DOCTOR WHO-THE COLOURS OUT OF SPACE- AN ADAPTATION OF HP LOVECRAFT'S THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE
by LoveCrafter
Prologue
1910
Somewhere outside of Boston, Massachusetts in the USA
The stars were not what they seemed. Ammi Pierce rushed into his home under their menacing light, looking up furtively from time to time. Scientists from nearby Miskatonic University had dropped him off at his door on their way back into town.
Ammi's wife met him at the door. "What did they find this time?" she asked, looking at him worriedly.
"They took some plants that had turned strange colors and a sample of the water from the well, but that's all. I don't think they're going to learn anything more from them than they did from that bit of the meteorite they took back with them last year. I know this is unkind to think or even say, but I'm glad that meteorite didn't fall on our farm!"
"And how is Nabby? Did you see her?" Mrs. Pierce asked, wringing her hands on her apron.
Ammi shook his head. "I don't think she's getting any better. She's been locked up in the attic for months now."
"I'm worried about those children! Can't you convince Nahum to take everyone away?" she asked, anguish catching in her voice.
"I've tried. It's as though something is sapping the life out of them. They don't need the university scientists! They need a doctor!"
Chapter One
"When I was a little girl, my great granddad used to take me up to the top of this hill near his house and show me the stars through his telescope. It was the most amazing thing, and I wanted to talk to Mum about it, but he always said I shouldn't."
"Why was that?" the Doctor asked.
"I dunno. He said it would upset her. I can't imagine why looking at the stars would upset her. I mean, look at all of this! It's amazing!" Celia was standing in the doorway of the TARDIS looking out into space at a nebula of stars and planets. "It's so beautiful. I wish she could have seen it from here."
"Could have?" The Doctor stopped fiddling with the controls to look up.
"Yes, well, she passed away last year. Cancer, it was, that took her, same as it took my grandma when I was ten."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor replied, staring at her intently.
Celia shrugged. There was more she wanted to say, but she wasn't sure how to approach it. Before she could find a way, the TARDIS started shaking, and the door slammed shut.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Celia asked, grabbing hold of a railing as the TARDIS bucked and swayed around her.
"Something's trying to take hold of the TARDIS!" the Doctor exclaimed, slamming a lever forward on the console with his left hand while pulling another one down with his right. "It's pulling us in! I don't think I can stop it!" he added, twisting a knob in front of him. With his right foot he flipped a lever up toward the console. "Hold this down!" he yelled to Celia, gesturing for her to grab the lever he'd just flipped. It started to rise up as soon as he let go with his foot.
Celia grabbed hold of the lever and tried to keep it down, but she wasn't strong enough. Sparks flew from the console, and a jolt of electricity threw her against the wall. "I'm sorry, Doctor!" she cried out, and then everything was still.
"I think we've landed," The Doctor remarked, listening to the stillness. He reached out a hand to Celia and pulled her up from the floor.
"Thanks," she said, dusting herself off. "Nothing broken. Are we there, then?" she asked.
"Where?" the Doctor asked, looking at her quizzically.
"Wherever whatever took hold of the TARDIS wanted us to go," she replied, looking at the monitor on the console. "Looks like a forest. Why here, I wonder?"
"Let's go and find out, shall we?" the Doctor asked, pulling on his coat from where it lay over the railing near the door. He offered her his arm, and they stepped out of the TARDIS together.
The woods seemed strange to Celia, though she could not say exactly why. They were in a thickly wooded glen, with rolling hills all around them. The trees sloped at fantastic angles, and a little brook wound its way through them. She looked up, but all she could see were branches and leaves. The sky was completely covered. "It's difficult to tell what time of day it is, yeah?" she said, peering through the trees.
The Doctor did not reply. He was already heading up a slope, and she clambered up behind him.
"Look!" the Doctor said as he reached the top, "An old road used to run through here." The road was broken and cracked, with grass and weeds growing up between the cracks.
Celia climbed up to stand beside him, and they looked around. There was a house visible through the trees, but it was clear it had been abandoned long before. The chimney was crumbling, the roof sagged, and the walls appeared on the verge of collapse.
"Charming," Celia said, trying to shake off the feeling of foreboding. "Is it just me, or does something about this place seem wrong?"
"Not just you," the Doctor replied, stooping down to look at the moss growing on the rocks beside the road. "There's too much here."
"Too much what?" Celia asked, looking without much interest at the moss.
"Too much of everything. Too much shadow. The ground is too soft." He stood up and bounced up and down on the mossy ground as he spoke. "There's too much silence. Too much and not enough-" He stopped mid-sentence, looking around.
"Not enough what?"
"Not enough of everything else." He began looking intently at plants growing along the old road. He ran his hand through his hair, making it stand up in unruly spikes.
"Maybe that's it," Celia replied, looking around. "There are no birds. No sound of any kind. Not even the wind in the trees. And yet-" she paused, feeling silly.
"What?" the Doctor asked, not looking up from where he was crouched.
"I don't know. It's like we're being watched," she laughed nervously. "It's silly, I know."
"Come on," he said, straightening up and taking her hand. They walked along the road for a bit, passing other abandoned houses in various states of disrepair, neither one saying anything. Before they'd gone a half mile, they came up over a ridge and spotted a house on the edge of the wood. The old road seemed to lead right to the house.
"Why, it's bright daylight!" Celia exclaimed, shading her eyes from the rays. She looked back at the woods behind them, wondering how anything could grow that thickly.
The cottage at the end of the road was not abandoned like the others they had passed. The Doctor stepped briskly up the steps and rapped on the door several times. At first there was no answer, and Celia expected the Doctor to come away, but his ears were more finely tuned than hers. He rapped again, more loudly this time.
To her surprise, an old man answered the door, peering at them with distrust in his aged eyes. His clothes were unkempt, his beard snow white, and his eyes drooped strangely. Celia assumed he must be a mad-hermit, living out on the edge of civilization. The Doctor held out his hand and introduced himself.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor, and this is Celia." The Doctor held up the psychic paper for the man to see.
"Are you here about that meteorite?" he asked, brightening up a bit as he spoke.
The Doctor gave Celia a knowing look and tucked the psychic paper back into his pocket.
"Why, yes," the Doctor responded. "Yes, we are. What can you tell us about it-umm"
"The name's Ammi. Ammi Pierce."
"Nice to meet you, Ammi Pierce," the Doctor said, grinning as he stepped inside the man's house. "About this meteorite," he continued. "What can you tell us?"
Ammi led them into his house and they sat down around his kitchen table while Mrs. Pierce made them a cup of tea. It was clear to Celia that Mrs. Pierce was not happy to talk about the meteorite. Her husband, on the other hand, was happy to have someone who really wanted to listen.
"If you want to see any of it, you'll have to work fast. The whole area is set to be flooded for a new reservoir in a few days," Ammi told them. "And I say, good riddance! Nothing good has come to the farm since it fell."
Chapter Two
"Everything changed when the meteorite fell a little over a year ago," Ammi said, his husky voice dropping low as though he feared being overheard. He leaned forward in his chair and pointed his finger for emphasis as he spoke. "One day a year ago last spring, there was a bright flash of light and a loud explosion. The next morning, Nahum Gardner stopped by my place on his way in to town to tell everyone about the meteorite. Within a day, we had scientists from the university out here to study it."
The Doctor made a face at that. "What did they learn?" he asked barely concealing his scorn.
"Not much, I can tell you that!" Ammi said, and he laughed a low cackle. "I went along with them, and watched as they tried to hammer at it, but it was soft and pliable. The heat coming off it was impressive. They took off a chunk and put it in a metal pail. Even the small chuck was hot and it burned though the pail.
"The next day, the experts were back for another sample. They had tried experiments on the sample they had taken, but it refused to react with any of their agents, no matter what they did to it. It glowed in the dark, and was soft and pliable. Eventually, they placed it in a glass beaker for the night. But in the morning, the glass beaker and the fragments were gone, leaving only a burn mark on the table."
"What did the scientists conclude?" the Doctor asked, wandering around the room, looking at everything, picking things up and putting them down, taking his sonic screwdriver out, and scanning things in the house.
"They never made any sense out of it. And then it just disappeared."
It disappeared?" the Doctor asked, putting down the book he had picked up from the book shelf and turning quickly to face Ammi.
"Just seemed to melt away," Ammi said, pleased at the reaction he was getting from this new expert.
"Perhaps we should check this place out," the Doctor remarked. "Can you take us there?"
So, much to the dismay of Ammi's wife, Ammi led them down the road to Nahum Gardner's place.
On the path to Nahum Gardner's house, Celia was unnerved by the sky. She shivered in the warm September sunshine. The open spaces bothered her. The foliage along the road side seemed strange. At first, they passed plants which seemed to grow strangely. The colors were all wrong and the leaves were too big.
Flowers bloomed along the path, but were too big and the wrong color.
"I think that's a day lily," Celia said, pointing, "but I've never seen one like it. It's purple, and the flowers are huge!"
"It's been this way since meteorite fell," Ammi said, standing well back from the flowers. Last winter, all the snow around the farm melted before any of the surrounding area. It's not just in the soil. It's all around us." A bumble bee unlike any Celia had seen before buzzed by her, and she stared at it in wonder.
"Radiation you think?" she asked the Doctor, wondering about exposure as she asked.
"No," the Doctor replied, looking at his sonic screwdriver for verification. "Something else, though. I think you should go back to the TARDIS."
"No way!" Celia protested with her hands on her hips. "I didn't sign on to run back to the TARDIS whenever anything becomes a bit interesting!"
"Not just interesting. Dangerous," the Doctor argued.
"Well I'm not going back to the TARDIS!" she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest for emphasis.
"To Ammi's then. You should be safe there." He turned and pointed toward Ammi's house, barely visible in the distance.
"Again, not going!"
"Then don't touch anything! And don't wander off!" he barked, trying to sound more angry than worried.
"Yes, Sir!" she said, putting her hand up to her forehead, knowing how much he hated being saluted.
A bit farther down the road, there was a swampy bit of land, and skunk cabbages grew along the edges near the road. Celia put her hand to her nose. "What is that awful smell?" she asked though her sleeve.
"Skunk cabbage," the Doctor replied, "although I've never seen any like this before, not even on the planet Alzarius." They were much larger than the typical skunk cabbage, and shimmered strangely in the daylight. "Am I right in guessing these are new since the meteorite fell?" he asked Ammi.
"That's so, Doctor," Ammi replied, also covering his nose. "The horses won't go near the place now on account of the smell-" he paused, "-and other things. All of Nahum's horses ran off in the spring. He's had to borrow horses from the nearby farmers just to get his plowing done-"
"What other things?" the Doctor demanded to know.
"You'll see as we get near the place," Ammi replied. "It's no good trying to describe it. You have to see it for yourself."
The Doctor paused again to examine a plant, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver, and looking at the readings. "Saxifrage?" he asked Ammi for clarification. "But it's also the wrong color. And the wrong size!" He appeared to be enjoying every new discovery, and his joy increased with each new plant even as Ammi's uneasiness grew.
In a few yards, the walked past the orchards. The trees were covered in blossoms unlike any they had seen before. Purple, blue, orange...everything but the typical white or pink blossoms typically growing on an apple tree. There was fruit on the ground, and Celia, forgetting her promise to the Doctor, stooped to pick it up.
"Don't touch it!" he said harshly, although he wasn't even looking in her direction.
"Oh! Right!" she replied, stepping back guiltily.
"You don't want it anyway, Miss," Ammi said kindly. "It tastes like rubbish. All the produce has gone bad since that thing fell."
A few more yards along the road, and the vegetation changed again. The lush foliage and hyper-colored plants gave way to grey. The ground appeared brittle.
"They're calling this place the blasted heath," Ammi remarked. "Nothing will grow where the ground has turned grey."
A few yards later, they rounded a corner and Celia could see the farm. The ground all around it had gone grey in a circle that seemed to come from the farm. The Doctor paused for a moment, taking everything in. Celia stared at the trees. They seemed strange, but she couldn't quite say why.
Nahum was out in the yard when they arrived. He shook the Doctor's hand, but didn't quite seem to see him or Celia. Ammi led them first to the hole in the ground where the meteorite landed near the well.
The Doctor scanned the area with his sonic screwdriver, saying little except an occasional, "Hmm," and, "That's interesting." He crouched down near the well, peering into the dark water. "But that doesn't make any sense!" he said, spinning around in a circle.
"What, Doctor? What is it?"
He didn't seem to hear her, and continued talking to himself. "But if that is the case, then-"
His conclusion was interrupted by a loud scream and a crash that came from inside the house. He took off running into the house, trying to locate the source of the sound.
Ammi followed them inside. "That's Nabby," he said, gesturing to the room upstairs. "She began to hallucinate last winter. Nahum didn't have the heart to bring her to a hospital. At first, he just tried to look after her around the house, but then she started scaring Zenas something awful, so Nahum locked her up in the attic. Do you think you can cure her, Doctor?"
"I don't know, but I can try," the Doctor replied, already making his way up the stairs with Celia close behind.
The room was dark when they opened the door. The window had been boarded over, and Celia cringed at the idea of being locked up in such a dark and dingy room. A woman sat on the bed, she turned slowly to face them when they entered, but didn't really seem to see them. She batted at something on her arm, although Celia could see nothing there.
The Doctor crouched near and scanned her with his sonic screwdriver. The sound of it seemed to waken her, and she began speaking in a strained and forced voice. "There's something on me. I can't seem to get it off," she said, batting the air in front of her. "It's draining out of me." She paused a moment, and cocked her head as though listening for something. "The walls and windows-they move!" she whispered. She turned to Celia and grinned the most awful grin-as though she were a wolf looking at her dinner.
Celia gasped and took a step back. Nabby Gardner laughed a raucous cackle. She suddenly seemed to see the Doctor, and turned her head as though analyzing him. "Oh, you're not like the others," she said. "They'll be interested in you!" she cackled again.
"Who are you?" the Doctor demanded. "What have you done to Nabby Gardner?"
Nabby just laughed in a hideous cackle.
"I demand by universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation to know who you are! What is your planet of origin? What are your galactic coordinates? What is your species designation?"
But Mrs. Gardner turned away from them and said no more.
"Come on," the Doctor said to Celia. "We need to get you back to the TARDIS."
"But Doctor, can't you help her? She said there was something on her, but I couldn't see anything."
Ammi looked at Celia. "What do you mean, she said there was something on her? You could understand her?"
"Why yes, couldn't you?" Celia asked, confused by his question.
"All I could make out was the sound of growling. She sounded as though she were a wild animal."
"But-" Celia began.
"TARDIS translation circuit," the Doctor said to her under his breath. "It's working here, remember?"
"But if she's speaking in another language. What language is she speaking?" Celia asked.
"I'm not sure," the Doctor admitted. "It's a mix of languages, all jumbled together. Whatever this is, it's been around the universe a bit."
"Whatever it is, can you help her?" Celia asked, looking worried.
"I'm not sure," the Doctor admitted, running his hand through his hair. "This thing has had a year's head start on me."
In the kitchen, Nabby and Nahum's three boys sat around the table, clearly worried about their mother. Celia tried to comfort them. "The Doctor is here, now. If anyone can help her, he can." She began busying herself by looking for something to cook for them for dinner. They looked as though they hadn't had a proper meal since their mother fell ill.
The Doctor went out to the barn to look check on the farm animals. Celia was busy cooking dinner when she noticed that Thaddeus was behaving strangely. He looked at her with the same look in his eyes as his mother had done earlier. He started pulling at his clothes as though trying to pull something off. "Can't you see it?" he said, swatting at the air. "I can hear it talking. It's coming for us all!"
Chapter Three
The Doctor came in, looking distracted and a bit more worried than Celia was comfortable. He barely looked in her direction, but wandered restlessly around the room, touching the walls, doors, and door frames and then looking at his fingers.
Celia had made a pot of tea to share with the boys and was standing, cup in hand, looking out the window. Dusk was beginning to fall, and she noticed a light that seemed to move out near the barn.
The Doctor began talking out loud, but really to himself, "Things turning to stone. At first, I thought maybe they were Pyrovile. But then I remembered that Pyrovile were hot and made from molten lava. These are cold and wet. And then I wondered if they were Krillitanes because they take on characteristics of the species they conquer, but that didn't hold true. Think! Think! Think!"
"Doctor!" Celia called, still looking out the window.
"This entity. What do we know?" he asked those in the room.
"It started with the crash of the meteorite," Ammi replied.
"Okay, that's a start," the Doctor replied. "What else? Think!"
"It had a globule inside that popped, and something came out-a gas of some sort," Nahum said, remembering.
"Doctor!" Celia called again.
"The meteorite acted like it was plastic," Ammi added.
"That's it!" the Doctor exclaimed, spinning around as he said it.
"Doctor, come look!" she called to him. "There's light coming from the barn!" Celia remarked. "Shouldn't we go look?"
"Absolutely not!" the Doctor replied. "Everyone is staying put!" Then he put on his coat.
"Where are you going?" Celia demanded.
"I need to get back to the TARDIS," the Doctor replied. "And I need you to stay here."
"But-" Celia began.
He cut her off by pointing the sonic screwdriver at her. "Not another word. I wanted you to stay there, but you wouldn't listen. I need you to listen now. Don't go outside. Don't touch anything. And don't run off!"
"Fine," Celia replied, trying to sound as though it didn't matter. "I'll try to find something to cook for dinner. I don't think any of them have eaten well in a long time."
The Doctor looked at her sympathetically, but said nothing.
"Right then! I'll be back. You lot stay here and out of trouble," he said, giving Celia a hug goodbye before he left.
Ammi decided to stay the night. "I'll not go out in the dark for anything! It's like there's something out there in the dark-watching and waiting."
Celia sat at the table while dinner heated up, drinking tea and trying not to worry as the night drew in around the farm. Just as darkness fell, a swarm of insects came to the farm. Celia was looking out the window at the trees, when the first insect slammed into the glass, causing her to jump. "Oh!" she cried out in surprise, running to the window. "What was that?"
Hornets, and beetles, moths, and houseflies all seemed to converge upon the farm. Most of the insects were larger than any they had seen before. They flew at the house, trying to get in, buzzing and flapping against the windows and doors. Everyone stared out into the night, looking for what might be coming next. The sound of the buzzing was deafening at times. Ammi, Celia, Nahum, and the boys ran around to all the rooms, shutting windows and securing doors. A half hour later, the buzzing stopped as suddenly as it had started. The swarms of insects somehow disappeared.
Celia set dinner down in front of the boys, but none of them seemed to have much of an appetite. "I just realized no one has checked on Nabby," she said, getting up suddenly from the table. "I'm going to bring some food to her upstairs."
Celia walked slowly up the stairs. The room was strangely silent since the insects had attacked the house. She wondered if the windows upstairs had been secured. What if she opened the door and thousands of insects swarmed out? She hesitated outside Nabby's room, listening for any sound of movement from within. Aside from a low shuffling noise, the room was quiet.
Celia slowly opened the door, the room was dark except for a faint glowing object in the corner. It took a moment for Celia's eyes to adjust. She stepped back in horror when she realized that the shape in the corner was Nabby Garnder, crawling on all fours, and glowing with a faint luminescent light.
Celia closed the door and locked it. She wanted to tell the Doctor. She wanted to cry out in fear. She wished she had stayed in the TARDIS like he had wanted. Instead, she stood listening to the voices that seemed to be coming from the walls. She walked slowly back down the stairs, wondering why it felt so hard to think straight.
Celia wandered back to the window, watching for the Doctor and drinking her third cup of tea when she called out again, "Ammi, come look!"
Ammi came to stand beside her. "What is it?"
"Look at the trees!"
"The trees are moving!" he gasped. "But there isn't any wind!"
The branches of the trees seemed to be stretching up toward the sky and waving despite the stillness.
"And, oh! Look at that!" Celia exclaimed, pointing to the yard. Flowers, plants, and even the trees were glowing faintly in the dark. "Oh no! Is that Thaddeus out there? What in the world is he doing?"
While Celia had been upstairs checking on Nabby, Thaddeus had gone out into the yard. Looking out at the glowing flowers, Celia spotted him as he turned from the well to come back into the house. He had gone out to the well to get some water, but came back empty handed. He stepped into the house, waving his arms about as he spoke, "It's in the well! There's colors in the well! Did you see it? Colors everywhere!"
They tried to comfort him, but it was no use. His rambling turned to hysteria. He began waving his arms about as though trying to fight something off, and then he would stop and cock his head to one side as though listening to something only he could hear.
Nahum and Ammi brought Thaddeus up to the attic in a room across the hall from his mother.
Not long after that, the screaming started. Nabby and Thaddeus screamed at each other through the walls. The noise was so terrible, it was hard to bear. Celia worried about the two younger boys and tried to keep them occupied and away from the attic. An hour later, she found Merwin sitting at the top of the stairs, listening in terror to his mother and brother and crying.
"Come down here, Merwin," She said gently, offering her hand to the little boy.
"He used to play with me all the time," Merwin sniffled. "I can't understand what they are saying to each other."
Celia could, but she didn't want to tell him.
"Soon, our family will be united!"
"The lights in the sky! It will shine like a beacon to lead them here!"
"The colors! The signal that we are ready!"
"We are hungry!"
"Soon we will feast!"
"I'm sorry, Merwin. I really am." Celia replied, trying not to cry herself. She wished the Doctor would return. She didn't like being so far away from him. She poured another cup of tea and sat down with Merwin at the table to drink it.
While she and Merwin sat together at the table, Celia shuddered, worrying about where the Doctor might be and wondering why the darkness bothered her so.
There was a moment of stillness, and then a terrible whinnying came from the barn. The horse were panicking and kicking at the doors of the barn. Before Celia could stop him, Nahum ran out to see what was wrong with them, and as soon as he opened the barn door, they bolted out and ran for the hills.
Then, Mrs. Gardner began screaming in fits, with Thaddeus screaming in answer. Everyone sat on edge, listening and worrying. Celia held Merwin's hand tight, to comfort him.
"Where are you, Doctor?" she asked, worriedly.
Chapter Four
Celia was dozing on the couch as the sun slowly rose in the sky. She sat up with a start and looked around. She had not been sleeping very long, but she felt guilty for giving in to the need. The Doctor had still not returned, and she worried about him as she stood up, looking around.
The house was quiet. Merwin slept next to her on the couch. Ammi dozed in a chair, but Zenas and Nahum were nowhere to be found.
Celia stumbled drowsily into the kitchen to make another pot of tea, and Nahum entered, looking haggard and grey. "The chickens are gone," he said in a choked voice.
"Gone?" Celia asked, feeling stupid and sleepy.
"And the pigs," Nahum added, sitting down heavily at the table.
"Where did they go?" she asked, feeling slow.
"Not anywhere. They've all turned to stone. Everything's turning to stone. It was horrible to watch," he added, taking a napkin from his overall pocket and wiping his face. "Their faces shriveled up and fell away as they died. It was hideous to see. Thankfully, the dogs had sense to run off on their own. The cats, too. The cats had gone off first. We thought it was because there were no mice around. But now I wonder. I think the cows are safe. They are up in the pasture away from the farm." He was talking more to himself than to Celia, and she didn't reply. What was there to say? All she could think about was the Doctor. Where was he?
While Merwin slept, Celia went to bring food up to Thaddeus and Nabby. She opened Thaddeus' door first, too afraid to open Nabby's door.
She was not prepared for the sight that met her eyes. She stood, staring, her hand over her mouth, too shocked to scream or cry out. She dropped the tray of food, and the pitcher smashed to pieces at her feet. She could hear Mrs. Gardner in the room next door, and shuddered to think what she would see when she opened the door.
Celia walked backwards down the stairs. Zenas was sitting on the couch, staring into space, and she sat next to him, not speaking. Ammi and Nahum rushed in from the kitchen to see what was the commotion. Before anyone could stop him, Merwin ran up the stairs to see his brother and screamed at the sight. Mrs. Gardner screamed back at him from behind the locked door and Ammi ushered Merwin down to be comforted by Celia. Ammi, and Nahum gathered up what was left of Thaddeus and buried him in the back yard.
Celia felt helpless. She hadn't been able to help Thaddeus. She was too afraid of what she would see if she opened the door to Nabby's room to do so. The Doctor had still not returned, and little Merwin was now afraid of everything. He jumped at the slightest sound, and looked around at the walls as though expecting something to come out of them at him.
Celia was starting to lose hope when suddenly the Doctor was at the door. He had a basket in his arms and cables wrapped around his shoulders. A cap used to hold beverages with a straw to drink them from was on his head. He looked absolutely ridiculous, and she jumped for joy at seeing him.
"Where have you been?" she demanded, taking the basket from him.
"No time to explain," he said, taking things out of his pockets and setting them down next to the basket.
"But Doctor, we needed you! Thaddeus is dead. And I think-I think Mrs. Gardner will be soon."
"I'm sorry, Celia, but there was nothing I could do for them. They'd been exposed to too much negative artron radiation already."
"Too much what?" Celia asked, finding it difficult to keep up with him.
"It's like artron energy-only in negative form," the Doctor replied as though this explained everything.
Suddenly Celia realized that Zenas was missing. "Where's Zenas?" Celia asked, looking around. She began calling out for him, going room to room. "Where could he be?" she asked.
Nahum was sitting on the couch. He hadn't moved much since Thaddeus died. "In the well. He lives in the well," he remarked to no one in particular.
The Doctor ran out to the well, but he came back shortly after. "Did you find him?" Ammi asked, looking around. The Doctor did not reply, he just looked at Celia sadly.
Nahum sat on the couch, staring into space for some time, when he turned suddenly to Celia and asked, "Will you take care of them when I am gone? Poor Zenas and Nabby and Thaddeus. Will you take care of them, and Merwin too?"
The Doctor bent down to look at Nahum in the eyes. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so, so sorry."
Ammi looked at Nahum worriedly. "I'm going to check on Nabby," he said, heading up the stairs.
Ammi, the Doctor, and Celia ran upstairs to check on Nabby. Ammi opened the door, but the darkness made it impossible to see anything except the floorboards. The smell that greeted them was so bad even the Doctor had to cover his nose. Ammi screamed at the sight of Nabby in the corner.
A vapor escaped and a cloud advanced upon them, pushing past Ammi, and striking Celia as it did so. Everyone stared at what was left of Nabby Gardner. The thing crawling toward them on all fours was luminous, and shaped like Nabby Gardner, but was crumbling into dust before their eyes.
Ammi struck at it with his cane, smashing to bits what was left of Nabby Gardner.
Celia stifled a cry, but then their attentions were turned to a sound down below. There was a stifled scream, suddenly choked off, and a heavy thud. Then there was the sound of something being dragged, and the sound of suction.
The walls, stairs, beams-everything in the house began to glow.
They hurried downstairs, but it was already too late for Nahum. He was turning to stone before their eyes.
"It burns! Cold and wet, but it burns!" he staggered forward, "It's sucking the life out of everything. It got strong on Zenas. He as a big boy, full of life. It's in the well. You were right, Doctor. Where's Nabby, Ammi?" he asked, lurching forward, "It's been a while since I fed her. It'll get her one of these days. It came from out there," he said, gesturing toward the night sky. "Look out, Ammi. It sucks the life out-" but then, as he spoke these last words, his face crumbled and caved in. His body crumbled to dust around them.
"I'm going to have to notify the authorities," Ammi said, putting on his coat and hat. "They need to investigate."
"What?" the Doctor asked, "No! You can't bring any more people here!"
"I have to go, Doctor. We buried Thaddeus in the back yard. The authorities need to know. And now Zenas is missing. I can't be held responsible for these deaths!"
"It's too dangerous!" the Doctor argued. "You can't get all the way in to town and back in time! It will be getting dark before you get back!"
"Then I'd better get going!" Ammi replied, tipping his hat to the Doctor and Celia as he headed defiantly out the door.
"What are we waiting for, Doctor?" Celia asked, sitting with Merwin on the couch.
"I need to wait until dark," the Doctor replied, walking around the room and touching the doors and walls again.
"Why? Why can't we take Merwin and Ammi and get to the TARDIS?"
"Because it would find us in the TARDIS, and if it tried to control it, I'm not sure I could stop it."
"What is it?" Celia asked.
"It's a being from outside our universe. It's from E-space-like our space only different."
"Oh," Celia replied, as if this made sense.
"That explains the strange colors and growth of the plants. In their universe this would be normal."
"And things turning to stone?" Celia asked, trying to keep up.
"Well, that's just a negative reaction to the exposure to negative artron radiation. I thought I explained that already."
"You make it sound like it's not that bad," Celia replied.
"Oh, it's bad. If enough negative artron radiation gets in, everything in the world will turn to stone eventually."
"So what are you doing to stop it? You do have a plan, don't you?"
"Of course I have a plan! Do I look like someone who is just making things up as I go?"
Celia stared at him, still wearing the beer hat. "I'm not sure how to answer that," she replied.
I'm going to be working in the kitchen," the Doctor told Celia. "I could use your help setting this thing up."
"Merwin? Will you be okay sitting here by yourself, honey?" Celia asked Merwin. The boy said nothing, but nodded his head slowly.
"If you get frightened, you come find me. I'll be in the kitchen with the Doctor, okay?"
Again, he said nothing, not even a nod. Celia patted him on the shoulder as she left the room.
Chapter Five
The Doctor and Celia busied themselves creating his device. Normally, Celia would have asked questions about what he was doing and how it would work, but she felt slow, and tired, and worried, and so she said nothing. The Doctor didn't seem to notice.
The Doctor turned to Celia and said, "Why don't you take a break from helping me and check on Merwin?"
Celia set down the screwdriver she was holding and headed to the living room. "Merwin?" she called out, seeing that he wasn't on the couch. "Merwin!" she called out again, going from room to room, looking for him. She noticed the pail and lantern were no longer sitting by the door. "Doctor!" she cried out as the realization hit her.
There was a shriek from out near the well and the Doctor went running out to get him, but it was too late. The pail and lantern were left behind, both melted. Merwin was gone.
Celia sat down then and sobbed, unable to be strong any longer. "I'm sorry, Doctor! I tried to keep him safe! I should never have left him alone!"
The Doctor wrapped his arms around her, and held her close for a moment. "There was nothing you could have done, Celia. It's not your fault," he said, letting go of her and sitting her down in a chair at the table. "All of them were in danger from the moment the meteorite fell. In fact, it wasn't really a meteorite after all."
"Then what was it?" Celia asked, surprised.
"It was a space ship. A scout ship, in fact. The globules inside were life forms in a sort of stasis. They fed on the energy of the farm, growing stronger, slowly at first and then faster and faster. Once they are strong enough, they can signal their home world, and more will be coming."
The Doctor returned to building his apparatus. He had taken the straws off the beer hat and set them on the table. Next to them were a sort of triangular shaped device with lights on each end and a dial in the center, a metal box with multi colored wires coming out of it, and two glass milk bottles. He put the straws into the milk bottles and then began wrapping wires together. Celia stood by his side, watching, but saying little. She felt too overcome with grief at the loss of Merwin to think straight.
Two hours later, just as twilight was beginning to fall. Ammi brought the authorities back with him-six men to examine the bodies and determine what to do. They came with horses pulling a police wagon; Ammi rode his own horse. They tethered the horses outside and went in to investigate the deaths of Nabby and Thaddeus. They learned that the two boys had gone missing near the well, and so despite the Doctor's attempts to stop them, they decided to dredge the well.
Bucket after bucket was filled and emptied out onto the ground. The well was low, and the smell was overpowering. They found the skeletons of Merwin and Zenas in the well as well as bones of a deer and a large dog. One man descended the well on the hand-holds, and poked a wooden shaft into the oozing and bubbling mass at the bottom. There seemed to be no end to the mud.
Twilight fell as they were working, and despite the Doctor's advice that they all go inside, they brought out lanterns to the well to continue digging.
An hour later, the men sat at the table and discussed the inexplicable situation. There seemed to them no way to connect the grey vegetation, the crumbling bones of Nahum and Nabby Gardner with the water in the well and the remains of those found in it.
"It was awful," one of the policemen muttered, "There was no bottom at all to the well, just ooze and bubbling."
"I had the feeling something was lurking down there," the other policeman admitted.
Before the Doctor and Celia knew what was happening, they found themselves at the center of the investigation. The policemen and the coroner sat around the table facing the Doctor and Celia who were seated in the corner.
"It spreads on everything organic that's been around here," the coroner observed.
"If the water was poisoned, how do you explain the deaths of things that had not consumed the water?" one of the policemen argued, making little notes in his notebook.
"Why would the boys jump into the well?" the coroner asked, looking suspiciously at Celia and the Doctor.
"What is making things turn brittle and grey?" another police officer asked, looking around at the devastation.
The Doctor had no time to reply to the first question when the second was lobbed, and then the third was asked in rapid succession. He sat, staring at them, wondering how they managed all these years. Celia was too tired to say anything at all.
The coroner, sitting near the window, started up in surprise when he noticed the well was glowing. A ray of light was shining like a searchlight beacon up from the depths of the well. The color was the same as the luminescence in the walls, it was the same as the color of the thing that brushed past them from the attic. They all rushed to the windows to look out.
The horses tied outside began to scream then, and the wagon driver put his hand to the door to go to them, but the Doctor stopped him. "Don't go out there!" he ordered.
"But the horses! We need to do something!" one of the policemen argued.
"And I'm telling you there's nothing you can do!" the Doctor retorted. "The thing that's out there is sucking the life out of every living thing, and getting stronger all the time!"
One of the policemen, standing by the window, let out a short, sharp gasp. Everyone drew near to see what was happening. The high bare boughs of the trees lining the yard were moving, twitching and clawing in convulsions at the moonlit clouds. Their roots seemed to be writhing as though something were struggling to be free from underneath the ground.
As they watched, a cloud passed over the moon, and the trees were obscured. But then all the men cried out at once at the sight around the trees. At the tops of all the trees were a thousand points of light, hovering at the tips of the branches of the same color as the luminescence from the well. Soon, the light from the well grew stronger, so that it was clear it wasn't shining out of the well, but pouring out directly into the sky above.
The trees began glowing even brighter, and the wood around the well, the beehives, the sheds all began to glow.
"Do you think we stirred something up in the well when we poked into it with the long pole?" one of the policemen asked Ammi.
"It fed on them all, living here. They all drank from the well, and it fed on their minds and bodies," Ammi said sadly.
The branches of the trees stretched straight up into the sky. The horses that pulled the wagon broke free from the tree they were tied to and ran away with the wagon. Ammi's horse began to scream, and before they could save it, it was reduced to crumbled stone. But while they were looking out the window at Ammi's horse, the Doctor drew their attention to the room around them. They were no longer alone in the house. Every surface was glowing. It started in the doorway, and the luminescence spread across the floorboards, and across the shelves. It shimmered over the window sashes, and across the edges of the rugs. With each passing minute, the light grew stronger.
No one noticed that Celia wasn't with them at first. The Doctor turned to say something to her, and then looked around to see where she had gone.
They found her sitting on the couch, staring vacantly in front of her. Then, as they approached, she began to swat at something and pull at something as though it were attached to her back.
"Oh, no! No, no, no!" the Doctor said, running to where she sat on the couch.
Celia started suddenly, and began swatting things away that no one could see. The Doctor ran to her in alarm, scanning her with his sonic screwdriver. "I told you to go back to the TARDIS!" he said, trying to sound less alarmed than he felt.
"What's wrong with me, Doctor?" Celia asked, pulling at her skin. "It's like something's inside me. It's hot and burning, and wet all at the same time."
The Doctor pulled her to face him. "I demand to talk with the entity inside!" he demanded.
Celia tried to pull away, but the Doctor pulled her back. "Now you listen to me! You obviously have no idea who I am, so let me give you a brief tutorial." Then, to the amazement of all those present, the Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the wall, and images of his life were projected upon its surface. Years upon years, incarnation after incarnation streamed across the wall.
"Do you see now? Do you see who you are up against? If you don't leave now-leave this world completely and return to the E-Space from where you came, I will destroy you."
"Destroy us? How?" Celia asked in a voice that was not her own.
"You are made of negative artron energy. I am filled with positive artron energy. Imagine if I blasted you with an equal amount of positive artron energy! With this device," he added, gesturing to the contraption on the table, "I can suck the artron energy out of me and transfer it into the well."
"It would destroy you!" the voice inside Celia replied.
"Yes. That's a chance I'm willing to take. Are you?"
"You would destroy yourself to save these-creatures?" the voice inside Celia asked in disbelief.
"I would destroy myself to save this creature," the Doctor replied fiercely, holding Celia's face in his hands.
For a moment, the entity seemed to consider its options, and the Doctor worried that he would have to resort to his plan. The light from the well had changed. It was weaving about into new shapes, moving about as though searching for something.
"Run!" he yelled, grabbing Celia's hand. They ran out the door and up the path, none of them stopping until they reached the top of the hill. The light faded out of Celia as they ran, flowing out of her to join the light at the well.
They looked back in the valley, and could see the entire farm shining in that luminescence. The trees, buildings, grass, and plants all seemed on fire. From the well shone the brightest light of all. As they watched, the light shot up into the sky like a rocket toward the constellation Cygnus, leaving through a perfectly round hole in the clouds.
In the next instant, there was a crashing and ripping sound, and the entire farm disintegrated in an eruption of sparks and a cloudburst. Then the whole of it seemed to be sucked under ground, and a wind swept down at them from up above, whipping their hair and clothes about, blowing debris in their faces, so they had to shield their eyes.
Everything was disintegrated except the chimney and the wall around the well.
Celia looked around her in surprise. She had felt so tired and slow just moments before, but now her head was clear. But she was confused nonetheless. "How did the TARDIS get here?" she asked, staring at it at the top of the hill.
"I moved it when I came back to the farm. I was worried we might need a quick get away," the Doctor replied. "How are you feeling, by the way?" he added, looking at her with concern.
"Much better," she said, smiling. "You did it! You saved everyone!" she added, "But what if they refused? Would you really have destroyed yourself to stop them?"
"I would do whatever I had to do," the Doctor responded, wanting to change the subject.
The policemen, the coroner, and the wagon driver were all standing together, quite shaken from their experience. "There's no way I'm going down there!" one of the policemen replied.
"I'm sure there's no point now, anyway," the coroner replied. "We should make our way back into town."
"I'm sure all the danger has passed," The Doctor said, trying to reassure them, but they looked at him with fear in their eyes and backed away. They started down the hill and Ammi quickly said goodbye to the Doctor, anxious to join the men. He wasn't afraid of the Doctor like the others were, but he wasn't convinced that the area was safe, either. He alone had been looking at the well at the last moment before the wind began. He was the only one who saw a faint light rise up near the well and then sink down into it again. He tried to say something to the Doctor, but for some reason, something inside suggested he stay silent. So, he shook the Doctor's hand, gave Celia a light hug, and headed down the hill to join the others on their way back into town.
The Doctor looked down at the devastation that had been the Gardner's farm, and then opened the door to the TARDIS and ushered Celia inside.
Chapter Six
Celia looked at the Doctor from across the console of the TARDIS. She had something she wanted desperately to say, but she wasn't sure how to begin. He looked up and smiled at her, but then noticed she wasn't smiling. She had a worried look on her face.
"What is it?" he asked, pausing in the middle of flipping a lever down.
"Before we landed, I had been trying to find a way to tell you something, but we got interrupted. I'm trying to find a way to begin again."
"How about at the beginning?" he asked, trying not to sound worried. These sorts of conversations never ended well.
"Last summer, my mom died of cancer. She had been fighting it bravely for a few years, but eventually the chemo stopped working and she grew weaker and weaker until there wasn't any fight left in her."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor replied.
She waved this off because she wasn't finished with the story. "The night she died, she started calling for a doctor. At first, the nurse thought that she was in a lot of pain, and was going to give her morphine," her voice broke as she spoke, "but I realized that it was something else." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts and trying to regain composure. She kept her eyes on the Doctor, hoping he was understanding her full meaning as she continued, "While I was in the other room, a man came to her bedside. I didn't see how he arrived; he was just there. He sat with her while she died. He didn't see me. I couldn't see him very well from where I stood in the doorway. Her room was dark, and he was in silhouette. He never looked at anything or anyone but her. They talked for an hour, both of them crying and laughing a bit as they remembered old times together. Her name, Doctor, was Donna. You knew her as Donna Noble."
The Doctor looked stricken. "I don't understand. This memory of yours never happened. I never did that."
"Maybe it didn't happen to this you. But it will happen. Because you see, when she was calling for a doctor, she wasn't calling for any doctor, she was calling for you. She had started to remember the days she ran with you. Maybe it was the chemo, maybe it was the lack of fight left in her, but her memories came back. About a week before she died, she started talking about things she'd done with you. The nurses thought it was the effects of chemo causing hallucinating dreams. But I knew better. I knew because my great-granddad had shared with me his notebook of all the stories he'd written down and the times he met you."
"Is that why you found me? So you could put me through this?" the Doctor had tears in his eyes and his voice caught as he spoke. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is for me to say goodbye? One by one they fall away, and I keep going."
"No. I can't imagine what it's like to lose so many friends. But losing my mother to cancer wasn't your fault. There was nothing anyone could do to save her. But there is something you can do. You can spend an hour, saying goodbye."
"I don't think I can. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to do it now. She will still be there, looking for you, until you can. That's the beauty of time travel isn't it? You can put off until tomorrow those things you cannot do today."
There was silence in the TARDIS as the Doctor busied himself with the controls.
"So now what? Do you take me home?" Celia asked sadly.
"Do you want to go home?" the Doctor asked, still busying himself and not making eye contact.
"No! Of course not!" Celia replied. "I told you there's nothing back at home for me. I want to be here with you."
The Doctor thought about the strange readings he had gotten on the scanners when he first met Celia. He wondered whether to say anything about that to her now. He looked up to see her looking at him worriedly.
"Well then!" he said, flashing her his grin. "Where would you like to go?"
The door to the TARDIS was still open, and the stars in the night sky twinkled. Celia turned toward the door and pointed to a star in the constellation Orion. "There. Let's go there," she said.
The End.