Elsewhere (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 (I'm Not Planning on Going Solo)

Holly had been awake for a good hour now and she couldn’t get back to sleep. She’d switched Radio 4 on. Sometimes listening to talk radio would help her to drift off, but not this time. She’d listened to the morning Shipping Forecast and then watched as her room grew brighter and brighter with the sunrise.

She turned to her side and looked at her bookcase across from the bed. She counted each of the spines - 28 books - and still didn’t feel like falling back to sleep.

She had too much on her mind.

The Kro’Tenk. Her family. Lilly.

Lilly…

Last night after Roxy had complained at the Doctor for drinking her drink, they had all gone their separate ways. Holly saw no reason to sleep in the TARDIS now she was back home, but she hadn’t had a proper chance to say goodnight to Lilly either, with the Doctor getting all frustrated about something he wasn’t telling them and ushering her into the TARDIS quickly.

So she had got in, made herself a quick sandwich and then gone to bed.

It’d taken her ages - possibly hours, to drift off to sleep. She must have only slept for about three hours before waking up. She couldn’t get used to not having the gentle humming of the TARDIS to help her drift off.

Lilly…

So what if Lilly was a girl? She had girl friends who were in relationships with other girls. It wasn’t anything new. It wasn’t a problem.

But these feelings were new to her. Only a few weeks ago she’d been contemplating a relationship with Alfie. Now….

There came a rumble of thunder from outside her window and it dragged her back to reality. Back to her room. She sat up in the bed, swung her legs out to the side and turned sideways to look out of the window. In the distance were more thunder clouds, slowly consuming the bright, rising sun.

And then she felt a pain across her head. A searing, white-hot pain that made her ball up her fists and clamp them against her temples.

She screamed.




Elsewhere…




Holly and Ellie stood on the hill. It was the highest point they could reach in Huxley. From here the devastation could be seen much more clearly. The sky was full of dark, ash-covered clouds. They floated over the ruined town like ghostly, demonised balloons, casting dark shadows on her home below.

From somewhere in the centre of the town was a beam of green light. It shot up from somewhere near to the ground. Where it had hit the clouds a swirling, green and white portal had opened. Near to the opening Holly could see Riders flying around on their sky-bikes.

Holly couldn’t see too far because of the ash, but she knew that in every town and every city, and in every country all over the planet these beams of light were erupting.

“So they really are leaving us,” said Holly, shaking her head at the distant spectacle.

“Aldridge says they’ve got what they came for and are moving onto the next place.”

“How does Aldridge know so much?” asked Holly.

Ellie smiled and wiped the sweat from her dirty forehead. “Relax. I told you. Richard and I were working with him and his contacts across the county for months before Richard went into his coma.”

“He can be trusted then.”

“I’ve been telling you that for five months, Holly,” said Ellie. “They just stripped our entire planet of all its resources and are moving onto the next universe along.”

“Good riddance to them,” said Holly, folding her arms and walking back towards the woods.

“They’re going to nuke us, you know?” said Ellie, turning to follow her.

“It can’t get any better though.”

“We can stop them, Holly,” said Ellie as she sat down on the grass and took an almost-rotten apple out of her jeans pocket.

“How?”

“Aldridge has been coordinating with everyone else. We’re going to shut down their machines.”

“But that means they’ll be stuck here. With us.”

“But the next world will be safe.”

Holly shook her head. “Oh, no. We’ve lived through this for twenty years. It needs to end one way or the other, but not with them staying here.”

“I’m sorry, Holly, but it’s already been decided. The Committee are going to bring them down.”




Our world…




“And you found her like this, Mrs Dangerfield?” asked the Doctor as he shone a light into Holly’s open eyeball.

“Yes,” said Wendy Dangerfield, her arms folded and her face a picture of worry. “I heard her screaming and then ran in. She was on the floor face-down.”

“I’m fine now,” said Holly. “It was like an ice-cream headache.”

“Without ice-cream,” said Lilly, arching her eyebrows.

“It was the effect of the next world trying to bleed through,” said the Doctor, popping his pen-torch into his inside pocket.

“The what?” asked a confused Wendy.

“Everything alright, love?” asked Holly’s dad as he walked in with a cup of tea and Agatha at his side.

“I’m fine,” said Holly, sitting up and rubbing her head. “Now can you all get out of my bedroom please.”

The Doctor pointed to her. “Outside in ten minutes, Miss Dangerfield. We need to plan and prepare.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” said Holly, saluting the Doctor.

“But-” began Wendy.

“No questions, Mrs Dangerfield. You won’t understand the answers.” He winked and smiled at her and then exited.

Her mum, dad and sister stood there watching her with curiosity.

“Bedroom. Privacy,” said Holly.

They shuffled out quickly.

Twenty minutes later and Holly had showered, brushed her teeth, got dressed into a grey hoodie and jeans and grabbed a slice of cold toast.

“Where to then?” asked Holly, as she said bye to her family, unhooked her jacket from the peg and followed the Doctor out of the front door.

“We’re meeting up with Roger and his team here,” he said, showing her a map of Huxley.

“That’s the middle of the industrial estate by the motorway,” said Holly, frowning at the map. “It’s just warehouses and frozen food factories up there.”

“And UNIT:X’s base of operations while we’re here.” The Doctor took her around the corner and standing on the corner was a quaint, yellow vintage car.

Holly stifled a giggle.

“Is there a problem, Miss Dangerfield?” asked the Doctor, looking slightly annoyed with her.

“Is this yours?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, affectionately stroking the bonnet. “I’ve had Bessie for many a year.”

“Bessie!?”

“Yes,” he said, as if there was nothing wrong with naming your car. “You’ll hurt her feelings.”

“And you’ve just been keeping it here for a rainy day?” asked Holly as the Doctor helped her into the passenger.

“One of the UNIT people brought it up here from London. She’s been in storage for some time. I thought it was about time I blew the cobwebs off her.”

He clambered in and started the engine. There was a puff of grey smoke from the exhaust and then a loud bang.

Holly looked at the Doctor and then broke down in giggles.

“I told you - I need to blow her cobwebs away.”

He put his foot down on the accelerator and the little car reluctantly trundled from its parking space onto the road.

A few minutes later they were heading towards the motorway that took them out of town. But instead of entering onto the motorway the Doctor took a left turn and headed down an estate road towards the industrial area. Here it was a like a ghost town. During the week it’d be a lot more busier with lorries and vans and traffic, but today was a Sunday and the whole industrial estate was virtually shut down.

The Doctor consulted the map again and then took a right and then a left before arriving at a chain-link fence with a road heading into it through two gates.

Two camo-clad UNIT sentries were standing guard. The Doctor gave them a wave, they acknowledged him and then opened the gates.

Bessie drove up the road until they reached a large, abandoned factory. A long-faded sign hung limply on one screw and a small gathering of pigeons were nesting in the gutter along the roof.

To the right was a number of military vehicles, including an ambulance and a smart Rolls Royce.

The Doctor parked up Bessie and stopped her engine as the door to the building opened and Lilly came jogging out.

She glanced at Holly. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just the after effects of you know who,” said Holly with a smile.

“Good,” said Lilly, nodding. She tuned to the Doctor. “You better get in here. Richard’s not doing well.”

The Doctor got out of Bessie and then the three of them made their way inside the building. The reception looked like something out of the 1970’s with wood-chipped walls and orange, leather sofas.

Lilly took them through another door and into a darkened corridor. They passed various pictures of packaging and old black and white photos of former factory workers before heading into a large, open space with white walls and covered-over machinery pushed up against the walls. In the centre of the space was a stretcher with all manner of medical equipment hooked up to it. On the bed was an unshaven Richard Hicks. He was sweating and looked to be in some distress.

Faith Crossland was just finishing tightening some leather straps over him when the Doctor, Lilly and Holly entered.

“Is that really necessary, Mrs Crossland?” asked the Doctor, nodding towards the straps.

“It’s for his own safety, Doctor,” said Faith, sadly.

“You’ve met Lilly,” said the Doctor. He turned to Holly. “Faith, this is Holly. Holly, meet Faith.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Holly, shaking the woman’s hand.

“I heard you had a funny turn this morning?” said Faith, making sure the straps were secure.

“Just a bit,” said Holly. “The Doctor said it was the effects of the Riders trying to break through.”

“That’s correct, Miss Dangerfield,” came Roger Stark’s voice as he entered the room. “We can only assume that the Kro’Tenk are beginning their final break-through into our world.”

“Holly, this is Roger Stark, head of operations at UNIT: X.”

“Charmed, I’m sure,” said Stark, smiling at Holly.

“But I thought Richard was meant to block their effects,” said Holly, watching on as Richard continued to struggle.

“Well it was only a hope,” said the Doctor. “I’ve never tried it before. I suppose we were lucky it lasted while it did.”

“There’s been multiple reports of people having similar fits to Miss Dangerfield all over the world,” said Stark, handing the Doctor a computer tablet. “Only minor fits, but still fits all the same.”

“There is one positive in all this,” said Lilly. “Richard is still alive in that other world.”

“But in what state?” said Holly.

“We should try and wake him,” said Faith. She saw the Doctor’s horrified face. “Look, I know what you’re going to say, but they’re coming. We can’t stop them now.”

“We’re not yet ready, Sentinel,” said Stark, taking the tablet back off the Doctor.

“But the damage it could be doing to Mr Hicks-”

“The damage it could do to the inhabitants of this planet is my concern,” he looked down at Richard. “If we wake him then people will begin blacking out, having even stronger fits-”

“And the dead will walk again,” said Holly, remembering what happened last time.

“Exactly.”

“I’m afraid I’m more inclined to go along with Roger’s decision,” said the Doctor. Stark arched his eyebrows and looked across to the Doctor. “Much as it pains me,” he added quickly.

Holly’s phone began ringing. She looked at the screen. “It’s Roxy.” She answered. “Hey….wait, what? Slow down….what’s wrong?”

“Is she okay?” asked the Doctor.

“Yeah. Yeah…okay, we’ll be there in a bit. Relax. Just stay inside.”

“What is it?” asked the Doctor as Holly hung up.

“Roxy says there’s something weird going on in the town centre.”

The Doctor, Lilly, Holly and Stark made their way outside. Over towards the centre of the town the sky was a mass of grey, swirling clouds, tinged with a sickly green colour. There were flashes of light in amongst the clouds and the thunder was louder than anything Holly had ever heard before.

“It’s them, isn’t it?” asked Holly.

“I thought we had a few more hours,” said Lilly, glowering at the Doctor.

“Give or take,” said the Doctor, his eyes transfixed on the spectacle in the sky.

“Give or take a few minutes.”

The Doctor sighed. “I must have miscalculated. The Kro’Tenk are about to arrive.”

To be continued...

Elsewhere (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: The Eve of Invasion

The Doctor was back at the grave. He knelt down in front of the tombstone and placed one hand on the top of it. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

“What do I do, Caleb?”

A flock of some form of birds flew out of the trees tops in the distance and it made him jump. He laughed to himself and then sat down in front of the grave.

“What am I doing?” he said. “Talking to a grave. It’s madness. You’re not there. You’ve passed on. Hopefully up there in the Matrix. Hopefully…” he said wistfully. He picked at a long blade of grass. “When I took you with me it kind of felt like I was…I don’t know…maybe recreating things again.” He looked across to the trees. The sun was beginning to set now and the trees cast long shadows across the field. “It felt like the last time I ran away with Susan. Except it was…different. I feel awful for saying this, Caleb, but up until recently I very much regretted taking Lilly on board. I keep thinking of what life would have been like if she hadn’t joined us. You’d still be alive…”

He got to his feet and looked down at the grave again.

“But she’s changed. She’s not there yet, but she’s healing. I think Holly has been a catalyst in healing her. The two of them have grown close.”

He scratched his chin and looked away.

“The thing is, can I bring myself to leave her one day? Is she going to have to stay with me forever, because her father is still out there. Still messing about in time.” He exhaled, blowing air out of his cheeks and put his hands into his pockets. “I just want all of this to be over. I just want to be free and enjoy myself again. I really wish you were here to help me to make my mind up about a way to defeat the Kro’Tenk. But if I go down that route…I will lose everything. Everything. And I will never be able to live with the consequences.”

He took another look around the glade, nodded and then began walking away. “Until next time, Caleb.”




Holly, Lilly and Roxy were sat in the Old Fat Cat enjoying a drink when the Doctor came strolling in. He was wearing a new, long, grey coat and was grinning wildly at them. He pulled up a stool and sat down at the table with them.

“Hello, Roxy,” said the Doctor, nodding to the girl.

“Hey, you. Nice to see you again.” She whacked him on his arm.

“And what was that for?”

“For taking my best friend away and putting her in danger.”

The Doctor held up his hands. “It was Miss Dangerfield’s choice, not mine, Roxanne. Trust me.”

“I’ve already told you that,” said Holly, frowning as she grabbed a hand full of Cheese and Onion crisps.

“Where’ve you been?” asked Lilly. “You’ve been gone hours and it’s getting late.”

“I had to pay a visit to Roger Stark.”

“So do we have a plan yet?”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, wincing at the thought.

“Well, how’s Richard?” asked Holly.

The Doctor looked uncomfortable. “Let’s just say that our old friend Roger Stark hasn’t exactly followed things through the way he should have done. Richard’s going to have a lot of catching up to do when he wakes up.”

“But he’s alright?” asked Roxy.

“He’s alright,” nodded the Doctor. “Any Worcester Sauce crisps back there?” he said, craning his neck to look over the crowd of people towards the bar.

“Nah, just your bog standard flavours,” said Holly. “What’s this plan then?”

The Doctor looked at the three of them and then broke into a wide grin. “Why don’t you three just enjoy your night.”

“Night’s almost over,” said Holly. “Come on, Doc.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Roger has a plan to use a big satellite dish to fire a high energy beam into the gap when the Kro’Tenk come through. It’ll seal it up.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Lilly, taking a sip of her JD and coke.

“The only problem is that it will destroy the previous dimension.”

“It’s pretty totalled anyway, isn’t it?” said Lilly.

“There are still billions of people alive over there. They deserve a chance at survival.”

Lilly nodded, but didn’t look like she was in total agreement.

“Other than that, I don’t have any other plans up my sleeves.” He started grinning again. “But we’ll be fine. We’ll all be alright. I trust myself to come up with something else.”

“Well, I’m off to visit the ladies,” said Holly, getting up.

“I’ll join you,” said Roxanne. “Need to sort out my makeup anyway.”

The Doctor watched the girls as they left the table and then turned back to Lilly, still smiling.

“Okay, Doctor Giggles, out with it,” she said, scrunching up her bag of crisps.

“Beg your pardon?”

“You have a plan, don’t you?”

“No. No I really don’t.”

Lilly arched her eyebrows and stared at him.

He finally stopped smiling and sunk back in his chair. “I have a plan, but it’s possibly the worst possible plan in the history of plans.”

“Even worse than that time you thought it’d be a good idea to antagonise that Robo-Bull by dressing us all in red because you thought it’d be too much for the bull?”

“That was a good plan, and it should have worked.”

“It didn’t.”

“I know that.” He picked at a beer mat and then looked back at Lilly. “This plan will definitely work, but the devastation would be too high.”

“To whom?”

“To this world.”

“How bad?”

The Doctor ripped the beer mat in two and threw both pieces down. “As in there will be no world left.”

“What?!”

“Roger’s plan may work, but if it doesn’t then we’re left with the same problem. The Kro’Tenk will occupy this dimension for the next twenty years and then move onto the next one.”

“But we can’t destroy our own universe!” exclaimed Lilly.

The Doctor thought for a moment and then quickly downed Roxy’s drink. He frowned and almost spat it out and then instead put the glass down.

“What did you do that for?” asked Lilly. “You hate alcohol.”

“Say I was a normal person.”

Lilly stifled the laugh.

“Seriously, Illithia. Pretend I’m not a Time Lord and I don’t traverse the dimensions.”

“Okay, I’ll humour you if you stop calling me Illithia.”

“In this dimension I have downed Roxy’s drink. In another dimension, the next one along from ours perhaps, I haven’t downed that drink.”

“Yeah…?” said Lilly, slowly.

“It’s an alternate dimension, isn’t it? Every decision creates ripples.”

“But surely not that tiny. That ripple would barely disturb anything.”

“But that’s the whole worrying thing, Lilly,” said the Doctor, as the glass collector removed Roxy’s empty glass. He leaned in. “Alternate dimensions aren’t just about someone having a different life or not taking a job opportunity or dropping out of school or staying at school. They are the big changes. The big ripples. It’s the small ones we have to worry about.”

“Meaning?”

“In reality the Kro’Tenk have an infinite number of universes that they can fly through. All the tiny little alternate timelines were someone decided to walk left instead of right or put on black shoes instead of white trainers. Every single decision, Lilly. Every one.”

“So those tiny little decisions create alternate realities?”

“Yep,” said the Doctor, now fiddling with a sachet of tomato sauce. “In every single one of them there is another Holly and another Roxanne and another me and you.”

“Okay, so they have an all you can eat buffet? What can we do about it?”

“We have to stop them here and now.”

“No. We can’t destroy an entire dimension to do it.”

“In the reality after ours we exist, living out our lives. The Kro’Tenk won‘t come to that reality until they have been here for twenty years. We could easily slip across into that one and destroy this one.”

“No!” said Lilly, raising her voice. “How can you even think about that?”

The Doctor lowered his head and kicked angrily at the table leg, causing Lilly’s drink to splash a little over the edge. “I’m sorry.”

“There has to be another way. There is always another way. You know that.”

“Then find me it. Find me it, Lilly.”




“So,” began Roxy as she rinsed her hands under the tap, “what’s the deal with blondie? You never did answer earlier on.”

“I needed to get back to my family,” smiled Holly, looking nervous.

“Alfie broke up with you.”

“Have you seen him?”

“Nah. I think he’s moved anyway. Some village outside of town. Raithby or Salterton.”

“Oh well, it wasn’t going to work out for us anyway.”

“Namely cos he’s not female.”

Holly turned to look at Lilly as she too began washing her hands. “I beg your pardon?”

“You and Lilly.”

“There isn’t a me and Lilly.”

“Oh, Holly,” she said, shaking her head and heading to the hand dryer. “I saw the two of you out in the rain. Jesus Christ if you too had been any more electrified you’d have electrocuted each other!”

“Nothing’s going on,” said Holly, laughing.

Roxy finished drying her hands and then turned back to her. “Come on, Hols, I’m your best friend. You can tell me anything.”

“There’s nothing going on. She’s already told me that.”

“She’s lying.”

“No she’s not,” laughed Holly.

“Well,” said Roxy, heading towards the toilet exit, “I hope you make the right decision, cos we may all end up dead tomorrow.”

“Don’t say that,” said Holly, following her friend out. She caught her reflection in the mirror and stopped to look at herself for a moment. She smiled and then exited the toilet.

“Who’s nicked my drink?” she heard Roxy saying.




The trio of UNIT:X officers as well as numerous soldiers had rolled up into Huxley earlier in the day. Part of the convoy was an ambulance carrying the comatose Richard Hicks and a large, flatbed truck on which stood the large dish.

Whilst the majority of the soldiers had set up camp at the local Territorial Army barracks, Faith and Ollie had booked out rooms at a nearby hotel just off the main road.

“How’d you feel about this?” asked Ollie, as the receptionist handed over the two sets of keys.

“We just do our job in the end, Ollie,” said Faith.

“You don’t want to though, do you?” he asked. He was clearly trying to see if she agreed with him.

“When Stark recruited me I didn’t think I’d be blowing up alternate realities full of billions of innocent people.”

“The only other option is to let them win. Fight them without using the dish.”

“We’ll fail,” said Faith, as they entered the elevator.

“Aren’t you the ray of sunshine?” laughed Ollie.

“Oh, I don’t know. I just wish the rest of the team were here.” She pressed the button for the first floor. “I don’t like it when Roger outnumbers us.”

“Stark’s one bloke, sweetheart,” said Ollie.

“One of him can outnumber two of us, Ollie, you know that. Maybe I’m being paranoid. I know he’s a good bloke and everything, but I’ll tell you one thing…”

Ollie waited for a moment. “Tell me then.”

“I wouldn’t trust him for one second.”

To be continued...

Elsewhere (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (Awkward Conversations)

Holly was sat in an armchair that had its back to the bay window in her parents house. Her mum and dad were sat to her right on the sofa with Agatha in-between. Lilly was sat in the other armchair across the room and Roxy was stood with her back to the wall and her arms folded.

Holly had returned home to excited yelps and hugs, but the excitement had soon devolved into anger and frustration from her parents.

“Five months, Holly?” said her mum again, shaking her head. She had had her hair cut since Holly had left. She used to have long, dark hair - like her - but now she wore it short. It suited her better.

“Like I said,” said Holly, still feeling guilty, “I just needed to get away.”

“But you didn’t even leave us a contact number. Not even an address,” said her dad.

“I know, and I’m sorry. But you have to understand that everything just got a bit too much for me.”

“I know you were close with your granddad, darling,” said her dad, “but that still wasn’t any excuse to go running off like that.”

“And what about your job?” asked her mum. “Because they were on the phone all that first week asking where you were.”

“Well I’ll have to find another job,” said Holly. “I’m waiting for the interview at Waterstones.”

“Waterstones sent you an interview time.”

Holly looked hopeful.

“Yeah, it was 4 months ago though,” said Agatha, frowning at her sister.

“I’m…sorry,” said Holly again. What more could she say? There was no chance in hell that she was going to tell them the truth - that she’d boarded a time machine disguised as a police box and done a runner into outer space with a madman and a grumpy blonde. She’d done her best to send then an occasional text to say she was okay, but she couldn’t have done more. She already felt terrible.

She glanced over at Lilly who was still keeping tight lipped. Holly was thankful for that at least.

“Are you planning on leaving again?” asked her dad.

She looked momentarily at Lilly, who looked back at her. “I don’t know yet.”

Agatha looked upset and shook her head.

“Sheffield can give me more opportunities that I can’t get in Huxley,” she said. She felt sick. She was starting to believe her own lies.

“I understand that, darling, but are you going for the right reasons?”

Holly sighed. “If I go it’ll be because I really have something to be there for.” She looked at Lilly again who flashed a very slight smile.

“Look,” said her mum, getting up from the sofa, “why don’t I go and put the kettle on? Agatha, Peter, you can both come and help.”

Agatha groaned and got up off the sofa.

Her father, Peter, followed suit. “Yes, I’m sure Roxanne would like a few explanations as well.”

Roxy’s eyes followed the trio as they left the room and shut the door. Her eyes then flicked to Holly and she exploded. “What the hell are you playing at, Holly?”

“I’m sorry, Roxy.”

“No, don’t give me that. You’ve not been in Sheffield, have you? That text you sent to me…you don’t send one text and one text only to your best friend and then ignore her for five months.”

“I know,” said Holly, looking down at her lap.

“So where have you been?”

“Roxy-” began Lilly.

“Shut it, blondie,” said Roxy.

“Just a minute, Roxy,” said Holly, holding her hand up. “There’s been a few changes since I’ve been gone.”

“Like what?”

Holly hesitated.

“Oh, look if you can’t tell your best friend then who can you tell?!” she said, pushing herself off from the wall and storming out towards the front door.

“Chase her then,” said Lilly to Holly.

Holly found Roxy sat on the step to the front garden, her hand brushing her curly hair out of her eyes. She looked sad, and Holly wasn’t certain, but she wondered if she may have been crying.

“I’m sorry,” said Holly as she sat down on the step next to her.

“You just left me with my coffee whilst you went chasing after those two,” said Roxy. “Anything could have happened to you.”

“It’s not been that long for me,” said Holly. “I swear it. Only a few weeks really. I didn’t think it’d effect everyone this way.”

“You went into space, didn’t you?” said Roxy. “They said they had a time machine.”

“I went further than that,” said Holly. “I went to a planet full of robot men. I got locked up in a massive tower prison. Loads of stuff.” She tried to contain her excitement.

“Sounds great,” said Roxy glumly.

Holly put her arm around her. “I truly am sorry,” she said, “but I’m back now. We can get back to normal.”

“Isn’t it time though?”

“Time? Time for what?”

“The alien invasion?”

Holly was brought back to reality. She’d not even thought about it for a few hours, but it was so close now. She was scared about it for the first time, but not scared for herself. Scared for her family. For Roxy. For Lilly.

“The Doctor will deal with it,” smiled Holly, trying her best to hide her fear.

“Oh, and one other thing?” asked Roxy.

“Yep?”

“Why did I catch you in the rain about to kiss the face off that blonde girl?”

Holly blushed bright red.




Double Zero - aka Oliver Osborne - was the weapons expert at UNIT: X. He had served in the marines up until about two years ago when he had been recruited by Roger Stark. Only in his early 30’s, he was a handsome, but rugged man with light brown eyes, short-cut dark hair and designer stubble.

He was the definition of cool as he stood next to the large satellite dish in his leather jacket and jeans.

“May I introduce you to Double Zero,” said Stark, gesturing towards Osborne.

“Just call me Ollie,” said Osborne, waving away the code name. “Double Zero is a bit of a mouthful.”

“You built this?” said the Doctor, pointing towards the weapon.

“I didn’t build it, Doc, I drew up the plans.”

“It still came from your mind though,” said the Doctor, with disdain.

“I haven’t even told you what it is,” said Stark, walking in front of the Doctor and frowning at him.

“You said it’ll wipe the Kro’Tenk from the face of the Earth. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that it’s a weapon.”

“But you don’t know how it works,” said Faith.

“Plus,” continued Ollie, “why would you object to us wiping out the Riders?”

Stark stepped forward and smiled. “The Doctor has always had a problem with big super weapons, haven’t you, Doctor?”

“I have a problem with genocide,” said the Doctor.

“Let me ask you this, Doctor, how were you expecting to defeat the Kro’Tenk?”

The Doctor shook his head and held his hands out. “I don’t know. Perhaps by talking? Perhaps by forcing them back to the other dimension.”

“But surely,” continued Stark with a smirk on his face, “that would mean the people in the previous dimension would have to continue to suffer their oppression?”

The Doctor remained silent.

“Excellent,” said Stark. “Now, Osborne, perhaps you can explain how this works.”

“Right you are, sir,” said Ollie. He brought up a holographic display of the dish. Above the dish was a collection of swirling clouds. The clouds then opened and hundreds of holographic Riders began to descend on their sky-bikes.

The dish then emitted a beam of light at opening, which sealed off the gap in the clouds.

“All I see is you sealing the gap,” said the Doctor. “What about the Kro’Tenk that are already through?”

“We fight them in the usual style,” said Stark. “But the main objective is to close off that breach. What you saw was the breach being sealed, yes, but the energy pulse actually shot through into the previous dimension and obliterated everything in that world.”

“What?!” exclaimed the Doctor. “So not only are we going to wipe out the Kro’Tenk, but we’re also going to wipe out the poor people from the previous dimension with some kind of Death Star ray?”

“It’s called survival, Doctor,” said Roger. “It will stop them for good.”

“By erasing an entire alternate universe! No, I can’t allow it.”

“Well, unfortunately you have no say in the matter.” Stark checked his watch. “We have very little time now.”

“Tell him the rest, sir,” said Faith glumly.

“We’re going to have to do this in Huxley.”

“Why not here?”

“Because,” continued Faith, her arms folded, “the biggest breach is going to be in Huxley. Your TARDIS landed there five months ago and made the area a little more unstable. It’s the perfect place to launch our attack.”

The Doctor hung his head and punch at the glass table showing the holographic display.

“Believe me, Doctor, this is the only way,” said Stark. “Osborne, I want you and Sentinel with me. We’ll be departing for Huxley in thirty minutes. Get this thing loaded up ASAP.”

“I need to see Richard,” said the Doctor.

“When we get to Huxley. Sentinel, you might as well load him up as well. Might as well keep all of our eggs in the same basket, eh?” He laughed.

Nobody else did.

To be continued...

Elsewhere (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Roger Stark)

Roger Stark was sat at his mahogany desk writing on a pad of paper. He was a man in his mid-fifties. He had swept back chestnut hair and a lined face with a square jaw line. He wore black-rimmed glasses and his eyes were concentrating intently on what he was writing.

The door to his office burst open and the Doctor strode in, followed by a small, young soldier in his 20’s looking flustered.

“Sir, this man insisted on visiting you.”

Stark looked up from his pad and frowned at the soldier.

“He says his name is the Doctor.”

“You haven’t seen this face before,” said the Doctor, pointing all over his face with his finger. “I suggest you leave us, Private…? What’s your name, kid?”

“Private Vickers. Colin Vickers.”

“Go and take five minutes, Vickers,” said the Doctor. He slipped his coat off and flung it over a chair in the corner. Then he went to his pocket, pulled out a two pound coin and flicked it to the befuddled soldier, who caught it instinctively. “Go get yourself a coffee from the shop down the road.” He turned back to Stark. “Or tea.”

“That’ll be all, Vickers,” said Stark, motioning for the Private to leave. Stark was well-spoken, his voice as smooth as molten toffee.

“Aye, sir,” said Vickers, saluting Stark, turning on his heel and marching out of the office.

The Doctor sat down on a chair on the other side of the desk and folded his arms. “Roger.”

Stark opened a draw and put his pad inside before closing it again. “Nice to put a face to the voice,” he said. “And you’re looking much younger these days.”

The Doctor closed his eyes and smiled. “You haven’t aged well, Roger.”

“I prefer this face to your bald-headed one. Then again I preferred your bald-headed incarnation to your white-suited fool look. Take a compliment, man.”

“I’m not here to discuss my face,” said the Doctor. “I want to know why Richard Hick’s family have gone? And where have they gone to?”

“I couldn’t stop them,” said Stark, pouring himself a brandy, offering one to the Doctor - who refused - and then taking a sip.

“What do you mean you couldn’t stop them? Cheryl Hicks was a doting wife. She didn’t want her husband to do this in the first place.”

“It got too much for her,” said Stark.

“No, no,” said the Doctor. “I don’t believe that for a second. What really happened?”

Stark sighed and looked up at his ceiling fan. It wasn’t turned on yet as it wasn’t particularly warm in the office block. “Okay, we sent her away.”

“I beg your pardon? You sent her away?”

“That’s correct. She was there every day at the facility. Every single day.”

“And? What’s wrong with that?”

“In case you’ve forgotten, Doctor,” he said, leaning forward in his chair, “UNIT is a top secret operation. The X branch even more so. She was starting to turn it into a family centre. She was getting to know the X team.”

“Oh, perish the thought!”

“Scoff if you want, Doctor, but it was becoming a concern for me.”

“So what did you do?”

Stark looked at his glass, swirled it around again and then drained it. “I told her that her husband had died.”

“WHAT!” said the Doctor, leaping up out of his chair.

“It was the simplest way. Sit down, man.”

“You told a distraught woman and her children that their father had died just to keep them away?” The Doctor crossed to a large bookcase that lined the wall. “This is unbelievable. I told Cheryl that her husband would be looked after. I told Richard that his family would be looked after.”

“Believe me, Doctor, I didn’t like doing it. I know what family means to people.”

“Coming from the man who has no family,” said the Doctor quickly.

“Barbed words will not make me change my mind. I believed it to be the best course of action.”

“And how about the body? I presume they wanted a funeral.”

“I convinced them for a cremation.”

“Oh my word,” said the Doctor, head in his hands. “And I presume you just handed over a random body.”

“You know my X team, Doctor. They are capable of anything. We found a dead tramp and cosmetically altered him to look like Mr Hicks.”

“I need to go and see her.”

“You need to concentrate on the matter at hand,” said Stark. “Namely the Kro’Tenk.” He got up from his chair. “Mr Hicks is 24 hours away from his wake-up call. In 24 hours the skies will open up and the Kro’Tenk will descend on our world. I trust you have a plan.”

“Not exactly,” said the Doctor, refusing the meet Stark’s glare.

“Not exactly? What have you been doing in that box of yours?”

“I’ve been busy,” said the Doctor, rounding on him. “I’ve had…things to deal with.”

Stark shook his head. “Well, it’s lucky for you that I have been working on a plan.”

“Really?”

“I am head of UNIT:X, remember?” He smiled. “I think it’s time we paid a visit to Mr Richard Hicks.”




Holly finished her summer fruits Kopparberg and drained the glass, plucking an ice cube out with her tongue.

“I really need to get home, you know?” she said, as she crunched the ice cube.

“How can you do that?” said Lilly, watching Holly happily eat the ice cube, a smile on her face.

“You should try it,” she said, offering her up the glass.

“No thanks,” said Lilly.

“Are you finished yet?” said Holly, nodding towards the half-full glass of coke and rum that Lilly had bought.

“In a minute,” said Lilly.

“I’m in a rush. My parents and Agatha haven’t seen me for five months!”

“They don’t know you’re back yet, either.”

“I need to see them though. To explain why I’ve been gone for five months.”

“You told them you spent five months in Sheffield with a friend to clear your head, didn’t you?”

“I did,” she sighed, “but it’s hardly believable, is it? I mean my family always got on. I’ve had no reason to go running off.”

“Your grandfather’s death hit you pretty hard,” said Lilly. “Use that.”

Holly looked at Lilly and almost felt angry at herself for using his death as a way to lie to her own family about where she had gone.

“I don’t know…”

“Well you need to make a decision. In 23 hours we’re gonna be up to our necks in lizard men on flying bikes.”

“I’m not ready, you know?” said Holly, looking a little worried.

“No,” said Lilly, shaking her head, “neither am I.”

A few minutes later they were walking from the pub and about ten minutes away from Holly’s house when a rumble of thunder came from the distance.

Holly looked to the sky. To the west dark clouds were rolling in and it was getting dark.

“We’re gonna get soaked,” said Holly.

“It’s just a bit of rain,” said Lilly. “When the Doctor was trying to…well, rehabilitate me after I…after Caleb died, we went to this planet. I think it was called Pelios or something. It never stopped raining there. Ever. But the planet was mostly water and the Pelions were used to it. After a few days I got used to it too. It became the norm. It became beautiful.”

Holly smiled at her as the first drop of rain came down, splashing her on the middle of her forehead.

Lilly burst out laughing and put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, Dangerfield, trust it to get you first.”

Holly wiped the rain drop off her forehead and smiled back, laughing with Lilly.

And then more drops came down. Huge, thick, heavy drops of rain thundering down from the dark clouds.

The two girls turned and Lilly grabbed Holly’s hand as they started to run down the street. They turned the corner into a tree-lined avenue. Lilly pulled Holly under the shelter of a low-hanging tree that had reached out over a high brick wall.

The both of them laughed as they watched the rain come thundering down. Lilly turned to Holly, her hand still tightly holding hers. The two of them looked at each other and smiled.

“I didn’t like you when I first met you,” said Lilly.

“I know. You’ve told me that before,” said Holly, laughing.

She took her other hand. “But I got used to you. Like I got used to that rain on Pelios.”

“And it became the norm?” said Holly.

“It became the norm. It became beautiful.”

Holly could feel her heart beating. Lilly’s face was just centimetres from hers. She closed her eyes as she felt more drops of rain trickle through the gaps in the tree above them. She waited.

And waited.

And then opened her eyes. “Lilly?”

But Lilly wasn’t looking at her. She was instead turned to the right. Standing in the rain, under an umbrella, was a woman in a long mac with curly hair, glasses and a small collection of freckles around her nose.

“Holly Dangerfield,” said the woman, angrily. “Where the hell have you been?!”

“Hi, Roxy,” was all Holly could manage as she felt her heartbeat subside.




The Doctor and Roger Stark had been taken, by a chauffeur-driven car, from Stark’s London office in Earl’s Court, through London and to a small facility 20 miles away on the outskirts of Epping Forest

The Doctor checked his watch nervously.

“It’s 5pm, Doctor,” said Stark.

“I know what time it is. It’s only 22 hours until the Kro’Tenk come through.”

“Or thereabouts,” corrected Stark.

“Yes, Roger, I know that. I could have done without a 60 minute drive to Epping.”

“We could have taken your TARDIS,” said Stark.

“No,” said the Doctor, “I don’t want your team getting their hands on it.”

“Oh, come now, Doctor,” said Stark, with a laugh, “in all the time you worked for UNIT did you ever have to fear for the safety of your TARDIS’s secrets?”

“Times were different back then,” said the Doctor. “Back then UNIT was UNIT and was run by a decent man with a decent team and decent goals.”

“I’m hurt, Doctor.”

“Nowadays I don’t know who to trust. UNIT? UNIT:X? Torchwood? Eyeglass?”

“Eye-who?”

“What I’m trying to say, Roger, is that back in the day there was a clear distinction on who was who.”

“My X Team are a splinter from UNIT. UNIT as a whole is too tied up in politics and having to obey the rules that the world governs them by. UNIT: X was devised to operate separately from that. To continue to do UNIT’s work, without them having to make it public knowledge.”

“With you leading your merry band?”

“Doctor, I’m aware that you and I will never have the same relationship that you and Sir Alistair had, but does that mean that we have to bicker?”

The Doctor shot him a glance. “Roger, you will never, ever ascend to the level of Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. If you remember that and try and be the best person you can be then maybe you and I can become…agreeable with each other.”

“Don’t try to hard, Doctor.”

The car pulled up outside a large, white and grey building. From the outside it looked like a factory. Two guards stood beside a double door at the base of the building. The car parked up outside and the two men exited.

The Doctor looked up to the sky. Over in the distance were thunder clouds.

“Somewhere near Huxley,” said Stark, noticing the Doctor’s head turned to the sky. “It shouldn’t come near us.”

“A spot of rain doesn’t bother me. It‘s what the rain brings with it.”

The double doors opened and a striking, blonde woman walked out of the building. She wore a blouse and easy-fitted grey suit. She looked to be in her forties, but was looking good for her age. She could have been mistaken for being ten years younger.

She tied her blonde hair back into a ponytail and approached the two men. “Welcome back, sir,” she nodded to Stark. She had a light Australian accent.

“Doctor, I’d like you to meet Faith Crossland. She’s my second in command at UNIT:X and my Chief Medical Officer.”

“Good to meet you at last, Doctor.”

“Nice to meet you too, Miss Crossland.”

“Mrs Crossland,” corrected Faith, smiling a little sheepishly. “The divorce hasn’t gone through yet.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” said the Doctor, apologetically.

“Don’t be. I’ll be happy when it’s all over.”

“How’s the patient, Sentinel?”

“Sentinel?” said the Doctor, with a confused frown.

“We use code names,” said Faith, looking a little embarrassed. “Keeps us all safe.”

“Same here,” said the Doctor, as Faith led them through the double doors and into a brightly lit corridor with doors going off at regular intervals.

“Mr Hicks is doing fine. His breathing is steady and his heart rate is stable.”

“Do we have any idea what his counterpart is up to on the other side?” asked Stark as two soldiers walked past and saluted him.

“Unfortunately not,” said Faith. “But we can only assume that he’s still alive.”

“But still in a coma as well,” said the Doctor, striding up to walk alongside Faith instead of Stark. “If either one of them had died the Kro’Tenk would already be here.”

Faith turned and smiled at the Doctor. “Do you mind me asking you a question, Doctor?”

“Sentinel…” said Stark with a hint of caution in his voice.

“Of course not, Mrs Crossland,” said the Doctor, turning to look at Stark and giving him ‘the eye’.

“My father worked for the old UNIT under Lethbridge-Stewart and later Bambera. He met a few of your…previous faces. Perhaps you remember him? Sgt Ian Kerrigan?”

“I’m afraid I don’t remember,” said the Doctor, sadly. “When you’ve lived as long as I have people seem to fade away.”

“Oh,” said Faith, sadly. “Well, at least I’ve got to meet one of you now. Which number are you?”

“Mrs Crossland,” said Stark, a little more forcefully.

“I can be whatever number you want me to be,” said the Doctor, his hands in his pocket, a smile playing on his face

“But seriously-”

“How about number 22? How does that sound? The Twenty-Second Doctor?”

“Again, seriously? You’re really the 22nd incarnation?”

The Doctor just smiled and tapped his nose. “It doesn’t really matter, Faith. It doesn’t really matter.”

“No, of course not,” she smiled back.

They turned to face one of the doors and Faith entered a code on a number pad. She then swiped a card through the coder and the door clunked and slid open.

Faith held out an arm and the Doctor entered, followed by Stark.

But what was inside wasn’t Richard Hicks at all. Instead it was a large rig with a huge dish sat on top. An antennae reached out from the centre of the dish and pointed towards the ceiling.

“Either Richard Hicks has been converted to a satellite dish, or you’ve paid for Sky HD, Roger,” said the Doctor, gazing up at it.

“Richard is in another area,” said Faith. “This is what our weapons expert, Double Zero, developed.”

“A satellite dish?”

“Not a satellite dish,” said Stark, gazing up at the dish. “A weapon. This thing is going to wipe the entire Kro’Tenk race from the face of the Earth.”

“I wish you’d said you’d gotten Sky HD,” said the Doctor.

To be continued...

Elsewhere (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (Life Elsewhere)

Elsewhere….




Holly Dangerfield stood beside the bay window, gazing out at the ash-covered street outside. This is what the world looked like now. This is how life was now. She tried to imagine how things would have been had the Riders never come to her world. People would be driving to and from work. Doing their shopping. Picking their kids up from school. Just all the normal things you’d expect to be doing. At least that’s what she had been told. She was 23 now. The Riders launched their first wave 20 years ago when she was just 3 years old. She couldn’t remember anything of the world back then. She remembered sunshine though. Always sunshine. She hadn’t seen sunshine in 20 years.

But she had a feeling it was going to come to an end soon.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around. Standing there in a dirty, grey t-shirt and mucky combats was Alfie, his face unshaven and a scar on his forehead.

“You okay?” he asked. “You look cold.”

“I’m always cold,” said Holly.

“I’m always warm,” said Alfie. He rubbed his forehead and sat down on the old, battered armchair that had belonged to her father. “I just want to sleep.”

“Then sleep,” she said, still looking out of the window. “I can keep watch a bit longer.”

“What’s the point?” said Alfie, closing his eyes.

“You need to keep your strength up,” she said.

“What for? It won’t be long now before they kill us.”

“Don’t talk like that,” said Holly, rounding on him. “We can’t just give up.”

“And we can’t live like this for much longer. We’re on our way out, Holly, all of us. A few months ago we had the resistance, but the transmissions have stopped now. We don’t even have hope anymore.”

“Resistance comes and resistance goes. And besides, I think they might leave us soon,” said Holly, looking longingly out of the window.

“What makes you think that?” said Alfie.

“People have started going funny over this side. That Professor Aldridge bloke at Basement 5 said that they only spend 20 years in each dimension and then move on to the next one.”

“What makes you think we’ll be safe when they’ve gone?” said Alfie, sitting up a little and taking interest. “That we can go back to the life we once had?”

“I didn’t say we could. Aldridge reckons they’ll finish us all off before they leave. That they’ll wipe our dimension from existence.”

“Cheers, Holly,” said Alfie.

“Better dead than with them here.”

There came a scream from somewhere a few blocks away. Alfie jumped to his feet and Holly turned to look at him, worry on her face.

“Where did that come from?” he said, going for his rifle that he’d put down on a battered coffee table.

“Over towards Lindum St,” said Holly, tying her short hair into a micro-ponytail and going for her own weapon - a large dagger. “Sounded like a bloke.”

“We can’t go out there,” said Alfie.

“Don’t be a coward, Alfie,” said Holly, stuffing her dagger into her belt.

“It’s not about being a coward,” said Alfie, angrily. “It’s about wanting to stay alive. Is that so wrong?”

“What about the person who screamed out there? Don’t you think he wants to stay alive?” She zipped her jacket up to her chin and headed for the door. “Come on!”

Alfie reluctantly followed as they made their way out of the front door and into the front garden. The pair looked around themselves cautiously and then made their way down the street to the source of the scream.

They headed down Coronation Ave until they reached the corner of Lindum St. Holly motioned for Alfie to stay back. Standing in a ruined shop building was one of the Riders, dressed in armour plating and leather gloves and shoes. It was holding a sword that was dripping with blood, and laid on top of a pile of rubble was an unshaven man in his 30’s.

“We’ve gotta go back,” hissed Alfie.

“No chance,” said Holly. “I know that guy.”

Without another thought Holly brandished her knife and charged across the road. She leapt over a set of twisted, metal cycle stands and bounded through the remains of the wooden door.

The Rider turned to face her, looked at her curiously, and then smiled.

“Back off,” said Holly, holding the dagger out threateningly.

“You dare threaten me?” said the Rider, it’s lizard-like face dripping with sweat.

“You’ve injured him. I just want to help.”

“He is dead.”

“He’s not dead,” said Holly, nodding towards the body. Although he was bleeding from his wrist where his hand had been severed, his chest was still rising and falling.

“Then he soon will be,” said the Rider.

Holly raised her knife a little higher, but then staggered back when she saw something leap out from behind the shop counter and launch itself at the Rider.

The Rider was taken aback as a small, blonde woman with short hair leapt at it, a dagger drawn as she drove it deep into his neck.

The Rider coughed and spluttered and staggered backwards. The blonde woman fell to the floor and remained in a crouching position, her bright green eyes watching intently as the Rider tried to remove the dagger from its neck.

The woman got up off her haunches and ran to the Rider. She twisted its flailing sword from it’s hand, drew the sword back in the air and then swung it forward, hitting the Rider’s neck and slicing his head clean off.

The Rider staggered momentarily and then fell to the floor with a thud.

“Jesus,” said Holly.

The girl glanced at Holly fleetingly and then ran to the man’s side. “He’s out cold,” said the woman. She turned to Holly. “I need your help. Do you have somewhere we can stay?”

“Yeah,” said Holly. “Just a few streets away.”

“He’s in some sort of coma.”

“You’re Ellie, aren’t you? Richard and Ellie Hicks?”

The blonde woman nodded. “Yep. And I’ve got a bad feeling my brother is in big trouble.”




Our world…5 months later…




Holly closed her eyes and smiled. The sun was out and the birds were singing. Spring was in the air and she’d, thankfully, avoided the madness of Christmas. The TARDIS had parked up next to the Old Fat Cat and the Doctor had disappeared back inside the time machine.

Lilly tapped her on the shoulder and Holly opened her eyes.

“Hey,” said Holly, smiling.

“You in this world or another, Dangerfield?” she asked, smiling back at her.

“This world. Definitely.”

“Feel good to be home?” said Lilly, looking around and watching the people going about their everyday business.

“Sort of. After the madness of everything just recently, it is nice to get back to a bit of normality.”

“I’m no fan of normality,” said Lilly, “but even I’m glad to be back. Although I suspect normality is going to be short-lived.”

“Yes indeed,” said the Doctor, emerging from the TARDIS with a bag slung over his shoulder. “We’ve got about 24 hours until the Kro’Tenk break through, give or take a minute or two.”

“And are we prepared?” asked Holly, sitting down on one of the tables outside the Fat Cat.

“Are we ever prepared?” asked the Doctor.

“That doesn’t sound very optimistic,” said Holly.

“Surely you’ve got a plan,” said Lilly.

“I’ve been busy, in case you haven’t noticed. I never expected to end up battling Cybermen or chasing after time-crossed lovers.”

“Doctor…” said Holly, putting a hand to her forehead.

“I do have some ideas though,” continued the Doctor, “but first I need to travel down to London.”

“London?” queried Lilly. “Why?”

“I need to check on Richard Hicks. Make sure my friends are still taking care of him whilst he’s in his coma.”

“But you’re coming back, aren’t you?”

“Yes, once I’ve reconnected with Roger Stark I’ll be back up here.”

“But why here?” asked Lilly.

“Well here’s as good as anywhere else,” smiled the Doctor. He shook Holly’s hand. “I’ll see you soon, Miss Dangerfield.”

Holly smiled back at him.

“Coming, Lilly?” he said, stepping back into the doors.

“No,” said Lilly.

“No?” said the Doctor, looking a little concerned.

“I’ve got 24 hours. We’ve got 24 hours.” She turned to Holly. “I think it’d be nice to enjoy a bit of calm before the storm?”

The Doctor smiled and then nodded. “You’ve earned it. Both of you. See you soon.” He quickly dived in the TARDIS and flung the doors shut.

“He doesn’t like long goodbyes, does he?” said Holly.

“He hasn’t been on his own since before Caleb,” said Lilly. “It’ll be hard for him.”

“He’s only going to London for a few hours.”

Lilly turned to Holly. “But he’s on his own. When he’s on his own is when I worry about him.”

The air was filled with the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising. The both of them watched as the box disappeared from the side of the street.

“You can go and join him if you want,” said Holly. “There’s a train to London every hour.”

“No,” said Lilly, shaking her head and looking at Holly. “What I want is for me and you to walk into that pub right behind you and have a pint.”

“A pint? Is that wise with an alien invasion on our doorstep?”

“I think a pint is wisest decision in the world, Dangerfield.”

Holly smiled as the two of them headed into the Old Fat Cat.




The Doctor was stood at the console staring at the time rotor moving gently up and down. In a few seconds he would be in London. Back to civilisation. Back amongst people. He couldn’t stand the silence of the console room when there was nobody around.

He looked down at the console and flicked a switch. The scanner turned on and showed the swirling clouds of colour in the vortex. He concentrated on it for the next few seconds, blocking out the silence.

And then the TARDIS finally landed.

He relaxed, switched the scanner off and exited the time ship.

The TARDIS had landed on the pathway near Earl’s Court tube station. He locked up the box and went to his pocket, removing a mobile phone. He found his contact and dialled.

He waited for a few moments and then spoke. “Hello! Yes, Roger, it’s me. Don’t sound too surprised, will you? I said I’d be back. Now, how’s our patient been keeping?”

The Doctor listened and then frowned.

“What do you mean his family have gone? You were meant to be looking after them.” The Doctor exhaled angrily and then shook his head. “Give me five minutes. I’ll be right up.”

To be continued....

Story 8: Elsewhere

“Roger’s plan may work, but if it doesn’t then we’re left with the same problem. The Kro’Tenk will occupy this dimension for the next twenty years and then move onto the next one.”

“But we can’t destroy our own universe!” exclaimed Lilly.

It's been five months since Holly Dangerfield threw herself on board a departing time machine called the TARDIS. In that time she has fought Cybermen, been locked up in prisons and gotten to know the mysterious time travellers known as the Doctor and Lilly Galloway.

But she has always known that their adventures would come to an end...

The Doctor returns Holly to her hometown. An alien race known as the Kro'Tenk are about to break through from an alternate dimension into ours.

The Doctor travels down to London to meet with the mysterious Roger Stark who has a plan for defeating the Kro'Tenk.

But our world isn't the only one in danger. There's another world - elsewhere - which is about to come to an end...

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