?"

"It's my pub," said Dudley, "and I'll do as I please."

"Alright, mate," said Ace with a frown, "the Professor was just being friendly."

Dudley mumbled something under his breath, grabbed a chair and pulled it up to sit at the end of the table between the Doctor and Ace. He looked at both of them in turn. "Well?"

"How long have you had this...haunting, Mr Fenner?"

"How long have you known about it?" said Dudley. "And please, just call me Dudley."

"Well, Dudley, how long we have known about it could be a very complicated question and answer.”

"What the Professor wants to know is how it all started for you."

Dudley looked down at the table, closed his eyes and shook his head. "It started about five years ago. It was one winters evening and I was unloading the empty barrels when I spotted one of them rolling. A barrel that is."

"The wind perhaps?" suggested the Doctor.

"On an uneven, cobbled surface? I doubt it, mate. And when I saw it rolling I mean I saw it rolling. From one end of the yard to the other and back again. Even when I tried to stop it the bloody thing carried on moving."

"Show me," said the Doctor.

"What?" said Dudley, confused.

"You have CCTV camera's outside in the yard - and, yes, before you say anything, I've already had a look out there earlier today - so I'm assuming your cameras picked it up."

"It was five years ago. I don't keep pointless footage for that long."

"Don't be daft, Dudley," said the Doctor.

"I beg your pardon?" said Dudley.

"Stands to reason doesn‘t it?" said Ace, "If your cameras had recorded evidence of spooky goings on you wouldn't just chuck the footage out."

Dudley looked at Ace and then sighed. "Okay. So I kept the footage."

"So can we see it?" asked Ace, her eyes twinkling.




Dudley led the Doctor and Ace behind the bar and through the back, past the small kitchen, the stairs that led upstairs and to a tiny room, no bigger than a broom cupboard, where a small tape unit sat next to a keyboard and a monitor which showed night-vision images of the front of the pub, side of the pub and the delivery yard.

"Normally," said Dudley, sitting down in a chair at the desk, "I keep the footage for a week and then re-use the tapes, taping over what was on them before."

"You know technologies advanced further that tapes, yeah?" said Ace. "You can record all these digitally."

"I work with what I know," said Dudley. "We're not all kids of the new millennium."

"Neither am I," said Ace. "I'm a child of the 80's!"

Dudley frowned. She didn't look that old.

"The tape, Mr Fenner," said the Doctor impatiently.

"Yes," said Dudley opening a draw in the side of the desk and pulling out one single VHS tape, covered in dust. He blew the dust off the top, causing Ace to splutter and step back, and then slotted it into the tape deck.

After a few mechanical whirrs, the tape burst into life. Dudley changed the input on the monitor from live feed to playback and the screen flickered to a shot of the green-coloured yard.

On the screen Dudley could be seen rolling the barrels into the corner. He disappeared off screen and then all was still. Then, inexplicably, one of the barrels that was sat on it's side began to roll across the yard towards underneath the camera. It then stopped and rolled back. Dudley then appeared in the yard and watched as the barrel rolled back towards him again and then back to the corner. He put a hand on it to stop it, but it slipped from under his hand and continued to roll. Eventually Dudley grabbed the barrel, stood it upright and placed it in the corner. He slowly backed away from it and jumped when a large clang - as if someone had thumped the barrel - sounded out on the video.

"And nothing else happened that night?" said the Doctor, his eyes still transfixed on the screen.

"Not that night, no."

"How long does a tape like this last?"

"It's an E-180 on Long Play, so around six hours."

"And what time did this one start recording?"

"I don't know," said Dudley. "Doctor, it was five years ago."

"And you don't have the other tapes?"

"I told you I don't keep them!"

The Doctor tapped his chin with the handle of his umbrella. "Can you rewind this video to the very beginning?"

"If you want, but I don't see why," said Dudley. "There's nothing else on it."

"What are you getting at, Professor?" asked Ace, studying the screen as if expecting the answer to jump out at her

"I don't know."

Dudley rewound the video back to the start.

"Pause it," said the Doctor. "Is this system automatic?"

"Yes," said Dudley. "It's a 24 hour thing. The first tape starts at 6am then six hours later the second tape starts at 12noon, then the third at 6pm and then the final tape at midnight."

"And this tape?" said the Doctor.

"Was the Midnight to 6am tape."

"And this is the start of the tape?" said the Doctor.

Dudley looked like he was about to explode. "Yes!"

"In that case why does it say 1am on the tape count at the start?"

"What?" frowned Dudley. Sure enough the digital date and numbers in the corner of the footage stated that it was 4/11/2001 with the time being 01:00.

"The incidents happens at 01:15, fifteen minutes after the start of this footage."

"But that's impossible. It's an automatic system," said Dudley, staring closer at the screen willing for an answer to come to him.

"So," said Ace, "if the other tape finished at midnight and this one started at 1am, then that means there's an hour missing from somewhere."

"Exactly," said the Doctor. "And that's not the only thing."

"What do you mean?" asked Ace.

"Look at the screen."

Ace looked at the screen. "I don't see anything."

"Look harder towards the shadow of the corner where Mr Fenner will put the barrels."

Ace strained her eyes. And then her eyes widened. Standing there, almost shrouded in complete darkness was a very, very faint figure. The Doctor pushed in front of Dudley and edged the video on a few frames and slowly the figure disappeared.

To be continued...

Special - The Ghost of Gallows Inn

"Look at him. He's carrying on as if he isn't even being haunted."
"I saw it in his eyes, though," said the Doctor, his own eyes narrowing. "As soon as we mentioned the word 'ghost', his pupils dilated. He was trembling."

Dudley Fenner owns Gallows Inn, but for the last few years it's been haunted. Dudley tries to carry on as normal, but the hauntings are getting worse.

And then the Doctor and Ace turn up.

The Doctor has found out about Dudley's problems so decides to investigate the mysterious happenings at Gallows Inn. What he finds is something from his past and most definitely his future.

This is a special, one off story featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace. It is also a prequel to the next "Resurrection" story, "The Edwardian Way", although this does not have to be read to enjoy the "Resurrection" story.

Clarence (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (How Do You Solve a Problem Like Uncle Joe?)

“Get lost,” said Lilly, “and take your white-faced freaks with you.”

“Take it easy, blondie,” said Gordon. “I’m here to rescue you.”

“I beg your pardon?” said the Doctor, getting to his feet.

“Do you really think I enjoy this? Come on, Ringo, you know me,” said Gordon, looking at his fellow circus performer.

“You’ve never said anything. Not like Carlotta,” said Ringo. “You were always quiet.”

“Cos I like to tinker with the clowns,” said Gordon. “They are like…my friends.”

“Sad,” said Lilly. If she hadn’t felt so glum she would have laughed.

“Sad it may be,” said Gordon, “but fixing robots is what I do. When Clarence malfunctioned I knew things had to be stopped. Uncle Joe was going too far.”

“Ever since he started he’s been going too far!” said Ringo.

“I know, I know, but I realised that if a clown - a bloody robot - knew it was wrong, then what sort of a Human was I to turn a blind eye?”

“Good man,” said the Doctor, clapping him on the shoulder.

“We still don’t know where the kidnapped people are,” said Holly.

“Yes we do,” said Gordon. He pulled out a small device with an aerial on the top. “I’ve been tracking for Clarence’s signals for ages now, but then I realised we were only searching across the planet. We needed to look further.”

“And?” said the Doctor.

Gordon pointed upwards. “The air defence system.”

“Eh? Air defence systems?” said Ringo.

“You mentioned them when we first landed,” said Holly, remembering what the Doctor had said in the forest clearing.

“Yes, I believe the colony ship came with smaller, automated stations.” The Doctor looked at Ringo. “To protect the planet from hostiles.” He crossed to the door and looked up at the cold, grey sky, feeling the light drizzle tickle his nose. “There are a number of hostile races out there. Although the colonists wouldn’t have know it, as the centuries passed the defence system would have continued to protect them all from threats.”

“It didn’t protect them from Uncle Joe.”

“Not all threats are obviously threats,” said the Doctor, glancing at Ringo quickly.

“Look, can we just stop with all of this chatter and get on with getting off the planet,” said Lilly.

“We’ve gotta stop Joe first,” said Holly.

“I know that,” said Lilly angrily. And then she shook her head. “I’m sorry, Dangerfield.”

“It’s alright,” said Holly, “it’s just him.”

“You said you had a plan,” said Gordon.

“Well, sort of,” said the Doctor, “but it’s going to be very difficult.” He winced and rubbed his temples.

“You alright?” said Lilly, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“He’s just…very strong,” he said, sitting back down on the floor.

“What do you mean?” asked Holly. “Is he trying to get in your head again?”

“He’s been trying since we got locked away.” He blew air out of his cheeks. “Don’t forget, he’s psychic. I’ve been blocking him from probing all of our thoughts since we last saw him.”

“You can do that?” said Ringo.

“Time Lord,” smiled the Doctor, but he looked weary. “It’s taking an enormous strain on myself though.”

“I didn’t even think,” said Lilly. “He could have been listening in on everything we’ve said.”

“Don’t ever say I don’t do anything for you,” smiled the Doctor. He got to his feet again and steadied himself. “We need to get this done now, though.”

“So, your plan,” said Gordon.

“Yes, my plan,” said the Doctor, looking towards Ringo’s ear.




Owen continued to stare out at the field of stars that surrounded his planet. He wasn’t sure what he felt exactly. It felt like a mix of wonder and fear all at the same time, and it made him go weak at the knees.

Jane stood beside him and swallowed. “How?”

“Clarence obviously teleported us up here to get us away from the planet, but…what is this place anyway?”

“I’m scared, Dad,” said Elliot.

Owen reached down and lifted his son up, holding him tightly. “It’s okay, son,” he said, trying to sound braver than what he felt. “We’re…safe.”

He looked across the Clarence who was now standing in the doorway watching his rescued villagers. He looked at Owen and then nodded once. “Safe.”




Uncle Joe was still sat in the ring, his tentacles thrashing about wildly as three clowns circled him, squirting him with sprays of water to keep him moist. He was enjoying it, but one of the clowns accidentally squirted him in his large eye and he stopped moving, his tentacles freezing. He growled angrily, blinked the water out of his eye and then flicked a large tentacle out, knocking the culprit-clown to the floor.

“Fool!” screamed Joe.

“That’s no way to treat a clown,” came the Doctor’s voice as he walked out from the shadows, his hands in his pockets.

“You!” hissed Joe. “What are you doing free?”

“You mean you don’t know?” said the Doctor, leaning against a stanchion near to the seating area.

“I’ve been trying to listen in on you, but you’re blocking me,” he said with disdain.

“Naturally,” said the Doctor. “You don’t mess with Time Lords and win, you know?”

“No matter,” said Joe, “I have this planet now. At this very moment riots are beginning in the town centre and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Why don’t you just leave? You’ve taken all of the happiness from this place. Just leave.”

“I intend to, as soon as I’ve taken the rest of you and your friends emotions.”

“Well, that’s where we’re at checkmate, isn’t it, Uncle Joe?”

“What do you mean?” he said, his eye blinking slowly.

“Well I can’t really let you go anyway,” he said, walking closer to Joe, but not enough that a tentacle could hit him. “And I also can’t let you stay here. If you stay then the people of this planet will never be happy again, but if you go then they descend into war. They need their emotions back, and only you can do that.”

“I don’t see any way for you to stop me,” said Joe, laughing.

“Hmm,” said the Doctor, going into his pocket and pulling out one of the inhibitors.

“There aren’t enough to go around the entire colony,” said Joe, scoffing at him.

“It’s not for the colony,” said the Doctor, holding out the inhibitor in his hand. “It’s for you.”

“What?” said Joe.

“From what Gordon has told me-”

“THE TRAITOR!” screamed Joe.

“From what Gordon has told me, they are worn by him, Ringo and by our late friend, Carlotta. They prevent their emotions from being absorbed by you so you can continue to enslave them.”

“That’s correct,” said Joe.

“So what would happen if I was to attach it to you?” said the Doctor, edging a little closer.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing!” he said, but he sounded nervous.

“Are you sure about that?” he turned it over and over between his fingers. “Are you absolutely sure about that?”

Of course. They block our emotions from being taken. They inhibit. They would do nothing to me!”

“Unless you’re very clever and know how to reverse the effects.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The Doctor purposely left a long pause before he spoke again. The silence around them enveloped both the Doctor and Joe.

“I have reversed the effects of the chip. When - and I say when - I attach this to you it will cause all of those positive emotions that you’ve been harvesting to be expelled.”

“I could just remove the inhibitor.”

“You can’t do anything without the help of these clowns.”

“CLOWNS!” shouted Joe. “STOP HIM!”

The clowns stood to attention, but the Doctor shook his head and held up a finger. “The clowns are under Gordon’s control now,” said the Doctor.

“You can’t do this,” said Joe. “Have mercy.”

“Firstly, I can do this,” he said, as Joe’s tentacles began to flail about, attempting to reach the Doctor, “and secondly, this is mercy. Mercy to all of the people on this planet.”

He nodded to the clowns and they each advanced on Joe. His tentacles lashed out, but one of the clowns produced a syringe and managed to get close enough to inject it into Joe’s skin.

He lashed out again and the knocked the clown flying. “What are you doing? You’re killing me.”

“I’d never kill. Not when there’s another way,” said the Doctor.

Now Joe’s tentacles were starting to slow down their thrashing. His eye lid slowly opening and closing.

“You showed me something from my memories earlier on,” said the Doctor. “That psychic vision. It was something that happened to me a long time ago. I was meant to believe that I made a mistake. I buried it away for a long, long time, but I realised that I didn’t make a mistake. I saved people from a greater evil. That is what I am doing now.” Joe’s eye had almost closed. “Maybe I didn’t go about it the right way, but I’m doing this the right way now.”

“You…mean…that town…Jacarthia…?” said Joe, sleepily.

“You’ve seen my thoughts,” said the Doctor, as he fixed the inhibitor onto Joe’s sickly wet skin.

“You saved…those people…”

“I did indeed,” said the Doctor, removing his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket.

“And they…punished you…for it…”

The Doctor nodded.

“And Jacarthia fell…” His eye closed.

The Doctor looked stern and resolute, and then pressed down on his screwdriver. “Jacarthia fell.”




Lilly and Holly returned to the town just in time to see Poulton running from an old woman with a large carving knife. He tripped over and fell flat on his face. He scrambled around for the nearest thing he could find - a huge chunk of wood that had been broken off from one of the stalls - and took a swing at the old woman.

“No!” shouted Holly in horror.

Poulton stopped. The old woman stopped. The pair of them frozen, their eyes staring blankly towards nothing.

“Has it worked?” said Lilly, looking at the other colonists. They were all standing still, mid-attack.

“Let’s bloody hope so,” said Holly.

And then every single one of the colonists jerked once and then collapsed to the floor.

“Oh, bloody hell,” said Holly.

Lilly raced to Poulton and got down to her knees, checking for his pulse. “He’s still alive,” said Lilly. She ran over to the old woman as well. “Granny’s still with us too.”

“Thank god for that,” said Holly, breathing a sigh of relief and sitting down on the wet ground. “The Doctor did it.”

“Yep,” said Lilly, “he always seems to.” She walked over to Holly and sat beside her. “How you feeling, Dangerfield?”

“A bit better,” said Holly, nodding. “I don’t feel like someone’s tugging at my head anyway.”

“Yeah, me too,” said Lilly.

The two women looked at each other and smiled. And then Lilly laughed, looking away.

“See,” said Holly, “it’s working already.”

Lilly shook her head. “The day I let a soppy, farming planet make me laugh and be happy is the day that I cease being Lilly Galloway.”

“Okay then,” said Holly, “I’ll start calling you Illithia.”

“Uh-uh,” said Lilly, holding a finger up. “No way.”

Holly smiled. “I think it’s a pretty name,” said Holly.

“Well maybe I’ll start calling you Holly, then.”

“Uh-uh,” said Holly, mocking Lilly. “No way. I’ve gotten used to you calling me Dangerfield.”

“Then that’s what I’ll keep calling you then, Dangerfield.” She smiled at Holly again.

And then she turned and started walking towards the centre of the market. “It’s not Uncle Joe’s outpouring of positive energy that’s made me smile, Dangerfield,” she said, her back still turned to Holly as she walked away. “It must be something else.” She turned back to Holly again and flashed her a smile, and then went to check on the rest of the unconscious colonists.

Holly frowned. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on here, but she hadn’t felt that jolt in her chest before. Not even when she had met Alfie. But she was sure that it made her feel happy. It made her feel wanted.




Owen, Jane and Elliot were sat on the floor in front of the huge glass window when suddenly Clarence straightened up, his eyes flicking from side to side. They were bright and white, and then he turned to look at the people he had saved. His face broke into a huge - real - grin, and he started nodding.

“What is it?” said Owen getting to his feet.

“Safe,” said Clarence. “Safe. Safe. Safe.”




The Doctor was sat beside the sleeping form of Uncle Joe. He was deep in thought when Ringo and Gordon entered the ring.

“You did it,” said Ringo, still weary of going too close to his old master.

“Yep,” said the Doctor. He pointed towards the inhibitor. “If he ever gets this removed it’ll all start all over again. Don’t let that happen.”

“What about all the other planets we’ve visited?” said Gordon.

“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about them,” said the Doctor, sadly, “but at least Joe won’t be causing any more wars.”

“What do we do now then?” said Ringo, feeling lost for the first time in ages. “I was brought into this circus when I was just 14. I have no life.”

“Tell you what,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet. “Take Joe to a high-security prison somewhere. I’ll give you a few good locations if you want, and then the both of you give Carlotta the burial she deserves.”

“We will,” said Ringo quickly.

He began to walk towards the exit in the tent. “Then pack up your clowns, pack up your circus and get off this planet. Go and live your life.” He didn’t turn to look back at them. “I never want hear about Uncle Joe’s circus ever again.”

Ringo waited until he had exited and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Doctor,” he said sadly.




The Doctor was stood beside the TARDIS. It was raining now and he watched as the tiny sprinkles of rain peppered the outer shell of his time machine. He ran his finger through the raindrops and then sucked the water off the end of his finger.

He felt thirsty.

He felt angry.

Lilly and Holly emerged into the clearing followed by Owen, Elliott, Clarence, Kat and Heather.

“Owen wanted to say goodbye to us,” said Lilly.

“Goodbye, Owen,” said the Doctor, grumpily.

“Wait,” said Owen, frowning. “What’s wrong? I needed to say thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” said the Doctor.

“For saving us.”

“I didn’t save you,” said the Doctor. “Clarence did.” He nodded towards Clarence.

“Why didn’t he go with the circus when they left?” said Holly.

“Weirdly,” said Owen, looking at the clown. “He seems to have appointed himself as our protector.”

The Doctor nodded. “Every place needs it’s protector.”

“Safe,” said Clarence.

“Safe,” said the Doctor. He held out a hand to the clown. Clarence looked down at it, confused, and then took his hand. “Thank…you.”

The Doctor managed a weak smile. “Keep working on those words, Ronald,” he said. And then turned to go.

“Doctor,” said Heather, “is there something wrong?”

“No,” said the Doctor quickly. “There’s nothing wrong. Nothing at all.” He looked at Holly and Lilly. “I’ll be waiting inside for you two. Don’t be long, eh?”

He turned his back on them, opened the TARDIS doors and then went inside.

Holly turned to the collection of people. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s alright,” said Owen. “He’s had a rough time of it. It can’t have been easy holding back all those psychic probes from Joe.”

“No,” said Holly. “I don’t think it’s that though.”

“You’re right, Dangerfield,” said Lilly. “Joe’s touched a nerve there.”

“We better go and check on him,” said Holly.

Kat ran over and hugged Holly tightly. The group said goodbye to each other and then Holly and Lilly entered the TARDIS.

The Bensons stood back from the ship as the engines ground into life. And then, with a huge rush of wind, the box disappeared.

“Wow!” said Elliot, smiling. He was clutching his yellow ball under his arm, his other hand holding his fathers. “Can we go and play with this now?” he said, hopefully.

Owen looked at his son. This was where it had all started. And then he looked back at Clarence. “Safe?”

Clarence nodded and then smiled. “You…are…safe.”




In the TARDIS the Doctor was sat reading through a notepad, his feet up against the console. Holly looked across at him and then headed into the interior of the ship.

Lilly watched her go and then walked over to the Doctor. “Are you alright?” she said.

“I’m fine,” said the Doctor.

“Tell me,” said Lilly.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s obviously something,” said Lilly. She crouched down in front of the armchair and then threw a jelly baby at him.

He looked at her and laughed. “It’s just…Uncle Joe dredged up some old memories. Memories I’ve tried to forget.”

“About the Time War?” said Lilly. She’d heard him talk about it before.

“The War was so long ago now,” said the Doctor. “But, no, not the Time War.”

“Then what?”

He closed the notepad and put it in his inside pocket. “Jacarthia.”

Lilly looked down. “What is Jacarthia?”

“A town that I tried to save, but instead I mad things worse,” said the Doctor. He got up and crossed over to the console, tapping in a few coordinates. “Anyway, I think sufficient time has passed now.”

“For what?” said Lilly, turning to look behind her.

“To take Holly home. The Kro’Tenk are waiting. Time to say goodbye.”

And Lilly felt her heart sink.




The End

Clarence (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (If You're Happy and You Know It)

Owen was sat in the corner of the metal room, Elliot sat on his knee as they both eyed up Clarence cautiously. The clown entered from another doorway in the room and was carrying a brown sack. He began to hand out bananas, apples and oranges from the sack to each of the people.

Owen turned to a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair. “What’s he doing, Jane?”

“He’s been doing it since I first arrived,” said Jane.

“Does he do anything?”

Jane shook her head. “No. A few times a day he comes in with that sack and hands out the fruit and then disappears again.”

“You were one of the first to go missing,” said Owen.

Jane nodded. “I know. I was out chopping wood in the yard when he grabbed me. I didn’t have time to do anything. There was a flash and I ended up here. Then the others came.”

“We all thought you were dead,” said Owen. He noticed Elliot’s scared face and squeezed his arm gently. “I thought I’d lost Elliot.”

“I’m sorry for going back to get my ball, dad,” said Elliot.

“Hey, that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is us trying to work a way out of this.”

Clarence arrived at Owen and handed out a banana and orange.

“Thanks,” said Owen, taking the fruit. He looked down at the banana. “Wait a minute, Sidney has been complaining of fruit going missing from his stall at the market.”

“It’ll be this chap then,” said Jane, gratefully taking an apple.

“Where are we?” said Owen to Clarence.

Clarence looked down at him. “Safe.”

“Yes, we guessed that,” said Owen, “but where exactly is safe. We’re obviously not dead.”

Clarence shook his head.

“Believe me we’ve tried asking him,” said Jane. “But something’s broken in him. It’s like he can’t say anything else. He can’t communicate properly.”

Owen sighed and rested his head against the metal wall. “Wherever we are is some kind of building. The only metal building on Heliatos isn’t even a building.”

“You mean the colony ship?” said Jane.

“That’s right, but I’ve been up there just recently. Clarence was hanging out there, but the whole place was lifeless.”

“The rest of us had started to come up with a plan though,” said Jane, shifting a little closer to Owen.

“Go on.”

“We were going to try and rush him when he goes through that other doorway. See what’s beyond it.”

“It sounds dangerous.”

“Not necessarily,” said Jane. “All he’s done so far is try and protect us from whatever he thinks we need protecting from. I don’t think he’ll hurt us, but he’s not going to let us through that doorway either.”

“It’s risky.”

“What other option do we have? We need to get out of here and back to our families.”

Owen couldn’t deny that. He thought of his wife and daughter back at home. He wanted nothing more than to get Elliot back to them now and make his family whole and happy again. While he was gone Heather and Kat would assume he was dead. The grief would be unbearable.

“Okay,” said Owen, watching Clarence disappear out the door. “Next time he comes in, we rush him and then break through. Then maybe we’ll get some answers.”




The Doctor, Holly, Lilly and Ringo had been escorted from the ring to a caravan outside. Gordon had been instructed by Joe to tie them up and a couple of clowns were standing guard outside the door.

“What’s the plan then?” said Lilly, trying to escape her bonds.

“I’m afraid I don’t have one just yet,” said the Doctor, frowning. But he wasn’t frowning at her. He was frowning at himself. “I can’t believe how stupid I was to get us stuck in this situation.”

“It’s not your fault,” said Ringo glumly from the corner. “If I’d had been a bit braver and stood up for our opinions we might not have found ourselves here now. And Carlotta may have not been murdered.”

Holly rubbed Ringo on his back and smiled sadly. “It wasn’t your fault, you know?”

“No,” said Ringo, his frown looking more angrier than the Doctors. “It was Uncle Joe’s fault. He’s the problem here.”

“So he needs to die, yeah?” said Lilly. “That way the circus and this planet is free?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “but I can’t advocate just killing someone, no matter what he’s done.”

“He’s a murderer,” said Lilly.

“But I’m not going to walk in there with a gun and kill him.”

“I’ll do it,” said Ringo.

“No you won’t,” said the Doctor quickly. “Nobody is murdering anyone. Not today.”

Outside the caravan around the back, Gordon listened intently to the conversation. His eyes narrowed as he heard the Doctor’s words. They were plotting something, and he had to make sure he dealt with it quickly.




Jane was sat beside the door listening intently to any sign of someone the other side. The rest of the kidnapped Braxshinians remained quiet.

Owen held Elliot close to him and rubbed his shoulder.

“Dad, I’m scared,” said the boy.

“I know you are,” he said, soothingly, “but I don’t think Clarence is going to hurt us. I think he’s been helping us.”

“Then why lock us away like this.”

Owen sighed. “Something has gone wrong. In his head.” He pointed towards his temple. “It’s like he’s been brain damaged and he can’t find any other way to communicate.”

“Then why can’t we just ask him to let us go?”

“Because I think that all he can do is keep us safe. He hasn’t got any long-term plans.”

Their conversation was interrupted with Jane tapping the metallic floor with her wedding ring. Her eyes were wide and when Owen looked at her she nodded quickly and then slid away from the door.

The door opened and Clarence entered with a tray of glasses filled with water.

Owen got up and stepped a little closer to the clown. Elliott hung onto the bottom of his tunic, but Jane guided him away from his father.

“Safe,” said Clarence, offering the tray.

“Safe,” said Owen.

And with lightening speed Owen flung his arms up and knocked the tray out of Clarence’s hands. The glasses tumbled to the floor, smashing and splashing water everywhere. Clarence was taken aback and all he could do was look down at the broken glasses sadly.

“NOW!” shouted Jane.

The dozen or so people got to their feet and rushed Clarence. He was knocked to the side as they pushed past him and headed for the door.

“SAFE!” shouted Clarence as he scrambled out of their way.

Jane grabbed Elliott’s hand and ran past the flailing Clarence as he tried to get back to his feet. Owen ushered them through the door and, once everyone was through, turned and looked back at the clown.

“Safe,” said Clarence. He almost sounded sad.

“Thank you,” said Owen, “but we deserve our freedom as well.”

Owen turned and chased after the others. They were in a narrow corridor that seemed to curve around. Wherever they were was circular. He eventually reached another open door and skidded to a halt as he ran into the liberated crowd. But they were standing stock-still looking at something.

“What is it?” said Owen.

“Come and see,” said Jane, her voice full of fear.

Owen joined his new found friend and son at their side and then turned to face what they were looking at. He let out a gasp. What he was looking at was a glass window set into the corridor. But on the other side of the window was something he had never seen. Nobody on the colony world had ever seen it.

On the other side of the window was an blanket of stars set on a inky-black sky and hanging in space just below them was the beautiful, green-blue world of Heliatos.

Somehow they were in space.

Clarence entered the second room and they turned to look at him. He nodded at them slowly. “Safe.”

Owen continued to stare down at his home far below.




In the town centre about two dozen people were doing their daily shops at the market stalls. Sgt. Poulton walked around the perimeter of the market, his hands behind his back. He looked from person to person, smiled to himself and shook his head. That Doctor fellow had told him to make sure everyone was off the street and safely stowed in their houses.

He had tried. He really had, but nobody wanted to stay inside. In fact a number of the younger ones had become rather aggressive. In the end he had given in and taken to patrolling the market to make sure this Clarence fellow didn’t turn up again.

He didn’t want to be a policeman.

He had never wanted to be a policeman.

“That’s mine,” he heard a voice say.

He turned his head to the right. Benjamin Stables was standing with a large turnip clutched in his hands. Standing opposite him was a man with long, dark hair - Gary Falstow. Gary looked particularly angry with Benjamin.

“I saw it first,” said Gary, reaching out for the turnip.

“I asked Mr Phillips to put it aside,” said Benjamin, brushing his auburn fringe out of his eyes. “Didn’t I, Wayne?”

The man behind the stall with the shaved, greying hair looked perplexed and held his hands out. “Well…”

“He didn’t put it aside for you though,” said Gary. “Now give it here.”

“Please, gentleman,” said Wayne.

“Shut up, Wayne,” said Gary. “It’s mine.”

“I was going to put it away for Ben,” said Wayne.

“But you didn’t. You could say that about anything I want.” Gary reached for the turnip. “It’s mine.”

Benjamin stepped back and clutched the turnip tighter. “It’s mine.”

“Now, now, gentleman,” said Poulton, deciding to make his way towards the disagreement. “I’m sure you can find another turnip, Gary.”

“I want that one,” said Gary, his eyes burning with fury.

“It’s just a turnip,” said Wayne from behind his collection of oranges and apple.

“It’s my turnip!” growled Benjamin.

“I want it!” shouted Gary. He was now drawing a crowd of onlookers.

“Fine!” said Ben. “Then you have it!” With one movement he brought the turnip up over his head and then smashed it right over Gary’s head.

He stumbled backwards, his mouth open in shock, and then the fury took over him again. He balled up his fists, growled, and then launched himself at Benjamin, knocking him straight to the ground.

“No,” said Poulton, trying to pull Gary off the helpless Benjamin.

“Get off!” yelled Gary, pushing the policeman off him and knocking him to the ground as well.

Poulton watched on in horror as Gary started to beat Benjamin to a pulp and the crowd of onlookers began to chant and cheer and shout.

And all Poulton could think was how much he didn’t want to be a policeman - the only policeman - on this planet…




The Doctor was staring at the light bulb that swung limply from a cobwebbed covered wire. He was whistling quietly to himself as he watched it gently sway.

Holly was sat with her knees drawn up to her chin and looked glum. She felt sad and she felt like giving up. She had never felt this way before. Even back on the Rock when she was stuck in that cell she still always had an idea that she might get out. And then there was always Lilly there to cheer her up. The chirpy, opportunistic voice in the gloom.

But now even Lilly was glummer than she’d ever seen her before. Lilly was picking at her shoe lace. She picked the plastic tag away and was now pulling at the frayed ends.

Holly shuffled herself over to Lilly. “You alright?”

“Uncle Joe needs to die.”

“Sounds like a bad film,” said Holly, trying to lighten the mood. But there was no way of lighting this mood.

“It’s the effect of Uncle Joe,” said the Doctor from the other end of the trailer.

“I don’t understand,” said Holly. “The circus has been here for months. Why’s it taken so long?”

“Because,” said Lilly, “the circus stopped doing shows.”

“That’s right,” said Ringo. “Usually we arrive for a week or so, do a show every night and then leave the planet. Soon after the planet descends into chaos. But Clarence disappeared after the first night and so we stopped doing the shows.”

“It’s the shows that bring out the emotions,” said the Doctor. “The excitement. The fun. The joy!” He smiled and then looked crestfallen again. “Each night brings out those emotions, which Uncle Joe then absorbs.”

“There’s not been much joy on this planet,” said Ringo, “so it’s taken longer.”

“But how come it doesn’t effect you?” said Holly, nodding towards Ringo.

Ringo pushed his ear lobe to the side to reveal a micro-circuit board attached to his skin. “It’s an inhibitor. It stops Joe from taking out emotions. He created it himself. He still needs us to perform the shows.”

“So you really are just prisoners?”

“That’s right,” said Ringo. “We can feel sadness, but not enough for us to descend into warlike emotions.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, stroking his chin in an almost comical way.

“Hmmm?” said Holly.

“I have a plan,” said the Doctor.

Before the Doctor could respond, the door was flung open. The sunlight from outside streamed into the trailer blinding them momentarily. Standing there was Gordon, flanked by two clowns who were pointing their gun-fingers at the Doctor and his friends.

“What do you want?” said Holly, worriedly.

“To finish this,” said Gordon, emotionless.

To be concluded...