Time Travel and Dreams

by Blatant0

A young man finds a blue box in the street and is caught up in an adventure across dreams and history.

I pushed open the pub door and stepped out onto the street. Mark and Rachel were a little further up the street, talking and laughing. Martin came out of the pub and smiled.

"We're going to the Star and Garter next. Are you coming?"

I felt my insides twist. "I'm not sure, I really have to be getting back."

"Kate's going to be there." Martin nudged me.

"We both know I have no chance with someone like Kate so why should I bother." I said.

"You don't know until you ask." said Martin.

With that he dashed up the street and caught up with the others. I stood there, indecision and fear mingling in my stomach. I got nervous at social events. The conversation would move so fast I could barely keep up. I looked around. Did I know the way to the tram stop from here? I felt alone and uncomfortable, but I knew I had to make a decision. I got out my phone and found Kate's number.

Hi Kate it's Calvin just wondered if you'd like to go out for coffee sometime?

I wondered if I should put a kiss at the end, and decided not to. I sent the text and felt relieved. Then I remembered I had no idea where I was. The others had gone down the street and turned right so it couldn't be that hard to find them again. I walked to the end of the street and turned right. Several other roads branched off from this one and I began to feel scared. I was terrible at finding my way around. I took out my phone again and tried to phone Martin. My phone had no credit left. I cursed inwardly. Things were getting worse and worse. Would I have to sleep on the streets tonight? Pushing the bad feelings down I decided to try and look for a shop. I walked back the way I had come and turned down a small street.

There was a blue box on the side of the road. It said Police Public Call Box on it, and I wondered if I could use it to phone Martin. The door of the blue box was open. It creaked slightly in the breeze. I wondered what a police box was, and I wondered what it was doing there. I wished I had brought a torch, and then I thought that the police box was small so it shouldn't be too hard to find the phone inside it. I walked up to the box. A low yet powerful hum was coming from it. I stepped inside. A magnificent bronze and gold construction filled a gigantic room. The door slammed shut behind me and a huge wheezing and groaning sound filled the chamber.

"Ah, hello! Good to meet you at last!"

A young looking man was standing by a large central column. He had wild black hair, black jeans and shoes and he wore an old tweed jacket over a collared shirt. Strangest of all was the red bow tie he wore around his neck. The man bounded over to me and pumped my hand in both of his.

"Fantastic to meet you at last! I was beginning to wonder if anyone had responded to my advertisement but here you are, all jumpered and jeansed and ready to see the big wide universe."

I was barely aware of what was happening.

"I'm really sorry." I managed.

"I have Asperger's syndrome and I have no idea of how to respond in this social situation."

The man smiled. "That's all right, I can't play a decent electric guitar solo."

"I don't understand what's happening."

"It's quite simple really. I'm the Doctor, I'm a time traveller from another planet, this is my time machine which is bigger on the inside, and I go to places in it where things are wrong and usually I put them right."

"But why am I here?" I said.

"You answered my ad in the paper. Didn't you?"

"I..."

I tried again. "I have no idea about any ad, I just saw this blue box with its door open and thought I'd check it out."

The Doctor gave a small smile.

"Humans." he said.

"Always exploring, always creating, always striving and searching for something more, something bigger than themselves. Box has door open, so what do you do? You have a look."

"To be honest I was kind of hoping there was a phone in here. I'm out of credit and need to phone my friends."

The Doctor's face fell. "Well that killed the mood."

There was a thump.

The Doctor ran to the central control hub and grabbed a screen. "We've arrived!"

"Where have we arrived?" I said.

"We are in the manor retreat of Lord Percy Bysshe Shelley on the night when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein!"

The Doctor was practically jumping up and down with glee. "Let's go check it out!"

I put my hands on my head. "This is all a bit too much for me. Can I go home please?"

"Outside those doors is one of the most influential science fiction writers of all time. Can you really pass this up?"

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

I sighed. "I like things to be in order and organised. If things don't happen in a certain way I get anxious. I'm sorry but it's the way I am."

The Doctor smiled, gently.

"You looked in the box didn't you? You had no way of knowing what was in here."

"Yeah but I didn't think it would be..."

I paused and gestured clumsily to the giant room.

"...this."

"That's the universe for you I'm afraid. It's huge and it's complicated and things rarely make sense or stay still long enough to be made sense of. But it's worth it."

He smiled. "It really is."

I found myself smiling in spite of myself, which made the Doctor grin broadly.

"That's the spirit. Eh? C'mon, let's see what's out there!"

The Doctor and I left the blue box. No sooner had we come outside than a scream split the air. The Doctor ran in the direction of the scream, down a dimly lit gothic hallway and through a set of double doors. I followed him as fast as I could. There were two men in the drawing room. The Doctor was showing them a wallet and asking questions.

"What happened here?"

"My wife was pointing...she was pointing at the ceiling and screaming...then she fainted dead away."

The most beautiful woman I had ever seen lay sprawled on the sofa. I felt like I had strayed into a fairytale. The Doctor was checking her pulse, and then he opened each of her eyes.

"She'll be fine in a few hours, I just need to confer with my associate."

The Doctor put his arm around my shoulder and led me into a corner of the room.

"Is she going to be all right?" I said.

"No, that was a clever lie."

"Wait, what?"

"I need to have a look around. Whatever did this to Mrs Shelley was not human and certainly not terrestrial. I need you to keep them talking while I investigate."

"I don't know anything about the nineteenth century! What am I supposed to do?!"

"You know what I always do when I don't know something?" said the Doctor.

I looked at him.

"I make it up."

The Doctor smiled and turned back to the two men.

"I need to check all the entrances to and from this house, my colleague Constable Grandin will answer any questions you may have."

The Doctor winked at me and made a gun out of his index finger and thumb. Then he strode off into the house. I smiled at the two men, who looked more confused than anything.

"Can you do anything for my wife?" the larger of the two asked.

"I...think the best option now is just to let her rest." I said.

This seemed to placate them.

"Your wife is a really great writer." I said.

The men gave me a funny look.

"My wife has been unable to write anything since she came here." said the larger man.

He stepped towards me.

"Just who exactly are you, anyway?"

Thunder rolled outside. I was consumed with fear. I had always hated confrontation. But the Doctor was counting on me.

"I am Detective Constable Calvin Grandin of Scotland Yard and I would greatly appreciate it if you would remain calm." I said.

The man pushed past me.

"Dash it all, I want some answers!"

"Percy what's happening?"

A woman walked into the room. She had thick black hair and a pretty face.

"This charlatan is hiding something and I intend to find out what!" said Percy.

"Everyone, please be calm and I'll explain. The Doctor and I are..."

The other man let out a yell and dodged away from me. He wore an expression of utter terror and he was pointing at the ceiling.

"What's the matter John?" said Percy.

"It's him…it's him!"

I had no idea of what to do. But I had to do something. I approached John and put my hands out.

"Is there anything I can…"

John's eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted. A child screamed. Percy and I ran upstairs. The Doctor had positioned himself between a young boy and a bald man with long sharp teeth. The Doctor was pointing a chunky metal wand at the man which seemed to be controlling him.

"Everyone stay back!" said the Doctor.

The bald man lunged for the boy. The Doctor blocked the man but his sleeve was ripped. I charged at the man and drove him backward. The man lost his footing, stumbled backwards and disappeared. The Doctor pulled me back.

"Careful!"

"What in the name of all that is holy is going on?!" shouted Percy.

"Do you want the long version or the abridged?" said the Doctor.

"I want to know what the devil is happening!"

"Basically an extradimensional portal, no, two in fact, have opened on the first floor of your summer home.

"I'll bet they didn't mention that in the brochure." said the Doctor half to himself.

"An extradimensional what?"

"Look."

The Doctor pointed his metal wand at the space where the bald man had vanished. The wand emitted a ringing, warbling sound. As it did two gates appeared. One was made of horn, the other ivory.

"I know about these." I said.

"Whatever passes through one gate is real, whatever passes through the other is false."

"The question is why are they here, in this time and place." said the Doctor.

"Maybe it's something to do with these people; they're all writers, so it could be feeding off that."

Percy pushed past the Doctor and I and strode up to the gate of horn. The Doctor grabbed his arm.

"No, don't! I've got no idea what they are or what they want yet!"

Percy yanked his arm free.

"I want answers damn it!"

"So do I." said the Doctor.

"But these portals are not to be..."

The gates disappeared. The Doctor's face took on a concerned, cautious look. He went up to where the portals had been and pointed his metal wand. After a few seconds he stopped.

"As if they were never there..." he said.

"Is everything all right?"

The woman who had been lying on the sofa was now at the bottom of the stairs.

"Everything is fine my love." said Percy in a confused sort of voice.

"I just had the strangest dream." she said.

"There was a man dressed in black - no - in the night...and there was this creature..."

The lady shook her head. "I used to be able to remember."

Percy went downstairs and embraced his wife. "You're fine now, that's all that matters."

"Doctor somebody else just fainted." I said.

"Who? Who fainted?" said the Doctor.

"The other man. His name's John."

The Doctor slapped himself in the head. "Oh, stupid, stupid Doctor!"

"What is it?" I said.

"It's John, don't you see? John William Polidori. Author of the nineteenth century penny dreadful Varney the Vampire, who if I'm not mistaken was the chap who was just trying to kill us. The ideas and characters of whoever falls asleep are coming through the portals."

"Please sir, would you come and look?"

The young boy had spoken. The Doctor knelt down.

"Of course I will."

The boy led the Doctor into his room. I followed. In one corner of the room was a creature that looked as though it had been sewn together from a hundred different body parts. The Doctor smiled when he saw it.

"Hello there. Can I help?"

The adults had joined us by now. Percy made towards the creature but I stopped him. Percy's wife moved towards the creature and held out her hand.

"It's you, isn't it? The one I've been dreaming of."

The creature nodded.

"Dreams made real. Thoughts made flesh. Something else is going on here." said the Doctor.

Mary stroked the creature's head, the way a parent would stroke a child.

"It's all right."

"He just wants someone to care for him." said the young boy.

The Doctor pointed his metal wand at the creature. Mary blocked him.

"No, please!"

The Doctor put the wand away.

"I'm sorry, Mary but this creature is not real. He's from your imagination yes but he is an entity of pure thought made solid. I need to send him back."

"He just wants someone to love him!" said the young boy.

"I'm sorry but he needs to go back to the world of dreams."

"But Doctor he's real." I said.

"Who are we to say he can't be in this world?"

"He is a benign construct. There are things in man's imagination that could destroy this world a thousand times over." said the Doctor.

"And if those gates reappear that could easily happen."

"So what do we do?" I said.

"Everyone can't just stay awake for the rest of our lives."

"The gates of horn and ivory are a province of the Dreaming." said the Doctor.

"If I could enter it somehow, if I could speak to Lord Mor..."

The creature surged across the room and shook the Doctor by his jacket. "No, no, no, NO!"

Percy and I tried to intervene but the Doctor put his hands on the creature's.

"Nobody is going to hurt you. But these people are under my protection."

The creature released the Doctor and stomped about the room. "He'll unmake me!"

"Excuse me, but can anyone…"

John had entered the room. When he saw the creature he cried out. I put my hands on his shoulders.

"Let me make you a nice cup of tea." I said.

"It won't be easy to bargain with...the person I need to see." said the Doctor.

"But I need to get into the Dreaming and try and talk to him."

"Could one of us volunteer to go to sleep so you could enter this...Dreaming?" said Mary.

The Doctor pursed his lips.

"This will be incredibly risky. You might never wake up."

I was about to volunteer. Then Mary said "I'll do it."

Percy moved to his wife and took her in his arms.

"You can't. I won't allow it!"

"I must, Percy." said Mary, freeing herself from his embrace.

"I am responsible for bringing these events upon us. It is only right that I should be the one to set things right."

The Doctor smiled. "Bravo Mary Shelley!"

Percy fixed the Doctor with a look.

"Can you promise me that Mary will wake up if you do this?"

The Doctor gave Percy an ancient, baleful look. It was a look that had seen too many deaths.

"I don't know." he said.

"But I'll try to bring her back safely."

"That's all I ask." said Percy.

A while later Mary was lying on her bed, Percy's hand in hers.

"Just remember, keep holding on." said the Doctor.

Mary and Percy both nodded. Percy squeezed his wife's hand and kissed it. The Doctor moved round to the other side of the bed and placed his hands either side of Mary's face. He closed his eyes and appeared to be concentrating. Mary's eyes lost focus and she fell asleep. A trepid hush fell over the room. Nobody dared speak. The Doctor crossed to the door and put his hand on the handle.

"Are they there? The gates?" I said.

The Doctor's eyes were like deep pools. "Let's find out."

He turned the handle and opened the door. The gates of horn and ivory were there.

"Which gate should we go through?" I said.

"If we go through the ivory gate we will become fictional and we can never leave the Dreaming." said the Doctor.

"So the gate of horn then."

"Listen to me. The place we are going to is governed by strict laws that must always be upheld. If you break them even I won't be able to save you."

"What are the rules?" I said.

"Always be respectful and don't stray from the path." said the Doctor.

"I'm coming too!" said John.

"Sorry John I need you here in case anything comes through the gates."

"Please Doctor. I only wish to help."

"I will come." said the creature.

"I know the place you intend to travel to and I would help you if you will let me."

The Doctor paused for a moment, and then he said "Glad to have you."

The gates seemed to shift somehow. The Doctor straightened his bow tie.

"It's time." he said and held out his hand.

I took it and grasped the creature's hand. It was rough and cold. Together the three of us walked towards the gate of horn. I felt the darkness close over me as I passed under it and then...

...we were standing on a hillside, under a purple sky. Strange stars and moons wheeled above our heads and I tried not to stare at them too much. In the distance were two houses, built side by side. The Doctor walked at a brisk pace towards them. I fell iknto step beside the creature.

We said nothing for a while but the the creature said "Do you know what it's like to be different? To be feared and scorned, reviled and mocked, by everyone around you?"

I thought back to the humiliation I'd gone through at secondary school, just because I hadn't understood people's intentions.

"Yes." I said.

"Then you know there is no hope for ones such as us." said the creature.

"I don't know." I said.

"Sometimes all you need is a friend and someone to believe in you."

"You have been blessed indeed then."

We walked on for a while. Then I said "I could be your friend."

The creature said nothing. Then he said "I would like that."

The Doctor had arrived at the two houses.

"Hello?" he said.

The door of the nearest house opened. A podgy man with a long fringe peeked out from behind it.

"Huh-hello?" he said.

The Doctor smiled. "Can you tell us where to find the ruler of this plane of existence please?"

"I'm nuh-nuh-not supposed t-t-to talk abuh-about that."

"This is extremely serious. Stray constructs are invading the waking world. So please, tell us what you know."

"I cuh-cuh-can't."

"Is someone threatening you? Please tell us, we can help."

The man shut the door.

"Something is wrong here." said the creature.

"The Dreaming is not as it was."

The Doctor opened the letter flap in the man's door. "Please, we're not going to hurt you."

"G-g-go away!"

"We've got a stray dream with us!" I said.

The door opened all the way. The man shuffled out and came over to the creature.

"Yuh-you've been in thu-the w-w-waking world. Yuh-you shouldn't be able to duh-do that.

"It's as I said, stray dream entities are leaking into the real world." said the Doctor.

"Can you tell us what's going on?"

"Muh-maybe...maybe you'd better cuh-cuh come and suh-see."

The man led us around his house. Behind it was a butchered corpse. I retched and turned away. The Doctor went up to the body and passed his metal wand over it. The man began to cry.

"Huh-huh-he wuh-was m-m-my bruh-bruh-brother." he said between sobs.

"Nobody should be able to die in dreams." said the Doctor.

His face became very grim.

"I believe we are dealing with something very old and very, very dangerous."

The man continued to cry. I squeezed his shoulder. He nodded, reciprocated.

"Do you know who did this?" said the Doctor.

The man wiped his eyes and nose with his sleeve.

"Thuh-there wuh-were thu-thu-these creatures...luh-like luh-lights...or juh-jellyfish...thu-they cuh-came and d-d-demanded suh-sovereignty o-o-over the Duh-Duh-Dreaming."

"Do you know where they are now?"

"Thu-they'll be all over the puh-place by n-now."

"Could these creatures be the ones who opened the gates?" I said.

"Quite probably." said the Doctor.

"The bigger question is why hasn't the Dream King done something about this?"

"Nuh-nuh-nobody knuh-knows."

"It doesn't make sense. Lord Morpheus is master of the dream realm. You would have thought he could send these creatures packing with no trouble."

"Nuh-nobody has suh-suh-seen Lord Morpheus suh-since the attack."

"This is strange. Lord Morpheus is the last person in this or any other universe to shirk his responsibilities. So what could have happened?"

"Could they have destroyed him?" I said.

"No. A new Dream would have come into being and sorted whoever did this out."

"Perhaps he has been imprisoned." said the creature.

"No. Morpheus would have to be weakened for that."

We stood looking at eachother. After a while I said "Could Morpheus be unable to re-enter the Dreaming?"

"That is possible." said the Doctor.

"The only other Endless who could do that is Delirium and this isn't like her at all."

"Suh-suh-so wuh-where is h-he?"

The Doctor stopped dead, a look of utter dread on his face.

"What is it?" I said.

"Oneirovores." said the Doctor.

The Dreaming is infected with oneirovores. They're like a computer virus except they corrupt thought and not code. The gates were opened in order to escape."

"So Morpheus escaped?"

"No. To open those gates would take an immense amount of power, that's why Morpheus needs creative minds like Mary Shelley's. Their thoughts form a bridge from one world to the other. Morpheus must be in his castle. That would be the only place he could amass enough power to do this."

"So how do we stop the...oneirovores?"

"If we can give Morpheus a massive boost of power from the TARDIS he should be able to send the oneirovores back into the void."

"If we do this I can never leave the Dreaming." said the creature.

The Doctor gazed at the creature with his old eyes.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"But you are not meant to exist in the real world."

"Yuh-you c-c-could stuh-stay with m-m-me and my bruh-brother." said the man from the house.

The creature gave a small smile. "I would like that."

"Ok, first we find Dream's castle. Then we find Dream. Then we help him defeat the oneirovores and then we all go out for toasted teacakes and possibly a scone." said the Doctor.

The man from the house screamed and ran away.

"Oneirovores! Run! Run!" said the Doctor.

We ran from the thought eaters. The landscape seemed to warp and twist around us and we were in a train station. The people on the platform walked back and forth, unaware of us.

"'Scuse me, coming through, pardon sir!"

The Doctor dodged through the crowd of sleepwalkers. We reached the end of the platform and looked out into a white void.

"The oneirovores must have already been here..." the Doctor said.

I turned. Great glowing jellyfish like creatures were drifting above the crowd. One landed on a sleepwalker's head. There was a noise like music dying. The sleepwalker began to pull at his clothes and beat his head.

"What's happened to him?"

"It's destroyed all his hopes and dreams. That man will never have an original thought again in his life." said the Doctor.

Sick fear seeped into my veins. "Is that what's going to happen to us?"

"It would rather appear so."

"Why is this happening to me?"

"You opened the box. I promised you nothing but an adventure!"

"I didn't think I was going to die!"

"Nobody does."

"We're going to die and you don't even know my name!"

The Doctor turned to me.

"What is your name?"

"It's Calvin. Calvin Harris."

"Well Calvin Harris, just one thought before we die."

"Which is?"

The Doctor smiled.

"Geronimo."

The Doctor dragged me into an open train carriage. The creature came with us. The Doctor pointed his metal wand at the doors and they thunked tight shut.

"How did the train get here?"

"It moves at the speed of dreams and makes as much sound. If you'll excuse me for a minute..."

The Doctor barrelled down the length of the train, all flying hair and limbs. I heard a warbling, then the train began to move.

"That should do it." said the Doctor, bounding towards us.

"We'll be at Dream's castle in no time."

My heart was pounding and I was sweating. I looked at the Doctor, and kept on looking. The Doctor smiled back, but after a while his smile changed to concern.

"Is something wrong?"

"That man on the platform died, or as good as died, and you're acting as if nothing's happened."

The Doctor looked at me.

"I've lived a long, long life, and I've seen many terrible things. I've also seen good and strange and beautiful things."

"What's your point?" I said.

"The point is, it's better to focus on the good things. The good in people, in situations, in the universe. There was nothing I could have done for that man. I'm truly sorry."

"So this is what you do." I said.

"You help people but you can't always save them."

The Doctor stared downwards. "Sometimes I can. Usually I can save someone, but not always. I'm the one who has to make the decision and believe me it is nowhere near as fun as it sounds."

We stood in silence. After a while the Doctor sat down, as did I. The train raced on through the Dreaming. I looked out of the window. Faces and nightmares screamed past, and I looked away with a shudder. The creature seemed oddly comforted by the things outside, and put his huge hand on the glass. The Doctor was deep in concentration.

"What do we do when we get to Dream's castle?" I said.

"We find Dream and summon the TARDIS. Then we use the TARDIS to amplify Dream's power and get rid of these oneirovores."

"Will the castle be...dangerous?"

"Immensely so. I'll calibrate the sonic to act as a tracker."

"I'm sorry?"

"Sonic screwdriver."

The Doctor held up his metal wand and smiled.

"Don't tell me they don't have these where you're from?"

I shook my head.

The Doctor frowned. "I was wondering why the chap in Ikea gave me a funny look when I asked if they had a two for one deal on laser spanners."

The train stopped. The Doctor, the creature and I all looked at each other. The Doctor straightened his bow tie.

"It's time." he said.

We made our way to the exit and disembarked. The castle was a huge, ornate, finely wrought obsidian dream. I gasped. Two massive iron gates blocked our path. A dragon and a gryphon lazed on two gigantic plinths. The Doctor strolled up to the gates looking cheerful and casual.

"Hello there. I'm the Doctor, me and my lovely friends were just passing through and thought you might need help with your oneirovore problem."

"The Castle of Dreams does not welcome any humans." said the dragon.

"I'm not human." said the Doctor.

"Not that there's anything wrong with..."

"Leave or we shall eat you." said the gryphon.

"If you don't let me in, the oneirovores will destroy this entire plane of reality."

"Leave." said the gryphon.

"I will not ask you again."

The Doctor seemed to be about to say something when a thin, dishevelled looking man with large moon spectacles came out of the castle.

"Are you the Doctor?" he said.

"Yes I suppose I am." said the Doctor.

"Or Theta Sigma. Or Qui Quae Quod. Personally I prefer the Doctor. Don't ask me why."

"Lord Morpheus is in grave peril." said the man.

"I would take you to him."

The gates opened with a screech of metal. The Doctor flipped a salute at the dragon and gryphon and strolled inside. The creature and I followed him.

"Where is Lord Morpheus?" said the Doctor.

"He is at the heart of this castle, the very centre of the Dreaming. All of his power is only enough to delay the advance of the oneirovores."

"That's where we come in." said the Doctor.

"I must warn you, the castle is not safe. Lord Morpheus has repelled one attack but it has left him very weak. I cannot vouch for the safety of your human companion."

"I'll be fine." I said.

The Doctor beamed.

The doors of the castle swung open. Another me stood there. The other me had massive antlers, and a hole in the left side of its chest. It launched itself at me and grabbed my jumper.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" it screamed.

The other me burst into flames. The Doctor pulled me back and pointed his screwdriver at the doppelganger. I watched as its face - my face - melted and dribbled away, leaving a burning skull. Soon even that was gone.

"A stray nightmare." said the thin man, cleaning his glasses.

"Nothing to worry about."

"Oh no." said the Doctor.

"What is it?" I said.

"You need to leave."

"What?" I said.

"You need to leave. Now."

"I don't understand."

"Calvin that thing was you. It is what happens to you if you come with me."

"How can you know that?"

The Doctor scanned a wall of the castle with his screwdriver.

"It's as I thought, this castle is losing dimensional integrity. Bits of the future - your future - are leaking out."

"I can't just stand out here! You need help, you can't do this on your own."

"I'll have to. This was a mistake from the start. Stay here. Do not follow me under any circumstances. You got that?"

"I'm coming with you." I said.

"Calvin this will cost you your life. I didn't choose you, I didn't ask you to come, you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't want your death on my conscience."

"If I stay out here there's an equal chance the oneirovores will get me. I want to help, please."

The Doctor stared at me with his eyes that had seen too much.

"Ok." he said, almost too softly for me to hear.

"Let's go."

The Doctor, the creature and I walked into the castle of the Dream King. The walls seemed to twist and warp the further away from us they were. Melted clocks bubbled and hissed, and staircases that defied all laws of physics twisted above our heads.

"Right." said the Doctor.

He took out his sonic screwdriver.

"I've set this to track Lord Morpheus, all we need to do is follow it."

The Doctor held the screwdriver up and moved it slowly around in a circle. It began to warble when it came to a large wall mounted mirror.

"That's a mirror not an entrance to another room." I said.

The Doctor smiled. "Is that so?"

He touched the mirror with his fingertip. It rippled like water and the image it held was gone. The Doctor looked back at us.

"Geronimo." he said and stepped through.

The creature and I followed him. We were in a red and orange corridor that expanded and contracted like lungs. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver in front of him. We crept down the corridor, the only sound the faint warbling of the screwdriver. I took a step, and found my left foot stuck. I looked down. A hand gripped my foot at the heel.

"They're coming through the walls! Run!"

The Doctor and the creature ran down the corridor.

"Help! Help me!" I shouted.

The creature turned and loped back. Arms were coming through the walls now and it was all the creature could do to fight them off. Hands grabbed at my clothes, my hair, my eyes. The creature reached me and yanked me out of the hands' grip. We stumbled together through the now forest of arms. The hands lost interest in me and began to grasp and claw at the creature. With impossible strength he flung me down the corridor towards the Doctor.

"Run!" he shouted.

"No!"

The hands pulled the creature's body to pieces until only his head remained. It gave a grim smile.

"Thank you...for...for being my...friend."

"Come on!" shouted the Doctor.

We ran to the end of the corridor, hands swiping at us as we went. We reached a red door and went through it. The Doctor locked the door behind us with his screwdriver. I knelt down on the floor and wrapped my arms around myself. I could barely focus. From a long way off I heard the Doctor saying something.

"...can do this, I know you can do this."

I was rocking back and forth on the spot. The Doctor put his hand on my shoulder.

"Calvin I know you can do this. I wouldn't have taken you with me if I didn't think so. You just need to get up. Can you do that for me Calvin?"

I struggled to my feet. It was like climbing a mountain. The Doctor patted me on the back.

"See? Nothing to it." he said.

My head was pounding. We were in a room full of fountains. The Doctor held his screwdriver out like a divining rod.

"It's this way." he said.

There were thousands of fountains in that room. There could have been millions. The Doctor weaved his way through them, following the erratic warbling of his screwdriver. After a while we came to a fountain so tall that I couldn't see the very top. The water that gushed down from it shone rainbow colours.

"Doctor!" I called but he was out of sight.

The water was so beautiful. Before I knew what was happening I was reaching my had out to catch some. The liquid glowed turquoise in my palm, then indigo. Without thinking I drank the water.

"No! Don't!"

The Doctor came rushing back towards me. Pain exploded in my forehead and I doubled over. I could feel things trying to push their way out of my head.

"Come on! Quickly!" said the Doctor.

I half ran, half limped behind him as the fountains behind us began to belch fire. I could feel things from inside breaking the skin of my forehead. The Doctor charged between some fountains and through a curved arch. I felt a great whoosh of flame and then searing heat across my back. Two fountains toppled over, blocking my path.

"This is it." I said.

"This is how I die."

Flames from the fountains blocked the exit. I could hear the Doctor shouting to me.

"I can make a doorway in the flames with the sonic but you'll have to be quick!"

I could hear a faint, almost inaudible warbling and then the flames parted a little way. The Doctor was standing on the other side, holding out his screwdriver.

"Come on!" he yelled.

I was terrified. I couldn't have moved even if I'd wanted to. The doorway began to shrink. If I didn't move now I would die. I bit my tongue and ran at the doorway. A gigantic tongue of flame leapt up as I ran. I shielded my face with my arms and barrelled through the opening. I pulled my flaming jumper off and stamped on it.

The Doctor looked as if he'd just won every lottery there had ever been.

"Congratulations Calvin!" he said and hugged me.

"I knew you had it in you! Someone get me a fez, I feel amazing!"

Somehow I was smiling.

"Thanks Doctor." I said.

-Who are you? What are you doing in my castle?

We both turned. Before us was the Dream King. There was no-one else it could have been. He was tall, taller than both the Doctor and I and his skin was paper white. His eyes were black pits in which distant stars twinkled and his hair was longer than the Doctor's. The Dream King wore a robe of deepest night. Sleeping faces seemed to swim in the edges.

"I venerate thee O Prince of Stories." said the Doctor, bowing. I did likewise.

-You should not be here. said Lord Morpheus.

-Leave this place at once.

"We're here to help you." I said.

-I need nothing from you, mortal.

The distant stars in the Dream King's eyes seemed to flare.

-Leave. I will not ask again.

"Please just hear us out." said the Doctor.

"I know you could tear out our minds and trap us forever in our darkest nightmares but please just listen. Your kingdom is being overrun by dream eating monsters from outside time but I can help you. If you'll let me summon my ship it can give you enough power to defeat the oneirovores. I'm offering to do this because my plane of reality is threatened too. So please, please let us help."

-You invade my palace, cause chaos and discord in places where you are neither welcome nor invited and you presume to offer me assistance? I should send you to the darkness for the remainder of your lives.

The Dream King became pensive.

-But you were a friend to one who has never known such a thing. For that you have my respect. You may leave by the exit I shall provide for you.

A candle hovered in front of us. The Doctor tugged at my sleeve and followed the small light.

"We'll just have to think of something else." he said forlornly.

We followed the candle through the halls of the Dream King's palace. It was a winding, twisting way, through halls as big as cities and staircases barely wide enough for either of us.

"So what do we do now?" I said.

The Doctor looked grim.

"I'm going to have to absorb the heart of the TARDIS and send these creatures away."

"Is that…dangerous" I said.

"Incredibly." said the Doctor.

"It's the biggest risk I can possibly take. But Dream is refusing to listen so I must."

"Is there another way?" I said.

"I don't know. If Dream would listen…"

The Doctor trailed off. We were outside the castle now. The candle did a loop the loop and vanished.

"We need to talk."

I turned. The most beautiful woman I had ever seen was standing next to a rock. Her hair was black, her skin was paper white, and her eyes…I could have sank into them and died happy. The Doctor was muttering something that might have been "Humans!"

The woman walked over to us.

"You have to help my brother. He's a sweetie but he can be as stubborn as anything."

"Can you make him listen to me?"

"He'll listen to me." said the woman.

"It takes him a while sometimes but he always does."

I felt like a teenager again, tongue tied and wanting to disappear.

"I know a back way into the castle." said the woman.

"Follow me."

The Doctor smiled and followed the woman. I found myself following them.

"What's your name?" I said.

The woman turned. Her exquisite eyes enveloped me.

"You can call me Didi." she said.

The Doctor threw his hands in the air.

"It's all biological imperatives today isn't it?"

We followed Didi to a small door next to the castle. Lights appeared above us in the sky.

Oneirovores.

Thousands upon thousands of the glittering jellyfish like creatures were descending upon the castle. Anything they touched vanished.

Didi grabbed the Doctor's and my hand.

"Come on!" she said.

Didi pulled us into absolute darkness. After a moment it abated and we were in a gigantic throne room. Swarms of oneirovores flowed this way and that, unmaking everything they touched. In the centre of the room stood the Dream King. His arms were raised, as if supporting a titanic weight and not one of the creatures came within thirty yards of him.

"He won't be able to sustain that thought field for long." said the Doctor.

"Soon it'll break and the oneirovores will erase him."

"So what do we do?" I said.

"We need the TARDIS." said the Doctor.

He produced a key which glowed golden orange. The bronze interior of the Doctor's time machine began to fade into existence around us. The Doctor leapt at the console and began to strobe his sonic screwdriver across it.

"What are you doing?" I said.

"I'm going to absorb the heart of the TARDIS and send those oneirovores packing." said the Doctor.

"No you're not." said Didi.

"I am."

The Doctor looked up with an expression of utter dread.

"You are Death." he said.

"The TARDIS is life and time and possibility. If you absorb the heart of the TARDIS the fundamental laws of reality will be shredded."

"And if I don't my little brother will die. Along with all human thought and imagination."

Death and the Doctor stared at eachother. After a long moment the Doctor passed his screwdriver across the TARDIS console. It opened and…

…the universe spiralled away in strips. The oneirovores, tiny, helpless creatures, drained away into the void. I could see Mary Shelley, lying on her bed. She got up and looked around, puzzled.

"I just had the most extraordinary dream." she said.

"There were gates in this house, on this floor. Gates of horn and ivory. There was a man – two men, and they went through them."

She shook her head. "I have an idea for our story competition though."

Percy looked confused as well, but he smiled. "Excellent, my love."

They linked hands and walked out of the room. The universe and all its possibilities swirled around me and I saw the creature. He was alive and whole and he smiled when he saw me. I smiled back. The creature turned and walked back to the house we had visited in the Dreaming. With him were the podgy man and a rake thin man.

I looked up. Didi stood above me, above the universe, above everything. She looked down at me and winked. I felt everything begin to shimmer and fade, and I was…

…standing on a street at night, next to a blue box. A man in a tweed jacket and bow tie came out of the box and locked the door. He smiled when he saw me.

"Thank you." he said.

"For…what?"

"For being there."

"Ok, no problem."

This conversation was getting weird. Weirder than usual, and I have difficulty understanding people's intentions. I turned to go.

"Oh Calvin!" said the man.

I turned, a little nervously.

"Yes?"

The man smiled. "You are good enough."

With that he turned and strolled along the dark street, whistling a strange tune as he went. I watched him leave and felt somehow comforted. I made my way back to the tram stop. Buildings and trees flitted by and my phone pinged. I checked it.

Hi Calvin! Yeah I'd love to meet up for coffee, next Tuesday at Jerry's OK for you? K xxx

I couldn't help but think I was missing something, but things seemed more right somehow than they had before. I got off at my stop and walked home. Without knowing why I ran, jumped and slapped a STOP sign.