A Much Better Universe
Featuring the Alternate 3rd Doctor
London, 2006.
Arthur Wallace and Ellie Finch strolled through the city streets, hand in hand. They had been dating for several months now and neither of them had regretted it. Together they had visited Spain, Turkey, Poland and Greece, but, currently, they were stuck in London.
"Ellie, you know how we've been dating for several months now?" Arthur asked her, as they walked.
"Yes. What, Arthur?"
"I think that we're ready for the next step..."
He got down on one knee in front of her, took out a small black box and opened it: inside the box was a small diamond ring, which made Ellie both smile and cry simultaneously with joy.
"Oh, Arthur..."
She hugged him tightly, slipping the ring onto her middle finger and kissing him on his forehead.
"Come on you, I think we need to celebrate this!"
He grabbed her hand, and they went rushing through the chaos, towards Oxford Street.
Elsewhere in London, on one of the city's many alleyways, Barnaby Traughthall was asleep on his cardboard bed, his dog by his side. Barnaby had been homeless since his home was destroyed, back in 1966, and so he had retreated to the alleyways of London, where he could live much more comfortably than if he was just walking around all day, begging people for money.
Whilst he was asleep, two strangers appeared nearby: one was a young man with short brown hair who wore a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket; the other was a young man with short black hair who wore a black t-shirt and a beige jacket.
"Antor," the first stranger ordered, "read out what it says on the info screen. Are we near the Ghost's location?"
"We're on Earth, thirty years after the Dalek occupation ended."
"Okay. Are we near the Ghost's location?"
Antor looked at the screen again: it showed an electronic map of London, with a large red dot to show their location and a large white dot to show the location of the Ghost.
"We're fairly near, Thenras." Antor confirmed, before instructing, "We need to head in this direction."
He pointed towards the alleyway's exit onto Bluebell Road, and the two strangers began to walk away, with Barnaby still asleep.
Ellie and Arthur were also in one of the city's many alleyways: more alleyways had been added in the twenty years since the Dalek occupation ended, possibly because the city's architect, Sir Walter Grimshaw, really liked alleyways.
"Arthur, where are we going?" she enquired, slightly worried that they were alone at night.
"I know this lovely little tapas place just up here. " he explained, "It'll be perfect for a celebration like this."
They continued to walk, only to find that two young men had stepped out in front of them: one wore a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket; the other wore a black t-shirt and a beige jacket.
"So then, Antor, " Thenras said, advancing towards them, "what do we have here?"
"Guys, " Arthur pleaded, "we don't want any harm. I'm taking my fiancee out to eat some celebratory tapas: we're unarmed and don't want to hurt you."
"We'll see about that."
Thenras and Antor pulled out their staser rifles and aimed them at Ellie and Arthur, who cowered in fear.
"Please, listen to us: we're harmless innocents!"
"You know," came a voice from behind Thenras and Antor, "you two should listen to them."
The speaker emerged from the shadows: it was a tall young man with short black hair, who was dressed in a tattered grey jacket, blue shirt and red bowtie.
The speaker then walked up to Thenras and, extraordinarily swiftly, threw him over his shoulder, onto the pavement below. He did the exact same thing to Antor shortly afterwards, avoiding a few punches in the process.
Having taken out the two attackers, the speaker turned his attention to Ellie and Arthur.
"Are you two okay?" he asked them, now standing opposite them.
"Yeah," Ellie said, before then asking, "Who were they? And who are you? And why are you wearing really ruined clothes?"
"Honestly, I've had a very..."
He tailed off, as his eyes fell shut and he collapsed into Ellie's arms.
Ten minutes ago...
The TARDIS materialised next to a bin and a bus stop: a perfectly normal place for a 1950s London police box to be.
"Am I here?" the Doctor asked, as he emerged from his time-ship, having just regenerated.
He examined his surroundings closely, noticing that there was a poster for a performance of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. He read that there were still tickets for October 2006, meaning that he must have arrived in 2006.
"Well, I'm definitely in 21st Century Earth."
He then strolled away, closing the TARDIS door behind him.
Eventually, he came to an alleyway where he saw two men were threatening a husband and wife.
"We'll see about that." one of the attackers said, aiming a staser rifle at the innocents.
"Please, listen to us: we're harmless innocents!" the husband pleaded.
The Doctor knew that he would have to intervene.
Now.
Ellie and Arthur were sat in their house, watching the unconscious body of their rescuer, who they had placed on their sofa to make him comfortable.
"Who is he, Ellie? And who were those guys?" Arthur quizzed her, concerned for their safety.
"I've no idea," she replied, "but we need to find out who this person is, and why did those guys have futuristic blasters."
"That's another thing: why did those guys have futuristic weaponry?"
Strangely, that question made their rescuer sit up rapidly and look at them.
"Isn't it obvious why they had futuristic weaponry?" he asked them.
"No. And who are you anyway? Nobody I know goes for a stroll on a Friday night wearing those clothes." Ellie said, confidently.
"I'm the Doctor, in case you were wondering, and your attackers had futuristic weaponry because they are time travellers."
"Time travellers?"
"Yes. Before we go on, I should probably add that I'm an alien with two hearts from the planet Gallifrey and I'm the person who destroyed the Daleks."
Ellie and Arthur shared a look of realisation: there had been stories about the Doctor, an alien who had fought the Daleks for all of his life. Both of their parents had been slaves of the Daleks, and they had heard about the Doctor from what the Daleks had said about him.
They were sat next to a legend.
"What are they here for then?" Ellie questioned, now interested in what they were dealing with.
"I have a theory: allow me to explain..."
Fifty years ago, when the Daleks occupied Earth, they knew that one day I would come and defeat them, so they created a powerful weapon known as the Ghost. How the Ghost works is that, when unlocked, a spirit known as Markulla will be unleashed. Markulla will obey the commands of whoever unlocks her. If those hunters get the Ghost and unleash Markulla, then it would mean the end of the universe.
"How do we stop them?" she quizzed, having let him explain what the Ghost was.
"It's simple: we find the Ghost and destroy it before the hunters get to it." he replied, standing up and rushing to the door.
"Aren't you coming Arthur? It'll be an adventure!"
"No, Ellie, you go." Arthur replied, "I'm not someone who goes off on adventures with a legend. I'd rather stay here, thanks."
She then followed after the Doctor, wearing a green puffer coat.
Outside, Ellie unlocked her Volvo and slid into the driver's seat, with the Doctor in the passenger seat next to her.
"Two things: one, can I borrow your phone and two, can we make a short detour to a workshop that's nearby here?" he questioned her, as they slowly reversed back and pulled up on the pavement.
"Why do you want to go to a workshop?" she answered, handing him her phone.
"I came here a few years ago and I left some equipment in a workshop that just so happens to be near this area, which could help us."
"Alright then."
The blue Volvo sped away, towards the Doctor's workshop.
Antor and Thanras were now at the Archibald Finbury archaeological site, where a group of archaeologists had uncovered a strange object. An alien object.
"Have you come from the laboratory?" Terry Watkinson, one of the managers on the site, asked Antor.
"Yeah. Anything that you'd like us to do?"
"Just sign here and you can be off."
Antor grabbed the pen and scribbled on Terry's clipboard, before giving a thumbs-up to Thenras and walking away, knowing that they had safely recovered the Ghost.
Inside the Doctor's workshop, there was only a briefcase which contained, of all things, a sonic screwdriver, a Dalek weapons locator and a temporal crystal.
"So these things can help you track the Ghost?" Ellie quizzed him.
"Yes." he answered, zapping the phone and the locator with the sonic screwdriver, "And I know exactly where it is."
"Really? Where?"
At Stenford Junkyard, Antor and Thenras had placed the Ghost a few metres away from them and were ready to activate it at any moment.
"Antor, are you ready to activate the Ghost?" Thenras questioned him.
"Yes Thenras, I am ready."
Antor walked up to the Ghost and removed the crystal lid from the red crystalline jar: a transparent blue spirit rose up and stared at the two time travellers.
"Who are you? Who dares to summon Markulla at this time?" she asked them.
"Markulla, we need your assistance."
"What do you require of me?"
The Doctor and Ellie were now inside the junkyard and rushing towards where Markulla hovered above Antor and Thenras.
"How exactly are we going to stop them?!" Ellie yelled as they ran.
"I have a plan! Hopefully!"
"Markulla, stop this now!" the Doctor ordered, as he and Ellie arrived at the scene.
"You cannot stop me, human! I shall destroy all life in the universe, to restore balance and serenity."
"Well, you're wrong. I am not a human. I am much more powerful than a human, Markulla."
"What are you then? Nothing in the universe can stop me, not even you!"
The Doctor stepped forward, wielding his sonic screwdriver up high.
"I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord from a planet that burned years ago and I destroyed the Daleks. Whoever you think you are, Markulla, I am powerful. Certainly powerful enough to destroy you."
Ellie smiled, as Markulla's face was an expression of pure rage and fury.
However, Markulla did something that nobody was expecting: she dived into Antor's body, possessing his mind, and raised his gun at the Doctor.
"I did not wish to do this," he said to him, "but I think that this is the only way to eliminate you from the problem."
"You know," the Doctor replied, "I was once a warrior. I lost my granddaughter to a race of evil mutant machines, and ever since I destroyed them, I learnt something."
He zapped his sonic screwdriver at Antor's blaster.
"Your brain is better than a gun. Now leave that man's body." he added, placing his sonic screwdriver back into his jacket pocket.
Markulla flew into the air and floated towards the Doctor.
"What do you want, Time Lord?" she questioned him.
His answer came in one swift movement: he took out the temporal crystal from his trouser pocket and hurled it at her, making her erupt into dark red flames.
"Why did you do that, you stupid man?" Thenras roared, as Markulla became dust.
"It was either that or the universe," the Doctor replied, "so naturally I chose the universe."
An hour later...
The Doctor and Ellie were now stood outside the TARDIS, accompanied by Arthur.
"Ellie, are you sure about this? Wouldn't you rather stay here instead of fighting aliens and seeing the universe?" he asked her.
"Arthur, there's an entire universe waiting out there and I want to see it all. You can stay here." she replied, before turning to the Doctor and saying, "Shall we?"
The Doctor smiled and unlocked the doors with a golden key. He then pushed the doors open to reveal the console room: it was a large blue room, with green glowing roundels scattered all over the walls. A control console was in the centre of the room, with a tall glass time rotor that stretched up to the ceiling and various switches, buttons, screens, dials and levers dotted all over the console.
They entered the console room, closing the doors behind them.
"Ellie Finch," he said, walking over to the console, "this is what stands between you and the universe. Anywhere, anywhen: we can go there."
"Anywhere and any time?"
"Yes. Any requests?"
She thought for a moment before realising something.
"Doctor, you should really change those clothes. That bowtie looks tattered."
"You're right. I'll be back in a minute."
He walked off, towards a door leading to the TARDIS wardrobe, whilst she sat down in a nearby wingback armchair.
A few moments later, the Doctor emerged in his new outfit: he wore a smart black suit and tie, with a pair of matching black boots.
"What do you think? Too smart or too odd?" he asked her.
"Neither," she said, with a smile, "it's brilliant."
"Well that's good. I thought you wouldn't like it."
He strolled over to the console and pulled the dematerialisation lever: two blue claws of light began to rise and fall, crossing over when they met in the centre of the time rotor.
The TARDIS wheezed and howled away, into the Time Vortex.
THE END
