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.
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