DOCTOR WHO – DEEP BLUE – A 50TH ANNIVERSARY STORY
I'm back on the writing page! But in an entirely new landscape! Just a quick little message to my Skins fans, don't think I've forgotten that, I have every intention of finishing it, but I'm going away too much overseas and what not from around here till late January, and I want to give Skins the time and pace it deserves and perhaps go back and refresh everything so that it can be finished with satisfaction :)
Thinking other than Skins for a minute, I thought that with the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who just around the corner, I thought it'd be a brilliant time to give Doctor Who fans some presents, as the Day of the Doctor might not have all the relishing things we want from the rich 50 years, I came up with two ideas that would be quite succulent little presents… I may get to the second idea at a later date, but after what I've been watching recently I thought that this would be a really nice story to tackle and interesting situation to confront. Both School Reunion and Death of the Doctor gave us heart-warming, deep and meaningful reconnections with past companions, but what if that wasn't the case? What if all those years had caused friction? I hope you like it, this is Deep Blue…
Rodney knelt in front of the box. Crouched keenly like a cat, he rocked back and forth on his knees, eyes glued to the array of colours darting back and forth on the screen as a gentle old man spoke over the top.
Rodney's eyes grew wide as the blur of red slithered amongst the green, a shivering hiss echoing out of the TV's speaker grill. The light of the TV reflected out across the dark room, depicting the red snake, sliding in and out of the aeroplanes on his pyjamas.
The little boy's heart began to thump in his chest as he saw a possum flicking it's ear clean, sitting unperturbed in the grass… Unaware of the looming killer…
The Snake poised itself at the edge of the clearing, tightly wrapped around the grass and the boy's heart, before constricting as the snake jumped out and latched it's teeth to the poor creatures neck.
In the same way the snake jumped out of the television and straight into Rodney's nightmares. He panted with excitement and let out a gasp as the lights suddenly came on.
Something far worse was standing in the doorway… His mother… She crossed her arms and walked over to him in her dressing gown, slippers slithering along the floor.
"Young man, it's 10:30, what are you doing out of bed and watching telly?" she hissed.
"I was scared… I… I kept having nightmares…" Rodney stuttered with big wet eyes.
She shuffled over to him peering at the TV, "Well watching scary television isn't gonna fix it…" She saw the red dash across the screen and recoiled her face, "You know I hate snakes, why are you watching that?"
Rodney was momentarily silent, still rocking, "I wanted to be scared…"
"What, so you'll never get to sleep?" she asked with a confused look.
Rodney just nodded.
His mother paused before sighing, "Alright Rod, off to bed buggerlugs."
Rodney nodded once more before getting up and walking down the corridor and into his room. His mother turned around… The snake turned to face her before the light of its fangs jumped out at the screen; she jumped before coiling her hand up and pursing her lips. She turned the TV off.
Rodney sat in bed and saw shadows move amongst his shelf, weaving in and out of toys dangling over the edge. His heart skipped a beat as his mother hair stood up and hissed, but it was the curtain flying over her head as she tucked him into bed.
"Here we go… Shut the window and keep the mozzies out, turn your night-light on and you should have no problem to sleep now babe." She said with a smile.
Rodney glanced at the nightlight before back to his Mother who moved forward to hug him, "Can you tell me a story?"
She smiled, "Sorry honey, you know I don't tell stories, Dad does th..."
"But why not?" Interrupted Rodney sitting up, "Why can't you tell me a story? I promise I'll sleep better."
She smiled rubbing his legs, "Because stories take away from what's real. You've got to know what to remember and what to forget."
His face was downcast in the shadows, "You're not going to forget me are you? Will I be a story one day?"
"Never sweetheart, you never forget the ones you love. I'll always remember you." She kissed him on the forehead, "Now try to get some sleep, no watching that TV!"
She turned off the lights, leaving his glowing nightlight on and shutting him into the room of shifting shadows.
His mother sat awake in bed doing her crossword with her husband sleeping next to her, he was on late shift… and knackered…
She scribbled across a line when she saw in the corner of her eye a glimmer of light and heard a buzzing sound effect.
She sighed, putting down her folded book and taking off her glasses. She walked over to Rod's room to find the door still shut and peaking through, saw him in bed… fast asleep…
She shuffled out to the living room to make sure she had turned the TV off. It was silent, a faint clock ticking, the hum of the fridge and the backyard was quiet… it was a cool night… Yet another glimmer of light appeared out of the corner of her eye, running from one side of the backyard to the other corner of her eye.
She threw off her dressing gown, donning a large, warm jacket and pair of boots instead.
She braced the air of the backyard with a shiver, as a fresh bite of cold air whipped her across the face. She pulled up the jacket over her neck and trod down the stairs of the balcony onto the grass.
The light appeared again with a gentle buzzing, it was brief, but no longer a glimmer… a definite circle. She looked up and around, but nothing seemed to cast it, not even when she saw it.
The Circle dashed across the backyard in a flicker of light until it touched her foot. The light remained still. It moved forward towards her, engulfing her within the circle. She tried to step back but the circle followed her, hovering over her until it flicked off.
She looked around at her backyard, silent… with no glimmers of light… But a blinding light.
After a few seconds she shut her eyes in agony as there were several loud clicks and countless stadium lights seemed to wash over her… There was nothing in front of her but white, she could see nothing casting it… she could hardly see anything…
Her house was still undoubtedly behind her, but in front was nothing but a dazzling white light cast right over her. She kept her arm in front of her eyes as the buzzing died down and a booming trumpet echoed over the backyard…
After the brief fanfare, a voice came in, "PROTOCOL 1.7.9A IS ACTIVE."
"What's going on!?" She shouted at them, "Are you the police?"
There was a silence before the voice clicked in again, "IDENTIFY YOUR APPROXIMATE LOCATION ON THE PLANETARY DESIGNATION 5TH OF JANUARY 1983."
The woman gawked at this idea, "1983!? How the hell do you expect me to remember where I was 30 years ago?"
There was a pause in the light… "IDENTIFY YOUR APPROXIMATE LOCATION ON THE PLANETARY DESIGNATION 5TH OF JANUARY 1983."
Her head was spinning with confusion, "Who are you? What do you want with me? What have I done wrong?"
There was another pause… "IDENTIFY YOUR APPROXIMATE LOCAT…"
"I told you!" she shouted, "I've got no idea! I spent all of 1983 travelling about, I went everywhere, I could've been in England, on a boat, on a plane, hell I was in Amsterdam at one point!"
… "DESIGNATION 'AMSTERDAM' DEEMED SUFFICIENT…"
"What's that got to do with anything?" she shouted at the threatening light.
"CONFIRMATION EVIDENCE, YOU ARE TEGAN JOVANKA, CONFIRMATION, TEGAN JOVANKA LOCATED, TEGAN JOVANKA RESTRAINED," barked the voice.
Her arm was frozen, she couldn't move it down from the front of her face, in fact… she couldn't move anything, "I can't move… What have you done? Let me go!"
"TEGAN JOVANKA IS UNDER ARREST FOR BREACHING THE HARBOURER OF EVIL ACT, A DIRECT DEFIANCE OF PROTOCOL 1," claimed the voice.
Tegan had lost all patience now, "I have done no such thing! How did you get that from Amsterdam? This is pure cruelty, let me go or I'll call the police!"
"YOUR IMPRISONMENT WILL BE ENFORCED UNDER PEACE MAKER IV. ENGAGE MATTER TRAVEL."
Tegan pursed her lips with fury, "Now listen here, if I don't…"
ZAP! Lightning struck across the garden surrounding it in dark colours before dissipating… The light was gone, and so… Was Tegan…
Vice President Lanurie, walked alongside the president, keeping well up to her stride. She wore a dress mixed of grey and yellow that seemed to be remnant of past planets she had been to with the contemporary styles of Trellanine. The president seemed to have this timeless beauty about her, it was well-known that in her youth she was very comely, but somehow this had lasted down the years where most women's had decayed… Lanurie though filled with a certain level of admiration, knew, as vice president to remained unfazed, especially as she was married with children.
"President I hope you are well today, your orders from yesterday have gone with great success, there is a bulk ship heading to the outer colonies today with religious resources for the people, mind you… much against the other leaders dismay…"
"Good" said the president, looking forward with a firm smile, "It wouldn't be the right thing to do if they weren't offended by it."
The Vice President looked up at her, "Yes Ma'am; now concerning the traffic quarry around the outer-rings…"
The president sighed, "May it wait until the meeting? I would discuss this matters easier within the structure of focused discussion."
Lanurie furrowed his brow and nodded, "Yes, I understand, but with all due respect President, you may wish to know that we have captured the Krillitane Slave-Traders. Shall I have them market enforced?"
"Eye for an eye, Lanurie?"
She only called him Lanurie when she meant to disregard him… "Yes president, they enslaved and butchered our people."
The President stopped walking and smiled, "Then we do not stoop to their level, forgiveness leads to healing."
"Of course President," Lanurie gave a small bow before her disgracefully, "Forgive me."
"There is nothing to forgive, you are not in need of any healing Vice President," she said with a smile, "Now to this meeting, I grow impatient of walking."
Lanurie sat at the end of the table as the president shook hands and farewelled the last member of the board, "That shall all be seen to Avery, I hope your son is well, safe travels."
"And you president…" he shook her hand once more and left the room.
Lanurie stood up attentively, but the president sat down closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek with her left hand.
The Vice President looked around the room, unsure of what to do, "Is… something the matter, president?"
"Oh..." she smiled in his direction, "I simply grow weary, vice president, it happens amongst all."
Lanurie bit his lip, "But you have such energy! One would believe you are fresh as the Stanley Flower, President, such devotion."
"Perhaps… Or Perhaps I grow a stale president," she said looking out at the glimmering city.
"Nonsense! What would Trellanine do without you?" he said with bewilderment.
The president smirked, "Find some other more political young thing, I am one of 8 Presidents for 8 Cities in Staar Plax, I'm hardly a necessity…"
Lanurie shook his head, "But you have accomplished so much Ma'am! The Eastern Starboard has become habitable again, we have a year-round cargo system, you've stopped the illegal exportation of the spectrox drug… And the Star Whale would've been near extinct if it weren't for your conservation efforts!"
The President turned to him with little ear for his compliments, "But all these were down behind the pen of a legislation… Is it not time I ran the fields again? That I dabbled in science and medicine and actually began to act how I…" She stopped mid-sentence, noticing a glimmering light on the floor of the meeting room.
"Vice President," she said pointing at the spot on the ground, "What is that?"
Lanurie swiveled his chair to see the shimmering light, "I don't know… Perhaps the artificial skylights need maintenance…"
She shook her head, "No… I've never seen this before… Vice President please attend to the technicians…"
Lanurie nodded, "At Once Ma'am." He lifted himself from his chair and walked briskly out the room.
Once left, the president got up to go touch the light but found that it quickly dashed outside the window. She pushed open the glass doors, stepping onto the balcony thousands of feet above the broken sea… The Glimmering light seemed to surround the present until a blinding white light cast across the tower.
A Brief fanfare of horns sounded before the booming voice echoed across the city, "PROTOCOL 1.7.9A IS ACTIVE."
The President straightened herself and looked out at the light, "I am the President of Trellanine, one of the eight major conglomerate cities of the Staar Plax Federation. Who are you with such authority?"
There was a brief pause… "IDENTIFY YOUR APPROXIMATE LOCATION ON THE PLANETARY DESIGNATION 5TH OF JANUARY 1983."
The President paused looking down, her mind in a jumble before she realized… "Hold on a minute? You said planetary designation… but that's earth?"
"IDENTIFY YOUR APPROXIMATE LOCATION ON THE PLANETARY DESIGNATION 5TH OF JANUARY 1983."
The President stepped forward, "I'd like to know why you are asking me the dates of the earth? I haven't been to earth since… well… a very long time. But what is important about that date, It should at least be in the X0 calendar or the Hyline calendar where I am from, Traken."
… "DESIGNATION "TRAKEN" DEEMED SUFFICIENT" …
Nyssa frowned now, she knew that nothing about this could be good… someone was out to get her… "Why did you need to know I was from Traken? I demand to know what you are after?"
"CONFIRMATION EVIDENCE, YOU ARE NYSSA OF TRAKEN, CONFIRMATION, NYSSA OF TRAKEN LOCATED, NYSSA OF TRAKEN RESTRAINED,"
Nyssa found her arms lifted up and frozen into place on the balcony within the light. Lanurie saw her, his eyes widened at the light and he dropped his notes running to her, "President!"
"NO!" Shouted Nyssa, "Stay away Lanurie, this could be dangerous…"
The voice resounded again off the tower and down into the city, "NYSSA OF TRAKEN IS UNDER ARREST FOR BREACHING THE HARBOURER OF EVIL ACT, A DIRECT DEFIANCE OF PROTOCOL 1,"
Nyssa remained calm, "I have done no such thing, and I guarantee you upon our confrontation you will pay penance for what you have done."
"YOUR IMPRISONMENT WILL BE ENFORCED UNDER PEACE MAKER IV. ENGAGE MATTER TRAVEL."
"Oh I know," said Nyssa shutting her eyes, "But also know that I did warn you…"
There was a flash of light and the President of Trellanine was gone.
The Sound of wailing guitars and thrashing drums resounded off the illuminated walls and echoed around the room bouncing up the central pole, as the man beneath it hammered away singing along dreadfully out of key.
"Did I ever take you to meet Judas Priest? Lovely fellas, really… a bit grizzly when you first meet them, but they really are sweethearts, me and Rob make terrific scones…"
Clara leaned against the railing with a disapproving look, not sure whether to wince at the Doctor's singing or the music, "I told you I'm not a fan of Heavy Metal Doctor, it's all a bit… depressing."
The Doctor took his goggles off and moved the sonic screwdriver away from the controls, giving Clara his usual 'Offended 15-Year old Girl' look. "Depressing!? You gotta appreciate Heavy Metal! So many stylistic techniques, so unique! You know you'd have never gotten any Andre Rieu, if it wasn't for a decent guitar shredding."
Clara smiled, turning to face the Doctor, "Doctor you do realize those two musicians are entirely unrelated, don't you?"
The Doctor shook his head with a dainty smile, "You clearly weren't there when Metallica opened for Beethoven?"
Clara gave him a wide-eyed look as he leant smugly against the controls, "I hope whoever thought it was a good idea to give you the power of time travel got fired."
The Doctor flicked a few controls with a pirouette, "Nobody thought it was a good idea, except me and my granddaughter, that's why I had to steal it."
"The Old Man and his granddaughter going to a Beethoven slash Metallica concert," said Clara with a nod, "Explains a lot."
The Doctor frowned flicking some messages on his screen, "Clara! Have you signed up for time shopping again without my permission? My inbox is full of spam now!"
Clara shrugged looking over his shoulder, "Not my fault if shoes in the 41st century are a hundredth of the price, not like you'd take me shopping anyway… just delete them."
The Doctor remained fixed on the screen, scratching his big wallop of hair. "That's not very good…"
Clara saw a red flashing hexagon, in the corner of the screen, "It's just a little shape… what is it, time virus?"
"Only a little bit worse… A Matter Virus." He said with a nod.
"What's a matter virus?"
"A Matter virus, unlocks your doors, hands the key to the TARDIS over to somebody else to pilot from another ship, all they need to do is access the inbox and they can access any ship…" He said with a determined look at Clara.
Clara's smile dropped as she understood, "So they can get hold of the TARDIS?"
The Doctor frowned at her, "No, weren't you listening?" He straightened his bowtie as he began to walk around the console, "I Said it can access any ship… but the TARDIS isn't any ship, it's the TARDIS, it's big, green, sexy and a little bit classy… No junk mail can hack her."
Clara let her anxiety out in a breath, "You sure then? cause we don't want any time-wimey accidents due to a timeline scam…"
The Doctor shook his head and smirked walking over to Clara, "Clara, trust me, we are perfectly safe. As long as I don't pull this lever here," he said slamming it down.
Clara looked at his hand with a blank look, "So we're safe… as long as you don't pull the switch… that we just pulled."
"Foolproof," said the Doctor with a gawky smile.
"No…" said Clara, "It's really not…"
The Hexagons around the TARDIS lighted up with bright, blinding lights. "THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN SEIZED BY PEACE MAKER IV"
The Doctor looked around at the lights, "Is that like a tow-truck service? Cause I was gonna move it, I've got no money so it would be really helpful if you left it were it is."
"CONFIRMATION. YOU ARE THE PILOT OF THIS SHIP. THE DOCTOR. CONFIRMATION, YOU ARE THE DOCTOR. YOU ARE SEIZED AND UNDER ARREST."
"Ok we'll get money then!" shouted the Doctor, "Don't give us two seconds will you?"
Clara grabbed his shoulder as the light began to shake the TARDIS, "I think they want a bit more than money Doctor!"
The Doctor was flung from the console down to the edge of the stairs, "I think you may be right Clara…"
"THE DOCTOR IS UNDER ARREST FOR BREACHING THE HARBOURER OF EVIL ACT, A DIRECT DEFIANCE OF PROTOCOL 1. SUCH AN ACT IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH."
Clara looked over at him and saw a glint of fear in his eyes, "I think you may be very right Clara…"
Tegan found herself gripping a stone-cold floor, her hand sliding along the metal when she remembered… the light, her home, all of it…
She stood up to see a glass wall containing her in a curve within the wall… There were guards just down the corridors in yellow-lined black armour… but they weren't normal guards. They were as thin as a twig, yet around 7-feet tall. They were a pale green and long bulbous heads, like that of an ant.
Tegan's heart began to pound as all the emotions flooded back, all those ignored memories… "I can't believe it," she said, "After all these years, proper aliens again." She shook her head, "Well you can call my bluff after all!"
"Tegan?" Came a voice from the other corner of the room.
Tegan turned around to see a woman in a grey dress; there were wrinkles on her face, but it was still the same pretty face she had dreamed about from her youth, "NYSSA!"
Tegan embraced Nyssa, she hadn't seen her in 30 years, but the alien girl's arms felt more human and home than anything else right now.
"I can't tell you how glad I am to see you right now… wherever we are right now…" said Tegan biting her lip.
Nyssa smiled, "While I'm glad to see you, I have to say the circumstances aren't the ones I would have chosen…"
Tegan's arms were shaking as she tried to get a grip on this sleek metal world around her, "I don't get it, what have we done wrong? Can't I just go back home?"
"I'm Sorry Tegan… I don't think you're anywhere near home…"
Tegan gave her a blank look as Nyssa gestured to a window at the other side of the room. Tegan walked over slowly, afraid to let go of the girl before she saw the vast space beyond her… glimmer stars and deep blue galaxies surrounded her… this was far away from her backyard…
"We're trapped in space…" said Tegan, wide-eyed in fear, "Imprisoned for no reason… What do we do?"
Nyssa put her hand on the girl's shoulder with a determined look, "There's only one thing to hope right now… You know what it is."
Tegan pursed his lips, "That he is on his way…"
Nyssa nodded and looked out the window to space, "We need you Doctor… More than ever…"
I didn't expect to write this much in the opening chapter, but the more the better, hey? Unless it's absolute crap… Well let me know if it wets your taste buds or if it doesn't! The next instalment is just around the corner, things are about to get quite exciting :)
