Scouting for Aliens (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (The Journey Begins)

Andrew Sibley wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing. He had been mulling it over and over in his mind for the last few days. When he had been asked if he wanted to do it all those weeks ago he hadn’t hesitated, but now he wasn’t sure. It was typical of him anyway – always leaving things until the last moment. He often used to joke that his motto was “why worry about it today when you can worry about it tomorrow?”

“Andy, are you ready?” came his wife’s voice from upstairs. “Graham’ll be here soon.”

“Yeah, nearly got everything packed,” he said, forcing the last of his energy bars into his pack.

“Have you got enough clothes?”

“I’m probably not gonna change while I’m there,” said Andy. “We’re only going for one night.”

“But you need clean underwear!” said his wife, Nicole, as she appeared as if by magic at the top of the stairs, brushing her dark, blonde hair out of her eyes. Andy couldn’t help me smile at her. No matter what time of the day she always did her best to look as good as she could. He often wondered how he had managed to meet someone as perfect as her.

“Relax, I’ve got it,” said Andy with a nervous laugh.

There was a beep of a car horn outside.

“He’s here,” said Andy, hefting the large backpack onto his back and almost tipping back.

Nicole came down the stairs, folded her arms and then smiled at her husband. “Look at you, all ready for camping out in the woods.”

“Who would have thought it last year?” said Andy. Last November Andy had been persuaded to join the local Scout group and he had taken to it and enjoyed it. But he still hadn’t gone on his first camping trip, and this wasn’t your normal trip. This was a survival camp for the adult leaders in the hope that they might pass their gained knowledge down to the young Cubs and Scouts.

“Things change,” said Andy, putting his arms around his wife and kissing her on the forehead.

“You’ll be alright, won’t you?” asked Nicole as the car horn beeped again.

“We’re just off to some private woodlands a few hours away,” said Andy. “I’ll be absolutely fine. There’s not gonna be anything out there other than the group of us and the course leader.”

“Call me if you need to,” said Nicole as she handed him a bottle of water.

“We won’t get much of a signal in the middle of nowhere,” he said, opening the front door. He could see Graham sat behind the wheel of his car. Graham glanced across at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Andy raised his hand and waved back at him.

“Relax,” said Andy again, noticing the worry on Nicole’s face. “I’ll be back tomorrow lunch time. Nothing’s gonna go wrong.”

“It better not.” She straightened his t-shirt out and then looked at him stood there, looking every bit the camper. “No climbing trees either.”

Andy laughed and turned towards the car. “I’ll be staying firmly on the ground. There’s nothing down there that can hurt me!”



Dear Lilly,

Okay. I’ve been sat here with the nib of this pen touching the piece of paper for the last ten minutes and I can’t think of anything to say. It doesn’t seem right that I have to write you a letter, but I think it’s the only way I’m going to be able to still believe there’s contact between us.

When you come back to us (and I truly believe that you will) I’ll make sure you get all of these.

So, maybe I should start by telling you what’s been going on since you left us. The Doctor set the controls to take Reikon to UNIT: X HQ. We said our goodbyes to him and left him with Stark and then the Doctor set the controls again and we’ve been travelling in the vortex ever since. I can’t find the Doctor anywhere. He just disappeared into the corridors somewhere.

It’s been good having Richard around actually. He sympathises with me. He still thinks about Cheryl and I think you leaving has made him think about what’s important and what’s not. I think he worried that he was about to become attached to this way of life. He seems more determined than ever to get his wife back. He’s just gotta work out how to do it.

So we’re just hanging here really, waiting for the Doctor to give us some clue as to where we’re going next. He’s barely said a handful of sentences to us since you left. I find it unsettling.

I miss you Lilly.



Holly wandered into the console room. Richard was sat on the sofa with what looked like an old fashioned Gameboy. He noticed her walk in and turned to smile at Holly, switching off the device.

“Don’t stop on my account,” smiled Holly.

“I used to have one when I was a kid,” he said, putting it down on the table. “I found it in a cupboard back in the library.”

“There’s allsorts in there,” said Holly, sitting herself down next to him and sighing. “I found an original copy of the bible the other day!”

“How you doing?” asked Richard. “Still thinking of her?”

“I can’t think of anything else,” she said, staring at the glowing rods of the time rotor. “I can’t help wondering what she’s up to. If she’s safe.”

“She’s safe,” said Richard, reassuring her. “I didn’t know her for very long, but she seemed very resourceful.”

“I’m still worried about that infection she had though,” said Holly. They had never managed to get the results. The console had exploded and wiped out most of the data. Lilly had promised Holly that the infection was gone, but Holly didn’t seem convinced.

“As bad as he seems, I don’t think her father would let any harm come to her. He seems genuine on that account.”

“I don’t trust him one bit.”

“Neither do I,” came the Doctor’s voice. He strode into the console room wearing his dark blazer and dark jeans, his grey coat already on. He didn’t look at either of them and just walked straight up to the patched-up console and flicked a few controls. The glass of the time rotor had been repaired with duct tape and the rods inside vibrated uneasily.

“Are you okay, Doc?” asked Richard.

“Fine,” said the Doctor, brushing off his companions concerns. “The TARDIS isn’t so well though. We left Jacarthia a little too suddenly and we need to put her down to let her finish her self-repairs.”

“Sounds like we could all do with a holiday,” said Holly.

“Indeed,” said the Doctor, “but where?”

“How about Rio?” asked Richard, hopefully.

“Too busy. Too many people. Too much noise,” said the Doctor.

“What about that Florana planet you keep going on about?”

“Too far away,” said the Doctor. He flicked a switch and the navigation screen came on. “Ah, that’ll do.”

Holly crossed over to him and peered at the screen, frowning. “Grantham?”

“What? Grantham in England?” queried Richard, joining them. He found it silly to think there was a Grantham on any other planet.

The Doctor didn’t answer. He just nodded.

“What’s so special about Grantham?” asked Holly.

“Well nothing about the town itself,” said the Doctor, “but there’s 400 acres of private woodland just outside of it. No road noise or light pollution, 31 species of native trees and nobody and nothing for miles around.”

“So we’re off to the woods?” said Richard. “Maybe today is a good day to tell you that I don’t like camping. I can’t put up tents to save my life. More of a TV man, me. Hotels and mini bars. Hot running water.”

“We’re not putting up tents,” said the Doctor, going into a large, wooden chest beside the far wall. He pulled out three green, canvas bags and threw one to Richard and one to Holly.

“Then what’s this?” asked Richard, looking down at it worriedly.

“Hammocks,” smiled the Doctor.

“Excellent,” said Holly with a grin.

“Joy,” said Richard, looking forlorn.

To be continued...