Chapter One
Captain Kate Whittaker was tired. The nightmares had returned as The Doctor said they would. She'd marked the date in her calendar all those years ago, making sure to transfer it to each new diary as it drew nearer. She remembered what the Doctor had told her, "It's gone for now. But it will come back."
That was the night everything changed. The old man who finally came to save her from the Monster. The Monster who would soon be coming back.
The main flight deck was a miserable, rusty space, like an old, neglected warehouse, somehow managing to cling together despite the low groans of protest from the hull. The far wall was dominated by a large window, presenting nothing but space beyond. The large control panels were being held together by sticky tape by this point, and Kate was putting aside what little money they had to purchase replacement switches when they stopped off at their nearest hardware station.
"Captain?"
The voice broke Kate away from her daydream, like a snooze alarm. It was Deano, sat at his control station. He smiled his young, cheeky smile and tilted his head, "Still with us?"
"Barely," the Captain replied. She liked Deano, the 19 year-old she picked up on Stelgaard 3. He'd been promised to join his father over at the sickening, cavernous mines, which Stelgaard 3 was infamous for, but Deano had other ideas. He'd always wanted to see the stars. A subordinate on a scrap ship was maybe not what he had in mind, but still, he'd visited a total of five planets and three moons in the last 8 months.
"Is she there?" Kate asked.
A loud, fed-up voice blared out over the speakers, "Yeah! Yeah! Gimme a sec!"
Deano flicked a switched and a large monitor blinked into life.
"I wouldn't get too excited," said the crouched figure on the screen. It was Sara, the maintenance technician, on her knees in the darkened utility room, fiddling at the wires behind a large, metal contraption.
"I don't know what you put in here, Deano, but it certainly did the trick."
"It wasn't me!" Deano objected, "Was probably Mulloch. You don't know what those Silurians do when they wash. Do Silurians wash their clothes?
Another voice fed in through the intercom, "Yes! We do, actually."
"Keep the comm. clear, thank you," Kate ordered.
"Sorry," the voice replied.
"Could've been me' keys," Deano said.
"Whatever it was," Kate interjected, "Can you get it back online?"
"It's a bloody washing machine. Stop talking about it so...I dunno! I'll try! I need a break."
Kate exhaled deeply. She hated whining. Sometimes she worried that her crew had grown too close.
"Go on. Get yourself a cup of tea or something," she said.
"Get us one, n'all!" Deano called out.
Sara moved out of the screen, "Dream on."
"I was gonna do my load tonight," Kate muttered.
"Doesn't matter," Deano flickered the screen off, "We can hand wash."
"You can hand wash. I'm gonna pull rank on that one."
"Ma'am!" Mulloch's voice spoke over the speaker, "You might want to see this."
"What?"
"Get the cargo hold on the screen."
Deano manipulated the switches at his console and the dull, metal room appeared on the screen.
"Only just noticed it, myself," Mulloch continued.
Kate didn't know what to do. She had been expecting this.
There was a blue police box sat snugly in the far corner.
The clown had disappeared just as soon as it had arrived.
The Doctor found himself rolling sluggishly on the floor, reaching for the console to pull himself up. His eyes fixed on the empty doorway as he tried to decide whether what he had just seen was real or not.
"Did you see...?" his question trailed off as he saw Clara strewn across the floor. He was immediately at her side, lifting up her head and gently opening her eyes with his thumbs. She was coming round, muttering under her breath.
"...I don't know...Danny..."
"Clara," the Doctor whispered, "It's all right, Clara. He's gone."
Clara squinted as the light hit her eyes. She lifted her head, "Doctor?" The look in his eyes worried her.
"Did you see it?" he whispered.
She didn't reply straight away. She didn't comprehend the question.
Then, she remembered.
The large, terrible clown.
"Big shoes?" she asked.
"Very!" snarled the Doctor. He set to work at the console as Clara picked herself up, "Very, very, very big shoes."
"And a balloon."
"But the shoes, Clara!"
"Where did he come from?"
"No," said the Doctor. He stopped and fixed his eyes on her.
Clara waited for his explanation, "Okay, usually you have a big smug speech to follow, whenever I don't understand what you're talking about."
"You know what I'm talking about."
"I really don't."
"How? That's the question, Clara. How did it get in?!"
Clara's head tilted. Her eyes widened, suddenly understanding, "Oh."
The Doctor waved a hand to the doorway, "Those doors are deadlocked! Super deadlocked! Super, triple, impossibly deadlocked!"
"He had a crowbar?"
The Doctor scoffed, "I've seen a tank dent it's gun barrel on that door, and there wasn't even a scratch!"
"A tank?"
"It was cross that day."
"Aren't you always cross?"
The Doctor made for the doorway, "But the shoes, Clara! How did he travel so far? How did he get inside?" He yanked the door open and the deep, blackness of space filtered in, "Look at it! Nothing!"
"Didn't we dream it?"
"What makes you say that?"
Clara felt her forehead lift, "We did just wake up on the floor."
"So you're saying we both just fell asleep? We both fell asleep and dreamt the same dream?" the Doctor slowly closed the door, "What makes you so sure this isn't the dream? Whatever that thing was, it could be casting it's spell on us right now, and we wouldn't know." A sparkle of inspiration rush through the Doctor's mind. He set to work at the console, "Psychic pollen. That's what did it. I've been here before. Oh, Amelia Pond. We had some times."
"Psychic pollen? You're definitely not grasping at straws."
The Doctor wheeled the scanner round and felt his hearts sink. He slapped the screen lightly, once.
"I'm gonna take that as a no."
"I put in a safety protocol after last time. The TARDIS detects the pollen and our bodies get filled with adrenaline. Wakes us up."
"So we're awake now?"
"And we were asleep before."
"You said the TARDIS was telepathic. Is it too much to imagine a shared dream?"
A quiet, beeping sound came from the console. A series of lines danced across the screen.
"The signal's shifted," said the Doctor, "It's scattered more."
"So what do we do?"
The Doctor pulled on a lever and the old engines moaned into life.
"We're following it."
"But you said - "
"It has to end somewhere. The furthest point in the future it reaches. The end of the road. Whatever we find, we find!"
"And if it's too late? If whoever sent the signal is...you know."
"Then we know we couldn't save them."
Clara didn't reply. She knew when to stop asking questions. Instead, she stood back and watched the Doctor move carefully around the console.
"You won't be needing that."
Mulloch lowered his tazer at Kate's command.
"I like to think I'm not over-reacting, ma'am."
"It's fine," Kate typed in a code and the large, cargo hold door slid lazily open.
Mulloch felt a ripple of tension through his scales. Kate seemed to freeze in the doorway, fixated on that strange, blue box. He kept the small taser at his side. Whoever was inside the capsule was an intruder after all.
"How do you feel about clowns, Mulloch?" Captain Whittaker didn't seem to look away from the box.
"I'm sorry?"
"Clowns. Do they scare you?"
"Is this the time?"
"Answer the question."
"No," Mulloch sighed, "The Human custom is bizarre, it must be said, but you won't find many Silurians scared of clowns."
"Good to know," Kate stepped through into the cargo hold.
Mulloch followed closely behind and the pair moved quietly towards the capsule.
The small blue door creaked open. Voices fed out from inside.
"Clara, give it to me!"
"I haven't got it! You put it in your pocket!"
"What?"
"Your pocket!"
"Oh," a small beam of torch light spilled out of the door.
"Ma'am?" Mulloch whispered.
A tall, skinny man slipped out of the box, followed by a young, wide-eyed lady.
The man stopped as he caught sight of Kate. He turned the torchlight on her.
"Ah, yes," he said, "Hello. You look important."
"Doctor," she said, "Nice box."
"Yes. Okay," he said, throwing a bemused look to the girl.
"You're waiting for the Clown, yeah?"
"How did you know that?" the lady asked.
"Wrong question," said the Doctor.
"Oh?" Kate raised an eyebrow, "Then what is the question?"
"Who the hell are you?" asked the Doctor.
