The Worm from Space

by Cynical Classicist

The TARDIS is shot down while passing Lumgost, planet of the warlike Tufgud. The Doctor and Norine find the planet is falling under a new ruler, the Worm King. 16th in my series.

The Time War: Year 91, Url-Zon 2 Orbit

In space sat a huge fortress shot down the last of the defence satellites orbiting the green planet below. In the control room six creatures scuttled around. One moved to the controls. "It is time to signal our fleet. The entire Url-Zon system will soon be ours!"

There was the sound of an alarm. "Something is attempting to breach our defences" cried one of the creatures. The largest turned to one with a reddish tone to its armour. "Go to the gun-deck!" Its subordinate scuttled through the door. The leader scuttled over to the two at the controls. "Is our fleet contacted yet?" "We are unable to make contact..."

There was a loud bang and a cry of pain. The five whipped round as the one sent out moved inside, his chest shattered. "The gun-deck... Destroyed!" it cried. "I need nutrients!" It scuttled over to a tube, connecting to a mass of hundreds of tons of food, and stuck its head inside.

"Hologram-transmission coming in!" cried a worm.

"Open it!" snarled the largest.

Before the worms appeared a man of humanoid appearance, not especially tall but with an imposing presencer. He was wearing a leather jacket and waistcoat, along with a bandolier. His hair was dark but streaked with grey and he had a beard. The man's face was battle-streaked, with sad eyes.

"What are you?" asked the leader.

"I am a Warrior of the Time Lords" replied the warrior.

"A Time Lord? Why should you concern yourself with the Worm Kings?" asked the Worm King. "Shouldn't you be chained in battle with the Daleks?"

"The war is being fought in many times and places. You may be relatively minor forces in this conflict but you must still be eliminated."

"So you eliminated the gun-deck?"

"Yes" replied the Warrior.

The Worm King reared up furiously. "Soon our fleet will be here! And then..."

"This fleet of yours. About 400 ships? Spread over 16 light years from here?"

"What are you saying?" asked the Worm King, worry seeping into its voice.

"I have destroyed them all" the Time Lord told the Worm King. "And I have come here to finish off your foul race."

The Worm King roared and lunged at the hologram. As it did so the entire ship shook. On the screens numbers flashed and alarms began blaring. A piece fell from the ceiling, striking the big worm. It slid over the floor like a snake and began to suck the nutrients, needing healing urgently.

"What have you done?" cried another Worm, desperately moving the controls.

"I have transmitted the Doom Virus to your ship in this transmission" replied the Warrior. "This entire ship is set to explode in half a microspan!"

"You Fiend!" cried another worm.

"I do what is necessary. And to fight you..." The communications array shorted out.

"We'll all be destroyed!"

"Quick! Open the time corridor!" cried one of the Worms. "We prepared a location!"

"The power levels..." cried the smallest worm. "We can't manage it!"

"Use all available power or we'll all die."

The Worm pulled at the controls. All across the ship light and life support went off. At the side of the room a door slid open, revealing a mass of churning energy, even as a worm cried "Ship collapse imminent!"

The Worm King looked up from where it was healing itself at the tubes. "I will go first!"

But one of the worms didn't listen and shot towards the time corridor.

"It isn't completed! And the power..."

But the Worm didn't listen, wriggling through the door. For a moment it seemed suspended before them, before disappearing with a cry of pain.

The entire ship shook and cracks appeared in the walls. A huge piece fell from the ceiling, impaling one of the worms as it scuttled towards the corridor. The biggest tore itself away from the tubes and shot at the time corridor but another leapt in. But before even most of this Worm was through the console shook, many of the panels melting, and the corridor collapsed. But the Worms left didn't have time to feel upset before...

Without smiling the Warrior watched the ship disintegrate. In the grand scale of things it was minor, but he needed to remember why he had joined the War, to protect everybody. He reached down to the controls and piloted his TARDIS thousands of light years away, to another part of the war, thinking this was the last he would see of the Worm Kings.

Humanian Era: 23rd Century, Mutter's Spiral

Many years later the same TARDIS whirled through space. At the controls the Doctor's hands played while sparks flew round the room and Norine desperately holding onto the rail. "Why can't we just vworp away from the Rutans?" she asked. "The controls are fused!" said the Doctor. "Knew I should have fixed it after Ruwilen. Only take a minute to fix but don't have a minute now!" The control room tilted alarmingly and Norine fell to the side.

"I didn't intend having a squadron of jellyfish after me!" she said. The Doctor ran desperately around the controls. "Perhaps if we just skim through the time vortex!" he said. "Skim?" said Norine. "Dip into the Time Vortex! We can't do that fully, but we can ride the time winds outta here! Like surfing, but sort of super-surfing. Perhaps more like finding an air pocket while hang-gliding. It's not like surfing. Hold on Norine." He ran round and pulled some levers. "GERONIMO!" he cried. The TARDIS shook violently and there were several explosions around the console room. "We've done it!" said the Doctor. "We've..." There was a bang, the room shook worse then before, and the lights went out for a few seconds as the TARDIS crashed, causing Norine to strike her head on the rail.

She came to a moment later to find the Doctor working on the controls. "What happened Doctor?" she said. "Something hit us" said the Doctor. "A sort of pulse through hyperspace." He checked the controls. "We're on the planet Lumgost." "Nice place to visit?" asked Norine. "Well the gravity's 11.7 Newtons and it's inhabited by the Tufgup" replied the Doctor. "Nasty race. Been called the Bluebeards of the Galaxy due to their charming habit of mutilation. Good thing they were so busy fighting they didn't develop space travel on their own. Could have caused a lot of trouble." "What's it like outside?" asked Norine. "Scanner's damaged" replied the Doctor. "Should take me about a minute to fix. But I want to look outside now!"

He pressed the door-release button and the door swung open. Norine turned and saw three figures rush into the TARDIS. "Tufgup?" she said, going into a combat stance. The Tufgup were each about six and a half feet tall and built like wrestlers on steroids, along with wearing metal armour. Their skin was a dark blue, and their faces were covered with matted blue hair, making it look like Brian Blessed was playing a werewolf. The Tufgup also seemed to have tusks, though on closer inspection it turned out to be part of their helmets. They had clawed hands and were all carrying spears. Norine stepped forward but the Doctor grabbed her shoulder. "Don't bother to fight" he said. "We'd be cut to pieces."

The Tufgup looked round the TARDIS astonished. However after a few seconds one stepped towards the Doctor and Norine. "You go outside" it snarled to them in the sort of voice an angry drunk wolf would be expected to talk in, showing jagged yellow teeth.

"Why should..." began Norine, but the Doctor cut in. "Of course! Just about to anyway!" "But Doctor..." began Norine. "Just go out" said the Doctor. He walked out quickly, followed by Norine, to find another three Tufgup surrounding the TARDIS.. "Why do I feel so heavy?" asked Norine as she staggered about. "Higher gravity!" pointed out the Doctor. "You'll soon get used to it!"

The Tufgup Leader came to the door. "Take these two to King Kowet-Horp" it snarled. The human and Time Lord were each seized by a Tufgup. "No need to grab me like that!" said Norine angrily, elbowing the Tufgup. It growled and pulled out a blade longer then its arm. "Don't!" said the Doctor. "If you kill my co-pilot, you'll never be able to fly this!" "Do as he says" said the Tufgup Leader. "But cut of their legs if they try to run. Be ready to cauterize the wounds." "I suppose we shouldn't run then" said Norine, deliberately walking very slowly. "Walk faster or I'll cut a hand off!" shouted the Tufgup Leader. Both time travellers began to walk faster. "Look on the bright side. The quicker we get there the quicker we can get this over with!" pointed out the Doctor. "Well, I'm still not coming here again" replied Norine.

After about five minutes, during which they passed several factories with thick smoke billowing out, they were at a hill on which was built a fortress with a tall tower. Around the fortress were hundreds of Tufgup. They looked at the two as they passed, but didn't bar their way. Finally the Tufgup got to the door, which had three guards standing there, armed with rifles. The Doctor looked with interest at an advanced-looking cannon nine metres tall, which had several Tufgup clustered around. Next to the cannon was a large pit with wires leading down and smoke rising. "What's that? Looks like some sort of space gun" said Norine. "Yes. it is a... space-gun" said the Doctor. "Sort of. A hyperspace cannon. Used to shoot things down as they travel through space. I remember getting a nasty bang on the head from one of those some centuries ago." "Enter!" said a Tufgup, prodding the Doctor in the back with its spear as the gates were opened. The Doctor jerked as a mild electric shock was sent through him, lifting his hair. "Careful!" he said, straightening his hair. "I was going in their anyway!" Norine followed him through a door decorated with bones.

They entered a large hall, containing about 20 guards. At the end, on a throne of stone and weapons covered with traces of gold and blood, sat a Tufgup. It was wearing an elaborate-tusked helmet with gold-covered tusks. He carried a pointed staff over a metre long. Behind him were heads on spikes, still wearing their tusked helmets, some with fresh blood on. "Looks like a Celtic Warrior with those heads" Norine told the Doctor. "Yes, but I don't think Celts had a victory feast from the rest" whispered the Doctor. "Or at least, not as much as the Tufgup." He stepped forward dramatically. "King Kowet-Horp I presume?" he said.

"Greatest of the Kings of the Tufgup!" said Kowet in a booming voice. He grinned horribly, showing pieces of meat in his teeth. Norine coughed. "Your breath is terrible!"

"Occupational habit. Doing all this evil stuff, don't have time to brush your teeth" said the Doctor. "Reminds me of the Mouth of Sauron."

"Who is this Sauron? Another King?" asked Kowet-Horp.

"Yes but less blue and bigger eye" replied the Doctor. "So, usual interrogation? I'm the Doctor from the planet Gallifrey. I travel through time and space and this is my companion Norine, from the planet Earth."

"A space traveller?" said Kowet delightedly. "King Wurzin will be pleased at this!"

"King Wurzin?" said the Doctor, worry crossing his face. "Where have I heard that name before?" He tapped his head with both hands, trying to think.

Kowet meanwhile cried "King Wurzin! The space traveller is here." A door behind his throne opened and a hideous creature slithered in.

It resembled a large centipede, being about eleven feet long and covered in a red-brown carapace. It had 12 legs, each looking like a small scythe, and making horrible scratching sounds as the creature scuttled past the throne with frightening speed. It reared up before the Doctor, showing his huge head. There were three bug-eyes, and a mouth composed of four parts which opened outward, like a flower. Within the mouth was a mass of small, very pointed, tube-like teeth."Who are you?" said Wurzin. "The Doctor from Gallifrey..." began the Doctor. "Gallifrey? Then you are a Time Lord!" cried Wurzin with glee. "And you are the Doctor! Once again we meet!"

"So, remember where you met?" asked Norine. The Doctor thought back decades to a time he didn't like remembering. "Yes. Long time ago."

"Going to introduce me to your friend?" asked Norine. "This is one of the Worm Kings" replied the Doctor. "They from thousands of years into the future, related to the Trell." "So are the Trell another evil Empire?" asked Norine. "No, the Trell are a nice enough race" replied the Doctor. "After all the Cybermen were once like humans, and in another Universe they were humans, and they use humans... I'm rambling. The point is the Trell are nice, the Worm Kings aren't." "Why don't you tell her what you did to us?" asked Wurzin. "I was getting there!" replied the Doctor. "During the Time War the six Worm Kings tried to create an Empire. Their fleet was poised, ready to conquer entire star systems. But I destroyed their entire fleet. Then I got to their ship and destroyed it."

"You did indeed destroy the ship" sneered Wurzin. "But we were able to open a time tunnel."

"A wormhole?" said Norine, smiling.

"Yes, exactly like a hole for a worm!" laughed the Doctor.

He suddenly turned sharply to Wurzin. "What happened to the others? I saw all six were there."

"There was only enough time for me to get to the other end" snarled Wurzin. "The others were destroyed. I came to this world, relatively unimportant in the Web of Time. I would have died from the strain put on my body... but one other tried to come through, though most of him was left when the corridor collapsed." Norine looked disgusted. "His body enabled me to heal mine!" "What, you ate one of your own race!" cried Norine. "Like I said, not a nice race" said the Doctor. "What is your plan now? Quite a drop from planning conquest of the Galaxy to helping out a tribe on a planet that hasn't developed space travel."

"I have advanced this tribe" replied Wurzin. "Soon the planet will be united." "Pretty useless task. They will still want to fight someone" pointed out the Doctor. "I can't stop them fighting but I can choose who they fight!" sneered Wurzin. "I will have three billion subjects. They will build a fleet and I will conquer other worlds. All we need is something of interstellar capability." Wurzin slithered round the Doctor threateningly, who turned round to face it, looking defiant.

"Did you build that cannon?" asked Norine. "Yes" replied Wurzin. "A ship was detected flying past the planet. We fired the cannon. Now your TARDIS is ours!" "Yours?" asked the Doctor. "You may have it but I doubt you can..." Wurzin laughed cruelly. "We will learn its secrets eventually. A mighty fleet of ships will be built. We have weapons that can kill hundreds at once, but greater weapons will be constructed. We will conquer an Empire across space!" "You'd get on with any of the Dalek Emperors" said the Doctor. "Well, he'd probably exterminate you but you have a lot in common. Should form a club, except the Daleks have a habit of exterminating their allies when they are no longer useful."

"So, what are you going to do with us?" said Norine. "After I travelled through the tunnel I was close to death" said Wurzin. "The force tore most of me away. Due to this I must feed each day, enough to kill a Tufgup."

"I remember seeing your time travel attempts. They were like the Zygma beam experiments in the 51st century" replied the Doctor. "Explains your appearance..."

"I didn't have time to set the controls fully!" snarled Wurzin. "That kind of time travel never worked properly! A problem with time travel if it kills you on the second trip" replied the Doctor. "You are to blame!" shouted Wurzin. "Now, for the first time I will feed on a human!" It reared up before Norine, opening its mouth.

"Stop!" said the Doctor, running in front of her and brandishing the sonic screwdriver. There was a loud whine and Wurzin moved back with incredible flexibility. "Sei-ze th-em!" it cried, it's voice dragging out painfully. Soldiers ran forward and seized the time travellers, knocking the Doctor's sonic screwdriver away. "If you kill Norine I'm not helping you!" said the Doctor. "You won't be able to enter my TARDIS!" Wurzin glared at them, but coiled away. "Is it just me, or is wormy looking a bit off-colour?" said Norine. Wurzin indeed seemed slower and paler. "He certainly does" said the Doctor. "I suppose if you're spending so long in a palace plotting to conquer the Galaxy you start to lose a bit of colour." "Bring a prisoner" said Wurzin harshly to a Tufgup, who ran through a door. It lay on the floor, but turned its head towards the Doctor and Norine. "Watch what will happen if you don't obey me" said the Worm King.

A Tufgup with his hands chained, was brought in with another Tufgup pointing a spear at his back. "If you free me I'll tear you apart!" he shouted angrily, gnashing his teeth. Wurzin slithered over. "Which is why we will not free you" it said. "But soon you will be free!" Wurzin reared up, its mouth incredibly opened like a blooming flower, and with incredible speed it struck. The mouth closed over the head. For about half a minute Wurzin remained like this, its head latched on the prisoner's head, sucking while the prisoner's struggles became more frantic then ceased, his body shrivelling and becoming pale as the juices were sucked from it. Wurzin released the prisoner and rose again, looking more healthy. The prisoner's head was completely gone. Wurzin shivered and a bulge was seen in its body, then the sides crushed in and a horrible crunching sound was heard. Norine looked she was about to be sick but she hid this. "Hope he gets indigestion" she said. "Eating like that isn't good. Suppose that's why he's so megalomaniacal" said the Doctor. "You will go to the TARDIS" said Wurzin. "Or for the first time I will feed on a Time Lord!" It turned to a guard. "Take the Earth-girl to the cells!" "Not again!" groaned Norine as a guard seized her. The Doctor felt worried. Wurzin knew that he wouldn't leave without Norine.

They were taken to the TARDIS, which had been brought to just outside the palace. "Have to warn you, Zeiton crystals over-cooled so couldn't travel through the vortex." "Then cool those crystals!" snarled Kowet-Horp. "OK! I'm cooling them" said the Doctor, pulling out wires and moving crystals around, trying to look busy as he thought what to do. "Are you trying to trick us?" said Wurzin. "No..." said the Doctor, but gave a yell of pain as one of Wurzin's legs slashed through his arm like a knife through bread. He clutched the arm as blood flowed. "Careful! I might regenerate with that pain!" he said. "If you do not transport us somewhere soon I will take your whole arm off and devour it!" said Wurzin. "You really are big on mutilation!" said the Doctor.

Meanwhile Norine was in a cell, examining the iron bars while a guard sat there. "Is there any food? I'm hungry!" she said.

"Quiet or you'll eat your tongue!" said the Guard. Norine was quiet while the Guard turned around. She dropped something in front of her with a loud clang. The Guard turned round sharply.

"Sorry!" said Norine, sounding very worried. "I'll just get out." Her hand moved towards the coin on the floor.

The Guard leapt over, intrigued by the object. "I'll take this!" it said, reaching down. Norine pulled the helmet off with great swiftness, then pulled the head against the iron bars of the cell with a loud crash. The stunned guard fell to the floor. Norine grabbed his keys and moved out of the cell, though the guard was coming round. She grabbed his gun and hit him over the head with all the force she could muster, causing it to slump again, with blood in its mass of hair. Norine began pulling the guard into the cell, which she found an arduous process. When she had nearly finished she had to knock the guard out again. Once it was inside, she tied him up with the sheets and ran out, locking the cell door and the door to the cells. She ducked against the wall as two guards marched past. Norine wasn't sure whether she could use the guard's gun. Her Uncle had taught her to fire a gun, but it had been a different one, and she wasn't sure if she could bring herself to do so, even to save her life. She would just have to hope she could threaten the guards. Norine moved through the palace and looked out through a door, before ducking back. There were five guards there. If she took them by surprise she could take a few down, but she didn't think she could take down 5. Norine looked round and saw a window in the hall, which she might just fit through. She raised the gun, but realised the guards could hear. Norine, grabbed the helmet and threw it at a window in the hall. As it crashed through the window she struck her rifle against the window, breaking the glass easily. The Guards had meanwhile run over to the window and were wondering what to do, while Norine crawled through the window they couldn't see. As she crawled out, with various cuts on her form the glass, she remembered the courtyard was full of Tufgup.

As the Doctor continued to work there was a yelling sound outside the TARDIS. He turned to see Norine running towards them, pursued by over 10 Tufgup. She ran through the door holding the rifle. Wurzin roared and reared up, but Norine fired twice at him. Both bullets bounced off its shell, but it fell back, its armour cracked. "Say back!" said Norine, moving round the console. "Out of the ship!" she yelled, waving the gun at them. The Tufgup walked out angrily. Wurzin slithered over, but Norine fired at it again. The Worm King moved towards the door, swiftly. "Another ship will pass eventually!" it sneered. "I will still have my Empire!" It shot out of the door, and the Doctor hastily closed it.

"So, time to leave!" said Norine. "Well, not exactly" said the Doctor. He winced and Norine saw his arm. "Was it that worm?" she said. "Should I look at that?" "No, Yes! I mean Yes, No!" said the Doctor. He clutched his arm, and looking at the stain that had spread over most of his sleeve. "It's at times like this I wish I'd treated Martha better." "Previous companion?" said Norine. "Medical student. Nice girl. Spent year saving the world." He smiled then clutched his arm again. "I'll bear it" he said, grabbing a box from under the console, pulling a bandage from there, and wrapping it roughly around his arm. "Time Lords are tough. But we need to stop Wurzin! He certainly has the potential to advance the Tufgup to a capability that threatens the Galaxy!" "But there must be a hundred Tufgup outside!" said Norine. "Just need to vworp 40 or so metres away" said the Doctor, running round the console. The TARDIS dematerialised and was soon in drift. The Doctor grabbed one of the circuits from the console, which had been left on the floor while he was repairing the TARDIS. "I will be just next to the cannon. If we one just put that circuit there it will blow up the whole palace!" "Won't that kill all the Bluebeards?" asked Norine. "I'll give them fair warning" said the Doctor. "But all the technology should be destroyed. And hopefully we can lure Wurzin over and he'll be destroyed in the blast!" "Isn't he the last of his race, like you?" said Norine. "Yes but he just shouldn't be here!" said the Doctor urgently. "The Worm Kings were dangerous life forms, on par with the Daleks and Petrans. Like them they were bred to be dangerous and destroyed entire worlds. Wurzin could disrupt the normal flow of space-time if he gets anywhere." The Doctor pressed a few buttons and the TARDIS materialised. He checked the scanner. "Just travelled a minute into the future. Be ready to hold them off." He opened the doors. "Now!" he cried, running out.

Norine ran out brandishing the gun and firing. King Wurzin shot towards them, though the Tufgup were more wary due to the shots, despite wearing bulletproof armour they could still be hurt by the bullets. They were worried about firing due to the proximity of the hyperspace cannon. Wurzin moved under the bullets and reared up a few metres away.

"I will feed on you!" he snarled. "Not today!" said the Doctor, using the sonic. There was a bang and the cannon shook, a piece of metal flying from it like a firework, blazing red hot. It struck the Worm from Space and sent it screaming into the pit. The pit was 12 metres deep and filled with the chemicals and machinery for the cannon, letting it expel energy without killing the operators. A hideous screech and horrible burnt smell rose from the pit. "So ends a worm" said Norine. A Tufgup ran at her and she frantically fired, to find she was out of bullets. "Doctor, I'm out!" she said as about 30 Tufgup began to surround them, brandishing their blades, spears and guns. "I'd prefer not to end as a casserole!" said Norine. "Right! I've got the explosive ready. Should be off in 40 seconds" said the Doctor. He ran back into the TARDIS with Norine and closed the doors.

"Right! We're leaving now!" said the Doctor, as bullets struck the TARDIS.

"Should we stay to make sure..." began Norine.

"I decide where we go!" snarled the Doctor so angrily Norine jumped back. "Doctor, what was that?" she asked as he activated dematerialisation. "Sorry, don't know what came over me" said the Doctor, shaking his head. "But we're gone now. And things should be back on track."

"But I haven't heard you like that before" said Norine.

"I'm really not sure what happened!" said the Doctor. "Must be old parts of my mind." He spun round and smiled. "But where should we go now?"

Norine thought for a moment. "How about we return to Earth." Another thought struck her. "Somewhere BC for a change?"

"I think I know the right place" replied the Doctor happily. He set the coordinates and the TARDIS was soon spinning to another planet.