The dimly lit laboratory was quiet and still. That was until the lab technician standing in it turned a large dial on the control panel he was stood at. A bright white light suddenly illuminated the room, silhouetting the figure stood in front of it.
"The prototype has passed every test sir! It's working!" The lab technician said excitedly as he looked as best he could towards the figure that was in the glare of the bright light.
"I would hardly think working is the correct word" Another man's voice replied. Its owner then appeared from out of the shadows caused by the bright light. He was an thin ageing grey haired man sat in a high tech electrical wheelchair who sounded slightly out of breath as he spoke. "That would apply only to machines" He added.
"I'm sorry, I should say it's alive" The lab technician corrected himself as he glanced back up at the figure in awe.
"Can it hear me?" The man in the wheelchair asked him as he too looked towards the figure.
"Might still be in shock? Bear in mind the brain has been welded to the exhale skeleton" The lab technician replied.
"Skin of metal and a body that will never age or die, I envy it" The man in the wheelchair said. "Do you know me?" He then asked the figure in the light which did not respond. "Answer! Do you know me?" He asked again.
"You are John Lumic" The robotic male voice of the figure replied after a moment. John Lumic chuckled a little.
"My child!" He greeted. "Mark this day Doctor Kendric! We are blessed!" He told the lab technician who turned to face him, standing with his back to the figure in the light.
"Well it's not quite over yet sir, we need Geneva's approval, technically this is a new form of life and that contravenes the bi-convention they need to ratify this" Doctor Kendric reminded him.
"And they will refuse me!" Lumic snapped back.
"Never the less we have to tell them" Doctor Kendric urged him.
"And if I don't?" Lumic challenged.
"Well then I'm sorry sir but it's my duty, I shall have to inform them" Doctor Kendric replied, sounding nervous but determined at the same time.
"And how will you do that from beyond the grave?" Lumic asked with a dangerous glint in his eye.
"I don't quite understand?" Doctor Kendric replied with a nervous smile.
"Kill him" Lumic ordered as he saw the figure behind Doctor Kendric then move. Doctor Kendric's smile dropped as he wheeled around to face the figure. A steel arm grabbed hold of his shoulder as it sent a fatal bright blue electrical pulse into the man, made much more deadly by the two small
ear pods Doctor Kendric had been wearing. As the deceased doctor crumpled to the floor Lumic
turned his wheelchair around to a control panel and pressed a button on it.
"Captain?" He asked over the intercom system he'd opened up.
"Yes sir?" The captain's voice replied.
"Inform all staff we have a new destination, set sail for Great Britain" Lumic ordered.
Inside the Tardis's console room the Doctor was sat on one of the moth eaten seats near the control panel with Rose sat next to him "….and that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes! Do you remember the way she looked at you?" He asked Peter, who was on the above padded platform opposite them. "And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!" He added, half laughing. "Though you were going to get frazzled!" Rose told Peter as she laughed loudly too.
"Yeah one minute she's just standing there in front of me and then whoosh!" Peter added as he laughed even more.
"Yeah? Where was that? What happened?" Mickey asked as he looked to each of them in turn, smiling too but not quite getting the story.
"It was on this er, this er, planet thing, asteroid it's a long story you had to be there" The Doctor replied with a casual wave of his hand. "Er what are you doing that for?" He then asked Mickey, who was stood by the console holding one of the buttons down.
"Cause you told me to" Mickey replied, sounding confused.
"When was that?" The Doctor asked, looking if he couldn't remember asking him.
"About half an hour ago" Mickey replied.
"Er, you can, let go now" The Doctor replied as he tried not to grin at Mickey as he took his finger off the button.
"How long's it been since I could have stopped?" He asked as Rose and Peter also fought to keep their grins down.
"Ten minutes, twenty, twenty nine" The Doctor replied casually.
"You just forgot me!" Mickey snapped, sounding hurt.
"No no no I was just, I was, calibrating" The Doctor replied, trying to find an excuse. Mickey still looked hurt as he gave a sigh and walked around the console a little whilst Rose gave the Doctor and Peter, who was now laughing silently, a look that told them to leave the incident there.
"Don't worry about it Mickey you can give us a hand later with some repairs" Peter then said. He'd already completed a few basic jobs around the ship such as wiring and mechanical servicing under the Doctor's guidance. Jumping down from the platform he came over to Mickey and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder despite still having a slight grin on his face.
"What repairs?" Mickey asked, trying to sound a little lighter, though it was obvious he was still in a bit of a mood.
"Oh nothing much, basic stuff," Peter told him before he looked to the Doctor. "Though I'm surprised this ship hasn't fallen apart yet, do you even get repairs done?" Peter asked him sceptically. The Doctor shrugged a little.
"Oh she's all right for a bit don't worry I know what I'm doing" He reassured. No sooner had the words had come out of his mouth a massive explosion of sparks and smoke erupted from the console. They were all thrown back with force as the ship groaned and lurched in protest and distress as outside in the time vortex it had been flying in it was suddenly and violently spat out of a great smoky purple blast. The Doctor had managed to get to the control panel and was kneeling in front of it, trying to find out what was wrong and to bring the Tardis back under control.
"What's happened!?" Rose asked breathlessly as she knelt down beside him, desperately clinging onto the console for support.
"The time vortex has gone!? That's impossible! It's just gone!" He replied in a panic as the lights in the room flickered out. Outside it was getting worse as the ship raced through a burnt orange vortex and an impossible speed. "Brace yourselves! We're going to crash!" The Doctor the shouted he and Rose gripped their side of the console tightly whilst Mickey and Peter on the other side did the same. A second later there was a deafening bang and the sound of shattering glass as the Tardis came to a brutal halt, throwing them all to the floor. Oxygen masks bounced down from the ceiling on elasticated strings, much like on an aeroplane as smoke poured from the console and everything came to a stop.
"Everyone all right? Rose?" The Doctor asked as he sat up and spotted her lying near him.
"Yeah fine" She mumbled as she sat up.
"Peter? Mickey?" The Doctor the called out as he looked to the other side of the room.
"Yeah I'm fine, landed on something soft..." Mickey began to say but a groaning cut him off.
"Oh, that soft thing you landed on?" Peter's voice cut in, sounding winded and not happy.
"Oh! Sorry! Sorry!" Mickey blurted out as he realised what or rather whom he'd landed on as he got off Peter's back and stood up, allowing him to sit up.
"You all right?" The Doctor asked Peter as he came over and gave him a hand getting onto his feet.
"Yeah I'm fine" He replied as he rubbed the back of his neck. "What happened?" He then asked as they looked at the dark and smoking console room.
"She's dead, the Tardis is dead" The Doctor said in a shocked whisper as he looked around his ship.
"You can fix it?" Rose asked as she followed him as he started walking around the console.
"There's nothing left to fix, she's perished the last Tardis in the universe, extinct" The Doctor replied as he flicked a few switches in a vain attempt to get a response.
"We can get help?" Peter suggested.
"Where from?" The Doctor asked as he lent against the dead console.
"Well we've landed? We must be somewhere?" Peter replied.
"We fell out of the vortex through the void and into nothingness, we're in some sort of no-place, the silent realm, the lost detention" The Doctor replied solemnly.
"Otherwise known as London!" Mickey suddenly called out happily as the others looked up to see him stood at the Tardis's doors. Slightly held ajar a bright light, looking very much like sunlight, was creeping in. Stepping outside they found themselves on the banks of the River Thames right opposite the Houses of Parliament.
"London England Earth!" Mickey announced as they all looked around. "Hold on," He said as he took a newspaper out of a nearby dustbin. "First of February this year! Not exactly far flung is it?" He added.
"So this is London? Your city? Exactly as we left it?" The Doctor asked as he looked up at the sky whilst Mickey, Rose and Peter looked at the newspaper.
"Yeap! Bang on!" Mickey replied.
"And that includes the zeppelins?" The Doctor asked, causing them to look up at him before following his gaze until they turned around to see two huge grey zeppelins flying in the sky above them.
"What the hell?" Mickey asked in shock, though with a grin on his face.
"That's beautiful" Rose added as they saw that there were more Zeppelins elsewhere in the sky including over Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. "Ok? So it's London with a big international festival?" Mickey said with a shrug.
"I don't think this is a festival, I've got the feeling they shouldn't be here" Peter said, sounding a bit more serious.
"Not quite, I think it's us that shouldn't be here" The Doctor said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Rose asked.
"This isn't your world or universe" The Doctor replied.
"But if the dates the same…?" Mickey began to ask but then realised something. "It's parallel right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got zeppelins? Am I right? I'm right aren't I?" He guessed.
"Must be" The Doctor agreed.
"So a parallel world where...?" Peter asked, sounding confused.
"Oh come on! You've see it in films like an alternative to our world where everything's the same but a little but different like, I don't know? Traffic lights are blue Tony Blair never got elected..." Mickey began to explain rapidly.
"And he's still alive" Rose cut in, sounding a little shocked as she at something a short distance away. Following her gaze the others saw a small advertisement stand that was promoting an energy drink. Rose's father, Pete Tyler, was the spokesperson for it. "Parallel world and my dad's still alive" She said.