Doctor Who, Remnants of an Unknown Future
(A Steam Punk Doctor Who Story by Xtom James)
Prologue:
"Come here boy!" The slave master screeched his uplifted hand bore the whip of his profession. A monstrosity of a machine towered to their left, its many sprockets and levers ticked off timing the output of a strange green substance that poured from a nozzle behind his master's head into a funnel that drained to some unseen place.
"Yes sir." The young slave fumbled forward on scraped and bruised knees to his master's side.
"Drink this," he said, handing the boy a glass of the green substance.
"Must I?" The boy looked from the glass to his master's face, a great smile spread across the man's face.
"Yes boy, drink it or I'll whip you like I did two nights ago."
The boy sighed and took the glass, gulping in out of nervous fear. The liquid glowed slightly as he drank. The boy seized, gasping for air. His hands flew to his throat as he coughed violent upheavals. Foam formed around his mouth and the pungent smell of oranges filled the room.
"Ah yes, it works just as I planned. Perfect…oh so perfect." The slave master stepped over the boy as he headed to a shadowed out cove on the other side of the room. Looking down into through the alcove a vast cavern shimmered with bright lights and the sound of hammers and other tools rang up faintly. Hundreds of children toiled away gathering small green rocks, piling them into mining carts.
"Yes, oh yes, soon it will be mine and I will hold the Queen ransom."
Behind him the boy collapsed fully to the ground as a red circle glowed out of his back and a small orange tree bloomed where the boy once groveled. Orange blossoms unraveled releasing green speckled pollen into the air.
Part I, the Incident of Future Events
The whir of the TARDIS echoed between the sheer red brick walls of late nineteenth century town houses, barely squeezing between the two walls. The Doctor pulled open the door and stuck his nose out.
Snooouuufffff "Is that, oh yes it is, cake!" He stepped out; the long brown coat covered his usual pinstripe suit. "New York, eighteen fifty-five I believe."
"That's what you said last time…" A tall ginger boy exited the TARDIS, his letter jacket reminiscent to a nineteen fifties high school football all star coat. The front was emblemized with a red cardinal and the back carried the number sixteen. Freckles flecked across his nose under the overhead street lamp. His muscular upper body flexed lightly under the button up shirt.
"…turned out that it was seventeen sixty and we were almost killed for being witches. Who'd have thought that there were real witches creating havoc? Of course you didn't have an issue at all did you with that possibility Doctor."
"Come on Kiel, its not like we were really burned all that badly, and our trip to the New Earth hospital fixed us up right. Look there is cake, and I feel like a piece."
The Doctor headed out on to the street as Kiel closed the door behind him and followed.
The two of them finally found the origin of the smell of cake, a bakery on the end of the street, across from a grove of young orange saplings. Its proprietor stood waving his hands of water before cutting into a double chocolate chip cake that he had just recently placed frosting on.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Kiel."
"Eh, tourists?" said the baker, "Don' git many of yous."
"We were wondering about the cake, if we could buy a slice?" Kiel asked, pointing to the slice the baker was just putting onto a plate.
"I suppos' so, young mena goin to play around I see." He pointed to the grove orange trees.
"Oh?" The Doctor followed his finger to find a group of men chasing after some children.
"I don' see how dem trees graw, hasn't been sun all year."
"No sun?" Kiel puzzled took the plate from the baker.
"No sun'an that's for the whole kingdom."
"Kingdom, this is New York isn't it?"
"Yessum…god live the queen"
The Doctor made his way to one of the trees and plucked a leaf. "Kiel, save me a piece."
Kiel sat at one of the small tables as the Doctor pulled from his pocket a few blank gold coins. "This should cover it."
"Gold sir…where'd you git this?"
"Its just gold, what's so strange about that?"
"Her majesty's treasure sirs, they've order'd all precus metals be confiscated for the war."
"War?" Kiel said, turning his head to the Doctor.
"Yes sirs, the Westies are still tryin' to win, their lil' revolution. The army wiped them out oh in eighteen-fidy. But ol'grups keep a popin up. The Nation of Texas and Confederation of Plain States tolerate 'em jus to firer us up."
"Nation of Texas?" Kiel scoffed, chocolate dribbling down his chin.
"And where did those orange trees come from then, there's no light, no sun, no warmth or electricity. They can't be natural."
"Oh natural as dey come, yessah, they spring up like dandelions all of dem."
"Thanks for the cake. Kiel we should be going."
"Right, thanks mister."
"It's Ol'Tom-tom to yall. Come back, ya'hear, any time."
****
"Doctor, what's going on? Where's New York, what's that old codger going on about 'the Nation of Texas' and all that?"
"We've some how slipped into a different timeline. Or maybe we created one with that little trip to Colony period Africa. Hmm…" The Doctor went quiet as he scratched his chin.
"I thought you could sense the flow of time, isn't that what you said? That's what you said when you took me, let me live instead of dying in that car on the tracks in Topeka."
"Yes but time is complex Kiel. It's not like something one can just predict. This might not even be our doing. We'll go back to the TARDIS and analyze the material of the leaf I took. Then we'll find out how we got here or what is going on."