The Monastery of Kepler

by Cynical Classicist

9th in a series and sequel to The Purple Star. The Doctor goes to a Monastery in the Kepler-46 System and finds a project against the drug Blue Ash. However he discovers there are those willing to kill to protect the drug smuggling...

There was a wheezing groaning sound as the TARDIS appeared on another world. The Doctor looked at the scanner. "Breathable atmosphere, slightly lower gravity then Earth, and a lovely view. Perfect!" "So which world is this?" asked Norine. "We seem to be around Kepler-46b" said the Doctor happily. Kafyip and Norine looked shocked. "Kepler? Just after we met those facists?" said Norine. "That was over a thousand years ago!" replied the Doctor. "A thousand Earth years" said Kafyip, reading the Doctor's mind. "Seems the TARIDS wanted to show us the good side of Kepler!" said the Doctor, as he opened the doors and sprang out. "Kepler-46b!" said the Doctor. "Huge planet! Bigger than Jupiter." "Shouldn't there be heavy gravity?" asked Norine. "This isn't the planet!" said the Doctor. "This is a moon. Colonised centuries ago. Anyway in 3890 there is a Monastery dedicated to Albertus Grannus over there." He pointed to a Monastery on a mountain. "An important place for science. Been centuries since I've come here. I wonder if those Sil… Eoc… Reptiles are still working there. And they have a garden where they're always planting new things!" "Hopefully we won't get into trouble at this Monastery" said Kafyip. "Is this about the Green Moon Monastery?" asked Norine. "Yes" replied the Doctor. "But I don't go looking for trouble! Trouble usually finds me."

They walked over to the Monastery. There were a few thousand houses a short distance away, with many species walking around. The Doctor walked through the gates and knocked on the door. An intercom answered. "Who is it?" "The Doctor" said the Doctor. "Enter but be prepared for searching" said the voice. The door slid open and they walked in. There was beeping noise and a light ran over them all. "Scanners detect permitted item in right pocket" said a voice. "Yes! Mostly harmless!" said the Doctor happily.

They walked into a courtyard where some Monks of various species were gardening. The Doctor looked around the garden, which contained all sorts of plants, looking like none on Earth or Grukup. "Look at all those plants!" cried the Doctor, running over to examine them. "Draconian Purple-Grass, Zygon red-flowers, plants from all over the galaxy!" "Excuse me sir!" said a stern voice. They turned to see a man over 2 metres tall covered in yellow fur. "You are not supposed to touch the plants in the Mendel Garden" he said. "I was just looking at them and sniffing!" said the Doctor. He sniffed some red-flowers to demonstrate and staggered back, nearly fainting from the smell. "That is why we don't want people to get too near them" said the man. "Anyway, Doctor Sumria needs as many plants as he can get for his blue ash purge." "What is blue ash?" asked Kafyip. The Monk gave him an odd look. "He's from a quite remote planet" said the Doctor quickly. "The planet Grukup." "Haven't heard of it" replied the Monk. "Anyway, don't touch the plants. You can find out about blue ash from our leaflets." He walked to another part of the garden and began to water a tall green plant with silver-orange leaves. "Not the first time I've had trouble with a Monk with a head" muttered the Doctor.

"What is blue ash?" asked Norine. "Like he said it's on the leaflets" said the Doctor, running over to a stack of them and picking one up. "You'd think they'd have something a bit more futuristic in the 39th century" said Norine. "They're digital leaflets!" said the Doctor. He began turning the leaflet happily. "It makes an iGrane if you keep turning it." Norine took another leaflet, with a picture of a shady looking human in black handing a bag to a small humanoid while a Draconian moved towards the man from behind. It read "BLUE ASH. Menace of the Galaxy." It turned out that blue ash was the nickname of a very addictive substance called Caesit-Pecco, which had caused chaos on both sides of the Galaxy. The management of entire star systems was effected significantly by blue ash. It got its name from a chemical procedure being used to help smuggle it which made the drug look like blue ash. The Kepler-46 Monastery of Albertus Grannus, in conjunction with the Kepler-46 Monastery of St Luke, were working on ways to treat addicts. Homo Reptilia Doctor Sumria from the St Luke Monastery was on this project.

The Doctor was interested. "I think I should help with this" said Kafyip. "I agree. I've seen whole worlds devastated by drugs like Vraxoin" said the Doctor. "Good that was wiped out over a millennium ago." He ran over to the yellow Monk. "Where are they working on the blue ash treatment?" he said quickly. "Can't go over there" said the Monk. "Security tightened up." "Who would want to attack a Monastery?" said the Doctor. "Said the Monks at Lindisfarne" muttered Norine. "Well it is apparently an accident, but I, Limoti, and Sumria think otherwise" said Limoti. "There was an explosion at the Monastery and several Monks working on the formula were killed. There was an investigation but it was blamed on natural gas pockets beneath the Monastery ignited by chemical experimentation." "Why did you build it over gas?" asked Norine. "It is a power source and the builders of this Monastery were short of money" said Limoti. "Anyway, we have tightened security. Security has even been hired for the entrances to the tunnels." "I really need to see Sumria" said the Doctor. He pulled out his physic paper. "Doctor John Smith, Doctor of Medicine, History, Cheese making… everything!" "Sumria is merely a Doctor of Medicine" said Limoti once he had finished examining the paper. "But you seem respectable enough so I will tell you he is in there." He pointed to a large ornate door on their left. "Third door to the right…" he said but the Doctor was already halfway to the door.

The Doctor ran through the door, followed by his friends, and within a few seconds burst through on the third door on the right. "Hello there!" he said waving the paper about. "I'm Dr Smith of Medicine…" "Alright, no need to be so loud!" said the only figure in the room. He turned around and Norine gave a start as she saw his reptilian face. "Doctor, what is planet is he from?" He's from Earth" said the Doctor. "But they won't become accepted for centuries. No need to be scared, they can be really nice if you know them. I have a friend Vastra…" "What are you babbling about?" asked Sumria. "I am working on the final stages of my formula and I cannot be disturbed. Distribution is due to begin tomorrow. I have a tight deadline." "Deadline? This isn't news!" said Norine. "I know but events have brought this forward. If I can't get this ready soon the next surge of blue ash use cannot be combated. And with those deaths I have barely enough time to finish this. I was lucky to be out of the main laboratory at the time." "Don't worry. I'm the Doctor. I can help" said the Doctor. He bounced forward and began examining the chemicals. "An extract 3 parts of Draconian Purple-Grass, to 2 parts Martian Oxygen Seeds, mixed with…" began Sumria. "I can analyse it myself" said the Doctor, sounding annoyed. He began to mix the chemicals up, delighting in watching the chemical reactions. Norine and Kafyip looked confused. "What is going on?" whispered Norine. "You can read minds." "Telepathy while there is a chemical experiment? I feel even more confused" said Kafyip.

There was bang and a small cloud of smoke drifted up. The Doctor poured it into a container marked Blue Ash, Strictly for Experimentation Purposes. There was a louder bang and when it cleared neither substance was there. Sumria did some examinations and soon looked amazed. "How did you do that?" "Just my own knowledge" said the Doctor cheerily. "It's easy when you know how." Now Sumria looked delighted. "Thank the Power you went here" he said. "Distribution can begin immediately. Billions can be helped with this formula. You have performed a great service Doctor."

"Yes, but what about the explosion?" said Kafyip. "What if there is someone wanting to stop it?" "The tunnels are being guarded" said Sumria. "All of them have been searched." "Yes, but might as well go there for a peek!" said the Doctor. "If this is the future couldn't you just use robots?" asked Norine. The Doctor gave a slight groan as the reptile asked "What do you mean by the future?" "We're are in the present for Sumria" said the Doctor. Norine realised her mistake. "But why don't you use robots?" asked the Doctor. "Do you know how much they cost in this region of the Galaxy?" said Sumria. "They are not a cheap commodity. Especially with the energy crisis." "Well that gives us the opportunity to explore the caves ourselves" said the Doctor, running out of the room. A few seconds later he popped his head round the door. "Could you show me the way to the tunnels?" he asked Sumria. "It couldn't hurt to go and just check. We could see how dangerous the gas is." He gave a slight smile at this. "Well, as you helped with the treatment I suppose I can help" said Sumria. "If anything is happening it would be happening about now, as night is falling." "So let's go!" said the Doctor. "Let me first get my chemicals for checking the caves" said Sumria. He placed the formula in a safe, fixed that inside a bigger safe in the wall, picked up a small casket of chemicals and turned. "Time to go" said the Doctor happily.

They moved down to the caves in a lift. The Doctor looked bored. "Can't this thing go any faster?" "No, there are safety restrictions" said Sumria. "No chance to say Geronimo" muttered the Doctor. He kept looking at his watch. He didn't like waiting. He liked constant action. There was a slight bump as the lift hit the bottom. The Doctor pulled the door open with surprising speed and jumped out. "Come along Clarke, Kaf, and Sum" he said. "Sumria" said the Reptile, with an edge of anger.

They walked over to the caves. There was a guard at the entrance to each. It didn't look like much security but each guard was armed and had an alarm button next to them. They walked past the Guards. "Could you let us pass?" asked Sumria politely to the first on, a tall woman with fangs. "Nobody allowed down here. Not without special pass and prior notification. Anyway we all checked the tunnels we were guarding." "But we would be…" began the Doctor but the Guard held up his hand. "No entry without pass." They tried to enter the other 8 entrances to the mountain but had similar responses. "At least they seem well guarded" said Sumria. "I don't think any trouble could come from down there." "Doctor" said Kafyip quietly. "Could we speak a bit further away?" They walked out of the Guard's line of sight. "So, what did you want to tell us?" asked Sumria. "I sensed the 4th Guard we asked was hiding something" said Kafyip. "I can't really be sure but I felt he was nervous." "Well, we should look down there" said the Doctor. He turned to run to entrance 4 but Sumria held him back. "If there really is something down there shouldn't we get authorisation to go past the guard?" "If he really is trying to stop us he might find an excuse to stop us" said Norine. "Exactly Norine!" said the Doctor. "What we need is a good old distraction! So, who wants to stay outside and not experience the excitement and danger of a tunnel… ?" "Me" said Kafyip.

The Doctor gave his plan to get the Guard away. "Hardly abiding by rules" said Sumria. But he had a slight smile. "However it should be fun." Kafyip ran up to the guard. "Quick! Fire, murder!" he yelled. "What?!" said the Guard. "Over there! Disaster!" said Kafyip. "Needed! No time to explain!" He could tell the guard wouldn't go against this sort of command. He ran away yelling for the Guard to come along, causing the Guard to go, though he locked the door over the entrance. Once he was out of sight the Doctor, Norine and Sumria ran over, knowing they probably had less than a minute. The Doctor began using his sonic screwdriver on the lock and in a few seconds there was a click and the door swung open. "Those old doors" laughed the Doctor as Sumria entered. "So easy to bypass. I bet a criminal from the 20th Century could open it. Reminds me of an art gallery…" "Doctor, in here!" said Norine, prompting the Doctor to follow her in. "Should I shut the door?" she said quickly. "I can easily open it from in here" said the Doctor. "if we are asked we just say we took a long inspection of the tunnel." Norine slammed the door. The 3 began moving along the tunnel.

"There doesn't seem much down there" said Norine. "Not much to do." There was a sound up ahead. "I don't like dark tunnels" she said. "Why not?" said the Doctor. "It can be mysterious and exciting. Though there is the Vashta Nerada. But they mostly take… I'll stop now." "Thanks a lot Doctor" said Norine. "I have heard of these Vashta Nerada" said Sumria. "The savage shadows?" "That's them" said the Doctor. "There are absolutely billions on a Library… but centuries after your time." "Well there don't seem to be only demonic shadows down here" said Sumria as they got to a corner. I'd say we should soon be at the gas…" He stopped as they turned the corner and saw the light at the end. "A light! This is getting more exciting" said the Doctor bounding forward. However a figure suddenly stepped out in front of them. It was a Malphan.

"Hello there Malphan!" said the Doctor. "So, why have you got your little club-house down here." "Stop them!" snarled the Malphan. Another Malphan moved out with 2 other creatures. They were about 7 feet tall, with dark grey skin, razor sharp claws, a face like a dog with bulging eyes, and huge fangs that prevented them fully closing their mouths. "This doesn't look good" said Norine. "Don't worry I'm sure I know who these are" said the Doctor. "Actually I know what these are. They're Largdens, we can worry now!" "Largdens?" asked Norine. "Latin for large teeth" said Sumria. "Vicious race often used for illegal activities." The creatures moved forward licking their lips but the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Stay back you Largdens!" he said brandishing his screwdriver. The Largdens whined from the sound, putting their paws over their ears. One of the Malphans stepped forward and hit the Doctor a powerful blow, knocking his screwdriver away. "Move past them" said the other Malphan. "Can we eat them?" said an Largden in a harsh, growling manner, licking its lips. "Just a bite…" It moved towards Norine who got into a combat stance. The leading Malphan laughed. "Their world has much higher gravity then yours. Don't try anything." "I'm not going to let dog-face eat me" said Norine as the Largden moved towards her.

Suddenly a tongue shot out, striking the shoulder of the Largden and causing it to shriek. It was Sumria. "I may be a reptile of peace but I will not let murder be done" he said. He flicked his tongue out threateningly. A shot rang out and he fell with a cry. "Sumria!" cried the Doctor, running towards the Reptile. "You flick your tongue at us, we shoot you" said the Malphan. "That is our way of fighting." He pointed his gun at the Doctor, who pointed his screwdriver at the bomb and said with menace "You may have heard of me. I'm the Doctor."

"There are a lot of doctors on this planet" replied the Malphan. "The Time Lord" said the Doctor. "The Doctor?" said the Malphan with a mix of fear and amazement. "Slayer of Daleks? Defeater of Sontaran and Rutans? The one who sabotaged our plans on Ruwilen and Rand?" "Not sure about the last one. I'll forget it until it happens" said the Doctor. "But I am that Doctor. And if I've done all this stopping a bomb shouldn't be too much trouble!" "Don't try to deactivate it. You will be blown to smithereens if you try any fiddling" said the other Malphan. "But you will be so as well" said the Doctor. "Any shots and I'll bury as all!" A plan entered his mind. "I could turn it on right now unless you turn it off." "We know you won't do that. You will try to deactivate it" sneered the leading Malphan. "You might think you have us at a stand-off but we can simply leave."

"Stop" said the Doctor. He said it with such force that despite it being said quietly it was not surprising that all 4 stopped. The Malphan stopped. "Yes man of Gallifrey?" it said. "Why are you doing this?" said the Doctor. "They are trying to stop our blue ash trade" said the Malphan. "So we will blow apart their Monastery. We have placed a bomb in there." It pointed to a metal box at the end. There was a groan from Sumria. He was badly wounded but still alive. "Why… do you continue this evil trade…" "If people are stupid enough to buy from us they will drag down their place anyway" said the Malphan. He glanced at his wrist and smiled. "Just over four minutes left. Don't waste them trying to escape. Once we are out the gates will be sealed. Goodbye."

The Malphans walked away swiftly, followed by the Largdens, despite their reluctantance to leave so much flesh. There was a clanging sound as the gate shut and a crack as the locking mechanism was broken. "Wait here a mo" said the Doctor, running up the tunnel. They heard some yelling within a few seconds. "Come on. No!" A moment later the Doctor came back. "Can't open the gate due to the locking mechanism." "So, what do we do now?" asked Norine. "We're stuck in a tunnel with a bomb about to go off." "I've been in much worse situations" said the Doctor. "Perhaps if we move back to the gate we'll survive the explosion" said Norine. "Yes, but the gas would still be ignited and the Monastery will be destroyed!" said the Doctor. "All our work gone…" said Sumria. The Doctor ran over and began to examine the reptile. He looked sorrowful. "I'm not sure I can help you" he said. "But I can try…" "No" said Sumria. "Try to defuse the bomb. We'll all die if we don't defuse the bomb." "But I can't let you die…" said the Doctor. "I gave up my life to help people" said Sumria. "I will give it up fully to make sure others can be helped." He coughed some blood. "Just try to stop the bomb."

The Doctor examined the bomb. He gently tapped the surface and did a scan with the sonic screwdriver. "Crude but effective" he said. "But we will get out of this, I promise." "Doctor…" said Sumria weakly. The Doctor looked round. "Bit busy here…" "I have chemicals… I wanted to test… gas" said Sumria. The Doctor realised what he was getting at. He ran over. "The chemicals could help!" "How?" said Norine. "Could we melt through that gate?" "Don't be silly! Two foot reinforced quadruple steel" said the Doctor. "But I could melt through the bomb." He took the chemicals and began working away. "We'll soon have you fine" the Doctor told Sumria. "Don't… let me… distract you" said the Reptile weakly, to the Doctor and Norine. The Doctor poured a small amount of formula on a stone. "Doctor, what are…? Oh!" said Norine as the chemical fizzed away at the stone, burning through it. "Excellent" said the Doctor happily. "Now we open that bomb." "So gas-testing chemicals are turned into an acid?" said Norine as the Doctor began to gradually pour his formula on. "I know a lot about chemicals!" said the Doctor. TWO MINUTES TO DETONATION said a voice from the bomb, surprising the Doctor so much he nearly dropped the canister. "Need to be pretty quick!" he said, his hands ready as the casing gradually broke apart. "Or my bow tie will be ruined!"

Within a few seconds the casing had broken enough for the Doctor to begin fiddling with the wiring inside. "Reminds me of my years with UNIT" he said fondly. "In the 70s. Or was it the 80s?" ONE MINUTE TO DETONATION. "I'll get on with it" said the Doctor quickly. He carefully pulled a small canister out of the bomb. "The actual bomb" he said. "Can't defuse that in two minutes. But most of the explosive force would have come from all that stuff around it. This bomb should just make a small bang…" "Large enough to break the gate?" said Norine. "Well done you!" said the Doctor running down the tunnel as they heard 30 SECONDS TO DETONATION. He was soon back. "Sumria, we can get out, we can get help!" said the Doctor. There was no answer. "Sumria? SUMRIA?" said the Doctor sounding worried. "He's gone" said Norine. "I felt his pulse stop while you were working." "Why didn't you tell me?" said the Doctor angrily. "I could have saved him." "He didn't want you to be distracted" there was a loud bang as the gate was blasted apart. The Doctor looked sadly at the Reptile. He turned away, not sure what to do. "Shouldn't we go after those Malphans and those… fanged things?" said Norine. "We'll do that" said the Doctor, running down the tunnel again. "They will learn to fear me!"

They clambered through the gaping hole in the gate and came face to face with Kafyip. "I saw those Malphans come out" said the Swukain. "I tried to open the door but I heard your thoughts on the other side of the door…" "Alright, Alright don't need to fill me in!" said the Doctor. "Where's Sumria…" Kafyip's voice trailed off as he sensed what had happened. Norine suddenly gasped. "Up there!" she said, pointing. "What?" said the Doctor spinning around. He followed her finger and saw on a on a hill above them 4 figures running down the side, silhouettes against the setting sun. "I'm not letting them get away!" said Norine running after them. "WAIT!" cried the Doctor but Norine was not listening to him. He ran after her.

The Malphans and Largdens both came from worlds with heavier gravity then Earth. But Norine was in better physical shape than them and was travelling lighter. However they were nearly at the spaceport, to avoid suspicion they hadn't landed closer to the Monastry. The Gate was manned by a machine. "Do you want to…" it began but the switch of an illegal security over-rider opened the gate. "Quick! Inside the ship!" said the leader. The Malphans knew the authorities would have been alerted by the explosion so needed to get to their ship quickly. They moved towards their ship but Norine was bearing on them. She picked up a stone and threw it with incredible force at one of the Largden, striking his head. The beast staggered, and then roaring shot at her like a hungry wolf. But the Doctor approached and sent a sonic burst at it, causing the Largden to stagger back. "You are not getting to my friend" he said, stepping forward defiantly. "You tell your enemies to run!" said the leading Malphan. "That is what we want to do!" "You can't just escape!" said Norine. "You killed Sumria!" "It was self-defence" said the Malphan. "You were planning to kill everybody in the Monastery" said the Doctor. "You are not getting the opportunity to run." They heard yelling behind them and turning around saw Kafyip leading the tunnel guards towards them. The Malphans looked horrified and ran towards their ship.

"Lucky I had some left over chemicals" said the Doctor, taking out the chemical canister. He sent a sonic wave through the canister, and then hurled it at the ship. There was a bang and a chemical mist burst out. One of the Malphans stopped but its leader wasn't so lucky, catching much of the spray on its body. It screamed as it's clothes burnt away and its face cracked. The Largdens seemed unsure what to do, but seeing the Guards so close they ran at them. A few shots brought them down. A Guard checked them both. "Dead" he said. "Don't they have stun settings?" asked Norine. "Yes" said the Doctor. "But they didn't know how much it would take to stun the Largdens." The Malphan who had escaped the acid had thrown down his weapon. The other Malphan was rolling in pain, clutching his face. The authorities cuffed them. "I think we should go" said the Doctor. "There always seems so much death around me." "Can't we stay longer?" said Kafyip. "I feel we should… tell the Monastery of Sumria. And pay our respects."

It was dawn days later. Some Monks walked to the Garden of the departed, carrying the coffin of Sumria, with an Earth Reptile symbol of life on it. The whole Monastery had turned out to watch it, along with others. Among the mourners, a Time Lord, a Swukain, and a Human born in the 20th Century watched sadly. The Doctor had helped production of the blue ash treatment in time to combat the next surge of drug shipments and been told that billions could be helped with his formula. But still he felt unhappy. Norine seemed to be quite affected at seeing someone die right before her so horribly, even though it was a species that had frightened her at first. She was trying not to cry. "I've been in many situations like this" said the Doctor. "Seen so many good people die. But I still feel sad to see it." "At least we were able to pay our last respects" said Kafyip. "I hope the Powers guide him in." The Doctor didn't say anything. "Back to the TARDIS?" he said. There was no objection, and they were soon in the TARDIS. "So, where to next?" asked the Doctor, trying to be cheerful, but unable to disguise the sadness in his voice.

Kafyip, who had been very quiet, spoke. "Doctor, I know where I want to go next" he said. "Where? Want to meet Virgil again? Or Cicero! Fine speaker, if a bit pompous!" said the Doctor. "I have seen many interesting sights across the Universe but I want to go back home" replied Kafyip. "I want to see my people again." "At least you have a home world" said the Doctor sadly. "The Daleks haven't taken that from you. Despite how boring you may have found it, when you have been gone a long time, you miss it." He pulled the levers, the wheezing sound began again, and soon the TARDIS was travelling again through the vortex, back to the planet Grukup.