Chapter 2
In the TARDIS The Doctor finished wiring the computer hard drive up to the computer.
"This should do it," he told Amy twisting the last wire into place. "let's see what it's got for us." The doctor started typing on his typewriter, making a clunking noise at each tap. Amy went and sat down expecting for this to take a while, She returned to her reading, although her brain raced on. What was the doctor thinking, what had happened to those children, why had the parents not come looking for them. She shook those ideas out her head and began reading, she was still reading about the Valdium. After a short while The Doctor stopped.
"That's not good," he said. "That very, very not good."
"What is it?" Amy asked as curious as ever, remembering her previous thoughts, getting up to look over The Doctor's shoulder.
"The Principal changed a month ago," He said reading from the screen on the TARDIS. "The last Principal disappeared without a trace, just like the school kids. The New Principal is called The General, now that's an interesting name, wouldn't you agree?"
Amy didn't answer The Doctor rhetorical question, instead she asked, "So what else is related with the start of the month?"
"Well," Said The Doctor. "The school population has nearly halved since the beginning of the month, and students have stopped enrolling at the school. I think we better pay someone a visit," Said The Doctor putting on his jacket. "Come along Pond."
The Doctor and Amy walked out of the TARDIS to see a sea of curious faces looking at them in awe, the students started to chatter amongst themselves. Amy was able to catch snippets of some conversations. Aliens, Strange People, Scary, Was that box there before? Who are they? Why are they here? Than a loud ear piercing bell sounded and all of the students ran inside like fish darting for a crumb of bread. Amy looked up at The Doctor.
"You'd think we were Aliens." She said starting to walk toward the school building.
"Well, we are to them," said The Doctor walking along side her. "We are non indigenous creatures to them, Alien Life forms, threatening their very existence." He paused. "Well not exactly threatening their very existence but you get my point."
"I think so," Amy replied concentrating hard on what The Doctor had just said. A non-indigenous creature, her mind wandered. Was there another non-indigenous creature at the school behind the disappearances, you would never know unless you found it.
As they walked down the dimly lit corridors, past the full classrooms, their footsteps echoing on the hard lino floor. Out of the corner of her eye she could thought the teachers and students were watching them, this made her worried about whether there was actually a monster in the school. Amy asked The Doctor, "Doctor don't you think the teachers look a bit plastic?"
"Don't be silly Amy, it's just the lighting." The Doctor replied. Leading the way through some doors titled Reception. The reception area was carpeted and had green couches in the waiting area. There was a desk with a receptionist sitting behind it typing away on some form of computer an nametag indicating her name was Sylvia. She looked up and asked in a helpful voice, "Welcome to Poestra, can I help you?"
"You can actually," said The Doctor walking up to the desk. "Who's the principal and can I speak to him?"
"The principal of PoestraPoestra? Poestra? Poestpoestra is called The General and he is not in his office at the moment but he'll be back shortly, you can wait in his office if you would like." The receptionist led them to The Generals office.
The Doctor and Amy walked around the general's office, examining the many pictures hanging on the walls. The Doctor went over to examine a shimmering mirror standing in the corner. The office was small with some couches in the middle. Amy walked over and sat in one of the couches to wait for The Doctor to finish his thorough examination. As soon as she sat down she knew that something was wrong, the couch started to collapse and began to feel more like plastic more that material. As she continued to sink she called out to The Doctor in distress.
"Doctor!"
The Doctor spun around, turning his back on the mirror he was examining. An expression of shock crossed his face he quickly strode over to the couch Amy was sinking into.
"Amy your hand," he instructed. Amy tried to lift her hand out of the plastic mess, as she tried to pull it out the plastic stretched with it sticking to her hand like a nail in wood.
"Doctor, I can't, "she said in a high tone of distress, her voice quavering higher and higher. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver and flicked it on, pointing it at the couch. He ran it around the outline of the couch Amy was sinking into, he flicked the sonic screwdriver off and the couch slowly began to reform until Amy was free from the plastic.
"What was that?" she asked the Doctor, her Scottish accent ringing around the room her voice shaking a bit.
"I believe that was an item of Feinish Furniture, " replied The Doctor to Amy as The General walked into the room. "Amy why don't you go and wait outside for a minute." Said The Doctor holding the door open for her. Amy left the room without questioning him. The doctor turned around, his face fuming with anger. He pointed at the couch Amy had just encountered.
"What is that!" he yelled at The General, "and what is it doing here?"
"I-I-I don't know," stammered The General, taken aback by The Doctors sudden outburst. "It was here when I started teaching here.
"Don't, know?" The Doctor questioned him. "What do you mean you don't know?"
"Sir I don't know who you are and why you're asking," The General said trying to remain calm. "That couch was perfectly fine when I left it and now you've messed it up."
"O-ohh, wait a minute." The doctor in an irritated tone. "Now I've messed up your couch! It's not even a couch! It's not from this world..."
"And neither are you," The General interrupted him.
"Excuse me, but what?" The Doctor asked shocked at the fact he had just been told.
"Well, you said 'It's not from this world,' and I said neither are you." The General explained. "You're a Time Lord." He said smugly
"H-how do you know that," The Doctor asked, now it was his turn to be taken aback. "I haven't told anyone here yet."
"It's in your eyes, Doctor." The General said smirking at The Doctor's confusion.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked.
"You don't know who I am!" laughed The General. "I am the Master's Son!" he said proudly. At this the doctor stumbled back into one of the couches.
"How is that even possible?" I saw him go into the Time Lock. No one can get out of that Time Lock." The Doctor said stating going pale.
"I'll explain," said The General Smirking. "I was born in the middle of the Great Time War. Yes Doctor that is possible," The General responded to The Doctor who was shaking his head. "There were two Time lords fleeing from the time war. They both escaped to earth and changed themselves to human. They met during a social evening and they fell in love and married."
"Impossible," said The Doctor Shaking his head. "That's just impossible."
"Oh, but Doctor it is," said the General enjoying The Doctors confusion. "It gets even better though. Listen carefully." The General instructed. "One was The Master and the other Time Lord was Romana. After a few years they had a son, me. They named me Peter, my nickname was The General. When I was thirteen my mother fell ill with phenomena and died," He paused, saddened. "Yes Doctor, Romana is dead." The Doctor's eyes began to fill with water.
"Dead." He repeated. "I left her here, in E space, so that she would be safe from the Great Time War. How did she end up in the middle of it?"
"I'm sorry Doctor," replied The General with remorse in his voice. "The Time Lords called her back. They could because Alzarius has the same coordinates as Gallifrey. They made her President of the Time Lords..."
"How do you know this?" The Doctor asked his voice wavering.
"She kept a diary," The General explained. "I found it after she had passed away. She had written down the appearance and location of her TARDIS. Rassilon had exiled her to earth and de activated the TARDIS, she wrote down how to fix it and that she had turned herself into human. I immediately guessed that my pathetic father Professor YANA was a Time Lord as well and that meant I was a Time Lord. I found her sonic screwdriver and left earth without a word to my father. I read in my mother's notes about my father's plans. She had worked out that The Master had escaped the time war, and now I am going to for fill his plans."
"What plans?" questioned the doctor, concentrating too hard to be shocked.
"He was going to take over the whole of space and time," he said. "But apparently he's gone and landed himself in a time lock, so now I can have the universe to myself."
"General," said The Doctor said. "Your father was driven mad by the Time Lords, he assumed that he was meant to take over the universe, he wasn't meant to take it over at all. The Time Lords put a signal in his head when he was eight years old. It was a safety device, an escape route if anything went wrong. When I put the Time Lords into the Time Lock the master was not with them so they used his signal to release the Time War. Your father saved my life by going into the Time Lock so be proud of him." The General was slightly insulted but he kept listening. "Your father never understood that you don't need to own the universe. You just need to see it. General I hope I can get the message through to you."
"Ha!" shouted The General. "My father wasn't mad or pathetic. You're right, he was a genius! And I am going to finish his work!" with that The General stormed out of the room. After a few seconds Amy walked into the office to find The Doctor sitting in a chair with tears in his eyes.
"Doctor?" asked Amy concerned because The Doctor was upset. "Doctor, are you alright?" The Doctor looked at Amy.
"She's gone," he said. "Romana's gone." He then stood up and walked out of the room.
Amy followed behind, curios to see what The Doctor was going to do. As she reached the door she heard a noise, it sounded more like a groan coming from behind the mirror. She turned to face it. The mirror looked the same as it had when she was in the room before. She walked over to the mirror, curious. Where was the groan coming from? She asked herself. She reached out to touch the glass of the mirror. To her shock her hand went straight through the glass as if there was no glass there in the first place. She decided to step through the mirror and see what it was hiding. As she bought her foot down on the other side it kept going. There was no floor. Amy fell through the mirror and started to fall through a trapdoor! As she fell she reached out for something to hold on to. She caught the lid if the trapdoor. She breathed a sigh of relief, but her relief was short lived. The Trapdoor started to swing closed. Amy lost her grip in the door and started to fall, as the trapdoor slammed shut a rope fell through it. Amy grabbed the rope and clung to it. She looked down to see a bubbling pot of molten plastic below.
The Doctor ran along the corridor. In all the classrooms the teachers turned to face him, their eyes following him as he ran, their gaze bearing down on his back. He had to get outside; he had to get to the TARDIS. He ran round a corner right into The General. Then everything clicked into place. He glared at The General, disbelief in his eyes.
"How could you General," he shouted at him grabbing the front of The Generals shirt. "You have made Auton copies of all the teachers didn't you?" He started to shake The General.
"Yes I did," he replied. "It took a while but if managed to ally with them. They think we will share the planet when we take it over, but I will destroy all of them first!"
"Where have all of the students been disappearing?" The Doctor questioned The General.
"Well I needed something to feed the Nestene Consciousness!" he replied The General.
"You disgust me General!" The Doctor said, resisting the urge to spit in The Generals face. "Feeding Children to the Nestene Consciousness! I'm Disgusted! How did you feed them to it anyway?"
"I have a mirror in my office." He said. "I tell them to walk through it. When they do they fall through a trapdoor into the Nestene Consciousness."
"Where can I find the Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor demanded shaking The General again.
"Down the mining tunnels." The General replied. The Doctor released The General's shirt and ran off down the corridor, in the direction of the mining tunnels.
The mining tunnels were cut into a cliff face, to get to them the Doctor ran through one of the army training classes, The Alzarian students stared after him, wondering whether he had gone mad. There were two mining tunnels, but The Doctor could tell which tunnel to go down, the scent of the Nestene Consciousness was hard to miss, burning plastic. He started to run down the dark tunnels, he only had the sounds of his hurried footsteps to accompany him. He had to rely on the echoing sounds to tell where the corners were, because the tunnels were pitch black. Gradually the tunnels began to feel warmer, the scent of the Nestene Consciousness became stronger and The Doctor could hear someone screaming. He could see a faint light glowing from around a corner. He ran around the corner into a cave. The centre of the cave was devoted to the huge Nestene Consciousness.
"Doctor," Amy screamed from the rope that was hanging of the roof. The doctor looked up to see Amy hanging off the rope. "What's happened?" she asked The Doctor.
"The teachers are Autons," The Doctor explained to Amy as she held the rope tight above the Nestene Consciousness bubbling impatiently below. "They are being controlled by the Nestene Consciousness, which you are hanging over right now."
"What's it going to do?" asked Amy frantically kicking her legs as if it would help her stay on the rope.
"If you fall the Nestene Consciousness will boil you alive then eat you," replied The Doctor with regret in his eyes. "I should have seen it sooner. The Autons, The General and the school students, I'm terribly sorry Amy." As The Doctor said this he began to pace back and forth with his sonic screwdriver behind his back.
"Doctor!" Amy screamed as she started to slip down the rope. "It's hot up here, I'm losing my grip and I'm slipping. Help!" The Doctors face was twisted with pain as he heard Amy's tortured cry. He blamed himself for letting her get into such a terrible situation. He scanned the wall of the cave looking for a way up. There was none.
"Doctor! Help," Amy was nearly crying. "Anyone help! Please." She sobbed clinging to the rope as tight as she could but she still kept slipping.
At that moment the trap door in the roof that Amy had accidently knocked closed as she fell opened. Some started to pull the rope up. The Doctors head snapped up as he heard the sound of the rope being pulled up over the Aluminium trapdoor he immediately recognized the face looking down from above.
"General," he shouted so that his voice would be audible to the figure. "Come round have you young man." He said smiling ever so slightly as if something amused him. The general kept hauling up the rope.
"Take my hand," yelled The General as the Nestene Consciousness roared as it realised that it was being cheated out of a meal. "Now!" Amy lifted her sweaty hand trembling, stretching her fingertips out to reach the hand out stretched toward her. She just couldn't reach the hand. She began to slip again.
"Doctor," she screamed trying to find more purchase on the rope. "Help me please!" she looked down on the bubbling, molten plastic of the Nestene Consciousness she was soon to be killed by. "Doctor, please," she sobbed. "I'm too young to die." She clung to the rope sobbing as The General began hauling up the rope again. At that moment four Autons appeared at the opening of the cave at the end of the dark tunnel. They raised their right arms perfectly synchronised, and then they exposed their weapons.
"Amy your hand," called the general reaching down to grab it. Amy lifted her hand up carelessly, preoccupied by the armed Autons below. The general caught her hand and started to haul Amy up through the trapdoor. Suddenly the general started to slip. A small pair of hands grabbed the general's ankles and stopped him from slipping further. The General continued to haul Amy up. When she was half way up the small pair of hands began to pun the General up through the trapdoor. When the general was all the way up he lay there panting.
Amy looked around the still room, disorientated from her experience. Patrick was sitting in a corner and The General was lying half through the mirror, the trap door still open. Below the sound of gunfire erupted. The Doctor ducked the bullets flying around him like he was stuck in a midwinter blizzard. The Autons were rounding him into a corner of the cave. The Doctor could feel the hard rock on his back, scratching him as he dogged the bullets while the Autons kept firing. The gun fire echoed off the walls of the cave like a hail storm in the middle of the night. More Autons appeared at the entrance of the cave. The Doctor could count at least five more the new Autons began firing their weapons. The Nestene Consciousness sent up a tongue of molten plastic, spurting up and falling back like a firework. All The Doctor could do was dodge bullets and wait for the bullet that would ultimately end his life.
Up through the trap door, in the room which seconds ago had had three occupants was now empty. The door was still swinging, its hinges groaning from the rushed evacuation. Down the corridor the hurried footsteps echoed followed by the slamming of a door. Outside the school students stood in rows awaiting instruction, The General and a group of older school students were unlocking a huge building like a warehouse that was built into a hill. They heaved the heavy doors open and disappeared through the door. They reappeared moments later carrying bundles of what looked like small black life jackets, they handed them out to everyone including Amy.
"What's' this?" Amy asked the Alzarian who handed it to her as she held the object up to inspect it.
"It's a bullet proof vest," replied the boy who had handed it to her. She looked at up him and saw that he was no more than 16 and about 6 foot with brown cropped hair. He looked at her as if she were incredibly stupid.
"It protects you from bullets and attacks from lasers and other weapons," he said rolling his eyes while walking away. Amy finished fastening her bullet proof vest, making sure that it was securely done up after all it could save her life. All of the others had already finished and were preparing artillery. They were passing weapons that Amy had never seen before. She walked up the boy with cropped hair and asked him pointing at one of the weapons, "If you don't mind my asking, what do they do?"
"They are laser guns," he replied holding the one he was holding up. "They have two settings, the first setting is to shrink things." He said demonstration with a stick, it turned into a small twig. "The second setting is to fire laser bullets," he continued. "We only use the first setting in emergencies, because it uses up too much energy."
"Oh, so they are very dangerous," Amy mumbled walking toward the warehouse, to talk to Patrick. As she got closer to the warehouse Patrick walked over to one of the gun cabinets and stood there for a moment, deep in thought and then carefully pulled out the last gun. He walked over to Amy slowly, holding the gun carefully as if it were a china bowl brimming with water.
"I thought you might need this, miss," he said when he reached her handing it over. "Take good care of it. It was my father's gun." Before Amy could ask him any questions Patrick ran off to take his place in one of the lines the students were forming. They stood there in their uniforms at attention waiting for instructions from The General. Amy examined the gun, engraved on the handle were the words: This gun is property of Adric Allerstossi.
As The General walked out in front of the lines of armed students a voice shouted, "Attention!" Immediately all of the students marched two steps on the spot and saluted The General.
"Students, today is a dark day for Alzarius," said The General addressing the silent rows of students." Whatever monsters we face in these tunnels we must remember that our job is to protect Alzarius and The Doctor, at any cost, even if it means your own life." At this a cheer a cheer erupted from the students, they were ready to go to war against creatures of unknown power to save The Doctor for her. She was amazed at the generosity they were showing.
The tunnels were dimly lit, the torched they carried cast their shadows eerily across the walls of jagged rock. They could see a few meters in front and a few maters behind. Their footsteps faintly echoing as they trog on the rock and sand grinding them into a fine powder. Amy looked around checking for any signs of other life forms surrounding them. They kept walking down the eerie tunnels, going round twists and bends until The General stopped. You could faintly hear the echoing gun shots coming from somewhere around the corner.
"First platoon lead out," Ordered the General. "Amy you go with them." Amy moved along down the tunnel with the first platoon. The sound of gunfire became progressively louder as they rounded the corners getting closer to the source.
One of the boys called out over the gun fire, "we are approaching the last corner." All of the troops fell silent. Amy's heart was banging away like a noisy washing machine inside her chest, her breathing accelerated. She gripped the gun as if her life depended on it. The stones crunched under their feet but the gunfire drowned it all out. A dim light began to glow and Amy could see the corner. This is how the rise to battle began. The troops rushed past Amy to take firing positions. Amy held the gun to her chest and followed behind them. Her palms became sweaty as the rounded the corner.
The Doctor was running out of room. He was surrounded by Autons, ten of them all firing at him trying to kill him. He was trying to find an escape route. There was none. The cave wall didn't have any grip[s on it and if it did the Autons would shoot him down before he reached the open trap door. He wondered where Amy was and whether she was getting help for him. He dodges three more bullets and then a small movement in the corner of his eye, he looked closer and saw a line of soldiers no older than 16 lined up at the entrance of the cave. Standing like open targets for the Autons. He saw Amy crouched behind them. He was suddenly angry. Bullets whizzed around in the air around him like a metal blizzard but he no longer cared. Her life one of the most important things in all of space and time to him more important than his own existence and these Alzarians were going to risk it for her life for his! The soldiers started to shoot at the Autons with amazing accuracy. Their bullets had the affect of stones falling into water. The Autons ceased fire on the doctor and turned to face their attackers. The Doctor used the Autons distraction to get behind the Nestene Consciousness. While he was moving he noticed the controls on the side of the tub that held the molten plastic while it bubbled away. The doctor started to fiddle with the controls.
Amy stayed hidden behind the soldiers. She had noticed The Doctor's quiet disappearance but she hadn't seen where he had gone. To make things worse the Autons were now firing at her! From her hiding place behind the soldiers she watched the Nestene Consciousness bubble and boil behind the Autons. All of a sudden the Autons stopped shooting and bent over, their plastic body's lifeless as if nothing had ever possessed them. The soldiers stood there shocked at the sudden change of events. Amy ran out into the middle of the cave to find The Doctor.
"Doctor!" she called, her voice echoed off the walls of the cave.
"Over here Amy," came his reply from the other side of the Nestene Consciousness. The Doctor was deep in thought working over the controls of the Nestene Consciousness, typing in commands. When Amy came around the corner of the Nestene Consciousness The Doctor decided that he had finished.
Amy ran to the doctor, relieved that finally none of them were in any immediate danger. She threw her arms around The Doctor who returned the gesture. They stood there for a few moments. More of the soldiers charged into the cave ready to shoot anything that would threaten them, disturbing the reunion. The soldiers stood in awe looking at the Nestene Consciousness as it bubbled away. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, he pointed it at the control panel of the Nestene Consciousness and pushed down the lock button. The light on the end of the screwdriver flashed green and the control panel exploded, showering the room and its contents with shards of iron and metal. The Nestene Consciousness howled in defeat as its bubbles slowed until they no longer reached the surface. The warmth and light that the Nestene Consciousness radiated receded, leaving all of the people in the cave alone in the cold dark cave.
Out in the school yard The Doctor, Amy and The General walked around.
"How did you work out where we were?" The Doctor quizzed the General trying to work out the in's and out's of the last hour.
"well, I walked into my office to hear Amy screaming, 'Doctor! Help, Anyone help! Please', from below the trapdoor, I guessed immediately what had happened," he started to explain. "If only Amy hadn't have been so adventurous and walked through the mirror."
"She wouldn't have walked through the mirror if you hadn't put it there in the first place!" The Doctor yelled at the General flapping his arms in frustration. "You shouldn't have put it there at all. How could you, How could you kill all those Alzarian people. Children!"
"That was who I was," Said The General looking down at his feet ashamed. "You, Doctor have changed my view on life. I only need to see the universe, not own it."
"Exactly," said The Doctor relieved that he had finally got the message through. "I may not have got through to your father, but I have got through to you. Would you like to come with us? There's always room for another traveller or two." The General looked up to face The Doctor.
"I'd like to go," he said with regret in his voice. "But I've got to fix up this mess I've created here."
"That's very thoughtful," said Amy trying to be part of the conversation. They were nearly at the TARDIS.
"No Amy," The Doctor said. "It's his responsibility to fix up this mess, he created it."
"Well," said Amy, "thank you for saving my life, I'm very grateful."
"Come along Pond, "said The Doctor suddenly cheerful. "We best be off now." With that The Doctor and Amy walked through the TARDIS's doors and into the TARDIS. Shortly after the TARDIS dematerialised leaving The General standing alone in the deserted school yard.