Dr. Who and the Men in the Moon (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 (Invasion)

Borshack was totally unprepared for what happened next. The planet had manoeuvred itself right next to the moon (he had no idea how it was managing to propel itself across the solar system with those huge clunky engines let alone traverse across the various orbits that the other planets of the solar system were locked into) and had hung there like a ominous, dark globe.

“What’s it doing?” asked Kelly, frowning.

“Nothing. Just nothing,” said Borshack.

“Perhaps you should try communicating again,” said Dr. Who. “Sometimes it’s always best to make the first move – so long as it’s a friendly move.”

“Grandfather’s right,” said Susan, looking up at the commander, “even if they are dangerous at least you can show them that you’re not.”

Borshack nodded. “You’re right of course.”

“But sir,” said Kelly, frustrated, “we still haven’t heard back from Earth. Our communications are being blocked. That can’t be friendly.”

Borshack looked from his officer to the screen showing the planet and then down to the floor. He was considering his options. He’d never had to deal with a situation like this before. Even during the Mars Wars back in 1997 he had been stationed on a base back on Earth monitoring transport from Earth into space – an important job, but hardly on the front lines.

“Commander,” said Dr. Who, “communications.”

Borshack looked at the old man and felt a wave of anger wash over him. Who on Earth did he think he was and why did he think he could stroll into his command hub and dictate how he acted in situations.

“Earth Command are going to -” started Kelly.

“Silence,” said Borshack. “All of you.” He held his arms behind his back, glanced back up at the screen and walked around the central console, purposefully but slowly. “I am commander here. I will consider my options based on what I believe are best for this city.”

Dr. Who opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a single word red warning lights began flashing on the console. The room suddenly sprung into action, confused voices shouting over a loud, blaring siren.

“We’re picking up energy readings,” said Kelly.

“It’s coming from the planet,” came a red-head woman’s voice. “Very powerful as well.”

“What is it?” asked Borshack.

“Open communications now,” said Dr. Who, leaning forward and staring at Borshack across the console, his palms pressed down on the polished glass. “Communications may be blocked with Earth, but not with this planet. Open communications now before it’s too late.”

Borshack frowned. The old man’s blue eyes pierced into his own and he was momentarily lost. He felt confused and at odds.

“INCOMING!” shouted another, gruffer voice from somewhere else.

The impact didn’t actually feel that bad. It was more the commotion that followed it. The room was thrown into darkness with only the blinking coloured lights illuminating the people stood at their stations. The room shook for a moment and then everything fell silent.

Susan backed up to her grandfather and he put his hands on her shoulders. “Stay close to me, child.”

“What was it, grandfather?”

“Lights are out,” said Kelly, as if in answer to Susan, “but it appears to have been some sort of energy weapon.”

“From the planet?” asked Borshack.

“Where else?” said Kelly. He sounded a little more frustrated than he had intended to.

“Watch your tone, Lieutenant,” said Borshack.

“Sorry, sir,” said Kelly, frowning in the near-darkness.

The room shook again. There were concerned shouts from around the room. The sirens were still blurting out as officers scrambled around to try and regain some of the lighting.

“That wasn’t a weapon,” said Dr. Who, stroking his chin. “That felt more like an impact.”

“So did the first one,” said Borshack.

“No,” said Dr. Who. “The first one was designed to knock out your defences. The second one felt like something hitting the surface of the planet; almost like a crash-landing.

“How can you tell?” asked Kelly.

“Look at the screen.”

The screen showed the planet before them. Slowly the lights on the planet’s surface were blinking off one by one as if it was losing power.

“Whatever launched from the planet did so before the power ran out. Perhaps the ship was losing power as well. It probably didn’t have enough left in it to make a proper landing and crashed.”

“Kelly,” Borshack pointed sideways to his lieutenant, “get a team out there now. I want to see if there are any survivors.” Borshack turned to Dr. Who. “So much for your friendly aliens.”

“At least we didn’t make an aggressive move,” he said, his face sad.

“I’ll remember that as we’re being strung up by these invaders.”



“That was definitely a crash-landing,” said the Doctor as he and Holly were escorted along the rocky corridor and back towards a small tunnel that lead from the air vents.

“From the planet? The Cybermen?” asked Holly.

“What are these Cybermen?” asked Rock, scuttling along beside the Doctor and Holly, followed Dome.

“It’s a little difficult to explain, but where I came from there were a race of creatures called the Cybermen. They came from a twin planet to Earth called Mondas. Mondas drifted away to parts of the galaxy that hadn’t been explored. Over time they replaced their body parts with cybernetic limbs and organs. Eventually Mondas returned to the solar system and tried to attack Earth.”

“Their world was dying, wasn’t it?” asked Holly, remembering what the Doctor had told her before.

“That’s right. Eventually it absorbed that much power that it burnt itself out. Some of the Mondasians escaped, but we all know that story.”

“Indeed we do,” said Holly.

“But is this the same thing? Is this Mondas?” asked Dome.

“Quite possibly. Possibly an alternate version. And if it is your world is in danger. No doubt the Moon is just a stop-off before Earth.”

The Doctor and Holly were helped up into the air vent by Rock and Dome. The Doctor looked down from the hole and smiled at the two rocks. “I will argue your case, I promise, but you have to defend yourselves. If the Cybermen are here then they won’t care for your people or your moon. They’ll wipe everyone out just to get what they want.”

“You have to work with the Humans,” said Holly.

“We will do our best,” said Rock. “We will meet again,” said the little rocky creature.

“Come on, Holly.” said the Doctor, “We need to get to the central command centre and speak to the commander.”

After crawling through several feet of air vents Holly had had enough. Her knees were sore and her palms were sweating. Eventually they reached a grill and the Doctor pushed it open, helping Holly out. They were near to the swimming pool and the man and woman – Ian and Barbara – were stood beside the bar. Both were wrapped in towels and were standing with a larger group, all of them looking concerned at the flickering lights.

“Hello again,” said Ian.

“Are you all alright?” asked the Doctor.

“Well the heating went off in the pool,” said Barbara, “but we’re not bad. We thought the lights might have sorted themselves out, but there’s been nothing yet.”

“You must stay here,” said the Doctor, pointing to them, “my friend and I will get help.”

“We’ve got a friend who might be able to help too,” said Ian.

“Yes, my grandfather is an expert at these situations,” said Barbara.

The Doctor paused and then looked more closely at the blonde woman. “Your grandfather? You mean you and I...I mean, you and him.”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Barbara, looking confused.

“Doctor, we need to go,” said Holly, grabbing his hand.

“Doctor?” said Ian and Barbara in unison.

“Later,” said Holly, dragging an astonished Doctor towards the swimming pool exit.

“Fascinating,” said the Doctor, as he finally managed to straighten his head to face the right direction and run beside Holly.

“She’s your alternate self’s granddaughter, yeah?” said Holly, with a smile.

“She must be,” said the Doctor, shaking his head in disbelief. “What a strange, different life we can all lead sometimes.”

“Well if you don’t mind, Doctor,” said Holly, as they ran through an open doorway in the corridor, “I’ll be quite happy to get back to our own lives.”



Kelly had led a small time out of the command centre and they were slowly making their way across the relatively calm lunar surface. He hadn’t been out here very often and always marvelled at how his boot prints remained standing in the dust – sort of like a memory to survive after he had long gone.

“Anything, Kelly?” came Borshack’s voice over the intercom in his helmet.

“Nothing yet, sir,” said Kelly. “I’ll radio you if we spot anything.”

“Sir,” came the voice of a young, blonde man – Jericho. He was standing a little way off from the rest of the group and was perched on a small ridge looking across the landscape.

“What is it, Tom?”

“There’s definitely something out there,” said Jericho.

Kelly clambered up the ridge to join the other officer. He scanned across the surface. To his left was the gleaming glass and metal city structure, lights blinking intermittently. Kelly had very rarely seen the city from this angle before. He had been mainly based inside the city and, again, hadn’t ventured out on many occasions. He had no reason to, but looking at it from here....he found his breath was taken away.

His eyes were diverted to where Jericho was pointing. A few metres away from the edge of the city was what looked like a large, metal object partially buried in the ground. He squinted – he should have worn his glasses – and the more it came into focus the more it looked like a flying saucer buried in the ground in its own little impact crater.

“There’s definitely a craft out here, sir,” said Kelly into his communicator.

“Can you get closer?” asked Borshack.

“If that’s an order, sir, then yes, I suppose I can.” Kelly laughed to himself. Borshack was a grumpy old man, but he liked the guy. He always seemed to be exasperated, almost like he didn’t really want to be there, but loved his job too much.

Kelly was about to take the team down the ridge when something shot up from the steep incline of the other side. There were cries for help as he fell back, the black sky occupying his visor.

“Report, Kelly,” yelled Borshack through the intercom.

Kelly found himself falling to the ground and landing with a soft thud. He tried to scramble to get up. He could hear the cries of his men around him on the intercom, and then something that would horrify him for the final ten seconds of his life loomed into view.

The man was huge – probably around seven-foot. Its limbs were stiff and its bones made a metallic crack as it moved towards him. Ragged silver fabric was fastened to its body with what looked like bandages. They were stained red as if cuts had bled a long time ago. But the face was the true horror. From out of the shoulders came an almost metallic-like skull. Piercing blue eyes shone out from the eye sockets of the metal skull and on the top of the head was a metallic cap with a lamp on top with “handle bars” reaching from the lamp and down to where the ears should have been.

The creature opened its mouth – jagged metal teeth occupied its jaw as it pulled back its bony fist and brought it down on Kelly’s glass visor.



The visor cracked and the last thing Kelly saw was Jericho being lifted into the air and torn into two pieces at the waist. He thanked God for a merciful death as the scuffle between the invaders giant boot prints wiped out his own.

To be continued...

Dr. Who and the Men in the Moon (Chapter 5)

Chapter 5 (The Dying Planet)

It was sunny. Holly opened her eyes. White, thin curtains blew gently in the breeze coming from the open window. She had to shield her eyes whilst they got used to the light. She felt relaxed though. Happy and relaxed as she stretched underneath the cotton sheets.

She turned her head to the side. Lilly was sat on the straw armchair beside the bed, reading a book.

“Did I wake you?” asked Lilly, looking up from the pages.

“No,” said Holly. “And you can wake me up any time you want to.”

Lilly smiled at her and closed the book. She was wearing a yellow dress and looked absolutely beautiful. She took off her heels and climbed onto the bed, sitting down next to Holly and looking down at her.

“What?” asked Holly.

“I’m just happy,” said Lilly. She leant in and planted a gentle kiss on Holly’s forehead.

“I’m happy too,” said Holly.

“But it’s not over yet.”

“Sorry?” said Holly.

“There’s something you need to do first. You need to help the Doctor now. It’s the only way you can get back to me.”

The room had grown darker and the sun had disappeared. “This isn’t real, is it?”

“Just a dream, Dangerfield.” Lilly got up off the bed. The room had grown darker and she could now barely make her out. “You need to wake up, Holly.”

“What?”

“Wake up!”

“Lilly?” said Holly, feeling a dull pain in the back of her skull where she’d hit her head.

“What?” said the Doctor. “No, it’s not Lilly. It’s me.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Holly, “just wishful thinking.”

“How are you feeling?”

Holly sat up and swayed slightly. The pain in the back of her head felt worse now. She rubbed the back of her head and there was just enough light for her to check her hand – no blood. That was a good sign. They were sat in a dark cave with rough, grey walls. There was a small opening in the cave which led to a rocky corridor and there were large drag marks from the corridor to where the two of them were sat.

“My head’s hurting,” said Holly. “I must have hit it when I fell.”

“Me too,” said the Doctor. He rubbed the side of his face and winced. “Something took us out with some speed.”

Holly was about to get up and stretch her legs when she realised that they were tied together at the ankles with some crude form of black twine. She looked at the Doctor, a look of worry on her face.

“Yes, I know,” said the Doctor, arching his eyebrows. “Not looking good, is it?”

“Was it that creature from earlier?”

“Highly likely,” said the Doctor. “We seem to be in some sort of cave. Judging by my how my ears have been feeling I’d say we were underground.”

“But how can we breathe?” asked Holly, trying to pick at the tight bindings on her ankles.

“We’re likely still in the confines of the city. I’d expect them to extend the atmospheric bubble down as far as they can go. I don’t really know though. Not my universe, remember?”

Holly was furiously picking away at the twine when a small rock came flying from the corridor and hit her on her knuckles.

“Ow!” she said. “What was that?”

“Someone – or something – throwing stones,” said the Doctor, peering into the darkness. “Come on, show yourself!”

What emerged from the corridor almost made Holly laugh, but she managed to stifle it – the pain in her head made any sudden movements unbearable. A number of what she could only describe as boulders slowly shuffled into the cave. Holly couldn’t really make out what was making them move, but she presumed they had to have had legs. They moved in a strange, shuffling motion. They had strange, spindly, bone-like arms with little, tiny claws and the head was simply another, smaller stone attached to the main body with little red eyes peeking out from between the two.

“Well, hello there,” said the Doctor.

The boulders did not speak. There were four of them and they lined up in front of Holly and the Doctor.

“Do you speak?” asked Holly.

The creatures turned to look at each other and then one of them produced a sharp, flint-like stone and advanced on the two prisoners.



Borshack stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the monitor as the planet came into full view. It looked strangely like Earth – similar placing of continents with only a few differences – but it looked grey. Grey and brown, as if it was dying. On the far side of the planet appeared to be a huge, metallic structure built onto the surface of the planet with giant engines that must have propelled the planet across the solar system.

“Most exciting,” said Dr. Who, his eyes bright.

“Most disturbing,” said Borshack. “Kelly, is that thing giving off any readings?”

“Not many,” said Kelly, checking his console, “but it is similar to Earth in many ways. There seems to be a high level of pollution though – and a large population. Sixty billion life forms on the planet!”

“And this planet just glided into our solar system? Just like that?” asked Borshack, peering closer at the image of the planet.

“It seems that way, sir.”

“Have you tried to open communications with it?” asked Dr. Who.

“Why would we do that?” asked Borshack.

“Good lord, man,” said Dr. Who, shaking his head, “it’s a planet from nowhere. A tenth planet in your nine-planet system. Where is your sense of curiosity?”

“It could be dangerous.”

“It could be, but then we won’t know unless we try and speak.”

“Kelly-”

“No need to open communications, sir,” said Kelly, frowning at the console, “it looks like they are opening communications again. I’m afraid it’s still only audio.”

“Let’s hear them.”

There was a blast of static and then the strange, metallic, electronic voice filtered through the speakers once again.

“Can you clear that up?” asked Dr. Who.

“Working on it,” said Kelly.

The static cleared a little more. They could hear the voice now almost as clear as a bell.

“...to all Earthlings. We request immediate assistance from your planet. Our planet is dying. We must receive assistance immediately or we will die. Our systems are failing. We only had enough power to finish this final push into the solar system. Please respond.”

“Sir?” asked Kelly, waiting to for his orders.

“It could be a trap,” said Borshack, stroking his moustache.

“Don’t you think we should give them the benefit of the doubt?” said Dr. Who.

Borshack looked up to his office. I will need to speak to Earth Central first. If these inhabitants pose a threat we have to be ready.

“But they might be dying up there!” said Susan.

“I still have to follow procedures. Kelly, do not respond until I have backing from EC.” He pointed down at Dr. Who and Susan. “And make sure these two do not leave the command centre. I still don’t know where you’ve come from.”

“Grandfather?” said Susan.

“It’ll all be alright, Susie. Don’t worry. I’m sure the people on that planet are quite friendly.”



“But I don’t understand,” said Holly. “This city has been here for over 25 years. Why are you so worried now?”

The Doctor and Holly had been untied and were sat against the wall of the cave. The strange, rock creatures hadn’t made much sense at first, talking in a strange scraping voice that sounded like rock scraping on rock.

Eventually, after an adjustment of the sonic screwdriver, the voices started to make some kind of sense and eventually full-on English words were coming out of the creature’s odd mouths.

The Doctor had said that it was a case of their TARDIS telepathic circuits not quite being in tune with this alternate universe.

“We were content to let the Humankind settle on our world,” said the lead creature, “but on the dark side they have started to construct another city.”

“And it’s disrupting your race?” asked the Doctor.

The creature nodded its domed head. “My kind moved to the dark side, but where does it stop? We move – they build.”

“But they don’t know about you,” said Holly. “I don’t think they mean you any harm.”

“I’m assuming at some point in the past there were the moon landings in this universe.”

“This universe?” The creature seemed confused.

“There were moon landings, yes?”

“Yes. Their craft came to us.”

“Then why didn’t you make yourselves know then?”

“Why should we?” said the lead creature. “This is our planet.”

Holly sighed. “If strangers turned up at my house I wouldn’t just sit back and hide.”

“We are a private race.”

The Doctor leant back and scratched the back of his neck. “Well, we have to come to some kind of agreement here. They aren’t my people so I can be a mediator between your two races.”

“You have to decide what you want though, because attacking them isn’t the best way forward.”

“They must stop building their places on our world. One is enough. The more they build the more unstable our world becomes. We can breathe in these oxygen pockets, but not forever.”

“I will certainly try and get your point across, Mr...what’s your name?”

“Rock.”

“Rock? That’s it,” said Holly, confused, “just Rock?”

“Does this amuse you, Humankind?”

“No, no,” said Holly, looking worried. “Not at all.”

The Doctor nodded. “It’ll be an honour to assist you, Rock.”

There came a scuffle of urgency from near the cave opening and a smaller, paler looking rock creature came scuttling in. It looked worried (if rocks are even capable of having worries expressions) and almost collided with Rock.

“What is it, Dome?”

“There is something going on above.”

“In the city?”

“No,” said Dome. “Something has appeared in the sky. It looks like another planet.”

“What?” said the Doctor, a worrying thought at the back of his mind. “Another planet?”

“Yes,” said Dome. “It has large rocket engines and it is getting closer to us.”

“No,” said the Doctor.

“What is it?” asked Holly.

“Can you remember the Mondasian Cybermen?”

“Yes,” said Holly. She’d never forget her first trip on board the TARDIS and the run-in with the survivors of the planet Mondas.

“Well, this is an alternate world. I have a bad feeling that the planet up there may be the alternate Cyber Mondasians.”

“But they were friendly.”



“The survivors were. The original ones were very, very dangerous. Who even knows how bad these alternate versions may be!”

To be continued...

Dr. Who and the Men in the Moon (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Attack of the Moon Men)

“I don’t understand,” said Holly, as the Doctor sat, looking perplexed, his shoes and socks at the side whilst his feet dangled into the warm swimming pool. The work crew had turned up and were busy trying to filter the grey dust out of the water. “You said we were in an alternate universe.”

“You don’t understand, Holly,” said the Doctor. “I travelled with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, but they were different to these two. They looked different.”

“So they’re not alternate versions of your Ian and Barbara?”

“No,” said the Doctor, “which makes it all the more fascinating.” He smiled. “The universe has a funny way of bringing people together. A totally different Ian Chesterton and a totally different Barbara Wright are brought together and end up travelling with an alternate version of me. It’s almost like the universe knows how my mind works.”

“So if they’re here then your alternate self must be around somewhere,” said Holly, glancing around the poolside.

“Not here though,” said the Doctor. “But if I know myself then I’ll be somewhere investigating the same creature we chased.”

The Doctor pulled out a syringe and aimed it towards some of the remains of the creature. He sucked up some of the grey liquid and then looked at it through the glass syringe. “We need to head up to central command and speak to Commander Borshack.”



Borshack was getting on – a man in his late 60’s with thinning white hair and a pencil-thin moustache. His face wore deep lines that looked like they hid away the darkest secrets that came with working for the Earth Space Force. He had done 44 years service and was planning on retiring in the next few years. He liked living and working on the Moon, but he missed his wife, Matilda and his two dogs back at their cottage on Earth. He managed to get back every few weeks, but the more times he went back, the more homesick he became.

He was deep in thought behind his glass desk, staring down at a blank computer monitor when the door opened. A young, Asian man – Lieutenant Kelly – entered with an old man with grey, bouffant hair and wearing the oddest, old fashioned brown jacket and chequered trousers he’d ever seen. He was accompanied by a small, dark-haired girl in a blue dress.

“Sir, this man says he needs to speak to you about the power outages and the problems with the vents.”

“What?” said Borshack, looking at the old man and feeling confused.

“My granddaughter and I were in the market area when we witnessed the power outage.”

“Ah, yes. It’s a mystery I’m afraid,” said Borshack realising what they were talking about.

“And how long has it been going on?” asked the old man, stopping slightly and smiling at Borshack.

Borshack frowned. “Excuse me, but who are you? We don’t usually admit civilians in here.”

“That’s because we’re not civilians,” said the old man. He extended his hand. “My name is Dr. Who, and this is my granddaughter, Susan.”

Borshack shook his hand, but continued to frown. Did the old man think that that was meant to mean something to him?

“We’re travellers,” said the young girl, also reaching up to shake the old commander’s hand.

“We still don’t tend to get travellers in here,” said Borshack.

Dr. Who crossed over to a control panel on the office wall and began tapping away at the touch screen. “Oh, do you mind?”

Borshack felt himself being overwhelmed by these people. He made a mental note to tighten up security in the command centre. “It depends what you’re looking for.”

“A schematic of your pipe works and vents,” said Dr. Who. “Dear me, this is most confusing.”

“Here,” said Borshack, gently shifting Dr. Who out of his way. He was no closer to finding out what was happening and he was open to any help he could get. He tapped in a few commands and an image of the base came up. A few more taps and it zoomed into a schematic of the pipes. They looked like noodles snaking around and around underneath the city.

“They pump the waste water out of people’s homes and recycle it to drinking water. The air vents make sure the oxygen is continually circulated.”

“Hmmm,” said Dr. Who, putting his glasses on and peering up at the plans, “it’s not really the pipes that I’m interested in.”

“Then what are you interested in?” asked Borshack, becoming more and more frustrated.

“I’m interested in what is under the pipes,” said Dr. Who, turning to look at the old man.

Before Borshack was able to reply the comm signal beeped that a call was coming in. Borshack snapped out of his gaze at Dr. Who and hurried over to his desk. He tapped on the “receive” button. “Yes, what is it Kelly?”

“Sir, we’re picking up a strange reading. I think you better come out here and give it a look.”



The command centre was a hustle and bustle of activity. Like most things in Luna City Alpha, it was dome shaped with a walkway around what would be considered as the second level and steps down to the large central area where technicians and officers worked at control panels.

In the centre of the command area was a large control console with a rectangular, glass screen suspended on just slightly above everyone’s heads.

“What kind of signal is it?” asked Borshack as he headed into the lower section, followed by Dr. Who and Susan.

“It’s a bit too faint to make out, but it’s repeating over and over again.”

“So someone in the City is making illegal broadcasts.”

“No, no,” said Kelly, “it’s not coming from the Moon.” He pointed at an image of the solar system on the screen. The furthest planet on the screen was Pluto, and just beyond that was a red, flashing dot. The source of the signal. “This signal is coming from space.”



The Doctor and Holly were almost at the control centre when the lights went out again. The Doctor reached out a hand and stopped Holly from going any further.

“It’s just another power loss, Doctor,” said Holly. “If those creatures are causing it then-”

“Quiet,” said the Doctor.

Holly could just make out the outline of his face. “The power’s not coming back on.”

“No,” said the Doctor. He reached down and took her hand. “Stay close to me.”

“Don’t worry, Doc, I’m not going anywhere.” She laughed nervously.

The corridor was still in darkness, but slowly the Doctor and Holly walked along it. The Doctor went into his pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. The light on it didn’t brighten up everything, but it gave them enough light to be able to see where they were going.

“This reminds me of the time Lilly, Caleb and I were trapped in the Web of Wax,” said the Doctor, speaking in a whisper.

The mention of Lilly made Holly’s heart ache. “Web of Wax?”

“Mmm-hmm,” said the Doctor. “There were these giant, cat-like-spiders-”

“Cat-like-spiders?!” said Holly, horrified.

“The Waxians. Scary creatures. Anyway they tunnelled under the ground and we had to get through one of their wax webs to get back to the TARDIS.”

“Dare I ask how the TARDIS got inside their web in the first place?” asked Holly.

“Mis-adventure,” said the Doctor, sheepishly.

Holly laughed knowingly. “How’d you do it then? Get out of the web?”

“It was Lilly, actually. The creatures were deadly, but they weren’t very good with loud noises. They surrounded us and Lilly started shouting at them.”

“Sounds like our Lilly,” laughed Holly.

The Doctor stopped them in the corridor and turned to face Holly. “Thank you.”

“What for?” asked Holly, getting mental whiplash at the change in discussion.

“For being there for Lilly,” he said. He took her other hand and she could make out the smile on his face. “You brought her further in those last few months than I ever managed. You helped her to heal.”

Holly smiled. “She isn’t healed yet, Doctor.”

“No, but she’s nearly there. The wound is almost healed.”

“She still hasn’t told me everything that happened with Caleb.” Holly felt the Doctor tense up. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not that,” said the Doctor, his voice now barely audible. “Don’t make any sudden moves, but there’s something stood behind you.”

“What!” said Holly, jumping at the thought, doing the exact opposite of what he had said and spinning around to look at what it could be.

“Holly!” yelled the Doctor.

But it was too late. The sonic screwdriver was knocked out of the Doctor’s hand as the rest of the light was extinguished.



“Power’s back on in section 5,” said Lieutenant Kelly.

“And Earth Command are asking for an update on the signal,” said a blonde woman.

“Can we clear up the signal, Johnson?” asked Borshack.

The blonde woman, Johnson, tapped a few buttons on her console. “Not yet, but it is getting closer. It’s a message.”

Dr. Who glanced up at the screen. “It’s passed Neptune now.”

“What do you think it is, grandfather?” asked Susan.

“I don’t know, Susie, I just don’t know.”

“I’ve got something,” said Johnson. She put her hands over her communications headset and strained to listen. “It’s definitely a message.”

“Can you route it through the comm system?” asked Borshack.

“Yes, sir,” said Johnson.

The speakers high up in the ceiling began to broadcast static.

Dr. Who tapped on his chin curiously and looked down at Susan.

“Can you clear it up?” asked Borshack.

“Give me a second, sir,” said Johnson. “There, that should do it.”

From out of the static came a strange, sing-song, metallic-sounding voice. It kept repeating over and over and over again and it caused Borshack’s blood to run cold.

“WE ARE COMING. WE ARE COMING. WE ARE COMING.”

“Grandfather...?” said Susan, looking up at him.

“Sir, we’re getting a few more details about the origin of the signal,” said Lt. Kelly. “It’s not a spaceship.” He paused for dramatic effect.

Borshack sighed and thought of his house in the countryside. “Well get on with it, Kelly.”

“It’s not a spaceship. It’s a planet.”

“I beg your pardon?” said Borshack.

“A planet – a tenth planet – has somehow entered the solar system and is heading straight for us.”

“We are coming,” muttered Dr. Who under his breath.

“Lt. Kelly, put the city on lockdown. Everyone else, get to your battle stations.”

To be continued...

Dr. Who and the Men in the Moon (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (Lunar City Alpha)

“Fascinating concoction,” said the Doctor, scooping up some orange, mushy food with a piece of soft, white bread.

“It’s just cheese,” said Holly, sipping on a cool glass of pink lemonade.

“It tastes like oranges,” said the Doctor, licking the ends of his fingers.

“Really?” said Holly, dipping her finger in the mush, licking her finger and then sticking her tongue out. “Blurgghh! How bizarre!”

“Special of the day, sweetheart,” came a metallic, robotic voice.

Standing with a tray in its hand was what Holly could only describe as something that looked like an robot out of a 1950’s sci-fi film. It was hovering a few inches off the ground, had a round, metallic body with an array of multicoloured buttons and clawed hands attached to stretching, pipe-like arms. Its head was a dome, complete with aerial that swivelled on a neck section. There were two, glowing blue eyes at the front and when the robot spoke a row of red lights lit up where its mouth could have been.

“Hello there,” said the Doctor, shaking the robots claws. “You’re the waiter here, are you?”

“Got it in one, pal,” said the robot. It had an Australian accent which Holly found amusing. “And may I welcome you to Cafe Moondust. My name is Colin.”

“Nice to meet you Colin,” smiled Holly.

“Charmed,” said Colin.

“Listen, perhaps you can help us out,” said the Doctor. “On two counts actually.”

“I’ll try if I can, chief,” said Colin, putting his tray down on the table.

“Firstly I was wondering if you have any kind of chemical stores in the city. Specifically I need mercury.”

“There are three chemical stores on Level 5X,” said Colin, projecting a small, holographic 3D map of Lunar City Alpha. “Your best would be Sonny’s Lab Works.”

“Excellent,” said the Doctor, taking out a notepad and scribbling down the address.

“And your second question?” asked Colin, switching the map off.

“The year is 2006, yes?”

“That’s correct,” said Colin, his dome swivelling slightly.

“Well as far as my history banks are concerned there was never a city on the moon; not in the early 21st century anyway.”

Colin remained silent for a moment and then another image was projected from the vast array of controls on his chest. It showed a holographic video of shuttles travelling to the moon and then scores of people in spacesuits and driving construction vehicles building Lunar City Alpha.

“The City was built 27 years ago.”

“1981?” said Holly. “That’s impossible.”

“I can assure you, lady, that it’s very, very possible. You’re sitting in the possible. Hey, we could rename the cafe! Cafe Possible!”

The Doctor was deep in thought when a sudden realisation hit him and he leaned back in his chair, his hand mock-slapping his forehead.

“Is that a penny is see dropping there, Doctor?” asked Holly.

“We’re in an alternate universe. It’s so obvious.”

“What, like where the Kro’Tenk came from?” asked Holly, remembering all too well her brush with the lizard men of a dark world she visited.

“Sort of,” said the Doctor. “Whatever hit us in the vortex threw us off course. It happens very rarely, but it does occasionally happen.”

“Yeah, but even so,” said Holly, looking around her, “a Moon city built in the 1980’s?”

“Remember though – there are infinite universes out there with infinite possibilities. All it takes is for technology to advance faster than in our universe and voila – Moon City.”

“Have I answered all your questions, chief?” asked Colin.

“Indeed you have, my friend,” said the Doctor, patting him on the dome.

“Then I’ll say g’day,” said Colin, nodding his dome and floating away.

“So all we need is mercury and then we can plot a course home?” asked Holly.

“Should be simple enough,” said the Doctor, taking another bite of his orange-mush-covered bread and grinning. “We just follow the same trajectory that we came in on.”

The Doctor finished off his bread and was about to get up and leave when there was an almighty whoosh from somewhere on the walkway behind them. There were shouts and yells as a metal grill was thrown from over a manhole, landing with a clatter just behind the Doctor and Holly with a grey, plume of powder following it.

“Not again,” said Colin, putting his tray down and floating over to the edge of the cafe boundary.

“Again?” asked Holly.

“This has been happening regularly for the last few weeks - Blasts of moon dust erupting from the vents below.”

“Interesting,” said the Doctor, getting up from the table and running over to the crowd of people gathered around the vent. He knelt down and ran his finger through the grey/silver powdery residue. “Definitely moon dust.”

“But there’s no dust underneath them,” said Holly, kneeling down to join the Doctor. “I mean they’re just vents. Where’s the dust coming from?”

“Nobody knows,” said Colin, sounding fed up with the situation, “but I know that one day one of these vents is going to burst open under our cafe and then we’ll be in trouble.”

By now a work crew had arrived on the scene and were ushering the crowd away so they could fix the grill back down.

“And you say nobody knows? Nobody at all?” asked the Doctor.

“Nobody,” said Colin.

“I can guarantee somebody knows,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet. “Who’s in charge here?”

“That’ll be Commander Borshack.”

“And he can be found...?”

“In Control Centre 1,” said Colin. “Just follow the green arrows to find your way around.”

“Thank you, Colin,” smiled the Doctor.

He and Holly made their way through the masses of people busy going about their daily life until they reached the market area. There were signposts everywhere, but all the directions to the command posts were written on green arrows. They were about to turn and head to an elevator at the side of the domed chamber when Holly grabbed the Doctor’s arm.

“What’s wrong?” asked the Doctor.

“The TARDIS,” said Holly. “Someone’s moved it in here.”

Sure enough the TARDIS was sat in the middle of the market place, people busy milling around it and taking no notice.

“Impossible,” said the Doctor. “I left the gravity clamps on. Nobody should have been able to move it.”

“Well they have,” said Holly.

“I better check she’s in one piece,” said the Doctor. He took out his key and walked over to the TARDIS. He placed the key in the lock. It didn’t turn.

“What’s up?” asked Holly.

The Doctor took his key out of the lock and stroked his unshaven chin, looking the blue box up and down. “I don’t think this is my TARDIS.”

“What?” laughed Holly. “What are you talking about? It’s big, it’s blue, it’s a police box. It’s the TARDIS.”

“No. Remember what I said about us arriving in an alternate universe?”

A look of realisation dawned on the dark-haired woman and her eyes widened. “Like Aldridge in the dark world? You think this TARDIS belongs to another alternate version of you?”

“Indeed I do,” said the Doctor. “How fascinating that we’re both here at the same time.”

Holly smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “There’re more of you running about than I can count.”

The Doctor gave a weak smile and was about to respond when the entire domed chamber was plunged into darkness. There were cries and shouts from all over and the same whooshing sound that they had heard before.

Red emergency lights came on bathing the chamber and making it look like something out of a horror movie. Holly was about to speak when suddenly something rushed past her and knocked her into the Doctor’s arms.

The two of them looked in the direction the something had run in just in time to see a grey blur disappear out of the chamber and into a corridor.

Now the lights were flickering back on and people were beginning to regain their senses.

“What was that?” asked Holly. “It was bloody hard whatever it was.” She rubbed her shin. “I’ll have a lovely bruise come up there.”

“I don’t know, Miss Dangerfield, but I reckon we should follow it.”

The Doctor took Holly’s hand and they both headed in the direction of the grey blur.



The swimming pool was located in a section off to the furthest edge of the city. It was in a large, glass dome which looked out on the lunar landscape. The pool itself was huge and circular in shape, around the size of two football fields. Dotted around the pool were tables, chairs, sun loungers and at the far wall a bar serving all manner of cocktails, drinks and snacks.

Ian swam over to the edge of the pool where Barbara was laid out on a blanket in a blue, swimming costume. She lowered her sunglasses and peeked over the edge of them.

“Can I help?” she asked, smiling as she sipped on her sparkling, pink coloured lemonade.

“You ought to come into the water,” said Ian. “It’s lovely and warm.”

“I’m quite happy relaxing beside the pool, Mr Chesterton,” smiled Barbara.

“Ah, come on,” said Ian, splashing a little bit of water at his wife.

“Hey,” she said, shielding her face and laughing.

Ian was about to climb out of the pool and join Barbara when a rush and clatter came from the glass double doors at the entrance to the pool area. There was a cry as a woman fell over, a table went flying and a grey blur rushed across the wet tiles, skidded and hit Ian full-on in the chest. The blur – and Ian – fell backwards and went into the depths of the water.

“Ian!” shouted Barbara, getting up from her blanket.

The water was now turning a cloudy grey colour. It looked like someone had just dumped a bag of cement in the warm water, causing it to disperse and discolour the liquid.

“Ian!” she shouted again, on her hands and knees and kneeling over the edge.

By now a crowd had gathered around the pool. The cloud of grey water had now spread out over a few square metres, but all was silent.

“Oh, Ian,” said Barbara, her hand to her mouth.

And then there was a sudden burst from underneath the cloud as Ian popped up, soaking wet and covered head to toe in glittering, grey wet powder.

“Ian!” said Barbara, reaching out to him as the young man coughed and spluttered out some of the gritty water.

“What on Earth was that?” asked Barbara.

“I don’t know,” said Ian as he was helped out by Barbara and a few of the other spectators.

“I’d quite like to find out myself,” came a voice from behind the crowd. Standing there was a young, Scottish man and a dark-haired, pretty girl. “I’m the Doctor, by the way, and this is Holly Dangerfield.”

“Are you okay?” asked Holly, kneeling down beside the pool and the dripping Ian.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” said Ian, holding out a hand to signal for her to keep calm.

“Did you say your name’s the Doctor?” asked Barbara, patting Ian down with a towel.

“That’s right,” said the Doctor. “And you are?”

“Barbara. Barbara and Ian Chesterton.” She held out her hand.

“What?” said a confused Doctor.

To be continued...