Chapter 9 (Dropping Bombs)
Flick remembered this place. Although it was so many years ago now, something about it remained familiar. They were walking down a narrow clearing that snaked between high trees, the autumn leaves beneath their feet crunching as they made their way closer and closer towards the clearing. She closed her eyes and could almost hear Lucy’s voice, chattering away as they walked arm in arm.
“Are you okay?” asked Holly.
Flick’s eyes snapped open. She looked at her, her eyes full of curiosity. “Sorry, I was well away.”
“You’re telling me,” she smiled back at her. “You’re remembering aren’t you?”
“It’s crazy, I know,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean aliens and stuff.”
“It takes a lot to wrap your head around,” said Holly.
“Come on,” said the Doctor, pushing between them. Holly rolled her eyes. “Almost there.”
“We really are almost there, aren’t we?” said Flick.
“You tell me,” said the Doctor, stopping and shining the torch at her.
“No, Doctor,” said Holly, “you’ve been following yourself for the last hour or so. You know more than you’re letting on.”
The Doctor shone his torch at Holly and then sighed. “Okay, so I know exactly where we’re going.”
“Then why didn’t you just send Flick and Mark back and let us go and investigate ourselves?”
“Because,” said the Doctor, continuing his march forward, “they obviously did something to Flick. She’s a curiosity. I need to see if there is any residual energy lingering from her abduction.”
“Abduction?” said Flick. “I don’t remember being abducted. I just blacked out.”
“You were abducted,” said the Doctor, kicking a branch to the side. “You just don’t remember what happened in the ship.”
“This is getting weirder and weirder,” said Flick as they walked under a low-hanging tree and found themselves in a clearing – the same clearing Flick had woken up in all those years ago. The leave less trees surrounded the area like jagged, angry monsters, leaning inwards and threatening to claw at them.
“Where were you found?” asked the Doctor, shining the torch around.
“Right here in the centre,” said Flick, pointing towards the middle of the clearing. “Right there.” Her voice trailed off.
“It’s okay,” said Holly, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’re used to these things.”
The Doctor crouched down over the central area. It dipped down slightly and he placed his hand in the dip. He closed his eyes and smiled. “A faint vibration.”
“Then we’ve found it,” said Holly, crouching down and feeling for the vibration.
“But it hasn’t been opened in a while,” said the Doctor. He looked at Flick who was looking nervous. “What did you and your friend do when you got here?”
“I don’t know. We just...I don’t know...we sat and talked.”
The Doctor got to his feet and shone the torch around, illuminating the trees again. They seemed closer than ever now.
Flick felt trapped.
“Come on then!” shouted the Doctor. “Let’s be having you!”
“Quiet, Doctor,” hissed Holly.
“Why? Who are we going to wake up, Miss Dangerfield?” He started jumping up and down on the spot. “Come on! Wake up! Wakey-wakey!”
“This isn’t gonna work,” said Holly, folding her arms and standing beside Flick, who was trying her hardest not to laugh at the Doctor, flapping his arms around like a demented bird.
“WAKE UP!” shouted the Doctor, kicking at the dip in the ground. He knelt down again and put his ear to the floor, listening. He then turned his face to the ground. “I know that you’re down there. There’s no need to be scared. I’m an alien as well. I’m a Time Lord.”
Flick frowned and looked at Holly.
“I’m not a Time Lord,” said Holly.
“Let me in now! I COMMAND YOU!”
Takka had led Nicole and Arthur out of the small holding room, down a tiny corridor and into a cramped, one-man cockpit. The small alien sat in an equally small chair and flicked a switch. A curved window in front of them opened up its protective shielding, exposing the smooth, clear glass. He punched in a few commands on the buttons and the ship tilted forward a little.
Nicole grabbed a hold of Arthur and the old man took her arm to keep her steady. Takka then switched on another button and a bright spotlight shone down from the nose of the ship, illuminating the woods below.
Takka frowned.
“Problems?” asked Nicole.
“The criminals have set up an exclusion shield.”
“An exclusion shield?” asked Arthur.
Takka nodded and pointed towards the woods. “When they crashed they would have been safely buried away, shielding themselves, but something must have happened. An exclusion shield puts up a fake image over a surrounding area. It’s why the two of you couldn’t find your way into the woods. It affects your perception and you end up going around in circles. It completely disrupts the space within it.”
“So nothing can get in and nothing can get out?” asked Nicole.
“That’s the idea.”
“Then why didn’t they do that before?” asked Arthur.
“An exclusion shield pumps out a lot of energy,” said Takka, scanning his readings. “If they would have switched it on all those centuries ago we would have detected them straight away. Before then the ship would have been in a low-powered mode and safely buried away under the woodlands.”
“There was a vibration, a bit like an earthquake,” said Arthur.
“Someone probably startled them and they put the shield up. The power levels reactivated my ship and brought me out of hibernation.”
“But what about the cars? We couldn’t find them anywhere.”
“They’re still there,” said Takka, peering at another bank of data. “Hidden between the folds of the exclusion shield.”
Nicole sighed and leant on the curved wall. “So what do we do? How do we get in?”
Takka smiled. “That’s the beauty of an exclusion shield. They’re a last line of defence. They are the one remaining thing they can do to hide. A few bombs on top of the shield will soon bring their shield down.”
“You can’t do that though,” said Arthur. “All of those innocent people are down there.”
“They are also trapped,” said Takka. “I will do my best not to hurt anyone, but that exclusion shield must come down and the criminals must be apprehended.”
Richard had gone back with the Scout Leaders to the central camp where they had set up roll mats as close to each other as possible. They had no choice but to wait for the Doctor to deal with the situation so some of them had opted to try and get some sleep, though Richard wondered how many would actually sleep.
“What year is it again?” asked Richard, turning to Andy, who had given him Mark’s roll mat to sleep on.
“Seriously?” said Andy.
“Travelling up there,” he said, pointing up to the stars, “can get a bit disorientating.”
“It’s 2007.”
“Oh, of course it is,” said Richard. “I’ve not long been married to Cheryl.”
“Your wife?” said Andy.
“Yep,” said Richard. “Although where I’m from she thinks I’m dead.”
“Dare I ask?” said Andy, frowning at him.
“Long story,” said Richard.
“My wife’s gonna be none the wiser about this,” said Andy, his hands behind his head as he watched a cloud obscure the pretty collection of stars above them. “And that suits me fine as well.”
“Been together long?”
“Only a couple of years,” said Andy. He smiled. “I sometimes wonder how I managed to meet someone like her.”
“A looker is she?” smiled Richard.
“She is. Met her at the factory I used to work. I’d like to think I swept her off her feet, but instead it was her. I remember the moment I fell for her. It was at a works night out. We ended up dancing to “Time of Your Life”.”
Richard laughed. “Dirty Dancing – my wife’s favourite.” His face fell.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Richard, smiling again. “I just...well, I’ve had a few issues with my wife. I haven’t been in the picture just recently and I miss her and the kids.”
“Can you fix it?” asked Andy.
“I can certainly try,” said Richard. He ran his hands through his hair and then rubbed his tired eyes. “In fact I’ve been skirting around the issue for too long now. It's part of the reason I’m travelling with the Doctor. I need to work out what I want to do.”
“Well,” began Andy, turning to his side and leaning on his elbow, “my wife, Nicole, is about due to have our first baby. I say first baby because I want there to be many more. I feel like we’re building something and it has the potential to be something beautiful. To be something wonderful. Family is everything.”
“It is indeed.”
“So if I were you, Richard, I’d try your best to undo whatever damage has been done and get back to Cheryl and the kids.” He smiled at him.
Richard nodded and then looked back to the night sky. “Time to undo the damage.”
And without warning the sky suddenly flashed a brilliant white. It only lasted a second, but it caused a shockwave of light to ripple across the surrounding area. The ground vibrated and Richard and Andy got to their feet.
“What now?” they heard Joy sob in the background.
“What the hell was that?” asked Graham, crossing over from his roll mat and looking to the sky.
“I don’t know if I dare guess,” said Richard.
There was another flash and the collection of Leaders, now huddled together near a small fire cried out in fear.
“Its okay folks,” said Richard, trying to calm them. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t look like it can hurt us.”
Another flash and this time the ground vibrated more violently.
“I hope you’re right about that, chief,” said Graham unconvinced.
“So do I,” said Richard.
Flick and Holly were busy looking into the sky whilst the Doctor was still stood over the dip in the ground. He kicked at it again and then shouted in frustration. He walked over to the two ladies and then followed their gaze to the stars.
“What was that, Doctor?” asked Holly. “The whole sky lit up.”
“I have no idea,” said the Doctor, sighing.
“Are you sure about that?” asked Holly. “You seemed to know a little more than you were letting on earlier.”
“I promise you that,” said the Doctor.
The sky lit up again and Holly found it hard to stay standing.
“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, aiming his sonic screwdriver to the sky. “Someone up above is dropping some kind of photon bomb on top of us.”
“A bomb?!” said Flick, alarmed. “But it’s not doing any damage.”
“No,” said the Doctor. “I suspect that whatever is down below has put it some kind of shield or force field around the area. The flashes are the bombs hitting the field.”
“You are correct, Time Lord,” came a gruff voice from just below him.
The three of them both looked down. A small, red alien with dark eyes and horns on its head stood calmly, aiming a large gun at them. He tilted his head curiously, blinking slowly.
Flick let out a yelp and stepped back. Holly grabbed her hand to reassure her.
“Hello,” said the Doctor, crouching down to the alien. “You must come from down below.”
“We are from the Corbix, yes,” said the alien. “My name is Kreek.”
“The Corbix?” said Holly. “Is that your ship? The one below this forest?”
Kreek nodded. “You are intelligent.”
“Thank you,” said Holly. “But I only know cos of him.” She indicated the Doctor.
“You know of my race?” said the Doctor, scratching his cheek.
“The Time Lords,” said Kreek. “Yes. Most of the galaxy know about your race. The Lords of Time and all their infinite power and wisdom.”
There was a flash again.
“Come,” said Kreek, lowering his weapon. “We must get out of the open. It won’t be long before our exclusion field is brought down.”
“Brought down by whom though?” asked Flick. “I mean you’ve obviously been here for some time now. Since before I came here.”
“Yes,” said Kreek, looking more closely at her. “You are older, but I remember you.” He smiled.
“I don’t remember you,” said Flick.
“No,” said Kreek. “We erased your memories for your own safety.”
The sky flashed again and the four of them almost fell to the floor.
“We need to get into the Corbix now. There I will explain everything. And someone is in there waiting for you.” He pointed to Flick.
“Mark?” said Flick. “He’s alive.”
“The male? Yes,” said Kreek, leading them to the dip in the ground. “But not just the male. Also the female.”
“Female?” queried the Doctor.
“The friend you came with twelve years ago.”
“Lucy!?” exclaimed Flick.
Kreek nodded. “She is waiting for you.”
To be continued...
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