Dreamers of Beauty

This story serves as a sequel to the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip "Dreamers of Death" by Steve Moore and the TV story "The Visitation" by Eric Saward. "Fudge" Higgins is a character from the Doctor Who Weekly comic strip "The Star Beast" by Pat Mills and John Wagner. I do not own the characters of the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor Allen, or the Terileptils. Doctor Who is a trademark of the BBC.

Part Three: Breaking and Entering

I

Sharon and Vernor crept cautiously back towards the TARDIS. They had followed the corridor in the opposite direction from the Doctor to a dead end, where they discovered a beautiful mosaic apparently depicting a planetary system neither of them recognised.

"These aliens may be warlike," Sharon whispered, "but they must love beautiful things. Have you noticed how grand this whole place looks, with the metal arches and all?"

"Yeah, but I haven't noticed any of the aliens," Vernor whispered back. "I wonder where they are…"

As they crept forward, Sharon noticed that a door ahead of them on their right, which had been closed when they came the other way, was now ajar. She pointed to it and held a finger to her lips. Slowly, she and Vernor edged to the door and peered through the opening into the room beyond.

A massive creature, its back to them, was crouched over a large black sphere, examining it. The soft but penetrating sound of its breathing was all that broke the stillness of the underground lab.

Sharon touched Vernor on the shoulder and pointed ahead again towards the TARDIS. They began making their way forward again. Just then, the silence was shattered by a loud alarm. A calm voice echoed down the corridor from ahead of them.

"Intruder has entered control room. Please assist."

Sharon and Vernor broke into a run, racing past the TARDIS toward the danger ahead.

II

"I have neutralised the threat of your sonic device," the Terileptil said. "Now I shall neutralise you."

It aimed its gun at the Doctor's head. Suddenly, the Doctor heard running footsteps from behind him. In the instant that Vernor and Sharon joined him in the doorway, he shouted, "Run!" Grabbing their hands, he pulled them back in the direction of the TARDIS.

The Terileptil fired, but, suddenly distracted by three targets, succeeded in hitting none. The bolt of energy sizzled past Sharon's ear as the three of them ran into the corridor.

Ahead, beyond the TARDIS, the second Terileptil slowly emerged from its laboratory. Its broad mouth gaped open as though in surprise. It lumbered towards them, evidently too startled to draw its weapon. As they reached the TARDIS, they heard the voice of the Terileptil Leader as he emerged from the control room.

"They are entering their time craft! Stop them!"

The Leader fired again, but was too far away for a clear shot. The bolt ricocheted off the side of the TARDIS. As the second Terileptil fumbled for his weapon, the Doctor quickly pulled the TARDIS key from his pocket, opened the door and pulled Sharon and Vernor inside.

III

As the roundelled door swung closed behind them, Sharon and Vernor paused for breath. The Doctor, however, charged ahead to the TARDIS console, rubbing his hands together almost gleefully.

"Terileptils!" he said. "Now we've got to figure out what they're planning. Representatives of so warlike a race are hardly likely to have come to Unicepter simply to enjoy the amusement park."

Recovering his composure, Vernor advanced toward the Doctor.

"I might be able to help you there," he said. "As I told you, Doctor, I've retrained as a computer scientist since I lost my Dreaming job. I might be able to break into these aliens' computer systems, find out what they're up to."

"Excellent!" the Doctor beamed. "The console is yours, my good man. The entry password is Theta Sigma Micawber – and that is case- and alphabet-sensitive, by the way."

Sharon frowned as she joined her husband and the Doctor at the console.

"What did you say the aliens were called again, Doctor?" she asked. "Teripeltils?"

"Terileptils," the Doctor corrected her. "Natives of the planet Terileptus, known across half the galaxy for their seemingly contradictory traits: love of war and love of beauty."

"I don't remember them appearing in the Galactic Crimefighters' Handbook," Sharon objected. She could hear Vernor muttering as he oriented himself within the TARDIS systems.

"As I said, Sharon, they are known across half the galaxy. Only now do they seem to be making inroads into Earth's half."

"Where have you encountered them before, then?" Sharon asked. "On an alien planet somewhere in your travels?"

"No, Sharon, as a matter of fact I met them on Earth," the Doctor said. "England, 1666. But those Terileptils were criminals on the run from the tinclavic mines of Raaga. They were not an officially sanctioned invasion force."

"Was that before or after we saw you last, Doctor? From your point of view, I mean," Sharon clarified.

"Oh, it was a couple of years later," the Doctor said. "But I had regenerated by that time."

"So you were the bland cricket player?" Sharon asked. "The version of you that never visited me?"

There was the sound of a heavy object rolling along the corridor outside, followed by a high-pitched whine. Sharon glanced quickly up at the scanner and saw the two Terileptils training a fearsome-looking piece of equipment on the crack between the front doors of the TARDIS.

"They're trying to cut their way in with a laser," the Doctor observed calmly. "It won't do them any good. As you know, Sharon, the TARDIS is absolutely impregnable."

IV

The two Terileptils waited expectantly as the portable laser cannon warmed up. A beam of blindingly brilliant violet light shot out of it toward the doors of the Time Lord's disguised craft. The doors seemed to absorb the energy without any ill effect.

"Switch to X-ray laser mode," the Terileptil Leader commanded. His subordinate carefully flicked one of the device's switches, which were seemingly too small for the creature's somewhat large and clumsy hands.

The whine from the cannon rose to an inaudible frequency as the beam of light it emitted became invisible. Nevertheless, the two Terileptils closed their eyes to protect their somewhat delicate eye membranes from the radiation. They listened patiently for the sound of the door to the blue box bursting open. They did not hear it.

V

"Doctor, they're wheeling out another device," Sharon warned as she watched the scanner.

"Ah, how interesting," the Doctor said, glancing idly at the screen. "A Sontaran bunker-buster -- I haven't seen one of those in aeons. How are you doing, Vernor?"

"There are firewalls in their systems like I've never seen," Vernor replied, frantically typing and clicking buttons. "And there's a lot of electronic interference from whatever it is they're doing out in the corridor, but your transmitters in this thing are overcoming it nicely. One thing I can tell you, though – from what I can see and understand of their programming, it's beautiful. It's more elegant than any programming language I've ever encountered, human or alien."

"Those are the Terileptils for you," the Doctor mused. "One of the most bellipotent races in the galaxy, and yet inveterate lovers of beauty in all its forms."

"Quite a paradox, isn't it, Doctor?" Sharon asked. "I wonder if someone could exploit it as a weakness…"

VI

The hum from the Sontaran bunker-buster rose higher and higher. The two Terileptils were forced to clamp their large hands over their vestigial ears. The sound became unbearably loud, then abruptly ceased.

"The device has overheated, Leader," the subordinate announced, checking the dials on the side of the blocky object. "It will not be usable for another ten cycles."

"Are you certain?" the Leader asked, his careful control over his rising anger wavering for a moment. "A Sontaran bunker-buster can crack the shell of a Sagittarian Brijnax!"

"Quite certain, Leader," the other Terileptil answered calmly. "We must seek another means of entrance into the time craft."

The Leader mastered his emotions. His options were running short, but he would pursue every one of them.

VII

"Doctor, they're rolling something else up!"

"A Dalek blaster cannon," the Doctor observed with interest. "I wonder how they got their rather large hands on one of those? Of course, they will keep trying to break in, Sharon. They must consider it unthinkable that a craft such as this sitting within a Terileptil module should remain impregnable indefinitely."

"A module?" Vernor asked, still furiously working at the console. "You mean this place is only part of a larger craft?"

"Yes, Vernor," the Doctor expounded, steepling his fingers as though in imitation of Vernor's favourite fictional hero, Sherlock Holmes. "It seems clear to me that this underground structure was formerly a module within the larger warship I detected in orbit, and that it was transmatted into the ground below the theme park, producing the mysterious metallic smell. But I had never heard before of the Terileptils possessing such advanced transmat technology. They must have only recently acquired it…"

"You know so much about these Terileptils, Doctor," Sharon said. "Have you met them more than once?"

"No, just the one time," the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow in amusement at the Terileptil Leader's evident frustration as the Dalek device failed to make a dent in the TARDIS. "It was quite an adventure, though. Remind me to tell you sometime about the true cause of the Great Fire of London. Or not, as the case may be."

"How many adventures must you have had before coming back and seeing us?" Sharon wondered.

Both the Doctor and Vernor glanced sharply at her, seeing the slightly wistful expression on her face.

The Doctor took a step closer to her and spoke, more gently than Sharon had yet heard him in this strange new incarnation.

"I knew you wouldn't let me off the hook, Sharon," he said. "I know you too well for that. And I realise it must seem like I forgot about you. But every day of my existence is spent battling crises like this one."

"I know, Doctor," Sharon murmured. "I remember."

"There are many old friends I may seem to have lost track of," the Doctor continued. "But I have a highly retentive memory, Sharon. And I will look in on every one of them, sooner or later. After all, I have no lack of time in which to do so."

Sharon smiled.

"It's good to see you again, Doctor," she said.

The Doctor smiled back.

"If the two of you have made up now," Vernor called over to them, "I think I've found something."

The Doctor instantly dashed over to Vernor's side of the console and peered over his shoulder. Sharon joined them.

A document had appeared on the small screen Vernor was using on the console. It was written in an alien language with which Sharon was totally unfamiliar, and a glance at Vernor told her that the same was true for him.

Sharon returned her attention to the screen, wondering whether the spooky translation powers of the TARDIS would allow her to understand the document if she gazed at it a moment longer. Even as she attempted to read it, though, the Doctor was already telling them what it said.

"It's the Terileptils' plan for the invasion of Unicepter! Well done, Vernor!" The Doctor paused a moment, reading. "It appears that their intention is to disrupt Unicepter's power and communications systems, as well as the farming robots at work outside the city, with a powerful EMP bomb."

"EMP?" Sharon asked.

"Electro-Magnetic Pulse," the Doctor explained. "The principle was already known on Earth in your time, Sharon, or a little later. An electromagnetic pulse can disrupt the functioning of all electronic equipment in its vicinity. It appears that the Terileptils' EMP bomb is powerful enough to disrupt all the systems that keep Unicepter City functioning."

"Might this bomb look something like a large black sphere?" Vernor asked.

"Yes, very likely," the Doctor said, puzzled.

Sharon and Vernor looked at each other excitedly.

"That's what we saw the Terileptil examining in the lab on the other side of the corridor!" Sharon said.

"Indeed," the Doctor replied. "Very observant of you. The document goes on to state that, once the EMP bomb has been used, the Terileptils will broadcast a demand for Unicepter's unconditional surrender."

"Hang on a minute," Sharon interjected. "How can they do that? If communications are down, nobody will be able to get their message."

The Doctor scanned the screen again for a moment.

"The document doesn't say," he said. "The Terileptils are highly intelligent and resourceful creatures. I'm sure they'll find a way."

Sharon glanced up at the scanner. The two Terileptils had wheeled yet another fearsome-looking device up to the TARDIS doors and were activating it.

"Just as long as they don't find a way in here," she muttered.

"They plan to wait one hour," the Doctor continued, "until the city authorities have completed initial communications repairs; then, if Unicepter does not surrender, they will begin using –"

The Doctor broke off. Sharon glanced over at him and saw his light-complexioned face darken with horror. She looked at the screen again. The translation field had taken effect now, and she, too, could read the words at the bottom of the screen. She finished the Doctor's sentence for him.

"—biological warfare."

VIII

"Nothing is working!" the Terileptil Leader said, losing his temper again. "Are you operating the machines properly?"

"To the best of my knowledge and ability, yes," his subordinate replied, still with infuriating calmness.

The Terileptil Leader again controlled himself. He knew that his subordinate was not remaining calm out of a sense of superiority to him – as tempting as that might be to think – but out of his sense of their duty to accomplish their mission objectives.

At the moment, that meant preventing the Time Lord's escape.

"Bring the Martian gamma-ray laser," the Leader ordered. "It is our last option."

IX

"Doctor, here comes something else!"

"I see, Sharon. Ah, a Martian gamma-ray laser! Fascinating! Do you know, I cannot recall a previous occasion when a Martian gamma-ray laser has been used at full force on a Gallifreyan time-craft."

The Doctor gazed with mild interest at the screen. Meanwhile, Sharon and Vernor stared at him in horror.

"In that case, Doctor," Vernor said, keeping his voice as calm as possible, "don't you think we should be on our way?"

"What?" the Doctor said, roused out of his reverie. "Oh, yes, I suppose so. Still," he added, as he stepped around the control console and began flicking switches, "it would have been an interesting experiment."

"But where are we going?" Sharon objected. "Shouldn't we be trying to disable that EMP bomb?"

"A rather hazardous undertaking at the moment," the Doctor replied. "I have a more suitable plan."

"What is it, Doctor?" Vernor asked.

"Actually, your wife suggested it to me."

Sharon and Vernor looked at each other, puzzled.

"Now then, Vernor, my good man," said the Doctor, rubbing his palms together as he bent over to set the coordinates, "where are those old friends of yours, the slinths, kept nowadays?"

X

As the subordinate Terileptil brought his hand down to operate the gamma-ray laser, he was interrupted by a noise like a hundred of the breath regulators used in the dreaded tinclavic mines on Raaga.

A moment later, both Terileptils were dismayed to see the blue box in front of them grow transparent, and then disappear altogether. The Leader stepped into the space where it had been. The delicately coloured scales that covered him glittered in the dim light as his bulky body quivered with rage.

"He has escaped us – for the moment," he said. "Do not report this yet to the ship in orbit – do you understand? Not a word to our comrades of this failure!"

XI

The TARDIS materialised in a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city. As the Doctor, Sharon and Vernor emerged, Vernor looked around expectantly, and then frowned with disappointment.

"This isn't the place," he said. "We must be half a mile away!"

"Ah," the Doctor said, with some embarrassment. "As your wife tactfully hinted earlier, Vernor, I am not quite the most accurate TARDIS pilot in the cosmos. I have gotten somewhat better at these short hops over the past several decades, but they are still the trickiest feats of navigation to master."

He began to stride across the vacant lot.

"No matter," he called back to them. "It's a fine night for a stroll, don't you think?"

Vernor ran after him, catching up with some difficulty to the Doctor's long-legged stride. He tapped the Time Lord on the shoulder.

"Doctor, the Slinth House is that way," he said, pointing behind them.

The look of confusion and hurt pride on the Doctor's face was so comical that Sharon giggled in spite of herself.

"To the south… I see," the Doctor murmured. "To the south, then! Allons-y! Allons-y, allons-y," he repeated, tasting the feel of the words. "Should I say that more often? No, I don't think it's quite me, somehow…"

As they proceeded toward the slinth enclosure, Vernor and Sharon lagged somewhat behind the Doctor, walking together along the dark streets.

"You're very glad to see him again, aren't you?" Vernor observed.

Once again Sharon looked up at her husband to discover that he was grinning fondly at her.

"After all," he continued, "it's hard to beat a man who can show you the wonders of the universe and get you back in time for tea."

"It is hard to beat that," Sharon acknowledged thoughtfully. "But I can think of one man who does."

"Oh, really?" Vernor said with a twinkle in his eye. "And who might that be?"

"Captain James T. Kirk," she answered innocently.

Vernor was surprised for a moment. Then he roared with laughter.

"Are we having a good time back there?" the Doctor asked, not looking back or slowing his pace.

"Yes," Vernor called to him, taking Sharon's hand.

"Good," the Doctor replied.

XII

Inside the Slinth House a strange day had passed. Ever since Billy had arrived at 17 o'clock for the evening shift and been issued a bracelet by Trevor, all three slinth keepers had alternated between periods of lively conversation about nothing important and periods of silent watchfulness. It was as though they were being controlled by an intelligence that, at times, allowed them to adopt a carefully programmed semblance of normality.

Had there been a fourth person in the Slinth House to observe them, the three keepers would not have appeared normal now. They were carefully observing a screen which displayed the image from a security camera outside the building. It showed the approach of three people: a tall, blond, curly-haired man in colourful clothes, and a young man and woman, both dark-skinned and dark-haired.

If the man normally known as Trevor Allen recognised the second man on the screen as his brother Vernor, he gave no sign that he did so.

"Enemy agents," he said, as calmly as though still discussing a tentaball match. "They may be planning to use the slinths against the masters. They must not interfere with the plan."

In the dim light of the control room, the three slinth keepers' bracelets glowed green.

XIII

"I still say we should have gotten an order from a magistrate, Doctor," Vernor said as the three of them approached the doors of the Slinth House. "Trevor isn't going to be pleased with you just showing up in the middle of the night and demanding to use the slinths."

"I shall not demand the favour from him, Vernor," the Doctor retorted. "I shall ask your brother if I may borrow two of the creatures in his care, with all the resources of charm and persuasiveness at my command."

The Doctor knocked imperiously on the doors. He waited a long moment, but there was no response.

"I don't understand," Vernor said with some concern. "Trevor is the Head Keeper, and he works from 8 to 25 on alternate days. And even if this is his day off, there should be someone in there."

"Hello!" the Doctor called out. "Three visitors to see your fascinating slinths!"

Still there was no response.

"Shouldn't they be able to see us on that security camera?" Sharon asked, pointing to a tube mounted above the door.

"Very likely, Sharon. Still, if the slinth keepers will not receive their guests, there is only one possible course of action in this emergency –"

The Doctor fished inside his coat, then looked embarrassed.

"Ah," he said. "I had temporarily forgotten that the Terileptil Leader… damaged my sonic driver."

"Damaged it?" Sharon asked, raising an eyebrow.

The Doctor reluctantly brought his empty hand out from inside his coat.

"Demolished would be a more appropriate participle, perhaps," the Doctor admitted. "I lack the time to build another at the moment, but I shall do so. Eventually."

"If the problem is to get inside the building," Sharon said, "I think I can help you there."

Drawing a safety pin out of her pocket, Sharon approached the door and inserted it into the lock. After a few twists, there was a click. She carefully pushed open the large, heavy doors of the Slinth House.

"Sharon!" the Doctor said, shocked. "I never knew you could do that! I'm mildly disappointed in you."

"My friend Fudge used to do it all the time in Blackcastle," Sharon explained. "Can I help it if I watched? I was trying to keep him out of trouble."

"I wonder how well you succeeded, Sharon," Vernor said with a grin, "going about it that way."

"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor mused as they cautiously stepped inside. "If that was 'Fudge' Higgins, he was doing quite well for himself the last time I saw him. However, returning to the here and now, I'm surprised there wasn't an electronic lock on the door."

"Out here in the colonies we like to do some things the old-fashioned way, Doctor," Vernor explained. "More reliable. That's why most of us have only tri-holo sets, not full immersion consoles…"

"No wonder Dreaming was so popular," the Doctor observed. "It was as immersive as entertainment gets."

Vernor looked sad for a moment. Sharon glanced at the Doctor and noticed a barely perceptible flicker of emotion across his features, as though he was concerned he had reminded Vernor of the loss of his former vocation. Perhaps, Sharon thought, this new Doctor was less self-absorbed than he seemed.

The three of them proceeded down the dimly lit corridor past the pens of dormant slinths. At the end of the corridor was a door leading to what Sharon guessed, from the dim glow of various monitor screens, was a control room. There was still no sign that the building was occupied by anyone other than the drowsing slinths.

As they entered the control room, Sharon saw three human figures silhouetted against a bank of screens, some showing the slinth pens, another showing the exterior of the building. At the moment, the three men appeared to be observing a screen linked to a security camera in the corridor from which they had just entered. Upon seeing that their visitors had come into the room, the three turned slowly round.

"Trevor, thank goodness!" Vernor said, starting forward. "You're not going to believe this, but the planet has been invaded by aliens. We need to use the slinths to –"

He broke off. His brother Trevor, Andrew Calla and Billy Sul were all staring at him blankly. The Doctor grabbed Vernor by the shoulder.

"Look at their wrists!" he said urgently. "They're wearing Terileptil control bracelets. Your brother is not himself!"

The green bracelets on the wrists of the three keepers pulsed with light. Vernor stood, rooted to the spot, while his brother spoke with eerie calm, as though reciting a speech in a play.

"You wish to use the slinths against our masters," the man once known as Trevor Allen said. "That cannot be allowed."

Without taking his eyes off the three intruders, Trevor reached behind him and depressed a switch on a control panel.

"What did he just do?" Sharon asked frantically. "You've visited him here before. What does that switch do?"

"I'm not sure," Vernor said slowly, "but I think –"

A subdued growling could suddenly be heard from the corridor behind them. Vernor and Sharon whirled around, while the Doctor remained calmly staring at the three keepers.

Slowly, sleepily, the slinths were crawling out of their cages. Inching across the floor on their stubby, hidden legs, the furry brown creatures advanced towards the door of the control room, growling more and more menacingly.

"He's deactivated the psychic field that keeps them dormant!" Vernor said desperately. "Without the symbiotic relationship to their Dreamers that they once had, they'll revert to being hostile!"

"Just like the Slinth Crisis all over again!" Sharon shouted, turning back into the room. "Doctor, what can we do? Doctor?"

The Doctor remained calmly staring at the keepers, as though he could not hear her.

Sharon quickly turned back toward the corridor. The slinths had almost reached the threshold, moving faster as they became more wakeful. Their growls rose in pitch…

END OF PART THREE