I watched as the sun rose over the town called Christmas. I always made sure to watch the sun rise over the town, brightening it up for a few short minutes. The TARDIS had been gone for 365 days, one year on Earth. I found myself wondering how Clara was, as I often did. She probably hated me. After all, I sent her away. I knew that it was for the best though. She needed to get back to her life, just like I was building mine. Christmas seemed like the type of town that I could be comfortable staying in, and I had served as their protector, stopping any other races from getting in. The townspeople had begun to grow closer to me, and I viewed them as family nowadays.
I stayed up on the roof until the sun went down. Then I went back inside, to find a little girl waiting downstairs for me. I had spoken to her a few times before, I think her name is Amber. I went over to her, and said "Hello! What brings you here then young lady?".
The girl who might be Amber smiled shyly and held out a broken doll that she had been holding behind her back. Over the past couple of months, children had begun coming to me to ask for small favours like repairing toys or telling them a story. I liked to think that the children could see me as their sort of honorary Uncle. It's what I like to tell myself anyway. The doll was made of different pieces of wood that had been carved and then attached together. It was example of exemplary craftsmanship. I could see the problem with it right away. The left leg was sticking out at an angle. I gently took the doll from Amber's grasp, and placed it on my table under a magnifying glass that I used to inspect the mechanism attaching the leg to the body.
The thing about toys in this town was that the majority were made from wood, so when I repaired them, I couldn't use my sonic screwdriver. It had to be done by hand. I was actually grateful for this. It gave me something to do to pass the time. When the weather was bad here, or there were enemies trying to invade, I could keep busy helping people. But when things were quiet like they were at the moment, little jobs like looking after the children when their parents were busy or wanted a break, or repairing toys kept me from ever getting bored.
This town was the first place that I had 'settled in' for years. My life involved moving around from place to place, meeting new people and making new friends (as well as the occasional enemy). But now I was starting to find peace within myself. These people relied on me. But I knew that I relied on them more. I help people, it's what I do, and these people were in a time of need right now. I knew that I had saved countless lives over the years, and every life that I saved, I viewed as a victory.
I looked carefully at the mechanism. It had popped out of the body, which was why the keg of the doll was at such an odd angle. I was wondering how best to fix it when I heard a crash upstairs. I stood up quickly, sonic screwdriver already in hand. Turning to Amber, I told her to stay where she was whilst I went to investigate the crash. She nodded, and I ran up the stairs. Handles was on the floor. He had been knocked from the table. I always left Handles in the same spot on the table whenever we were in the building. From that position he could gaze out of the window, and he seemed perfectly content with this. I picked Handles up from the floor and tucked him underneath my arm.
'Handles, are you alright?' I asked him as I walked around the room, looking for whatever caused Handles to be knocked from the table.
'I do not seem to be malfunctioning, Doctor.' Handles replied. Well, at least there was that.
'Handles, do know why you fell form the table?'
'I know that I was pushed. I do not know by what. I was pushed from behind and I did not see what was going on. I may have been pushed to create a distraction, Doctor.' I cursed under my breath, running downstairs to check if Amber was alright.
She was gone. I realised that something must have pushed Handles in order to get me upstairs to check on him, and that I had left their real target vulnerable. I used my sonic screwdriver, scanning the area in an attempt to work out where they had gone, and where they had taken Amber. The sonic told me that they had gone through the back door. However, I could not work out what had taken her yet. The only traces that anything had happened was air disturbance which the sonic was picking up.
I went through the back door, looking all around me. I was in the park now. The building where I lived was in the heart of the town, and the park basically served as my back garden. I spun around a few times, looking to see who else was there. It was completely deserted however. It made sense, seeing that it was very early in the morning still. That's why it had been such a good time for the enemy to strike, no one was around to see them. The trees in the park were loaded with snow, but I couldn't see much beyond them. I figured that's where they must have gone. It was the most logical place to go, to continue to stay hidden.
Making my way over to the thickly clustered trees, a slight rustle of leaves made me pick up my pace. I caught a glimpse of something in a black suit, and I could hear the muffled sound of Amber crying. Pointing my sonic at the figure in a suit I managed to get it to release it's grip on Amber for just long enough for Amber to run back to me. Se wrapped her arms around my legs, sobbing loudly. The figure in a suit then turned around, and I could see what it was at last.
It was an Ood. I hadn't expected that. They were peaceful creatures, who only wished to serve others and make people happy. But apparently this Ood didn't realise what he was doing. I realised that the Ood wouldn't have done this by himself, he was most likely just doing the dirty work of some other alien. I spun around, searching for any sign of another alien. Slowly, at least ten other Oods stepped out from where they had been hiding behind the buildings surrounding the park.
It had been a trap. The only reason that they had taken Amber was to lure me here. They probably wanted to capture me and take me to whoever they were working for. I grabbed the Ood closest to me, the one who had taken Amber in the first place.
'Who are you working for?' I demanded angrily. They had taken an innocent child just because they wanted my attention. Why couldn't they just ask?
The Ood just stayed standing still, and shook it's head. Realising that the Ood did not have a translator ball, I cursed. Whoever they were working for obviously knew that the Ood couldn't speak to me without a translator, so the Ood wouldn't be able to tell me who they were working for. I had to admit, that had been a clever move. I was sure that I could make a translator so that the Ood could speak, but it would take me a few hours, and I couldn't leave the Ood here, they were not going to attack innocent people. I knew that they had a low amount of telepathic power, and I knew that I could exploit it. Using my sonic, I connected all of their brain waves together. I didn't really want to cause pain, I knew that they were being forced into this, so I gently rearranged the brain waves so that they began walking in a line into my house.
It used to be a Sheriff's house, so the bottom floor had a large room with twelve jail cells inside. Counting the Ood, there were thirteen of them, so two of the Ood would just have to share.
I locked them in the cells one by one, so that they couldn't cause any trouble whilst I made a new translator. But before I did that there was something more important to do. I took Amber's hand and led her out of the front door and across the street, where her parents house was. I knocked on the door and waited for her mother to open. She looked worriedly at me.
'Is something wrong, Doctor?' She asked me, as Amber ran to her and hugged her mother tightly.
'Amber came to me this morning to ask if I could fix her toy. However when I went upstairs she was taken by an alien. I currently have them locked up but I wouldn't recommend leaving the house until I have this dealt with.' I told her.
'Of course. Thank you for returning her safely, Doctor. You are a blessing to this town.' I smiled at her and then turned away, quickly walking back to my house. When I got inside I took the steps upstairs two at a time. I moved Handles from his place at the table and cleared it, swiping everything onto the floor. I had a huge chest in the corner of the room where I kept random pieces of metal and technology that I had salvaged from other failed attacks by aliens. grabbing the pieces I needed, I set them on the table and got to work.
It was past lunchtime when I had finished. The translation spheres that the Ood used were complex technology, and it took me a while to piece everything together. I took my makeshift translator down to the cells, and released one of the Ood. I linked up the translator to him. And then asked him who he was working for when I could see it was working.
'We have been telepathically manipulated by the Daleks. You managed to sever our connection to them when you linked us up to get us into the cells. We will not bother you anymore, they cannot reach us.' I wasn't surprised to hear the Daleks were responsible. With their number dwindling they didn't like to get their hands dirty. Using the Ood was exactly the underhand tactic I expected from them.
'Do you have any way of getting out?'
'No we do not. Now that we have no communication with the Daleks, they will not teleport us out, and other members of our race will not know of our situation.' I felt bad for the Ood at this point. They were a peaceful race, who were unfortunately susceptible to manipulation by others. I realised though, that I could improve their situation.
'How would you like to stay here? I could make translators for all of you, and you could live among us, as long as there is no trouble caused by any of you.' I liked the Ood and I knew that they were a caring race. Having them live in Christmas would not be a bad thing at all.
The Ood bowed his head graciously. 'I have communicated with my brothers through our telepathic link, and we would all be honoured to accept.' I smiled at this. I knew that the Ood would make a great addition to the town.
-
Six years had passed since the incident concerning Amber and the Ood. The Ood had stayed, and they had taken on the role of looking after some of the elderly and younger people. They sometimes stayed in the park making sure the children stayed safe, and the went to some of the older people's houses and cooked for them and cleaned their houses. They were loved by the townspeople. The Ood had also helped me deal with other alien infiltration a number of times.
I had fixed Amber's toy the day after the incident. She was 14 now, and I was teaching her about medical care. She wanted to help others so I taught her about illness and how to treat wounds. I knew that one day, she would be a loved citizen and respected medical expert. She was also taking on one of the Ood to help her, by serving as an assistant. She would be a real Doctor, with her own assistant.