Our world…
She sighed as her jeep rolled up and parked beside the office block. She shook her head as she watched Stark and his two minions setting up their over-complicated science equipment.
She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of worried voices outside as members of the public looked on at the swirling clouds above their town. She had considered retirement last year, but in reality she wasn’t sure if she was ready to give it up yet. Her children had grown up and left home and her husband was happy to spend his days building things in the garden, but she wasn’t ready to leave this life yet.
The life of a UNIT soldier.
But recent years had caused her to rethink that. UNIT wasn’t the same organisation it had been when she had first joined. Back then it had been very straightforward. UNIT would deal with alien incursions. There was no splinter group and, even though Torchwood was around back then, it was very much an underground operation.
Now things weren’t so straight forward. Back in Lethbridge-Stewarts day there was a simple order of things. He would be in command of operations, assisted by the Doctor. That was it.
She had no control over Stark or his team. His so-called UNIT: X.
She sighed again and opened the door. She holstered her sidearm and marched up to the flatbed truck where the giant satellite dish sat.
Stark turned to face her and smiled at her. “Brigadier Bambera,” he nodded.
“Stark,” she said, looking up at the dish. “Is it true what command are telling me?”
“About the dish? Yes, it is.”
The blonde woman, Crossland, turned to face her and smiled. She was a nice woman, but she was still one of them. “We’re hoping it’s a last resort.”
“I would hope, Mrs Crossland, that any plan that involves the destruction of an entire world is a last resort.”
“If it comes to it, Winifred,” said Stark (she hated him using her first name), “then the protection of this universe is paramount.”
“Indeed it is, Roger, but I understand the Doctor has gone through to the other side?”
“Bloody nutter if you ask me,” said Osborne, as he clambered down from the truck.
The clouds flared white and there were the sounds of screams. Bambera turned to face some of the UNIT soldiers who were busy gazing up at the spectacle. “Alright, you lot. We need to clear this area of civilians now.” They looked at her gone out. “Come on, move!”
The soldiers began to scramble, shepherding the members of the public out of the immediate area.
“You don’t have them very well trained,” said Bambera.
Stark smiled. “I do appreciate you loaning me my own platoon,” said Roger, as he checked his watch, “but I’m not a soldier.”
“You’re still their commanding officer, Stark,” said Bambera, as she gazed up at the sky worriedly. She then noticed two people out of the corner of her eye. A blonde girl with big, green eyes and a curly haired girl. The pair of them were right under the swirling clouds.
“You two!” barked Bambera, “Back behind the cordon.”
“Ah, these two ladies are friends of the Doctors,” said Stark.
Lilly and Roxy made their way over to the group.
“Is there no word from the Doctor yet? Hasn’t he even attempted to make contact?” asked Lilly.
“For all we know he may be dead,” said Faith, sadly.
“Not the Doctor,” said Stark, shaking his head. “You can’t get rid of him that easily.”
There was a crack of thunder and all of their faces turned towards the clouds. Bambera narrowed her eyes as a number of small, black dots appeared in the sky. They appeared to be coming from a small gap in the clouds - and they were moving.
As the dots moved closer she realised they weren’t dots at all. They were shapes. Humanoid shapes on flying devices. Her hand instinctively went to her pistol.
“Oh, bollocks,” said Osborne, “they’re here.”
“You’re not kidding,” said Faith, edging a little closer to him.
“I suggest you start coordinating my troops, Brigadier,” said Stark.
“Oh, shame,” said Bambera, as the first strike began.
Elsewhere…
Holly had never heard an explosion so big in her life. Even after travelling with the Doctor for the last few weeks she hadn’t heard anything as loud as this. She was thrown to the floor by a loud shockwave and landed flat on her back in the wet mud mixed with ash.
She could hear the sound of voices and squelching, running footsteps.
She felt the Doctor grab for her hand and haul her to her feet. As she found herself being dragged along she looked around her. The whole area was in disarray. Bodies of Kro’Tenk lay around, whilst others mobilised themselves for another attack. Near to the device that was creating the beam of light was a huge plume of smoke and flames.
Her vision was blurred as she found herself being half-dragged towards a line of Human-looking soldiers, and standing there, in the middle of them all, was an old-looking man with a deep-lined faced and grey, dirty hair that hung lankly down the sides of his face.
“Come on,” said the man, beckoning them forward.
The Doctor pushed Holly forward to the relative safety of the mass group of people.
“Fall back, fellas,” said the old man, as he helped the Doctor and Holly through the group of soldiers and through the back of them. “Can you both run?”
“I can carry Holly,” said the Doctor, hefting her to her feet and carrying her in his arms. “You’re heavier than you look!”
“Watch it, Doc,” said Holly.
“Fall back. Fall back!” shouted the man.
There were a few more explosions - covering fire as well - as the group headed into the ruined streets of her town. She felt a twang of heartache when she saw the building that - in her world at least - housed the Old Fat Cat. The building was converted from a furniture shop in the late 90’s, but here it was still the blasted out remains of the furniture shop. It had never had the opportunity to become her favourite pub.
After she was carried for what seemed like ages they finally entered a building and descended some stairs. She realised that their group had thinned out somewhat. She’d seen some of the soldiers filtering off into other streets and buildings. They moved more safely in less numbers.
Eventually they reached a basement room and the Doctor settled Holly down on a chair.
“Oh, my arms,” said the Doctor, spinning both arms around in circular motions.
“I told you to watch it!” said Holly, not being entirely angry with him.
“So,” came a voice that sounded spookily like her own, “that’s what I look like without my scar.”
Holly had never experienced anything like this before. Standing on the other side of the room in dirt overalls and short hair tied into a small ponytail was a battered, blackened version of herself, complete with a large scar running down the side of her face.
“Doctor…” said Holly, feeling a little uneasy at coming face to face with herself.
“You’re okay, Miss Dangerfield,” came the voice of the old man as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It was bound to crop up eventually,” said the Doctor, looking at the old man.
The other Holly stepped forward and then crouched down in front of her, eyeing her up and shaking her head in disbelief.
“Nice to meet you…I think,” said Holly, extending her hand.
“Won’t the universe blow up or something?” said the other Holly, not willing to touch her other self.
“I think we’re safe,” said the old man.
“Although your world looks like it’s already on the way out,” said the Doctor.
The old man nodded. “Sadly.”
“You must be Professor Aldridge,” said the Doctor, shaking the mans hand.
“The very one.” Aldridge smiled. “And you are the Doctor.”
“Yes,” smiled the Doctor, “but that’s no surprise to you, is it?”
“So you figured it out, did you?”
“Well, when Nekram began talking about blue boxes already being here, it didn’t take me long to put the puzzle together.”
“He’s you, isn’t he?” said Holly. “An alternate version of you?”
“Indeed I am, Miss Dangerfield,” said Aldridge. “An older and much wiser version of you. A version who needs you to go back to your own world.”
“We need to find a way to defeat the Kro’Tenk first,” said the Doctor.
Aldridge smiled and closed his eyes. “Follow me, young man.”
Holly watched as the two versions of the Doctor exited the room. Her alternate self was still crouched down in front of her. She’d been watching her like a hawk when she finally smiled at her. Her teeth were yellow and the scar creased under the strain of her smile.
“You’re so pretty,” she said, touching Holly’s face.
“I’m sorry,” said Holly.
“What for? For this?” said her other self, pointing at the large scar. “Got this when I was a little girl. A piece of metal just sliced through my face like butter. It’s been there for my whole life. Like a friend, I guess.”
“This shouldn’t have happened to you.”
“No,” said her other self. She got up off her haunches and turned away from her, “but then it was always destined to happen.” She turned back to her. “And it’ll happen to you too.”
“Not if we can stop it.”
“That’s what Aldridge says,” said her other self, “but who knows?”
“Is any of your family still alive?”
The other Holly looked sad and looked away. “No. They all died.”
“All of them?”
“All but granddad, but he’s dying anyway.”
Holly felt her heart break. “How?”
“It’s this world. He can’t hang on any longer. Losing Agatha was what did it to him.”
Holly nodded. She remembered the vision she had had back when her mind had been invaded by Uncle Joe. She had seen Agatha badly injured and dying.
“I’d very much like to meet him.”
The other Holly turned to face her and shook her head. “This is not your world.”
“I know, but-”
“But nothing,” said the other Holly. “This is not your world.”
Aldridge sat the Doctor down on a battered metal chair and handed him some weak-looking tea. He went into his brown, tweed jacket and pulled out a single sugar cube. He tapped his nose, smiled cheekily and then dropped it into the Doctor’s mug.
“Thank you,” said the Doctor, “but I don’t take sugar in my tea.”
“Oh,” said Aldridge. “Well what a waste!”
“We need to try and convince the Kro’Tenk to stop their invasion.”
“Goodness me!” mocked Aldridge. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Well you don’t seem to be doing a good job of stopping them.”
Aldridge straightened himself up. “Shall I tell you a little story, young man? Twenty years ago this planet was invaded by the Kro’Tenk. I was enjoying an ice-cream with a friend - Katy her name was - when the skies opened up and the Riders came. The Time Lords tried to get me to leave. They told me that this version of Earth was next on their list and there was nothing we could do to stop them. We had to let it happen and think ourselves lucky that they only invaded Earth.”
“But you stayed?”
“Yes. Even after Katy was vaporised by them. I stayed. And why? You know the answer to that.”
“Because we have always protected this planet.”
“Exactly.” He had a swig of his own tea. “And I have spent twenty years protecting the planet, but nothing we have ever tried to do has stopped them. Nothing.”
“And so you’re just going to let them take over my world as well?” The Doctor shook his head.
Aldridge sighed. “Doctor, do you know how many friends I have lost trying to stop them? Trying to stop them crossing to the next reality? You don’t even recognise this face.”
The Doctor didn’t answer him, but instead looked away.
“When the Kro’Tenk leaves this world they will nuke it. They will kill everyone here.”
“That’s no reason to give up.”
“I never said I had given up,” said Aldridge, becoming frustrated with the Doctor. “In fact, when this planet goes nuclear, I’m going to make sure they are stuck on this world when it happens.”
She sighed as her jeep rolled up and parked beside the office block. She shook her head as she watched Stark and his two minions setting up their over-complicated science equipment.
She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of worried voices outside as members of the public looked on at the swirling clouds above their town. She had considered retirement last year, but in reality she wasn’t sure if she was ready to give it up yet. Her children had grown up and left home and her husband was happy to spend his days building things in the garden, but she wasn’t ready to leave this life yet.
The life of a UNIT soldier.
But recent years had caused her to rethink that. UNIT wasn’t the same organisation it had been when she had first joined. Back then it had been very straightforward. UNIT would deal with alien incursions. There was no splinter group and, even though Torchwood was around back then, it was very much an underground operation.
Now things weren’t so straight forward. Back in Lethbridge-Stewarts day there was a simple order of things. He would be in command of operations, assisted by the Doctor. That was it.
She had no control over Stark or his team. His so-called UNIT: X.
She sighed again and opened the door. She holstered her sidearm and marched up to the flatbed truck where the giant satellite dish sat.
Stark turned to face her and smiled at her. “Brigadier Bambera,” he nodded.
“Stark,” she said, looking up at the dish. “Is it true what command are telling me?”
“About the dish? Yes, it is.”
The blonde woman, Crossland, turned to face her and smiled. She was a nice woman, but she was still one of them. “We’re hoping it’s a last resort.”
“I would hope, Mrs Crossland, that any plan that involves the destruction of an entire world is a last resort.”
“If it comes to it, Winifred,” said Stark (she hated him using her first name), “then the protection of this universe is paramount.”
“Indeed it is, Roger, but I understand the Doctor has gone through to the other side?”
“Bloody nutter if you ask me,” said Osborne, as he clambered down from the truck.
The clouds flared white and there were the sounds of screams. Bambera turned to face some of the UNIT soldiers who were busy gazing up at the spectacle. “Alright, you lot. We need to clear this area of civilians now.” They looked at her gone out. “Come on, move!”
The soldiers began to scramble, shepherding the members of the public out of the immediate area.
“You don’t have them very well trained,” said Bambera.
Stark smiled. “I do appreciate you loaning me my own platoon,” said Roger, as he checked his watch, “but I’m not a soldier.”
“You’re still their commanding officer, Stark,” said Bambera, as she gazed up at the sky worriedly. She then noticed two people out of the corner of her eye. A blonde girl with big, green eyes and a curly haired girl. The pair of them were right under the swirling clouds.
“You two!” barked Bambera, “Back behind the cordon.”
“Ah, these two ladies are friends of the Doctors,” said Stark.
Lilly and Roxy made their way over to the group.
“Is there no word from the Doctor yet? Hasn’t he even attempted to make contact?” asked Lilly.
“For all we know he may be dead,” said Faith, sadly.
“Not the Doctor,” said Stark, shaking his head. “You can’t get rid of him that easily.”
There was a crack of thunder and all of their faces turned towards the clouds. Bambera narrowed her eyes as a number of small, black dots appeared in the sky. They appeared to be coming from a small gap in the clouds - and they were moving.
As the dots moved closer she realised they weren’t dots at all. They were shapes. Humanoid shapes on flying devices. Her hand instinctively went to her pistol.
“Oh, bollocks,” said Osborne, “they’re here.”
“You’re not kidding,” said Faith, edging a little closer to him.
“I suggest you start coordinating my troops, Brigadier,” said Stark.
“Oh, shame,” said Bambera, as the first strike began.
Elsewhere…
Holly had never heard an explosion so big in her life. Even after travelling with the Doctor for the last few weeks she hadn’t heard anything as loud as this. She was thrown to the floor by a loud shockwave and landed flat on her back in the wet mud mixed with ash.
She could hear the sound of voices and squelching, running footsteps.
She felt the Doctor grab for her hand and haul her to her feet. As she found herself being dragged along she looked around her. The whole area was in disarray. Bodies of Kro’Tenk lay around, whilst others mobilised themselves for another attack. Near to the device that was creating the beam of light was a huge plume of smoke and flames.
Her vision was blurred as she found herself being half-dragged towards a line of Human-looking soldiers, and standing there, in the middle of them all, was an old-looking man with a deep-lined faced and grey, dirty hair that hung lankly down the sides of his face.
“Come on,” said the man, beckoning them forward.
The Doctor pushed Holly forward to the relative safety of the mass group of people.
“Fall back, fellas,” said the old man, as he helped the Doctor and Holly through the group of soldiers and through the back of them. “Can you both run?”
“I can carry Holly,” said the Doctor, hefting her to her feet and carrying her in his arms. “You’re heavier than you look!”
“Watch it, Doc,” said Holly.
“Fall back. Fall back!” shouted the man.
There were a few more explosions - covering fire as well - as the group headed into the ruined streets of her town. She felt a twang of heartache when she saw the building that - in her world at least - housed the Old Fat Cat. The building was converted from a furniture shop in the late 90’s, but here it was still the blasted out remains of the furniture shop. It had never had the opportunity to become her favourite pub.
After she was carried for what seemed like ages they finally entered a building and descended some stairs. She realised that their group had thinned out somewhat. She’d seen some of the soldiers filtering off into other streets and buildings. They moved more safely in less numbers.
Eventually they reached a basement room and the Doctor settled Holly down on a chair.
“Oh, my arms,” said the Doctor, spinning both arms around in circular motions.
“I told you to watch it!” said Holly, not being entirely angry with him.
“So,” came a voice that sounded spookily like her own, “that’s what I look like without my scar.”
Holly had never experienced anything like this before. Standing on the other side of the room in dirt overalls and short hair tied into a small ponytail was a battered, blackened version of herself, complete with a large scar running down the side of her face.
“Doctor…” said Holly, feeling a little uneasy at coming face to face with herself.
“You’re okay, Miss Dangerfield,” came the voice of the old man as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“It was bound to crop up eventually,” said the Doctor, looking at the old man.
The other Holly stepped forward and then crouched down in front of her, eyeing her up and shaking her head in disbelief.
“Nice to meet you…I think,” said Holly, extending her hand.
“Won’t the universe blow up or something?” said the other Holly, not willing to touch her other self.
“I think we’re safe,” said the old man.
“Although your world looks like it’s already on the way out,” said the Doctor.
The old man nodded. “Sadly.”
“You must be Professor Aldridge,” said the Doctor, shaking the mans hand.
“The very one.” Aldridge smiled. “And you are the Doctor.”
“Yes,” smiled the Doctor, “but that’s no surprise to you, is it?”
“So you figured it out, did you?”
“Well, when Nekram began talking about blue boxes already being here, it didn’t take me long to put the puzzle together.”
“He’s you, isn’t he?” said Holly. “An alternate version of you?”
“Indeed I am, Miss Dangerfield,” said Aldridge. “An older and much wiser version of you. A version who needs you to go back to your own world.”
“We need to find a way to defeat the Kro’Tenk first,” said the Doctor.
Aldridge smiled and closed his eyes. “Follow me, young man.”
Holly watched as the two versions of the Doctor exited the room. Her alternate self was still crouched down in front of her. She’d been watching her like a hawk when she finally smiled at her. Her teeth were yellow and the scar creased under the strain of her smile.
“You’re so pretty,” she said, touching Holly’s face.
“I’m sorry,” said Holly.
“What for? For this?” said her other self, pointing at the large scar. “Got this when I was a little girl. A piece of metal just sliced through my face like butter. It’s been there for my whole life. Like a friend, I guess.”
“This shouldn’t have happened to you.”
“No,” said her other self. She got up off her haunches and turned away from her, “but then it was always destined to happen.” She turned back to her. “And it’ll happen to you too.”
“Not if we can stop it.”
“That’s what Aldridge says,” said her other self, “but who knows?”
“Is any of your family still alive?”
The other Holly looked sad and looked away. “No. They all died.”
“All of them?”
“All but granddad, but he’s dying anyway.”
Holly felt her heart break. “How?”
“It’s this world. He can’t hang on any longer. Losing Agatha was what did it to him.”
Holly nodded. She remembered the vision she had had back when her mind had been invaded by Uncle Joe. She had seen Agatha badly injured and dying.
“I’d very much like to meet him.”
The other Holly turned to face her and shook her head. “This is not your world.”
“I know, but-”
“But nothing,” said the other Holly. “This is not your world.”
Aldridge sat the Doctor down on a battered metal chair and handed him some weak-looking tea. He went into his brown, tweed jacket and pulled out a single sugar cube. He tapped his nose, smiled cheekily and then dropped it into the Doctor’s mug.
“Thank you,” said the Doctor, “but I don’t take sugar in my tea.”
“Oh,” said Aldridge. “Well what a waste!”
“We need to try and convince the Kro’Tenk to stop their invasion.”
“Goodness me!” mocked Aldridge. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Well you don’t seem to be doing a good job of stopping them.”
Aldridge straightened himself up. “Shall I tell you a little story, young man? Twenty years ago this planet was invaded by the Kro’Tenk. I was enjoying an ice-cream with a friend - Katy her name was - when the skies opened up and the Riders came. The Time Lords tried to get me to leave. They told me that this version of Earth was next on their list and there was nothing we could do to stop them. We had to let it happen and think ourselves lucky that they only invaded Earth.”
“But you stayed?”
“Yes. Even after Katy was vaporised by them. I stayed. And why? You know the answer to that.”
“Because we have always protected this planet.”
“Exactly.” He had a swig of his own tea. “And I have spent twenty years protecting the planet, but nothing we have ever tried to do has stopped them. Nothing.”
“And so you’re just going to let them take over my world as well?” The Doctor shook his head.
Aldridge sighed. “Doctor, do you know how many friends I have lost trying to stop them? Trying to stop them crossing to the next reality? You don’t even recognise this face.”
The Doctor didn’t answer him, but instead looked away.
“When the Kro’Tenk leaves this world they will nuke it. They will kill everyone here.”
“That’s no reason to give up.”
“I never said I had given up,” said Aldridge, becoming frustrated with the Doctor. “In fact, when this planet goes nuclear, I’m going to make sure they are stuck on this world when it happens.”
To be continued...
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