Chapter 1 (A Letter from the Time Kings)
November 23rd, 1966
Dr. Who settled down into his favourite armchair and eyed up the cream cake in his hand. He smiled at it and savoured the strawberries and cream aroma that was coming from it. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and prepared to take a bite.
“Grandfather,” came the young girl’s voice.
Dr. Who opened his eyes, the cream cake in mid air. Standing in front of him was a young, dark-haired girl, probably around 12 years old and wearing a white and grey chequered dress. She was frowning at him.
“Ah, Susie,” he said, looking sheepish. “I just needed five minutes away from all of the hustle and bustle.”
“But Grandfather, its Ian and Barbara’s wedding day. You were supposed to make speeches.”
“And I still will,” he said, smiling at her frustrated face, “but we still have to wait for Tom and Louise to arrive as well.”
“I know you,” said Susan, coming over to him and sitting down on his lap, “you’ll be in here for two minutes and then you’ll fall fast asleep.”
“Oh, Susan, my child,” he laughed, “I’m not getting any younger, you know?” He tapped the end of her nose and she looked sad. “I’m an old man. I need my rest.”
“I know,” she replied, looking sad, “I just want you to have fun.”
“And I am having fun,” he smiled. “Never think that I’m not having fun, but time is moving on for me. I won’t be here forever, you know? It’ll be up to Ian and Barbara to take care of you when I’m gone.”
“But Grandfather-!” she said, concerned.
“Ah, hush now,” he said, putting a finger to her lips. “There’s still a lot to do before then, my dear.”
“Excuse me, Doctor?” came a voice.
Ian Chesterton was quite a short man with short-cut brown hair, brown eyes and a kindly face. Barbara had fallen in love with him the day she met him. He was funny and clumsy, but he was also very brave when he had to be. It had only been a few months since he had been introduced to Susan and her grandfather, but they had all become close on their trip in TARDIS to the planet Skaro.
Ian had proposed to Barbara when Susan and Dr. Who had been far in the future – 2150AD.
“Run out of cakes already, lad?” asked Dr. Who. “I only took the one.”
“No,” Ian laughed nervously, his face peering around the door. “Barbara says Tom and Louise are just pulling up into the drive.”
“Oh, excellent,” he said. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing young Tom again after nasty business in the future.”
Dr. Who took Susan’s hand and followed Ian out of the drawing room and into the large living room. There was quite a sizable crowd attending the wedding reception. Barbara was stood talking to a friend.
Dr. Who stood back for a moment and smiled at her. She was truly beautiful. He was so proud of her and was pleased she had met a decent man like Ian. Almost as though she sensed his eyes on her she turned to face him. She was wearing her blonde hair a little longer these days and brushed it out of her eyes. She put down her wine glass and hitched up her wedding dress, crossing over to her grandfather.
“You still look beautiful, my dear,” he said.
“Thank you again, grandfather, for letting us use the house for the reception,” she kissed him on the cheek.
“Nonsense,” he said, with a wave of his hand, “this place is your home as much as it is mine. It always has been.”
There was a knock on the door and Ian went over to answer it. Standing in the doorway was a woman with long, dark hair wearing a black dress and clutching a white envelope. She was strikingly beautiful with dark eyes and high cheek bones. Standing just behind her was a kind looking young man with short-cropped curly brown hair and rather sad looking eyes.
“Louise!” beamed Dr. Who, throwing his arms around his niece. “And PC Campbell,” he said, shaking the man’s hand.
“DI now,” said Tom Campbell, rather sheepishly. “That business with the robbers, you know...”
“I knew you’d make it,” smiled Susan.
“Hey, how you doing kid?” he said, picking up Susan and giving her a hug. “Still looking after the old man?”
“That she is,” said Dr. Who.
“Louise,” smiled Barbara, walking over, “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Louise, hugging her. “I’m just sorry we missed the wedding.”
“Your father still giving you mountains of work?” asked Ian, shaking Tom’s hand and handing both of them drinks.
“You know what things are like at the research centre,” said Louise, rolling her eyes. “He’s always got his head buried in books.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Who, looking frustrated and sad at the same time. “I would have thought my own brother would have at least come along to the reception though.”
“Well, I asked him,” said Louise as she and Tom stepped through the doorway and into the hallway, “but all he did was put his pen down, take off his glasses and tell me that sometimes science outweighs everything.”
“He’s just mean,” said Susan.
“Now, now, Susie, dear,” said Dr. Who, “we may not understand it ourselves, but Magistrates Inc do some very important work for this planet. We must try and respect his decisions.”
“Well, I’m sure he’ll pop down eventually,” said Barbara, realising she didn’t want a family argument erupting in the middle of her wedding reception. “Come through to the living room, you two. There’s plenty of food.”
“Oh, excellent,” said Tom, removing his overcoat, “I’m starving.”
“Oh, before I forget, uncle,” said Louise. “I found this fixed to the front gate.”
She handed him the letter. It was pure white with gold, embossed letters. On it the words simply read:
“FOR THE ATTENTION OF DR. WHO. FOR HIS EYES ONLY.”
“Thank you, my dear,” he said, taking the letter from her.
“What could it be?” asked Susan.
Dr. Who looked towards the room filled with guests and then across to the drawing room. He crouched down, a cheeky smile playing across his face. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
“But it says for your eyes only.”
“I won’t tell if you won’t,” he said with a chuckle.
Susan smiled as they both led each other into the drawing room.
Susan settled herself down into her grandfather’s favourite armchair, whilst Dr. Who grabbed a letter opener from a side cabinet. He fiddled with the opening for a moment and then slid the opener under the envelope flap. It opened with a satisfying slice and he glanced at Susan who was looking excitedly at him.
He pulled out a folded up letter on what looked like very thick and expensive paper. He unfolded it. It was blank.
“What does it say?” asked Susan.
He frowned. “Nothing. There’s nothing on it.”
Susan looked dejected, but then to both of their surprise the letter began to glow gold. Dr. Who threw it to the ground immediately. It gently floated to the floor and landed in front of the fireplace, and then, from within the letter, a glowing, golden image of a man in a hood and robes appeared in the living room.
Susan gasped and jumped up to stand beside her grandfather.
“This is a message for the man known as Dr. Who,” came the booming, god-like voice from the golden man. “For many years we have watched your progress with the mechanics of time and have seen your invention, TARDIS. This invention and your dealings with the Daleks has piqued the curiosity of my people, the Time Kings.”
“They’ve been spying on us,” hissed Susan.
“Hush, Susie,” said Dr. Who.
The figure continued. “My name is Rassilon. I am the Emperor of the Time Kings. I hereby invite you and your family to visit our planet, Gallifrey. Should you pass our tests you will be granted the full power and knowledge of time travel and will become one of the Time Kings.”
“How exciting,” said Dr. Who, looking very happy with the message.
“Should you decide to take us up on our offer then simply insert this device into the control mechanism of your time ship.” A small, golden rod appeared from thin air and floated towards Dr. Who, who took it without hesitation. “Within it are coordinates that will lead you to Gallifrey.”
“Thank you very much,” he said, knowing full well that this was just a recording and that Rassilon couldn’t hear him.
“I bid you farewell, Dr. Who, and hope to be seeing you very soon.”
The golden man faded and the letter crumpled up and burnt away to nothing. Dr. Who looked down at Susan who was looking surprised.
“Wasn’t that fascinating, Susan?”
“Are you going to go?”
“Hmm,” he said, turning the golden rod over in his hand. “I think we should exercise caution, but I see no reason why we shouldn’t at least go and investigate.”
Susan’s face broke out into a beaming smile. “I’ll go and pack the bags.”
He watched her go and then looked back at the golden rod. “And maybe Ian and Barbara can have their honeymoon as well.”
To be continued....
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