UNIT:X (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Dream Catcher)

A UNIT soldier had brought Holly and the Doctor a cup of tea and a plate of custard creams. Faith waited until the two of them had settled into a couple of chairs and then walked over to the whiteboard with the map of Huxley.

“This town,” she started, “has had a hell of a lot done to it over the past few months what with the Kro’Tenk coming through and the damage to the town centre.” She turned to look at the map. “Unfortunately that has caused it to become noticed.”

“Noticed?” said the Doctor as he dunked a custard cream into his tea.

“It’s almost like a swarm of ants around a can of pop,” said Benton, taking over from Faith. “You leave a can of pop out on a warm day and pretty soon you’ll find the ants swarming around it.”

“We were here,” continued Faith, “you were here, Doctor with your TARDIS and the spatial disruption with the Kro’Tenk made this place a curiosity to alien life, and we suspect that the Dream Catcher is the first of many.”

“Dream Catcher?” said Holly, frowning. “Back up a bit.”

“Yes, sorry,” smiled Faith. “The Dream Catcher is what we named it.”

“I came up with it,” said Beth, smiling. “It’s a very good song by Newton Faulkner.”

Faith raised her eyebrows at the young woman and Beth smiled sheepishly.

“As I was saying, the Dream Catcher is what we named it. We don’t know what species it is. We’ve barely scratched the surface, but we know what it can do.”

There was a crackle from Taggart’s walk-talkie. “This is Foster to Swift, over.”

“Sorry,” said Taggart, putting the walkie to her mouth. “Go ahead, Foster.”

“Ma’am, we haven’t been able to find any sign of Richard Hicks anywhere.”

The Doctor and Holly looked over to the liaison officer. She looked back at them and then spoke into the walkie. “Are you sure, Foster.”

“Absolutely. We’ve looked everywhere he could have gotten to within running distance and he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“Did you check his house again?” asked the Doctor, getting to his feet.

“Blindingly obvious question, Foster, but did you check his house a second time?”

“He’s not there, but the door was unlocked and the back door was open.”

Taggart looked at Faith who put a hand to her forehead.

“What?” asked the Doctor. “What’s going on?”

Taggart looked up at Faith. “Orders, Sentinel?”

“Call them in,” said Faith. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Holly, putting her mug of tea down. “What do you mean there’s nothing that you can do? Where is he?”

“Please, sit down Miss Dangerfield.”

“No,” said Holly, crossing over to the Doctor. “What are they on about?”

“Perhaps you should finish your little story,” suggested the Doctor, staring at her with angry eyes.

“Of course,” said Faith. She looked flustered and then returned to the map. “Well, about two weeks ago it was reported that people were going missing from the town. Normally we wouldn’t have investigated, but the numbers were growing.”

Benton pulled out a clipboard with numerous readings on it. “Initially just myself and Beth came up here.” He smiled at the young woman. “We detected some strange readings coming from the centre of the town.”

Faith pointed to a black sticky dot that had been placed near the vicinity of the town hall. “Benton and Beth alerted the rest of the team.”

“It was pointless to go it alone,” said Benton.

“More and more people were beginning to disappear.” Faith folded her arms. “We began to evacuate the town and set up camp here.”

Taggart put her walkie down on the table and walked over to Faith. “I went in with a troop.”

“Went in? Went in where?”

“Underneath the town hall,” said Taggart. She exhaled, remembering what had happened. “I didn’t see anything, but it began taking out my troops. They just disappeared into the darkness. I barely made it out of there alive.”

“So there’s something down there under the town hall causing people to disappear wherever they are in the town?” said the Doctor.

“Exactly,” said Faith.

“But where does the Dream Catcher name come into it?” asked Holly.

“Well, we can’t be certain,” said Benton, “but a number of people have been witnessed as seeing things. It looks like they’re talking to thin air, and then they just...poof...vanish.”

The Doctor rubbed his chin. “Interesting.”

“And you think that’s what’s happened to Richard?” asked Holly.

“I hope to goodness it isn’t,” said Faith, “but I’m very much afraid that it’s a possibility.”



Something wasn’t quite right. Richard was certain it had been dark. No, he wasn’t certain...it had been dark. Most definitely. But now he was standing in front of a barbeque with an apron on and it was broad daylight. It was also a warm, sunny day. He could smell the cooking meat on the barbeque and smiled.

He looked across his garden Cheryl was sat with Molly on her knee whilst Liam was reading a comic book.

“Don’t burn the food!” said Cheryl.

“Oh,” said Richard, quickly using his tongs to take the meat off the grill, “sorry.”

“You’ve done this a thousand times before,” said Cheryl, smiling.

“I know. I know. I just felt a little bit...out of it.”

“You haven’t touched the beer yet, have you?” she said with an inquisitive look at him.

“No, not while I’m cooking, sweetheart,” he said. He squinted his eyes. What was going on here? Why didn’t he feel right? He took the last of the meat off the barbeque and then put the tongs down. “Just gonna make sure the doors unlocked for when our friends get here.”

“Okay, love,” said Cheryl.

He made his way into the kitchen and turned back to face the kitchen window overlooking the garden. Something just wasn’t right. He had been in the dark. The food in the fridge had gone mouldy. Cheryl hadn’t been here. It wasn’t summer. He turned away from the window and jumped. Right in front of him, filling his entire field of vision was a huge, black face. It looked almost triangular in appearance with no visible mouth or nose – just two, burning red eyes glaring down on him. He panicked and stumbled back.

“This is what is real. This is your life,” came the deep, gravelly voice from somewhere within the thing.

Richard turned to his side and then...everything seemed to feel okay again. He turned to where he’d seen the creature and there was nothing there. He frowned as memories of the creature faded away. By the time he had reached the front door to greet Denise and Colin he had forgotten about anything else other than this life.

This was what was real. This was his life.



“Okay,” said the Doctor, sat in the chair, his elbows resting on the central tables, “so this thing, this Dream Catcher, has come to Huxley and is making people disappear, and it does that by, what, projecting their dreams? Enticing them in?”

“That’s about what we can work out,” said Faith. “But other than that we don’t know much more.”

“Has anyone attempted to go in and find the Dream Catcher again?”

“Uh-uh,” said Osborne, sipping on a glass of water, “we’ve stayed out of the centre. I don’t even feel safe here. We were even cautious about going to find you three.”

“But you haven’t lost anyone else since the initial first contact?”

“No,” said Taggart. “Us and our troops are pretty well trained to resist psychic suggestion.”

“Yeah,” said Beth, looking into the distance, “but every now and then I can feel it prodding away at me.”

Holly frowned. “In what regard?”

“It’s there. All the time,” said Beth, pointing to her temple. “Every now and then I’ll see something out the corner of my eye, trying to distract me. You just have to carry on. If I pay it any attention whatsoever it’ll take me.”

“It’s the same for all of us,” said Osborne. “I can hear my dad talking to me, telling me to go outside and talk to him, but I know it’s not real. Dad’s not even in the country at the moment.”

“Then why are you all here?” said the Doctor, arms outstretched. “You need to be as far away from Huxley as possible.”

“Because someone needs to protect it,” said Faith. “Someone needs to find a way of stopping this thing.”

“Fair point,” said the Doctor, nodding at her.

“The affects are worse the closer you get to the centre though,” said Osborne. “Hence why we haven’t been back.”

“But we need to go and find Richard,” said Holly.

“How?” asked Beth. “We don’t even know where these people go when they disappear.”

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” said Faith.

“Meaning?” asked the Doctor.

“There was one person who came back,” said Faith.

“Then let me speak to him,” said the Doctor.

“That may be a little difficult,” said Faith, “as he’s gone completely and utterly mad.”

To be continued...

UNIT:X (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (There's No "X" in "Team")

The Doctor was driven through more darkened Huxley streets before heading down the avenue that led towards the cemetery he had met Holly in way back. Strangely it made him feel a little nostalgic, but instead of carrying on it made a right turn through some gates and into a car park. At the end of the car park was a four-storey school building that sprawled across a large area and sported a field that ran along side of the cemetery.

“Where is everyone?” asked the Doctor. “You can’t fit an entire town in this school, big as it is.”

“Outside of the town,” said Faith, as the vehicle pulled up.

They left the landrover and headed towards the building. Two UNIT soldiers saluted as they approached. The Doctor nodded to them and gave a little salute.

Faith led the Doctor through the darkened corridor towards one of the classrooms. Inside a number of UNIT soldiers were busy at computer terminals. The white board had a map of the town pinned on it and in the centre of the room a number of desks had been pushed together whilst a group of plain-clothes people stood around it looking at various reams of paper with information printed out on them.

“You’re back,” said a young man with dark hair – Oliver Osborne, or Double Zero.

“Ta-da,” said Faith.

“You found him then?” said Osborne, nodding to the Doctor.

“Where’s Holly and Richard?” asked the Doctor.

“Pike picked up her up on Maple Ave. They should be here soon.”

“And Richard?” said the Doctor. “He’s at his house.”

“We’ve got someone going there now,” said Osborne, nodding reassuringly at him.

“Okay,” said Faith, clapping her hands, “perhaps some introductions are in order. Doctor, you’ve met Oliver before, codename Double Zero.”

Oliver frowned at the codename.

She pointed towards a tall, striking red head with pale skin and curly hair. “This is Swift aka Claire Taggart. She’s our UNIT liaison officer.”

“What about Brigadier Bambera?” asked the Doctor, shaking Taggarts hand.

“Bambera is my go-to officer,” said Taggart, smiling. “I’m here when she can’t be. I kind of, like, work for both UNIT and the X branch.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, nodding. “It used to be less complicated in my day.”

“Times change, Doctor,” smiled Faith. She then nodded towards a woman in her early twenties. She had brownish-blonde hair and had a pretty face. “This is Midnight aka Beth Brett. She’s a whizz with computers and can hack everything.”

“Almost everything,” said Beth, blushing slightly.

“Everything,” said Faith, smiling at her.

“Nice to meet you, Beth,” said the Doctor, shaking her hand.

“And this young strapping fellow might be of some interest to you,” said Faith, guiding the Doctor to a stocky, tall man with neatly trimmed chestnut hair. He had a square jaw line and looked kind. “This is Obsidian aka Alistair Benton. He’s our scientific advisor.”

“Benton?” said the Doctor, standing in front of him, his eyes twinkling.

“My grandfather’s John Benton, sir.”

The Doctor smiled, grabbed Benton’s hand and then gave him a tight hug.

“It’s an honour to meet you, sir,” said Benton, looking a little flustered.

“Oh, no, Alistair, it’s an honour to meet you.” He pulled away and looked him up and down as a proud parent would look at their child on the first day of school. “Your grandfather was one of the best Human beings I ever knew.”

“I hope he still is,” said Benton. “He owns one of the largest car factories in America now.”

The Doctor smiled at the thought. “Good old Sgt. Benton.”

“And that’s it,” said Faith, clapping her hands together again. “Our merry little band of adventurers.”

“This is the UNIT: X team then,” said the Doctor.

“That’s correct,” said Faith. “We have a small group of soldiers with us, but ultimately we operate on our own.”

The doors burst open and the young soldier, Pike, and Holly entered.

“Hey, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Doctor giving her a hug.

“Someone tell this bloke where not to point his rifle,” said Holly, nodding towards an embarrassed Pike.

“Don’t be too harsh on him,” said Taggart, “with all that’s going on we can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.”

“Yes, you need to explain exactly what’s going on here,” said the Doctor.

“Well I wanted to wait for your friend, Richard, to get here first, but they must be delayed.”

Taggart picked up her walkie-talkie. “Corporal Foster was supposed to be going round to the Hicks household.” She pressed the talk button. “This is Swift to Foster. Come in, over.”

There was static for a moment and then a voice. “This is Foster, over.”

“What’s taking you so long with picking up Hicks?” she looked stern and the Doctor and Holly looked at each other.

“Ma’am, we got to the Hicks house but he’s nowhere to be seen.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Taggart.

“Where could he have gone?” asked Holly, looking at the Doctor.

“It’s possible you’ve missed him. He may have left the house, realised we weren’t there at the rendezvous point and then gone to look for us,” said the Doctor

“Foster, keep looking. He’s got to be around there somewhere. Keep your eyes peeled and be careful, over.”

“Will do, ma’am. Foster, out.”

“Do you think he’s okay?” asked Holly.

“I’d like to say yes, Holly, but we don’t even know what’s been going on here,” said the Doctor.

Faith looked at him and then at Osborne. “We can’t wait. I suppose we should fill you in on the details.”

“Please do,” said the Doctor. He frowned. “Where’s Roger anyway?”





On the outskirts of London stood a country manor. It had been home to UNIT back in the 20th century until they had moved out, letting it become rundown and falling into disrepair. Not long after Roger Stark had arrived and formed the UNIT: X team they had reacquired the building and moved the team into it.

It had twenty five bedrooms upstairs and the downstairs was an array of labs, storage rooms, medical bays and training rooms.

In one of the rooms – Lab 3 – Reikon was hunched over a work desk. On the work desk was a small, metal box with ornate carvings on each of its faces. Reikon was squinting at the box and then writing down notes in a notepad.

“Still trying to figure out how to open that thing?” said Roger, standing in the doorway. He was wearing a long, dark coat, trilby hat and a red scarf.

Reikon looked back at him, looked him up and down and then returned to his scribbling. “The Doctor handed this over to me when I came here. I promised I’d try and find a way of opening it.”

“Obsidian and Sentinel tried to get into that box for weeks – nothing.”

“It’s a siege mode TARDIS, not a box,” said Reikon, clearly annoyed with Stark’s interruption.

“I know that,” said Roger. “Just because you’re the new kid on the block doesn’t mean you’re about to crack open something like this.”

“I did used to be a TARDIS engineer back on Gallifrey, you know?” said Reikon, putting down his pencil and turning to face Stark.

“Back in the old days, old man,” smiled Stark. “Things have changed a lot since those times, Reikon.”

Reikon pointed his pencil towards the chestnut haired man. “I was turning TARDIS’s inside out before anyone on Gallifrey had the misfortune to create you.”

“Ouch,” said Stark, frowning at him.

“The Doctor said there’s something inside it – something trapped. I need to get it open for him.”

“Without even asking what it is?”

“He doesn’t know,” said Reikon. “All he knows is that his alternate self asked him to keep it safe.”

“It could be anything,” said Stark, walking over and peering down at the dormant TARDIS.

“It still needs to be let out.”

“Hmmm,” said Stark, scratching his chin, “If I were you I’d dig a big hole and bury it. Either that or drop it into the sun. An exploding star perhaps!”

“You have no compassion, do you?” said Reikon, returning to his notes. “There could be an innocent being in there. A friend of that other Doctor – Aldridge.”

“And there could be a terrifying, alien super being ready to kill anything in its path, trapped because Aldridge thought it best to lock it away.”

“If that were the case then Aldridge would have let his TARDIS be destroyed in his own universe. No, this is something else. Something....important.”

Stark shook his head and turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” asked Reikon.

He turned back. “The Doctor’s turned up in Huxley. The team are briefing him on the situation. I’m heading down there now.”

“The Dream Catcher?”

Stark nodded.

Reikon shook his head and then turned back to the box. “Tell him to watch his back. You know what he’s like with monsters.”

“Naturally,” said Stark, exiting through the double doors.

Reikon leant in a little closer to the box and frowned at it. “Just how am I going to crack you open, eh?” He tapped the box with a tuning fork and for a very brief moment there was a spark of blue electricity. Reikon jumped back and tilted his head to his side, looking at the box with curiosity. “Just what is inside of you?”

To be continued...

UNIT:X (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2 (Empty Houses)

The first thing that hit Richard when he stepped into the hallway of his rented house was how cold it was. Sure, it was cold outside, but in here it seemed bitter. It was almost as if nobody had lived here for quite some time. He reached for the light switch and flicked it – nothing.

It felt strange being back here. He had only been gone a short while, but to his wife he had been essentially dead for over five months at least. He never did find out when Roger Stark had told her he had died.

He turned left into the living room. It was as lived in as ever. Toys all over the floor and a half-eaten sandwich on the side next to a glass of gone-sour milk. He felt the bread – it was stale. He knelt down in front of the toys and picked up Molly’s Peppa Pig toy. That too felt cold. They had obviously left in a hurry.

He stood up and walked over to his favourite armchair and settled himself down. He closed his eyes and for a moment he thought he could hear the sounds of his children playing, but when he opened his eyes there was nobody there.

The house – and indeed the town – was silent.



The Doctor had reached a main road. Most of the cars were parked up, but there were one or two that had just been abandoned in the middle of the street, their doors left wide open. He crossed over to a small Fiat Punto and ran his screwdriver over it.

“No,” he said to himself, “just nothing.”

“Just nothing,” he heard a voice say. He spun around but there was nothing to be seen. Something sounded familiar about it.

“You’re going daft in your old age,” said the Doctor, tapping on his temple. “Silly, daft old Time Lord.”

He continued down the centre of the road. Not a single light shone out of a house. No streetlights. Nothing. This entire area of town – perhaps even the whole town – was totally deserted.

And that smell of eggs as well...

He was about to turn and go back when his foot hit something slimy. He almost went over but managed to steady himself.

He knelt down to examine it. It was a thick, black liquid – like slime – which had gathered in a three-foot diameter puddle. He ran his sonic screwdriver over it. It beeped angrily at him. He shook it and then stared at the readings.

“Interesting,” said the Doctor. He knelt down so his nose was just millimetres away from the slime and sniffed. “Very interesting. Eggs again.”

He was about to lick the slime when he heard the screeching of a car and a flash of headlights emerged from around a corner. He turned to his right and was momentarily blinded as a vehicle headed straight towards him.



Holly was on her knees now, her hands behind her head as the young soldier pointed the gun down at her.

“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice trembling.

“Holly. Holly Dangerfield,” she said. She looked up at him. “What’s going on here?”

“Have we met before?” he asked.

“What?”

“Answer the question!” he barked, gripping his rifle tighter. “Have we met before? Do we know each other?”

“No. No. Never!” she said quickly. “What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know,” said the soldier. “Why are you here?” He picked up a walkie-talkie. “Why didn’t you evacuate with everyone else?”

“Is the whole town deserted?” asked Holly.

“Answer the question!” he shouted again.

“Will you stop shouting?!” Holly yelled back. She waited until he was silent. “I haven’t been evacuated because I’ve just arrived.”

“Arrived from where?”

“It’s a bit difficult to explain,” she said. “An hour ago I was at a party with Agatha Christie.”

The soldier brought his walkie up to his mouth and pressed the talk button. “This is Corporal Pike to Double Zero.”

Holly frowned. Double Zero sounded familiar.

“Go ahead, Pike,” came a London accent on the other end.

“I’ve caught a civilian here in the vicinity of Maple Avenue. Says she’s just arrived. What shall I do with her, over.”

“Has she given you a name, over?”

“Holly Dangerfield, over.”

There was silence.

“Sir?” said the private.

“Don’t panic, Pike. Get her back to base ASAP. I think she’s with the Doctor.”

“You know about the Doctor?” said Holly. “Then you must be UNIT soldiers.”

“UNIT: X to be precise, Miss Dangerfield,” said the coporal. He had relaxed a little. “If you’ll come with me, Double Zero and Sentinel will fill you in on what’s happened.”

“But I need to go and meet Richard and the Doctor back on Littlefield Avenue,” said Holly.

“There’s no time for that,” said Pike. “It’s not safe out here.”

“Not safe?” Holly sniffed. “Apart from the eggy smell what’s not safe about it?”

“Come with me and you won’t have to find out.”



Richard had made his way to the kitchen with the intention of making himself a cup of tea before realising that there was no electric and even the water wasn’t running out of the taps. He sighed and went in the fridge. All of the food was going mouldy, but there were two bottles of nicely chilled water. Only chilled because it was so cold in the house. He grabbed one of the bottles and downed half of it straight away.

“Daddy...”

He turned around at the voice. That was definitely a voice. It was his son, Liam. He frowned. Liam was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m going mad,” he said, putting the chilled bottle against his forehead and closing his eyes. “Too long in Star Trek land.”

“Daddy...” it came again.

He looked up. In front of him was the back kitchen window which looked out into the dark garden. He could just about make out the kids red and yellow slide but nothing more. He walked up to the window and put his face closer to the glass. He stared as hard as he could. There was nothing.

“Daddy...” came the voice again just as a dark shape rushed past the window making him jump back.

“Jesus bloody Christ!” said Richard.

His first instinct was to get the hell out of the house right now, but this was his house and he felt obliged to at least try and protect it and make it feel secure. If there was someone prowling around in his back garden he was going to make sure they didn’t prowl anymore.

He took the backdoor key off the hook beside the chalkboard and unlocked the door. He stepped outside into the cold night air. Without the reflections of the window he could see a little more clearly. There was definitely something in the corner of the garden beside the shed.

He stepped forward a little more. “Alright, mate, what you playing at?”

The shape didn’t move.

“Come on, I haven’t got the bloody time for this. Show yourself.”

The dark shape began to turn around to face him. Richard felt a sense of calm wash over him. Why? Why was he feeling calm? He didn’t know who are what this was. But the thing continued to turn and when Richard saw the face he gasped.

The small, thin, pink face with big, blue eyes. It was his son.

“Liam?”



“Please be careful!” said the Doctor as the landrover pulled up beside him, almost parking in the puddle of slime.

The door opened and a woman in a leather jacket and jeans stepped out flanked by two soldiers in black combats. She was tall, blonde and in her late thirties. She smiled down at the Doctor and spoke with an Australian accent. “How’s my favourite Scottish alien then?”

The Doctor looked up at her and smiled. “Faith Crossland.”

Faith extended her hand and the Doctor shook it. “Good to see you again.”

“You too, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”

The Doctor got to his feet and brushed down his trouser fronts. “What exactly has been going on around here?”

“We’ve had to evacuate the entire town for starters,” said Faith, zipping up her jacket and shivering a little.

“So it is the entire town?”

“Just about,” said Faith. “And we’ve set up a five mile exclusion zone as well.”

“But what for?” asked the Doctor.

Faith opened the landrover door and indicated for him to get in. “I’ll explain when we get back to base. You can meet the rest of the team then.”

“But I need to meet up with my friends.”

“Holly, Richard and Lilly?” asked Faith.

“Yes, well, just Richard and Holly. Lilly and I have parted company for the time being.” He clambered into the vehicle.

“Sorry to hear that, Doc.” She shut the door and walked around to the other door. “We’ve already picked up Dangerfield and someone’s on their way to get Richard now.”

“But maybe I should -”

“No, Doctor,” said Faith. “You don’t want to be out on these streets alone.”

“Why ever not? Apart from eggs and that patch of slime I’ve not seen anybody else.”

“No,” said Faith, nodding slowly, “but pretty soon you will do. Pretty soon the monster will come out and play.”

“Monster?” said the Doctor, wide-eyed.

“Oh, yeah,” said Faith, nodding.

“Excellent,” smiled the Doctor.

To be continued...

UNIT:X (Chapter 1)

Chapter 1 (The Smell of Eggs)

“I warned you!” shouted the Doctor as the room shook, two glasses of water falling to the floor and smashing.

“We had to find out!” yelled Reikon over the din.

“If a box is sealed up for a reason with no way in and a warning from beyond the grave, then you don’t open it up!” said the Doctor, staring into his eyes.

The light on the other side of the door was growing bright now; the locked door struggling to stay closed. Whatever was on the other side was threatening to burst out.

“I had to know,” said Reikon. He looked at the Doctor again, his eyes shadowed. “I had to know.”



Earlier

The TARDIS door closed shut and Holly marched purposefully into the console room. She was dressed in a slinky gold dress and red necklace. Her hair was neatly tied up into a 1920’s haircut and she looked annoyed.

“Miss Dangerfield!” said the Doctor, clapping his hands together. “I trust the mission was a success.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I nearly got myself killed.”

“Nonsense,” he replied, setting the TARDIS in flight. “Did you get the item I needed?”

“The little circuit with the two electrical prongs?” She put her hand down the front of her dress and pulled out the small device. “It wasn’t easy getting near that skinny guys pocket though.”

“Aha!” he said, taking it from her and kissing the top of it. “The object of my desires.”

“What is that thing?” asked Richard, leaning across the console to look at it.

“An Odial Filament. You may have noticed that this old girl’s been rattling around a bit of late. The Odial Filament stabilises our journey a little more.” He opened a panel on the console and slotted the circuit into it.

“How’d you know that skinny guy would have it though?” asked Richard.

“Tell him, Miss Dangerfield.”

Holly removed the jewellery from her hair and sat down on the sofa, crossing her legs. “Believe it or not, Richard, that skinny guy in the brown suit was him.”

Richard frowned as he looked between the Doctor and Holly. “You?”

“A previous incarnation,” smiled the Doctor. “A rather hyperactive one I might add.”

“Incarnation?” said Richard. He was getting lost.

“It’s...alien.” Holly smiled. Then she frowned. “I don’t get it though, won’t he recognise me in the future when he’s you.”

Richard scratched his head.

“Nah,” said the Doctor, flicking some controls and setting the TARDIS in flight again. “I remember now though. You see I lost my last Odial Filament ages ago when I was him, and then I realised where I’d lost it. Sometime in the 1920’s.” He grinned at Holly. “And then I recognised you.” He winked. “The cause/effect time loopy thing triggering the buried memories.”

“But she wasn’t real, was she?” asked Holly, taking the beads from around her neck. “The part of the person I had to play?”

“No,” said the Doctor. “The Unicorn was created purely by the TARDIS writing you into history.”

“So you stole this filament thing from your own self?” asked Richard, looking even more lost.

“Genius, yeah?” said the Doctor, grabbing hold of the zig-zag lever.

“It’d make sense if you never stole it from yourself in the first place,” said Holly, collapsing onto the sofa and kicking her legs up. “That way you’d never have to steal it from yourself to get it back.”

“Crazy,” said Richard. “So let me get this straight – you realised you needed this filament thing that you’d lost when you were a different version of yourself. Then you realised when you’d lost it and you remembered someone who looked like Holly. So you sent her back in time to steal it from yourself so you could get it back. Therefore creating some sort of weird already-happened-loop, yeah?”

“Bingo,” said the Doctor.

“This is why I need a bit of normal now,” said Richard, scratching his head.

“Just don’t get me to steal any plans for the Death Star, yeah?” said Holly.

“I just don’t do time loops. Aliens, yes, but not time loops,” said Richard, exasperated.

The Doctor smiled sadly at him. “Yes, I’m sorry Richard. I did say I’d get you home.” He straightened up. “Are you ready for this?”

“I’m ready,” he said.

“Then let’s take you home.” The TARDIS began to materialise as the time rotor slowed down. “Miss Dangerfield I suggest you change into something more practical.”

“Aye-aye, sir,” she said, mock saluting. “What kind of a name was ‘the Unicorn’ anyway?”



It had been raining, but the worst of it had passed. Large puddles remained on the pavement and raindrops dripped from the leaveless branches of the trees. It was getting dark and there was a chill in the air.

The TARDIS had landed at the end of a street lined with attractive terrace houses. The door to the ship opened and Holly and Richard stepped out. Richard had his holdall packed and Holly had changed into jeans, leather jacket and white top.

“Funny smell,” said Richard.

“Yeah,” said Holly, wrinkling her nose. “Smells of –”

“Gone off eggs,” said the Doctor, emerging from the TARDIS and locking the door. “Oh,” he said, smiling and sticking out his tongue to let a drop of rain land on it, “and it’s been raining.”

“Getting cold though,” said Holly, fastening her jacket up.

“Yes, we’re sometime in November.” He checked his watch. “Late afternoon.”

“Has there been a power cut?” asked Richard.

“What do you mean?” asked the Doctor, looking around him.

“Well, look,” said Richard, indicating the street lights. “Usually they’re on by now. And what about everyones homes? No lights on? No TV’s?”

“Maybe that doesn’t happen in every street,” suggested the Doctor.

“Of course it does, silly,” said Holly. “Something isn’t right here.”

“And there’s the smell of eggs too,” said the Doctor, tapping his right nostril.

The three of them made their way down the street before turning onto another one. Everywhere they went the houses were in darkness. Not a sign of life or a sign of light. They finally arrived at Littlefield Avenue – where Richard’s house was – and made their way to his front gate.

Richard stood in front of the iron gate and put his hand on it. The raindrops soaked his hand and he frowned.

“Well, here you are,” said the Doctor. “Home at last.”

Richard shook his head. “I don’t even know if Cheryl is still renting it.”

The Doctor pulled out a data pad and pressed a few switches. “Well, providing you don’t change history in the next few minutes this house still belongs to you and her. Or at least is still rented by the both of you.”

“But that other bloke, Toby Gilchrist. The guy she was with in the park –”

“Ah-ah, I can’t tell you too much information.”

“Spoilers,” said Holly, tapping her nose.

“But I can’t just walk in,” said Richard.

“Of course you can!” said the Doctor, clapping him on the back. “She’ll probably scream and faint and then have a cry and then you’ll be all happy families again.”

“But he can’t walk in, Doctor,” said Holly.

“Nonsense!”

“I really can’t,” said Richard. He indicated the darkened windows leading into the living. “Like every house down this street and the others around it there doesn’t seem to be anyone in.”

The Doctor frowned and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He twirled around on the spot, frowned, flicked the device, checked it again, spun around two more times and then pocketed the device. “Interesting.”

“And it still stinks of eggs,” said Holly.

“Tell you what,” said the Doctor, looking both ways down the street, “why don’t we split up and see what we can see.”

“Sounds like a plan,” said Holly. “Meet back here in fifteen minutes, yeah?”

“Agreed,” said the Doctor. He turned to leave and then turned back to Richard. “Take care, Mr Hicks.”

Richard nodded and smiled.

Holly headed off down one way whilst the Doctor headed down the other. Richard then turned back to the door of his house, knelt down beside a plant pot on the top step leading to the door and lifted it up revealing a shiny yale lock key.

He exhaled, closed his eyes and then unlocked the front door.



Holly hadn’t intended to come home so soon. When she had said goodbye to her family she had promised to return eventually, but she had decided to have a life with Lilly out there in the beyond. Now she was back in Huxley she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to do. Her parents’ house was only a fifteen minute walk away, but she didn’t know if she should go back there. It might stir up emotions in everyone. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet. She didn’t envy Richard and the emotions he was about to stir up.

“Thinking of me?” came a voice. It was as light as a whisper and she barely heard it. She spun around but there was nothing there.

“Hello?” said Holly. She listened. Nothing. “Stupid Dangerfield.”

She continued down the road, turned a corner, headed down a street with shops and then checked her watch. This was stupid. There should be some sign of life somewhere, but this entire part of the town was dead.

And then she started thinking back to her parents again. Back to her sister. If this part of the town was in darkness and abandoned, what about her part of the town?

She shook the thoughts away from her head. She knew she’d have to go and check it out, but she also knew that she had barely ten minutes left. By the time she met up with the Doctor again he’d have an answer to it somewhere.

She turned the corner into Maple Street and froze. Standing there in front of her, a rifle pointed directly at her face, was a man dressed in black combats and a red beret. He only looked to be in his early 20’s, his green eyes flickering with fear.

“Hi,” she squeaked.

“On your knees,” he trembled. “Or I’ll shoot you dead!”

To be continued...

Story 12: UNIT:X

“You don’t want to be out on these streets alone,” said Faith

“Why ever not? Apart from eggs and that patch of slime I’ve not seen anybody else.”

“No,” said Faith, nodding slowly, “but pretty soon you will do. Pretty soon the monster will come out and play.”



Richard Hicks has decided that it's time. Time to return to Huxley and let his wife and children know that he is still alive. It's been a short but eventful adventure for him, but it's time to get back to normality.


That is if it wasn't for the strange creature lurking underneath the town - the Dream Catcher. When the Doctor, Richard and Holly arrive they discover the town to be deserted except for the special UNIT:X task force, led by Faith Crossland, who have moved in to deal with the situation.


Meanwhile, on the outskirts of London, the Doctor's adopted brother is busy trying to open up the siege-mode TARDIS that UNIT:X were entrusted with. But what exactly is inside the box that could be so safely sealed away?



This is the twelfth in a series of adventures starring James McAvoy as the New Doctor, Felicity Jones as Holly Dangerfield and David Anders as Richard Hicks.