Chapter One

Captain Harold Gartt looked at his electronic communicator. He hadn't been to Earth in so long that he couldn't remember what year it was. The red date stood out brightly next to the blinking battery sign – 08/09/4028. Over 15 years since he had visited Earth. Somewhere on the overcrowded, polluted and dying planet, he had left a wife and a child. He didn't care. Gartt wasn't a man for a cushy family life. He was a hard, ready and brutal man, on the planet of Fourteen Class, ready to invade a Fortraxon settlement with an electro-pulse gun in one hand and a type two EFS hand grenade in the other.

As far as Captain Gartt was concerned, there are only three types of alien in the universe – harmless, helpful and hindrance. Harmless were those boring, typical aliens who had no tech, were no threat and had no hope in helping. Helpful were aliens with weapons, strong holdings, transport or supplies. And Hindrance were those who were in the way. And, if you knew Captain Gartt, you would hope to God that you were in the harmless category.

Gartt was a ruthless character. An indigenous human, he had a rough, tanned face with tough stubs of greying auburn hair sprouting from his scalp. He had a rather flat nose and large, pitted cheeks, and striking green-blue eyes which were rumoured (strictly by his soldiers) to have hypnotic powers. His body was compact but tall, squeezed into a military uniform which bore the mark of Andraxia II, a marshy planet in the outer regions of Gordeo Major. The uniform and the man would usually bare some resemblance of dust or mud –Gartt was a man of combat and proud of it. He kept a personal record of how many hindrances he had killed – 183 at the current day.

Of course, no record was kept of how many helpful aliens had been killed. The Earth Force Stations were not to know about that. The massacre on Andraxia IV three years ago had caused trouble enough for him. Gartt had lost two stars on his InterSpace EFS, and had been suspended on parole.

But that was the past now. Gartt was much more careful in the supply of information to the EFS; only 30% of those he killed were reported back to HQ. As far as he was concerned, reports were below him. He was the second most senior officer in the entire EFS, for crying out loud. And now he was fronting a mission to the outer system of Fourteen Class, where a high concentration of the precious, top secret substance 'Kremlin' had been found.

Of course, the EFS didn't know about this. Kremlin was one of the 50 objects on the Shadow Proclamation, 'Punishable with Death' list. It had caused millions to die and more to make a forced immigration to other planets, causing mass overcrowding and shortages. With extreme explosive properties, a single Earth litre of the substance could wipe out an entire Solar System. Any planets found to contain Kremlin were usually immediately evacuated, but Fourteen Class was different.

Perhaps it was because the Outer system of Class had only recently been discovered. Made up of 29 different planets orbiting around double suns, it had stayed hidden behind an immense solar flare that had only just cleared. The Class system was mainly primitive, with little more than primary spacecraft regarding technology. But on the fourteenth planet, just above the planet's core, was an extensive underground lake of Kremlin, discovered by Gartt through his many close allies placed strategically throughout the universe.

The captain straightened his belt, clipping on the type two grenade. He and his platoon were crouched behind a looming sand dune, guns at the ready, watching a group of about a hundred primitive Fortraxon sitting around a bright green fire. The landscape was desert like, covered in beige sand and maroon bushes. The Fortraxon settlement was little more than huts – sculpted stone blocks made up a large communal building, and smaller houses were made from woven twigs and branches. The Fortraxon themselves were not unlike humans, except shorter and darker in colour, with more fingers that twitched and spun. They were dressed in Blue cloth, varying in texture and shade, wrapped like towels around their thin bodies. And none of them were aware of the danger beyond the dune. Gartt lifted three fingers, and the troops snapped their gaze to his hand. He mouthed a number.

'One.' A finger went down.

'Two.' Another finger followed.

'THREE!' shouted Gartt as a large hazy light appeared on the edge of the settlement. The soldiers stopped advancing and stared. The hot air fazed in and out of focus, with a large blue shape becoming ever clearer in the hot afternoon sun. An excruciating scraping, digital scream wavered in dynamics, and a big blue box appeared on the beige sand. It had small, rectangular windows and two long thin doors, and a sign that read, 'POLICE BOX'.

'What the...' muttered Gartt. 'Stay back, men. It could be a weapon.'

Suddenly, the door to the box swung open, and a scruffy young man stepped out, resplendent in maroon bowtie and tweed suit. He was soon followed by a young redheaded woman, who jumped out onto the sand and gazed up into the hot sun with pleasure.

'Yes! At last, a planet without ever-present gloom! Thank you!' the girl said in a heavy Scottish accent. The man smiled and flung his arms open, gesturing to the expanse of desert before them.

'Amy, welcome to Fourteen Class, in the outer regions!'

'Oooh, look Doctor!' said the girl. 'Natives!'

The man turned to where the girl was pointing. 'Ah yes, Fortraxon if I remember right.' He strode off towards the settlement, with the girl jogging along behind him.

Captain Gartt suppressed a laugh.

'They're just humans! And primitive ones by the looks of it. And I thought we had been expected. Ha!' He turned to his men, smiling his rough smile. 'So now we just wait until they're gone. Brunt! Go fetch us all some drinks.'

The soldier hesitated.

'Uh, Captain?'

'What?'

'That man's not coming up as human on the scanner.'

Gartt grabbed the device, pulling himself up against the sand dune. He bashed the device against the palm of his hand. 'Stupid machine. It's probably got sand in the wires again.'

'Do you want me to do a thorough check with the storage scanner, Captain?' asked Brunt.

Gartt growled at him. 'No. It's obvious he's a human. Or he's an exact replica. Are you stupid, Private?' He spat out the last word like it was cold on his tongue.

'Well, I wouldn't say exact replica,' came a jovial voice from above them. Gartt and the soldiers looked up in sudden alarm to see the scruffy man looking over the edge of the dune at them. 'But then, I always get confused with a human. Maybe I just spend too much time with them. Maybe it's rubbing off on me.'

The soldiers all scrambled for their guns which lay discarded amongst them, but the man shook his head.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' he stated matter of factly. 'You see, I have this...' he produced a small silver object from inside his jacket and waved it around with carefree abandon, '...and you don't really want to be in a fight against it.'

'Is it a weapon, Private?' mumbled Gartt to Brunt.

Brunt fumbled with the scanner. The screen flickered on green and white. 'Uh... I can't tell from these readings. There's a whole lotta alien tech in that thing, Captain.'

'Oh, a whole lotta alien tech and more,' the man smirked. 'This sonic screwdriver here has razed cities! But drop the guns and step away from the dune and I won't be tempted to use it.' He gave them a large grin showing off rows of pearly white teeth.

Gartt and the men all dropped their guns and backed away from the dune. The 'sonic screwdriver' remained focused on them until they were about 10 feet away from the man, at which point the red headed girl from earlier suddenly popped her head up next to the man's.

'Doctor, what the hell is going on?' she berated in her thick accent. 'Honestly, I turn my back for two minutes and you're holding up the natives!'

The man smiled at her and tucked the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. 'Ah, but they're not natives, Amy. They're you're race actually. Nice to see some humans on other planets for a change.'

Amy's gaze travelled to the soldiers. 'Oh yeah,' she said. 'Soldiers eh?'

Gartt straightened himself, regaining composure with a scowl on his face. 'I am Second in command of the EFS. These are my soldiers. And now, move out of the way. We have a mission to fulfil and you are jeopardising that mission! I will have to resort to force if you do not move!'

'You're in the EFS!' the man cried joyfully, totally ignoring Gartt's orders. 'How lovely! I'm assuming, if you're second in command and this is 4028 that you are... Captain Gartt. Great to meet you!'

'How do you know my name!' Gartt spluttered in disbelief and anger. 'My name is withheld for the safety of all missions! All captain information is classified! Who are you?'

The man smiled again, and straightened his bowtie.

'I'm the Doctor,' he said.