Doctor Who Tides of Time
Coopers Cove
Sunday 25th January 1981
A thick plume of mist hung above the ground and a sharp wind howled in night sky. The pebbles on the beach rattled under Ben's bare feet. A lifetime of sea wayfaring had taken the toll on his thin wispy face. He had no idea why he had come out here onto the beach. He was in his sitting room reading his book when it came to him, a sudden thought, an irresistible urge to go to the beach. Like a life or death situation.
He was awoken from his thoughts by a sharp pain in his foot. The sharp shingle of the beach had shredded his wrinkled feet. The cold wind nipped around his ankles and only added to his discomfort. Suddenly, the pebbles gave off the most intense heat. Ben jumped on the spot in a feeble attempt to evade it. But when his foot touched ground again, it sank straight through. He was knee deep in sand and pebbles. He was too weak now. The pain, the tiredness just overwhelmed him, he just stood there, immobilised in sand and stone. Until, suddenly, a slimy, webbed hand grabbed his blood soaked foot. It's incredible grip, locked like a clamp, started to pull. Slowly but surely he began to sink further and further into the sand. The last thing he saw was the light disappearing from his eyes as his body was completely submerged into the stinking, suffocating sand.
Chapter 1:
Unexpected Stop
New New York Hospital
5,000,000,026
The sweet smell of freshly cut apple grass along with the white clean walls and floors made New New York Hospital, ran by the Sisters of Plenitude, the best hospital in the galaxy. After The Doctor stopped the "Intensive care unit" (where humans were experimented on to find new cures for fatal ailments) in his tenth incarnation, the New New York police department arrested The Sisters of Plenitude and reformed the hospital.
The accident and emergency centre was empty apart from a lone Ood with a bleeding arm. Its neat uniform was spotted with bright purple blood. The red eyes winced as he prodded it with is gloved hand. Suddenly, a wheezing, groaning sound filled the air and the outline of the big blue box faded into existence. The Ood looked up from his arm in silent amazement until the materialisation sequence was complete and the bold outline of the TARDIS was prominent.
Suddenly the double doors flung open and out strode the Doctor. Closely following him were Amy and Rory, Rory was in a wheelchair pushed by Amy. The wheelchair was of the same design of the TARDIS, the coral, bronze effect of the console was integrated into the wheels, as are most things in the TARDIS. Rory's leg was swollen and purple, obviously broken.
The Doctor strode up to the desk and rang the white bell. A figure dressed in a white nuns suit with a veil walked toward him. "Hello, my name is Matron Rask, How may I help you?" asked the figure. She moved the veil to speak to the Doctor directly, her features were that of a cat, her beige fur and whiskers twitched as she spoke.
"Oh, hello" said the Doctor, "My friend here has broken his leg." Rory waved and smiled. Amy jabbed him in the arm."Stop flirting with the nurses!" she said in her sarcastic tone. " Come this way," Hissed matron Rask. The trio followed the Matron into the ward.
After Rory had been seen too, the Doctor and Amy sat around Rory's bed. Amy was texting, the Doctor was fiddling with his sonic screwdriver and Rory was stuffing his face with grapes. The silence was partly due to awkwardness but mainly due to boredom. "Just going to the toilet" said the Doctor, putting his sonic away and walked off out of the ward. "yeah, me to." said Amy following. Rory looked into his bag of grapes, it was empty, he sighed and twiddled his thumbs.
Amy was trying to catch up with the Doctor, she walked into the reception. Stood in the doorway of the TARDIS was the Doctor.
Amy smiled and walked up to the TARDIS. "I'm so bored!"she said, "I almost fell asleep twice!". The Doctor laughed, "you do realise that this is a time machine?" he said, stroking the door to the TARDIS in his usual fashion. The two giggled together as Amy closed the door behind her.
Chapter 2:
Somewhere Normal
In the TARDIS, The Doctor was contently fiddling with his sonic screwdriver. Like a child, he had completely dismantled it and scattered the components across the floor. The TARDIS was flashing and whirring as if in protest to the mess The Doctor had inflicted on it. Noticing, The Doctor quickly reassembled the sonic screwdriver, cleared the gleaming glass floor and patted the console.
"Sorry Dear." he said, with a childish glee.
Amy Pond appeared at the top of one of the many sets of stairs leading to and from the console room. She strolled up to the console , her red hair flowing as she walked, and lent up against it.
"Doctor!?" she called, her Scottish ascent filling the room.
"Ah Ha!" bellowed The Doctor, "Hello Pond."
"Doctor, Can we go to a beach?" she asked, fluttering her eyelids.
"A Beach!" He exclaimed, "A Beach, All of time and space, and you want to go to a boring old beach!"
"Not boring," she said, "Normal. I mean I've seen all manner of monsters since meeting you, Daleks; Weeping Angles; Silurians, I've seen it all." She took a deep breath. "I just want a break from all of that!" She flashed The Doctor one of her charming smiles.
"OK," he sighed, "your probably right anyway, It would be good to get away." The Doctor sprung to life, he dashed around the console, constantly flicking controls as he passes by them. All of a sudden, the TARDIS shook and Amy was thrown off her feet. The Doctor however, was completely oblivious and finished his flicking of controls. "Come along Pond!" shouted The Doctor, "Stop rolling around on the floor and get some sun cream, were going to the beach!".
The sun was peaking over the cliffs surrounding the bay as the TARDIS landed. The orangey glow of the sun was interrupted by a flashing blue light as the big blue box appeared on the beach. The mist was swirling in cyclone like patterns and the bold outline of the TARDIS stood out on the beach. The door swung open and out strode Amy Pond wearing an old Victorian bathing suit finished with a child's set of armbands and a pair of flip-flops that look like they were 20 years old.
"Doctor?" muttered Amy, her teeth chattering in the cold, "When I said 'A Beach', I meant Spain, not Sussex!"
"Ah come on Pond, The south coast of England is more exciting than any Spanish resort!" said The Doctor stepping out the TARDIS and shutting the door.
"And another thing Doctor, some of those clothes in the wardrobe are older than me, how about after we have finished here we go somewhere with shops, lots of shops."
"Deal!" said The Doctor, his childish charm seeping through.
"Can I get changed then?" asked Amy.
"Of course, I wondered why you were dressed like that in the first place!" A cheeky smile that spread from cheek to cheek appeared on The Doctors face.
Half an hour later, Amy emerged in her usual red jumper and boots from the TARDIS. The Doctor was crouched above the sand, sonic screwdriver in hand scanning around him.
"That's weird," he said, his smile forming into a frown.
"What's weird?"
"I'm getting irregular levels of psychic energy on this." he said, rubbing the emitter cluster of the sonic on his jacket to clear it of sand. "Probably because we are so close to the TARDIS, do you want to get some chips?"
"If it means you'll stop acting strange, people are starting to stare!" She discreetly cocked her head towards to a couple up on the pier that were looking at The Doctor sympathetically. She looked back to The Doctor but he was already striding up towards the village. "Come along Pond!" He said, over his shoulder. "What about those chips?"
Chapter 3:
Fish and Chips
The coastal town of Cooper's Cove was a dull and boring to Amy. But to The Doctor it was an alien world full of different experiences. Such a contrast to his home planet of Gallifrey. The narrow streets were dull and grey, much a contrast to the golden walls of the Citadel of the Time Lords. The Doctor was awoken from his dreams by the voice of Amy.
"So have you any money then?" She asked.
"What, money, Nahhhh!" he said, a tone of confusion in his voice.
"Well, fish and chips on Amy Pond it is then." sighed Amy. The couple turned a corner and towards a chip shop. A sign on the window
read: 'Closed until power is restored'
The silence that followed sent shivers down Amy's spine, it was silence that always happened when The Doctor discovered something dark.
"I'm so stupid sometimes!" rambled The Doctor, "I should have noticed, it's so quite and dark, a big, popular seaside town like this should be bustling with people, The only people we saw were that couple on the pier! I've got a feeling that its not just this shop, I think the whole town is without power!"
"And there
"We've got to talk to that couple on the pier." said The Doctor, the seriousness of his voice becoming more prominent. And with that, The Doctor and Amy were running back to the beach.
Amy was trailing behind The Doctor by a good two meters, sprinting as fast as she can to keep up with his long strides. By the time they got to the pier, Amy was so exhausted she nearly fell to the floor.
"They they are." she said, between breaths. "Now, don't be all strange and freak them out!"
"Me?" said The Doctor, "Strange?, what do you mean?"
Amy laughed under her breath.
"Hello, I'm The Doctor and this is Amy, we just moved to the village and there seems to be no power." The woman who had long, dark hair and a thick Yorkshire ascent raised her head and a faint whisper of a smile appeared on her face.
"I'm Maggie and this is Harry, you chose the wrong time to move here, my love, having no electricity is the least of your worries around here."
"Oh yes?, and whys that?" The Doctor enquired.
"How can't you know?" said Harry, the terror in his voice became more obvious as he spoke, "Every night, one more person goes missing, just last night, Ben Fisher disappeared. He just vanished, like he had never existed, we are the only two left, so it will be us next." She looked to Harry, "I cant do on living without him." A single tear rolled down her cheek. The Doctor took Maggie by the hand "Listen Maggie, I'm going to sort this, I'm going to find Ben and the others." She seemed unsure. "Trust me, I'm The Doctor."
Ben's house was completely untouched. The door was unlocked, old coal mining oil lamps were still warm from a few hours ago and the kettle was boiling over on the hob. Amy walked over to the cooker and switched off the gas. She walked back into the living room and found The Doctor crouching over something on the arm of an old armchair.
"What is it Doctor?"
"A book, neatly placed on the arm of this chair. " He said, "I don't think he was taken from here, I think he left of his own accord."
"But why would he want to leave so suddenly?" she asked, "it looks like he was settled, you know last cuppa' before bed." she pointed to the kettle on the hob.
"I don't know."He said, slapping the palm of his hand against his forehead, "Brainwash, hypnosis. Think Amy was anything different here, anything I mentioned or you saw?" Amy closed her eyes in concentration.
"Ah, ha!" she shouted, "Psychic energy! Back on the beach you said something about strange levels or something."
"Your right!" He said, "Oh Amy I could kiss you!" He whipped out his sonic screwdriver, adjusted the settings and started waving it about the room, green tip illuminated and the buzzing, whirring sound filling the air. But then the sonic started beeping. The Doctor ran out the front door, beeping getting faster and louder as he stormed down the street. Amy was left at the door of the house. "No kiss then." she chuckled to herself and started walking down the road in pursuit of The Doctor.
Chapter 4:
TARDIS trouble
When Amy caught up with The Doctor, he was once again crouching on the beach with his sonic screwdriver. The beeps were now constant and painfully loud.
"Doctor!" shouted Amy, "Doctor!, can you turn it off now, we know its here now just turn it off before my ears explode!"
"OK Amy!" said The Doctor, switching of the sonic, "No need to shout," flashing her one of his signature cheeky grins.
"Well, what are we going to do then?" asked Amy.
"You, Amy Pond, are going to wait here while I go and get the triangulation equipment." With that, he stormed into the TARDIS. Amy walked over to a rock pool and sat on a rock, waiting for The Doctor to return.
Deep inside the corridors of the TARDIS, the Doctor was carrying 3 cone shaped objects in a beige organic looking backpack. He wondered on how anyone could possibly get lost in the TARDIS. The route back to the console room seemed so simple to The Doctor, he could make his way back there from anywhere on-board the entire ship. It was always humans that got lost in here. He could scarcely remember any of his friends that hadn't got lost: Romana, Sarah Jane possibly. He thought of Sarah, she now had a family of her own. Her son Luke, her daughter Sky, Mr Smith and of course there robot dog K.9. And Romana, living safe and sound in E-Space with Biroc freeing enslaved Tharils. They always move on.
Outside Amy was looking at her reflection in the still water. Her hair was tangled and messy from running to and fro after The Doctor. Suddenly the sand underneath the TARDIS started to glow red. Amy stood up, confused. A fizzing sound caught her attention behind her, the rock pool next to where she had been sitting on only moments ago had gone, all that was left were a couple of charred fish remains. The glare now so bright, Amy had to shield her eyes. Once the light had ceased, she stumbled to her feet. The TARDIS had gone.
In the console room, The Doctor lay motionless on the floor.
The usually bright airy room was now dark and claustrophobic.
He began to stir. All of a sudden, The Doctor sat bolt upright, his eyes darting around cautiously. Eventually, he got up, tweaked his bow tie and straightened his jacket. The air was warm, thick and humid. The scanner on the wall began to glow, a message appeared in faint letters, 'Critical power failure, Artron Energy 0.7%'. "No!" Yelled The Doctor, "0.7%, that's nearly empty, no Artron Energy no fuel! We will be stranded, in 1981!" The Doctor sprinted out the double doors, "Amy..." he tailed off. He was no longer on the blue skied, peaceful beach. The fading light from the TARDIS illuminated the alien surroundings. Black, slimy, organic-looking walls stretched out like a gaping mouth. Puddles of stagnant salt water dotted the soft floor. The Doctor paced cautiously further up the corridor, unaware of the silent figure lurking in the shadows.
OOOOOWEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOO!...
To be Continued...