THE DOMES

A 'Doctor Who' Story

By

Benjamin Ditch

18th May

Nothing about this thing make sense. It's like something out of a dream or a sci-fi film. First, it was all these new hats that they were buying, and now, I'm in trouble.

I'm trying to figure out what happened; it must've started when… Yeah, it must've started when I came back from Majorca. I had been told to take a holiday there at the retreat that the Salvation Army had got there. After a few weeks recuperation, I was back, but not all was that it seemed.

The first thing I noticed as I got off the train was the weird white dome-like hats that some people were wearing on the platform. I mean, they looked like they reached up over their head the same way an African woman carries her bucket.

It was weird, and so I walked up to one of the station attendants and asked what the hat he was wearing was. He said that it was the new craze to hit British shops, it was called the 'Dome'. Apparently, it had been invented by a man living in Ipswich and had made a bomb making these hats and selling them to shops.

I asked him where he had got his dome from, he said he got it from a shop, aptly called 'DOME' in the town centre. Thanking him, I walked out the station and headed for home.

That evening, after and entire afternoon spent unpacking, I went to my local to socialise with my friends. I noticed that some of them were wearing the Domes. A couple of them tried to sell one to me, but I kindly refused. After a while, I got up from my seat and left for home and a warm bed.

The next morning, as I had nothing to do, due to the fact my holiday officially ended tomorrow, I went into the town centre. After spending a little time searching, I found the Dome shop and I walked in.

There, I saw row upon row of Dome hats, sitting on shelves. On wall-mounted TV screens, I saw that the Dome itself was a two-layered item. The part you wore on the head was made of wool, while the upper part was made of a tough fireproof rubber-like material, which reached six inches over the crown of the head.

As I watched the TV presentation, a woman came up, wearing a Dome. She asked if I would like to buy one, but I kindly said to her that I was just browsing.

After that, I turned and moved to leave the shop. As I did, I bumped into this strange man, dressed in a purple pinstripe suit and a brown raincoat. After I said sorry to him, I continued walking.

As I walked through the town centre, I saw that almost everyone was wearing Domes. I didn't know why at that time, but it terrified me. I figured I had to investigate further.

When I walked back into my house, I found that the door was open. I cautiously walked in, and found my mother and father, sitting down on the sofa. Both were wearing white-coloured Domes, and were staring blankly at the opposite wall. I called out, but they didn't respond. I walked closer and touched their Domes, only for a white-hot burning sensation to sweep through my fingers. I cried out with pain, clutching my hand. As I looked back at my parents, I saw both of them turning slowly to look menacingly at me. It was at that time I took the unconscious decision to get out.

I ran out into the street, unsure of what was happening. I stood in the middle of the road, as dozens of people mechanically walked out of their houses, with their eyes all trained on me. I knew I was very deep trouble, and so I started running, first down my street, through the park, until I got to the arches underneath a railway bridge. I stayed there for the rest of the night.

And it's from here I write this diary entry. I had to figure out what was going on, and so, the only way, I thought, was to write it down.

19th May

It turned out today that I wasn't the only one investigating the Dome craze. I ran into the guy I bumped into yesterday, whilst I was heading for the railway station to go to the Dome factory in Ipswich. It turns out he had detected a strange signal from said factory and began his own investigation.

This fellow, apparently, calls himself 'The Doctor'. He says that the Domes were something of an alien construct, and that the Domes contain something that controls their users' minds for some reason. My mind was completely blown away by the fact that extraterrestrial life does indeed exist, but, according to this 'Doctor' it seems that some life forms want to take control of this planet. And, it also seems, that I have stumbled upon such a plot.

After some conversation about the threat, we agreed that the only way to uncover the true purpose of the Domes was to infiltrate the Dome factory. I decided that I should go by train, but the Doctor said that the people wearing the Domes would be waiting for me at Ipswich, and he suggested that we go by his own conveyance.

His conveyance turned out to be a contraption called a TARDIS, which means Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. At first, it looked like an old London Police Box from the 1950s. But when I looked inside, I found it to be something completely different. I discovered that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside than it is outside, or, as the Doctor put it 'dimensionally transcendental'.

Once I had stepped inside, the Doctor locked the door and he walked over to the console in the middle of the massive control room. He touched a few controls, and a beautiful, but somewhat disturbing grinding sound began to echo through the room. I watched as the ship's engines ground up and down above the console, until the grinding began to go down in pitch, until there was a short metallic clunk, signifying that we had landed.

I was the first to walk outside, and I found myself in a dark wood. The Doctor explained that the ship would dematerialise in one place and materialise in another. This boggled my mind for a moment, until the Doctor told me that we were standing about a mile east from the Dome factory.

We started walking through the trees westward and eventually came across a series of structures and lights, surrounded by an electric fence. I immediately surmised that this was the factory. The Doctor immediately agreed. He then told me, from first glance, that the place was heavily guarded twenty-four hours a day, and that the place was probably protected by an electric fence.

'How do we get in?' I asked upon the Doctor finishing his first-look analysis. He responded by simply saying 'Alonsy', and off we went.

We managed to sneak up to the fence without incident. The Doctor looked over the fence for a moment, before pulling what looked like a silver tube with a blue light on one end. I watched as he switched it on and he cut a hole through the fence. After that, he turned to me and said, "After you." And with that, he motioned me toward the hole in the fence.

After we got through the fence, we headed for the nearest building in the complex. The Doctor used the tube thing to open a door that led into the complex. We entered the building quietly, with no sign of an alarm going off, alert the guards to our presence.

Inside, we found that we had let ourselves into a massive laboratory, which also acted as a factory floor. We found row upon row of tables filled with white-coloured Domes in various stages of production. I took a closer look at one of the unfinished hats, and I found something gunky inside it, just above the area where the top of the wearer's head would be. I called the Doctor over for him to have a look. He said that it looked like some kind of embryo. When I questioned him about what kind of embryo, he said he didn't know, but it looked familiar. I then suggested that we moved on to a much more finished Dome, but before we moved, the lights came on.

The doors into the building opened and a whole army of armed guards came in, aiming their guns at us. I noticed that these guards were also wearing Domes on their heads. They were also under their control; whomever 'their' were.

We were taken to the administration building, where we met the Ipswich man who had 'invented' the dome, Frederick Cantwell. He accused us of being industrial spies, but the Doctor fired back accusing him of aiding and abetting an attempt to invade this planet. I was quite enjoying this match of wits between Cantwell and the Doctor, but then the phone rang. Cantwell picked it up and answered. I watched his face turn vacant as he heard a voice over the phone. After saying that he had understood the order, he put the phone down. He then turned to the Doctor and said that he will show the secret of the Domes.

He, and a few of his guards, took us back to the factory floor, where he called another Dome-wearing guard over. Cantwell explained that the embryo inside the dome had reached maturity and was ready to hatch.

That was then I realised what the domes were, they were eggs. And inside each of them was a creature, and it controlled the mind and body of those who wear the dome. This was no passing fad, this was an invasion attempt, pure and simple.

Cantwell pulled a remote control from his pocket and aimed it at the guard's Dome. He pressed the button and I watched with horror as the top of the dome split open. I saw writhing blue tentacles reach out of it and push the remnants of the hat down, to reveal a tiny one-eyed creature with a brain that was enormous for it's size.

I looked to the Doctor, who was wearing a mixed expression of disgust and hate. I asked if he had seen this creature before. He replied with 'Oh yes.'

At that moment, a pair of sliding doors opened, revealing a gold-coloured, pepper pot-shaped machine. I stood frozen, hypnotised by the sight of this thing, as it glided along the floor like a ballerina toward us. I asked the Doctor what it was, and the doctor simply referred to it as a Dalek.

The Dalek came closer, and I saw that it had three appendages, a telescope for an eye, a sink plunger, and a small stubby arm, with a hole in one end. I immediately realised that it was a gun. This made me feel a whole lot more uneasy.

The Dalek turned it's eye toward the Doctor and called him the enemy of the Daleks. The Doctor asked what it was doing, regarding the domes. The Dalek explained that the Domes were created as incubators for Dalek embryos, so that it can bring about the creation of a new Dalek race. I looked back at the infant creature inside the guard's dome, and then back at the Dalek.

I asked what was Cantwell's role in this, it replied that he was a tool in it's plan, which was now near fruition. It now said that Cantwell's usefulness was now at an end. Cantwell began protesting, saying that he helped them, but the Dalek screamed "EXTERMINATE!" and fired it's gun. I jumped back with muted horror as the energy beam burned Cantwell's body inside out in a bright glow and he crumpled to the floor, dead.

The Dalek then turned to us and told us that he intends to emit a signal to the mature domes to begin hatching, and the ones that were still in incubation were to pick them up and bring them to the factory. There, they would be put in machines identical to the one that transporting the Dalek. They would then begin subjugating this planet and turn it into a new 'Skaro'.

I asked the Doctor what 'Skaro' was, he told me that it was the name of the Daleks' home planet. He told me it had been destroyed in a war. Then he babbled on about the same happening to this factory and he pulled out that tube device again and activated it. One of the chemistry sets on one of the workbenches exploded into flame, causing the remaining guards to hit the deck. I grabbed one of them and punched his lights out. The Dalek began firing his gun in several directions, in an attempt to kill the Doctor and me, but the Doctor grabbed me and got us out of there, but not before I grabbed an assault rifle from one of the Dome-wearing guards.

We ran out the side door, which the Doctor locked with his tube device. He then said something about heading for the aerial tower on the roof of the administration building and destroying it. I offered to come with him, but he said I had done enough. But I told him I was adamant to see this thing right through to the end. The Doctor looked at me for a second, and then reluctantly let me join him.

We headed for the administration building, just as the door the Doctor locked was blasted away by the Dalek. I decided to stay outside and delay the Dalek as long as I can, while the Doctor headed up to the roof and destroyed the transmitter. The Doctor told that I'd be killed, saying I was no match for the Dalek, but I said that I would try. The Doctor wished me luck and entered the building.

I turned back to the Dalek and saw him trundling out of the door and head straight toward me. I fired a couple of shot from my assault rifle to attract it's attention. I then began running. When I reached a safe distance from the Dalek, I turned and fired a couple more shots. I used this hit-and-run tactic until I ran out of ammunition and I dumped the gun and then I began running for my life.

After a short while, I was climbing up some fire stairs at the side of the factory building. I turned around and saw the Dalek at the bottom. I began laughing, thinking that the Dalek couldn't get up the stairs. But then, it said 'Elevate!' and it started hovering above. I remember saying to myself, "Oh, this is so unfair." And ran through the fire exit door into the building.

Inside, I found myself on a gantry that overlooked a now-burning factory floor. I ran along the gantry to look for another fire-exit door, only to run into an armed Dome-wearing guard, who rugby-tackled me to the ground. We struggled briefly, until the Dalek arrived and aimed it's gun at me. I shoved the guard into it's line of fire, and the Dalek's beam burned into him, allowing me a chance to get away.

I finally found myself at the end of the gantry, with Dalek right behind me. I turned around and saw it coming toward me. I had given the Doctor as much time as I could, and now mine was up. I closed my eyes, awaiting the inevitable beam from the Dalek's gun to burn through me. However, the burning didn't come, as a loud, familiar voice boomed out of nowhere. I opened my eyes and saw the Doctor standing behind the Dalek.

The Dalek turned to face him. For a moment, I was frightened that the monster would kill him, just as it had killed Cantwell and that guard. The Doctor told the Dalek that it didn't destroy the transmitter, but had, in fact, increased the strength of the signal to overload the incubation process. All over the country, the Domes were exploding and the Dalek embryos inside were bursting into nothing but green goo. I laughed with elation, the invasion was over, the Dalek had lost.

The Dalek then proceed to try and kill the Doctor, but I grabbed it's gun and turned it toward one of the sports for the gantry as it fired. I jumped off of the collapsing gantry, as the Dalek plummeted toward the inferno below. As it went down, it screamed "EMERGENCY TEMPORAL SHIFT!" and it vanished in a bright shimmer of light. I asked the Doctor what had happened to it, he said that the Dalek got away. We then turned to look at the burning factory floor, and then we agreed that we had to leave this place before the authorities arrived. This we surely did.

We got out of the complex through the hole we had made in the fence earlier and made our way back to the TARDIS. He offered me a lift home, which I duly accepted. After defeating a Dalek invasion of Earth, I was ready to accept anything.

And so, he took on one last trip in the TARDIS, back to my hometown. There, I had found that people were dumping their Domes in any bin they could find. The new craze that had gripped the country was definitely over. I turned to the Doctor, thanked him for everything, and asked what he was going to do next. He said he was just going to go and travel, see what was out there. I wished him luck, he did the same to me and then he turned and closed the door. I stood back as that awful grinding sound echoed through the air and the police box slowly vanished from sight. I then turned around and walked away, starting my journey home.

20th May

I went to the town centre today. I found that the Dome shop had been closed down, pending further investigation by the government. Police were standing outside, as black-garbed, red bereted military personnel scoured the scene inside. I decided not to ask why, as I had already known the answer. I smiled as I watched as armed soldiers entered and exited the shop.

As I began to walk away, someone said 'Excuse me.' I turned and came face-to-face with one of the military people. He asked if I knew anything about the Domes. I told them that all I knew was that they were dangerous and had to be banned by the government. The soldier looked at me, is if he knew I wasn't telling him the truth, but he said "All right, thank you" and let me on my way.

I didn't want to tell him that I was involved in bringing down the Domes, nor the fact that an alien race called the Daleks were involved. Nor did I want to tell him about the man known as the Doctor, whom I had helped end this threat. I thought that if I had told them that, they would probably lock him up.

And so, with a little guilt on my conscience, I turned around and continued walking.