Welcome everybody to the first chapter of my Doctor Who FanFiction!
Ok, I decided to keep the story line within the Doctor/Rose era as I think it is the one most people remember well. So here is my story – I'm not one of those uber-who fans who remembers every little detail about the show, so if I make a couple of technical errors, don't sweat it. Just enjoy the story!
Chapter 1: Plague Marks the Spot.
The TARDIS was only a few feet away from them, yet Rose bounded over to it as if she hadn't seen the surprisingly inconspicuous blue box for years.
"God, this thing is actually starting to grow on me. I hope you haven't been putting something funny in my food" she giggled. She had her key in her hand, and was waiting for the Doctor, who was strolling along casually, taking in the sight of the blonde girl and the police box that brought a lopsided smile to his face.
"Oh well, why would I do that?" He said, as if explaining it to a child, deliberately to get on her nerves "you were damaged goods when I found you!" He grinned mischievously, hands shoved deep in his brown suit pockets.
"Watch it cheeky." Rose chided, before opening the door that should have lead to a confined space housing a telephone that linked directly to the nearest police station, and would certainly have been snug for two, even with the Doctor being as skinny as a whippet. But as she stepped inside, the familiar wave of skewed perspective flooded her brain for an instant as the inside as large and cavernous as a church expanded before her eyes.
"Eugh, still not used to it." She muttered under her breath, waiting for the idea that yes, the inside really was bigger than the outside to sink in again. She stared at the control panels and levers, the foreign and alien languages scattered across them, and instead of feeling unintelligent as she had once felt, she now felt excited.
"So where to now, Miss Tyler?" The Doctor asked, making her jump as he swooped round from behind her to fiddle with this dial and that gauge. He hadn't made a sound as he'd locked the door and walked up to the control deck. He could be as silent as death at times, and she still could never guess when he would.
"Hmm," she said, feigning nonchalance. "I think I've had enough of Trigocotpos',"
"Triconoptos" the Doctor corrected automatically.
"Yeh, that's what I said! Anyway, I think the human race deserves a bit of a look in. They could have all evolved into blue fish while we were away." She proposed.
"Ha not likely. Well, not for a good thirty billion, billion, billion years anyway. Cassandra always did remind me of a flat fish… So!" he clapped his hands "Earth it is. Anywhere in particular? Anytime?"
"Lets say 15 years in the future." She said.
"What?! But that's nothing! Wouldn't you rather see the Greenpeace in power, or at least the first alien prime minister?!" he cried astonished.
"Yeh, but like, we've got plenty of time for that. I just want to see how it'll be in a few years. Yunno, like when I'd be all middle aged and stuff. I at least want to know what the kids will be listening to. Or smoking." She grinned in a girlish way, batting her eyelids in mockery of flirtation.
"Gah, humans! You get the opportunity to see the farthest reaches that your civilisation can achieve and you just want to know what's going on in a few years so you won't be oblong!"
"You mean square." Rose corrected.
But the Doctor ignored her, instead began twisting the dials and cranking about forty different levers, his face set in concentration. But the TARDIS blue beam didn't start to glow, nor did the chilling familiar sound of the generator drone like a siren.
"Doctor?" Rose asked, worried at the stern expression on his face.
"There was a distress signal sent out by one of the Triconopti. One of their heavy duty aircraft just disappeared off the map, carrying a member of the High Council. They're asking for anyone nearby to help them." He said, translating the flashing alien language typing itself onto a screen.
"But we were just there, they weren't planning to send that aircraft for another 4 years!" Rose cried.
"Time doesn't always follow the rules. Especially when you're not strictly following it forward." He replied morosely.
"So we help them?" Rose asked.
"We head to Earth! Great, I've missed having a good chippie." He cried, suddenly full of enthusiasm and grinning widely.
"But I thought-"
"The aircraft seems to have landed in your area. Well, I say area, more like planet. Could be in Uzbekistan for all I know, come on!" he called, shifting a dial so the TARDIS roared to life once again.
****
The TARDIS shuddered to a halt, and Rose felt the familiar feeling of desperation to get outside and see where or when they were. Opening the doors in a flurry, the last thing she expected to see was her old Estate.
"Er, Doctor. You sure this is right?" she asked.
"Yeh." He called from inside.
"Why are we here then? We stopping by for you to say hi to my Mum?" she asked incredulously.
The Doctor stepped out of the door and squinted around the bleak graffiti ridden concrete.
"Oh, er. Well. I guess the Triconopti likes the chippie as much as I do. Speaking of which, where is it?" He asked, looking around confused.
"It's over there, just next to – oh." Rose said. Turning to where the Fish and Chip shop that had seen her through many of her bad days before she had met the Doctor, she saw now only a huge hole in the middle of a parade of shops. The metallic fence around it displayed signs that the area was hazardous nuclear threat. Rose walked up to the sign and peered through the diamond shaped wiring into the plot. A huge crater lay where the chip shop once stood.
"Oi! You! Get away from there, can't you read the signs?!" A man from a few shops down called out. Although he wore a hard hat he was also in a suit, and carrying a clipboard. Rose instinctively jerked away from the fence, but stayed where she was.
"I said move on! I'll have you fined for trespassing, you - " he shouted.
"No need sir, just inspecting the premises for Health and Safety," The Doctor butted in, taking on an air of authority. "You have heard of Health and Safety, haven't you… what's your name?"
"Liam Harborough, site decontamination manager. I've – wait a minute, who are you two?!" he exclaimed.
"Oh right sorry! I'm Dr. Jones and this is my assistant Miss Tyler. We're from W.H.O – world health organisation. See?" the Doctor flashed an identity badge in the man's face. Rose smirked at how useful that bit of Psychic paper turned out to be. "We were here to check exactly what happened. Been getting a few complaints from the residents, haven't we Tyler? So," he continued before Rose could agree with the lie "what happened here then?"
"Well, I'm surprised you haven't got this logged with the Olympic riots report." Harborough said suspiciously.
"You know what the pencil pushers are like, a bit of bureaucratic paperwork goes missing and the whole investigation has to start again." The Doctor complained.
"Yeh, bloody pencil pushers…" Rose added. Harborough looked at them with a mixture of confusion and apprehension.
"Well, this was one of the protest bomb sites. Not much to say apart from the fact that this one allegedly had new form of flu that had to be sectioned off. Turns out the stuff were nuclear! We have to wait 'til its half life is over before we can even think about touching the dirt over there."
"Protest bomb sites?" Rose asked.
"Yeh, where were you ten years ago, Tibet?!" Harborough replied.
"Uzbekistan actually, training for a monastery, but it was a bit too chilly for her. In fact I'm a little fuzzy myself on the details." The Doctor prompted.
"Well, when the Olympics came 'ere, there were a whole lot'a protestors all over the country who weren't happy 'bout it. Not that it would damage Britain mind, no, they were angry that we was being allowed to 'ost it at all, after our involvement in the Middle East – lot of warmongers if you ask me. But yeh, their idea wasn't to hit any major buildings, but to get at the smaller businesses, make the everyday people feel afraid of their 'igh street! And by God, did it work…" he muttered darkly.
"Were there many people hurt?" Rose asked warily.
"Hurt? Yeh, plenty in the first few bombs. But after a while people cottoned on and stayed indoors. This place was one of the last to be hit you see, only two or three passers by got hit. All died mind, what with the nuclear plague… nasty stuff that." Harborough added, glancing at the crater and shifting away from it slightly.
"Nuclear plague? What, like biblical ten plagues of Egypt plague?" The Doctor asked, a curious cast over his massive brown eyes.
"Well not really, no. It was called plague 'cos it was from physical contact but like that's as far as the similarity goes. People went mad. Started going all schizophrenic and trying to do themselves in."
"Can nuclear waste do that to you?" Rose asked, eyeing the huge hole in the ground with a look of severe mistrust.
"Well, apparently so." Muttered the Doctor. "Mind if I take a soil sample then? Can't let the lab tech go unrewarded." He asked, turning back to Scarborough.
"Didn't you hear me, we can't go anywhere near it until it's half life is over. That's in another 5 years! Now, I don't care who you are, but my job is to make sure none of the public get contaminated, so you're not taking a sample. Now clear off!" He cried, eyeing them suspiciously. Two girls who were walking by stared at the odd trio, but hurried on quickly, stuffing their hands into their pockets to keep away the cold.
"Right, ok. Thanks for your time, ta-ra!" said the Doctor, before he turned away, pulling the astounded Rose along with him.
"Doctor, what just happened? Why didn't you tell me this happened to London?" Rose hissed.
"Well strictly speaking, it didn't. This shouldn't have happened as far as I'm aware. Something must have interfered... but what?" He said quietly, stopping on the corner of a road. A car swerved round the corner and skidded slightly, its frame bouncing as it slid over a pot hole. The bang of the engine shocked Rose, and she stared at the car as it swerved away down the road. A drunk driver at this time of day? What had this place come to?
"AH HA!" the Doctor shouted.
"Blimey! Don't scare me like tha-"
"That's it. Pot holes! Simple as ABC. Or 1, 2, 3. Or doe ray me-"
"EXPLAIN."
"Right, that car that just went by? Skidded didn't it? And the car went over a pot hole, right! There you go!"
"I still don't-"
"Time is in layers, like a set of shelves. Occasionally you get dents or potholes, in areas that are well worn – big events in history. The Olympics were a big thing, and the pot hole must have happened right underneath it. Something that should have just passed straight over got caught in the pot hole, and pushed the whole event down to the next level of time – the alternate time."
"What do you mean? What kind of thing would just pass over – you mean like a plane, or metaphorically speaking?"
"No, not a plane. A ship."
"Huh I – oh god. The Triconopti ship. It landed here?!"
"Yep, they shouldn't have landed here, but they got caught in the pot hole and got stuck. Something on that ship released the nuclear plague."
"They weren't carrying anything nuclear on it though!"
"No they weren't. But perhaps they just didn't think they were carrying anything. Maybe they had a stowaway."
So everybody – what are your thoughts? Hope it's got you interested in a next chapter, which should be along shortly.
Happy reading!
H.M.T