The Laboratory
The sun shone high in the bright blue sky, making the summer day pleasantly warm. The slight breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees, keeping the place cool. Birds sang high in the sky, and the delicious smell of freshly baked bread wafted on the air.
The main streets of the city were filled with the hundreds of people, milling about the shops and offices as they made their way home from work or school. The sound of laughter rose up from a group of school kids as they stepped down from the entrance to the mini supermarket and headed off to the residential ring that surrounded the business area of the settlement.
The tall buildings somehow failed to block out the cheery sunlight, and the streets were light and airy, despite the large crowds of people that filled them. No rubbish covered the pavements, and the only transport on the narrow roads were small, single person bicycles, or the pulleys that had a carriage attached to the back of them where the people sat, usually with a large amount of luggage in the baggage hold in front of the seats.
Suddenly, a path seemed to be carved into the milling crowd, and the people split with cries of protest and annoyance, those on the edge being forced into the small roads, narrowly avoiding being run over by the speeding bicycles. Two people, a boy and a girl no older than seventeen came sprinting to the hastily parting crowd. Following not far behind them came four people in long white coats and trousers, with masks hiding their faces from the watching people. Whilst the two in front were breathing hard, feet thudding loudly on the stone walkways, the pursuers made no sound as they followed.
Suddenly the boy veered off into a side road that was deserted, and attempted to speed up, though his already aching lungs and legs slowed him down. The girl sprinted after him, keeping pace easily, her long black hair streaming out behind her, her dark eyes wide with fear and determination. The boys blond hair was cut short, and stuck up in a tangled mess as if it hadn't seen a hairbrush in weeks.
The followers entered the alleyway a short time after, and without breaking their pace, ran after the fleeing pair. Ducking down yet another alleyway, the two of them stopped short as they saw the high, and new, brick wall blocking off the other half of the alleyway and their escape route.
The two of them spun around as the four followers entered the alleyway at a run. The two of them backed away from them towards the new wall, and suddenly the four seemed to come up against something solid, yet invisible, as the lead two seemed to crash into something determinedly solid and went flying backwards into the two behind.
The boy seemed to wince slightly as they did so, and the girl looked over at him in concern. He didn't meet her eye, looking staring forwards at the four people in front, a frown of concentration on his face. One of them stepped forwards, one hand outstretched. It seemed to meet something solid mid air.
The girl continued to watch for a few seconds, before reaching into an inside pocket of her dark blue jacket, pulling out a small metal tube, and hurried over to a section of the wall behind them that was a slightly different colour to the rest of it.
Crouching down, she pressed a button on the edge of the small instrument, and a small green light appeared on top of it, a whining sound echoing in the silent alleyway. Four masked faces turned to look at her, and suddenly four sets of hands were pounding against the invisible wall.
The blond boy seemed to wince with every strike. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his frown deepened as he concentrated harder.
The girl's hands were shaking with exhaustion and fear as she held the metal device against the wall, moving it slowly across it as a gap began to emerge from the wall.
The boy suddenly gasped in pain, and fell backwards into the wall as the four surged forwards in triumph. Slowing their advance, one of them reached into its laboratory coat pocket, and pulled out a strangely shaped, red gun. The four stopped, surrounding the two. The girl's hand neared the floor.
The gun was raised, aimed straight at their heads. The boy stared up at them, terrified and defiant at the same time.
The finger tightened.
Suddenly the two of them fell back through the new gap in the wall, just as the gun was fired.
Grabbing his hand, the girl pulled the boy to his feet, and the two of them began to run down the rest of the alleyway. She was near enough dragging him along by this point, his energy spent.
Click
The boy suddenly lost his footing, and with a cry he crashed to the floor, pulling the girl down with him. She stumbled over his flailing arms, and fell headlong into the wall next to them, connecting with the stone with a sickening thud. She collapsed to the floor, gasping, blood trickling down the side of her head and down her arm.
She lay still for a moment, unable to move. A shadow fell across her, and fear surged feeling back into her limbs. Pulling her head up, she forced herself to fight against the nausea and dizziness that threatened to overwhelm her.
With a jolt of dismay, she saw the tiny needle sticking out of the back of her friend's neck, and she knew there was no hope for him now. With a last surge of energy, she pulled herself to her feet, and as the four closed in on her friend, she ran, preying that they would leave her alone.
Reaching the edge of the street, she turned and looked back for a single second. The four had concealed her friend from view, surrounding his lifeless body. He was still alive. They knew this now, but he was going to wish that he had died.
"I'm sorry" She whispered, her voice shaking.
Tears streaming down her pale face, the girl turned, and stumbled away from the scene, her breath coming in gasps.
Reaching the far wall, she ducked into another side street and pulled out the small metal instrument once more. With a quick whirring noise, a gap appeared in the wall at floor level and the girl disappeared inside it.
A few moments later, and all was quiet once more, with only the faint smell of fresh bread and children's laughter on the air.
The Doctor looked over at Martha Jones and smiled faintly. Her short black hair was hanging loose down to her shoulders for once, framing her face nicely, and she was wearing a short black denim jacket, blue jeans and a red top. At the moment she was curled up in one of the TARDIS' many chairs, fast asleep.
The two of them had just had a narrow escape from a hostile planet of Nerogs who had all tried to eat hands, believing that intelligence came from the hands, and by eating them they could steal their skills and intelligence. Thanks to the Doctors quick thinking and Martha's quick reactions, the two of them had escaped with all of their hands in tact.
Not bad for a planetary visit the Doctor thought. Normally they had more than just their hands to worry about. He wiggled his long, bony fingers in front of his face, wondering what it would be like to actually wonder around with only one hand. Or no hands at all. He'd nearly found out the answer to the first just after his regeneration, when he'd once again had to fight to keep Earth safe at Christmas.
Sighing, he spun around in his own chair, and gave the complex panel in front of him a scanning look. The computer screens in front of him were showing complex patterns and data, meaning all was normal in the time machine. The slight humming of the engines was comfortingly familiar, and the Doctor began to hum as he stood up and wondered around the centre panel.
Hands thrust deep into his pockets, the Doctor was a good-looking figure; tall and slender, with brown hair that always seemed to be sticking up in a random fashion that seemed neat at the same time, a long brown coat and a blue suit with a white shirt underneath. He had thick rimmed black glasses tucked away in a pocket somewhere that somehow seemed to suit him so well.
He whipped these out and onto his nose as something on the panel began to beep, and a small yellow light began to flash steadily beside one of the screens. He leaned over and gazed intently at it, his eyes scanning over the strange symbols that flashed across it.
"What's up?" Martha's sleepy voice broke into his train of thought, and he looked up to see her heading over to his side, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Hello there sleepy head." He said cheerfully, flashing her one of his dazzling smiles, "Nice sleep?"
"Sleep like" She replied, returning his grin. "Don't you ever sleep? You're always so full of energy!"
He laughed, and she grinned back, her eyes sparkling with energy.
"I tried it once." He admitted in an offhand way. "Didn't really enjoy it. To be honest I found it rather pointless. Though the whole dreaming thing was quite interesting. Wouldn't try it again though."
At this his eyes misted over slightly, and Martha wondered what he had seen in his dreams to put him off sleeping indefinitely.
"Anyway, yes!" he said suddenly, jumping back into the present with full on energy and enthusiasm, "Small flashy yellow lighty thing, and annoying beeping noise. You know, I really need to change the alert noise in here. Beeping…its just so cliché! I dunno, what do you think?" He turned to look at Martha.
She laughed, not entirely sure if he was actually looking for her opinion on the rather bizarre subject or just thinking aloud.
"I though all warning noises, you know, came with the machine or something."
"Yeah, well…I suppose you could change it in here. Never tried it to be honest. What about the noise of a frog or something. You think that'd work?"
She stared at him for a moment. "I think you're mental. Plus if you had a frog noise it'd drive you mental in five minutes, 'cuz you'd forget that that's what it was, and then spend ages trying to find the non-existent frog whilst some planet got, I dunno, eaten or something."
The Doctor frowned. "Hey! I'm not that forgetful." He said indignantly, "Though you may have a point there. Hmm…" he trailed off, going into one of his deeply thoughtful looks.
"Anyway, flashy yellow light thingy! What does it mean?" she asked quickly before he could get too lost in thought.
"Yes, light, annoying alarm, right." He leaned over the screen once more, eyes darting all over the place as he seemed to read the strange and complex symbols in front of him.
"There seems to be some kind of rift energy nearby which the TARDIS is picking up, and she's beginning to get a bit tired. Seems like a good-er place as any to stop and re-charge her. Plus it gives us a chance to have a good old explore. Because by the looks of it, something's going on there that shouldn't be. Someone's messing about with the rifts, and there certainly wasn't an energy space there before now."
"Lets go then" Martha said excitedly, "I love new places!"