The Unearthly Visitor and the Prisoners
Part 2
"Doctor! I'm sorry I stowed away…I didn't mean to! It's just that you ran off the other day, and your box disappeared and I thought you ran away because of me…I…I…I am so confused right now." Jessica leans on the console, sulking. The Doctor gets up and approaches her and grabs her hand with his, "It's alright Ms. Allen I ran off because you were mad at me and I was testing to see if the TARDIS controls were working properly. I left San Francisco while fixing and I ended up in the scrap-yard. I fixed it so now I may continue with my travels." Jessica straightens, "Where are you going now?" "You mean where are we going now?" Jessica smiles so does the Doctor. "We are heading to Teganga a terrestrial planet in the neighboring solar system. Its beautiful lots of places to explore you'd love it." "Doctor, how you know who I am?" "I'm the Doctor I know almost everybody and everything. For example you like to explore, to travel it excites you. You dream about it. Look, I can make your dreams come true forever, but I can make them come true today. I can take you anywhere in space and time in my TARDIS." "Is today that day?" "Certainly." Jessica teems with excitement, although she is still confused. "TARDIS?" "Yes, its short for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, it's bigger on the inside as you can see." "Doctor are you from the future? "Yes, I am also a Time Lord from Gallifrey." "You're an alien!" "An extraterrestrial that looks human. I like humans always seeing patterns that aren't there." The time rotor slows down and stops moving. All is silent. The Doctor looks at the monitor, "We're here."
The TARDIS stands in a completely bleak landscape. The Doctor and Jessica exit. The Doctor locks the doors as Jessica wanders off a little bit, disappointment crosses her face. The ground is cracked, rivers have run dry, trees are simply husks of dying wood, and the mountains once great behemoths are simply hills. "What's going on, are we really on Teganga?" Jessica asks. "Yes, but this planet was full of life and color! You could swing from the trees and climb the mountains! It's all gone, gone, and gone, gone! Something is not right!" "Doctor c'mon let's go!" Jessica calls as she waves for the Doctor. "Even in all this you still seem quite excited to explore and venture forth." Jessica grabs the Doctor's hand and they begin walking. "You said you were a Time Lord from Gallifrey." "Yes my people have mastered travel through time and space. We travel in our TARDISES. We are not to interfere with events, we are simply silent watchers and protectors. But I am different I stole my TARDIS and ran off to the stars, helping wherever I can." "It's okay to break the rules sometimes." "Tell me something I don't I know. I've received a lot of disliking from the other Time Lords. I've been on trial twice and the first time I was forced to regenerate." "Regenerate?" "When a Time Lord is extremely-ill, fatally wounded, or quite old, they regenerate. They change their appearance and personality. Thankfully we get to keep all our memories, but we do get a bit of lightheadedness and some amnesia. Also we only get to regenerate twelve times." "Why does your TARDIS look like a blue box does they all look like that?" "No, mine is an old type-40 TARDIS. A TARDIS has a chameleon circuit that changes the exterior to blend in with the TARDISES surroundings where-ever it lands. After I left Gallifrey I went to London in 1963. There it disguised itself as a police-box, but the circuit broke and it stays as a police box wherever I go. I rather like the shape to be honest."
They see a power plant in the distance. It looks not even remotely like power plants on earth in Jessica's time. The Doctor and Jessica stand in amazement at the steel behemoth as it spews black smoke and smog from its chimneys. They notice people walking in, they are in chains and have rags for clothing. The Doctor and Jessica approach the plant, sounds of metal machinery moving, steam hissing, and tools pounding get louder as they follow the people inside.
Inside the plant, countless amounts of women, men, and children are slaving away putting together metallic parts, computer chips and wiring. None of the technology here is remotely anything like things from Jessica's day and age. The Doctor looks about, "Someone is putting them up to this. But who, who? This plant the one thing that is unnatural put it here…" "Maybe humans put it here?" Jessica chimes in. "They wouldn't we are three full centuries into the future from when we left. Humans have taken to space and are trying to keep similar planets to Earth alive. After finally saving their own," the Doctors says placing his chin on his hand. Jessica turns to a woman working, "Excuse me MS, who is putting you up this?" "I don't know their names but they are horrible, horrible creatures!" the woman cries. She pauses then continues," They came here not long after the first crew arrived. They took us over completely and forced us to build this power plant and slave here as the planet slowly died. More crew ships came, taken over and forced to slave. We've been here for five generations." The woman begins to sob, the Doctor comforts her. "We will help you, we will help all of you!" the Doctor shouts to the entire crowd of people. "Please be quiet sir, they can hear you they will come for you!" "Calm down ma, am. There's nothing to fear. Isn't that right Jessica?" Jessica nods as the Doctor looks at her. "I've faced the most horrible, most vile creatures from across the universe. I can take them on. There is nothing to fear but fear itself." Jessica feels sympathy for the Doctor's words, as she has had these thoughts in her head before. The Doctor looks at what the people are building he tries to narrow down which one of his metallic enemies he is up against. He looks at a group of people putting pieces into a large box that is heading down a conveyor belt through a window to an unknown, unseen room. Nothing on that steel bolted wall but that little window for the boxes to move through. Tapping his chin he keeps thinking. One of the pieces he sees being put into a box seems familiar, the shape, the color. He suddenly figures it out, but before the Doctor can open his mouth to speak the sound of a door opening is heard and an eerie, high-pitched robotic voice calls out, "Doctor!"
Continued in Part 3