Elsewhere (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (Aldridge)

“Some people - not the people of Earth - would question why I have stayed here. Why I have helped the people of Earth with such an impossible task. The answer? It’s because I believed it was the right thing to do.”

“Do you still believe that?” said Ellie as she took a sip of her tepid tea.

“I firmly believe that, Ellie,” said Aldridge, copying her as he drunk his own tea. He looked down at the wishy-washy liquid and frowned. “This is awful.”

“It is,” laughed Ellie.

Aldridge looked up at the low-hanging concrete beams that lined the ceiling and sighed. “Basement 5 has been m home for nearly 20 years now. I’m going to miss it.”

“Really?” laughed Ellie. “Miss this?”

Aldridge managed a weak smile. “I’ll miss you. I’ll miss your brother.”

A metal door scraped open and Holly walked down a small, stone staircase, her hair tied up and her face as grubby as ever. “Mothers meeting?”

“Come and join us, Miss Dangerfield.”

“Just call me Holly,” she replied, checking her rifle was loaded and then putting it down on a battered, metal put-up table. “How’s your brother?” she said, turning to Ellie.

“Delirious, but alive,” said Ellie, sadly. “I suppose we must be thankful of that.”

“Professor Loopy here’s gonna blow us all to kingdom come so why should you care about your brother?”

“I’m not going to blow you all to kingdom come,” said the man, sweeping his sweaty, grey hair back and scratching his nose.

“You said that you and committee-”

“We’re going to shut down their machines.”

“And blow us all to kingdom come,” said Holly.

“Aldridge shook his head.” The Kro’Tenk will send an advance guard through, but the majority of them will stay here until the last minute. We launch a coordinated attack on each of their machines and shut them down. Trap them here.”

“And we have to live the rest of our lives under their rule,” said Holly, shaking her head in disbelief.

“No,” said Aldridge, “then we blow ourselves to kingdom come. The Kro’Tenk won’t launch their nukes with them trapped here.”

“That’s when we attack and do it ourselves.”

“But it’s suicide.”

“The Kro’Tenk will never settle. They’ll never rest until they get their machines operational again. The only way to stop them is to destroy this planet with them on it.”

“But we’ll die!” spat Holly.

“But all the alternate dimensions to come after us will survive.”

Holly shook her head and grabbed her gun. “There has to be another way,” she said, turning her back on them.

“There isn’t,” said Ellie. “Trust Professor Aldridge. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Thank you for your confidence, Ellie.” Aldridge drained the last of his tea and then cleared his throat. “I have been over and over different plans with the committee and we have found no other way of stopping them.” He got up from his chair and looked into the distance. “I used to travel this universe. I used to visit this planet regularly. But then the Kro’Tenk came through and when I realised my own people weren’t going to help…well, I’ve always been this planets protector. I will continue to protect you until the very end.”




The Doctor and Holly had been marched down the hill towards the town centre. Holly tried hard not to think about it, but she couldn’t resist looking at the place she knew so well reduced to rubble. She knew the streets of Huxley like the back of her hand, but here she couldn’t tell you where they were anymore. It was all such a ruined mess.

It wasn’t her world.

Holly had struggled to walk on her bad ankle, but so far she had made it. Just.

Every time they slowed down Azure would bark at them to continue walking until they reached a clearing in what she assumed used to be the town centre. Here stood a huge, built up metal cauldron-like device with cables and wires snaking from it into the ground. It stood about fifty-foot high and the green beam continually erupted from it. It was about 200 feet in diameter and Holly could feel the heat coming from it.

Up above the sky-bikes were circling still.

“Impressive,” said the Doctor. “Most impressive.”

Azure pushed him forward. “You will remain silent.”

“I’ve been silent for the last thirty minutes. I don’t intend to be silent any longer.”

“You will do as the Lieutenant Azure commands,” came a deeper, more smoother voice.

Standing to their side, wearing gold armour, was another, larger lizard with grey scaly skin. He flexed his muscles and brandished an axe.

“Commander Nekram?” asked the Doctor, extending his hand again.

Once again, the Kro’Tenk ignored it. “You’re correct. And you are?”

“Just call me the Doctor. And this my friend, Holly Dangerfield.”

Holly smiled inwardly. At least he still considered her a friend.

“Azure reports that you are a Time Lord.”

“And that you have a Time Lord in this dimension as well,” said the Doctor. He wasn’t willing to let Nekram ask all the questions.

“Aldridge came here not long after we did,” said Nekram, circling the pair of them as Azure stepped back. “He came in a box similar to yours. A blue box.”

“And where’s his box now?”

“Gone. We destroyed it.”

“Do you do nothing but destroy?” said the Doctor, angrily.

“It is the way we are. It is what we have always done.”

“But why?” said Holly, managing to find her voice. “Why would you just go from dimension to dimension draining it?”

“Because it is what we have always done,” repeated Nekram.

“You can’t even remember why you do it.”

“We have done this for countless millennia. Across infinite universes and dimensions. Our reasons are lost in the mists of time.”

“And you never stop to consider?” continued the Doctor. “You never even stop to question why?”

“Why would we? It is what we have always done.”

The Doctor rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. “You realise that I have to stop you now.”

“Aldridge and his precious committee has tried for 20 years to stop us. He hasn’t succeeded.”

“I’d quite like to meet this Aldridge. Why would he come here? To Huxley?”

“Your names mean nothing to me.”

The beam of light flared causing Azure and Nekram to look up to the sky.

“Not long now, commander,” said Azure.

“So you travel from dimension to dimension, sucking the planet dry, stealing all their resources and then , after 20 years, you move on.”

“Correct.”

The Doctor looked up as a number of huge cargo-like ships began to head their way. “And what do you do with these resources.”

“Stock pile,” said Nekram, nodding at the ships as they passed overhead.

“Stock pile for what?” said the Doctor, exasperated.

“For our future.”

“What future?” said the Doctor. He almost sounded sad for them. “A future that you’ve forgotten about? A future that may never come? What?”

“We do not know,” said Nekram, becoming angry with the Doctor. “It is what we have always done. We build more cauldron’s to travel from here to there.”

“You have to break the cycle, Nekram.”

Nekram broke into a wide smile. “Aldridge spoke of the same things you do.”

“Then Aldridge sounds like a very clever man.”

“Even he has given up,” said Azure.

“Doctor, are you okay?” said Holly.

“No I’m not!” he said, turning to face her. “Do you not realise how sad this is? Their entire race has forgotten why they are doing this, but instead of just stopping they’re continuing just because they know nothing else. It’s so…sad!”

Nekram frowned. “You pity us?”

“I do,” said the Doctor. “I pity all of you.”

“Maybe there’s something in the book of darkness that can help,” offered Holly, rubbing her bad ankle.

“All that Visquis transferred to Corrinas was all that he knew, which was about as much use as the information Laurel and Hardy have here.” He shook his head. “I’ll stop you, you know.”

Azure drew his sword again.

“There is no time for this,” said Nekram. “Azure, prepare the first wave. The Riders must be ready to strike.”

“I have friends on the other side that are ready for you,” said the Doctor, suddenly realising he was running out of time.

“And I have people who will kill your friends,” grinned Nekram. “What a wonderful world we all live in.”

To be continued...