Chapter 5 (Nightmares)
The man was curled up in the corner of the makeshift cell. It was actually a large store cupboard for sports equipment that the soldiers had cleared out. It was serviceable enough, but only temporary. The man had his feet and hands bound together.
The Doctor shook his head when he walked in. “Was there really any need for this?”
Taggart nodded. “I’m afraid so. When he was found he took out two UNIT troops with his bare hands before we got him under control.”
The Doctor crouched down in front of the man and put a hand on his shoulder. The man flinched and then looked up at him. He had pale, grey eyes and his hair had gone almost white, but he didn’t look to be a day over forty.
“It’s okay,” said the Doctor, soothingly, “nobody’s going to hurt you. What’s your name?”
“His name is Trevor Robinson.”
“I asked him, not you, Miss Taggart,” said the Doctor.
Faith stepped forward. “He won’t answer you, Doctor. He doesn’t speak. He just shouts and gets angry.”
“Who is he?” asked Holly, crouching down to join the Doctor.
“He’s a criminal. He’s a thief, an abuser and potentially a murderer, although they could never prove that.”
“Oh,” said the Doctor, moving away a little bit.
“He was moved to Huxley about four months ago for his own safety,” said Taggart.
“He was one of the first to disappear,” said Faith, “but he was also the only one to come back.”
“He was found in Vere Street curled up in the road and going out of his mind.”
“Sounds like it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person,” said Holly, getting up and returning to Faith and Taggart.
“True,” said Faith, “but it still doesn’t explain why he came back.”
The four of them were interrupted by Beth rushing into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, people, but the boss is here.”
“Oh, joy,” said the Doctor.
“Stark?” asked Holly.
“Stark,” nodded the Doctor.
The team headed outside the building to the sports field as a helicopter descended through the rain clouds and touched down in the centre circle of the football pitch. Stark clambered out of the passenger seat and neatly brushed his hair back into place before saluting Corporal Pike.
“Hello, Roger,” said the Doctor.
“Doctor. Miss Dangerfield,” he beamed. “It is good to see you again. No grumpy blonde? Don’t tell me – she stayed in Jacarthia.”
“Let’s not talk about it, please,” said the Doctor, noticing Holly’s uneasiness.
“Indeed,” said Stark. “There are more important tasks at hand.” He approached Faith and nodded to her. “Report, Sentinel.”
“Well, sir,” said Faith, “we haven’t made much progress since we got down here, but we have lost Richard Hicks to the Dream Catcher.”
“So zero progress then,” said Stark. “How is Mr Hicks?” He turned to the Doctor.
“Ready to return to life,” said the Doctor. “So we need to find him.”
“Oh, I agree,” said Stark as he began to march towards the school building. “This monster needs to be stopped immediately. Can’t have him running around making people disappear, can we?” He looked back at the Doctor. “Your brother says hello, by the way, and no, before you ask he hasn’t cracked open your box of delights yet.”
“He’ll get there.”
“He’s a fool,” said Stark, as they entered the main building and made for the incident room. “He should leave well enough alone. That box has been sealed for a reason.”
“It was also given to me for a reason,” said the Doctor.
“If you’ll forgive me, sirs,” said Taggart, “but this isn’t really relevant to the current crisis.”
“Indeed not, Swift,” said Stark, “you’re keeping your team in line I see, Sentinel.”
“I prefer to think of us as working as a unit rather than me leading them,” said Faith.
“A good team needs a good leader. Remember that, Sentinel.” Stark clicked his fingers at one of the soldiers and instructed her to get him a cup of tea and then sat down in a chair by the table. “So, my people, what are we doing about this crisis? Oh, Custard Creams!”
“Well what do you expect us to do?” asked Osborne from the corner of the room. All eyes turned on him. “We can’t go into the hotzone because of that thing and we can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“Okay, Ollie,” said Faith. “We’re all frustrated, I know.”
“Well forgive me, Faith, but I would like to go home and see my family at some point before Christmas.”
“Ah, Christmas,” smiled Stark. “But Mr Osborne is correct of course. We do need to deal with the creature.”
“I have an idea,” said the Doctor.
“I’m all ears,” said Stark flicking his earlobes.
“That man, Trevor Robinson, we could try and link into his mind.”
Stark arched his eyebrows. “Telepathy?”
“Yes,” said the Doctor.
“Very dangerous on an unhinged mind,” said Stark, sipping his newly arrived tea and dunking in a Custard Cream.
“But there’re two of us here,” said the Doctor. “Two Time Lords. We can both support each other.”
“I never said I’d be joining you,” said Stark.
“No, but if you want me to try and help you all out of this then I’m going to have to try, and I’ll need you, Roger.”
“I’m touched,” said Stark touching his chest.
“Is this safe, Doctor?” asked Holly.
“Not really,” he said, “but we don’t have much of a choice. I need to see into Robinson’s mind. I need to see why he was sent back and nobody else was.”
Richard was back at his fruit and veg stall. It was another gloriously sunny day in the centre of Huxley and business was great as usual. The barbeque the previous day had been a success and he had woken up as fresh as a daisy, despite the cans of beer consumed with friends and family.
Ellie, his sister, strolled over, her shopping bag under her arm. She picked up a pineapple from the stall and smiled at him.
“Hello, sis,” said Richard, taking the money from her.
“How’s my big bro doing?” she asked. “It’s a glorious day, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely beautiful,” said Richard. “Did you enjoy it the other day?”
“Of course I did. Johnny couldn’t stop laughing at that joke you told about the time machine.”
“The one stuck as a blue police box from the 1960’s? Yeah, I know. Madness isn’t it?”
“Where do you come up with these stories?” said Ellie, popping the pineapple into her shopping bag.
“Just got a good imagination I guess,” he said, tapping at his temple.
“I hope the weather stays fine,” she said, looking up at the blue, cloudless sky.
“It isn’t forecast rain,” said Richard, checking his phone.
“No,” said Ellie. “I can’t remember the last time I saw rain.”
Richard frowned. “It’s always nice weather. Never a cloud in the sky.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” said Ellie.
“Yeah, of course it is.” He looked down at his weather app again and frowned. “It’s just...well, I just can’t remember when it last rained. Isn’t that odd?”
“Not really,” she said, walking away from the stall.
“Are you sure? Something doesn’t feel quite right.”
“Don’t worry about it, Rich,” she said. She turned back to face him, her face beaming. “And why would it rain anyway? It hasn’t rained here ever.”
Richard frowned once again. She was right. In all of his years of being on Earth he had never, ever witnessed a single rain drop. A single day of bad weather. Not even a five minute shower. He shook the thoughts out of his head though. There was something dark at the back of his mind telling him to stop thinking, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to see it again.
So what if it didn’t rain? Life was good. This was all he needed.
“I strongly advise against this,” said Faith as she helped Taggart lay Robinson flat on his back. “I may be in command here, but I am still the CMO. As much as I want an answer to this I have duty of care as well.”
“And I thank you for your concerns,” said the Doctor, kneeling down in front of the shaking Robinson, “but if Richard is trapped we need to rescue him. Robinson is the only way.”
“How ever barmy this is,” said Stark, also crouching down in front of the Doctor, “he’s right. Robinson could be the key to all this.”
“Are you ready, Roger?” asked the Doctor, placing his left hand on Robinson’s left temple.
“Ready as I can be,” said Stark, putting his right hand on Robinson’s right temple.
With their free hands the Doctor and Stark reached out and touched fingers.
“Contact,” said the Doctor.
“Contact,” replied Stark.
There was a momentary flicker for both of the Time Lords and then their visions went dark. The Doctor could hear something coming from the darkness and slowly the world around them came into focus. They were standing inside a bathroom, blood dripping down the white, ceramic tiles.
They heard footsteps and turned towards the bathroom door. Standing there with a large, bloodied carving knife was Robinson, but he seemed oblivious to the two Time Lords.
“This is in his head?” said Stark.
“Oh dear,” said the Doctor, turning to face the bath.
Lying in the bath, face down with a young man with multiple stab wounds in his back. Blood was everywhere and ran freely from the wounds and into the plughole.
“I guess that rumour of Robinson being a murderer was true.”
To be continued...
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