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...